Q-and-A

 1.  After viewing this comical chatter over Mrs Carter's funeral, and Melanie Trump showing up in a gray jacket, not a black jacket....is there anything 'wrong' in fashion committed?

I'm no Tom Ford, but gray or black are perfectly acceptable for funerals.  Air Force uniforms are perfectly acceptable.  

Wrong attire?  Tennis shoes, white ties, and Klan suits.  

Beyond that, this is a bogus discussion.

2.  Is it just odd that a big-time Black Lives Matter organizer came out this week for Trump in 2024?

The guy (Mark Fisher)....went and said that Trump was a better choice over Biden.  Far as I can tell....he wasn't drunk or doped-up.  It does make me pause and wonder if the UFO guys are now manipulating society.

3.  Isn't it odd that when you see Elon Musk....he's not on some $300-million yacht, or attending some Hollywood party in a $20,000 suit, or wearing a half-million-dollar 'bling'?

Yeah....you get the impression....money isn't all that important.

4.  To avoid getting incited or angry....wouldn't it be better to avoid news content entirely, and go back to cowboy westerns, sex content, and cooking  shows?

It seems logical....social media and the news media.....have to clear their establishment and shut-down....if you wanted hate-speech to be zeroed out.

The Pause

 Last week, CNBC did an interview with Elon Muck. You can view a portion of it here (off Youtube).....about five minutes worth.

CNBC journalist is trying to 'key-in' on Elon's often public comments and why he has to do it.

So note at the 2:20 minute point....where the question has been thrown at Elon, and you see this 15-second pause, and his eyes are in some calculation situation where he is assembling the 'data' to deliver.

It's an interesting aspect where you don't answer the question immediately but you reflect upon the twenty possible answers to give, and eliminate nineteen of them for varying reasons.  

We probably should all reflect and think in this fashion.

Ten Things I Expect To Happen In 2024

 1.  I expect a record number of US banks to announce crisis changes to business operations, with fees likely to double, and limits to cash withdrawals.

2.  Over the next 268 days (when the Democratic Convention), I expect enthusiasm for Joe Biden to decrease to epic levels....where eight out of ten people polled....want him  to exit in 2025.

3.  We will reach a level where disinformation....is openly dumped on the public....about disinformation.

4.  Memphis will pass Chicago on the dangerous city list.

5.  A majority of Americans will want insane asylums re-opened in 2024....asking this to be a top ten political priority.

6.   Fifty-percent of all newly created conspiracy theories in 2024....will remarkably be proven factual within 365 days.

7.   Three-quarters of Americans in 2024 who admit millionaire-status....will also say that they are 'middle-class' and just barely making it. 

8.  A new fashion trend will start up in the US....where men and women dress in tactical Army-like clothing....confusing the public because the police already dress in this style.

9.  A poll in 2024 will show two Americans out of ten....feel oppressed in some way but can't exactly define oppression.

10.  A record number of male juveniles will identify as girls....participate in girl's sports....just to be bully-types.

Sky-Net World?

 I sat and read the text today: "The Pentagon is currently moving toward allowing AI weapons to autonomously make decisions to kill humans."

So the jest of this?  Hank and Jimmy....contractors for some company, are simply writing code that says under these conditions....if some Army or Marine unit comes under fire....'master-control' without any human input will seek to use all assets under it's control....to save the unit....without a human mind/authority connected.  It'll just be automatic.

Problems?  I just can't see any President allowing such a mechanism to exist, and making decisions without White House 'voting'.

Good thing or bad thing?  I tend to think it's a positive thing....removing some stupid Army or Air Force general....from making a crappy decision.  If you say such-and-such unit is taking heavy-fire, and you have ten drones in the air that could bring massive firepower to the situation within twenty minutes....let the AI do its job.

If AI had been active on 9-11?  It would have sorted scenarios in sixty seconds, then gone to using drones to intercept all passenger planes and damaged each craft enough that they would have crashed well before they came within range of the towers, the Pentagon, or that field in Penn.

Yeah, I'm probably one of the few who completely trust AI to do the right thing, and make logical assumptions based on the situation.  

Six Consequences I Expect To Occur

 1.  At some point shortly, I expect 3,000-plus teachers a year to be hauled off by police to face charges of some type sexual situation with high school students.  Each of them, with some of college loan debt, and never able to teach again.  This will turn into national crisis.

2.  The Bible will be turned into a banned book because of accusations of racism.  

3.  We will reach a point by 2030, where fifty-percent of the people we are around (the church, work, neighbors)....are people we deem as 'NOT-CLEVER'.

4.  At some point short....the trans-community will wake and realize that only gay guys or lesbians are willing to date/develop relationships, and that straight guys/women....have zero interest in them.

5.  By 2030, I expect one out of three guys to be so disenchanted with women (ages 21 to 45)....that they don't hesitate to journey to Thailand or the Philippines to hook-up with the 'right' women.

6.  The phrase of 'could threaten humanity' will be uttered 15 to 20 times a day, as you drive to work....listening to talk-radio or the news.  

Three Interesting Things

 1.  If you go individual polls of the Democratic Party....Joe Biden is pulling generally around 65-to-70 percent. The rest?  Undecided...meaning they aren't really 'hot' for Biden.

I looked at ten polls since 1 October....all rate Biden in the same pattern.  Oddly, none list him in the Democratic Primary, with RFK Jr.  I would imagine if they had allowed RFK in....he'd probably be higher than 50-percent pulling for him.

2.  The VA is pressing for a pause on eviction notices for veterans who can't pay their monthly mortgage.  

The obvious problem?  They bought houses at a price-level that they could never afford to cover. 

3.  I sat and watched a video this morning of a water pump being operated by the Israeli Army.  They were pumping sea-water....into the tunnel network of the Palestinians.  The idea was.....if you were in the tunnels....you would react and exit.  

Not a single bullet being fired?  Yeah, and that was the impressive side of this strategy.  Effective?  Well....you have no idea if this is a good idea, or how much water would be required.  

This Talk of Michelle Obama Picked At the Democratic Convention in 2024?

 I sat and watched two podcasts over the past week, which openly discussed that they see Joe Biden coming to the Convention in August charged-up, then finding the super-delegates unable to support him. The odds of this scenario?  The super-delegates make up around 16-percent of the representation at the convention, so without 'other' participants....I don't see how this would occur.

However, their suggestion is that Joe would find a way to step out....leaving it open, and that Michelle Obama would be the candidate.....with Newsom likely as her VP (this idea in my mind is crazy).

So the question is...if you had Obama (Ms), RFK Jr, and Trump....how would this type election occur?

I think in deep-blue states....like Oregon or Washington....it'd be possible for RFK Jr to win.  I could see him walking away with fifteen state wins.  

Obama?  Maybe she could get a solid win out of California and New York, but probably not get past ten state wins.  

Trump wins?  In this scenario....yeah.

Creating a five-to-ten year disaster where people are skeptical of the national party strategy?  Yeah, and that's the long-term damage done.  

Ten Observations

1.  Is there really anything you can do about stupid people?  

No....just establish a minimum space between you and them....mute their conversation as much as possible, and limit your responses to their questions.  It's not like you can banish them to California or send them to some enclosed park.

2.  When folks start talking about 'cognitive ability'.....if you really dug down into the details....more than one-third of Americans would be identified as having some 'problem'.

3.  The current to run a chaotic Joe Biden-for-President-campaign-for-2024?  It would appear to be lackluster in details, and simply putting the party message into a spiral.

4.  You just see a lot of attempts to sell 'fake-genius' status these days.  Print-media, news-media, social-media....all contribute to this creation.   

5.  Once you tell me that two plus two can equal something other than four....I mute you entirely.  Nothing personal.....it's just that I see you as a imbecile.  

6.  Someone reminded me the other day....that once we get public viewing of Trump's tax returns.....he'd be finished off.  That moment....kinda came and went.  On the drama-scale....one to ten....I'd rank it a marginal '2' at this point.

7.  You ever noticed about once a day now....the White House staff has to correct something that Joe Biden said the previous day?

8.  In the old days (up to the past year)....most local TV station news programs (your 6 PM local BS)....were mostly sponsored by car sales lots (Chevy, Toyota, Ford).  If people aren't watching that much news, and the car sales folks aren't making any real income (repossessions on the rise), then there's minimum cash flow to the TV station to cover news cost.

You will reach a point where you realize that the news seems less and less...because they won't have the funds to have 15-odd reporters for the station.  

9.  I had to look up the meaning of 'polysexual' this morning (being 65 and not clear what it meant).  

Meaning?  You apparently get physical with both primary genders (male/female) but not with all of the other 62 genders.  So out of the 64 total genders.....you might be real entertained by 63 of them, in theory, and just have a 'no-go' on one single gender.

Yeah, it'd typically take a bottle of whiskey to reach this level of reality....in the old days.

10.  Numbers on polls say over 50-percent of Americans now say they are worse-off financially....since election day of 2020.  Even Democrats admit it, but are 'lost' on explaining how it reached this state of reality.  

Air Travel

 Back in the late 1990s (still in the Air Force), we (in the vault business) got in a chat one day on the topic of air travel.  There were four of us....mid-30s to mid-50....two AF, two contractors.  

Air travel, for those who weren't in the era....in the 1960s/1970s...was special.  Customers were respected....airline folks were respected.  

Nothing ever ran on-time....no one cared.

Bags rarely got lost.

The food on the plane was crap, but you didn't really care.

Guys carried two or three shot bottles with them on the plane...mixing up their own drinks.

The Dallas Airport was regarded as state-of-the art, and some discussed marvel of society.

Then we came to airline travel there by the late 1990s.

Nothing ever ran on-time, but we seemed to count every lost minute.

Bags were a one-in-three-hundred situation...where as a minimum they were delayed two days or more.  One of the contractors had lost three bags on three separate trips (single year).

Guys consumed a fair amount of booze in the airport lounges at crazy prices for cocktails.

The Dallas Airport was considered old and antique-like.  JFK Airport was considered a disaster.  Denver and Atlanta were noted as Taj Mahal-like.

But we came to this odd aspect at the end.....there were so many people traveling by plane....cooked-up on medication....that you could never be sure of behavior or attitude.  Maybe they were mixing medication with booze, but the end result was becoming a problem.  

It's an odd perception.  Before Covid, I traveled a good bit...mostly internationally (avoiding the US), and you rarely (if ever) ran into medicated people.  

Strictly a US thing?  I often wonder about that.  

Five Things I Believe

 1.  At this point, Ron DeSantis has burned several hundred bridges....so when November of 2024 comes around and he's not the winner or 'valued-material' for a cabinet job....what happens in November 2026 when his governor term runs out?  Replacing Rubio in the 2028 Florida Senate election?  I just don't see it happening.

2.  The odds of a serious audit into the FBI selection of Maryland (over Virginia) for it's new headquarters building?  I would speculate by spring of 2024, this has snowballed into a piece of crap for the White House, and a whole new selection process has to occur.  

3.  Within three years....American kids as young as eight and nine will be under treatment for anxiety and panic attacks over global warming.  Medication and rehab will be prescribed.

4.  At least 1,000,000 pro-Hamas-Americans can be asked to identify Israel and Palestine on a map, and 98-percent would fail miserably.

5.  By the end of 2025, over 10,000 Americans will declare themselves to be 'demons' and self-identify as such.  

Math Discussion

 There was a Mathematics Conference held in Portland back about  month ago....run by the University of Oregon.

So this one high school teacher (from Oregon, Jered Ratliff) came up to deliver a lecture with the topic....“Mathematics as a tool of oppression.” 

Basically, this whole presentation got into the topic of politicization of math, and then stepped into the idea of math being an oppressive tool.  

I read through commentary...at least he did note that it's an important part of education,  but he also laid out that efforts often 'inhibit discovery' (the learning process).

Around the 6th grade (this was a rural school going from the 1st to the 9th grade)....I went through a four-year period of crappy math teachers (four separate folks).  

What I came to learn from four years of wasted math instruction....there were four separate teachers brought in and 'attempted' (I use the word because I can't grasp how things could not get resolved or improved) math instruction.  

Oppressive?  Yes, it was a pretty harsh situation, and a total waste man-hours.  

I left the school and ventured into the 10th grade, with a totally different instructor, and simplified book.  The design of the class?  Here's the book....move at the best pace.  Week after week, I ventured a couple of pages ahead of the group.  By early December, I began to calculate that I'd have the book finished and completed all tests by mid-January.  

My own belief?  You probably should go and fire 75-percent of math teachers in America because they can't convey the topic, and they won't readily use the best designed books. 

I suspect if you tested a thousand 17-year old kids on general math skills....more than half would marginally pass the test.  In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if you tested 12-year old kids in the same group and discover that the 17-year old kids mostly maxed out on math skills in the sixth-grade.  

Should Hitler Be Banned Off Twitter/X?

 I noticed this week...some commentary....asking the question if Hitler was around....should Twitter/X ban his commentary?

First, the guy has been dead 28,689 days (up to today).....78 years.

Second, Hitler had a pretty smart 'PR-team' and they would have quickly created their own Nazi-social media platform....ensuring every single German (even teenagers/juveniles) had access to it.

Third, Hitler would have had a TikTok account and done weekly 'funny-things' videos....maybe riding horses, dancing, cooking a cake, swimming in the Rhine, repairing antique motorcycles, or reading stories to kids.

Fourth, I would imagine Hitler would have gotten smart and had some fake Jewish individual to run his pro-Jew commentary.  As much as he would have seemed to be anti-Semitic....there would be just enough doubt to believe he can't possibly be that stupid (kinda like Putin's propaganda unit).

Fifth, at least three-quarters of WOKE-intellectual young people (just out of college) would have bought into the Hitler chatter....thinking he can't possibly be that crazy.

Finally, in this though-provoking idea of banning Hitler....wouldn't Churchill, Marylyn Monroe, Charles Manson, Elvis, and Jesus likely be candidates to be banned off Twitter as well?

(Don't people have better things to contemplate?)

A Rough September 2024 To Bear

 At some point between 22 August 2024 and early September (a 20-day period), I expect President Biden having walked out of the Democratic Convention as the party candidate....to announce health issues (not bad enough to resign) and pull himself from the candidates list.

The new wording in the charter for the Democratic Party?  Oddly, in the past year (2022)....the party wrote text to cover this situation, and the DNC itself (the top level) would meet, and do a simple revamp on the candidate, and I believe California's Governor Newsom would be projected as the replacement.

Most states would have a text written....that you need 60 days out (5 November is the election day)....so I project this would happen.  

Biden having some fake hospitalization?  Yeah, that's pretty much the lead-in to this fake drama.

Text already written with Harris dropped as VP?  Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Newsom will be the VP choice at the convention.  

All of this....cranked up with Biden being ill but not ill enough to bring Harris up as a President?  Yeah, that will be the comical side of this story.

Text already prepared for CNN, NPR, CBS, AP?  Yeah, I would imagine twenty pages of hype and fake news already exist in some way.  

People to buy into this 'brand' change?  I'm not sure.  If you walk around California right now....I suspect half the state population has a negative feeling over what Newsom has delivered over the past couple of years.

This fake health condition?  It'll have nothing to do with dementia....it'll be a fake heart problem.  That's the only way that he would remain in office. 

Trump in the mindset to run against Newsom?  I think he's already taken to the idea and won't be spending much time talking over Biden.

Yeah, About That Bin Laden Letter

 With the hype of Osama Bin Laden's 'Letter to America' BS this week, I sat and read the text (4 pages). First, you discover that most of the sites have removed the text...for varying reasons.  Second, when I did find it....it's a long wordy piece, and you have to devote at least 30 minutes to get the emphasis of the 'message'.

I did this because of the number of TikTok and YouTube videos where young pretender-intellectuals felt gut-pain over what they read and lost respect for western values.  So I figured....what exactly was written?

Four observations:

1.  Based on words and context....I give it a 95-percent chance that Osama Bin Laden himself did not write it.  English for him was a second language, and this would appear to either be a totally different 'creator' or having a serious amount of 'word-smithing' going on with a partner.

Yes, very similar to 'Mein Kampf' by Hitler.....which most people now believe that a second figure actually wrote the Hitler book.

2.  There's some blunt point in the text where the suggestion is made that non-Muslims need to respect Quran and Sharia Law....not only in Muslim countries, but in the non-Muslim countries.  

I suspect a lot of idiot young recent college graduates missed that commentary, and have no idea what the idea leads onto.    

3.  Where was the document  'hiding' for the past couple of years?  Well....the Brit newspaper...Guardian.....had the copy.  Just now bringing this up?  Oddly.....yes.

Timing to bring this up now?  Yeah, and that's the funny part of the story.

4.  The chief problem in the text?  Well....as much as you talk lifestyles in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on.....the moment you open up some door to exit out of the pro-Quran/Sharia Law lands.....folks seem lined up to leave. They leave because of various reasons, but they seem to want a non-Quaran/Sharia Law 'umbrella' for work and living conditions.  The letter doesn't mention that, but it's part of the whole story of reality.  

On the lack of understanding by western youth?  It's a constant thing now....almost daily....I'll note another stupid 'rant' by some 24-year-old college graduate....who seems to have missed half their college classes and unable to grasp reality in the world today.

Crisis Approaching

 In the spring of 1980....I went in to buy a cheapo car on E-4 pay, and by the time, the dealer did the paperwork....I ended up with a 36 month loan.  

Around 1996, I worked with a guy who'd gone to the high side of cars, and ended up in a 60 month loan, which I sat there shaking my head.  

At the speed of depreciation...by the end of the 3rd year...the car had lost around 50-percent of value.  He was expecting the value to have low maintenance issues....all the way up to six years....which is something I could not imagine (I grew up in the 1960s/1970s and had a totally different view on 'trust' of cars).

By the 2005 era, I now encountered people who were playing the 72-month (6 year) car loan.  I thought it was ridiculous to engage in this long-strategy.

In the past year or two....I noticed chatter about 84 month car loans....with the situation involving $60,000 ultimate-loaded vehicles, and some bank thinking they could trust people to pay a 84-month loan back, and not get into repossession.

So you imagine the scenario....Bob buys a $75,000 vehicle and opts to pay over 84 months.  Three years into this....Bob loses his job and gets behind on $914 per month payment.  Bank takes possession, and what exactly do they have?

Well....at 3 years, the $75k car is probably holding a value of around $38,000, but the bank is on the hook...having a vehicle that they probably can't sell at $38k.  

Liquidity crisis coming?  Yeah....and those car unions asking for more wages?  They will face some reality in the next three years.

'Re-Boot' of Dukes of Hazard?

 Well....there was some BS I noticed this AM, where some TV people are openly discussing the idea. 

How it would work?  Unknown.

I speculated over this for a while and came to five observations:

1.  It'd have to be heavily 'woke' and involve some urbanized area (probably Baton Rouge or Nashville).  That means at least one of the eight main characters would have to be gay, trans or lesbian.  

2.  What Dukes of Hazard was famous for?  Having a half-page idea for a script and building BS text around some fake drama/comedy.  Could you put together a 22-episode season around that concept today?  I doubt it.

3.  The 'General Lee' (the car that the boys drove)....was a 1969 Dodge Charger.  Today?  I would imagine some idiot executive would try to use a Tesla Cybertruck or some other type of E-car.  Some running gag will be the two-hour charge situation where the guys all sit around.  

4.  The corrupt 'Boss Hogg'?  Likely to be portrayed as a Republican....same for the county sheriff.  

5.  At least three major characters would have to be black or Hispanic.  

Yeah, I see this as a failure, and likely never to get past the 'talking' stage of a show.  

But here's the odd thing....they are so run out of decent ideas for TV shows, and competition from Netflix so heavy....that use of old TV shows is almost mandatory.  I'm shocked that Mister Ed or Petticoat Junction haven't been re-booted yet.  

Four Things I Tend To Believe Now

 1.  I suspect in 2024, more than 300,000 American juveniles/college students...will go and read Adolph Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' and give some thought that he was 'right'....creating some wild and crazy thoughts.  Some American politicians will suggest that the book needs to be banned, to prevent nation-wide chaos.

2.  Some massive postal rate change will occur in 2024 (4-billion dollar loss projected this week).  The massive rate increase will trigger people to question how the postal system works, and lead to a five-day-a-week operation by the end of 2024.

3.  Homeless crowd will be 'chased' out of California over 2024....with accusations that they just funneled them into Oregon/Washington.

4.  On Snoop Dogg's statement yesterday that he will cease all cannabis use....he'll make good on this vow for about a month, then relapse. 

How To 'Read' The White House Cocaine Episode

 Back in July, a baggy with cocaine was found in the White House.  Depending on who describes the situation....there are three different locations on where it was found (don't ask why).

So the Secret Service went out and did a DNA exam on it, and they have the 'code'.

What they say?  They've locked the analysis/code up....nothing else will be done.

So, how to read this?  The Secret Service knows precisely who this leads to (my humble suggestion....President Biden, Hunter Biden, or Jill Biden).  The Secret Service is basically in a bluff situation, where they can earn promotion points or get some advantage out of this.

President Biden smart enough to figure this out?  Yeah, I would suggest that he's aware of the bluff, and as he exits the White House....the DNA exam will disappear quickly and quietly.

Corrupted?  You could say that, but I would imagine it's continually played on all Presidents. 

This Vivek Idea On Firing Fed Workers

 Basically, he suggested that he'd walk in on day one of his administration and order a firing of fed workers....based on your social security numbering in a even-number or a odd-number. 

Legal?  Yeah, in fact, you'd bypass years of challenges in court....by this method.  You'd just get a notice at 8 AM....clear your desk, and here's some exit check.  

Now, you might ask....what if there are more 'odds' than 'evens' in the government service sector?  Well....no one has ever collected such data....so you might be correct.

The odds that more 'evens' are incompetent, than 'odds'?  Maybe, but it might be chance to energize incompetent folks.

More incompetent managers who are 'evens'?  That's a possibility.

I suspect his idea is to target one single agency (DoJ for example), and use this as a 'test'.

Ten Things I Believe Will Happen in 2024

 1.  I think an economic crisis stage will occur where President Biden goes to the House and proposes two checks of $1.5-thousand each.....to stabilize American families.  I don't think the House will agree to it.  The necessity for the checks?  Financially, over half the families in America are in serious debt issues.  Even if you wrote out two checks like this....they'd just spend the money....rather than pay down their debt.

2.  I think Biden is there to run up to the convention, then withdraw, and allow some faked-up convention to convince the public that Governor Newsom is the guy to replace Biden. 

3.  I think some 7-day bank shut-down crisis will occur in 2024....where all banks close, and even the ATM-machines are turned off, with daily/weekly/monthly limits put on your account from that day forward.  

4.  I think all of the major car companies will be unable to sell more than half of their 2023 numbers in 2024....bringing in a new crisis.

5.  I think that CNN will be marketed for sale, and find some Latin American media company the only one willing to pay what is perceived as 'full-price'.

6.  Movie studios discover that crappy Star Wars and Marvel movies....won't sell like they did in the past.  

7.  You will be able to test 18-year old American kids, who seem to know Hitler in some fashion, but if you show them the Kaiser's picture instead....most will identify him as Hitler.

8.  Some invented oil embargo from the Middle East will start in 2024, with Biden's crew unable to do anything....even to suggest producing more US crude.  Gas prices by spring will soar to $8 a gallon.

9.  Some religious cult will start up on US college campuses.....revolving around devil worship and black magic....with more than 50,000 students in the initial membership.

10.  One out of ten graduates from college in 2024....will admit by the end of the year that they are employed in some BS job....that they can't stand the majority of co-workers, and they don't understand anything about the work they do, but they feel stressed out about whatever it is.  

My Three Credit Card Stories

 The first time I ever attempted to get a credit card...was in March of 1980...at McChord AFB's single bank on base.  

It was a 6-minute conversation.

I had been a member of the bank for 3 months, and wanted to get a card.  The lady looked over my numbers and then said....well...the best she could do was a card with roughly $850 of limit, and a yearly fee of $75.

What I was making at the time?  $637 a month (before taxes/social security).  I gulped over the $75 fee, and just said 'no thanks'.

The second time I ever attempted a credit card....was the summer of 1987.  I was now in the $1,200 a month range on military pay.  

Oh yeah, by this point....they were willing to offer me a card with zero fees, and a limit of $8,000.  Yeah, way over logical sense.

As you looked around in this era....probably one out of three military folks were in serious debt issues, and no real control over spending.  

Around six years would pass, and the Air Force now wanted to sell everyone on NCO Club membership, and a credit card to be part of their gimmick....with the monthly charge coming off this card.

It seemed like some propaganda crap....getting people hyped up, and you noticed over the next year or two....more folks got into deeper debt issues....over this stupid club card.  

Ten Bits Of Advice On Travel

 1.  If you feel sick/ill on a trip....go get doctor/clinic advice from the hotel staff.  Don't ask some local taxi driver for a recommendation.

2.  If on a trip with temperatures mostly above 80 F for the day....start the day with a purchase of a bottle of water.  If above 90 F, get the larger size water bottle.

3.  Once you establish your travel plan, the airline deal and the hotel selected....don't skip the airport-to-hotel plan or the hotel-to-airport reservation.  

4.  On your carry-on bag for the plane....carry enough clothing to get you by for the 1st 24 hours at the destination....just on the odds of your bag getting lost.  

5.  Don't carry a $1,500 camera around for normal shots of the trip....get a simple $250 Sony camera.

6.  There are certain countries (particularly in Asia) that put a lot of spice into food.  You might want to remember that.  In countries like Denmark, it's the opposite.  

7.  If a resort offers a drink-inclusive deal....meaning they provide beer, wine and some type of cocktails....just be aware that they won't be premium quantity.  That wine by the 3rd day will taste like pure grape juice, and the cocktails will be so weak....that gulping down ten drinks in an hour won't get you drunk.

8.  On long extended trips....some hotels offer a washer-dryer room (meaning you can do your own laundry).  Most don't offer this situation.  You might want to plan ahead and ask this question....if staying ten days in Rome, or Madrid.

9.  Resorts that offer dinner buffet as part of their package....usually offer a wide-variety of foods.  If offered, it's usually worth the money.

10.  Most hotels have a map of the city to give you (free).  If you ask nicely about no-go zones....they will use the red-pen and mark the map.  This might be handy to know.  If they mark it....trust in their knowledge.  No-go zones exist for a reason.

The Migrant Realization

 I sat and read through a NY newspaper this AM....migrants in both Chicago and NY City...are starting to talk that after their effort to arrive in America, and be settled in....they now realize that some other places  in the world (beyond Chicago/NY City) are more acceptable/modern.

They didn't insult NY City/Chicago....they just felt....they were sold 'half-dead-mule' (as we would say in Alabama).

I sat and pondered over this.

My first trip through NY City was a 18-hour situation in 2007 (Roosevelt Hotel situation).  Between that and JFK Airport....I felt the city was pretty crappy.

My second trip was a 10-hour walking tour in 2011.  It was a fairly negative impression.

Finally, in 2016, I took the wife there (German situation).....for six days.  At the end of it, the wife said to me....'it's kinda old' and then suggested that it was mostly not worth the money we paid for the 1st-class tickets and accommodations at the Roosevelt). 

The subway system?  It's worst of any country that I've been to.

Yeah, it's oversold and crappy.  I would imagine for some of the folks....they might see it as nowhere near the level of Mexico City or Lima, Peru.  

Will they leave?  I doubt it.

Ten Humble Thoughts

 1.  If you were a traditional Democratic voter....it just seems like enthusiasm and hype...are trending less and less.  I don't blame Joe Biden singularly.  It just feels like you've watch a dozen Marvel movies, and heroic climatic 'endings' are getting to a lesser point each month.  

2.  It's just odd....almost everyday, I hear some 'Hitler-this' or 'Hitler-that'.  It's like it's 1946 and the guy is lingering on everyone's mind still.

3.  The odds that the $375-million to be 'given' to the FBI for it's new headquarters building....will be enough? Well....I think it's mostly a joke...that somewhere in the midst of 2025...some FBI manager will report that it's already $100-million over the budget, and yet to reach the 50-percent point of construction.  

4.  I believe there are x-number of young single women (age 21) who are so polarized on politics and personal view of feminism....that more than 50-percent of them will reach age 36....still single and deep into some PTSD-like mental stage about lack of relationships or a permanent BF/husband in their life. 

5.  By 2030,  I  expect the population of billionaires in California (currently at 186) to dwindle down to zero.  It'll be a mysterious thing that state journalists can't explain, without huffing on some cannabis.  

6.  If you'd asked someone in 1980....about their level  of hatred for things....they might have cited the Dallas Cowboys, J R Ewing and instant coffee.  If you ask today.....people will cite one-hundred things by the 5th minute of conversation, and still be talking at minute sixty.  

7.   If the Nazis were around today (like they were in 1936)....they'd observe things and never mount an offensive into France, Russia or the UK.  They'd conquer the civilized world in twenty years....using Nazi-propaganda as woke material.  

8.  Scientists have come out in the past week or so....to say they have this weird theory that not only there was 'big-bang' number one, but that there was a 'big-bang' number two.  I will go out on the limb and just suggest that thousands of big-bangs have occurred, and that we probably aren't done yet (more to come).

9.  If you went down the list of insurrections since 2020....you might be shocked to note at least fifty.  Even the George Floyd riots....are listed as an insurrection.

10.  We are becoming a nation of shock-proof people....where nothing weird can shock us anymore (even having President Biden announcing some UFO-alien situation is legit, and that Hunter will be leaving the planet  as a 'agent' of the US gov't to the aliens).  

What This Moodys Comment Really Means?

 Late yesterday (Friday)....Moody’s Investors Service ame out and did a review of the US gov't financial situation.  Basically, they went from 'stable' to 'negative'.  

Their comment?  “In the context of higher interest rates, without effective fiscal policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues. Moody’s expects that the US’ fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability.”

What they did was point their finger (they could have done this already in the first quarter of 2023) at the White House and say in blunt language....either increased taxes have to occur, or significant government cuts in spending has to occur.  

Hurting the markets?  I'd say on Monday.....you will start to see some uneasy feelings and people easing out of Wall Street.  

As for more taxes or budget cuts?  How?  Where?  With this group in the White House presently? 

Moodys has basically placed the whole campaign in 2024 for either Republicans or Democrats....to be about this financial problem.  Newsom able to sell his California 'skills' on this?  No.  

If there were some increase on taxation?  It'd just twist up the recession into some turbo-situation.

Selling future treasury bills?  Moodys just whacked that whole idea.  

I'd rank this Friday event as one of the three biggest events of the year so far.

Three Humble Thoughts

 1.  Having sat through the Republican debate 'crap' this AM....three observations: (1) I did speed-mute with Chris Christie.....I just don't have the stamina to listen to his BS anymore. (2) Nikki Haley didn't come off as someone that I'd trust enough to buy a used-car from. (3) Vivek slaughtered the folks on stage, that GOP 'boss' gal, and Mr Holt from NBC.  Otherwise, it was marginal entertainment.

2.  Air Force went to Congress and asked them to establish a 2-mile 'buffer-zone' around each nuke missile silo.  Heck of a lot of farm property involved.  The logic of a 2-mile zone versus a 1-mile zone?  Never explained.  

3.  All this BS over voter-ID?  You ever noticed that no one has ever done a realistic study over who lacks such an ID?  I suspect if you walked around the state of Alabama....meeting up with each resident over the age of 18....you'd find fewer than 1,000 people in the state in this situation.  

Thing About Clocks

 

I sat and pondered over this story for a while.

If you went around and viewed people....it's mostly guys over age 40, who still have a dial-watch.  Everyone else....has gone to digital numbers.  

Wouldn't shock me if one-third of kids in schools (say the 4th or 5th grade) were not capable of reading off a analogue clock.

In fact, isn't this going the same way with speed readings on cars....where it's rare to find a old-fashion speed dial?

Tic Tac Stuff

 I sat and read through a news piece....talking over the Tic-Tac UFO-business and the Pentagon.

Here.

In simple terms, the Pentagon says they may NEVER come to any conclusion over the Tic-Tac UFOs.

Yep, no alien chatter....no ideas....no people from the future.....nothing.

Yeah, there is some Pentagon office to investigate things, but they seem to be at some limits of reality.

But taking all of this into consideration....if you did have President Biden in charge....maybe it's a positive thing that he's not the point guy to deal with this alien stuff.  You know, he'd start talking how he rode a flying saucer back in 1988 with Ted Kennedy, or that he dealt with people from the future when he was a pool life-guard back in 1962.   

Ten Humble Thoughts About Manifesto Writings

 1.  I've read around six manifesto pieces in my life, and generally....all of them have the problem of a writer who is marginally rational, sometimes severely irrational and probably not capable of living in society.

2.  The writers of manifesto documents....tend to want to fix/resolve world or society problems.  I'm not saying their vision or thoughts would work....just that they want a broke system to be fixed.

3.  Even a 3rd grader could probably sit and write a simple one-page manifesto.

4.  People seem to be attracted to commerce, political or society type manifestos.  You just don't see someone writing a manifesto over NBA rules, winter tires, or weight issues.

5.   When someone wants to protect you from reading a manifesto....they seem to have the thought that you can't handle the content or chosen topic.  Naturally, they have read it....meaning they can handle it.

6.  I get the sense (maybe I'm wrong) that more men write manifesto documents, than women.  Maybe women just walk out and skip this BS-gotta-write-a-manifesto, and just make change without a lot of chatter.

7.  There doesn't seem to be any value to writing a 7-page manifesto....to writing a 700-page manifesto....on the same subject material.  You'd think that readability would make a guy keep change ideas to just twenty pages max.

8.  Is the Bible a manifesto?  Well.....you might make the case that the Old Testament might fit into this way.  

9.  The problem in that two guys could write a manifesto each....on the same topic....equaling 700 pages each, and each come to a totally separate vision/problem?  Yeah, it's possible.

10.  The odds of a hundred folks being offered 'free' manifesto material, and 99 flat turn down the opportunity to read such a document?   Yeah, that is part of the sales problem of manifesto creation.

Just Thinking Out Loud

 I saw this quote off Twitter yesterday:

If sex is so much a part of your identity, you don't have much of an identity.

I pondered over it for a while.

You see this a good bit now....where people want to inform you of their 'landscape' and behavior.  They want you to know that they like weird stuff, and they seem  to want some reaction out of you.

But at the end of the day....once you say sex-stuff is THE critical part of your identity...in the rational sense, it doesn't really amount to much of value in terms of the identity.  

I'm not saying worthless, but you might as well base your identity on your IQ-level, your choice of car colors, your favorite mower, your best beer brand, or your favorite NCAA football team. 

I'll sit and predict that in ten years....at least 100,000 Americans will identify in some way as having a physical relationship with some imaginary non-existent friend.  And it'll be considered 'normal'.

About That manifesto Stuff

 I spent around 40 minutes last night....reading over the manifesto crap from this Nashville trans shooter...Audrey "Aiden" Hale.  If you remember, that was back in March.

For months, the manifesto has been 'locked-up' and forbidden from public release.  So it would appear that police members were peeved enough to just finally drag it out....photo-copy three pages of this....to hand over to social media folks.

My view of three pages?  Nutcase-material.

An adult (28)....college background.  Extremely racist in nature. Someone that probably bought into a fair amount of propaganda and brain-washing. 

City officials disturbed by the 3-page release?  Yeah, probably.  My question....the previous five years of Hale's life....what exactly was going  on and didn't anyone see this mental collapse underway?

The '14th'

 This weekend....I sat and read the 14th Amendment...beginning to end:

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

There's a lot of chatter over how people envision it to work against Trump.

So after you read the whole piece....it says precisely who in the federal government is affected by the Amendment.  I read it several times and finally came to the reality....it talks about judges, congressional folks and officers...even at the federal and state level.  The two positions it doesn't really cover?  President and Vice-President.

The Elector words?  Meant for the Electoral College. 

Yeah, it's just odd.

You would think they would have written it into the text for the Constitution....but obviously felt it wasn't necessary.

So what happens as these cases move forward?  All of them will hit some barrier with the Supreme Court, and being told that the text of the 14th don't cover the President.  The Supreme Court will then make it a blunt case.....you can't remove Trump's name from the ballot.  

I'm not saying the problems are over....I still think the Republicans will create some unworkable convention and try to put DeSantis in the lead position.

The Thing About The Third World

 In the last week, I got into a discussion over Panama, and I eventually suggested that everyone in the US ought to go and spend a full year in some full-up third-world country....to appreciate reality.

Panama was this oddball place, where you could exist on base or in the Canal Zone...in the first world.  Then you'd go a mile or so....reaching some third-world zone.  Then you travel a couple of miles to find some second-world zone.

Having a 6-hour power outage....you got used to the idea.  Throughout a week, you'd have three or four two-hour outages, and maybe once a month....a whole evening or afternoon with the power out.  

Having some stop-light intersection in town where lights were out for six weeks because of lacking bulbs?  You got used to the idea.

Going to a restaurant where everything was cooked on a char-coal grill....because of no power in the place? Drinking warm Pepsi? You accepted that.

In the 3rd world, you don't really worry about hate-speech....you got better things to worry about.

I would imagine today, with cellphone towers....there's probably several hours a day in the Panama region where an outage occurs.  Telling some American teenager that his Tik Tok was going to be out for the whole morning?  He'd go nuts.

Seven Humble Thoughts

 1.  I have this theory....that Gen Z people were lucky to have access to legit drugs to medicate them through the normal stresses of life at age 10 to 21....that they skipped development of coping skills.  The only way ahead?  More medication....less interaction with actual people.

2.  There's probably five occasions everyday that I review the news, and say out loud....'this can't be real'.  

3.  I think you could round up 10,000 people who claim some Republican-status, and ask about their vote-for feelings for Pence.....to find fewer than five people felt positive about Pence running for President.

4.  There was a DUI-arrest in California....assembly-woman involved....Democrat....who says it was an actual sneezing attack to trigger her accident in the first place where the cops showed up.

Man, if you got sneezing that bad....you probably shouldn't be driving a car.

5.  Eventually, I expect the top 1,000 most wealthy Americans to have all moved to Florida.  

6.  Some judge nominee that President Biden nominated for a court...was asked if he would condemn Palestinians for the terrorism acts in Israel.  Nominee refused....saying that he hadn't read enough to anything much over Palestinians.  Pretty safe answer, but you might find that here is the one Biden-appointee who has never watched CNN ever in his life.

7.  These Democrat-run major cities with migrant woes wanting funds?  I think they were hoping for a billion dollars per each city.  So far, Biden doesn't seem interested in asking for this from Congress.  Roughly a year from the next House election, and it might not be positive in funding. 

SBF

 Someone brought up the Sam Bankman-Fried case (conviction done, waiting till early 2024 for the sentence).  Presently, the max he could get is 110 years in prison.

Yeah, the judge probably won't go that crazy and max it out.  My gut feeling is that it'll be a 15-year sentence, and with good behavior....he's out at 12 years.

So it got brought up....this is a guy who is 31 years old.  For his entire life....he's been hooked up to the gamer-world or the internet.  So there's this feeling that he's never spent a single day without some dose of gaming or internet.  

Odds of a major collapse in mental stability?  It's a likely event.

This brings me to the odd topic.....around the US...there might be a minimum of ten million people who can't survive without the gamer-world or internet connectivity.  There are people who are consumed over just social media by itself. 

What'll happen to SBF?  As you get closer to March of 2024 and his court appearance....I suspect he'll fall apart.  

What Was The Nullifer Party?

 Well....for about 11 years, the Nullifer Party 'lasted' (from 1828 to 1839).

Their basic description?  They believed that states themselves....could nullify federal law.  This being a South Carolina-only political party?  Yeah, that's probably why you've never heard much about the group.

They were pro-slavery, pro-commerce, and were a fringe element of the Democratic Party (1827 or prior).

What happened to the Party?  For the most part, after President Jackson left office....they dissolved back into the Democratic Party.  In their hearts and minds....Jackson was a 'Trump-like' character and a threat to the nation. 

The Lincoln Win of 1860 Compared to 2024

 In a 33-state contest, even though there were four serious contenders from four separate parties (Republican, Southern Democrat, Constitutional Union and Democratic parties)....ONLY three walked away with Electoral College votes in November of 1860. 

Lincoln took 18 states and 150 EC votes to win.  Breckenridge of the Southern Democratic Party took 11 states and 72 EC votes for second.  Bell took 1 state (Missouri) for the Constitutional Union Party....giving him only 3 EC votes.  And Douglas won ZERO states....zero EC votes.

What you tend to find in the state by state voting....there were two significant people on the ballot that split the state voting, and if there were one or two additional people on the ballot....they never (combined) took more than 20-percent of the state by state ballot votes. 

So if you were discussing a Trump, DeSantis, Newsom and RFK Jr election....it would likely run the same way.  

I would suggest that RFK Jr would walk away with zero EC votes in the end, while taking around 15-percent of the national vote.  DeSantis?  Same way....he might get two states by the EC vote, and get less than 10-percent of the national vote. Newsom is harmed by the RFK vote, and likely only gets 20 states by the EC count.  

Phobia Chatter

 I tried to read through a news piece, where the White House is opening up a discussion about development of a anti-Islamophobia situation.

Meaning?  Well....if you had an irrational fear of Islamic people or situation, that would fall into the category of Islamophobia.  The key thing here....it has to be a 'fear' and it has to be 'irrational'.  If it's not a fear or irrational, then it can't be a phobia.

Meanwhile, while talking about this White House work to be done (I assume they've hired some doctor to run this 'hype'....they've also now had to open up and admit that there is anti-Semitismophobia  going on (the irrational fear of Jewish people).  

The people who seem to be affected by the fear of Jewish people?  Well....so far, the White House hasn't said who these people are, or what category they fit into.  

This leading to a illogical confrontation?  I looked it up for phobias....generally, around 10 to 12 percent of people suffer from them.  It'd seem logical for the White House to just run some full-scale operation, and try to cure all the phobia people in America.

Just trying to imagine just how vast this would get. Probably some drug-action in the works.

Ten Odd Facts Over The 1860 US Election

 1.  The nation existed with the Democratic Party and the Whig Party, until 1854.  At that point, the Kansas-Nebraska Act fell into play, and within a year....the Whig Party had divided into two new parties.

The American Party formed up around mostly southern former Whig Party members....claiming to be conservatives in nature.  It's safe to say they were pro-slavery.  By 1860, they had renamed themselves the Constitutional Union Party.  

The Republican Party formed up around mostly northern former Whit Party members....claiming to be conservatives in nature.  It's safe to say they were against slaver.  

2.  In 1860 at the Democratic Party convention...things got heated, and screwed up.  By the end of the week....the guaranteed 'win' for Stephen Douglas had failed, and no candidate emerged out of the convention.

The convention (out of Charleston) failed.  A second convention held two months later....in Baltimore...got Douglas his nomination.  But the sentiment by southern Democrats was negative....so they met in a hotel, and had a 3rd Convention-like meeting. 

The result was the creation of the Southern Democratic Party, with John Breckenridge selected.

3.  The Republican count for the primary?  Eight.  Seward was viewed from day one as the likely winner, with Chase running a close second.

Where Seward lost his 'chance'?  Well....he made a number of speeches prior to the convention which hinted that war was the only way to end slavery in America, and this apparently scared the crap out of a fair number of Republicans.

So Chase should have moved up a notch?  Well....he would have....except he was a 1800s-form of RINO (actually a former Democrat) and selling his brand/message at the convention became difficult.

Where Lincoln surged?  Mostly on speeches given over the past two years.  

4.  The selling point of the Constitutional Union Party?  They did everything possible to avoid making slavery a main part of their message.

5.  Lincoln winning with only 40-percent of the national vote?  Yes.  Douglas, who was viewed as the favorite twelve months prior?  He managed only 29-percent of the national vote.

6.  Margin of a win for Virginia.....roughly 160 votes (Bell won over Breckenridge).  Lincoln took only 1-percent of the votes that day.

7.  Less than 1,000 votes made the difference in California....where Lincoln won over Douglas.  

8.  Lincoln was the ONLY candidate listed for New Jersey/New York.

9.  The South Carolina Legislature voted for the EC delegates....not the general public.

10.  Roughly 250 votes made the difference for the Lincoln win in Oregon (against Breckenridge).  

Note: There were 303 EC delegates....so you needed 152 to win.  Lincoln won with 28 EC votes to spare.