On The Topic Of A Visa

 I sat this week, pondering over how I got my German wife her 'green-card'.  I was stationed in Panama at the time...on my 2nd year of marriage and the base guy laid out the various pieces and parts to this.

Paperwork-wise, it wasn't a big deal (maybe 10 pages of crap to fill out).

Cost factor?  They wouldn't let the base clinic do the physical.  This meant you had to pay some civilian doctor to do it and they kept wanting to lead me to some clinic which would charge in the $1,500 range for 'requirements'.  

Some guy who'd done this the year prior for his Panamanian wife....gave me a name of a cheap-ass Panama clinic...costing in the $500 range.  With everything figured out...I probably spent in the $800 range out of my pocket.

So I look at the modern way of people just crossing the border.  They 'catch' you (it's not really catching as far as I can figure).  They will assemble you at some border station...giving you a $10 sandwich, with a soda. 

Texas will put you a free-bus, and 36 hours later...you end up in NY City.  There?  Those kind NY City dopey folks will put you up in some 3-star hotel, giving you a VISA-gift card....probably loaded in the $3k range to buy stuff.  Monthly, they'd hand you $2,000 for 'stuff'.  Any paperwork for the visa?  They'd fill it out for you, and that stupid clinic stuff would be totally free.

Yeah, today....I'd just tell the German wife to skip all those regular steps, and just hike up to the Texas border, and 'get-caught'.  

Looking Forward Toward The 2024 Election

 1.  I just have this sense that Biden and the entire DNC crew are pretty sure that he (or his replacement Governor Newsom) cannot mount another campaign to get 81-million votes.

Just an odd feeling but they seem to figure things will not work in the 2020-fashion.

2.  Selling Bidenomics?  

Someone on the Biden-team  needs to hire some 2nd grade teacher, with the mentality and talk of Mister Rogers-fame....to spend ten minutes nationally explaining it.  So far, every attempt that President Biden or any of his 20-odd experts on finance....has ended in dismal failure.  

3.  At some point, it will be dragged out that Lincoln was denied on 10 southern state ballots in 1860.  Then it'll be mentioned that they were all Democratic-run states.  And then this Trump denial business on the ballot will hurt the Biden/Newsom campaign.

4.  On five-star damage...the whole thing with Hunter Biden has gone to the level that it makes 'dad' (Joe) look like an idiot.

5  Dumping Harris from the VP ballot position seems to be a high priority but I don't think they've told her that.

6.  Governor DeSantis is finished, and will not be able to ever restart his efforts....even for Senator.  I also don't think Trump will offer a position.....if Trump does win the election.

7.  Dragging Civil War history into the race?  Well....I think folks are desperate enough (stupid enough as well), that it makes perfect sense.  The fact that Latino folks have no ownership of the period, or the outcome?  It puts the Democratic Party in a crappy position in terms of getting them hyped-up.

8.  CNN almost unwatchable at this point?  I tried this past week to get in 60 minutes, but the mute-finger went into action several times.  I eventually gave up.

9.  It's pretty much guaranteed these days....if you have President Biden in some free moment (say two minutes)....he's likely to say a minimum of two things that the White House has to walk back later.  

10.  On soap opera theatrics....there's going to be plenty of stuff in politics to make up for the crappy TV season on NBC, CBS, and ABC.  

That Chinese Balloon Business

 This week, a piece or two of the 2023 Chinese balloon business (over the US) came out.

What the Pentagon came to admit?  Well....it was designed in a pretty simple way to connect to some US internet carrier on the ground....doing a data dump (I assume photos/imagery)....on a continual basis (meaning no satellite was necessary).

I pondered over this. 

Basically, it'd be like me turning to some 16-year old geeky kid and saying I want some imagery of a country....desiring to spend very little.  The kid would suggest some cheap connection deal.  He'd go down the list with Spectrum, Cox, Century Link, Horizon, and Xfinity.  He'd explain how crappy connectivity is with Xfinity, or how limited Horizon is in certain regions.  Then we'd go and sign up with the right carrier.

The engineer who designed this?  I would imagine he's been to a US college and knows some various ways to cut corners....doing thing cheaply.

The fact that you could have 500 of these balloons ready to go?  I would imagine there's a warehouse somewhere and probably just five or six guys running this whole operation.