Four Things

 1.  Are there any business formulas for operations with heavy shop-lifting rates?

Basically, you spend a fair amount of money on cameras, extra security, prosecution  and preventative actions....passing the cost to regular customers.  So if a pair of tennis shoes in a 'safe' place was $40....it's probably $50 to $60 in a heavy shop-lift landscape.

And if you were wondering why Amazon seems cheaper than your mall-store.....well....this is why.

2.  How many hoaxes have you stumbled across in the past 12 months, and does it start to bother you?

3.  There's not a week that goes by....where I see someone on TV (the news) and I question their IQ rate....thinking it's below 80.  It wasn't this way in the 1990s.

4.  In the past month, I've started to think that Epstein was bluffing everyone...was NOT working for the CIA or Mossad, and probably was connected in some way to FSB (the former KGB of Russia).

The Air Force Tie 'Code'

 Of all the Air Force uniform combinations....the one I hated with passion for 22 years....was the blues-with-a-tie-but-no-jacket combination.

In this combo.....you had the  shirt buttoned to the top....a tie worn, and the tie had to reaching the belt, but not extending past the belt bottom.

So I never  learned the art of tying a tie until after I left the  Air Force.  This meant a 'clip-on'.....and the stupid tie never reached belt top (I'm a tall guy).  So this once-to-twice a year situation....meant I had to wear the jacket.  

I noticed this past week....the CMSgt of the Air Force....got written up for a photo op....where he wore the blue combo shirt, with the tie about one inch above the belt.  I'd take a guess he was wearing a clip-on.  

Yeah, it's a stupid fashion 'rule', and it simply makes people anti-tie.  

The 'Tent-Tribe'

 At some point between 2010 and 2020....if you traveled around Seattle, Portland, LA or SF....you started to notice a collection of 'Tent-Tribes'....mostly homeless people that had the cash to buy camping equipment (either a tent, camper-trailer, or RV) and they just hung out. 

I asked someone where this originated, and the answer given was that rent reached a level where the dysfunctional folks had no options left. If you'd asked about 1930's hobos....it was the same answer....they camped out  because they couldn't afford rent.

What's different between now and the 1930s?  Oddly....people respect the lifestyle of the Tent-Tribe today.  In the 1930s....no one wanted them in their town or neighborhood.

Yeah, it's like an Indian tribal thing....they got respect...mostly for living like some Indian on the open plains.

Construct?

For several years, I've had this problem.  At least five to ten times a week....I hear someone being interviewed or via a podcast....talking about a 'CONSTRUCT'.  They don't really go into detail....just that CONSTRUCT is important, and I probably need to respect it.

So I spent yesterday reading up.

Construct simply means that you had this idea,  or concept....that was created out of thin-air...to explain something.  

I'm not saying it's factual or legit....just that you heard about this complex situation, and you pondered upon it...coming to a construct.

This would be like you hearing that the McDonalds ice cream machine frequently breaks down, and you've created a 17-page Construct to explain this to non-intellectuals.

The problem ere...is that you probably started off with the Construct details being fairly complex phenomena.  If you'd asked about daily maintenance of the McDonalds ice cream machine....you'd find that maybe one guy in the whole  building understands the dynamics of daily and the other 34 folks aren't keen on maintenance.  

Yeah, in my Construct....the McDonalds ice cream problem is five lines at best (not 16 pages), and  you don't need to divide folks into intellectual or non-intellectual groups.

I went to college in the 1980s, and I don't remember any of this Construct-BS. It has to be something  blended in with the 2010 to 2020 era.

My problem today?  Once you say 'Construct'....I probably cut off a good thirty-percent of my attention span, and am mostly skeptical about the topic you want to explain.

Establishing a 'Construct' of a 'Construct'?  That's another odd point....if you can't really get to the problem and the solution  within a 60-second period....most folks are likely not to buy into your analysis.

I'm of the mind that we are drifting around to a anti-Construct era....where no one wants to hear your problem or solution.

Five Predictions

 1. Saskatchewan and Alberta (Canada) will hold a separate-from-Canada vote by spring of 2026.  Both will pass with around 60 to 70 percent of the vote. By the end of 2026, they will not be part of Canada. Over 2027, a 2nd vote to occur....to  join the US as 51st, and 52nd state. 

And if you were wondering about 'spiral' left for the remaining pieces of Canada....I'd say Manitoba follows.....a year later....with British Columbia.  Figure four states added by 2030.  

2.  By 2027, an effort will start to bring Guam, and the Northern Marianna Islands....in as one US state.

3.   John Brennan will have a heart-attack and die before a Grand Jury can hear his statement.

4.  The Fed is probably not going to survive 'as-is' currently.  Whether the Democrats and Republicans can come to some reorg-chart discussion...unknown.

5.  The entire Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.....will disappear by the end of 2025 (not deported, just disappear into the US).