Well.....if this is about DeSantis and Newsom, then yes.
The ad campaign? Well...it'll be ex-California people talking about why they left the state for Florida, and junkie dudes talking about why they came to California.
It's hard to imagine some national election being about the failures of one state versus the accomplishments of another.
Folks in the other 48 states? They will be sitting there and wondering how screwed up Florida might be....or how unlivable California might be.
In the ancient times, out in the middle of Russia....there was this 'hybrid' of man called the Denisovans. To be honest, other than one single bone so far.....they haven't really found much to lay out this story.
So from the bone business, they've come to this interesting DNA situation. These were the people who were all built up to be natural autism 'carriers'. Yeah, they were the star-counters, and consumed with passion over anything they thought about.
I saw a podcast this week, and the topic came up over their autism angle.
So you imagine this valley in the heart of Russia....where fifty-odd folks lived 40,000 years ago, and every single one of them are some stone-age 'Sheldon Cooper' type individual. They probably had 15,000 words in their vocabulary in a short amount of time. They probably charted more than 3,000 stars. They probably had more than 1,000 food items to be prepared over a open fire.
Freaks of nature? Well...it just makes you wonder. And what happened to them? That's another thing you have to wonder about.
Footnote: Austism folks are three times more likely to have paranoid schizophrenia. So this tribal unit might not have had a long span of time.
There are three key problems with Trump, and for these reasons....I think the path ought to be cleared up, and just let DeSantis go and do the things that Trump couldn't do.
The three issues:
1. Trump....for each three folks he hired....brought in one idiot or dimwit. Some of this, you can blame on Trump himself....some on the RNC who had some stupid say, and some on insiders to the Trump 'camp'.
I'm not saying DeSantis is that much better....but I'd like to see kind of lesson learned, and DeSantis using a better process to hinder poor picks, or to prevent idiots from coming onboard.
2. Trump got loose on Twitter. Out of every five things he spoke to....three were absolutely what needed to be said....one thing was just there to irate news media, and one thing was purely his dry sense of humor.
If you asked me how much that DeSantis uses Twitter.....I doubt if he makes more than two statements a week.
3. Finally, DeSantis has a bulldog....something that Trump never had.
That bulldog? Christina Pushaw.
As fierce as Trump might have been on politicians and the news media....she's actually twice as tough. Trump never had anyone like that.....he had to do both the executive job and the talking job himself.
Frankly, if Pushaw were to last around for the whole four year period....it would be a terrible pain for the news journalists to 'outplay' her.
It's not that I seem disenchanted with Trump or all the investigative matters.....it's just that he was his own worst enemy at times. Suggesting to buy Greenland? A good joke, but taken literally by tens of millions of folks.
As for VP? Well....I have some thoughts on that, and I'd kinda like to see a non-politician.
I sat and read through a piece from the Department of Transportation, where Pete Buttigieg did a big hype.
Buttigieg is concerned about the numbers for first half of 2022....where a quarter of all flights were delayed in some fashion, and 3-percent were just plain cancelled.
Some government guy trying to fix or resolve what is a private industry issue? Yeah, and generally....this tends to make a bigger mess out of things.
If you go back over thirty years....you can find various periods and airlines....that were 'hot-wired' to marginally function. Things would generally reach a level where customers just refused to buy their tickets....even if they were discounted heavily.
One odd element of the current mess, a fair number of pilots in this Covid period....got tired of waiting, and found other jobs or airlines to work for. So recruiting new pilots is a difficult thing.
My worst experience with cancellations? I was sent from Germany to a Air Force school in west Texas for a four-week class. Things ran fine from Frankfurt to Dallas....then I had to progress from Dallas to a town on the far end of Texas where the base was located.
The 1:30 PM flight was cancelled (it was 105 F and it was too hot for this particular plane to take off). That moved me to a 3:00 PM flight.....but same story (it was cancelled). That moved me to a 5:00 PM flight....it was cancelled.
Eventually, around 7:00 PM....they had brought some larger frame aircraft out and were flying around 120 of us via that plane.....to resolve all of delay issues.
I wasn't that hyped-up or negative about the experience....it is what it is.
I admit....the whole system developed and set into motion around the US....hinges on you making two or three 'legs' to your trip, and a simple six-hour plan could easily fall apart.....putting you into chaos to find a hotel room in Memphis because the second 'leg' simply can't occur today.
But you really don't want the US government to be in the middle of this.....trying to suggest they can fix it. The only outcome in this mess....would make a ticket twice as expensive.
1. He never graduated from high school. Highest level completed....ninth grade.
2. He could not spell or write in a coherent fashion.
3. His IQ level suggested around age 16 was estimated to be 118.
4. Just about everyone who knew him in high school....said he was temperamental and it took very little to set him off.
5. The apartment Oswald was given in Minsk (for 13 months of living there) was a 1 room situation, with a bathroom in the hallway. He never paid any rent.
6. The 13 months of employment while in Minsk? He was a lathe-operator for a TV-manufacture operation. Remember, these were the old fashion TVs with a lot of wood in the system.
7. Oswald's job in Dallas? Basically to take book orders....find the books....putting them in a box to be shipped out.
8. Upon completing bootcamp, Oswald only fired twice for the range. First time.....middle of the pack. Second time....marginally passed.
9. Oswald finished the Marines with a hardship situation, but had a honorable discharge.
10. The ship that Oswald sailed to Europe, to exit the US, was a freighter.
The Keller Independent School District in Texas has gone to remove 41 books from the school library....while they do some type of review on content guidelines (handed down by the board).
So, here's the thing....among the 41 books....the Bible did make the list.
The chief question? Appropriate reading material for juveniles?
I sat and contemplated this.
First, I admit....there's a ton of violent episodes that fall into play with the Bible, and for fragile people....you probably should avoid it.
Second, it's mostly a male-dominated situation. Out of 1,700-odd names in the Bible....only 170 are female. That might bother some fragile folks.
Third, no matter how you detail Revelations....it just seems to be some guy writing it who might have sipped a bit too much wine, or smoked a fair amount of Cannabis.
Fourth, this Genesis chapter leaves about 700 unanswered questions laying there, and for some fragile folks....it's way too much to grasp.
Fifth, this guy Moses....seems to be awful blunt on management technique.
Sixth, on hardships....the whole book is pretty demanding that you stand....take on purpose in life and not lay back to play 'victim-status'. For fragile folks....you'd have to abandon your feelings.
Seventh, this mercy and compassion stuff....dumped almost on every single page....is an awful lot to handle as a fragile person.
What'll happen in this review? I suspect a number of folks will say that the Bible should only be read in youth groups where there is supervision, and some moderator there to handle fragile folks who might fall apart. Also, there probably ought to be some safe 'zone' created for fragile folks to escape to.....if readings were too much for them to handle.
Before Covid came along, my wife felt it would be wonderful to do a cruise (we'd never done that type of trip before).
My wife and I often differ on traveling arrangements. She is more of a frugal-basic-travel, and I'm one to view trips as a special operation where things should work (mechanically). In simple terms....being frugal for me....is not an option.
So she arranged this voyage. There was a travel special she saw....some 30-year old liner which would pick you up in the Den Haag area of the Netherlands, sail to the Fjords of Norway, sail back and spend a day 30 minutes by train to London, then return to Amsterdam.
I gazed at this and kept quiet.....there were at least ten violations of common sense. Mixing a few Germans on a vessel with mostly Brits....was just one of those problem areas.
The all-you-can-drink package was not that clear, and we were unable to get the 'box' to click....so I wasted two hours over the phone for a week....trying to get the travel people to add this.
The trip started from Frankfurt's Airport....which had around an hour delay (weather). We arrived in the Amsterdam Airport to discover it was one of the most complicated airports in Europe.
The hired driver to pick us up? That took about an hour to find the guy. I'll just say that he was not a Dutch guy, or a European.
Upon the arrival at the dock? The five-minute check-in took around 30 minutes instead.
The cabin? It was outdated and cramped. In the closet sat two life-preservers which had to be a minimum of 15 years old.
The all-you-could-drink package? It was some 3rd-world booze....no more than 12-percent alcohol....so you could order gin sours all day long....forty of them, and never get more than marginally drunk. I think on the 3rd day, from 9 AM to 11 PM....I hit that 40 gin sour point.
The food? There were two dining areas....one that served the luxury meal, and one that was for average folks. You had to pay extra on your reservation (three months prior) to get on the luxury list. Upon discovery of this....I had to slip 40 Euro to some Philippine guy to move us to the right list. I'm not saying food was that much better, but it went from 2.1 stars to 2.5 stars.
The briefing on the evening of the first day about evacuation business....manning of the life-boats, etc? Well....we had to show up with two antique life vests, and sit for 15 minutes to get the lecture. "Marvin", our Philippine guy who did cabin clean-up....was supposed to lead our rescue raft. My level of trust was marginal that this would all work.
As the vessel parted from the dock around 8 PM....there was this 'bump'. The vessel had a five-second shake. I suggested to my wife that something wasn't right. It felt like the propeller broke.
For about an hour, we made way on some canal, and eventually docked where 'Scuba-diver-Joe' came out and assessed the propeller. It'd hit something....made a tree....maybe a golf cart....maybe a WW II submarine. 'Scuba-diver-Joe' eventually said things were fine, and off we sailed. Time wasted while 'Joe' drove over and examined things? Maybe three hours....or four gin sours (depending on how you want to count time).
Day two would be the time to assess breakfast. On a scale of one to ten....it was a three. The bacon must have come out of a WW II rations kit. The eggs had a funny sodium-like taste. The coffee was stuff that we'd had in the Air Force chow hall.
I did my best to sip through gin sours, but never got past twenty on this day. That evening, we went to a Brit comedian show.....where the guy told jokes mostly from the 1980s. To be honest, we wasted a lot of time....doing mostly nothing.
That night....around midnight, as I was sleeping....'Captain Frank' came on the intercom in the room. My heart got to beating and I was in some Desert Storm PTSD moment....thinking we'd hit the iceberg and needed to trust on 'Marvin' and that stupid rescue boat.
No....it was actually worse than that. The blade was screwed up, and would never make it to Norway. 'Captain Frank' was turning the vessel around....in simple terms, the trip was now cancelled.
It was a brief message. Then my wife wanted to talk about this...for at least 90 minutes. There's not much to exchange on this type of discussion, but she rambled on about this and that. I suggested at some point maybe the boat is leaking....which led to various questions about how you'd know it was leaking. That probably didn't help settle matters.
Breakfast the next day was a pretty interesting situation. Numerous Brits I came into contact with that morning....admitted that the midnight thing had caused heart ailments and several folks had to see the ship doctor.
At least 500 people wanted a detailed report at this point....what we were going to get, and how would we return home. No one knew much of anything.
The vessel was moving back to Amsterdam at three-quarter speed.
I sipped through forty-odd gin sours that day, and eating around a dozen ice cream sticks....avoiding the garbage lunch menu.
Day four, we were at the dock, but they were openly discussing the problems. No one would say anything about the going home arrangement or the mess. We lounged all day aboard the vessel....with me sipping twenty-odd gin sours.
The next day (day five), we were given a piece of paper to explain a free trip in the future. A bus would come by around 8:30 and take us to the train station in Amsterdam. The arrangements? Nothing. They were basically dumping us at the train station and letting us figure out the way back.
I knew some things of the station and led the wife to the appropriate counter....getting first-class rail tickets, and an arrangement for a early afternoon return to central Germany. From this point, I was in chaos planning and being frugal wasn't on my agenda.
We then handed the bags to a storage area, and walked around Amsterdam for three hours. Breakfast? Well....McDonalds.
The refund? Well....it was a piece of paper to say a free trip would come in the next six months. The train fare? They agreed to pay, with no issue.
Six months would pass and I discovered one day....the liner was bankrupt and folded up. The free trip? Gone.
The wife bringing up another voyage? Yeah, I kinda hinted in strong words....one was enough. It's funny....about once a year, I will awaken at 1 AM.....from some dream where Captain Frank is announcing the evacuation is underway, and we boarded some stupid raft. I refer to it as the voyage PTSD thing. I mostly go back to sleep dreaming of sipping through a gin sour.
The highlight of the whole trip? This was a voyage with mostly retirees (mostly British retirees). Some guy had brought along his 20-year old mistress, while the ex-wife of his was with her group from the village. At some point, with enough alcohol in both women (one 20 years old....a bit of a Cinderella-bitchy gal and other 65 years old....who seemed to have threatened a few people in life verbally)....they were getting close to a 'cat-fight', and insulting each other left and right. I watched from thirty feet away and must admit....it was the highlight of the whole trip. Neither did much, but insult each other ('you whore this, you whore that'). I don't think the husband/ex-husband grasped much of anything....he was mostly passed out.
I assessed that he was a lucky guy....to have that many women fighting over him.
(Note: it is my belief that shot glass for the gin added....had the bottom half of the glass filled, so you never got more than half-a-shot of booze in drink. If it'd been a true gin sour, with the waves threshing around....I probably would have thrown up a dozen times.
