Priorities of 2024 Election....Upside Down?

 Someone sat a political function last night (in NH of all places) and asked Nicki Halley....what was the cause/trigger of the Civil War...wanting her to just say something to the concept of slaves/slavery.   Halley paused for a minute.....avoided the phrase of slavery....saying something to the effect 'basically how the government was going to run'.  

She knows in states like NC, SC, and Georgia....one stupid phrase would cease her chances of an election.  

I paused over this.  I've spent probably 400 man-hours over the past decade reading through the period of 1800 to 1860....with 50-odd books. A good bit of this had to do with western trails to Oregon, life in the prairie region, and the spiral going on with relations between the south and north.

It is curious.....158 years have passed and the Civil War conflict has now emerged as a leading topic of the 2024 election.  Republican candidates (other than Trump) are stuck....they are a member of the party that devoted their entire existence in 1860 on ending slavery, but cannot feel a passion for the effort done....158 years later.

The problem in dragging this topic up?  Well....if you were a Democratic Party guy, you surely wouldn't want the public to figure out that you were the party in 1860 to proudly push continuation of slavery in America.

If you asked Biden or Harris over this....both would give you a deer-in-the-headlights look...like what the hell are you asking me over this for?

If you asked college students who participated in the war, or won the war, or was President during the war?  I would guess two-thirds of these college youth would not be able to answer.

Should the Civil War ending be a 2024 discussion topic?  If so....will we eventually go back to discuss the Revolutionary War and how it was wrong to leave the English kingdom business?  Will we go and discuss how winning WW I....simply led to creation of Hitler and WW II?  Will we go and admit that the steroid era of baseball destroyed the sport?  Will we go and admit that 1920 prohibition era was a total joke?  Will we finally sit down and admit that inches/feet should be shredded, and we should go metric?

Yeah, these are all crap-topics and worthless to engage in....but we've made ourselves so stupid....we can't seem to leave some paranoid schizophrenic stage of life.  

As for understanding how things existed in 1850?  You'd have to understand basic economics, the consequences of adding non-slave states to the union, the continual collapse of banks for the thirty years leading up to the Civil War, and downward spiral of agricultural enterprise in the south for the decades prior to the war.  I should also state....behavioral collapse and alcoholism in the capital was daily feature of life in DC.  

Five Humble Thoughts

 1.  If you have some associate or relative who've gone to the dark-side on pronouns and weird behavior....just treat them as if they were afflicted with schizophrenia.  Keep a 6-ft distance and avoid all conversation.   Just note in your mind....they can't rationally think or behave.....with the chatter mostly about imaginary things.

2.  It's not something that I've put a lot of thought into.  Years ago (prior to the 1990s) most all washing machines used a total of 40 gallons of water to conduct one single washing of clothes.  

At some point, that was considered excessive, and new standards occurred....where the washers were mostly designed to use 20-to-25 gallons of water.  

In the past decade, most all washers have gone to a newer standard....with top-load washers using 12-to-17 gallons.  Front-load?  Now in the range of 7-to-8 gallons.

Apparently, the Biden administration has decided to find a way to lessen number of gallons even more.  The day will come in approximately 20 years where you are told to wear the same underwear for 10 days straight....to save on washing.

3. It is amazing to me....President Biden works at a 20-hour-a-week part-time job....yet still requires almost sixty days of vacation per year.

4.   You could ask who participated in the Civil war....who won the Civil War, and ask who was the President during the period...to find that more than two-thirds of college students have no idea to the answers.

So why even bring up Civil War history on CNN?

5.  If you have behavioral issues as an adult, and seem to be acting like a 8-year old kid....then you aren't an adult.  General respect from me to you....won't exist.  

Evolution of News

 I grew up in a rural area in the 1960s/1970s.  For decades prior to that period....you got your news via the local newspaper, maybe an occasional Nashville paper, and the regional AM stations.  Total content?  In a full day....maybe 30 minutes of value.

For my era?  You had three network news groups (ABC, NBC, and CBS).  We were mostly a NBC-user.  Besides the local radio station....on a good night, you could get Nashville and St Louis radio news.  Time, Newsweek, and a couple of oddball news magazines...would drift occasionally into the house.  Total content?  Maybe between 30 and 60 minutes.  

As I left for the real world....I had two sources of news in my first two years of military life in Germany....AFN-TV/Radio  and Stars and Stripes.  The S/S crew gave you just enough material to read through in 20 minutes.  

1990s?  Things evolved.  You now had talk-radio, NPR, CNN and by 2000.....you had various internet sources trying to cut into the TV news pattern.

Since 2010....more evolution.

If I measured things today?   Via Fox, CNN or the TV empire folks....there's probably less than 20 minutes of a week that I give them.  I watch various TV news from the UK and Germany.  

Podcasts?  I can add up a typical week and admit that I watch information pieces or hear conversational discussions....adding up to 20 hours a week now.  

Me engaging into muting?  Yeah, there's various talks or topics that once I hear who the guest is, or the path of the 'talk'....I'll hit mute without much thought. 

If you asked where things are going?  I'd question how the NY Times, WaPo, Newsweek, Time or CNN folks survive in the next five years.  Local TV news?  If the Chevy/Ford/Toyota/GM folks sink because of slowing sales....the primary folks who pay for the local nightly news will go away.

My skeptical views?  It's double what it was a decade ago.  There's forty-politicians (from both parties) that I mute on a regular basis.  I don't really want to hear their message or BS.  There are governors now....that I have zero respect for and mute without much discussion.

Just news alone?  No....sports reviews/news have fallen into the same spiral.  

Twitter having caused some of this evolution?  Oh, there was tons of contributing factors way before Twitter came along.  

The odd thing to really consider....the evolution was fairly slow and moderate through each decade.  In the past five years?  I'd now say that evolution of news is at  pace where we will see AI creating/writing half of the news within five years.  If you wanted a particular brand/message or theme....you will be able to sign up for some service where you get the right voice, the right words, and the type of news you would accept.

Paul Harvey-2030 brand is likely to be re-created, compliments of AI.

I'm not saying things will be better....just more evolution. 

Note: My top twenty-odd podcasts?

- Danny Jones (lot of crazy interviews, some science stuff)

- Soft White Underbelly (interviews with people who've fallen into the dark pits of life)

- I Allegedly (lot of economic, banking and commerce news)

- Girl With The Dogs (for some reason, I like watching her wash/groom dogs)

- Royal Rogue (mostly anti-Prince Harry stuff)

- Robert Sepehr (history stuff)

- Valuetainment Clips (lot of commerce, business chatter)

- Metal Leo (does walks around SF and shows decline)

- Joe Blogs (economic analysis)

- A Word on Westerns (Cowboy movie talks)

- Sepentza (blunt China discussions)

- Godfrey Bloom Official (business chatter over UK)

- Zeihan on Geopolitics (business and stability analyst)

- Uneducated Economist (talks a good bit over US economy)

- Matt Walsh

- Trigonometry (two Brit comedians who take on serious topics)

- The Randall Carlson (science stuff, collapse of civilization)

- Voice of North Korea (Yeonomi Park, 1st class analysis of events there)

- Conservative Twins (two black guys who have a mix of humor and politics)

- 1420 (Russian university student who asks questions on the streets of Russia)

- Peter Boghossian (master of debate and reason)

- Lex Clips (Lex Fridman, science stuff)

- Sabbatical (guy on a long journey)

- Brent Pella (California comedian, does a 4-star imitaion of Gov Newsom)

- News for Reasonable People (real estate expert, talks over the decline on the west coast)

- Doctor John Campbell (medical stuff for the normal human being)

- Darkhorse (science, political chatter from a husband-wife duo....very insightful)

- Joe Rogan

Three Humble Thoughts

 1. Abrosexuality.  This came up in the news and I had to go look it up.

So the meaning is....at various stages of your life (figure from age 13 to 75)....you have various things/partners that thrill you, then it peaks out, and other things/partners thrill you.  The folks making up this definition also say....you could be gay for several years....flip over to bi for several years, then even flip to straight.

The kind of people without many relationship attachments?  Well....yeah, I'd say that you'd reach age 75 with a tally of 300-odd partners in your life, and probably never marry.

2.  What'll really happen at the end of the Hamas/Israel conflict?

I'd suggest that around half-a-million of the Gaza Strip folks will have had enough of the conflict business and Hamas, and find avenues to migrant into Europe.  For Europe to accept them?  I doubt if they will be thrilled about this.

Hamas in the end, without much thinking or thought....will have ceased the need for the Gaza Strip.   

3. I'm of the belief that college loans are on a drop-dead path....probably to occur in 2026....where the government will refuse to participate any longer in loans.  There in a brief 6-month period, you will witness absolute chaos where colleges have only 40-percent of the normal 'new' folks entering and roughly half of the returnees with money to afford the 'gimmick'.

In a flash....dismissals of professors/lecturers will occur at a rate never seen, and shock the intellectual crowd.

Where these folks end up?  Probably in some homeless situation in California.

Series Recommedation

 Last night, I wrapped up a new Netflix short series entitled "Gyeongseong Creature".  Ten episodes of 45 minutes each.

So what I'll say....if you wanted a five-star scripted piece.....I'd recommend the series.  The story has twists and turns....fairly decent acting....a 'monster', and is a South Korean production.  

Oddly, they didn't wrap up the final episode....it simply leaves you wondering  about the creature, and a potential new creature.  Next series?  Supposed to arrive in January of 2024.  

Off Netflix....a good piece if you wanted 'fun' and a good popcorn series to view.

The $20-An-Hour Story

 Come 1 April 2024....in California.....fast-food operations will be forced to proceed to a $20-an-hour pay-scale.

Last week, Pizza Hut in California gave termination notices to 1,200 folks in preparation for this.

Massive scale layoffs to come?  It would appear so.  It wouldn't shock me if state-wide between now and 1 April....probably 25,000 folks are given notice.  

If you do order food?  I would imagine that you can expect double the time for pick-up and delivery service will shock you on pricing.  What was a $18 pizza before....probably will go to $25 to $29 now.

The terminated folks?  Well....with the vast training and expertise in delivery or creating fast food....there's not going to be much of a market...unless you leave the state.

I'm not saying the move to $20 is wrong....but you have to accept the consequences along the way.

'Black Swain' Chatter

 I sat and watched a CBS news piece, where one of their top folk made the prediction of a 'Black Swain' event in 2024.

I had to look up the meaning of 'Black Swain'.  It sort of means....an event occurring out of thin air (no warning) and having a catastrophic affect for the general public.  I know....it's a crappy word-game and poor definition.

To be honest, under my view.....there must be 15,000 of these 'Black Swain' events every year.  That Alabama deputy (Vicky White) who helped the prisoner to escape (Casey White)....would fall under this stupid word-game.

President Biden tripping up the Air Force One stairway.....'Black Swain'.

But the emphasis by the CBS reporter....this would be an event that folks would remember for decades (like JFK's killing, 1929 Wall Street collapse, and Hitler coming into power).

The fact that President Biden got an county-approved plan for a 'bunker' construction project of some size to be built at his Delaware property?   Maybe he knows something about 2025?

This 'Black Swain' chatter just being BS?  Well....yeah, that's a fair possibility.  Course, maybe she refers to some government chatter over the aliens and UFOs....that some crashed vehicles have been retrieved.