Thursday 18 March 2021

The Interview

 I sat and watched the three clips of George Stephanopoulos doing the interview with President Biden.  

So I'll make four observations:

1.  George does lead off and ask the big question of the border chaos, and what you get is a marginal two-star couple of minutes of explanation.  There is no follow-up....no challenges....no in-depth discussion.  On the part of Stephanopoulos, I'd give him marginal scores how this was handled.

2.  The five minutes on the legislative agenda?  It's nifty talk and showing some path to the future.  Beyond that?  Getting any of it passed is a big question-mark.  

3.  On wit and cognitive skills....nothing stands out.  I admit....it did seem rehearsed to some degree, but at no point did Joe's wife have to step in to halt the interview.

4. Finally, if you brought out 'hyped-up' or 'thrilling'.....comparing against President Obama or President Clinton....Biden just doesn't rack up or compare at this point in his life to Obama or Clinton.  Look, folks didn't really vote for him to be the savior-President....he's just some replacement in their mind to President Trump.  That's the sales pitch....the reason you accept a 24-year-old car with 300k miles on it....because you have literally no real choices.

How long before the next interview?  I would make a humble guess that you won't see this type of interview done again until the summer vacation period comes up.  

Watching Video

I sat last night and watched raw video from the Texas border....around six minutes worth....with migrant 'kids' who've crossed the border.

So three things really stand out.  For each female you see (teenage female)....there's probably twelve male migrant 'kids'.  For male 'kid' age?  I'd put the bulk of males at ages fourteen to sixteen.  Finally....at least three 'kids' from this video collection...I'd put at age six to eight.  

A magnificent mess?  

You go and listen to the PhD guys do the numbers and they generally believe between now and the end of the year.....between 175k and 200k 'youths' will arrive at the border.  The Biden policy?  They won't be sent home.

So then you ask....how do you handle this?

My humble guess/scenario?

You go to one-hundred-odd communities around the US, and approach the city-child-services organization....more or less....stating that you will dump kids at their door-step.

In the beginning, it'll be a busload of sixty kids that they dump. A city like SF will hype up their acceptance, and the SF child-services agency will demand around $50,000 a year per kid....to cover maintenance, housing, food, medical care, English tutoring, and school costs.  

A month later (April)....another sixty passenger bus arrives.  The cost factor moves up a notch....$55k a year.  

A month later (May)....another sixty passenger bus arrives.  SF child-services now admit a problem in managing the young males (13-to-17 years old).  They admit that a quarter of their in-home managers have quit because of intimidation or threats. They up the cost factor to $65k a year.

A month later (June)....three sixty passenger buses arrive.  SF child-services is now in crisis mode and admitting that thirty of the 'kids' from the original bus have disappeared.  They also admit that five of the 'kids' are in juvenile detention, and legal help is costly.  They tell the US government (the Biden administration) that the new cost level is $95k a year.  

A month later (July)....nine sixty passenger buses arrive.  SF child-service has reached maximum crisis level and admitting that they have lost track of 150 of the kids delivered since March.  The new rate of cost?  It's reaching upwards to $125k per kid, per year.

Journalists in August from various bay area news outlets are now asking if the crisis can ever be brought under control.  

The mayor and city council by November...reach a stage where they tell the Biden administration that they've hit maximum capacity, and they want roughly $300k per year.  

That's just one single town on one single scenario.  Multiply it by 100.