AI Story

 I sat and watched an interview with Bumble founder.....Whitney Wolfe Herd....who got into a talk about the future of dating.

So her idea is that Artifical Intelligence (AI) is very shortly reaching a stage where you would talk to your AI-date-handler, and it would have reviewed 'options' (say 100,000 people)....to recommend 'winners'.

How many questions would have to be asked and measured?  She doesn't say, but I would imagine this is a four-hour interview to reach 1,000 conclusions about your expectations.

If you say it has to be a gal who cooks....knows something about timing belts, is at least 35 years old, and drinks beer from the can.....it might only list four people from the entire state.....then mention that two of the ladies are in the state prison.

To me, the question comes up....would you trust the AI to find the dream-person?

Then you come to the obvious....what if people lied about the 1,000 answers they gave to the AI?

How many filters would a 45-year old guy establish?  Five?  Twelve?  Forty?  

I paused over this...just on myself?  I might have twenty hard NO-GO filters established.  I wouldn't want a cult-gal....someone who constantly wants to walk on beaches...a paranoid schizophrenic....a Amazon-shaped gal who was a former wrestler....someone with ten weird tattoos.....or a Vega-gal.  Environmentalist?  No.  Two-pack a day smoker?  No.  

I would imagine these AI folks would eventually come around and tell you in a blunt way.....you made it too difficult....there ain't anyone that weird to fit your profile.

Economics Chatter

 I saw this today on social media. Burger King pricing going up.

The thing that might bother people?  Well....how would summer of 2025 look?  A whopper being up around $8.50?  Fries being near $4.40?  

This is the problem with the inflation scale....you just don't have a slowing down affect within your line of sight.

Sticker-shock in 18 months....where you walk into a BK...finding the Double-Whopper menu....at $30 for one person?  

Same trend for pizza?  Where you might find a normal $15 2019-pizza....going for $22 today, and in the fall of 2025....maybe $30?

Counting Story

 I sat and paused over this AP story.  What the whole thing boils down to....the state of Califoria is reaching a point where they would NOT be able to complete a vote-count for probably two months.

Not able to finish by the time that the Electoral College convenes?  More or less....that's the case.

In fact, you could have lawsuits preventing the state from progressing until the ballots have been counted not just once but maybe twice.

Preventing an Electoral College ending?  Yeah, you get that impression.

Four Humble Thoughts Over The Demonstrations On College Campuses

 1.  Having seen some of the media interactions/interviews with the riot-players....I question how bright they seem....if attending college, and would ask.....is it possible to get a refund on your tuition if you are that 'stupid'.

2.  Looking at the destruction elements....at the end, someone has to clean up the mess and repair the buildings. This means a cost-factor.  I'm just guessing....for the August 2025 tuition 'number'....go start figuring a 30-to-40 percent increase on tuition.

3.  Trying to stay on this 'topic' for more than three days?  Personally, I just don't see  more than five minutes of interest in a 12-hour viewing cycle.  I'd have more interest with the Braves infield after spring-training, or Biden's walking style.

4.  If you handed a map to the protest-university crowd and asked them to point out the Gaza Strip....I doubt if 5-percent could locate it on a map.

Tuition Chatter

 This past weekend, I was clearing out stuff and came to a 1976 notebook.  

In that fall (I was in the 11th grade)....they had bused us all to some county 'opportunities' day.  Here were five or six colleges....number of trade of schools, and the military recruitment folks.

My conversation with the Auburn/Univ of Alabama folks?  Yearly tuition was $1,500...books were $250, and a whole year of room/board was priced at $1,700 roughly.  I wrote all this into the notebook.

The trouble in assessing all of this...I had no idea of a real occupation or path.  

The military recruitment folks?  The Navy guy seemed hyped-up to interest me.  Marines....less so.  The Air Force had me sold but then the pay thing came up....E1 equaled $400 a month (taking out taxes/SS....you made around $300 a month). 

That Friday night came and I spent two hours thinking over this, and concluded on numbers....the Air Force path made more sense.

Funny, I kept the notebook over the years.  

If you tried to price Auburn today?  Year of tuition is around $12.5k....books around $1,200, and room/board near $15.4k.  Then you come to beer, insurance, and extra pocket-money....probably near $8k a year.

An Election Rule Or Two You Might Want To Remember

In the event we pass the Democratic Convention (19 August to 23 August), and something happens to President Biden....to say he's out as a candidate (health issues one might assume)....what happens?

Well....the Democrats are 'empowered' to fill the empty seat, and it does NOT have to be the VP moving up.  In this case, the party chair would have a talk with with Democratic governors and House/Senate leadership.

In this scenario, I believe it's entirely possible that both the President/VP seats would change out.  

States in a position to say 'no'?  There are two states which have ironclad rules about changing the names after mid-August.  So unless lawsuits occur.....there would be two states denying the name change.

The Republican?  If Trump were knocked out? the Republican National Committee has a rule offering a 2nd national convention or itself (the RNC) could select a new candidate.

Am I suggesting an Oswald-like scenario?  No....but if you asked me....how many FBI or CIA Oswalds currently exist in the US....I would laugh and suggest over 100 easily.

If you suddenly crossed both Joe and Kam off the list in mid-September through this scenario?  In a matter of just a month....Joe would be forgotten, and Kam acting as President....would get almost zero media attention.

Just a curious thing to think about.  

The Slacker Generation

 We had a term in the 1970s/1980s in the Air Force....that we used almost daily....'slacker'.

A 'slacker' was a guy (usually) who didn't put much effort into his work, or his life.  This was the junior airman who wore clothing until it had a ton of body order....meaning he washed his clothing maybe once a month.  This was the guy who mostly hung around the barracks.....if they could find a way to get out of work/duty, then they put effort into that....and they rarely did anything worth discussing except watch TV.

Yeah, a slacker was a loser.

So it occurred to me this week....there's hundreds of thousand of these 18-to-29 year old slackers now existing in America.....living out of dad's house, and doing little in the way of progressing or getting ahead in life.

The trouble here?  Well....slackers don't vote.  They also don't date or get into relationships.  They don't get credit cards....mostly because they have no income.  The Democratic or Republican parties having anything to offer slackers?  No.

Are they even interested in leaving or getting a job?  There's no indicator of that.

As this group grows in the next decade....what exactly can any politician offer....to make them happy?

The College Demonstrations After The Smoke Clears

 Ten thoughts:

1.  I don't see any of these ending by mid-summer or the start of fall classes.  

2.  I think these demonstrations will continue through the Democratic Convention and be a major problem for the city of Chicago.

3.  Nationwide?  I'll predict a minimum of 500 police file disability papers because of injuries.  End cost for police units throughout the US will exceed $1-billion for health cost, and early retirement.

4.  At least 300 lawsuits will be created against both private and public universities for failing to provide education and safety.  Some of these will roll through all of 2025, and even to the end of 2026.  Total cost?  Five-billion-dollars.

5.  Tuition upgrades/cost?  Just for this fall semester, I would imagine schools like Columbia (currently at $66k a year)....will move the tuition close to $71k for next year.  The increase for August 2025?  Probably closer to $79k.  

6.  The donation crowd to the big-name university operations?  They will quietly up and leave.  

7.  Several national corporations will make it clear.....they aren't interested in graduates from the affected universities....leaving over 20,000 2024/2025 graduates standing there with limited job prospects.  The Justice Department will attempt to 'punish' the corporations, but find zero respect.

8.  In several southern states, the protest folks will be shocked that their acts got them into a 5-year potential jail-sentence, and the legal help provided.....has little to offer for a deal.  Upon entering state prisons....most will find the educational level of the prisoners equal to their college-level, and ask how that was possible.

9.  Some leaker within the FBI will admit they are tracking well over $100-million coming in to support the demonstrations from Iran, China and Russia.  Congress will ask why they aren't doing anything, with the answer leading back  to Biden's circle.

10.  The question nationally will be asked.....if 18-year-old kids are going to college and coming out four years later....more stupid....why go to college?  

Homework Chatter

 I saw this California story today....over a draft bill....AB2999.  The bill more or less.....says there's too much homework, and teachers need to craft homework to be LESS.  

Trigger here?  The idea is.....too much stress for kids.

I pondered over this.  As a kid in rural Alabama...at best, I had about 45 minutes of homework per day dumped on me.  But with a pause here and there....I'd done about 20 minutes of this before leaving school at 3PM.  The rest I did by 9 PM that night.

So I'm wondering....are they dumping three hours of homework on kids in California?  Are kids too busy to do homework?  

Just begs a lot of questions.

The Banking 'Issue'

 The simple nature of this banking 'problem'?

Well....you have a bank that thought commercial real estate....from hotels to malls...could be built, developed and operated...paying back the bank for its involvement in acceptable risk.  

So Covid came along, and whatever strategy existed for office buildings, theaters, hotels, stores, or even bank buildings themselves....could not focus and carry on....paying the bank loan back.

The bank's problem?  Well...it was now stuck with a structure of a present value (say $10-million) when the bank loan from 2018 (20 years) was for $60-million.  Selling it for faked-up value?  Now impossible.

Then you add the car problem....where people were convinced that a $80k car was reasonable, and over eight years of your stable job situation....you could pay the loan back.  Well....that strategy also went south.

The bank recovers the $80k 2-year old car, which probably is worth $45k max at present, but the loan money missing is $12,000.  The used car market presently?  That's also part of the story....so the car probably won't sell for more than $40k.

Credit card also in the mix?  Yes.    Some folks stand there with $20,000 in debt, and can't make the minimum of $1,000 a month.  

Home loans?  Same story.

Cities with loans?  If you had 40-odd businesses shut down over the past year.....you probably aren't making as much on property tax or sales tax.  

Did we have this type of mess in 1929?   No.  That bank failure era was mostly due to mismanagement of the vault contents.....with the bank books and the contents not being equal.  

FDIC having the assets to cover this?  No. 

What I tend to expect?  Three things:

1.  I expect some rushed-up meetings with the Fed and the White House....probably by early July.  The Fed will quietly admit a minimum of 20 bank failures to arrive by the conclusion of July.

2.  I expect the full point lessen on the prime rate.....to simply speed things up on the collapse.

3.  At some point in mid-July, I expect a Monday night live speech by the President to reassure the public. 

4.  Shortly after the speech....I expect gold and Bit-Coin to jump in a massive way.  At this point, more than 40-million Americans will attempt to remove cash from their accounts....ONLY to find that there is a cash-limit of $250 per day, and $750 per week.

5.  I expect by mid-August....more than half the banks in the US are under some type of review and reorganization.  

By this point, President Biden will admit that there is a limit to what can be done, and that Treasury notes apparently can't be marketed now.....because consumers don't consider them to be trusted.

Trying to scare people?  No....just reviewing 1929 history, and things appear in some similar nature.  

Beep-Beep Story

 California has a draft bill (SB 961) which basically says....if you sell a new car in the state, it has to have the technology to track the GPS location, the speed on that road, and to have a warning 'sound' to tell you that you've exceeded the limit by 10 mph.

I'll just say if you went to most car companies....they have the general tracking technology already, but you'd have to pay 'extra' for the detailed map which has up-to-date speeds.  As for the warning sound?  It's probably a 8-minute problem for some Japanese guy to wrap up.  

The question is....would you really want to pay extra for the monthly updates to the map technology, and do you really need a 'beep' to tell you that you exceeded the limit?

Would the beep sound eventually be replaced by some tune....like 'Highway to Hell'?

All of this just adding to the average cost of a car?  Well....yeah, that does seem to be the path.

Who Is Lee Oswald Today?

 My 2024 version of 1963's Lee Oswald?

He's a vet...probably having done a couple of years in the Army.  He's probably from some urban situation of the 2010 era.  

He ended up recruited by some foundation group that has some Republican agenda, and has been paid on various occasions to don a 'uniform', and carry Americana flags while wearing sunglasses.

About once a month, some guy from the foundation group comes by and leaves $3,000 in a cash envelop....for work accomplished.

On his social media page....he's anti-Biden...pro-Trump.  

He's lived in five or six locations since leaving the Army, and is on some medication for anxiety and panic issues.  He hasn't been on a date since 2019.  He games in his spare time.

The CIA/FBI have used in twenty different activities since Covid.  

Oswald-Like Scenario For Joe Biden?

 I paused over this idea for the past weekend.

The way it would work....about a week prior to the convention....with President Biden on a speech-tour....a MAGA-character would attempt to take down the President.  

Based on a CIA-FBI plan....this MAGA individual would be shot in the process to ensure the story does not unfold. 

There would be a fake Twitter account, which this person seems  very active for the past year....making  radical pro-Trump statements.

The original plan would be told to Biden, that  they would stop the guy before it got real serious.  But I suspect the Fed agenda would be to have Joe Biden out, Harris in, and the Convention is a replacement 'game'.

Turbo Week: 19 Aug 2024

 We are about 100 days away from the Democratic Convention in Chicago....scheduled for 19 August.

I suspect this will end up being more of a circus show, with massive violence, and news journalists mostly confused over what they see and think.

Delegates in a state of fear?  Yeah, and it's possible that a hundred of them decide by the evening of 19 August....to pack up and exit Chicago as the sun rises on 20 August.

An Expelled Story

 Back in the late 1980s....I worked under a senior officer in the Air Force who had a niece, and about once a month....he would relate the newest 'woes' of the college-age gal....in some Ohio public university.

Over the course of a year (I seem to remember this was the 2nd year of her adventure in college)....she'd been detained by the local police on three occasions (all alcohol-related, with minor damage to some bar/restaurant)....the niece's dad got dragged into a pay-up situation....around $4,000 in damages and court fees.  

At some point after that....there was some drunken fight in the dorm and the college finally called up dad and said 'finished'.  There had been apparently a warning or two issued prior to this....which dad was unaware of.  Dad came....picked up the daughter, and retreated to the house to restructure the situation.

Some alcohol rehab followed, and dad's plan to enroll her into another state public university had a problem.  As you apply and lay out what you see as a transfer....they will ask for the transcript, and the reason for the transfer is listed.  The new college said 'no'.....basically, they didn't want the trouble.

So a new application to yet another college was attempted....same story.

Three months pass then with no update from my boss....then he talks over the latest news....that the gal has been accepted into a private small college, with most all of the 2nd year required as a 'repeat' (meaning a 5th year required).  The selling point?  Well....this was in a no-name town with marginal alcohol opportunities.  

It was with this story that I realized that colleges do have a 'weapon' to use with problem-children, and rarely do people ever grasp that.

The Last Time I Went To A Red Lobster Restaurant

 The last time?  Probably in mid-summer 1992.

To be honest, I wasn't impressed and the place was mostly run by a couple of college kids as management, with 17-year old kids as the primary crew.

I read this AM....Red Lobster is up for bankruptcy, unless they find a new owner.  

I didn't know it....they've been around since 1968.  

How they fell apart?  Well....it goes to some idea that they could offer something called 'endless-shrimp' for a special price, and customers went overboard....with management really not grasping the cost impact. 

'Baby Reindeer' Viewing

 This week, I sat and watched the first episode of 'Baby Reindeer' on Netflix.  It's a UK production....total of 7 episodes.

To give the basic script (from a true story)....Brit start-up comedian has come to London....found no fame....ends up in a bar as a bartender, and bumps into this crazy (5-star) gal who turns out to be a stalker.

Comedy?  Well....there's a laugh or two about every ten minutes, but this is a fairly complex drama piece and you just start shaking your head.

The gal portraying the stalker?  Jessica Gunning, and she ought to get an Oscar for her part.

Yesterday, I finished up the 7th episode.  

Yeah, it's one I would recommend....but on the weird-level?  I just can't think of TV series that can rate with Baby Reindeer.   

Three Things I Haven't Figured Out

 1.  I watch a fair amount of the college student 'protest-action', and find it rather odd....they are camping out at the university instead of sleeping in their on-campus dorm, or off-campus apartment.  

But adding to this....all these tents are ultra-expensive North Face type tents ($700 type....not the $99 type that most of us would buy for a weekend camp-out).

It also appears odd.....no drugs or booze in the camping situation.  

Something ain't right.

2.  If you had 'real' money in a 401k or mutual fund situation....this chatter by President Biden on increasing the capital gains tax....ought to scare the crap out of you.  

If you tried to ask him how they came to this decision?  I don't think he can give you a single detail of the decision process.

3.  If you were unhappy, and changed genders.....finding a year later....that you were still unhappy....what's next?

I just look at this reality where people think their gender selection is the source of their unhappy nature, and wonder what solution number two....will be in this odd trend?

Law Story

 I sat and read through a regional piece this AM.....Oklahoma Senate has decided to draft up a law which would make illegal immigration a state crime and require them to exit the state permanently (yeah, you couldn't come back).

Legal?  Well....lets say Jose has been kicked out, and goes to NY....gets some type of Biden-blessing and is given a fed 'green-slip' to be legal.  Would the Oklahoma law still prevent them from entry?

This whole discussion?  If you had stood up in 1975 and said it'd be necessary to talk about this and draft up a law with such wording....people would have laughed.

To be challenged by the Biden Justice Department?  I would imagine a whole team will be brought in to fight this.

Future Reality

 Brit Sun newspaper came out with a piece and suggested that within ten years....humans will be sexing-up with robots.

Not a lot of facts....just suggestive.

What I do believe is that both men and women will relationship-up with virtual partners....having 3-hour conversations after they get home from work....feeling zero need for physical relationships.

By 2030....at least 10,000 people will be in this mind-set.  By 2040....probably 1-million will engaged in this new reality.

At some point, your virtual 'lady' ('Mandy') will monitor your meals, your refrigerator, grocery-shopping list (even ordering), monitoring your car repairs/budget/vacation travel, and arranging entertainment. 

'Mandy' will count your calorie....encourage weight loss....select your clothing style....act jealous on occasion...recite poetry....ask why you were late coming home....and be corrupted by evil Russian hackers.

The Large Groups Problem

Around my fourth year in the Air Force....I came to some conclusion one day....that probably a quarter of the people you rely upon (both enlisted, officers, and generals)....were not that capable in what you expect of their ability.

 Eventually, I came to this quote by George Carlin and it perfectly matched my attitude about managers, leaders and bosses.

In fact, I came to some point in my forties....where I realized that smart people figured out an exit-or-new-path plan....where they managed their own group of people.  They found success.

I watched a video piece this week....by a Australian police chief...warning people that if you spread fake news around, you'd get into police-trouble.  If you wanted factual data....you needed to just ask the police and they would be the 'owners' of truth.  I pondered this for a while....thinking that politicians in Australia are basically outdated at this point....you just need a full-time police presence to run everything.

It is a strange world that we live in presently.....thank goodness we have stupid people in charge.

College Degree Chatter

 

I worked with a guy (divorced) who was paying for his one and only daughter's college.  

Along about the middle  of the 2nd year,  she came over to Germany for the Christmas vacation and spent it with Dad.  

So this odd discussion came up.  She'd talked to two friends who'd finished up college and gone out with their degrees (this was about 2002), and found that whatever they'd majored in....was worthless on the pay-scale and finding employment.

My co-worker talked to someone who was a expert on this business, and they agreed to spend an hour talking to the daughter.  The daughter shifted her focus, and lined up a different degree path....adding an extra semester onto the situation.

I looked over this presentation by CNBC and readily agree....there's a fair number of disenchanted folks....who fall into this problem now.  The trouble for colleges?  Eventually, I think that a dozen degree paths are going to fall apart, with professors given a 'exit-door'.  

The Problem About The 'Send-Them-A-Message-Crowd'

 Back in the 2004-to-20010 era....I became aware of  a large segment of American society who wanted to send 'a-message'.  The receiver?  Banks, economists, politicians in DC, news journalists, state officials, social media, intellectuals, etc.

So when 2016 came up....I saw Hillary Clinton's entire theme and message in trouble.  Trump was to be this 'send-a-message' theme.  It didn't matter if half his positions were traditional Democratic positions.  His position on NAFTA being a failure and harming Americans?  Well....Hillary couldn't grasp how the mess had screwed over working-class Americans.

The 2020 election and Joe Biden?  The receiver-crowd thought that all the crap that they'd dump between 2017 and 2020....would have dissolved the 'send-a-message' crowd.  It didn't work.

Since 2021 with President Biden?  He's had 3-plus years to present a clear 'I-got-the-message' and generally failed.  Even on the migration business and potential to get illegals in to vote....all that did was trigger another five-odd-million generally-attracted-to-Biden voters (mostly blacks in big cities) to getting into a 'give-them-a-message' reality.

The mess with RFK Jr running?  Well....if you were disturbed with Biden and Trump....RFK is a natural at the 'send-them-a-message' theme.

The failure of the political folks to grasp how the 'send-them-a-message' business works?  This is odd part of the discussion.  You get the impression they believe the message business is a fad, and will eventually dissolve.  Nothing yet has shown that might happen.

About The Dead NYC 'Fire-Guy'

 

From the guy-setting-himself-on-fire-in-NY-City yesterday.....this picture was taken a few minutes before he lit up.

His message?  Well.....Biden and Trump are both in some coup attempt (fascist-coup).

I paused over this.

Without knowing anything else on the guy....on my master-conspiracy-index (1-to-100)....I'd index the guy at 95.

Who has conspiracy ideas that involve Trump and Biden together?  Well....I usually view a lot of news and at least will listen to various conspiracies.  Frankly, I can't come up with a single source who  believes one central fascist coup group....consisting of both Trump and Biden 'camps'.

The fact that the guy resides in St Augustine, FL?  Well....Florida folks generally believe a lot of oddball things....which about half of them often turn out half-true.

So my thinking is....lets discount the guy is crazy, and ponder upon the idea that people behind Trump/Biden (not themselves)....have set up some 1,200-page script for 2025 where the nation undergoes some massive civil spiral...meaning that both groups of enthusiasts are charged up for a coup-like event.  

I'm left to two ways of viewing this.  Either this guy (dead now) was a paranoid schizophrenic....or he got onto some wild conspiracy group who have figured out the script to the coup. 

My Feeling Of The Biden 'Uncle Bosie' Story

Getting to the basic story.....President Biden's uncle Bosie...was in WW II, and near the end....he ended up on a flight in the Pacific....crashing in some area where they had cannibals.  The legend of Bosie...is that he came up missing when rescue folks arrived and there has been this belief within the Biden family that maybe he made it out....swam out.....only to be caught by the cannibals.

To be honest.....no one much has ever heard the story before.  

The general location?  New Guinea. To be honest....at  least in that era....yeah, there were a few cannibals around in the region.

The story is just number 346 that he's told over the past four decades that might not be totally true (meaning fabricated to some degree).  

The problem I see?  Some gifted writer will be inspired and write some Captain Bosie WW II type story....crashing in a cannibal island area, and trying to survive for weeks without getting captured by the Japanese or cannibals.  

Commission Chatter

 I sat and and read through a short piece on California and Governor Gavin Newsom.  So the Governor feels that as the new $20-an-hour wage rate occurred....some funny things happened....some fast-food restaurants closed down....some shops cut 10-to-20 percent of their work-force, and menus for the most part escalated on cost.

To the word by the Governor is that a commission must be formed to find out what happened here.

In the mix of words....he also wants to know how replacing employees with robots fits into this whole 'mess'.

Who is on the commission?  Unknown.  Would the commission people have any restaurant or business experience?  No one says that.  What political nature would the members of the commission be?  Unknown, but if you asked me.....they have to be 'friends' of Gavin....therefore....Democrats.

My guess is that the commission members will rent a van or two....drive off to six to ten communities in the state, and spend a month asking questions.

In the end....they will likely admit three things to Governor Newsom.

1.  That the intended idea of fixing one single element of the state's businesses....actually has triggered a across-the-board problem...where virtually everyone is demanding $20-an-hour.

2.  Yeah, that robots are the only way to prevent $25 Big-Mac menu dinners.

3.  Yes, there probably are 10,000 former employees looking for fast-food jobs....because they got laid off.  

Personally, it begs the question....did Governor Newsom and crew ever think much over implications and consequences?  And then the question comes up....does this guy really show the talent to be President?

Manifesto People

So I gazed over this story from yesterday....18-year-old high school student....transman....arrested and charged up over plans to shoot up a Montgomery County, Maryland school. 

The key thing in this designed shooting operation?  A129-page manifesto.

I'm often amazed by manifesto people....the folks who write 100...200...300...400...pages of manifesto material.

I can sit and probably write 100 to 150 lines of material, then gradually get 'tired' and end it there.

Looking over this story....18 years old....they will drag this kid into an adult court and I would imagine a deal can be made...admit to X, Y and Z....go off for six years of prison and get out in 5 years. Men's prison?  Well....yeah, that would have to be the 'trick', if you were a trans-guy.

Manifesto people tend to have three major issues....(1) they want to fix the world. (2) Fixing in their mind is complicated.  (3) Violence of some nature tends to be somewhere in the solution.  

Just seems like someone should stand up and tell the manifesto people....go and write whatever you want, but just get to the key statement in three pages, and allow for solving some mess without violence or taxation.  

Climate Doom List

 Rainy?  Doom.

Sunny? Doom.

Cloudy?  Doom.

Chilly?  Doom.

Cold?  Doom.

Windy?  Doom.

Snowy?  Doom.

Draft Bill

 I sat and read over this piece in the AM.....California lawmaker proposing bill SB 1403.

The idea?  The bill would create a state a 'Genealogy Office' which would help identify residents who have some type of 'genuine' descendant status of being a slave and therefore....at some point....get state benefit payouts (at least they hint of this).

This guy?  Steven Bradford, a Democratic state Senator for LA County.

I pondered over this.

So lets say for one moment that 1,000 blacks show up on day one and fill out the forms (I assume it's a 7-odd page form), and somewhere on line 15....there's some question to name your great-great-grandma...who existed around 1860....in Georgia (not California).   

So, what legit paperwork will identify Grandma X...as the slave, and how will you provide your descendant status since 1865?

You got papers?

What if you were white, but you have evidence of great-great-grandma Sarah....was the full-up daughter of a slave on the Georgia plantation?  Maybe you even have papers to show Sarah as a 50-50 descendant-slave status.....would this California office certify you?

What if you and the last five generations of the family....have never been to California?

What if you were black, but actually your one single slave status relative....some guy who arrived in 1720....got unslaved after two years, and lived 'free' in the woods of northern New York?

I just see a office with forty-odd people fumbling around and realizing they've got a pretty big mess to explain.  

'Lost' Money

 I sat and read through four issues yesterday:

1.  The US gov't gave Ukraine around $6.2 billion dollars last year....if you asked how it was spent?   No one has any idea.

2.  Over the past five years....the state of California went and spent $24 billion dollars on homelessness, but they can't really tell you how even a nickel of the money was spent.

3.  Yearly, the Pentagon spends just over $2.3 trillion dollars, yet they also can't say much over how it was spent.

4.  Our US Treasury spent around $5 trillion dollars over Covid spending, but if you asked how it was spent....they have no idea.

I pondered these issues.  I can ask my wife (German nature) about grocery spending and where 250 Euro went last week, and she'll identify each item  in the cart and roughly what they cost.  If you asked me about all my new tire purchases from the past 10 years....I can pull out the receipts and tell you down to the last cent what I spent.

So I'm not really buying into the 'lost' nature of money and how you just pretend there's no paperwork/receipts.  

Ten Things I Expect By The End Of 2025

 1.  At least 3,000 Americans will identify as vampires.

2.  At least 1,000 Americans will be certified dead....due to their E-car running out of fuel in an emergency situation.

3.  Some evidence will come out to suggest a Sean 'Diddy' Combs connection to Hunter Biden.

4.  WNBA figures will demand that the NBA double their 'gift-money' to the league.  NBA players will draw and a line and say 'NO'.

5.  Talk will start up about developing a Transwoman hockey league.

6.  At least one US state will pass a law requiring you to be age 25....before buying tobacco products.

7.  At least one US state will approve a law to have 3-some marriages.

8.  Some 11-year-old kid will go to court to demand a name change to 'Hitler'.

9.  At least 5 US states will demand the federal government get out of student loans, or limit them to no more than $5k a year.

10.  Some teacher from Georgia will admit to having physical relations with two dozen students over a 1-year period.   It'll later be discovered that she was doped-up and just imagining the sex. 

Four Things I Tend To Believe

 1.  This Sean 'Diddy' Combs raid and the involvement of Homeland Security?

The story goes that most of his rooms in the California mansion (probably going back to the mid-1990s)....were rigged with cameras.  So he's had around 25 years to collect up blackmail video on various sports figures, politicians, religious figures and 'princes' (that came out two weeks ago....plural....meaning more than 1 prince).

So what I tend to believe....'Diddy' had power to control outcomes.  I think he has stuff on three central characters.  First being some female politician who probably holds a VP position.  Second being a male California politician who likely comes up in the 2024 election.  Third being a son of a Delaware politician who might be President.

I think Diddy indicated some 'favors' were in order, and some DC figures suddenly came to realize how Diddy had stacked the deck.

(I also have this working theory that Prince Harry was introduced to Meghan via one of these parties)

2.  Some poll was done....with only 52-percent of Biden-2020 voters thinking he's done well in the job.  The other 48-percent?  They say he hasn't delivered.

I tend to believe that almost one-third of Biden-2020 voters will either stay home or vote RFK Jr......with the case of staying home...hurting the party at large (House/Senate seats).

For this reason, I suggest it's a 99-percent chance that he is replaced at the convention.

3.  Generally, when you suggest an equity of outcome.....you will end up with people so disenchanted....that they will marginally do their job (just 'enough' will be popular to utter).

4.  If we emerge out of the Democratic National Convention with Joe Biden/Kam Harris....with no changes...same speech....same hype as 2020, then I see RFK Jr getting one-third of Joe's 2020 votes, and Trump wins.

Yes, to get any other outcome....Joe Biden has to be out of the picture.

Statistical Average of Iran Attack on Israel Last Night

Well....you add it up....170 Shahed drones, 30 cruise missiles, 120 ballistic rockets. 

99-percent were unable to arrive.  Meaning they were intercepted.

How the missile/drone guys explained to the clerics?  I'm not sure.  They probably made up a story, or just said all of them fell on Israel ground.

More action?  Well....each one amounts to some kind financial cost factor.  Maybe this show was a one-and-done situation.

The Thing About Iran

 For a number of years in Iran....things were run by intellectual folks under the 'king' (the Shah)...from 1941 to 1979.  

From 1979 on....things were run by a Islamic cleric 'council'.  So the guys in charge of the  economy, banking, sports, the police, energy, military structure, street repairs, gas and oil production, tourism, and 'whatever'.....were basically clerics.  

Their chief guidance?  Well...they can quote from the Quran.  Beyond that....their knowledge base would be that of a ice cream stand operator.

So you can imagine, for forty-plus years....the crew in charge has bumbled around and screwed up.

Last year, I was reading a summary of problems by a Iranian businessman.  He (since 2000) had been assessing his monthly profit.  He quietly took the profit and converted it into non-Iranian currency (literally anything other than the Rial).  If you do the math today.....you can buy with one dollar.....42,000 Rial.  In this guy's case....it doesn't matter if he's buying gold, Bitcoin, dollars, Euro....he's screwed.  Literally, nothing goes into a bank....in his case.  

He suggested the whole country is sitting and waiting for some major event to clobber the economy and force the dynamic change to occur.  

Here's the odd factor....this lack of trust means that Iranian banks who need cashflow....can't build up any sum....to act as a mortgage unit and loan out housing money.  If you were a 30-year old Iranian guy....married, and wanting to buy your first house/condo....you can't find any bank that wants to deal with you because they have very limited funds to loan out.  The typical game today?  You get invited to sign up for a home loan, but need around a couple of year of putting money in...before they loan you money out for the home purchase.

I would imagine if you explained this to a cleric....they'd just stand there and ask....what the hell would  you want me to do?  Restore confidence?  How?

So the clerics....day after day....are just mostly gathering around the 'cooler'....sipping tea....talking over Muhammad quotes, and faced with guiding a country without much knowledge or skill.

The military this morning...having to report the success (or really lack of success) with the attack on Israel last night?  I would imagine they quote something of a religious statement....saying God misguided their rockets, missiles and drones in some way.  The cleric has to react to the sarcastic comment, and likely agree.

It is a Monty Python-like comedy....just funny in an odd way.

Surgery Chatter

 I sat and read over this piece....trying to grasp the whole intent.

Best I can say....it is an Ontario person....an Ontario court, and I have some doubts that the success this person anticipates....won't occur.

As for how they identify themselves after surgery?  Well....it's anyone's guess.

Cost factor?  No one really says much over that.  I'm guessing it's in the $25,000 range or more.  The thing I'd mostly worry about....getting various infections out of the hospital unit after they wrap it all up.

This infection worry is the chief thing that keeps me always a bit worried in general.  Me ever checking in for anything?  It'd have to be an awful pain to get me to accept infection risks.  Yeah, it's to the level of being a phobia.

I live over by a major German hospital....that had a serious reputation for infections with incoming 'customers'.

For some reasons, I suspect this person....within a year or two....will be asking  to 'fix'  whatever was done and  won't be able to find a doctor willing to take on the case.

Eight Things I Expect In 2025 (By End Of The Year)

 1.  The House and Senate will attempt to halt all college loans, or limit what you can take each year ($10k or less).  Colleges will go into a massive fit over this legislation talk.

2.  Both the Army and Air Force will be forced to trim units existing because of a lack of manpower.  Both will discuss a $100,000 benefit (cash, zero-taxation) if you agree to sign up and stay for eight years.  

3.  The state of California, in need of cash to pay for operations....will turn to bank loans....discovering that no one will deal with them unless they agree to a 8-percent pay-back situation....meaning even more debt.

4.  Over 300 8-story or more commercial buildings throughout the US will be empty and unable to rent space.  A discussion to convert these to condo-housing will occur. Research will prove this unfeasible because no one has capital/mortgage potential...to buy such units....because they lack jobs.

5.  A week-long state-wide strike will occur in California in early 2025....over all other industries in the state should be paying $20 an hour.  Within six weeks....two additional states will face state-wide strikes with the same discussion.

6.  Evidence will be presented that the FBI/NSA....has secret blackmail files on forty-odd Senators/House members.  

7.  CNN, to meet revenue issues....offers Joe Rogan $300-million a year for a one-hour show nightly.  

8.  The AG and US Marshalls end up forming a 1,000 man force to go after New York City crime.  At least 200 other US metro cities ask for the same 'favor'.

My Gut Feeling On the OJ Case

 Odd how this comes up now....thirty years later.

First, I had the gut feeling that the cops gathering up evidence....did a 2-star job, and screwed up.

Second, that glove-business twisted the entire case around.

Third, had this been in any other state....I don't think the innocent situation would have been arrived at.

Fourth and final.....just an awful intense murder scene.  Robber would have stabbed/cut the guy, and ran quickly away.  Whoever murdered the two...had a strong desire to make it personal. 

Three Humble Thoughts

 1.  Dexter Reed shooting in Chicago.  I've watched the two-minute video over....maybe thirty times.  

The sole reason that the cops say they pulled him over?  Absence of Reed wearing a seatbelt.  

The action of Reed....rolling the window up as the cop approached?  It makes no sense....unless he'd been smoking a joint.

96 rounds fired?  That was the crazy part of the story.  Cops even suggest that Reed fired a couple....but one of the cops apparently shot around 50 rounds...meaning he reloaded at least three times.

Crazy confrontation.....just over a seatbelt issue.

2.  Trump now says NPR funding ends....as he becomes President.

NPR says 'fine'.....that they make enough off sponsor foundations to carry their message.

It's a bogus statement....in that the prime-receivers of the fed money for NPR....are the stations themselves.  If the fed money goes away....the stations won't exist to carry the NPR product....thus it dissolves.

3.  Lot of chatter in the past month that the way that the economy grows jobs....is by Americans taking second jobs because the primary job is not solving the finance issues.  

Biden's crew realizing this?  Apparently, no. 

The California folks working at McDonalds with the $20-an-hour situation?  I would imagine that 10-percent of them work a 2nd job somewhere...because they still aren't making it.

Does It Really Matter Who Wins November's Election?

I paused over this thought the other day, and it's been on my mind a good bit.

The US economy is in serious trouble, and it probably doesn't matter who wins in November....either Trump or Biden....because the 'game' is so rigged up.

Facts:

1.  Back in January, Yahoo Finance wrote up a piece....roughly 8.7 million Americans working two jobs to make ends meet. Roughly five-percent of the nation.

2.  Brookings Institute reported late summer of 2023....around 7 million American men between 25 and 54....aren't working.  Zero interest, or they got a great sugar-mama to pay their bills.

3.  Automotive News: Summer of 2023....they reported rejections for car loans were at the 21.8-percent (highest rate reported).

4.  CNBC in the fall of 2023....reported that home loans were being denied....rate of 9.1-percent.

5.  I gazed at mortgage rates yesterday.  30-year fixed?  7.34-percent.  15-year fixed?  6.78-percent.  30-year VA?  6.70.

Everyone is freaked out over the rate, and it won't return to 4-percent.

6.  $18 for a Big Mac menu in California now? 

If you follow the $20-an-hour wage situation for restaurants...there's a few non-restaurant workers now saying it's NOT fair, and they want the same wage.

You are about to see this massive increase in cost across the state, and people suddenly saying...no thanks, we can't afford a $15 movie ticket, or a $24 car-wash.

Whoever wins in November is stuck with a massive and decade-long mess that cannot be resolved or fixed nationally.  Trying to compare it to 1929?  No....even 1929 would have some fixes that were possible (with the right people, not FDR). 

ID Story

 I sat last week and observed this story and it's been on my mind for several days.

For four years....almost every single day...there's been some dumbass event to unfold with either the Biden-team, Biden himself, or the campaign-staff folks.  

It was mildly this way in the Bush II years and maybe half-as-much with Obama.

Then I wondered about the ID thing...that if you were some black guy from NY City....if you go by what NPR says or any of the national news people....there's odds that you don't have an ID.  So you could not have attended the Bidden-Obama-Clinton fundraiser.

Getting this message via the news media?  That was a mistake.  

Business Model Chatter

 I took a business class while attending Louisiana Tech at night (while in the Air Force).  It was an interesting class because the professor (masters degree and all) had gone out five years prior with an idea....then failed miserably in 18 months.  He went through a learning process...writing up his own paper (30 pages) of where he went wrong in the process of building a business model.

He was brutally honest in the class....what he had been taught in the late 1960s for his degree...was great on paper, but in apply all that crap to reality, it was mostly worthless information.  It was stuff that college couldn't teach.

We spent 2.5 hours that night covering the singular topic, and I will admit....I had a lot of wise professors with Louisiana Tech...but this guy impressed me.

I left that night fairly well consumed on the topic of business models.  You have to have a written model in planning a business, and have an understanding of local/state taxes.  It impressed upon me....you have to account for sales taxes, property taxes, and the social security taxes of your employees.  You also have to plan out the cost of monthly operations with salary, and to be successful....you need plus-numbers.  

Meaning of plus-numbers?  You have to start out expecting dismal numbers for the first six months, and eventually see a trend developing where there is profit.  If at the first year concluding....this has yet to happen, you need to prepare for an end-process.

I sat this week looking at the California pursuit of $20-an-hour for restaurant workers.  Whatever business model they had for 2023....it's dissolved entirely now.

A burger operation now concerned?  If you had a burger-men dinner for $12 to $14 in 2023....under the new model.....you probably are selling the same menu for $16 to $18 now.  Figure the upswing on costs with taxation?  There's probably another 50-cents made for the state and local community.  

But here's the full impact....other folks (non-restaurant workers) now want the $20-an-hour deal.  Politicians?  Now in trouble.

People outside of California?  Well....they will want the $20-an-hour deal as well.  So at some point, you will see some Louisiana gas station, or some Alabama pancake 'house' doubling up their prices because their employees won't work for $15-an-hour anymore.....they want that California deal ($20).

Imagine driving up to bar where you used stop on Thursday nights after work....spending a couple of bucks on beer, and buying a $12 plate of food....but now....by the time you wrap up the beer, food and chatter with the buddies....you've spent $30. 

What I see coming?  I think a whole bunch of people are going to cut back on their budget, and just say 'no'.....they can't spend freely anymore.

That's the new reality.  And your business models?  Well....they will dissolve away. 

NPR Chatter

 

There was a fair amount of chatter yesterday across Twitter...over NPR.

The trend?  Well....'clicks' upon NPR-related stories are way down....probably by 60-percent.  

A key-player within NPR also admitted that a fair number of the employees are now far-left in political beliefs.

Fixable?  No.....you can't release or fire the group without a massive court episode.

From the 1980s through most of the 1990s....I listened to 30 min a day (mostly when jogging) on average of NPR.  Around 2004, I gave up on the network....considering more or less a propaganda organization.

My fix?  I'd go to the states and public stations that the US government finances (not NPR itself).....and just do a 50-percent cut on their money.  Then I'd tell them....each year....it'll be another 50-percent cut.  At that point, the listening audience within 3 years will be so dismal....that NPR will just dissolve itself.

Three Things You Eventually Figure Out

 1.  As grocery stores in metro areas of the US are experiencing serious theft problems...perhaps seeing $100,000 a day go out the door....they have to reassign a pricing scheme to make up for losses.  

So you have stores saying product X that was $7.99....throughout the US....is now $8.99.

The store in rural Tennessee without much theft?  Well....they simply you pass you to the $8.99 pricing, to help the poor store in SF with it's losses.

So you are paying for inflation, and for SF crime....even thought you've never been to SF.

2.  As much as wrestling is 'faked-up'.....it's now dawned upon 75-percent of the nation....that politics is equal to wrestling, and just as 'fake-up'.  When you see these interviews.....'Bulldog' and 'Rico' about to get rough on the announcer, and you then watch Senator 'Bulldog' and House member 'Rico'.....it's the same thing.

3.  A 75-year old guy who graduated ONLY from high school....would be considered at college-level today....because he's more 'gifted' and intelligent than the high school kid finishing school today.  So you pause over this, and why?

My View of the WNBA

 The first game I watched of WNBA (women's basketball) was around 2012 (12 years ago).  It was crappy play....both teams had one decent player each....the camera guys were careful not to show the stands.  I would imagine at best....maybe 5,000 folks in the arena.

Over the past year, I've watched probably six games of the Iowa women's team.  They were sharp....prepared, and the games were thrilling to view.

Based on perception....I think at least four of the national teams are more than capable of playing WNBA teams and most nights....beating them by ten points minimum.

The problem with the WNBA?  They just have never improved.  Each team  markets themselves with one pure star and the rest are just average players.

Attendance average?  5,000 to 8,000 per night.  You figure $30 per ticket (for the lesser seats)....so with 7,000 folks....you might have $210,000 made off tickets, and another $250,000 off drinks, food, and parking.  So a half-million per night.  

You go and pay the arena for heat, security.....then you pay for coaches, travel, hotels, and ref's...there's no doubt on my view.....the NBA has to be funneling a quarter-million each month for each team....to keep them surviving.

Five Things To Happen By 2030

 1.  The NCAA girl's basketball program will falter as trans-ladies arrive and demand entry.  

2.  The WNBA (women NBA program) will dissolve because trans-women arrive and demand to be on teams, with the LGTBQ-plus folks highly upset about this, and creating a massive dividend with lesbians throughout the US.

3.  Both the Air Force and Army will fail miserably in recruitment and attempt to get Congress to 'draft' people.  This will become a huge issue, with more than 75-percent of the public against it.

4.  The owners of Star Wars....shuts down production for a period of ten years....because of so many failed movies.

5.  Republicans start to bring up that so many blacks lack IDs....that they can't do banking business across the nation.  The news media will be forced to admit this is a bunch of BS.  

Clock Story

 

I paused over this story in the AM today.

Analogue clocks in schools are being eliminated...because kids can't read 'time'.

I pondered....what happened.

After I joined the Air Force, I sorta got into the 24-hour time business....so when you said 16:44....I knew immediately it was 4:44 PM. I even knew the 16:44 L (local time) versus 16:44 GMT (meaning hours ahead).

It wasn't rocket-science.

I stepped into a watch display area last year, and it's interesting how the bulk of watches (probably 60-percent) are still analog in terms of nature.

But if you look around at the 16-to-20 year old kids (male/female)....no one much is wearing a watch.  If you asked for the time....they'd pull out the smart-phone and cite the digital time displayed.

This happening in one single generation?  That's the odd thing.  

The Most Entertaining 5 Minutes of My Life

 About six years ago....I went to NY City....six days.

Around day 3, I walked into a Starbucks (near the Hotel Roosevelt).  Six ladies ran it.  

It hit me in the line (before I'd ordered) that all six had ear, nose, and lip piercings....to the extreme.  Tattoos?  Yeah....all  over their arms and necks.  From my imagination....I'm just guessing I asked.....each had at least 20-odd 'other' piercings/tattoos....in places I couldn't observe.

I order my coffee and stood there waiting.

I really wanted to take my camera out, and take pictures....but the risk factor of getting beat-up was too much.

You don't see this kind of thing in Alabama, or for that matter...in Germany.  In the 1970s....they could have hired out to traveling circus shows and charged folks $3 for a 3-minute viewing.

Ten Random Thoughts

 1.  This BS statement that the US/NATO will pursue getting Ukraine within their NATO structure?

First, it would have to be approved by all members of NATO.  I don't see Turkey or Hungary agreeing so it's a BS topic.

But adding to it....if I were Russia, I'd say you were now on the enemy list and send out 5,000 special forces personnel to crap up dams, railways, bridges, and nuke power plants....to send a message.

2.  This prosecutor character (Wade) out of Georgia seems to be in more trouble with the ex-wife, and being dragged back into court....over failure to pay bills.  

3.  This idea of naming Dulles Airport (Virginia) after Trump?  Well.....it got brought up this week in the House.

Here's the thing....if you asked 10,000 Americans where Dulles was located....95-percent would have no idea. While a major airport....it's also a unknown airport.

4.   Just odd...Fed still hinting of a rate cut by the end of 2024.  If you listen to business and banking folks....a quarter-point does NOTHING.  Even a half-point....does NOTHING.  So the Fed chatter?  Just BS?

5.  Just odd in Maryland, they keep talking about a tax hike in the state, and keep wondering why Republican interest for the Senate race is so high.

6.  Highest crime rate in NYC....in 20 years?  And the mayor says it's just a perception problem.  For the record, 386 murders in NYC for 2023.

7.  There's chatter going on in the Texas border region that the cartels are seeking intelligence on all the Sheriffs of the region....either to blackmail, or counter through intimidation.  

8.  These 5-star vacations that Biden went on....paid for by wealthy folks?  Well....he was supposed to....by law....report the cost to the gov't.  He skipped that....saying either he forgot, or that it was to be reported....sooner or later.

9.  You just keep looking for people and groups to unify under President Biden, and it seems like they walked off and don't feel unified.

10.  This Bird-Flu BS?  You better start to prepare for Covid II.  

Real World

 I gazed at the short story out of NYC, and was left to imagine the moment when the TSA guy hit the 'crown-jewels' of the translady, and how he showed his apology.

He could utter....'sorry, maam'.  He could have offered some ice to resolve the pain.  He could have offered some sympathy.

But it's an interesting scene....security checkpoint and some lady half-bent-over and sobbing and you passing by.....probably thinking the lady's aunt died or her husband left for the FEDEX-delivery-lady.  The reality is....her balls got whacked.

Doom Story

 

I paused over this story....over several sites this AM.  

"100 times worse than Covid."

The trouble here....after dealing with Covid and the political/economic affects, I'd say around sixty-percent of the country won't participate in another Covid-like experience.

Economically?  The nation is already in a dangerous recession situation, and if you invented another 2-year Covid-episode....it'd finish off probably two-third's of the banks in the nation.

Would you want Joe Biden steering this mess?  Probably not.

Just shaking my head....this won't work a second time.

TB

 Well....it's a curious development.  I'm guessing state authorities are talking to the Fed and asking for advice....with nothing being said or offered in terms of help.

If there are 55 just in Chicago, I'd guess in NYC....it's close to 200.  Across the US....it's probably in the 3,000 range.

As you bunk up a hundred guys/gals in some gym or open warehouse.....it'll just spread around.

In five years?  You probably will know at least one neighbor who got TB somewhere.  Funny how we thought we got rid of it.

Gen Z Problem

 

I sat and pondered over this item today.

Basically, Gen-Z people have a particular problem....when you (the non-Gen-Z'er) converse and say something (maybe 4 lines)....they pause over what you said and try to interpret the words and meaning.

They also try to establish if you said something harsh, critical or negative.  

It would be like some chimpanzee trying to review your actions as friendly or hostile, but having no clear ability to grasp much beyond you showing your teeth or offering them a banana.

So imagine yourself in a position where there's a 6-minute talk between you and the Gen-Z 'kid', and you see at least eight different facial expressions indicating they are reacting in some way in a frightened or negative way.  The 6-minute talk?  Well....it might have been about restocking the paper trays for the copy machines throughout the company floor, or ensuring the horses get fed by 4 PM.

Yeah, this is crazy stuff to realize, but it begs the question....how will they survive in the adult world?

Three Things

 1.  I noticed over the weekend...someone brought up a receipt issue from a fast-food burger place (Carls Jr).  They were asking at the clerk's point....if you were eating there or leaving with the food (bagging required). 

Once you established bagging required....they charged you 10-cents.  I assume for the paper-bag.

Yeah, this is how bad this whole dining out thing has gotten.

Would I pay for the 10-cents?  No.   I'd probably just carry some re-useable bag with me and throw the food in it.

Over a year?  Well....if everyone did that....like the Pizza Hut folks charging me 20-cents for the box, or BK charging 10-cents for the bag, or the donut-folks charging me 10-cents there.....I might go throw away $10 a year....for what was free before.

2.  Ten percent of society is probably walking around and wanting to share how their childhood and ancestral trauma fell apart (20 years ago) and is now responsible for their repressed guilt and rage. Other than talking continuously about it....consuming drugs and alcohol, there's not much hope for them ever being 'fruitful'.

3.  There's a bill (draft currently) floating around Vermont right where...if passed....it would mandate that libraries would not provide a listing of your kid's reading material, from age 12 on.

I sat and pondered over it.  As a kid in rural Alabama...using the county library...I can remember them having zero lists.  They just knew the books you had out currently.  

Having parents monitor your reading material?  Is this how far we've gone in the past forty-odd years? Would it be necessary....only because the library started a kinky-sex section and having bondage novels for 14-year old kids?

This is how weird things have become.

At the current pace of things...I expect some 14-year olds to openly challenge marriage laws and get minimum age requirements tossed out. 

That Bridge

 

In the past week, I've probably spent 4 hours watching/reading over the Baltimore bridge that was 'hit' and collapsed.  

It is a fascinating thing....how many ships came in and out of the port over the past thirty years....never once collapsing the bridge. 

As for the clearing time?  I have no doubt that the damaged portions will be removed within sixty days (being clear by mid-June).

But as for the construction phase?  Yeah, environmentalists will step in and various lobby groups....to ensure it's only built by black construction companies (likely hiring 90-percent illegals to perform the work).  

I don't think the opening ceremony will be until 2033 (earliest).  Adding to this....some group will emerge and demand that a statue be on the end of the new bridge to hone the half-dozen migrant pot-hole crew members.  

Billions?  Without any doubt, this will exceed two billion easily.  

The funny thing?  I'll predict some Chinese company comes up and says they can rebuild it in 18 months, with various past projects as evidence.  But to accomplish this....they will ask for permission to bring in 10,000 visa-approved Chinese folks to handle the work.  That's my prediction.

NY City Story

 I sat and read through this NY Post story....'free' mental health services to undocumented migrants...$15-million in funded resources.

The reality of this?  You can take one single mental clinic of a sixty-odd folks....having to speak Chinese, Spanish and forty-odd languages.  Then you go and figure the various issue.

The $15-million?  Well....it'll be spent in a single month, if you count in drug therapy, alcohol/drug rehab, and costs.

The fact that 3,000 folks seeking help....probably won't see employment for a year or two minimum?  Yeah.

For all the good that they suggest they might be doing....I just see it as a 'pit'.

Three Thoughts

 First, I've come to some belief that an element now exists in the US...where political ideology is being organized around a more developed factor where less intelligent (dumber) people are recruited and developed into a cult-like ideology. 

In this group, you get a list of thoughts, without much discussion being conducted.  They are simply dumped upon you, and the reaction is....repeat the process and hope that no one asks questions.  

The fact that college-level 'kids' are in this group?  Yeah, that worries me that they'd be this stupid/naïve. 

Second, I've come to believe that around 20-percent of the general public that one might bump into.....are probably qualified in the status of being 'stupid'.  Half of them might eventually emerge and improve their status....the other half will stay stupid for the remainder of their lives.  My problem? Guessing which group I'm talking to, and if I should waste 10 minutes talking 'sense' into them....bringing them out of the 'pit'.

Third, I watched a video today....of a guy who walked into a Wal-Mart and asked the three young 'clerks' about getting a left-handed hammer.  The three probably spent at least fifty seconds....engaged in looking up a left-handed hammer.  Far as I could tell....they weren't willing to give up on the search (that's a positive).  On common sense?  I'm giving up on them.

The STEM Dumbass Problem/Agenda

I sat and read through this commentary by a Princeton college student...an essay/commentary over the unfairness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses.

His emphasis?  Well....not everyone arrives at Princeton to get into STEM classes....equally prepared. 

I pondered over this for a while, in a long thought process.

One of the top ten things I learned upon leaving the farm in 1977, and over the next five years....there were just a fair number of people who were educationally....unprepared.  I'm not saying they were stupid, but that they were given x-amount of education and some of it...stuck, while some of it just dissolved into thin air.

As I reach age forty....this belief got worse.  I had the opinion that probably 40-percent of high school kids were arriving in some Air Force job skill....marginally getting some skill after 12 weeks of tech-school.

Today?  I'm in full agreement that a fair number (maybe half of America's high school graduates can't handle science, technology, engineering, and mathematics basics.  I might even add literature/plain English to the list as well.

But the question is...if you arrived at Princeton and seem to be unable to handle the STEM classes....what's the college to do with you?  Lower the expectation?  Add a 5th year to bring you up to date?  Block you entirely because you aren't that capable?  

Then you have the screwed-up problem....if you have Asian kids step up and have the skills....should you deny seats to Princeton to these kids....because of the unfair nature of things?  

Personally?  The best solution is to make a new second Princeton university....called Princeton-prep.  Tell the remarkable kid applying if you don't pass the STEM mandated levels.....no problem, we'll help you improve.  For the nifty price of $49,500....we will give you a Princeton-prep situation.....doing real high school level STEM crap.  Then to really sell this to the Princeton leadership....I won't hire professors ($90,000 cost per year)...I will hire real plain high school teachers at $55,000 a year.  

Milei Comment

 I saw this today and pondered over it for an hour.  

It's hard to find an economist who advocates printing money....just to flush the system and keep people in some positive mindset.  Politicians on the other hand....would readily agree...seeing no evil in the printing of money.

We never discussed this idea in my rural Alabama high school.  It was around two years later....I sat reading a article over finance (at the base library), and came to grasp the printing of money factor.

Even if you sat in a coffee shop today, and engaged in conversation on this idea....I suspect that forty-percent of people would not grasp what 'printing' really means or how our economy performs (past, present or future).

What Milei says?  Well....to be honest, most colleges are already 'printing' degrees and handing them out to stupid people.....making them think they are wise enough for a college degree, when they aren't that wise or intellectual.

I sat this week watching some 24-year old 'kid' (female) who was fairly disturbed.  She'd finished up college back in the summer of 2023, and her job prospects (now going 8 months) were two temp-jobs (came and went) and currently a part-time job at some coffee shop (I assume shift-manager).  She was peeved over the value of the two degrees she had (one of which related to acting), and that she spoke a second language.  In her mind, the degrees were supposed to open doors, and a real salary.

There's a crazy reality developing....where you feel like some folks (college-bound and college-delivered folks)....are developing into some kind of cult.  

The Five Outcomes of Conversations

It's just an odd topic to think about....what has developed around the concept....someone asking you 'why want you talk about 'such-and-such'?'.

There can only be five responses:

1.  I have no interest in conversing over this topic.

2.  To be honest, I just don't know enough to engage or have an opinion.

3.  I have zero interest or insight to share in such a conversation.

4.  To be honest, engaging with you....will only get you hyper or freaked-out. 

5.  I've got better things to do than waste 5 minutes on some bull$hit topic of 'such-and-such'.  

End of the story.

It's amazing that people have started to reach a level where they know the conversation path, and how they are measuring their response to the five potential outcomes.  The fact that response '4' and '5' come up often?  Yeah, that probably provokes a bit of Einstein-like calculations.  

Series Review

 I sat this week and watched the Netflix series....'The Three Body Problem' (8 episodes).

Pure science fiction?  Yeah, and it took various twists/turns.

Basic story.....some Chinese gal is dragged in the 1960s into a research project....to send a message out into space, and at some point.....gets a return message.  This return message basically says....don't go any further, or you will invite 'trouble'.

Well....the Chinese gal goes ahead.  

What you have develop is some alien culture that is in need of a new planet, and decides Earth might be a great place.  

The rest of the story dwells over the Earth folks who stumble upon the alien business....some folks die, and there's some attempt by the 8th episode to hinder/halt the arrival of the alien invasion (note, they are about 400 years from the arrival point). 

I have to admit on story value....it's a '10', and does make you ask.....could people accept some alien arrival presently.  

So if you are hooked-up to Netflix....it might be worth watching.

Ineptocracy

 I saw the word today, and had to go to remind myself the meaning.

So you've voted in various officials at the city, county, state and federal level....discovering weeks, months and years later....they were not capable of running the office they held.  

You know....the feeling you have over your county commission, your local prosecutor, your local judges, the state governor, House and Senate members, and the President/VP.  

I paused over this for a while.....pondering.

I don't remember this being a big issue in the 1980s/1990s.  Somewhere after 2000....about once a month (at least starting out)....I would notice some evidence of incompetency.  Gradually....it became once a week, and today....I'd say five to ten times a day....I see ineptocracy going on.  I actually see it globally now....viewing events in China, Russia, the UK, Canada, etc.

My question....did we always have this element of Ineptocracy going on,  and it's just easier to recognize it today?  Or has something triggered the inept people to 'rise-up' and be the chief choices when elections occur?

Eight Things I Believe About The Migration Crisis In The US

 1.  For every hundred that entered....maybe 20 will find some minimum wage job....of which one-third (say 7)....will be taking a job that was preformed already by some low-IQ white/black/Hispanic already in the system.

2.  If NY City says they are already in a crisis stage presently (March 2024)....wait until 2025 (a year from now) and another 200,000 have arrived in town. 

3.  Chicago blacks will decide by November....I'm saying two out of three....will decide to vote down the Democratic ticket....shocking the state party apparatus in a massive way.

4.  Murder rate in NY City will likely double by the end of 2025....leading back to migration problems.

5.  'White-flight' will be a major cause of population shift in cities like SF, NYC, Denver, Seattle and Chicago.  

6.  Mexico will be put under extreme pressure to accept migrants 'back' but it'll be demonstrated that nine out of ten....are non-Mexican citizens.

7.  At least half the hotels in NY City by 2026.....will have nothing to do with tourism, and be existing mostly for migrants.

8. For 2025, I expect half-a-million Africans to find some way of getting to the border region, and cross.  Same situation for Chinese.

Slender BS

 I came upon a new term today....trans-slender.

Definition?  Well....if you were a person who is fairly picky about what you eat (like me), there this avoidance of food (particular types) going on.  Some folks are suggesting (in small numbers of course)....that you might be identifying yourself as trans-slender.

I pondered over this foolishness.

I haven't been slender since 1974.  

My German wife will say I have a problem....in that I like 'bad' foods (you know....meat, high-calorie, and fatty foods).  

Generally, when you start a statement with 'trans'....you are indicating that you are a Al Gore 'creature' (Man-bear-pig....being 50-percent man, 50-percent bear, and 50-percent pig....which means you are an invented fake 'thing'). 

I know....trans-people will say they own 'trans', but you could go and wrap some weird thinking into 'trans-whatever'.  

A Story

 On the evening of 30 October 1938.....came on the air via radio around 8 PM, War of the Worlds.  Most folks started from minute 1....knowing it was a fictional story.  Some folks got to the storyline around 5 to 8 minutes late.  

Over the next hour....tens of thousands of Americans truly believed that the US had been invaded by aliens. It was an odd phenonium.  

For weeks after this....people talked about the experience.  Limited to just the US?  No....in Europe and the USSR....folks talked about the naïve nature of Americans and how it really didn't take much to get people into a frightened frenzy.

Stalin, of the USSR, fascinated by this?  Yes.

In the summer of 1947....a UFO incident unfolded in Roswell, NM.  The US Air Force recovered 'something'....there's not much to argue.

There are bits and pieces to suggest that the Soviets had decided by the end of WW II to create a 'War of the Worlds' event in the US, and that two faked-up UFOs were to be designed, built and smuggled somehow into NM.  Aliens themselves?  The same story suggests that the Soviets had found a number of short people....performed surgery to alter them, and the bulk of them would be found dead (1 live one would be part of the unfolding event).

The US reaction?  Retrieval of ship #1, and months later....they would be called to site two (Aztec area).

For a fairly long period (weeks and months)....as this was unfolding....they would eventually figure out that the whole thing was bogus, and the alien they held....seemed to be a normal 'human'.

Would you want to admit how stupid you were to fall for the Soviet act?  No.

But as you come upon the early 1950s....three additional avenues open up.

First, there was the developmental range north of Vegas....Area 51, which had to be established and cover stories established.  So misinformation was created in various layers....to suggest that alien technology or ships were being kept there.

Since there was the already the belief of Roswell and Aztec....this wasn't a wild idea to convey.

Second, out of the Nazi era.....there was a lot of development into mind control and hypnosis.  The Air Force had this guy develop a new medical technology......Jolly West....where you could get people to believe something with a fake layer of facts inserted into the mind. 

This 'science' began to be used in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.   You could actually take a guy and convince him of an alien abduction or visitation.....when nothing happened.  

Third, throughout the 1950s and 1960s....a heck of a lot occurred in the physics area of science....where developers were taking military-related projects to extreme levels of reality.  

So the idea that aliens and UFOs might exist....being totally faked up with thousands of acts?  Well....ask yourself this....if you were 10,000 years more advanced and had traveled to Earth....crashing somewhere...dozens of times....wouldn't your highly developed travel business be suspect?  

I'm not saying the alien/UFO business is 100-percent faked-up.  I'm just saying that after the War of the Worlds episode in 1938....we seem to be on a treadmill, and believing things, without much proof.

Unwritten Laws

There are various unwritten laws that exist today.....which folks tend to gravitate over to....mostly because of logic and common sense.  So this is a list of twenty of these laws:

1.  Murphy's Law: Generally,  if something can go wrong....the odds are in the favor of that occurring.

2.  Sod's Law: Generally, as things are going wrong....it's best to just accept this as some accident or fate.

3.  The Ballpark Law: Generally, if you build it, they will come.  No one says who 'they' are, but just that they heard about you building something and need to check it out.

4.  The Indian Law: Generally, you can't ride a dead horse.

5.  The Whiskey Law: Generally, what whiskey cannot cure....there is no cure.

6.  The Septic Tank Law:  Generally, once you pull out the shovels, you need to start planning on a 12-hour day and hope that the ground temperature is 32-degrees or more.

7.  The Baptist Chat Law: Generally, never engage in conversation with a Baptist enthusiast over wet-dry issues, Revelations interpretations, or houses of ill-repute (they usually want to know the location).

8.  The Handling of Delusional People Law: Generally, just about everything they say....didn't happen.  The landing of the UFO in their cornfield, the phone call from President Trump, and the girlfriend from Selma.....none of those events likely occurred.

9.  The Wal-Mart Law:  Generally, if they don't sell it.....you don't need it.

10.  The Food Poisoning Law:  Generally, a $6 bad case of food poisoning can occur with the same power and intensity.....as a $25 bad case of food poisoning.

11.  The Birmingham, Alabama Law:  Generally, there are cities and villages in Afghanistan which are safer after 10 PM at night to walk around, than within the city limits of Birmingham.

12.  The True Grit Law:  Generally, if you've fallen into a pit of snakes....things aren't likely to go well.

13.  The Diarrhea Law: Generally, if you consume a fair bit of booze nightly, eat high-content fatty food and excessive fruits, mix a hefty amount of dairy products into your diet, drink four or more cups of coffee each morning, enjoy eight slices of bacon each breakfast, and toss down two or three boiled eggs each morning....then you ought to expect extreme diarrhea by 9 AM.

14.  The Hurricane Law:  Generally, even if the President and Governor both encourage evacuation of areas on the beachfront due to an oncoming hurricane....there's pretty good odds that 3,000 Alabama folks would like to drive down and observe the hurricane first-hand (on the beach) because they've never seen such a thing before.

15.  The Thanksgiving Law:  Generally, no one ever loses weight from late November to early January.

16.  The Mennonite Law:  Generally, things stopped advancing around 1890.  If they'd just accepted 1918....they'd still be driving Ford Model T's today instead.

17.  The NCAA-Alabama Law:  Generally, the University of Alabama must fit into the final bowl selection process, unless some freak of nature has occurred.

18.  The Governor Bentley Law: Generally, if you hire up someone to be your closest advisor and some inappropriate lusty stuff goes on.....it's best that you don't get bugged or recorded talking about your 'feelings'.

19.  The Fork-in-the-Road Law:  Generally, if you've reach a folk in the road, with no map, no directions, no signs....it's best to ask the first guy riding a horse or mule down the road about where this path will take you.  It should not matter if he's a Republican or Democrat....a tobacco chewer....or wearing flip-flops.

20.  The Sandbag Law: Generally, if you've filled a hundred sandbags....you tend to reach a pondering stage asking yourself if maybe this just isn't the right place to live or camp upon.  By that point, it's really too late.