The Foundation was capable of saying that roughly 15-percent of the money being used....went to rent, operational costs, internal salary, travel costs, etc. Year after year....this could bounce from 10 to 15 percent. It was the general average of most of charitable foundations that were considered 'good'. The bad foundations? Well....they were the ones that spent the bulk....sometimes 80 to 90 percent on operational costs, and NOT the charity.
But there's this one odd feature about the Clinton Foundation. They hired people to perform the charitable actions....make speeches....attend conferences....write white-papers, etc. And those charity-action people were not part of the operational costs. They were the charity expenses. You could have twenty people soaking four-million dollars a year on travel, meetings, and salary.....with it all counted as actually charity expenses....not operational costs.
How much was spent this way? Unknown. What work or accomplishments were done this way? Unknown. You could attempt some audit over the past ten years, but once you come to individual X....noting his $120,000 a year salary and $40,000 spent on travel and hotels....there's not likely to be some detailed report to say he did anything constructive for the entire year, or that he spent 160 man-hours a month actually working. It'll just be a pit of budget reports and little else.
Saturday, 15 December 2018
Friday, 14 December 2018
Timmy and Lassie
Could Timmy and Lassie be produced today?
I sat and pondered upon this. In today's world....Timmy would have drug issues by age 14.....be connected to some nutcase girlfriend with green hair....detained by the cops at least once for setting bales of hay on fire, and Lassie would have a reputation for attacking poodles down the street.
The sad thing is that we can't make TV shows like that anymore. Timmy has to be a problem-kid....mom has to be a semi-alcoholic.....dad has to be down-and-out, and Lassie cannot be a friendly dog.
Lots of past shows fall into that category. Go and imagine how Bonanza would work today. Or how about Three's Company? Or even even My Three Sons?
It says a lot about society, and how far we've fallen.
I sat and pondered upon this. In today's world....Timmy would have drug issues by age 14.....be connected to some nutcase girlfriend with green hair....detained by the cops at least once for setting bales of hay on fire, and Lassie would have a reputation for attacking poodles down the street.
The sad thing is that we can't make TV shows like that anymore. Timmy has to be a problem-kid....mom has to be a semi-alcoholic.....dad has to be down-and-out, and Lassie cannot be a friendly dog.
Lots of past shows fall into that category. Go and imagine how Bonanza would work today. Or how about Three's Company? Or even even My Three Sons?
It says a lot about society, and how far we've fallen.
Thursday, 13 December 2018
My Description of the View
Back around 2010, I had a 'snow-day'....meaning it was bad enough on weather, that everyone stayed home. So for the first time (and last time), I sat and watched the View in its entirety. It's an ABC-produced show.....mostly designed for women. The theme, as I figured out in ten minutes....is to have four female moderators and a 'chat'.
A slanted chat? Well....yeah, it's geared seem like an open chat, but the political method here is to have one single voice from a conservative view, opposed by three on the other side.
A necessity to drive toward mostly a political show...in the midst of the morning, and repeat this each and every day? Yeah.
Around a year after that, the topic came up in conversation in the vault that I worked, and a guy who'd watched a couple of the shows noted the nearest comparable show....WWE-wrestling. I laughed in the very beginning.
He pointed out...it's all chatter like some WWE-wrestler would make, to get the audience hyped up. Occasionally, some of the wrestlers are 'let-go' or sent off, and new fresh faces are brought in.....to keep the crowd all hyped up. The chatter is all scripted, and leads onto fresh new chatter the next day (which is the same dynamic of WWE-wrestling).
He was basically right.
I know that women who watch the View will get all frustrated and angry over the description....but if you task them watch WWE for about a month.....they will eventually come to agree....they run a theatrical operation closely pattern after the wrestling world. And you have to wonder....if they realize it.
A slanted chat? Well....yeah, it's geared seem like an open chat, but the political method here is to have one single voice from a conservative view, opposed by three on the other side.
A necessity to drive toward mostly a political show...in the midst of the morning, and repeat this each and every day? Yeah.
Around a year after that, the topic came up in conversation in the vault that I worked, and a guy who'd watched a couple of the shows noted the nearest comparable show....WWE-wrestling. I laughed in the very beginning.
He pointed out...it's all chatter like some WWE-wrestler would make, to get the audience hyped up. Occasionally, some of the wrestlers are 'let-go' or sent off, and new fresh faces are brought in.....to keep the crowd all hyped up. The chatter is all scripted, and leads onto fresh new chatter the next day (which is the same dynamic of WWE-wrestling).
He was basically right.
I know that women who watch the View will get all frustrated and angry over the description....but if you task them watch WWE for about a month.....they will eventually come to agree....they run a theatrical operation closely pattern after the wrestling world. And you have to wonder....if they realize it.
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
Oscar's 'Crap'
Frankly, I'll admit that I haven't watched an entire episode of the Oscar's Award Show....since probably 1990. There are few of these movies that I actually go out to the theater to watch, and to attempt to run some three-hour Frankenstein-like awards show.....well....it's a joke.
So when the Kevin Hart business came up this week, I pondered over the mess. The solution to future shows?
Have some kid push a table out to the middle and let him ask the Amazon Alexa box each time....who won this or that.....just let Alexa do all the talking.
No jokes. No stage dramas. No three-hour shows. We can get this show over in 90 minutes. Just let Alexa run the show.
So when the Kevin Hart business came up this week, I pondered over the mess. The solution to future shows?
Have some kid push a table out to the middle and let him ask the Amazon Alexa box each time....who won this or that.....just let Alexa do all the talking.
No jokes. No stage dramas. No three-hour shows. We can get this show over in 90 minutes. Just let Alexa run the show.
Migration Story
This week, some PhD group laid out their research and said that there are approximately 750 million people on the Earth....who'd like to migrate and seek asylum....somewhere else.
Naturally, there are various groups (pro-asylum in doctrine) who'd like to create these doorways to make this possible.
What the PhD guys didn't lay out....is that if you asked the 750 million folks about 'where' they want to go, it usually ends up being the US, Canada, the UK, France, Australia/New Zealand, and Germany. No one cares about going to Mexico, Greece, or Peru....or for that matter....roughly a list of 120-odd countries.
Even if you had some path just ten million folks a year on this migration effort....to these seven countries....most would suggest a limit. That limit in the case of the UK? Probably 100,000 max. For Australia or New Zealand.....they want questions answered over your English ability and past criminal behavior, and they might go and accept a limited number (I doubt if New Zealand would take more than 10,000).
All of this migration chatter is leading to a smuggling gimmick where people are just paying money and figuring if they arrive....with no passport, the pain of forcing people to return will be too much and you will have to accept them. Jobs? Well....this is the fantasy of the whole story. Most of these people have no skill other than flipping burgers or physical labor like mowing grass. The same folks will be angry after five years of one-star employment, and shake their heads over the whole migration business.
What really triggered all of this? The internet. People sat there and looked at these wonderful lives being lived out in Germany, Australia, and the US......then figured they could easily fit into that image.
A bigger mess coming in the next decade? You just don't see this being easily resolved.
Naturally, there are various groups (pro-asylum in doctrine) who'd like to create these doorways to make this possible.
What the PhD guys didn't lay out....is that if you asked the 750 million folks about 'where' they want to go, it usually ends up being the US, Canada, the UK, France, Australia/New Zealand, and Germany. No one cares about going to Mexico, Greece, or Peru....or for that matter....roughly a list of 120-odd countries.
Even if you had some path just ten million folks a year on this migration effort....to these seven countries....most would suggest a limit. That limit in the case of the UK? Probably 100,000 max. For Australia or New Zealand.....they want questions answered over your English ability and past criminal behavior, and they might go and accept a limited number (I doubt if New Zealand would take more than 10,000).
All of this migration chatter is leading to a smuggling gimmick where people are just paying money and figuring if they arrive....with no passport, the pain of forcing people to return will be too much and you will have to accept them. Jobs? Well....this is the fantasy of the whole story. Most of these people have no skill other than flipping burgers or physical labor like mowing grass. The same folks will be angry after five years of one-star employment, and shake their heads over the whole migration business.
What really triggered all of this? The internet. People sat there and looked at these wonderful lives being lived out in Germany, Australia, and the US......then figured they could easily fit into that image.
A bigger mess coming in the next decade? You just don't see this being easily resolved.
Sunday, 9 December 2018
2019 and What I Expect
My list of ten things I expect to happen in 2019:
1. BREXIT will occur, with the treaty thrown out the door, and most Brits shaking their head over all the chatter that occurred about some trade situation with the EU.....which doesn't apparently happen. The US concludes a trade agreement in six weeks and it opens up a number of unexpected doors for Americans and Brits to travel, trade, and expand on industrial relationships.
2. The budget situation is not worked out, and President Trump ends up in the spring shutting down the government. The Democratic House will think they hold some control over the situation, and find by the sixth week of the shut-down....that the President has no enthusiasm for their game, and by day 60....a massive negativity exists with federal workers running out money while sitting at home.
3. The past dozen-odd folks who headed finances with the Clinton Foundation over the past 20 years....will find themselves in Grand Jury rooms, and having to explain details....which seem to suggest they never understood how the Foundation worked and that outsiders seemed to run the money aspects more than they did. Money-laundering? Well, the end-result will suggest some small and limited efforts at money-laundering (unconnected to Hillary or Bill).
4. Senator Feinstein of California will retire by mid-summer and the new incoming Governor (Newsom) will appoint himself into the job.
5. At least fifteen Democrats will announce themselves for the 2020 primary season. At least ten of them will only participate only in four races (lacking the money for a more serious effort).
6. Macron will settle back into limited appearances in public. Bastille Day in Paris (the 14th of July) will be a mess with Yellow Jackets showing up in 200,000 range.
7. A minimum of one new special prosecutor is appointed to review the email server episode of Hillary Clinton. Charges will come up but it'll be some junior employee who issued orders on the behalf of Secretary of State Clinton.
8. Arlington, VA residents complain about escalating housing costs with Amazon folks taking root. A 20-percent rise in apartment rental costs will be 'average' by the end of 2019.
9. President Trump decides that he's accomplished everything on his plate, and will not run in 2020. The wall? The Democrats will see wall funding as the massive threat to get the budget back on track, and by day seventy of the shut-down.....will agree to fund one-quarter of the wall cost.
10. Some coup unfolds in Saudi Arabia and for forty-eight hours.....no one will be sure of who is in charge or who was 'whacked'.
1. BREXIT will occur, with the treaty thrown out the door, and most Brits shaking their head over all the chatter that occurred about some trade situation with the EU.....which doesn't apparently happen. The US concludes a trade agreement in six weeks and it opens up a number of unexpected doors for Americans and Brits to travel, trade, and expand on industrial relationships.
2. The budget situation is not worked out, and President Trump ends up in the spring shutting down the government. The Democratic House will think they hold some control over the situation, and find by the sixth week of the shut-down....that the President has no enthusiasm for their game, and by day 60....a massive negativity exists with federal workers running out money while sitting at home.
3. The past dozen-odd folks who headed finances with the Clinton Foundation over the past 20 years....will find themselves in Grand Jury rooms, and having to explain details....which seem to suggest they never understood how the Foundation worked and that outsiders seemed to run the money aspects more than they did. Money-laundering? Well, the end-result will suggest some small and limited efforts at money-laundering (unconnected to Hillary or Bill).
4. Senator Feinstein of California will retire by mid-summer and the new incoming Governor (Newsom) will appoint himself into the job.
5. At least fifteen Democrats will announce themselves for the 2020 primary season. At least ten of them will only participate only in four races (lacking the money for a more serious effort).
6. Macron will settle back into limited appearances in public. Bastille Day in Paris (the 14th of July) will be a mess with Yellow Jackets showing up in 200,000 range.
7. A minimum of one new special prosecutor is appointed to review the email server episode of Hillary Clinton. Charges will come up but it'll be some junior employee who issued orders on the behalf of Secretary of State Clinton.
8. Arlington, VA residents complain about escalating housing costs with Amazon folks taking root. A 20-percent rise in apartment rental costs will be 'average' by the end of 2019.
9. President Trump decides that he's accomplished everything on his plate, and will not run in 2020. The wall? The Democrats will see wall funding as the massive threat to get the budget back on track, and by day seventy of the shut-down.....will agree to fund one-quarter of the wall cost.
10. Some coup unfolds in Saudi Arabia and for forty-eight hours.....no one will be sure of who is in charge or who was 'whacked'.
Thursday, 6 December 2018
If Global Warming is Coming
In recent weeks, there's been a lot of chatter about global warming, and the great catastrophic events coming. The chief topic that accompanies this....we need to redistribution of money....mostly to go to poor nations (never West Virginia or the hill-country of Kentucky, or Selma, Alabama).
After much reflection, I've come to the better solution.....it's basically too late, and we need to put the money into transport (of some type) and just leave the Earth.
I've watched just about every single episode of Stargate, Star Trek, and Lost in Space (probably totalling 3,000 hours), and feel that it'd just be a better investment to haul up and leave (like when the trailer is no longer inhabitable or when neighbors have made a mess of things).
So what's our priorities in finding a new planet?
1. No bug-people. I've come to notice that things tend to go badly when you have to deal with them.
2. Preferably a planet with 24 to 36 hour days. If this is a planet with 134-hour days....it'll be a problem for me to adjust my sleeping hours to 60-plus hour per day.
3. Preferably a planet with no snakes.
4. Preferably a planet with ongoing climate change business. The climate needs to be rock-solid and not changing sixteen different ways every year.
5. Preferably a planet without any Amazon ten-foot tall women. It'd just draw a guy's attention around the clock and make it hard to concentrate.
6. Preferably a planet with no cable new networks or political business going on.
7. Preferably a planet with no giant eels or forty-foot alligators.
8. Preferably a planet with no tornadoes.
9. Preferably a planet with freaky monsters that you might have seen off a hundred of the Stargate episodes.
10. Preferably no robot creatures.
After much reflection, I've come to the better solution.....it's basically too late, and we need to put the money into transport (of some type) and just leave the Earth.
I've watched just about every single episode of Stargate, Star Trek, and Lost in Space (probably totalling 3,000 hours), and feel that it'd just be a better investment to haul up and leave (like when the trailer is no longer inhabitable or when neighbors have made a mess of things).
So what's our priorities in finding a new planet?
1. No bug-people. I've come to notice that things tend to go badly when you have to deal with them.
2. Preferably a planet with 24 to 36 hour days. If this is a planet with 134-hour days....it'll be a problem for me to adjust my sleeping hours to 60-plus hour per day.
3. Preferably a planet with no snakes.
4. Preferably a planet with ongoing climate change business. The climate needs to be rock-solid and not changing sixteen different ways every year.
5. Preferably a planet without any Amazon ten-foot tall women. It'd just draw a guy's attention around the clock and make it hard to concentrate.
6. Preferably a planet with no cable new networks or political business going on.
7. Preferably a planet with no giant eels or forty-foot alligators.
8. Preferably a planet with no tornadoes.
9. Preferably a planet with freaky monsters that you might have seen off a hundred of the Stargate episodes.
10. Preferably no robot creatures.
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