The MAGA Story

"We export American exceptionalism, the great America, the land of liberty and justice. If you ask anybody walking on the side of the street somewhere in the middle of the world they will tell you, ‘America the great,' but we don't live those values here. That hypocrisy is one that I am bothered by. I want America the great to be America the great.

-- Ihan Omar

Over the weekend Omar tried to explain her patriotism angle, and centered on the thought that America was previously 'great', and she'd like to return it to the status of 'great'.

Amusingly enough, she's basically uttering the Trump phrase.....Make America Great Again.

How would she achieve this status?  Unknown.  She left that part out of the discussion. 

In professional wrestling, at the key point of really 'BAD' status, the tough evil wrestler will undergo some conversion situation, and suddenly appear in public as the 'GOOD' wrestler.  Perhaps in this case, Omar has been given the script, and will suddenly appear as a Trump-supporter, and shock everyone. 

The Mitch Exit in 2021

Later this year, the Kentucky general election will be held, and Matt Bevin (current GOP governor of the state) will likely be re-elected.  His term will start in December. 

Right now....Bevin is given a six to eight point lead over the Democratic contender. 

I anticipate that Mitch will go and run a strong race in the summer of 2020, and likely win his race by a minimum of ten points. 

He'll (Mitch) will swear in and quietly go about his work in the spring of 2021, and around October/November...he'll give notice of retirement in January of 2022.  The governor of Kentucky will then select himself (being GOP)....and the state law says that only when the next general election comes up, will the position be voted upon.  So Bevin would have 3 years before that event occurs....giving himself enough time to build up accomplishments and 'charm'.

The question then comes up.....who replaces Mitch as GOP head in the Senate?

So I'm suggesting three names:

1.  Tim Scott (the GOP might think that bringing a soft-spoken black to the job would gain them points).  Scott would lack years in the Senate, but bring a different charm to the job.

2.  Mike Lee from Utah.  He has character to fill the shoes.

3.  Rob Portman from Ohio.  Generally liked by most all Republican Senators. 

The end of Mitch?  No.....I suspect that he's got a ton of campaign and PAC money sitting there and intends to be a major part of the 2022 election.  There's probably three or four Democratic Senators are anticipating him influencing their race, and putting them in a world of hurt before he empties out his pot of money. 

This Epstein Business

After several days of watching this hyped-up Epstein business go on, and the list growing of VIPs and businessmen who came to the 'isle'....I've come to one central question being avoided by the journalists....who sponsors or runs Epstein? 

I don't think he's the top dog to this whole isle-visitation, lusty-gal, and secret information business.  He runs the isle....no doubt.  But I suspect this goes one step above him....with either some government or some syndicate using the inside influence or information for other purposes.  Chinese?  KGB?  Saudis?  Israel?  French billionaires? 

A lot of things seem to be intentionally left out of this story, and virtually no investigative journalism going on.  There's some boss or group above Epstein, and more to this story.

Tree Story

A Swiss foundation went out and did a fairly in-depth survey of climate change and C02....then came to a non-shocking conclusion.  Reforestation across the globe, would fix and resolve all these C02 and climate change issues.

Yes,  something that people have been suggesting for two decades....was basically laid out in a science fashion and easily established. 

Massive effort?  Well....yeah.  But here's the thing about this reforestation idea.....no one is against the concept, and the cost factor isn't as bad as one might think.  Across the US....you'd probably find at least a million people who are willing to put in six hours per month in some seedling effort. 

The Real Question over the Census Question

President Trump and his staff are mostly on an agenda that will require the Census team (2020) to ask a citizenship question, and give two different numbers to the public at the conclusion.  One number will be the total residents of a state, and one number will be only the citizens of the state.  Politically, it's charged up.

Some folks believe that the Supreme Court will effectively halt this and prevent it.  To be honest, I suspect that Judge Roberts will do his best to ensure that the question is not authorized, and that only by having one of the four liberal justices retire, and be replaced by a conservative judge....will the matter be put to rest. 

But there is this other question lingering out there.  If you can't ask this citizenship question....is there any real reason to conclude or even conduct the Census? 

I would suggest that the whole basis of the Census is some accurate count that would justify deleting districts in some states, and adding districts in other state....based strictly upon American citizens.  If the question can't be asked, there's no need to waste the money and we should just drop the whole necessity of having a House of Representatives, going to strictly to the Senate existing. 

It's a silly argument and likely to continue through the summer of 2020.  Curiously, the law basically says that the Census has to start in 2020....but it could be started in January....or in December, after the election.  Trump could make the whole basis of the Census one of his three main topics, and put the Justices into the spectrum of public attention. 

The five states most likely to be hurt by the question?  California, NY, New Jersey, Florida and Texas.  Some people suggest that California alone might lose three districts upon this review and the Census question.  Even Texas might lose two districts.  Course, both Florida and Texas might gain via people leaving NY and California as the great mass exodus is taking place. 

So how big a deal will this become?  I suspect as January of 2020 arrives....we will find that the bulk of Americans are concerned (one way or another) over the Census, and it might flip over into being a major problem. 

Just Something to Think About

Back shortly after the Reagan era, when the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986 was signed in and fixed all the shortcomings of migrants just entering the US....within two or three years....Jose # 1 entered into the US via Mexico, from El Salvador, and became an illegal and undocumented worker in the US.  He had a job, under the table, and worked for warehouse clean-up team....making $2 under the minimum wage. 

A year or two passed, and Jose #2 arrived in the US....illegal and undocumented.  He convinced the clean-up crew for the warehouse to hire him for $2.20 less than minimum wage, and Jose #1 was let go.  Jose #1 went on and found another job....making less than minimum wage. 

A year or two passed, and Jose #3 arrived in the US....illegal and undocumented.  He convinced the clean-up crew for the warehouse to hire him for $2.25 less than minimum wage, and Jose #2 was let go.  He went on to compete against Jose #1, and took his job.  Jose #1, sought better work in Michigan.

A year or two passed, and Jose #4 arrived in the US....illegal and undocumented.  He convinced the clean-up crew for the warehouse to hire him for $2.30 less than minimum wage, and Jose #3 was let go.  He went to compete against Jose #2, who gave up and moved to NY City.

Year after year, a new Jose arrived.  Year after year, that Jose displaced the old Jose.   Altogether, these 10 to 15 million illegal and undocumented workers....make less than the minimum wage and save literally billions in the pockets of well-to-do Americans.  Guys hire Jose to do work, that minority Americans won't do....for less than the minimum wage.  Everytime that a threat comes up to lessen the Jose affect, you can depend on Congressmen and Senators to save the Jose, and his fellow-Joses.

But decade after decade, the Joses are now in such abundance, that they compete against the original Jose folks, and the second wave, and the third wave.  So we now have plenty of Joses....to do minimum wage work, for half the price. 

Are we really doing them a favor? 

Trump and Homelessness

It's a fairly decent page one story this morning.....Trump says he's ready to take on LA, Seattle, and San Francisco. If the cities can't do the job, and the state governments just stand by with nothing accomplished....well, the feds will do it. Correct attitude? I doubt it.

But he could bring three curious measures to the table and really put the city governments of the three cities (all run by Democrats) in serious jeopardy.

First, he could send in a task force and just say accepted drug-use on the streets....won't be accepted by the federal government. You could go and detain 500 heroin users (requiring some judge in the middle) to hold and force rehab upon a guy. 500 out of thousands? Well, the week or two after this....you'd go and suggest more task force members are coming and unless they (the drug group) evacuate the three cities....they will be hauled off. That 'scare' would be enough to do serious talk of leaving the three cities.

Second, he could put 'hurt' and 'pain' into the drug market, and start upping the charges on dealers. It wouldn't take much take down a hundred dealers in San Francisco. They'd be replaced in a matter of hours....but you could have a second group of federal cops ready to go, and haul them off as well. You could even go and create a special wing for dope dealers at some federal prison and make it a pretty tough sentence to suffer through.

Third, you could go and start a long discussion in public about mental health, and the crappy attitude of just letting these folks suffer. Eventually, it'd trigger the public to accept facilities and life-time stays. I know.....it's something people dislike, but the idea of letting thousands of nutcases wander around and possibly be a threat to the public is not that great of an idea.

 And here is the curious thing....the 2024 likely contender for the Democrats is the current California governor (Newsom). If Trump resolves the problem ahead of him? Newsom is toast....he won't be able to get any real support in 2024.