Ten Bits of Advice

 Sometimes, I just go and dispense regular advice:

1.  Right now, the business community (Wall Street) is on a slightly upward trend.  The stability or lack of stability....has yet to occur.  Once people feel stability in question....they dump money out of their regular 401k program, and into bonds.  Presently, looking forward to 20 January....I'd go and review my 401k options, and move virtually all (say 95-percent or more) over to a bond-related situation.  I'd plan on this now, while your fund is still relatively good.  Bonds rarely make more than 1-to-2 percent a year, but you are simply parking it there for three months and will have a different strategy in February of 2021.

2.  There is this odd idea going on in NY City....that so many properties have been vacated and put up for sale...with their regular prices attached, and no one interested to buy them at those prices.  These analysts suggest that if an overwhelming number of properties in NY started to appear, and started to be cut by 10-to-20 percent....a lot of losses would occur, and it'd trigger real estate speculation to a significant degree.  This all leads to this idea of another 'bubble' (remember 2008) existing and this might lead to a major economic event in early 2021 (won't matter if Trump or Biden wins).  I would be very mindful of what's going on and analyze my situation....if I were buy, or selling property right now.  

3.  Christmas in a Covid period?  Personally, I don't see how Black Friday would work, or if the risks are worth it.  I'd probably go and use online services (except for Amazon).  

4.  Attending holiday events with relatives who might be charged-up politically?  With the current trends, and unknowns....this might be the year to skip such an event.  

5.  Cruise-ship trip trending downward, and camping trending upward?  I'd go ahead and suggest that for 2021 and 2022....a heck of lot of cruise-ships won't be operating.  Even with vaccinations occurring in the spring/summer of 2021....camping or RVing will continue for the foreseeable future.  Buying into RVs?  I probably wouldn't go and spend $70k on one, but these trailers designed for outback or rough camping (10 days or less) can be purchased for $30k to $40k.  They'd appear to be something that would easily last 15 years, and maybe camping in the wild or at some coastal National Park....might be a positive way to spend your off-time.

6.  If you live in a town that has created a magnet for the druggie crowd (soup-kitchen, shelter, etc)....you might need to replace your local city or county officials and lessen the magnet....to prevent escalation of robberies or break-in's. 

7.  If you run or work in a full-service restaurant, the experts say that full recovery from the Covid-19 threat.....won't occur for a minimum of four years.  It might be time to look for new work.

8.  If you are a gal, or the husband of a gal....looking for a Christmas gift of a different variety (for her, or for yourself)....then maybe this is the season to visit your local ammo/gun shop.

Size wise, I would recommend 3 types in this case: (1) Sig P238, (2) Glock 26, (3) Sig P365.  

If you never have fired a pistol....ask the ammo/gun shop guy if he provides a course (most do)....then ask for a discount and be firm that you should get one.  I'd plan on at least a hundred rounds of ammo for the 1st time out on practicing, and do a return visit within three to four months.  

9.  Don't go expecting miracles with the new Covid-19 vaccine when it's finally delivered.  You just might have to be taking this twice a year.  

10.  As depressing as this holiday period might be (political chaos, Covid, etc)....maybe it's time to turn off the TV, and keep yourself away from news for 99-percent of the day.  Find some fine tunes (jazz, 1970s hits, hillbilly music, etc) or find three or four great classics to read once again.

On my classics to be read at least once in life: 1984 by George Orwell, Animal Farm by Orwell as well, Last of the Mohicans by Cooper, War of the Worlds by Wells, and White Fang by London. 

On historical non-fiction?  1898: Birth of the American Century by Traxel, The Man From the Train by James (note, he's laying out a massive serial killer story that probably happened but isn't necessarily tied together), True Believer by Hoffer, Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Cheever, Land of the Burnt Thigh by Kohl (a note on this book, it's a decent history of women in the pioneer period of North Dakota and fairly story-telling).  

Finally, if you can find a copy (maybe even e-book-wise) of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (written in 1835)...it's a great book to pick up and reflect upon what made America different, and attracting people to leave Europe.  

The Next 72 Days

 After a fair amount of pondering....I will lay out what I think the next 72 days will be:

- Trump goes to openly challenge seven to ten states on a fraudulent election.  Various elements will be attached....each state with differing problems.  The case will hit the Supreme Court around the week following Thanksgiving week.  

- In this period leading up to the Supreme Court.....the federal marshal folks will come to Justice Roberts and lay out the threat to safety and security for the building and the Supreme Court.  They are openly admitting 20,000 pro-Biden folks in the mix, and maybe 10,000 pro-Trump people.  The threat even extends to their private residences.  

A call is made to the President, and several thousand National Guard folks are given orders to report to DC....to protect the court and their private homes.

- As opening day starts at the court, more than 50,000 protesters are in DC.  Several buildings are set on fire that night.

- The court rushes through the business in three days.  Then they go into 'hiding'.  A week passes and the court announces that in a minimum of five states....the election results are invalid.  The choice left....for those states....to have a legislative meeting, and vote for the electors themselves (within the state), before 13 December.  

- Now, all hell breaks loose in the five states, with open threats made against the legislators themselves, their homes, and dozens of major riots are led by Antifa and BLM across the US.  

- At least two states refuse to make any decision, and in the end....the 270-number is not met at the Electoral College.

- From 13 December until 3 January....riots occur across the US.  Open-murders occur in cities like Minneapolis, DC, and Philly.  Tens of thousands of people are evacuating the inner cities of the US.

- House members who were supposed to arrive on 3 January to start the new session....are receiving death threats daily, and the police are unable to protect them or their homes. At the opening session....at least fifty members refuse to show up.

- Threats now extend across both sides....right-wing types are sensing civil war underway and openly threatening democratic members now.

- House Speaker on day one of the 3 January session....is gone by day seven.  Roving crowd of protesters are roaming DC at night....buying dozens of structures. An enormous number of Americans are fed up with the riots and looting.  

- As day 20 arrives, Trump's last day....there is still not a vote.  A temporary House Speaker (the 3rd person since 3 January) is appointed President.  Riots continue, with two dozen individuals shot dead in a 24-hour period, as the 20th arrives and the situation looks even more chaotic now.  

- The 20th will be deemed a national civil war by various journalists watching the episode.  CNN crews are chased by pro-Trump riot people.  Fox crews are chased by pro-Biden riot people.  

- By the evening of the 20th of January....a major attempt will be made by the Antifa/BLM crowd to cross the White House fence, and burn down the structure.  Trump (now out of office) has been relocated to another location. Biden, for least five days prior to the 20th.....has virtually disappeared and issues statements via a third party. 

- A lot of people are sitting there on the 20th of January, watching TV and in total disbelief at how quick society collapsed.  Gun and ammo sales ramp up.  The stock market drops 4,000 points in the five days leading up to the 20th.  Most all grocery stores in major US cities are ransacked in the days leading up to the 20th.  Freight companies refuse to deliver to sixteen major cities in America, with the food supply in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Seattle in question.  

My Masterplan

 If you had come to me in 2017 and said....we (the Democratic Party) want to run Joe Biden and want a virtually guaranteed win, then I would have sat down and devised a simple plan.

It would revolve around four essential elements:

1.  I would pick the seven least won states that Trump had in 2016, and center my entire effort upon them.

2.  I would pick out the urban areas of those seven states (Detroit, Philly, Atlanta, Madison, etc).  I would also look at weakened states for the vote in 2020 (Minn and Nevada).  In these urban areas, I'd assign teams, via various foundations.  One 'captain' given four guys, and given the task to register 3k voters.  I'd appoint a minimum of two dozen of these Captains.  In each major urban area, I'd have a clerk or two with the city who understands what has to happen, and ensure no one challenges the addition of 60k 'new' voters.

3.  I'd look at the voting software game, and see if I can find the technician to write one extra line of code, and try to add 40k extra votes in each state (spreading them around various districts, to avoid detection).

4.  Finally, I'd want a big enough mess with Corona to exist....to open the pit for mail-in votes.  Not just 10,000 or 100,000, but in some cases....I'd be talking about pouring in 250k votes out of thin air....from non-existence.  

Once all of this was achieved, I'd want the news media to bless it all rather quickly and halt any suggestion of Russian 'fixing'.  I'd want such a wide array of problems, that the news media would just continually state its position....nothing corrupt happened here.  

Then at the end....once success was achieved with this mechanism...I'd go to the obvious home-run, I'd want to run three or four Constitutional Amendments over the next four years....bringing an enormous amount of change to the landscape, while doing it with a minority of Americans (maybe fewer than 50-million voters).  

I'd dump the Electoral College....delete the 2nd Amendment (no rights with guns), mandate absolute authority over commerce, and force carbon taxes upon everyone.  All of this....I'd accomplish with a minority of voters.  

The people who should be catching me in the act?  They either aren't that bright, or they just don't care.  

Reagan and His Alzheimer Situation

 Generally, you have to go read through dozens of articles and history summaries to come to some conclusion over this.

The beginning of this period?  His son summed it up and said in this period of 1984....various little things started to occur where 'dad' simply didn't remember names that well, or connect events to dates.  It wasn't Alzheimers at this point, but he was beginning to show memory issues. This was two years after the assassination attempt.  At this point, he was 73 years old.

Somewhere in the 1989 period....riding a horse....he took a fall and had a concussion. It wasn't severe, but if you go back to this episode, you have to wonder about this triggering the next round of events. 

Around five years after he left the Presidency....1994...he officially announced that he had full-up Alzheimers.  

Death?  Summer of 2004....roughly a full decade into the Alzheimers period.  Personally, I don't think any of this 1980s period was more than periodic and minor forgetfulness.  It advanced each year....no doubt.  But it wasn't an Alzheimers period.  

If you go and do the research....older folks who do have concussions (whether on bicycles, or by horse-back)....tend to have a 2.3 times higher chance of Alzheimers later in life.  

1,223 Days

Between 29 October 1929, and 5 March 1933....a lot of things happen in Germany to create a fanatical wave of despair and Adeline-rush.  

Germany goes through this massive fall of enthusiasm in November 1918, and goes through two to three year rebuilding process over 'hope'.  If you were standing there in the summer of 1914, and tried to imagine the landscape of 1919.....it's harsh, dismal, and suggesting of a collapse of society.  Yet things shift around and over this period of 1919 to 29 October 1929....it's a whole new world to catch up to.

Then this wave of 1,223 days starts up on 29 October 1929.  The stock market crash carries away the savings of various Germans....the safety and stability of society is cut loose once again, and people are looking for anything....to grasp and feel secure.

5 March 1933 arrives....an election day, and the Nazi Party will carry home a major political win.  In the minds of roughly 40-percent of the country....things are about to shift and improve.  A new version of socialism is coming.  The hyped-up feeling of unity exists.  Whatever is dragging upon society....is about to be cut loose (at least in their minds).

This is a long 1,223 days.  Some banks collapse.  Some business operations close their doors.  This ten years of semi-prosperity....are basically forgotten.

This four-year period to reach 5 March 1933?  Few ever go back and talk about the period, or the cultural shift required.  It's history forgotten....for whatever reason. 

Worthly News Suggestions

 For a number of years, I read the Weekly Standard, among a dozen-odd news print selections (Time, Newsweek, Kiplingers, etc).  Around four years ago, I dropped the Weekly Standard....realizing they weren't exactly conservative in nature, and they seemed to be awful pro-Bush.  Recently, I dropped Fox News....realizing they were going down the same path.  

So my suggestions on news?

- OANN

- Red State

- Western Journal

- Judicial Watch

- Daily Wire (Sundays, they do episodes with Victor Davis Hanson which are worth watching).

- Epoch Times, very neutral and insightful...but subscription cost at $77 a  year (weekly digital version). Via YouTube, you can view their interviews, which I regard as some of the best.

- The Daily Signal

- The First TV (features Bill O'Reilly)

- News Busters (More of coverage chatter across the board)

- Powerline Blog (note, more of a blog than an actual news site, but frequently updated and brings a lot of topics to the table)

- CATO Institute (note, fairly in-depth writings and probably not for everyone)

- PJ Media

- The Federalist

- The Bongino Report (note, probably a far better site than Drudge ever was)

- Heritage Foundation (note, they don't do a lot of articles, but the ones that are published by them....are the type to make you think a good bit)

How a President-Elect Biden Would Cure The Corona 'Mess' in One Month

 It's fairly simple.

Right now, upon death in a hospital (whether by a car-accident, suicide or heart-attack)....the hospital will administer a Covid-19 test.  Sometimes, they might ask the family....sometimes, they might just do it on their own.  

The test in most cases will come back....positive, so the the guy/gal becomes an identifiable number of 'death by Covid-19'. 

Extra money is dished out to the hospital via a government program (in the $30k to $40k range)....mostly to make up for elective surgical procedures being cancelled out.

Upon arrival in DC....a President Biden would just order the cash flow/test deal to halt.  

Within 30 days, this miracle would be observed by a marginal press....the death rate has suddenly dropped....maybe by 50-percent (maybe more).  Infections might still continue on, but the death-rate will be what is openly discussed in the news.  

The new administration would then get a pat on the back for resolving the terrible numbers of the previous administration.  

And don't worry....that extra cash deal for the hospitals?  It'll just drift over into some other deal, and still continue in some way.