Stamps Going Up

 Last week, even though Congress wasn't that enthusiastic over the idea....the Post Office announced that stamp prices would go up (from 55 to 58 cents).  Around early September, this will happen.

As a teenage kid (1975), I remember the price being at 10 cents.  That's how far the economy has really changed in 46 years.

I would speculate by 2030....it'll be fairly close to 80 cents.  

You have to ask yourself....are we using Postal Service that much?  In a normal year now....I probably mail a total of seven to ten items....that's a quarter of what I was doing in 1985.  On deliveries....90-percent occur by Fedex, DHL, or some German special delivery deal.

I might go and speculate that ten-percent of the population get no more than one piece of mail per week today.  

The idea of published catalogs?  Why?  You can go online and search, then purchase your item.

It is a different world than forty years ago..

Public Safety Story

 For several days, there's been this ballot referendum from Minneapolis that has been on my mind.  It's pushed up by the city council, and will be voted up later in the year by residents of the city.

The general wording?  The police department would basically go away.

What you'd have is a safety department.

Composition?  'Licensed' police officers, mental health responders, substance abuse specialists, violence 'interrupters' and violence prevention professionals.

I've sat and reviewed the idea, and the composition.

Generally, I see five problems:

1.  Manpower-wise, you'd probably have to double the number of folks that you have presently as police, to make this effectively work.  Tax revenue-wise....it will take an incredibly large group, and cost value.....to put this into action.

2.  If I were a violence 'interrupter'....brought to a scene and the guy is drugged-up to the max....the odds are that this will get violent in a matter of minutes, and I'm not armed or trained to the degree required....so I expect the violence 'interrupter' crowd to meet a violent situation in ten-percent of cases.

3.  If you took the Floyd-case....who would have been called?  Well....the standard police in this new era because this was all about a stupid counterfeit $20 that Floyd didn't want to discuss.  

4.  Man-hours on each event?  Where the cops might figure 90 minutes for a messed-up situation....under this situation, you might be talking about three to four hours.  

Hostile drugged-up husband?  Wife calls 9-1-1.  Mental health guy responds, and meets up with a very violent husband.  This will be a very case to spiral out of control quickly.

5.  Finally, where is the authority figure?  Normally, authority rests with the police.  If some 'violence interrupter' guy shows up and flashes a badge.....you will ask the guy....are you the police?  He'll say no, and you will disrespect the guy by walking away.  That will be standard public attitude.

I see this referendum passing, and in a matter of two years....the cost of public safety in Minneapolis will soar to double what the cost is today.  I'll also predict that a quarter of the residents will view the change in a negative way.....plan an exodus from the city, and the experiment will be deemed a failure after four years.  The failure will mostly revolve more violent acts than before and the cost factor being too much for residents to handle.  

So to a final note, which I found odd....the change that is proposed....has a little sentence in it....which says that the police that would exist after the transformation....would be more or less run/managed by the city council themselves...NOT the police chief.  

You would hire someone who would just 'pretend' to be the chief, but in reality...some city council member could walk into the central control room....via a situation and just demand that officers 'stand-down'.....there would be no standard way of handling a mess....you'd just invent a new management view each day and leave people guessing how the chips may fall.

In some ways....it's a bit amusing and looks like a transformation into Mogadishu....one clan family over another, just depending the day of the week. 

Biden's Suggestion

 One of the comments from President Biden during the town hall of this past week....concerns the comment 'we don't have near enough people handling the mentally-ill and the drug addicted folks in America'.

I've sat there for a fair amount of time pondering the statement.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) says just in general....one out of five Americans have some form of mental illness.  That's 51.5-million Americans.  At the more serious level....they figure it's five-percent of the nation or 13-million.  

NSDUH says that around (2017 survey) 19.7-million Americans had a drug addiction of some type.  

You add the numbers up....it's around 33-million folks that would be in this concept of President Biden's idea.....where people would be handling the group.  

The chief problem here?  Under his idea....these people deserve help....whether they want it or not. If you went up to the 33-million and said here's your big chance in life....I'd be skeptical that you even got 10-percent of the group being agreeable for one massive rehab deal.  

In the case of the paranoid schizophrenic folks....you might be better off just housing them in a quiet facility....away from the general public. Once you explained that idea to the general public....probably sixty-percent of them would freak out and say 'no way'. 

So the suggestion that President Biden made?   A noble act?  More or less....yeah.  We all have crazy uncles, nutty neighbors who mow the lawn in a precise fashion, co-workers who disappear on a four-day period once a year while using heroin or LSD, friends who go nuts when traveling on planes, associates who do weed four times a day to handle their anxiety/stress levels, and cousins who have lived under bridges in Los Angeles for the past seven years.  

It's just that it'd take a massive army to cover the issue, and if the problem-person doesn't want the enforced recovery....then what?  

A Movie

 This past week....'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' came to Netflix.  It was my first time viewing it.....I've watched it three times since that evening.  If you haven't seen the movie....I'd heavily endorse a viewing.

First, to the subject of it being a Tarantino production?  He tends to produce masterpieces, and the type that you want to go back to for a second viewing.  He puts effort into the dialog, the characters, the story, and the ending.  

Second, to the subject of this being a 'what-if' situation....where in 1969, things unfold, and the Manson crowd will go and screw with the wrong people on that fateful evening, and the 'Cliff Booth-character' (Brad Pitt) is dished out over the whole movie as being a guy who never fulfills his destiny.  In this 'what-if' ending.....Cliff ends up meeting Tex and two of the teenage Manson gals, and things really don't go well for the Manson team.

Third, in the last third of the movie, Tarantino introduces you to Cliff's moments at the 'ranch' where the Manson crowd are hanging out.  In some odd way, Tarantino labels them in a way as 'woke' and consumed with their version of reality.

It's a five-minute scene where you really think hard over this scene, and today's reality with woke-idiots.

Between Charlie's talks, the drugs, and the continual indoctrination.....none of the ladies at the ranch have any respect.  They've lost their ability to grasp reality or to handle real-life situations.   Tarantino gives you the 'ladies' using bully-tactics, condemnation, and threats....to get their points across (the same as the woke-crowd today).

The fifteen minutes of the movie?  It is ultra violent and you are fairly shocked over how Cliff, his dog, Rick Dalton and 'Brandy' are going to handle the situation with Tex and the two ladies. 

So I'm left with this long pondering situation over Charlie's 'gang'.  All of them went through some type of mind-melt or brainwash.  None of them ever showed this significant amount of violence before this event.  They were cultivated, charmed, and simply became pro-Charlie (no matter what).  

I'll recommend the movie, but just say clearly.....after it ends, you probably need a half bottle of wine, and will go back to contemplate five different scenes in the movie.  

Eventualities

 This is an essay over ten things that I anticipate will become eventualities. 

1.  Shortly after the 2024 election, and going into the 2025 spring....I anticipate that Youtube, Twitter and Facebook will be given an order to 'clean-up' their mess, refuse, and all will be yanked off the internet for a seven-day period (to which the GOP President will suggest that 'children' get a time-out).

2.  Half of NFL football teams by 2024 will confess that they are not financially viable.  While enlarging their Chinese audience....getting American fans into the arenas is now a major problem.  'Big' contracts are not a common thing anymore.

3.  President Biden, after the 2022 mid-terms, draws a circle, and lessens his public appearances.  By mid-2023, you only see him once a month in a tightly controlled situation.  No more town halls.  No more open Q and A sessions.

4.  The 6th of January 'truth-commission' issues a 2,000 page report in October of 2022.  Six months later, journalists ask around and discover that literally no one in DC has read the entire document.  

5.  The vast majority of TV production companies leave California for either Florida or Texas by the end of 2022.

6.  As the fall of Afghanistan occurs....an exodus of Afghans occur, with more than half-a-million trying to make their way via various routes to Germany.

7.  A gang thug leader gets himself onto the DC mayor's list for the next election and shocks people by getting 30-percent of the vote.  His chief slogan?  "Stop the hate."

8.  A new fact-check association arrives....only to check fact-checkers themselves.

9.  A test is applied to a west coast university over history, to which 90-percent of the 18-year olds are regarded as lacking.  In response, the university requires two non-credit history classes in the first year.  Students completing the two courses....are shocked over history.

10.  Stores in America by mid-August....admit that various school supplies are on back-order and still on ships coming from China....as the new school year starts.  Students are shocked to be told....write on the back of sheets to save resources.  

Quote of the Week

 “If you're vaccinated, you’re not going to die.” 

- President Joe Biden

Yeah, he actually did say that.  He was told that by the scientists I guess, and he said to trust the scientists.

On the 'misinformation-index' (one to ten)....I'd say it's pretty close to a eight.  But you know.....maybe it's good misinformation....to help you when you feel weak, or disgruntled.  

You go into work, and hype it to your co-workers.  You go to church, and hype it to your Baptist associates.  You go into the honky-tonk, and hype it to the tube-top ladies.  You tell it to Grandma, the neighbors, your transmission mechanic, the burger-gal, your Choctaw Indian friend, and even your dog.  

Maybe it serves a purpose of some type.  I doubt if the dog believes you though....he'll be worried about your situation. 

Ten Tips If You Are Going to Lecture People

 1.  If you intend to lecture people on business, you better know the topic.  The same goes for lecturing people on drug use, taxes, farming, nutrition, homelessness, or resolving conflict.

2.  If you use the phrase 'you-better-believe-the-experts' or 'you-better-believe-the-scientists'....your lecture is doomed.

3.  If you intend to lecture and this revolves around a COST of some type....you better know the exact amount of cost, and just NOT say it's 'minimum'.

4.  If you are using a Hollywood 'puppet' as part of the lecture....you might as well use quotes from Mighty Mouse, Huckleberry Hound, or Space Ghost.

5.  If it takes you more than ten minutes of talking to get your chief lecture point across....you probably failed.

6.  If you lecture people and say the phrase....'civilization will be destroyed in a single decade'.....people now start to laugh and not take your talk serious.

7.  Fidel Castro is famous for lecture speeches....on one occasion, he actually went 7.5 hours with his lecture.  There's no indication that folks who started listening....stayed with him for the entire lecture.  You kinda need to wrap up a lecture in 30 minutes or less.

8.  If your idea is to lecture people....day in....day out....five days a week, then your 'business' will ultimately fail.  People can't consume that amount of lecture.

9.  Mixing religion, politics or health matters into a lecture is risky business.  You may very well wake up....to find half your audience gone because they considered your lecture to be a joke, and they won't return.  

10.  A comedian can lead a lecture just as well as some four-star general, or some PhD scientist.  

(secret tip: If your business is NFL football, and the football  side of things becomes the secondary topic, while your lecture is the primary topic.....your business is finished).