The Syrian Version of 'Lets Go Brandon'

 So to lay this story out in the simplest version.....there's been this ongoing crisis in Turkey with Syrian refugees sitting there and 'waiting'.

The war in Syria....just for the record, has not ended.  No one feels comfortable going back, and frankly.....they all feel the ISIS war could restart.

The average Turk?  Their patience with the refugee business is reaching a breaking point.  If you live in the southern quarter of Turkey....from Adana (the tourist region) over to the east (to Kasrik).....there are various camps/compounds, which the Turks house/feed the refugee community of Syrians.

Off some Turkish news site recently....an older Turkish guy shouted at some refugee gal (Syrian) that he couldn't buy bananas right now because the Syrian refugees were buying these by the kilo (meaning they were bulk-buying bananas).  True or not?  Unknown.

So the Syrians went to view the situation via YouTube, and a 'Lets Go Brandon' type situation developed.

Literally hundreds of social videos came up in a matter of days.  One portrayed a 'poor' Turkish family...sitting in a circle, with one single banana.  They slowly cut the single banana up....to claim the fact that they were fake-Turks trying to survive off the one banana as a family.

Naturally, this version of the Syrian's 'Lets Go Brandon' wasn't widely accepted by the Turkish community.

So in recent days....to show their anger, the Turkish government selected seven young guys who were making the banana videos....filed the deportation paperwork, and forced them to leave Turkey.

If you go and view social media chatting.....there's a fair amount of humor on both sides, but there's a serious amount of hostility brewing as well.  

The term 'eating bananas provocatively'?  It's enough now in Turkey to get you in serious trouble.  You could get a visit by the cops if you were in a pub....drinking tea and suddenly everyone pulled out bananas to munch on.   

Those That Stay and Those Who Go

 I sat yesterday and read a 'Dear Annie' piece (kind of like a Ann Landers piece).  So this lady (figure in her 40s, single, professional in job/life) had this problem.  Her life centered on the family (her parents, and her brother....with his wife and three young kids).  The story is here.....but I'll try to simplify it to ten lines.  

This was a California group.....all born there.....schooled there....living out their lives there.

'Suddenly', the brother announced that he and the family were leaving, and relocating to Texas.  The sister?  Severe case of distraught, and emotionally....barely taking the situation.  

At some point in the piece, the lady says the primary reason driving the brother to leave is 'politics'.  She can't understand this logic though.

So, you have someone who can't handle the brother's family leaving, and she asks if she should speak to the family and try to convince them of the great 'wrong' they are planning.  'Anne' responds....sure, tell him the anxiety you feel....just don't make this a 'us or nothing' situation.

I sat looking over this.  In the past 18 months (Covid era) I've viewed at least a hundred YouTube videos where people have said 'enough', and sought to leave from NY City, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA.  They all needed some outlet to explain their logic and reasoning.

One guy, just into retirement and exiting NY City......was a third-generation New Yorker in his family.  His entire life since the mid-1950s was centered on life in the 'big apple'.  This was around six months into the Covid era, and it was a sharp pain to make the decision.....but staying there was near impossible.  His entire life was structured around socializing and pub-hoping in NY City.  Covid destroyed his 'hub' of his life.  So he packed up the house, and moved to Florida (I should note that it took a month of thinking over the idea to reach this conclusion).

One gal....having lived two decades on the outskirts of Portland....couldn't take the destruction of Portland by the Antifa folks in this Covid era.  It was no longer the ideal place, and she left for rural surroundings on the east coast.  

As you look at the hundred-odd people....there are four basic things that fall into place:

1.  Covid or Covid authoritarian rules.  The NY City crowd and the California group often cite this at the very top.  They simply don't know when their lives will ever return, and that length of the unknown....drove them to extreme decision-making....doing something that they would have never done five years prior.

2.  Taxation.  In the case of the NY and California people....they all cited the odd factor that while things were shut down....taxation continued at a normal pace.  There was no relief.  It bothered them even before Covid came, but this just intensified things.

3. Politics.  This ran off in different directions.  Some cited the political climate in California over the homeless folks, and how the police were helpless.  Some cited the ease of drugs on the streets.  Some cited the crime rates going up.  Some cited the irresponsible behavior of the city council/mayors.  

4.  Finally, real people.  Several folks from California talked at length about increasing public behavior of fakeness (being ultra-fragile about feelings).  You can call it the 'safe-space' crowd,  You could be standing at a patio bar-b-q, and get some lecture about some topic....where they are directing you to live x-life or x-style....without any alternate discussion.  This lecture mentality is something that you rarely saw five years ago.

So I look at the landscape and kinda wonder....if Covid doesn't end in 2021, can I even expect it to end in 2022, or 2023?  If so....why would I stay in in Seattle, NY City, or SF?  I don't want the homeless camped out in my yard.  I don't want to worry about drugged-out nutcases at the grocery store.  I don't want lectures given every four hours.  And I don't want to worry about fragile people who can't handle reality....begging constantly to escape off to a 'safe space'.  

More to move?  I expect another wave of people giving up in 2022....a million-odd people from the urbanized areas....giving up.  There is life elsewhere.....you just need some motivation.  In the end, we will end up with two societies.....those who stay, and those who go.  Which will be the grumbling group in the end?  

Baseball, the Pope, and Joe

 “You’re the famous African-American baseball player in America.”

-- President Biden speaking to Pope Francis

There was a 75-minute meeting between the Pope and Joe this morning, and you are left to guess what Joe meant as he said this comment to the Pope.

As for the Pope's reaction?  I'm guessing he raised a finger to the exorcist-geek in the Vatican.....indicating we had a four-star demon situation brewing.  

Priest-Pete ran off and got the gear....came back with a bucket of Holy Water, and doused Joe.  The Pope then recited the right chant....driving the demon out.  Joe kept shouting 'what-the-hell'.

Afterwards, the Secret Service folks made the Pope aware that this occurs all the time, and it's not anything about demons.  

My Chief Problems With the E-Cars (Battery Cars)

 I have five issues:

1.  The idea is that you (the gov't) is going to inflect enough pain....that my gas car becomes a major problem.  Then I'm stuck with a car with marginal value.  

2.  The minute you get into 10 F degree weather or 103 F degree heat....your battery goes into heavy loss use, and you can cross off one-third of the 'power' in that battery.

3.  If the gas cars go away.....the gas tax goes away.  If people install panels on their house.....how will you collect enough tax revenue to cover the lost taxes?  

4.  About every month in Germany....an E-Bike, E-Car, or E-Bus burns up.....sometimes in the driveway.....sometimes in the basement....sometimes in a parking garage.  If you triple the current quantity?  It'll start happening every week for battery fire.

5.  It might be a positive, but you reach a point where the only thing wearing out are the batteries, tires, and lights.  Do you really want a car that lasts 20 years?

Joe and McAuliffe Event

 I sat and watched the 28-minute piece, from four days ago.  My four observations:

1.  Joe was physically up and showed a fair amount of energy.

2.  About every 30 seconds....he hyped 'Donald Trump', which reached a point after ten minutes....I just kept thinking you were there to help McAuliffe.  You should have been talking about his plans, or his vision.

3.  His job (I believe) was to work on independents, and based on the text/chat....he did a miserable job selling McAuliffe.

4.  Around the 18th minute, he gets into how major companies don't pay taxes and how he's going to force change.  Funny thing....he didn't mention that he and the other Senators write the tax code and helped the companies achieve this. Even now....they are writing the new 'code' and will help regular Americans pay the tax.

The Arrival and Decline of Opium Dens

 So this is a short essay over how the Opium 'world' arrived in America, and how it declined.

Basically....around the mid-1800s....as California became a magnet.....the Chinese began to arrive, and 'Dens' began to get set up.  San Francisco?  It was the chief draw for well over fifty years.  Toward the last quarter of the period....NY City became the second magnet.

Acceptance?  Most everyone agrees that the dens flourished all the way through WW I, into the 1920s and 1930s, then the acceptance business started to fail as WW II started up.  From that point on....acceptance was on the decline. 

The last raid of a known Opium Den in NY City?  Mid-summer 1957.  

I was reading a piece this past weekend over the business aspects (most all of these were run by Chinese members of society....rarely Americans themselves).  

Successful people came to the Dens for a day or two of relaxation, and whatever pain they had (whether real or imaginary).....they felt relief from.  Yes, kinda like the issue with fentanyl or opioids today.  

Where Did Jimmy Carter Fail?

 In recent months, the topic of Jimmy Carter has come up more often, with varying explanations of how he screwed up, or how he fell into a 'pit'.

I would offer three observations:

1.  Jimmy Carter was supposed to be the cleaned-up and 'pure' President after Richard Nixon.  In simple terms....that role was marginalized and the 'act' that you got was the anti-Nixon.  It was a brand name or sales gimmick that just never took off.

2.  Carter was in some ways, the activist President.  He was bringing new positions, new roles, and a new path ahead for the nation.  As an activist.....he just never took off.  

3.  Finally, the nation's problems (mid-1970s to late-1970s).....were more than he or his team could really comprehend.  They seemed to always be a page or two behind the times....never getting the public trust, and replacing a failed policy with a new-so-to-be-new-failed policy.

Trying to compare Carter to Biden?  You might be able to take five or six points....but there are dozens of differences.  I would suggest that the Biden crew is 'sitting' in some airport-reality, and waiting for their plane (yet to arrive).  They keep talking about the future and injecting woke topics into their daily chatter.....but it gets less and less traction. 

All of this.....in just nine months?  Yeah, that's the worrying part of this discussion.  Carter had four years to reach this point.....Biden is already there and we aren't even at the 12th month.