When You Dissolve a Legend

 As a kid (rural Alabama in the late 1960s/early 1970s).....I was fascinated with comic books.  About 90-percent of my collection (into the hundreds) were DC comics.....9-percent were Marvel (I just didn't get in Ironman or Thor that much)....with 1-percent being Archie/Sad Sack/Secret Hearts 'crap'.  

In an era of marginal science fiction....comics were the only real escape (in my mind).

About seven months ago....DC Comics decided that they needed a reboot on Superman.  So they went to his 'son', who happens to be a climate activist/asylum supporter and dating a male reporter for the Daily Planet.  This guy also liked women, so he was bisexual (at least the intent was to make you think this).

What happened to sales of the issue?  It dropped like a rock (number 17 on the sales list for the month).  They sold around 68,000 copies since July on that first introduction issue.  Cost of an average monthly comic today?  $4 roughly (more or less).  So after you figure the book shop 'take'....the comic guys generally made around $200k for that one monthly issue (half of that is ink, paper, and shipping cost).  

Total failure for the bisexual son of Superman who is a environmentalist?  I won't say that.....just that they seem to have decided that a lesser audience is a better audience.  Once you tell the story team that there are zero bonusses for the year and no pay advancements....about half of them will plan a review of their resume for future employment elsewhere.

How far will this trend go?  In today's world, with comics running $4 each...a kid might be more picky about what they are going to pick up and read.    The days where my mom would hand me $1, and I bought eight comics on a grocery trip (12 cents each in the 1960s) are long gone.  No mom is going to hand $32 to a kid to buy eight comics, and that kid is going to be awful picky about what he's buying/reading.  If he's not fighting aliens, Lex Luthor, or hunting down time-travel bandits....it's probably not worth reading.  

Slow-Joe Rules Coming?

 I noticed yesterday....a long piece discussed by Mayor-Pete (our transportation guru for the government).

So, there's a new federal agenda being pursued...slower speed limits and expanding bike lanes.

It's basically 5-billion dollars for projects that center on slowing traffic, building bike/bus lanes, building more overpasses, and improving lighting.  

How fast will the money be spent/'gifted-out'?  I would take a guess that every penny will be gone by the end of 2022.  

For those small towns of 500 folks who never had street lights?  Some mayor will figure out the paperwork....acquire $150,000 and put forty street lamps....which no one in the town really desired or come to appreciate.

The slower speed deal?  I'll bet over 10-percent of the 5-billion is spent on studies alone.  Some 300-page report will tell you what you could have guessed....that slower speeds lessen accident rates, but also create more tension/stress....adding another twenty minutes onto your daily journey to work.

The bulk of this going to urbanization and its issues?  Yeah.  It wouldn't surprise me if more than half of the money goes to twenty of the biggest cities in America.

Biden's Endeavor Into the Digital Pony World

 I sat this afternoon and read through a business piece: 'Biden Administration to develop regulations over cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) and NFTs within the next couple of weeks.  Reason given?  National security.

Then I just started laughing.  

Odds of controlling Bitcoin?  Zero.  It's too late.

Odds of controlling NFTs?  I'd give it around a 1-percent chance.

Bitcoin was developed within the concept of being non-regulated.  Unless you take down the internet.....there's no way to hold back or control Bitcoin.

In fact, my question right now.....what idiot in the Treasury Department suggested this, and what idiots within Wall Street convinced Biden to take this move?

As for NFTs?  If you went to a custom designer and he built 32 unicorns for a particular digital world, and valued them on day one at $1,500 each.  They might be worth $10,000 within a year.  Can you imagine writing the regulation to cover a non-existent fantasy unicorn, and how it holds values or decreases value?  You can't.

An entire division of five-hundred people in IRS or the Treasury Department....heading up control of NFTs?  If this occurs....it's a joke. 

So, for 2022.....I'd put this Biden agenda item as the number one most stupid thing on the list so far, and worthless.  

Biden, A Supreme Court Judge and Filters

 President Biden now has to go out and find someone who qualifies for the Supreme Court Judge.

So, onto the filters.

It has to be a woman (don't ask why).

It has to be a black woman.

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college (a law degree from University of Mississippi probably won't work).

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left (just being moderate is not enough).

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left, who is financially secure (not having declared bankruptcy in their life).

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left, who is financially secure, who has not said some really stupid crap on Twitter or Facebook in the past decade.

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left, who is financially secure, who has not said some really stupid crap on Twitter or Facebook in the past decade, who can safely sit in front of 15-odd stupid US Senators to answer 300 questions.

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left, who is financially secure, who has not said some really stupid crap on Twitter or Facebook in the past decade, who can safely sit in front of 15-odd stupid US Senators to answer 300 questions, who doesn't have two or three sexual scandals marginally hidden.  

It has to be a black woman with a law degree from a prestigious college who is a fair bit to the left, who is financially secure, who has not said some really stupid crap on Twitter or Facebook in the past decade, who can safely sit in front of 15-odd stupid US Senators to answer 300 questions, who doesn't have two or three sexual scandals marginally hidden, who actually has a legal mind capable of making judgements.  

Once you establish this filter, I'd say it's near impossible to find any black woman who can fill the filter.

From the ten-odd black women on Biden's 'go-to' list....each probably is sitting there and worried that she might be asked, and have two or three things which she really doesn't want to have come up in the committee hearing. 

Just admitting that they went to a mental health doctor back in 2008 for stress issues, or had a DWI in 2004 at college, or married to a guy who is into police-uniform role-play situations for kinky stuff....would be a serious problem.

So, if you haven't been entertained enough in 2021....just sit back....this ought to be fairly interesting.  

Weapons Story

This morning....I read a piece saying that for 2021.....there were 5.4 million first-time gun buyers across the US.

The real shocker?  One-third of them were women.

No one said much about the states and how the numbers divide up....but I would guess the bulk of the women were from southern states.

What the women bought?  Anyone's guess.  

Observations

 1.  WaPo wrote some piece to ask the question....'just how many Covid deaths would we be OK with'.  

I'd like to see more journalism like this.  Ask the question 'just how many corrupt politicians are we OK with', or 'just how many left-leaning journalists are we OK with', or 'just how many dimwit Hollywood types are we fond of', or 'just how crapped-up is the NFL at this point', or 'just how bad is the NCAA bowl process', or 'just how stupid are high school kids upon graduation', or 'just how many elements of the Baltimore city government are corrupted'.  

Me personally.....if you have been living a pretty unhealthy lifestyle (two-pack a day smoker, meth-user, serious deficiency in vitamin D for past 30 years of life, half-a-bottle of whisky perday, greasy/fatty food diet)....then your death won't be that disturbing to me.  

2.  Newt Gringrich says that the 6 Jan committee from the House, with AG Garland.....could be brought up in a January 2023 House committee (Republican-run) and face federal charges, with jail-time possible for various members/Garland.  

Five years ago, I would have laughed over this idea.  Presently?  I'd say that civil rights might be abused in various ways, and some of these House members may think they can walk away in January 2023 without being dragged into court.  

3.  Some new poll says Joe Biden has dropped 30 points in the past six month among black voters.  The DNC may have significant worries building up over the mid-terms....that reach further than House/Senate situations.....it might affect internal state politics in various states (hint: Georgia).

4.  Just how much is Avenatti is accused of stealing from Stormy Daniels?

Well....$300k.  In this case in court.....does he even have the money to pay Daniels back?  I'd strongly say 'no'.....unless he has the money hid somewhere.  So this is a wasted court case?  More or less.  

5.  White House saying that in the event of an invasion of the Ukraine....there will be NO airlift to get American civilians out.  Repeat of Afghanistan?  Yeah.

I would say this....no one knows the number of Americans in the Ukraine (the size of Texas), but I would take a wild guess it's upwards to 5,000....most of which are businessmen.  

If you gaze at a map....to the far east of the Ukraine....lies the Dnieper River.  I think there's zero chance that the Russians intend to cross that river, and their primary aim is just this far SE chunk of land along the coast.  

So this idea of an evacuation being necessary?  Pretty near zero, if you ask me.

6.  Are the 'Patriot Front' or militia groups real?

In the past six months....a number of people have begun to look at the make-up of these right-wing groups, and suggest that they exist in some real 'world' but there are probably some FBI undercover or 'front-men' in the various fronts.  It may be the same way for the BLM people....the Antifa folks, etc.  

Just for the record, if you didn't know it.....Adolph Hitler was hired by the Bavarian Secret Police after WW I....to spy on a new political organization forming in Munich....called the Nationalist Socialist Party (NAZIs).  All he was supposed to was attend meetings and report back to the Secret Police 'bosses'.  Things got kinda crapped up and he took the NAZIs to the next level of operation.  

Ten Things I'd Like See Done on TV

 1.  Every year....at least one-hundred to two-hundred 'pilots' are done, and 98-percent fail.  I'd like to see some network go and pull out a hundred of these failures (since 1960), and go rework the failed pilot in this modern era.  New review, new actors, new strategy. 

2.  I'd like to see some pioneer reality series called 1888, where you put four modern families in a 1888 landscape for six months.  You have to wear the authentic clothing....shop at the general store....sleep in a marginally heated cabin, and entertain at the 1888 level.

3.  I'd like to see a Ernest Hemingway comedy set up in Key West....1928-period.  A bar, some intellectual guests coming and going, and alcohol flowing while illegal.  

4.  I'd like to see a 20-something-year-old junior reporter given one question, and sent out each week to ask that question of regular people, for a 30-minute show.  We might learn what real people think.

5.  I'd like to see a network created called 1930s-1940s, where only movies of that era are shown.  Maybe around 7 PM....run a 30 newscast of that day in 1936, or 1946.....done in B/W of course, reading off a WaPo or NY Times articles.

6.  I'd like to see a reality show where some urban family is sent to a highly rural area for six months, and a very rural family is sent off to NY City for the same period.  Talk about shock for 30 minutes each week.

7.  Create a 20-episode series to talk about the twenty biggest scandals of the 1900 to 1920 era.  Two-hour pieces, with historians explaining in detail how each incident started and ended.  

8.  Do a six-hour mini-series on how an American was drafted in 1917, and sent off to France.

9.  Recreate Sanford and Son, with Jamie Foxx playing Fred.  Give Fred a chance to reflect and be serious once in a while showing his wit.

10.  Do a five-hour mini-documentary piece on the 1927 Yankees.