The Stick-World We Live In

 There's some kind of weird fight going on via Twitter....over a stick-man presentation by Elon Musk, and a stick-man presentation by WaPo.

This is Elon's presentation:

What he is generally saying.....there was a center-point in 2008, and most people were slightly to the left.  Then Elon suggests that by 2012 (just four years later, under the Obama period), the left moved (ran) a good bit further left.  

Then he says by 2021....the center-line is at x-point, with the average 'stick-man' to the right-of-center.

The WaPo stick-man image?  Well...they say that that stick-men were center-center in 2008, then as 2012 came....the left and right went to further extremes...leaving the poor stick-man still in the middle for the most part.

Then in their chatter, fo 2021....stick-men are in the middle point, with the left closer to them.....and those radical right people further from the center.

So you waste this 30-minute period looking at Elon's drawing, then the WaPo drawing.....then finally uttering.....you only see three stick-men, where are the other 97 stick-people (making an even hundred)?  They are standing there in the landscape....furious as heck over political games, economic doom strategies, and fake news generated minute-by-minute.  There's probably even a orange-hair stick-man....yelling 'fire-him' over and over.  

Adding to this?  Why do both Elon and WaPo want to start with 2008, use 2012 as their second point, and settle upon 2021?  Basic cherry-picking, and both not wanting to the discuss the past fifty years (from 1963's assassination, the Watergate era, the Iran-Contra period, the Clinton corruption, 9-11 questions that remain, and various comedies that came out of the Obama era).  

Unfortunately, the stick-men ought to have a voice, and you can't allow that to occur, without Twitter being free and open. 

Yes, sadly, we are the stick-men and we'd like to be more than that.   (maybe even start a stick-man party?)

All of this to lead to forty different variations of the stick-man graph?  Yeah....I'm betting on it.  My brother, the engineer-farmer?  He's probably working on some drawing for stick-cows, stick-dogs, and stick-tractors.  Somewhere out there....there's some guy working on lustful stick-women, trailer-park stick-women, and fentanyl stick-men (laying flat on the ground).   Someone is probably even working on a complete five-hundred page book to explain stick-men to the non-technical geek who runs a apple orchard in Oregon, or hustles up hot stick-women for late night activity.  

Yes, we have collapsed to a state that even the Greeks would be shocked how things work today.   

Chatter Out of DC?

 I noticed this AM....Senator Warren now calling for 'rules/regulations' to govern 'unregulated' social media amid Musk's Twitter takeover.

So yeah, I'd like some new rules:

1.  House/Senate members limited to be in the Washington DC area for only 120 days a year (to include weekends).

2.  All stock purchases by House/Senate member (spouses too) must be reported via social media within 24 hours after sell/purchase.

3.  All House/Senate/Executive branch members over the age of 70....must complete an independent cognitive test once a year.  If failing, allow for a 30-day period, and re-test....after that....if failing, terminate them from their position.

4.  Any House/Senate member who 'owns' property in the DC/Virginia/Maryland region....gets a six-year period of exemption, and after that....will be regarded as a citizen of that state (not their home state).

Next Twelve Months Of This Government Disinformation 'Agency'

 This is what I anticipate happening:

1.  Someone will ask Homeland Security how they came up with the 100 to 200 billets, and the response will be that they carved them out of present manpower, without telling the Senate.  Who lost what?  I would imagine that Border Security probably lost half of the manpower in question.

2.  Trying to get Chief of the agency....Jen Easterly?  As much as the Senate will ask to have a face-to-face.....she's 8 months pregnant, and probably will take 60 days of leave after birth.....so don't expect this face-to-face session until August, after summer break.

3.  Someone in Homeland Security will be required to explain who gave the order for the creation, and find that a 'secret' order came from President Biden six months ago to find a method to create out of thin air.  The Senate will try to ask Biden to explain when and where he gave this order, and the response will be 'back in 1972, as Dodgers cleared spring-training' and that he dreamed this up while on vacation.  

4.  Someone will then ask if the agency will have badges....then find that at least five individuals will hold some type of LE badge.

5.  Easterly brought before the House in January on potential abuse of authority charges.

6.  Easterly gone by mid-summer 2023, because inability to be effective.

7.  Disinformation Agency regarded as creating daily disinformation by end of mid-term election.

8.  Some Republican will try to push a bill forward to rename the Agency.....'Ministry of Truth', and to refer to the building where they will be housed.....as the 'Winston Smith' Building.

9.  Easterly will be referred to in news coverage as 'Julia' (chief female character in the book '1984').

10.  Agency will demand face-to-face meeting with Elon Musk.  He will respond....he has sixteen minutes on Friday, at such-and-such bar.  Attempt to force him in?  He will respond that zoom works perfectly well, and he's got more urgent things on his agenda than messing around with government agents.  

Big Mistake Coming

 This morning, I read a piece to say that the Senate (particularly Democrats) want to bring Elon Musk in and ask questions.

Some idiot Senator even went to say that Twitter was "central to our democracy and economy."

Their hyped-up nature?  They want to know about content moderation.

Giving Musk the rough treatment for three hours?  

Well....no, I think this would be like dragging Winston Churchill, Patrick Henry, Plato, and Coach Vince Lombardi into one room.....turning them loose to chew your butt out.

I'm pretty sure Elon would have a prepared statement about the childish behavior by Senators (Republican and Democrat), talk at length about the term 'freedom of speech', and share his thoughts on ideas.

Yeah, this would be a huge mistake for the Democratic Party.  But you know....maybe they aren't that smart, and they deserve a moment like this.  

My humble advice....when they set the day and time....you might want get your WLAN fixed up....set aside three hours of your life for 5-star entertainment, and get a pitcher of lemonade set up.  Gonna be some fine chatter coming.  

Q-and-A: 28 Apr 2022

1. With all this chatter about trans-stuff and some school districts wanting to get down into kindergarten-age kids (4-to-6)....isn't there a problem when discussing 'pronouns'?

Well...you marginally start discussing verbs, pronouns, adverbs, etc....in the 2nd grade, and to be honest......it's more like the 3rd grade when you start to pay attention to stuff like this.  So it's a mystery to me how you bring up 'pronouns' with 4-year old kids.

2.  Is Spotify thriving?

It's a curious thing....up until all that chatter with Joe Rogan started up....it was questionable if Spotify would thrive and grow.  Then the left folks got all hyped-up and suddenly thousands signed up to check out Spotify.  At this point, based on general numbers....I'd say they will survive until some shows up to buy them (you know....like that Elon-guy).

3.  Is this new target country in the 'Russia-war' going to create a problem?

So, you pull up a map.  What Russia controls at present....is the southeast and eastern part of the Ukraine.  The idea is....they want to move west....cover the whole coastal plain, and then reach to Moldovia (far west side of Ukraine).  

There's a strategic issue here....there is a massive resupply area in the middle....stretching about 300 miles from nearest Russian 'land'.  Whichever idiots get the mission of going into Moldovia....might have seven days of ammo/food on them, and if Ukraine puts up a serious fight and cuts off the resupply line....that group is screwed.

All this makes you wonder...if the Ukraine 'pinched' this group of say 5,000 Conscripts off....how would Putin explain this to the public?  

Humble Advice

 Just some humble advice....if you play around with conspiracy theories, and one day....things shift a bit, and that conspiracy theory is now 100-percent true (nothing fake or delusional)....then it's NOT a theory any longer.  

You also can't refer to it as misinformation.  

Five Observations From Yesterday On Twitter

 1.  From commentary of some employees....you get the feeling that they felt their company was Jesus, Incorporated.....and they were now going to work for Satan, Incorporated.   Made me almost think they were in a cult-like mentality.

2.  Some MSNBC analyst made the comment that 'sociopath' Musk was going to wreck the world with censorship.  I would admit that Twitter (before Elon) did a pretty fair job on censorship....I'm not sure if he can out-do the current crew on censorship.

3.  As much as Trump is deemed 'evil' and the greatest threat facing mankind....it seems that Elon has passed Trump....if you view social media commentary and CNN/MSNBC.  

4.  This chief lawyer for Twitter, Vijya Gadde, had some kind of internal staff meeting (virtual/zoom, I believe) and got highly emotional.....breaking down.  Her chief concern?  Well....things were going to CHANGE.  You just get the impression that she would not be able to function under Musk.

5.  You just get an overwhelming impression that various folks in the company will go and do a remarkable bit to destroy the company before Musk completes the deal.  It's the attitude 'if-we-can't-have-it-nobody-can' behavior that you'd see with 12-year old kids.  Maybe this was a Musk exercise to get them to accomplish this before the deal is concluded, and he'll just walk away with zero ownership, and Twitter just plain 'crapped-out'.  For those employees who held tens of thousands of shares?  Well....total destruction would leave them with nothing much of value.