Observations

 1.  Over the past couple of months....I've heard the comment 'the Carter-Economy' probably forty times.  If you are over the age of sixty....you probably remember various details of the 1970 and how crappy things were for about 18 months.  

The idea that Biden is following the script and presenting the 'Carter-Economy' all over again?  Well....you'd think that he was there and in the middle of it.  He ought to have remembered the period.

2.  Obama helping out much in this election period?  Well....he is showing up almost daily for the past two weeks, but I can't see much improvement with him on the campaign trail for a couple dozen folks. 

3.  Someone added it up....kid from age six to eighteen spends around 15,000 hours in school, or traveling to/from school.  They didn't suggest the real pay-back.....some kids are marginally educated by the end of 15,000 hours....some probably peaked around 8,000 hours.....and some probably would have been ready to move by 12,000 hours.  Just something to think about.

4.  This speech to be done by Biden at Union Station in DC?  Shaking my head over the pick of the location.

Around 2011....I spent an afternoon walking around the station interior and the neighborhood.  The city subway system passes through there.  On a grade of crappiness....one to ten.....I'd give the station area a '5'.  Lot of homeless folks around.....lot of dope-dealers there.  It's a place that I'd exit my train and get to the city subway system quickly.  

If you were asking me about standing there for 20 minutes to hear the President speak?  No....wrong place to hang out.

5.  If you haven't paid any attention in the past month.....whole bunch of Chinese folks who were industry-production types....packed up bags and started their walk 'home'.  It's reached a point where Covid regulation has screwed-up production and you are going to see a major problem in getting products on the shelf of your US store in 90 to 150 days.  

6.  CDC has replaced the 'term' woman.....with the term 'pregnant-person'.  Makes as much sense as addressing your housecat as a 'miniature lion-creature'.  

7.  Biden has claimed he spoke to the inventor guy of insulin in his youth.  Just one problem.....Biden was born a year after the guy died.  

So either it didn't happen.....or that some bogus guy just came up to Biden-the-kid and claimed he was this insulin dude, or it was a ghost.

(personally, I like the third possibility)

8.  Dose of reality: disinformation has probably been around for more than 8,000 years.  

Q-and-A

 1.  Should Biden/Harris remove themselves from contention in 2024.....if there is a massive mid-term loss? 

Personally, by January, if there is a massive loss for the party.....it would make sense to have both state their position.....a fresh new prospective needs to come to the party for 2024.  

Biden accepting this logic?  No.  

2.  If any normal non-California spouse of a high ranking Republican had been awaken by some nutcase at 3 AM in a do-or-die situation?  Most would have reached for their 9-mil and shoot the guy dead.  No arguments....no momentary pause. Lets also state the obvious....the Republican guy would have been wearing more than underwear....probably some plain cotton pajamas.  

3.  Shocking isn't it.....the FCC Commissioner has now stated that Tik-Tok needs to be banned.  Remember when Trump said.

What This $8 A Month Twitter Cost Amounts To?

 Elon wants to have steady income, and so.....he has this idea that $8 a month will be the subscription cost.  People peeved?  Some are.

But here's the thing.....you really don't need Twitter.  You can survive without it.  

Or perhaps, you are so addicted to it....like cocaine or meth....that you can't survive without it.  Elon is betting that the majority of users today....don't want to switch over to FB/Meta, and they will reach a point where they have to have their Twitter....to survive.

To be fair....basically $8 for equals around three cups of premium coffee, or one single movie ticket.....so it's not a big deal.  

The Three Key Problems With the Hammer-Dude-Pelosi 'Evening'

 First, while there's video cameras all over the place....it does not appear that anyone captured the guy entering Pelosi's house.  Yes, even with Capital Police hired to watch and provide security of the family.....it was a five-star failure.

Second, when the police (after being called)....neither Hammer-Dude or Paul Pelosi answered the door.  The door was not open, but opened apparently by a 3rd person.  Who was the third person and why was he or she there?  It'd be simple to just say it was the housekeeper or maid, but they won't go that far.

Finally, 'elder-abuse' is a charge dumped into this.  Normally, the accused (under California law) knows the beat-up party (either a relative or a hired person).  No one for the prosecutor can explain how Hammer-Dude gets into 'elder-abuse'.  I tend to believe this charge will disappear in three months.

On my BS-meter?  I'd say twenty odd things just stand out.  Hammer-Dude is a heavy drug-user.....all parties who know the guy....say that.  On past 'bad-behavior', he should have been in jail a decade ago.  Nut-case?  Absolutely....enough that he should have been deported back to Canada a decade ago.

No bail bond on the guy so far?  Just odd....hundreds each month in California get arrested on similar acts, and get let out within 12 to 24 hours.  

My gut feeling?  He'll be held in the jail for several weeks, and probably get attacked to some degree....where he's either dead or mentally screwed-up....remembering nothing much of the evening.  

Toaster With A Window

 I was 'window-shopping' yesterday.....pre-Christmas ideas, and stepped into a electronic shop.  So here was the newest item...a toaster of high quality, with a plexiglass window.  

Roughly a $100 (tax included).

I tried to imagine (being from Alabama) the necessity or wonder of watching your toast 'brown'.  

This being a German item?  Well....even among Germans, I can't see anyone that thrilled to spend money on the window.  

Oddly enough, the 'boys' just had the display model and two boxes under it.  I don't anticipate they sell more than one a month.  

Greek Story

 Growing up in rural Alabama....there was a limit to historical landscape.  For example, you just didn't hear or know much on Greek literature, Greek Gods, or Greek wisdom (like those Socrates, Plato and Aristotle fellows).  

Someone loaned me a book around 30 years ago, and suddenly for a year or two....I got all into Greek Gods and these weird stories that the Greeks developed.

How many 'Gods' were there?  Well...you primarily read about a dozen or so....then you find a second layer of 300 folks (some are spirits), and later on.....if you really dwell on the subject....there's over 3,000 in various stories.  Some get mentioned barely once and their legend kinda ended right there.

It was always my belief that Greeks sat around after dark....with campfires running, and a bit of wine in their system.....building up some weird story.

For example....if you ever hear Porphyrion mentioned....he's always some 'boss of a tribe (usually the Gigantes), and he always ends up dead....torn up pretty bad by Zeus.  

If you hear Aergia mentioned.....he's always a ghost or spirt....who tends to be fairly lazy and full of idleness.  In simple terms....a 4-star loser that you'd be shamed in some way to hang around.

If you hear Gelos mentioned....he's leading into some comical story and supposed to be a 'you-should-have-been-there' moment at the climax.  

We need Greek legends to be laid out more often....might build more character in people.  

If There Is A Diesel Shortage?

 In the past month, if you read through the BS....there is a potential national shortage of diesel fuel coming up.  

Key area to be hit first?  If you analyze the commentary....SE US.

So how would this work?  You'd have three key groups affected:

1.  Truckers who support grocery/store operations on a daily basis.

2.  Farmers who need diesel to operate farm vehicles.

3.  School buses that carry kids to school.  

The first real sign of trouble?  You stand at a diesel fuel station and the sign has gone up....no fuel delivery for 12 hours.  So you park your rig, or your bus.....waiting.  You can imagine three states in the very beginning and having this issue.

Within forty-eight hours....instead of just forty stations in a 'wait' situation....you now have three-hundred.

Delivery of grocery goods?  You start to notice delivery schedules are now 72 hours behind normal, and empty shelves beginning to show.

After three weeks of this....your national problem has extended into the center part of the US, and affecting around forty states.

Blame?  There's at least a dozen choices, but it appears that this has been building up for almost eighteen months.  You can't even make the case that Biden deserves some of the blame.

Some national crisis diesel 'committee' is appointed by Biden to fix this, and what you end up with....is a group of insiders who are creating a more screwed-up fuel system, with food shortages part of the mess....but including school kids who can't be carried to school because of the crisis.   

Hint?  I don't think this goes away in 2022 or 2023....it'll linger for possibly three years.