Alien Chatter

 I sat and watched a podcast piece....featuring Stanford professor....Garry Nolan.  Topic?  Aliens.

So he has this unique view....aliens have been around on Earth for a long time.  How he arrives at this opinion?

Well....he has associates in science, who've been dragged into research that can only lead to the associates being asked to figure out how something works, and his friends are stating whatever they are handling....is way more advanced than anything they presently know of. 

It's an odd position to take.  It'd be like some 1880s buggy manufacture team being brought in and given modern disc-brakes to take apart, and figure how it would be applied to buggys.  

Public attention focused on this idea more than ever?  Yeah.  

Iran-Afghanistan?

 While not being covered by the big news folks.....in the past day or two....Afghanistan has moved a massive number of military vehicles (mostly trucks, jeeps, and armored-personnel-carriers) to the Iran border.  

If you browse around, there is a war-lord in Afghanistan who is chatting up the idea of marching onto Tehran.  Distance?  Roughly a 15-hour drive, around 1,100 km.

BS?  There are four angles to this:

1.  The US left behind a ton of military hardware (mostly trucks and APCs).  Rather than disabling the stuff.....it was left for re-use.

2.  Once crossing the border, I'd anticipate Iran to react and defend the border region. So that 15-hour drive will easily turn into a 7-to-12 day event....with the Afghan guys never getting more than five miles into Iran.  I don't think Afghanistan has the logistics to support this.

3.  Isn't this mostly a chat about the Taliban wanting to conquer and run Iran....saying they are more Muslim?  

4.  Is Iran capable of defending itself?  With budget problems, I don't think Iran has spent a lot over the past decade on military infrastructure.  

This may be a 'joke' in several ways, but if this crew were to cross the border....it just begs the question....how much was this organized by the CIA....more than a year ago?

All of this....just a week-long episode to hype war but never carrying it out?  Yeah, I'd say that.  

Old Air Force Program Coming Back?

At some point in the 1980s, and going on for about 15 years.....if  you were given a really crappy assignment, and arrived to find it was a 5-star negative situation....you had this one option of letting your name, rank and AFSC (job code) be advertised, and try to 'swap'.

An example.....you were given orders after three years in Italy....to return to the US....to some base in Montana (Malmstrom).   After three months, you mostly drink excessively and hated everyday.  Then you advertised and discovered this gal....originally grew up in Montana....same rank and AFSC....was willing to swap her base (in Florida).  In a matter of days, this was worked out and six weeks later (at your expense).....you two swapped bases.

How popular was this?  Well.....you never knew from year to year.  The Air Force rarely talked about this.  Occasionally, you'd find out that 300-odd people swapped over a one-year period.  

At some point about twenty years ago, it ended.

Presently?  They are about to revive it....mostly because of the high number of disgruntled people (not recruitment folks, but people with four to sixteen years of service).

How I think this will go?  I suspect that a fair number of 17-year NCOs will decide to find the perfect retirement location (maybe like Nevada or Florida) to swap some hell-hole for, and someone will agree to the deal.  

For me?  I had this odd history....each time I went to a transfer situation....I listed out my top picks, and I got either number one or number two.  Course, I knew people of the opposite tendency....never getting a pick from their top ten.  

Political Observations

 For the remainder of 2023, I'll predict three things:

1.  Podcast folks will carry the bulk of 'water' for candidates.

In this group, I'd put Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, etc.  

Democratic candidates likely to get invitations?  Marianne Williamson, RFK Jr, and Biden.  I don't see Biden getting on any podcast.  He'll limit himself to one or two controlled CNN or MSNBC.  

On the Republican side?  Nikki Halley, Trump, DeSantis, Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramasramy.  

RFK is very likely to get points via Rogan....I'd go and suggest that nationally....he'll be ranked to 40-percent by December.

Ramasramy is the one guy that I could see moving up and getting  'lift' by being engaged by Tucker Carlson.  

2.  Ranking by states matters.

My suspicion is that by January 2024....RFK has gained enough points to be likely to take California, and probably five to ten other states.  It won't be enough to win at the convention....where the special delegates are a factor.  

But Biden has this one problem.....not showing up to many podcast sessions, or townhalls. It's possible that RFK has a majority of delegates by the convention, and Biden only wins by the super-delegate 'game'.  

On the Republican side?  In forty states, it's really a factor of who gets second place, and I think that Tim Scott matters....taking points from DeSantis.  I also don't think DeSantis can win Florida (probably taking 35 to 40-percent, against Trump's 55-percent.

3.  This being a race where Trump is mostly sitting in five different court cases, DeSantis unable to get out of the Disney-economic-fall crapper, and Joe Biden mostly a invisible candidate?  

Well.....yeah that is mostly true.

So I come to this odd scenario that I still believe.  I think VP Harris will be announced to be the replacement for Senator Feinstein, and Governor Newsom to be the replacement VP (approved by the Senate only because Harris votes as the tie-breaker).  Then Newsom is announced by November to be the sole guy running and Biden out.

Newsom then appearing left and right via the podcast crew?  Yes.  But here's the odd factor.....people are exiting California left and right.  Most residents are disgruntled.  So how would any podcast interview go?  I'm not convinced that a race between Newsom and RFK....favors Newsom.  I think RFK in a debate....would be way too much for Newsom to handle.  

In the end, if this were a DeSantis versus RFK race?  I'm not convinced DeSantis fits into that type of election, or could win it.  And then the other question....if RFK were it, and he picked some really oddball VP (Charles Barkley comes to mind)?  Would that reset things entirely?  

NY City Says Fatness and Chunky Bodies Cannot Be Discriminatory

 I sat and watched the video clip of the mayor signing the document....basically saying there is no science to say that being fat or overweight is dangerous.  After a while I pondered:

1.  Shouldn't the city outlaw scales then?

2.  Shouldn't dress-shops now be forced to cover size 18-to-24?

3.  Calorie counts should be unlimited....right?

4.  Wouldn't you have to upgrade all elevators in the city to handle chunky people?

5.  Shouldn't city park benches be upgraded to handle hefty people?

6.  If you can't fit into a NY Yankees stadium seat....shouldn't they design special seats for chunky people, selling them at the same cost of a regular seat?

Five Humble Opinions

 1.  This Vivek Ramasramy-guy (Republican) running currently....if you give him 30 minutes of listening time....is probably attracting 50-percent of independent voters.  

2.  Just odd that it'd come up now....but the NIH gov't folks were given warnings in spring of 2020 that the Wuhan lab that Faucci was funding....had serious safety issues.  If you had asked serious questions back in 2019....probably would have been same chatter.  Makes you wonder....who ought to be held responsible.

3.  Trump appearing at another townhall (to be run by Fox) in Iowa?  Yeah.  Puts Biden in a lousy position.  He needs to present himself in some townhall forum.  I don't think his 'controllers' want him turned loose unless you could ensure the questions to be asked.

4.  Feinstein situation still brewing?  Almost everyday now that some California newspaper asks the question about replacing her.  Newsom probably has a plan but until she resigns.....he can't do much.  

5.  Debt-ceiling business?  Well...no Senator has done a mass selling of stock, so I think there is still some 'fix' that will occur by the 1st of June.

Three Observations

 1.  The DeSantis 'problem'.  Once you arrive at the early 2024 primary season....he needs to win one of the first four primaries, and then hitting Super-Tuesday....win at least half the primaries.  Failing at this  (especially at Super-Tuesday)....his funding will dwindle, and the game is basically over.

I should add....if you think Disney is not going to play 'rough' over the next eight months....you would be betting on the wrong 'horse'.  A lot of the economics of Florida is based on tourism, and the 'path' laid out by the Disney empire.  If they marginalize their operations and accept a massive loss on profits....Florida goes into the crapper.  

As comical as it sounds....DeSantis is actually running against Disney economics in his state, from this point on.  

2.  Reading a piece this AM....roughly 59-percent of people regard the media (meaning mass media/social media/news media)....as the 'enemy of the people'.

Republicans?  It was around 79-percent believing it.  Democrats?  Just over 50-percent. 

The problem here....you start building up a skeptical nature.  Someone tells you something, and you ask....where did you hear that?  Then you start ranking it on being potentially true.  Just because NPR, or CBS, or AP said it was true....doesn't mean it was true.

3.  I've speculated a good bit over the general attire of Senator Fetterman.  I've come to the point of believing that he has to wear the hoodie/shorts stuff, because of monitoring stuff that the medical folks have attached.