NY City Story

 I sat and was putting this image in my mind.

First,  it's still winter and fairly cold in NY City.

Second, how did the guy lose his clothing?

Third, did the Amazon driver have to really put up much of a fight?

Five Questions

 1.  At the end of 2024, if you asked an associate who was plus-up on Joe Biden....what do you rank as the chief accomplishment for four years?

(Hint: Either Bidenomics (which your friend can't explain what the hell it is) or the exiting of Afghanistan (4-star screw-up) or just replacing Trump)

2.  Has there been any occasion that VP Harris has given a speech in four years.....that you seemed to think she was actually clear-headed and not doped-up?

3.  Can you remember when a can of Coke was 50-cents?

4.  Have you gotten to some level of thinking that luxury might not mean luxury anymore?

5. If it were mandated that you had to pass a cannabis/cocaine drug test to vote.....how many people do you think would have to avoid voting because of their habit?  Ten-percent?

CNN Chatter

 Rumor says....the CNN 'boss' came out and basically warned everyone in the top level of the network.....there's a salary cut coming.  He's not saying 5-percent or 10-percent or 25-percent....just that fewer viewers....means a cut has to come.

I paused over this.

If you were a top-10 journalist with CNN.....you were likely making 3.5-million a year.  Your agent probably took 10-percent.  IRS, state taxes and Social Security likely take around 40-percent minimum (probably closer to 50-percent).  So you took home around 1.4-million.  

Then you go and figure your mortgage (for a 3-million condo/house), your car payments, your $100k a year on trips to the Bahamas, Paris and Vegas each year.  You probably were smart enough to stick away $150,000 for some retirement fund.

So yeah, a 10-percent cut would be seriously affecting your lifestyle.

But here's the thing....you will engage upon this guy and ask....what if I (not the 'boss') could reverse the viewing trend?  

The 'boss' would say....if you bumped your viewing audience up 25-percent in 60 days....yeah, you'd reverse the pay-cut.

So I'd go and ask....how do I get more viewers back to CNN?

Well....the general answer?  You'd flip theatrics and go anti-Biden.  

You'd bring on people to tell the legit story over the money, Hunter Biden, and the mental decline of Joe Biden.

The CNN folks holding to the old tradition?  Well....they'd just accept the 10-to-20 percent pay-cut and not complain.

For some reason, I believe within two months....you will be shocked how radical things get over at CNN.  

My Thing About Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

As a kid growing up in the rural south, I grew up under the influences of the Baptist Church operation.  Most Sundays were wrapped up by 9:30, about 90 minutes into the Japanese monster movie on the local TV station, and you ended off at the local church.

I'd say 51 Sundays a year were mostly dull, with the exception of those few Sundays when the minister would get all pumped-up on the book of Daniel and get onto some tirade about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

As the legend of the three went....it was a rather simple story.

King Nebuchadnezzar (the Joe Biden of the Dura region) was the local 'boss'.  For geographic reference, Dura was about 4 miles west of what is today Hebon City and in the region of the West Bank (meaning Palestinian territory). 

39,000 people occupy what is Dura today.  In this Biblical period?  I doubt if there were more than 2,000 locals, and this 'king-title' was probably worthless. 

For some reason, this King Nebuchadnezzar  had decided that he wanted a 'golden image' (never described in detail) at the entrance of the town.  This might have been a 3 foot by 3 foot painting....it might have been a 20 foot by 20 foot painting.  That part of the story is left for you to imagine.

So King Nebuchadnzzar had this 'rule'....you come to the gate....you bow.  No one said it was a sign there or how this bow-rule was explained to new folks....so again, this part of the story is left for you to imagine.

I should inject here....anyone who was iron-clad Jewish and hard-core (in this era) never recognized a human face on some wall, coin or structure. 

If you failed to bow?  Well...he had orders to the guards...instead of forbidding entry....they were to escort you to some burning furnace.  

This being desert-like....me as a kid...I could not imagine what idiot would be running a full-up furnace.  This King Nebuchadnezzar guy seemed like an idiot.

So this day came to pass that three rough Jewish young guys...Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...had arrived at the gate, and refused the bowing rule.  

I always sat there pondering....what were three lads....Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego....doing for the day?  Were they on some adventure?  Were they looking for work?  Were they lost and simply took the wrong road four miles back?  Were they on some insurrection mission?  This part of the story was left out.

The guards brought the three guys to Nebuchadnezzar.  There's some talk back and forth, and finally....one of the three (you never know if it was that wise-ass Meshach).....spoke up and said they weren't afraid of some burning pit....God would protect them.

So the story goes here....this got Nebuchadnezzaar all riled-up.  Normal hot was not good enough....he gave the order that the furnace had to be SEVEN times hotter.

At this part of the sermon, I usually pondered....without a measuring device...how'd they get to double, triple or seven times hotter than hot?  Also, with regular firewood....I just didn't grasp how you'd achieve double-hot or triple-hot.

The story then goes....maybe like five minutes this heat business....King Nebuchadnezzar walked over to view the three guys, and saw a 4th guy in the group.

Nebuchadnezzar then brought youths out (only three of them), then readily admitted....sure enough, they weren't even burnt.  No stinged hair even (not like you'd have with a fireplace situation). 

So you'd think....glory be....he'd just free the three Jewish guys and let them be on their way (wherever they were going in the first place).

Well....NO.

Nebuchadnezzar then promotes them to some city government job, and makes up some new rule....if you spoke against God....instead of the furnace threat....you were supposed to be torn limb from limb.  

Yeah, one of those Jewish things.....no matter how you end a story....has to be a painful threat involved.

So you have to ask....from the Book of Daniel....how much is true, and how much is made-up.

 If you ask experts....no one is real sure about Daniel....he might be real.  He might be a collection of characters from this region.

In my later years, I felt sorry for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...they ended up as government employees and probably regretted their talk with the king for years and years.  If only they'd done a fake bow, or just taken the back-gate to the town....things would gone a different way.  

Do you ever hear anything later on the three?   No.  It doesn't even appear that they left town or did much worth talking about. 

As for Nebuchadnezzar?  Well....it's just odd, you never hear anything about the guy again.  All the king-stuff, king-history, and basically....your legend is tied to three Jewish youths just visiting and not into the bowing business.

To sum it up...it's a 3-minute story that the preacher could drag on for 30 minutes....yet there's at least forty things left out of the story.....making you wish it was further developed or laid out.  

Fed Rate of Interest For Summer of 1981?

 In case you are younger than 30 or don't remember the era....the Fed rate of interest for June of 1981....was 19.1-percent. 

In the summer of 1989?  It was near 9-percent.

Summer of 1995?  5.85-percent.

Fed rate in 1958?  1.57-percent.

And that summer of 1969?  8.2-percent.

Q-and-A

 1.  What exactly does the term 'large-sum-of-money' really mean?

I hear the term used this week.  For me...65 years old, and a educated guy....I'd probably define it as more than $5,000.  

I could probably ask older folks around Alabama, and most would say $1,000.

I could ask folks in SF, and most would respond $200,000.  

It's just odd how society has developed and see things differently.

2.  Isn't it odd....white kid goes and shoots folks, and within three hours....you know his name, social media account, and where he lives?

Well....it is odd, but then you don't have to mess around with a manifesto, his pronouns, his sexual issues, or his failed life.

3.  Does China deserve 'super-power' status?

Well...up until the past year or two...yeah.  Presently?  No....commerce is dissolving....trust in banks dwindling, and people attempting to exit (crossing the US border).

4.  Does Gov Gavin Newsom of California resemble a used-car dealer?

You know....it's just amazing to watch some 15-minute interview with the guy, and he comes across as a used-car dealer.   I think even Democrats will agree on that point.

Law Discussion

 Out in California, there's a draft bill circulating around, and discussion starting up.  It basically says (if passed), you as a land-lord must ask a tenet if they own guns, and if you purchase renter's insurance...that company....must ask the tenet if they own guns.  Then the two of them....must in some fashion....pass the info to the state gov't.

I sat and pondered over this.

Most people would probably not answer the question with either the landlord or the insurance company.  If it came up that they were found to have a gun?  Well....it'd trigger a police visit and likely confiscation of the gun, or even worse....getting kicked out of the house.

Would the insurance company charge more (eventually) for a guy who needs home-renter insurance, who has a gun....compared to the guy who does not have a gun?  I would imagine this trend would occur within five years.

What you should do?  Just say 'no', and keep the gun in your car/truck.  Or you could rent a storage unit with a gun locker.....keeping your hunting rifles/shotguns there....instead of the house.

Is it just making more trouble?  Oh, without any doubt.  I could see in two years....some state mandate....asking how many mowers you own, or how many dogs you own, or how many cellphones you actually own.