Humble Thoughts

 1.  What's to be found in Fort Knox when Trump and Elon arrive?

All of the gold on the inventory sheet is there. But folks will be talking about it for a week.

2. USAID had around $4.4-billion spent on houses for Haiti.

So far, the audit can determine six houses finished. Beyond that....nothing.  Where the bulk of money went?  Unknown..

3. Trump-team is laying out conditions for California to get fire-money ($40-billion range). 

Some chatter says the California Costal Authority.....has to be dissolved....as one of the conditions.

4.   Some House member is pushing for drug-tests on all House/Senate members.

Anyone's guess how many would fail in one year.  The rule should be.....30 days of rehab mandated, and no voting ability in that 30-day period.

5. I have this odd feeling.....ATF will not exist by the end of 2025....Alcohol-Tobacco-Firearms?  Folded into US Marshalls....my bet.

In Case You Were Wondering About Wealth

 You can only gain wealth through eight methods:

1.  Busting your balls for forty-odd years.

2.  Start a monopoly.

3.  Get into insider-trading or futures-trading.

4.  Politically pay off people to get special access.

5.  Plain-old-fashion-fraud.

6.  Invent something unique.

7.  Inherit it.

8. Become a professional wrestler.

9.  Run a circus-like MEGA-Church.  

10.  Open an island, invite stupid people to visit, and blackmail them.

My Advice To The 500 FBI Agents 'Deploying' To Huntsville?

 Late Friday, the new boss of the FBI gave the order....1,000 of the DC FBI-centered agents....must leave the shadow of DC.  Of this 500 are heading to the science-lab center in Huntsville, Ala, and the rest will be dispersed around the US.

So my advice....if you made it to the 500-list for Huntsville.....your position is safe.  You shouldn't grumble, or say any criticism whatsoever.  

You shouldn't complain about summer heat.

You shouldn't hype any criticism of Bama football.

You might have a case to grumble about the limited airport facilities, but you can always use Nashville....only two hours away.

You will be able sell your DC property, and find a equal or better property....for half the DC price.

This tornado warning business?  Lets be honest....maybe in a three-year period....there's one single warning that puts you within 5-miles of a track. 

Lets put things in prospective....you will find the science of crime being developed in Huntsville's center more interesting than what goes on in DC.

Life just got a boost up....if you ask me.

Five Things I'm Not Understanding

 1. President Joe Biden went off almost every Friday to the Delaware beach house. He stumbles along along to the chopper...then half the times on Sunday evening....he arrives back with an entirely different walking style.  You notice over that next couple of days...he's mostly coherent.  The  Friday comes....he walks in a reasonable fashion to the chopper....leaves....returns on Sunday....with the weird walking style, and is fairly incoherent for a week.  It's like there were two Joes existing and being occasionally swapped out.

2.  The rumor is...President Trump is going to pursue some kind of audit over three Senators.  I doubt that they will be cooperative, but lets say in the end....all three for a decade have twenty-five-odd futures 'betting' (on the stock market) and they were highly successful in ALL 25 situations, each.

To have a perfect record in futures trading?  Nearly impossible.  So the honest thing for Trump to  then do....send the SEC investigators in, and legally challenge the three to explain how they reached their strategy.  

Each would then profess lobbyists 'helping' them, and this would turn into a bigger mess (likely leading to  Black Rock).

3.  Epstein Island.  Over the past two months....I've viewed twenty-odd podcasts and they all basically weave the story that Epstein was totally connected to Mossad, and this was an intelligence-gathering and 'manipulation' operation.

So the question to me.....was this real Mossad-Mossad connections (operated by the Israeli gov't).....OR was it outsider-Mossad (faked-up) and just convincing Epstein that they were Mossad when they weren't.

Then I start to wonder....everything gathered in this manipulation....was it data sold in some internal market?

Or does this just lead back to the Israeli gov't, who invested in their own 'game'?

4.  With all this LA fire business....we seem to get daily reports of massive incompetency built into city and state leadership....like it's a collection  of 5th-grade kids who run things.

Is it intentionally designed to be a Micky-Mouse-operation?

5. Finally, some polling has indicated that the front-runner for President in 2028 for the Democrats....is former VP Harris.  Mayor-Pete was in 2nd place.

How is this possible?

This Approaching Era

 I was watching a podcast last week....discussing gov't workers being laid off...housing explosion being noticed in DC-region with homes being listed for sale, and the question....what comes to the bulk of these workers?

If you were a non-DC worker....you were probably making $30k range for a GS-4, and in the GS-11 level of $60k.  Manager?  GS-12/13?  $72k to $88k (starting out).

If you were a DC worker at GS-12/13? $94k to $116k (starting out).

Where you can find a job in that range today? Well....if the economy were booming....you could find work in places like Texas (some degree).  

In the downward economy of today?  About 95-percent of folks  are looking at a 30-percent pay-cut minimum....maybe even 50-percent.

Can you sell that Arlington or Fairfax home for $850,000?  NO.  You probably will take a 30-percent cut in that 2024 value.

If you were at the tail-end of a 30-year mortgage (the final 5 years)?  Well....you are screwed.

Banks in the Maryland/Virginia region...likely to collapse by the end of 2025?  I'd start to wonder about that problem.  Lets say you assumed ownership because of defaults....where could you market a $800,000 home of 2024 value, but find no one really interested in that value?

Job-hunting?  Those in their 50s and needing another ten years to reach retirement?  They probably will end up accepting $50k jobs.  Some will end up in RV trailers living on the coast of North Carolina...in  some early retirement scheme, and pulling 40 hours a week at some Wal-Mart to get basic health-care coverage. 

Some falling apart....in suicidal thoughts?  I could see that developing rather quickly.  

People arguing with potential HR folks....they want a work-at-home situation and are being told zero-chance of that.  

The folks who have marginal debt and lived already in a owned-home situation?  They will survive and find new work...accepting a 25-percent pay-cut and proceeding on in life.

Depopulation in both Virginia and Maryland?  I would suggest by 2030 (next Census)....that both lose around 10-percent of their base population.  That population being  upper-middle-class?  Well....yeah, that will be noticed by both states in terms of taxes collected. Both will  have budget problems and being drawn into the California/NY state  'trap'.

So here's my ultimate thought on this era....a whole bunch of college-educated folks will proclaim by 2035....there's just not ample work for the degree they 'earned', and a fair number end up in craftsman  or industry jobs...paying back college loans and grumbling the mess they got themselves into.

If Trump Assumes 'Control' Over Washington D.C?

 First, it'll be legally challenged by the mayor/city council.....however, the text of the original understanding says that the federal government has ultimate control (funding) and that they are allowing local management.

So I would go and suggest three things very likely to unfold quickly: (1) everything east of the Anacostia River (roughly one-quarter of DC) reverting to Maryland, (2) everything west of Rock Creek and Potomic Parkway (the far western one-third of the whole district, to include Georgetown)....also goes back to Maryland, (3) Trump likes to renames things....so I think the District of Columbia would be renamed 'New Columbia'.  

For what remains?  Trump might offer up a Constitutional Amendment....saying that one electoral vote will be added for the region (minus the farwest, and the Anacostia region).  

As for daily management?  I think he will agree to a commissioner with a two-year term, with a 2-star general to head police and fire protection (under the Corps of Engineers).  

Locals shocked?  Oh yeah.....this will  turn into a massive legal fight.

Humble Observations

 1.  All this Trump-Elon chatter about a 'tour/audit' of Fort Knox.  They seem pretty determined now, and it begs the question....do they know of some missing gold?  

Just getting pretty weird now.

2.  Curious, Delta is saying it'll pay out $30,000 a passenger....in that Toronto crash....if you agree not to tangle with them in court.  Just makes you curious.

3.  We are living in an era when you get halfway into a news article, then you halt to realize....it's fabricated (faked-up).  

4.  Crazy talk.....IRS to lay-off 6,000 folks by Friday?