Pausing Over This NBA Gambling Crisis

 So, to put this in prospective....you have a crew of highly-over-paid NBA coaches/players who frequently like to play poker, where you might lose $40,000 on a evening.  At some point (maybe even going back 25 years)....some real mafia folks (the ones from Italy) figured this out.  So they developed gambling 'clubs'....where the losers helped to bring in more  'losers'....while the games were rigged up. So for 20-odd years....the NBA players have probably been burning up tens of millions a year from the players who didn't grasp the situation.

Adding to the mess....the coaches and players began to rig games....to get money back from the mafia.

I paused over this.....wondering....who else got played or were rigging things?

Football?

Politics?

Musicians?

Entertainment?

Government?

Law Enforcement?

College?

A Chips Problem

 Survey was done....using Americans....with 42-percent of Lay's customer/consumers....saying they didn’t know their chips were made from actual potatoes.  

I paused over this...thinking....same crew would say they weren't sure where pork or  beef products come from.

You could probably ask folks where beer comes from, and they have no idea.

The Venezuelan Surface-To-Air Missile Threat

 I  looked up the missile involved...President Maduro says he has 5,000 Russian-made (SA-24) shoulder-launched missiles to counter the US.

Well....these were made in 2008, and shipped to Venezuela in 2009.

There's a shelf-life on the container....mostly because of the battery on the system.  Ten years is the shelf-life.

So around 2018/2019....it hit the peak. 

Still operational today?  You could open a hundred containers and find some working, but it's hit-and-miss.  Out of 5,000, I would imagine probably 300-to-500 might still launch. Stored in a protected temperature situation? Unknown.  

Possibility that some were sold out of the backdoor?  Maybe.

The Exit Problem

 The Hill (the publication dealing with politics)....says that guys/men/dudes are leaving the Democratic Party.

So I looked up the story.

It's supported by broader polling and registration data showing a significant shift among younger men (18-to-25) and working-class men...leaving the party.

I will NOTE here....it's not sudden....just a continuation seen since 2016.

This is based on identification while registering, and people switching on paperwork.

Hispanic American males?  Yep....they are in the 'boat' as well.

If you asked.....most men feel Democrats emphasize women's and minority issues while sidelining theirs. 

A big deal?  Well....in 2028....there needs to be this evolution going on....where you drop the oddball agenda items, and go back to the way things were in the 1980s/1990s.  Odds of this happening?  Less than 10-percent chance.

Other issue brewing?  Mid-terms will run along the same agenda problem.

I paused over this....pondering....does the top level of the party even realize this problem?  I doubt it.

This DEI stuff still brewing and making a open-door for guys easier to open?  Yes.

So it makes wonder....back twelve to fifteen years ago when the various agendas were written down in stone.....did anyone calculate a shelf-life?

Eight Observations

 1.  Maybe it's just me....but every time that the media does some on-the-street interview with a anti-Trump enthusiast....if asked about their work, they always seem to be a gov't worker, teacher, retiree or med-worker.  You never see someone identify as a farmer, welder, bar-tender, cowboy, engineer, or rocket-scientist. 

2. Again, maybe it's just me....but I get the impression that we need to bring all Americans in for a 1-hour lecture...on what gets you fed-prison time, and how a felony follows you for the remainder  of your life.

3.    It's an odd thing....fed reporting on unemployment.  Before the shut-down...it was reported by BLM....to be 4.3-percent (using August data) for September.  

State by state?  The best state is South Dakota at 1.9-percent, and the worse is California at 5.5-percent (NV follows very closely).

So here's the thing....with all the illegals being picked-up and rapidly disappearing from their regular job....there has to be vacant positions existing and employers who were dealing under the table....NOW forced into hiring.

Yet, day after day (past  2 weeks)....I see the doom-and-gloom crowd  talking of a highly negative period approaching.

4. 29 Oct....Fed meets.  Some expectation of a quarter-point down.  

5.  The more that this NO-KINGS BS continues....the more I see MAGA as their  'path'.  The crew may not be bright enough to grasp this.....but it's just funny how they sell the brand.

6. Someone brought up the 1925 Klan rally in DC....the last time that a massive rally was held in the capital with 99-percent whites. The odd factor?  Well....Klan-members have always typically been Democrat.

7. Something I've wondered about for the past month....why do "lower-income" Americans have car payments?  Growing up in the 1970s....if you looked around....most everyone had 5-10 old cars ('beaters). Somewhere around age 30....they progressed up to newer vehicles.

You look out, and see a lot of folks.....finishing up college, and immediately run off with the first job....to buy strictly a new car (over-priced).

8.  I read this AM....President Trump is considering commuting the sentence of Sean Diddy Combs.  Will be curious if the news media even discusses this.  

NO-KINGS Protest = MAGA Rally?

 I got up this AM....had a cup of coffee, and in the middle of this coffee...thinking over the NO-KINGS weekend protest....it hit me.

If you gaze at the images....flags....signs....chatter, they all sound like Make-America-Great-Again 'players'.  Yes, Republicans.

No, I haven't poured whiskey into the coffee, or smoked a joint, or knocked myself out on the stairway.  

Yeah, it was a MAGA rally...plain and simple.

They may not feel that way....but on a management chart....if you do flow-charts with a yes-or-no path....they identified as MAGA.  

Three Humble Thoughts

 First, from yesterday evening to noon today....I observed around 3 hours of video of 'NO-KINGS' action.  I'd say seven out of ten 'players'....were 60 or older.....which is odd. The non-oldies?  Dressed in Antifa-like garb.  

I should add this....in three interviews....the Q-and-A went south, and the guys/gals seemed drugged-up or boozed-up. I'm not saying cough-syrup-weird....double or triple that level. 

Second, if Trump really wanted to flip the NO-KINGS BS....he could write a 2-line Executive Order that says.....all  kings in America are here by relieved, and 'banished' to Cape Cod.  Naturally, the Democrats would have to react, and probably voice support for all kings.

Third, finally....if you sat down with this funny crowd, and asked them to personally name one 'evil' bad actual king (which you would think Nero, Henry VIII of England, MacBeth, or Joffrey Baratheon of Game of Thrones)....would come up)....I suspect they can't name an actual real or fictional individual who had the title of king.