If This Were a Trump versus Buttigeig Contest

Just six observations of mine over this scenario:

1. Buttigeig isn't a Bill Clinton, John F Kennedy, or for that matter Joe Biden. Buttigeig is Buttigeig. He's a young mayor from Indiana who is about a dozen years ahead of his time.

2. Resume-wise, he's got four lines of material and can basically build a 3x5 inch card. That's just not a brilliant way to explain this to the general public.

3. As much as being gay might help him for some numbers, the bulk of older Democratic voters who are happy with the economy.....probably would question the idea of voting for a 'Mayor-Pete' character.

4. The magic of the unknown Obama figure working again? Basically, you'd need all of the news media apparatus to work as it did in 2008 and 2012. Then you'd have to count on the general public not asking stupid questions, or trying to relate this election to a great economy.

5. If Trump were to use the phrase 'the kid' in terms of talking about Mayor-Pete? Well, that's something that could occur twenty times in a debate and develop into a public view being exactly that.

6. Finally, there's this gimmick of New York City Trump and South Bend Buttigeig. Maybe if he'd worked as a life guard as a kid, delivered newspapers to pay for his first year college, and spent a year off in Africa in the Peace Corps.....he'd have some magic for the votes. But I just see this guy being that much better than Joe Biden.

Why Did the Seinfeld Strategy of 'Nothing' Work

I was one of those people who who actually didn't watch Seinfeld during the years that it was on (yes, I lived overseas and simply never caught it).  So it was around a decade later....that I finally sat down and began watching the episodes....one after another. 

Presently, I've watched some of these at least twenty times (my all-time favorite one is the one about the golf ball and the whale, where George becomes a Marine biologist).

I've tended to disagree that it's a series about nothing.  It's presented four central characters, and least forty additional characters that people were simply charmed to meet.

It's like talking over the guys in Elaine's life, the jobs that George had and lost, or the innovations that Kramer tried to sell people.  It was the same principle that Andy Griffith used with unique characters.  People latch onto things like this.

The Limo episode with the Nazis?  People could sit there and imagine this happening because this involved George's little world of impossibilities.  The same is true with George getting a job with the Yankees...it was simply possible.

I was reading a piece around two years ago....on how some Iranian guy had found a way to bring in the complete series, and began to loan it out to friends.  Over the course of a year or two.....every single person who'd watched the DVDs......got into the show and actively discussed the topics of each show. 

It's not about 'nothing', it's more of a 'something'.

This Trump Tax Story by the NY Times

If you read the headlines, and the grasp the talking topic of the news media....Trump didn't pay a penny of tax for almost a decade. 

The curious thing?  Last year (2018)....sixty Fortune 500 companies avoided all federal taxes (ZERO), because of the tax code on the books.  Most of them can readily show that not just for 2018, but for numerous years, they paid no taxes.

The system.....the code.....allows for that.

Who wrote the tax code (80,000 pages)?  Wise Senators and Congressmen. 

If you ask, the Times, by putting that story out there.....now might generate public interest in finally dumping all 80,000 pages and going to a 10-page regulation that requires you to pay a tax, period.  Will the wise Senators and Congressmen do so? 

No.

Med Story

I came upon this topic about a month ago, and it's been on my mind.  A number of states have to medical marijuana being legal.....oddly then saying that if you had a gun license or a concealed gun situation....that the legal weed situation would invalidate your gun situation.

Naturally, if you sat and thought about this enough....then logic would dictate that you'd avoid medical marijuana and just going to 'Curtis' (your weed dealer on 3rd Street), and buy the illegal stuff. 

But this also brings up additional questions about medical marijuana.

If you use the stuff....can you still operate a car with your regular license?  Shouldn't that right be taken away as well?

If you owned a riding lawn mower.....shouldn't that mower be taken away because of your medical marijuana situation?

If you liked to play with lawn darts in the front yard.....shouldn't your dozen lawn darts be taken away?

If you used medical marijuana, how can you be allowed to apply for home loans?  You might be too doped up to realize what you were doing.

If you used medical marijuana, can we even allow you to attend Baptist revivals?  You might be too doped up to realize demons are just six feet away, or that dump into the pool with the reverend might accidentally drown you. 

If you ask you....we need to go back to the old system....where 'Curtis' down on 3rd Street sold you all the weed you wanted....no chatter about government regulations....and he didn't care about your nervous twitch, your knee issues, or your gun license.  It was just a deal.

Ten Observations on Switzerland

I spent a couple of days traveling around Switzerland in the past week....checking out Lucerne, Bern, and Zurich.  I came to note ten things:

1.  I rode the trains extensively, which regard as one of the finer railway systems in the world.  At some point (in Zurich), we were ending the day and needed to return to Lucerne (it would be a normal 45 minute ride).  We boarded the train, sat down and the departure time came up....but we weren't moving.  A minute or two passes, and this teenage female voice (probably 18 years old, but sounding like a 10-year old kid) comes on the speaker system, and suggesting a technical 'default' had occurred with the engine, and they were working on the problem.

She was careful not to suggest a safety issue, or broke engine.  But between the voice and use of wording, it was obvious that she was trying to be careful without saying the worse-case scenario.  Five minutes pass, and the worse-case scenario has occurred....in a squeaky teenage voice.....we were broke, and needed to move onto the next train (leaving in 20 minutes).

One of the odd features of Switzerland that you learn is that they really have an abundance of technician jobs, but not enough in population to fill them.  So they often recruit from outside of the country, or go and force kids into trades that they'd typically never think about (like a 17-year old girl being recruited to be an engineer driver). 

2.  There are Chinese tourists all over Switzerland, and carefully noting lots of things to copy.  The comical side of this is that a lot of the knife sales (something the Swiss were famous for in the 1980s).....have been bought by Chinese companies, and when you buy what appears to be a high quality knife....it's actually made in China, and shipped to Switzerland to sell.

3. The finest hash browns in the world (called rostis)....are made in Switzerland.  They are served primarily for lunch and dinner.

4.  Maybe for burgers or pizza, you can still eat for $10 or less....but if you walk into any real restaurant and order a table dinner.....don't expect to get anything decent for less than the equivalent of $25. 

5.  With one single exception, over five days....I saw the cops only once.  It doesn't matter if you are talking about train stations or shopping districts.....you just don't see the cops.

6.  Head Shops.  Legally, weed is still illegal.  However, just about everything around the use of weed is sold.  So, one might take this to suggest that twenty-percent of the population is using marijuana in some form, and the cops are just looking the other way.

7.  E-scooters.  In Bern and Zurich, I probably noted around 10,000 e-scooters being used or parked around the two cities.  I saw older retirees riding them, and kids down around the age of ten.  There's rapid growth going on, and it's a part of the landscape now.

8.  Tourism appears to be booming.  It's not just bus travel....people are using the railway system to travel around, and go select their own choice for a hotel (like I did).

9.  You see an awful lot of housing via the train lines, in rural areas.....which were built in the past ten years.  Ten miles....even twenty miles outside of a metropolitan area.

10.  You just don't see dirt-poor or welfare-type people around on the streets. 

Water and Cost

I spent several days in Switzerland, and one observation that I came away with....you need to think about prices and what you are asking for....almost every single minute.

I sat in a restaurant and had reviewed the menu to order something 'safe'.  That typically means while in Switzerland, to avoid anything saying 'Tartar' (which means it'll be delivered to the table 'uncooked').

But at some point, being dehydrated, I ordered the beer, and noted that I really needed some water, so I asked the guy.....for a bottle of water.....'still' water, meaning without the bubbles.

So he comes out with this Arkine water bottle.

Later, I'm looking at the receipt, and realize that the water was actually just as expensive as the beer I ordered (around 5.5 SF, meaning around $5 for a bottle of water).  I felt silly (being Alabama where spring-water is typically free).

I will admit, it was fine water, but probably not in the $5 range for a 10-ounce bottle.  Course, maybe it was refreshed and poured from the spring-site by naive innocent virgin ladies. 

Legal Chatter

Over the past month or two, I've noticed a couple of 'blue' states which have worked up draft laws (and passing them), which would require you (as a Presidential candidate) to release your tax submissions to the IRS.  No release?  No path to the state nomination process for President.

Legal?  Well, it'll be challenged, and the chie problem I see is that they made this feature ONLY for people running for President.  If they'd said everyone (from dog-catcher to city councilman) would have to do the same.....it might withstand legal issues.  I think the big court folks will just laugh and throw this out.

But somewhere along the way, some state (maybe Alabama) will get into this game, and add blue-state-like tactics as well.

For example: mandate that you have to be five-foot six inches tall to run for President and show up to be measured by the State Attorney General.

For example: provide all social media commentary for three years, if running for President.

For example: provide evidence of a driver's license being current, if running for President.

For example: provide your shoe size, preferred breakfast menu, and a photo of your favorite teacher....if you want to run for President.

It's silly but we are evolving into a silly society.