The Possibility of a National 'Lock-Down'?

Zero chance on success.

First, I would probably go and say that one out of three Americans might hold to that idea for two to four weeks.  The rest would just look the other way. 

Those who own businesses (coffee shops, bowling allies, theaters, dry cleaners, or gift shops?  Most can't afford more than two weeks of shut-down time. 

Maybe if you'd packaged the stupid 'gift' money and said everyone gets $3,500 for a month but you have to play 'lock-down' in order to get it.....that might have been the enticement to make it work.

Then relying on the police to enforce the lock-down?  We already have enormous disrespect for the police going on.....you'd go and add to the disrespect? 

Bringing in the National Guard?  How many?  100,000 for the NY region alone? 

Colleges and schools?  Shutting them down for the whole month of April?  They'd all tell you that it would mess up their schedule of operations.

Go to the Hollywood region and ask how many would play along with a lock-down?

So.....zero chance it'll happen (even though we need a three-week lock-down). 

New York City: End of Civilization?

Whether the governor of NY grasps it or not.....he's mostly preaching a opera which is entitled 'End of Civilization'.  It's a theme that doesn't sit well with a lot of people.

Unprepared?  As of mid-January....he should have read the script and started preparation.  You get the impression that they they wandered along, without any idea about plans or hospital capability in the city.

In plain simple talk....the governor is mostly a figure-head and lacks any real capability to run anything. 

Ten Observations over the News

1.  Cuomo doubts stay-at-home tactic for those with the Coronavirus.  Well, here's the thing, if you are obsessed that only hospital-care will work (even if you are 25 years old and without any of the normal big symptoms....diabetes, poor liver, etc), then you throw 100-percent of the sick folks toward the hospitals....they will fail MISERABLY.

The German system of having roughly 85-to-90 percent of the positive folks do their time at home WORKS.  You reserve the hospitals only for the folks with the big symptoms or the aged. 

2.  The BIG massive mess that NY City appears to have generated....has made the German news (page one) and they can't fully understand how so much chaos can be generated.  The blame-game?  In full attention....leading one to think it's a national issue. 

3.  If I were a NY City resident right now?  I'd pack the bags and head off to Florida or to some relative who resides out of state.  The healthcare system in NY City appears to be in a state of collapse.

4.  The odds that a complete and successful convention can occur in July (Democrats) and August (GOP)?  The Republicans could cancel out, but it'd really screw up the contracts with the city of Charlotte.  The Democrats?  There's a lot of theatrical stuff to occur (Joe will step back and a new candidate would occur). 

5.  Somewhere out of thin-air, some lady accuses Joe Biden of sexual assault.  Just what you needed for the campaign.

6.  The baseball season?  Totally shot.  For some teams, it's a financial loss that they can't handle. 

7.   The odds that pro-wrestling will shut down for six months?  I would be betting on it.

8.  The use of curfews?  It's like a forbidden topic.

9.  The election in November?  Of the hundred-odd things that it ought to be about....it'll be mostly about the Coronavirus.  Go and try to explain that to people in thirty years.

10.    Fear of the unknown.....is what is dramatically selling via the news media.

The "Joe-Exit" Strategy

The last primary state is Kentucky on 23 June.

The Democratic Convention starts on 13 July. 

I expect on 26 June (Friday) an announcement to occur that Joe Biden is withdrawing his name because of 'health' reasons.  The entire weekend will be maximum turbo power discussion over the replacement candidate and how the open convention will be run.  Nothing else will occur that weekend.....otherwise, it'd kill off the whole 'hype' necessary.

The likely list?  Hillary, Warren, Stacey Abrams of Georgia,  and Governor Cuomo of NY. 

So all that money and time, with the debates.....totally wasted?  Yeah.  That's really the part that Democrats should talk about. 

Poll Tax Story

Yesterday, the topic of 'poll taxes' popped into my head, and I was curious....what exactly did they amount to?

Well....after review....in the state of Alabama (from 1877 to 1966), the tax that you paid at the polling station as you voted was $1.50.

The most costly states?  Main and Massachusetts, at $3.00.

Most southern states had a tax that varied from $1 to $1.50 at the station.

What'd it pay for?  Mostly clerk cost to maintain the voter rolls and vote 'forms'.

What happened after it was outlawed in 1965?  Well....the cost of the clerks, and the maintenance of the voter rolls simply went to regular taxation.  So one tax disappeared and made folks happy, and the other tax came to replace it (via sales taxes in your local country or city).  If you asked people about this....they wouldn't really grasp that there is a cost factor and someone is paying for that maintenance. 

So, how many states still had voter taxes existing into the 1960s?  Oddly....just seven.  Yes, the bulk of them had already dumped it in the 1930s and 1940s.  California dumped it in 1914.  Louisiana dumped it in the Huey Long era (1934).

Confusing?  I think a lot of people have been told grand stories, and if you lay out the whole landscape.....the bulk of the emphasis is marginal. 

Biden's Newest Claim: College Professor

In the last day or two....Joe Biden has spoken of his past again....over something that may or may not be true.....that he was a college professor after being VP.  Over the coming weeks, I expect other backgrounds to be mentioned by Joe:

1.  Amazon River explorer

2.  Rodeo rider

3.  Worked on the wrestling circuit as 'Doctor Evil' after VP years

4.  Spent one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a Shortstop in the 1960s

5.  Did long-haul trucking for six weeks in the 1980s

6.  Tried his hand as a Baptist minister for five days in 1980

7.  Asked the History Channel to do a reality show over politicians-turned-shrimp fishermen

8.  Wrote a bawdy tale about alien women landing on Earth and having affairs with drywall guys

9.  Was a part-time gourmet chef in New Orleans for three days

10.  Wrote some poetry under an anonymous name....mostly over cats and dogs

The Fantasy of a 1,400 Page Congressional Bill

The statistical average for a person to read any material....in an hour....is about fifty pages (double-spaced).  If this is science, engineering or medical-related material....it's in the 35 to 40 pages per hour.  If this is some teen-vampire-fantasy stuff....maybe seventy pages per hour (if you were obsessed with the stuff).

So when Pelosi introduced her 1,400 page funding document bill.....the reality is that no one in the House or Senate is going to read the entire bill.  You can imagine this pdf-document arriving at Senator So-v-So's office, and Wanda (the secretary) goes and prints out the whole thing.  The staff would gather around this document, and the Senator would shed a tear or two.....knowing that they might be able to read five-hundred pages of this at best.

Personally, I'd to see a House-Senate 'rule' to be created, that no bill can be more than what you can read in a two-hour period (roughly 100 pages).  Then put this up to vote upon.  Then proceed to bill #2, bill #3, and so on. 

What the Pelosi team wants....is a document that is too broad and demanding....so that no one reads the whole thing.  A democracy running on the creation in an average year of 32,000 pages....of which no one ever reads more than 10-percent of the documentation?  Yeah.

Then you toss in the fact that almost one-third of the Senators are over the age of sixty-five, and just asking them to read fifty pages over an entire day.....is a joke.