Back in 2010, I arrived in Arlington, VA....and one of my lesser priorities as time went by....was to find a dentist.
Roughly ten months went by. I had various problems.
Some local dentists said fine, but said I'd go on a six-month waiting list (by this, it meant I wasn't even getting to the cleaning 'date' yet).
One dentist wanted a fee of $500 to get on his 'list'.
So I finally found a dentist who only put me on a 60-day waiting list. The odd thing was that it was in the basement of an apartment building about a mile from the Pentagon.
Fine, I show up on this appointment day.
First, it's a weird waiting room.....fashioned in something that looked 1960ish to me.
Second, the music in the room was violin stuff....like an opera-type situation.
So, it came time for him to check me....into waiting room X. He spent barely 90 seconds and then left me to the 'lady'.
The cleaning lady was like some Russian-looking model gal to do the cleaning with a serious accent, which I identified to be Russian.
Six months pass, and I'm up for my next cleaning.....it's already on a schedule, and I show up.....here is another different Russian-looking model type to do the cleaning....same funny accent.
Another six months.....same deal again.
Another six months....same deal again.
Then I left.
The odds that he got 'tourist' visas for Russian dental technicians? I never did ask about this, and it's best to just avoid that question.
Saturday, 4 July 2020
Seattle Accident
So in the early hours of Saturday morning....a couple of protest people made their way to the freeway in Seattle and tried to block traffic. An oncoming car didn't see much (people in black, no reflective vests, no cones, etc)....so these two ladies were 'hit'.
I've watched the video at least twenty times. I would guess the speed at near 45 mph. Based on the view, I'd say that the driver had 3 seconds at best of reaction, trying to assess 'what the hell' this was in the road, and the two women were just naive to the situation they'd stepped into.
The 24-year old woman from Seattle? She's in severe shape, and walking-wise, if she does make it....I'd be guessing physical rehab for most of the next year. The second gal? A 32-year old woman from Bellingham. Her condition? Less severe, but I'd be guessing a broke leg somewhere in the situation. Both went into the air (maybe six to eight feet).
What bothers me here....the level of stupidity. You walk out on a freeway area....in the dark....in dark clothing....no vests or flares, and just think people will respect your protest thing.
The parents of both women? I'm guessing the mayor or police haven't called yet, and things will just sit there in a slow movement.
The DA or city idiots trying to charge the driver? On what? It's simply juvenile bad behavior to stand in the middle of a freeway, and think people respect you or your protest, and can react to such a thing.
I've watched the video at least twenty times. I would guess the speed at near 45 mph. Based on the view, I'd say that the driver had 3 seconds at best of reaction, trying to assess 'what the hell' this was in the road, and the two women were just naive to the situation they'd stepped into.
The 24-year old woman from Seattle? She's in severe shape, and walking-wise, if she does make it....I'd be guessing physical rehab for most of the next year. The second gal? A 32-year old woman from Bellingham. Her condition? Less severe, but I'd be guessing a broke leg somewhere in the situation. Both went into the air (maybe six to eight feet).
What bothers me here....the level of stupidity. You walk out on a freeway area....in the dark....in dark clothing....no vests or flares, and just think people will respect your protest thing.
The parents of both women? I'm guessing the mayor or police haven't called yet, and things will just sit there in a slow movement.
The DA or city idiots trying to charge the driver? On what? It's simply juvenile bad behavior to stand in the middle of a freeway, and think people respect you or your protest, and can react to such a thing.
Friday, 3 July 2020
Revolution Poster
So you read over this. The 'children' obviously wanted them (the police) to pass this to the FBI and be some new agenda item.
The problem with the 4-step plan for revolution....it's basically asking it's team (other kids) to vote for the Green Party in November.....NOT the Democratic Party.
Course, there could be FBI agents within the Antifa movement....feeding them BS like this, and hoping they take the bait to be pro-Green Party.
This all begs questions....how you'd run up a revolution, and take down the US government.....then assume everything will be better.
Seven Observations of the Remaining Political Season
1. Looking back to September-October of 2019 and the fifteen-odd political choices of the Democratic Party....it would make a world of difference if Senator Warren or Bloomberg, or Mayor Pete had just been more competitive or believable to the general public. Then at this point, we wouldn't be talking about Hunter Biden, the Ukraine episode, Joe's dementia, or Joe's behavior over the past thirty years. It's like we were dealt some poker hand, and the best you can say is that you are holding a pair of 'fours', and three other guys are grinning in an excessive way.
2. The NY Times is basically worthless at this point, and anything they say....people are generally skeptical about. They have achieved the CNN 'standard'.
3. Trump (having a billion of campaign funds) doesn't have to buy a single minute off any local station. He'll fund 60-second commercials to be made, and flow out via social media. General profits that stations would anticipate this time of year? Probably half of the norm.
4. If you attempted to measure public enthusiasm.....a topless 30-second clip of Madonna would probably get more views than a 3-minute interview of Joe Biden.
5. If your strategy was to use BLM to recover lost black votes....you might want to go back to the idiot who suggested this, and ask where they got this idea.
6. If you notice now....thirty days after the defund chatter started up in Minneapolis.....just in the last 24 hours....local black leaders/ministers are now fairly critical of the defund or dis-establishment idea. They do agree, they are better ways of policing but getting rid of the police isn't one of them. All of this defund chatter makes an abrupt stop at non-urban communities.
7. Jobs are typically the ironclad magnet of votes in any US election. No one can show any dynamic where Joe Biden's strategy is a continuation of the current jobs market. That really says a lot when you think about.
2. The NY Times is basically worthless at this point, and anything they say....people are generally skeptical about. They have achieved the CNN 'standard'.
3. Trump (having a billion of campaign funds) doesn't have to buy a single minute off any local station. He'll fund 60-second commercials to be made, and flow out via social media. General profits that stations would anticipate this time of year? Probably half of the norm.
4. If you attempted to measure public enthusiasm.....a topless 30-second clip of Madonna would probably get more views than a 3-minute interview of Joe Biden.
5. If your strategy was to use BLM to recover lost black votes....you might want to go back to the idiot who suggested this, and ask where they got this idea.
6. If you notice now....thirty days after the defund chatter started up in Minneapolis.....just in the last 24 hours....local black leaders/ministers are now fairly critical of the defund or dis-establishment idea. They do agree, they are better ways of policing but getting rid of the police isn't one of them. All of this defund chatter makes an abrupt stop at non-urban communities.
7. Jobs are typically the ironclad magnet of votes in any US election. No one can show any dynamic where Joe Biden's strategy is a continuation of the current jobs market. That really says a lot when you think about.
Thursday, 2 July 2020
Just Observations
1. If you go and read from local sources in Seattle over the two black kids shot up by Chop-police, you get this story. Both teens (16-year old is dead, 14-year old is pretty badly wounded) were homeless and living in the camp next to Chop. They stole (at knife-point) the Jeep from a Seattle resident. Via a phone, they were communicating with some woman in the camp who told them it was 'unsafe' out there where the real police were....they should return to the camp with the vehicle.
Approaching the barriers of Chop....that's when the action started. 300 rounds of ammo (say the Seattle police, but I'm skeptical) were fired. Driver dead, passenger still alive. Chop police in the first 30 minutes proclaimed that they'd killed some fascists rushing their barrier. Charges on the kid still alive? Well....there's the problem of who held the knife when the stealing took place. Charges on Chop-police? No one says nothing. BLM saying nothing? Yeah....that's the amusing part of the story.
2. Just me saying this, but virtually every single white riot-juvenile seems like they stepped out of a house-trailer, without a bath over the past month, and seem to carry a smell (even if I'm watching this on TV).
3. The amount of 'carrying-the-load' on the media for Joe Biden? You just admire the thousand ways that they avoid talking about his dementia or finding marginalized questions to ask....without taxing his mind.
4. Someone yesterday made an observation about NY City. In a 24-hour period...four folks died from Covid-19. Nineteen folks died from gunshot wounds.
5. This discussion about making Juneteenth a national holiday (dumping Columbus Day)? Well...ask yourself, in five years....the Latino folks will be the biggest minority in America. Seeing two holidays for blacks, what do you think they will ask for? Two holidays for Latinos. Obviously 31 March (Cesar Chavez birthday) and Cinco de Mayo Day (5th of May). Take guesses on which other days are given up to make room. Oh, and those Indian guys and Asian women will eventually come around asking for their holidays as well. And don't forget those American-Indians.
6. It won't be page one news in the US, but a drug-rehab center in Mexico had an attack occur....end-result? Twenty-four people dead and seven wounded.
7. $266-million rolled into Trump's campaign chest for 2nd quarter of 2020. At current pace, billion dollars is now conceivable. Just makes you wonder how much would be required by the two candidates in 2024.
8. What's odd about BLM? If you want to donate money...their 'device' is ActBlue. Virtually all of the background groups that get money out of ActBlue....are Democratic Party candidates. If you don't say in particular that the money has to go to BLM, then the money is shifted around to various other things (including the Yang election effort). You would think that BLM would wise up....get their money-handling machine, and depart from the Democratic Party handling.
Approaching the barriers of Chop....that's when the action started. 300 rounds of ammo (say the Seattle police, but I'm skeptical) were fired. Driver dead, passenger still alive. Chop police in the first 30 minutes proclaimed that they'd killed some fascists rushing their barrier. Charges on the kid still alive? Well....there's the problem of who held the knife when the stealing took place. Charges on Chop-police? No one says nothing. BLM saying nothing? Yeah....that's the amusing part of the story.
2. Just me saying this, but virtually every single white riot-juvenile seems like they stepped out of a house-trailer, without a bath over the past month, and seem to carry a smell (even if I'm watching this on TV).
3. The amount of 'carrying-the-load' on the media for Joe Biden? You just admire the thousand ways that they avoid talking about his dementia or finding marginalized questions to ask....without taxing his mind.
4. Someone yesterday made an observation about NY City. In a 24-hour period...four folks died from Covid-19. Nineteen folks died from gunshot wounds.
5. This discussion about making Juneteenth a national holiday (dumping Columbus Day)? Well...ask yourself, in five years....the Latino folks will be the biggest minority in America. Seeing two holidays for blacks, what do you think they will ask for? Two holidays for Latinos. Obviously 31 March (Cesar Chavez birthday) and Cinco de Mayo Day (5th of May). Take guesses on which other days are given up to make room. Oh, and those Indian guys and Asian women will eventually come around asking for their holidays as well. And don't forget those American-Indians.
6. It won't be page one news in the US, but a drug-rehab center in Mexico had an attack occur....end-result? Twenty-four people dead and seven wounded.
7. $266-million rolled into Trump's campaign chest for 2nd quarter of 2020. At current pace, billion dollars is now conceivable. Just makes you wonder how much would be required by the two candidates in 2024.
8. What's odd about BLM? If you want to donate money...their 'device' is ActBlue. Virtually all of the background groups that get money out of ActBlue....are Democratic Party candidates. If you don't say in particular that the money has to go to BLM, then the money is shifted around to various other things (including the Yang election effort). You would think that BLM would wise up....get their money-handling machine, and depart from the Democratic Party handling.
Wednesday, 1 July 2020
The Thing About Misery Indexes
Back around 21 years ago....an Economist came up and developed something that he called a "Barro Misery Index". This guy (Robert Barro) basically took the sum of current inflation, added the unemployment rate numbers....then tossed the current interest rate. Then you would plus-up or minus down the shortafall/surplus.....with the current trend of the GDP growth. This was the original way of doing a misery index.
Several folks came along after that (Steve Hanke is one example) to develop their own misery index.
When you first hear the term 'misery index'.....you tend to think of some guy living on the edge of life, in a house-trailer, marginally getting $1,500 after taxes are taken out, and mostly drinking cheap beer. Then you compare that dude against some guy who makes $100,000 a year....lives in some urban dwelling with a high maintenance wife who spends $300 a week on fitness gurus....driving an imported BMW that requires a $300 oil change every six months, and going to some Tampa beach hotel every other month. In my view of that misery index....the house-trailer dude might actually be less miserable than the $100k guy.
I worked with a guy once, who'd gotten seriously in debt from the first wife....owing almost $50,000 on various bills that she'd racked up, and the cost of a lawyer to arrange a divorce. There wasn't a day that didn't pass at work where he would talk of his misery feelings, and his index was mostly maxed out.
I talk about this misery index business because you can see an awful lot of folks now in some degree of misery with the Coronavirus, the national trend, and stupidity via various state and local officials. This frustration level is building. I noticed some guy talking today of the impact on his Los Angles business, and how he'd finally reached a breaking point (he was going to terminate his business empire there and move out-of-state).
The trouble here is that an economist can write down ten things and just measure them for a established index. In this case of Corona.....there are various things which you can't measure.
You could be living in Alabama, and be a '3' on miserable feelings....yet be fifty-percent happier than the guy in California. That's the sad part of about misery. Even living in some housetrailer, with a job at a truck-stop, your mother-in-law living in the trailer with you, and your dog suffering from worms....yet you might have a a great prospective on life and way above that poor guy in Riverside, California.
Several folks came along after that (Steve Hanke is one example) to develop their own misery index.
When you first hear the term 'misery index'.....you tend to think of some guy living on the edge of life, in a house-trailer, marginally getting $1,500 after taxes are taken out, and mostly drinking cheap beer. Then you compare that dude against some guy who makes $100,000 a year....lives in some urban dwelling with a high maintenance wife who spends $300 a week on fitness gurus....driving an imported BMW that requires a $300 oil change every six months, and going to some Tampa beach hotel every other month. In my view of that misery index....the house-trailer dude might actually be less miserable than the $100k guy.
I worked with a guy once, who'd gotten seriously in debt from the first wife....owing almost $50,000 on various bills that she'd racked up, and the cost of a lawyer to arrange a divorce. There wasn't a day that didn't pass at work where he would talk of his misery feelings, and his index was mostly maxed out.
I talk about this misery index business because you can see an awful lot of folks now in some degree of misery with the Coronavirus, the national trend, and stupidity via various state and local officials. This frustration level is building. I noticed some guy talking today of the impact on his Los Angles business, and how he'd finally reached a breaking point (he was going to terminate his business empire there and move out-of-state).
The trouble here is that an economist can write down ten things and just measure them for a established index. In this case of Corona.....there are various things which you can't measure.
You could be living in Alabama, and be a '3' on miserable feelings....yet be fifty-percent happier than the guy in California. That's the sad part of about misery. Even living in some housetrailer, with a job at a truck-stop, your mother-in-law living in the trailer with you, and your dog suffering from worms....yet you might have a a great prospective on life and way above that poor guy in Riverside, California.
The 'Darkness' Around a Anti-Fascist
Over the past couple of weeks, I've sat and listened to the commentary and viewed the actions of the anti-fascist crowd. Several things have stood out:
1. To be a true antifascist, you have to control or limit your friends or associates. You hang out....with other antifascists. You sit in the same classes....get into discussion-groups with like-minded people...and most all of your life is tied to a mission or purpose (saving the world from fascism).
2. To be a true antifascist, you get up...eat your cereal or pancakes, and set your mind on purpose of being....defending the world from fascists. It doesn't matter if they are in NY City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philly, or Denver. You go where the action is.
3. Everywhere you look....fascism is harming society. It's harming cultures, youth, livelihoods, health, democracy, and only struggles against evil fascism can resolve things.
4. The antifascists are like some club now....appearing like DC's Legions of Tomorrow show. Their hyped-up courage gives purpose and the feeling of being invincible.
5. There is a piece out of Eric Hoffer's True Believer book, which talks to the idea of a "total surrender of a distinct self"....where you need to fit yourself into a group, crowd, or tribal organization. This fits into the mass movement concept and you present the unified image of being against something (even if you marginally can say what that something is).
The world is unproductive and miserable, but by presenting the anti-fascist agenda....you can save it.
6. This antifascist is forever unsure of himself or herself. They feel unaccomplished and apprehensive. Today will end with participation in such-and-such effort or looting measure, with each member of the group trying to hype up the others that more work will be necessary for tomorrow.
7. Finally, as time passes and reflection starts to set in....intolerance starts to be a daily topic on the mind of the antifascist. Others in the group will suggest to be guarded against propaganda that would de-value the mind or effort. Yet you look back at the childcare center you burned down with the group a month ago, or some coffee shop that you looted and destroyed....realizing later that owner just collected the insurance money and left town (the structure sits empty now). You keep being told...don't worry, they all have insurance. But you realize two months down the line that this section of town you destroyed....won't come back and rebuild.
Intolerance starts to burn a hole in your soul.
Then one day, you lose your enthusiasm for this antifascist business. Saving mankind just doesn't seem to be something you'd like to participate in. Some elements of shame show up....that you did some stupid things without thinking about the outcome.
At this point, the darkness goes away.
1. To be a true antifascist, you have to control or limit your friends or associates. You hang out....with other antifascists. You sit in the same classes....get into discussion-groups with like-minded people...and most all of your life is tied to a mission or purpose (saving the world from fascism).
2. To be a true antifascist, you get up...eat your cereal or pancakes, and set your mind on purpose of being....defending the world from fascists. It doesn't matter if they are in NY City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philly, or Denver. You go where the action is.
3. Everywhere you look....fascism is harming society. It's harming cultures, youth, livelihoods, health, democracy, and only struggles against evil fascism can resolve things.
4. The antifascists are like some club now....appearing like DC's Legions of Tomorrow show. Their hyped-up courage gives purpose and the feeling of being invincible.
5. There is a piece out of Eric Hoffer's True Believer book, which talks to the idea of a "total surrender of a distinct self"....where you need to fit yourself into a group, crowd, or tribal organization. This fits into the mass movement concept and you present the unified image of being against something (even if you marginally can say what that something is).
The world is unproductive and miserable, but by presenting the anti-fascist agenda....you can save it.
6. This antifascist is forever unsure of himself or herself. They feel unaccomplished and apprehensive. Today will end with participation in such-and-such effort or looting measure, with each member of the group trying to hype up the others that more work will be necessary for tomorrow.
7. Finally, as time passes and reflection starts to set in....intolerance starts to be a daily topic on the mind of the antifascist. Others in the group will suggest to be guarded against propaganda that would de-value the mind or effort. Yet you look back at the childcare center you burned down with the group a month ago, or some coffee shop that you looted and destroyed....realizing later that owner just collected the insurance money and left town (the structure sits empty now). You keep being told...don't worry, they all have insurance. But you realize two months down the line that this section of town you destroyed....won't come back and rebuild.
Intolerance starts to burn a hole in your soul.
Then one day, you lose your enthusiasm for this antifascist business. Saving mankind just doesn't seem to be something you'd like to participate in. Some elements of shame show up....that you did some stupid things without thinking about the outcome.
At this point, the darkness goes away.
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