Q-and-A

 1.  Should Biden/Harris remove themselves from contention in 2024.....if there is a massive mid-term loss? 

Personally, by January, if there is a massive loss for the party.....it would make sense to have both state their position.....a fresh new prospective needs to come to the party for 2024.  

Biden accepting this logic?  No.  

2.  If any normal non-California spouse of a high ranking Republican had been awaken by some nutcase at 3 AM in a do-or-die situation?  Most would have reached for their 9-mil and shoot the guy dead.  No arguments....no momentary pause. Lets also state the obvious....the Republican guy would have been wearing more than underwear....probably some plain cotton pajamas.  

3.  Shocking isn't it.....the FCC Commissioner has now stated that Tik-Tok needs to be banned.  Remember when Trump said.

What This $8 A Month Twitter Cost Amounts To?

 Elon wants to have steady income, and so.....he has this idea that $8 a month will be the subscription cost.  People peeved?  Some are.

But here's the thing.....you really don't need Twitter.  You can survive without it.  

Or perhaps, you are so addicted to it....like cocaine or meth....that you can't survive without it.  Elon is betting that the majority of users today....don't want to switch over to FB/Meta, and they will reach a point where they have to have their Twitter....to survive.

To be fair....basically $8 for equals around three cups of premium coffee, or one single movie ticket.....so it's not a big deal.  

The Three Key Problems With the Hammer-Dude-Pelosi 'Evening'

 First, while there's video cameras all over the place....it does not appear that anyone captured the guy entering Pelosi's house.  Yes, even with Capital Police hired to watch and provide security of the family.....it was a five-star failure.

Second, when the police (after being called)....neither Hammer-Dude or Paul Pelosi answered the door.  The door was not open, but opened apparently by a 3rd person.  Who was the third person and why was he or she there?  It'd be simple to just say it was the housekeeper or maid, but they won't go that far.

Finally, 'elder-abuse' is a charge dumped into this.  Normally, the accused (under California law) knows the beat-up party (either a relative or a hired person).  No one for the prosecutor can explain how Hammer-Dude gets into 'elder-abuse'.  I tend to believe this charge will disappear in three months.

On my BS-meter?  I'd say twenty odd things just stand out.  Hammer-Dude is a heavy drug-user.....all parties who know the guy....say that.  On past 'bad-behavior', he should have been in jail a decade ago.  Nut-case?  Absolutely....enough that he should have been deported back to Canada a decade ago.

No bail bond on the guy so far?  Just odd....hundreds each month in California get arrested on similar acts, and get let out within 12 to 24 hours.  

My gut feeling?  He'll be held in the jail for several weeks, and probably get attacked to some degree....where he's either dead or mentally screwed-up....remembering nothing much of the evening.  

Toaster With A Window

 I was 'window-shopping' yesterday.....pre-Christmas ideas, and stepped into a electronic shop.  So here was the newest item...a toaster of high quality, with a plexiglass window.  

Roughly a $100 (tax included).

I tried to imagine (being from Alabama) the necessity or wonder of watching your toast 'brown'.  

This being a German item?  Well....even among Germans, I can't see anyone that thrilled to spend money on the window.  

Oddly enough, the 'boys' just had the display model and two boxes under it.  I don't anticipate they sell more than one a month.  

Greek Story

 Growing up in rural Alabama....there was a limit to historical landscape.  For example, you just didn't hear or know much on Greek literature, Greek Gods, or Greek wisdom (like those Socrates, Plato and Aristotle fellows).  

Someone loaned me a book around 30 years ago, and suddenly for a year or two....I got all into Greek Gods and these weird stories that the Greeks developed.

How many 'Gods' were there?  Well...you primarily read about a dozen or so....then you find a second layer of 300 folks (some are spirits), and later on.....if you really dwell on the subject....there's over 3,000 in various stories.  Some get mentioned barely once and their legend kinda ended right there.

It was always my belief that Greeks sat around after dark....with campfires running, and a bit of wine in their system.....building up some weird story.

For example....if you ever hear Porphyrion mentioned....he's always some 'boss of a tribe (usually the Gigantes), and he always ends up dead....torn up pretty bad by Zeus.  

If you hear Aergia mentioned.....he's always a ghost or spirt....who tends to be fairly lazy and full of idleness.  In simple terms....a 4-star loser that you'd be shamed in some way to hang around.

If you hear Gelos mentioned....he's leading into some comical story and supposed to be a 'you-should-have-been-there' moment at the climax.  

We need Greek legends to be laid out more often....might build more character in people.  

If There Is A Diesel Shortage?

 In the past month, if you read through the BS....there is a potential national shortage of diesel fuel coming up.  

Key area to be hit first?  If you analyze the commentary....SE US.

So how would this work?  You'd have three key groups affected:

1.  Truckers who support grocery/store operations on a daily basis.

2.  Farmers who need diesel to operate farm vehicles.

3.  School buses that carry kids to school.  

The first real sign of trouble?  You stand at a diesel fuel station and the sign has gone up....no fuel delivery for 12 hours.  So you park your rig, or your bus.....waiting.  You can imagine three states in the very beginning and having this issue.

Within forty-eight hours....instead of just forty stations in a 'wait' situation....you now have three-hundred.

Delivery of grocery goods?  You start to notice delivery schedules are now 72 hours behind normal, and empty shelves beginning to show.

After three weeks of this....your national problem has extended into the center part of the US, and affecting around forty states.

Blame?  There's at least a dozen choices, but it appears that this has been building up for almost eighteen months.  You can't even make the case that Biden deserves some of the blame.

Some national crisis diesel 'committee' is appointed by Biden to fix this, and what you end up with....is a group of insiders who are creating a more screwed-up fuel system, with food shortages part of the mess....but including school kids who can't be carried to school because of the crisis.   

Hint?  I don't think this goes away in 2022 or 2023....it'll linger for possibly three years.  

My Perception Of The Paul Pelosi Attack Story

 First, as long as the basic story stays that this David-the-hammer-guy just shows up....barges into the home and attacks Paul Pelosi....things are fine and the news media doesn't have to 'carry' much 'water'.

If Dave-the-hammer-guy says he and Paul are 'friends', or that he was invited over, or that someone brought him to Paul's house for some reason, or that he and Paul had some kinky fantasy going on (involving hammers and tie-up bands)....then it's a mess for the news media to clean up.

So, if I were Paul Pelosi, and there's more to the attack story....I'd have the lawyer visit Dave-the-hammer-guy and offer up some cash to agree to one single discreet story (him barging in) and get the prosecutor to only press on a minor 1-month in jail situation. 

The key factor here....on risk-assessment and weird kinky stuff...this is either a zero (barge-in story) or it's a ten (meaning a relationship with a drugged-up nutcase was possible).  You would have been safer going off to Thailand and having some half-man/half-woman situation there....instead of a drugged-up absolute nutcase from the streets of SF.

But there's this other odd situation with David-the-hammer-guy's ex-wife....who is on jail-prison time, for trying to kidnap some fourteen-year old boy....because of some sexual fantasy thing going on in her mind.  

Whole thing?  If you were a screenplay writer....the whole story....deserves a script/movie.  

Finally, lets say that Paul was just a pure up-and-up victim here.  This attack would convince me to haul-ass out of SF, and find some safe gated-community in Florida to retire in and feel safe with 24-hour guards at the community gate.  For normal people, that would be the first thing in their mind after exiting the hospital.