Three Observations

 1.  Trump came out yesterday and said one of his future agenda ideas is to send the US Navy and special forces....after drug empires.  In simple terms....they go on kill-missions on foreign soil or open seas.

The thing here is that Fentanyl, cocaine and various drugs have reached a epidemic level, and most of the counter ideas used since the 1980s....have failed.  

If you did declare 'war'?  I would imagine the cartels and Chinese gangs would reach a level where they'd have to go and target the US government/officials.  Adding to this mess....if you did manipulate the mess enough and create a massive shortage of hard drugs....you'd have a couple million Americans in a bind because they couldn't get the drug of their choice.

I'm not saying Trump is right....but presently, nothing is really working.

2.  “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

Einstein said this.  It's fairly appropriate in 2023 to remember this weekly.

3.  I sat and looked over this story that appeared in the past week.  

First, no one says who the Biden officials were, and how SBF fits into Pandemic chatter?  Never explained.  

Why Joe wasn't in the room?  Might be interesting to know.

Whole lot of BS?  Probably, but since investigative journalism died in the 1990s....you won't know the end of this story.

Two Thoughts

 1.  What if this House Speaker thing went 'on'.....say for 30 days.  No Speaker, no House business, no political chatter.....just a quiet period?  

Rather crazy, but it's worth asking.

2.  You ever noticed....whenever someone utters 'dire'.....about 90-percent of the time....you have come regard the moment as something pretty less than dire....like your dog tore up the newspaper, your cousin married a tramp, or your beer bottle expiration date was last week.   It's like we've all take dire to mean something a lot less to worry about.

Three Observations

 1.  On the Speaker of the House job.  Lets be blunt....if you had a job taking up forty hours a week as a Representative from your district, and serving on x-committee....what idiot would want to take the Speaker job to add another ten to twenty hours onto your bucket?  

You get a limo which comes by and picks you up at the residence....so you can read papers on the way to work.  You probably ought to spend a full hour reading newspapers during the day.  You have to worry about the operation of the House, the air conditioning, the security, etc.  

On the plus side?  Well....you'd get invited every weekend to parties (sponsored by the lobbyists), get plenty of free drinks at DC clubs, and receive insider stock advice every week.  

2.  Joe Biden on the NFL injury: “Look, the idea that you're gonna have, look you've got guys that are 6'8, 340 pounds running a 4.8 40… If you hit somebody with that kinda… now that's not what happened here… but I just think it’s, I don't know how you avoid it.”

Yeah, about every 2nd sentence....Joe 'cuts' out and leaves you with a empty space.  You just have to insert your own thoughts or perceptions into what he left hanging there.

3.  All that talk about CNN 'fixing' itself and evolving back into the old CNN?  Mostly BS.  It's still anchored down in crap.  

Psychic Stuff

 When I was stationed in Louisiana, I worked with a young guy grew up in the south, and he had a passion for psychics/fortune tellers/seers.  

At least once a month, he'd go to some 'Madam Glenda-type' who had a garage set up in the home with the crystal ball stuff.  

After this first came up.....I asked some questions.  Being from Alabama....I had noted one or two of the area where I grew up....but my dad had remarked if you needed some advice on things, or some future 'talk'....just give him a dollar and he'd 'guide' me.  

The 'Madam' charged around $20, and if you wanted more than the 10-minute session....it'd go up to $40.  

So I asked if there was some gimmick to it, and he said she'd always have a minute or two of small talk.....asking about his frets, or worries.  

At least one year in my old junior high school....as part of the Halloween 'fest', they had one room set up with a gal or two from the 9th grade....dressed up as a witch-type, and you paid a quarter at the door.  Someone would sit you down in a pretty dark room, with a non-scent candle burning, then the teenage gal would give you your future.

It was about a 90-second session, and from I can remember.....I was destined for great things....would walk on foreign soil (I thought she meant Mexico)....and would be successful.  It was all BS....but for a quarter and 90 seconds....it was entertaining BS.

I always thought my Louisiana associate needed confidence building, and the 'Madam' was giving him what he needed.

So I read today.....Google more or less....admitted that their 'Alexsa' software program is hackable.  In simple terms.....hackers can get to the speaker in your house....to hear your woes and complaints.

It wouldn't take much then....for a smart person to come up to the house door....say they are a 'Madam-Wanda-type' and they could feel demons at work in the house.....then describe your problems and worries.  

Naturally, you'd be real stupid and think they got the psychic powers.  Then they'd let you know for $100 to $200....at your door....they can forecast things, and offer advice.  

Some folks....like my brother (the electrical engineer) would laugh and just offer them a beer before they leave.  Others?  They'd pay the money and get some reading....to settle their mind.  

All This House Speaker Drama

 I sat and tried to contemplate all the bad 'evil' things that this drama over not being agreeable on McCarthy not getting the House Speaker job on the first/second ballots.

My list?  Zero.

He was stupid in moving all of his furniture and people into the House Speaker office area.  I'm guessing his 'crew' are pretty peeved now.

The threat made that the evil twenty-odd people who didn't agree with the Majority Leader....they wouldn't be assigned to committees?  That just compounded things.  

As for Wednesday and what happens?  A third ballot with McCarthy's name on it will occur, and two or three new people will go to NO-McCarthy group.  I think a two-hour lunch will then occur, with a 4th ballot failure occurring, and around 7 PM....the 5th will be prepared without McCarthy's name on it.  Someone will then get the 'pick'.

Any of this really worth getting hyped-up about?  No.  I'm sure the McCarthy 'crew' are peeved about their moving back to the old office, and this will sit upon their criticisms for a month or two....but it's fake drama.

Seven Things I Tend To Believe

 1.  Lee Oswald did not fire the rifle and kill Kennedy.

Various reasons....but one odd factor is the paraffin test given to Oswald after the arrest....to his hands/cheek.....did show positive on the hands, but negative on the cheek.  Meaning?  He probably did fire a pistol, in the killing of Officer Tippit, but not a rifle in terms of killing JFK.

2.  Charles Manson probably participated (unwillingly) in gov't sponsored drug tests in the decade prior to the California killings.

3.  If you evaluated the bulk of Russian men over age forty....more than two-thirds of them have alcohol conditions which limit their rational thinking or productivity.  This is probably the primary reason why most of what Russians use...can't be produced within the country.

4.  If you asked 100 Americans over the age of thirty what a primary number is.....less than one-percent would get explanation correct.  But lets be honest here, it's not like you will ever use this bit knowledge ever again in your life.  

5.  A lot of this bad-boy/bad-girl behavior you see on planes today....goes to alcohol/drug usage.  

6.  As more and more New York residents (with money) pack up and leave the state....eventually, the political elite (mostly Democrats) will have to admit a problem exists....but left wondering how they can reassure people it's still pleasant and safe to live there.  It's now become an impossible task.

7.  For the year 2023, I believe more than 2-million Russians will end up leaving the country....seeing a failed economy, and leaving them little choice. 

Meaning of Ruminate

 It's an odd word.  I saw it used in a Twitter explanation.

Basically, you'd use it to say that you've been heavily thinking or calculating about something....usually over an extended or prolonged period, and it suggests that you can't come to a happy solution.  

How you'd use it?  You would say: I spent the entire afternoon....trying to ruminate about the problem.  

A new term?  No.....the word people suggest this goes back to 1533, where some guy needed to explain something....and he likely pulled this word out of thin air to get the problem across to his associate.

The general problem here with ruminate....in most problems, you can throw the mess on a white-board, and in three minutes....draw some kind of conclusion or end-point, with a rational list of solutions.  

The minute you insert a money limit, a manhour issue, a potential failure ending, or a benefit-gained scenario....then you enter the world of ruminate.  That five-minute pause to think will twist and turn into an hour or two.  

To be honest, if you polled folks....a majority of people have never entered the stage of ruminate, and probably have never wasted more than 15 minutes in their life over thinking about a problem.