Five Things I Think Will Happen By 1 January 2025

 1. I think Elon Musk will realize that Tesla's board will not pay him the promised $5-billion 'bonus'....start selling his stock (all of it), and exit Tesla as the CEO.  The company will go into a spiral in 2025....finding that Elon-hype ended as he left the company.

2.  Over forty mid-sized banks....heavily into commercial mortgage loans....will be in failure-mode, with the FDIC unable to save them.  Throughout October,  Congress....who should be in full election mode....will instead stand there in a crisis and realize that FDIC is no longer capable of doing their mission.

3.  At least two teams (Dallas and Atlanta) of the WNBA will be discussing a 'collapse' due to the attendance issues (averaging between 3,500 and 4,500 fans a game).

4.  Hunter Biden will be convicted on one of the three charges (the one where he possesses a new gun and yet went though the next 11 days of continued cocaine use).  My prediction?  He gets a hefty fine, and has to show 90 days of drug  testing 'clean' to avoid one year in prison. He fails the drug test requirement and spends some time in prison with Trump pardoning him by the end of January 2025.

5.  The top three financial advisers to President Biden will each be asked  three basic questions over economics (before the election)....questions that a 2nd year college kid could answer.  The three advisers will fail  all three questions.  CNN will repeat the test to three of their 'experts'....finding they also fail the test.  

Trump Chatter

 I sat and pondered over this Trump-talk.  First, he's saying that he is open to the idea.....not that he'd fully sign on.

In general, you can do three things to get a problem-alien back to their  country:

1.  You can deny any US funding/grants to that country.

2.  You can deny entry to any tourists from that country.

3.  You can tariff countries who are uncooperative....meaning you (the US consumer) will pay more for that product.

On this tariff....who is in the worst spot?  Well....I'd say China is at the top.   Countries like Afghanistan are near the bottom.

Would the House/Senate agree?  The Democrats would say absolutely no to the idea.

But I think the key issue here....if you said it MIGHT happen....it'd scare the crap out of five-million aliens, and off they'd go to Canada real quick. Canada would turn and say you got papers for the US....the US needs to accept them back, and the US would yank on the Canadian trade situation by forcing a tariff on their products.  Yeah, this could get real messy.

The Disappeared

 This week.....former FBI Deputy 'boss',,,,Andrew McCabe....did a interview and said that there are some FBI employees now worried that Trump investigate and jail them if elected president.  Then he commented....this is triggering them to consider the crazy idea of leaving the US (Trump were to win).

I sat and pondered over it.

The only safe non-extradition countries?  Vietnam, China,  UAE, Columbia, Iran, Morocco, Moldova, Brunei, Belarus, Cuba, and Cambodia.  To be honest, Russia probably wouldn't honor any request of the US, and I'm guessing that the EU might be stupid enough to crank up a quick no-extradite situation just for FBI agents.

The problem is....you have a particular skill and a limited number of places to apply for a job.  If the banking industry were given a order by the government to ban you....there's not many places left to hire you.

Maybe China might hire you but I'd be asking what kind of propaganda status am I stuck in.

Just how many folks is McCabe talking about?  He doesn't say.  I would be guessing around 500 folks who hold some problem, but that's purely a guess on my part.

Just escaping?  Well...if this were me....I'd be putting my DC property up for sale....even though it's a crappy time to sell, and cash in all the loot I could gather, and just secretly/quietly....move to Panama.  I would not say much or advertise anything...just to plan on being 'gone' by December.

As for my life after disappearing?  Well....I'd probably write some kind crime novel about evil right-wing agenda people....hoping that left-wing readers would  buy it and sustain my lifestyle.  

Yeah, I'd call it a phase of American history, where weird events went on for a decade, and led back to the FBI....then they just all suddenly disappeared.

Four Humble Observations

 1.  The Miss Alabama contest was settled this past week.  If you google it....it's a gal in the 250 to 270 pound range.  And no....she's not like 6'2" tall.

We do crazy stuff like this in Alabama.  I even think that she's got a fair chance in the Miss America pageant.

2.  From Maryland, they also completed their state pageant.....with a Transwoman winning....'wife' of a Marine.  

Yeah, it'll be a unusual contest that folks will watch at the Miss America pageant.   

3.  Someone noticed that the judge in this Hunter Biden gun case.....had an identical episode in the past year, and gave that guy 12 months in prison. Will be a harsh thing for Hunter....if in a no-cocaine year.  Probably the first time in his life since age 16 that he went a whole day or two without cocaine.

4.  If you use eBay....you probably noticed this week....they dropped American Express as a pay-option....so they are crazy on the fees.

The Vetting of Trump's Choices for VP?

The list?  

-Doug Burgum

-Marco Rubio

-J.D. Vance

-Tim Scott

-Byron Donalds

-Elise Stefanik

-Ben Carson

The truth of the matter is that you are selecting a person who would likely run in 2028, and be around until 2036.  

The least controversial of the group?  Probably Ben Carson and Tim Scott. 

Rubio?  Well....if you were talking about attracting the Hispanic/Latino vote....he's the guy.  

If you wanted someone to be the thug/hard-ass?  Well....that's Byron Donalds.  The black communality in the US would go positive over him.

The remaining five months before the election?  It's going to get interesting.

What Made The Andy Griffith Show Different?

 1.  Of the 249 episodes....I would imagine at least forty of them have some type of parable in the story-line where Andy is making a point and relates things in a way that a 10-year old kid or a 40-year old adult would understand.

2.  Behind Andy and Barney....if you started counting the secondary characters and their value....there's probably 40-odd people who were telling their story on occasion.

3.  People developed an attitude in life....having watched Mayberry....they wanted to live there.

4.  Eventually, you came to this odd fact....the only married guy in Mayberry...was Otis.  Everyone else was either divorced, widowed, or single.

5.  Everyone has a favorite episode of the show, and if you were sitting on some porch with a dozen people.....this would be an engaging conversation for an hour .

6. If you tried to re-invent it today....no studio would touch it unless it had some really serious topics and whacked-out-crazy characters.

7.  My favorite episode?  The one where the boys felt the goat had eaten dynamite.  The haunted house comes in a close second.

8.  No matter how things went....no character ever reached a point of getting 'cancelled' by the routine of the show.  

9.  If you tried to explain Otis to today's society....it'd just go pretty negative after the 2nd minute.

10.  The bullet-in-the-shirt-pocket for Barney.....is always remarkable in a way to think about today.

Q-and-A

 1.  Bird flu serious?

Well....I sat and read through some Mexican chatter over the first guy there who has died from bird flu.  What they say about the poor guy?  He had type 2 diabetes already, and had some type of "chronic kidney disease."

So it's already walking down the Covid-avenue....if you had a weakened immune system....you were in trouble.  If you had a decent health situation...you were not in trouble.

2.  With all these new illegals in the US....under the age of 18....is there space in the school systems for them (particularly in NY City, Chicago, and Denver)?

Well....this question is going to come up in August, and you will discover that these three particular cities are not capable of supporting several thousand new juveniles in the current school system.

So prepare....it's going to get pretty messy in August and September.

3.  If you asked most Americans.....is urbanized America in decay....what would they say?

I suspect roughly half the generally public would say 'yes' and question the survival rate of the top twenty cities in the nation.

4.  Can I handle five minutes of chatter from VP Harris?

Well....NO.  I'm in the mindset if I see a piece starting up on the news with Harris....I mute the sound.  I'd rather not have to hear some juvenile-like 'child' speak.

5.  If Joe Biden slips out of the race in August, and a 'sub' (Gov Newsom) is inserted....won't most people ask how and why?

Well....most people will say Joe is in mental decay, but then suggest that if this is true....shouldn't VP Kam appear and become President?  

This is the odd part of the discussion.  I've run down twenty-odd scenarios, and every single one of them would result in President Kam in charge.  And with that....you would expect President Kam to be the nominee...NOT Gov Newsom.

6.  If you had around 15-million people who were deemed illegally in the US and suddenly woke up in November to realize Trump won and might be deporting you in 2025....what would probably happen?

I suspect most all of them would leave in January for Canada.  This would turn into a monumental crisis period, and trigger a total collapse of confidence for the Canadian gov't.  

If you thought things were crazy now.....oh, it gets really wild in January.

7.  What makes India really unique?

They have a 'free' national ID card.....the Aadhaar card.  You bank with it....you register to vote with it.

No one ever talks about bogus voting in India.

8.  Weren't all of the folks who signed the Declaration of Independence....felons?

Well...yeah, if the war hadn't gone well (with French help)....all of them would have been arrested eventually, and sent off to prison. It's like the Tea-Party folks.....all of them were guilty of felony charges as well.  That Washington-guy?  Yeah, probably over 100 charges with felony status for him.

9.  Has Star Wars developed into a soap opera?

Yeah, but folks are hyped-up to see sexual situations between humans and aliens. 

10.  The chief theme for bank failures for the remainder of 2024?

If you have a bank deep into commercial real estate loans...it's guaranteed to be on a failure list.  FDIC might be able to handle the five or six failures, but eventually, if your bank comes up on the failed-list....you will be asked to limit your removal of funds from your bank (like no more than $1k per month to withdraw).  

All of this will trigger Congress to re-invent FDIC....some new 'critter'....taxing you $20 a month for some 'special' bank insurance to have $100k ensured.