Selling The Gavin Newsom Brand As Biden's Replacement?

 I'll make three observations here.

First, in California....it just seems like that three-quarters of the state is pretty much finished over Newsom.....as governor, and it makes it hard to see how he'd sell himself as a Presidential candidate.

I noticed last week....some podcast where the moderator talked to a dozen Compton, California blacks....who were ALL fairly negative.  I think  the general black population has a chance to review the situation....most all will be anti-Newsom and thus gear the state for a Trump-win.

Second, Newsom has an odd history....constant travel.  Someone remarked last year....that a data collection was mounted over the previous 365 days of Newsom as Governor, and he was on the road around 250-plus days out of 365.  They compared this to his period as mayor of SF....finding basically the same story....he's on the road a great deal of time.

Third, his push of the $20-an-hour for employees of burger-joints has dissolved 10,000 jobs in California this year (2024).  Imagine him at work in DC...getting a chance to repeat the strategy.  

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.