Just Pondering

 I pondered over the LA fire  business, and if I was one to have my $1.5-million house to burn up....with insurance in effect.

After a week of looking around....I'd come to realize that there aren't enough apartments within 200  miles for me and the family to linger/stay.

In my mind, there's just one avenue....go and buy a $25k travel trailer (probably from AZ or NV), haul it to the home-site (burned-up) and ask the city to hook it up to water, power and sewer.

So the first problem to come up....the power folks (run by incompetency)....will require at least a on-site evaluation (requiring three months just to be seen). Then their advice is that power can be hooked up....at some point in late 2026 (figure 18 months of waiting).  

You end up with a solar platform in the burned-out site.....with marginal power for over a year.  

At this point, some city official arrives to examine your burned-site....where you had 12 solar panels (now burned-up), and just says this is a toxic zone....requiring a $700 evaluation by some certified gal to say if you need special $8k cleansing.

Then the water issue comes up.  Another review....another delay...this time for two  months.  They will admit that pipes function, and there is water there without any issues.  The chief problem?  They don't see a functional meter, and it'll take two months for them to acquire the meter and install it.

The meters?  Made in China, and you discover a year after installation....they are mostly defective.  

Garbage service?  Well....they send you a note to say sixty of their trucks burned up, and it might be December before they can run basic....once-a-month garbage pick-up.  You can make up for this....by bringing your own garbage to such-and-such point each Saturday....to dump into a dump-truck.

Then the issue of things resembling a trailer-park....where your neighborhood of  sixty burned-out houses....now have sixty trailers set-up.  The city planning commission?  They aren't going to be easy-going on this issue.  I would assume by October...a limit of one year will exist for parked travel trailers.  

A strange phenonium will be noticed as folks rebuild....as underground stainless steel 12,000 tanks are buried in back-yards....for future fire-protection.  City regulations? By the end of 2025....at least  25 pages of regulation will exist, and a department of underground water-tanks will exist, with some chief being paid $225,000 a year in salary.....to control these tanks.

Oddly, an environmentalist group....the anti-stainless steel water-tank foundation will come into existence....saying this is not environmentally friendly.  Eventually, a guilt-tax (for each thousand gallons....you need to pay $100 a year to ensure your fire protection situation).  

Meanwhile....some guy from Oregon will figure a way to haul 12,000 gallons of Oregon water down via I5....'stealing' the free water from some river and filling the individual tank up in LA.  Water-police will come to exist in both California and Oregon....to prevent this business scheme.

By the end of 2025, I'd suggest that almost 60-percent of those having lost homes....won't be staying and have exited the state.  

Oddly, in my scenario, of the 'dirt' properties put up for immediate sale....all will be bought by hedge-fund companies....but a year into the holding....they discover that no one is interested in moving into these neighborhoods or facing California incompetence.  A word will be invented....'Newsomed'....meaning you have a property asset that can't be marketed, and you lose money on your investment.

Finally, adding to everything.....at least five percent of the burned-out folks....won't have the money for rebuilding, or moving.  So they end up in a homeless situation....living out of their car, and the LA mayor is now more determined than ever....to help the new homeless.

The Hearing Business

 I sat and watched about an hour of the Hegseth hearing yesterday.  There were two curious things I observed.

First, these protest folks in the crowd.  In particular....'General Pinky'.  

It just seems like they want some crazed look....to  attract attention.   The more foolish....the better.

Second, the line of questions by the Senators....stuff you'd expect out of 5th grade kids.

If you were a Brit, or Chinese guy watching....you'd suspect it was a comedy TV show.

Where All This UFO-Alien-Drone Chatter Ends

 Between today and next Tuesday....there's some anticipated event to occur, where a fair amount of details fall into public view.  At  least....that's the suggestion if you follow the UFO 'world'.  

What all this hinges upon?  Some folks who've apparently run recovery-of-UFO projects, and they are in some state of disgruntlement....over the leadership and decisions made since the 1950s. 

My belief in this?  It would appear that the disgruntlement folks are viewing Trump's arrival as a moment to reset reality.  

So I'm going to suggest nine things:

1.  This admitting of aliens/UFOs....will involve tens of thousands of pages of details....which will be hard for people to follow, or make sense.

2.  At some point, the disgruntlement crowd will admit to holding aliens prisoner, and be viewed in a harshly negative way.

3.  About two days into this 'reveal'....people will stand and suggest that the whole story resembles bits and pieces of Star-Trek and Star-Gate TV shows.  To which....the producers of these shows will  admit that they were given material at times....to build a script around....to prepare people for this day.

4.  Some of the reveal....will suggest that mankind was planted and helped to evolve.  If you were kinda religious in nature....you might be in a fragile mindset at this moment.

5. The amount of hidden technology, and it's sudden revealed nature....will probably shock you more than the alien existence business.

6. A couple of thousand folks will jump onto the alien existence thing....purely for a sexual interest....wanting to hook-up.

7.   Someone will stand up and make a analytical judgement....that Earth is more like a 'West-World' situation....where aliens go for entertainment.

8.   As dramatic as this 'moment' will be....in less than 30 days....it'll be removed from the news cycle,  and half of society will deem it a minor event by the end of 2025.

9.  Finally, within weeks, it'll be apparent that some Earth folks want to exit and get off the planet....hoping for travel opportunities with the aliens.

All of this.....with Trump as President?  Yeah, that's the unbelievable part of the story.  

The Safer/Better 'Game'

 Jake Sullivan.....Biden’s National Security Advisor....spoke up and said:  "The American people are safer and the country is better off than we were four years ago."

I paused over this comment from yesterday.

Safer?  NO.  

Better?  There's some pause for me over this. Things are more expensive, and every week....I see some company dissolving.  

There should be some alcoholic beverage for moments like this....do four shots of something when a Biden-dope says stuff  like this....to relax the mind.

The Rebuilding Idea?

I sat there today....listening to a Governor Gavin Newsom (California) statement....he had this 'plan' to rebuild Los Angeles, with the title something like "L.A. 2.0 under a Marshall Plan-like initiative'.

Billions required?  He didn't say the amount ....but it'd have to be way over $500-billion.

I pondered over it for five minutes, and came to these three issues:

1.  Even if you laid the cash....these idiots were geniuses who made the fire threat to such a remarkable level, and would do so again....meaning another Newsom-like character would appear in five to ten years....talking about rebuilding L.A. 3.0 under another Marshall Plan-like initiative.

2.  The building permit business....would lead to fewer than 250 structures a year....so this Marshall  Plan deal....might take 25 years to erect.

3.  Finally, it would logical that environmentalists would fight this left-and-right....to limit the rebuilding to  half the present size, and to make it carbon-free as much as possible. 

After The Fire Business Ends....What Next?

 I worked with a officer (in my AF years) that was hooked into a master's degree program, and he was taking a risk analysis course.  So we got into a discussion one day in the vault.

He laid out the mental side of chaos....where people are just overly consumed when massive events occur in their life.  In the initial week....they simply absorb the 'mess'....trying to understand things.  Around the 10th day of this reflection....you start looking for a way out....a 'path'.  By day thirty....you want to forget about the initial problem, and get as far away from the mess as possible.

In this LA fire situation....by the end of the first day of reality....where you've been to  the home and found nothing exists.  You call your insurance agent....realizing now that of his 5,000 clients....you are number 2,003 in line. 

Around 72 hours after your contact...someone from out-of-state calls you...from the insurance company.  They want to assure you of 'things-working'.  The package is discussed, and they warn you that these settlements take time.   Then they remind you....your coverage was 'X', and the maximum check they can write is $.2-million.  Then they make it sound great that they are giving you a check now for $20,000 to cover temporary living expenses.  

Then you ask....how will you get the check....since the mailbox situation is non-existent?  There's a long pause...the agent isn't sure.  'More to come' is the response.

Four days pass, and you get another call....they have a camper-office at such-and-such address.....if you stop by....the check will be issued.

So you get the $20k check and discover that the bank building you typically used....burned down.  The next alternate site?  That burned as well.  You end up driving 12 miles to a operating bank....only to find that they will cash the check but you can only have $2,000 in funds until the 7th day.  

This is where you start to grumble.

You start to  talk to construction folks about rebuilding.  They let you know....just getting a permit might be two years (minimum).  Then you get into a discussion about the old home value of $1.75-million....can't be built for that price in this atmosphere. You need to start assuming (with their advice)....once the new house is built....the final bill will be near $2.9-million. 

So you drive to the bank to talk loans.  It's a mix of positive talk and depressing views.  This is the day that you drive to the local motel where you, the wife and two kids are staying.  You consume a fair amount of booze that night.

The next day....you get up and the wife wants to  have a 'Jesus-moment' conversation.....asking why are we staying here?

Over the next 24 hours....you linger over the idea....maybe this is it (the exit from California).  You realize that even if  you rebuild....another fire was possible because of the idiot way that the city and county function.  

So when April comes and the final check is written....you load everyone up in the car, and like some moment out of John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath'...you are taking the family back to Missouri, Kansas, or Iowa.  The $2-million check?  Well...it goes a long ways, and a regular home in Iowa runs $300,000.  

A year passes and you quietly admit....life is different.  You live around city/county administrators who seem to be competent.  Stress is less.  You miss the weather but things are better than ever.

How This Greenland - US Matter Will End?

 My humble view is that the Prime Minister of Greenland (Múte B. Egede) will have a face-to-face meeting with President Trump within four weeks of the inauguration. Egede will return to  Greenland and within two weeks....announce that two matters will be pursued by the end of 2025.

First, a exit-plan and vote to leave Denmark....to be a independent country, with second ballot on the same day to determine if they remain within the EU or stay totally independent.  This will happen by late 2025.  

Second, a second vote will occur in early 2026....assuming they exit Denmark...on one of three options: (1) stay independent but build a close trade relationship with the US, (2) opt for a US territory/state situation, or (3) build a EU/US trade relationship while being independent.

On exiting Denmark....I'll go and predict that it passes by a factor of 75-percent or more.

The ballot to stay within the EU?  Closer to 50-50.

Finally, I'm not convinced of the public there wanting a US-statehood situation. No one has ever polled folks, and while there is a fair amount of anti-Denmark negativity....I think people mostly want a independent status (like Iceland).