Biden

It is Now Campaign 2020

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Forget the Experts, I think: what will happen on November 3rd, being in the future, is unknown. I personally think that Trump is heading for a big win. I’ve got a few data points which suggest it…but so much in in flux that no one can really say what the public mind is. But, in the end, I expect the Convention themes to play out. The Democrats were all about how dark and miserable the times are and how we must all repent of our sins…the Republicans were all about fighting through the bad times because we’re the greatest nation, ever. I suspect that a majority still loves America.

I also suspect that a majority is turned off by endless riots. I mean, for goodness sake, you’ve made your point, Lefties! Give it a freaking rest. But someone in the DNC said that the riots would turn people away from Trump (in fact, Biden’s campaign intern for Twitter pretty much Tweeted exactly that out this morning). And, hey: maybe the people will? I don’t think so, but anything in possible. But Biden’s recent half-hearted condemnation of the violence (not the riots or the rioters) indicates that Team Biden is worried about how things are going…Biden’s scheduled campaign appearance in Minnesota, which last went GOP in 1972, it a gigantic warning bell. But Team Biden has also apparently ordered the rioters to turn it up to 11…they practically assaulted people leaving the White House yesterday.

Trump seems happy, engaged and geared up. Democrats are already talking up not having debates at all. Biden mostly remains out of sight. Harris gave the response to Trump’s acceptance speech. I’m feeling pretty good. Secrets is up for pre-order (hint, hint, guys; go buy it!).

Let’s have some fun and then win the election.

 

Secret Open Thread

Mark Noonan43 Comments

Did I really wait that long to sign in again? Sorry: been real busy with the book! Secrets I plan to release on September 1st. Battles, the third book of the series (which wraps up this particular story line) I hope to have out by December 1st.

Secrets_Cover

Cool cover, huh? It is not absolutely necessary for anyone to buy Mirrors to understand the story in Secrets…but, it’s helpful. So, if you haven’t got Mirrors, go get it. Serious. Secrets is awesome sauce with a cherry on top. With whipped cream. And some of that chocolate stuff you can pour over. And a really good beer afterwards. And then you get to relax by the pool.

It’s really good.

Anyways…

The stupid is getting worse:

In Michigan, Greg and Kjersten Offbecker have removed the Norwegian flag flying outside of their bed and breakfast, the Nordic Pineapple. The couple purchased the historic mansion two years ago and converted it to a bed and breakfast. They’ve flown the Norwegian flag along with the American flag out front.

Unfortunately, (and because our public education system is mostly hot, stinky garbage), the Offbecker’s have removed the Norwegian flag as far too many people have confused it with the Confederate Battle Flag…

Unsolicited Chinese seeds are showing up in people’s mail boxes. I would burn any such that arrived.

It sorta looks like Kamala will be Joe’s VP pick – though some are still fighting against it. I don’t think anyone on Team Biden really wants here – or anyone who rises above complete non-entity. Everyone expects Biden to kick the bucket long before 2024…and probably most of Joe’s closest aides figure it is baked in, as well. But they’ll want to hold on to power as long as possible, and that means picking a VP that no one wants…so that until Biden’s carcass is carried out of the Oval Office, no moves will be made to replace him.

Don Surber takes note of a video clip I saw: a nurse hand-holding Joe out to the car. And then pulling him away from reporters before he could talk about Corn Pop, again. The man isn’t well.

Trump is doomed! But while he’s doomed, the GOP is far outpacing the Democrats in registering new voters in Pennsylvania. Kinda funny, huh? Do keep in mind that it was voter registration shifts in PA which first clued me in that Trump could win in 2016. It is certainly better to follow such things than polls…but I also noted on Twitter that Nate Silver is already hedging his bets for November 3rd.

 

 

More Than Likely, Trump Has Already Won

Mark Noonan7 Comments

I keep in touch with some of the Experts on Twitter…not the really famous ones because, well, they’re all insane. But, still, Experts who are sure that Trump is doomed…all their talk these days is already post-mortem: how did Trump lose; what comes after, blah, blah, blah. Every now and again I point out, in a short comment, that Trump is going to win. I never get a response to such comments.

What amazes me is how sure they are – and, hey, maybe they’re right? But they’ll only be right by accident. They have their charts and graphs and polls…and it is all, in my view, quite meaningless. I checked the Real Clear Politics average of polls before election day, 2016: of the eleven polls used, ten showed a Hillary win…some by a solid margin. Now, the election was just about a tie…Trump won big in the Electoral College and Hillary, via California and New York City, eked out a popular vote win. The bottom line is that it was anyone’s race…a bit of change here or there, and the result would have been different. Given this, a series of eleven polls, done honestly, would have shown four or five with Trump in the lead. There’s just no two ways about it: a poll of the same population using roughly the same criteria shouldn’t come out very different from any other poll. Ten of eleven for Hillary. Either just stupendous coincidence…or deliberate falsehood.

I go with “deliberate falsehood”. And I can already hear the objection: “they wouldn’t all lie.” Yes, they darned well would, and do. Do you think they care about their credibility? Does anyone in the Ruling Class? These guys brazenly lie about everything…but they’re going to be straight shooters with their polls? Give me a break.

This is especially true when you look back to earlier in 2016 when they all had Hillary up like 10-12 points. Rely on it, guys: millions upon millions of people did not change their mind about Hillary between July and November 2016. She was an entirely known quantity. Everyone had already made up their minds about her the moment she announced. Her vote total was always pretty much baked in – the only question of 2016 was whether any GOPer would either outpace her vote or, as Trump did, flip enough in the crucial States to take it all. And anyone with real data knew how the election was going very far in advance: it really surprised no one in the know. Remember: she cancelled her fireworks display. She knew. Or at least her team knew: they might have kept it from her. What will happen on November 3rd of this year is also pretty much baked in. Outside something stupendous happening, people already know Joe Biden and Donald Trump and have made up their minds about them. Trump has either already lost, or already won.

I think he’s already won: and it’ll get huge amount of pushback if you mention it to the Experts, but the tale is in the primary vote. There’s no way that was by accident…that, as I said before, was a test-run of Trump’s November turnout machine..and he’s turning out people in droves, including many who never or rarely vote. These are people who will not change their mind and vote for Biden all of a sudden. In my view, what you see in political reporting is just noise…partly just to get you to watch or click, but mostly just trying to mask reality in the hope that something, anything, will turn up to derail Trump.

This should really surprise no one: but, it does and will. Mostly because the Experts, almost to a man and woman, still view Trump as entirely illegitimate. They then work back from there to find reasons to justify their notion. It becomes an endless feedback loop of false data reinforcing itself. Trump is the President; the power of incumbancy is massive. Trump has a gigantic money supply; vastly more than he had in 2016 and a virtually unlimited ability to raise more as needed. Trump has a loyal base of voters who support him, in contrast to Biden’s voters who are almost entirely about voting against Trump. The Democrat base is going insane and now they are percolating up with demands to remove Mount Rushmore. I mean, seriously: these people are freaking nuts. And the more nuts they get, the more fearful average Americans get. Gun sales are setting records…and I suspect that a lot of people who bought guns were not part of Trump’s core support, which is already largely armed. No, this is suburban wine moms and their husbands fearful that a mob is going to loot their house. Most will still vote Democrat…but I bet some millions don’t. They either stay home or very quietly pull the lever for Trump.

And we’ll see how it all comes out. Personally, I expect to be sitting here on November 3rd and watching Florida called for Trump at about 8:30 pm Eastern, with the MSMers holding off on calling Pennsylvania as they wait for the Biden campaign to concede. I could be wrong but I don’t think I am.

The American Choice

Mark Noonan10 Comments

If you’re needing a little morale boost:

Interviews with more than 50 state, district and county Republican Party chairs depict a version of the electoral landscape that is no worse for Trump than six months ago — and possibly even slightly better. According to this view, the coronavirus is on its way out and the economy is coming back. Polls are unreliable, Joe Biden is too frail to last, and the media still doesn’t get it.

“The more bad things happen in the country, it just solidifies support for Trump,” said Phillip Stephens, GOP chairman in Robeson County, N.C., one of several rural counties in that swing state that shifted from supporting Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. “We’re calling him ‘Teflon Trump.’ Nothing’s going to stick, because if anything, it’s getting more exciting than it was in 2016.”

This year, Stephens said, “We’re thinking landslide.”

That does seem, on the face of it, rather a stretch. The official word is we’re too polarized as a nation to allow any candidate to get to landslide territory (let’s call it getting 56%+ of the vote). To a certain extent, this is obvious: the polarization is seen in the fact that the Left – which makes up the core of the Democrat party – considers the United States to be an inherently racist nation unworthy of support unless it becomes entirely Leftist. We on our side, of course, think the United States is inherently good and merely needs to live up to it’s founding ideals. That is quite a polar opposite view of the same set of facts.

But, in the end, how large is the Left? Meaning: how many people in the United States actually subscribe to the notion that America is inherently evil? That is what November will tell us. It might be a plurality. It might be either an Electoral or popular vote majority. If it is then not only do we lose, but we lose forever: if a majority consciously decides to install a government committed to acting on the assumption that America 1776-2020 is evil, then we’ve lost the fight. Its over: we just have to adjust ourselves to living in a new America which will be quite different from the old.

But, still, that is a pretty confident feeling quoted in the article, isn’t it? Now, to be sure, maybe someone is just trying to bamboozle: all political campaigns say things are going just swell no matter how doomed they are. But they do have some data points to back up their assertion: there is argument over just how many people signed up for Trump’s rally in Tulsa, but the bottom line is that many hundreds of thousands of people signed up for a venue holding less than 20,000 people. That’s a lot. None of us can conceive, even with popular music acts, Biden getting that kind of response. Then there’s things like voter engagement: over the ‘Rona lockdowns the campaigns were forced to go almost entirely online…and Team Trump simply blows Team Biden out of the water in online engagement. It isn’t just a little bit better: it is orders of magnitude better. I’ve also seen good data on GOP voter registration and time and again at Trump rallies, significant portions of attendees are Democrats or rare/new voters. I’ve always said look not at what people say, but at what they do: what people are doing is turning to Trump, at least in the data we can see. Only the public opinion polls are against Trump. Maybe they are right this time? If they are, Trump is going to be destroyed in November. Figure the odds they are right, though.

My view is this: people who aren’t Democrats but are Democrat-leaners – people who mostly vote Democrat but are not committed to the Democrat notion that America is inherently racist – are looking around at riots and absurd lockdowns (DeBlasio actually said – I’m not kidding – in response to Jews reopening their kid’s parks, that he won’t allow people to “take the law into their own hands”: this after allowing nuts-to-butts rioting and protesting by Leftwing groups) and perhaps reassessing just how bad Trump really is? I mean, sure he’s rude and crude and he’s not at all the nice, made-up politician mouthing bromides about peace, love and unity that these Democrat-leaners are used to voting for…but he isn’t the guy locking down people for stupid reasons nor allowing rioters to run amok in the city. How many such people, without ever admitting it, will pull the lever for Trump even if it is a mere rebuke to Democrats who have gone off the rails?

We’ll find out in November.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan22 Comments

Do liars like to lie? I can only assume so, especially of late. Earlier today, I came across a Twitter thread from a blue-checked Never Trump Bulwark person who was asserting:

1. Ford’s story was credible.
2. Reade’s story was ridiculous on its face.

Got that? Ford, who couldn’t remember where or when it happened and had no evidence that she so much as met Kavanaugh is credible while Reade’s story is asserted to be ridiculous. And don’t you wanna know why? Because after Bob Packwood all the Senators were on their best behavior and there never has been a case of Biden acting inappropriately around women! How does one work up the gumption for such an assertion? I mean, the guy is routinely on camera being inappropriate with women. We can only imagine how he is when there’s no one watching. And yet the blue-checked person makes the assertion. Could Reade be lying? Of course she can be – but to make out that she’s an obvious liar while Ford is just as obviously telling the truth is…well…a rather amazing thing to say.

It is amazing because the person saying it – having the mental ability to type a coherent sentence, and thus isn’t a drooling idiot – knows that the assertion is ridiculous and, further, they also know that everyone reading it knows it is ridiculous. In other words, they are lying, they know they are lying, they know you know they are lying…and they further know that not a single person on their side will take note of the lie. They’ll either have the hardihood to agree (and thus join in the lie) or if they are of a more delicate sort, they’ll stay silent. But no one on the side of the Dems/Left/NeverTrump will ever contradict it. I did, of course. And so did many others…but we’re of the right and thus we’re racist, sexist, homophobic closet Nazis who don’t count.

Washington State got conned out of millions in unemployment money by Nigerians. It is, as yet, unknown if a Nigerian prince was involved. Its not so much that our Ruling Class is arrogant and corrupt…it is that they are no good. They suck. Winston Churchill once wrote about how to deal with a Prime Minister:

The loyalties which center upon number one are enormous. If he trips, he must be sustained. If he make mistakes, they must be covered. If he sleeps, he must not be wantonly disturbed. If he is no good, he must be pole-axed.

Our rulers are no good.

The New York Times puts its obituary notices on the front page to make you all feel bad about Trump. I guess it didn’t occur to them that hardly anyone reads their paper…but, be that as it may, they also got some of the names wrong. Once again: our betters are just lousy at their jobs.

The ChiComs are in the process of crushing the last remnant of liberty in Hong Kong. I do feel for the people of Hong Kong, but there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Only a war could change this result, and no one is going to go to war with China over Hong Kong. Only thing I can think to do is to pass a law saying that if you have proof of Hong Kong citizenship as of, say 1/1/20, you get refugee status in the United States, no questions asked.

WHO is trying to burnish its image by sending out as goodwill ambassador…the wife of China’s President. Its like they aren’t even trying any more: “yep, we’re stooges of the ChiComs and we’re laughing about it.”

Outside of Biden’s “you ain’t black” comment, there’s really more for Team Joe to worry about here:

Charlamagne tha God — the black radio host to whom presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden notoriously said, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re voting for me or Trump, then you ain’t black” — warned that Democrats will face a “voter depression” problem in November, thanks to their likely presidential nominee. He said the best apology is pro-black policies and it’s time for black voters to put the burden on Democrats to win their votes, not take them for granted.

“Well, on top of possible Russian interference and voter suppression, Dems have to worry about voter depression, and that’s people staying home on Election Day because they just aren’t enthused by the candidate,” Charlamagne tha God told MSNBC host Joy Reid.

There’s some stuff out there which indicates that things aren’t going too well for the Democrats. Not just things like fundraising, the GOP win in the CA25 special and voter registration shifts…there’s also some indications that younger voters, including young black (especially male) and young Latino voters are warming up to Trump. Don’t get me wrong – Trump isn’t about to win 50% or even 30% of the black vote. But there are some indications he could get to 20%. That would be more than double his African-American support from 2016. That would be catastrophic for the Democrats…if Trump does well among African-Americans and Latinos, not only will Biden not be able to flip MI and PA, he’ll lose NM and NV, into the bargain. We won’t know it until we know it: we’re really going to have to wait for election day on this one…so much has been shifting so fast, no one can really say. But I’m wondering if Biden isn’t a Democrat version of Barry Goldwater?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

A slight modification to the US Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Nothing in this Amendment shall be construed as prohibiting the imposition of civil and criminal penalties for the publication of false information.

Just a bit of spitballin’ here – but as I said in an earlier post, we must do something to end the Reign of Lies which has warped our politics for the past 50 or maybe even 80 years. I really am all ears here – but please don’t try to tell me that we must retain the current system which allows the MSM – in service of the Democrats – to brazenly lie all the time without any possibility of punishment. I realize that it is a very dicey thing, but I can’t see the Republic surviving if lies are allowed to go unchecked.

And, in fact, I think that God – in a way – commands us to do this: we are not supposed to allow lies to fly unchecked. Something must be built into the system as a corrective to falsehood.

Our Founders built the most brilliant system of government in human history and it has stood the test of time, but the Founders, understanding that people will lie for political advantage, never imagined a time when 95%+ of the news media in our country would (a) be liars and (b) be liars in the service of only one political party.

And speaking of lies – the Democrats and their MSM lapdogs really are circling the wagons for Biden, aren’t they? What amuses me most is that there are still some so-called “Conservative” voices out there claiming they are shocked at the double standard between Kavanaugh and Biden. To me its, oh, puhleeese! Of course the MSM and Democrats were going to treat Biden entirely differently from Kavanaugh. Everyone – including Kavanaugh’s accusers – knew the accusations against Kavanaugh were lies from the get-go; the Democrats, MSMers and Never Trumpers just pretended they thought otherwise because it was their shot to take down a Trump court nominee. But now that we have accusers of Biden – far more credible accusers – the problem is that if we go along with the accusations that would hurt a Democrat. And you know we can’t have that (and in case you were wondering why I suddenly got in the mood to amend the Constitution, this is it). Don’t look for truth, logic or any semblance of basic decency: this is about getting power…and for the Democrats anything that gets them power is good.

Some are talking that Biden can’t survive this when added to his obvious mental decline – I say: watch them. As long as Biden can stand up with his eyes open for five minutes, the DNC and MSM will prop him up as the second coming of Pericles. They have to – to ditch Joe means getting someone else, and if that someone else isn’t Bernie then the Democrats will be faced with open revolt. The only hope the Democrats have here is that after Biden picks his VP, he keels over. Absent that, they are going with him to the end.

The Experts are still saying that Trump is doomed – though the smarter Experts (those who can tie their own shoes) add the caveat “if the election were held today”. Of course, the election won’t be held today – but if it were, it would still be a decision between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Anything is possible in politics but I can’t see the American people, faced with crisis and economic crash, turning to a 78 year old, addle-brained political hack. Maybe they will – but until it happens, I won’t say it will happen. And, as it turns out, if you look at some of the voter registration numbers, social media activity and fundraising, it seems to me that Trump is well-positioned for a win in November.

I also wonder what real affect the Democrat governors will have on November? It is obvious that they aren’t acting for health and safety but merely to keep people miserable in the hope that this will help Biden. Its an open question as to whether or not that theory is correct…but I wonder if the actions like Oregon’s governor saying she’ll keep the shutdown until June is storing up a level of outrage against Democrats? No way to know – but I do know that some people are rather irked by it all. At the end of the day, we’re not going to have a cure for this thing, ever (even a vaccine won’t be 100% against it). Most of us will catch it at some point. Isn’t it time for we adult citizens of the Republic to just start assessing the risks for ourselves? I think so. And I wonder how people will long-term react to a Democrat governor saying you can’t go to the park?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan12 Comments

As we all suspected, Flynn was framed. Completely set up as part of a process which was supposed to get people to lie under oath about President Trump. The plan ultimately failed because the plotters made one, fatal error: they assumed we on our side are garbage like they are. A Deep Stater/Establishment person is willing to lie – we’re not. We know that if you lie – especially under oath – you are taking your immortal soul in you hands and letting it slip through your fingers. Only coercion can get us to lie like that…because at that point we’re not morally responsible for the lie. Flynn agreed under duress to say he had done something wrong to save his family – only that could get him to go along. And then only for a little while. Flynn and Stone and everyone else simply refused to give the coup plotters what they wanted: someone who would swear that President Trump had colluded with Russia.

They didn’t get it – and now its all coming out, just what they did. We’ve got a problem: it was people who claim to be citizens of the United States who did this. Who else have they done it to? How many people are sitting in jail right now because they were forced to choose between the total ruination of their family or “confessing” to something they hadn’t done? And where did we breed in our nation the sort of people who can do things like that? How did it happen? This has to be fixed. For me, step one is to abolish the FBI…and review all their cases to see how many innocent people they’ve railroaded – but, until it is, remember: Never talk to the police.

Our Governor in Nevada is keeping us closed down – but, I also perceived watching his speech about it that he’s really not going to keep us closed up much longer. He’s talking a big game, but the bottom line is that people want to get out. At the end of the day, we’re adults and citizens of the Republic: we can assess the danger for ourselves. The Blue State governors naturally want to keep things closed tight – because they believe misery will help Biden in November. But as more Red States open up, the pressure will become enormous to open back up everywhere. Summer is coming – we want to go out.

I’ve actually always enjoyed reading CounterPunch articles – it is far, far left stuff, but they at least pull no punches and usefully skewer idiots…like Joe Biden, back in 2008:

Biden is a notorious flapjaw. His vanity deludes him into believing that every word that drops from his mouth is minted in the golden currency of Pericles. Vanity is the most conspicuous characteristic of US Senators en bloc, nourished by deferential acolytes and often expressed in loutish sexual advances to staffers, interns and the like. On more than one occasion CounterPunch’s editors have listened to vivid accounts by the recipient of just such advances, this staffer of another senator being accosted by Biden in the well of the senate in the week immediately following his first wife’s fatal car accident.

As they say, there’s more! You just know that Reade isn’t the only one. Biden entered the Senate in 1973. He’s old school – and the old school Senator was Ted Kennedy…a pig of a man who assumed his power allowed him to be a brute with women. And, ol’ Ted was right – he’s still honored as the Lion of the Senate, after all. What makes you think that Joe Biden, with Ted as an example, held back? His deep religious convictions which made him into a Catholic supporter of late-term abortion? Biden has to deny it – well, what he actually has to do is admit it and retire from public life, but he won’t do that – but if he denies it and any more comes out, he’s cooked. The MSM is doing massive cover-up for Biden here (he’s going on Morning Joe to take the softest of soft-ball interviews about it), but if it doesn’t all come out now, it’ll come out via Trump in October.

Kim Jong Un-Dead Open Thread

Mark Noonan17 Comments

As of this moment, no real word on whether the man is dead, or not. But the fact that he hasn’t appeared in public to scotch the rumors indicates that he might have assumed room temperature. We can’t be sure of anything – not if he’s alive or dead and, if dead, what caused the demise. Official rumor is he went in for surgery and either died on the table or went into a coma…but maybe his sister and putative successor got tired of waiting for the throne? Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see.

As for lockdowns: I’m starting to think we made a mistake. A completely understandable mistake, but one nonetheless. Next time, I think we should just go with masks, social distancing and the closure of events and venues where people crowd close together…and even then, if it can be managed with social distancing, it should be allowed; you know, a bar which has a capacity for 80 persons would be reduced to 20 persons during a pandemic, that sort of thing. A spirit of rebellion is growing – but slowly: people are worried and so still willing to put up with it. But try to extend this past, say, May 15th, and you might spark a revolution.

Joe “Fingers” Biden is in more trouble that most suspect – “most” being Democrats and Never Trump. I just don’t get how they think then can sell this guy to the public. He’s never been ragingly popular. He has no particular achievements to his name. He’s a life-long politician in a nation rather tired of such. He’s got all sorts of corruption issues and, lets face it, he likes to get handsy with the ladies, to say the least. As to whether or not he’s guilty of the alleged assault – we’ll never know for certain: it is alleged to have happened 27 years ago. On the other hand, there is more corroborating evidence – by far – of the accusation against Biden than there ever was against Kavanaugh. But here are our Democrats and Never Trumpers – backed up by the MSM stenographers – trying to downplay this. Do they not realize that Trump already has $240 million in the bank for the Fall campaign and he has absolutely no qualms about hitting his opponent with everything he’s got? Rely on it: Trump will bring all this stuff up – in ads and at the debates.

Speaking of which, there is now a bit of an effort – in the name of Coronavirus – to cancel the conventions. Just trying to keep us safe, ya dig? The reality: the Democrats are terrified of the prospect of Biden trying to make it through an hour-long, prime time speech.

The Experts are still assuring us that Biden has it in the bag: but even as they write their pieces, you can feel the fear in them: they know they are whistling past the graveyard. Everyone knows that any poll which has more Democrats than GOPers in the mix is pie-in-the-sky nonsense…and the only polls showing Biden ahead are polls with very much more Democrats than GOPers. I think they are just hoping that something will turn up – something which will doom Trump or some change in the Democrat ticket which will make their dreams come true. I discount rumors that Democrats are seeking to replace Biden – any attempt to do so would open up a can of worms Democrats would prefer to keep shut: every power broker in the insane Democrat coalition would insist upon their views being accepted before they’d sign off on a Biden replacement.

Is the office as we know it going for good? Its an interesting thought. As for me, I’d bribe my boss to be able to continue work-from-home. There is zero upside for me in going to sit in a cubicle every day when I can do my work better and faster at my desk at home. Now, some people feel they can’t be fully productive without the structure of the office – I know a guy who as fired as work-from-home because he was consistently late getting to work – but I ain’t one of them. We’ll see how it comes out – but telecommuting is the thing for me. Let me do that, and I might not retire unless and until I lose my marbles.

Open Thread Futures at -$1.79

Mark Noonan65 Comments

We were supposed to be hoarding oil, I guess.

I supported the lockdowns when they were announced – but I’m starting to think that we might have made a mistake. Perhaps we should have made it a matter of personal choice? Do as much social distancing as possible. Wear masks and gloves. Work from home if possible – but let everyone assess the risk for themselves? As we see Democrats trying to force us into a Great Depression over this, it is clear that we didn’t think this all the way through at the start. At all events, it is time to start easing up. We do have to get back to work.

President Trump is going to suspend immigration – which makes sense. Until we’re back to full employment, we simply don’t need more people here. Liberal heads will explode over this – they will step on this rake. They have to. Orange Man Bad, right? So they’ll be out there telling us to stay in our homes but we must welcome new immigrants.

The Experts are still telling us that Biden has it in the bag – which sounds familiar. Almost like I heard this four years ago, or something. But, be that as it may, Steven Hayward has a contrarian view – mostly because Trump isn’t afraid to hit back and the Democrats are a targe-rich environment.

North Korea’s dictator is said to be in bad health.

What I expected to find: Russia didn’t want to help Trump in 2016. Of all the absurdities these past few years, this is the most egregious: that Russia wanted Trump. Its stupid – they owned Hillary. And even if they didn’t own her, they knew her policies were tailor-made to let Russia do whatever it damned well pleased in the world. Russia always wants to sow confusion because that’s just the way Russia is…but to think they’d want to roll the dice on Trump when they had a sure thing in Hillary is ridiculous.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan35 Comments

Taking into consideration what Democrats are saying and doing in the aftermath of Trump’s re-open plan, I can only conclude that the Democrats have war-gamed this out and figure that the more pain there is, the better for them. They seem determined to shut down as much of the economy as they can and keep it shut down for months. They know – they must know – this will be catastrophic. Not just in economic losses, but in lives lost…people who have nothing to do and are fearful are subject to all sorts of maladies; and as things stay entirely concentrated on Coronavirus, other health care needs are kept to the side, which will also cause death. Democrats want all that – they want everyone perfectly miserable so that they, the Democrats, can ride to their rescue in November.

Would it work? Meaning – if they got their way, would it ensure Trump’s defeat? I’d have to suspect as much…we’re miserable enough as it is, but if we lacked all hope then lots of people probably would turn on Trump. But Trump is not a fool – and so he’s offering hope. I think people will grasp it.

Watching Biden interviews – and they’re all done in extremely friendly circumstances – is getting painful. You start to feel sorry for the old man – he’s clearly not mentally or physically up to the task and was only propelled to the nomination because the Powers That Be felt that Warren or Bernie would have been a certain disaster. The real question: how is this guy going to compete with Trump? The Energizer Bunny of Presidents? And as for the Tara Reade accusations – the MSM is doing Biden no favors by suppressing it…it just means that for a lot of middle of the road voters, they won’t hear about it until Trump tells them. At length. In debates and on TV commercials. Trump will make Biden’s handsiness an issue – with reams of video to back up the claims that Biden is a weirdo.

Beef processors are having some trouble – and it is bad news as we rely on beef. Buuuuut…they are largely having a trouble because they are dependent upon illegal labor. Make things better and I’ll bet they could attract high quality labor…sure, I’d pay an extra buck a pound for my steak, but I’m ok with that. And it would only be until someone really got into the nitty gritty of it all and found a faster, cheaper way of getting it done. Competition isn’t a panacea – what sometimes has to happen is a rap on the knuckles to concentrate the mind.

RSM – maybe this bug isn’t as deadly as we thought?