A new solution to an old problem?

 

"Few wars ever fought have been clean and easy. Just ask Putin about Ukraine. This war in Iran is starting to get messy. There are no easy solutions right now. A quick surrender by the regime would have been nice, but now it looks like that is not in the cards. Meanwhile, the pain at the pump continues to get more painful."    

After weeks of combat in Iran, we need to face facts. We have degraded their military. Sunk their navy. Killed their leadership. Destroyed their air force. And neutralized their air defense system. With all of that, we probably did not get all the snakes out of the ground. In other words, the regime still stands. Missiles still fly towards Israel and Arab countries. And the most vexing problem of all, the Strait of Hormuz - remains a big problem. 

The Saudis and the UAE have come up with a solution to this problem. Keep the ship traffic away from Iran as much as possible. Why? For ship captains, making it through the Strait is tantamount to in the old west, making it in and out of a box canyon. Plus, because the threats are numerous from the sea, under the sea and from air, many captains (and the insurance agents), are opting for a "no go" posture instead. The result? Merchant shipping stacked up like cordwood in the Persian Gulf. 

For about $200B, Saudi Arabia and the UAE could build a canal through the desert. One which would bypass the dreaded Strait of Hormuz. On the plus side, this could be an answer to a very old problem. Oil could once again flow, LNG ships could again pass, and the world would not be on pins and needles, worrying about 20% of oil and gas being unavailable. 

But there also is a dark side. One ballistic missile coming from Iran, could put this new canal out of business for months or longer. Even the Houthis from Yemen could be party poopers to this new and innovative idea. Waves of drones, coming in over the desert, could bring shipping to a dead stop. What would that mean? This new canal would need to be guarded like it was Fort Knox. It would mean the United States would have a more permanent presence in the Middle East.

One more thing. This new canal (if built) would take some time. Time the world does not have in waiting for improvements in getting oil and gas to needy customers. Already, one of the major LNG facilities has been damaged by the Iranians, and estimates are three to five years to totally repair. Until it is fixed - then what? 

Trump is toying with the idea of not waiting for the last remaining snakes in Iran to be eliminated. That could take a long time, wasting expensive munitions. He might go back on this word and send in the Marines and some Army units. Boots on the ground. Why? Fixing this problem by air will only work so good for so long. Our Marines and Army "door kickers" are trained and ready to do some close quarter fighting to fix things. But it could be bloody. Our body count could go much higher in a short period of time. Is that the risk worth taking? 

Few wars ever fought have been clean and easy. Just ask Putin about Ukraine. This war in Iran is starting to get messy. There are no easy solutions right now. A quick surrender by the regime would have been nice, but now it looks like that is not in the cards. Meanwhile, the pain at the pump continues to get more painful.    

Clowns on the town

 

"Some who were protesting, were current or past teachers. Remember that folks - these clowns are the ones who are sowing the seeds on idiocy in our youth. It was a reflection yesterday on just how far off base the Democrats have come. How do I know they were Democrats? Republicans don't act like clowns, for all to see."

As I was channel surfing on YouTube last night, I saw somebody interviewing a shrink about this display of unhappiness which infiltrated many of the big, blue cities yesterday. When the shrink asked what was wrong with these useful idiots, he was at a loss to explain. Let's just say, many are unhappy in their lives, and all that unhappiness and rage is focused on Donald J. Trump. Of course, there are other theories which abound. Like - secular humanism. Why that? The day before Holy Week should be a time of reflection, not a time of reaction.

I watched a bit of it on the news this morning. A wee bit is all I could stand before I felt the urge to wretch. Grown adults, some needing assisted living, parading around dressed as chickens, frogs, lice and so forth. And to what end? As Shakespeare would say, "lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing." When it was all said and done, there were mountains of garbage, arrests for acting like morons, and loads of video tape for the authorities to sift through to eventually grab more evil doers.

Some who were protesting, were current or past teachers. Remember that folks - these clowns are the ones who are sowing the seeds on idiocy in our youth. It was a reflection yesterday on just how far off base the Democrats have come. How do I know they were Democrats? Republicans don't act like clowns, for all to see. Plus, Republicans, if they were going to march for anything, would be a "No King but Jesus" march. Why? Many Democrats may not believe it, but it is true.

Will there be more "No Kings" rallies in the future? Count on it. Why is that? It sure beat working or serving. In the land of self-first, the selfish will always outnumber the selfless. Maybe next time the theme could be "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Why is that? Because even though the throngs yesterday were measured to be in the thousands, these were some very lonely and miserable people. Where was the joy? Not present. Not ever for this group. Sorry about that.    

Do we govern, or just do crazy?

"Can this get better? Will it get better? Or are we on a spiral downward. What we have now is not what we have had in the past. Maybe it is time for a king. Somebody who can rule with an iron fist. Maybe that is all the crazies can understand."    

Watching our government in action has been a bit painful as of late. Why? It is embarrassing. Our fine art of governance seems to be lost someplace in the kitchen, along with other misplaced recipes. Truthfully? It is not just at the federal level (which is a hot mess). It is also at the state level, and even the city level. As an old friend of mine would say when things got way out of control, "Now we have crazy". And crazy today, is where we are at.

How bad has it gotten? Let me first start with the City of Minneapolis. The City Council, which is made up of 100% socialists and a handful of Democrats. Not one Republican, however. Plus (and this is so important it will probably be repeated in this article), most of the council members are activists. Not representatives of normal citizens - but activists representing the lunatic fringe.

Even with no Republicans, a loud shouting match broke out this week. It was progressive against not as progressive. Doing the city's business? Nope - trying to put some spin on the country's affairs. Not their purview. But who cares? It made for great theater. Will the people of Minneapolis revolt and throw the bums out next election? No way, Jose! They will simply re-elect them. Why? Minneapolis is now crazy town. All they elect are activists.

State government in Minnesota is also a mess. What is the big issue for the crazy folks in the House and Senate? How to punish ICE for doing their job. How to lionize lawbreakers who got killed trying to keep ICE from doing their jobs. What about innocent young folks who have been killed by illegal aliens? Nary a peep from the crazies in the House and Senate. Thus, the state government chugs along, with nothing good coming out of it. Meanwhile, fraud and theft by the "newcomers" runs rampant. 

Finally, we have the federal government. This is hotter than a hot mess. Part of the government is shut down, and important areas of the government are working without funding - without pay. Why? To punish Donald Trump. We have gone from governance, to craziness, to all stop due to the hatred of one man. To the rest of the world, we look like idiots. Morons. To the normal folks who pay the bills in this country, we look like idiots. Morons.

Can this get better? Will it get better? Or are we on a spiral downward. What we have now is not what we have had in the past. Maybe it is time for a king. Somebody who can rule with an iron fist. Maybe that is all the crazies can understand.    

Maybe the dumbest thing ever?

"Tomorrow, the normals will stay as far away from Minneapolis or St. Paul as possible. We once again, will let the crazies take over. The law breakers. The paid protesters. The grey-haired latter-day hippies. You name the one-off species, and that species will be represented tomorrow."

Tomorrow is the long-awaited sequel to the "No Kings" demonstration. Okay - I will bite. Who are they protesting against? Donald Trump does not think he is a king - he has said many times he is the 47th PRESIDENT of these United States. Are they protesting against Trump's MAGA supporters? If so - why? I don't know of one person who believes we have a king. And actually, most Euro countries who still have a monarchy are a joke. The king or queen are only figureheads. Very little if any power. So, I am a bit stumped today.

If I were to pick a past president who at times did act more like a king than a president - that would be Barack Hussein Obama. Here was a guy, with a resume lighter than paper thin, who wooed the minions just because he was half black and (as Joe Biden said), could talk well and had a nice crease in his pants. Huh? That's it. The extent to his prowess. Other than that, Obama was a nothing burger. His legacy after eight years was to gut our health care system and give us something unaffordable in its place.

How about Biden? Now there was a guy who acted like a king. When he was awake that is. He ruled with an iron fist. Told us what kind of cars to drive. Told Detroit what kind of cars to build (which almost bankrupted the industry). Or what kind of stove to buy. What kind of furnace to have. In other words, all the freedoms we had, were about to go out the window under Sleepy Joe. 

I guess I would have a lot more respect for this event tomorrow it they called it for what it is. This event has nothing to do with royalty - it has everything to do with hating Donald Trump. If the people demonstrating were people of faith instead of mind numbed robots, they would know celebrating this kind of hate speech right before Holy Week is wrong. But they don't care. This "I hate Donald Trump" event will go on, large and in charge, brought to you by the stepchildren of the left-wing news cycle. Will tomorrow's event change anything? Nope - just further show the world how messed up we are as a country.

Tomorrow, the normals will stay as far away from Minneapolis or St. Paul as possible. We once again, will let the crazies take over. The law breakers. The paid protesters. The grey-haired latter-day hippies. You name the one-off species, and that species will be represented tomorrow. As for the rest of us, it is time to get ready for Holy Week. Time to be with family. Time to be thankful we don't now, never have, and never will - be ruled by a king.    

Schoolyard blues

I guess the one word which is never taught in government schools these days is value. The term which is taught is status quo. And oh my - do we ever have status quo in education!         

What the what (or, what the fraud) is going in with Minnesota schools these days? I mean, school districts bellyaching about not having enough money, is as common as thunderstorms in the spring. Just the other day, the largest school district in Minnesota (Anoka Hennepin), confessed they are in deep "dodo" for money going forward, so they need to cut scores of school counselors and social workers. That was enough to set off the caterwauling from the chattering class. "You can't cut positions such as those! These kids have been traumatized by ICE and Trump!"

But wait! That might be a good idea these days. Minneapolis also confessed they have misspent their budgets this year and are now also considering cutting social workers and counselors. That was enough to energize the chattering class in Minneapolis. "We need more money, not staff cuts!" Boy is that song ever getting old. People who are paying attention have already figured out the math - more money equals worse test scores.

I have addressed this issue before. Cristo Rey, a private Catholic school in the center of Minneapolis, spends a fraction of what the City of Minneapolis spends per pupil. And yet, the graduating stats for kids coming out of Minneapolis are stunning. The kids who go there, are cut from the center of the demographics. No cherry picking - just normal kids. Money is spent wisely at Cristo Rey, and the results are simply amazing.

In the heart of Coon Rapids, is a private Christian school called Legacy Academy. It is expensive to send a kid there. But the results, are once again - incredible. A Legacy graduate comes out with a very strong moral compass as well as a top shelf education. All for about a thousand dollars less a year than it costs to educate a kid in the Anoka Hennepin school district. I could go on and on, but I think my point has been made. More money for government schools does not mean spit. Much of it is just a waste of resources and time.

What is an immutable fact of life? School districts begging for more money this time of year. Why is that? Cultural for starters. The old myth that more money equals better results. It does not. Most of our school districts are being run by morons. The Department of Education(s), federal and state, are stocked with statists and idiots. Who suffers? The kids and the taxpayers. 

I guess the one word which is never taught in government schools these days is value. The term which is taught is status quo. And oh my - do we ever have status quo in education!         

Elon Musk takes over the world

Both Trump and Musk are going to change the world right in front of our eyes. That is, if we are paying attention. So, buckle up and keep your eyes open. This show has already started. 

Starting to see more and more things recently about Elon Musk on the tech sites. Like, what Elon is really up to. Hint: It is not what you see nor what you think. Elon, maybe the greatest innovator in American history. I have this said for years, Elon (who may be on the spectrum), is dumb like a fox. While Donald Trump is re-shaping this part of the world using his Donroe Doctrine, Elon Musk is reshaping just about everything else. 

There is a term used in supplying IT services today. It is called selling the stack. The stack is a fruit to nuts approach. The entire enchilada (so to speak). In other words, are you going to focus on building the AI chips everybody needs, the power to run data centers, the data center itself, the integration of some or all listed, and so forth. Or - if you are Elon Musk, he has no interest in developing and selling just part of the stack - he wants it all. He wants to develop a better mouse trap for every inch of the stack and sell it as a package. Warning: be prepared to think outside the box. Way, way outside the box.

Example - is Tesla a car company? Seems to be, for millions who might want to buy one of these affordable EVs. But Tesla is not a car company. It is an AI company, which just happens to also make cars. Behind the scenes, Elon has hired the right kinds of people to build a very powerful AI data center for Tesla to use. He has hired the right kinds of people to build the AI chips Tesla will need for cars and other things. He is building and improving Optimus humanoid robots, which will use the same kind of programing that his cars will use. Why? The nexus between his Tesla EVs and Optimus will be seamless. And that is just the beginning.

I could go on and on about how even SpaceX is a part of his master plan, as is Starlink. But truthfully, trying to learn Musk's master plan from some of these techno sites, is like drinking out of a firehouse. What I do know is this - to many, it looks like Elon likes to dabble on this or that. Throw stuff at the wall to see what (if anything) - sticks. In reality, everything, absolutely everything he does will be a part of the whole. How so? By the end of this decade, Elon Musk could end up being a real-life Master of the Universe.

A month or two ago, I remember listening to a financial expert saying that Tesla is going to be the world's next trillion-dollar company. Obviously, he had been doing his homework on all this behind-the-scenes stuff at Tesla. He also believes that Elon Musk will be the world's first trillionaire. Let that marinate for just a second - a trillionaire? Wow!

My wife told me the other day that the reason Musk and Trump get along the way they do is they both think differently than the rest of us. They both understand four-dimensional chess while the rest of us are still struggling with checkers.

Both Trump and Musk are going to change the world right in front of our eyes. That is, if we are paying attention. So, buckle up and keep your eyes open. This show has already started. 

Sometimes I wish he was our king...

"The sad thing is we did not learn a thing from the Biden experience. We could make the same mistake all over again. Only next time we will not have Donald Trump in the wings to fix the damage. Next time could be our last time. Ponder that one when you are watching the mutts on parade this weekend."

What an odd title for a post. Why would somebody (like me) who loves our country and our constitution, wish that Donald Trump was a king instead of president? I can answer that question with a one-word answer - Congress. If Donald Trump was our king, he could rule by decree. Not have to worry about getting bogged down in nothingness as Congress always acts like nothingness. Not have to worry about SOCTUS putting a dagger in his tariff plans. Not have to worry about consulting with Congress when armed conflict is in order to keep us all safe.

But we don't have a king - we have the 47th POTUS. And as far as Donald Trump is away from being a king, this weekend we will once again have every useful idiot, every paid protester, every latter-day hippie - marching to demand we don't have any kings. SMH once again, at all this madness.

Wait - what? With all the marches in all those cities, is there not anybody normal who will show up? Nope - the protesters are all cut from the same piece of wood. They are bonded one thing, and one thing alone - stage four TDS. Their unnatural hatred of Donald Trump. Is there any one thing that Doanld Trump could do to mollify this group of misfits? Nope. Many not only hate Donald Trump but also hate America. In fact, some of them recently dressed up in pink outfits and traveled to Cuba to protest Trump. Huh? They traveled to a communist country to protest our president? Enough said...

Why can't this countless sea of agitators be normal? Find a job? Go to church? Start a family? Instead, they are fixated on the one man who is making a difference in America. Do you think Jeffries could do better? Schumer? Harris? Newsome? Walz? Anybody blue? The Democratic Party is loaded with dropouts from this thing called life. Biden almost ruined us to a point of no return. But Trump? That is the dictator. The king. Now this weekend, we must be forced to suffer fools once again, as the misfits tie up traffic and dress up like it was Halloween. Only in today's America.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating. Donald Trump is not a perfect man but is the perfect man for this time in America. We saw under Biden how the clown car could be assembled to run (ruin) America. The sad thing is we did not learn a thing from the Biden experience. We could make the same mistake all over again. Only next time we will not have Donald Trump in the wings to fix the damage. Next time could be our last time. Ponder that one when you are watching the mutts on parade this weekend.