Nukes for a blowhard

 

 

"One final word about Lukashenko. What a dumb move to side with Russia in this war. Now his reputation, will be the same as Putin's. And for what? So he can house some nukes? You will reap what you sow Lukashenko, you will reap what you have sown."  

 

Just when you thought Putin could not do anything more unthinking and stupid, he comes out with a big surprise. Putin just gave custody to some nuclear bombs to Belarus. The somewhat platitudinous ringleader of Belarus (that be Alexander Lukashenko), spared no time telling the world he now had nuclear bombs in his position. He went on to say, they are three times as powerful as the ones dropped on Japan in WWII. 

Okay buddy - you got your wish. You now have nukes. You have nukes, with all the responsibility and risk that goes with them. Risk? What do you mean risk? You sir, are now a target. If push comes to shove, expect to see some nukes headed your way to neutralize the nukes you now house. Sorry - that is the way the game is played these days. If you have nukes, they need to be taken out. And you may have a handful of nukes Mr. Lukashenko, but NATO has thousands of them.

Plus, NATO has been very clear on this issue. Should you or your pal Vladimir use any of those nukes on Ukraine, NATO will come in and destroy what is left of the Russian Army, including the Belarus Army. And we won't even need nukes to accomplish that.

What has been gained by this war on Ukraine? Now that it has been going on for close to two years? First off, in case anyone in that region cares, more than a hundred thousand Ukrainians and Russians have died. Maybe a lot more than that. That is a lot of people. Next, a good portion of the country of Ukraine has been laid to ruin. Once this shooting war stops, and peace is declared, who pays to rebuild Ukraine? Anybody? Finally, the Russian Army has shown itself to be a paper tiger. Once feared, but no longer. 

Putin has certainly mucked things up over there. Whereas peace is good for everyone, war is good for no one. There will be an accounting for the war crimes over there. Russia will never again be the country it once was. The very costly glory Russia earned in WWII, has all but vanished in Ukraine. Now Russia is no more than a thug nation, just like the Nazis were in WWII.

One final word about Lukashenko. What a dumb move to side with Russia in this war. Now his reputation, will be the same as Putin's. And for what? So he can house some nukes? You will reap what you sow Lukashenko, and you will reap what you have sown.  

A terminal sentence?

"What is the future for Donald Trump? Hard to say when you have the apparatchik nipping at your heals. To many of the normals or conservatives in this country, Donald Trump will always be a hero."

A fairly new term we have been hearing as of late, is "terminal sentence". That is when someone who is being charged of a crime, is of an age where the sentence will extend past the persons remaining life expectancy. Thus is the case with Donald Trump. The charges are such, that if only one is proven, Donald Trump could go to jail for 10 to 15 years. If a bunch are proven, well, we all know the math on that one.

I will say this. If Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced, I am going to find an outstate bunker to hide in for a while. Why? If Donald Trump sits in prison, while Hillary, Sandy Berger, Obama, Hunter and Joe Biden skate - all hell might break loose. It is one thing to have the Don continuously harassed by the DOJ, it is quite another to have him thrown in prison.

There are tens of thousands of federal laws on the books in the United States. Wow! It was said on the news yesterday, if you wanted to charge someone - anyone - a law could be found which had been violated at some time in that person's history. How about state laws? Speed anytime recently? Like yesterday? Run a red light? These are all laws. I was pulled in front of a grand jury back in the 1980's. Never charged, but could have been. For doing NOTHING wrong. Not even close. But Jack Smith probably could have found something to charge me with. 

Right now, many are thinking the best way to stay out of jail, is to switch from Republican to Democrat. Right or wrong has nothing to do anymore with punishment - it is all politics. What? You think that is hyperbole? The fact many people now believe it, make it so. 

What is the future for Donald Trump? Hard to say when you have the apparatchik nipping at your heals. To many of the normals or conservatives in this country, Donald Trump will always be a hero. Should he be thrown in jail while others who have done worse and walk free, will be a travesty. Right now, a corrupted DOJ and FBI have gotten us into this mess. I don't know who can get us out of this mess. 

All I know is this. An outstate bunker is looking better and better all the time. Now I understand why Obama and Biden got so much ammo for organizations like the Post Office and the IRS. It is all making perfect sense to me. 

 

 

Minnesota's Problem Child

"This is my opinion. The MPS has been underachieving for years now. Even lowering the standards has not helped. It is time to let this patient die. Get rid of the union, and replace the teachers with professionals. Teach to succeed, not just to barely survive."

Minnesota has a problem. Well actually, more than one. But this one has been around for decades, and nobody, I mean nobody in our current state government, knows what to do about it. What is it? The Minneapolis Public School (MPS) system. It is a mess. The taxpayers have thrown boatloads of money at it, and no improvement. No matter how much the MPS gets, it ain't enough. Not even close. 

According to this week's article in Minnpost, the MPS is once again in deep do-do. Only this time, it could be terminal. Why? For one thing, not enough kids. The system was build on having 40,000 students, and right now they have about 28,000. That is a big problem, as the funding comes in on a per student basis. Why has the enrollment dropped? Those who could leave, have left. Many that remain, are the most high need students. Plus, there are thousands of immigrants who have very poor English skills (and more coming all the time). 

Here is the rub. If the reserves of the MPS drop too far into the red, they will be in statutory operating debt. That is a big problem. At that point in time, the patient is not yet on life support, but for sure is in financial ICU. A plan must be submitted to the state, explaining how the district will recover from this mess. Should the plan be unsatisfactory, or fall short in its execution, the state could withhold future state funding. If state funding goes bye-bye, the trumpet will come out, and taps will be played. That will be the end of the Minneapolis Public School system.

Here is the unadvertised secret. For the past three years, the MPS has balanced its books with the help of a quarter of a billion dollars in federal pandemic funds. Those funds are now going away. When that happens at the end of the year, the MPS school board, who is made up of new and very inexperience people, will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat. If they can't, they might be the last crew on the Titanic.

This is my opinion. The MPS has been underachieving for years now. Even lowering the standards has not helped. It is time to let this patient die. Get rid of the union, and replace the teachers with professionals. Teach to succeed, not just to barely survive. In two years, when the legislature is in session, look for this to be the hot burner. Unless state taxpayers want a huge increase in taxes (again) to save this sorry district, the legislature needs to figure out an exit plan.  

End of the Twin Cities

"The future of work lies in either the home office, or a work place which is located in the burbs. The big tall glass and metal monoliths downtown, have seen their day. There is not enough tea in China, nor pixie dust in Disneyland to fix things - to make downtown look like it once did."

I worked downtown for a while in my career. Can't say much good about it. Expensive. Much traffic. Panhandled. But that was yesteryear. And today, downtown Minneapolis is nothing like it was before the Floyd incident and the pandemic. Truthfully, when working folks got the chance to work from home, thereby saving transit issues, time and money, that is all it took. We have long ago ceded the downtown areas to the drugs, the crime lords, and the low life's. Who needs that?

Jacob Frey is on revision number 35 to try and make Minneapolis livable again. To get people back downtown working. Here is the secret. If there is to be any chance what-so-ever, of a future for Minneapolis, it involves getting people to happily return downtown. Work downtown, eat downtown, shop downtown, and maybe even live downtown. Frey wants to take the buses off the Nicolette Mall, like that will help. How about taking the thugs off the Mall first? That would help even more. Until that happens - no thanks.

I can't imagine what it will take to make either downtown vibrant again. Other than paying people to work downtown, I don't know what it will take. Most people I know who have never worked downtown, look at venturing downtown as a high risk maneuver. Recently, a survey was done to see how many folks would welcome working downtown once again. The results - not many.

The future of work lies in either the home office, or a work place which is located in the burbs. The big tall glass and metal monoliths downtown, have seen their day. There is not enough tea in China, nor pixie dust in Disneyland to fix things - to make downtown look like it once did. Did not want to get too political, but I will say this anyway. The big blue Democrats have ruined these cities. Now they can have them.  

Maglev to Duluth maybe?

"If we were smart at spending money (and we are not), this is the future we would paint for Minnesota. Keep the choo choo trains in the history books, and focus on Maglev technology." 

Maglev? Come on man! We just authorized a boatload of money to build a rickety old train up to Duluth! What was that? A train? That will never happen? No, probably not. But was it a good idea to set aside money for this thing? Again, probably not. I know the city planners in the Met Counsel hate to hear this, but here it goes again. Trains are so yesterday. People don't want them anymore. If it is riding into downtown, or taking a longer trip up to the casinos, I mean Duluth, people don't want to ride on yesteryear's transportation.

What is the big deal about the Maglev (Magnetic Levitation)? Been on a train lately? A bit rough is it? Like metal on metal. Why is that? That is the way they work. And they are slow and undependable. But a Maglev? It rides on air. No metal on metal. And because all that friction is gone, it can travel 300 (or higher) mph. 

Any drawbacks? First off, you need infrastructure for the Maglev. The batteries in the Maglev cars use a couple of Rare Earths - yttrium and scandium. For some countries, they can be hard to get and expensive. But those are the downsides. Everything else is positive. And - since the Maglev has been around for awhile, we know it works. 

If we were smart at spending money (and we are not), this is the future we would paint for Minnesota. Keep the choo choo trains in the history books, and focus on Maglev technology for the future. But no. We have a $2B train coming into Mpls from Eden Prairie which few will ride. Money down the toilet. The Northstar, all the LRTs, are a waste of time and money. 

For Minnesota, being the "brain state" we sure have trouble electing critical thinkers. Rather than how to kill the unborn, the discussion on Maglev could have produced fruit. But no. This session was a waste of time and money. Meanwhile, we have a couple hundred million dollars stuck aside for a technology which dates back to the 1800's. Oh, joy. 

Crossing the Rubicon?

"At this point of time, I am out of ideas. All I know is this - my country, which has always meant so much to me, is in deep trouble. Crossing the Rubicon is a one way street. If we have truly crossed the Rubicon, where do we go from here? Like I said - I am out of ideas."  

Anything interesting happen on the news yesterday? Sorry, that was a smart aleck question. Yesterday, we might have crossed the Rubicon. Why do I say that? Because we might be at the nexus of sullied history and anarchy. For the umpteenth time, we have seen Donald Trump charged by some federal or state agency. It has become a benign sight for many of us to see. For the 70+ million who still back Donald Trump, what happened yesterday only lionizes him further.

Here is problem one in a nutshell. If Donald Trump was caught with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a still bleeding Joe Biden, many would still not believe it. They would think it was staged. What has been happening with Donald Trump, is a real life example of "crying wolf" way too many times. After the "Russia Hoax" debacle, the believability of the DOJ and FBI, went down to absolute zero. 

And now for problem two. By the way, do you hear what else happened yesterday? The long awaited document from the FBI was released to Representative Comer's committee. From what I have heard, it connects the dots in a more concise way, tying corrupted money from Ukraine to Hunter and Joe. But any news that memo might have contained, was obscured by the blizzard of indictments against Donald Trump.

One experienced formed prosecutor was interviewed on the news about Joe Biden's culpability. If any other wrongdoing was ignored or swept under the rug, they still have Joe stone cold guilty on one thing, which could put him in jail. As a Senator, he stole some classified documents from a SCIF, and kept them at his house. That is a felony, with up to ten years of prison time. Joe's response? "Malarky". Atta boy, Joe! You will look good in orange.

Here is why I have said we crossed the Rubicon. Faith in our system. Right now, the term "Banana Republic" is being used way, way too much. If a large portion of our population thinks our system of justice is bifurcated or corrupted, that is a big problem. If Hillary can skate after having over 30,000 emails on an unauthorized server, if Joe can skate after acquiring extreme wealth by influence peddling, this is a problem.

Where does the truth lie these days? Are we stuck on a nest bed of lies? Who do we believe? Trump? Biden? Clinton? Obama? Who? Or are we to believe the entire lot of them are not worthy of our trust? Do we start from scratch (as someone suggested yesterday), with someone other than Trump and Biden on each ticket? 

At this point of time, I am out of ideas. All I know is this - my country, which has always meant so much to me, is in deep trouble. Crossing the Rubicon is a one way street. If we have truly crossed the Rubicon, where do we go from here? Like I said - I am out of ideas.  

   

Forget AI - what about quantum computing?

"Where do we go from here? Heaven only knows. BTW - anyone who thinks that we can slow down and control AI is smoking some of that new Minnesota weed. We can't. Why? It is not just the United States which is developing AI, it is most of the civilized world."

Had the chance to catch up on the latest (and greatest?) advances in quantum computing. It seems it has taken a bit of a back seat to the AI flap as of late. But, it is here, and it is progressing, and it is almost like science fiction. As a veteran of IBM, I have had an interest in super computing for quite a while now. But quantum computing just ran the wheels off of the fastest super computers in the world.

Please don't ask me how this world of quantum works. If I understood, I would come out of retirement and make a boatload of money. It is like taking all the "ones" and zeros" that we understood on how regular super computers work, and throw them out the window. Quantum computers look different and act different. 

The YouTube I was watching, I could kind of keep up with for a while. Then they got into "entanglement". Then I was super lost. What I do remember is this - the scientists gave one of the newer quantum computers a very complex problem. One which was estimated to take the fastest super computer many, many years to solve. The quantum computer solved this very complex problem in about an hour. WOW!

Where do we go from here? Heaven only knows. BTW - anyone who thinks that we can slow down and control AI, is smoking some of that new Minnesota weed. We can't. Why? It is not just the United States which is developing AI, it is most of the civilized world. AI will continue, and quantum computing will continue. For youngins who are looking for a technical future with has no limits right now, AI and quantum computing are two wonderful avenues.

Daniel 12:4 states: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; and many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Many Bible scholars think what Daniel means by this passage, it is a sign of the final days. In the final days, there will be an explosion of knowledge. If that is correct, I could not think of a bigger explosion of knowledge than AI and quantum computing.