The Chief – Page 3 – Really Right

Online Dating? Not for me

The Blog Father has written about online dating lately, so I wanted to share my experiences. Most online dating sites, I won’t say all are a cesspool. I tried it for about 2 months based on a friend telling me, “Everyone is on it.” She was right… Do I say really right? It was a sewer. Granted it was a free site so I should have known. It was also a Catholic one to boot. Folks, as has been written here, lots of folks are religious, lots also attend Sunday service, very few actually listen. Most, I think, just want the “hall pass” they think going to church provides for the sins of the week.

Here are the types you will encounter:

AI/ChatGPT created profiles: They are fake accounts run by likely men to be honest here. You can tell because the responses to your inquiries are tailored to fit what you are looking for. Oh yes, I work out daily… what’s my favorite exercise? Anything that makes me look good. Big red flag.

Working girls: These are the ones more than happy to send a scantily clad photo to you. Then they try to get the conversation off the platform that you’re on. Only Fans and other sites are where they want you to view their profile. Oh, it’s pay to play by the way.

Scammers: You know the play here. It’s I have a car bill totaling $1200 so I can’t come visit you. After they admit they don’t have a car. Then they can’t say the name of said car repair facility only that its “local.” Oh, and they send scantily clad photos as well to keep you on the line. Bear in mind, the photos you are getting are most certainly not the person you think you are interacting with, they were likely screen shotted off the internet. That’s right, they are using someone else’s image and likeness to try to hook you in.

People trying to cosplay someone else: I met up with a girl who I did like. I felt she felt the same about me. I added her on Facebook and quickly found out it was a scheme. She was playing her own version of the bachelorette. She even had photos of her “dates and asking the comment section what they thought.” Yep, full stop. I deleted said Facebook and dating website. I have no desire to compete with other men, and I am no trophy or prize to be won. Oh, and having to ask your female friends or a comment section what they think shows what amounts to an undeveloped brain. I do not care what your friends think, I want to know what you think.

Bottom line. Stay vigilant if online dating is for you, but as I stated above it’s a sewer and it has/takes all types. What is my remedy? Well, I do not really have one. I would say use your network plus friends and places you like. It is risky but I would rather play with the pool I know rather than the one I do not know. Being taken advantage of is not cool… thankfully I have not been.

The Chief

Editor’s Note: Thus far, between two dating websites, I have found one real human and at least seven fake accounts trying to play me. I have deleted my account membership from one website and the accompanying profile. In addition, I have cut down the personal information on the one remaining site. Not to say it’s better, just that the scammers are not as good as the previous site that I cancelled. Yesterday, I was able to identify the fraud by the third text exchange. This happened on two separate accounts in one day. The AI chatbot was by far, very close to getting away with it, but it doesn’t have the awareness to hide itself. Proof of life (i.e. that you are talking to a real person) will get harder as technology improves but it is a good first step. Proof of gender may very well be the second hurdle. If you saw some of the profile photos that I’ve seen, you would agree.

Stop Misinterpreting Isolationist Policies

Editor’s Note: I was sent this blog post just before it was announced that Trump authorized bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

In wake of the Ukraine/Russia war and Isreal/Iran war, a lot has been made of “far left and far right” isolationism. Most of the media talking heads are shoveling a lot of bull shoot about this new ever-increasing policy. I want to clarify for the media and others who are uneducated about this policy and what it actually means.

Lately Bill O’Reilly, Chris Cuomo and several other talking heads have appeared in my “YouTube recommended videos.” On rare occasions, I will view these only to remind myself of why I made the smart move dropping cable. I watched both videos, they were about 20 minutes in length, and they are terribly misinformed. Isolationism does not mean that we pass on everything that is occurring outside the US. They both make a very bad take that “Iran cannot have a nuke … you guys think that’s ok?” The straw man argument is we need to join the war because the Ayatollah and mullahs are bad, and the world is better off without them. They are correct, Putin and the Ayatollah are very bad people, but where does the argument end? Kim in North Korea is bad too; so we should kill him off? The other comments are we are “safer” with these folks gone and de-nuclearized. Again, it’s a correct take, but how do we accomplish that?

Regarding isolationism and the Russia/Ukraine war, it’s actually easy to see why many are agreeing with that policy. Ukraine is not in NATO; they are not in the EU. Russia gave many indicators they were going to full scale attack, Ukraine ignored all of those. However, Ukraine has not been bashful about telling us and other NATO countries to pony up to help them defend. Why should we get involved here again?

Let’s just say we do get involved… Putin bad right? How many NATO allies are going in with us? Don’t answer that question, just think about it. If we go in, we better beat back Russia really quickly as we do not have the numbers to match them. Russia is old school grind-out the war foot-by-foot. They have disposable humans, we do not. Do not kid yourselves, Ukraine doesn’t want our weapons, Zelenskyy wants our boots on the ground. For a war we are not and should not be a party to.

The Iran/Israel war is similar. Sure, Israel is an ally, at least I think so. But how are we a party to this war? Iran did not directly attack us, sure they have proxies who have fired at our ships in the area, but never a direct attack. This is no different than Russia’s Wagner Group or even the USA’s Blackwater group from the Iraq war. They are third parties that keep themselves an arm’s length to avoid being a direct party to the attack. If Iran fired a missile at a base or ship of ours … it’s on. That’s not isolationism.

Israel has now decided they need our large bunker buster bomb to finish off the nuclear production in Iran. Again, I ask why are we needed here? Israel should have known about this before they attacked. This isn’t some WWE tag team match where they decide it’s our turn to enter the ring. Also how are they so sure we only need to drop a couple of these bombs? How will we know the uranium enrichment is really destroyed? Do these talking heads honestly think there are no air/ground defenses around this thing? It’s the Iranian crown jewel; they just leave it vulnerable to attack. Even after we do as O’Reilly says and “just drop a couple bombs” how do we know its totally destroyed …. Boots on the ground. Likely ours. Again, a forever war started because we had to remove someone.

Do not get it twisted, we have the world’s number 1 or 1b most powerful military, but we do not need to use it to show the force we have. We have much bigger issues to deal with. Again, why should our young people be sent to die in vain for wars we are not a party too?

Need more proof? Spain just said the quiet part out loud as to why NATO has many countries not hitting their defense spending target.

Yep. Spain doesn’t want to spend more on defense because they want to waste it on social programs and green energy. Fear not, if needed, they got the USA’s phone number. We will bail them out with our military. Many other NATO countries feel the same way. Do not get it twisted as I said earlier, we will enter a war we are a party to, but shouldn’t other countries be pulling their weight? The Ukraine/Russia and Iran/Israel wars just seem like proxy wars to me.

We can sit it out. Doing so doesn’t make anyone pro-Kremlin or pro-Iran, that’s a retarded take. I can personally guarantee the war mongers in the media such as O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and the war mongers in congress; Lindsay Graham (r) and Richard Blumenthal (d) wont be offering to lead the charge on foot. However, they will dutifully send in your kids or grandkids to get the job done. All to stop a nuke that our own Intelligence chief claims Iran does not possess nor are they wanting to possess.

The Chief

How Trump Derailed his own Presidency

It was going so well. The deportations, DOGE, law and order returning, no involvement in foreign wars, inflation cooling down, and the Democrat Party reeling like a swimmer drowning in a lake (or a passenger in the car with Teddy Kennedy).

Then Trump nuked it all. To be very honest I am not sure why. There are many things he has done, I will list them all.

Tariffs. This was and is felony stupid. He essentially became a “trade war Hitler” and declared war on the world and unilaterally raised tariffs on everyone. He had no plan…. actually, that is going to be a recurring theme of this blog. China raised tariffs on us, and so did many other countries. China stood up to us and showed the rest of the world how they could as well. Sure, he saved face with a couple trade deals, which we know nothing of the details other than “we won!” Color me a skeptic, until proven otherwise. Raising prices on goods, services, and clothing and telling people to have more kids is an oxymoron but I do not expect most of his followers to understand that. However, it has made for fun theatre watching; Sean Hannity and a host of other so-called conservatives defend him. Look it up people. It’s a far-left protectionist policy, but do not let facts get in the way; it may confuse the MAGA boot lickers.

Trump v Elon. Again, really stupid. I understand the point of DOGE and Elon was to find multiple trillion dollars to cut/save in the budget. This was always going to be an uphill climb. To Musk’s credit, he did find several things to cut. Then Trump went full nuclear when Elon said the “big beautiful bill” would raise the debt by circa 4-5 trillion. I do not know the relationship these two have now, but it was a nasty public spat that was so unnecessary. One thing is Elon called Trump on the carpet for something real, conservatives have known all along, Trump has no problem spending our money, he did it big time last term. Again, what was the point of this spat?

Trump v Jerome Powell. Did you know Trump appointed Powell? Yeah, I know “that was so 7 years ago… muh, MAGA!” Did you also know he is a lifelong Republican? Again, those pesky things called facts. Folks, Powell and the Fed’s job is not to cut rates to juice the stock market, nor is it their job to cut rates to zero so you can get low interest loans. It’s a hard job, they need to curb inflation. Saying you are going to fire him, unless he capitulates to your desires is wrong. Saying you are going to name yourself Fed Chair, even if in jest, is straight out of the far left “no king’s” protest. Powell is not perfect, but could we maybe not treat the US as a 4-year series of “The Apprentice?”

The Iran/Israel conflict. I blame Trump here for refusing to stand up at all to Netanyahu. I would have publicly stated “Bibi, this is your war and conflict, we are sitting it out.” Instead, he did the opposite, and his recent words tell me, we are already involved and likely going to drop the bunker buster. So much for being antiwar, huh? Interestingly enough India and Pakistan had to stand down, but this is ok? MAGA had a large isolationist contingent, we shall see what comes out of this.

His Big, Beautiful Bill. It is taking on water. The far-right hates adding to the deficit part, and center right wants SALT changes. He refuses to move even slightly. As a result, the tax cuts are stalled. He better get ready to work with a Democrat Congress because the tax hike will happen on his watch if they are not extended.

Greenland/Canada 51^st state BS. I have had many a MAGA wannabe tell me its trolling or funny, too bad no one else finds it so. Oh, by the way, check out Canada’s election results. You add them as another state(s) to the Union and we will never have a Republican president again, ever. Greenland? He spoke about this during his first term… why and how come? They are sparsely populated, 45k at most. We do not need it. They do not want to be under US rule. It’s honestly this type of stupidity that makes people long for Joe Biden and no drama due to him being in poor health shape. This type of trolling when we have wars going on, inflation, homeless issues, and rioting is dumb.

Not calling Governor Tim Walz after the assassination of 1 representative, and attempted assassination of another. MAGA: muh, Tim Walz bad, he’s dumb democrat from blue state. Sure, but guys, the optics mean a lot here. It doesn’t matter if the shooter was; left/right/white/black/Cuban/Mexican/Asian, what matters is a phone call. Touch base, say how sorry you are, and reassure the governor that the suspect is charged federally. Seek the death penalty, and make sure the death part is carried out as soon as possible. I understand they were rivals and not so nice things were said, so I guess we carry a grudge into infinity? Be the bigger man. Trump made a big deal out of the person who was killed when he was almost assassinated, yet he wants to ignore this? Again, make a call, optics. Also make it clear it’s not open season on lawmakers who you do not like.

Everything was going so well and then he started all these unnecessary battles, with his own people by the way. As much as I liked Trump and voted for him 3 times, he is starting to more and more look like a deranged, angry, white male. This is playing directly into the democrat’s hands. I know one group of people famous for yelling “Allu Akbar”, when they want to end their life, why did Trump?

The Chief

Israel v. Iran = USA v. Iraq

Folks, you all likely remember Colin “Iraq has WMD’s and we have proof” Powell. He made those comments to the United Nations. Then like the chameleon, he is changed his stripes to keep a job with the Obama administration.

This blog is going to point out that the action Israel is taking is no different from what we did following the 9/11 attacks.

Israel, like the USA, believes full well that a known adversary (Iran/Iraq) has enriched enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon. Sure, the narrative is helped that both countries essentially refused the UN/Nuclear commission from doing a full inspection. The problem is…. Colin Powell and our intelligence was wrong. Big time. As a result, it was a mess in Iraq and it remains so. Our standing in the world fell as a result… but you don’t care about that. We let the military industrial complex win. Just like what is happening now in Iran. Yes, I will admit Iranian proxies in Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon have been pestering Isreal for years. They have had enough. I do not blame them. However, their strikes on Iran, including their nuclear facilities, will end up backfiring. I, for one, do not trust that Iran has enough Uranium to create a nuke. Sorry, I do not buy it. Yes, their behavior toward inspectors is bizarre but Israel and US fully believe that they have nuclear capability so does the inspection even matter at this point?

I guess the point I am trying to convey is W. Bush, John Bolton, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham knew the time was nigh to move in on Iraq, so they did. Israel, in my opinion, has a similar group of warmongers who knew their time was coming up, so they decided to make a move as well. What I do not like is the US claimed they were staying out of it; yet there are reports we moved 40K rockets/missiles from Europe down to Israel. Also, it appears we have war ships on the way from other parts of the world to assist with defense. We did help shoot down rockets/drones fired by Iran into Israel. Like it or not we are a party to this conflict.

The other part of the issue in Iran is Israel lacks the weaponry to inflict damage on the actual nuclear sites. One thing highly important that Netanyahu overlooked is he needs bunker busting bombs to hit the enrichment facilities. These are located deep underground and are heavily fortified. Israel, as stated, does not have that bomb, the USA does. The USA also has bombers in the area capable of delivering said weapons, and the bomb is likely not far behind. Again, they need to draw us into the war to get the result they want. But until then I guess Israel just flies sorties over Tehran and other parts of Iran bombing missile and military garrisons. Another, forever war.

There is only 1 real downside to this war. Removing the Ayatollah is a big mistake if we go down that route. Yes, he is a bad man, a butcher, use any term you want to describe him, but in reality, he is a paper tiger. His saber rattling of wiping Israel off the planet was just that. Israel, in about 4 days, has crippled them militarily. Sure, the Ayatollah may be bad, but is removing him the key? Did we learn no lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Syria? Who replaces the Ayatollah? Is it a better or worse group? Also, by bombing like we or Israel have done is just setting up future generations to hate the USA and Israel.

However, score one for the warmongers and the military industrial complex. They still have backers here. Hopefully, we are not drawn into this war in any meaningful way, we do not need to lose more young people as a result of a bunch of 70 plus year olds who think war is a great thing for the economy.

The Chief

The LA Riots … Who is Right?

You may have seen the footage from over the weekend and bleeding into the work week about anti-ICE rioting in the Los Angeles area. It’s a sad situation but again the democrats continue to screw up.

Folks, Trump is by no means perfect, and I do have some issues with the deportations he is doing. Mostly how they are doing them. Look, I have no issue deporting the bad guys, I’m talking criminal illegals. Frankly. round those folks up 7 days a week for all I care. The issue I have is caught up in the madness are non-criminal illegal spouses and children having done nothing wrong.

Let us be civil for a minute or two here. There are folks who are here illegally, and that is wrong, but they also do the jobs many an American refuse to do. What is missing from our society is an easy answer. Give illegal, non-criminals a window to become citizens. Not an indefinite window, call it 120 days or something. Then go ahead and round up all the rest. I say this with compassion because the guy pushing a lawnmower, the guy in front of Home Depot looking for an honest day’s labor, work is not the problem. The criminals are. To be honest, neither the GOP nor the democrats have ever laid out any sort of plan to help alleviate this issue. It has led to a very nasty underbelly of society where we have a class of people living in the shadows, avoiding detection. These folks clean our houses, landscape, roof, construction jobs etc.

So do I agree with the riots in Los Angeles? Hell NO!

In America we are a society built on freedom of speech and the right to “peacefully” protest. What is going on in LA is anything but. Sure, it may have started with ok intentions, I understand the idea of ICE agents actively looking to “deport anyone brown” is very stressful even though it isn’t true. The problem is these “protests” tend to attract a lot of bad actors…. Really bad actors.

If you haven’t been paying attention, first good, secondly the scene devolved into chaos quickly. Rather than being peaceful demonstrators, the anarchists smashed cinder blocks and were throwing them at ICE agents and the police. They tossed motorized scooters at the police, threw Molotov cocktails at the police, and burned vehicles, both the public’s and the police’s. The situation quickly turned into where the police were in full riot gear. Trump even used a very obscure law to call up the CA National Guard to quell the violence. Gavin Newsom and Rob Bonta reacted by suing the federal government…. Sheesh.

The protests have shown no sign of slowing down. It’s a full-on left vs right issue like anything else in our country these days.

One thing I do have to ask is this, why do the democrats always seem to defend the most unlaw abiding, whackos? Let’s be honest, pull a permit, organize near the City Hall. Maybe have a march while not impeding traffic. Throw/hurl/set ablaze nothing and your point likely gets across. At last glance, an Apple Store, Adidas store, and a few others were set ablaze and looted. Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, and a host of other civil rights leaders are turning over in their graves. They didn’t endorse any of this hooligan type of behavior. As for that New York Post writer who was shot with rubber bullets, sorry that happened but when you are actively participating in an angry mob when the guys with badges and guns say disperse, I would follow said orders.

The scene looks like something out of a third world country, not America. Get your point across peacefully, these rioters are not the guys you want to associate with. In addition, we now have a DA in Los Angeles County who is tough on crime…. The days of mostly peaceful protests and “just expressing themselves,” appear to be over.

The Chief

The 400 Million Qatari Mistake

I guess I’m anti-Trump now right? You know the right-wing folks who worship the ground he walks on. The same folks who endorsed Lyin’ Ted the first go round. Now, Trump can do no wrong in their minds. I’m not anti-Trump, I just want to point out some things about this new Air Force 1 jet “donation.”

First, the existing Air Force One has to be over 30 years old or close to it. The president and other dignitaries fly on this jet. Frankly it may no longer be safe and is likely at/close to the end of its useful life. Simply put, I do not want anyone of importance on that jet any longer. We need a new one.

Why don’t we have a new one?

Well, Boeing got the contract. It was very likely “no bid” due to Boeing being the “American manufacturer” of airplanes. Boeing, as per usual, cannot complete a project on time and on budget, so it’s delayed delivery of the new Air Force One for a very long time. (I think it was supposed to be delivered during Trump’s last term.) Who knows? With that company’s track record, it may not be ready until 2050. Even if it is ready, will it be safe? Again, look at the track record recently.

Why am I calling it a mistake taking a “free” Air Force One?

Optics. William will tell you I am a big optics guy. Don’t tell me it’s free or you got a great deal or the best deal lay out the actual cost. There is something else going on here in my opinion and I do not see how I can be wrong. I hope I am …

Why?

I simply do not trust anything out of that part of the world. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Oman … doesn’t matter to me. They have so many petrol dollars they can play all over the world as far as influence and investments go. A rumor circulating the interwebs was Qatar was paying now AG Pam Bondi $119,000 a month as a lobbyist years ago. A month! Some of these countries even blockaded Qatar for a while due to their alleged ties to terror organizations. While the blockade has ended, I do believe most of these Arab nations have been funding proxy attacks on the US forces and Israel. Sure, Iran is behind them as well, but I think these countries want instability in the area.

Why instability?

The US has a very large air force base in Qatar. Al Udeid airbase is where we stage most of our Middle East operations. If we were to attack Iran or another terror group in the Middle East, it would be launched from there. Qatar is an oil rich nation that really doesn’t have a military, they rely on us to defend them. As a result, we get to use this airbase. We also use it to attack many groups funded by these nations such as the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah to name a few that are active in Yemen, Gaza (or Palestine I guess) and Lebanon. I fully believe these nations fund the terrorists, so we stick around to provide defense here.

A $400 million plane for a defense agreement? Really?

No, not in the slightest. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. I think it is interesting that now President Trump wants the sanctions removed on Syria. Granted NATO ally Turkey led a coalition to overthrow the government of Syria, but that was very recent, only a couple months ago. Now we are going to lift all sanctions? Turkey is a Muslim nation like the others I named above, in my opinion they look out for themselves far before they look out for others. Case in point; Turkey has supplied Ukraine with drones for use in the war but has also not abided by sanctions against Russia. They are very much like these gulf countries in that they play on both sides.

Let’s be honest here, how much do we know about Syria’s new government? We know nothing, it’s to soon. Like any government that is overthrown, we always assume it’s for the better. That is rarely the case.

I also think this has implications for Israel. This could be bad or good depending on your thought process/ideology. It is very odd timing that the last “American hostage” was released by Hamas later that day after this “deal” went down. I say odd timing because I think Qatar spoke for all Arab countries with that jet …. I think Bibi Netanyahu is about to fire his last missile/attack into Gaza. Those countries are getting tired of him and Israel, but specifically his warmongering policy. I think there will be a resolution here soon.

Yes, I think the plane was a bribe …. maybe not in the traditional sense but they bought a lot of influence.

In closing, ask yourself this fellow republicans/conservatives, if Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton accepting this plane, what you would say what? Don’t answer. You and I already know the answer. You would be outraged. I am willing to let this play out, but I think Qatar just bought one hell of a lot of influence with President Trump. And if there is one thing the Trumps love, its money/expensive things.

The Chief

Why did the US Birth Rate Decline? Blame Gen X

Recently you may have seen reports about the birth rate in the United States plummeting big time. But in case you have been living under a rock or just watching cable ‘til your eyes bleed, it’s getting bad. The unquestionable truth is Millennials and Gen Z are not getting married and those who do tie the knot are not having kids. It’s so bad Trump has floated the idea of a $5000 payment if you have a kid(s). Allow me to explain the position below, if you think everything is fine then enjoy your favorite sports league, political commentary show, drama series, or soap opera as it is likely going to start soon and you better not miss it! Remember you pay $300 or so a month for it… get your money’s worth.

Bloggers note: The numbers and figures I’m using here are a low-ball numbers, obviously different professions/vehicles/cost of living area’s will vary. It’s a point not a thesis.

Insurmountable debt: Let’s face it, that college mom and dad forced you to attend didn’t come cheap. You have damn near 6 figures in student loans. You just found out the Department of Education is not forgiving them, so you have to work. Oh, and it’s not a job that pays 100K; its closer to 50K if you are lucky. Then add in a car payment, with the rapid rise in costs due to (cough the plandemic, cough, cough) the payment is damn near $500 a month. Add in about $100 for insurance and that pay check is damn near spoken for. If you have credit card debt, and a great many do… some to the tune of 5 figures, that’s just gravy on top of this mashed potato mountain of debt. The wedding is not going to be free, neither is the kiddo by the way. Now imagine doubling that, ‘cause you know marriage.

Expensive housing costs: I’m not even talking about owning a home, just rent for an apartment/house. You are likely conservatively talking about $2200 a month here. That’s for a studio/1 bedroom type thing by the way. Oh, and that rent will go up by the maximum allowed a year, in my state its about 10% So yeah it gets expensive quickly. Again, this is just the cost for yourself and maybe your wife if she’s ok living like a broke college kid. Oh, and when you do have the child, you need another bedroom right? Check out how much that costs.

Day care costs: Let’s face it, the work from home blarney (cough plandemic, cough, cough) is finally ending. That means you cannot have the baby getting free daycare at home anymore. Get ready to face reality as daycare very conservatively costs $250 a week, likely closer to $350. Add those costs up and suddenly your rent looks cheap. Oh, what’s that you’ve got a second kid on the way!….grab the lube and your ankles this won’t hurt a bit. Don’t believe me, it’s not cheap.

Lack of maternity/paternity care: I’m not talking about getting 6-9 months off here, and not with full pay either. I am saying most businesses offer no or a laughable amount of time off for new mothers/fathers. A friend of mine gave birth and was told “report back to work within 3 days of returning home.” Yeah, she works as a dental assistant. Nice. Her boss even went a step further saying, “back in my day, the wife was a stay at home mom.” More on that horrific statement later. Again no one is saying both parents get half a year paid vacation… but maybe a little empathy here? Cite my household expenses earlier if you need more proof. The kiddo(s) are going to need regular checkups (quite a few) and will likely be getting sick a lot as daycare/preschool is essentially a virus petri dish, so you will need flexibility to take days off. It won’t happen as the system is set up now.

A second income is needed just to survive: The days of only 1 person needing to work are long gone, they are over. Again, cite my expenses above, and try doing that on a one income household. Oh, the kiddo is growing so you will have to constantly be buying new clothes, toys, car seats etc. Hopefully one or both of you have parents in the immediate area to help with the kiddos because you are going to need it. Oh, and by the way, the baby boomers have cut things back over the years, you are going to struggle just to get by.

Baby boomers ruined it: They compare the younger generations to themselves, they put themselves through school… news flash (not the cable TV kind) it was a hell of a lot cheaper for tuition and cost of living was much less. Benefit packages at work included ones actually decent, not garbage, bare bones health plans and crummy time off arrangements. They can afford a mortgage just fine because they locked in a cheap 3% mortgage rate, when they had no kids mind you, because they bought/refinanced 7 years ago. 50K a year used to be a good paying job, now its barely enough to tread water in this economy/world.

Trump’s $5,000 payment to people who have a kid is moronic: Let’s be honest here. The type of people attracted to this kind of thing will be folks at the lower socioeconomic end of the spectrum. I’m not just talking about minorities here and don’t we have enough single parent households as it is? A child born into a low socio-economic situation is very much likely to end up in jail or have a life on the streets. The parents are not going to consider this money to help the child they will do it to spend on themselves. Keep in mind $5000 is also not incentive to get the upper middle and upper class to have kids. Technically those are the ones we need to have kids, not the folks at the bottom of the spectrum.

Planned “Parenthood”: Aborting the number of babies we have been didn’t help at all. It actually hurt; it encouraged rampant sex without marriage. No planning at all, just fun, promiscuous lifestyles. Now we are living the end result of allowing numerous babies to be aborted on demand.

Reality is, this has been brewing for a while, increased costs for the younger generations, plus stripped out career opportunities added with bare bones benefits has caused this. Young people now are graduating with damn near $100k student loans, add in the $500 car payment, $2500 rent, groceries, insurance, incidentals and viola a perfect storm. Now imagine tying the knot with someone who owes roughly the same. Now you owe combined student loans that damn near match the amount I borrowed for my house, I got an asset, you got a sheet of paper! Have fun paying all that off while having a kid(s)? No surprise we are where we are. Baby boomers… you created this mess, hopefully one day we get out of it.

The Chief

Trump is/was Wrong on his Tariff Approach

Just for those who are doubting my political allegiance I do support President Trump’s attempt but he is doing it all wrong. Sadly, this isn’t totally on him, it’s his generation and they are out of step with today’s Americans.

His “all or nothing” day of liberation approach backfired tremendously. It’s been said to me, “it’s not hard to herd a couple cats, but herding 10 is challenging, herding 300 is impossible”. Trump went after literally every country in his bizarre press conference. The best approach would have been to get our closest allies on board first, then work out from there. South Korea, Japan, and Mexico would have been my starting point. South Korea needs our military backing, ditto for Japan (tourism as well), Mexico is a little different but if they don’t want to negotiate add a 3% transaction fee to every US Citizen sending money via wire to Mexico and believe me, they would come to the table quickly.

I left Canada off that list as relations with them are low, he stupidly keeps saying he is going to annex Canada and is calling them the 51^st state. Saying Wayne Gretsky should be their next governor is equally stupid. Canada, as a result, has been reaching out to other countries and offering to help make up the difference if the US stops trading with them.

I would have gone after Vietnam, Philippines, Malayasia, and other southeast Asian countries next. These countries have a low skilled workforce (for the most part), are typically poor, and like China, rely on slave labor to manufacture goods on the cheap. I wouldn’t threaten a tariff, I would say we want to invest American dollars in modernization of your production, warehouses, supply chain etc. with the goal being China seeing this and reacting. China does not want to lose its monopoly on most manufacturing of things, and their close proximity to China, and USA support causes a threat. Instead, Trump got into a d**k measuring contest and now China is lobbying those countries not to listen to us. Again, it’s the way he did it, not why he is doing it.

The European Union should have been the second easiest sell, it backfired as well. Some of this is due to his picking fights with NATO as most countries in the EU double as NATO countries. The EU has also turned to Canada and China to help fill the void. In this case I do heavily blame Trump, the EU is very similar to the US in that it has a very aging population not interested in working in factories, this should have been an easy deal to close.

In closing Trump may think he is the greatest deal maker of all time, his problem is his bullying persona rubs people the wrong way. He showed his hand in his first term and now other countries are prepared for it. The bully does his best work picking on the smallest and most vulnerable and moving on from there, it creates fear and apprehension. When you try to pick on everyone at once, if someone(s) stands up to you, most of the rest will follow suit and then you are stuck. His tit for tat with Canada looks really foolish now, and while warranted, his comments regarding NATO and the Ukraine/Russia war are doing him no favors. He has been reduced to begging Xi Jinping to call him to get a deal done just to save face.

He got played because he never realized he didn’t have a card hand to bluff with. Other countries know America is a deeply divided nation we tend to go back and forth between which party controls the White House/Congress nothing is forever here. In the current climate of Executive Orders, if the other party takes the White House, the predecessor’s orders are erased before lunch is served on Inauguration Day! Most politicians only desire to be re-elected, not pass legislation, company executives only care about cutting expenses and stock prices, and no one in America wants to work in a factory! Also, our employment/wage laws are arcane compared to other countries. Look at CA alone, $20-hour minimum wage in fast food, mandatory overtime after 8 hours in a day, double time after 12, anything over 40 hours a week is overtime, mandatory breaks and lunchtime. Compared to slave wages and labor in other countries, the input price won’t get lower here. Also check out our environmental laws compared to most countries we are trying to barter with? It’s a lose/lose proposition.

I hope this works, but even if he negotiates a better deal, I just don’t think we will see the benefits.

Sadly, NAFTA and environmental/labor laws killed any chance of the jobs coming back.

Can We Fix the Homeless/Mental Health Crisis? Yes

We, as a society, can all admit one thing, we have a massive growing crisis in homelessness, specifically folks with major mental health issues. When I reference mental health issues here, I’m not talking about the folks who begged a doctor to be put on a pill, I’m talking specifically about the ones you see in bigger cities. More specifically the ones on the streets with no family/friends/support system in place.

A couple disclaimers here for the brainwashed on both the left and right.

I think we can all agree that the sanitariums were filled with horror and abuse while still recognizing the need for proper mental healthcare. Closing these hospitals to send folks to the streets was not humane or compassionate. I will add Reagan was likely not at his best when it came to this, but after seeing the photos, I do not blame him for shutting them down. (See also O’Connor v. Donaldson 1975—Editor)

In addition, when I suggest bringing back these sanitariums, they are not for the child with autism, or the guy with a Trump bumper sticker. I’m talking about the person who is an obvious threat to themselves or others.

To understand this problem fully, you must grasp what actually causes it. Mental health and drug/alcohol addiction are two of the biggest causes, understandable they are not mutually exclusive. The next two are exiting both the foster care system and prisons. Again, those are not mutually exclusive.

The mental health part is some people need real help, and their parents/family are tired of trying. They turn 18 and leave the house. The person does not seek treatment or keep with treatment leading to life on the streets. Drugs and alcohol, specifically dependance on both, are another leading cause. There is a reason marijuana was called a gateway drug by law enforcement, it leads to cocaine, meth, or other harder drug use. How many times have you been witness to a homeless person coked out of their mind on hard drugs/booze stumbling back and forth between the sidewalk and oncoming traffic or “acting the fool” as the kids say? They vandalize, defecate, urinate, destroy, and take over public areas and become a nuisance. Sadly, none of the above are enforceable/jailable offenses because we have decriminalized so much in this country. Prison is not the answer anyway, treatment is, but in states like California, unless it’s ordered by a judge, you can simply sign yourself out and away you go. Exiting prison and the foster care system again likely leads someone to unsavory things such as drugs and alcohol abuse. At 18, you are no longer a foster kid, and the government money quits coming in. For the incarcerated, they likely do not have family that want them around so to the streets you go. In both cases finding a roof over your head or employment will be hard. Again, you take up unsavory things and get hooked. Alcohol and drugs make you dependent, you lose the ability to function without them, then you seek out higher doses or newer, stronger euphoria’s.

Do not get me wrong, city leadership is also a massive contributor to the mental health/homeless crisis. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento to name a few in California, have embraced these types and allowed them to destroy the once proud cities they were. Try going to Golden Gate Park or Civic Center in San Francisco, you will find the world’s largest open air drug market stuffed with addicts hunched over on the sidewalk. Try coming to Sacramento and walking down K or L Streets just beyond the new basketball arena, and several blocks from the State Capital. You are taking your life into your hands at all hours of the day or night. It’s scary and not safe. Last week I was there, a mentally ill homeless person had a switchblade in his hands, crisscrossing between traffic threatening folks. Yup.

So how do we fix this you ask?

I think every hospital should be required to have a mental health and wellness floor. The Methodist (Dignity Health) hospital in south Sacramento does. I understand fully this would be funded by taxpayer dollars, in no way do I want to see government grow in size but realize this is the private sector with a small bit of government oversight. The hospital already has people capable of caring for these folks and they want to see the treatment through then discharge the person AT THE APPROPRIETE TIME! Take two and call me in the morning, or we held you for the 48 hours needed to satisfy the judge, hasn’t worked and doesn’t work. Time to try something else. I understand some people likely will never walk out, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

No more Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in this issue. This is nothing more than a grift for the local elected, their families, or relatives. Setting up tiny home communities seems like a good idea, but it is only giving the crackheads more blow. Ditto for “needle exchanges” and the like. These people just profited on the backs of those in the most need.

Put aside your political, religious and pre-existing beliefs about this issue. Trust me republican readers, there are folks with these issues in rural areas, they just get swept up and sent to the bigger cities since they “have the infrastructure to help them.” Trust me democrats you know the big cities are buying Grey Hound bus tickets to “pass them along” to other cities as well. Both sides get over yourselves. One can also be a compassionate Christian/religious while also agreeing some people are far too gone to be allowed to live in civilized society. What did you do for your aging parents/grandparents? When they could not drive anymore you became their ride, when unable to take care of themselves, they transitioned from their home to a senior living system. It’s not cruel, it’s a matter of life. At some point someone else may need to carry the proverbial cross. Just because this didn’t work 50 years ago doesn’t mean it cannot work now. Let’s try something slightly different, rather than a sanitarium, make it a floor in an actual hospital! That means oversight from hospital administrators and actual doctors, not a medieval dungeon type of place in a secluded, blighted part of town. Let’s try something out… maybe my idea is not adequate but at least it’s a plan.

The status quo is failing, and getting worse, some areas are becoming flat out not visitable in this country.

The Chief

PS: One last time for the folks on the far left/right who possess an IQ slightly above room temperature, this does not apply to the homeless person living in their car, the family of 4 living in a tiny home, the person with autism, or the guy with a MAGA hat on. It’s for the folks way too far gone for conventional treatment.

Why the Trump Tariffs will Backfire

You will have to put the Kool-Aid down for a few minutes for this blog. For the most part I agree with everything President Trump has done, foreign policy issues notwithstanding. While I agree tariffs are necessary to even the playing field globally, I think Trump is going about it wrong.

A little history here first. Every president has punted on the idea of tariffs on foreign nation’s goods except maybe Eisenhower, I as a student of history, think he was going to attempt to try it. Point being it’s a very hard thing to accomplish. Politically if it doesn’t work, you will be a one term President (no bother to Trump here) and your party will lose massive seats in the next election.

Here are the issues facing Trump in this uphill climb on tariffs.

His own party:

Let’s face it, the GOP is good at one thing, claiming a principled stance then reversing course a year later. Check out each government shutdown they created… what did they ever extract? Yeah, my point exactly. These coconuts are more concerned with getting re-elected, not the health of the nation. Their pocketbook, not yours is the goal here.,

NAFTA/CAFTA and other free trade agreements:

These agreements made it, so the manufacturing phase was sent outside the US solely to save money on cheap foreign labor. The premise here was to keep the input costs down and as a result the trinkets we love to buy are dirt-cheap. If labor costs rise in say China, close the factory and move to Bangladesh, Vietnam etc. etc. These trade agreements, unlike most legislative moves today, came through Congress so they likely will need to be reformed/circumvented/repealed.

Cheap foreign labor:

See above, but the point stands, the American worker will cost substantially more, then throw in mandatory benefits (these manufacturing centers will have far more than the minimum to avoid benefits/union forming) suddenly the foreign workers seem better. The cost of your favorite t-shirt to wear won’t be $20, trust me.

CEO/C-Suite/90-day calendar folks:

These folks do not care about the price of the goods you pay for, they could care less about your livelihood or employment status, they are bean counters. The reason the above 2 reasons exist is due to these people. They care only about earnings per share/costs and stock price. That’s all that matters. They get a bonus (except 90 day guys) due to performance. They moved the jobs out of the US to save labor/benefit costs, then they moved them again due to the ability to save $.01 a share. It’s the bottom-line only to these losers. Bringing the jobs back, or the effects of a tariff scare these folks. Again, a falling stock price leads to “how can we fix this?”

American Consumers:

Let’s face it, we love buying cheap crap. We do not care where it is made. Let’s again be honest here, we only care when we hear about product recalls and lead contamination etc. We love buying cheap stuff! It’s a hard sell to say you are going to pay more but it’s better in the long run. Older generations grew up with Blue Light Specials (RIP K-Mart), dollar stores, and everyday low prices. It’s a tough sell.

Foreign Customers:

They are a tough sell; it’s a foreign brand to them when we try to sell our products overseas. They know the names: GM, Ford, Kellogg’s etc. So, we try to buy foreign brands and hide the fact it’s an American company, but I digress. Most foreign countries are fiercely loyal to their domestic products, and they do not trust foreign ones. When people argue when they go to Japan its nothing but Toyota, or BMW/Volkswagen in Germany it’s a national pride thing as opposed to a cheapest price thing. They tariff us to not let us undercut them as well. Canada and parts of the European Union right now are labeling/removing American goods and putting “buy _______ support local” signs on their goods.

Product Quality:

As stated above we outsource everything to the point quality doesn’t matter. The Craftsman brand comes to mind, rather than stand for a quality product, its cheaply made crap that will break on you during the first job use. This is what happens when the idea that costs must always come down. Foreign and even domestic companies know our products are inferior to theirs.

Globalists:

These folks were the loudest during the Bush years, now they are changing their tune. The issue for people like me is that it’s hard to take someone like Rick Santelli of CNBC seriously when he is outright flip-flopping on this issue. Suddenly he cares about the Chinese/foreign cheap labor? Santelli and his ilk remind me of the older generation, they sent the jobs overseas and were thrilled with cheap costs but now want to do a re-mix because it’s cool. They saw the jobs leave and now are concerned about the future? Yeah, sure! It will be hard to sell this to the folks. Santelli’s final word in an article I read was “Americans will be fine with higher prices on goods” that’s a tough sell to folks when Trump said he would lower the cost of eggs.

Trump is going to have a very hard time closing this deal. While I am rooting for him, I think he went about it all wrong. I would have microtargeted a couple countries and gone from there, take a few victories, and move onward and upward. His problem is that he is going to try for the jugular. While a few countries have potentially given in, most are announcing reciprocal tariffs on our goods. In other parts of the world China is likely moving in, willing to dump their products and fill the consumption gap. This could cause a long-term headache, as we do not want China being a massive superpower.

Additionally, American’s do not have much resolve anything. Turn the clock back a couple generations and buy American was a thing. In the modern day, “Made in USA” means the stickers were put on it here, but not much production is done stateside. Production here is even more outsourced. Right now, during high inflation/low wage growth/raising prices times, American’s do not have the stomach for higher prices. At what point do we as a people say, “put it back to how it was!”

Lastly and my biggest point, when your 401k becomes a 104k in the span of about a week, you tend to not like the guy/party in the White House. It’s one thing to have high prices, it’s another to see your retirement account go away. Again, I hope this works. It’s nice to have a president who doesn’t do politically correct things, but this is going to be a tough sell. How long do we watch chaos unfold in the market before we cave?

Major credit to Trump for trying though!

The Chief

Editor’s Notes:

It doesn’t help that the financial markets, run mostly buy Democrats, don’t understand what Trump is trying to do.
In addition, none in the workforce are old enough to remember when tariffs were used to protect American jobs.
NAFTA was the death null of domestic manufacturing and the triumph of globalism.
Lastly, when you abort 1/3 of all children in your nation for over 50 years, outsourcing is your only viable option to maintain your lifestyle.