The Opioid Epidemic

I hate what opium and meth do to our people. Hate it. Rational human beings, good folk, transform into Cavemen, Cavewomen. Hurt themselves and others. Ruin their lives. Ruin others' lives. I sympathize with the desire to wall off Mexico, with its vast criminal drug network. Mexico has had a lot of time to reform itself and become like America, but is left behind in progress, because its people are stupid, in general. What else is to blame for drug lords running rampant in Mexico? What is to blame for the high level of corruption and crime in Mexico? Is everything the Yankee's fault? Mexicans should look in the mirror, and look at their kin and look at their neighbors, before pointing the finger North.

We should legalize marijuana from coast to coast and let that be our people's drug, because it has little harm, even next to alcohol. The resources devoted to locking up pot users are resources wasted. Pot is tea. No big deal. The biggest downside is potheads get thick-headed and lazy, but they aren't addicts and can quit tomorrow, with a bit o' willpower.

The other drugs, should they be legalized too? Yes and no. I would support legalizing methadone and other mild things to help addicts wean themselves off the hard stuff. I would not support the legalization and availability of meth, heroin or crack, because people are stupid, and they will take poisons until they die, and unfortunately, addicts have a nasty tendency to wreak ruin on those around them.

The Stock Market

I'm bailing.

The question is when, not if.

I'm quite satisfied with my gains thus far. Thanks, Obama. Oh, and a tip of the hat to Trump for not following Republican tradition in launching a new war. Yet.

True, bond interest rates are abysmal, insufficient to keep up with any rational projection of future inflation.

But, so what? Interest rates should catch up in time. Nice to have a hefty chunk of change in the bond market, dry powder for future use in the event of a stock market meltdown.

Right now, foreign stocks look interesting to me. I like the look of Asia. A war with North Korea just isn't something the U.S. really wants to do at this time, because our trade with Asia is such a huge part of the U.S. economy. Also, North Korea is nothing but a hundred-pound baby, with needs, not anything useful to offer the world. Bombing them just sort of reinforces their already existing bunker mentality, and they don't have anything worth bombing. If peace prevails, then Asia stands to gain, because China is highly rational when it comes to economic and trade policy.

Intel Slipped on its own Banana Peel

Intel's handling of the Meltdown/Spectre has made a quagmire, a nightmare for I.T., and I think many businesses around the world will be more receptive to AMD chips in the future. My biggest reason to avoid AMD is its abysmal performance in Linux, and the strange problems with its Catalyst video driver in Windows. I have not even looked at AMD in years and have no notion of what Catalyst looks like now, but perhaps I will be willing to try AMD again in 2030 or so. I figure by that time, AMD will have beta-tested Catalyst sufficiently. It was a horrible mess, worse than Meltdown/Spectre, ten years ago, and one thing I know about AMD is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

How to Handle Afghanistan

This business where the U.S. just bankrolls a corrupt Afghan government into perpetuity is foolishness. The way to handle Afghanistan is to let the Taliban take over--after we have dumped all nuclear, biological and heavy metal waste on every acre in Afghanistan. Let the Taliban spend its energies on the environmental clean-up and enjoy the fun experiments in three-headed sheep. Do the same over in Pakistan, to impress upon that country's leadership the downside to betraying the U.S. after taking our money. What the Muslims need to focus on, instead of building bombs, is their three-headed sheep, poison in their water and air, and a host of communicable diseases. Perhaps the islamabads of the world can start cracking a book once in a blue moon, instead of a grenade pin. They need to learn about science and medicine instead of chanting the Koran every day. Maybe after a couple of generations, there will actually be some science going on in those worthless barbarian regions.

A bonus to dumping waste in Afghanistan is that the opium crop would have a built-in deterrent for all the drug users. They could get a hefty dose of radiation with every injection. That would cut down on the drug epidemic.

I don't understand why the U.S. has not recovered reparations from all the mines in Afghanistan. We should be rolling in gems and rare and precious metals now. Every taxpayer should receive a box filled with treasure captured from Afghanistan. Instead, all we receive is a big tax bill, and the tax money has gone over to help the ragheads, who hate us anyway. Worthless waste of money, getting involved in raghead nonsense. All they live for is martyrdom, they have no life and no culture.

500% Tax on Turkish Imports

Anything imported from Turkey should be taxed 500%. I think that Turkey has, for a long time, allied itself against the United States in every possible way, and the only thing that Turkey dreams about is killing Christians and sowing the seeds of terrorism throughout the Christian world. It's another Muslim-fanatic society, dedicated to genocide against non-Muslims. The markets of the West should be closed to Turkish goods, or else taxed at such a rate as to make them out of reach. Turkey's natural partner should be Iran, a similar society. The two of them can possibly merge one day to become Greater Persia. The only things they need to teach their children is Islam and how to make bombs. That is about the summit of the Muslim mind's imagination. Allah and bombs. Turkey needs to make reparations to one of the ethnic groups they practiced genocide against already, and then stop committing genocide against their own people, the Kurds.

Fever

Influenza does make me wiser, in the ancient meaning of the word. That may be its only benefit. Nice that there is a positive mingled in with so many negatives. To take advantage, it is necessary to sleep long and undisturbed. The more bed rest, the better. Flu is wasted on those who play video games or sit at the computer all day.

Religion in Iran

Religion in Iran consists of the systematic serial rape of the people for generations. Their deity, which it is convenient to name Allah in contemporary times, is like the demon-god, Tsathoggua, that finds ways to insert itself into everyone over there and give them a jolly good working over. Tsathoggua's vast priest-class reigns like princes in that closed society and enforces piety and religiosity with the whip and the rifle. They steal, rape, plunder, torture, kill, all in the name of their demon-god, yet with every outward appearance of piety. A more pious nation than Iran would be hard to find, yet it is steeped in evil and corruption, because it worships, not goodness and light, but evil and darkness. Interesting that Rohani's recent budget included a 20% increase for the Supreme Leader's enforcers embedded in universities. So he is their liberal?

Trump Administration Drama

The drama in the Prez's Administration isn't too surprising, given the actors and their ideology. I wonder whether it will harm the U.S. or the U.S. economy. There is the possibility of the so-called Black Swan event. It might happen because Trump goofs, as he tends to do. He's not anywhere even close to a genius. Just an above-average ballsy loudmouth with a knack for giving speeches and for communicating his particular point of view. I have watched him on television speak before MAGA crowds--his supporters. In truth, he gives better speeches than Clinton ever did, and he connects with people a lot better. After a bit, I turned the sound off, and watched him. He is better than any other politician I know of at one particular thing. He has great body language and knows how to use his hands. Clinton had no idea what to do with any part of her body, always came across as awkward and, her detractors said, phony. It's because Clinton was more of an introvert. She was, after all, just a nerdy scholar who happened to get swept up by Bill Clinton. She definitely got promoted above her abilities and competence, but that happens quite often in politics, and one could argue the same could be said of Trump.

Trump is a natural extrovert and basks in any kind of attention, negative or positive, and he has an impressive, thick skin. I don't imagine he is really upset over the whole Bannon deal or over much of anything else. Instead, he keeps his eye on the game at all times, always looking at how to win. That, I think, is his secret. He comes across as emotional and passionate, and to an extent, he is genuine, but in reality, at his core, he is calculating all the time. It is probably true that he pays little attention to details, has little knowledge of world affairs, lies frequently to make himself look better, traffics in deceit and corruption, harbors numerous personal vendettas (he's a game-player), and is suffering from early stage Alzheimer's, but he may get through his term, nonetheless. Key is whether Ivanka can exert a moderating influence and remain as a close advisor. After four years, he's done. No way people will sign up for another four years with Drama Queen, I think.

I just hope Trump doesn't get us into yet another war. It seems to me, the U.S. has borne the heavy weight of the Cross for far too long. Time for other countries to shoulder the burden of World Policeman. We are twenty trillion in debt. This is no time to take on new commitments. I am for investing, not in war, but in infrastructure, here in the U.S. I place the need for better infrastructure even above health care, because better infrastructure would result in better health care. I am talking about better, safer, faster trains, better roads and bridges, Universal, Cheap High-Speed Internet in every mile of this country, whether rural or not, and better services from the government. It is rather shameful, some of the things I see and hear about regarding government services. For instance, some government offices still run on Windows XP. There is nowhere in the world that Windows XP should still be in use. I don't care how much money it costs, people need to upgrade, or else go Linux.

Alas, Iran!

My father bore a striking physical, although not intellectual or spiritual, resemblance to the raghead mullahs of Iran, including the so-called Supreme Leader, an asinine dolt that plunged vibrant Persia into economic depression and cultural and spiritual decline with his sexual and social hang-ups and long-nourished bitter enmity against the United States and Israel. That fool has punished his people, rather than the U.S., which could care less for all his whining, in truth.

Proud Persians are tortured, imprisoned, psychologically crippled, sexually maimed, and sometimes murdered, for no good reasons at all, but just due to the whims of the ignorant mullahs, who think they have a direct line to the Omnipotent. They do not. The gods hate them, without exception. They are hated and reviled universally. They must continue to imprison, to murder, and to torture their own people, for that is the only way they can cling to power, and that is their curse and their damnation, to be compelled to such acts. Both the tortured and the torturer suffers and both become bankrupt in spirit.

I am glad I don't live in Iran, among the savages. If I did, then I'd probably be investigating all of the ins and outs of cyanide, strychnine and like substances for ending my life, but only after, don't you know, only after taking some of the oppressors with me into the grave. I believe it is a duty to resist such tyranny as is exhibited in Iran. It is a solemn, spiritual duty, and to die without taking the life of an oppressor is a grave Sin in Iran. I would seek at all costs to maximize the loss of life and the suffering among the oppressors, which is to say the mullahs, and take every precaution to ensure that my goals were obtained, prior to my own destruction.