Fallout
Hey, welcome back to the scuttlebutt. We’ve gained a bunch of new faces around the table lately, so let me just say: Glad to have you, the beer is out in the mudroom on the pie shelf, the booze is on the counter under the cabinet, dinner tonight is Jambalaya, and the topic of discussion is the fallout and results of decisions: Good, bad, and indifferent.
Oh, and as always, please notice the cup at the tip jar Where we restock the bar. While you can do a paid subscription here at Sub stack, and it’s a welcome donation, Stripe (the folks that handle the money for sub stack) get a BIG cut. The Tip jar money all goes straight to me.
Nuclear Fallout is the residual effects and contamination that result from a nuclear bomb going off. Political fallout is just as much the result of an event, and like nuclear, is not desired (usually) but happens none the less. It’s the second and third order consequences of actions, just like nuke fallout is the second and third order results of neutrons smashing atoms in large numbers.(I can get into the physics of how and why, but trust me, your eyes would roll back in your heads.) For the young folks in the room, let me explain by example:
Decision: Oh, my Gods, there’s this new disease that could be worse than the Spanish Influenza of 1918! We must DO something about it. Let’s lock down the people, and make everyone that we can work from home, shut down to the maximum extent possible, all interpersonal contact. After all, that worked (but not really) for the Spanish Influenza!
First order consequence: people don’t have as much contact with other people, and there are probably less people that come down with the disease. OK Good, let’s pat each other on the back, and call it a day. Ah, not so fast!
Second order consequence: A shit ton of small businesses that rely on foot traffic go out of business, and thus the economy takes it in the shorts. Well, that looks bad boys, we gotta do something about that! (Which generates its own set of problems.)
Third order consequence: contrary to popular belief in some circles, you can’t learn just as easily over a computer screen as you can in person, so for two years, school kids fall increasingly behind in their learning schedule. This deficit will follow the generation in school for the rest of their lives and affect the nation as a whole for the rest of their lives.
In addition, it brought to the attention of the parents in the nation, just exactly what is being taught in schools, which generated a vast increase in people home schooling, and otherwise revolting against the Education Industrial Complex.
Not all of the ramifications of this have yet been seen, but the death of the Dept. of Edu. is probably one of them. (a good thing, in my opinion, but from the perspective of the people that made the original decision? A disaster. After all, if you can’t control the education of the children, how are you going to properly propagandize them to your world view?)
Overall, the second and third order consequences probably cost the Democratic party all three houses of government in this year’s election. Yes, “It’s the economy stupid!” but why was the economy so bad? Well, because we printed billions of dollars’ worth of “stimulus funds” and handed that shit out like candy on Halloween. Printing that much money, surprise, surprise, causes inflation, as more money chases less product (remember the “companies going out of business thing?”)
This is why we need to relearn how to look at second and third order stuff better.
We used to be much better at it than we are now, I blame the Harvard MBA types from the 70’s on. It was about then that we got so tied up in “Next Quarter Profits” that we quit looking any further. Then there was the election cycle that drove politicians to never look further than the next election, and the final nail in the coffin was probably the 24-hour news cycle, in which if it isn’t imminent, it doesn’t run. The bill for all of this is coming due, and it’s not pretty.
Let’s look at some examples.
Back in 2001, Texas became the first state to provide in state tuition for illegal aliens enrolled in Public Universities. Texas-lawmaker-files-bill-to-eliminate-in-state-tuition-for-illegal-aliens/
It’s not clear to me why anyone thought it was a good idea to allow criminals (yes, you with the purple hair and the Harris/Walls T-shirt, crossing the border without permission is a crime. USC Chapter 8, Sections 1325 and 1326. The first time it’s a misdemeanor, the second time it’s a felony.) to enroll in a state owned and funded college, while they are in a criminal status, but well… They passed it. I’m sure that they thought it would help something.
Gosh, surprise, surprise, it caused other states to do the same (24 of them) and increased the number of people coming across the border, as well as the amount of taxation to fund this sweet boondoggle. (Remember, the in-state tuition is less because the taxpayers are footing part of the bill. In theory it’s tax money that your family has been paying, that you are now recouping. But of course, Illegals haven’t been paying taxes, so…) Is this the only reason for the border crisis? Oh hell no. Is it a reason to stay in TX? Well, YES. Apparently, there are over 59,000 illegals currently enrolled in colleges in TX taking advantage of this deal. To date, efforts to reverse this law have failed, but well… The recent election has changed things.
During Trump’s first term he was blocked by the “deep state” or “the Swamp” from doing a lot of things. If you’ve ever worked for a large company or better, you have probably seen this in action.
At the worker level you get either “malicious compliance” where they follow the letter of the order, in the worst possible way. (it’s the old game of “how you state a wish to a genie so he doesn’t screw you over?”) or you get some form of strike. At the middle management and higher level, you get “end arounds,” “drag your feet and wait them out,” or even straight up rebellion. Up to and including the Chairman of the JCS making a personal call to the head of the PRC Army telling him that he shouldn’t worry, because I’ll call you if we’re going to attack you, and I’ll refuse the order. Milley admitted to doing this. (I’m betting he wishes he had kept his mouth shut now, the Commander in Chief can recall a general to courts Martial him.)
The news organs, the press, and the senior employees of the Federal government all laughed at the very concept of there being a “swamp.” Until after Trump was out of office. After he left, they not only admitted to it, but bragged about it. George Stephanopoulos bragging about how well the swamp stonewalled Trump
There’s a FEMA manager who just got fired for telling disaster workers in Florida to ‘avoid homes of Trump supporters.’ I’ve mentioned this before. She put it in WRITING. Once it came out, and Harris lost the election, they fired her. Well, now she’s speaking out about how this was ‘Standard doctrine’ for FEMA. fired-fema-employee-speaks-out-says-it-was-not-isolated-incident-colossal-event-of-avoidance Your swamp at work.
The State Department is so deep in the swamp that they had to have an in-house therapy session for all the good little Statists that are losing their shits because Trump won. “Employee Consultation Services in the Bureau of Medical Services hosted the session” according to biden-harris-state-department-holds-therapy-session-after-trump-win/ which goes on to say that “The session was led by a licensed clinical provider. A second one is scheduled for Nov. 13, according to the email notice.”
Now State has always been a bit confused about who works for whom. Even Biden found himself on the wrong side of the Swamp, when several high office State types quit or otherwise tried to sabotage him for having the audacity to support “those ebil Jeeews, instead of our dear friends the Palestinian Terrorists.” (found the Nazis!)
But then they are probably the most extreme case of muddy water in the history of our government. They’ve been trying to run the show, no matter what the president says, since at least FDR. Based on my readings, this problem isn’t limited to the US government either. England has been dealing with uppity members of “the Foreign Office” since CROMWELL.
I guess it’s endemic to being an ambassador, that you think you understand what’s going on better than your political bosses do. Hell, you MAY even be right. It doesn’t matter though. Your job is to follow the dictates of the government, not decide for yourself what they should be.
Ah, but see back to the second and third order problem: Having various members of the “Swamp” get away with doing their own thing to place sticks in the spokes of Trump’s bicycle, emboldened them to do it to Biden’s policies as well.
Remember the leak of Israel’s attack plans for Iran that caused so much heartburn to both the Biden and the Netanyahu administrations? Turns out it was the Chief of Station for Cambodia, Asif William Rahman, of the CIA. Dude had a TS SCI clearance. He’s been grabbed in Cambodia where he operates out of, and transported to Guam to be charged. The articles I have read state that “His motives were not immediately clear.” Uh, motherfucka read his NAME. I think you can figure it out, if you just think a little bit.
Now the other leaker of Top-Secret shit under Biden, Jack Teixeira, Air National Guard Intelligence Senior Airman, who was just sentenced to 15 years at hard labor, his reasons might be a little less clear. Considering where he put out his information, it may have been a deep desire to attract pussy for all I know. I wonder how that’s going to work out for him in USDB Fort Leavenworth?
This is the sort of thing I’m talking about with second and third order consequences. It all seems like a great idea until suddenly it bites you in the ass.
Trump’s cabinet picks reflect his wariness toward the ‘swamp’ now that he understands how deep the water is. They fucked him so hard the first time that he’s making damn good and sure that the people he places in charge this time are going to follow his vision. This upsets a lot of people (almost half the country) because his vision is at odds with theirs. However, as they kept telling us for the last four years, “Elections have consequences.” We the people have not just spoken, we’ve shouted it from the roof tops. That’s the only way you get a trifecta, The Presidency, the Senate, and the House.
The FBI Director is well aware of those consequences. According to reports via NBC news, he and a bunch of his SES cronies are polishing up their resumes. Considering the shit the FBI pulled on Candidate Trump, is there any wonder that they figure President Trump is going to invite them to seek other employment?
That doesn’t mean he’ll get everything he wants; Republicans are famously unwilling to just toe the company line, and he doesn’t have a lot of extra votes in either chamber of congress. Frankly, this is good. A president that can do ANYTHING he wants, is a bad idea. Trump has a temper, and having such a narrow margin in congress will keep him from going overboard. That said, if the only three things he manages is to close the border, get rid of the DEI and other wastes in the Military, and fire a bunch of the swamp, I’ll drink to him all night long.
If he manages some of his “stretch goals” like getting rid of the Dept. of Edu.? (for my opinion on that shit show, well, Tom Knighton says it well here: and-idea-whose-time-has-come? ) I hope to have a guest post soon, from someone who works in the belly of that beast, She’s in a director level position at a large college, and explains quite elegantly some of the reasons that the cost of college has gotten ridiculous. It’s not all what you think.
On Non-Government Second level stuff, we have Boeing, who has been in this blog repeatedly. They have a cultural problem. Their safety culture SUCKS. They have other problems. Then their workers decided to go on strike, just when every one in the world was (rightfully) dropping turds in their punch bowl.
Well, after a couple months’ worth of strike, the union got most of what they wanted, to include a 35% pay increase over four years. (Can you imagine a 35% pay increase? I’ve never seen an increase like that, and I suspect most of you haven’t either.)
Slow clap. Bravo.
Now the other shoe falls. Boeing is laying off over 10% of their work force. They can’t afford them. Good job union. employees-across-boeing-face-sweeping-layoffs-this-week
I’ve talked before about the dangers of making a political weapon that you wouldn’t want used against you. One of the biggest disasters in congress sort of gets it now, but not really. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Moron from Montlake, has been pushing to get rid of the Filibuster for years. See, she sees it as a impediment to “getting things done!” Ah, but only if it’s HER things.
“Am I championing getting rid of the filibuster now, when the Senate has the trifecta? No,” Jayapal told reporters at the news conference. “But had we had the trifecta, I would have been, because we have to show that government can deliver.” As quoted in with-trump-set-to-take-power-jayapal-backtracks-on-ending-filibuster her line used to be “It’s the filibuster OR an assault weapons ban. It’s the filibuster OR codified abortion access. It’s the filibuster OR raising the minimum wage. It’s the filibuster OR protecting voting rights. The choice is clear. Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster.” Now the line is, we must have the filibuster to preserve our way of life. Hypocritic bitch.
In the “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” department, Oprah Windbag is screaming to anyone who will listen, and all of us that won’t, that “Not true – I was paid nothing, ever,” Well, it’s true, Harris didn’t hand HER a check for a million bucks. But see there’s a law that says a political campaign has to follow strict accounting rules. Oprah owns Harpo Productions. They were paid two $500,000 checks. That’s money that Oprah didn’t have to shell out to keep her business afloat. But she didn’t personally touch the filthy lucre. Do we call this Harpo-cracy?
Sal hits it out of the park again with an obvious idea, that is somehow not obvious to the morons of the pentagon. arm-the-auxiliaries and I’ll only echo the concept. Speaking as a submariner, if I sink a destroyer, I take one ship out of the fight. If I sink a T-AOE, I take an entire squadron out of the fight, because they’re out of fuel, food, and bullets. Guess who’s my first target? (After the carriers of course.)
Watch your asses out there, the left is unhinged. corey-burke-jeff-bezos-murders-father-timothy-election-night-meltdown.html It seems that “Power lesbian Corey Burke murders her father with an ice axe in Election Night meltdown at Seattle home” She’s the Training Manager for “Blue Origin” Bezos’ spacecraft outfit. She struck with an ice axe, stabbed and then strangled her father, because she was so distraught over the election.
I was going to cover the circular firing squad of the DNC as they each shoot at everyone else, and especially at those that have the audacity to say that the DNC screwed up everything about the election, (like this article NYT- The Abortion fallacy, and this one NYT-Democrats play the blame game and stare at a dark future) but I’m running long, so just consider that the few Democrats that are honest about how badly they misunderstood the wants and needs of the people, are being shouted down by the ones that want to blame it all on Evil White men and women, and stupid black and Mexican men.
See you next week.
QOTD “ All of the Washington-based Democrats farting around, going to wine and cheese parties, and talking about how misogynistic the race was — get your ass out of Washington, and go work on a 2026 campaign and do penance to make up for your goddamn arrogance and stupidity. ... We told you this identity shit was [a] disaster. We told you to get out in front of public safety issues. You didn't." —Democrat strategist James Carville
Yours in Service,
William Lehman