There is a lot of secondary news that needs quick mention at the present. None of these things are making big headlines but these are issues that will be back on the front page in the not too distant future, ergo, here is your cue to watch these unfold over the next months:
The state of Baltimore: It was revealed that the mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh, had received a contract awarding a half million dollars from the University of Maryland Medical System for ‘children’s books’, without any oversight and possibly without any evidence of an actual material exchange. This is kleptocratic corruption at its normative Baltimore day-to-day worst as it comes on top of a hideously administrated decaying city. Baltimore is moving one direction only and there is no will to right it as the line for others to ‘get theirs’s, stretches into the distance. Baltimore will be leading other dubious cities that are choosing the same course.
Zuck is OK with regulation?: So says he. This is nothing more than a calculated deflection of criticism as he knows that at least collectively, and at least here in the United States, no one in our technologically inept government remotely knows how to regulate Facebook or any of social media. The congress people that would pass regulatory law is still trying to figure out how to turn off notifications. The EU is further ahead in principle, albeit, much misguided. ‘.gov’ is going to have to figure out how to build a brain trust to manage the same mega-tech companies that they also so desperately need for their re-election, and that dear friends, is the big conundrum.
AOC abandons own district: A New York Post article pointed out that AOC has lost a lot of favor in the Bronx for not giving a shit about them since she has so many much bigger progressive fish to fry on a national level. So, yes, maybe the unwashed Bronx is not such a good base for carrying out a revolution. They will dump her, possibly as soon as the next election -OR- Obama’s people could buy that election for her if it’s inconvenient for her to switch districts, but rest assured, she’ll be around, one way or another. She now has handlers and fixers so that she doesn’t even have to worry about those nasty details.
Candidates, esp toast Joe: I’ll save most candidate comment for a dedicated article, but it must be mentioned that my March 18 post, mentioning Joe Biden, has already come home to roost, just in a slightly different way than I detailed. His candidacy is toast. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never formally announces. As for his smooch proclivity, this has been documented on film by his media friends for years. [remember all the chuckles!] It just never made a difference then because he was part of the team. Now he is just an obstacle to younger, far more dedicated and ambitious candidates. Immunity is gone. In hind sight, this was all so plain and easy. Bye Joe.
Southern border: This is a constantly shifting damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation, particularly factoring in the next election. This applies both to the left and the right. The trajectory is that the border will collapse entirely. It’s not entirely certain yet but if that occurs, watch for two things: one) even the left will get squeamish due to election jitters and two), watch it destabilize the entire Mexican and Central American status quo. By that, I mean more than just cutting off aid. I mean diplomatic and military consequences. You could assume this favors Trump, but not necessarily. Supposedly, this is the number one issue for the conservative base, and so far, this is Trump’s most complete failure.
Anti-Semitism: Watch for news of more vicious anti-Semitism in the EU. This is much bigger than roving bands of drunk skin-heads; this is government tolerated or sanctioned anti-Semitism. The scary part of this is that our own leftists are so blinkered about Israel that they find themselves at least neutralized on European anti-Semitism or even odd bed-fellows with the fascist that are propagating it. In their view, it’s all due recompense for the Palestinian fight. Look for the first signs of Hitler-scale persecution over the next couple of years and don’t be surprised that it’s instantly politicized here. Meaning – our response will be just as slow as it was in the late 1930s.