Today's Tids Issue 3,784
For some fun...sort of:
Do you ever wonder about what the groundhog may be doing today, just a couple of days before being rudely awakened and then being tugged out into the cold? Maybe he is primping to look his best. Or perhaps sitting with a bottle of scotch ruing the annual exposure to the world. Been there, done that. Do you think these furry little woodchucks have an inner time clock that says the time is near? And do you think a sleepy, blurry eyed groundhog can actually see a shadow anyhow? And one more thing. Is the animal a male or a female? I figure a male, the female saying, “Honey bun, what is that ruckus out there? Why don’t stick your head out and find out what’s going on.”
With all of the sniping and general hatred in the hearts of often reasonable people, I only have one thing weighing on my mind – how to get through the week until the Pats-Falcons game. There are some things that are just more important on the scale of what makes one thrive. Waiting for a great game is an upper. Political rhetoric is a downer. Ugly politics will be there forever after the game.
The Trump plan to unify Americadoesn’t seem to be working out too well, does it.
When you think about it, why would Mexico even consider paying for a wall. Americans aren’t trying to sneak in there. They fly in and spend big money. So, a Cancun hotel “Wall Tax” would be out of the realm of economic sense too. How about US dealers of Mexican drugs collecting a Wall Tax – “You get high, the wall gets higher.” “Psst, Buddy, I got Wall Tax free dope.”
Just when I think that I have “The Wall” problem solved, up steps an ineptly executed plan for a moratorium on immigration from countries with inferior vetting procedures. It was nutty. Like most things now, instant organized mobs coupled with anecdotal journalism have diverted attention from the reality of the situation even as poorly handled as it was. In 2011, according to ABC news and congressional hearings, Obama authorized a similar effort against Iraqis which resulted in immigration hold-ups and re-vetting of 56,000. There are many examples of caution in previous admins, like Saint Jimmy Carter with Iran.. Trying to vet the unvettable is just a part of running a sensible immigration policy. But, you have to be smart about the way you do it.
John Hurt died yesterday. He was in the scariest movie I ever saw, “Midnight Express”
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The Question:
Elvis’s first real national TV appearance was on a show hosted by what Big band leaders? Bonus:Are you ready? Who are these people!: Rick Warren, Harley Jane Kozak, Mo Rocca, Susan Howard, Joseph Hazelwood? Extra Bonus for Older People: Who were the original three members of the Kingston Trio? Super Bonus: Name the four principal members of the Gourd family.
The Headlines:
--Worries Over Trump Send Stocks Lower; Dow Down 175 Mid-Morning; Trump To Sign EO Slashing Regulations..
--Shooter Kills At Least 6 in Quebec City Mosque; Shooter Of Moroccan Decent Shouted “Allahu Akbar” During The Mass Murder.
--Trump Reorganizes NSA; Washingtonians Scratching Heads As Bannon Assumes Larger role.
--Trump To Announce Supreme Court Choice Tomorrow; Marchers Preparing Signs.
--Trump White House Reverses Course On Green Card Holders; ACLU Wins Legal Challenge To Immigration Moratorium.
--The World Is Nuts: Teen Zaps Cop With Stun Gun To Fulfill Bucket List.
--Anti-Trump Stars Predictable At SAG Awards; Top Ensemble Cast Award Goes To Hidden Figures; Stranger Things, Fences, Moonlight, La La Also Do Well; John Lithgow Wins Top TV Acting Award For Role Of Churchill In Netflix “The Crown.
--Miss France Crowed Miss Universe.
--Giant Koch Brothers Network May Become Biggest Anti-Trump Force.
When did it become fashionable to aid and abet criminals? Let me get this straight, an illegal alien who murders, steals or rapes is less culpable than an average American citizen who does the same. Is that about it in this new world of lower standards? A letter writer to the newspaper summed it up well in a message to his anything goes pastor: “I appreciate my Pastor telling me that ‘God advocates aiding and abetting persons who are in the pursuit of criminal activities.” “This disrespect for our nations laws is just one of the reasons why after 75 years of faithful service I terminated my church membership.”
Huge Ecommerce company Alibaba is blowing it out of the water, doing it right, making all the right business moves, but a Wall Street darling it is not. Became it is a company within a Trump threatened China, with some cloudy past nefarious dealings, investors are still cautious about going all in.
I’m writing this right now with Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazadeplaying. I have always found that piece to be soothing and uplifting. Of course, it is about wonderful tales of Alibaba, of love and adventure in the Middle East – In Baghdad, Arabia and countries now more known terror and instability. Yet Like America, the ugly are a mere fraction of all the people. Like in America the vast percentage of the population go to work, raise families and find solace in loved ones arms. Only there, they live in real fear.
How about Roger Federer and Serena Williams winning a big one when most experts would say they were on their way out!
While wading through AP boilerplate anti-Trump article after anti-Trump article, it was a joy to come across the review of Saturday night’s The-Voice Runner up Billy Gilman’s sold out concert at the 2000 person Vet in Providence. Billy is a local RI hero, has been for many years. Shouts of “Hope Valley is here” (His home town) brought warm chuckles from the crowd, It was that kind of night where everybody knew why they were there – to enjoy unencumbered entertainment from a young man they truly liked. And enjoy each other enjoying it. The promise was fulfilled over again. Even hardened reviewer Andy Smith had to say, “My hair stood up on the back of my neck during Billy’s incredible rendering of “I Surrender”. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of the story amidst same-ole’, same-ole’ Trump stuff that made the scene seem especially thrilling, In the shadow of the state Capitol building, the talent of a young man is all that really counted.
Giddy conservatives lose credibility as quickly as giddy liberals. Maybe faster.
It is becoming obvious that rushing to make good on campaign promises is a bad idea. Think it through or die. Thank you, New Hampshire.
Personally, I think the Honda logois getting tired. That’s just my graphic inner self shouting out.
And, did you see the size of those Nike “Swoosh” logos adorning the golf attire of Patrick Rogers. Rogers must be getting a lot of dough to look that bad. Nike got out of clubs and balls saying we’ll make it in golf wear. I don’t think so! That must be my graphic inner self speaking.
There’s a lot of talk among the anti-Trumpers about what’s written on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired…’ et. al. Yet it is this same group from the left who also seems to have forgotten the principle of the age-old concept of the “Melting Pot”. We welcome people to our shores to become “Americans”. Not to recreate miniature sub countries within the states. Not to differentiate with hyphens. The hyperbole in the noise against some of these executive orders is as absurd as the as some of the orders.
I was really happy for Keegan Bradley.
Have you noticed that CBS Newsalways leads off these questionable immigration tirades with a photo of the Statue of Liberty
I like Guy Fieri. Once I begin watching his shows like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, or Guy’s Grocery Games, I am hooked for the night. Who knows, maybe I am truly a rich, high calories food addict. If trendy eaters are “Foodies”. What do you call somebody who prefers good food, “Food-hearty”? BTW, some call Guy, “The man who ruined the Food network.” I call him the man who brought back food.
Yesterday morning I put on a CD with a little Bela Bartok. I don’t know if I liked it or not. I’ll have to work that.
I am seeing example after example that the ultimate new put-down from the liberal handbook is definitely, “You’re a misogynist!.” You are a Racist is fading fast.
By the way. I think a large percentage of the people in my town would love to turn us into a Sanctuary City. Would that mean that we couldn’t ban known litterbugs from entering?
One of the reasons it takes longer to write this morning mess than it should is that my mind is always far ahead of my fingers, resulting in having to spend hours correcting typos. Yes, I do correct typos.
“Donna Nobis Pacem” by Ralph Vaughn Williams is a terrific choral piece.
The Parking Lot:
(Hope you all got a little flavor for the story and characters during our hiatus from the story last week. We will resume the story today back in modern “Sakonnet” where our hero Nancy has decided to meet a mysterious phone caller. Obviously after so many missteps, and in the aftermath of the murder of the state AG, she is extra leery. But, she knows she needs a friend beyond Jared and Beth.)
What follows is the last chapter before the Tids took a hiatus from the ongoing novel. Two weeks ago I brought you back to the story through a visit to our heroes of the early 1700’s. Tomorrow, we will pick up the story from this episode below:
Nancy felt the warm body of Jared next to her and was conflicted about leaving the bed on his brisk cool Fall morning. The incessant ringing of her cell phone however finally pushed her to slide out, and run to the phone, grabbing a small coverlet on the way which she threw around her bare shoulders and body. “Hello!” But she only heard silence.
Every phone call was more meaningful these days, especially one so early in the morning. Now she felt that familiar discomforting rumble in her stomach. She clicked on “Recent” and found the word “Alex”.
“Alex?”
She eased got up and walked slowly, cover dragging behind her, into the bathroom trying to remember why someone named Alex was in her contact list.
“Alex, Alex, Alex,” she uttered as she walked back across the small room.
“What did you say?” She looked over to see a horrible looking Jared peaking up from the warm blankets.
“Go back to sleep, you need your rest.” Then she smiled at that morning mess and felt good all over remembering last night. “Alex !” she though aloud.
“Alex?”
“He’s my old lover andhe wants me now.” She laughed and ran over and jumped on Jared.
She ruffled his hair and stood, now remembering the name as a guy she went to college with and met again several years ago in some legal land deal with the state. He was a nice guy, she remembered. But, why would he be calling me this morning this early.
Lawyer. Land. Friend of McGuire. She shuddered.
“I’m going out to get a couple of coffees,” she said casually as she quickly dressed.
“Mmmffmmmshe mmmmfff.”
“Ok, I’ll get one with sugar.” Now she really smiled to herself! I’m beginning to understand him.” Her mood changed rapidly back to concern. Why is he calling me? Coincidence? Friend or foe? That’s why she was going out for coffee, to get the cell phone away from their safe place.
Nancy drove about two miles out of the city to a rural area. She always felt more relaxed out here, especially now as she tucked her car into a small grassy area by a stone wall. A gray shingled mid 19th century farm house stood comfortably nearby as it has for a century and a half, always looking out to the ocean in the distance.
She pulled out her phone and redialed Alex’s number.
He answered within a nano-second, “Hello,” “Nancy?”
“Yes,” she answered carefully, sounding vague to Alex
Picking up on her mood, “Hey, Nancy I can understand your reluctance, but this is important. Let’s put it this way, I am really worried about the death of My friend Dave McGuire.”
Nancy just nodded into the phone.
“I was his friend, and I know what was going on. A lot of people do. And you’d be surprised at who all of these people are. They are more afraid than I.”
Nancy had gotten out of her car, and was walking back and forth, listening intently, thinking; occasionally glancing down the coast past Sachuest point. “Where are you?”
Finally, Alex thought, words. Lawyers were great at talking into thin air, but occasionally an answer was comforting. “I don’t tell people where I am these days.”
Nancy felt the same. Maybe they were fighting the same unknowns. But, she was thinking that Alex knew more about who they might be than she. “Maybe we should meet.”
“Ok.”
“There’s an old fishing shed behind that new club they built at Sakonnet Point. It’s grey, with a lot of nets beside it.’
“Grey! how unique.”
Nancy laughed and relaxed for the first time.
The Answer:
Elvis first performed on National TV on a program hosted by the Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. Bonus: Who are these people -- Rick Warren is the conservative Founder of the Saddleback Church and one of the best known Evangelistic preachers in the world; Harley Jane Kozak is a good American actress now decent novelist whose first big staring role in movies were Parenthood and Arachnophobia – from riug rats to spiders; Mo Rocca has been a “journalist” on The Daily Show and CBS Sunday Morning, Host of “My Grandmother’s Ravioli” on the Cooking Channel and a humorist who said, “When it comes to war, we focus more on the mainstream coverage of the event, rather than the event itself. People dying is never funny. Protest puppets are always funny.”; Susan Howard had many roles in good TV shows and often was nominated for awards. She won the “Soapy” award starring in Dallas as Donna Culver Krebbs. Now she is known more as a conservative activist especially for gun rights; In case you forgot, Joseph Hazelwood was Captain of the Exxon Valdez. Extra Bonus for Old People: The Kingston trio was huge in my college days. The 3 originals were Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds. Super Bonus: The big four Gourds are Pumpkins, Melons, Squash and Cucumbers, which by te way is a fruit, not a vegetable.
My head hurts, so I won’t be able to get into the reasoning behind putting Steve Bannon and Steve Miller on the NSA while making the Joint Chiefs and National Intelligence Agency Heads only occasional members.
Meanwhile the Patriots are being cheered as they board the plane for Houston. That's a giant massing of people I can deal with.
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