Why are there clouds?

Today's Tids Issue 3,771

For Emogees:

There is something perfect about waking and finding a smiley face at the top of your email. I’m just a simple man.

They just published the cost of raising a child. It is now pegged at around $233,610. I never even though of cost when raising a child, considering that love you felt and feel can never be measured in dollars. It is an impossible calculation.

You may have read that one singer in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir doesn’t like the president elect and refuses to sing at the inauguration. A reader suggests that Trump replace the disgruntled Mormon Choir singer with Mitt Romney.

Has there been a more exciting last 8 or so minutes of a Championship football game than last night’s super skirmish won by Clemson with one second left? Wow. Wow. Wow.

The Question:

Here are lots of celebrities who apparently are very well known, but somehow escaped my notice. This has been the impetus for the favored Tids “Q” of the Day, “Who Are These People?”: Priyanka Chopra, Anna Kendrick, Zoe Saldan, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Sofia Vergara, Timothy Oliphant and Milo Ventimiglia

The Headlines:

--Half Dozen GOP Senators Unite To Slowdown ACA Removal Process; Want To See Replacement Ideas First.

--Markets Opening Higher; Stable At Midday.

--Sessions Sitting Before Questioning Congress To Start cabinet Approval Process.

--Clemson National College Football Champ.

--New EU Privacy Laws Could Hit Facebook and Gmail in Pocketbook.

--Obama To Make Farewell Address From Chicago Tonight Durng Middle Of Tidster’s Favorite TV Programs; Obama Justice Department Rushing To Investigate Chi and Baltimore Police Before Trump Gets In; Prez May Speak To that Tonight.

--Trump Names Son-In-Law As Senior Advisor; Will Be Testing Nepotism Law That Originated After JFK Appointment of Bobby.

--Alibaba’s Jack Ma Tells Trump He Will Create 1 Million new jobs In US; Auto Makers Not Happy With Prez Elect’s Dictates.

A reader noticed that when the Repubs opposed Obama’s agenda, the media called it obstruction. Now that the Dems are opposing the president elect’s Agenda, the media explains that dissent is essential to a successful democracy.  So, I guess that means that without Meryl Streep, the democracy will fail.

241 years ago today, Thomas Paine published “Common Sense”. It’s too bad we seem to have forgotten about it in these days of inane squabbles.

One of the inaner comments about Chicago killing comes from their mayor, Rahm: “The police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to color.” I think he is missing who’s murdering whom out there.

Yes, “inaner” is a word. I looked it up. It just sounds funny to me. “More Inane” seems more emphatic. Oh well.

The only reason that I can see to explain the government setting a cost for raising a child, is so they can budget for it in “Give-away” programs.

Why did God invent economists? To make weather forecasters look good. That‘s an old, old axiom that I read this morn in the WSJ, and probably heard in my first college economics class. I loved economics and looked for opportunities to ply that trade after graduation. Maybe I liked it because it is nearly impossible to be held accountable, if you couch your words in I grafts and charts, “what ifs” and maybes”. Today’s economist has it easy. You can predict anything for 2017, and always qualify it by, “Unless Trump….”.

I see where the US has transported 87 tanks to Poland and is moving them up to the Russian border. That’s just like the Prez, getting tough when somebody else has to deal with the fire.

Meryl Streep wasn’t gracious enough to even acknowledge the reception of the esteemed Cecil B. DeMille award. Her uncontrolled giddiness to use the stage for attack, seems to make her about as adult as Trump.

Some fairly astute international investors are saying “Buy Russia”.

“The Affair” (Showtime) was always a slow-moving primetime soap opera. But now it is a slow-moving soap opera with no apparent purpose in life. Just an amalgam of generally hideous angry people.

The Answer:

First you should know that all of these people were presenters at the Golden Globes. This is just a handful of so-called celeb presenters of whom I had no knowledge. I have the same problem glancing at covers of pop culture mags while standing in line at checkout counters. Ok Priyanka Chopra, a former Miss World and wannabe aeronautical engineer is one of India’s highest paid personalities who made it in America with her role as Alex Parish in Quantico; Anna Kendrick won a Tony for High Society and broader fame in The Twilight Series and In the Perfect Pitch duo; Zoe Saldan first gained fame in Pirates of the Caribbean, grew further as Uhura in Star Trek, and in Avatar; Jeffery Dean Morgan has been seen by millions of Greys Anatomy and Walking Dead fans;, Sofia Vergara is a Columbian actress who appeared in many films but is best known as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family; One of my favorite TV characters was Raylan Givens in Justified, but I forgot the actor was Timothy Oliphant!; Milo Ventimiglia is best known first for his role in Heroes, and is now a USA favorite as Jack Pearson in the hot new program “This is Us”. So, there you have it. I’ll probably forget them in about a week.

Is Jeff Sessions the next Repub nominee to get “Borkered”?

I started this morning with a nice smiley face, and then the political battles of the day arose and tried to wipe it a way. But, a good smiley face never leaves; it’s their fighting through the grey.