"Good grief!"

Today's Tids Issue 4,160

For easing back to rationality: 

Every day I read or hear of something that makes 100% no sense at all. Yet half of the people take one side and the other half take another. Weird, really weird.

I think it’s still possible to have pet peeves that aren’t about political differences.

You got to figure that the execs of CVS were not pleased to see archrival Walgreens elevated to the DOW 30 Industrials. I could hear the screams up in Woonsocket all the way down here.  But, I haven’t read about people jumping off rooves. Industrials?

Did you know that Panama hats come from Ecuador? I guess it is tough to understand each other when apparent truths are not true at all. Maybe Grant isn’t buried in Grant’s tomb after all.

I’m curious: Where did that egg come from that begot the first chicken? In the Big bang theory, did rocks turn into roosters and hens? Or, if the rocks became eggs, wouldn’t they smash into gooey yokes when landing?

Winston Churchill: “Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”

The World Cup Final 16 is shaping up as Russia, Uruguay, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, Croatia, Nigeria, Brazil, Switzerland, Mexico, Germany, England, Belgium, Japan and Senegal. The biggest surprise is the sorry performance of Argentina who just happens to have the world’s acknowledged #1 superstar Lionel Messi. Belgium appears to be a monster, and England has been amazingly dominant. Portugal’s Ronaldo has lived up to his #2 world superstar status. Soccer players do amazing things at a breakneck, nonstop pace. That’s what I know. Don’t ask me about yellow cards.

The Question:

Critics are wondering if the new “Roseanne” and “House of Cards” can survive after the dismissal of their superstars. Name four other shows that survived quite nicely despite the trauma of big stars stepping down. Bonus: Novak Djokovic just became the latest tennis pro to pass the 800-victory mark in the open tournament era, coming in at number 10 all time. Name the other nine ahead of him. Extra Bonus: A national contest just named the two best BBQ Food Trucks. Where do you think they came from?

The Headlines:

--Global Stocks Falling After New Tariff Threats.

--Erdogan Wins Turkey Election Which Also Adds To His Unquestioned Legal Powers; Democracy May Be Imperiled; World Leaders Look On With New Concern.

--Suiters Lining Up For Soup Maker Campbell’s.

--Maxine Waters Calls For De-Civilization And Attacks On Conservatives In Public Places As Wells As In Their Homes.

--7,700 Acre California Fire Expanding; Authorities Issuing Evacuation Orders.

--Trump Calls For Barring China Investment In US tech Companies.

--Today Marks Anniversary Of 1950 Start Of The Korean War When NK Invaded The South.

--US Sends 200 Caskets Into NK For Recovery Of Remains For Missing US Soldiers.

I’m thinking that the next protest group to mass assemble on the Washington Mall will be RAT’s, Retailers Against Tariffs. That’s Rat’s, as in Charlie Brown’s “Rats”, meaning -- why when things are just beginning to look good, does somebody take away the football. That Rats. This mano-a-mano tariff exercise is turning business plans to mush, macro-economic forecasts to fog. The Big-Box companies are as concerned about future growth and profitability as the Atlanta Fed is about secure economic forecasts. It’s unsettling. It’s a puzzlement.

My pet peeve of this morning is about a column from the Editor of the local Newport Daily News. It was an announcement that they are moving their printing from this city up to Providence which necessitates a news closing time of 7:30. No late sport results virtually wipes out the viability of that venerable retreat from cultural harassment, town and other key meeting resolutions and who get arrested for doing weird things while drunk the night before. Of course, like most of the corporate apologists this editor tells us with a straight face that this is good for me the consumer. In fact, he even goes onto embellish the big lie by saying they will be doing more in-depth analysis of what’s happening in our lives. That’s code for saying we will bring in more national syndicated articles by writers who have no clue about Newport. But basically, the business of publishing sucks these days. And I can tell you when sucking was just an inkling in the eyes of wall street scavengers, I was with a publishing company taken over by media conglomerates who always sent in “People Persons” as new management who told us it was good for us that we were losing our jobs or would be happier with fewer benefits. And far fewer resources to remain competitive.

I am always intrigued by classic Greek Revival Architecture. 

But, Greek revival economics is another of those great mysteries with barely a solution. The EU has just agreed to bail out the country again, with the hope that the banking community will help underwrite the flagging economy where the consumer debt is 179% of GDP.

App owners want to “alert/notify” the populations of the world into straightjackets.

Sanctuary city advocates basically are incentivizing child trafficking.

Early Beethoven symphonies are more like the remnants of old Mozart. Mundane.

On the other hand, there are many imbalances in the so-called theory of free trade. Where one country’s view of “free” is another’s definition of unfair advantage. This is why tariffs could be an unleashing of fairness instead of a block to prosperity.

Every day a lot of good and decent people create grief in the lives of other good and decent people without even knowing it.

I always thought that running a business not only meant making money for investors and the company’s operations, but also by doing it while creating a strong product for customers.

The ever-mystifying RI General Assembly just passed a mandatory “Sick and Safe” days law that requires all businesses to give paid time off for alleged problems. I always thought that when people are sick or have a major family problem, they go to the boss and say, “Hey Mr/Mrs. overseer, I need time off. And he or she says, sure, I hope everything is ok.”. Another of my Hall of Fame pet peeves is contracted for or mandatory sick days. It makes no sense to me.

“We agree that common sense is a virtue”, Department:

That quote follows a first quote from the representative of Vermont Maple Syrup producers, “We all agree that consumers have the right to know what is in their food.” Now this came about because the USA FDA wants Honey producers and Maple Syrup producers to add to their Label, “Contains Added Sugar”. But the fact which even the FDA agrees with is that these two food producers don’t add sugar at all to their naturally sweet and delicious products! And we wonder why we can’t come together.

Speaking of common sense lost, five teens who mocked, derided and laughed while videoing a disabled man who was drowning without moving one god damn inch to save him, were freed by a court because there is no law that says anybody has to save a downing man. Am I losing my mind? Lock em’ up!

I get emails from “Doctors without Borders” regularly, and the latest said doctors were rushing to US southern Border because of a Human Rights emergency. I’d say the human rights tragedy was in the seats of governments of Mexico, and Central America. Actually little makes sense when ideologies overwhelm brains.

The Answer:

#1 with 1,256 victories is Jimmy Conners. Next is Roger Federer (1156) Ivan Lendl ((1068), Guillermo Vilas 929) and finishing out the top five, Rafael Nadal (903). The rest of the top ten are John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Illie Nastasi, Stefan Edberg and now, Djokovic at 800. Interestingly the dominant Bjorn Borg had but 609. Number 11 was Pete Sampras with 762. Brian Gottfried has 683 victories and is the only retired player with that many victories not in the Hall of Fame (In fact, 7 below him are in the hall). Bonus: They all thought NYPD was done when popular David Caruso up and left. A favorite Shelly Long left Cheers, but it went on for 6 more years. Steve Carell left The Office, but that show did quite well for two years. When William Peterson decided to move on from CSI, they thought it was over. It’s still is out there with no autopsy in sight.  Extra Bonus: Actually, this simply a self-serving question I snuck in. GottaQ BBQ of Rhode Island beat out Beach Bum BBQ of Indianapolis for the National title of Best Food Truck BBQ.

When William Peterson was asked what he is doing professionally he answered, “I think I have lost the ego you have to have for acting.” Hmm, maybe that’s why he was such an appealing actor -- his ego was minimal.

That makes sense.