Back to nowhere.

Today's Tids Issue 4,578

Football is better:

Well, this is paint-a pretty-picture-for-your-side day. It appears this morn that The Trial will be over and in the record books by the evening. The Prez will be acquitted, as has been predicted since before it began. All that is left will be the spinning, that tipsy-turvy world of placing blame and rewriting two-week-old history. Everything you hear the next few weeks will be entirely foreseeable. The political virus is quite infectious, and deadly rhetoric is what most Americans should guard against as we move towards Iowa, New Hampshire, Super Tuesday and beyond. Hey, did Howard Dean just grab my fingers?

The local police remain stumped after a gang of beavers rampaged through trees along Main Street. Oh, that was really bad.

Well, we’re here. It is time for a real battle where hyperbole doesn’t count, where it is man against man, inner resolve against inner resolve. No litigation, just physical assassination. The Super Bowl is here. Mahomes versus Goropolo, Kittle versus Kelce, Nick Bosa versus intense speed. In case you have been buried in congressional drudgery, it’s The Game between the San Francisco Forty Niners and the Kansas City Chiefs. A very good tussle indeed. This was a rather long preamble because I haven’t a clue on this one. The Tids Pickers are scrambling for sure. KC is the fastest team in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes is certainly a cool magician. But San Fran is tough in the trenches, where most Super Bowls are won. Will first full season QB Jimmy Garoppolo be up to the task as an improved KC “D” surges, and surges again? It’s really close. I think SF has more flaws than KC. But I like Shanahan’s mind over Reid’s. Ok, Ok , Ok, here it is: The Kansas City Chiefs 27, the San Francisco Forty Niners 21. Mahomes is the Difference.

Meanwhile, Snoopy is hoping to win the Supper Bowl.

The Question:

What NFL exec came up with the name “Super Bowl”? Bonus: Name five players who won the SB MVP who weren’t QB’s.

The Headlines:

--The Virus Continues To Infect World Stock Markets; Dow Down Near 300 At Mid-Morning, Declines Further to 450 by Near Noon; Amazon Soars After Earnings Trounce Estimates; China Markets Opening Delayed Until Feb 3; WHO Steps Up Warning But Recommends Against Travel and Trade Restrictions.

--House Passes Two Control Elements Limiting Trump Ability To Go To War With Iran; One Measure Would Block Funding.

--Lamar Alexander to Vote Against Having Witnesses; Senate Expected to Finish Off Trial By The End Of The Day; Dems Will Launch Last Minute Missiles.

--Brits Will Leave EU Tis Afternoon After 3.5 Years Of Haggling And 4 PM’s. Parties And Protests Expected Across The UK.

--New NBC/WSJ Poll Has Biden And Sanders In Virtual Tie; Bernie (27%) Up 6, Joe (26%) Down 2; Liz 15%; Mike B Leapfrogs Pete and Closing Gap With Liz.

--Antifa To Mount Protest Against NYC Police And Subway Fares; Officials Preparing For The Worse.

--Taliban Attacks In Afghan Rapidly Increase As US Withdraws Troops.

I wonder if there will be protests against the KC “Chiefs”. Probably, somewhere this weekend. But, how about getting rid of the Niners, The Forty Niners, the ultimate symbol of greed gone crazy in America, the Haves versus the Have Nots. America, the curse of James Marshall. Let’s get rid of The “Niners”. How about the San Fran Homeless? How about Levi’s Stadium as a homeless shelter?

Lately impeachment trials have all been about staining the opposition. Just ask Bill Clinton.

I never cease to be amazed at the talent possessed by people, perhaps just like you and I; neighbors, club and church members. Strangers on the street. Never underestimate the capabilities of people. And people should never underestimate themselves.

The Baseball world is looking at the now real possibility of a Monster trade between the LA Dodgers and Boston Red Sox involving Sox super star Mookie Betts. New England fans are nervous. No Brady? No Mookie? Are pigs flying?

Like clockwork, on the day that it appears the Trump trial will end, a news item appears telling us that a woman allegedly raped by the president in a department store dressing room in the mid 1990’s is asking for DT’s DNA. It is part of her announcing a new book on the matter scheduled for release next month. I am certainly sensitive to the pain of this woman and open to the truth of her allegations, but I suspect something like her revelation will be appearing regularly up until November, shoes dropping one after another for nine months, until the voters deliver.

There is no truth to the rumor that the Dem’s Opposition Research Dirty Tricks Vault is named “Imelda Marcus Closet”.

Establishment Dems are waking up to the fact that serious basic changes in their party are the real thing. Maybe, they will all turn to Michael Bloomberg, after all.

I see where the huge Hummer is coming back as an all-electric vehicle. There’s no truth to the rumor that the behemoth SUV will be followed by an 18-wheeler carrying it’s back up battery.

Reading Between the Lines Movies Reviews:

--The Assistant has an air of mystery and suspense as it follows one day in the life of a young just graduated woman seeking a career in the film industry. As a junior assistant she at once sees it all and decides to take a stand. One day? Could been entertaining if not too preachy, and not too implausible.

--The Rhythm Section has a good star, Bake Lively, and a hot director, but seems to fail miserably. It’s about a lowest of the low strung out addict who sets out to recover “Rocky” style in order to track down the organization responsible for blowing up a plane carrying her parents. It sounds pretty decent in print, but obviously even the most flexible action pic lover is having trouble with it.

-- If you like Taylor Swift, you will like Miss Americana. It is a bio documentary pic taking us through the talented lass’s transformation from young singer song writer genius real woes of maturity.

It seems like the horror movie Gretel and Hansel is worth avoiding. It’s about a young girl leading her brother into the woods to find food but only getting trapped by evil.

The Answer:

Lamar Hunt, founder of the KC Chiefs invented the super bowl and coined the name. Bonus: There have been 54 SB MVP’s, and while it seems that QB;s always win, 25 “all other positions” have been on the big stage. Lately, it has been a little one sided – 10 QB’s of 15. The Latest 5 non-QB’s have been SB 54 Julian Edelman, SB 50 Von Miller LB, SB 48 Malcom Smith LB, SB 43 Sanatoria Holmes WR, and SB 40 Hines Ward WR. BTW, the QB’s who won over the same 15-year stretch were Nick Foles, Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Note, while Tom Brady has won 4, the only player winning 3 was Brady’s boyhood hero, Joe Montana,

 Go Pats!! Oh, we didn’t make it this year. Sigh.

Have great weekend, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!! But… before you go, check this out:

Just a good old-fashioned family get together – the viral offering of the moment:

https://www.scarymommy.com/lebaron-family-viral-les-mis-video-facebook/

The circular circus.

Today's Tids Issue 4,577

WV Day:

Many of yesterday’s Tidlets were way too long. When I get tired writing them, I can imagine your eyes drooping reading them,

Leading up to V-Day, you might enjoy reading real stores of great love. One of them is from the wife of the great Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina. It’s called, “Dostoyevsky Reminiscences”. It’s about a great man in his darkest Moments -- gambling debts, impossible deadlines. It’s about a young woman who came into his life. It’s about mutual respect and understanding. What else is there.

They could have used Alex Trebek yesterday in the Senate. What a yawner for the national Jeopardy show.

I’m certainly not into the Hollywood culture, but I just realized that we’ll probably never see another good Gene Hackman movie.

You have to wonder what Justice Roberts is thinking as he listens to what’s going on around him. How he would rule if he could? That could be a book worth reading.

The Question:

How many lawyers are there in Washington DC?

The Headlines:

--Coronavirus Has Markets Ailing Again; Q4 US GDP At 2.1% Grows Better Than Expected; Consumer Consumption Slows Dramatically Versus Q3; Altria Takes $4.1 Billion Write-Down On Juul Negativity.

--Russia Closes China Border; Many Countries Developing Anti-Contagion Safety Rules; Mere Airlines Cancelling Flights From/To China; Americans From Wuhan Arrive In Cal And Will be Quarantined.

--UK To Exit EU Tomorrow,

--Trump Joins USMCA Ceremony To Sign Deal.

--Portion Of New Border Wall Blows Over Into Mexico During High Wind Storm.

--Bernie Continues To Raise Lots Of Dough; Dem Establishment Continues To Ramp Up Attack Ads Aimed At Emerging Frontrunner With Strongest base.

--Palestinians Submit To UN Resolution Against Trump Plan. Arab Leaders Support Trump Plan.

I have to say that I never understood the love affair with Rolex watches. Must be my Quaker ancestors.

You have to wonder why criminals get tattoos. It just makes it easier to identify them.

Freezing rain hurts like hail!

You have to figure that everybody is waiting for “The Vote” later today. It will determine whether the trial ends tomorrow or stumbles along until the elections.

I’m hearing whispers about Chinese kids in US prep schools and colleges being barred from going home during Spring Break. Adopt a China child for week! Improve dinner conversations.

In 1971 Richard Nixon proposed healthcare for all at an affordable price. What will they be selling us in another 50 years?

After yesterday’s Tidlet about the “Gomorrah of the South” – Newport Kentucky, I received a fact-filled email from a great longtime reader pal living in Cincinnati. Newport arose to Sin status during the Civil war when it garrisoned Union Troops – with nothing to do, but be “entertained”! This reader has a friend who managed restaurant in in the cleaned-up city called The Syndicate. It was the former notorious Glenn Schmidt’s Casino. They found memorabilia the basement which was sold profitably on eBay.

Guess who feels like he died and went to heaven on earth? Nayel Nassar. Who! Navel, that Egyptian equestrian who is marrying Bill and Malinda Gates Daughter, Jennifer. He said “I feel like the luckiest and happiest man in the world”.

Small typo in Apple Tidlet yesterday: I mistakenly typed PV when I meant P/E. Yesterday Powell said current P/E’s are high. The current ratio is 18.6 versus the five-year average of 16.7 and ten year of 14.9. Yellen and Powell both agreed, though, that the low interest rates can support higher valuations. Meaning, everything is relative to what is at the moment.

There’s a rumble bouncing along around DC about how Repubs are seriously worrying about how they would campaign against Sanders.

People wonder how Bloomberg can sustain spending a Billion Dollars on this presidential campaign. That “Bil” is what’s called Pocket change to guys and gals like him. He gets an annual return of about $2.4 Billion on his $52-54 Billion pot.

The Answer:

Commonly, people around the most expensive area in America like to throw out the number of 80,000 lawyers.  But the DC Bar, which includes all of Maryland and Virginia down to Quantico, says that it’s 91,685. So two writers for the Washingtonian, Erin Delmore and Marisa Kashino, decided it needed further investigation.  0f the 91.6K, 48,638 are practicing in the Washington area. There are also, the two found, about 31,797 Lawyers working in in DC for the government who don’t necessarily have to be bar members. The bar said 11,596 of those are bar members. which brings the net total in DC to 68, 839. Further though, our duo found there are about 17,168 who work on the outskirts of DC itself but for inside DC activities who should be counted. That makes the new total 89,447. The average between that and 68+K becomes 79,133, about the number of 80K, which is how this all started. Thus, the lesson: Avoid fender benders in Washington DC!

Thursday is anticipation day. It could be a worse day.

Know what you feel.

Today's Tids Issue 5,476

Now everybody just stay calm.

(Note: Some knucklehead in the Tids empire forgot to press "publish" yesterday. This is the Tids for 1/29. There willl be another later this morning.)

It’s not too early to stock up on Necco hearts for V-day! Building up a little love never hurts.

Overreaction is the modern disease afflicting America’s ability to be reasonable.

The Doomsday clock has moved 20 seconds closer to Midnight. One underlying reason is the acknowledgement that since March 2018 the US had officially become the chaser in the development of Nuke Technology. Russia’s supersonic capability’s that can make defense systems moot are far beyond what we have, but hopefully behind what we are developing. In addition, Putin’s pals have a new Nuke warhead Torpedo with long distance capability. The entire scenario is too complex for a simple Tidlet, but suffice to say that academics are beginning to see a less safe world and want to increase the intensity of a discussion within the national defense departments. That aside, you can expect Putin to be more aggressive now that they have such an apparent edge. The second global event affecting the Doomsday clock which scientists are monitoring is climate. AOC and Greta say we only have until the early 2030’s, that is if we ever get there.

If I headed the RNC, I would be disregarding the impeachment ordeal and spending every waking hour strategizing to woo independents and taking back both houses of Congress.

Ford versus Ferrari is the fuel-good movie of the year!

The Question:

The New England Pats and Pittsburgh Steelers have 6 Super Bowl Championships. Which teams have five? Bonus: What are considered the Top Ten “Sin” Cities In the US?

The Headlines:

--The Stock Markets Kick It Up After Apple Comes Up Shiny; Fed Not expected To Move On Rates; Home Sales Fall As Inventory Of Previously Owned Homes Dries Up; GE Earnings Beat; FaceBook’s Coming Today.

--Coronavirus Now Bigger Than SARS Epidemic In China.

--McConnell Says Repubs Don’t have Enough Votes To Stop Call For Witnesses; GOP Lawyers Are Said To Have Known What Was In Bolton Book.

--Serval Dems Now Implying They Will Vote For Acquittal: Manchin, Jones and Sinema Could Cross Over To Replace Lost Repubs; Manchin Says Some Dems Becoming Edgy; Feinstein Says She Was Misunderstood About Acquit Quote.

--Major Sinkholes Open On Cayman Islands Following Magnitude 7.7 Caribbean Earthquake.

--Biden Campaign Flunks U Iowa Rally; His Message Is Good But Attendees Are Lacking.

--Canada’s Tim Horton Drops Beyond Meat Products At All Locations Except British Columbia and Ontario.

Katrine Ross, the wide-eyed innocent of The Graduate is 80 years old today. That means we all may be old, depending on how we look at life.

Technology makes dangers that used to be far, far away, seem much closer.

It’s quite Ironic how over the years I have seen Democrats lining up to stone a hated John Bolton, their most heinous adversary. Now, they are canonizing him. Saint JB.

The main job of politicians is to stay in power. If it wasn’t, they would find ways to listen to each other and come together ofr the common good. And Ironically, maybe if they did, they’d have an easier time staying in power.

The entire impeachment thing is still all about abortion.

Every college basketball game looks the same to me. There are just so many games with so little differences. Unless of course, one of the two is your team. Then you create the differences, and the excitement ensues.

Before Ls Vegas rose in the dessert, kids of the 1940’s and 50’s would imagine the goings-on in famous “Sin” cities like Newport Kentucky or Calumet City near Chicago. And other small Bergs noted for gambling, prostitution, general theft and other stuff not known to innocent minds highlighted in gossip rags. BTW, Newport Kty was cleaned up by a former star Notre Dame Football player and former NFL QB George Ratterman. He got elected Sherriff there after several mafia attempts to take him down. Newport K is now an upscale, great place to live. But elsewhere today, people stand in awe of the glittering lights, and dark cellars.

New England is begin got look like a startup franchise in the NFL. They are losing coaches and players and perhaps several executives.

What could be worse for the world than nuke devices on satellites?

Why the gloom? It’s nice and sunny today. Sometimes you have to waken to other serious stuff that’s around and going on, but not covered by the general news operations.

Every year $100 Billion dollars is lost by gamblers. And most of them will regale you about their winning moments

The Apple stock continues to soar and yesterday the tech icon reported great earnings. But its valuation appears way too high for accompany that is still hardware centric. While it has promoted its move to a new service future and investors are probably betting on it, they missed on Service products sales projections by $300,000,000. Phone sales were also down, and many service features are developed off of phone apps. Its current PV is 25 and some smart investors think it is sold if at15-16. That leaves a lot of room for short sellers looking beyond sensational profits. That gap provides a look at possible susceptibility in the event of a probable downturn. But. Apple is still Apple and people love it. Maybe service revenue will catch up before the market slows.

Warren Buffet is giving up on newspapers, selling his Berkshire paper empire to the Lee Company which will now own 81 Papers. (Lots of other huge publishers are selling or combining.) Berkshire won’t be doing too bad either as it will receive 9% interest on their loan that enabled to Lee to by the Berkshire Papers. That is, if the papers continue to generate enough cash to pay the 9%. I really love newspapers, and it is tough to look at this dear friend on life support.

The Answer:

After the 6 SB’s by NE and Pitt, we have San Fran and Dallas with 5, The NY Giants and Green Bay Packers have 4. At 3 are Oakland, Denver and Washington. With 11 total SB appearances, The Pats have the most by a wide margin. However, we often forget that the NFL is 43 years longer than the 53 year SB Era. The most NFL championships are held by Green Bay with 13. The Pack is followed at a distance with 8 for the Jints and Bears, and then 6 for the Pats Steelers and Redskins. Bonus: #10 is that little playground of fun and kid’s imaginations, Orlando Florida. Yes, Micky and Minnie are up to something beyond talking in high pitched voices – namely lots of gambling.. Next is Atlanta followed by Gulfport Miss, Henderson Nv, New Orleans and #5 Charleston WVa. Let me pause here for a moment, Charleston in West By God Virginia is listed for the sin of vanity – having too many beauty parlors and Tanning salons per capita and leading the nation in top plastic surgeons! Yikes. (The City is also 3^rd per capita in thefts.) #4 is Detroit followed by North Las Vegas, Saint Louis and surprise. Las Vergas.

One of the most thrilling aspects of being a person is feeling an inspiration to move beyond yourself.