Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Thursday, March 3, 2016

We’re walking in quick sand, but it hasn’t sunk in.



Today's Tids Issue 3,543
Opening Stuff:

Twitter has become so inane that we now have the national news segments dwelling on the mindless tweeting about nothing.

I guess when it comes down to picking things that I truly enjoy, I would have to say that Home-Made Chicken Soup ranks right up there with the most satisfying. (Sans Carrots, spices and other additives that contaminate the marvelous flavor of pure unadulterated chicken.)

But then, seeing baseball Box Scores back in the newspaper ain’t so bad either.

Some of the criticisms of trump represent exactly what his supporters are fighting against. We have become unfortunately a rush to judgment, guilty before innocent society. For instance, Trump offered a pithy quote from Mussolini and the uproar was that he supported II Duce. But, the quote was perfect for the moment, which escaped the trigger angst of the outraged. In another instance he was asked to condemn KKK style groups and he answered something like, I have to know about each group before broad condemnation. In other words, as opposed to some media favored groups and candidates, he didn’t seem about to broadly label everybody racist without the facts – a big problem in our society. Maybe I’m going a little overboard here, but I hope you see the point. We have gone much too far with labeling in this country. He certainly doesn’t appear Presidential at times, but he seems to be slightly more rational when it comes to denouncing some of this misrepresented national hysteria from the left.

The Question:
Here’s another Tids famous, “Who are these People” Q-Day: Alice Pearce, William Frawley, Briton Haddon, Hattie Winston and Jennifer Warnes.

The Headlines:
--Romney Anti-Trump Speech Set for today; Mittster Will Say Trump “A Phony, A Fraud…Voters Taken For Suckers…”; Trump: “Romney A Failed Candidate.”
--Ex-Clinton Staffer Gets FBI Immunity In Probe Of Hill; Glad Handing Bill Clinton Probably Broke Mass State Election Laws By Shaking Hands, Posing For Selfies Inside Polling Place.
--New Unemployment Benefit Claims Grow By 6K; Costco Profits Down In 2nd Q; US Factory Orders Rebound But Miss Mark; ISM Numbers Fall But Still Above “50” Cut Line; UK Reports Lowest Recent PMI; US Dow Down About 60.
--Deeply Divided SC Hears Abortion Clinic Case.
--North Korea Answers New UN Sanctions By Firing Projectiles Into The Sea.
--Repub Last Hope For Sane Candidate Dashed As Carson Admits He Sees No future For His campaign.

The more the establishment tries to insult Trump, the stronger his support becomes.

Contradicting Emotions, Department:
Several days ago I was going to write about a nice little RI High School basketball story, but figured that even for this homer it may have been too local for the Tid’s thoughtful national audience. Then, low and behold, the quite national CBS Nightly News devotes a segment to the Chariho-Burrillville Championship game where Burrillville, thinking it had won threw the ball up in the air and piled on top of each other in celebration. Unfortunately for them, a Chariho player caught the ball with one second left and a time out was smartly called. On the inbound, the Chariho passer sent the ball beautiful to the tall teammate under the basket who adroitly grabbed it and sent it home in one fluid motion within one second. Now it was the Chariho players who piled on and the Bronco players who walked off slowly.

The Boston Celtics are doing it well as a “team”, with none of the big superstars so prevalent in the NBA today. Just last night, 11 players registered assists. Think about that for a minute – sharing, in the NBA.

The Aubrey McClendon case is weird indeed. What’s weird about it is that a cheating executive may have had guilt.

I really had to laugh at Bill Clinton’s blatant disregard for the Massachusetts’s election laws. But, then, what is so strange about that? For this dynamic duo, it has been modus operandi for decades – laws, moral and civil aren’t for them. Maybe that’s why they get along so well with Hollywood. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“Deflategate?” is back in the news again today, and it is a reminder of how much money some people and organizations have to waste on nothing. Think about it, the NFL could have hired 1,000 people at $50K with the $5 Mill they spent to produce a report with next to nothing in it. Lower ticket prices -- it’s obvious they don’t need the money.

A lot of new technology is redundant and often just adds confusion to life. Does that mean I’m getting old?

The Parking Lot: Chapter 49 continues…
   Nancy found a cab near the corner of Admiral and Chalkstone and was outside the AG’s office in ten minutes. She stood across the street in the shadows of old downtown buildings looking at the big antique structure that housed this chief legal officer of the state, clutching hw most valuable papers to her chest. All she could think about was, who is this politician connected too.” Is he a public servant for me or somebody important to his financial and political career. Maybe this was a mistake like going to that car in the parking lot.
   Her caution came from the fact that he knew what she wanted, and while he was obviously there, the woman said he wasn’t. It was now about 15 minutes before she said she would arrive.
   She heard the sound of the engine before she saw the car peel up to the curb. Two guys smartly dressed in black or navy suits got out carrying briefcases’. The car sped off. She backed into the doorway. Within a couple of minutes a third person, a women in a dark green suit, walked briskly towards the door. She was also on a mission. Her arms tightened around the package.
   Nancy looked up at the windows expecting to see the glint off binoculars aimed at her. But, it appeared calm. She took the package and put it into her waste band, closed the light coat, pulled up her collar, and walked down the narrow Pine Street away from the building. She felt she stood out like a sore thumb on this street of few pedestrians.
   One block down she turned right into an alley street, not looking back at the AG offices. She punched in the AG phone number and got the familiar answer form the AG’s guard dog. Tell your boss to send home the stooges. I’ve had a change of plans. Tell him that when he decides to be honest with me, we may find a way to get together. Right now, I don’t trust you or your boss.
   Nancy knew she had best get moving, because the call from the AG to somebody far less desirable for her would be made in less than a minute. She walked towards a crowded street.

The Answer:
Ok, here we go. Gene Kelley was so impressed with the unknown Alice Pearce in the Broadway Show, “On the Town” he brought her to Hollywood for the movie role. She had her own TV comedy program The Alice Pearce Show, but is best known as Gladys Kravitz, the nosy neighbor in “Bewitched”. Of course, you all knew that William Frawley was Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy. Briton Haddon in 1923 was the Co-Founder of Time Magazine along with Henry Luce who gets all the credit. I like to help the underdog. Hattie Winston’s Husband is musical director for Dancing with Stars, but she had fame long before. She has been big on Broadway, and has done well in several films, But she may be known best for her long stay at PBS Electric Company where she appeared mainly as Valerie Librarian where she was best friends with ”Easy Reader” played by Morgan Freeman. Jennifer Warnes was/is a pretty important singer songwriters and worked a lot with good friend Leonard Cohen. She was a cast member of the Smothers Brothers TV show. She had several memorable film songs singing duets --  Up Where We Belong in “Officer and a Gentleman”, One More Hour for “Ragtime”, It Goes Like It Goes for “Norma Rae” and among others The Time of My Life for “Dirty Dancing.” Her breakthrough single was “Right Time of the Night”. You’ve heard her often, but you may not have known it.




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