Chocolate and Money.

Today's Tids Issue 3,859

For Thee:

It’s Lilac season! How great is that!!

Wake me up when the partisan bickering, grandstanding and hyperbole over the passage of healthcare II is over.

You have to be really desperate to get excited over “Fresh Florida Corn.” Besides, local corn always tastes better when you wait for it. There really are no substitutes.

I have to take a second to say, we’ll all miss you Larry Rachleff. Larry’s the Music Director of the RI Symphony , and over the past 20 years he has built an amazing operation, raised the quality of the orchestra to that of any I have heard. I have never left he hall dissatisfied, and almost always electrified. But the waving of the baton gets heavier as the years go by, and Maestro Rachleff is about to excite us with his last Crescendo. I’ll pound a couple of tympani’s for that.

Hope you have your mint ready for the Juleps and fresh flowers for the bonnets, because the horses are ready to fly, and they ain’t waiting for anybody. A lot of people like “Classic Empire” and his lowest odds of 4-1 show it. Next tied at 5-1, are “McCraken” and “Always Dreaming”. At 6-1 we have Irish War Cry. All of the other 16 are 15-1 or better. But, now the real horse picking tips, Hunches! If “Battle of Midway”, 30-1, tickles your patriotic heart, put down the dough.. I like the name “Hence”, and today he still doesn’t have a jockey which would make him lighter. But, I like “Patch” It just reminds me of a winner, like Assault. (Note: In an informal internet survey, Irish War Cry is a pretty substantial winner with “Patch” being 5^th.)

The Question:

I have found it interesting reading about the Quakers. They were disliked in England and in certain parts of New England, especially where the intolerant Puritans roamed. In the US, they were always seeking locations where Freedom of religion prevailed like Penn’s land. Long Island and Rhode Island. Like all religions, inner differences and views led to squabbles and then serious schisms. (Liberal versus Conservative, Orthodoxy or socioeconomic separatism tensions, simple versus material.). In the 1920’s four pretty well known and well defined branches split the Friends. See if you can name the 4, and the men who they were named after.

The Headlines:

--Nasdaq, S&P Up Sharply; IBM Weighing Down Dow – Buffet Cuts IBM Holdings By 1/3; US Adds 211K Jobs In April; Unemployment Lowest In Decade.

--Trump Hire American Plan Has US Tech Companies Moving To Mexico.

--Kim Accuses SK and US of Conspiring To Kill Him In Biochemical Plot.

--Trump Signs EO Allowing Churches To become More Politiclly Active.

--First Homegrown China Airliner Takes Off.

--J&J Forced To Pay Out $110Mil In talcum Powder Suit.

--Justice Department Charging Uber Criminally For Software That Helps Drivers Evade Safety Inspectors.

Don’t get upset no matter which side you are on. If and when the Senate passes something on improving or changing ACA, it will be entirely different than what they are ranting about today..

The increase of reporter firing by newspapers Editors leads me to believe that the biggest deniers of Freedom of the Press are in the Press itself.

Why is Miley Cyrus proud to say she is giving up Pot when so many pot advocates say pot good for you?

How come all of those Mexicans who could hardly wait to get out of their country by breaking US immigration laws, are so eager to proudly wave their country’s flag today? It’s like all of those “I Love New York” bumper sticker cars who come to Rhode Island for vacation.

Oh yeah, happy Cinco de Mayo, everybody! I would have spelled cinqo with a “Q”. It looks spicier.

The families of San Bernardino Victims are suing Google, Facebook and Twitter. I just hate these deep pocket law suits: I was texting while driving and ran into a crowd killing 7. I’m suing Bud.

I criticized the hell out of Obamacare for one thing – No tort reform. If they were serious about reform health costs, I would have said, then they should have at least taken a stab at it muzzling lawyers”. Well, I don’t see it in the new effort passed yesterday. I wonder why? Are there any lawyers in congress?

There are several things I have had no desire to learn, and one of them for sure is how a health care system works. So don’t expect much help from the Tids.

There are a growing number of pretty aware and intelligent people who like what Trump is doing, regardless of his personal incongruities. A huge number of people didn’t vote for him as a person. but as an avenue to slow down and reverse Obama’s progressive march.

There is nothing I like better than to walk into a room full of Bloomberg supporters and order a diet Coke or Pepsi.

For a lot of older men, drinking too much water could lead to death, like falling down the stairs while making one too many nightime trips to the bathroom.

Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:

--Note: I reviewed The Finest a few weeks ago and this pretty good tale of a woman writing propaganda in Britain for WWII just hit the local screen – for all who are interested. I’m going.

--Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Is long on humor and that is enough to justify a couple of tickets. Not terribly thrilling or creatively new, but enjoyable as the regular space-traveling group unravels the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

--The Lovers is a pleasant and humorous look at love, fidelity and family. One of my old favorites, Debra Winger is back as the wife to Tracy Letts – a long married couple  both now in the midst of serious affairs with rapidly increasing commitments. But, aha, love and romance reignites between them and now the guilt is their cheating on their lovers. Could be good. People like it.

--Chuck is the story of Bayonne NJ liquor salesman Chuck Wepner who went 15 rounds with Mohammed Ali. It changed his life, as his 15 minutes of fame gave him delicious highs and demeaning lows. Pretty good.

--The Dinner is a so-so movie about two sets of parents who go to a posh restaurant to discuss the horrible crime committed by their fifteen-year-old sons. To make matters worse, two men are brothers wo have been estranged for years. Basically, it doesn’t work, despite what you may think.

The Answer:

Sorry about the out of the mainstream question, I just felt like writing about the four: The Hicksites of Elias Hicks, Wilberites of John Wilber, Gurneyites of John Gurney and Beanites of Joel and Hannah Bean. The Hicksites and Beanites became very similar as they both abhorred complexities that led to incessant bickering. Keep it simple, and feel it inside was heir modest mantra. Note: while the Quakers were on the outs with the Church of England they did pretty well there with members founding banks like Barclays and Lloyds, and chocolate companies like Cadbury and Fry. And, now you know what the title of this Tids means.

Feel the spirit within you, and have a wonderfully simple and non-perplexing weekend…E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!