Today's Tids Issue
3,908
For Open Spaces:
I
can be pretty aesthetic at times. You’d think my inner
Thoreau would be showing today, this July 12, his 200th birthday. You’d
think I’d be climbing a tree somewhere to view a fog shrouded shoreline, with
stillness broken gently by lapping waves. Seagull’s calling muted by heavy air.
But, I feel like the naturalist every morning when I walk out into my colonial streets,
closing my eyes to the strewn litter, envisioning what I may have been a couple
of hundred years ago when leaders of the world met where I am standing to
determine the fight for freedom. One good thing about DT, he makes you think. That,
by the way, is DT – David Thoreau
Trump
and clan’s biggest problem is probably conflicting
statements.
The
big news of the morning is that there is a strong rumor
that Frito-Lay will be coming out with skin colored Cheetos. That’s so husbands
and wives sneaking the delectable morsels in the closet would upon emerging not
have those tell-tale fingertips and be discovered by their spouses. It’s the same
reason why odorless Vodka became so popular.
Here
are two things I don’t write about: 1. “Trump says Son is
innocent.” 2. “Line-up of Dems say Russia contact is worst thing in US history.”
(BTW,
I know it is HDT, but it wouldn’t work for my stupid joke. Actually his friends
called him David.)
The
Question:
-In honor of the Birthday Boy, name the Ten Greatest
American Philosophers. Is HDT one of them?
The
Headlines:
--Stocks look to Strong Morning Awaiting Yellen Two
Days Of Congressional testimony; Oil Prices Move Up.
--Right Leaning NY Post Calls DT Jr. “An Idiot”, “Criminally
Stupid”.
--US Senate Says It Is Closer To HealthCare Bill; McConnell
Shortens August Recess.
--LA Expected To be Named 2028 Olympics City; Trump
Expected To take Credit.
--AL Wins All Star Game On Cano Extra Inning HR For
Fifth In Row.
--Dems, Repubs Draw Battle Lines In Tump Jr. Affair.
If
someone says I don’t agree with your politics what they are saying
is I don’t agree with the way you run your life. And why should my or anybody’s
life be described as politics, anyhow. Have we gotten to a point where people
are defined by their politics instead of who they are? And what are politics
anyhow, and should we care. Why should this thing called politics that is singularly
defined by barbed-wire lines define any reasonably intelligent life? Politics
as constituted today is basically stupid.
Things
that are boring: Pre-Fight hype featuring boxer insults
of each other.
When
Krauthammer Denounces Trump Jr’s “I’m Incompetent”,
defense as he did yesterday, it is quite meaningful; When Stephen Colbert goes
ballistic over the Trump indiscretions, as he did yesterday, it’s just Colbert
being maniacal all over again.
A
lot of people thought Morning Joe was a Democrat long,
long ago. Maybe MSNBC put something in his java.
I
never watch TV in the morning, unless it is
something truly important like the British Open. Flapping lips of celebrities is
much to jarring for this fragile mind.
I
don’t know if you have received lately the “Gordon
Pizza Shop” email gong around the
circuit, but is pretty funny in a scary sort of way. It’s about Google buying a
local Pizza shop and how much they know about a guy ordering a pizza -- like
everything. I’ll forward it if you are interested.
I
don’t know why they had to go to Russia to find dirt on
Hillary. Just listen to her for a few minutes.
Isn’t
it interesting how two guys with the initials DT
can make you see the world before you so differently.
The
Fed is considering winding down its $4.5 trillion
balance sheet to half its size. Before QE, it was about a Trillion, and it is now
loaded with Treasury Bonds and Mortgage backed Securities. The fed will let
bonds roll off their portfolio at maturity. It is expected that a result will be
a decline in Bond prices and resultant increase in yields. It sounds like it
could be a disaster, but the associative rate increases should temper the
market angst. Frankly understanding bonds has always given me a head ache. High
yields sound good but they are bad because your portfolio is losing value.
The
Fed action coupled with stock prices at what are considered
high points has some investors looking for a downturn.
Wait!
Could skin colored Cheetos have racist overtones?
Everybody
is looking for perfection. If I were David Thoreau sitting
aloft in a Sudbury Mass pine tree, I’d be looking across the quiet expanse of God’s
nature wondering how I could put together a portfolio that would always produce
10% a year with no possible downside.
Did
you know that collusion is nothing, but conspiracy is seriously
illegal?
Do
you think DT Jr. will be taken out back to the White
Shed?
The
Answer:
#10 on the list is John Dewey. #9 is John Rawls and
he followed by Jonathon Edwards, Cornel West, Michael Sandel, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Charles Sanders Pierce, Thomas Jefferson and at #2 we have birthday
boy Henry David Thoreau. # 1 is William James. His big book is “The Principles
of Psychology”, which is filled with his very aware philosophical musings. He
was big influence on the lives of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstien. He wrote
much about religion and science and warned
of extremism on both sides.
One
of my passions is to leave as much land as possible undeveloped.
But, I refuse to worry about the spotted owl or the scrunge fish.
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