Moderation? Where?

Today's Tids Issue 4,210

For Tuning Out:

I have this beautiful view of magnificent symphonies orchestrated by genius composers and interpreted by brilliant conductors. But, now I am sad as I see how the country is orchestrated by a few, not by those looking to elevate spirits with positive joyful crescendos. We see the strings fighting the brass and the woodwinds countering the percussion. Nothing just happens. The constant drum beat of negativity is the result of a few acting to disillusion the many. I believe firmly that we all have our own free wills to guide us through questions and decisions. But, the melodies of symphonic coercion often have us dancing to the tunes of others, and we don’t know why. Write your own tune. Let the chorus of unity return.

It’s not a coincidence that Woodward’s book “Fear” was announced to the public on the opening day of the Kavanaugh hearings.

On of my on-going pet peeves is the statement often made by lawyers of guilty clients. “He made a mistake”. Mistake? The latest was last night when it was said to resurrect the character of a former RI politician who relentlessly planned and executed a vast check kiting scheme.

I’ll tell you what was sad – the burning to the ground of the Brazil National Museum.

Even sadder though are charities set up to help veterans, but wind up rewarding administrators while the deserving vets get pennies on the dollar. And Saddest of all, perhaps, is the missing $400K raised on a GoFundMe page for the Homeless veteran who used his last bit of money to help a stranded motorist by $20 buck’s worth of gas. That stranded motorist and her boyfriend started the GFM and allegedly used the money to buy a BMW and assorted goodies like lavish vacations for themselves. Their excuse, the “drugged out veteran would waste it on drugs. That said, there is more to this story than the accusatory headlines. What started as a sweet gesture on both sides has erupted into accusations, because of, you know what – sudden riches.

The Question:

Who was Toguri D’Aquino?

The Headlines:

--Continuing Trade Concerns Will Have Stocks Pointing Lower, Again; Canada And Us Resuming Talks; Amazon Hits One Trillion Matching Apple.        `.

--Nike Shares Tumble After Announcing New Spokesperson; Experts Say Nike Received About $42 Million In free Publicity.

--China Undercuts Trump By Easing Economic Pressure On NK.

--Hurricane Florence Strengthens In Atlantic; Gordon Weakens; One Death Attributed To Fast Moving Storm.

--Arizona Governor Picks Ex-Sen John Kyl To Replace McCain.

--Coca Cola Hints At Takeover of Dunkin Donuts.

--Federer Loses In Fourth Round; Willems Overcomes Lethargic Beginning To Advance.

--Rahm Emanuel SAYS, Enough; Will Not Seek Re-election.

--It’s Grilling Season In National Capital; Facebook And Twitter Execs To face Congressional Questioning, While Dems Attack Kavanaugh In The Same Building.

The Press is in orgasmic mode again today as another super socialist upsets a long-time sitting Congressman, this time in Massachusetts. The irony here is that the newbie beat the most liberal of all liberal Mass politicians. I guess you just can’t get left enough for some.

Ghosts in an elevator: Lifting the spirits.

As far as I’m concerned, all of the acts on AGT last night were warm-ups for the magician Shin Lim. This slight-of-hander is one graceful amazing performer. This is not to say that the other acts were all bad. Michael Ketterer continued to prove that he is a class above singer, and the dancing group Zurcaroh is just pure creative, original excitement. The husband and wife trapeze act, Duo Transend, always amazes me, but how much more freshness do they have in their trick bag. I think I’m tired of singers. Maybe because I’ve seen too many good but similar vocalists like Amanda Mena and Makala Phillips on the music shows. They always bring everybody to their feet, but to me, they are just more of the same ole’. The twosome Us the Duo, though, are a nice blend of voices from two nice people, who tend to make the room happy. There were 11 acts in all, and only 5 will get through to the finals. One that I wouldn’t mind is the children’s choir Voices of Hope. That’s eight acts. Left are three that I wouldn’t miss if they left. I did not laugh once at comedian Samuel J. Comroe. Front Pictures brought us a guy in an astronaut’s suit floating in space while creatures of the sea were technologically imaged in the heavens around him. Not much there, though admirable. Junior New System was an energetic modern dance team, but I’ve seen many like them before and they were pretty much the same as the rest. So, the acts I want to go on are Shin Lim, Ketterer, Zucaroh, Duo Transcend and either Us the Duo or Voices of Hope. My Guess is that one of the other singers might make it. After all, we are talking about mass social network voting, and not about old guys writing reviews.

The vast majority of Americans don’t give two wits about politics. And, the politicians know how to take advantage of apathy.

When Kamala Harris and Cory Booker leapt upon Grassley at the opening of the Kavanaugh hearings, they were essentially announcing their run for President in in 2020.

I love choral music rising on high.

I imagine you all will have trouble sleeping tonight in anticipation of tomorrow’s 2018 premier of the Tids NFL Pickers. I mean, there are rewards in life if you wait long enough.

What has cute and inventive young Elizabeth Holmes done for the potential of cute and inventive young girls of the future? Her investors are out abbot a billion dollars, and creditors owed about $60 million will receive next to nothing. Fraud where’s many faces.

The Dems say they can’t proceed with the SC hearings until they get more documents. The 85K released on Kavanaugh is more than the total released for the past five nominees. Can you say delaying tactics?

There have been very hot August and September days since I can remember. But, I have never heard so much about the need for abbreviated school days as I have heard this year. We need to get back to toughing it out.

Our US Senator Sheldon says we have a Whitehouse problem. His last name is Whitehouse, and I agree.

Everybody was hopeful for a post-McCain service political world where moderation and civility would return. That was dashed in the opening seconds of the Kavanagh hearings as “Out-of-Order” Dems went Berserk.

I don’t know what to think about Woodward’s book. You have to wonder why the so-called closest to the Prez would open up so negatively to any reporter, much less one known for digging up dirt and bringing down Republicans. On the other hand, President Trump tends to hurt himself more and more every time he tweets or speaks. So, I can see the people in the WH who are every day trying to hold it together, being crazed by the situation.

Mitigating the crap is the positive changes for the country that have occurred in the last year and a half. Are the tariffs positive?

The Answer:

Toguri was the Japanese-American WWII propagandist “Tokyo Rose”.

I think I tried too hard with my symphonic example above. It wasn’t music to my literary ears.