Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Moderation, where art thee?



Today's Tids Issue 4,280
Overthinking:

I’d be in constant elation
If we did more in moderation.
From politics to concert halls
Cooking shows and border walls,
We need a little more simplicity
And far less of fill to capacity.

There is a lot of talk across the global lush green vistas and deep blue waters about tourism ruining great places. The problems are many from travel writers bringing too many people to out of the way places which transform them into just another cluttered city or instant resort. How do you capture ever again out-of-the-way. Food critics create crowds before donut shops in New York and for fish throwing in Seattle. People, who lived in towns and places succumbing to the promise of easy money suddenly find themselves the minority population -- their lives disrupted, streets clogged and litter abounding. Even their elected officials begin working against them. And of course, with today’s technology, people who find themselves in a spot of undefinable beauty instantly text or twitter out to the waiting hordes. Pack backers find hidden Eden’s, and shortly thereafter newly paved roads expose the treasure which loses its silent appeal. Too many tourists forget that a big part of something special is more than the natural beauty or intrinsic history, but the fact that it hadn’t been discovered.

The Voice proved once again that country Music lovers, vote!

The dermatologist who loved to cook made everything from scratch.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and I were sitting at a bar in small restored hotel on an island which somehow managed to stymie progress, was still somewhat close to its quiet past. A young touring couple sat next to us, and we, who had a place on the island, asked, “How do you like the island?” They said, “We like it, but it would be really great if it had an amusement park.”

The Question:
20 years ago today, the US House of Representatives did something quite rare and significant. What was it? Bonus: Who was Herb Stempel? Extra Bonus: Name five “Heteronyms”.

Headlines:
--Major Wall Street Observers Hoping This Afternoon’s Fed Decision Will Calm Down Markets; Stocks Up Higher In Late Morning; FedEx Stock Drops After Reporting Lower Profits, Blaming Tariffs And “Bad” Politics.
--Senate Announces Short Term Spending Bill To Avoid Shutdown.
--Senate Approves Passage Of Criminal Justice Reform On Bipartisan Vote; Trump And White House Approve; Ryan Says House Is Ready to Pass It through; Over Time Bill Would Lower Prison Population.
--Trump Considering “Full” And “Rapid” Troop Withdrawal From Syria.
--Admin Ok’s Plan To Send $5.8 Billion To Central American and $4.6 Billion to Southern Mexico; Funds Designed Prop Up Economies And Create Jobs For Struggling Populations.
--CNN’s Cuomo Produces Trump Signed Letter Of Intent To Build Trump Tower Moscow; Van Jones Praises Trump For Justice Reform Bill.  
--110 Days To Brexit; Momentum Gathering For “No-Deal” Exodus.
--Pope Accepts Resignation Of Accused LA Bishop.
--Old Time Country Singer Chevel Shepherd (16) Wins The Voice In Big Surprise: Chris Kroeze 2nd, Beating Out Early Favorite Kirk Jay And Outstanding Kennedy Holmes.

The reporting of the of the Judge explosion against Flynn is classic journalism of today.  My random observations saw media jumping on headlines like “Arguably, you sold your country out.” Or “Could Flynn have been charged with Treason” . A fair headlined could have been: “After learning facts, Judge backtracks from tirade against Flynn.” The problem with over the top accusatory headlines, which are becoming more commonplace, is that a person’s character is always sullied from them, even if later facts prove headlines wrong. Class action lawyers do it all the time, causing people to see evil in institutions that may have never existed. Journalists with bias exaggerate all of the time. Flynn did something wrong but it may not have been as huge as the inuendo. 

The real question about the Flynn sentencing situation, is why did the judge postpone sentencing for 3 months. What does he know that we or the prosecution or the defense teams doesn’t know? That is the question.

Some of the smartest people looking at the world and the nations upon it are saying that Russia and Putin probably had the best year of all. Their economy grew beyond just an energy seller and distributor. They made deals with nations across the orb. Their military was reinforced. It’s pretty easy to argue that Russia is just a bunch of thugs and greedy oligarchs, but quietly the country has been making progress while the EU and even the US seem a bit more muddled. It’s like the country is seeping up from beneath as chaos fin the western work clouds the emering ooze.

Here are 13 places that experts say have been ruined by Tourism: Venice Italy, Dubrovnik Croatia, Reykjavik Iceland, Cozumel Mexico, Barcelona Spain, New York City (Surprise!), Machu Picchu Peru, Santorini Greece, Rome Italy, Prague Czech Republic, Big Major Cay Island Bahamas, Amsterdam the Netherlands and Cuba. Cuba? I thought Castro ruined Cuba.

Don’t you think the place name “Big Major Cay Island” is full of redundancies?

Maybe the Flynn’s Judge was just being fair, waiting for the Justice reform Bill to become law.

I watched this singer called Halsey perform her so-called “Off the Charts” top hit last night, and it sounded exactly like every other contemporary song, same beat, same basic tune, different words. It must be the words that does it. BTW, the dance scene intertwining the singing looked a bit pornographic. Maybe that’s why the video is such a big hit.  

I wish I knew more about Computer gaming so I could comment on that important aspect of global activity.

IIHS issued the Top 30 safest cars list, and it was dominated by all of the Kia, Hyundai and Subaru models. There were three Mercedes, a couple of BMW’s – X3 And 5 series -- and two Toyotas, a Mazda CX5, Acura sedan and a Lexus 300. What happened to the car that has always promoted safety first, Volvo? And American cars?

I am happy to see that our Gov is trying to do something about the real problem causing illegal immigration – attempting to rebuild economies in the home countries. They basically must be livable countries, because American tourists are going there. Let’s hope the US funding doesn’t just go into building more hotels and resorts. And lets hope there were strings attached, like keeping the greedy hands of politicians away for the till, and perhaps building a better defense against dominant gangs in the region.

Susan Collins should have been Time Person of the year.

The Answer:
20 years ago today, the US House of Representatives impeached President William J. Clinton.  Bonus: Herb Stempel was the contestant on the big money quiz show Twenty-One who blew the whistle on the popular big winner Chares Van Doren, and the entire CBS and show producing hierarchy. It was quite the legal battel. With plenty of deception, conspiracy, coercion and unexplained judicial movements. Extra Bonus: Heteronyms are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings like wound and wound, produce and produce, refuse and refuse, polish and Polish, lead and lead, bass and bass, present and present or object and object.

You know there are many people associated with the financial markets who have never experienced a downturn. They are used to a steady rise. Every move they make looks like genius. But, maybe we are in proximity of the apex. When knowledge will become more important than events; when back to basics will be the guide. Buy stock on the qualifications of each individual company. But the markets back int motion without the emotion. I refuse to buy refuse.

Remember that awkward moment when you leave a store without buying anything and all you can think is, “Act natural, you’re innocent.”

No comments:

Post a Comment