Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Monday, November 11, 2019

I hear the caissons rolling.



Today's Tids Issue 4,519
Awe:

V-e-t-e-r-a-n: V is for Valiant, Victor, Valued. E is for Exceptional. T is for Tough, Tenacious. Trustworthy. Treasured. Taps. Tears. E is for Extraordinary, Esteemed.  R is for Resilient, Resolute, Reliable. A is for Admirable, Authentic, Alert. Appreciated. N is for National Thanks.

Yes, today, The Tids National Groaner Laureate is back: “If you boil a funny bone it becomes a laughing stock. Yes, that’s Humerus!”

There are many new phrases coined these days and one which could be most contributory to the current immovable divide is “Confirmation Bias”. That is defined as the tendency to only process information or interpret it in a manner that supports one’s decisions and beliefs; While avoiding facts that many refute such decisions and beliefs.

Everybody does it, even those who try to convince themselves that they are among the precious few who don’t, by blocking out the times they do.

The Question:
What are considered the greatest WWII movies?

The Headlines:
--Stocks Fall; Hopes For Trade Agreement Dimming.
--Alibaba “Singles Day” Sells $32 Billion In First Hour; Number Is 32% Higher Than Last Year; Uber Director Ted Kalanick Sells $547 Million Of Stock After Lockup Period Ends..
--Trump First Sitting President To Attend NYC Veterans Day Parade.
--Spain Faces Uncertain Future As New Election Fails To Deliver Majority To Ruling Socialists; Far Right Seats Double.
--Key Admin Operatives Shuffling For Strategic Poisoning Ahead of Open Impeachment Inquiry.
--Long Time Long Island NY Repub Peter King Will Not Run In 2020.
--“Safest” Sweden Sets Up Police Task Force To Combat Increasing Gang Violence In Wake Of Shooting In Mexico.
--Bloomberg Favorability/ Like Ratings Come In At Mere 4% In New National Poll.
--India Nuke Arsenal Growing; China And Pakistan Watching Closely.

It appears that global auto sales are slipping. This is something to watch. Is it because people are watching their Dollars, Euros, Baht or Tajikistani Somonis? Or is it because today’s better built cars last longer. Either way, car sales will slow.

Did you realize that Dollars Euros, Baht and Tajikistani Simoni’s spell Debts?

There is no truth to the rumor that former Mayor Bloomberg, defender of good health and anti snack and sugar crusader, was seen recently with Orange fingers. There are just some things you can’t hide. Don’t wear dark blue pinstriped suits.

If you see somebody smiling rapturously, check out the color of their fingers.

I don’t play Schuman symphonies often enough.

Center left or center right media will tend to honestly report the facts. It is just the way they write, and the words they use that makes them appear biased. Which, in their hearts, they are.

On the subject of kinder and gentler capital punishment, I submit that those whose time has come be permitted to have a lavish feast at Wild Wings, so long as after the meal they clean the kitchen floor.

If Those is “Those”, why isn’t Whose – “Whoose”?

People get mocked for the darnedest things. Twitter rages become national news, and it is generally something about nothing that captures the eye of a biased journalist. It is often about individual flaws or mannerisms, and we all have them. But with mass communications people are subject to intense ridicule across the prairies vast and mountains high. And this, ironically, in an increasingly Politically Correct nation. I guess we’ll have to include idiosyncrasies under the Civil Rights law. You know, just to be fair.

What do you call an Emperor Penguin at the North Pole? Lost.

An interesting case is about to hit the Supreme Court, In Byron Allen Vs. Comcast, TV Mogul Allen asserts that Comcast denied license for is niche series of TV stations because he was black.  (Note: Allen spent hundreds of millions buying properties like The Weather Channel, and in partnering with Sinclair to buy Fox Sports.) The 9th Circuit Appeals Court revived Allen’s case previously denied by several lower courts, by saying, “That Allen only needed to plausibly allege that discriminatory intent was a factor in…”. The TV industry, and business in general is worried that a favorable decision for Allen would unleash baseless subjective suits, leading to smaller companies could being “extorted” by “bottom Feeding’ law companies. So, this case may appear to be about Allen but, it s more about protecting small businesses from game playing. The US Law being used at the center of this issue is the Repub passed Civil Rights Act of 1866, designed to achieve “practical freedom for ex-slaves. I believe it is something to watch.

China saves 4,000 Jobs In Britain. Yes, that’s right. British Steel was on the ropes and the white Knight who rode in with sacks of money was China’s Jingye Group. China for years has been roaming around the edges of a lot of countries, looking for opportunities. A foothold here and a foothold there and pretty soon hey own your shoes.

The Answer:
#1 I s Bridge Over the River Kwai. 32 is Saving Private Ryan followed by The Great Escape, Shindlers List, Patton, The Longest Day, The Dirty Dozen, Das Boot, Band of Brothers, Casablanca, The Guns of Navarone, Sands of Iwo Jima,  Tora, Tora, Tora, A Bridge To Far, Letters from Iwo Jima, Stalag 17, Midway (1976), Kelley’s Heroes, Where Eagles Dare, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Enemy at the Gates, Memphis Belle, Run Silent, Run Deep, Battle of the Bulge and at #25 – The Pacific. Academy Award winner Form Here  to Eternity was #27. Personally, I liked Sands of Iwo Jima and Stalag 17. I was never a big dan of Bridge on River Kwai. I foudnn mention of a boyhood favorite, “The Fighting Lady” On the lighter but serious side a had Heaven Knows Mr. Allison with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, which I remember liking. And, one of interest was the Best Years of Our Lives with an all-star super cast telling the stories of WWII soldiers and sailors returning not civilian life after the war.

“Dirge For Two Veterans” by Vaughn Williams with words by Walt Whitman, is a moving symphonic tribute this day to the men and women who gave everything, for those heroes who returned scarred, with memories that never fade, all for others freedoms.

“I see a sad procession.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring.
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans, son and father, dropped to together,
And a double grave awaits them.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugle and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans.
My Heart gives you love.”

--Excerpted from Walt Whitman.

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