Setting the political stage.

 

Today's Tids Issue 4,826

Mirage:

 

Since the beginning of Covid the world has lost 255 Million jobs which is 4 times that lost in the huge 2009 near-depression/recession. The stock markets look strong, but employment numbers are saying there are a quarter of a billion fewer buyers out there. How can good times roll with declining consumers? It’s easier to look profitable when companies don’t have to pay 255,000,000 workers.

 

I like Tids when it’s light and airy.

Not when writing of things contrary.

 

The Repubs should only be thinking of one thing – how to get back Congress in 2022. That’s what I said early on about Georgia too, and they blew that playing the voter fraud game. It’s the old battles versus wars thing.

 

Noted Democrat Jeff Bezos, and Amazon, does not want their workers voting by mail on unionization. Amazon says mail-in voting wouldn’t be “valid or fair.”

 

Lots of people are waiting for GE to comeback. The reasoning – how can such a great company have crumbled so far so fast. There still must be good stuff there.

 

What do you call Watson when Sherlock isn’t around?

Homeless.

 

The Question:

Who was the mother of England’s Elizabeth the First? Bonus: When and where were the first Winter Olympics? Extra Bonus: What was the Name of Lucy and Linus (Peanuts) Brother?

 

The Headlines

--S&P Sets New High; Dow Jumps On Strong Earnings Form 3M and J&J; Home Prices Surging.

--PepsiCo And Beyond Meat Joining To Produce Plant Based Snacks.

--DOJ Launches Internet Investigation

--Janet Yellen Approved To Be First Female US Treasurer.

 

We will probably see written more about Brady and Mahomes in the next couple of weeks than any human could possibly consume. But also interesting is that the Super bowl game will also feature a huge duel between two of the greatest all time tight ends, Gronk and Kelce.

 

A petty smart DC political analyst says that a USA problem is the control by “Anti-Majoritarian Sentiments” (A-MS) of political institutions. He mentions as an example the Conservative Supreme Court not looking like America. But he may have forgotten that up to recently one of the biggest dividing A-MS’s was the control of the Supreme Court Liberals if the 70’s sand 80’s, which actually gave rise to the cohesiveness of Conservatives. You know, experts very often forget their side of the problem.

 

I love how in horror movies the person will ask, “Is anybody there?” As if the killer would say, “Oh yeah, I’m in the kitchen. Want a sandwich?”

 

Warning: In the PepsiCo, Beyond Meat plant-based snack thing -- read ingredients labels before buying regardless of pretty pictures.

 

As I watch the younger generations trying to rewrite history, you can be assured of one thing – It will be misspelled and have no punctuation.

 

Where have all the journalists gone? Are there any left. Really. This is a serious question. It seems they are all more like activists than decerning interpreters and presenters of factual news; nearly incapable of writing two sides of a story. Or even seeing the possibility of another side.

 

A password looks at itself in the mirror: “Don’t listen to Google. You are a strong, confident password.”

 

A smart insider guy said the other day that the Repubs will be for the end of the Electoral College if they lose Texas to Dems. The reason: With Texas, Cal and NY in the Dems pocket, the Repubs would never win another presidential election again. I still like the idea of the little sates having a say.   

 

Apparently Repub senators and Congress people are walking the tight rope between pleasing their continuants and the deep pocket contributors who are running as fast as they can away from Trump and his Repub supporters. Money versus doing what you have been elected to od.

 

When you think about how much energy Democrats put into justifying Mail and early voting, you know there just has to be something wrong with it.

 

The word around DC is that nobody dislikes Trump more than Mitch McConnell. He totally blames Ex-President for the loss of Georgia Senate races. And you never know what he might do to get even. I blame trump top.

 

The Answer:

Henry the 8^th’s second wife Anne Boleyn was the mother of Elizabeth 1. “Good Queen Bess” did a quite a good job during her over 60 reign. She was the last of the House of Tudor Monarchs. Too bad Mom didn’t get to see the success of her daughter. Bonus: The first winter Olympics were held at Chamonix at the foot of Mount Blanc in 1924. At the age of 11, the great figure skater Sonja Henie made her debut. She came in last, but became a fan favorite. Extra Bonus: Lucy and Linus had brother named rerun.

 

The Washington shuffle is in full swing now. A lot of what we will be seeing will have more to do with where politicians want to see themselves in 2 years, rather than what can we do to help all people equally. And even bigger than politician shuffling is the race for prominence now by all varieties of ideological groups. And Pols deciding which one they can safely latch onto without losing too many votes. That’s what we have to know in order be able to intelligently read between the ague lines of our leaders. Instead of reading or heariing pretty words, watch what they do.

 

I’ll tell you all something, there’s nothing like a good pretzel.

Imposing guilt

 

Today's Tids Issue 4,826

I'm comfortable, so don't bother me:

 

While in summer it’s a rarity,

Winter days possess a clarity.

Even through its damn severity,

I offer to you in all sincerity,

Winter’s awe is in its austerity.

 

My father grew up on strong newspapers. I grew up with Radio. My kids grew up with TV and my grandchildren are growing up with the internet. And, we all thought we were state-of-the-art at the time. So, it is incredibly foolish to compare eras equally.

 

I like the crack of the bat when it’s wooden. instead of the ping when it’s not. In fact, I like it quite a lot. Perhaps I shouldn’t.

 

When a politician says, “This isn’t political,” it’s political.

 

As you watch the news and read on the internet or even when trying to enjoy a good move or TV show, don’t you feel these days that somebody is lecturing to you.

 

The Question:

Name ten of the top old fashioned down-home-food, drive in Restaurants that are still doing quite well in America.? You may have an old favorite in your state, too.

 

The Headlines:

--Tech Stocks Jump; Dow Lower; Earnings Surprisingly High; Street Awaits Apple Mid-Week Report; Warnings Of Oversold Market Trickling Through.

--Brady Versus Mahomes In Super Bowl Has TV Execs Salivating.

--Biden Undoes Trump Initiative To Require Citizenship Q On Census; Also Expected To Sign New Orders Easing Abortion And Immigration Restrictions.

--Goldman Lists 39 Stocks In Dangerous Bubble Position; Trendily Over Priced But Not Crash Imminent (Among Listed 39 Ae Zoom, Plug Power, Crowdstrike, Cloudflare, DataDog, Shopify Docusign and Palantir.)

--Nancy Delivers Single Article;

--Deborah Birx: WH Treated Covid As A Hoax.

--Biden To Reinstate Covid Travel Restrictions; Special Emphasis In South Africa Due To Newly Identified Strain

--Former Trump Spokes Person Sarah Huckaby Sanders To Run For Arkansas Governor.

--Biden Set Record Taking In $145 Million I Dark (Anonymous Contributors) Money.

 

Block Island is a wonderful place for poets.

 

Hank Aaron and news commentor opinions about his race preempting observations of his excellent baseball acumen reminds me of the days when Jackie Robinsons came to play. Every kid I knew wanted to be exactly like him. We didn’t notice he was black, yet he became the paragon for kids who wanted to play ball. I saw Jackie in Brooklyn at Ebbits Field in1947. He played first base that year, because Eddie Stanky was still at second.

 

Love is like a giant sweet pastry which two can share and savor for hours years.

 

I think the new game in America is imposing guilt upon the millions who are happy and contented. Personally, I only feel guilty when I make a typo. Now, that’s something.

 

In 2021 investing, one thing we may see more of is companies being penalized for not living up to media hype.

 

The Senate trial is the least of Trump’s problems going forward. And the possibility of finding 17 Repubs to vote to convict Trump is remote. Yes, the fact is that his biggest worries in his pp Presidential afterlife are what he will face criminally from prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney General of New York State. And, maybe even more devastating, significant economic reversals in his real estate, entertainment-based empire, loaded with debt, with losing revenue, and with his chief lender Deutsche Bank walking away. As I have mentioned earlier, his main motive for retaining the presidency was to buy four more years before possible prosecution on alleged fraud, tax evasion and other illegal misdoings. The entire destruction of a human being is exactly what every Trump hater has been hoping four since that first half hour following is victory over their darling Hillary.

 

The lazy Terrestrial Gastropod Mollusk was feeling a little sluggish.  (Thanks to the Jumble puzzle)

 

Celebrity game shows are for celebrities who nobody knows, or who just used to be.

 

I’d be willing to be the first poet at a Repub inauguration. It could only get better after that.

 

I read this morning that an actor named Gil Gerard turned 78. At the time when he was just another every day cattle call actor, I and couple of guys selected him to be the TV spokesperson for the Connecticut Phone company. We picked him because he was relaxed and likable, natural. He was well accepted for a number of years, and because of his NY Metro exposure he picked up a couple of movie roles, one being a reasonably successful thriller, “Man on a Swing”. Every actor is looking to catch a break. Lots of actors can act well, some just get luckier. Life is a little like that. But you have to work hard to be in a position to get lucky. Anyhow, it’s nice to know Gil is still alive, he was a good guy, despite some of his often-debilitating addictions. (I know, nobody cares. I just felt like writing about him. Editors get to do that every once in a while.

 

I might get lucky and get a novel published. That is, if I worked harder to get lucky. Maybe that’s my new goal.

 

Spell-Check made it through 4 years without figuring out that there is a capital “T” option for the word trump. I’m not saying Spell-Check is biased, but it does follow the pattern of High-Tech red lining.

 

One of the reasons that food tastes so good in small, excellent eating, family-owned Southern restaurants is because a staple in cooking is melt-in-your-mouth Possum fat. Although 9 out of 10 doctors are not on board in their support. The tenth doctor has a heart problem and no self-control… and he’s happy.

 

(Just kidding, possum fat is a total fabrication, unless you know something I don’t.)

 

The Answer:

Despite what you read in healthy eating newspaper food columns all food isn’t kale or some new out of the blue ingredient I can’t spell or pronounce. Drive-In food is alive and well and so are the happy people eating it. The first Drive in Listed is “King Tut Drive-In” – Beckley WVA. Next is “Ardy and Ed’s - Oshkosh WI, followed by “Dick’s - in Seattle, “Sycamore” - Bethel Ct, “Dari-ette”  - St. Paul Minn, “Val’s” - Lewiston Me, “Beacon” - Spartanburg SC, “The Drive-In” - Taylor Falls Minn, “Jumpin’ Jack’s” – Scotia NY, “Westside” – Boise Idaho, “Evelyn’s”  – Tiverton RI, “A&W” – Middlebury VT, “Classic 50’s” - Norman Ok, “Parkette” – Lexington Ky, “Superdawg” - Chicago,   “Wayne’s – Lawton Ok, “Red Rabbit” – Duncannon Pa, “Snow White” – Lebanon Tenn, “Weber’s” – Pennsauken NJ and last but not least (As they say), “Jerry’s” – Beaver Pa.  Take a Drive-In tour on a Covid weekend, and keep the people working.

 

“I’ve played a lot of sports, and I’ve never been double teamed.” –Charlie Brown (Schulz).

 

Don’t feel bad Charlie, I haven’t either.