Rick Kinnaird

Day 730 Sunday January 6, 2019     861 Days to Go

Tomorrow is the last day of Christmas and I hate to see it go, but then we have a new season. A season of rebirth and of light, the days are getting longer. Yes, there will be a time of darkness and cold but then will come the glorious healing. I am talking of the forthcoming indictments in the Mueller probe, of course. Ah yes, I do hope to see many of these crooks, swindlers, and fourflushers hauled off to the pokey. It may be too much to wish for but I am optimistic.

I’ve been thinking a lot about truth, reality, and science. The average life of a person didn’t really improve until Sir Issac Newton introduced the idea of scientific thought. This is a methodology which says that you look at the evidence and draw conclusions. You can make guesses of course, but then you have to find evidence to support them in order for them to be taken as true. There have been other methodologies suggested tried and used, but none have been as successful as the scientific method. The other methodologies being based on guessing, magic, religion, or authority. 

Then we get to facts. there are two kinds: those that can be repeatedly demonstrated and those that are historical and only happen once. Historical facts are by definition not repeatable. They are open to both interpretation and misrepresentation. For example: “Was it a touchdown?” That is debated every Sunday of football season. We now have video replay, which by and large clears up the question, but there are times when even that is called into question. In a way, video replay allows us to look at a historical event (i.e. something that happened in the past) again, and decide what happened.

Unfortunately, there was no video replay when Jesus walked on water. You have to believe, or you have to say that there is no evidence that it happened and no supporting facts to say that it could have happened. 

Having studied religion on and off for most of my adult life I have come to see that religions have three things in common: 1) a charismatic leader, 2) a sacred text, and 3) I forgot (Whoops).

As I study archaeology and I look at the various remains of the past I see evidence of people believing in a superior being or group of superior entities. There seems to be an innate part of the human mind to make stuff up to explain that which we don’t really understand. This satisfies some sense of closure I suspect. By that I mean you don’t have to think about it any more and can move on to other things. I’m also convinced, based on little evidence, that most religions and wacky ideas come from authority figures (notably grandparents) who just make stuff up to get the kid to stop asking, “Why?” The kid has no idea and accepts it as true. I remember once telling a young neighbor’s kid that cannolis were filled with goat poop (or something like that.) The poor mom couldn’t convince the little guy otherwise.

But think about this, until we discovered germs, viruses, and antibiotics (the last one being in the 1940s) we were subject to waking up with a cough and the likelihood of being dead by nightfall. What gets me is the folks that reject science and put their lives at risk, like the anti-vaxers and The Christian Scientists. Just think about the recent Fox News commentator who died who was opposed to vaccines. Dead from things that a vaccine could have prevented. Or ask the American Indians both North and South who were 80-90% wiped out by smallpox and measles. They didn’t have the advantage of 400,000 years of development with the Neanderthals to overcome most of the harmful effects of those illnesses that Europeans did.

There was also the need to try and explain how and why the sun rose everyday; why the rains came or didn’t; why the stars moved like they did, and why some stars “wandered.” We now know that the wandering stars are planets, that the Earth goes around the Sun, that the Earth spins and wobbles causing summer and winter, that the moon pulls the water in the oceans causing tides. Ancient folks had no idea what caused many things, like the tides. They made stuff up to explain it. 

We are watching a resurgence of that kind of behavior today, fueled by media companies looking for profits, and powerful individuals and political entities with a motive. 

I still remember being outside a Roman Catholic church as services were letting out and a priest was telling a story. He had a rich Irish accent and was talking about a young boy whom I knew. The boy’s name was Chris and he was an enthusiastic child. That is to say he did what he wanted with little regard to consequence or warnings. He wasn’t being bad. He just enjoyed doing stuff. He had a great smile. It was Easter season and the priest had just told the kids about Christ dying, rising three days later from the dead and walking among the living before rising up to heaven. Chris had probably not been paying attention the whole time but when he woke up to what was being said he was having none of it. I still remember the priest in his rich brogue saying that Chris said, “Uh-uh, no, when you’re dead. You’re dead. There’s no getting up.” And he went on to expound further, all this to the amusement of the priest and the adults gathered to hear the story.

But it’s a cautionary tale, isn’t it? It’s really the story of The Emperor has No Clothes, but the difference is that the adults believe. They believe a story that can’t be proved. That there is no supporting evidence to say it did or could have happened, but they are asked to suspend all rational thought and BELIEVE! The kid is having none of it. 

 

Then we get to Ms. Cortez and the continuing Republican love affair with her. Some Republican idiot called Ms. Cortez “a girl with a big mouth.” He then went on to criticize her idea to tax the very rich at 70%. The Republican guy thinks that’s dumb. Well, what do others think? Let’s check in with a Nobel prize winning economist. Paul Krugman. He agreed with Ms. Cortez. He pointed out that the last time tax rates on the rich were that high the U.S. had one of the strongest economic resurgence ever. He also pointed out that it would affect only a few people but would benefit many if the many had their tax rates lower. Hum. Surprise, a twenty nine year old bartender knows more about economics than the whole Republican Party. Well, maybe that’s not fair. Maybe they do know something, but don’t care, because they are bought off by their rich donors. If you back the Republicans you’ll get screwed. If you go with Cortez we’ll see a revival of our economy. 

Which do you choose?

  861 Days to Go

PS I’m Coming for you!

Day 728 Friday January 4, 2019     863 Days to Go

Day one of the Dem take over of the House has passed and what a day it was. First Nancy Pelosi got sworn in. When she did she had all the representatives children and grandchildren around her. Unfortunately, I don’t think their were any children from the Republican representatives because they were all old white men and, well, either their kids were grown or they would have nothing to do with their fathers. I just wish Melania had sent Barron to stand beside Nancy. It would have been a nice touch.

Nancy wasted no time getting down to business. They immediately passed two resolutions to open the government. Both were resolutions previously passed by the Senate, and what Trump said he would sign, until he didn’t. The reasoning seemed to be that the far right of Rush L. and Laura I. being against it, so Trump changed his mind. btw I think Laura lost her radio program due to advertisers pulling out – too bad. So much misinformation and hate no longer available. Now the weight is on Mitch McConnell. But he said he won’t bring anything to the Senate floor that is a “show vote.” Classy. Yeah, if you brought it to the floor it would go through and then the president would have to veto it or let it pass. Can’t have that. 

Meanwhile the House committees are gearing up and the question of “Can a sitting President be indicted?” has been raised. There are two DOJ memorandum saying that they don’t do that. But Jerry Nadler, head of the House Judiciary Committee believes otherwise, as does Nancy Pelosi. Me? I believe that if the president shot a person in the middle of Times Square that he might not lose a vote (other than the person he shot), but he would be arrested, which I believe means he’d be indicted. That is unless the prosecutor decided not to press charges. 

While Jerry is waiting for the indictment thing to play out he’s decided to call Mr. Whitaker in front of his committee to ask him a few questions. Mattie-boy is so busy apparently that he can’t find the time to show up. Well, I guess we’ll see what a subpoena will do.

I think there is also another thing going on – a race to see which committee gets their hands on Trump’s tax returns first. Maybe, I’m incorrect and only one committee is going after them. But the first interesting thing will be if there is any audit of Trump’s returns that has been going on, or is that another of his many lies. (I’m voting “Lie.”)

Gee, I wonder if any of the House committees will find wrongdoing on the part of the president, his family, or his hangers-on? If so, is there any course of action against former heads of committee for incompetence? Or if there is evidence that the former investigators ignored evidence or covered it up is there some crime they have committed, similar to treason?

Speaking of treason, we are at war with ISIS. So if someone has been aiding and abetting I think there is a case to be made for treason. It might be rather circular in that it doesn’t seem that anyone has directly helped them, but they have helped allies of them, perhaps. It’s a stretch – but.

Now we get to the most bizarre things that have gone on. I know, you’ll find it hard to believe, but it involves the orange one. (I wonder what the relatives of Phillip of Orange or the alumni of Syracuse feel about their color being so disparaged? No time to worry, ever onward!) 

First we had the cabinet meeting where the press stayed for the whole meeting and after Trump went around the table asking for praise and adulation, which he got; he then spoke extemporaneously (I know. Who would have thought?) for a long long looooong time. In his monologue he displayed a stunning lack of knowledge on many subjects. Notably, his ability to be a general. According to him he probably would have made a great general. Unfortunately, according to him, we’ll never know. We do know this. He’s a shitty president. But the other thing that he mentioned was some stuff that is Russian propaganda. This is the third time that Rachel has noted that he has said things that only Putin’s government is saying, and they are false statements, and they are Russian GRU created propaganda used specifically to advance Russian objectives. One has to ask, as Rachel did, “Where is he getting this stuff?” I mean, it’s not on Fox and Friends. It’s not in the news. No one in America is talking about it. Not on the right, the far right, the far-far right, the Neo-Nazis or anywhere else are these things being espoused. The only place is the GRU, and Russian propaganda. 

This raises two troubling questions and one repeat of history that I find really worrying, and then there are all the fictional books and movies that seem to now have a realistic outcome based on the idea of a Russian mole in the White House or having a bug planted in their brain to do the bidding of the Russians. 

Question 1) Where or how is this information getting to Trump?

Question 2) Is there any doubt that he is a Russian asset?

The most troubling of the three Russian propaganda statements, hold on, let’s make sure everyone knows the basic statements:

A. That Poland is aggressively acting toward Belarus.

B. That Moldavia is being aggressive.

C. That Russia invaded Afghanistan to stop terrorists from coming into Russia.

None of these statements are true.

Let’s now look at why Russia is saying this stuff:

A. Russian wants Belarus in it’s orbit again.

B. Moldavia was getting ready to join NATO.

C. There were no terrorists going into Russia. Russia thought they could score an easy win. Now Putin is getting ready in February to rewrite history with this lie and Trump is repeating it.

The statement of Poland being aggressive is particularly disturbing (and therefore most troubling) as it was a similar kind of excuse that Hitler used to start World War II.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play?

I think it’s time to start looking at sizing for orange prison jump suits.

According to Trump’s records he is 6’ 3” and weighs 236 pounds.

A carnival barker who guesses weight to within three pounds put him at 252 to 255.

Hum, not sure how that translates to size but I’m going with XXL.

Ivanka is 5’ 11”, 141 pounds, and 38-26-36. and is a size six dress size. I’m guessing petite to show off the chest but medium is probably a bette size.

Fitting is not my strong suit. 

I have just finished my extensive research into the topic, trying to answer the question, “What size do orange prison jump suits come in?” and I am here to report.

According to “BobBarker”* whose logo is “America’s Leading Detention Supplier” suits come in orange and run in size from small, medium, large through 10XL. There is no designation for sex. And they come in boxes of twelve. Whether the price of approximately $190.00 was for one suit or one box was not determined at this time. There is also “The Correctional Classic.” A lovely horizontally wide gray stripped number, which I would suggest for Ivanka as it could potentially show off her décolletage and bust to advantage, provided it was properly fitted, of course.

* One does have to wonder if this is the same Bob Barker as was host for many years of “Truth or Consequences.” It would be fitting (get it? fitting? Ha, I’m a million laughs) if it was the same guy.

 863 Days to Go

PS Not Everything is Real

Meditacíon Octoñal by Giorio Chirico (1913) 

“Autumn Meditation”

Day 727 Thursday January 3, 2018     864 Days to Go

AT&T has a new ad campaign whose theme is “Just okay?”

There’s the brake guy, “we’re okay with brakes.”, “Just okay?”, “We got a saying around here. ‘If the brakes don’t stop you something else will.’ “ 

And that campaign pretty much sums up how I see the year going – unless we want to make a choice.

But let’s take a look at the year so far.

Last night Shelby and I went to dinner at Mamma’Zu before going to the Dancing With The Stars road tour show. Shelby has wanted to go to this restaurant for awhile. It’s a favorite with several friends and associates. It’s in down town in a new trendy neighborhood. The food is mostly Italian. Shelby did her homework and found out the lasagna is supposed to be outstanding and the appetizer of calamari, white beans, and greens is not to be missed. Some folks complained about the staff being dismissive, like Durgen Park in Boston I’m guessing. Okay, so going in, we know it’s going to be funky, slightly in your face, but great food. Oh, and there are no menus. You have to read the chalkboard behind the bar. And get there early because it fills up fast and they don’t take reservations for parties less than six.

We went planning to hit at 5:30 and it’s a good thing we did. We managed to get a table right away, but folks who came a little later had to wait. The place is nondescript. It sits on a corner. After you’ve been there you can recognize the faded writing in the cement above the door that announces the name of the place. It’s what I call a shoebox or rowhouse like layout, long and narrow. I forged in and saw someone who looked like a waiter. I held up my had with two fingers. “Two? This way.”

Yowza. He took us toward the back. Bar on the right, tables to the left, a few booths up by the front that seated four. There was a long table against the left wall for a party of about twenty. Running beside that table were some deuces; one behind the other, not side by side. We were seated in the last deuce, parallel to the party table. This meant that if anyone pushed back more than a foot they’d hit our table. I faced the back of the place which gave me a view of the wall behind Shelby that seemed to house a little office or staff area, the hallway to the bathroom, and to my right, the shelving for the spare candles, plus the bins for the dirty dishes. Behind that wall must have been the kitchen, because at one point we saw our rather short waitress climb the shelving to talk or yell through the opening.

Directly behind Shelby was a chair piled high with birthday presents for someone in the long table. The long table had a guy with a large stomach who sat at the end of the table and kept getting up every minute or thirty seconds to tell the staff something, or clear some dishes, pour some wine, take presents from people to put on the chair. No matter what, he bumped Shelby’s chair. We pulled our table toward the front. It didn’t matter, he still managed to hit the chair, even though we pulled our table toward the front three times. I couldn’t move it any further because of a person who seemed to weigh 350 pounds sitting at the long table right behind me. From my vantage point the large guy with the big stomach and the blue shirt reminded me of Donald Trump stalking on the stage at the debate with Hillary. Nice guy, but couldn’t keep still.

The waitress came to take our order. It was so loud that we really couldn’t hear her. Shelby got the lasagna and the aforementioned appetizer. I went with the veal marsala. Bread came out. It was really good. Fresh, had body, nice to swirl in the olive oil and pepper. Then we waited. Meanwhile putting up with fat stomach sloshing back and forth behind Shelby. This gave me time to observe the decor, which I would describe as worn out and last touched red paint from 1957. The candle boxes said their candles lasted 45 hours – fascinating, who knew?

Finally, our dinners arrived with a promise from the waitress that the appetizer would be out shortly. This led me to wonder, “Who does that? Who brings your entree out before the appetizer?” Maybe, I don’t understand, but to me the appetizer is to whet your appetite for the main course. 

Now, this is a little thing, but the next thing I noticed was my plate. It was oval and had meat sitting in a brown gravy. The edges of the plate, the curved up sides of the oval, had little drops of the brown gravy on it. As if the meat had been tossed onto the plate and splashed. There was little regard for the presentation, much like the decor. Shelby had an oval plate with a large rectangular stack of what I guess was lasagna. It looked different than any lasagna I’d seen. Maybe, they had some extra fru-fru on top? I don’t know. She said it was okay, but she had never seen something in lasagna (beans? greens? something, it was just odd.) My veal was nicely cooked, but the sauce (or brown gravy, call it what you will) was sweet. Yeah, I know, marsala is sweet, but this sweet? Aren’t you supposed to burn off part of the alcohol or something? I don’t know. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. It was served with a plate of pasta and tomato sauce. This is what got me. I’ve been in Italian restaurants where whey serve you pasta on the side and this was no exception but … but … it seemed they had gone to the grocery store, found the box with the 1/4” pasta tubes and dumped half the box in boiling water then yanked the pasta sauce jar off the shelf next to the tubes and thrown a little of that on top. The pasta was overcooked, not very hot, and the sauce had no spice that I could discern. I mean, if you’re going to serve grocery store pasta sauce wouldn’t you at least try to class it up with oregano or thyme or Italian seasoning? Something to make it look or taste interesting? This was bland.

Shelby’s lasagna and especially the pasta was bland. She had been looking forward to really good pasta. I mean the lasagna came recommended. Then as I finished my veal, the appetizer came out. Great! It was very acidic. The beans were out of a can and hard. The calamari was okay to over cooked. WTF?

We had cannolis for dessert. The shells were slightly stale. The filling was grainy, like they hadn’t disoved something enough. WTF? – again.

Did we get a bad meal? We don’t think so. This seemed to be what they do. The question for us was, “What’s the appeal?” I mean, you’re willing to put up with obnoxious service, jostling crowds, and loud noise for a really good meal, but this? At best it was “Okay.” I give it a D+ or C-. 

“Okay?”, “Yeah, okay. As in ‘just okay’ or ‘barely okay.’ “. “Hey, we got a saying around here – ‘If you don’t like the food, someone else will.’ “ (I made that saying up. Pretty good, huh?)

The Dancing with the Stars show was fabulous. They did a good job of rotating in dance numbers with video interviews and the performers talking on stage. I wish they had turned down the bass a bit so it didn’t distort and we could have understood the other half of what they were saying but – minor point. 

Then we got home and watched Rachel. Politically, this will be a year like no other, and as Rachel pointed out, on the first working day of 2019 we were off to another – I’m not sure what to call it – year. The Defense Secretary is acting and a huge defense contractor, The AG is acting and a huge supporter of the president and not justice, the Interior Secretary resigned amid scandal (but wanted to stay on until the Christmas party) and is replaced by an oil lobbyist, the Chief of Staff is acting, in a position that is appointed and there’s no confirmation so it’s not really ‘acting’ it’s the job. By the way, he’s keeping his other two jobs: head of OMB and the Consumer Protection Bureau where he’s done a great job of reducing the budget of that group to zero, letting the payday loan lenders off the hook and telling money lending places it’s okay to screw over veterans and students – right on.

That’s just one day in Administration Trump. I mean, it’s okay, right? BTW I think I forgot a few, but hey you get the idea. (Oh yeah, the bizarre cabinet meeting where Trump pontificated the Russian talking points about why they invaded Afghanistan and why it was a good idea. History? Screw that, he’s got his own history.)

Then Rachel interviewed Elizabeth Warren who has officially thrown her hat in the ring. Talk about making a clear case. She has come right out and said that Trump and the current Republican party is for powerful corporations and the very rich. They, the very rich,  have bought the government they want, and now it’s up to the rest of us to take it back. 

She’s for affordable: health care, education, mortgages and other loans. Radical ideas? No, this is the way America used to be. Except health care, we’ve always gotten screwed on that one. 

I like her. I hope she does well. 

I also like Ms. Cortez. What I like about that lady is she is unafraid to say simple truths. Some are busy trying to brand her as a socialist and say that’s bad. But are the mid-western and western Senators from farm states opposed to grain subsidies? No. (Friggin’ socialists!) What does Cortez espouse? Reasonable outlays for the military, affordable education, a living wage, affordable health care, make the rich pay their fair share. If this is some form of radical socialism we meed more of it.

I’m hoping Warren, Pelosi, Sanders, Cortez and others will unite behind common sense goals such as what I’ve outlined and put America back on track for all of us. It’s time to decide.

Here’s hoping 2019 is better than okay.

 864 Days to Go

PS I got my eye on you!

Day 725 New Year’s Day January 1, 2018  866 Days to Go

Well, we made it!

And by “we” I mean Shelby and I were awake at midnight. Moments before I popped the cork on the Prosecco I had bought to celebrate Hillary’s victory in 2016, and like her campaign’s final moments the cork plopped out, made it half way across the deck, and landed ignominiously with a pathetic thud.

The early evening had annual wrap up of the year shows. Chris Mathews was even palatable. I think this was because he had a script he had to stick to and couldn’t go on for ten minutes supposedly asking someone their thoughts on a subject while really expressing his, and then, of course, because there’s no time left, cutting the person off. No, he read from cue cards that were various awards with three nominees in each category. I like “the most ignominious firing”  which went to Rex Tillerson who found out he was fired while sitting on the toilet. Or the most obsequious, which went to Sean Hannity, who in the clip they showed of him was at a Trump rally where Sean pointed to the back of the room and called them fake news, which is pathetic on two fronts: one) they aren’t and he is, and two) he’s part of the group (supposedly) that he is calling fake.

Then there’s the speculation as to who will run for president in 2020. This looked at both parties. Interesting. First we had to go through all the old war horses, and then all the folks who said they aren’t running who are. Two people stood out to me: Kristen Gillibrand and Beto O’Rourke.  Each on opposite ends of the reasoning. Chris Mathews said of Gillibrand, “Just what the Democrats want a Wall Street lawyer.” He was being sarcastic. I think Gillibrand ended any hopes she had by the way she treated Al Franken. Then there’s Beto. I think he isn’t seasoned enough, but what do I know? The point that someone made on the show, was that Beto is the kind of candidate that fires the imagination. He’s got the magic, like Jack Kennedy had. No one else in the field of candidates has that.

Then there was some talk about what’s in store for the current president in this year. Three things kept coming up:

Nancy Pelosi,

The Investigations,

He doesn’t really want to be president but he can’t let go and he’s doing a terrible job.

Let’s look at the last point first, which is: he didn’t expect to win, and when he did he didn’t know what to do.

Then he started getting investigated. The news organizations don’t even try to list all the possible investigations, rather they group them under categories. At last count there were 85 possible investigations grouped in six or seven major areas. The FBI. The Special Counsel, The New York States Attorney’s office, The Federal District of New York, and Three committees in the House of Representatives are, or will be, investigating Trump and his associates. Not bad for only two years in office!

One commentator said he can’t quit because he’d be indicted and fighting off going to prison. I hope that everyone of these groups nails him and gives him no deal.

Then there are all the sleazy people around him and all their crimes and unethical behavior. I hope they too get tarred and feathered and sent to jail.

The most recent one is the guy who won the race for senator in Missouri. He hasn’t even been sworn in and he’s already in trouble. The picture of him with Trump shows a guy with both hands in front of him like he’s trying to stop a freight train. Apparently, he ran for AG in the state, got the job and immediately started running for senate. It was so bad and confusing that folks didn’t know whom to talk to: his AG staff or his re-election campaign, because they were all in the same office space. 

And then there’s the cheating, the bending of rules, the ignoring of rules, ethics and morality. People are starting to wake up to the fact that Wilbur Ross is trying to rig the census to better reflect Republicans than all the people in the country. Not only has he lied about this, and he and Jeff Sessions refused to get better data cheaper; it’s also unconstitutional what he is trying to do. Undaunted he is trying to plow ahead. Whether that train wreck can be stopped in time is anyone’s guess. 

I was tangentially involved in the 1980 Census and it takes a lot of time, planning, dedication and effort. Now when you have a cabinet secretary who has this as part of his mandate trying to make a mockery of it, well it’s hard to know what will happen, but I doubt it will be good.

To review:

Trump is not a businessman. He’s a con man. Every deal he’s done he’s lied about it. His dad bailed him out over and over again, and still he managed to lose all that money. He was then bailed out by Russians. Russian oligarchs looking to launder their ill gotten gains through him. He is owned by Putin. He does Vlad’s bidding. Time and time again we’ve seen it. He is aided and abetted by a group of billionaires here, who control most of the media and many of the state legislatures and much of the capital and production in this country. They have bought the Republican party. They are now greedily grabbing as much as they can and doing everything they can to deny people justice and democracy. 

There are a few beacons of hope, but the biggest thing is to elect new people at every level of government to stem this tide of abuse.

Remember the good old days when a bought politician used to try and hide the fact  that they were bought?

Ah me.

 866 Days to Go

Carry on.

PS This guy seems a little mind boggled. At the Temple of The Featured Serpent, Teotihuacan