This past week, more than three hundred people were killed at a mosque in North Sinai. Militants detonated a bomb and then sprayed bullets into a crowd of worshipers last Friday. The bomb exploded inside the Al Rawdah mosque while forty gunmen fired into the group that attempted to flee. A witness said that the armed men were also firing at ambulances that were dispatched to help the victims. This was the deadliest attack of its kind in modern Egyptian history. Egypt launched air strikes against suspected terrorist camps.
In the midst of all this international turmoil, and between "quick" golf games, the "President" tweeted the following: "Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life. We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt."
So -
Points for making contact with another world leader without calling him names or making fun of the tensions between our countries. Points as well for acknowledging the loss of life.
Then his caps lock button got stuck. Why is he saying that "we" need to be tougher and smarter? Does he mean the world as a whole? Or is he talking to his base? The wall and the ban? I don't think he's referring to the Middle East, except to say that he wants to keep certain elements out of our country. People from the Middle East. Heaven forbid that folks from that region saw America as a safe haven and wanted to bring their families to the land of the free and home of the brave. Egyptians? Okay. Anyone from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela would have to find another place to find peace. Just exactly how that wall figures into the plan to keep Islamic terrorists out of the United States is unclear. Maybe it's a problem with the geography curriculum in Queens, but I don't think the "President" fully grasps the situation. Unless, like the ban, plans for the wall have been revised to keep everyone out of everywhere. But that's not the real focus. The real focus is the manipulation of fear. The "President" may not be very good at geography, or diplomacy, or compassion, but he's aces when it comes to fear.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
Power Extender
I grew up across the street from a family of hunters. It just so happened that this family's politics skewed to the right from my own, and so this put an early spin on my own accounting of liberal versus conservative values. It was across that street in that family's garage that I came across a deer carcass in the process of being dressed. At ten years old, this was not the kind of experience that passed without a certain amount of scarring. That didn't mean that I stayed away from that house across the street, though I did shy away from the garage. Especially during hunting season.
As I grew up across the street, I became familiar with the defense of hunting deer: Thinning the herd is necessary to keep them from starving. It's all part of the cycle of life. At least that was what I was told.
Over the years, I have recalled that garage, and not just the bloody mess I stumbled on. I also remembered the great big freezer that was full of venison. I remembered the trophies downstairs in their rumpus room. I remembered with gratitude that I was never invited to be part of the hunting party. It was a family thing. Theirs.
And mine.
My family owned guns. A rifle and a pair of handguns. My father was in the army, and he had learned to shoot. Not for the purpose of putting food on the table or trophies on the wall, but in anticipation of having to kill another human being. And there was probably something about growing up in Kansas and in the foothills of Colorado that made shooting a gun part of growing up. I did that. On a few occasions, my father brought those weapons up to our mountain cabin, where we lined up cans and bottles across the creek. My father and his three boys took turns firing into the hillside, missing most of what we shot at, but enjoying the adrenaline rush of all that exploding gunpowder. It never occurred to me to connect that use of potentially deadly force with that deer I encountered across the street.
It does now. And the part that sticks with me is the feeling I had when I pulled that trigger. That flash of exultation. And the power I had in my hand. I think of that deer. And every other living thing that has been in front of a gun.
As I grew up across the street, I became familiar with the defense of hunting deer: Thinning the herd is necessary to keep them from starving. It's all part of the cycle of life. At least that was what I was told.
Over the years, I have recalled that garage, and not just the bloody mess I stumbled on. I also remembered the great big freezer that was full of venison. I remembered the trophies downstairs in their rumpus room. I remembered with gratitude that I was never invited to be part of the hunting party. It was a family thing. Theirs.
And mine.
My family owned guns. A rifle and a pair of handguns. My father was in the army, and he had learned to shoot. Not for the purpose of putting food on the table or trophies on the wall, but in anticipation of having to kill another human being. And there was probably something about growing up in Kansas and in the foothills of Colorado that made shooting a gun part of growing up. I did that. On a few occasions, my father brought those weapons up to our mountain cabin, where we lined up cans and bottles across the creek. My father and his three boys took turns firing into the hillside, missing most of what we shot at, but enjoying the adrenaline rush of all that exploding gunpowder. It never occurred to me to connect that use of potentially deadly force with that deer I encountered across the street.
It does now. And the part that sticks with me is the feeling I had when I pulled that trigger. That flash of exultation. And the power I had in my hand. I think of that deer. And every other living thing that has been in front of a gun.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
What Goes Up
There are many factors that affect the stock market. These are known to most everyone who has ever purchased a stock. If you watched Wall Street, even if you never invested anything but the price of the ticket to the movie, you learned that greed is good. Which seems to work counter-intuitively to the fact that fifty-two percent of Americans avoid the stock market. How then, are all those folks going to experience the gravy train that our "President" wants us to enjoy as the stock market continues to flirt with unheard of highs? That seems to suggest that more than half of America is missing out on all that greed.
Yes, these are definitely the salad days if you're into that kind of thing. I can't say that I avoid the stock market, since I have a number of diversified bits and pieces of stock related investments that I pretend to understand but spend little or no time watching the Dow Jones ticker since my real life is impacted by my paycheck and not the pittance that I have deducted to play these financial games. Like that fifty-two percent, I tend to view this as made up money for which I have to take other people's word. This full time job I maintain tends to keep my full attention from being consumed by the stocks I may own.
So I decided to look it up. I wanted to find out why stocks go up. Money Instructor answered my search with a list of four factors: Internal Events - releasing a new product or hiring a new CEO, External Events - interest rates go up or down, Market Pressure - a lot like peer pressure but with more dollar signs, and Hype.
It was that last one that I read with great interest. "Such hype may take the form of positive reports in stock market newsletters, Internet chatter on bulletin boards, press releases and news reports." So if, for example, a "President" routinely jumped on hit Twitter account to blather on about how great the stock market was doing, that could be a contributing factor to making stock prices move higher, that would be "hype." And though Mother Jones wrote an article suggesting that "The Stock Market Is Doing Well Under Donald Trump," they made the point that the gains made in this "President's" first year are impressive, they lag behind those of his predecessor. This probably doesn't come as a shock to know this comes from a guy who likes to point out that his approval rating is forty-six percent. I'm not much of a math guy, but that's less than the number of Americans who don't trust the stock market.
Yes, these are definitely the salad days if you're into that kind of thing. I can't say that I avoid the stock market, since I have a number of diversified bits and pieces of stock related investments that I pretend to understand but spend little or no time watching the Dow Jones ticker since my real life is impacted by my paycheck and not the pittance that I have deducted to play these financial games. Like that fifty-two percent, I tend to view this as made up money for which I have to take other people's word. This full time job I maintain tends to keep my full attention from being consumed by the stocks I may own.
So I decided to look it up. I wanted to find out why stocks go up. Money Instructor answered my search with a list of four factors: Internal Events - releasing a new product or hiring a new CEO, External Events - interest rates go up or down, Market Pressure - a lot like peer pressure but with more dollar signs, and Hype.
It was that last one that I read with great interest. "Such hype may take the form of positive reports in stock market newsletters, Internet chatter on bulletin boards, press releases and news reports." So if, for example, a "President" routinely jumped on hit Twitter account to blather on about how great the stock market was doing, that could be a contributing factor to making stock prices move higher, that would be "hype." And though Mother Jones wrote an article suggesting that "The Stock Market Is Doing Well Under Donald Trump," they made the point that the gains made in this "President's" first year are impressive, they lag behind those of his predecessor. This probably doesn't come as a shock to know this comes from a guy who likes to point out that his approval rating is forty-six percent. I'm not much of a math guy, but that's less than the number of Americans who don't trust the stock market.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Stuck In Neutral
Why is net neutrality important? Obviously, since you are reading this message thanks to Al Gore's Internet, you should know. Do you want the world wide web to be a tiered system, with those who have the money to make their bits and bytes pass through on the express lanes? I won't be competing in those stakes, preferring instead to use the plain old slow version of that web.
Way back in 1999, when Al Gore was busy running for President, he claimed to have helped create what we now refer to as Al Gore's Internet. That was not quite the same as inventing it, but a couple of guys who did do that, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, would like everyone to know that Al "was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." It is Mister Cerf who those in the know have called "The Father of the Internet." It is that same Mister Cerf, Doctor Cerf, who once suggested that he had no idea what Net Neutrality was. But because he is a very smart man and should have an opinion on such things, he went ahead and said this at a later date: "The fundamental notion behind net neutrality is that the parties who were supplying access to the Internet should not be permitted to engage in anti-competitive behavior and in anti-consumer behavior. Consumer choice should be preserved for the consumers. So what we don’t want is parties providing access also limiting choice the users have to where they go on the net and what they do when they get there."
The Federal Communications Commission believes it is okay to dismantle the rules that kept things equal out there in cyberspace. Soon there could be variable rates and ease of access to different corners of the Internet created or at least championed by Al Gore. I'm not planning on going anywhere, but it might be harder to get my wit and wisdom if Blogger becomes a less-prioritized purveyor of content. That's not very likely, but downloading a movie from Netflix could become more of a challenge depending on how much you are willing to pay for the service. And service providers could also speed up or slow down access to those things that they choose, creating a tiered system for users. That last frontier of cyberspace is about to get fenced in.
And if things get really tacky, I encourage you to call up Al Gore and have him Google that guacamole recipe for you. He's got connections.
Really.
Way back in 1999, when Al Gore was busy running for President, he claimed to have helped create what we now refer to as Al Gore's Internet. That was not quite the same as inventing it, but a couple of guys who did do that, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, would like everyone to know that Al "was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." It is Mister Cerf who those in the know have called "The Father of the Internet." It is that same Mister Cerf, Doctor Cerf, who once suggested that he had no idea what Net Neutrality was. But because he is a very smart man and should have an opinion on such things, he went ahead and said this at a later date: "The fundamental notion behind net neutrality is that the parties who were supplying access to the Internet should not be permitted to engage in anti-competitive behavior and in anti-consumer behavior. Consumer choice should be preserved for the consumers. So what we don’t want is parties providing access also limiting choice the users have to where they go on the net and what they do when they get there."
The Federal Communications Commission believes it is okay to dismantle the rules that kept things equal out there in cyberspace. Soon there could be variable rates and ease of access to different corners of the Internet created or at least championed by Al Gore. I'm not planning on going anywhere, but it might be harder to get my wit and wisdom if Blogger becomes a less-prioritized purveyor of content. That's not very likely, but downloading a movie from Netflix could become more of a challenge depending on how much you are willing to pay for the service. And service providers could also speed up or slow down access to those things that they choose, creating a tiered system for users. That last frontier of cyberspace is about to get fenced in.
And if things get really tacky, I encourage you to call up Al Gore and have him Google that guacamole recipe for you. He's got connections.
Really.
Friday, November 24, 2017
Since October 5
For a lot of people, it started with Harvey Weinstein, Producer and co-founder of the Weinstein Company.
Then came Andy Signore, Senior vice president of content for Defy Media.
And Roy Price. Head of Amazon Studios.
And Chris Savino, Creator and showrunner of “The Loud House."
And Robert Scoble, Tech blogger and co-founder of the Transformation Group.
And Lockhart Steele, Editorial director of Vox Media.
And John Besh. Chief executive of the Besh Restaurant Group.
And James Toback, Director and writer.
And Terry Richardson, Fashion photographer.
And Leon Wieseltier, A former editor at The New Republic.
And Knight Landesman, Publisher of Artforum.
And Rick Najera, Director of CBS's Diversity Showcase.
And Mark Halperin, NBC News and MSNBC contributor, author of "Game Change."
And Ken Baker, E! News correspondent.
And Kevin Spacey, Actor.
And Hamilton Fish, President and publisher of The New Republic.
And Michael Oreskes, Head of news at NPR and former New York Times editor.
And Andy Dick, Actor.
And Kirt Webster, Music publicist.
And Brett Ratner, Producer and director.
And Jeff Hoover, Kentucky speaker of the House.
And David Guillod, Co-chief executive of Primary Wave Entertainment agency.
And Ed Westwick, Actor.
And Jeffrey Tambor, Actor.
And Benjamin Genocchio, Executive director of the Armory Show art fair.
And Roy Moore, Alabama judge and politician.
And Louis C.K., Comedian and producer.
And Andrew Kreisberg, Executive producer of "Arrow," "Supergirl," "The Flash."
And Eddie Berganza, Editor at DC Comics.
And Steve Jurvetson, Co-founder of a venture capital firm and a board member of Tesla and SpaceX.
And Al Franken, U.S. senator.
And Glenn Thrush, Reporter at The New York Times.
And Charlie Rose, Television host.
A month and a half of revelations, and more sure to come. Most of these men have been fired, resigned or "stepped away" from the companies that hired them. That won't fix the problem. And the problem isn't blue or red or Hollywood or D.C. It's men. Time to wake up.
Then came Andy Signore, Senior vice president of content for Defy Media.
And Roy Price. Head of Amazon Studios.
And Chris Savino, Creator and showrunner of “The Loud House."
And Robert Scoble, Tech blogger and co-founder of the Transformation Group.
And Lockhart Steele, Editorial director of Vox Media.
And John Besh. Chief executive of the Besh Restaurant Group.
And James Toback, Director and writer.
And Terry Richardson, Fashion photographer.
And Leon Wieseltier, A former editor at The New Republic.
And Knight Landesman, Publisher of Artforum.
And Rick Najera, Director of CBS's Diversity Showcase.
And Mark Halperin, NBC News and MSNBC contributor, author of "Game Change."
And Ken Baker, E! News correspondent.
And Kevin Spacey, Actor.
And Hamilton Fish, President and publisher of The New Republic.
And Michael Oreskes, Head of news at NPR and former New York Times editor.
And Andy Dick, Actor.
And Kirt Webster, Music publicist.
And Brett Ratner, Producer and director.
And Jeff Hoover, Kentucky speaker of the House.
And David Guillod, Co-chief executive of Primary Wave Entertainment agency.
And Ed Westwick, Actor.
And Jeffrey Tambor, Actor.
And Benjamin Genocchio, Executive director of the Armory Show art fair.
And Roy Moore, Alabama judge and politician.
And Louis C.K., Comedian and producer.
And Andrew Kreisberg, Executive producer of "Arrow," "Supergirl," "The Flash."
And Eddie Berganza, Editor at DC Comics.
And Steve Jurvetson, Co-founder of a venture capital firm and a board member of Tesla and SpaceX.
And Al Franken, U.S. senator.
And Glenn Thrush, Reporter at The New York Times.
And Charlie Rose, Television host.
A month and a half of revelations, and more sure to come. Most of these men have been fired, resigned or "stepped away" from the companies that hired them. That won't fix the problem. And the problem isn't blue or red or Hollywood or D.C. It's men. Time to wake up.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Simple Machines
I am thankful for pop-top cans. Back in the olden days, beverages came in cans that had to be opened with a church key can opener. One hole in the front for easy pouring and one smaller vent in the back to keep gurgling to a minimum. Sounds cool? It was a hassle.
Then came pull tabs, which were a revelation at the time. They did provide endless hours of amusement and craft-making possibilities. Mostly they created a rival for cigarette butts when it came to the most prevalent scrap of litter found on beaches, forests and city streets. Then, in 1975, the pop-top appeared. It came with all the convenience of the pull tab, but kept the tab attached to the can. The litter stayed attached to the can.
Special thanks go to Daniel F. Cudzik, inventor. Thank you for helping save our environment.
I am also thankful for the lumber and composites that sit above my family's head as we go to sleep each night. Since 1895, this bit of construction has kept the rain off our heads and the sun out of our eyes. We have shelter, and that is an amazing thing. That roof protects my family and our possessions. We tend to invite friends, family, and the occasional stranger to enjoy the comfort and safety of something under which we can sit, talk, sleep and play the occasional game of gin rummy. It is a place where we can stay until we decide to go out and brave the elements, with the option of coming back to be inside when we get tired or bored of being out in the wilderness. And all the while we could reflect at the distinct lack of pull tabs littering the outside.
There is so very much for which we can be thankful that it seems ridiculous for this one day to ponder the alternatives: those things that we could do without. There certainly have been buckets and boxes full of disappointments and grief since last November, and I would like to suggest that on this day we take a standing eight count to give ourselves a moment to reflect on the things that continue to work in our lives. Pop-top cans. Roofs. The front door that when closed keeps out all those winds and scary monsters. When it opens, the choice of walking outside or welcoming folks inside.
I am thankful for the bits and pieces around my life, and tomorrow I wish for everyone to have a chance to enjoy them, if only for a day.
Then came pull tabs, which were a revelation at the time. They did provide endless hours of amusement and craft-making possibilities. Mostly they created a rival for cigarette butts when it came to the most prevalent scrap of litter found on beaches, forests and city streets. Then, in 1975, the pop-top appeared. It came with all the convenience of the pull tab, but kept the tab attached to the can. The litter stayed attached to the can.
Special thanks go to Daniel F. Cudzik, inventor. Thank you for helping save our environment.
I am also thankful for the lumber and composites that sit above my family's head as we go to sleep each night. Since 1895, this bit of construction has kept the rain off our heads and the sun out of our eyes. We have shelter, and that is an amazing thing. That roof protects my family and our possessions. We tend to invite friends, family, and the occasional stranger to enjoy the comfort and safety of something under which we can sit, talk, sleep and play the occasional game of gin rummy. It is a place where we can stay until we decide to go out and brave the elements, with the option of coming back to be inside when we get tired or bored of being out in the wilderness. And all the while we could reflect at the distinct lack of pull tabs littering the outside.
There is so very much for which we can be thankful that it seems ridiculous for this one day to ponder the alternatives: those things that we could do without. There certainly have been buckets and boxes full of disappointments and grief since last November, and I would like to suggest that on this day we take a standing eight count to give ourselves a moment to reflect on the things that continue to work in our lives. Pop-top cans. Roofs. The front door that when closed keeps out all those winds and scary monsters. When it opens, the choice of walking outside or welcoming folks inside.
I am thankful for the bits and pieces around my life, and tomorrow I wish for everyone to have a chance to enjoy them, if only for a day.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
News That Needs To Be Fake
Yes. I saw the headline: The FAA Can’t Stop People From Throwing Live Turkeys Out Of Planes. I clicked on it. I really could not believe that this was an article that could be true. But it came from Huffington Post. I trust these folks. It cited a Turkey Drop in Yellville, Arkansas. The Federal Aviation Administration was asked to find a way to stop the annual festival in that corner of the map that uses the plummeting fowl as a promotion for their Turkey Trot. Their city website proudly announces them as "Home of the Famous TURKEY TROT." Or infamous. Dropping turkeys from an airplane flying fifty feet above the ground seems like a bad idea for the people on the ground as much as the birds in the air.
Really? I thought this was just a play on the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati in which Les Nessman, winner of the coveted Silver Sow Award as well as three Buckeye Newshawk awards, described the scene at a local shopping mall where his stations's owner and sales manager were pitching live turkeys out of a helicopter. It's a sit-com. It's not real. Even at the end of the episode, as owner Arthur Carlson returns to the station in the aftermath of the debacle of a promotion, he states, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
For the record, no turkeys were harmed in the filming of that WKRP episode. Those in the Yellville festival were not quite as lucky. While it is true that Thanksgiving tradition suggests that the mortality rate for turkeys is high, what brain trust got together to figure that replaying a scene from a seventies situation comedy in celebration of our annual feast was a good idea?
Wouldn't it be better if this was a made up story? And while we're at it, wouldn't it be nice if we could select a news item each week to be the one that didn't happen? What a treat it would be to turn back the clock and tell everyone that the shooting in Texas was really just pretend, and nobody died. No innocent victims, fish, fowl, or human. Hit that big red FAKE button and put the brakes on any more carnage. That might mean that we would have to let Melania Trump turn out to be a replicant, but that should be left up to us. We, the people.
Really? I thought this was just a play on the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati in which Les Nessman, winner of the coveted Silver Sow Award as well as three Buckeye Newshawk awards, described the scene at a local shopping mall where his stations's owner and sales manager were pitching live turkeys out of a helicopter. It's a sit-com. It's not real. Even at the end of the episode, as owner Arthur Carlson returns to the station in the aftermath of the debacle of a promotion, he states, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
For the record, no turkeys were harmed in the filming of that WKRP episode. Those in the Yellville festival were not quite as lucky. While it is true that Thanksgiving tradition suggests that the mortality rate for turkeys is high, what brain trust got together to figure that replaying a scene from a seventies situation comedy in celebration of our annual feast was a good idea?
Wouldn't it be better if this was a made up story? And while we're at it, wouldn't it be nice if we could select a news item each week to be the one that didn't happen? What a treat it would be to turn back the clock and tell everyone that the shooting in Texas was really just pretend, and nobody died. No innocent victims, fish, fowl, or human. Hit that big red FAKE button and put the brakes on any more carnage. That might mean that we would have to let Melania Trump turn out to be a replicant, but that should be left up to us. We, the people.
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