Sunday Morning Coming Down

Derek Carr QB Oakland Raiders broke his leg against the Colts last week.  The backup is warming up for the final week of the season and the playoffs.  It must be a slow news week because there is talk that he "could possibly" return for the Superbowl. It's a nice story that the Raiders have made it to Playoffs but it would be too much to ask a kid that is 25 years old to risk the rest of his career for a chance to play in the Superbowl. In all likelihood it is a stretch that the raiders will get to the Superbowl without Carr but that doesn't stop sports talk radio from a full fledged discussion less than a week after Carr had surgery to repair his leg.

One thing I firmly believe is that everyone who wants to work should be able to find a job.  Whether it is the the job they want is less important than not working when they could or should be working.  It is easier to look for work while you have a job. Showing up at your job is important but if you are working part time or at minimum wage workers should be encouraged to look for jobs with more hours, better benefits, and higher wages.  Employers who provide entry level positions and they get promotions should be encouraged with tax credits for their efforts of getting and keeping folks in the labor market.  If folks can see a path forward in their jobs everyone can benefit. Economic activity from youth entering the job  market, the long term unemployed, homemakers looking to earn some money, students needing part time employment, and those working under the table moving into regular employment benefits all. A job is a good social program and a better job...

It's Christmas Eve and I walked to the bank to get some money so I can pay for some cookie dough to do some holiday baking this afternoon.  The walk is about 2500 steps and on the way I bought a can of beer and a lottery ticket.  It's Saturday and this is what I do.  The baking cookies is an add on, just like going to Church will be this evening and I will be up on Sunday morning bright and early for church again.  The crowd at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami will be bigger than average this evening and probably an intimate group tomorrow even though it is Sunday.  Christmas Carols tonight for sure, not too sure about Sunday Services this week. Today I read a story and wonder if you can be almost honest, somewhat crooked, or slightly abusive and still be a Unitarian Universalist in good standing . The UU Denomination believes in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  This isn't easy, but I'm up to date on my pledge for the fis...

There was a horse in the latest Breeder's Cup that tested positive for a very small amount stanozolol in his system.  According to the current system the drug was administered legally and according to the trainer should have out of they horse's system prior to the race.  The drug was administered more than 68 days prior to the Breeder's Cup race and it was anticipated that there would be no problems. The presence of stanozolol in a horse's system is reason for disqualification and redistribution of purse money. It is anticipated that there will be a disqualification and redistribution of purse money soon. According to the trainer the horse had problems maintaining his weight while training and was administered this steroid type of drug to maintain weight while training.  Obviously if timed "properly" the horse is able to be trained at a higher level, recover faster, and maintain conditioning right up to the race. The trainer has apologized, whether he ...

According to a report from the Miami Herald $3.6 million dollars has been siphoned from The City of Miami Beach from one of  their checking accounts by someone who got their banking information and set up automatic fund transfers to other banks.  City employees that should have caught this have resigned and the automatic transfer accounts have been closed. I think there are a lot governmental agencies that should read this article and then make sure the expenditures are monitored and accounts are reconciled.  In the name of convenience debit cards, and credit cards are out there and so is the banking information. The City Manager admits that this didn't happen overnight or in one month. This is a public service of "the media".  What can happen on the Beach could happen at any governmental agency that receives and spends tax money.

Much has been made about who won and who lost in the last presidential race.  The bench for both parties was weak or maybe not so weak as old.  The process for nominating the party's candidates took too long, cost too much money, and resulted in relatively fewer folks voting which was might have been intentional.  Pandering to the base was something  I kept hearing.  The group in the base that votes in primaries or goes to a caucus is an even smaller group of folks. Moving forward I doubt there will ever be a a constitutional amendment to get rid of the electoral college.  There may need to be new coursework for political scientists to develop less gerrymandered districts for congressional and state districts.  Meanwhile the Democratic Party will have to develop programs that speak to the more rural parts of the country.  Urban and rural poverty, poor access to medical care, and economic development, housing and environmental problems can happen...

4,129 children were born last year in Iceland. The fertility rate was measured at 1.81 children for every woman over a lifetime—a figure which has never been lower since records began being kept in 1853. The figures were released this week by Statistics Iceland, RÚV reports. The average fertility rate needs to be 2.1 children per woman in the long term for sustainable population levels.

The $12,000,000 Pegasus World Cup is coming to Gulfstream Park on January 28, 2016. I wish I had $1,000,000 that I could burn.  I wish I owned a really good horse.  As an old race tracker once said "that is why they call it gambling".  If you bought a spot in the starting gate and you think your horse might be step or two slow you can sell your spot or lease a faster horse if you can find a willing owner. In College Football, think of the President of the University of Alabama betting  $3,000,000 to insure a place in the NCAA Football Playoffs.  Ditto Ohio State, Clemson, and Washington.  And maybe the 4th seed could sell their place in the field to another institution of "higher learning" for a softer spot in a lesser bowl game.  How the $12,000,000 might be divided: $7,000,000 1st Place, $3,000,000 2nd Place and $1,000,000 for 3rd and 4th Place. I hope the field is filled with worthy horses that will give the public a good race.  There is ...

Yes the Miami Marlins need a closer.  The owner of the Miami Marlins had his cell phone number published on the web and a sports reporter from Deadspin called him to ask how he felt about getting turned down by at least a few closers who were free agents.  The reporter got hung up on. The owner's search for a closer continues. The fans search for a winning team in Miami will rest in the hands of the Miami Dolphins and a back up quarterback who hopefully will be able to get the job done this week against the Jets.  The last victory was a win but not very convincing. The Panthers fired their coach in mid season and the team looked really bad in its last game. The Heat won last night but are mired in last place in their division.  It's a young team and with a lot of upside but I wonder how much patience Miami fans will have.

I'm not a fan of Notre Dame but they beat the Canes this year. And the "U" is going to play a Bowl Game this year. 30 For 30 is on ESPN Tonight Go figure. Catholics can be substituted for Criminals.

 This is a letter I received from a Ron Du Bois of Stillwater, Oklahoma.  (A relative) Dear Electors: I am a WW2 Veteran who landed at Omaha Beach and saw action in France and Germany. Exploding shrapnel in hedgerow country ended further combat. After removal of shrapnel and hospital recuperation I was awarded the Purple Heart. Recently the French government awarded me the Chevalier de la Legion D’Honeur and to all American soldiers who saw combat on French soil in gratitude and appreciation for liberating France from Nazi domination. Later during tenure as a university professor I applied for and was awarded three research grants under the auspices of the enlightened Fulbright Program... enabling research and educational film documentation in Korea, India, and Nigeria… As a young person I witnessed the rise of Hitler and the 3rd Reich. Seventy years later, from the  perspective of a senior citizen, I see the threat of a similar repetition of h...

This is comes from HUD. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.  $14,500 is 2000 hours@ $7.25 not enough money for a single person.  It is also just about the amount of the average retirement benefit from Social Security.  A living wage is close to $45,000 for a family of four.  Yes, we may need a pediatric neurosurgeon as the head of HUD.  Did we get the right one?

“Our jobs are here. Our kids go to school here,” said Renescha Coats , among a handful of Hall’s neighbors fighting their evictions in court. “It’s not that we want to stay here. Where else are we going to go?” Folks that lived in old apartment buildings in the Grove Area near Grand Avenue are facing eviction from their apartments.  The owners are about to cash in as new development is approaching. It's not like the City of Miami is building a bunch of new affordable housing and actually what qualifies for affordable housing is probably not very affordable for the folks in the West Grove. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article118514978.html#storylink=cpy

Jim Delligatti who "invented" the Big Mac" died at age 98 on November 28, 2016.  It was reported that Jim ate a "Big Mac" once a week. Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsauceletticecheesepickleonionsonasesameseedbun. There is now a McDonald's on Irving Park Road in Bensenville, Illinois.  Leaving Bensenville in June, 1971, I really don't remember a McDonald's in Bensenville.  I remember other greasy hamburger joints that were Mom and Pop drive ins and a chain called Yankee Doodle that was hangout my parents were leary of because it had become a hangout. There was a McDonald's across the street (Business 66) in Normal, Illinois.  I ate dinner there on Sunday Evenings because the dorm cafeteria was closed and a burger and fries were cheap. In Miami, at the U, Burger King was closer to campus but it was cheaper to eat and live at home and I was always busy with part time jobs. Poverty and inconvenience made fast food one of the last things on my mi...

Joke of the day.... About 91 years ago Fidel Castro's mom, Lina, went to the nearest convenient store and asked the owner to please help her by giving her 150 pesos. Unfortunately the owner didn't have 150 pesos to spare ... About 30 years later that same store owner went to visit Lina, he asked her to please talk to her son and change his mind about taking his store away, its a family business that has been growing through the years. Lina with a sad face told him she couldn't help him. Then she reminded him of those 150 pesos she so desperately needed years ago, he remembered, well, she said, it was for an abortion.

Things are standing on their heads these days in politics these days.  The winner of the popular vote for POTUS is out walking her dog and the guy who carried the electoral college is still out there  campaigning like it is November 7, 2016. Dwight Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States.  He felt that life long professional soldiers should abstain from seeking high political office.  In spite of that reluctance to run for office immediately after WWII he was elected president in 1952 and re-elected in 1956. Eisenhower was prophetic in his concerns about the development of a "military industrial complex" and the need for an alert and knowledgeable citizenry to make sure that things did not go wrong. Donald Trump has indicate he will nominate Marine General James Mattis.  This breaks a streak of keeping the generals from running the Department of Defense that goes back to General George Marshall who was Secretary of Defense for a short period...

Fidel Castro dead at 90 Late-breaking news of Fidel Castro's death arrived past the printing deadline. Please visit miamiherald.com for the latest news and special coverage. The Saturday Morning paper had no mention of Fidel's death.  Raul Castro announced his older brother's death Friday night.  The party broke out after 1:00 AM in South Florida Celebrations broke out at the Versasailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho and pots and pans were banged in Hialeah as if the Dolphins had won the Super Bowl. I wonder how many editors will be back in their offices this morning scrambling.  The previous reports of Fidel's death have been greatly exaggerated, this time, it looks like he really bought the farm. I anticipate no great return to Cuba but I think Havana will see a spike in tourists from Miami.  It may even be a good and cheap place to retire. And this is the lead from El Herald: Fidel Castro prometió democracia, pero implantó una dictadura comunista que emp...

I enjoy the benefits of clean air living in South Florida.  I also enjoy the benefits of clean water.  Judging by the growth in population in Florida and impact of tourism to help pay the bills, our good environment is important. I attended West Virginia University to get a graduate degree in public administration in 1975.  The mostly rural state has many small towns that were populated by folks that worked as coal miners.  In 1975 there were issues about acid rain which was a byproduct burning coal in power plants.  There were also issues between two different types of mining.  Underground mining meant digging holes into mountains and surface mining that morphed into mountaintop removal and then digging out the coal with heavy equipment followed by "reclamation". Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas all add greenhouse gases which have lead to higher temperatures, droughts and stronger storms and rising sea levels.  Acid rain hurts forests ...

Richard Spencer's "Hail Trump" was creepy enough.  “America was, until this last generation, a white country, designed for ourselves and our posterity. It is our creation and our inheritance, and it belongs to us,” according to Spencer. Makes Barry Goldwater seem like flaming liberal.

The best tickets to Hamilton on Broadway cost $849 according to the New York Times and Super Bowl tickets might be more than $3000 according to Stubhub.  It is estimated that game tickets for the 2016 World Series was around $1500. I guess I won't be going to NYC for Hamilton, the Superbowl, or the World Series, that is unless I win the Powerball before I die.  

The cast of "Hamilton" had something to say to the VP Elect.  What did he expect? I am reminded of HST: “No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

The Gettysburg Address was given by A. Lincoln on November 19, 1863. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated...

Lebron Jackson and Phil Jackson have a dust up over the term posse.  About twelve years ago when Lebron James was about 19 years old PJ expressed some doubts about kids out of high school playing in the NBA, making an obscene amount of money and the posses that develop. Somehow or other that has resurfaced. LJ played in Miami, brought championships and his friends and business associates may have been an inconvenience to some but in retrospect I'm damn near positive Pat, Eric, Mickey and the rest of the Heat family would have liked him to stay.  They guy generated a lot of interest in basketball and he has developed wide ranging business interests.  He isn't the last guy on the bench and in Cleveland like Miami, he is the reason they contended for championships. The word posse isn't racist. Although I'm sure that there are folks who would make that jump because rich folks have associates that go on trips with them for various reasons.  When the President of the U...

From the South Florida Business Journal I read the following: Jungle Island, a zoological park on Miami's Watson Island, could be replaced by a hotel and other upgrades if a group investors gets a hold of the property. Aventura-based ESJ Capital Partners and a group led by Bern Levine , who bought the wildlife park back when it was called Parrot Jungle, confirmed with the Miami Herald that a sale is in the works for the 18-acre property. The buyers would take over Jungle Island's lease and its debt. Yes Parrot Jungle left Pinecrest awhile ago to be repositioned on Watson Island and the experiment hasn't been a flaming success.  I've been to the new Jungle Islaand a few times and the attraction is ok.  Its location isn't a fun place to drive to.  Somebody thought that being near cruise ships, downtown, closer to the beach... would be a real boon. The owners fought with the City of Pinecrest about expansion.  The result was a new library, communit...

Coming off of the Chicago Cubs World Series victory I saw several things.  The season is long, it has its ups and downs, the team needs good leadership and talented players.  And probably the most important thing is teamwork where folks lift each other up rather than tear each other down.

The World Golf Championship formerly held in Doral, Florida has been moved to Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, MEX • Purse: $9,750,000.

1) Lots of folks who voted, left the line where you voted for President of the United States blank.  The obvious statement being I don't like either candidate of the major parties.  And the result is you are stuck with the decision that someone else made because they did fill in that bubble and you did not. 2) A not insignificant number of voters voted for third party candidates who really had no chance to win.  Again you will be stuck with the result of your decision. 3) A lot of other folks may be stuck with the result of protest votes like this.  Let's hope folks with preexisting conditions don't get kicked to the curb if Obamacare is repealed without a replacement in the wings. 4) The "wall" may not be the best way to deal with many complicated immigration issues and large scale deportation of folks who overstayed tourist visas, work in the hospitality industry, agriculture may cause other unintended results. 5) Tax code changes may again benefit the ...

The latest voting totals for 2016 presidential election are: Clinton/Kaine 59,419,852 Trump/Pence  59,233,335. Electoral College Trump/Pence  279                              Clinton/Kaine 228 The Senate and the House will remain in Republican hands. Everybody is ringing their hands about the election results in the "Blue Firewall" that included Michigan and Wisconsin.  There were issues in 2016 that affected the results in these two states. I would suggest that folks look back at the results of the 1972 Democratic Primary and the vote totals in Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Wisconsin: George McGovern finished #1                    George Wallace     finished #2 Michigan:  George Wallace  ...

I'm not sure the pollsters got it so wrong when you put it all together.  There were almost 116,000,000 ballots cast in the presidential election and there was a difference of about 500,000 votes and the sum total of that 500,000 votes made a pretty significant difference in the electoral college and swung the election to the republicans and Donald Trump. If you got out of the city, in farm country, coal country or in the oil patch, and drive a pick up truck you were in Trump Country.  It's different out there and farm prices are down, oil prices are down, and maybe the factory where you worked is gone. A tale of two cities, some places are doing very well and for other places things are not going well.  It doesn't help to call out people as deplorable, nobody feels like they are deplorable, it just pisses them off more.  There are more than enough angry folks out there.  I hope things get better, they might get  worse but eight years ago things were pr...

And I say so what else is new?  If you live in Miami, Florida, a lot of people overstay their 2-B visas.  Tourists get sand in their shoes and don't really want to go back home.  When the seas are calmer, there are folks smuggled into this country.  I know it's an issue that needs to be dealt with. This almost isn't news, except that the person in question is the current wife of a presidential candidate.  It is at best ironic that a presidential candidate became its party's nominee saying he would build a wall and question President Obama's birth certificate. Johnny Cash wrote a song: "What Is Truth?".

I've been getting a lot of calls asking who I am voting for this year.  I wish the first question before they go through all the other questions was "Have you voted".  Click #1 for Yes or Click #2 for No. If you answer yes the preferred response would be thank you for your time and effort.  Good bye.

I really hope the Cubs accept the invitation to visit the White House from President Obama. 

Fowler hits a home run leading off.  The team that scores first in the seventh game of the World Series has gone 15-1. The Cubs built a lead of 5-1 and folks were starting to count down to a Cosmic World Series. In the 5th inning the wheels started to come off.  A bad throw by Ross the catcher, allowed Cleveland to claw back a lot closer.  Ross makes up for his error with a home run in his last game.  The Cosmic World Series is again looking good.  Lester, who had come in for Hendricks settled down, Chapman came in for Lester who had relieved Hendricks.  Baez had hit a home run to make up for an error.  Things seemed good until it became clear that Kluber, Hendricks, and Chapman's arms were tired and the hitters were zoning in after seeing these guys often enough in a seven game series.  Chapman blew a 6-3 lead. The game as headed to extra innings. The game was tied and then it started to rain. About twenty minutes late the Cubs came out and...

Cub bats were hot and the weather in the Cleveland was unseasonably warm. This morning I'm reminded of playing APBA Baseball, a "board game" on a card table in a tiny bedroom with my cousin. The following is a description of the game from Wikipedia. The company's first offering was a baseball simulation table game using cards to represent each major league player, boards to represent different on-base scenarios (e.g. "Bases Empty", "Runners on First and Third," "Bases Loaded"), and dice to generate random numbers. Seitz's product was derived from the game National Pastime, invented and patented by Clifford Van Beek in 1925, [2] a game which Seitz played in his youth. [3] The game can be played against another person or in solitaire fashion. Devoted fans keep track of the results and assess how players' performance compares to their real-life statistics. The game was fantasy baseball before fantasy baseball.  Last ...

Jose Fernandez, ace baseball player, died in a tragic boating accident in September, that happened late at night and early the next morning.  Two other friends were killed.  The toxicology that was released Saturday and almost as expected drugs and alcohol were involved. One of the dead was a celebrity otherwise the boating accident would have been forgotten and the report filed for the lawyers to sort out later.  The families continue to mourn.  I'm not sure the official report is news as it is hardly new because it was so predictable and avoidable.

Los Alamitos Race Track is in Cypress, California and home of the Bank of America Challenge Championship, a series of stakes races for quarter horses.  The finals are being held on Saturday, October, 29, 2016. The realist in me says Bank of America has made a business decision to support a group of folks that use credit cards frequently. And on the other hand they have also promoted a sport, and folks in the sport that will never have a chance to run in the All American Futurity or the All American Derby or some of the million dollar races run in Texas or Oklahoma.  Quarter horses from Challenge races can qualify for the finals on a win and you're in basis. My best quarter horse friend Randy Weidner has a horse in the Challenge Championship from Ajax, Ontario.  Fantsy Pants will run out of the four hole. He knows his horse will be 50-1, I think she will be more than 50-1.  In a twelve horse race she will have to beat the eleven other horses.  Who knows?...

There is a big business in getting autographs to sell or going to a convention and paying somebody and in return getting an picture and an autograph.  There are celebrities that get paid for showing up at clubs?  Baseball player sign baseball cards and jerseys and a lot of fans wait till players have showered and stick a program or baseball in their face to sign. And presidential candidate will sign posters, hats, take selfies, and all sorts of other things. I'm really disappointed that former presidents have seemingly gone in this way to pay for a lifestyle to which they have become accustomed while being in office. This kind of self dealing may not be exactly illegal but  it really doesn't do much to allay the fears of most folks that the whole thing is rigged.

1)Finished the ballot just before 12:30pm at the Coral Gables Library. 2) The process was smooth, weather was good. 3) Most selfishly, I hope the phone calls will stop once they figure out I've voted.

Yes it is true the Marlins of Florida screwed up World Series dreams of the Cleveland Indians in 1997 and the Chicago Cubs in 2003.  Now that the Marlins are out of the way, Chicago or Cleveland will go onto win the World Series in 2016. Jeff Conine, who played on both Marlin teams, hopes the Chicago Cubs will win this year.

If the Cubs can win five more games this year they will have won the World Series for the first time since 1908.  I invite everyone to become fans of the 2016 Chicago Cubs.  This may seem silly, juvenile, and unimportant. If you live in Europe, Africa, or Asia you can take a pass on this invitation, but that does not mean the story isn't important. I think a lot of baseball fans will breathe a sigh of relief if  the Cubs win.  Things can go right, the team that played best this year, will be the champions and the USA can cross that off the country's bucket list, elect a president and try to be a better place to live, there are lots of other things to focus on. But the celebration will be monumental if we fly the "W".

The 2000 Election in Florida was screwed up.  Punch card ballots had pregnant chads, hanging chads, and a butterfly ballot that confused some folks in Palm Beach and to complicate matters the result were virtually a dead heat. Fast forward 2016 Election, and the candidate that is trailing is complaining about the election being rigged even before the first ballots are counted. And the conventional wisdom from Republicans is that they have once again missed an opportunity to win the presidency.  And the conventional wisdom may be correct one more time. It won't be because the election is rigged, the reason will be the rejection of a candidate that is tragically flawed and hardly a Republican.

All told it has been reported that Joe Scarborough on MSNBC makes $99,000 a week for his time on cable TV pontificating. You can interpret that anyway you please.  Not a bad gig for a former member of congress.

This is race track talk.  If your horse is faster, can run longer, your jockey is good and your horse is fit, the race is over probably before the race starts.  The jockey might fall off, the horse might make a bad step but when it is all said class and speed can make all the difference.  In a two horse race the loser will be looking for excuses or another race.  The winner takes a pee and the sample goes to lab. It isn't always this simple.

Not feeling very good about continued divided government in the U.S.A.  Given the last few days of this campaign the country will have spent a lot of time nominating these two candidates.  The amount of money spent on the elections may be a billion dollars or more and one of the candidates spouses and the other party's nominee are being compared for their piggish behavior when it comes to women.  One was disbarred and the other should never have been nominated as his party's candidate. Which leads me to the legislative branch of government that isn't exactly doing its job very well either.  Senator McConnell should be held responsible for the actual wasting time while the 2016 presidential race has occurred. What about the Supreme Court vacancy?  Fixing Obamacare, fixing medicare which will being broke should be part of the debate.  How about funding a highway bill properly? How about discussing a bipartisan foreign policy.  Combating cyber warfare...

POTUS is an acronym for president of the United States, but it might also mean people of the United States, or politics of the United States. Yesterday I listened to an entire speech by Michelle Obama, (FLOTUS) in New Hampshire.  If you were a democrat I imagine you might think it was a really great speech given by a really good speaker.  I liked it a lot because it seemed very much from the heart and spoke to what she thought was important. “This is not normal,” she said. “This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesn’t matter what party you belong to. No woman deserves to be treated this way — none of us deserves this kind of abuse.” Her speech lit up Twitter and the Internet. She spoke as Trump was waiting to appear, and on the cable networks — two at least — the images showed a fiery first lady dominating the screen with a tiny box in the corner of the crowded arena awaiting the GOP nominee. Both CNN and MSNBC broke away f...

Seems to me that Paul Ryan's decision to decouple from Donald Trump is very logical and something all folks should be allowed to do. Duh?  And just moments ago on Morning Joe I hear about a medicine that treats hepatitis C that costs a dollar to make and the drug company sells it for $1000 and the profits for Gilead Science go to Ireland. Your insurance company pays top dollar and your premiums are higher than they could be. Where are the lobbyists for the people that need the drug, or the tax payers that will eventually have to pay for the drug or the interest on the deficit that this kind of policy helps create. Is this a Republican/Democratic issue.  I don't think so. And then we go back the Senate where is is more important to control the levers of power than working on solving problems.  And folks how is that working?  Governing is difficult, legislating is difficult, I wonder how much Gilead is spending on this election.  I wonder how much John Milig...

Yesterday, I started plotting the coordinates of the center of Hurricane Mathew.  Miami, Florida is at 25.0 N latitude and 80.1 W longitude.   Time   Latitude  Longitude 8:00am   18.4N    74.2W 11:00am 18.9 N   74.3 W 2:00pm   19.4 N   74.3 W 5:00pm   19.8 N    74.3 W 8:00pm   20.1 N    74.3 W 11:00 pm 20.4 N   74.4W 2:00am    20.7 N   74.4W 5:00am   21.1 N    74.6W 8:00am   21.5.N    74.9W                   Current track is NNW at about 10mph.  I started doing this exercise be cause the charts and graphics were a little bit busy and confusing.  The next advisory is at 11:00am. 10/6/2016 Miami has dodged another very serious hurricane.  But the future path is very strange.

Hurricane Mathew seems to be blowing through the western tip of Haiti.  In Miami most folks are starting to watch the advisories that are happening every three hours.  8:00 AM, 11:00 AM, ... The Hurricane is to the south and east and the storm isn't forecast to be really close until early Thursday Morning.  The plastic jugs will be filled with water on Wednesday, ice trays are full and getting emptied as they freeze solidly.  I've been al banco for cash, la gasolinera for gas and bought batteries for radios.  Hopefully, I won't need to use the cash for anything other than food and beer, and the car will still have a full tank of gas on Friday, and the batteries will sit in the drawer until much later. Where I live, when the power goes out and it probably will if we get serious tropical storm winds, the next big issue will be when power is restored.  This is the bitch about storms.  What happens next and when will it happen is not something to look ...

It seems to me that most Americans would fail badly at naming the important people leaders of the G-20, which is shorthand for the 20 largest economies in the world.  I know of Justin Trudeau of Canada, Nieto of Mexico, Hollande of France, Merkel of Germany, Abe of Japan, Putin of Russia, and Modi of India.  There are some openings for leaders in Brazil and Great Britain. President Obama will be serving for only a short time.  Beyond those names I've mentioned I know there are important people at the head of China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, and Australia, and the European Union but I doubt I could pick those leaders out of a reunion picture at their latest meeting. Sadly, I doubt I did better than a lot of my fellow country men or women.  I would also wager that there are folks that can't name their state's senators or their local representatives to congress and it gets worse when you name representatives to local Florida go...

The Republicans and Democrats voted to override President Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Bill.  President Obama warned the Congress about passing legislation that might have "unintended consequences".  The most simple consequence being citizens of other countries going to court to sue the United States if they think the United States is involved in terrorism.  I'm not a lawyer but I could imagine folks going to court in this country for drone strikes we have undertaken. The JASTA Bill veto was overridden 97-1.  Now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has changed his mind at least somewhat and is criticizing President Obama for nor lobbying more forcefully against a bill he vetoed. Maybe the debate should have happened on the Senate Floor or Senator McConnell could have spoken to the President if he needed a power point presentation about the weakness of the bill the Congress passed.

Newsweek Magazine is reporting about a scouting trip to Cuba by the Trump Organization in 1998 exploring business opportunities if and when the Cuban Embargo ended.  Lots of companies from Canada and Europe did the same thing and it is hardly surprising that the Trump Organization might have done it.  If the embargo had been successful, I really doubt the Castro Brothers would still be in power. According to the State Department Website there have been programs to provide humanitarian aid to the Cuban People for more than twenty years.  Lots of folks have been sending money, farmers have been sending food and it is all in the name of helping the people of Cuba. I guess the Trump Organization was against the Embargo before it supported the Embargo. And so it goes.  Probably illegal, punishable probably not likely, I can only imagine that just about every major hotel chain in the world has probably visited Cuba scouting out potential resorts openly or covertly.

I listened to the debate last night.  I wonder how many people will change their vote as the result of the candidate's performances.  On balance it seems that Hillary Clinton had a good night and Donald Trump's night was not as good.  This is probably going to be a close election and I think the level of motivation of supporters will be critical in determining the final winner. I would caution Clinton supporters about taking too much comfort in the small lead she may have. I'm a Cubs fan.  Last night they won 100 games for the first time since 1935.  Sports analogies may not always apply but elections and championships really do require some serious team work that requires that players do their jobs and in elections people make sure they are registered and get out and vote.  No excuses. Beware of third party candidates.

The untimely, tragic and unimaginable death of Jose Fernandez, at the age of 24 is sad and a real loss to the Miami Community. I've always been a Cub fan, but I've been a Jose Fernandez fan from his first pitch.  While the Marlin franchise has had its ups and downs, I've gone to games to see Jose pitch and I'm sure to watch on TV if Jose was pitching.  Jose was a strike out artist, could swing a bat and always seemed to understand and enjoy the game of baseball.  His curve ball was almost unhittable. He is one of the professional athletes that Miami adopted and identified with.  It might have been Wade Country, but Miami was poised to have a new sports star in Jose Fernandez. The Miami Marlins will find it impossible to replace Jose.  He was somebody all baseball fans could identify with and someone Little League could look up to.

Alonzo Mourning played basketball at Georgetown University and in Miami with the Miami Heat.  He has had some health issues that eventually required a kidney transplant but that has hardly slowed him down since the end of his basketball career. He has worked in charitable causes to research the causes of his kidney disease. sponsored Zo's Summer grove which included a charity basketball game, concert and other activities for kids in Miami.  He has been active supporting the Miami Dade County Public Schools. Today the Miami Herald reported on the opening of an 84 unit community of affordable housing in Overtown.  The project took a long time to complete because of the housing collapse in 2008 but the partnership between the City of Miami Housing Trust Group and AM Affordable Housing is now open and is providing badly needed affordable housing for the community. Sometimes professional athletes get slammed for stuff.  Zo is a real community asset.

It would seem that seeing the same political ads in Florida are not having the intended affect on the race. HRC does not seem to be getting the bang for the buck spent on TV ads.  The same thing happened to Jeb Bush and I just wonder if the day of television ads making a big difference has come and gone. Even good ads don't seem to make a difference when they are pointed at Donald Trump.  He may know something about his followers that will make this election a lot closer than originally thought.

Some folks say NFL Games are a bad, bad place to stage a protest or even to exercise the right to free speech.  I'm of the opinion that sporting events may not be the greatest place to stage a protest, but sometimes in spite of the fact that there will be blow back you may be able to start or continue a conversation from another venue where there hasn't been much success. Football players taking a knee or not standing at attention during the Star Spangled Banner is pretty harmless, compared to taking some other kind of job action like maybe refusing to play, that might really get the fans pissed.  I realize professional football is big business, but in the past players have been locked out and that was a really big deal when it happened. Local police department is threatening to not escort team bus to game. I wonder how that looks after the last police involved shooting in Tulsa or North Carolina.  Such is the level of discourse these days.

Some folks have really gotten exorcised about how much football players are paid and that have been taking a knee during the National Anthem a form of free speech.  If you lived through the Viet Nam War there were a lot of protests back then that make taking a knee seem harmless. Please contrast the uproar about taking a knee and Carrie Tolsdet, Well Fargo Banking Executive in charge of the division that was responsible for $185,000,000 fines from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because of some very shaky banking practices. Ms Tolsdet with a retirement account that will reportedly be worth about $125,000,000 has recently retired from Wells Fargo.  Yes, she worked for the bank for a reported twenty seven years and a lot of her retirement is tied up in Wells Fargo stock options  I have only heard Senator Elizabeth Warren comment about the CFPB actions.  5,300 employees have been fired because of these these practices over the last few years. Next time I ...

I wish there had been more meat on the bone last night.  I don't think there were enough of the right questions asked about how the two major party candidates would manage the Department of Defense.  The United States spends a tremendous amount of money defending the country.  Are we getting our moneys worth?  What is Donald Trump doing praising Putin, while Putin isn't interested in better cooperation on the war in Syria.  I'm only slightly less impressed with Clinton saying we will not be sending ground troops to Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan.  I think there are already a small number of troops in all three countries and I'm not sure her comments lead in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. I could comment on issues regarding e-mails or taking the oil. Both candidates have their issues that make them nobodies first choice.  This is not trying to level the playing field.  How many folks that are in their late 60's or so haven't had problems keeping up wit...

Living in Miami, there are lots of Taco Stands.  Chipolte Mexican Grills are not quite ubiquitous but when they are added to Taco Bell and lots of other similar food joints and food trucks you just sort of adapt.  There are also lots of Italian, Greek, Chinese, Cuban, Ecuadoran, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Thai... restaurants.  There are not as many Polish or German specialty restaurants as in Chicagoland.  Shake Shack has their version Chicago style hot dogs.  Maybe Washington D.C. has a bigger assortment of cuisines, maybe. This is probably as good an argument for immigration as I have ever heard.

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and degenerates into a racket according to Eric Hoffer. This is why we have  regular elections and is a serious reason for democracy.  Unfortunately electing folks is becoming much more of a business than it should   Over this last electoral cycle I have heard it said  that the function of political parties is to win.  I guess politics and jobs are joined at the hip. If everyone is so dissatisfied why are incumbents reelected often with no opposition. Eric Hoffer was on to something.

Open carry of guns is now allowed at the University of Texas.  I remember the Day of Charley Whitman in the Bell Tower.  August 1, 1966 , he killed his mother wife and fourteen others.  A former Marine sharpshooter's rampage ended as he was killed by police. I doubt that Charles Whitman is the reason open carry of guns is allowed on campus. Fifty years is a long time ago.  Today a lot of undergrads are carrying around large sex toys.  The chant is "cocks not glocks". It will be interesting to see how this goes.

The Republican Party was anti slavery during the Civil War.  I'm not sure what the current Republican Party in the State of Mississippi thinks about slavery these days.  It's not that important because slavery was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.  During the Civil War it was the Democrats that wanted to protect slavery in the Confederate States.  The State of Kentucky ratified the 13th Amendment in 1976, while the State of Mississippi waited until 1995. The Republican candidate for president may be changing his positions on immigration and lots of other policy issues.  In what may be just more political expedience which is almost a given in general elections, it is almost impossible to reconcile the positions taken during the primary contests and the latest speeches given by Republican candidate. Winning or losing this election may be less important than another realignment by the political parties.  The last eight years have been mor...

I am really having a difficult time trying to connect small government Republicans and their presidential candidate's outreach to African Americans,and the candidates dog whistle about law and order and rigged elections. If it is reaching outreach to college educated Republican women, I don't get that connection either, same small government issues again.

Riding buses in Miami during the summer can be a very sweaty experience. The buses are air conditioned and it is a relief to finally get on one that isn't very crowded.  Ridership goes down during the summer.  MDTA in an effort to make the bus riding more pleasant has installed an air conditioned bus shelter  in Hialeah.  It has bench space that accomodates four and standing room for 11.  MDTA leadership calls it prototype.  The cost is about $65,000. I hopes this works but I have my doubts.  For the same reasons that there is a need for guards at Metrorail stations and trains, the transit police will need to patrol that bus shelter.  I can only imagine the issues with folks sleeping at that bus shelter.  In the short term it is difficult to believe that it will get people out of there cars to increase ridership enough to make a profit on that route and the way things are accounted for more riders means the transit system loses more money...

J.D. Vance wrote Hillbilly Elegy and I just finished reading it.  The reviews for the book have been positive and it is #3 on Amazon's List of Best Sellers.  Mr. Vance's writing is interesting and timely for those trying to explain aspects of American life.  I lived for about one year in Morgantown, WV and that experience was enough to make me cough up cash to buy the book. A memoir at age 31 is probably a little bit early in the game for anybody but I have to admit the guy's story is interesting.  His family story is confused(probably an understatement by me) as most single parent families are and he was fortunate to have grandparents to pick up the pieces as necessary.  Four years as a marine were another form of institutional support that happened at the right time  The proverbial fork in the  road and he seems to have made the most of it. A bright ambitious kid can finish college in less than four years.  The jump from The Ohio State Uni...

I've lived through Hurricane Andrew and I believe it is time for President Obama to visit Louisiana to see the damage done by the recent floods.  If that means he has to cut short his vacation, as a 7th grade teacher said: "Tough toenails, you grew em, you chew em." The golf games, summer play lists, and the rest of the stuff you might want to do might need to be put on the shelf. My limited experience with FEMA tells me they will never have enough oversight and this disaster warrants a Presidential visit.   

In the forty sum years I've lived in Miami Florida the Miami Hurricanes, Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins have played in two stadiums, The Orange Bowl and the Stadium Joe Robbie built from some donated land and some subsidies from the tax payers for road improvements and some other miscellaneous tax abatements The Orange Bowl has been replaced by Marlin's Park on the site of the old Orange Bowl. Joe Robbie Stadium has been variously known as Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, Sun Life Stadium, and now Hard Rock Stadium. Only 84 days till the election.

Utah Journalist, Robert Gehrke characterized this year's Presidential Race in Utah as the Zika Virus vs. Ebola, and Zika is leading.  Colorful.

When I lived in London at the age of eight, my sister and I walked past a newsstand on the way home from the bus stop that took us to school at Bushy Park Air Force Base in the morning and dropped us off in the afternoon.  We were "yanks" in King Arthur's Court. My sister developed a slightly British accent in our short time in England as needed, my Mid-West Chicago accent labeled me a foreigner. One afternoon while walking home we stopped to buy some Cadbury Chocolates at the newsstand.  The guy at the counter asked what kind I wanted.  Do you have a chocolate and mint bar?  "No", do he have a chocolate and caramel bar?  "No", Do you have a plain milk chocolate bar?  Before he could say anything. I answered "probably not" for him, what do you have? His answer was: "Sony, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and not very funny either." Lesson learned.

Today the draft exists on paper only.  Males between the ages of 18 and 26 are required to register if the draft is reinstated and to be eligible to receive student loans or other government benefits like job training. The idea of universal public service meaning everybody between the ages of 18-26 doesn't exist. The country took a turn when the draft ended.  The current military is certainly as professional and polished as it has ever been but going all volunteer has been an early driver of many the political divisions in this country.  Military service used to be something more folks experienced, not necessarily as a job or career but as part of being a citizen.   President Obama and his wife have tried to be respectful and supportive of today's veterans and their families.  The Commander in Chief should do no less. Service and sacrifice are related and they should be recognized but to be used as means to divide is a problem. By 1973 the United State...

You line up your guys and complain about the other guys.  And the other team lines up their guys for the other side of complaints.  Partisanship is rewarded and precious little gets done and both sides look for even more devious ways to make compromise more difficult and accomplishing anything of value almost an illusion.  This seems to be the current legislative plan. Will it be any different after the election in November? A President nominates somebody to fill a Supreme Court vacancy and no hearings have been held.  The nominee is already a Federal Court Judge and has been voted on by the Senate and approved by the Senate for his current position.  There is a looming public health threat from a mosquito bourn illness and the legislative branch is having problems passing an emergency appropriation to help states and localities fight the spread of mosquitoes that spread the Zika Disease.  Public Health Officials are not collecting blood in Miami Dade C...

Nixon said simply: I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States. He might have continued fighting impeachment but Republicans: Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Hugh Scott. and Representative John Rhodes met with him to deliver their opinion that he had precious little support to continue the fight against impeachment. I believe the Republican Party is in a similar situation regarding its current nominee.  Somebody in the leadership of the party needs to have that kind of conversation with Donald Trump.  If they will or can do such a thing is an open question.  Donald Trump's response is also problematic. This kind of train wreck is preferable to the possibility of a Trump presidency but it might it be something that would be the electro-shock therapy the collective Republican Party needs.

I would like to know what Bill O'Reilly was proving or trying to prove by saying that the slaves that built the White House were well fed and housed? 

Asking for Russia to insert themselves into the American Presidential Election by hacking DNC computers is not legal.  Most other countries are livid when the U.S. gets involved in their politics. A possible leader of the free world needs to realize that there are places you just don't go. Listening to Donald Trump during his press conference yesterday was more than a little be jarring. I dismissed the comment as another example of his normal snarkiness or something that was a lame attempt at humor of the darkest type. Whether this will become an issue in the upcoming election isn't clear.  I remember the fallout from the third rate burglary of the Watergate.

Sarah Silverman called out Bernie or Bust Democrats as being ridiculous.  She is a Bernie Sanders true believer who has come around to support Hillary Clinton.  This is the way things go in a two party political system. This is the way things should go.  A political convention is not an inquisition or the Salem witch trials. Losing an election in the name supporting positions which have been rejected by voters is a special kind of ridiculousness.  There will be roll call and there are not enough people who voted for Bernie him to make him the Democratic Presidential Nominee.  A good campaign with good ideas can make things better.  A good campaign with good ideas that doesn't come together enough to win won't make things better and they might make things worse. Folks that can't stand Hillary Clinton but have no use for Donald Trump need to do some real soul searching.  How would you like the Supreme Court injecting themselves into the election proc...

Intractable means difficult to manage, alleviate, remedy or cure in the context of medicine.  I just finished listening to Anthony Sabato Jr. expound about President Obama, Muslim.  Unbelievable.  Are we still litigating birtherism and that's just the beginning.

The Class of 1969 has reached the ripe old age of sixty five or it soon will. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford(not elected), Carter, Reagan, G. Bush(father), Clinton, G. Bush(son), and Obama have served in the office during our life time. I know President Truman served for a while but I only know him through history books and from reports after he left office. During our lifetimes we have had the opportunity and responsibility to select between 1) Nixon and McGovern, 2) Ford and Carter, 3) Carter and Reagan, 4) Reagan and Mondale, 5) G. Bush(father) and Dukakis, 6) G. Bush(father), 7) Clinton and G. Bush(father), 8) Clinton and Dole, 9) G. Bush(son) and Gore, 10) G. Bush(son) and Kerry, 11) Obama and McCain, and 12) Obama and Romney. Will Rogers is quoted as saying "I am not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat."  The latest Republican Convention is notable for the folks that are not there rather than their disagreements. Alm...

The poem was copyrighted by Max Ehrmann.  Popularized by Les Crane..." you are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars you have a right to be here".  Who wrote the poem originally and who owns the rights to it are a less than clear. I'm not surprised about the latest contretemps regarding regarding a speech given by the presumptive republican first lady. I'm a lot more concerned with the idea that the universe is unfolding as it should.

I've been to memorial services that have had music that caused folks to move with the music.  People express themselves differently at times when there is stress and that stress is relieved a lot, somewhat, or not so much.  Some folks voices quiver, others are rock solid.  One way does not fit all.  I read Former President Bush's speech in Dallas.  It was an excellent speech, probably one of his best.  Hello out there?

This has been a very bad week for the United States.  Other weeks might have been worse, but if this one has a really toxic mix going for it. We are getting close to the Republican National Convention.  Donald Trump is having tryouts for Vice President and a senator from Tennessee takes himself out of the picture, but suggests Ivonca Trump might make a good Vice President. The candidate speaks of Saddam Hussein as being bad but being good on the subject of the control of terrorists.   #$%@$. Meanwhile, a former President meets with the current Attorney General on an Airport Tarmac and they discuss his new grandchild while his wife who is the presumptive Democratic Nominee for President is waiting for the end of an FBI investigation into her use of e-mail.  Maybe a kinder, gentler type of stupidity but it will be sure to bring out more of the worst from folks.  How many more reasons do you need to believe the fix is in when it comes to the Clintons? And loc...

The Fourth of July is a good holiday.  Fireworks displays are fun for almost everybody but dogs and cats and folks that get a little freaked out by very loud noises.  Picnics, baseball games, hot dogs, watermelon, family gatherings and parades are also appropriate ways to celebrate. It is also an appropriate time to display the American Flag.  This country values freedom of speech and so do I, but I wish we would try to separate clothing from the American Flag, selling stuff with the Flag and the general use of the American Flag as a form of advertising. Dogs dressed in flags, flag beach blankets, celebrities pictured prominently with flags, flag shirts, pants, and ties along with TV and print ads flashing the flag have become so ubiquitous that it is just cheapens the brand. Patriotism is so much more than a flag. 

The best story out of Euro Cup 2016 will be Iceland and their defeat of England in the round of eight. 2016 will be remembered by Iceland as the first year they ever qualified for a major international tournament in football.  The Icelanders are famous for competing and winning in the World's Strongest Man Competition, Handball, and Chess. The Icelandic Football Team got beaten badly by France 5-2 yesterday.  This was not completely unexpected.  Iceland's team comes from a country with a small number of players to pick from.  There are only about 330,000 Icelanders in the whole country and probably less than 20,000 males that are of an age between 20-30 that might play soccer.  Amazing that this small group of folks has been able to compete against national teams like  France, England, and the Netherlands with a lot more players to chose from. Team USA got whacked by Argentina 4-0 in their Copa America run.  This may have been a fluke and it mi...

Talking heads that discuss politics keep saying that Donald Trump should stay on message and just read what others have written for him, instead of just going off and saying what ever seems to comes into his head and then out his mouth. One of the more tragic things about campaigns that start too soon, go on too long, and then never quite end is the difficulty in changing gears from primary contests to general elections. The whole process is becoming something like playing old records.  Stump speeches are comfortable and they mean something but they are really not helpful when it comes to developing policies and governing.  I think folks should stop blaming candidates for being who they are.  What were you expecting. Speaking to your supporters and getting them fired up doesn't seem to be working this year and it is polluting the whole process.  What difference is it going to make if whoever gets elected is so unpopular or generates opposition that nothing gets...

Last night might have been fascinating video or lack of video.  A sit down in the House of Representatives is the way it was described.  The House isn't a lunch counter at Mc Crory's in downtown Miami.  Mc Crory's is gone as are most lunch counters from yesteryear.  John Lewis of Georgia sat at those lunch counters back in the 1960's to get the right to eat a lunch counter in a public place. What happened in the House was a political protest.  No vote, no break, singing we shall pass a bill some day.  The House and the Senate are public places and the folks elected to represent us should do legislating when called upon. If you are to believe polls, most people of voting age believe that the current laws regarding guns should be amended to bring the no fly list for terrorism and legal gun ownership into some kind of congruity.  No guns for suspected terrorists.  At least in the Senate there was a vote.  Senators went on record.  5...

This may be trivial but there are no family names in Iceland.  You are almost 100% sure to be somebodies son or dottir.  If my parents were in Iceland and I was born there, I would be legally known as John Paulsson or John Gladisson and my children were I to have any would be Johnssons or Johnsdottirs. Iceland is a small country and there are currently laws about what you can name your children.  There are 1712 approved names for males and 1853 approved given names for females.  There is a governmental agency that can approve additional names for the approved list. The times they are changing.  There is a proposal to allow family names and scrap the list of approved male/female names. Currently there are no boys named "Sue" because it could be a nuisance for the child. The French who guard the French language are strict about what is proper French.  Icelandic language freaks worry  that this is the beginning of the end of the Icelandic as practic...

Ted Cruz is reported to have called the Senate filibuster of Chris Murphy a political distraction and political gamesmanship. Common sense would have me believe that certain regulations might lessen the number of mass shootings and make them deadly to fewer people. The result of the filibuster will be to force a vote on gun control amendments, maybe, probably, hopefully. Isn't that what legislators are supposed to do?

Another one bites the dust, and so it goes in Miami.  Allen's Drug Store was the site of a Sunday Morning Meltdown after a very raucous Saturday night which was preceded by a University of Miami football game, tailgate party and bookended by beers bien fria. 6:30 AM stumbling in Allen's for some breakfast, the waitress poured me some coffee.  I ordered two scrambled with wholewheat toast.  Before the order could be served a quick survey of the lunch counter said I had one famous breakfast mate.  Howard Schnellenberger, UM's head football coach. I might have congratulated him on our latest home victory, but I really needed to focus.  It had been a long day followed by a short night. Sunday Morning Coming Down Another close friend saw me at Allen's that morning.  He thought I needed some peace and quiet or maybe another cold one.  At least that's what he told me on Wednesday when I saw him. Thanks all for listening generously.

One of Uber's biggest investors is Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia doesn't like its women to drive automobiles. Technology and money have merged to provide a quick fix to keep Saudi women off the road.  U.S. News And World Report wrote an article the impact of the Saudi investment in Uber. One of the interesting sidelights of the article was Saudi Arabia's efforts to get more women into the labor force.  Currently about 16% of Saudi women are in the labor force and the government would like to get 30% of the women jobs in the paying economy. In contrast the United States about 57% of the women in the country are in the paying economy. Different systems different results.  I wonder what the United States would be like if only 16% of its women worked outside of the house and had paying jobs?

Cuban bakeries sell Cuban pastries, Cuban bread, and Cuban coffee.  That's what they do and that's what they are in Miami.  I can hardly imagine what your blood pressure would be if you drank Cuban coffee like some folks drink American coffee. Pinecrest Bakeries got into a jam with the Starbucks on the other side of the strip mall because they expresso coffee and cafe con leche which was in violation of their lease agreement with the strip mall owner that gave Starbuck's an "exclusive", in serving expresso and expressoes mixed with milk. The judge told Pinecrest to ditch their expresso machine because they were only allowed to serve "American" coffee at their bakery, according to their lease agreement. If I had been the owner of a Cuban bakery like Pinecrest I would never have signed such a lease. If I was Starbuck's I would never have tried to enforce such a condition on a Cuban bakery. Yes the Cuban bakery ditched the expresso machine but t...

An awful,lot of folks are 62 + in age and they may be signing up for Social Security and dropping out of the labor market.  This may be a temporary situation as it becomes necessary to go back to work to pay bills.  Underemployment may become preferable to cut  back. And being a little more active these days is a good thing. I'm wondering when the studies will be published about how much folks are cutting back their consumption of stuff and or continuing to put stuff on their cards or use the equity in their houses to maintain that which is becoming increasingly difficult to pay for . I'm wondering when someone is going to point out the difficulty of maintaining a lifestyle that assumes a level of growth that is shrinking at the same time things appear to be getting better(for who and by how much). Improvements in processes can make more from less and employ fewer people.  I know older workers that would like to hang on to what they've got for a little longer, ...

There are probably more than nine indications you might not be hearing as well as you think you are. 1) Conversations might take more effort to understand. 2) The volume control on the TV is a lot higher than you remember. 3) Talking to people on the phone is difficult. 4) Your ears ring constantly. 5) You just give it up and don't participate in conversations. 6) You miss things in conversations. 7) You think people mumble, speak too softly, or high pitched sounds are difficult to understand. 8) You ask folks to repeat what they said often. I had my hearing checked more than once because the first one said I had some hearing loss but didn't give it much thought because I live alone, rarely talk on the phone, and my Dominican girl friend talks loud enough for both of us.  Or so I thought.  I started a refresher Spanish class and it became crystal clear.  I was missing words in Spanish conversation that were no problem when reading the same words.  Race tra...