Sunday Morning Coming Down

 Tom Ricker, a high school classmate spent some time in pandemic times prior to vaccines playing and singing country and western songs(et al).  He did it on a daily basis and they were recorded on Facebook. A lot of the songs were familiar and snipets from the porch with his dogs.  Reluctant to make requests, I just listened to and meandered in my thoughts as I heard the history of a lot  of songs.   My niece just called, and we talked about her trips to WV.  Country Roads by John Denver and Morning Morgantown were two songs that helped me make a decision about graduate school. And after a winter in Morgantown, I have a new appreciation for the song 30,000 lbs. of Bananas. 

Went with the folks down to Bayside for lunch before getting on the bus for Morgantown WV to start MPA classes.  Classes wouldn't start for about ten days, and I would soon miss the Florida weather, but I didn't have an apartment, car, and wanted to see a little more of the town and campus before school started.  Said goodbye to my parents, sure I would see them again, but unsure if I would be returning to Florida. Deciding on graduate school involved a book that had a list of graduate schools. I could have gone to the index that listed schools with MPA programs, but I just started at the back of the book and wrote letters to the University of Washington in Seatle, the University of Wisconsin, and "the" West Virginia University.   

An early implementer of rock and roll music I was not.  In fact, I think most of the music I listened too was on somebody else's stereo until I was about 18 years old.  I was not an early fan of the Beatles and in some ways rock and roll somehow escaped me and even though I went to high school dances, it was mostly to catch a ride to eat pizza on a Friday Night.  I got a Zenith Trans-Oceanic Radio and listened to shortwave radio.  Radio Moscow, HCJB, VOA... were as popular as WLS in those days before college. Then I went to college, and I got to listen to a collection of eight track cassette tapes courtesy of Andy Krause, who was a fan of Neil Diamond, The Rolling Stones and whole lot of other groups.  He may have worked at Ampex, a company that made cassettes, if my memory is correct.  I think he liked Solitary Man. I'm pretty sure it was part of his top ten. Another Digression. Sweet Caroline: The song reached No. 4 on the  Billboard  Hot 100 ch...

Bob Dole made a mistake endorsing Trump but I'm sure he is rolling over in his grave after hearing this. I just finished listening to Liz Cheney read several e-mails to Mark Meadows from folks in the Capitol regarding the situation at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. I watched what happened at the Capitol live on TV.  You had to intentionally go somewhere like Memorable Entertainment TV to miss coverage. A former Mayor of Miami Dade County newly elected took one of his first votes to question the voting in Arizona. Given his background and ultimate supervision of elections in Miami Dade County as mayor, he should have known better but that's the way the republicans roll these days. Just forget about it, please.

The passing of Robert Dole is another reminder of the passing of the "greatest generation".  The textbooks have defined those folks as a generation shaped by the economic depression of the 1930's and the Second World War. The following is a quote from Senator Dole:  "In politics honorable compromise is no sin. It is what protects us from absolutism and intolerance"'. You might ask yourself what has happened to the sense of community that existed but now seems to be wavering at best .  I'm reminded of a scene from "Foyle's War" with Detective Foyle responding dryly about his prospects after the "War". "It depends on who wins". Dole a college athlete left the University of Kansas to enlist like many others to fight for this country.  As Lt. in the army, he was severely injured in an artillery and aerial attack and spent over two years in a military hospital recovering and rehabilitating. Losing the use of his right hand wh...

 Joel Osteen had a father, John, who was also a preacher who became a successful televangelist, taught his son the ropes and then left him the family business after dying suddenly of heart attack. Although Joel attended Oral Roberts University, he never graduated and studied radio and tv production rather than theology or divinity.  The following was reported this morning.  I'm looking forward to further details on this story. Dec. 3 (UPI) --  A plumber working at Joel Osteen's mega-church in Houston found a large amount of money hidden inside a wall seven years after $600,000 was reported stolen during a break-in. The plumber, who identified himself only as Justin, called into  a KILT-FM morning show  to recount how he found envelopes full of cash and checks inside a wall while doing work at the Lakewood Church, which is led by Osteen and his wife, Victoria. Illinois had a popular Secretary of State, Paul Powell.   Although Powell's government sa...

 Even if you have never been a fan of boxing, you should understand how huge an impact Muhammad Ali had on the world. He was an exceptional athlete whose trash talking started out like WWE lunacy to hype his boxing matches. He was an international figure who changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali after winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World.  Conversion to Islam was controversial back then and his own personal conversion seemed even more controversial given his friendships with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad.  The long-term views of his beliefs were very sincere. It also connected him to people on a worldwide basis. He spoke forcefully in favor of civil rights not only in the United States but on a worldwide basis. His refusal to be drafted and conviction for draft evasion during the Viet Nam War made him one of the most important spokesmen against the war. Being stripped of his titles and restricted from boxing, his personal sacrifices were real....

 I was too young to get the full impact of Elvis Presley's early years but his performances came from a lot of different places.  He was only 42 years old at his death but he was instrumental in the development of rock and roll using country music, rhythm and blues and the popular music of the time and the media of TV and radio. Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog and a lot of other songs made it to the top of the charts.  It is said that Elvis sold more records than any other performer, over 500,000,000 recordings.  He had a movie career with a string of popular movies that featured his singing and pretty girls in a wide variety of settings. Drafted in 1958, the teen idol that spent time in the army in Germany serving his country, where it seemed his every move was written about.  You could be forgiven if you thought Bye Bye Birdie was an autobiography that became a movie  The chart topper from 1956-1958, the movies from 1960-1968, and his comeback special in 1968...

Thanksgiving Day has a history that included the Pilgrams and the Wapanoag and Squanto.  Today we celebrate Native American Heritage Day.  On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for white settlement of their ancestral lands.  At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homela...

The Miami Herald for which I will be eternally grateful pretty much got it right in an article on Page 6A.   Fidel Castro became an unwitting father of modern Miami Castro's march into Havana brought repression and economic failure and a stream of exiles, entrepreneurs, and political refugees to Miami that by sheer mass and hard work have made Miami an international hub between the Caribbean, along with Central and South America. Working at 1800 SW 1 Street I witnessed the Mariel Boatlift, Guantanamo Rafters and a subsequent Cuban Visa Program that allowed about 20,000 to leave the island annually.  "About 1/3 of Miami Dade's population is either Cuban-born or of Cuban descent which translates to just under a million people. Along with Cubans came refugees and immigrants from Nicaragua, Columbia, Panama, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico who are neither refugee or immigrants.  Business, trade, location, the Spanish Language and Cuban exiles have made Miami the hub it is tod...

 Dwight D. Eisenhower was first elected in 1952 and reelected in 1956.  He came to the presidency after a distinguished career in the military where he led the allied forces against Hitler planning and executing the D-day Invasion of France. Both major parties would have been thrilled to have him run for president in 1952 and he easily defeated Adlai Stevenson, Democrat from Illinois. It is said his military background and experience were keys to ending the shooting part of the Korean War.   Another "accomplishment" of the Eisenhower Administration was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which did little to advance civil rights for African Americans but it was the first civil rights legislation since the 1870's.  It added a Civil Rights Division to the Department of Justice.  The legislation passed with broad bi-partisan outside of the still segregated Jim Crow southern states. The Eisenhower Administration sponsored and signed the Federal aid Highw...

It's November 22 and in 1963 I was in 7th grade when my homeroom class learned that President Kennedy had been shot and had died in Dallas.  The whole weekend weekend was a blur.  For more than a few folks my age it was our 9/11. Fifty eight years later folks are still writing about the whodunit aspects of the assassination of  President Kennedy. Shortly after Kennedy's death there were stories about the Curse of Tippecanoe and   the deaths in office of presidents of the United States who were elected in years with the digit 0, which are all divisible by 20.    I'm not sure if the Warren Commission has been discredited but there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there and some state secrets for lack of a better term that have not been released by those who follow the subject.  

Women weren't granted the right to vote by the U..S. Constitution until 1920 The Equal Credit Opportunity Act was passed in 1974.  Before that it was possible for lenders to deny a credit card to a woman who was unmarried or a married "housewife".  These days it is almost impossible to imagine anyone with a job and work history being denied a credit card. The "Equal Pay for Equal Work Act was passed in 1963. In theory it was to equalize pay between the sexes.  In 2009 the "Lilly Ledbetter Act was passed to address some shortcomings in previous equal pay laws regarding the statute of limitations that applied. There is still a gender gap in wages for men and women.  Women make .82 cents for each $1.00 a man makes. And on a related front, birth control pills became available in 1960 and Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973. The jury is still out on the latter two, it is almost too easy but still important for anyone to be able get a credit card.  

 Brown vs. Board of Education: was decided on May 17, 1954.  Legally it set the idea of  "separate but equal" on its ear in public school education.  After the Civil War, after the Emancipation Proclamation, after the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution which was supposed to guarantee rights to former slaves came the Compromise of 1877 and the withdrawal of Federal Troops that tried to enforce the constitutional amendments. One of the fig leaves that ushered in Jim Crow Laws and the disenfranchisement of former slaves was the legal concept of "separate but equal".  The State of Florida first mandated separate rail cars for trains to enforce racial segregation and segregation rapidly spread to buses, hotels, theaters, restaurants, swimming pools and schools.  The idea that one rail car was as good as another for transportation and ex-slaves were as good as white folks but they should stay in their own rail car, hotels, or schools lasted way t...

I was struck by a twitter post that went something like this: Year 2021 minus 50 years equals 1971.  And I'm adding the following: 1971 minus 50 years is 1921.  I was born in 1951, my mother was born in 1921 and my Dad was born in 1919.  Had they survived they would have been over 100 years old. My parents ages, and my age might seem almost trivial but in a lot of ways the current events that they lived through and the current events that even I have lived through constitute a kind of history that is mind boggling in the amount of changes the world has gone through.   In 1950 the Korean War started when North Korea which had been divided into North and South Korea after WWII invaded South Korea.  In many ways it was a proxy war between the U.S.A. and Russia which had spheres of influence in South and North Korea and the real beginning of the "Cold War". It could also be considered a Civil War where both countries wanted to be united under North or South Kor...

 I was almost a history major in college but it required too much time reading and there were a lot of books you were supposed to buy. I was good at dates, names, and the trivia that was what I thought history was. Me bad.

 I watched Jeopardy while Aaron Rogers was a replacement for Alex Trebek.  I thought he did a good job and would be a step above a few ex-players who traded their jersey for a job in the main stream sports media.  I get most of my sports info from the radio over night or on the way to sleep or in the car. Rogers was a late bloomer in football and as kind of surprise to me he attended the University of California Berkley.  Transferring from a junior college he played for the Cal Bears.  He left school skipping his senior for the NFL Draft. Very recently the rich college dropout said he was immunized when asked whether he had been vaccinated after testing positive for COVID 19.  He had not. If you are a fan of the Green Bay Packers and still believe  that Rogers has shown great leadership skills as a quarterback you have been the victim of a hoax.  Maybe a 37 year old football player can roll the dice and avoid the worst aspects of COVID 19 but the ...

 I watched and bet the races from Del Mar yesterday.  The Breeder's Cup ran their two year old races yesterday.  Two year old's racing these days often don't have a lot of races to review and  ponder.  You sort of pick and pray. The biggest controversy was related to a late scratch of a horse that sat down in the starting gate and another horse that came out of the front starting gate to avoid further issues. The issue was that the 2-year-old colt was running as a non-wagering interest, for purse money only, since he had been prematurely scratched by the Breeders' Cup veterinary team due to a starting gate incident.  From the Paulick Report: The full field of 14 had loaded into the gate uneventfully and was waiting for the start when Modern Games grew restless and reared in the one gate, triggering stablemate Albahr (GB) to spook, rear, and fall onto the turf under the gate. Jockey Frankie Dettori, aboard Albahr, managed to extricate himself from the gate w...

 I have only the vaguest ideas of all that is in the two "infrastructure" bills that are languishing in Congress.  This is very frustrating for elected officials that want to move forward on roads and bridges and stuff that will make the country more efficient in the long run.  Adding improved social programs that are targeted to underserved areas are also good things. Given that these projects will or should be apportioned throughout the country to places and people who would benefit from them, it would seem to be a slam dunk that the programs would be passed and on their way to implementation. The train wreck that allows one or two Senators to hold almost a veto over actions related to climate change, improved highways, repaired or replaced bridges, helping to pay for long term care, assistance for more affordable housing, and more affordable health care is tiresome at best. Let's go congress.  

 Anthony Downs was an economist and political scientist who worked in a Washington D.C. tank.  He wrote the book: "An Economic Theory Of Democracy".  He died at age 90 on October 2, 2021. His book was written in 1957.  Each voter would compare his expected utility of having party A (incumbent) in government (for another term, that is) with the expected utility of having party B (opposition) in government.    The voter would vote in his own self interest based on his understanding of the issues as presented by the political parties.  Another option would be to not vote at all.  Not everybody does the research needed to make a good decision on their self interest and may opt out of voting. I remember studying this issue in a course on presidential politics as an undergraduate at the University of Miami.  Its premise seems so obvious these days as to be trite. Complicating this simple question is the local nature of politics in a very large and ...

My friend asked me to take care of dog while visiting Disney World a few months ago. I have now spent money for a leash, kibble, milkbone treats, and puppy pee pads for overnights. Strangely, coincidently, or cosmicly, I watched a PBS program on Helen Keller and had a new appreciation for nonverbal communication.  The old truism that you should dance with the one that brought you is one the dog and I have learned.  He's my buddy and while it isn't a command, he almost always understands. I can now open the door without crazy barking.  I'm pretty sure he is as happy to see me as I to see him. My little sister is a devote of William Glasser who wrote the book: Positive Addiction". I'm not sure who's training who but it seems we both get the message most of the time.

 The Blue Line in Chicago is upset about a vaccine mandate for its officers.  There was a deadline that has passed and according to reports approximately 4000 officers have not been vaccinated.    Officers are weighing whether to resist a mayoral mandate requiring all public employees to report their vaccine status. City employees must now show proof of vaccination or submit to bi-weekly testing, unless approved for a religious or medical exemption. By the end of this year, all employees must be vaccinated. As John Prine a famous Chicagoan sang in "Dear Abby" "You have no complaint" "You are who you are and you ain't what you ain't." Stop wishing for good luck and knocking on wood. Serve and Protect or move on.   

These days I'm amazed at the "pretzel logic" of the latest former president and the lengths that folks will go to forgive and forget the stuff that he has done and said on the campaign trail, while in office and as a former president who lost the election in 2020.  The former president's comments on the passing of Colin Powell should be condemned. I never served in the military and neither did the former president, but he felt compelled to utter the following on the passing of Colin Powell: "He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!" he said.  He further castigated the media for treating Powell so beautifully.    Colin Luther Powell was  an American politician, diplomat and retired four-star general who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State  from 2001 to 2005. Powell was the first African-American Secretary of State.  He served in the Military for 35 and at the age of 52 was the youngest Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...

This morning I had to wake up early to get blood work done. An 8:00AM appointment might not seem early but at this time of year it is still dark.  My canine roommate Mochi was only slightly curious as I have become an early riser and am a person to let sleeping dogs lie around until slightly after sun up.  He has become accustomed to an an even earlier bathroom break by his roommate and his water bowl is refreshed. My only other similar experience was on the backside at Hialeah Park, stalls were cleaned, horses got fresh shavings, I scrubbed buckets that got fresh water and fresh hay was distributed. Some horses would get more formal exercise with tack and an exercise boy and a gallop or breeze around the track. Others would get some time on a walker that was kind of like a merry-go-round.  Getting out of the stall for some exercise seemed a welcome break for almost every horse.  The really happy ones might buck or rear up some, others would pretty calmly walk around...

  Not everything is a matter of character:   Regarding COVID 19 "  We don’t know , and we do not have to pretend otherwise. We do not have to treat Covid as a facile referendum on virtue or freedom." " When caseloads are high, it makes sense to take precautions, even if we can’t be sure how much they matter." "When caseloads are lower, it makes sense to take fewer, because almost every precaution  has a cost . Other than that, the best we can do is get vaccinated and, as Osterholm says, stay humble."  From the COVID FABLE in the NYT.

It has been written that General Malley spoke to a member of the Chinese Military regarding the possibility of an American attack on China during the final days of the Trump Administration. I'm not an expert on military affairs, but criticism of the General for trying to allay the fears of Chinese leaders is misplaced. The United States of America went through an election process where an unpopular president complained that any election that did not result in his continuing in office was rigged and the results were invalid was the catalyst for this type of communication.  Saturday's main event is    "Justice for J6" rally.  Which is an attempt to   continue to deny reality about the 2020 Presidential Election. The results of the election were clear.  Joe Biden won 306 votes in the Electoral College and a majority of the popular vote.  And normally there would have been a concession speech, a close out of one administration and a transition to a new adm...

  At-will employment  describes a working environment in which employers are free to terminate employees at any time, without cause, explanation or prior warning, provided it does not violate state and federal anti-discrimination laws. You might not have to join a union in a "right to work" state but you also might benefit from the work conditions and the holidays they bargained for. I think most folks appreciate the idea that you might get an explanation or a warning before they lost their job. And more than a few employers I've encountered listening to unemployment claims hearings conveniently confuse getting laid off with getting rid of a bad hire to avoid paying UI benefits in a slow down. This isn't always a cut and dried situation especially when it comes to public employees and taxes are involved. Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.

These are highlights from the Bulwark that I follow on Twitter.  I would think the Republican Party of today would be proud that Lincoln was able to keep the from splintering into the slaveholding south and industrial north.  I've been told that the Republican Party of my youth and while living in Illinois has changed and it is not the same.   The saddest thing about that comment is that change in the discussion has manifested itself in ways that are more worrisome than ever.   The never Trump folks failed in 2016 and did their best to ignore Trump, as much as possible except for appointing judges which was sort of baked into a process that became a political rubber stamp.   The "Big Lie Election" which began before the election and continues to this day still seems like somebody hit the mute button where you might say one thing to your friends about the 2020 Election or say nothing if you think it might sully your reputation amongst the "believer...

 My last solo trip on an airplane was after the TSA started screening passengers and I remember almost missing my flight because it took some time to put on my belt and shoes and get to the gate and again having to adjust my belt as I sat in my seat on the airplane before taking off. My nephew accompanied to the airport and traveled with me this trip.  The TSA folks kept moving me over to the short lines, the guy at the front desk asked me if I needed a wheelchair.  Long story shortened I guess I looked like an accident waiting to happen and I would probably screw up the longer line if I fell down.  Being out of practice, I forgot to take off my belt and was excused from taking off my shoes, preferring to being wanded and explaining I had a hip replacement and would need a chair to put my shoes back on.   Moving sidewalks seemed less daunting than a "train" with various stops along the concourse with the added advantage of admiring art in public places and ...

Quandaries are real and most folks and end up in predicaments more often than we wish on ourselves.   The pandemic has brought on some pretty big changes and some quandaries too.  I'm not forced to go back twenty years to 9/11 but there were decisions made about that terrorist attack that set off the never ending war on terror and launched the field of counterterrorism.  Homeland Security, the TSA,  air marshals and all the way to taking off your shoes at airports unless you are 75+ I gather. How many folks wondered after the toppling of the World Trade Center Twin Towers if the world would be coming to an lot sooner than we might have imagined.  What if the United States had used nuclear weapons to punish Al Qaeda? and what would the response have been from our adversaries? The 2001 burial of my Mom was delayed because all the airports were closed and when they reopened there were National Guard folks with M-16s.  She died on September 9th My brother-...

How was the play Mrs. Lincoln?  Be careful what you ask for: you might get it.  And a lot of folks who don't blame themselves for what happened before they were born or even their parents were born might take a moment to pause and reflect. This isn't meant to be snarky.   Requiem for a Nun  is the source of one of  Faulkner ' s  best-known lines, " The   past   is  never dead. It's  not  even  past ." Ask yourself about the American Indian Wars?  Ask yourself about the Mexican American War.  Ask yourself about the Civil War in the USA?  Ask yourself about "colonialism"?  Ask yourself about WWI, WWII.  Why were these wars started and was the end of these wars the beginning of a lasting "peace".   And then there was the "war against communism".  Cuba, North Korea, and Viet Nam, Russia, China, Kosovo, and a few other places, maybe they aren't shooting wars any more but it's still like a...

Over the last six years I've come to believe that a significant portion of this country has decided they would rather ignore issues, or deny that problems exist or invent problems that don't exist to justify or believe whatever they want. Sadly enough the tools exist to stir up enough stuff that even what is rock solid can be called into question and enough of a crowd can be whipped up to do even more damage to institutions that are already hard pressed to provide a common experience. My older sister said I should "keep my own counsel" or translated "keep my plans or opinions to myself". To me it meant mind your own business which doesn't always work. And religiously I think work is a good thing, I think living within your means is a good thing and trying to be kind is a trait we should all work on.  At this point it doesn't seem to matter whether the Grand Canyon was created by God or Nature or the result of Science. Three weeks a celebration of lif...

It's been reported that Bobby Bowden died.  I think he is one football coach that will live forever.  I watched his last season at WVU in 1975.  He had a good season finishing with a 9-3 record and beating Pitt in a 17-14 squeaker, a game in which Artie Owens was just as good as Pitt's Tony Dorsett Heisman Trophy winner and leader of Pitt's national championship season.   It's been reported that he took the job in Tallahassee to be closer to his Mom and because the Florida weather was better than Morgantown.  It's also reported he wanted to be the head coach at Alabama.  I think he was lucky that he chose FSU and was able to play Florida and Miami every year "The greatest mistake is to continue to practice a mistake." "That boy don't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades, and that boy don't know the meaning of a lot of words." "I'm not too proud to change. I like to win too much." "If short h...

I'm not in favor of political dynasties.  This is an update on stuff that doesn't end well. This isn't an exhaustive list.  And as an American I'm not in favor of "royalty".  Unfortunately, too many ascribe some sort of royalty to political families or a member's spouse. American political history is filled with political families like the Bushes, Kennedys, Rockefellers, Romneys, Cheneys, Udalls, and Cuomos. And this doesn't really include family members of the rich and politically connected that benefit from a family relationship. Florida has taken it a step further.  Incumbent Javier Rodriguez (D) was beaten by Ileana Garcia (R) with the help of  Alec Rodriguez (no relation to baseballer A Rod) who received 6,377 votes in an election that was ultimately decided by a total of 31 votes.  Alec Rodriguez did not actively campaign in the November 2020 election. Newspaper report that Frank Artiles and Rodriguez have been charged with violating campaign con...

I grew up in Bensenville, Illinois and moved to Miami in 1971.  I have said many times I wish I was more proficient in conversational Spanish.  Had I stayed in Bensenville, Spanish proficiency would still be a plus.  On a lark I looked at the census figures for my home town Bensenville, in 2020 49.3% of the population was Latino or Hispanic.  Some of the best tacos, tamales, and burritos I've ever had were found in or near Bensenville Fifty years ago when I left Bensenville it was a different place.  O'Hare was big and it has gotten much busier and bigger and folks left the city and moved to the suburbs and folks moved from one town to other towns. Living in Miami and working for Miami Dade County, I supervised offices that provided job related services to literally thousands of entrants into this country from the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama for a long time.  Locally floods of people have made existing problems worse but in the long haul this is a countr...

It took a relatively long time to make smoking tobacco something that could be regulated.  In other words something that was so unpopular and dangerous health wise that it could be banned in public places.  To this day, because it can be taxed, and is addictive and relaxing, and smokers are shunned outside and there are active programs to encourage folks to quit or never start smoking.   It is also quite expensive. And sadly even some non smokers have died from what would appear to be smoking related diseases. And so we are now continuing to discuss and fight over the use of masks in public places to continue to limit the spread of the disease that can cause serious medical problems much more quickly than a lifetime of smoking and contribute to deadly consequences should someone get COVID19. Folks are again starting to realize that getting vaccinated will hopefully make the consequences of getting the disease less serious and slow the spread of the disease.  Isn...

Baseballwise it was very good to see Rizzo, Bryant, and Baez get off to good starts with their new teams.  It will be jarring to see them in different uniforms.  I had a friend that was a die hard Giant fan.  He would have had a good time kidding me after Bryant's home run this weekend. According to Sports Center  They're the first trio of former teammates in the Modern Era to start the season on the same team, and then homer in their respective debuts with a new team later that season.  

This morning I woke up to a phone call can you take care of the birds?  Yeah, ok.  The S.O. has family visiting from the DR and they planned to go to Orlando for a couple of days. I might have thought the trip should be cancelled but the brother and his kids have gotten their shots.  When the trip was planned it seemed like things were improving and now we seem to have taken another turn. The newspaper headlines are up in a roar about new cases, filling hospitals with younger patients but thankfully relatively few but still too many deaths from the many new cases. While getting new water for the parrot, he decided to escape from his cage and during his hiatus from his cage he has landed on my shoulder for a quick Cook's tour of his temporary home.  Then he landed on my head and decided to pick at my hair.   Sister called and said the place sounded like a pet shop.  I thought someone might I know might knock on my door and take pictures of me like I was...

  Then the wagons circled, and the excuses were made:  It wasn’t that bad. It was Antifa and BLM. It was people full of love, hugging and kissing policemen. It was like a normal day of tourism. It was Pelosi’s fault. It was the FBI. This is a paragraph I lifted from a National Review article that was tweeted by Charlie Sykes..  America Gone Nuts. I watched what happened at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 as it happened and have seen other scenes from other cameras and police body cams.  Upwards of 500 people have been arrested as a result of their actions.  And I also subscribe to the idea that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and democracy as we know it is under siege. You can't whitewash these actions.  "Geez I guess we dodged that one" and then go back to "Our thoughts and prayers go out...". Charlie Kirk, the young Republican leader, called Simone Biles a “selfish sociopath” and a “shame to the country.” He said, “We are raising a gener...

 It seems racing analysts don't like being admonished to "stay in their lane".  The life they have chosen is fraught with problems.  Very few jobs come with a 1-800-gambler warning.  I follow horse racing on "social media" and I guess that includes having an adw account from which I can make bets on horses after I have deposited money to bet.  The adw provides handicapping information, access to racing forms, and a live stream of races from virtually everywhere. TVG is connected with Fanduel which has expanded into sports wagering and if you live in a state that allows sports betting you can bet on the Olympics.  Yes at one time it would have been possible to make bets on Simon Biles.  I do not have a Fanduel account but Simon Biles and the Women's Gymnastics Team were given special mention should a person be so inclined. Yesterday, I replied to a racing analyst with a daughter that had been a gymnast for 12 years.  Who felt compelled to comment o...