Sunday Morning Coming Down

I thought the September version of the Kentucky Derby was an afterthought for most folks.  Authentic (the horse) was trained by Bob Baffert and probably the most memorable part of the day was the Winner's Circle chaos that knocked the trainer to the ground for a moment. Authentic went on to win 5 of 7 races in 2020 and $7.2 million dollars.  Authentic finished 2nd in the Preakness and the Santa Anita Derby but finished the year strong winning the Breeder's Cup Classic. This year the field for the Derby is headed by Essential Quality.  Undefeated in five starts the grey by Tapit will be the favorite this year.

FedEx shooting has killed eight people.  Details of the shooting are sketchy now. Mathew Keyes reports:  NEW: FedEx says it will re-evaluate its policy of having employees give up and lock their phones inside warehouses and sorting facilities following tonight's mass shooting at a facility in Indianapolis. After I retired I worked at PRC a subcontractor for FedEx that handled information about rates and complaints about late packages. Sixteen years ago I was amazed by the technology of the company. You would answer the phone and the customers business history with FedEx would be on the screen with credit card information and other identifying stuff. You could get fired on the spot if they found you at your workstation and your phone was "on". It was too easy to take a screen shot and steal from customers. PRC monitored staff and FedEx monitored PRC and made surprise visits. Warnings about the zero tolerance regarding cell phone use were everywhere and it meant mine wa...

I've  heard the argument the corporations are people and campaign donations are more like free speech than bribes and both are what the Supreme Court decided. In the last week or so CEOs of more than a few major corporations have spoken out about the rush to revise voting rules in Georgia and now Texas.  Major League Baseball went to far as to move its All Star Game to Colorado. The Senate Minority Leader spoke out against corporate CEO's speaking out about the revised voting rules in Georgia saying what might be construed as saying stay out of "our politics" unless we ask you for money.   It's possible that those CEO's were speaking out for at least 80,000,000 people who voted for President Biden and others who understood that this issue was hardly based on anything related to a "stolen election".   And meanwhile a lot of "small donors" were mislead into making multiple "one time" donations to the Trump Campaign and maybe(?) a fe...

 The loan Depot Miami Marlins lost 1-0.  The Chicago Cubs were held to 2 hits and lost Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3.  The White Sox lost to the Angels 4-3. Real crowd noise, I had a hot dog for lunch and while it may be a while it is possible I will be going to a baseball game in person and splurge. I still like Joe Maddon and will follow the Angels this year because I find him entertaining.  The old White Sox manager has good players to disguise why he was hired.  The team will out perform its manager and ownership. The Cubs need to hit the ball, their pitching is suspect, but they are my guys.  I dread the idea that it is possible that the team may unload salary and call it rebuilding if April is unkind. The Miami Marlins should improve as the young players gain experience.  Unfortunately, the NL East is going to be a hard nut to crack this year.  There are worse things than listening to night baseball on the radio. The Kentucky Derby is less than a m...

 I don't think any reasonable person would compare long voting lines with long line at amusement parks.  The folks at amusement parks try to keep lines short, moving, and the people in line as comfortable as possible.  The folks at amusement parks want customers to come back and say nice things about the process and continue to spend money at their parks. Amusement parks are also open almost daily and from morning till evening, and there are a variety of activities and information to maximize all the different things you can do in the time you have. Why are we changing the rules to make voting more difficult.  Early voting isn't bad, time off to go vote isn't bad, voting by mail isn't bad, dropping your ballot off at drop boxes isn't bad, making waiting in line more humane isn't bad, making registration more convenient isn't bad.  The Georgia legislature voted to rescind a tax break on jet fuel that benefited Delta Airlines after the company's CEO spoke ...