Thursday, August 31, 2017

The Smell of Concrete in the Morning

I was walking to the store (for bleach) this morning and happened to walk up 112th. And today, for whatever reason, eveyrone was out cleaning their sidewalks with a hose.

That smell!

That reminded me of my youth in Los Angeles. You can't do that anymore.

You haven't been able to use a hose to clean the sidewalks since about the drought of 1978. That is why we have so many gardeners with electric blowers, you can't use a hose anymore. Trading one stereotype for another.

But when I was young, the smell was - vacation.

Two stories From Yesterday's Open

First, I watched some great tennis. Two of my three favorites played yesterday (becasue Llyeton doesn't play anymore). Rafa was off, but Shapovalov played on TV last night and upset Tsongas.
And in person I got to see Borna Coric upset Sverev.



This is early in Set 2 - It ended up super full (most of Grandstand is open seating).  Great shot with Arthur Ashe and the roof in the background.

It was on Grandstand and the place was rocking. I watched a lot of it.  First, from up high then I moved lower and lower as it went on.  It was great fun and Borna played his ass off to win.  He was never broken after the first set, even though he was down 0-40 at least three times. He always came back to save his serve. Zverev was only broken once, in set 3. But Borna Coric played the tie breakers much better. So fun.

PS the low seats in the picture below are empty because they are reserved and this was hour 10 o fhte day. They had to make up for rain yesterday. Ultimately the ushers let the crowd into the lowest open seats. It was great.

Borna, as I got lower
Now the second story is kind of funny / disgusting, depending on who you are. Look at the picture below, then I will tell you the story.
 The little boy is part of a family watching two American women (Coco Vandeweghe won). I front is an older woman with the blond / strawberry hair. The little boy is standing because he had to pee and the parents didn't want to walk out during the match (and the umpire was yelling at anyone walking). So the little boy is peeing in a container. The woman in front is very excited about the match and jumping up and sitting down as the little boy is distractedly peeing.  Everyone was waiting for the disaster.

It never struck. Mom put away the pee jar and the woman in front was none the wiser and didn't get a drop on her.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Opening Day at the US Open

Yesterday I went out to the US Open to watch a little tennis, see my husband and hang with some friends (who are here from Houston!).

Right now, this guy above, Denis Shapovlov is one of my favorites.  He is a young Canadian (kind of - his parents were Russian Jews that moved to Israel where he was born, he grew up and is Canadian). He did great in Montreal, but is so young he doesn't have the ranking  yet, so he had to play into the tournament via the qualifying tourny.  So he played 3 times last week, then a rock solid set yesterday.  This guy is amazing to watch. He can return almost any serve!

 Then Shania Twain gave a mini-concert opening. I must admit to not being a massive Shania fan, but our friends from Houston were so Edie got them in to see her.  She was very good and they were thriled.
And the end of the night, I caught Borna Coric, my little Croatian tennis guy.  He flew out of the gates a few years ago, but has stumbled. Last night he won in straight sets, but it wasn't easy (7-6, 7-5, 6-4).

Two Things Harvey Reminds Us Of

I am going to write about some fun things in a few minutes. However, I urge everyone to keep Harvey in mind and do what you can (for example: I can donate money, but not blood).

If you have no idea where to donate, I always support Team Rubicon, a team of first responders made up of veteram volunteers (started by a Bruin and Badger) doing amazing work in disaster zones.  https://teamrubiconusa.org/
https://teamrubiconusa.org/


There are towo things that Hurricane Harvey has reminded us all.


One, when faced with adversity, people are can be exceedingly good. There are people from all over America driving to Harvey / Houston with boats to help the rescuers in flood waters. Team Rubicon, World Vision, local support groups are all heading to help in Houston. Neighbors are opening their houses and silly ass Air BnB is helping with that. Donations spike and neighbors help neighbors.

When people ask if I believe in God I tend to answer, "No. Not in the traditional way most people do. But, I do believe that people, working together for a common good are somehow MORE than the sum of their individual parts. And, very often, people work together through churches, and create more good with their spirits combined than they do alone. And if that extra spirit is be attributed to God - I can't argue with them."

Two, climate change makes these disasters worse. As I started saying about 3 or 4 years ago, it doesn't matter if you believe in climate change or not. We have to prepare for the climate to be our enemy.

The extra sea-level rise, the extra heat in the Caribbean this year, the extra heat in the air this year. All that is additional energy and makes natural storms into national disasters. (Or normal fires into infernos, or tornadoes start touching down year round).



I am way past debating this and (I have) moved right on to figuring out how to prepare going forward. Because, as a Economic Geography major in school, I can tell you extra energy in the climate is going to translate into trillions in costs, millions in lives (around the world) and war. We are preparing for the final part, let's get America ready for the first two by building in expectations. Because, as I have also said, it is way too late to prevent this.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

US Open Fan Week

As we all know, Eddie works for the US Tennis Association. Two of the key things they do are to build the game of tennis (particularly among youth) and open the game up to the public.


Most of you have seen pictures of Kids Day at the Open (FB is having problems I will add pics of my niece at AAKD as soon as possible).

But you might not know about "Fan Week". This is the week of the qualifying tournament before the US Open.

The US Open holds 32 "open" spots for qualifiers, 16 men and 16 women. The week long competition to see who advances is open to the public and free. And some great players are there, including Denis Shapovalov who just beat Rafael Nadal in Montreal (great match).

Well, in case you expected a blah turn out, look at the lines and stands for yesterday. A free day for fans.


I gotta say, I am proud of my honey who is extremely dedicated towards these two aspects of the USTA.

Gender Fluidity Is No Excuse For Hidious Fashion

This season of Project Runway gives me very few people to champion at this point. It does give me someone to harangue.

Here we are in 2017 and gender fluidity is acceptable, perhaps even trendy. And so now we - the viewing audience - have passed the point where it is surprising, shocking or even particularly noteworthy that one of PR's contestants dresses gender non-specific. I embrace this trend. And, in embracing it, I feel fully confident in criticizing the person not on lack of gender definition, but in lack of style.

I speak of the young man sitting in the rattan chair in the picture above.



I am not offended by his wearing a notionally female garment, but by the truly awful garment and accessory choices he makes. He is trying to be a fashion designer and he shows all the grace and style of my 98 year old Aunt Smitty.

First, the color of the dress, "desert dung", is a fashion mistake on his skin tone and his pink hair choice (in that vein - do something with your black eyebrows).

Second, if you're going to wear a dress - which is a fashion risk for men, make sure that the shoes work with it. Almost any shoes would work with this. Boots (glam or work-style), oxfords, chunky soles, even some nice chuck taylors. Almost is the key word there because the one shoe that doesn't work is a slip-on, heeless flat.

Finally, pairing this flat, drab look with an un-distressed denim housecoat brings it full circle to where the outfit seems to be striving as an "ironic homage / joke" on middle class housewives, but ends up just being the statement of an asshole.

I do not approve. AND, my Aunt Smitty wore it better when cleaning the house.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

My First Real Story - The Sex Life of the North American Moose

I can remember the first time I truly enjoyed writing. (Okay, the second if you remember my very youthful writing adventure towards the neighbors, but let us not quibble.)

I was in High School, probably beginning of my Junior year, so 15. We were learning how to write essays, since we would need to write them in order to apply for college. And we were giving the task - write an essay on anything we wanted.

Of course many people had problems with the lack of specificity. I did not.

I penned a wonderful essay on The Sex Life of the North American Moose - and the hazards inherent within.



In it, I explained that reproduction within the moose community is a difficult issue. Like whales, I said, three moose(s) are needed to procreate. The male and the female, of course, and one other. This is necessary becasue, in order to mount the female, the male must take a running start and leap onto the back of the female. The third moose acts as a sort of back-stop for the female to enable successful coitus.

The problem, and subsequent falling moose population, was that moose were getting healthier and bigger. Healthier moose males tended to injure the females. Imagine, if you will, a ton of moose male jumping on you. Some females were hurt. Those females that successfully completed the process once, didn't want to do it again.

Yet, said I, there are solutions. One group of ecologists is stringing giant suspension devices - like massive rubber bands,  between the sturdiest trees in the moose forest. Female moose can now lower themselves into these and render the operation both less dangerous and more pleasant.

We handed in our essays one day and took a test, while our teacher looked over and graded the essays. At one point, while drinking her coffee, she did an actual spit-take laughing so hard. I received an A on my coffee splattered essay and I was immediately hooked.

Topic Today: North Korea Rockets Come From...?

(Still a no Trump / US Politics zone)

A question arose (has arisen) regarding how the North Korea Rocket program moved from lousy into very very good. As you might (or might not) know the first great leap for North Korean rocekt design came after the end of the cold war and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

After that happened, there were quite a few unemployed rocket scientists from the Soviet Union that ended up moving to North Korea. There was a surge of success, then a lot of failures.

Quietly, the United States (and China?) infiltrated the North Korean computer networks, and then there were a lot of mishaps, bad launches, explosions that were unexplained. And then, this last year, amazing success with North Korea's rockets.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The First Story I Ever outlined....

I was thinking about how long I have been writing or wanting to write.

My childhood babysitter sent me a story I wrote about her (ball-keeping) neighbor back when I was under seven years old. I was not kind to them. It is in storage until after the move then I will share it.

The first long version novel type story I remember wanting to write was when I was in 8th grade - so about 11 years old. I had just been reading something about the British Monarchy. In my reading I found out that the Queen has a lot of power on paper - which she never uses.

Now remember, in 1970, Queen Elizabeth II was still pretty young and dynamic. I have enclosed an image from then below.

Queen Elizabeth in 1972 - Capable of Kicking Ass and Taking Names
And, Richard Nixon was President - we were all a little worried he was going to do something nuts. Turns out, in that case, we were right - but I am getting away of my story.

So having found out the Queen had this legislative power, I outlined a story where she steps in because the British Parliament is going to follow some asinine Nixonian plan to drop nuclear bombs on Vietnam (yes, there were people proposing that in order to end the war). I titled it (because back then titling something made it real) "The Queen Becomes King".

Which, then I thought was very powerful, but now would just be treated as some transgender tome.

And we're off.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

One Last Thing - Regarding Me and Nincompoopery

Even though I insist I am leaving politics behind, I need to explain why. Why my heart broke and I have given up.

do or don't read more

Monday, August 21, 2017

Reviews and Feedback on Mapp and Lucia Investigate

So the other day I was checking my author site on Amazon (link) and I saw 2 people had reviewed the e-book to the left.

I will reprint the reviews here from both - neither of whom I know.  But first I must explain...

And, of course, by explain, I mean excuse....

You will find the second reviewer raises some issues on spelling - my old nemesis. But here is the thing. I spell checked and grammar checked the hell out of that book before putting it up.

But then, days before I published, I realized that not everyone might know Mapp and Lucia. So I wrote a very quick prologue.  And that, of course, I was not so careful to proof. Three pages and in a hurry. Rookie mistake.

So I have just finished redoing the first prologue to address the complaints.  I feel foolish.  But live and learn.

----

And Scott Moves On...

So...

It's been a while. My great fear about blogging during Trump has come true (in general - not with me specifically). It is that he will begin to use the power of the office to crack down on any digital complaints (see below)

I actually predicted this would happen on Nov 9th and said so (LINK)...
But it is time to end it. Our new President Elect campaigned on a platform of closing a free press and his voters have harassed anyone who disagrees with him.  Now, with the full weight of the US government and security apparatus behind President Elect Trump, I don't feel comfortable expressing my opinions.

But, there is more to me than the political. More than fear and annoyance.

I am writing now, and it is a funny, odd, frustrating, exciting journey. I think will share parts of that going forward for a little while.

Maybe (after a while) - I will change up the look and feel of the site.  Maybe combine with my review site.

But what I probably won't do is comment on politics for a while. Probably a long while. I will be less involved digitally and more involved IRL (in the real world).

So here you go... next stage....

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Attorney General and Kebelr Elf Jeff Sessions Figures OUT Way to Avoid Future Comment on Charolettesville Murder

This is the picture.
This is the "All Side of Hate" Trump lukewarmly condemned.

Now, as Attorney General of the United States and Secretary of the Department of Justice, one would hope Jeff Sessions would condemn the violence of the killer in Charolettesville.

But, instead they have opened not a criminal investigation, but a Civil Rights Investigation of the incident. Why the difference?  The highlighted quote tells you all you need to know.


argh....


Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Face of Poor White Male Oppression

Twitter nails it.

Now imagine what would happen is young 20something black men marched with torches screaming they were going to "take back America".

Or imagine they were American Muslims.

Or imagine they were American Latinos.

This is the face of your "Southern Pride" that we see. Only with the Stars and Bars, the Nazi flags and hoods.

The rally was held originally, by the way, by White Supremacist marching because the city of Charolettesville  is planning on removing a statue of General Lee - the commander of the slaving holding south.  Ya'll lost that mooching war.

OH... I See. In London It Is Terrorism. In the USA It is "HATRED ON MANY SIDES"

Yes, because marching against the Klu Klux Klan (formed to lynch black men by ex-confederate fighters) is the same as getting into a Dodge Challenger and an accelerating into a crowd of demonstrators - killing 1 and injuring at least 14 others.

Because in Trump's America - that isn't terrorism. It is "hatred on many sides."

I honestly do not have the vocabulary to express my anger.  And still, STILL, I wouldn't think of driving a car over innocent people.


Oddly, When Muslim Terrorist Do This Overseas - Trump Is The First To Tweet Terrorism

OK... when this exact same thing happens overseas (a London Van drive ran into a group of pedestrians) - President Tiny Hands gets right on the his little unsecured phone and tweets about terror and how London sucks!

However, when a white terrorist (I am assuming he is white - true) does it to a group protesting against a KKK / "Southern Pride" rally and then kills Americans - he says ... bland words of crap.


In this country he can't even bother to call out the people that did this. 

So this is the problem with "Raise Taxes Always" Liberals (at least in New York)

So this is the problem with "Raise Taxes Always" Liberals (at least in New York).

I don't know if you have heard, but the New York Subway system is a bit of a mess. It handles, well, I will quote the MTA...

Ridership:: In 2016, average weekday subway ridership was 5.7 million, the highest since 1948. Annual ridership was 1.757 billion.

That is a lot of people. And in the late 1940s, the electrical and switching systems were from the 1930s, so about 10 - 15 years old.

Yep, a current picture of NY Subway Technology - Really


Today the electrical and switching systems are... from the 1930s and therefore about 80 - 85 years old.

Now to fix this, the NY Times is proposing to reissue the tax on commuters. Bill DeBlassio is proposing a new tax on individuals making of $500K or couples making over $1 Million.

BUT THE PROBLEM ISN'T MONEY. The New York Subway system has over a $1 Billion dollars in funds designated for infrastructure they haven't spent yet. Sure, if hypothetically then spent all that money tomorrow, then the subway system MIGHT have a shortfall. But they can't spend the money at all. They couldn't find their ass with a map and compass (hat-tip on analogy to Mom).

I think starting an argument about taxes (as Bill DeBlassio has done) is Trumpian-Brilliant. Now, everyone wants to talk about taxes, not the idiot Democrats' (DeBlassio and NY Governor Cuomo share responsibility for the subway system in the city) inability to hire people to do the fucking job (hat-tip on adjective to ex-Presidential spokesman A. Scaramucci).

More pictures of the NY Subway's current systems:

 PS- Do you remember when you had to take those massive transistors to the drugstore to test if you 15 inch black and white TV was working okay? No - NEITHER DOES ANYONE!  WE have to have 100 year old technology transistors made by hand today. Maybe stop that before raising taxes.

In the words of our Presidential Spokesman - Dear MTA Stop trying to suck your own cock!

Friday, August 11, 2017

And This is Why I Love Aaron Tveit

Look at the rehearsal footage from Company, at the Barrington Stages in  Pittsfield.  I loath the show, so I won't be going, but I do love Mr. Tveit.  Hear his pure voice on the clip.  And, I dare you not to cringe at the squeaky ass voice that overpowers the company when he is joined by the full cast.


This is why California Rocks and Beaches Back East Suck Ass

So it was $25 (per person) to enter a public beach on Long Island. $60 per car to park (before paying the access fee) in Oyster Bay.

In California (FYI - with MUCH better beaches) it is a public right!


Talk About Working to Find the Bright Side - thank you Bloomberg

Wow... this is hell of a story from Bloomberg. I will say the title here is better than on my Apple News Feed - which just said:
Americans Are Dying Younger, Saving Corporations Billions
Bloomberg

But not much better. The real story here is that our national life expectancy has gone DOWN! When this happened to Russia (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) we worried (and felt superior to them - let's admit it) because of rampant alcohol abuse and lose of middle class opportunities.



Well it is happening to may of us Americans now, only with drug abuse instead of alcohol (we prefer Oxycontin and heroin to Vodka).

Now if you read the article, it turns out that this is happening to Canada and Britain as well. Experts aren't sure why. Partially the recession and the cuts to the safety net.

Not cited I guess that it might have also to do with climate change. Both directly (we have had over 100 "thousand year weather events" in the past decade) and - more importantly - indirectly. That is, our bodies have to work harder in the heat or live with more air conditioning - which is great, except we don't get the air cleaned all that much (don't believe me - look at your AC's filter!).

In any case - heigh ho, we're off.

So.. Do Me A (Free ) Favor

Here's the deal. I have a "Show Score" Reviewers page (link). They contacted me. Now their site is in the early stages, but I would like to get in on the ground floor.

So if you would go over, login (you can use facebook and let them share nothing if you want) and select [FOLLOW] for me, I would be like SUPER grateful.  I don't know if it will ever amount to anything, but if I drive traffic I will get invited to some great shows (and take you when you are in New York and it works!).

The way it works is that I put my regular reviews up on ReviewsOffBroadway.com (link). They I give Show Score the link for the individual show, a numerical rating from 0-100. And a 500 word quick hit review. Example below (with a couple more at the end).

Example Review:


My Bio on Show Score Page:


Other Examples:


Thursday, August 10, 2017

And Finally... Happy Birthday MOM

My mother turns another year older today. As Zela would say (with zero emphasis) "whoo-pee".

And yet I, for one, am happy to see her age. You see my mother has a unique personality. I don't mean it in any way bad, she is just Sheri - and always has been since I can remember.  And toady, she still has that funny, sarcastic, take-no-shit and take-no-prisoners attitude that I love.

And that gives me hope that as I age, despite what my body does, my mind and my "self" will stay the same.

So, Happy Birthday Mom - you give me hope for the future.
From 2003 and my first visit to her home in Montana.

Amelie Joan

My great friends in England had their second little girl. Amelie Joan.  Named, in part, after Nanny Joan.

No idea how to pronounce it yet.

First as Tragedy

Marx said it best, and it as apt now as ever:



In today's case a history we seem determined to repeat is our mistake with North Korea and making it anew with Iran.

The North Korea history...

From 1999 - 2000, President Clinton was turning to peace attempts, as President's are wont to do in their final few years. Finally in October of 2000, we seemed on the verge of settlement with North Korea to guarantee their security (which is a big thing for them), and they would give up their nuclear work on a trial basis and rejoin the "community of nations" with our acknowledgement.

Negotiation we conducted by William Perry (Republican - it was now partisan), once Secretary of Defense and then a Stanford University professor. Listen to the podcast The Daily for a fascinating discussion on what happened - LINK.

But then the administration changed course after the 200 election. The new administration - particularly Vice President Dick Cheney - disapproved of the deal, believing North Korea would cheat despite the validations and inspections. The Bush II Administration abandoned the North Korea deal, in preference of labeling North Korea one of the three "Axis of Evil" nations. Then promptly invaded one of the 3 (Iraq) under false pretenses (whether the administration knew they were false pretenses or were fooled we can ignore for now).

North Korea got the hint that the United States wasn't serious and so they accelerated their Nuclear Weapons program - firing their first Nuclear Fission Weapon test in 2006, their long range missile test in 2012, and their first Nuclear Fusion Weapon (Hydrogen Bomb) in 2015. And now we are in a game of brinkmanship. Now they have an ICBM and miniaturized nuclear bombs.

But North Korea isn't the point here, it is the example.

I am afraid that the 90 day certification cycle of the Iranian Deal will be scuppered by this administration, in particular the President - who doesn't like the deal with the backing of neocon war boosters and Israel's administration. Breaking the Iranian deal will have two problems.

First, Iran will move quickly towards developing a nuclear weapon as that seems the only deterrent that works. They have a well developed pathway to follow that Pakistan, India and North Korea have all used (Israel and France's path depended more on US secret support of their programs).

Second, North Korea will lose any belief that negotiation works, right? We negotiated an end to Iran's nuclear path, only to throw up barriers to their acceptance into the "community of nations" and if we overturn the nuclear deal it shows negotiating with the US is worthless.
Note from last certification
President Trump has promised on the campaign trail to cancel this agreement. Information coming out of the July certification was that President Trump wanted a reason not to certify Iran's compliance. Given that certification must occur every 90 days - that is a lot of push back time and opportunity for disaster.

Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Delta Keeps Asking For Feedback and Ignoring it

Delta keeps asking me for feedback on flights. And I keep referring to a trip we took a few years ago and the dumb response of the Sky Club "team". Since I keep having to write it down, I said I will include it here so I can just copy it.

Labelled "Delta" and "Delta Feedback". If they ever respond I will remove this.

Here is the question and my response.



Full transcript below (for copying next time the ask me):
So, since you've never responded, I'll say it again.

Once, after a hurricane had the cancellation of our direct flight from St. Martin to NYC, we were put on a trip via ATL. We were in Business/First and went to the Sky Club. At the Sky Club we were told we weren't allowed in because St. Martin is not an international destination. It is international - your Sky Club members are stupid or disingenuous (my guess is that you don't consider Business / First Caribbean flights to allow access to Sky Club - but St. Martin is a Dutch / French territory and therefore the definition of "International"). If the rules are International Business outside the Caribbean - say that.

Since it was a hurricane that cancelled our original flight, AND we were originally booked on a Business / First non-stop, I thought this was petty. I asked for the Sky Club's attendant's name, and she wouldn't give it. I asked for the manager. I explained the situation to him and he also told me that St. Martin is not an International Destination. Again - that is not factually correct! You don't get to choose what "International" means. When I went to ask the supervisor's name, he would not tell me and instructed everyone to cover their name tags. I asked again and said I could just take a picture and forward that on.

Then I was threatened with the police. That is not something I wanted.  Note: I did not curse or yell. I know better than to go off at an airport. I did explain what "International" meant, and asked them if they meant that destination was not covered by the Sky Club International Business First policy. But the refused to talk to me. I have now written you a number of times.

I will put this on my blog nincompoopery.com - visits to date "Pageviews all time history - 984,618". Not to be difficult or embarrass you, but because you keep asked for my opinion ("We are constantly striving to provide a great customer experience") and I am tired of writing it down over and over. Once you respond I can remove it.  Thank you. LINK

Some General Lisbon Shots

Some general Lisbon shots.

Portugal is very proud of it's explorers. I think our guide was surprised that Americans knew so much about them - because I think other European countries don't know. But we learned about them in school.

So one stop was the monument to explorers above and below. The man at the front is Henry the Navigator. He did not navigate - hah! fooled you. Henry the Navigator was a Prince who started many schools for Navigation and invested in explorations. This is where Portugal got rich, and their colonies (Brazil, Goa, Angola, Mozambique and the Canary Islands).


The fountain below is in front of the Jerpohimas Cathedral. It was lovely inside.


Once inside we found this, Vasgo De Gama's tomb!  It was cool (but our guide was surprised we were excited).


As for the new header (reproduced below). That is from a room in the Sintra Palace that is all tile work.  The walls are ceramic tile from pre-1600!  Still there and pretty.  The roof is painted with coats of arms of royal families.


Update from Miss Dolly

I don't know anything about Lindsey Graham's sexuality, nor do I want to. All I know is when he talks it sounds like Dolly Parton in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

You know, where she tells Ed Earl that it just won't work out, him being a sheriff and her being a madam and all. Or where she says she couldn't be a ballerina 'cuz she'd have two black eyes. And I think Lindsey has embraced his inner Dolly.


You see Miss Lindsey now says Trump has established 2 red lines - 1: attack us (duh!) or 2: Develop an ICBM that can hit the continental USA with a miniaturized nuclear warhead that survives reentry.

quote
“There are two scenarios where we would go to war with North Korea," the South Carolina Republican said "CBS This Morning." "If they attack Guam or some other American interest or our allies, or if they try to keep developing an ICBM with a nuclear weapon. Graham said Trump will "never allow North Korea to have an ICBM missile that can hit America with a nuclear weapon on top.”

Now this second one seems very specific, doesn't it. That is because early this year, President Trump had defined things that North Korea could not do (although he didn't call them red-lines) as (1) develop an ICBM that can hit the continental USA (that's now done), (2) miniaturize a nuclear warhead (that's now done too), (3) keep testing firing missals (also done), (4) test a nuclear bomb (check) and (5) keep issuing threats (yep - done yesterday).

So our red line is something that cannot be demonstrated without an actual attack. Okay. That's some strength there Miss Dolly Lindsey.

Threat from the Country that "Best Not Make Any Threats..."

See this is the problem with threatening decisive action over the words of a leader....



Are we really going to war over North Korea's regular bluster? In the words of the President, are we ready to "rain down fire and fury" and kill at least 200,000 people because of Kim Jong Il's words from yesterday?

If not, then why say it at all. Because today the choice is to look stupid or to star a nuclear war. And we know Mr. Trump hates looking stupid.

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

But that is what they do

Our crazy man is crazier than your crazy man - and that is saying something.

I find it odd that our president is threatening to blow up the world over their words, not their actions. It seems silly since we all know North Korea will make more threats. And when Kim Jung Il does, then what?