He's Waiting for the Sequel

June 30, 2020

John Bolton says that President Trump was briefed in 2019 on the intelligence that Russia had offered the Taliban bounties for killing American soldiers. 

Strange that that didn’t make it into Bolton’s tell-all book.

Or was he saving some hot topics for the sequel?

You’ve Know You’ve Been In Lockdown Too Long When…

June 29, 2020

A friend of mine has been in lockdown since March. She was telling me about all the volunteer activities she hasn’t been able to do since then; she’s basically at home except for trips to the grocery store and twice to her hairdresser.

She got a sore throat, cough, etc., and went to get a COVID test.

She said, “I hate to say it, but it was the highlight of my week.”

He Missed His Calling

June 21, 2020

In addition to the clever nicknames he bestows on opponents, President Trump also refers to COVID-19 as “Kung flu.” This snappy title reinforces his contention that the virus originated in China.

Maybe when he doesn’t have the Presidency to distract him, he can write advertising slogans.

If He Closes His Eyes, Maybe It Will Go Away

June 21, 2020

President Trump says that there are too many cases of coronavirus being diagnosed. His solution is to slow down the rate of testing.

The virus will still be lethal, but it won’t officially be around. So he won’t look bad.

Nice to know what’s important.

And He Fell for That?

June 21, 2020

John Bolton wrote a book about his time in the White House. The Trump administration says he can’t publish it because it contains classified information. Bolton says he got a verbal OK from Ellen Knight, a White House national security official, that the book passed muster.

Seriously? He’s getting official confirmation that his book has been cleared for printing, but he didn’t get anything in writing? Where were his lawyers? Where were his publisher’s laywers?

Who does that?

He Could Run, But He Couldn't Hide

June 13, 2020

A guy I know lives in a state that has had stringent lockdown requirements. So far he’s avoided the coronavirus,

But he got a mild case of shingles.

What Didn't She Know?

June 13, 2020

I don’t know if you ever watched the show “Friends”, but it was about a bunch of twenty-somethings living in New York and dealing with romance, careers, etc. Apparently it was criticized at the time for its lack of diversity, as all the characters were white.

According to an article I read this week, one of the co-creators got emotional when asked what she wishes she had known at the start of her career. “Sorry, I just wish I knew then what I know now,” she said tearfully. “I would’ve made very different decisions.”

I was trying to figure out what she didn’t know: That non-white people live in New York, or that she’d be criticized later in her career for ignoring that.

The Ineffeciency of -Isms

June 10, 2020

You know how I feel about Inefficiency, right? It’s on my own personal list of Deadly Sins.

Well, try this on for size.

Newsworthy event. National outrage. Promises to enact reform.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Every time this happens, tallies are kept: Lives lost, economic damage, trauma endured…yet nothing changes, and the costs mount.

We keep repeating the cycle because our “isms” are too deeply engrained: Racism, Sexism, Religious -isms. They make people believe that others are inferior, and should be treated as such.

We have all kinds of motivation to find ways to educate people on the hazards of fallacious thinking, and take action against those who hurt others based on that thinking; but we don’t follow through.

So we keep doing the same thing, over and over.

It’s an inefficient way to run a country.

(See? Inefficiency really can be a deadly sin.)

Roadside Attractions

June 8, 2020

A St. Louis traffic reporter is asking listeners to keep their eyes peeled for extra sights along area highways. Each year, he tracks the number of abandoned ladders or mattresses that listeners call in.

This morning the count was: Ladders 42, Mattresses 41.

The Poop on Coronavirus

June 1, 2020

(For those of you too young to remember, one meaning of “poop” is “information”.)

A team of researchers at Yale has determined that trends in coronavirus activity can be predicted by analyzing fecal matter in wastewater.

The virus can be shed in human waste before symptoms appear in the host. While scientists can’t pinpoint individual cases, they can predict trends in hospitalization several days in advance by noting increases or decreases in the concentration of coronavirus RNA in wastewater.

Every little bit helps.