Random Notes from a Crank

Lots of things are going to get more expensive. 

A bunch of idiots are counting on Moscow Don to make some deals that help the U.S. and bring business and industry back to the United States. The New York Times has a good article on this nonsense: "A Flashing Economic Warning and a Sharp Political Jolt." 

The Canadian Prime Minister, who has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oxford, has a more realistic view of what's happening: "Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over. The system of open global trade anchored but the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for a country for decades, is over."

What's more menacing is how President Adolf tariff nonsense has strengthened China's position in the world economy. China is now importing soybeans from South American and getting its beef and pork from other countries. 

I woke up in a pissed-off mood this morning because I was thinking about how the head coach of high school basketball team basically wasted my son's junior year. And to a certain extent, the head coach of the high school baseball team is doing something similar. 

As I was driving to a baseball game yesterday, I caught the broadcast of the Barcelona-Inter Milan Champions League match, the first tie of two matches. It sounded like it was bananas. 

Based on the highlights, it was. 

I don't have a team I'm rooting for in that competition, but I certainly want PSG to beat Arsenal. 

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham's Transfer Window So Far

One of my favorite words I discovered after I started following real football (soccer) is "shithousery," which is defined by Urban Dictionary as "underhanded conduct or gamesmanship in a sport, with the intention of gaining an advantage." 

The club I follow religiously, Tottenham, apparently is signing a guy who has a bit of shithousery in his game, Richarlison. He's a player who can play a center forward when Kane isn't playing and will play as a winger when Kane is at the tip of the attack. 

Spurs have had a fun summer transfer window to follow with five signings so far if Richarlison and Lenglet come through the door, with the last guy coming over on loan from Barcelona. They need to sign a right wingback or two, and the deal for Spence is going quite slowly. 

As for outgoings, Bergwiyn is going to get bought from someone, and Winks is likely to go to a different club. I'd like to see Spurs keep Rodon and loan him out somewhere to get playing time. We'll see what happens with Emerson Royal and Reguilon. 

I'd like to see Tottenham sign Eriksen as a creative midfielder, but rumors on that front have gone very quiet. 

I suspect we'll see some surprises before the window closes. 

COYS

Random Notes from a Crank

One of my FB friends shared this article by RawStory the other day that I found interesting. It's written by a neuroscientist: "Link between Religious Fundamentalism and Brain Damage Established by Scientists." 

The gist is that in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that does critical thinking, religious fundamentalist don't have a propensity for "cognitive flexibility and open-mindedness." 

As the author states, "Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge." 

They're not open to change: "Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview."

Religious fundamentalism is one of the things wrong in this world. 

And this all reminds me that I need to reread Mencken's Treatise on the Gods. 

Wales made the World Cup for the first time since 1958. So the group the US is in includes England, Iran, and Wales. 

This fine article from The Onion hits a little close to home since I'm usually geeked up when blue jays and woodpeckers show up: "Area Bird Creeped Out by Bird Watcher.

I need this notebook.  

Random Notes from a Crank

If you're someone like me who gives a damn about our planet, read Ben Ehrenreich's "We're Hurtling Toward Global Suicide" in The New Republic. It a solid, sober article about the climate crisis and how one underlying assumption is highly problematic.

Most climate models and climate change purveyors still assume unlimited growth in relation to finite resources works. It doesn't. 

I've been watching the European Championship 2021 so far this summer, and it's been fun. Ronaldo's Portugal won the last one.

Here are the teams I'm rooting for. I like England's squad because they have mainly Premier League players, but I also Denmark since I'm part Dane and Wales because I like Gareth Bale and Joe Rodon because of their affiliation with Tottenham Hotspur. Denmark, unfortunately, had a massive scare with what happened to Christian Eriksen. 

If I'm a betting man, I'd put my money on France. They are the front runner in the competition. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The last few days I watched the new Netflix series Young Wallander. The six-part series is well crafted, but I didn't like the ending. With that ending, there has to be a second season in the offing. If there isn't, I'm pissed. 

The second installment of All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur came out recently, and I binged it like a mofo yesterday. By the end of episode six, we're still not up to the quarantine, so I wonder how much time they'll spend on the club adjusting to the pandemic. 

As I stated previously in a recent Stay Positive post, I've taken a shine to Mourinho.  

Every day I'm checking a website that moderates the articles that speculate about what's happening with the squad during the summer transfer window. They signed Hojbjerg and Doherty, which were smart signings in lots of people's opinions. The other new face, Hart, is apparently a high character guy. 

I suspect Danny Rose will get sold or loaned somewhere with the emergence of Tanganga. We'll see what happens with Aurier.

But by Gods, they really need to sign a back-up striker who can also play other positions as a forward. That need is clearly apparent if you reflect how the squad played without Kane last season. 

It shouldn't be any surprise by the report by The Atlantic about how Moscow Don talks about veterans and military leaders. The report has been corroborated by multiple sources. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Eating establishments putting up campaign signs for candidates makes it easy to not frequent them. 

For example, a couple of eating establishments in our town have signs up for Mary Miller for our representative in the House. Based on her TV commercials that are all over the local channels, she appears to be bat-shit crazy. 

During the commercials she talks about the spectre of "Godless socialism," how she supports Moscow Don "draining the swamp," and how she's a "Christian." 

The somewhat humorous aspect of the ads is that she has this weird Marge-Simpson-like voice that's a bit disconcerting. 

As I've written about somewhat, I've been watching Premier League soccer this year because I enjoy it. I watched an MLS game today, and it's clear MLS is the AA or AAA of soccer leagues in terms of quality. 

Regardless, I hope the St. Louis soccer club is a strong one. 

Watching the XFL has been interesting. I think the NFL should adopt how they do kickoffs because the way they do it is much safer. 

The three different levels of point/s after touchdown are interesting. 

Let's go Battle Hawks. 

Music Friday: "Wonderwall"

I'm currently watching the Wolves vs. Manchester City match. After City got awarded a penalty kick for an obvious, shameless flop, the camera cut to part of the Wolverhampton crowd, and one bloke in the stands yelled at the referees who awarded the kick. 

I'm not usually that great at reading lips, but I'm pretty certain the fan screamed "fucking wanker," which is stupendously British. 

I felt the same way since I like the Wolves. 

So in dishonor of the all the fucking wankers out there, here's an Oasis tune. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The Premier League season got off to a start a couple of weeks ago. I've been watching Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves matches. 

St. Louis finally got awarded a MLS franchise, which is a big deal. After the Rams left, I thought that city would have gotten MLS franchise more quickly. 

Like this columnist for the Post-Dispatch, I'm wondering what the team will be called: "MLS Is Coming, but What Will the St. Louis Team Be Called?" 

I just hope they don't go with the copycat names like FC St. Louis and St. Louis United. 

Here's are monikers I'd consider, some of which come from the video:

• St. Louis Rivermen
• St. Louis Trailblazers
• St. Louis Spirit

If they're smart, the GM will recruit well known Bosnian futbol players because St. Louis has such a large Bosnian immigrant population. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm starting to follow Premier League football, so I'm trying to decide on a team to support. In a recent FB post, I queried people on teams that I might support. Initially I thought about following Arsenal, but I found out that the Rams owner also owns Arsenal, so I ruled out that team. 

I've whittled it down to three teams:

• Tottehnam Hotspur
• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Liverpool

I'm leaning toward the first two. As superficial as this sounds, I like Tottenham's colors and the bird emblem. But I also really like wolves, which is the nickname of Wolverhampton. 

I've been watching the hell out of Bosch on Amazon prime. I usually like a good cop drama, and Bosch is a solid offering. I like the lead actor, Titus Welliver, who plays Harry Bosch, but I only remember him from his past performance as a minor character on Deadwood. 

There are so many good TV series out there to watch via Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon that my book reading is suffering.

I finally finished Punisher, but I still need to get back to The Umbrella Academy and finish that series. 

I started watching the old series Justified with Timothy Olyphant, a series I half-heartedly watched when it aired. I will say that the Nazi/white supremacist crap in episode 1 turned me off considering the current times and occupant of the White House.

As I was walking the dog the other day, I thought about one of these hypothetical questions that sometimes rambles through my brain. My thought was about the icons of classic rock and which artist I could not do without. 

To me, there are four major classic rock icons from the 60s/early 70s era: 

• The Beatles
• The Rolling Stones 
• The Who
• Jimi Hendrix

Of those four, I was thinking about which artist I could not do without. 

This is probably not the most popular pick, but of those four, my favorite artist is Hendrix. I have just always been drawn to his blues-influenced rock. I like all of those four of course. They are incredibly influential bands. But if I could only have one in my musical rotation, I'm going with Jimi. 

I used to listen the hell out of the Beatles, Stones, and The Who though. When I was younger, I taped Beatles LPs from my siblings' collections and got them on cassette tape. I had a number of number of The Who albums on cassette, and I listened to the Stones Greatest Hits album a ton. 

If you drop a penny one day and know you dropped it but didn't pick it up, and if the next day you pick it up, can you say the rhyme and get good luck? Asking for a friend...

Random Notes from a Crank

A week or so ago a fraternity brother of mine bought the cardboard sign (below) from 1969 for me. I collect Schlitz memorabilia, and I found this piece wonderful. First, a beer company/distributor created a sign for teachers for some reason. Second, I am amused by the unnecessary quotation marks. This is going in my office. 

On July 1 my son and I are going to a Braves-Cardinals baseball game at Busch. My son is going with his travel team, which is the damned Redbirds. I'm a Cubs fan, and I throw up a little in my mouth when I see my son in his Redbirds jersey. For the game we're going to, I purchased a throwback Braves cap. I'm not a Braves fan, but I like the retro cap. 

So I wonder which team Moscow Don is rooting for in the World Cup? My bet is on I Russia. 

I enjoy watching the World Cup. There are certain teams I'll root for. I've always liked Spain. I like Spanish culture, and they usually have a solid team. As I type this though, Ronaldo just tied up the game with Spain. That dude is incredible. 

I'll cheer for Denmark because I'm part Danish. I'll also root for the African countries in the Cup: Egypt, Nigeria, and Senegal. I also like the underdog Latin American countries: Uruguay, Peru, and Costa Rica. France and Mexico's teams interest me too. 

Random Notes from a Crank

With Trump as the front runner and Ben Carson as second in the current GOP field, this whole Republican race is bizarre, especially with Carson believing that the world was created in six days. That's right. The world was created in six days according to Carson. Stunningly stupid. Even my eleven-year old daughter recognized that story as a metaphor. Check out "Ben Carson: The World Was Created in 6 Days. Literally." 

Over at the Washington Post, in "Why Republicans Are Starting to Panic, in One Paragraph." Chris Cillizza concisely sums up what a number of people in the GOP are worried about considering demographics and the coming presidential election. 

As for the Democrats, it's the Hillary and Bernie dynamic right now with Biden sitting it out at the moment. I suspect Biden decides to run. 

The candidate I would probably support the most, Elizabeth Warren, made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

I'm one of the coaches for my son's soccer team, which makes me wish I played soccer as a kid. I think there might have been some soccer leagues back then northern Iowa (maybe), but the junior high schools and high schools didn't offer soccer as a sport. 

This weekend the men of the Nasty home will have the house to ourselves. Mrs. Nasty and my daughter are going with a few friends to Nashville to see an insanely expensive Taylor Swift concert.