Random Notes from a Crank

In what has become normal for the GOP, they focus on stupid issues. 

For example, the Texas Lieutenant Governor, instead of focusing on the measles outbreak in his state, is more concerned about renaming a cut of beef to be called "Texas strip" instead of "New York strip." 

Read about this lunacy in The Guardian: "Texas Republican Focuses on Rebrand of 'New York Strip' amid Outbreak." 

It will always be Gulf of Mexico, people. 

Distractions keep people focused on the wrong issues. 

I know a guy who works in some kind of government program that's linked to Veterans Affairs. He's a big supporter of Moscow Don. I wonder if he lost his job. That'd be ironic.  

The Executive Branch is clearly a puppet of Russia. At least that's what the Kremlin is saying: "Washington Now "Largely Aligns" with Moscow's Vision, Kremlin Says." 

I got a package today from this company. 

As a Star Wars fan and as a big fan of the character Chewbacca, I dig it. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Throughout this whole Covid-19 disaster, I've unfollowed a number of fools on Facebook because of their moronic posts. 

We know of a number of people who vacationed during the start of this whole pandemic. 

Idiots. 

And some of the people who went around galavanting around the country were 60 and older. 

People can talk all they want about how the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus problem, but Moscow Don cut funding for the Pandemic Response Team in 2018, which there is a video that confirms that act, and as The Washington Post recounted in a well-researched story, "US Intelligence Reports from January and February Warned about a Likely Pandemic," Moscow Don was informed by multiple people about the like likelihood of this virus becoming the major problem it is. 

Because of the administration's lack of planning and response, the impact of Covid-19 is a catastrophe. 

Here's the lede from the article: "U.S. intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the pathogen, according to U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting."

And there's this: “'Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,'” this official said. “'The system was blinking red.'”

Of course, in a press conference two days ago, Moscow Don implied that he inherited a defunct system to respond to this disaster. He's blaming Obama. However, Moscow Don cut the funding for the response team for dealing with pandemics. 

And courtesy of knowledgeable friend from FB, here is a chronological list of his idiotic comments:
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided the world.”
March 13: Declares state of emergency and says “I do not take responsibility for anything”

The time home has let me watch season 6 and the start of the new season of Clone Wars. As Star Wars franchises go, Clone Wars has to rank in the top five best. The Empire Strikes Back is number one, but the Clone Wars series might rank as number two for me. 

After watching two documentaries on jazz artists, I purchased some albums I have on CD but not on iTunes. The Birth of the Cool is about Miles Davis, which was quite interesting. Chasing Trane is about the meteoric rise of John Coltrane and his fascinating music. I highly recommend both. 

Random Notes from a Crank

In the November election in Illinois, there are a number of ballot initiatives. The Millionaire Tax Increase for Education has a certain degree of appeal. You could argue that it's a flat-out voter turnout generator in response to Rauner running for Governor (and probably winning since Quinn and the Democratic Party of IL are so inept). Then again, maybe there's something more to it if you've read "Right vs. Left in the Midwest" from political science professor Lawrence R. Jacobs. 

Here's how US Uncut described the situation on its FB page:

Today The Onion provided a fine article from its archives. Check out "18-Year-Old Miraculously Finds Soulmate in Hometown." 

I'm thinking about buying some dark brown, old-school wingtips. I've always liked wingtips.They look good with dress slacks, and they look good with jeans. Yes, I just used the word "slacks." If you like wingtips, that old-fashioned term is appropriate. 

If you're not watching Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, you should. Grist has a short intro to his report about sugar. Here's "John Oliver's Takedown of the Sugar Industry is Pretty Sweet."  

I don't know if I buy the pseudo-Rogerian argument that leads to a delayed thesis in this article, but "Why Comics Are More Important Than Ever" made me think about my reading practices and some of the reasons I like comics/graphic novels. 

Speaking of comics, in the mail today I got Brian Wood's final installment of his four-volume storyline of Star Wars after the Rebels destroyed the first Death Star and are looking for a base of operations. 

May the Force be with you.

Random Notes from a Crank

I just have to vent this question. When the @#$% are The Bottle Rockets going to put out a new album? 

This weekend we're headed up to Iowa to visit my dad. We haven't visited since my mom's funeral in early February. We'll visit her grave on Saturday and take my old man out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. He's moving to a smaller apartment in the old folks home. And yes, you just read "old folks home." I prefer that term to "assisted-living facility," which sounds way too technical and sterile. He's going to give my daughter a Norwegian doll of my mom's, which will make Hannah cry. And apparently he wants to give my son a bunch of old coins. He's been more upbeat when I have talked to him lately, so I think he's gotten somewhat used to being solo. I think the move to different apartment will also help.

I wish I could still read Latin like I used to. Right now one of the books I'm reading is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor. Back when I was in Latin classes, I have the privilege of reading Julius Caesar, Cicero, and others in their native tongue. Cicero's speech about the Catalinarian conspiracy is a serious work of art. And I enjoyed Julius Ceasar's style of writing: direct and concise. 

I started reading Brian Wood's comic books about Star Wars. His series informs readers about what was happening between Episode IV: Star Wars and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. I do believe I'm hooked. I dig the depiction of Leia as a warrior princess. It's a fun narrative. 

Lately the only fiction I read is sequential art. 

For Father's Day I bought my dad The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shales. Virg was born in '27, so he was a little kid during the Depression. I'm thinking about buying the graphic version of the book that came out a while back.