Yes, It’s Time to Politicize the Boy Scouts!

The Boy Scouts is a venerable US institution. It is supposed to help young boys learn bsaic skills that help them grow into responsible men. Sure, they have uniforms. But not like storm troopers! Politics is the last topic that the boy scouts want to get involved with.

So enter stage right, Donald Trump, who as the sitting president, is the honorary president of the Boy Scouts. He gave a speech to anassembly off boys where you would expect him to talk about the values of the boy scouts.

Of course, Donald Trump did not do that. He gave a campaign style speech that was highly political and peppered with nastiness.  The younger boys in attendance probably had no clue what he was talking about. But the older ones did. And needless to say, there was all around disgust at this display.

Does this dude have no sense of propriety?

Alas,these are the times that we are living through. Trump harranging a buch of young boys about Obamacare and more. Good Lord!

The Man Who Did Not Collude!

That is how I will remember Jared Kushner. He is the young guy who

• has no experience in govenrment or international affairs or politics
• despite that — and despite Trump’s promise that he would bring in the best team ever — played a key role in the Trump campaign and now plays an even bigger role in the Trump White House
• Lied about whether he met with Russians in the above capacities. He said he did not. He now admits that he did. The lie, he said was the reulst of “miscommunication”. Lies generally are.
• And now he says, “Whatever! But I did not collude!”

His lawyers no doubt prepped him to give that focus to his Senate interview (I do not use the word testimony because it was not under oath).

But even if Kushner is telling the truth, there are som nagging questions.

• why did Trump and everyone connected to Trump repeatedly and over an extended period of time, lie about whether there were contacts with Russians? They repeatedly said there were none. Kushner now admits that they happened. If they had made honest mistakes about reporting innocent meetings, why did it take so long for them to admit them?
• And if the meetings were all innocent, why is the Russian investigatoin such a big deal for them? Why moan and groan over twitter? Why fire Comey? Why threaten Mueller?
• If Kushner had no intention to collude with the Russians, why did he attend the various meetings? Because he had nothing better to do? Indeed, he admits that he saw the email chain where it is laid out that the purpose of Donald Jr.’s meeting wsa to collude. He claims that he did not read it. Do I believe that? No.
• If he did not want to collude, why did he discuss opening a backroom channel to Moscow to be run through the Russian embassy? He claims it was to discuss Syria. Why would a campaign want to discuss Syria in a clandestine way — freezing out US intelligence? Sorry, this stinks.
• Did any of these meetings involve re-financing his disastrous 666 Fifth Avenue project? The Chinese were going to bail him out but they backed out. Given the enormity of the problem, are we to believe that Kushner did not think about trying to plug the gaping hole in his finances with Russian money? If not, where will he get the cash? From his father in law?

I could go on, but you get the idea. We have been given a scripted focus point by Kushner’s lawyers about something that they hope  will survive further investigation for the time being. Kushner says he did not collude!!! Put another way, it is the best they can do for now. Am I satisfied? No.

And if this does not survive further investigation, it will be remembered as a highly embarassing…. errrr … miscommunication.

And btw, it is not unlikey that phone conversations between Kushner and Russians are caught on tape. If those tapes come out, we should keep in mind that the Russians knrw they ertr being taped. Kushner may not have known.

Food Porn Alert! America’s 50 Best Restaurants … and More!

If you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, here is a list that might solve your problem. The fifty so called best restaurants in the US. None of them are cheap!

Go for it! And if you don’t bring your wife, you probably should not tell her about it either. That is the theme of this wonderfule episode of “The Good Life”, one of the best TV sitcomes of all time. It is the story of two neighboring couples living in a London suburb. One couple is committed to “sustainable living”. The other couple are social climbers.  And yes, a restaurant does play a role in this episdoe in the wonderful ending. Enjoy!

Thinking about OLED’s

Our smartphone and tablets are starting to look a bit long in the tooth. Time for a new technology? That may be on the way. OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) are on the way!.  OLED’s could allow for much thinner screens and  would use less power. They also could fold. Think of a wallet type devicethat could unfold into a small tV.

Very Cool!

Should the Sixers Pursue Kyrie Irving?

Kyrie Irving dropped a bomb when he anounced that he wanted to be traded form the Cavs. He wants to be the number one dude on some team, rather than play second fiddle to LeBron. Ok. So what will happen?

Ok. So what will happen? The Cavs will probably do a deal. Indeed, rumors are that they have reached an agreement to take Dereck Rose from the Knicks to replace Irving.  And it is likely that teams are scratching their heads about whethe to make a move for Irving.

Should the Sixers? The answer, in my humble opinion, is an emphatic no.  Liberty Ballers nail the analysis Irving is an offensive wizard. But his defense sucks. And he would come with a big ego and price tag. And the Sixers just traded up to get Markelle Fultz. You are not going to keep both Fultz and Irving around.

Agreed?

Malcolm Gladwell Transcends Spaghetti Sauce

The dude is not perfect. More than once, his analyses have been found wanting. At the same time, there is no denying that Malcolm Gladwell is one of the great storytellers of our era. Here he is telling the story of why our reliance on machines to solve our problems may be misplaced.

Enjoy!

Inadvertent Humor from the Trumpster?

Yet another tweetstorm from the president. Here is one of the tweets

“If Republicans don’t Repeal and Replace the disastrous ObamaCare, the repercussions will be far greater than any of them understand!

Hmmm … this, of course, presumes that the Donald himself understands how health care policy works. And he has already admitted that this is more complicated than he imagined before being elected.

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling the effects of “idiot in the White House fatigue syndrome”.