tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-185053942024-03-06T23:47:04.249-05:00Wessays ™Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.comBlogger2507125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-87496489410590582942022-03-28T17:36:00.001-04:002022-03-28T17:36:30.881-04:004759 The Supreme Court<p> <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 194px; overflow: hidden; width: 259px;"><img height="194" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1YEXqtHBUCInbRtYklDCl7eZwy2O-_ITmQ-04nWmnnuqX9CcPDuHwve8AQQqfAHUUPXYl8fk5YN1Ed-w3EQ0Yx_cXvekhCU0E_jq1aULHvpT4w4z2EKVn366KdABJJm3Mitgi1di" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="259" /></span></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">C’mon, guys, we all know what you’re doing. You’re hiding behind nonsense so a black woman is not the next Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. And you will fail.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-78072f72-7fff-d797-d1ba-a47b4ab1398c"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the bickering by republicans opposing Ketanji Brown Jackson’s appointment are baloney. The republicans just don’t want a black woman sitting on the country’s highest court. Or they’re playing to the hometown crowds with the usual expectations for their own re-election bids. Or both.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s politics as usual. And it’s about time that stopped. Have you heard anything about her qualifications? They’re certainly good enough especially when compared to some of the dolts who’ve been confirmed for that job.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, yes, one has to put nominees through major hell. But enough, already. She’s good enough. And maybe better than a lot of the men who’ve sat on that bench. If she were white, there wouldn’t be the kind of upset we’re seeing among the senators who oppose her.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s the 21st century, people. This is not a hard thing to understand. It’s not a total shock. It’s not even all that interesting.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The court has been given a strong right wing lately. Now it’s time for a different voice. And just because the nominee is both black and female scares a lot of the political hacks in the Senate. They didn’t do all this to Sandra Day O’Connor in the 1980s, though there were some minorish efforts. How tough is it to approve this woman and won’t you please get to it. Like, now.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Face it, Senators, the time for an all white government is past its prime. If you don’t approve the current nominee, there’ll be another who thinks, rules and looks just like her. It’s already past the time when you can do these tricks so that a black woman can’t sit on the nation’s highest court. And in your heart of hearts, you know this.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any Questions? </span><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-27947816837762057032022-03-21T17:30:00.004-04:002022-03-21T17:30:50.779-04:004758 Enough Winter<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><img height="183" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/iwOFv_KjZToJLFkRGdOp8GLyNWIp_9JEbB3s6PLdgn_e1ScrffMtzP8DijqScPgNz7zQmyIv46Ba2R8YdPJgwuZa8GTDqB90PVElB-doOPce7mcAshzY694WzlNTPnl7Zvud6G6Q" style="font-size: 17pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="275" /><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Winter can’t go away soon enough. There has only been one of
the pictured snowstorms. It was while ago and the snow that was dumped
from above has nearly disappeared.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Sky is clear. But there’ll be more snow sooner or
later. Nature can’t read the calendar. But if it could, it might skittle
back north where people are used to it. Or don’t care about it. Or post posters
of Florida or Arizona on their walls. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ll get another bunch soon enough. Too soon, maybe.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is this the grumbling of an old man trapped in a house?
Yeah. After all the winters in all the places I’ve been, I’ve had
enough. And moving to Florida isn’t the answer. Have you been
following what goes on there these days?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We won’t round it up for you, but we can describe it as
pretty messy. Even without things like collapsing buildings and the
stupid internal government stuff that goes on everywhere.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About the governments of this and every other state’s: Do we
constantly elect people these days who don’t know what they’re doing? Or
does it just seem that way? Is the pandemic part of the problem? Yes, but
not so much that we can put all the blame on it.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A local congressman has suggested that we prohibit snow of
more than two inches. That’s a good idea. But if we do, what will the
penalty be and who will “pay” it? Almost all lawmaking is fraught with
that kind of problem.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, yes, this will all go away in a couple of months … at
least in most places. But the NOW problem will remain a problem.
Would that there would be some way to enforce a law that prohibited snow except
from Friday afternoons to Sunday mornings. Think of the money we’d save.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Snow is a beautiful thing. As long as it’s not
near. Would that it were possible to position the downpour to land in
specific areas. Like rivers and totally uninhabited regions. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then we could get dustings at home and dispatch
photographers to take and post pictures of the Great Inundation of some
uninhabited area.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my
own but you’re welcome to them. ® </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2022</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-34742525536298791752022-03-04T08:56:00.000-05:002022-03-04T08:56:18.585-05:004757 Goodbye February<p> <img height="224" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/pps2-3KgZiSMhIJPkjmdanK60TEbE77qeRwlmeCFiAeAz5FQQT7TsDI1RTD2jAa96g3zBh7TpzZB-iAHIBkfJEOLsFOsxvw7NQQUPLvWh6t-JyAnlFkRg5FdZd2aUfgs5RxyrUJQ" style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="261" /><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why do we need a 28 day month that sometimes turns into a 29 day month? No one has yet figured out why February is so short. It’s something to do with the number of days in the year. But couldn’t we just make every month 30 or 31 days?</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5505fe69-7fff-166e-1af1-cc4277779179"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The calendar has been in its present condition for a very very long time. But maybe it’s time to change it. Why not make every month the same length? Why does the year have to be 365.25 days? And who pays any attention to that quarter day, anyway?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need to consider a 365 day year. Of course, getting rid of the quarter of a day would complicate matters. Considerably. But we’d get used to it, just as we have gotten used to everything else.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wars, prosperity, poverty, whatever. These things change all the time. At the moment Russia has started a war with Ukraine. They’ll study this one with other small incursions 50 years from now like everything else we consider that long after the fact. No one has figured it out for now. Fifty years from now, either no one will remember the thing or it will just simply be accepted.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We of this generation have to leave something significant to the following generations. There’s so little left of that kind of thing that maybe it’s time to reexamine the length of a year and the number of months in one.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where did that day count come from to begin with?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who says it has to continue as it probably will?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What would be the result of recalibrating a year to last 360 days. Or 400? Or even (gulp!) just 300?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So many questions. They dazzle the brain. And if anyone has answers, please send them.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shrapnel</span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Jail sanctioned tattoo artists are cleaning up in Chicago. The city started a “get out of the life” program that allows conversion of gang tats into innocent nothings, like animals and rainbows. Is that going to reduce the number of gang members when they get out or just hide the fact that they either are or were members?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Americans and other non-nationals jailed in Russia and other former soviet states are concerned about what this mini-war will have on their futures. One little-known worry: what will happen to non-Russians and non-Ukrainians jailed in the warring countries? Those prisoners who are talking share that worry, but so far our State Department remains silent.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them.(R)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any Questions? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><br /><br /></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-75597529342587520812022-02-25T06:47:00.001-05:002022-02-25T06:47:39.741-05:004756 What to DO on a Crummy Winter's Day<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">You may think there’s nothing to do but stay in and watch
the other people freeze. You may also think that it’s a good time to
catch a few extra hours of sleep because you’re so busy the rest of the
year. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">You may think you finally can fix that window that doesn’t
fully close and raises your monthly fuel bills.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But there’s much more to do. This is the time of year you
can catch up on what the rest of the world is doing. There are so many news
sites now you can pick the one or ones that suit your own …um… bias.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Examples: Biden. Fox will tell you a different
story than the Associated Press. The situation in Ukraine? You can choose
between Fox and a whole host of other sites. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Maybe you’re fixated on more obscure problems like the
farmers of India. There still are plenty of places to go for your side of
this issue, something I’ll leave to you to figure out.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">You say you don’t care about farmers in India? OK, how about
Queen Elizabeth having Covid? Maybe you didn’t know that. But it’s
true. Probably caught it from Prince Charles. What will that mean for the
British Monarchy? (And why do you care about that? But if you do, there
are plenty of places to read up on it.)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">So we in this century and in this country have so many news
sites now that we can pick one that suits our point of view. Keeps things
either peaceful or war like at home. Pick your view of that. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Regardless of your viewpoint, there are so many places to
find out what’s happening, you never have to leave home. Not only that,
but you can order your groceries over the internet and they’ll be delivered
relatively quickly.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But there IS one thing you can’t do without expending some
effort. That is getting out of the house when the weather is terrible --
or was terrible and has yet to be fixed. And this can be a major problem.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Getting out of the house is a major step in keeping one’s
sanity. There is no substitute except napping. And you can’t nap
all day and then go to bed at night. If anyone has an answer to this,
please publicize it.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">© WR 2022</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-16263619135460907082022-02-14T09:06:00.000-05:002022-02-14T09:06:25.814-05:004755 The Superxxxx<p> <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">The NFL is very protective of the name of the football game played last night. So in keeping with their whim, we’re going to talk about the game without ever mentioning its name. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e6dba81f-7fff-2af6-e0a8-ce13e648cfcc"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, that’s not true. We’re going to talk about what went on around it while America was riveted to its TV sets and the two sets of players, one from the XXXX and the other from the YYYY who clashed on national TV.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wessays does not bet sports. But if we did, we’d figure that this had to be the least profitable betting game since the ZZZZs won in 19MM. There were a few interesting moments. But nothing extraordinary.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe that’s the beauty of the game. Yes, both teams did relatively well during the regular season. But neither was spectacular. And there was no Tom Brady to gawk at. And the crowd at the game sight pretty much behaved itself. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The halftime show was ok. We expected more from the star, Nnn Nnn. But that’s usual for this game which is really a trick to make money. Oh. Yes it is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The game itself was… well, a football game. And now, half a day later, it’s hard to find the score. All the stories are about the commercials which we found less attractive than in previous years. Maybe it’s staff aging. Or maybe it was just only a moderately exciting game. For now, it’s time to forget the sport and concentrate on more important matters.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like Spring Training.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And getting the snow off the driveway.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And breakfast. And lunch. And naps.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any Questions? </span><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do I really have to type this every time?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-5869195385495272882022-01-31T16:42:00.000-05:002022-01-31T16:42:03.681-05:004753 trump Again?<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZCgEBc2mGBD2hGA5TYegT2z_HhdLI3DqCuOCOjn3E9VaZDfCJn7SnppyScQ1GP-Q-pLrLCJIZeSetxZZTE6NBqDPQmfANqd7ktdNuWbJjeGcN-4_M46P7Jf2l5uGmNMTg9uHCNF0kkLCqr4LRbhuplapYmoBeobVsZOhYKTRUK4VONuNhlQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="401" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZCgEBc2mGBD2hGA5TYegT2z_HhdLI3DqCuOCOjn3E9VaZDfCJn7SnppyScQ1GP-Q-pLrLCJIZeSetxZZTE6NBqDPQmfANqd7ktdNuWbJjeGcN-4_M46P7Jf2l5uGmNMTg9uHCNF0kkLCqr4LRbhuplapYmoBeobVsZOhYKTRUK4VONuNhlQ" width="312" /></a><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt;">One down, eleven to go and we’ll be exchanging happy new year greetings again. Seems that while the days drag, the years just fly by. Since the end of the trump era and before the start of trump’s will-he-won’t he era, time runs at warp speed. </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Frankly, I can wait. But it is worth looking at the
picture now and maybe comparing it six or nine or 12 months down the road.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The former president sits around in Florida and probably,
he’s fuming and plotting and planning. “This'' has to happen, “that”
can’t. Can trump actually do anything about the conditions on which he’ll
insist take place before he decided whether to run again? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">If they DO happen, is he likely to jump into what probably
will be a massive hodgepodge of candidates? If they DON’T happen, what
then? We have to remember he’s going to be 76 years old in June.
Can a 76 year old come out of an enforced retirement, run for president, win
the presidency and then not completely screw up?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The probable answer is yes. Should he? I think
you can safely assume this corner is not the same as <i>his </i>corner, but in
the world of politics, that doesn’t much matter. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But you also can assume that he’d like to be president again
and will come thisclose to running if he decides not to and won’t tell anyone about
that until the last possible month. Or week. Or minute.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">He'll probably waffle for a while, then, if he scares off
most if not all of the other candidates, will run again. Now is the time for
you to be sure you know what you're going to do when he does that.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span style="font-size: 17pt;">SHRAPNEL</span></u></b><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">--Governor Newsom of California wants to turn San Quentin
prison into a healing venue and will be moving death row inmates to other
prisons. Sure. Why not? Spread the happiness around.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">--Biden welcomed Qatar as a major non-NATO ally for helping
us get people out of Afghanistan. Does that actually mean anything?
Or was it just a gesture to the visiting head of the Qatar government
and designed to be forgotten tomorrow?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">--Connecticut offered help to restaurants and other food
vendors hit by the Corona virus. They haven’t come up with the
money. And dozens of restaurants are saying if they don’t soon, they’ll
close.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">© WR 2022</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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<br /><br /></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-79811998463482962882022-01-28T08:05:00.002-05:002022-01-28T08:05:52.575-05:004752 Here come the Russians<p> <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 186px; overflow: hidden; width: 270px;"><img height="186" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/J4RgZMvOTL7ymVmAx_iiIbUvR-jvohPH__cpccFM2txde5EMl0rydvxJsHcBOT8nF3DnKn9g5T_U8glLZURuy66o3EzbuRmcGEhvL3Qn9Uuih8uzdBwnEoJluqVc51dC_CHB1FJE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="270" /></span></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So Russia looks ready to attack Ukraine. For what? Oil? Nah. To increase population? Nah. Just because they can. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-db71b894-7fff-2630-e4e9-8683a967f444"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And we, warlike since at least the 1950s, are ready to… are ready to… What? Why are we interested?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Putin has nothing much on his mind these days so he wants to start a little war, one that he probably can win, eventually and then what?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Ukraine becomes part of what is apparently a re-growing Russian empire? And THEN what? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then nothing. Life goes on. Commissars from Russia come into Kiev, take over the running of government and the Ukranians just take it? Sure. They probably have to. There’s no way Ukraine can win this war. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Putin goes fishing. Or rides a horse and gets photographed doing so.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it’s more than just adding a bunch of square miles to his fiefdom. The reexpansion of the former Soviet Union takes another step backward. And it’s a big step. And it won’t be won easily, but it will be won.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unless, of course, we step in. Then it becomes another Vietnam or worse. We just can’t seem to avoid little wars, though this one could be big. And it would take years to settle.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it DOES start, it will probably start big. The Russians probably can defeat Ukraine easily except for the dozens, maybe hundreds of underground resistors that will develop suddenly. Or that we’ll suddenly notice.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This war in the making has been coming for years. When it happens, we’ll all get excited. This will make up for the lack of caring among the Ukranians who have seen it coming for years longer than Putin has planned it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any questions? </span><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-29930025139947705622022-01-21T07:40:00.000-05:002022-01-21T07:40:02.763-05:004751 Foundations<p> <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 225px; overflow: hidden; width: 225px;"><img height="225" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VgWAX-Ig3zssbkHaKUGf-8kE94Y44CA8dE0ZdWygOZ15oTBjm6fIz42wTs-M41dEh6Ht4ZRAnIxwcuagZG6syH6MbMhw8A3s9FbKDrkEpKKg1oFfDdK7ug6ZlrtBQbxct6za3OcW" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="225" /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you listen to public radio, you hear an awful lot of commercials for foundations. And many of these foundations are not supporting much. The foundation is left. The building is gone.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-92f01efd-7fff-81b3-9017-96c63304b55e"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, let's clear up something in the first sentence with which you may disagree. You might say "There are no commercials on public radio, just announcements of who contributed the money for the particular program." And you'd be wrong. The networks and the individual stations often have full scale sales departments, with people who go out to businesses and foundations and sell time. Except they don't call it the sales department. They call it development. Development is academy speak for begging and selling.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, as for those foundations. Notice that many of them were started by or named for people whose companies were sunk. Take the "William T. Grant Foundation," a frequent contributor to NPR. W.T. Grant was kind of an upscale Woolworth's with delusions of Wal-Mart. It went belly up in 1976, and was at the time, one of the biggest bankruptcies in US history. The foundation, started the same year as the first Grant store, 1906, goes on. It has money. The former stockholders have, well, souvenir stock certificates. The foundation’s investors did better than investors in the business. There's nothing wrong with the remaining foundation, and nothing unusual about a foundation outliving its founders. But it just seems kind of funny to see in the imagination a Grant store with a huge "CLOSED" sign in the window, while the surviving entity has a spiffy website and offers some decent opportunities.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, there's the John S. and James L. Knight foundation. The Knights had lost control of their newspaper empire long before the company was sold to McClatchy in 2006. Which is what often happens when institutional investors are "guiding" (some might say manipulating) a business about which they know nothing. To the foundation's credit, there is one Knight left on its board of trustees. And she probably knows her stuff, as most in that family did -- or at least seemed to.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knight also is a big sponsor on NPR.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This posting was made possible by a grant from the Wessays Foundation, bringing nonsense into homes since um.. well, for a few years now, anyway. On the web at wessays.blogspot.com.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any questions? </span><a href="mailto:Wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-82492951949812260512022-01-17T08:45:00.000-05:002022-01-17T08:45:05.325-05:004750 Stop Nagging<p> <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 183px; overflow: hidden; width: 275px;"><img height="183" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qbKsuSEhZF4CHVVJmkzTp8Q8qDYCC7HTzt496bI3pQNBzJSWj_wI_Nbg0RC7f7BPQ8OEPpOMQblhblILeCwGKGILgpyQ5EPmsKmoAXfLnTLKrtGo0W3XwZyZf4Hxn4PdUjb48sga" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="275" /></span></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So comes a letter from a new credit card company which has taken over a long running account. It says “Why Wait? You Owe Us Money. Send Now and get it over with.” Oh?</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-418e1c4b-7fff-b1d2-4f34-d3a15299469c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, OK, I’ll send you a few bucks now and then a few more later when the Social Security check lands in my bank account -- assuming it will. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">C’mon guys, I know you’re there. You’ve never stopped reminding me since taking over the account maybe nine or ten months ago.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll pay you when I always pay you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I won’t leave you hanging with a partial payment, either. You get the whole thing at once. Of course, that’ll deprive you of some interest. But that’s the price of doing business with me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s get one thing straight between us: You always get … something. Don’t rush me. I’ve been dealing with your predecessor for years. I’ll deal with you the same way. Once a month. Second Wednesday. Same as always. If you want to change that, we can talk about it. But be warned: I don’t need you. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, you don’t need me, either. But you agreed to take over the business, so for now, you’re stuck with me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not as hard to deal with as some of your new customers. I really DO pay you regularly and usually eight or ten days before the deadline. But I don’t have to be that way. I can stall. I can pay at the last possible second. You know-- all the stuff that people do to credit card companies. I can overpay you which makes everything bolix up at your end. I can underpay you by a penny or two and that confuses your systems. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So let’s get this business straight right at the start of our “new” relationship.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I look forward to many years of having to deal with you. But at this point, who knows? We’re here one day, gone the next. And be aware that I can mess around with your system any time I want. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider this your once-only warning. I’ll be watching you just as you’ll be watching me. And I’m a tough guy to deal with when you get my back up. Oh, and please remove me from your “pay up now” list. I don’t need reminders.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any Questions? </span><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© WR 2022</span></p><br /></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-53693163604703680912022-01-10T07:33:00.002-05:002022-01-13T08:43:58.477-05:00We'll be back Monday, 1 17 22<p> See you then.</p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-7974914836993897552021-12-31T08:08:00.000-05:002021-12-31T08:08:04.437-05:00MINI 038 DIY<p> <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s your chance to build your own Wessay ® along with suggested keywords and phrases to help you with your final thoughts of 2021 and your hopes, dreams and plans for 2022.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7c14965e-7fff-393d-459d-fd51b234e915"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Happy</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--New</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Year</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--My hope </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--The hope</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--For</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--About</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Wish</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--(Additional reporting by ______ _____ ) (replace the dashes with your name.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Health</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Wealth</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Love</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Peace</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Times Square</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Prosperity</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Good News</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Sickness</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Health</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Freedom</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--World Series</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Superbowl</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--_____ Primary (designate party and jurisdiction.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Biden</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--trump</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--court</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--jail</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--prison</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Amazon.com</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--SCOTUS</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Self driving car</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Passenger drone</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Dick Clark</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Local</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Locale (location not included)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Academy Award for (insert category)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With minimal thought and effort, you can be the proud owner and author of your very own post. Maybe even a podcast! Good luck and Happy New Year from all of us here at W’s World Headquarters in Beautiful Downtown NewRoses, Pennsylvania.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m </span><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ® ©WR 2022</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-9878282183076257112021-12-27T08:10:00.004-05:002021-12-27T08:10:45.310-05:004748 Hopes for the New Year<p> <img height="197" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KsMzxx0G6Wpb2dkT1abuQeM5SinGj2o-ZVq97hzi_sVfzZdKmrYVyVh--YMYvfOOl1p62xxoCnb3wbXpVP6sssBRAicBbbrPaMG0FdtVjXFfOuCfKnOoykUs_V1_CaM7xQwIaK1G" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="255" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">There it is. The whole year ahead. A blank slate. Now how are we going to fill it? Of course, it isn’t entirely up to us. But we can all do our parts. Some hopes from this corner:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">--The people who want freedom from protection against the
Pandemic will hold a mass gathering at which they will be free to infect one
another but not the rest of us.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The people who want to soak the poor will hold their own
gathering. If the first stadium is full, a second will have about the
same crowd.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Sane people who drink will drink sanely at home.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--People who want to soak the rich will learn what
compromise means, its place in this country’s history and how to use it.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The people who are afraid of socialism will learn its
definition and maybe reduce some of its fears.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The insane drug cartels will allow sharecropping.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The insane war on drugs will splinter into the
organizational version of sharecropping and stop throwing federal tax dollars
away, maybe use some of that money to freed bucks to fix a highway or extend
food stamp benefits.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Prosecutors who steadfastly refuse to allow parole or
clemency or pardons for the known wrongly convicted will find a stadium of
their own.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The country’s beleaguered newspapers will earn enough from
web subscriptions to hire a reporter to make telephone calls to update outdated
stories that remain on their page instead of just letting them remain on their
page.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Someone will write a murder mystery without stealing the
material from their files as former prosecutors or homicide cops or postal cops
or railroad cops and then stop lying about any resemblance to a true story will
be a coincidental.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Megamart will wait until after Labor Day to start playing
Christmas songs on their public address systems and will open the customer
service desks before mid-morning.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Science will discover a way to reduce the mosquito
population without killing the whole eco system.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--No one will shoot Bambi’s dad and then not even cook and
eat the carcass.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Pigeons will learn to use public restrooms.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--No major league baseball pitcher will throw a spitball.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--No major league football player will deflate a football.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--No major sports commentator will pretend to be Mel Allen
or Howard Cosell. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--People who idolize mountain lions will come to realize
they don’t roar, they “meow” although it’s a deep, loud but completely
recognizable outcry.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The Confederate States of America and its occupied
territories in the mountain and desert west will stop pretending they won the
War of Southern Aggression.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--And finally… Thanks to the fakely retired WestraDamus for
coming out of his fake retirement to contribute his bs to this post.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-86627030801509172362021-12-24T08:18:00.000-05:002021-12-24T08:18:12.696-05:004747 Talk talk talk<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 23.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"><img height="189" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ccYlPUVU4K8li8377ZIAuIWwE-tWc5Zf3VqziJis46gxlPxs3CwUxNQUl0MH_h6u1lWsUPspU3MO0eTxsUVqFa-CSPoZYq_y1t4diwOu7d4CzIUPmHGhpMG4JLD0pFL7YkcQMrzc" style="color: #333333; font-size: 8.5pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="267" /><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Want a decent conversation? Start
talking to strangers.</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 26.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not chat room strangers, real ones. Strangers on the
street. On the subway. In the diner.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ve been told that the art of conversation is dead. Not
even close. The art of conversation is alive and well. It’s just that your
friends are boring, and your relatives have ulterior motives.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s rewind that for a moment. Your friends aren’t
necessarily boring. But you know their raps and they know yours. It’s like
having the same conversation over and over again.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And your relatives -- well, maybe they DON’T have ulterior
motives. But you know that there are certain things you can’t discuss with
them, lest you raise points that’ll never be solved and that will just cause
everyone grief.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So do this New York thing: horn in on a convo. If you’re
REALLY not welcome, you’ll find out soon enough. The conversers whose territory
you’ll be invading will give you the Dark Glare Of Death. Or they’ll just tell
you to shove off.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most people are too polite for that.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plus, we humans are social beings, even most of the
sociopaths among us, and thus are willing to talk with anyone about anything.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just don’t be like the Oysters in “Alice in Wonderland.”
They tried to stop a fight between the Walrus and the Carpenter and ended up becoming
dinner after the combatants resumed rationality.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Other than that, there’s all kinds of fun and interesting
stuff that can happen among people who don’t know each other and assume they
will never again meet.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The other day at a restaurant, Iron Grey Joe was waxing
poetic about a politician. In the midst of his poetic endorsement, he said
something outrageously untrue. So, he got corrected. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The conversation then doubled to include two tables of
diners instead of one.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It would have been nice to continue. But Iron Grey Joe and
his poetic wax suffered a seizure or stroke or heart palpitation, and attention
was turned suddenly and permanently to getting the cops and the ambulance on
site and Joe to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is not a typical end to one of these
horn-in-on-the-conversation conversations. Usually, you end up learning
something and teaching something.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The opportunities for good talk, good learning and good
teaching are endless, especially if there’s no ulterior motive.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If one of these happens at a pick up bar, it will be less
spontaneous and more stilted than if it happens while waiting for the light to
turn green.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We, remember, are as boring and same-subject as our
friends and as touchy as our relatives. The way to have a fresh start every day
is to … well, start fresh every day. Or every other day. Or even every week.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The art of conversation is not dead. It’s just sick and
lacks health insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 64.0pt; margin-left: -4.0pt; margin-right: -4.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome
to them.™<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any Questions? <a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com">wesrichards@gmail.com</a> (C) WR 2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-47675830001978785812021-12-22T07:16:00.004-05:002021-12-22T09:25:59.008-05:004746 No Payoff Here for Sure<p> <img height="168" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/WfAMChdxH_LQ_bI4l5uJ29jrzzds_DYJWIWOsTHzuBBAuXJ53JsRov1apS_uorqVUtVVFDc9Tpton8ug0FRkYW5VGaJ6ALC6Fv5wHd2vFmwfyPtW6tmPeWjYkjQGSUcTJHrnbIdS" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="300" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">They used to say if you were out hunting with this guy, the safest place to stay was directly in front of him and close. In other facts of the day, there is absolutely, positively, definitely no truth to the murmurings that he ever had his hand out to either give or to take. Absolutely none. Ever. Guy’s as pure as the driven snow of, you know, West Virginia.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Ah, yes, West Virginia with the sixth highest poverty rate
in the country. And the fifth greatest rate of people moving out and
heading for more generous states.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">West Virginia, population of around the same number as
Phoenix or Philadelphia. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">That’s nothing near big by world standards. When you
say “big,” think Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Cairo. But it still is a relatively
large number of people who could use the Build Back Better bill, would not
abuse it and is being prevented by one guy whose job it is to represent their
interests.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Biden learned a lot from Obama. One of the things he
learned but shouldn’t have was leaving his spine back home when he moved into
the White House. It took eight years for Obama to relocate and reinstall.
Biden doesn’t have that much time.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SHRAPNEL</span></u></b><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Anyone taking bets on what will happen to Fox’s Jesse
Waters who mentioned Fauci and “kill shot” in the same sentence? Fauci says he
should be fired on the spot. Waters says he was quoted out of context.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--That whole “out of context” thing should be revisited.
It’s too much like the wording of con</span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">sent degrees. Those usually say “I didn’t
do it and I’ll never do it again.”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Context? Takes too much thinking and work to report.
Everything is taken out of context.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GRAPESHOT: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-Everything is too long to bother with these days, so we’re
planning to cut these posts down from 500 to between 300 and 400 words so you
can get through them faster.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-A respect-worthy newsman once called this site “hellishly
productive,” which was true then but less so with the newly installed word
count deficit.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-Next step may be putting keywords in UPPER CASE to make
things go even faster because there’s so much else to read about or hear or
view in so many other places.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-76382069004752007172021-12-20T08:10:00.006-05:002021-12-20T10:49:16.852-05:004745 In Living Bordercolor<p> <img height="188" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1voOtzZM6nKHPMKYMXrhv-lBk7Tv4j4Wyva78DVDgf08kg3UgS_71QNucnSL6qsKd4EbKUS-M9APmBsyxS7rvb08tibQji5ot6QTnmkrqs9G4hYFegxXf5Hun8Rq5TvJh6xfbRCq" style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="268" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">This space opposes the border wall with Mexico. But things are changing so quickly here in the US, that maybe some municipalities could paint theirs. It would be helpful so we short-space travelers could know where we were and act within local laws.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Pick a color. Any color but the ones picked by any towns or
villages or states or countries adjacent to your own. If all the roads in
Hempstead Town, New York were one color then Hempstead Village, New York could
paint its roads a different color. Then you could consult Siri or Cortana
or Hey Google or the AAA or your credit reporting agency on where you are and
what the law there says about masking or vaxxing or the size of building signs.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the technically challenged or those who fear that
invisible rays cause cancer, these locales could send out US mail or have their
workers hang tags on doorknobs with the latest updates. That might improve the
job picture.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This isn’t as tough as it seems. The government higher-ups
in every municipality probably have relatives who either are or could become
paint dealers. So the graft that’s more or less universal could continue apace.
Sliding money to friends and relatives is nothing new in either the public or
private sectors.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hey Google, what are the colors of NewRoses and Moote
Pointe?”</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Did you mean Neurosis?”</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, those talking assistants aren’t all they’re cracked up
to be. It’s hard for them to differentiate among You All and Y’all. Or
You Ones and Yunz or Yinz. Or You and Youse. Bottle genies had that
problem, too. But those are other stories for other days.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This being a family-oriented site, we can’t relate the story
of the one- wish mermaid. But drop us a line if you’re not easily
offended.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Of course, there’s a problem with the whole color scheme
thing. It wouldn’t take long for people to start forgetting the actual
names of places and starting to call them “Bluedale” or “Greenroad City.”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><u><span style="font-size: 17pt;">SHRAPNEL</span></u></b><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Respectable news organizations don’t use the title
“doctor” to address or refer to anyone who does not have the legal right to
write a prescription. That means MDs, ODs, DOs, DDSes, DMDs and
Veterinarians. The rest of the “doctor” crowd get no title or in some pompous
cases “Mr.”, “Mrs.” “Miss,” or “Ms.”</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-86490402722788603462021-12-17T14:45:00.004-05:002021-12-17T14:45:52.851-05:00Gone Fishing<p> Wessays will return monday 12/20.</p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-35436093141760948432021-12-15T08:04:00.001-05:002021-12-15T08:04:29.788-05:004744 The Emperor's New Code<p> <img height="168" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1HaOH5wArlyRQxcEmwG8FdETzR37mFqz-qpL98rKGl24HKqAClqDCt59RMW2YSE5MLEA-UpWvm8jYyCvORV33xDDUN8wIKtg_2S_cGlyxHvZEEDKEX5EsNkd_PVshp2J30IABhdR" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="300" /><b>This post is completely secure. To read it, one needs knowledge of
a radical new secret code. But, loyal readers, read on, because the key
is here.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>The code is made up of the first 26
letters of the English alphabet. The letters are used to form secret
words, known only to those who visit this site. But for the occasional or
beginning reader, there is a handbook.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>If you don’t understand a particular
secret word, you can look it up in the handbook, sometimes called a
dictionary. These code decoders are available only to initiates.
You know who you are, and you know where to look.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>We are taking this extraordinary step
because we have realized that unauthorized persons have had the capacity to
read previous posts by simply… reading them.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Our code is unbreakable. Unlike
“https” and PlayStation 4. The terrorists, the identity thieves and
“Anonymous” the hacker ensemble know all the high tech tricks to shield their
internet and telephone “chatter.” This system, however, is absolutely
foolproof.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>It’s a good thing we’re not doers of
nefarious deeds because we could wreak havoc anyplace in the galaxy and no one
would be the wiser.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Since the attack on Paris, intelligence
agencies around the world have let Isis know that its use of non-traditional
coding is hard to follow. It’s back to school and budget overruns at the NSA,
the CIA, FBI, DIA, Department of Agriculture and the school for scoundrels.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>The NSA has started training its
operatives in PlayStation and Nintendo. There are advanced classes in Fisher-Price
“I Can Play Piano” and historical classes in Atari, Amstrad and Saga.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Isis is said to be preparing to create
a Morse-like code in transliterated Arabic and teaching Navajo. And there are
unconfirmed reports that Isis is training some of Syria’s famous carrier camels
to swallow condoms having messages written in invisible laser toner and inkjet
ink.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Here at Wessays™ we have them all
fooled. And our system is much easier to use than any other. At least for
some of us.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><u>SHRAPNEL</u></b><b>:</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are going to have a talk with Mark
Meadows, the former trumpet wrapped in confusion over the code they call
“executive privilege.” He wants it both ways. Sending mountains of bs to
congress and then refusing to honor a subpoena.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my
own but you’re welcome to them. ®</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-722590735624806502021-12-13T07:05:00.000-05:002021-12-13T07:05:14.154-05:004733 Chris and Brian<p> <img height="221" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KekmQF8PNzviCjn3KCibJmaz87lYpxCH43iuKCf4ktxFfjjNXyVcAdlDwFZVLLX61Cwlu8XGZFBd-FEaFjxG_V6NjuYMXgfIJbugYvdUo-o_hX9kLvM8LCv66tv_IqByZkOq94Ek" style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="166" /><img height="225" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/nq2fuS0zmI1YRqgIvZPN12KAP_lWsaTtqcXUPti8of3RoIFWcXrw_hix286Y_ZdCRqoSRz3U33V2WkaH1lOr8WfiHu7odJCvNf5DLTFUIjre-uvtddsyI-T8e-9Sy3vhc4cW7_yP" style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="295" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Within the last few days, two giants of cable news quit, leaving two leading networks with empty benches and no farm clubs.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Famed nepotist Chris Wallace, left FOX for a new job with
CNN's as yet unborn streaming service, called CNN-Plus. Wallace was Fox TV’s
last remaining public face of actual journalism.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This past Thursday Brian Williams did his last straight news
Late, Late Show, departing for parts unspoken, MSNBC's last connection with the
Huntley-Brinkley-Chancellor-Brokaw style of TV journalism. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, between these two there was a combined 46 years of
legitimacy. Yes, Chris Wallace is no Mike Wallace and Brian Williams
ain’t Cronkite. But they were the best their individual and opinion-ravaged
“news” services had to offer in recent years.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">To make matters worse. Fox has been ceding air time to
wackier than ever anchors. MSNBC is letting its prime time star, Rachel Maddow, expand her duties while reducing her air time. These moves make Fox and MSNBC
even less relevant than they had been.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Each will likely recruit from the nation’s lauded j-schools
whose students mostly want to be television stars. If there IS “regular”
TV by the time they reach their senior years. Please remember that any job
description includes something about the application of makeup means the
jobholder is first an actor. Even Cronkite.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Which brings us to the general purpose of cable news which
like everything else that is the product of human genius has fallen into a
terrible rut where commentators with little or no skin in any game endlessly
debate. These end like an unsolved cold case even after it’s been gone over
thoroughly by the latest hotshot to join the police force.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Back to Chris and Brian: They got on, they asked good
questions. They held their subjects’ feet to the fire, and they said good
night. Is there any reason to watch a former FBI profiler pontificate
about the disappearance of a murder suspect? Is there any reason for an
economist from five administrations ago to comment on today’s conditions after
years of paying no attention to economic reality?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ted Turner’s original plan for CNN was to put on 24 hours of news that could be
seen in every time zone at the same time deliver commercials to tens of
millions of eyes more than his dinky channel in relatively dinky Atlanta.
A real public service. And, eventually, a real moneymaker.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But it didn’t take long to realize that it served a higher
purpose, bringing sensationalism to a country that started with a government by
sausage factory and is winding down as government by tantrum. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-42943665398081504982021-12-10T12:21:00.004-05:002021-12-10T12:21:45.866-05:004732 Birds Aren't Real<p> <img height="194" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VHkLt-pHDJoDvuEPm4jFyjdoFq3bGvCwHnuw_ckX9qVxMoYzN4AfvgnyHfCWLyRR_FAkHAYZUOGdMb1HUpnOZkH__LVUJmW0MGtj8c0uGEbxXcyY6Sxdv4AEh7jeLSepPfKW96_G" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="259" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Every once in a while, there comes along an idea that many of us wish we’d thought of first. Here’s the latest one, “Birds Aren’t Real.” This conspiracy theory is getting a lot of attention on social media and YouTube those hotbeds of Great Truths.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">If you can believe conspiracy theories about January 6th,
the stolen election and the endless lies, large and small we hear from Mar a
Largo these days, why not this?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">If birds aren’t real, what are they? Why of course!
They’re replicas. They’re government owned drones put in the air to spy on
you. They recharge on power lines. You touch one of those and you
might get zapped. But those crows and bluebirds and robins and cuckoos who just
hang out on them… nothing happens. If one falls off and you examine it, brush
the wings apart and you’ll see a digital readout that says “Fast Charged by
Motorola.”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Where did this come from? According to reports in the
NYTimes, they are the brainchild of 23-year-old Peter McIndoe who lives in his
well decorated, clearly marked van with the conspiracy’s name in professionally
done lettering too large for anyone to ignore.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But Peter is not alone. He has followers all over the place.
The photo at the top of this post is from New York. But billboards are up
in several other major cities and population centers.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The question now is does anyone take this seriously?
And the answer is simple. If you can believe that the 2020 presidential
election was stolen… if you can believe that Coronavirus is fake… if you can
believe in the Deep State, Qanon, and that the Capitol Coup attempt was the
work of the far left -- which can’t agree on anything let alone violent
overthrow of the US government -- then you can believe that birds aren’t real.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">This conspiracy is a work of genius. It is a teaching
moment that will fail to reach the people who need it most. It is strong
evidence that people will believe anything.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">There’s disproof, of course, that birds aren’t real. There
are several way good ways to find out for yourself.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Ask yourself what you ate for Thanksgiving dinner. Try to
catch one on the ground. Watch a working woodpecker. Find a book by Audubon and
read it. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Or -- more convincingly -- stand under a flying pigeon.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-6594155431024666922021-12-08T10:25:00.002-05:002021-12-09T09:19:30.967-05:004731 The Phone Call<p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkny9m5zcvq8JyED03AHjDQTB_apxzMEpTaFdSB48Ap9wFzSx8zI7uf4KeWI9O9Yi9vUjuU_Xvbfg0zlpBrREw2JvE2zVZAhvdayPSeaVEZF-x0Wh8dDvlaOV-mnGIu53Nm9N/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="404" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkny9m5zcvq8JyED03AHjDQTB_apxzMEpTaFdSB48Ap9wFzSx8zI7uf4KeWI9O9Yi9vUjuU_Xvbfg0zlpBrREw2JvE2zVZAhvdayPSeaVEZF-x0Wh8dDvlaOV-mnGIu53Nm9N/" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Bido and Puta had more phone sex yesterday, two hours’ worth. They started out with some decent foreplay but quickly devolved into a one-upmanship match. Notice, there’s nothing resembling a telephone on the desk in the picture. No one who’s anyone uses a telephone anymore. Except, maybe, to order a lunch delivery.</span></b></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Bido threatened sanctions over Ukraine. Puta said Bido was
nipping at his cuffs and made some wisecrack about zippers. Then he added that
Russian troops are on their own soil and not threatening anyone. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">They spoke on Pearl Harbor Day. Russia's Tel2 and
America's Mega-cell Mobile donated the Skype time in the service of world
chaos.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">These calls often go nowhere. Usually, they follow a script
the two hammer out ahead of time with the aid of their writers, producers,
directors and makeup artists. The hairdressers gave up attending in the
trump era because trump denies getting his hair fixed and Puta has none.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">This time, the Green Room and back office staffers had the
day off.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I guess you can say the same thing about in-person summit
meetings. The results are much like those of a WWE wrestling match. A little ad
libbing followed by following the story board. There may not be any
formal script. But unless someone actually errs, there’s an advanced
decision outcome.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">You can tell on Monday Night Raw as easily as you can about
the latest G-something meeting. Then, the pundits swing into action with their
own preplanned analysis.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The good news: only diehard fans follow the wrestling pundits.
The bad news: real people follow the political ones.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The best and most legit of the wrestling sites is Bleacher
Report which is owned by Turner TV which is owned by Warner Media which is
owned by at&t.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The best of the best of the politicos are the elegant
William F. Buckley wannabe George Will of the Washington Post and the fiercely
left John Oliver of HBO. Most of the rest feign objectivity with which they
have confused back breaking neutrality so severe no chiropractor can cure.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The dogfight ended in a draw. Tass headline: “Puta
dominates call with pathetic Bido." AP Headline: “Bido dominates call with
pathetic Puta.” In follow up texting after the screens went dark, the two
exchanged messages. Each said “I hope it was as bad for you as it was for
me.” </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-48935568847220928422021-12-06T17:13:00.000-05:002021-12-06T17:13:04.333-05:004730 Planet of the Electrons<p><img height="175" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/apQe7b3EtE0NjbOpaqCJJXPVdWgMN3FqSwtGDRQroQ4Mcw8CGwzWLeQiGbsX2l3-2iYUsoGxEkTVFkdbXCh7W-pmFJDU5Hgytps1Qv6WdFNNKwT-XaZHcnglTCXzmGpwlEa977Zu" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="288" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Marx forecast the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Soviets
distorted the meaning to install one of the most brutal dictatorships in human
history. But now, Artificial Intelligence is going to restore the
original meaning. Marx did not specify the proles had to be human.
People from Moscow to Beijing just inferred that he did. Look at the mess that
made. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Artificial Intelligence doesn’t yet draw inferences. After
all, what can a googazillion of tiny specks of short term energy infer <i>with</i>?
Isolated submicroscopic little thingies do on their own?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The answer? Plenty, when you realize there are so many more
of those particles than there are people and things to host them. Strength in
numbers. There are billions and billions of them. Strength in numbers. Especially
when they work together, and the remaining humans already have caved to their
authority. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">You put a bunch electro-brainiac particles together in the
right computer, you ask a question and then get an answer that “everyone”
“knows” is the only possible correct answer, even if it makes no sense to the
human proletariat, even the smart ones. The particles don’t have the power to
learn. But properly grouped, chunks of them do. And chunks -- maybe --
can read each other’s notes. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Does this sound too much like the basic theme of Planet of
the Apes? You may recall how that turned out for the human proletariat. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Do you think it took human beings to make machines that beat
human grandmasters of chess? It started with humans. But eventually, the
machines taught themselves the rest. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The next step is machinery that reads The Racing Form and
wins so often they’re banned at Belmont and Aqueduct. Crunch 50 years of data
at the tracks. Combine that with weather reports, breeding records, jockey records,
all in split seconds, and the machine will bankrupt the betting windows.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">That would be just for fun. These things will someday be
able to fight their own wars. Just think of what will happen to Best Buy. Instead
of selling phones and computers and home theaters, they’ll be selling people
2-point-0. The artificial intelligence with a heart will keep Kroger open so
you don’t starve. And the kennels where they board your great grandchildren
when they go on vacation -- which they will do without ever leaving the desk
you left them in your will.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Any Questions? </span></b><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p> </p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-15790456980433911812021-12-03T07:49:00.001-05:002021-12-03T14:52:31.652-05:004729 Giving Tuesday<p> <img height="163" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/3rjq986xExGQkrMSQkRa8YaftSrnIduWpkFkFDR1xiNbLwe5t5m7RhnUpF5Gv55Z8-1vleWf_rcDKdNHkaOW2p_ULLMsKYwbbWfn6pCVUSHkd_zdD7mxRUOZ1TXr831qUYESVC5I" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="310" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Is reading a calendar all that hard? Here it is Friday and the emails for giving Tuesday continue to pour in. Politicians, hospitals, vets’ groups, police associations, colleges, Fire departments, save the Whales, Hippos, stray dogs and cats, the Planet. The Moon. The unlawfully convicted. You name it.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Maybe one day extra to catch the forgetful or the
non-caring. The question is how do these charities log the contributions if
their bookkeepers can’t count to three?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Many of these groups are worthy, though some may be suspect.
I have no doubts about St. Jude’s Hospital. But the Muscle Shoals Police
Benevolent Association? Almost seven hundred miles from Wessay’s World
Headquarters? Or the overpriced nursing home down the block where ordinary
people can’t afford to stay more than ten minutes before their bank account is
emptied? Or PBS and the somnambulistic NPR?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">C’mon folks. What are you going to do when Christmas time
comes and you’re all hit up for bucks all over again. Christmas is on a
Saturday this year. Look for a whole new round of tear-jerking stories come the
Friday before.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">So, let’s take a look at the folks behind Giving Tuesday.
The outfit is based in Brooklyn. It is a 501(c)(3) which means you can
claim your donations as tax deductions.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The rating site Charity Navigator says Giving Tuesday is
unrated. Charity Watch says “no listing.” GiveWell never heard of them.
So, we can’t find out how GT spends what you donate directly. Most of the
individual participants span the bellcurve of bad-good-excellent. But you
know who they are, right? At least the ones you may already support.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rating sites tell you how much the charities spend on
fundraising, how much they actually donate… stuff like that. So, with no
ratings, what are we supposed to do, take them on faith?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nah. These are businesses. They pay their executives
and their phone jockeys. They rent their offices. Sure, there are
legitimate expenses. Just tell us. Or hide under a rock. You know
there are charities that are worthy of whatever you can spare. Do they
really need to guilt you into spending it? Resist!</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><u><span style="font-size: 17pt;">QUOTE OF THE DAY</span></u></b><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">: “Dr. Oz is running for the republican nomination for US Senator
from Pennsylvania to prove Rand Paul is not the biggest Quack in the Senate” --
Andy Borowitz</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-49781310391319357962021-12-01T07:02:00.001-05:002021-12-01T07:02:41.538-05:004728 Overkill<p> <img height="275" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dmssUVVp_APEe5WocL9jdGqva1Py_7d_4fDhugs5mHuIIuBloeskfxFfNK3_za2A_1Ovd0146zYKOdp8PT2awJdYXmVeoiVQ_RczP1N-NX9-VZA0yXVqsw2dzfC3HPsjpVC-ErZk" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="183" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Not a bad tree. Just too much in too small a space. Goes along perfectly with Christmas sales starting at Halloween and Christmas music all day on the radio since… well, some stations started slipping in a few on Labor Day. And everyone who is going to do it, by now already is doing it.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Christmas music with a few exceptions is beautiful. Usually
simple. Usually powerful or sentimentally evocative. But that’s not most of
what we’re hearing now. The good stuff may actually wait until the
holiday, almost a month away.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Have you not heard enough of Rudolph or Grandma Got Run Over
by a Reindeer or “Alvin!!!!” to last you until the ghost of Christmas Future
materializes, which never will happen? </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Are you ready for the disco/dance version of Silent Night?
Or the hiphop version of O, Come All Ye Faithful.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The overkill is intentional. Megamart doesn’t want to be out
Chrismassed by Tangent or CostLess. WXYD doesn’t want to be out caroled
by WDYX. Or out Alvined.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">It’s a trend that isn’t contained in one area of the
culture. Look at today’s politicians. Soak the rich. Soak the poor. Get out the
vote! Prevent the vote! </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">And automotives: You can’t have the high powered electric
lane-warning beep unless you buy our Superluxury Package which features stuff
you don’t want and will never use.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Air travel a la cart. X inches of legroom costs extra. Fifty
pounds of luggage is okay, but costs extra and doubles if --Goodness! -- your
suitcase weighs 52.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Your computer or smartphone gives you 500 ways to do
everything except the one function you most need. There’s only one way to do
that and it’s hard to find. And not in the Start Up sheet. Also, you have
to learn a new tech vocabulary every time you switch brands. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">There’s also reverse overkill. Note the weight of your
former one pound box of spaghetti. It weighs 12 ounces. Including the air space
that used to contain pasta. Many containers of ice cream have much more air
than the churners admit.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But the worst of it is too much of the wrong music too
early. There are two good solutions. 1. Pandora or YouTube or 2. Shoot
the radio. Some of them are fun to watch when they splinter into shards
of plastic. Wear safety goggles and ear plugs.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-76245221505139684782021-11-29T06:37:00.000-05:002021-11-29T06:37:32.477-05:004727 The Spamillionaire<p> <img height="225" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/xpZnrr4cntoeyO9QYBClQ0MbXtk7vrXtKKbmaHFV2TIvMuUhNAk8AKAj5Rt7g7epSHnm5OHG4eJ6D8cWfuwBPLj5ysAhacVmFw8w2mJL8gC3dfI6ZT18Ya9v8ZM_Xzz-vEwxTVYH" style="font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="225" /><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">We measure everything, so why not this? How much spam landed in your email today? And what does that say about you? In a culture that values data and quantity we’ve all come to love, the more you receive, the more you are worth.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">A magazine known for its lists of the most-this and the
biggest-that may be considering a list of the top spam recipients in
America. Are you a candidate?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you receive none, are you some kind of hermit? If you receive dozens, you’re
just an ordinary drone. Hundreds? Well, now we’re starting to talk. Thousands?
Is there anyone who receives thousands?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Probably. But this raises an important question: Who
will be the first junk mail Spamillionaire? Maybe you. In fact, if you’re
a long time user of email, and keep spam, you may already have reached that
lofty figure, at least theoretically. It’s tough to know. Most people
discard junk. Most email services kill spam after a relatively short
period, 30 days. So let’s set a standard.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In order to qualify, you must have at least one million
spams in your folder consistently. That means even if Yahoo or Gmail or
Outlook automatically discards things, your total remains at least one
million. As many or more arrive even as some are automatically deleted.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">There’s no TV show -- yet -- asking “Who Wants to be a
Spamillionaire?” But you can bet if this catches on, there will be. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">So, the name of the game now is building your net spam
worth, increasing your take just like a hedge fund seller or an oil tycoon.
Here’s one way.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Mark stuff you already get in your regular mail as spam. The
department store, the various other merchants on your list of sites, the phone
company… all that kind of thing.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Label it spam, but don’t check “unsubscribed” if it’s
offered.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">This will have three effects. Least important, you’ll
receive fewer “regular” emails. Second, it will put all that stuff into one
file where you can run through it once or twice a week, answering the ones you
put there and ignoring the rest. And most important, you will be building
your spam supply, fattening your asset and putting you at a higher level in
competing for that first Spamillionaire title.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 17.0pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505394.post-54697932042086200332021-11-26T06:27:00.003-05:002021-11-26T06:27:48.471-05:004726 What is Journalism?<span id="docs-internal-guid-9b97ae6f-7fff-f593-3aff-e611937ef639"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4726 CAUTION. ADULT CONTENT</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><img height="183" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/z0o4eMk06s0K69NDd0wF_SF6JUpibyVAS-LXRhcfXCgvTrIjaORFEmxwXt8UIlUJ2TMdrzE-u2_LJOi0houu9BVLrZN3V1w1fIkGMkiCafQCw2uSGizX2g7EMSARC0s9r7eSWRdw" style="color: #222222; font-size: 17pt; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="275" /><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We used to call people who keep track of the news “journalists.” But out in the real world, journals are more personal than that. Unless of course we started writing our stories as if they were going into an actual bound paper journal.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Example:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Diary,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'm sad today because a few hundred men and women carrying
guns and waving Confederate flags tried to take over that big building in
Washington with the roof that looks like the tip of my big brother's weewee
pointing up.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You know what else? That nice Mr. Pence ran away from
those bad people. Oh, and one of them wore a hat with moose horns put his
feet up on Mrs. Pelosi's desk!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OR:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Diary, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s soooo boring! The basketball team from somewhere out
west won some kind of award for being the best team in the whole country. Now I
have to learn how to spell Giannis Antetokounmpo or something. Anyways, he’s a
great big tall man who can throw the ball into that net so many times he even
scored 52 points in the same game. That’s still not as much as that
handsome Mr. Michael Jordan who had 62 points one time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OR:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Diary, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friend Betty told me her gymnastics coach, Mr.
Balancebeam, said some naughty things to her at practice yesterday. I told her
she should tell her daddy or mommy and maybe even the principal, Ms.
Papershuffle.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those are the kinds of things that
should go into a journal. Stuff that happens. If you want to get fancy, you
could include a wish list. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Diary, here is my wish list for today: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--I wish my high school crush would ask me to the prom and
let me kiss him afterwards. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--I wish I could pull an “A” in geometry class.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--I wish they’d throw trump in jail.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And where there are wishes, there are guesses.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Diary, here is my guess list for today:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--The killers of Arbery in Georgia will get life sentences
without parole.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Angela Merkel had stayed on for another term like Putin
and Xi.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--I guess gas prices won’t come down any time soon.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--I guess mom will hear about my geometry problems when she
goes to open school night next week.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is a thoroughly workable idea. And some bright
newspaper person will arrange a layout that permits these separate
categories. There'd be the news section, then other sections for
entertainment, sports, and wishes.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any Questions? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:wesrichards@gmail.com"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 17pt;">wesrichards@gmail.com</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 17pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© WR 2021</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p></span>Wessays (tm)http://www.blogger.com/profile/18293360412624189347noreply@blogger.com0