Category: Uncategorized

Then and Now

RECALLING THANKSGIVING

It was grandparents mainly,
An uncle who drank
And, one year, two cousins
My age.
There was shopping and cooking
The evening before,
Excitement approaching
Delight.
Twice a year china
And glassware appeared
As we pulled out the
Table, its leaves.
Dinner was early,
A part of the rite,
Though first came the
Football in town.
The crowds always buoyant --
Certain we'd win --
Seemed part of some
Triumph foretold.
Back at the table,
My father said grace.
We mumbled and lowered
Our heads.
The bird in its platter --
Flesh of our creed --
Embodied what words
Cannot teach.
We ate it directly
And everything else
As though we had 
Never seen food.

JAD, 2021
WE AMERICANS
 
We’ve clung to the traces
Of lies once believed –
These spasms of
Star-spangled spin –
Then ditching forensics,
Adherence to facts,
Licensed fresh liars,
Nonplussed.

High on the mesas
Of pasteurized zeal,
We’ve roasted our martyrs
On spits,
Lip-synching birdsong,
Regressing in tweets,
We warblers of
Camouflaged fraud.

Racing through stages
Of cauterized grief,
We’ve sanctified
Ripples of hope,
Skirting the moment
Of tide-turning doubt,
Dividing awareness
In two.
 
Heartened by hucksters,
Their halcyon chants,
We’ve glowered at
Sages and seers
While heard in the markets;
On cable, the street:
Proof that our moment
Has passed.
 
JAD, 2018

This Year’s October Fish Pull

Only at Broccoli Hall.

Maxine Paetro’s Project

Open the link, click on the photo, follow the instructions to view more shots.

As usual, the stars are Max; ladies’ favorite John Clark (with his magnificent shock of white hair); and, of course, THE KOI THEMSELVES.

Looking for me?

I’m somewhere in the crowd talking theology with the pastor of Smithfield Church.  He’s telling me how he almost wasn’t ordained on the grounds that he sounded agnostic.

Which is WHY WE’RE TALKING.  I’m telling him that agnostics are RATIONAL, much like political CENTRISTS.

“What do I think of belief?  A hasty conclusion, at best.  Faith isn’t certainty.”

No, we’re not talking FISH.

Poland Adding 100 Tons to Gold Reserves

Said Bank of Poland President, Adam Glapinski:

“Gold will retain its value even when someone cuts off the power to the global financial system, destroying traditional assets based on electronic accounting records. Of course, we do not assume that this will happen. But as the saying goes – forewarned is always insured. And the central bank is required to be prepared for even the most unfavorable circumstances. That is why we see a special place for gold in our foreign exchange management process.”

“After all, gold is free from credit risk and cannot be devalued by any country’s economic policy. Besides, it is extremely durable, virtually indestructible.

SMART.

Visionary Words

Timely and timeless.

“Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to public opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and the trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, the wrong the right. In a country where opinion has sway, to seize upon it, is to seize upon power. As it is a rule of humanity that the upright and well-intentioned are comparatively passive, while the designing, dishonest, and selfish are the most untiring in their efforts, the danger of public opinion’s getting a false direction is four-fold, since few men think for themselves.”

-James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

Kyle Bass: US Must Disengage from China

Bass, who appears in the first 10 minutes of this video, couldn’t be clearer regarding his negative view of China.  He fears that if China successfully rolls out its CBDC digital currency — thereby escaping the US Dollar system — the chances of the world bifurcating politically, economically, financially and culturally will increase exponentially.

In making his case, Bass displays an exhaustive knowledge of the Chinese economy and the US’s ties to it.

Of especial note is Bass’s comment that if Beijing were to move against Taiwan, the US could shut out China from the SWIFT global payment system.  According to Bass, this would collapse the Chinese economy “overnight.”  Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but it could certainly spark WWIII.

If you wish to learn more about China tout suite, THIS IS YOUR CLIP. 

‘Cancerous to the West’

Still Bill Maher

Maher feels, as do MANY OF US, that it isn’t HE WHO LEFT LIBERALISM but VICE-VERSA.  And it started in the 90’s.

What could be clearer?

THE WOKE HAVE YET TO GROW UP.

The Looting in Walnut Creek

From Zero Hedge:

“On Saturday evening, dozens of looters armed with crowbars and other weapons bum-rushed a Nordstrom department store in an upscale community in the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Walnut Creek Police Department told NBC Bay Area that Nordstrom employees were pepper-sprayed and beaten while as many as 80 people ransacked the store. 

The incident occurred around 2046 PST, according to police. A manager of a PF Chang’s said he had to lock the restaurant as a fleet of cars, as many as 25, pulled up in front of Nordstrom, and an army of thieves ran into the retail store, grabbed merchandise, loaded it in waiting cars and drove off.”

TUDOR PLACE:  For those who don’t know, Walnut Creek is a very nice town.  In the late 80’s, I had a road- contractor client I used to visit there.  I got there by taking BART from San Francisco.  There weren’t any looters or muggings on the train.

More details:

More from Zero Hedge:

“Ever since San Francisco officials passed Proposition 47, which lowered penalties for thefts under $950, there’s been a dramatic increase in shoplifting. Another liberal measure that has backfired as the Bay Area is now swarming with organized thieves targeting retailers. So which retailer is next?”

TUDOR PLACE:  And then there’s the elephant in the room.  Do some groups in society regard such behavior as justified over perceived abuses in the past?  Or even real ones?  Is this how justice is served?  Or is it merely crime with a SOCIAL JUSTICE PATINA?

And regardless, given the rise in these incidents, should there be fewer police on the streets of Bay Area towns or MORE?

It’s a no-brainer, right?

MORE.

Though not to some.  To them, these aren’t depredations.  They’re REPARATIONS.

Goodbye, Rule of Law!