by John Walters

He Knew

Yesterday’s Trump revelations via Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, Rage, reminded me of Joseph Goebbels. Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda and his wife had six young children. In the spring of 1945, as the Russians were converging on Berlin from the east and the Allies from the west, Hitler committed suicide on April 30. In accordance with the fuhrer’s wishes, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany.

For one day.

On May 1st, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide. But, and this is kind of a big but, only after poisoning their six young children with cyanide tablets. Why did Goebbels’ six kinder have to die? Was someone going to charge them with war crimes? Unlikely.

Goebbels knew he was finished, but he decided to “protect” his progeny from the worldwide wrath they’d face as kids of his by… killing them?

The analogy that I find here is that Trump alleges to Woodward that he was protecting Americans when any sane person would realize that his extended—even to this month—public disavowal of the gravity of Covid-19 has resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths. The dean of Brown’s medical school was on TV last night and went as far as saying that Trump’s protracted public ignorance (which, again, is not what he actually knows) probably caused at least two-thirds of the U.S. Covid-19 deaths thus far. So, add mass murderer to the list.

Two more things: 1) Yes, it has seemed like the longest year. But what people forget is that we spent the first five weeks of it obsessing about the Senate impeachment trial. That folly dominated the news all of January into the beginning of February—even though we knew what the outcome would be.

When it ended, and Trump won (sorta), he was in no mood to act responsibly or ethically. He was in the mood to celebrate. And stage rallies. This is a man who does what is pleasing to him. And that’s his only code. And so, prepare for the worst pandemic in more than a century? That wasn’t about to happen.

2) We heard the Senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, do a CNN interview where he was asked about squaring Trump’s public statements about the pandemic with his private confiding to Bob Woodward. Kennedy’s practiced line (if you say a lie enough times, it begins to take hold) that he repeated over and over is that he’s “not a fan of ‘gotcha’ journalism.”

Of course, that’s not what this is. The President himself, on tape, is the one dishing on the president. These are not anonymous sources, disaffected ex-staffers, etc. This is from the source itself.

It’s a testament to Trump’s narcissism that he’d agree to 18 different talking sessions with the very man who brought down the Nixon presidency just because he knew the guy was writing a book about him. Trump would rather spend hours talking about himself, even to the point of admitting he committed mass murder by proxy, than keep his yap shut. Is there a better illustration of exactly who he is?

If You’re Going To San Francisco

Visual evidence to the contrary, California is a blue state. But the apocalyptic skies above the Bay Area are what the wildfires have wrought. Of course the president doesn’t care “because they didn’t vote for me.”

Reminder: The Towering Inferno was set in San Francisco.

Rocky Mountain Haiku

101 degrees last weekend

snow yesterday

all clothing alert

More Runs Than Outs

The Milwaukee Brewers put up 19 runs in a game yesterday, but so what? The Atlanta Braves scored 29 (not in the same game). The Braves, aided by three home runs and nine RBI by Adam Duvall, beat the Marlins 29-9 in Atlanta. In case you’re wondering, the Rangers put up 30 on the Orioles back in 2007, the modern record.

Amazon Career Day

When: September 16

Where: On-line

What: Amazon has up to 33,000 job openings with a minimum salary of $15 per hour and an average annual compensation of $150,000—WUT!?!

See you at Career Day, Jacob/Jason.

by John Walters

Electoral College Dropout

On election night 2012, a man you know well tweeted, “The Electoral College is a disaster for a democracy.”

Yes, that man was Donald Trump (yes, there’s always a tweet). Mr. Trump was concerned that Mitt Romney would win more popular votes than incumbent Barack Obama but lose the presidency. As it turned out, he won neither.

In this essay for The New York Times, author Jesse Wegman argues that the most insidious aspect of the Electoral College is the “winner-take-all” rule for each state. Say two states have the same number of electors, such as Arizona and Indiana, each of which has 11. Say Donald Trump gets 49.9% of the vote in Arizona and he gets 99.9% of the votes in Indiana. At the end of voting, he and Joe Biden are dead even in those two states.

Doesn’t seem fair, does it? As Legman writes, ” I still cannot fathom why, in a representative democracy based on the principle that all votes are equal, the person who wins the most votes can — and does, repeatedly — lose the most consequential election in the land.”

Wegman also warns that soon, maybe in 2024 or 2028, Texas and its 38 electoral votes will turn blue. When that happens, you’ll probably hear Republicans whining about the Electoral College being a disaster again.

Baseball’s Not Backsliding

Let’s check in on the four teams that made it to the 2019 league championship series: 1) the New York Yankees just lost their fifth game in a row and 15th of their last 20 and are now 21-21 (yes, they’ve been without their top two hitters during this stretch, but still). 2) the Houston Astros are barely better at 22-21, 3) the world champion Washington Nationals are in last place, and the Los Angeles Dodgers… are 31-12 and have baseball’s best record.

The Dodgers are baseball’s best story outside of 1) the San Diego Padres, a perennially moribund franchise who have the game’s most exciting young player (Fernando Tatis, Jr.) and we have to give credit to their return to the brown-and-yellow unis and 2) Cleveland Indian ace Shane Bieber, who is 7-0 and leads the majors in both ERA (1.25) and strikeouts. It’s too bad he won’t be given the chance to do this over a full season, as opposed to a third of a regular season.

About Face

In case you’re wondering, the best record %-wise by a pitcher in the past 40 years belongs to Greg Maddux, who went 19-2 for the Braves in 1995. More interestingly, at least to us, is the best W-L single-season % in the past 100 years: It belongs to 5’8″ Roy Face of the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates, who went 18-1 that season while only pitching 93 1/3 innings. Whereas Maddux was a first-ball HOF’er, Face finished with a career 104-95 record and would have as many losing seasons (7) as he did winning seasons.

If you read about Face, he was a reliever, a progenitor of the modern closer. He was also a carpenter during the offseason and did it full-time upon retirement. Roy Face is still alive.

Obama Envy

Granted, former Donald Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen has a book he’s trying to sell and he’s probably a little unhappy for taking the fall for the Stormy Daniels fling. Acknowledging all that, everything he tells Rachel Maddow above, from last night’s interview, rings true. This is a man who had very intimate knowledge of the president for more than a decade. You think he doesn’t know who Donald Trump is? Of course he does.

In case you don’t watch/listen all the way to the end, here is where Cohen lays down his hand: “[Trump’s] hatred for Barack Obama is plain and simple: he’s black, he went to Harvard Law, he graduated at the top of his class, he’s, you know, incredibly articulate… he’s all the things that Donald Trump wants to be, and he just can’t handle it.”

“He’s, you know, incredibly articulate” is quite the telling quote.

A Hike Without Football

One of our favorite blogs, TheDiscoverer.com, is out with “Five U.S. Hikes For People Who Hate Hiking.” Or love hiking, we should add.

One is in Alaska, another in Hawaii, and the other three are all within a three-hour (four, tops) drive from Las Vegas.

*****

A favorite moment yesterday was serving a senior citizen clad in an “Only You Can Prevent Socialism” t-shirt with a “Vote Trump” tag below it. I wanted to ask him how his Medicare and Social Security was working for him.

by John Walters

It’s a…………… Blaze!

In Part 3,932,756 of “Americans Are Really Stupid And Self-Absorbed,” a gender-reveal party in southern California is what sparked the inferno that has now claimed nearly 10,000 acres outside Yucaipa, in the foothills of the San Bernardino National (formerly) Forest.

The family that accidentally started the fire (in a local park, using fire works, because they wanted to gather and take a selfie) has been cooperating with officials, who have yet to press charges. MH prefers a medieval-appropriate punishment, which would likely be burning at the stake.

Takes A Lot Of Nerve (Agent)

If you’re familiar with the story of Rasputin, then you know that some Russians are just harder to kill than others. Outspoken Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny was slipped a Soviet-era nerve agent (most likely into a cup of tea he was drinking before boarding a flight) last month and quickly grew very ill.

Navalny lapsed into a coma. Then, somehow, someone got the authority to fly him out of Russia—Siberia, no less—and off to Germany (it’s funny how Germany is now the bastion of Western values…things really can change quickly). And now Navalny, 44, is out of his coma and improving.

Last Wednesday the German government, after consulting with its military scientists, said that it was “100% sure that it was Novichok,” a Soviet-era chemical weapon that is sort of the KGB’s designer drug. Asked about Navalny two days later, our own president said, “We haven’t had any proof yet, but I will take a look.”

Mormon Conquest

Navy was supposed to open its season in Dublin against Notre Dame, but that game was canceled due to Covid. So the Middies picked up a live scrimmage that counts against another religious football school and, well, they might want to go back to playing the Irish. Brigham Young routed Navy, 55-3, in Annapolis on national TV (and in an empty stadium).

We’d say that’s going to hurt Navy’s recruiting, except that it won’t.

Navy players: Go on a four-year mission after they graduate.

BYU players: Go on a two-year mission after freshman year.

Underground Railroad

In Switzerland, deep beneath the peaks of the Alps, the 25-mile long Ceneri Base Tunnel nears completion. With the completion of this third underground tunnel, an uninterrupted rail route—minus scenic mountain passes but much faster—now exists from Rotterdam, Holland, to Genoa, Italy.

The old Gotthard route, a scenic Alpine journey betwixt Zurich and Milan that we were lucky enough to travel once, will remain. But it’s more of a sight-seeing, Agatha Christie-inspired choo choo ride now.

Tech Wreck

Only eight days ago, tech stocks were soaring. But now the summer lovin’ that was taking place between investors and big tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Nvidia and Tesla has augured an early fall. Tesla is down 30% from its high of less than two weeks ago and Amazon, which tickled $3,500 at the end of August, is now looking at $3,100.

Time to buy more if you have cash ready. Or to sit on your thumbs. These companies aren’t going anywhere.

by John Walters

The Atlantic Gets Specific

Not just any freelance writer, but the actual editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, pens a damning piece about the president in which Donald Trump is reputed (by four sources) to have called military KIA’s “suckers” and “losers.” Both a Fox News reporter and CNN independently confirm the story.

If you haven’t read it, you should (it’s not long). And judging by an anecdote within that has not received much press, John Kelly is likely one of the four unnamed sources.

However, the story I hope everyone reads from The Atlantic is this one from Pete Wehner. It’s all about Trump Derangement Syndrome and how perfectly nice people you meet will disavow all of their purported values in favor to supporting someone with no redeeming traits. Or virtue. Concise and well-written.

You Must Be Djok’ing

In Flushing Meadowns, an errant fit of pique by Novak Djokovic results in an immediate disqualification. Okay, the officials obeyed the letter of the law and took a stand for objectivity here, a rare sight in the 21st century. Practically unheard of (as LeBron takes three steps down the lane and barrels into an opposing defender, burying his shoulder into his chest, and gets the foul call).

And yet, do they do this if the stadium is full? Do they do this if it were a final and the stadium is full? Guess we’ll never know. For the first time since 2016, someone other than Djokovic, Federer or Nadal will win a men’s grand slam final.

If Novak’s little snit lands a foot the left or right of the ball girl’s throat, he’s probably winning Grand Slam No. 18 (Federer leads all-time with 20, Nadal has 19).

Man Of Steal

St. Louis Cardinal legend and Hall of Famer Lou Brock passes at the age of 81. Until Rickey Henderson came along, Brock held baseball’s single-season and career bases stolen mark. He was also only the 14th player to rack up 3,000 career hits.

A lifetime .293 hitter, Brock hit .391 in three World Series appearances, tops among anyone with more than 60 at-bats in the Fall Classic. A soft-spoken legend, he was, whom the Cubs traded to the Cardinals in the midst of his third full season. Dopes.

Ship Of Fools*

*The judges will also accept “Crapsized”

In Texas a few boats participating in a pro-Trump flotilla are, shall we says, “swamped” by rough waters and capsize. Everything Trump and his followers do is a race to the bottom, so why should this have been any different? Like their report cards, these Trump trash were once again engulfed by high C’s.

Inconceivable!

The cast of The Princess Bride (look at how Robin Wright has just let herself go… you hate to see it) is reuniting for a table read of the legendary film next Sunday. It will be live streamed specifically for Wisconsin Democratic donors, the idea being to help flip America’s Dairyland in the Nov. 3 election.

The cast will also do a Q & A moderated by Patton Oswalt. We don’t know if Fred Savage will also do his lines, but we’re pretty sure Peter Falk will not be reprising his role of grandpa. Then again, perhaps Falk is just “mostly dead?”

by John Walters

Ballot The Blue Sky

Vote! There’s nothing more important that you will do this year than vote in the presidential election. Vote! And while it would be disingenuous of me to say that I don’t care whom you vote for, the most important thing is that you VOTE! And remind others to vote.

The first step? Making sure that you’re registered. Click here and find out your status.

I’d also recommend that you throw a certain caution to the wind and vote in person on election day. But just VOTE! Listen, if the incumbent wins, a touch of coronavirus is not going to be your greatest concern.

And Now He’s Dead

On Thursday Vice News aired an on-camera interview with Michael Forest Reinhoel, 48, the man who all but confessed to the fatal shooting of a right-wing Trump supporter at last Saturday night’s protest in Portland. It was Reinhold who approached a freelance reporter to do the interview, and the freelance reporter contacted Vice News.

At the time of the interview Reinhoel had yet to be arrested. Later on Thursday police shot and killed Reinhoel south of Seattle while apparently attempting to make an arrest. Details on what went down have yet to emerge and it’s apparently not on film so, to quote Tom Petty, “you believe what you wanna believe.”

Where Have I Heard That Slogan Before?

I’m currently reading The Splendid And The Vile by Erik Larson, a loaner from The Inconvenient Ruth Memorial Library and Society For The Promotion Of Pickleball. Anyway, it’s mostly about Winston Churchill, his family and the German aerial blitzkrieg of England from late spring of 1940 through 1941.

Larson’s tome is the latest example that history has a funny way of repeating itself. When the Luftwaffe drops a bomb precariously close to Buckingham Palace, something even German citizens found distasteful, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels rushed to spin the story in Germany’s favor. First he asked pilots and their superiors if there was a way to spin it so that it looked as if there was a munitions factory or weapons arsenal nearby and that the plane had simply dropped the bomb a little off course. Assured that no such target existed near Buckingham Palace, Goebbels simply made one up. Said that there was a super-secret weapons factory nearby.

Now who ever would do a thing like that?

But here’s something that caught our eye even more acutely. You know all those retirees you know who ardently devour World War II books? And you know how a disproportionate lot of them, at least in my current neighborhood, are big supporters of the current White House occupant? They revere America, revere Donald Trump and revere everything about World War II?

Well, in 1940 the president was a Democrat. And his Republican challenger, Wendell Wilkie, was a committed isolationist (as were most Republicans). Well, at least once he realized his best chance of defeating the two-term incumbent was to oppose any involvement in the affairs of Europe, Wilkie became adamantly anti-war.

But here’s what got us “Oh, Wow”‘-ing. Wilkie was buttressed by a group of Yale Law students who were also fervently anti-war. These students even went so far as to form an organization, endorsed by Charles Lindbergh himself, to oppose involvement in the war.

The name of their organization? The America First Committee.

Yes, “America First” and World War II involvement were diametrically opposed. Put that in the inscription to grandpa when you give him “The Greatest Generation” or “Flags Of Our Fathers” as a Christmas present.

Meet My Investment Guru

This is my very good friend, A.J. Don’t mind the look, he’s going through a mid-to-late life crisis. The problem is that he’s 29.

A.J. hasn’t been to college but in the past three months none of my edjumicated friends have given me better investment advice. One night in early July, A.J. texted and told me to buy shares of The Gap.

“The Gap?” I replied. “People still shop at The Gap?”

“John, you don’t understand,” A.J. said. “Kanye [no last name needed] just signed a 10-year partnership deal with The Gap. Your generation has no idea how influential Kanye is.”

I checked the price of a share of The Gap (GPS), which was below $12. A.J. said, “Trust me, it’ll be $30 in a year.”

Armed with that assurance, and zero data, I bought a couple hundred shares of GPS. Earlier this week it climbed above $18 per share, a more than 50% gain in less than two months.

So that’s my investment guru.

Churchill Downs Downer

They’ll be staging the Kentucky Derby tomorrow, but the race that annually heralds the arrival of spring (at least in the northeast) and is packed with the ostentatiously dressed will be run before an empty backdrop.

The race was delayed more than four months. Are all of the horsies still even three year-olds?

If the race run-up in the vast empty venue bores you, you can always switch channels to see the U.S. Open being contested in front of no fans.