Monthly Archives: October 2017

White House joke-of-the-Day

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Here you will find a BBC News page on this item. I will content myself with a quote and a comment on one of the pictures.

Here’s the quote, emphasis mine as always:

He said his onetime foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was a “low level volunteer” and “liar“. Mr Trump once called him an “excellent guy“.

Now click on the hotlink above and scroll down to the third image. Here you will find these words:

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders   …

and the photo caption …

White House: “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president”

while standing beside the American flag, presumably in the White House press briefing room, behind a White House presentation desk, in front of a White House logo on the wall.

Methinks she doth deny too much.

Now for the dumb questions:

  • If the White House press secretary has to say any of this in this setting, does it look just a bit like (desperate) damage control?
  • How many of Trump’s former helpers have turned, and will turn, from excellent guy to liar?

Guilty as charged? the Greek financial crisis – and Italy, and beyond?

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Here you will find the Wikipedia entry on the economy of Greece. I will content myself with a few quotes; emphasis mine:

In early 2010, it was revealed that through the assistance of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and many other European countries to hide their borrowing. Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were “kept off the books.“

According to Der Spiegel, credits given to European governments were disguised as “swaps” and consequently did not get registered as debt because Eurostat at the time ignored statistics involving financial derivatives. A German derivatives dealer had commented to Der Spiegel that “The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps,” and “In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank.”

These conditions had enabled Greek as well as many other European governments to spend beyond their means, while meeting the deficit targets of the European Union and the monetary union guidelines.

So, if you wondered where at least some of the fault for the economic mess in Italy and Greece lies, look to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and ‘different US banks.’

Greece has to borrow to pay its debts – the stupidest economic statement imaginable.

I am pretty sure that executives from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are favoured in the current Trump administration.

Does that bother you? That’s today’s dumb question.

Amazon Kindle, and often GoodReads

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I have done 174 Kindle Book Reviews as a KBR Team Member. Many of those authors wanted their review on GoodReads as well. 94 of them are. A few are also on my blog. Today’s review was for a fabulous poetry collection, which you can find out about farther down in this blog.

I take KBR reviews seriously. I always send the author a draft review. Almost always the author is OK with it and I post it on Amazon and often on GoodReads.

I read every word on every page of every work. I generally skim long dedication name lists, but that’s about it.

When I do a review, I’m working for you, and for free. Many authors have come back for seconds and thirds on subsequent works. I am tough and thorough.

I also note typos and other minor things which are ‘not part of this review but for your use or not, as you see fit.’ After a couple of passes I can’t see the typos anymore either.

If anyone out there is interested in reviewing my unpublished poetry, please advise by responding here. I benefit from and appreciate alternate ideas about what works (or not) in my own poetry.

 

 

Shirani Rajapakse – Chant of a Million Women

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This is a cut&paste of a review your blogger posted on Amazon Kindle. A similar review is also on GoodReads.

Strong free verse on many topics. An experience.

five stars

This is a fine collection of some seventy-three poems. From the opening, At the Side of the Old Mandir, you will realize that Rajapakse is treating you like an adult. While there is sex in several of these poems, they are not graphic.

There are many points of view explored by Rajapakse, including what it’s like to wear a full body covering such as the Niquab (recently made illegal in the Canadian province of Quebec.) I’ve personally always considered all religions to include a strong dose of social control, and this poem, To Dance with the Wind, reinforces my prejudices.

For an example of a woman most definitely in control, turn to Colonized, from which I’ll include this teasing snippet: “You were marked. /Stamped with delicious dragon-fruit /pink. /Scandalous. //Mine. /Branded like a buffalo in the field.”

For a terrifying experience, turn to The Shower. For another, turn to The Lonely Woman. This is not for the faint of heart.

In The Decision, this: “They tasted alright to me, /sweet with a hint of sour /that is what I’ve come to expect of grapes, /and of this thing we call a relationship.”

For an introspection into another damaged relationship, turn to Inside the Old Room, which begins thus: “What would the walls say if only /they could speak? /Would they tell you of the fantasies I dream /when I am not with you?…”  and that’s just the opening.

I should mention that Rajapakse uses titles subtly, often setting the physical scene but not revealing the plot of the poem. For a rare example where she uses repetition, turn to On Campus: Just Before the Exam, which is quite frightening.

For one last favourite here, this is from The Man from Over There: “The verse about you /described you as you were. As you are. /Nothing seems to have changed. /You should have changed. /Grown wiser, better, /but you have not.”

Back to the star count and my usual boilerplate. My personal guidelines, when doing an ‘official’ KBR review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try to be consistent. Rajapakse has great range in this book, writing with power and control. You will find your own favourites here, as well as those mentioned above. Five stars feels  right on. Highly recommended.

Kindle Book Review Team member.

George H. W. Bush – a pat on the back (side) – or not?

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The former president of the United States of America apparently has been confined to a wheelchair for some five years.

Apparently he likes patting women’s backsides.

For women who don’t like this, don’t stand there. If you need that photo-op that badly, accept that weird things might happen. Decide.

For reporters, I suggest we assume GHWB is senile. Leave him alone.

Now for the dumb question:

Has anyone threatened to sue GHWB? Other executives are being sued left and right for similarly inappropriate behaviour.

Trump, and the war on drugs

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Here you will find one of many pages quoting Donald Trump and his war on opioids. I will content myself with a single quote, and then give you something much more interesting to think about.

Although the declaration doesn’t open up new funds (some estimate more than $9.3 billion is needed), Trump argued that “the federal government is aggressively fighting the opioid epidemic on all fronts.”

He plans to do this with good advertising. Really.

Now for the far more interesting reading. This is a New Yorker article on the Sackler family and their drug company, Purdue Pharma—a privately held company, based in Stamford, Connecticut, that developed the prescription painkiller OxyContin.

I will content myself with a few quotes, emphasis mine. Please click through the above link and read the full report. Here goes:

Purdue launched OxyContin with a marketing campaign that attempted to counter this attitude and change the prescribing habits of doctors. The company funded research and paid doctors to make the case that concerns about opioid addiction were overblown, and that OxyContin could safely treat an ever-wider range of maladies. Sales representatives marketed OxyContin as a product “to start with and to stay with.” Millions of patients found the drug to be a vital salve for excruciating pain. But many others grew so hooked on it that, between doses, they experienced debilitating withdrawal.

The most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that a hundred and forty-five Americans now die every day from opioid overdoses.

If you read the full article, you’ll find a litany of similar statements.

Now for the dumb questions:

  • is an unfunded war on drugs just a bad joke?
  • Is it OK for a company to make some 35 Billion dollars selling opioids while misleading the public?

By God, We’re Trumped

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Since the latest carnage in the USA, lawmakers have been trying to make their streets even safer. Citizens will no longer be worried by gunshots – because silencers are going to become legal.

Here is a hotlink to a page provided by the Federation of American Scientists, via its Secrecy News blog.

I will content myself with a single sentence from that article. You can click through and read it for yourself. Emphasis mine, as usual:

In April 2017, there were 1,360,023 silencers registered to FFL/SOTs, law enforcement, and unlicensed individuals in the ATF-maintained National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR).

Obviously we need many more of these.

A Small Brag – re Amazon Kindle book reviews

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From time to time I get a request to review a book. I’m listed as reviewing poetry, but have been sent other genres as well.

It’s work and I take it seriously. I try hard to be consistent with star counts. I send the draft review to the author for approval, which happens almost every time.

I post the review on Amazon next to the Kindle edition of the book, and sometimes elsewhere. GoodReads is a frequent request.

I do this for free. Sometimes one or more of my authors will review some of my work, sent to them electronically. I choose writers I personally considered to be five-star talents.

Most of these authors don’t even reply to my request. Even ones for whom I’ve reviewed several Kindle books.

That’s OK. I do a review for you with no obligation on your part.

I will confess that I (almost always) really enjoy these works, and frequently learn something  – a bonus.

So, if you find me on the Kindle Book Review Team, you will know where to send your work.

I’ve done about 170 ‘formal’ reviews, and half as many informal/have a look please, ones as well. That’s the brag.

Beat the Tom-Tom

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This is a silly post, but I am annoyed with TomTom (the GPS manufacturer.)

If you look up a current product on their website, you’ll see that lifetime map updates are guaranteed.

If you buy a TomTom car GPS, you’ll find a coupon marked “do not lose this” which gives you lifetime updates.

If you forget this coupon, they’ll try to charge you for the maps the GPS box says are free.

It gets better. When your device gets too small for the map, they create a smaller version (covering less of North America) which works.

Then they tell you that your device is obsolete, and you need to pay for a one-time last-time map update.

I’m not paying for a map update. They can cut me an Eastern Canada Only map that will fit in my device.

Lifetime maps means just that.

Guess what I’ll do if this machine gets abandoned? Small claims court? Switch to Garmin?

That’s silly. But so is TomTom to ask me to pay for what they promised when I got their machine.

Don’t touch that dial: on police cameras

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There was an ‘incident’ in the USA where a police camera documented police officers planting evidence. They had forgotten something about their police camera:

apparently, these cameras always keep the last thirty seconds, and when activated, keep that plus further footage. Thus the officer thought he was controlling when recording started, but inadvertently captured the previous thirty seconds as well.

Unfortunately, it appears to this blogger that police frequently get off either very lightly or scot-free. The Forcillo case in Toronto is going back on appeal.

Here’s what I think the rules should be for police cameras:

  • always on.
  • always streamed to cloud storage which is audited daily for no gaps.
  • always available to all parties in cases of possible police action being questionable.
  • always directly identifiable as to what officer is wearing the source of footage.

In an ideal world, all officers appearing on police camera would be automatically identified. Chip implant? Facial recognition? Permanent log of who was where?

Police forces will scream that this puts them at a disadvantage. I beg to disagree:

  • Police are armed, can make arrests, have a lot of discretionary power.
  • Full disclosure of police actions will create, eventually, public trust.
  • Officers who cannot earn public trust should not be armed nor badged.

Comments, anyone? Anyone willing to put their real eMail and make a real comment here?
That’s today’s dumb question.