Monday Musings - February 12, 2024

 

Sarcophagi Replicas from King Tut's Tomb
Elliott Museum, Stuart, FL
February 10, 2024

1. It is the second Monday of February. The Super Bowl was last evening. Football season is over. There are 46 Mondays remaining in 2024.

2. Important safety tip. Do not forget that Valentines Day is two days away! 

3. King Tut is still about. We went to the Elliott Museum in Stuart, FL, on Saturday and found not only recreations of the relics from King Tut's Tomb, but a great automobile museum as well. Definitely a return trip is in the works. 

4. I believe small earthquake may have occurred in the vicinity of Simi Valley, CA. It was attributed to Ronald Reagan rolling over in his grave as Trump's words about Putin were spoken. “Trump bragged that he’d encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to our NATO allies if they didn’t spend enough on defense,” “Trump bragged that he’d encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to our NATO allies if they didn’t spend enough on defense,” (Politico)

4. Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for their repeat as Super Bowl Champions! It was a great ending to the game.

5. The Party of Lincoln and Reagan has lost its focus and has become a personality cult.

6. Did someone mention that the MLB pitchers and catchers begin reporting to Spring Training on Wednesday, February 14th? Baseball is back!!!

7. Today in History. On February 12, 2002, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial at The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of genocide and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. Milosevic served as his own attorney for much of the prolonged trial, which ended without a verdict when the so-called “Butcher of the Balkans” was found dead at age 64 from an apparent heart attack in his prison cell on March 11, 2006.

Yugoslavia, consisting of Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia, became a federal republic, headed by Communist leader Marshal Tito, on January 31, 1946. Tito died in May 1980 and Yugoslavia, along with communism, crumbled over the next decade.

Trump says he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who pay too little - The Guardian

Israel frees two hostages, Gaza officials say airstrikes kill 67 - Reuters

US Senate forges ahead on Ukraine, Israel aid as 'Putin is watching' - Reuters

Trump's shocking NATO remark causes alarm in Europe - CNN

Zelensky’s Military Shake-Up Ties Him to Battlefield Performance - The Wall Street Journal

These Families Are Shutting Down the Bank of Mom and Dad - - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - February 5, 2024

 

1. Welcome to February and the first Monday of the month. This is the sixth Monday of 2024 and there are 47 Mondays remaining in the year. Can you believe that Valentines Day is next week?

2. It is Super Week! The Super Bowl is next Sunday and while I am very disappointed that the Ravens will not be playing in the big game, I am excited for the game and the eventual winner. Despite the bad taste left in my mouth from last week's game, I will be cheering on my boyhood favorite team, the Chiefs!

Capt Finn
Jupiter Sound, FL
January 31, 2024

3. Finnegan loves to pretend that he is captain of the boat and look over the bow when we are underway. I took this cute picture of him the last time we were out on the water.

4. Read an interesting response to a question on Quora about who was the worst president in U.S. history and why? The answer, written by William Weir Author, journalist, minister posted on Jan 17:

Who's the worst U.S. president in history?

There was this one guy who started a trade war that killed 300,000 American jobs in his first two years. Then he signed a tax bill that flatlined the stock market and forced the Fed to start lowering interest rates to try to prevent a recession. Then he said a global pandemic was a liberal hoax to kill the economy he spent three years destroying and he set records for the six worst point drops in the history of the Dow, most new unemployment claims in history, and the largest deficit in history. He was investigated and found to have welcomed and encouraged election interference by a foreign government and to have obstructed justice to cover his crimes. He got impeached once for abusing his office to try to coerce a foreign leader into helping him smear a political rival. Then he got impeached again for inciting an insurrection to try to stay in power after easily and predictably losing his re-election bid. Then he got indicted for almost 100 felonies after leaving office.

I forget his name. Draft dodger. Admitted sex offender. Painted himself orange and wore a dead rodent on his head. Wore elevator shoes. Misspelled three letter words on a smartphone. Kept filing bankruptcy. Called himself a winner. Dump? Rump? Plump? Chump? Something like that

5. The Brightline trains travel through our area at nearly 80 mph and they are relatively quiet. We are advised nearly every day of another accident, death, or injury caused by the trains. Many people blame the trains, but in reality it is the fault of those on the tracks. The tracks are a No Trespassing area and should be respected. This weekend when I was in Hobe Sound at the art festival, I saw young boy playing on the tracks. I was very concerned and then very relieved when his parents retrieved him. The trains are truly fast. I stood next the tracks and took a video of a Brightline train speeding by a short time later.

Trump, his lawyers and opponents braced for huge developments in legal battles - CNN

US strikes Houthi anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles, Central Command says - CNN

Palestinians hope Blinken visit can deliver Gaza truce before Rafah assault - Reuters

China's tumbling prices push some exporters to the brink - Reuters

AI chip demand forces Huawei to slow smartphone production - sources - Reuters

How the Funeral Industry Got the FTC to Hide Bad Actors - The Wall Street Journal

Home Buyers Are Shopping Again and Finding More Options - The Wall Street Journal

China Hands a Suspended Death Sentence to a Former Bank CEO - The Wall Street Journal

Zelensky Hints at Major Shake-Up of Ukraine’s Government - The New York Times

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

#Brightline #trains #news #superbowl #worstpresident

Monday Musings - January 29, 2024

 

1. The fifth Monday of January has arrived. There are 48 Mondays remaining in 2024. My, time is surely flying past. 

Gopher Tortoise in a Hole
Cove Road, Port Salerno, FL
January 28, 2024

2. The Super Bowl teams are set and I am sorry that the Ravens came up short. They played hard, but could not overcome critical errors. In the game between the 49ers and the Chiefs, I will be cheering for the Chiefs, the favorite team of my youth.

3. Chris and I relished in the warm weather yesterday and completed a 12.5 mile bike ride through some local parks. Along the way we spied 10 gopher tortoises--a personal record for both of us ,.I am guessing the tortoises were eating up before the cold weather that arrived this morning. 

4. My only comment on the AFC Championship Game loss suffered by the Ravens is that I still find the NFL officiating to be inconsistent and a joke. Nuff said! OK, maybe I have a second comment--the NFL managed to get the dream matchup between the big market 49ers and the reigning champions. Coincidence? I think not.

5. Explain something to me--Why are Republicans, who have been clamoring for stronger border controls now putting personal pettiness ahead of real paths forward and not getting behind the bipartisan border control bill being hammered out in the Senate? Oh wait--then it won't be an election year issue. News Flash--that will backfire.

6. Today in History. On January 29, 1936, the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elects its first members in Cooperstown, New York: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson.

The Hall of Fame actually had its beginnings in 1935, when plans were made to build a museum devoted to baseball and its 100-year history. A private organization based in Cooperstown called the Clark Foundation thought that establishing the Baseball Hall of Fame in their city would help to reinvigorate the area’s Depression-ravaged economy by attracting tourists. To help sell the idea, the foundation advanced the idea that U.S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown. The story proved to be phony, but baseball officials, eager to capitalize on the marketing and publicity potential of a museum to honor the game’s greats, gave their support to the project anyway.

'We shall respond,' Biden says after US troops killed in Middle East - CNN

Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ robot explorer resumes operations on lunar surface - CNN

Ukraine says it uncovers mass fraud in weapons procurement - Reuters

Hungary making talks on EU aid for Ukraine 'more complicated' - senior EU official - Reuters

Danish frigate departs for the Red Sea to assist US-led operation - Reuters

For Retailers, Business Is Back and Landlords Say No More Rent Discounts - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - January 22, 2024

 

1. 2024 is chugging along. We are experiencing cold January weather and it is the 4th Monday of the month. There are 49 Mondays remaining in the new year. 

Flowers on the Patio
Tequesta, FL
January 21, 2024

2. The NFL playoffs are down to four teams. Two family teams remain in the Super Bowl hunt and one of them will represent the AFC in the big game on February 11th. They are the Ravens and the Chiefs who play next Sunday at 3 PM EST in Baltimore. 

3. A bit of Springtime color is gracing our patio in the form of daffodils and hyacinths! The hyacinths smell very nice.

4. The cold here is nothing like the cold elsewhere in the country--but, it still seems cold here. 

5. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision. By a 7–2 vote, the Supreme Court found that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right of privacy under its “concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action.” This right to privacy, the court said, guarantees a pregnant woman the right to obtain an abortion without restriction in the first trimester of a pregnancy. After that point, the state can regulate abortion, it said, “except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.”

On June 24, 2022, by a vote of 6 to 3, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationdecision, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Five of the justices said: “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” 

For the first time in American history, rather than expanding the nation’s recognition of constitutional rights, the Supreme Court took away the recognition of a constitutional right that had been honored for almost 50 years. Republican-dominated states immediately either passed antiabortion legislation or let stand the antiabortion measures already on the books that had been overruled by Roe v. Wade.  (Letters from an American)

6. Today in History. In a Sacramento, California, courtroom on January 22, 1998, Theodore J. Kaczynski pleads guilty to all federal charges against him, acknowledging his responsibility for a 17-year campaign of package bombings attributed to the “Unabomber.” 

Born in 1942, Kaczynski attended Harvard University and received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He worked as an assistant mathematics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, but abruptly quit in 1969. In the early 1970s, Kaczynski began living as a recluse in western Montana, in a 10-by-12 foot cabin without heat, electricity or running water. From this isolated location, he began the bombing campaign that would kill three people and injure more than 20 others.

Iowa revealed how ineffective DeSantis' campaign had been all along - CNN

Boeing faces new safety alert over earlier generation of 737s - CNN

Relatives of Gaza hostages storm Israeli parliament panel as protests mount - Reuters

Ukraine war drives shift in Russian nuclear thinking - study - Reuters

US Navy declares two SEALs missing in Gulf of Aden as deceased - Reuters

Eight dead and dozens missing in China landslide - BBC

Ukraine’s $30 Billion Problem: How to Keep Fighting Without Foreign Aid - The Wall Street Journal

What the IRS Knows About Your Online Sales This Year - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - January 15, 2024

 

1. Welcome to the third Monday of January 2024! There are just 50 Mondays remaining in the year. 

2. The football playoffs are underway. Four family teams made the playoffs: Ravens, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Steelers. Through today two teams have played and one will play today. The Ravens, with the best record in the NFL this year, drew a first week bye. Through this morning the family teams are 1-1 and the Steelers play tonight.

Finnegan
Tequesta, FL
January 14, 2024

3. Finnegan was sick earlier this week. I think he got some "people" food which did not agree with him. But yesterday he was fully recovered and posed in a chair for me. What a great image!

4. Well, the Dallas Cowboys failed to win a playoff game again this season. There is something critically wrong with the team and I believe it may be the head coach. I am guessing there will be a major shake-up in the Cowboys organization very soon. The owner did not look very happy sitting in his box at the game. Congrats to the Green Bay Packers who actually played a solid football game. The packers even added some drama by allowing the Cowboys to have the slimmest possibility of making it a game, until there wasn't.

5. The first test of the election season is upon us. Iowa has been in the news far too long and I will be happy to have the caucuses behind us beginning tomorrow. I'm not sure it matters too much; one candidate has been getting unreasonable press coverage due to his multiple indictments and court appearances. His presence is stifling on the national stage. 

Today in History. On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate degree in theology and in 1955 helped organize the first major protest of the African American civil rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to segregation in the South. The peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King and his followers persisted, and the movement gained momentum.

A powerful orator, King appealed to Christian and American ideals and won growing support from the federal government and Northern whites. In 1963, Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph led the massive March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; the event’s grand finale was King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Two hundred and fifty thousand people gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial to hear the stirring speech. 

Trump attacks Haley, begs supporters to brave Iowa weather Show all - CNN

Brutal winter storm to bring below freezing temperatures to 79% of US - CNN

US jet shoots down missile fired at Navy destroyer from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen - CNN

Israel pounds targets across Gaza, awaits Hamas word on three hostages-- ReutersChina's military and government acquire Nvidia chips despite US ban - Reuters'Don't forget Ukraine,' UN urges in aid funding appeal - Reuters

‘Peacock Game’: The NFL’s Digital Buttfumble - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - January 1, 2024

 

Happy New Year 2024

Times Square, NYC on TV

1. Don't look now, but the year changed whilst you were sleeping. There are 53 Mondays in 2024 and this is the first. There are 52 Mondays remaining.

2. Family NFL Report. The family teams did well this week posting a 4-1 record. There is a new family team--the Chiefs of Kansas City. Three of the family teams are in the playoffs. One is definitely out, and one team has an outside shot at making the playoffs. 

Cowboys (11-5) tame Lions (11-5), 20-19

Commanders (4-12) court-martialed by 49ers (12-4), 10-27

Steelers (9-7) overcome Seahawks (8-8, 30-23

Ravens (13-3) drown Dolphins (11-5), 56-19  

Chiefs (10-6) outlast Bengals (8-8), 25-17

3. Well, let's hope the world can solve some big issues this year. 

4. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because “It’s all happening!” Have the happiest New Year!

5. Today is the day that the political campaigns start their engines and it gets real!

6. Today in History. On January 1, 1959, facing a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capital of Havana, the U.S. debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.

The U.S. government had supported Batista, a former soldier and Cuban dictator from 1933 to 1944, who seized power for a second time in a 1952 coup. After Castro and a group of followers, including the South American revolutionary Che Guevara (1928-1967), landed in Cuba to unseat the dictator in December 1956, the U.S. continued to back Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro’s leftist ideology and worried that his ultimate goals might include attacks on the U.S.’s significant investments and property in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement.

Powerful earthquake hits western Japan, triggering tsunami warnings - CNN

Humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza as Israel-Hamas war rages - CNN

Russia says toll from Ukrainian shelling on border city has risen to 24 as it vows to retaliate - CNN

North Korea's Kim says armed conflict becoming reality because of US - KCNA - Reuters

Pope Francis tells Rome to clean up its act before 2025 Holy Year - Reuters

China's Xi says 'reunification' with Taiwan is inevitable - Reuters

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Monday Musings - December 18, 2023

 

1. Welcome to the penultimate Monday of both December and the year 2023. Christmas is just one week from today. 

2. Family NFL Report.  The family teams worked hard this week, but came up mostly losers with one win and three losses. 

Cowboys (10-4) shot-up by Bills (8-6), 10-31

Commanders (4-10) impaled by Rams (7-7), 20-28

Steelers (7-7) blown-out by by Colts (8-6), 13-30

Ravens (11-3)  smash Jaguars (9-6), 23-7  

Dolphins (10-4) blanked Jets (5-9), 30-0

3.  A trip of 1,000 miles begins with a full tank of gas. 

4. Who are they laughing at? “It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” Trump quoted Putin saying in the speech. Trump added: “They’re all laughing at us.” (Washington Post)

5. Today in History. On December 18, 1620, the English ship Mayflower arrives at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepare to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.

The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a decent living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America. On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers–dubbed Pilgrims by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony—crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World.

 

Israel opens aid crossing to Gaza while stepping up bombardment - Reuters

Zelenskiy describes immediate goals for work on EU accession - Reuters

Turkey calls on U.S. to use influence to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza -Turkish source - Reuters

New hard-right leader is making enemies in GOP Show all - CNN

 Israel’s military claims to have found biggest Hamas tunnel - CNN

Guilty verdict for paramedics charged in man’s death could have ‘chilling effect’ on EMTs - CNN

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - December 11, 2023

 

1. Welcome to the second Monday of December. Scary thought--there are two Mondays remaining in the year AND Christmas is exactly two weeks away. 

2. Family NFL Report. It was a winning week for the family teams which posted a 2-1 record. Two of the family teams are sporting 10-3 records and sit atop their divisions!

Cowboys (10-3) soundly defeated Eagles (10-3), 33-13

Commanders (4-9) were on a BYE

Steelers (7-6) could not overcome Patriots (3-10), 18-21

Ravens (10-3) ran past Rams (6-7), 37-31

3. I do not understand why Congress is not ensuring that Ukraine has the money and equipment they need to fight the war. Ukraine is not asking Americans to shed blood for them--I think the following quote from our heroic President says it all: “History’s going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause,” Biden said earlier this month. “We can’t let Putin win.”

4. There is no place for hate. 

5. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard. 

6. Today in History. December 11, 1936. After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of December 11, he gave a radio address in which he explained, “I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love.” On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of York, was proclaimed King George VI.

Israeli military says 100 soldiers in total have been killed in Gaza - CNN

News of Zelensky’s visit to Washington got pushback from some Republicans in Congress - CNN

The Math for Buying a Home No Longer Works - The Wall Street Journal

Alarm Grows Over Weakened Militaries and Empty Arsenals in Europe - The Wall Street Journal

Your Cash Is Earning 5% Interest. Is Now the Time to Move It? - The Wall Street Journal

Gazans say hunger is growing, fuelling fears of exodus into Egypt - Reuters

EU set for summit showdown over Ukraine accession talks as Hungary stands firm - Reuters

Ukraine prepares for a long war. Will the West stay the course? - Reuters

The officials weren’t wrong as the Chiefs raged, but does anyone want this? - The Washington Post

--  Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - December 4, 2023

 

1. Welcome to the first Monday of the last month of the year. There are three Mondays remaining in the year and, well, Christmas is three weeks away.

2. Family NFL Report. It was a rough week for the family teams with only one win. 

Cowboys (9-3) out-dueled Seattle (6-6), 41-35

Commanders (4-9) were drowned by Dolphins (9-3), 45-15

Steelers (7-5) got pooped on by Cardinals (3-10), 10-24

Ravens (9-3) had the week off (thankfully)

Egret on Post
Tequesta, FL
November 9, 2023

3. Riding through Tequesta and across the bridges, we often see birds perched. The other day, this egret stood out against the green background.

4. I must report that my bike now has over 3,000 miles on it. I crossed that threshold on Saturday during a 23 mile ride. Who knew that I could ride that far in almost two years without really trying. 

5.  I have been watching Christmas movies--they almost invariably have happy endings. I wonder if that really translates to real life. 

6. Today in History. On December 4, 1991, Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in captivity.

As chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, Anderson covered the long-running civil war in Lebanon (1975-1990). On March 16, 1985, he was kidnapped on a west Beirut street while leaving a tennis court. His captors took him to the southern suburbs of the city, where he was held prisoner in an underground dungeon for the next six-and-a-half years.

Anderson was one of 92 foreigners (including 17 Americans) abducted during Lebanon’s bitter civil war. The kidnappings were linked to Hezbollah, or the Party of God, a militant Shiite Muslim organization formed in 1982 in reaction to Israel’s military presence in Lebanon. They seized several Americans, including Anderson, soon after Kuwaiti courts jailed 17 Shiites found guilty of bombing the American and French embassies there in 1983. Hezbollah in Lebanon received financial and spiritual support from Iran.

Israel kills top Hamas commander, IDF says - CNN

Turmoil at pro-DeSantis super PAC hits at critical moment - CNN

Trump is showing how a second term would rewrite the rules of presidential power - CNN

Western start-ups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining - Reuters

Morning Bid: Buoyant markets hold near year's highs - Reuters

White House says it is nearly out of money to help Ukraine fight war with Russia - Reuters

South Korea flies solid-fuel rocket amid space race with North Korea - Reuters

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL