The Vegas Muse, by @Jeff Rose

January 21, 2018

"I am currently unindicted" - Jeffrey Rose:

Second week of coughing, hacking, and blowing my nose. Coughing is even worse

fun when one has a hernia. I've realized that I'm now one of those "older adults" at

highest risk for serious complications from the flu. Damn mortality!

Martin Luther King's dream is still a work in process. The US followed a black

president with Donald J. Trump who is entirely what he seems. How's his second

year going so far? We elected him. We bought him. We now find that his

grandfather was forced to leave Bavaria for not fulfilling his military service

requirement. That's a family tradition, I guess. It appears that the president is

limiting political trips that interfere with his golf game. Reporting on what the

president says (or tweets) is generally fake news. They are more entertaining than

his fake news awards that fell rather flat. The president and the porn star, and

another, and another. Ho hum. How come no one has accused Hooters of sexual

misconduct? Men, some not very powerful, continue to be accused of sexual

harassment. Our president is a narcissistic jerk who would rather play golf (73 days

of his first year in office). Live with it. Focus on his policies rather than him. The US

needs a leader...or two.

"I am not a crook"- Richard Nixon:

As the government shutdown moved closer, both sides started a game of chicken,

setting up the other for the blame. The posturing continued up to and after the

Friday deadline. Saturday both sides decided to play hardball. As this was the fourth

continuing resolution, the Republicans, in control, the Democrats, and, especially the

deal-guy in the White House should be blamed. It did screw up their weekend. He

missed his $100,000-a-couple self congratulatory gala at Mar-a-Lago (rented by

Trump from Trump). Pence left the country. Fixing blame seems to be more

important than a budget. Federal workers celebrated his first year in office by not

going to work. On MLK Day, after declaring he isn't a racist, he headed off for a

round of golf at his Florida club. Sarah Sanders intelligently observed, “Frankly, I

think if the critics of the president were who he said he was, why did NBC give him a

show for a decade on TV?” NBC, of course, also gave Matt Lauer a show. All the

president's men and women are very carefully (crafted by good lawyers) backing him,

saying that they didn't hear the word "shithole", but not mentioning what the "rough

language" they actually heard. Shithouse is about the same, but no one of them has

answered that question. Pence is visiting the Middle East, where nothing positive can

happen. The US is certainly no longer an attempted peace broker there. Under

orders from White House lawyers, Steve Bannon would not tell members of the

House Intelligence Committee anything about anything, before or after the

inauguration, though expectative privilege was evidently not invoked. The Justice

Department will retry Sen. Menendez. A Republican was removed from the House

ethics committee when it came out that he had used taxpayer funds to settle a

misconduct complaint. The conservative House Republicans are holding hearings to

restore earmarks (the swamp) and about to cut a deal to add $100 billion in

spending. Huh?

Mr. Mueller invited Mr. Bannon to testify before a grand jury. Then they cut a deal

for him to meet with prosecutors instead of the grand jury. The office of the US

Trade Representative has added China's Alibaba Group to its list of "Notorious

Markets", for sales of counterfeit products. Twenty-one states are suing the

government to reverse the repeal of net neutrality rules. New homeland security

secretary Kristjen Nielsen couldn't remember who said what in the DACA meeting and

said she didn't know if Norway was predominantly white. Anyone named Kristjen

should be able to do better than that. Secretary of State Tillerson announced that US

troops (2,000 now) would remain in Syria indefinitely. Nine of the 12 members of the

National Park System Advisory Board resigned over frustration that secretary Zinke

never met with them. Zinke has yet to nominate a National Park Service director.

Paying only $60 million, the US is holding back $65 million for the UN relief agency

for the Palestinians that funds educational, health, and social programs. Pence has a

plan to aid Christians in Iraq. Just Christians? The DOE photographer who leaked a

photo of secretary Perry hugging coal magnate Robert E. Murray was fired. The VA

announced that it won't (can't) study the effects of marijuana on veteran PTSD and

chronic pain. Medicare is making it more difficult for victims of chronic diseases to be

paid for home care. The number of US adults without health insurance rose by 3.2

million in 2017. International tourism to the US is dropping precipitously, costing

tens of thousands of jobs. The administration's stance toward foreigners just may

have something to do with that. Expelled from the Air Force in 1955 with a

dishonorable discharge for being a lesbian, Helen Grace James, now 90, finally had

her discharge changed to honorable. The Anti-Defamation League found that 18 US

residents were murdered by white supremacists in 2017, while only 9 were killed by

domestic Islamic extremists. A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, a

member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News (of course) his suspicion

("credible evidence") that the Las Vegas shooting was connected to ISIS. A second

Woman's March, commemorating the president's first anniversary, was coupled with

voter registration. Women marched all over the US (reportedly 600,000 in Los

Angeles). A world-wide poll of US leadership found its disapproval rate at 43% (vs.

30% for Russia and 36% for China). A CBS poll found 61% of Americans oppose a

border wall. Pew found that 74% want to grant permanent status to Dreamers.

"What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar.":

How could Hawaii (obviously still a third-world country) have an emergency alert

system where the real "button" could be confused with the test "button"? Actually,

the button was a drop-down menu on a computer screen with a lot of choices, some

in plain English. The agency evidently keeps some passwords on Post-It notes. It

looks like Las Vegas is stuck with OJ. The Clark County Sheriff says that no motive

was found in the Las Vegas mass shooting. Education Week ranked low-tax Nevada

last in the nation for education. We have nowhere to go but up. Highway 101

through Santa Barbara is closed indefinitely...or until Monday. The newest estimate

of the cost of building 119 miles of bullet train track through California's Central

Valley is $10.6 billion, up from the original $5 billion estimate. The California High-

Speed Rail Authority was established 23 years ago. Since then the state has built

zero miles while China has built 6,000 miles. The police in El Cajon, California (near

San Diego) arrested 12 for feeding the homeless in a local park. A Democrat won a

special election in a rural Wisconsin district that Trump carried by 17 points. The

governor of Missouri has asked for forgiveness from his reported attempted blackmail

of a woman with which he had an extramarital affair. The governor is using public

resources to defend himself. The Southeast had another round of cold, snow, and

ice.

Venezuela's financial woes are allowing Brazilians to cross the border for discount

"butt-lifts". Tijuana closed out 2017 with 1,744 homicides, beating the old record of

910 set in 2016. The British Prime Minister has appointed a minister for loneliness.

Pope Francis married two flight attendants in an impromptu ceremony on a Chilean

airliner (A321) at 36,000 feet. A winter storm with wind gusts of up to 90 mph

caused havoc in the Netherlands and Germany. The low temperature dropped to -88

degrees F in a Siberian village. Its all-time low is -98. Cloudy Moscow basked under

6 minutes of sunlight in the entire month of December. Turkish artillery was shelling

the Kurds in Syria and seems to have sent troops into Syria.

Cape Town, South Africa has 90 days supply of water in its reservoirs. Drones have

started appearing in Afghan rugs. India will set up a $350 million fund to finance

solar projects. Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to repatriate 1,500 Rohingya a

week. It will take about 9.5 years if the current 740,000 refugees all want to go

back. Since their security and livelihood aren't guaranteed, there is no compelling

reason for them to return. The president of Sri Lanka nixed a plan to allow women to

legally buy alcohol. North and South Korea will march together for next month's

winter Olympics. North Korea is sending a pack of 230 cheerleaders (unarmed, one

hopes) to the Olympics. The Iranian tanker that was burning off the coast of China

since January 6 finally sank, leaving oil still burning and a huge oil spill on and in the

surrounding sea. The 32 on the tanker are presumed dead. If its figures can be

believed, China's economy grew by 6.9% in 2017 (vs. 3.2% for the US). The air

quality in China is so bad that Xian has built the world's largest air purifier. Initial

results indicate that it can bring nearby smog down to moderate levels. Interrupted

during a drone training program, New South Wales lifeguards saved two teenagers by

using their drone to drop them a floatation device. Australian lifeguards are also

using drones to spot sharks. New Zealand's prime minister, 37, is expecting her first

child.

Beware the military-industrial complex:

The CEO of BlackRock ($6.3 trillion under management) sent a letter to 1,000+

global CEO's saying that they should have a positive impact on society as well as

good financial returns. US corporations are giving one-time bonuses instead of raises

with their tax-cut dollars. Twitter found another 1,062 Russian-linked accounts

(totaling 3,814) and 13,512 Russian-linked bots (totaling 50,258). Lactalis, a huge

French producer of dairy products, has recalled more than 12 million boxes of

powered milk from 83 countries for suspected salmonella contamination.

PriceWaterhouse Coopers has been banned from auditing listed Indian companies for

two years. Boone Pickens closed his energy hedge fund. An Emirates airline order

for 36 Airbus A380's will allow Airbus to keep the production line operating and carry

its development into cargo. Lockheed's Skunk Works is reportedly working on a Mach

6, SR-72 hypersonic spy aircraft. BP is still paying for its Deepwater Horizon disaster,

$3 billion estimated this year. On Tuesday the value of a bitcoin dropped almost

25% in 24 hours. Easy come, easy go.

Between 2000 and 2015, the average number of times a garment is warn

(worldwide) before disposal has dropped 36%. Products like the $450 silver ruler

helped Tiffany & Co. sales to rebound. The Detroit Auto Show may have well been

the Detroit Truck Show. The ubiquitous 3.5mm headphone jack is on its way out,

sadly with no successor in sight. The Vikings beat New Orleans last week on the last

play of the game. Tom Brady is a freak. By not kicking the extra point, the Vikings

kicked their betters (who lost by 1/2 point) in their wallets. Playoff TV ratings have

been pretty dismal. At least 14 Michigan State University representatives were told of

Dr. Nassar's sexual misconduct over 20 years. Most of the long-time officials of USA

Gymnastics are still in their jobs. While the Olympic committee has barred Russia

from the winter Olympics, it has provisionally cleared 400 Russian athletes to

participate.

Eating Tide pods? Not a good idea:

The girl in the magazine doesn't even look like the girl in the magazine. Drinking oat

milk yet? You will. Fire and Fury will be shopped as a TV series. Nancy Pelosi will

be a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Warren Buffett, a major Apple

shareholder, is sticking with his Samsung flip phone. Conan O'Brien is flying to Haiti

despite a very negative Yelp review by the president. Hair-impaired Prince William

came out with a shaved head. James Comey will teach a course in ethical leadership

at College of William & Mary, his alma mater. Chelsea Manning says she's a different

person than she was ten years ago...pretty obvious. Chris Christie, no longer a VIP,

was made to get into the TSA line at Newark Airport like a regular person. Trump

aide Sebastian Gorka has had an active warrant for his arrest in Hungary, for "firearm

or ammunition abuse", since September 17, 2016. Dan Gurney, all-around car racing

sportsman, has died at 86. Paul Bocuse, perhaps the first celebrity chef, has died at

91.

If you want to avoid the flu this year, get the shot and don't breathe. Flu is the 8th

leading cause of death in the US. A Boston University study found that repeated hits

to the head, not necessarily a concussion, is better linked to degenerative brain

disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Researchers have found that new

mothers taking group singing lessons with their babies recover more quickly from

post-natal depression. Holding in a sneeze can be bad, very bad, for your neck.

Unless you have celiac disease (1%) or gluten sensitivity (6% or so), A gluten-free

diet is not healthy. Mushrooms are high in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. 2017

was only the second hottest year in recorded history, not able to beat out 2016 for

first.

--

Jeffrey "Ronin" Rose

805-795-6370

Las Vegas and on the road

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out. - Oscar Wilde

We have met the enemy and he is us - Walt Kelly

. . . for a full version with the hyperlinks; email Jeff Rose at vegasmuse@gmail.com