G'day, Mate!

Amazon is hiring - they are seeking a linguist with an Australian background. This will involve research for their voice recognition device, the Amazon Echo. Some software fails to recognize accents - Australians do not pronounce the "r" sound - their English also has a lot of diphones - multiple vowels. My own Philadelphia speech pattern was once criticized as "you slur your dipthongs." So, Alexa, what is the capital of Australia?
tjs

A Call to Arms.

Yesterday the President issued a ban on Transgender people in the Military - in any capacity. His policy announcement came via Tweet as usual and in so doing blind-sided the Senate Armed Services Committee and overturned Obama's policy. On the same day the NYT Book Review covered a publication on the use of women in the Soviet Army during WWII - numbered to estimate one million. These ladies did not talk about their experience as they felt stigmatized. One being interviewed said "we were silent as fish." A fellow worker - circa 1948 - had survived the Battle of the Bulge at age eighteen and told me of seeing dead German female soldiers on the battlefield. Too bad POTUS doesn't read history books.
tjs

Primarily Political XXX

Quote of the week: The Trump White House has taken the FUN out of dysFUNctional. - Charlie Dent (R) Pa.

Sen. John McCain's speech of a lifetime was followed immediately by the inept and rambling press conference of the current resident of the White House. What a contrast!

Only six months into his administration and he is talking about "pardons"! Unbelievable!

Does anyone else think the new communications director resembles a slick talking used car salesman?
tjs

Tax Time

During Sunday Mass the priest's homily included the phrase - "Christ sat down with the tax collectors, prostitutes and other unsavory characters............" Now the IRS has been getting a lot of heat from various corners, some deserved, but some not so. In fairness they have never audited me and I always look forward to that refund in the Spring. It's called Taxation with Representation.
tjs

Beieve it or Not.

This out of Western Michigan: A jury convicted a woman of killing her husband with five bullets when the sixth bullet failed her suicide attempt. It seems the panel may have been swayed by the appearance of the man's pet African parrot, Bud, who it is alleged witnessed the shooting and cried out - mimicking the man's voice - "Don't bleep shoot!" Of course, Bud wasn't cross examined. So be kind to your fine feathered friends, they may speak well of you when you're gone.
tjs

Primarily Political XXIX

Over the last several years I have accumulated a veritable lexicon of negative adjectives applicable to the current resident of the White House. But after his rambling response to the Health Care reversal, I found a new word - "PETULANT" which Oxford Press defines as "childishly sulky or bad tempered, peevish or cross." Of course, of all his flaws I think the greatest is the absence of a sense of humor. IMCO.
tjs

China Bear

Winnie-the-Pooh has run afoul of the censors in China since internet users there have related his likeness to the President of China. The government army of censors has been battling the meme since 2013 and they are relentlessly unforgiving. Pooh had run into similar problems in Russia which may have stemmed from a case of jealousy by the Russian Bear. An obvious need for diplomacy here.
tjs

Double Fault

Roger Federer, a Swiss citizen, just won his eighth Wimbledon tennis championship. He and his wife are the parents of two sets of identical twins. He seems to have a penchant for producing "deuces". Perhaps there is something about those Swiss Alps and their "twin peaks". A gracious champion and a fine gentleman.
tjs

Boxers or Briefs?

The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon concluded yesterday. While you can dress colorful in New York, Paris or Melbourne - the uniform of the day on the trim lawns of England is lily white and all participants are so informed. But despite this alert, two male teenage players appeared wearing dark undershorts which peeked thru when stretching. The referee intervened and white "knickers" were procured from the clubhouse, and play proceeded. Apparently, they keep a supply on hand for such emergencies. The elder champion, Bjorn Borg, has an underwear business but who wants to go to Sweden for such essentials.
tjs

Quote of the week.

Quote of the week:
"I willingly drank the Kool-Aid" confessed the mastermind of the George Washington Bridgegate scandal as he addressed the court. The source of such "drinking" dates back to 1978 during the Jonestown Massacre at Georgetown, Guyana in South America which resulted in mass suicides by a cult group. The phrase was expropriated from a harmless beverage of my youth. Further on the Jonestown story, a U.S. Congressional delegation was visiting there looking into the cult leader, Jim Jones. Gunshots broke out and our Congressman Leo Ryan (D) Cal. was killed. His aide, Jackie Speier took five bullets but survived and she now holds that same Congressional seat of her mentor. I think of her as she appears frequently on the TV interviews.
tjs

Parental Pride

In recent days Donald Trump has seen fit to defend his children from various critics. His tone has been rather civil, all things considered. A far cry from Harry Truman whose daughter Margaret's singing was criticized by the Washington Post music critic in December 1950. Said Harry in response: "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter for below." As they used to say on the campaign trail "Give 'em Hell, Harry!"
tjs

Braking News

For all you fussy eaters and dieticians - note the following two news releases which are poles apart.
-The Vatican has ruled that communion wafers must contain at least a "tad" of gluten in their wheat base.
-On the other side of the globe, Air India will only serve meatless vegetarian meals in coach class.
Life isn't easy.

That thumping you hear today is just the Boys in Belfast celebrating the 327th year since the Battle of the Boyne. You'd think they might be tired by now of beating those bass drums.
tjs

Droning On

Slick Willie Sutton was easily the most notorious bank robber and escapee of another era. He used make-up and uniforms as instruments of deception. But he would be green (as in greenbacks) with envy at the fellow who recently escaped from a maximum security prison in South Carolina. This modern inmate used several cellphones and it is believed a drone was used to fly in the tools that allowed him to escape. But he was no rookie as in 2005 he pulled off an escape by stuffing dummies with toilet paper in his bunk. Great Scott!
tjs

Witch Hunt

Donald Trump's adoption of the title phrase has prompted a column in Wednesday's NYT written by the daughter of the late John Garfield, a Hollywood star of another era who died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1952 at age 39. He had been hounded by the Commie hunters in the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) as well as Sen. Joe McCarthy & Roy Cohn. Her position is that the Witch Hunt killed him. But the rumor back then was that he died in the presence of a woman who was not his wife. At the coroner's inquest the young woman was asked to describe Garfield's last moments. It was alleged that she answered in the following vein: "John said he was coming but I guess he was really going!" This was how the stenographer recorded it but after sixty-five years memories can fade away.
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/opinion/children-of-a-witch-hunt.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Primarily Political XXVIII

 After shutting down the State beaches in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie was photographed sunning himself on his favorite beach. A TV pundit remarked that "He was having a "whale" of a time."
 POTUS will be in Hamburg, Germany tomorrow for a G20 meeting. The last time I was there was 1964 and my guide gave me a very fast walking tour of the Reeperbahn - the famous red light district. The sailors called it "two mark alley" to represent the fees for services rendered back then. But I doubt if POTUS will have time to check out the ladies in the windows although he claims to be a judge of feminine beauty.
tjs

Cattle Call

The tiny Mid-East country of Qatar is being blockaded  by its neighbors due to their political differences. This has caused a shortage of the popular Saudi milk forcing the natives to drink the lesser quality Turkish variety. But a wealthy tycoon has offered a solution. He intends to fly 4000 cows to Qatar in what may be the biggest ever bovine airlift. When you consider the "udder" scope of the venture it must be costing a lot of "MOOlah."
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/world/middleeast/qatar-saudi-arabia-blockade.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmiddleeast&_r=0

Goin' to the Dogs

While I have frequented many race tracks where the "boy" rides on the horse's withers, I have never been to a "dog" track where greyhounds chase after an automated rabbit. But, alas, a Florida greyhound trainer has had his license suspended as his dogs had tested positive for cocaine. But even coked up the hounds could never catch that rabbit.
A "hare" brained trick at best. I can still hear that young baseball fan wailing "Say it isn't so, Joe!"
tjs
P.S. This is my 1400th posting or as the Romans say MCD.