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Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 271

The new header is an artist’s impression of supergiant star Betelgeuse that is based on work done by the European Southern Observatory.

I’m not watching/didn’t watch the recent Republican debate for three reasons: It’s too early for such a spectacle, I won’t be voting in the Republican primary in my state, and it would be a waste of my time. For the record, I won’t be voting in the Democratic primary. Remember, I’m an authentic independent, thus not a Democrat or Republican pretending to be an independent.

Columnist Kathleen Parker (in my opinion, a right-center writer) took 3 Republicans to task for making ridiculous cliches. About Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), and candidate Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Parker wrote, Put these three in a cocktail shaker and you get a rather mixed metaphor that nonetheless pours like a narrative: Pontius Kerry is leading the Jews to the Auschwitz oven in the terrorist act orchestrated by the president of the United States. Here’s her entire column.

I find it interesting that both leaders in the Democratic and Republican poles (Clinton and Trump) have similar disapproval ratings.

The last week in July gave us a Blue Moon. I saw many great photographs. I especially enjoyed this creation by Marina, thus knew I had to use it. Thanks, Marina … and you can visit her here.

Blue Moon and Sea - Copyright © of Marina Kanavaki

Blue Moon and Sea – Copyright © of Marina Kanavaki

Cincinnati has been in the national news due to a police officer shooting a man. Interestingly, the citizens in the city did not react in the same manner as people in Ferguson and Baltimore. To be fair, at least not yet.

Because of the high number of regulars here who no longer blog, I’m trying to expand readership here by venturing outside of my circle. I’m amazed so few bloggers are welcoming to their blog and don’t reciprocate.

The Meals: The Musical is over. I have compiled a list of songs, so for those eager to make their own songlist, it will appear in a future post.

Although the topic is not finalized, the next musical will be a short one (less than 5 acts). I will announce its theme in a future OITS (hopefully within the next 2 weeks).

While on the musicals topic, in order to keep the producer on the aFa team, I am honoring his request for being known as The Producer from this point forward.

The Explore series continues on Saturday featuring a wonderful video about a person, place, or thing.

To lead you into The Onion, here it explains how campaigns spend money.

Embed from Getty Images

Weekly Headlines from The Onion (combos welcome)
FDA reports food prevents hunger 98% of time when properly used
Condo board maintains purity of bloodline through generations of intermarriage
Worker who forgot email attachments expects coworkers to forgive her just like that
Actual problem nice change of pace for anxious man
Study links meat, sugar consumption to early death among those who choose to be happy in life

Interesting Reads
The workplace is unquestionably different
(Interactive) Gaps between the views of scientists and the public
How writers can find meaning in nonsense
The evolving HIV virus
Churches with strange names
Is animal sex spicy?
2014 National Geographic Best Wildlife Photos
Metal: a BBC short photo gallery

To send you into the weekend, here’s a flashback that also seems fitting for the recent GOP debate. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

47 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 271”

  1. Ha! “Actual problem nice change of pace for anxious man.” That could be my headline this week. Just change “man” to “woman” (not literally like Bruce Jenner, but, well, you know what I mean).

    I can’t imagine what kind of crazy ass debate the GOP is going to have with 10 people on the stage. What are they going to ask? Maybe two questions? And each Farcical Arsical gets 30 seconds to answer? Except Trump. He bought more time…because he can. He’s very rich, you know. Oy vey!

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    • Lorna,
      I have no idea what format the debate used .. did all get the same questions? Were questions aimed at individuals? Did each get equal time? Regardless, I would imagine the answers are framed soundbites with misleading information.

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      • Read an article in the paper today about the debate. Seemed as if at least some questions were aimed at certain candidates. Trump got “outed” as typical politician who wouldn’t answer a direct question when it was uncomfortable. He didn’t come out of it looking so “better than the rest.” I didn’t watch either. I knew I couldn’t get back those hours of my life!

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        • Thanks for your feedback. What I discovered about the event and who did well or not is that it simply depends on the lens one is looking through. A certain candidate did well in one opinion, but not so well in another. I even watched Fox & Friends a bit this morning for their slant.

          Meanwhile, the continual dodging of answers to work in a canned response that doesn’t say much and the misuse of information plagues the process on both sides … and, I have a low threshold for that crap.

          Liked by 1 person

  2. I watched the first hour of the debate while I updated my kids’ scrapbooks. I didn’t want to do either activity, so I thought by combining the two, I could experience even more pain. There’s one thing I’ll say: there were a lot of orange faces on that stage. Take it easy on the self-tanner, boys. Yikes.

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  3. I watched both debates, was totally entertained and learned a great deal. I’m glad I don’t need to get a lot of information second hand, now from reporters, analysts and pundits, about those elusive perceptions that give one a hunch, good or bad, about the persons running.

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  4. I’m not sure it’s a good thing to say that I was entertained by the debate, given the importance of the eventual election, but somehow because it is extremely early and the lineup so unusually large, I was intrigued and enjoyed it. Unfortunately for us on the west coast, it is on so early I could only listen on the radio in the car on my way home from work, and I still missed the first 45 minutes. There will be many more! Love Marina’s Blue Moon! And I’m also aware of how many people have stopped blogging. I don’t have much time to go exploring new-to-me blogs, but maybe in time I will need to really think about that!

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    • Debra,
      There you go – Drive time enjoyment! Given LA traffic, seems like the debate was almost perfect timing for you. Cheers to your love for Marina’s Blue Moon image. In terms of working on new blogging relationships, I can’t say that my efforts have been exhaustive.

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  5. Love your new header and Marina’s Blue Moon. Particularly liked this headline from The Onion: “Actual problem nice change of pace for anxious man.”

    I’m guessing the debates were on cable, which I don’t have, so there was no possibility of watching. I agree with you in that it is too early. There will be plenty of blah, blah, blah to go around from both sides.

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    • Robin,
      Blah blah blah … a perfect description. I almost entered that comment somewhere last night, but I decided to stay respectful. Here’s a novel idea – let’s shorten the process!

      Thanks on the new header, and cheers for Marina’s Blue Moon.

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  6. Oh, no is the musical over? I’ll be back tomorrow and I was planning to add a song to the last meals musical… oh well…. 😦
    I love your new header and thank you for your lovely words on my moon!
    Have a wonderful weekend, my friend! 🙂

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  7. The read “How writers can find meaning in nonsense” will be discussed in my household.

    “2014 National Geographic Best Wildlife Photos” left me wondering why Botswana and Uganda do not allow lion hunting in their countries, if in fact the purpose of such barbarity is wildlife conservation?

    Last night I opted to go to a theatre to see the movie “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” instead of watching the GOP Primary Debate. This morning I’m glued to the TV, the internet, and the print media, to learn about the Republican Party’s vision for my future.

    Your new header blew me away.

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    • Tim,
      Do you recommended the latest Mission Impossible? Regarding last night’s GOP event, the winner/losses, reflections, and recaps will depend of perspective … which muddles the picture even more.

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      • Like your new header, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is a BLAST! Go see it.

        Better to start wading through the muddle now than to wait until it’s hip deep.

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  8. I found the “interesting read”, Gaps between the views of scientists and the public, good in its category.

    I watched the second half of the main debate. (Strangely, it was not carried on our local Fox station as I had expected and I had to search our satellite guide for it.) I was taken aback by the dissembling, ad-hominem attacks and pandering going on. It seemed so blatant. But then, that is of course how the game is played, and I’m sure it has always been so. It is I who have changed, not they. In retirement and blogging, I am paying more attention these days than ever before.

    Therefore, it is obvious that the often-ponderous course changes for the ship of state, in this country at least, really are heavily affected by by the attitudes and biases of the hoi polloi and are less so by expertise than one might wish. And one thing in the GOP debate came through very clearly for me: the common belief that military power Trumps diplomacy every time, never mind the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima. The hall was redolent of John Wayne’s screen persona, and also, by the way, of the growing influence of religion on politics. Mike Huckabee’s pronouncements, in particular, clearly resonated with the partisan audience.

    By these opinions I am not advocating any change in form of government, although I wish there were some way to better partition religion and politics. As Churchill said, our form of government is messy and the worst, except for all the others.

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  9. I did not see the debate and am not sure I’m going to survive the election year. My BP medicine is pumping overtime just to keep me stable thinking of our dear congress people.
    FDA reports food problem for meat, sugar consumption to early death for anxious man

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  10. I just love Marina’s art! I ordered 2 pairs of tights from S6 that have her art printed on them. They say 3 weeks delivery.
    Well, Mr. Producer, I look forward to the next musical. I wish it was going to be about Gowns!

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  11. Marina’s picture is stunning! I assume your new headder is too, but Ian on my phone …
    The debate showed the boys to be slightly less certifiable than I expected. That’s something. There’s till wasn’t a one of them whose hand should be anywhere near the button.

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  13. We couldn’t have watched the DEBATE even if we had chosen to. I couldn’t have tolerated Trump even if he stood there and didn’t say a word.
    He is making a mockery of all of us.
    That said I couldn’t stand to watch Clinton either. I just DISLIKE HER.
    The reason we couldn’t watch it was that it wasn’t on NETWORK TV.
    I think that is the wrong message to send out to the American People.
    We should NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR WATCHING DEBATES OR ANYTHING PERTAINING TO OUR GOVERNMENT.IT SHOULD BE FREE TO ALL OF US.
    Bobby and I use to get into debates ourselves and I miss that. I miss knowing who was who and what they stood for. We were/are both Republicans.
    That said I am embarrassed for being a Republican….more often than not.
    I am certainly not a Democrat either.
    I may yet go Independent myself. My Parents did. |
    For someone who usually doesn’t talk about Elections to anyone any more :I said more than I have in YEARS UNLESS IT IS ABOUT OBAMA.
    I REALLY DISLIKE THAT MAN

    I would have liked to see The Meals. I love food. The history of it.

    Frank, I have missed you this past week. How are you, my friend?
    Hugs Sarah

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    • Sarah,
      All is well here, but I was busy enough I didn’t get out into the blogosphere as much. Thanks for asking.

      Great point about making the debates available to all. Then again, that means all the networks would have to buy into that idea … but at least Fox could have put this on their “local” stations.

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  14. Love the new header, striking picture. I’m a true independent as well Frank. We recently cut our cable TV and you know want? My husband and I feel so much more tranquil.
    And, I found the same thing on the blog thing you mentioned. It’s different on WordPress.
    Happy Saturday, Frank.

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    • Merril,
      I’ve maintained for some time that Trump has never been serious about his candidacy … thus a matter of time when he withdraws in grand style, although due to self implosion. More importantly, cheers to the blue moon image.

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  17. I watched the debate. Well – only the one with the 10 Republican’ts. I missed the earlier one. But – I guess I didn’t miss much from what I’ve read. I didn’t think there was much of a debate going on. I’m not surprised though. How the heck do you hold an actual debate in that amount of time with that many people? Sadly – it was more entertainment than anything else. Most of them are quite backwards & too religious in their thinking. And – by religious – it’s a pick in choose. Our gov looked a deer in headlights. He did nothing to stand out & I’m ok with that. With what he’s done/not done to our state – I don’t care to see him running the country.

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  18. Really? Are you a composer/playwrite? Or did I read that wrong.

    Good for you, staying out of the political mish-mash. I wanted to, but couldn’t resist at the last minute. I won’t be voting for a Republican in the primary or general election unless Donald Trump switches back and becomes the Democratic candidate any time soon.

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    • Christine,
      LOL … my musical production here involve audience participation. The musical is a theme that has topics involving specific topics – and participants must provide a song with the specified requirements in the song’s title. For examples, look on the sidebar Categories > Entertainment > Your choice of musical. Hope you join us on the next one.

      Glad I missed the first debate .. and I hope I can follow suit on the next one.

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