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Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 316

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Last weekend we saw a good movie thriller – The Accountant. Thumbs up!

The season finale for Dancing with the Stars is next week. No question, gymnast Laurie Hernandez and racer James Hinchcliffe are the best dancers of the finalists … but anything can happen.

My heart sank when I heard the news about Leonard Cohen, especially for so many Canadians who loved him.

The months of November and December are typically demanding months for handbell choirs, and our choir is no exception. This piece delivers a lot of energy, so enjoy Toccata on King’s Weston arranged by the young man directing this choir. Note: I like watching the four players on the front row closest to the camera.

I’m looking forward to the Kennedy Center Honors telecast in late December. The 2016 honorees are Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, musical group the Eagles, actor Al Pacino, singer Mavis Staples, and musician James Taylor

Headlines from a story in China (not The Onion): Baby monkey befriends a herd of goats (The story)

Here’s a short, humorous read describing capitalism from different global viewpoints. This is definitely amusing.

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Slogans as “change” or “drain the swamp” are shallow. After all, not only do the slogans continue to happen, so does this – victors bring in experience people to bring on a different version of the status quo.

Republicans declaring the election results as “a mandate” bothers me. After all, not only did Mr. Trump not receive more than 50% of the votes, he didn’t receive the most votes. Then again, a mandate-approach is equivalent to providing enough rope.

Retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced a bill to abolish the Electoral College. A question: Were the candidates trying to get the most electoral votes or the total national vote? Sen. Boxer, thank you for your years of service, but it’s time to quietly move into retirement.

Dr. Ben Carson has declined a cabinet position because (to quote his spokesperson) “he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency.” Yikes! … This guy ran for the Republican presidential nomination !

Confusion? Donald Trump has the job as President-Elect and Billy Bush doesn’t have a job.

In the name of full disclosure, I searched for and found a quote in preparation for Donald Trump and his supporters challenging the election results. For whatever reason, I didn’t delete it – and it turned out to be very applicable to many Clinton supporters. It seems many seem to prefer finger-pointing over reflection. Besides the violence from the fringe, others have blamed the election results on the FBI Director, the media, the Founding Fathers for the Electoral College process, the uneducated, the lack of voter turnout by Hispanics and African-Americans, and more … while conveniently forgetting that it’s Obama’s fault. 😉 On to the applicable quote.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new President-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends. (Al Gore, 2000)

President Obama’s Five Faults of the Week
Low gasoline prices
The Cincinnati Bengals lousy record during prime-time games
Latest earthquake in New Zealand
Differences between Chicago and New York pizza
Difficulty finding Spumoni ice cream

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To lead you into this week’s dose of satirical headlines, The Onion lists lessons America can learn from the recent election.

Weekly Headlines from The Onion (combos welcome)
Holding trophy above head still number 1 celebration technique
Matt Damon appears fully nude for first time in local man’s imagination
Incoming class of Subway trainees spend week practicing on sandwich cadavers
Accidentally closing browser with 23 tabs open presents rare chance at new life
Empty inner tube ominously exits mouth of lazy river
Mom learns about new vegetable

Interesting Reads
The brain and bad decisions
Black female figures of western art
Dangerous times for the world’s coconuts
50 years ago: McCarty’s fake death
(Photos) Australia’s wild wild west

To lead you into the weekend, here’s a tribute to Leonard Cohen. Hope all is well with you, and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

47 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 316”

  1. Al Gore’s quote is especially apt. I am not thrilled with the results of the election or the first appointments being made to prepare for the transition, but things will move forward whether we are in agreement or not–so let’s do what we can to make things as good as possible over the next 4 years. We can all do something. Thanks for the Cohen tribute–beautiful!

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  3. It’s good to know who caused the earthquakes, I’d been blaming it on T Rump!! I’ve had a crush on Leonard Cohen for decades. I was taken to see him in concert in (I think) 2011. I will always be grateful that I got to see him in the prime and glory of his old age!

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    • Pauline,
      Glad to get you properly informed about the cause of the recent earthquake … but as we know, everything is Obama’s fault. Cheers to your love for Cohen … and that you got to attend his concert … I mean crush time.

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  4. I double that recommendation for The Accountant, very well done.
    There has been some conversation recently on whether candidates focus on votes or states. I’m not sure how you don’t do both but I suppose there are ways to ignore some key states, as Hillary did and have it come back to bite you.

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    • George,
      Cheers to you doubling the movie recommendation! If the vote was popular vote, I imagine candidates would focus on population centers. … but who knows, except for each system has plusses and minuses.

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  5. A good round up, Frank. We have to accept the results of the election, but I don’t plan to become complacent.

    Watching the video of Hallelujah, I can imagine that Wainwright-McGarrigle get-togethers must have been amazing. I was saddened by Leonard Cohen’s death, but from his last album and things I’ve read, it seems he felt it coming. Did you see his letter to Marianne? I first saw it on Letters of Note. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/11/11/read-the-beautiful-letter-leonard-cohen-wrote-to-his-muse-marianne-on-her-deathbed/

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  6. Thanks for your recommendation of “The Accountant” which had gone off my movie radar screen in anticipation of the new science fiction film “Arrival.”

    Losing Leonard Cohen and Gwen Ifill along with all three branches of government is tough to take. So is reading the Onion “What Lessons America Can Learn From This Election Cycle.”

    As the layout of the Trump Administration’s appointments and policies become clear, my ability to “move on” will be much influenced by your centrist reactions.

    A splat from “Holding trophy above head still number 1 celebration technique.”

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  7. I’ve been watching DWTS this season too. I record it and watch it in half the time. James Hinchcliffe is really good. His movements are smooth like a professional’s. It’s been a good season so far. Every time I watch it, I want to bottle Bruno’s enthusiasm. Based on current events, I think I’m going to need it.

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  8. Here are, I think, even more relevant quotes about the electoral college: http://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/11/15/trumps-flip-flop-on-the-electoral-college-from-disaster-to-genius/
    And I agree with Donald Trump that the electoral college is a disaster – and I had that opinion whether or not Democrats were winning the Electoral college or not. It ignores the popular vote, it disenfranchises safe blue and safe red states, and it lets the electors, at least in theory, override their Electoral college pledge majority and vote for a candidate other than one who won their state.
    As for the idea that if not for the Electoral college, the candidates will only campaign in the population centers – that’s what they do now anyway, only in a few select states that matter. Clinton and Trump spent quite some time campaigning in Florida and Arizona, but I don’t remember either candidate holding rallies in the Everglades and Sonora desert.

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    • X,
      I will trust the Founding Fathers with the Electoral College until I hear a better idea …. and popular vote isn’t it in my opinion. Two ideas I may consider are a) dividing a states electoral votes based on the percentage votes in the state …. b) eliminating the actual college and awarding the votes as points based on the election. Oh well, time will tell.

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      • What’s wrong with the popular vote? Is something inherently terrible about the idea that a vote from everyone matters equally? 🙂 Because it is, we need to reconsider how we elect governors and senators.
        (a) would be an improvement, since at the very least, voting would matter in all states, not just the swing states. But small states would still benefit more.

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        • First of all, the Constitution establishes the US as a democratic republic – not a pure democracy. Also, the popular vote is not the way the Constitution established voting for President – although it can be amended. After all, we don’t get senators today as the Constitution originally established. As for electing governors, that a decision for individual states, which has nothing … absolutely nothing to do with changing or keeping the Electoral College. Besides, would you be calling for a change from the Electoral College to a popular vote if HC would have won the Electoral Votes but last the popular vote?

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        • I think I still would – I voted for Sanders in the primary, and I then argued that caucuses should be replaced with more democratic primaries, even though Sanders was mostly winning caucuses.

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    • Resa,
      I admit not only not knowing Leonard Cohen until I started blogging, but also not knowing his importance to Canadians (which the bloggers taught me). 🙂

      Thanks for listening to the bells piece. Interesting tune … not easy, but fun to play. PS …. I could be coming up with another murals post in 2 weeks. 🙂

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  11. I am so tired of all the election anger, I’ve just stayed away from even reading blogs.
    The sun rose. LIfe continues. 2 flawed old millionaires ran. Both have some skills international discussions and negociations (Not saying that either one was good at that) One two real choices. One got elected for 4 years. Many of the same irritated grumbles were heard 8 years ago….and people were told, “Too bad, we won. Get over it.”
    Elections often bring out the worse in people which is why in polite society for so long politics were not considered appropriate topic for social conversations…even thought that was back when people could disagree and still be friends.
    What really worries me is that the campaigns next time will be even more vivious. Not a good thing – and afterwards all that built up anger remains instead of calming down.
    And the next campaigns seem to have already started.
    Happy or not, the country stands and moves on. We really need to get it together, teach some historical facts (to counteract emotional fodder), political science, methods of persuasion (other than name calling, celebrity/free tickets endorsements, or propoganda – all on both sides, disgustingly), and improve real debate skills to keep it moving along?
    SOOOO Frank, your posts always offer alternative topics – greatly appreciated!

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