Everyone should have a Financial Bomb Shelter

Things are getting a little too uneasy. It’s one thing to read about a war zone and another to be in one. Donald is showing his real persona: He is a sleazy con-man with no morality. He has abandoned his base lock, stock and barrel. All he wanted were their votes. Now he doesn’t care. His cabinet and staff picks are fellow selfish autocrats with whom he has dealt for decades. Mariner hears echoes of Reagan appointments when the Secretaries did not believe in the virtues of the Secretariats they were appointed to and brought an end to a democratic foundation fostered since FDR.

This is worse. There is a foul smell about. The mariner fears that the Republic itself is at risk. No one has hit Donald between the eyes with a steel bar to tell him he can’t mix personal business with public trust. He will find a way. In fact, if he brings a few more plutocrats and generals aboard, Donald can meld the Republic and his business empire into one objective: make money for the team. Screw the public trust.

Meanwhile Paul Ryan and Mitch the Turtle are unencumbered in their plans to disassemble the remnants of the whole concept of discretionary spending.

Will it become so distressful that truly in fact the US will have a problem with emigration as citizens follow their jobs into other countries? If we are incapable of managing our own freedom because an international mafia has taken the country, what else are we to do? There’s one option: turn the second amendment militia loose.

Mariner suspects Donald is having difficulty appointing a Secretary of State because of two circumstances: first, Donald is in up to his armpits with shady deals worse than he accused Clinton of during the campaign; the Secretary of State will be exposed to Donald’s illegalities and un-American financial ties with adversaries to the US. Second, there is no doubt that his ‘friends’ overseas are hardnosed friends just as he is and should things not go as expected, the result won’t be sharing ice cream cones. US military will be put into action for less than scrupulous causes.

Out of harm’s way as change slowly approaches us, Amos[1] has casually warned about increasing tension and feelings of imminent risk. Amos has warned about the confusion and turmoil of the moment of chaos. Similar to global warming, change is here – now.

Donald et al will cause great damage to us. Think North Korea. How can this be stopped?

Ancient Mariner

[1] One of mariner’s 3 alter egos; fashioned after Prophet Amos in the Old Testament. Amos is always complaining about the quality of our behavior.

How High the Moon?

Who among us remembers this song when it was popular? Les Paul and Mary Ford made a hit of it and the Beatles covered it in their era.[1]

We on Earth, for the most part, pay little attention to the Moon except as an ornament in the sky. Many are educated in a general way about the Moon’s role in the creation of the Earth – an unimaginable clash of two giant spheres colliding head-on thereby creating an Earth-sized piece and a Moon-sized piece; The Moon ended in orbit around the Earth and set the Earth on an angle that created Earth’s seasons and continues to affect tides not only in water but in Earth itself.

Here is an intriguing update on Moon stuff: The Moon is drifting away from Earth each year by the same distance as our fingernails grow in a year, about 2½ inches. Balanced in a strange pirouette (both spin), the two bodies are held in place by gravity and pulled apart by centrifugal force. Evidently but very slowly, centrifugal force is stronger and eventually will pull the Moon out of its Earth orbit. What will happen next is not agreed upon by astronomers and astrophysicists. Will the Moon simply fly away into space, leaving the Earth an unrestrained pirouette wobbling uncontrollably around the Sun? At some distance will the Moon find neutrality and settle into a new orbit? As the Moon lessens the balance held today, will polar wobbling on Earth become an issue? Stay tuned.

– – – –

When mariner was a young rebellious teenager, his favorite comic book was Mad Magazine. Mad is a disrespectful, ill mannered publication that holds no restraints with its tasteless satire and mockery. Fortunately, Mad is still around[2]; there are times when only Mad’s commentary is equal to reality. In honor of Mad, here is the latest cover:

mad

– – – –

Mariner hasn’t taken a tour of his Internet/magazine reading list for awhile. Every so often he offers a list of websites that constitute a decent review of most of the subjects that fill our lives. Here forthwith:

Politics, Economy and Public News

http://www.politico.com/  …….everything newsy and active in politics

https://www.theatlantic.com/  and the paper edition…….mariner ranks Atlantic as a premier data source for today’s busy, changing world

http://fivethirtyeight.com/  …….a statistical look at many subjects by the numbers

http://www.nytimes.com/  (New York Times) and the paper edition…….world-encompassing coverage of news

http://www.pbs.org/  …….At the website one feels they are in a library. True! Pick your subject

http://bloomberg.rapid-news.cool-links.georgemoen.tel/  …….top notch cable series Reality, Big Problems, Big Thinkers

http://www.economist.com/ and the paper edition…….best common sense reading about the state of economics

https://www.c-span.org/  …….tens of thousands video clips, articles, and programs

 

Science, Technology and the Future

http://www.livingscience.com/  ……eclectic collection of information from scientific sources; written for light reading

http://www.nature.com/news/  and the paper edition…….serious articles about new positions taken on any scientific subject

https://www.scientificamerican.com/  and the paper edition…….many articles about science frontiers and how they affect humanity

http://bloomberg.rapid-news.cool-links.georgemoen.tel/  numerous social, scientific and general interview shows of excellent quality

 

Literature and the Arts

Bloomberg Television   interviews and presentations of operas, artists, sculptors, etc.

http://www.aldaily.com/  (Arts and Letters Daily) source of URLs to numerous artists and other literary news

https://www.wikipedia.org/ …….can’t be beat for detailed review of language, arts, music, writing, philosophy and their histories

 

Health

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ …….satisfying survey of current issues

http://www.webmd.com/news/default.htm ……. catch some news and use their libraries to check on your symptoms

 

Social Sciences and History

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/  and the paper edition, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

https://www.wikipedia.org/ the best, most comprehensive data source on the Internet

 

Entertainment

Science TV Channel (Outrageous Acts of Science)

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Debate-Gotcha-Question.htm#step-heading …….even in these troubled times, a visit is comforting

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/cartoons/cartoons_of_the_week/ …….another rewarding stop

Mariner recommends making a quick stop at the list every week or so or when you have an interest in a specific issue.

 

Ancient Mariner

 

[1] To listen, see: http://www.last.fm/music/Les+Paul+&+Mary+Ford/The+Best+Of+The+Capitol+Masters

[2] http://www.madmagazine.com/