If You Add More And More Butter . . . October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 But first, belatedly, Baghdadi: It may have been odd for Trump to thank Russia before thanking the Kurds — who died fighting beside us to defeat ISIS and who told us where he was — but at least he gave our military effusive praise. And rightly so. Don’t miss. Two minutes. The tweets, yes, but the video that follows. And now: Richard Factor: “I’ve been eating peanut butter with butter for decades, but I use Irish butter bought in modest bulk from Costco. The consumption algorithm involves scraping the peanut butter residue from the face of the butter bar before ceding it to others. Since I use Lipitor as a lifestyle drug, I don’t worry about the alleged health consequences of my food choices. . . . Meanwhile, here’s one for you: try a salami sandwich made from two slices of salami with butter as the filling. When people question my liberal (or even progressive) use of butter, I remind them that if you add more and more and more butter to a slice of bread, eventually you will have almost enough.” → A man after my own heart. And speaking of hearts: Yesterday’s post notwithstanding, there is such a thing as too much grapefruit — if you take certain medications. Caring for a loved one on meds? Click the link for two columns of drugs . . . those that are grapefruit-safe (like Crestor/Rosuvastatin) and those that are not (Lipitor/Atorvastatin). Randy Mahoney: “But there’s hope! University of Florida plant scientists have developed a grapefruit variety that does not cause this interaction. Stay tuned.” Gloria: “My grandpa used to say: ‘En el libro de los justos, cada cual tiene su gusto‘ (‘in the book of fairness, we all have our tastes’). However, Smart Balance doesn’t taste better than butter, come on. What sort of sorry ass butter have you eaten to make that assertion? Same question about tomatoes: what kind of anemic tomatoes have you encountered that have inspired you to add ketchup?” → I got them from your grandpa. Steve Strunk: “Being from the Midwest and of a family that has grown tomatoes for years, I had always heard to NEVER refrigerate tomatoes and had just taken this as gospel given the reverence my family (and later, my wife’s as well) had for the fruit. My wife’s family will often have an entire meal of just tomatoes served with mayonnaise. Anyway, seeing your article today where you said you do refrigerate I thought maybe I should do some research on the subject. One of my favorite sites for testing various food tropes is Serious Eats. And sure enough, they did some testing with refrigerating tomatoes versus not. It seems the answer is more complicated than my family would have me believe, and I never knew to keep tomatoes stem side down to keep them better longer so I learned a couple of things!” Tamara Hendrickson: “I’m sure you realize it but it’s worth reiterating that the carbs in an apple versus a margarita are not metabolically equivalent at all. The carbs in a margarita are mostly sugar and the added alcohol also plays a role in carbohydrate metabolism (but it is the sucrose from the margarita mix or sour mix that is really bad). With an apple, five of those carbs are straight up fiber, which we don’t digest at all so they don’t affect our metabolism as a ‘carb.’ The remaining carbs are mostly fructose, rather than sucrose. Now of course things like high-fructose corn syrup are bad and it is the same fructose in apples. But in smaller quantities, fructose mixed with fiber is better for you than sucrose. Fructose doesn’t trigger an insulin response the way glucose does. (Sucrose, or table sugar, is a molecule of fructose attached to a molecule of glucose.) Fructose does eventually mess with our metabolisms if we eat too much of it, thus the fight against high-fructose corn syrup. Margaritas made with lime juice or orange juice (as the best ones are) will have far less sugar than if made with margarita mix. A typical margarita mix has about 5g sugar per ounce. For most food it is the quality of the calories more than the quantity that matter for health. Can you tell I teach metabolism for chemistry majors?” Sande Roberts: “And Charles was okay with this ‘fine dining?'” → That’s how I knew he loved me. Boo!
Congratulating The Military October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 It was odd for Trump to thank Russia before thanking the Kurds, who died fighting beside us to defeat ISIS and who told us where Baghdadi was. With Trump, “all roads lead to Putin,” as Nancy Pelosi has said. But at least he gave our military effusive praise — and rightly so. Don’t miss the first two minutes. The tweets, yes, but the video that follows. More on grapefruit and peanut butter tomorrow.
Giving You Permission October 29, 2019October 28, 2019 Growing up, I always assumed “half a” was somehow attached to every grapefruit. You could have “half a” grapefruit anytime, anywhere; but . . . a whole grapefruit? Were you some kind of savage? Did you not know the acid from a whole grapefruit would eat through your stomach and kill you? No one ever told me that specifically, or any other reason grapefruits could be consumed only by the half. It’s just something I knew. Then one reckless day I peeled and ate a whole grapefruit. And waited nervously. Would something bad happen? Thousands of whole grapefruits later — occasionally two at a time — I can confidently give you permission to do the same. And most of you, I’m guessing, are not impressed. You already knew this. Or maybe you hate grapefruit. Fine. But did you know I can also give you permission to butter your cheese? Or your peanut butter? No, really! It’s great! I skip the crackers or the bread (carbohydrates). And I don’t use actual butter. When I say butter, I mean this stuff, which tastes better. A slice of smoked Gouda with a slab on top? Are you kidding me? It’s so good! Likewise butter on Swiss cheese, American cheese, Parmesan, cheddar or any other kind I’ve ever tried. And now you have permission to try it. Some people like to put cheese on a slice of apple, and that’s good, too. But I asked Alexa how many grams of carbohydrate there are in an apple and she said 25. We’re only supposed to have about 300 grams a day, so, okay: 12 apples a day if you only otherwise eat cheese and butter. But then, on a lark, I asked her “how many grams in a margarita?” Are you sitting down? Twenty-two. Draw your own conclusions. I’ll get the limes. But wait — there’s more. Did you know you can refrigerate tomatoes? A lot of people prefer them room temperature and that’s swell. We are a large tent. But I give you permission to refrigerate tomatoes — and to put ketchup on them . . . sliced, or eaten out of your hand like the fruit they sort of are. In the other hand, you hold the Heinz, squirting a dab onto each bite. So good. Where I suppose this all comes together is in the peanut-butter-and-ketchup sandwiches Mom used to make us for the ride back into the city Sunday nights. This was meant as dinner, not punishment, and when it was prepared with ample butter on the upper and lower slices of Wonder Bread (this stuff would not be invented for another 50 years) — and with some bacon bits sprinkled in — there was no finer dining. FAQ: How do you butter peanut butter? To butter peanuts, simply put a few in one hand, butter them with the other, then slam the first hand into your open mouth. Mm-mmm. But to butter peanut butter, first place some butter onto a spoon fork or knife; then dip that into the peanut butter jar and scoop. That’s your first mouthful. It will leave a little butter in the peanut butter jar, so now go back to the peanut butter jar to remove the impurity by scooping up the surrounding peanut butter. Dip that scoop into the butter tub for more butter, to assure a good ratio (about half and half works for me), and that’s your second mouthful. Now there’s peanut butter residue in the butter tub . . . so back and forth you go, from tub to jar to tub to jar, until at some point you either finish all of one or the other or just decide to live with your spouse or kids taking you to task. “How come there’s peanut butter in here?” At which point you can get them to taste the combination and regard you with newfound respect. And yes, the Republican Senate should stop spending all its time trash-talking impeachment and turn its attention, instead, to the numerous bills the Democratic House passed this year to lower prescription drug prices, institute universal background checks, raise the minimum wage, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, lighten the student loan burden, assure a paper ballot paper trail, and so much more (the Equality Act!), that would make life a little easier for average Americans and protect our democracy. Bills nobody ever talks about because we all know the Republicans will not even consider — let alone pass — them. Why do we accept that?
Your Taxes – Part 3 October 28, 2019October 26, 2019 But first . . . Are you a lawyer (or law student) who wants to help combat Republican voter suppression tactics? If so, consider joining this Facebook group. And second . . . David Ignatius writes: . . . President Trump’s efforts to dress up his retreat from Syria as a victory are an embarrassment. He squandered America’s leverage, abandoned our Kurdish allies to a Turkish invasion and thereby reopened the door for a defeated enemy, the Islamic State, to resume attacks on the West. . . . . . . Russia has dreamed for centuries of having the influence in the Middle East that it’s now gaining. This is part of the original “Great Game,” after all. How bizarre that in the end, what Russia has so desperately wanted, Trump is giving them for free. And now . . . Stephen Golder: “We don’t need to raise revenue, we need to cut spending. Gut the Pentagon, bring home troops from everywhere and close bases. Stop giving billions to pederast warlords in Afghanistan. Dump TSA, Homeland Security, and any number of other Forever War scams. You can bleed people to infinity but if Imperial expenses keep going up it doesn’t matter.” → Here is an overview of federal spending. A more thoughtful administration could reset the balance between hard power spending (that makes the world fear us) and soft power programs and policies (that make the world like us) and thereby save some money. But what I want to post today, as we discuss taxes (earlier this month I argued that, yes, the best off should pay more — but we should thank them, not demonize them), are these excerpts from a recent Nick Kristof column: . . . Donald Trump promised struggling working-class voters that he heard their frustrations and would act. He did: He pushed through a tax cut that made income inequality worse. . . . That’s the rot in our system: Great wealth has translated into immense political power, which is then leveraged to multiply that wealth and power all over again — and also multiply the suffering of those at the bottom. This is a legal corruption that President Trump magnified but that predated him and will outlast him; this is America’s cancer. → Yes, it is. Reagan, Bush 43, and now Trump have slashed taxes on those best off and sent inequality — and the National Debt — soaring. Vote Democrat. And if you can, help fund the massive turnout we need to get the country back on track. Money now, with almost 50 weeks until early voting begins, starts the organizing snowball rolling near the top of the hill — and is thus so much more effective than the exact same money spent a year from now.
Patience, Jackass — Redux October 25, 2019October 25, 2019 Can you identify Trump’s worst cabinet member? It’s a close call. This is really fun. Don’t miss it. Larry Loiello: “After reading the recent Borealis news, I was left with the impression that BOREF shares may be redeemed for $10 any time for the next 10 years. I am surprised to see it trading lower than that. It seems to me that if one could purchase shares at under $10, there is a guaranteed profit to be made. What am I missing?” → You are missing that the $10 is payable after 10 years, plus 2% a year interest (for a total of $12.19). My guess is that by 2029 things will either have worked out — in which case you’d have gotten a lot more than $12.19 — or not, in which case they might not have the $12.19 to pay you. For those who’ve asked whether they should exchange their semi-liquid BOREF shares for shares of the new holding company: I see zero reason to do this any time soon. For those — like me — who were hoping the stock would just keep rising $1 a day . . . or at least not fall back as it has . . . all I can tell you is that patience is hard. As noted last month. But as also noted last month, it sometimes pay off. Another example just came smiling into view: an investment I made in 2006. Bush was president; there were no iPhones; and a startup called Delta Energy claimed to have an economical process for turning discarded tires into carbon black and oil. As a souvenir, when the financing was completed, we each got a small Lucite block with three tubes embedded in it: one labeled “tire shred,” one “oil,” one “carbon black.” It sits on a filing cabinet in my office. For some reason, though it’s small, it attracts a lot of attention. “What’s this?” visitors ask. “A reminder of how dumb I am,” I say. But guess what? After many years thinking I’d never see that money again, Bridgestone has opened a plant in Mississippi to “depolymerize” 3 million tires a year. (About 1% of the annual U.S. discards.) Here’s a presentation they made at a recent industry conference. It might work out after all. With luck, that will be true for long-suffering investors in Borealis as well. Or not. I’m sure not selling at $10 or $20, let alone last night’s close of $7.70. Now that funding has been secured, FAA approval and entry into service might follow in a couple of years (or not) . . . at which point a technology that could save airlines billions of dollars a year might be worth $500 million or $1 billion or more. At last night’s close, the grandparent company, Borealis, with 5 million shares outstanding, was selling for $38.5 million. Have a great weekend.
What The Framers Meant By “Misdemeanors” October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 But first: Imagine your brother visiting after decades of marriage to his second wife to tell you that soon . . . are you sitting down? . . . he would be your sister. It is the thoroughly human story that film critic Molly Haskell tells with a combination of objectivity and love. If you’re not yet comfortable with “trans” folks, you might enjoy getting to know Ellen. Far from being scary in any way, I think you’ll find yourself rooting for her. And now: What the framers meant by “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Well worth the read. They really did think this through. Trump very much qualifies. He has ceded Asia to China, by ditching the meticulously negotiated TransPacific Partnership; ceded the Middle East to Russia; driven family farmers to suicide with “easy to win” trade wars; abdicated American leadership, leaving the world rudderless. One might argue that any one of these rises to the level of a misdemeanor. But even if not, there are the multiple felonies for obstruction of justice; multiple instances of obstruction of Congress; and — one imagines — multiple crimes and misdemeanors all this obstruction is meant to conceal. Those like Lindsey Graham who agree Trump’s being “lynched” have lost their minds or sold their souls — or both. Here and here.
Springtime For Dictators October 23, 2019October 22, 2019 According to a recent Pentagon report, Russia is winning. Think about that. “A divided America is failing to counter Moscow’s efforts to undermine democracy and cast doubt on U.S. alliances, says the report, which warns of a surge in ‘political warfare.'” There was a time this would have troubled Republicans. Instead, they back Trump in ignoring the ongoing attack. They even block the paper-ballot back ups that would increase confidence in the integrity of our elections. The press is sharply critical. The Washington Post’s running tally of more than 12,000 false and misleading statements, for example. If, like Trump, you consider a free press “the enemy of the people” then you may share his affinity for Putin and Kim and Edogan and Duterte and M-BS (as in, bone-saw). If, instead, you think Trump . . . . . . is past master at throwing up verbal smoke screens . . . knows equally well the effectiveness of massive oratorical assaults that shake the nerves of his victims or opponents . . . knows how to give pledges that will be broken later but will serve temporarily to divide and confuse . . . uses insults and lies to break through the respectable but often weak front of his adversaries. . . . contradicts himself constantly [in a way that] crushes the best defenses of logic and ordinary morality . . . . . . and that . . . . . . his crudity frequently borders on downright vulgarity* . . . . . . then consider chipping in to get the country back on track — now, while the organizing snowball has 48 weeks to roll down hill before the start of early voting. *From the foreword to a 1,000-page hardcover book of speeches that the publisher would ordinarily have priced at $3 — books were cheaper in 1941 — but which it marked down to $1.89 “to make it immediately available to every American whose, life, home and business are directly affected by what [he] says and does.” Trump himself paid nothing for his copy — it was a gift — but, according to his ex-wife, who later relegated it to her divorce attorney’s safe, it lay by his bedside for years.
Making Putin Great Again October 22, 2019October 22, 2019 The guy who got Bin Laden (and told you to make your bed), Admiral William McRaven — “if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed” — now writes: Our Republic Is under Attack from the President. . . . As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!” . . . How does 40% of the country not see that he has brought dishonor to his office and his country? How do we get them to read McRaven and reconsider their enthusiasm for someone who is by all objective measures a lying fascist sociopath?* On the specific matter of Syria, even most elected Republicans seem to get that the winners are not the Kurds and “civilization” . . . as Trump boasts . . . but, rather, Putin, Iran, ISIS, and Turkey. On that score, take three minutes to watch Captain Alan Kennedy of the Colorado National Guard: I Joined the Army to Prevent Genocide, Not to Pave the Way for One. With any luck, it truly “couldn’t happen here.” But this frightening story of press-intimidation in the Philippines makes one wonder how far down the path Trump and his enablers. like Carl and Peter, have already taken us. Now: Go Get Your Flu Shot. It’s Time
Another Crooked Mobbed-Up Lawyer October 20, 2019October 19, 2019 If you missed Rachel Friday night, here it is on audio without commercial interruption. Do you know whom Giuliani brought to George H.W. Bush’s funeral? W.O.W. Trump seems to have a thing for crooked lawyers – Roy Cohn (disbarred), Michael Cohen (in jail), and now, it seems, Giuliani. (Not to mention William Barr — in whom Trump found his Roy Cohn — who seems hellbent on following in the footsteps of John Mitchell, Nixon’s deeply loyal, and ultimately incarcerated, Attorney General.) It’s the October 18 podcast, “Criminal Case Overlaps Uncomfortably . . .” complete with a vivid description of enormous Mar-a-Lago bedbug bites. Also not to be missed: Derren Brown: Secret, in case you’ll be in New York before January 4. Funny! ASTOUNDING! I saw it with a brilliant young professional magician (and budding hypnotist) who knows Derren, and knows how much of this is done, though not all — and who rates Brown’s skill and showmanship nothing short of “fantastic.” By the way? A good way to buy tickets at often-good prices — to this, as I did, or to anything, in quite a few different cities — is the TodayTix app you can put on your phone.
Weekend Reading/Viewing October 18, 2019October 17, 2019 Trump awards himself a lucrative government contract. (Why would world leaders want to meet in Aspen, say, when they can hold their June meeting at his low-occupancy resort in Miami? Experience the heat! The humidity! Mosquitos the size of hummingbirds!) Just as his doctor assured us he’s the healthiest man ever to assume the presidency, his site-selection committee assures us that no other facility in America can equal Doral to hold the G7. John Lithgow on Trump as an entertainer. The origin of the term “fake news.” Wonderful photos of the last 150 years. (Thanks, Mel!) And more and more! Denmark found a way to de-radicalize potential terrorists. (It still makes sense.) Elizabeth Warren fields a question on marriage equality — 36 seconds. So let’s say you were wrongly imprisoned for 26 years — what would you draw? Have a great weekend.