Year: 2019

But first:

A little inspiration for those who want to be ripped and healthy at 72, like Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir.  (Or you could just walk more.  But it’s a great read.)

And second:

You can see Parts 1 and 2 all in one day, or over two nights — or just see Part 1 — but take a minute to see what they’re saying about The Inheritance.

And third:

Melinda Fishman: “Speaking of vegan — have you seen Forks Over Knives, on Netflix? Powerful. I’m vegan for 4 days so far 🙂 Feel different, lighter, happier, lost weight.”

Karen Geronymo (Dietitian):  “Please let Sally know that (only) 1 tablespoon of her vegan butter (contains coconut oil) provides 40% of the recommended allowance of saturated (cholesterol raising!) fat for the day.  Better to eat (a little) real butter.  Or a nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, etc.).  Most important, read the nutrition information and ingredient list so you know.”

And now:

My friend Peter Kinzler was a warrior in our (failed) battle for auto insurance reform.  (One more thing we have to thank Ralph Nader for, as readers of my September 23, 1996, post may recall.)  But he is also a charming writer.  So — despite my heart-stopping fear of snakes — I opened the blast email he sent his list this summer (subject line: Of Snakes and Antiques) and asked if I could share it here someday when I was too lazy to offer anything of my own.  (I’m on vacation this week!)

And thus . . .

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Of Snakes and Antiques

My wife Ginny and I have lived in Hollin Hills for 37 years.  One of the reasons we love the neighborhood so much is our ability to experience nature through the window walls.

Over the years, we have enjoyed watching the wider variety of wildlife, including deer and foxes.  Our one condition has always been that we each remain in our own space.  We did once have a bird fly down the heat exhaust pipe and join us, briefly, inside.  After that, we put a cover on the exhaust and established a strict “no birds in the house” policy.  That policy has been respected by all birds for over a quarter of a century.  Unfortunately, we did not establish a formal policy for other animals.  As a result, over the years, we have been visited inside by the occasional lizard or mouse.  As they have chosen to do so outside of official visiting hours (which are never), they have been welcomed with a few screams. brooms and dust pans.  I can truthfully report that they have all left the house unharmed.

These occasional wildlife visits have been a small price to pay for the pleasure of living in the woods.  That was until May 28th.

That day, Ginny was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she noticed a long black object moving from the kitchen to the living room.  I could say she responded calmly by finishing her breakfast and then calling animal control to remove the black snake – but that would be a lie.  Instead, she screamed for me to come quickly.  As I was two rooms and several walls removed, and well past my best hearing years, I could not hear what she was saying.  I yelled to her that she knew I couldn’t hear so please come closer.  Ginny yelled louder.

When I arrived in the living room, I saw a 2’ long black snake stretched out along the wall.  Ginny said, “Get it out of here.”  My inner pioneer said, “Of course, my beloved.”  My 76 year old suburban self said, “Are you crazy?”  Nevertheless, I set out with a broom and dustpan to do my manly duty and convince the snake that it would be far happier outside.  It responded by coiling up and I abandoned my hopeless quest to remove it from the house.

Ginny, shaken but still thinking, called Fairfax County animal control and they said to watch the snake to make sure it didn’t go hiding elsewhere in the house while they dispatched someone to remove it.  An hour later, a policeman came with a 6’ long grabber and removed the snake.  We thanked him profusely and started to breathe again.

The next day, our blood pressures moving back into the 3-digits, we set off to DC for a relaxing (comparatively speaking) outing at the dentist’s.  As we were already in town, we went to Samuelson’s Buyers to sell some antique silver and gold pieces we hadn’t used in years. While we got less than anticipated because of millennials’ changing tastes, we were glad to get enough to offset some of the never-ending maintenance bills that come with owning a Hollin Hills house.

After a quiet day on Thursday, albeit with the predictable snake dreams, we watched as workmen finished repairing the 70 year old patio – until we heard a loud crash.  Ginny raced into the kitchen to find broken pottery from off our kitchen shelves – and another black snake.  This time, we abandoned half measures and called Home Paramount.  An hour later, two men showed up and explained to us that the snakes were probably coming down our heater exhaust pipe in search of mice.  We explained to them, in voices two octaves above normal, that we didn’t have any mice in the house.  They responded, “Now you know why.”

By this time, we were prepared to pay Home Paramount any sum of money to remove the snake and make sure none ever returned.  And we agreed to do so.  Alas, Home Paramount either has ESP or access to our bank account, as the sum they charged was nearly identical to what we had received from Samuelson’s. We had learned the value of the family jewels.  We just hope the snakes have also learned their lesson.

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Find a child with a penny.  Have her double it every day.  After 47 days, she will have a trillion dollars (before tax).

Sally from Iowa: “A friend who is going vegan-most-of-the-time told me about this vegan butter.  She is raving about the taste!”

John Kasley: “If you have one of those little bear squeeze jars of honey, then you can dribble a little on your butter and peanut butter.  Peanut butter, butter, and honey is my justification for eating white bread, because if both the butter and peanut butter are at room temperature you can really heap a lot on the bread and that will give you more space to drizzle honey all over the place.  Nobody’s watching.  That’s the keyword.”

→ The mouth waters just cutting and pasting this.

Have you heard of Honest Tea?  I used to plug it a lot (and still like the “glass jar” varieties, like Moroccan Mint and Cinnamon Sunrise and Ginger Oasis) because I had a very small stake in it.  And after a mere 12 years, sold it to Coca Cola!  (“Patience, Jackass, patience!”)

Well, say hello to Maple Mama, now available on Amazon: 54 antioxidants, lightly carbonated, lightly sweetened.  (“Imagine A Sweetener That’s Good For You!™”)

Two key points:

First — full disclosure — I have a small stake in this one, too.  Drink up.

Second, I only like the taste if it’s ice cold, direct from the can.  Not in a glass over ice; not out of the fridge “pretty cold.”  I don’t know why.  But when it is ice cold, it’s great.  And friends of all ages seem to like it.  The company is targeting young mothers, I think.  But I have twenty-something guys who like it, and a straight couple approaching their ninth decade who just left raving about it, too.

They had stopped by for sushi on their way in for a quick trip see a billionaire in his tenth decade, and would then head back out to Teterboro for the flight home.  Their plane seats 10.

They don’t think much about carbon footprints because, as one of them wrote me: “In 1978, the media warned of the coming Ice Age.  Climate always changes.  Look at circles on a tree trunk and you will find wide rings and narrow rings well before autos were invented.”

To which I replied, “Are you really willing to gamble the habitability of the planet on your common sense view versus the overwhelming consensus of the global scientific community?  I remember 1978, but I don’t remember a sustained global scientific consensus warning that we had 10 or 12 years to avert the worst of a looming catastrophe.  To me, the world sure LOOKS flat (if a little hilly).  The sun sure SEEMS to revolve around us.  And electricity?  What’s up with THAT?!  Electricity makes zero sense to me – as do “waves” that somehow find their way through walls from my face in New York to your eyes and ears riding on a train in China, say, and instantly allow us to see each other and talk as if we were face to face.  HOW COULD THAT BE???!!!!  Almost as impressive as turning water into wine!  Yet because scientists have figured all this out and made it happen, I’ve come to believe they must generally be smarter about this stuff than me.  I’m not willing to gamble they are all wrong, while you and Senator Inhhofe and Sean Hannity are right.”

But here’s the perhaps unexpected point.  The couple I’m describing are really great people, big fun to be with, deeply religious, devoting almost all their time at this stage of life to helping those less fortunate.

I will admit, it’s . . . convenient . . . for them that “lower taxes on the uber-rich” happens to be the best way, in their view, to help those struggling to get by.

From my perspective, it’s inconceivable that the Guy who said, “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” would favor rejecting Medicaid expansion, eliminating the estate tax on billionaires, and reelecting a sociopath whose own cheek-turning policy is, “anybody who hits me, we’re gonna hit them 10 times harder.”

So we have gaping areas of disagreement . . . as did, say (not to elevate either of us to their level, remotely, but to make the point), Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

But two things we agree on (besides Maple Mama):

1. The importance and rewards of friendships like this.
2. The need to listen to each other to find, and build on, common ground to solve big problems.

To help our team win, click here.

Have a great weekend!

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!

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.

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?

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:

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. . . 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.

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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:

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. . . 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.

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.

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.

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 . . .

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. . . 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 . . .

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. . . and that . . .

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. . . his crudity frequently borders on downright vulgarity* . . .

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. . . 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.

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.

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. . . 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!” . . .

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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