A Layman's Look

Well it seems that once-candidate Trump's strategy of throwing up anything he sees fit, factual or otherwise, just to pollute the air and make it harder to see what is being planned and/or done is finally causing a reassessment of means of combating said strategy.  Journalists that I have seen in the last few days seem to be trying new approaches including The New York Times  implementing footnotes to present the factual version of the President's statement, and Rachel Maddow beginning, it seems, to sidestep the lies and look behind the cloud at what is being done on the ground. It is a bit like herding cats, isn't it?  They run all over the place, are completely independently minded, become harder to catch the more they are chased, and continually take you further and further from what's most important.  It seems to me that these approaches are sound.  It seems to me that allowing the lies to run off on their own steam and not chase them, thus giving them mor...

There are so many things to say, so many things that have been running through my mind over the last two-and-a-half months.  My mind feels a bit like responsible journalists must feel in their attempts to corral the untruths and contradictions foisted upon us during the presidential campaign.  There's so much frustration noise that I can't seem to focus in on one thing.  But I shall try! I don't know about anyone else, but I went to bed upset and I woke up mad. I don't usually put much stock in horoscopes, but I've always found it interesting that I have such a desire for things to be fair, and I happen to be a Libra which, in case you don't know, is symbolized by a set of scales in astrology. Fairness.  Balance. That's one of the wonderful things about a democracy, is it not?  The majority will carry the day and we will move forwarded guided by the ideas and ideals shared by more than 50% of our fellow Americans.  And yet, here we sit, on January 2...

Yesterday I was in a union meeting.  Among other things, a brief discussion was had about the evolution of individual contracts versus group contracts in particular among ballet and theater companies, not necessarily on the opera side of things.  It was pointed out that the movement began primarily because more and more dancers wanted to be seen as soloists in the troupe rather than "ensemble dancers", and they wanted to negotiate their own contracts accordingly.  Over time that has led to less negotiating power for dancers, ultimately developing into much lower pay, often the legal minimum salary for dancers. That led me to connect the dots between that devolution of solidarity in the ranks of ballet troupes where each had been a part of the braided fabric, strong and durable, to the political devolution we're starting to see around the world.  For some time now, countries have been murmuring about wanting out of the EU.  Granted, there are positives and nega...

So, here I sit just killing a little time after reading articles about the Dallas Cowboys.  I took a few minutes to entertain other people's thoughts on the 2017 NFL Draft and am intrigued by several things, but one in particular stands out to me and I wanted to jot it down here and now. I know that the Browns are currently 0-for-2016, but they've been within one score in four of their games this year, and within two scores in four others, and there is good young talent there.  So, I am going to say here and now that the NFL better look out for them next season.  As long as they do well with their picks in 2017, they will be an incredibly talented group next year.  With FIVE picks in the top 65 of the draft they could possibly wind up with four or five first-round talents, depending on slippage and preferences of other teams.  So, I'm just saying it here, mid-December 2016, watch out for the 2017 Cleveland Browns! Stranger things have happened! (see Election...