When you consider buying a book on Amazon by an author you’re not familiar with but find glowing blurbs for it by famous authors that don’t even indicate they’ve read the book, be very skeptical. I just finished a book that had several praising blurbs by well-known authors. The book was so badly written that I wondered if an editor had been involved at all in its publication.

Rather than using these blurbs as a guide, read the reviews given by normal readers to get an idea of what to expect.

Oops, I meant unemployment rate, of course.

#politics When he was president, Trump bragged about having the greatest economy and the lowest employment rate in the history of the country - day after day. Say it enough times, people believe it, even if it’s not true. Biden actually has a better economic record, but does he constantly hype it? No. But it doesn’t matter, because under his watch we have inflation. And Joe Sixpack only cares about the price of gas and food, not the stock market or any other economic measurements.

#politics Biden has two chances to win next November: Trump becomes incapacitated or dies, or Trump gets convicted in one of his trials before the election. The first is possible, but unlikely; the second, based on the snail’s pace of the justice system, probably won’t happen, and even if it does, still might not be enough to get Trump supporters to switch or stay home. Color me discouraged, but I’m holding onto Yogi Berra’s aphorism: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

So SCOTUS will adopt a code of ethics, something it has already had unofficially, according to Roberts, in order to clear up a “misunderstanding” the public has about the Court. Oh, and there will be no enforcement/accountability for violations. Give me a break.

I get irritated (my bar is obviously low) whenever I hear a government official or news person pronounce Qatar as if it rhymed with butter. How did this mispronunciation get started? It should be pronounced Kuh-TAR. That’s how that country’s inhabitants pronounce it and how I learned it way back in grade school.

Yesterday’s election results give me hope that democracy can survive the forces aligned against it.

Let me get this straight. College football coaches scouting opposing teams’ games to see what they do is illegal? Because secret “signs” might be on display? Give me a break.

Maybe I’ve been streaming too many series like Suits and Billions, where revocation of professional licenses occur with one board hearing, but I’m perplexed over how long Eastman’s trial over his law license is taking. Months, and no decision yet!

RIP, Bobby Knight. You were not a nice person, but a helluva good basketball coach.

Here’s the reason the MLB playoffs are what they are today.
https://apple.news/AaPUjWBNETJmFMOANNtz_Xw

It’s supposed to be the best against the best, as determined by a season’s record, not just survivors of short series. A barely .500 team can now enter the crapshoot that is today’s MLB playoff system and knock off, in just three games, a team that has proved itself one of the best by winning more than 100 games. There should be a better, fairer way to do this.

#MLB In the old days, the winner of the American League (most wins in the season) would play the winner of the National league for the World Series title. But now, with all those added teams and the creation of wild cards and divisions and multiple playoffs, the process has become almost silly. Any team can beat another two out of three or three out of five. The best teams in the leagues can be eliminated before ever getting to the World Series, as has happened many times. Is that what we want?

Two from my it-looks-so obvious-now-but-it’s-too-late list:
1. If only Israel had given over the West Bank to be a Palestinian state years ago. It was extra territory, after all - not a part of the original Israel.

2. If only Israel had not given over control of Gaza to Hamas. What the hell were they thinking? That an extremist Muslim organization that pledged to kill Jews and wipe Israel from the face of the Earth would change its mind and be peaceful neighbors?

Of course Hamas knew that Israel would respond ferociously to its brutal attacks and that it would devastate Palestinians living in Gaza. They don’t care, obviously. They know that Israel will take international heat for the humanitarian disaster that will ensue. The Palestinians are pawns that will be sacrificed in Hamas’ determination to obliterate Israel.

Stalin said that it didn’t matter how many votes you got but who gets to count them. Or something like that. Trump’s paraphrase would be, “It doesn’t matter if you get indicted, only what judge you have to oversee the trial.” The only slam dunk case against Trump is the classified documents case, and Judge Cannon is doing her best to put her thumb on the scale in favor of Trump.

I was surprised to learn that not only have the MLB playoffs begun, but that some teams have already been eliminated. Yawn. Maybe it was because I wasn’t paying attention, with so many other things on my mind. Like making sure my trash can was at the curb on the right day.

Yup, Idaho Republicans show themselves to be the Pro Birth Party, rather than Pro Life. https://apple.news/AZ1N2WF_JQzmdp2B8mBtA3w

Financial disclosures should include, like tax returns, that the material presented is true to the best of the submitter’s knowledge and be signed. So of course such a declaimed would be rejected.

Trump said yesterday that he can’t be accused of fraud because in all his financial statements there is a buyer beware clause - a disclaimer that warns the reader that they should not believe anything in them!