TRUMP AND HALLOWEEN 2020

Amazingly enough, Halloween Express just indicated that John F. Kennedy is the top political mask sold this year for Halloween.  #2 is Hillary Clinton, followed by Richard Nixon, Vladimir Putin and a vampire version of Barrack Obama.

Frankly, I'm surprised.  I thought Donald Trump would be the hands down favorite.  However, Yandy indicates that their Miss Impeachment costume, which includes a beauty pageant gown, tiara, pageant sash and whistle, is very popular.  Cost?  $79.95.

On that note, I will today post on what I think will be the driving primary factors setting the tone for the Presidential Election as if this article were released on Halloween a year from today:

• Presidential contenders?  Trump versus any Democrat.  It won't matter.

• The House impeached Trump early in 2020, but the Senate quickly voted to quash the process.  The problem for Republicans is that it was confirmed that, first, Trump lies, and, second, his attitude about what is legal and not defies any sense of morality.  Democrats, of course, want Trump to be the Republican candidate in 2020 because he is so vulnerable.

• In October, Trump orchestrated Kim Jong Un to capitulate and totally give up his nuclear capability (time frame left very vague) for the U.S. to significantly reduce most sanctions.  Trump ads advanced the notion of his winning the next Nobel Peace Prize.

• Trump's policy and attitude regarding immigration will significantly impact the Hispanic (17% of voters) turnout and backlash.

• The African American (12%) vote will be dominantly Democratic.
• White, urban quasi-Republican and Independent women votes will skew to the Democratic candidate than Trump.

• There will be a flurry of sketchy evidence with appearance of a victim that Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had sex with underage girls.

• A very hot summer raised the environment as a decisive factor, for Trump's record on global warming, air pollution and wilderness preservation has been beyond the pale.

• In the month of October, Michelle and Barack Obama will play important roles in major Democratic rallies.  Donald Trump will only appear at orchestrated events, for he would otherwise be mostly booed.  

A Halloween 2020 poll will show the Democrat getting 54% of the vote.  Donald Trump is doomed and will be indicted soon after leaving office in January of 2021.

Donald Trump can get the results closer if he can convince voters that his Ukraine controversy is just international politics, global climate change is, he is now convinced, more serious than he previously thought, coal has got to go and solar is preferred (he'll never, ever, say this about wind energy) and ....well, you get the point.  I don't think he is capable of admitting a previous fault, or any.

An op-ed today by Jonah Goldberg was titled: 

     Trump's best option against impeachment:  an apology

Trump won't listen to me, but will he to a nationally syndicated conservative columnist?

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WHO IS PATRICIA PETIBON?

If anyone reading this has ever heard of Patricia Petibon, then you are really into baroque music.  While I have long enjoyed this genre, she is relatively new to me.  Patricia is a 49-year old French soprano who SINGS baroque.  She has been entertaining for almost a quarter century, but I only recently saw her on Classic Arts Showcase and was captivated.

C'mon now, how many of you were familiar with baroque singing?   Vivaldi.

Of course, she is also a voice of the Classical Period into today.   An emotional Mozart.  Greensleeves.   Send in the Clowns.

That's it.  A beautiful voice of a beautiful woman.

Sorry, I'm usually into something technical about Planet Earth and Humanity on Wednesdays.  I'm taking a one week vacation.

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WHAT ABOUT HAPA HAWAIIAN MUSIC AND MORE RECENT TUNES?

This is part three of Hawaiian music, which began with Charles E. King, then Queen Liliuokalani, as noted composers.  There is another genre known as Hapa (means half or part) Haole, and the person who most personified this sometimes denounced category is R. Alex Anderson,  who lived to be a hundred, passing away in 1995.  

Anderson was born in Honolulu and attended Punahou School, where he wrote the school's football song in his junior year, plus the school song while a senior.  He then went on to study electrical and mechanical engineering at Cornell.  His grandfather was Alexander Young, important Hawaii businessman, who built the Alexander Young Building.

What a life, as he was shot down on a flying mission in France during World War I, became a prisoner of war of the Germans, but escaped.  All this was turned into a movie, The Dawn Patrol, starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.  It won an Academy Award for Best Story.  It was remade in 1938 with Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and David Niven.  However, he said the films were a fantasy and did things they never did.

He wrote over two hundred songs including:

• Lovely Hula Hands (at the age of 99, playing his ukulele and singing his song), Frances Langford in 1941, and Honey Kalima and his Royal Hawaiians
• Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai, those were the Andrew Sisters, but here is Hilo Hattie's version
• Mele Kalikimaka (at the age of 99, again with uke)

Here is an album of his music, titled Soft Green Songs, something he also composed.

Mele Kalikimaka, Hawaiian for Merry Christmas, was written in 1949, made popular by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1950.

There is more, of course, to Hawaiian music, for slack key has been here for a long time, plus the most popular songs of all-time are dominated by tunes that came after King, Liliuokalani and Anderson.  Here is one list of the top ten music from Hawaii, ever:

1. Over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole
2. Tiny Bubbles - Don Ho
3. Hawaiian Wedding Song - Elvis
4. Hiilawe - Gabby Pahinui
5. I Kona - Ledward Kaapana
6. Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai - Hapa
7. Kauanoeanuhea - Keali'i Reichel
8. Pearly Shells - Don Ho
9. Local Boys - Na Leo Pilimehana 
10. Let's Talk Story - Hawaiian Style Band

Honolulu Magazine in 2004 named the 50 greatest Hawaii albums of all time.  The top ten were:

1. Honolulu City Lights, Keola and Kapono Beamer, 1978:  (this was the view from our penthouse for a third of century and was my wife's favorite song)
2. Guava Jam, The Sunday Manoa, 1969
3. Gabby, Gabby Pahinui, 1972
4. The Extraordinary Ku'i Lee
5. Kawaipunahele, Keali'i Reichel, 194
6. Exotica, Martin Denny, 1957
7. Young Hawai'i Plays Old Hawaii, Hui 'O hana, 1973 (that was side one, and here is side two)
8. Ho'ala, The Brothers Cazimero, 1978
9. Facing Future, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, 1993 (here is the whole album, soon to be deleted)
10. Kalapana, Kalapana, 1975

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ANOTHER FABULOUS TAILGATE WEEKEND

I ask myself what would I like to do best.  Fine dining?  Yes, but this can get expensive.  Travel?  I've done my share and just getting around is stressful.  Hiking?  My knees hurt.  Same for golf.  Swimming?  I can drown.  Entertaining?  No talent.

What I like to do most these days is just stay home and watch various sport events on television.  I'm in air-conditioned comfort with the best tailgate meals served on Planet Earth.  This is week 10 of the Fall season and the fare was both gastronomic and simple.

During TG #8 I dabbled with Matsutake Mushroom, an expensive delicacy best appreciated in Japan, again.  I indicated I was previously disappointed.  

So earlier this past week I was in Marukai and again saw this supposed delicacy, so thought I'd give it another try.  I stopped by Foodland Farms and got a chunk of fresh foie gras, plus some sea asparagus.  I had a bit of leftover King Trumpet Mushroom from last week.

I started by frying some foie gras in a pan, and added the mushrooms.  Large splashes of soy sauce and sake.

Toasted some bread in butter and had a piece of Castello Blue Cheese with the Sea Asparagus.  The Beer was Kirin and the wine a Stanford Classic Chardonnay:

Wow?  This was one of my more spectacular creations.  I went to the opposite end of the cuisine spectrum for the next three tailgates, mostly take out food from the 15 Craigside dining room, starting with a Subway Italian accompanied by a Stanford Classic Chardonnay and beer, with a  bowl of chicken soup:

The Astros beat the Nationals, now behind 1-2.  

The next was spaghetti with meat sauce, which I enhanced by frying it in wagyu fat:

The Caesar salad was topped with some avocado and the wine was a Stanford Classic Merlot.  The Astros won again, tying the series at 2-2.

The third TG was just an egg salad and tuna sandwich with split pea soup, to which some corn was added.  The wine was the leftover from the above Merlot:

Astros now ahead of the Nationals 3-2.  All my teams won this weekend.  My CDM baseball playoff entry rose to third place.  I feel confident that I will at least double the $50 I placed to join the competition.

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PART TWO: MY FINAL JOURNEY

This is a continuation of my two-part series on dementia.  Part 1 was earlier this week.

If the end is near, it would be wonderful if there was an afterlife.  As I have been generally good, this final phase surely would be Heaven.  According to this poll:

A new poll shows that 51 percent of people in the world believe in God. Only 18 percent don’t and 17 percent are undecided.

More than 18,000 people participated in the London-based poll in 23 countries conducted by global research company, Ipsos Social Research Institute.

The Ipsos/Reuters poll also found that 51 percent believe that there is an afterlife while 23 percent believe they will just "cease to exist." Around a quarter (26 percent) simply don’t know what will happen after death.

Frankly, I found it surprising that only 51% of those surveyed believed in an afterlife.  I'm among those 23 percenters who think that we will just cease to exist.  Thus, my final journey will not be to Heaven or Hell.






Most people just die, from a heart attack or car accident or the like.  Cancer patients usually suffer for a period, and that can't be a particularly pleasant journey to the end.  Dementia buffers any length of suffering, but I don't wish to pass through this phase before it is all over.  Similarly, existing on the second floor of 15 Craigside can only be one of constant declination.

Realizing all the above, and luxuriating in my, now, 144th day of euphoria, I've been thinking a lot lately about some sort of final journey while I remain coherent and physically able.  Nothing like suicide, which would be awful, but something like a delightful odyssey.

Five years ago Julianne Moore starred in Still Alice, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress.  The film portrayed something called familial Alzheimer's disease.  I'm pretty sure I don't have this ailment, for you need to be younger than 65.  If you do, though, your memory fades pretty quickly.  

She told no one about her plan, recording an audio message to herself to take an overdose of sleeping pills to commit suicide.  But plans went awry.

In Part One I wondered if dementia was beginning, and, while I don't think this is the case for me at this time, as I've generally been forgetful most of my life, I have thought about someday similarly phasing out under optimally enjoyable conditions.  We have no control over our birth, some smartly plan for their lives... but how many of us plan for our death?  Sure, the estate, wills and those things.  But comprehensively arrange your final journey?

For many, they have religion, and think they're going to Heaven and meet with past friends and family.  Maybe even pets.  For those who don't have this psychological edge, the end could be anything from fearsome to insignificant to desirable.

I moved into 15 Craigside, partly because they promised to take care of me until this end, even if I run out of money.  However, they're not idiots, and won't accept you unless you show sufficient financial resources to insure that you are adequately covered.

There is a care facility on the second floor.  I only rarely go there because it is kind of depressing.  Only after moving in did I realize that the last place I'll want to live as a transition to death is this second floor.

So what are some other options?  Well, as I eliminated from consideration earlier, one can commit suicide.  But that's not me.  I heard, though, that if you can find a way to breathe nitrogen--like by fashioning scuba gear to accomplish this task--the death will be easy and painless.  Then again, read this to be unconvinced.

While our atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, how can one acquire 100% nitrogen?  Easy, this is the gas that is used to minimize oxidation of wines.  However the $8 "green gas" sold by Amazon and wine shops is a mixture of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and argon.  Amazon does sell ten nitrogen cartridges for $15.  You might say this is an overkill amount.  Joke.  But, still, joke or not, even that would be out of character for me, especially as I know of a few better ways to engineer your end.

I've long felt that death would be terrible, in that there will be eternal gloom.  More recently, I'm trying to convince my mind that perhaps this inevitable outcome would not be all that bad, in that what will come will be eternal peace with no pain nor suffering.

The world is leaning more and more towards allowing a right to die.  However, this right can only come if you have a terminal illness, and dementia is not terminal enough.

The one exception is euthanasia, or assisted suicide, in Switzerland.  An organization called Dignitas, founded in 1998, provides this service, charging between $8000 and $12,000. While all this actually remains illegal in the country, non-profit organizations administering life-ending medicine seem to be tolerated.  Sixty percent of patients come from Germany.  More than 2000 have used this service.  Here is a typical site for one's end of life:

Fortunately enough, I have found two individuals who have agreed to take me to Switzerland.  But more so, one of them will serve as the recording used by Alice in case I lose any sense of reality.  I have promised paying for all costs including a partly global journey for me.  Some options?

• Perhaps a portion of a world cruise in a penthouse.
• Or maybe a first class plane trip, going west, staying at the best hotels in town and partaking of Michelin 3 star and Pellegrino best 50 restaurants:
• Japan
• South Korea
• China
• Thailand
• Mauritius
• Cape Town (I've never been to South Africa)
• Dubai
• Munich
• Zurich

I calculated that this final journey would cost around $100,000, a sum I'll need to keep in reserve.  Would I go?  Not sure, but I don't yet need to make this fatal decision.  Also too, more and more, this has become a fantasy blog site.  A few thoughts are not necessarily real.

I was planning to go into medical solutions for dementia, but I'll do this soon in a future posting.

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