Monday, November 04, 2024
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ISSUES
ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE CENTRAL ISSUES
KAMALA IS IN A MORE FAVORABLE POSITION
THAN eXP (eXPotus)!
#1 DEMOCRACY
Kamala intends to honor her oath to “support and defend the constitution of
the United States” as she has done in all her previous positions – as prosecutor,
Senator, and Vice President of the United States.
eXP IS A CONVICTED FELON, who SAYS, PUBLICLY, he intends to
be a dictator on Day 1.
eXP violated his oath to “support and defend the
constitution of the United States” on Jan 6, 2021.
Project 2025 is a description of HIS PLANS for the
government to be taken over by a dictatorial regime, to be used to convert the
government into an organization to work for the interests of the eXP and rich
businessmen, at the expense of all other Americans.
SCOTUS has given POTUS immunity – essentially no check on
POTUS’ powers. When eXP was POTUS, people who were his senior staff constantly
held him back from attempts on using dictatorial powers – his attempt to ignore the Constitution and laws, for example, to use the army to attack US citizens, and to
impound voting machines.
He became an insurrectionist when he tried to overthrow the elected government of the US on Jan 6, 2021 with a violent mob, to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election.
With the new POTUS immunity ruling, eXP would be unhindered in his self-dealing.
We cannot choose to lose our LIBERTY.
Patriots say, "Give me liberty or give me death!" eXP plans to take that away.
KAMALA HARRIS IS FAVORED ON THE ISSUE OF DEMOCRACY!
#2 CHARACTER
eXP is a proven liar, a convicted felon, guilty of committing election law violations and fraudulently concealing the payoffs. He was found guilty of massive civil fraud. His “charity” was found guilty of fraud. A jury found him guilty of sexual abuse. Numerous accusations have not been resolved, for example, that his relationships with Epstein permitted him to commit acts of pedophilia, He has bragged of walking through the dressing room while the young female contestants of his teen “beauty pageant” were dressing. He bragged that he could just grab women. He publicly mocked people with disabilities. He provoked violence – for example when he told the audience, including armed white nationalists, on Jan 6, 2021 to “fight like hell”. He had three wives. He cheated on them.
Note: If you have a strong stomach and you do not believe how vulgar eXP is, then watch this clip: https://x.com/ananavarro/status/1852687230063476779
He said he believes in winning. He does not say he believes in making the lives of every American better.
Kamala has no character issues.
We cannot elect a man of such terrible moral character to the most important office in the world, Our Presidency!
KAMALA HARRIS IS FAVORED ON THE ISSUE OF CHARACTER!
#3 NATIONAL SECURITY
eXP has given credence to Putin over domestic intelligence. He has said he has a great relationship with Putin. He has "love letters" from Kim Jong Un.
During his administration, Russia was given free rein to act in the Middle East. eXP scrapped the nuclear treaty with Iran, ending the agreed deterrence, allowing them to come within a very short time of being able to deploy nuclear weapons. He allowed North Korea to make great strides in developing their nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. He negotiated a disastrous end to the war in Afghanistan, not admitting the Afghan government into the process, letting the Taliban loose, so they were in control of the country, and releasing the current leader of the Taliban from jail, and not even not communicating during the transition with the Biden administration.
eXP has favored autocratic leaders over our allies. Here is one example:
"Our allies are worse than our so-called enemies:
https://x.com/i/status/1852471847822262695/
He denounced NATO, the prime military alliance keeping peace in Western Europe. He tried to corrupt the Ukrainian government by blackmailing them to try to get "dirt" on the Biden family. (He was impeached for this, but not convicted in the Senate by the GOP.)
He waffled on China. Sometimes trying to blame them for the COVID crisis. Sometimes praising XI. He increased tariffs on some products, raising American prices, and causing problems for American farmers, which led him to create a payout to American farmers.
On one occasion he revealed sensitive classified data to Russia. He had secret conversations with the Russians, destroying any transcripts, possibly* contrary to American laws. (*Note: The immunity decision by GOP SCOTUS Justices may have "de-illegaled" acts like these.)
He absconded with extremely highly classified documents when he exited the White House, and left them in unsecured semi-public locations at Mar-a-Lago. He did not return them when they were subpoenaed. He was indicted for these actions. He revealed some classified document information to one or more people without appropriate security clearances.
He took actions in the Middle East that were provocative, increasing the tension with Iran, possibly stoking the "fires" that let to the Oct 7 pogrom in Israel. He was very supportive of MBS in Saudi Arabia, dismissing the murder of American Journalist Khashogghi. Very shortly after eXP left the White House, Saudi Arabia invested at least $2B in a fund managed by Jared Kushner, eXP's daugher Ivanka's husband.
During his administration it is estimated the eXP made millions of dollars in rentals and fees from foreign dignitaries staying at his properties, in possible violation of the emoluments clause in the Constitution.
The Biden-Harris administration has repaired relations with our allies in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. They are supporting Israel's defense, while trying to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. They have taken a strong lead in trying to repatriate the hostages, and develop a long-term peace. They developed an alliance that helped Israel defend against Iranian missile attacks.
They have taken a strong stand, and developed a strong alliance to defend Ukraine, with sending any American soldiers into battle.
The strong defense by the Biden-Harris administration of Democracy and the Rule of Law, has preserved the role of the USA as leader of the free world, and the Dollar$ as the center of world finance.
KAMALA HARRIS IS FAVORED ON THE ISSUE OF NATIONAL SECURITY!
...More issues to come!
*** ***** ***
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ISSUES
#1 DEMOCRACY, #2 CHARACTER, #3 NATIONAL SECURITY
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/11/presidential-election-issues.html/
#4 THE ECONOMY, #5 IMMIGRATION, #6 WOMEN'S HEALTH
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/11/presidential-election-issues-4-economy.html/
*** ***** ***
*** ***** ***
WHY AND HOW THE DEMOCRATS
CAN WIN
A LANDSLIDE VICTORY
UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/08/2024-landslide-why-how.html/
***
Labels: Democracy, Harris, issues, Kamala, President, Presidential election, Vance, Walz
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ISSUES #4 THE ECONOMY, #5 IMMIGRATION, #6 WOMEN'S HEALTH
The denial by SCOTUS of the right to an abortion, and the resulting ferocious and terrible attack on women and their health by GOP controlled legislatures, governors and exP (the ex POTUS, aka T), is more than a political issue. It is a fundamental misuse of government power that exP is responsible for, and Kamala is pledged to correct.
THE ECONOMY and IMMIGRATION are political issues. Although exP may think that THE ECONOMY & IMMIGRATION are the GOP’s strongest issues, in fact, both the historical record, and their future plans give the advantage to Harris as our future President.
#4 THE ECONOMY
exP's actions as President, before Biden-Harris took office, are the cause of the inflation spike. Then, after inauguration, the Biden Harris administration fixed the problem (without a recession)!!! Inflation is now at normal levels, stock prices - and the related retirement savings - are at a record high, and the economy is the strongest in the world.
exP’s plans to impose heavy tariffs on many, many imports (tariffs are beautiful , he says); and, to drill, drill, drill (oil); and, to deport immigrants, will be a repeat of the mistakes he made when he was in office, and will raise prices again.
Kamala’s plan for her Presidency consists of diverse measures to keep household expenses low, while raising wages.
Specifically, inflation was caused by exP’s actions during his term, including
a) Conspiring with Saudi Arabia to raise oil prices (in a video, he brags about doing this);
b) Putting tariffs on inexpensive products from China and other countries, making them more expensive;
c) Mishandling the COVID crisis, leading to a breakdown in the supply chain;
d) Mishandling immigration, preventing immigrants from contributing to the country (immigrant labor is an essential part of the American economic system);
e) Giving a tax break to billionaire$, raising the debt;
f) Repatriating billion$ of dollars from overseas, allowing a large supply of money to enter the US, which was then dispersed to rich investors; (an increase in the money supply is a direct cause of inflation).
These inflationary pressures did not raise prices during exP’s administration because his mishandling of COVID prevented people from pursuing normal economic behavior, and caused massive unemployment. When you are in isolation, or afraid to travel, or sick, or caring for sick loved ones, or out of work, you do not spend money. COVID drastically reduced demand for many things, and kept prices artificially low.
Once the Biden-Harris COVID team successfully began to vaccinate the population, and the level of COVID infections rapidly declined, people began again to spend the money they could not spend doing exP’s term, and then prices rose.
Biden-Harris then fixed the supply-chain, provided financial relief to people who needed money, jump-started employment with the Chips Act and infrastructure bill (something exP had talked about constantly without ever doing), and used executive power to reduce certain costs, such as some medicines, and other costs caused by corporate greed, (such as excessively raising prices - price gouging).
During her administration Kamala is pledged to execute a variety of consumer-cost-reducing strategies, improving household purchasing power.
#5 IMMIGRATION
During exP's term, the conditions in several Central American and South American countries were driving people seeking a better life to try to re-settle in America. Unfortunately, in 2016, the immigration system was not prepared to handle the number of potential immigrants. While exP recognized the problem, he failed catastrophically to execute a solution. exP simply does not know how to run an organization for the benefit of anyone but himself. exP did not fix the immigration process. His attempt to build a wall to keep immigrants out and have México pay for it, failed completely. Only a few miles of wall were built, and they were useless against the number of immigrants. Of course, Mexico paid nothing. exP even diverted some money funded and needed for other purposes, to his wall project.
His treatment of immigrants was inhumane and un-American, forcibly separating parents and children and providing unacceptable living conditions for some migrants. exP’s failure to provide a path to citizenship for earlier legal immigrants was a source of great pain for the immigrant community, and his restrictions on the ability of immigrants to work helped cause inflation by contributing to the collapse of the supply chain.
The Biden-Harris administration helped some of the South American and Central American countries to improve the living conditions in those countries, they worked with Mexico to control the flow of immigrants through Mexico to the US, and brought the number of immigration crossings down to a low level.
The Biden-Harris administration worked with Conservative Republicans to draft legislation that would improve every aspect of the immigration process. However, exP said, explicitly, that fixing the immigration process with this bill would prevent him from campaigning on the immigration issue and the GOP, although they co-wrote the bill, should defeat it. They did.
In this flagrant example of hypocrisy, and lack of serious interest in improving the lives of Americans, exP told the GOP to defeat the bill because he did not want to fix the problem, he wanted to campaign on the claim that it was broken. exP talks in vague language about how the USA is broken, but he does not want to improve it. With Project 2025, in fact, he has a plan to make conditions in the US better for big companies and wealthy donors, and worse for everyone else.
His future plan for immigration, he has bragged, would include a “bloody” mass roundup of immigrants, incarceration, and mass deportations. This would be inhumane, anti-American, would ruin the USA’s reputation throughout the world, and seriously damage the economy.
#6 WOMEN'S HEALTH
SCOTUS’ decision on “abortion,” which has been celebrated by exP and GOP led legislatures, is being used, not just to prevent abortions, but even more ominously to deny healthcare to women, leading already to absolutely unnecessary deaths, and to provide a pretext for surveillance of the medical and travel records of women. For government officials (not necessarily even lawyers or judges) to take responsibility for a woman’s medical treatment away from doctors, would seem to be medical malpractice and a violation of the equal protection clause of the constitution.
GOP state legislatures have been using "abortion law" to deny women full medical services. It is a disgrace & unconstitutional: Amendment 14.1 - "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Kamala will work to restore Roe v Wade, and to provide responsible medical treatment for women, and prevent surveillance of women, either as a new court ruling, or as national legislation.
THE BOTTOM LINES
exP has conducted an old man's rambling, often incoherent, downbeat campaign -- complaining that the USA is a failing country, threatening his political opponents, insulting cities and ethnic groups, lying and celebrating Nazi code-words, delusionally calling his Madison Square Garden Nazi tribute rally, and the Jan 6 violent riot and insurrection a "love fest".
The USA can not afford exP.
Kamala has executed a brilliant campaign. She will bring in a bi-partisan, new-generation group of experts, committed to improving the lives of Americans, as her Cabinet and staff.
We need Kamala.
*** ***** ***
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ISSUES
#1 DEMOCRACY, #2 CHARACTER, #3 NATIONAL SECURITY
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/11/presidential-election-issues.html/
#4 THE ECONOMY, #5 IMMIGRATION, #6 WOMEN'S HEALTH
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/11/presidential-election-issues-4-economy.html/
*** ***** ***
WHY AND HOW THE DEMOCRATS
CAN WIN
A LANDSLIDE VICTORY
UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT
https://qporit.blogspot.com/2024/08/2024-landslide-why-how.html/
***
ON EVERY SINGLE ISSUE KAMALA HAS A BETTER HISTORY, AND A BETTER PLAN, A PLAN WHICH WILL IMPROVES THE LIVES OF ALL AMERICANS.
Labels: Democracy, Harris, immigration, issues, Kamala, President, Presidential election, the economy, Vance, Walz, women's health
Sunday, September 27, 2020
QPORIT XR DAILY NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2020
QPORIT XR DAILY NEWS
QPORIT XRN
EXTENDED REALITY: TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, WORLD
Quick Previews Of Random Interesting Things in XR News
***
2020-09-27 (SUN SEP 27, 2020)
HOLIDAY
YOM KIPPUR
- the Jewish Day of Atonement, a chance to start the Jewish Calendar new year with a clean slate,
- begins tonight at sundown.
***
2020-09-27 (SUN SEP 27, 2020)
US
THE NEW YORK TIMES
- has published a detailed analysis of Trump's tax returns.
- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html
- Among many findings: Trump has lost a lot of money, and is approaching a date for repaying a substantial amount in personal loans.
***
2020-09-25 (FRI SEP 25, 2020)
XR TECHNOLOLGY
AMAZON
- has released a large collection of updates to its appliance products.
- The most noteworthy is an in-the-home robotic surveillance drone.
- Here's a video:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_cNOQJWO94
- Here's a story on other new products form Amazon:
- https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/25/20881736/amazon-event-news-products-announcements-updates-highlights-alexa-echo
***
2020-09-18/19 (FRI-SAT SEP 18/19, 2020)
HOLIDAY
ROSH HASHONA
- the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on Fri, Sep 8 and continues through the following day. For Orthodox communities, the holiday is observed until sundown, Sep 20.
***
2020-09-18 (FRI SEP 18, 2020)
US
RUTH BADER GINSBERG RIP
No man (or woman) is an island
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each person's death diminishes me
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls...
It tolls for thee.
John Donne, 1624 (with modern edits in honor of RGB, a pioneering jurist)
***
2020-09-18 (FRI SEP 18, 2020)
XR TECHNOLOGY
UNITY
- has gone public.
- Their initial IPO opened with a stock price of about $76, considerably higher than the pricing of about $52.
- That puts their current market cap at over $13 billion.
- Unity makes an engine to create interactive 2D and 3D applications and graphics, including games.
- Programming in Unity is with C#.
- The primary current target for applications made with Unity is mobile.
- EPIC's UNREAL ENGINE (UE) is the closest competitor to UNITY.
- UE is programmed with C / C++.
- UE applications tend to have higher resolution, be "bigger", more complex, more expensive to create, and have better graphics than Unity.
- UE applications' primary targets are PC's, console gaming, and Hollywood level media.
- Parenthetically, EPIC Games is the maker of the mega-hit Fortnight.
- They are also in an "epic" battle with Apple's and Google's charge to Epic for selling on the App Store (Apple) and the Play Store (Google).
- Epic currently has a market cap of more than $17 billion.
***
2020-09-17 (THU SEP 17, 2020)
US
201,166
- Americans have died from COVID-19.
- source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
- Trump's lies and misinformation, bad advice,
- mass election events without masks or distancing,
- encouragement of gun-toting demonstrations against masks and distancing,
- failure to contain infections from China, Europe, and elsewhere, arriving with travelers,
- pressure on science services to water down health recommendations,
- pressure to contain and hide accurate reporting,
- pressure to open schools and businesses before even watered-down recommendations were followed,
- and efforts to suppress testing
- were among the major factors facilitating the preventable deaths of many, many, many Americans.
- This would be terrible if Trump were just incompetent.
- But Trump knew. Pence knew. They were warned. Trump understood.
***
2020-09-16 (WED SEP 16, 2020)
XR TECHNOLOGY
FACEBOOK CONNECT (UPDATE)
- CONTINUES as I write this! Carmack will present at 5:30 Pacific 8:30 EST.
- The keynote
- confirmed everything good that was leaked about the Oculus 2;
- it is available now for pre-orders; October 13 for release;
- confirmed that Zuckerberg understands and appreciates the profound potential of XR;
- confirmed that Facebook Reality Labs is working hard on AR / MR.
- "VENUES", the next generation of Oculus Venues was available today to watch the presentations.
- The most disappointing aspect of today's presentations was that none was in VR.
- Venues allowed watching 2D framed presentations from a VR auditorium; but the presentations, not even those about live performance in VR, were in VR themselves.
***
2020-09-15 (TUE SEP 15, 2020)
WORLD
ISRAEL and the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE)
- signed a peace agreement, normalizing relations.
- Israel previously had normalized relations with Egypt and Jordan.
- This agreement is part of a pattern of shifting alliances in the middle East.
- Iran is the center of the opposition to this new alliance.
- The Palestinians are opposed to the agreement.
- Saudi Arabia seems to tacitly support the agreement.
- Middle East diplomacy bristles with so much tension that even Wikipedia is having a dispute on the title of the article about the agreement.
A request that this article title be changed to Israel–United Arab Emirates agreement is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
- "
***
TECHNOLOGY
APPLE (UPDATE)
- held its Fall event today.
- It was a beautiful masterpiece of production.
- There was impressive, but for me a bit too much, self-congratulation.
- The event described updates in the Watch and the iPad.
- Other products, including the iPhone were barely mentioned.
- They will be describing updates to the operating systems tomorrow.
- The most interesting item was the announcement of an oxygen monitor in the new watch (Series 6).
- Oxygen monitoring is important because COVID-19 can create oxygen deficiencies without terribly obvious symptoms;
- some people have reportedly been seriously ill, with severe lung damage but an unrecognized oxygen deficiency, before they realized they were ill at all;
- many other oxygen monitoring systems that can be purchased online do not work well.
- The lineup of iPads and Watches also benefited from significant power boosts due to new chip sets.
- The new A14 chip in iPad Air uses 5 nanometer technology, which is cutting edge chip technology.
- Apple also introduced a new service, Fitness+, which provides custom training coupled to watch apps.
- Pricing seems generally modest.
- Apple now has a bundle, allowing several Apple services, including TV+, to be paid for all together.
- Here is a replay of the Apple event:
- https://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2020/
***
2020-09-14 (MON SEP 14, 2020)
TECHNOLOGY
APPLE
- holds its Fall event tomorrow, Tuesday (2020-09-15 - 10 AM PDT, 1:00 PM EST).
- https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
- Usually, new iPhones, iPads, watches, and other hardware and software will be announced.
- Two of the most interesting announcements would be 5G on their iPhone, and any word of their plans for XR.
- Apple seems most interested in AR (currently with AR software for iPads and iPhones), and MR, (with new glasses reportedly in development).
- They seem less interested in VR.
- Apple's branding seems to be. to call this "Simulated Reality" , or (SR).
- AR software from Apple includes
- ARKit,
- RealityKit,
- Reality Composer and
- Reality Converters
- https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/
- Also, Apple recently purchased NEXT VR, a pioneering company in webcasting live events in VR.
***
FACEBOOK / OCULUS
- holds its annual
OculusFacebook Connect event on Wednesday (2020-09-16). - Facebook is starting to bury the "Oculus" Brand, which it now applies only to the headset devices (if at all).
- All XR activities are now included (subsumed) in FACEBOOK REALITY LABS (FRL).
- They are phasing out Oculus logins, with Facebook logins required for all new users and all new headsets.
- Software features that may be announced include:
- A new VENUES.
- A new VR social space: HORIZONS.
- There will be a major new headset release: the QUEST 2 has been leaked ahead of Connect 7. It features
- upgraded resolution ("almost" 2k x 2k per eye) and
- a very powerful new chip (Qualcomm Snapdragon XR 2)
- backward compatibility
- old QUEST games will still play on QUEST 2
- and for now the old QUEST can use (most?) QUEST 2 apps
- the possibility of new apps that utilize the special power of the XR 2 chip.
- a low price, $299; up to 256 G storage at a higher price.
- Here's a video that describes the new QUEST 2:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfrCPBZ6iwI
***
2020-09-09 (WED SEP 9, 2020)
US
BOB WOODWARD
- has released excerpts from his new book, including recordings of the President on-the-record.
- Trump states that he deliberately misled the public on the severity of COVID-19.
- In other public statements Trump has said he deliberately impeded the development of testing procedures.
- He has publicly praised demonstrators openly carrying guns who have demonstrated against social distancing and against masks.
- His own rallies feature no social distancing and few masks.
- As of today, more than 6.5 million people in the US have been confirmed to have been sickened.
- Accurate testing would confirm many, many more (since spot checks indicate that in some areas at least 4 to 25% of the population would actually test positive if tested).
- According to one report, more than 70,000 children have been sickened.
- Schools, camps, and colleges opening without enough protection have been, and continue to be a major source of possible new infections.
- At the current mortality rate, within a week, there will be more than 200,000 Americans dead of COVID-19.
- Is this criminal negligence?
- Every life matters.
- Every American should be outraged at this threat to American health, life, and national security.
- "...Any man's death diminishes me... -- John Donne (~1624)."
- Trump seems not to care about US.
***
2020-09-09 (WED SEP 9, 2020)
FILM
UPDATE: THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
- has published the new rules for the BEST PICTURE Oscars:
***
2020-09-08 (TUE SEP 8, 2020)
FILM
THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
- has established some new rules for the Oscars:
"The Academy will encourage equitable hiring practices and representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the film community. To ensure more diverse representation, and in collaboration with the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the Academy will create a task force ... to develop and implement new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility by July 31, 2020. Eligibility for films in consideration for the 93rd Academy Awards® (2020) will not be impacted.
Beginning with the 94th Academy Awards (2021), the Best Picture category will be set at 10 nominees, rather than a fluctuating number of nominations from year to year. The Academy will also implement a quarterly viewing process through the Academy Screening Room, the streaming site for Academy members, also starting with the 94th Academy Awards. By making it possible for members to view films released year-round, the Academy will broaden each film’s exposure, level the playing field, and ensure all eligible films can be seen by voting members."
- https://www.oscars.org/news/academy-announces-next-phase-equity-and-inclusion-initiatives
***
2020-09-07 (MON SEP 7, 2020)
HOLIDAY
HAPPY LABOR DAY!
- TRADITIONALLY, Labor Day marks the end of "summer" and the next day is the beginning of the Fall Season, for school, for film & theater, and - every four years -- for the home stretch of the Presidential election.
- Vote early (if possible), vote once (no more, no less!)
- And... Be sure to BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.
***
2020-09-05 (SAT SEP 5, 2020)
SPORTS
IT'S THE FIRST SATURDAY IN MAY (oops) SEPTEMBER
KENTUCKY DERBY DAY
- *** ***
- UPDATE (2020-09-06)
- AUTHENTIC, leading from shortly after the start to the finish, held off the favorite, TIZ THE LAW, to win the Kentucky Derby.
- It was the third Kentucky Derby win for Jockey John Velazquez.
- It was the sixth! Derby win for trainer Bob Baffert.
- TIZ THE LAW finished second.
- Long shot MR. BIG NEWS finished third.
- *** ***
- The Kentucky Derby, postponed from its normal date, will be held today.
- Post time is about 7:00 PM ET.
- The heavy favorite is TIZ THE LAW.
- Quick, make your Mint Julep before the race starts.
I've always tried to have a mint julep (MJ) on KD day. That's how I discovered Ruth Reichl (for a while the NYT food critic). In the early 90's she was a food critic in LA. On a business trip I knew I would be somewhere south of LA on derby day. I needed my MJ. I noticed an article she had written in the LA Times Magazine about new fine restaurants in California, and I found one that was near where I'd be. When I went there on KD day, they didn't know how to make a mint julep, but they were nice enough to try to follow my instructions, and when the first one didn't quite work, tried again and came up with something memorable, together with a really good meal. I've followed R Reichl ever since.
Here's how you make a wicked MJ. Boil a little bit of water and then put it in a cup with some washed and dried, torn up, fresh, nice looking mint leaves, to create a strong mint tea. (Note: Mint leaves are not always that easy to get, and when you get a bunch, many leaves are often wilted, or blackened. It's important to select the best leaves even if that is only a fraction of the bunch of mint in the package.)
(Experimental Note: This year I am going to try to make the crushed ice from frozen mint tea!)
Add quite a bit of sugar. (Optionally -- ideally, in fact -- some sugar could be substituted with a half jigger of a sweet liqueur like Cointreau, Drambuie, or Grand Marnier.) Add about a half jigger of a good Kentucky Bourbon. (After trying quite I few, I found that my favorite is definitely Maker's Mark.) Add this mixture with some additional torn up, fresh, nice looking mint leaves to ice in a crusher.
Crush the mixture of sweetened mint tea, and bourbon to make a tall glass worth of flavored crushed ice. Take a tall, chilled glass, add a long straw, fill the glass with the crushed ice, and then pour in a jigger more bourbon to fill up the cracks. Turn on the pre-race show, and enjoy it!
(Note: Don't drive or ride a horse or car or operate heavy machinery after this (it's strong); don't ingest with anything that will exceed your tolerance for total number of chemicals in the body! If you drink, substitute the driver!)
It's matter of taste what you eat with the drink, if anything. My own preference is Greek or similar appetizers. In the New York area, Molyvos probably has the best selection of appetizers I know of. Near Carnegie Hall, they do provide food to go if that's how you want to enjoy the Derby.
I enjoy the race, by the way, but to make the race better (since it only lasts two minutes, after all), enhancing it with slow motion replays and particular horses isolated in the picture (the more the better) is a way of greatly extending the experience. I hope the TV broadcast does a lot of that.
***
Labels: AR, eXtended Reality, film, interviews, issues, MR, New Media, news, Reviews, Science, theater, Views, VR, XR
