Trump and FOX News

I watched both debates on Thursday (8/6/15).  By selecting a top tier of 10 candidates for its main show, even if for practical necessity, Fox News also declared itself as the king maker of Republican politics. But it had to do one more thing to be a credible king maker: bring down Trump as the top candidate, whom no establishment Republican wanted to see as the leader. Someone had to take the wind of Trump’s sails. So Roger Ailes hand-picked Megan Kelly to achieve this.  Her first question was fair enough and Trump answered as (probably) expected. That question could have been asked by any of the 3 moderators. Rather, it was intended merely to introduce Kelly as the innocuous inquisitor, then as the trap setter.  The second question about women was the real trap.  That one would be most effective if asked by Kelly, especially if Trump jumped into it.  So before the debate even began, Trump was sanitized.  I just wonder what Roger Ailes or Megan Kelly would have done if, as I would have, Trump replied to the second question with something like “Megan, my love, are you worried I will not treat you right if you asked me for a date?” Such an answer would have made Trump’s day, caused  raucous laughter, and trapped FOX in its own trap . . . no longer a king maker, which a cable network news should never be . . . but in America.  That was the real shame of the debate, as I see it.

About Trophy Hunting

Times-Union newspaper (of Jacksonville, FL) asked for my opinion about trophy hunting; I replied with the following:

Killing of defenseless animals for trophy is called sport, the animal to be killed game, and the person who does the killing is known under the romantic and adventuresome label as hunter.  When the society at large begins to judge the event as what it really is, "(deliberate) dry-gulching, of (hapless) victim, by (maniacal) killer," then some of the confusion and undeserved glory might dissipate.  As with elephant tusks and rhino horns, any activity involving any animal trophy should be categorically outlawed, as also all trophy hunting, ditto any safari club that allows this.

Sirman Celayir

King Abdullah: Eat the Wrong Food, Don’t Exercise, Be Overweight, Live to 90

One significant lesson from King Abdullah’s life is in that he is a poster-boy example of what the title here says.  Of all the cultures, especially the well-off Saudis inherently avoid any menial work, shun any and all robotic exercise routine.  And their diet includes all the wrong elements: lots of bread, lamb dishes, fatty and rich food with lots of cholesterol content.  Yet this man, who was overweight for most of his life, lived 90 years in an environment of abundant stress—he ran his country for the last 20 years—and without any hint of dementia.  In contrast, Emil Zatopek, the Czech long-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist, who presumably exercised strenuously most of his early life and maintained the right diet for his generation—same as King Abdullah’s--lived to age 78; Jim Thorpe, the all-around athlete from a slightly earlier generation lived only to age 65.  They did this in an environment that qualifies as “more advanced.”

No one who listened to the King’s death on Jan. 22 probably thought of the above-referenced connection.  Consider the promotional hype on American TV and news media, the incessant medical advice by medical professionals, nutritionists, dieticians and exercise freaks . . . all those athletic clubs, exercise equipment . . . tri-athletes, runners and swimmers in USA about all the supposed ingredients of a long life.  The lesson here: you’ll live as long as your luck holds out and as long as your genetic make-up allows.  I include in my example also my mother who died on Sep. 9, 2014 at age 97 in an admirable mental state, having never exercised, having eaten most of the wrong food, being a bit overweight for most of her adult life, and having lived through several very difficult cycles.