Thursday 15 November 2018

The 'Right' to News?

When you dig down into this court episode brewing with the CNN reporter (Acosta) and the Trump White House....it really amounts to the question of a right existing....to news.  Or that news reporters have the right to sit in some room. 

So you start to think about it, and the longer you ponder.....the more amused you become.

There is no right to news.  There is a right to a free and open press, but no one has ever spoke to this concept in that way.  Usually, it meant you could type up a story and tell the story in your own fashion.  It didn't really mean that you were 'owed' a seat in some house, hall, or facility. 

How this will go?  Some judge might issue an order that the President has to give the CNN guy (Acosta a pass to enter the room), but since it's an executive facility....it's doubtful that the President will comply.  If it were a football stadium or banquet hall....then maybe the court might have some right. 

So this is mostly for show, and it'll be dragged out for six to twelve months.....just as a show item.  CNN?  They will find another reporter and put him in the Acosta spot.  What happens to Acosta?  That's really the curious question left to answer. 

Unwritten Laws

There are various unwritten laws that exist today.....which folks tend to gravitate over to....mostly because of logic and common sense.  So this is a list of twenty of these laws:

1.  Murphy's Law: Generally,  if something can go wrong....the odds are in the favor of that occurring.

2.  Sod's Law: Generally, as things are going wrong....it's best to just accept this as some accident or fate.

3.  The Ballpark Law: Generally, if you build it, they will come.  No one says who 'they' are, but just that they heard about you building something and need to check it out.

4.  The Indian Law: Generally, you can't ride a dead horse.

5.  The Whiskey Law: Generally, what whiskey cannot cure....there is no cure.

6.  The Septic Tank Law:  Generally, once you pull out the shovels, start planning on a 12-hour day and hope that the ground temperature is 32-degrees or more.

7.  The Baptist Chat Law: Generally, never engage in conversation with a Baptist enthusiast over wet-dry issues, Revelations interpretations, or houses of ill-repute (they usually want to know the location).

8.  The Handling of Delusional People Law: Generally, just about everything they say....didn't happen.  The landing of the UFO in their cornfield, the phone call from President Trump, and the girlfriend from Selma.....none of those events likely occurred.

9.  The Wal-Mart Law:  Generally, if they don't sell it.....you don't need it.

10.  The Food Poisoning Law:  Generally, a $6 bad case of food poisoning can occur with the same power and intensity.....as a $25 bad case of food poisoning.

11.  The Birmingham, Alabama Law:  Generally, there are cities and villages in Afghanistan which are safer after 10 PM at night to walk around, than within the city limits of Birmingham.

12.  The True Grit Law:  Generally, if you've fallen into a pit of snakes....things aren't likely to go well.

13.  The Diarrhea Law: Generally, if you consume a fair bit of booze nightly, eat high-content fatty food and excessive fruits, mix a hefty amount of dairy products into your diet, drink four or more cups of coffee each morning, enjoy eight slices of bacon each breakfast, and toss down two or three boiled eggs each morning....then you ought to expect extreme diarrhea by 9 AM.

14.  The Hurricane Law:  Generally, even if the President and Governor both encourage evacuation of areas on the beachfront due to an oncoming hurricane....there's pretty good odds that 3,000 Alabama folks would like to drive down and observe the hurricane first-hand (on the beach) because they've never seen such a thing before.

15.  The Thanksgiving Law:  Generally, no one ever loses weight from late November to early January.

16.  The Mennonite Law:  Generally, things stopped advancing around 1890.  If they'd just accepted 1918....they'd still be driving Ford Model T's today instead.

17.  The NCAA-Alabama Law:  Generally, the University of Alabama must fit into the final bowl selection process, unless some freak of nature has occurred.

18.  The Governor Bentley Law: Generally, if you hire up someone to be your closest advisor and some inappropriate lusty stuff goes on.....it's best that you don't get bugged or recorded talking about your 'feelings'.

19.  The Fork-in-the-Road Law:  Generally, if you've reach a folk in the road, with no map, no directions, no signs....it's best to ask the first guy riding a horse or mule down the road about where this path will take you.  It should not matter if he's a Republican or Democrat....a tobacco chewer....or wearing flip-flops.

20.  The Sandbag Law: Generally, if you've filled a hundred sandbags....you tend to reach a pondering stage asking yourself if maybe this just isn't the right place to live or camp upon.  By that point, it's really too late.

This Wine/Whine Argument

In recent days, the topic of US wine (typically meaning California quality) being equal to French wine....has come up (again).

So I'll walk into this discussion.  I'm not a wine connoisseur....but I have probably had over 1,500 glasses of wine in my life, from at least twelve countries.

First, you can go and find some really awful wine from France, Germany, and Italy.....which everyone will agree that you can't price the wine above 3 Euro (roughly 3.75 US dollars), and it's best to only use the wine for cooking purposes (like for a stew or chilli).

Second, I've had some really great Australian wine, but will admit that by the time you handle shipping costs to Europe....it's really overpriced.

Third, it's an odd thing to admit....but if you were looking for a decent red wine from Germany, and stacked against the same products from South Africa.....the South African red wine would win.  It's something about the soil....sunlight....and temperatures.  Germans don't like to admit it but quietly....most will say there is no way for them to compete.

Fourth, I suspect if you lined up forty 'regular' people (not the intellectual or connoisseur crowd) and laid out wines from across Europe, the US, and South Africa....I don't think anyone could really suggest a geographic location for what they were sipping.  They could say X is better than Y, but this would amount to a quality standard.

Fifth, this thing about Italian Lambrusco wine.  This is a red wine which typically ONLY comes from Mantua, Modena, Parma, and Reggio nell'Emilia (the central region of Italy).  I'm particular about Lambrusco, and would probably sip three or four glasses a day if given a chance.  It's generally cheap (rarely higher than four Euro (5 US dollars)....fairly sweet....and I might even suggest that it goes down like a alcoholic Ni-Hi grape soda.  The connoisseur crowd looks down up this wine.  But on a hot afternoon....you can't beat a chilled glass of Lambrusco unless you got some ice tea. 

So this Trump-talk that occurred and challenged up the idea that French wine might not beat California wine?  The California folks will point out various awards that they've won and that the vines themselves....are from Europe originally.  Same for South Africa.  Same for Australia and New Zealand.  In twenty years, I suspect that the vines will be put into place there in China, and also get them on the wine market situation.