Random Thoughts '17: North Korea, Olympics, Glen Campbell, etc.

Flag of North Korea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With North Korea's ability to fire nuclear missiles at the United States getting better and better sooner than most experts thought, so is the warmongering rhetoric between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.  They're both acting like belligerent children instead of mature adults every time they make statements predicting the other's fiery doom.  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson actually told Americans to sleep well while defending his boss' rash words.  Um, no.  People in Seattle, the rest of the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, and now Guam are definitely sleepless over being in the line of nuclear fire should the Korean War ever restart after a 64-year absence.

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Ten days after Anthony Scaramucci was named White House communications director, he was told to scram by the new chief of staff, former Homeland Security chief John Kelly.  "The Mooch" came in like a wrecking ball (apologies to Miley Cyrus), getting press secretary Sean Spicer and Kelly's predecessor Reince Priebus to quit.  But then came the expletive-laden interview with The New Yorker magazine, in which Scaramucci ripped into other Trump staffers.  All this was accomplished before he officially got the job.  Nice work.  See ya, Mooch.

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Over the weekend, somebody snuck a pipe bomb into a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota.  Nobody was hurt in the explosion, but there was substantial damage to the place.  The FBI is currently on the case, and no suspects have been arrested.  Yet the governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, called the incident a terrorist attack even though there is no evidence of that.  Peaceful demonstrations consisted of people of all faiths who came to show support.  President Trump, who has made no secret of his desire to deport every Muslim he can, has not made a statement condemning the incident.  But one of his advisers did claim that Democrats might be behind this.  Maybe we should all wait until the facts come in before we jump to conclusions.

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Paris and Los Angeles were the only two cities willing to pay big money for the opportunity to host the Summer Olympic games.  Both have hosted twice:  Paris in 1900 and 1924.  Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984.  Now both will host a third time:  Paris in 2024 and L.A. in 2028.  That is, if one of Kim Jong-un's bombs doesn't destroy the city first.

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Glen Campbell (1936-2017) was a musician who parlayed his master guitar picking and his good looks into a career that included songs that topped the pop and country charts in the 1960s and '70s ("Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "Rhinestone Cowboy" and so many others), his own TV variety series and several movie roles.  When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he taught the world how to say goodbye with a final concert tour and album, which resulted in the documentary "I'll Be Me".  He was 81.