Beautiful Government Buildings, Post Office Employees, Another Appeal for Cash (?) and How to Bet the Ponies

He's a Tenant, Not an Owner

All of those beautiful government buildings in the nation’s capital cost a lot of money.  Your money, my money!  We provide them so that the Congress, the Courts and the many agencies of the Executive branch can have a place to do the nation’s work.  Included is the palatial residence and office complex we provide for the public servant we elect to serve as President which is paid for by you and by me and belongs to us, not to the person who lives there.  The government employees who occupy and work in all of these facilities, including the always temporary resident of the White House, are guests in buildings which we, America’s citizens, own.

These workers, for years, have used these facilities to carry out the nation’s business.  Those that are subject to election every two (the House of Representatives), four (the President) or six years (the Senate) are supposed to try to do their campaigning for re-election (which starts the day they take office) from outside of their place of business, their government offices.  Senators and House Representatives do a pretty good job of keeping their government work and their election campaigning separated. 

Tragically, our President, the president of all of the people, does not.  This is as much out of his abysmal ignorance as it is by his intent.  From the lawn of the White House, and from other locations we provide for him, from which he periodically addresses the citizenry and conducts press conferences, he repeatedly fails to distinguish between the business of the nation and the business of getting re-elected. 

He doesn’t miss an opportunity to attack his Democratic predecessor in office, his opponent four years ago and his opponent in November from the many pulpits we provide him with for government purposes but not, which he fails to recognize, for campaigning purposes.   

Much of what he says he makes up.  He lies a lot.  He often refers to what he hears and to “what people tell him” but he rarely identifies those “people.”  He says things will happen shortly or within a few weeks but they never do.  His words have no meaning.  The President fails to recognize the limits of presidential power as provided by the Constitution, the law of the land.   He is jealous of foreign heads of state who do whatever they want.

The sooner we are rid of him, the better off the nation, humanity, the planet and the universe, will be.   Do your part to make this happen.
JL

                                    

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They Deliver Your Mail ... and Vote too!

There are approximately 630,000 employees in the United States Post Office Service.  In all likelihood, none of them will vote for Donald Trump.  He is out to get them, part of  his pathetic effort to cripple "voting by mail," at the expense of their jobs.  I would hope that they provide the margin of victory for the Democratic presidential candidate in those states with crucial electoral votes which will decide the election.

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I Want Another Email Solicitation

Each morning my Email is saturated with requests for money to help a particular candidate or political position.  Most of them I agree with because my online behavior has resulted in algorithms identifying me as a possible contributor.  That is why I get these Emails.  Sometimes, I even make donations.

But here is a cause to which I really want to donate. 

Doctors Fauci and Birx to right, with two disinterested
and uneducable listeners on the left

I would like to see a weekly, or more frequent, major channel TV program featuring Doctors Fauci and Birx, as well as the physicians from the CDC (Communicable Disease Center) voicing their honest opinions regarding dealing with Covid19.  Of course, they would have to break all ties with the Administration.  This would take financial resources to which I believe most Americans should contribute to counter the lies the Administration spreads using your tax dollars.  The telecasts would not avoid criticism of the opinions of those who are neither scientists nor physicians, including the President of the United States.  These worthless opinions, especially those of the President, constitute a disease in their own right which must be fought just as the Coronavirus is being fought. 

Supporting such a cause is something I would do.  You should too.  I’m watching for the Email asking me to do so.

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It Would be Funny if it Weren’t for Real  (added 8/12 - 11:00 a.m.)

Wednesday’s (I just added this belatedly to Tuesday’s blog posting) “humor/satire” column in the Palm Beach Post by Frank Cerabino talked about Floridians fleeing to Canada over the Winter instead of the usual exodus of Canadians coming to the Sunshine State.  Most frightening, however, were these lines from the column:

“Allowing us to be in Canada between November and March should get us out of the United States during the time the rest of America sorts out its accidental monarchy.  Our imaginary king, after losing by a resounding defeat, will refuse to relinquish his throne, and instead release America’s unregulated militias and *Q-anon crazies to the streets, where they will meet their match in the U.S. military.  It will be ugly.  Even uglier than a winter in Canada.”

*One of those Q-anon crazies just won a Republican Congressional primary in a rural "always red" G.O.P. district in Georgia and will be elected to Congress in November.  This is for real.  Trump legitimized the idea of the inmates running the asylum and a third of the nation's voters accept that concept as normal, like ignoring social distancing and not wearing a mask to avoid spreading Covid19.  
JL

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Back to the Racetrack 

Tiz the Law winning the Travers at Saratoga

The most recent Sunday posting (Aug. 8) talked about a racehorse, “Tiz the Law,” winner of most of this year’s big stakes races for three-year-old horses and his sire, “Constitution.” (The Constitution is the "Law," get it, Mr. President?)  I promised I would provide information on watching horseracing on TV for those that are interested.  It is my personal method.  Here goes. No promises:

Prepare to watch an afternoon of racing on TV! 

Horseracing is low priority programming for most carriers so in the course of an afternoon, the same racing program may jump around to different channels.  Fox Sports is big in doing this since a more lucrative program (more ads) always gets the FS1 or FS2 channels.  But look for it from Wednesday or Thursday to Sunday afternoons.  It is there somewhere.  Fox Sports or NBC usually pick it up for “big” races but sometimes you have to look around for it.  (For me, that means ending up on Hotwire channel 503 instead of FS1 at channel 440.  Streaming is also available.)  I get the feeling from the ads that accompany the races that their audience primarily consists of horse owners, interested in what’s going on in their business, and gamblers, resulting in most ads being from stud farms and gambling sites. 

Anyhow, let’s get started.  Pick a number.  That is the horse number you will be betting on (in your mind or for real, via one of the betting apps advertised between races) in most, but not all, races.  Stick with that number all day except as explained below.  Since prices paid to winning bets are based on a $2 bet, let’s call that your betting unit.  Always bet one unit on your number to “win” and one additional unit to “show,” in which case you collect a smaller amount if the horse finishes in the first three.  But there are important exceptions!

Exceptions: 

1. ·    If your number is “scratched” from a race, just use the next lower number.  In the event your scratched number is “1,” use the highest number in the race.
2. ·    If your number’s win odds are higher than 9 to one, do not bet on it.  Longshots win sometimes in the movies but not too often at the track.  Just bet your two units (to “win” and to “show”) on the second choice to win in the race, odds-wise.  More than one second choice?  Make your decision based on jockey, horse's name, color of jocky's silks ... whatever.  And make your decision no later than 4 minutes before race time.
3. ·    If the race is a handicap, stakes race or an allowance race, (not a claiming race, an allowance claiming race nor a maiden race!) and the favorite is an even money or even more favored betting choice, bet both of your units on that horse to win, forgetting about your number.  Heavy favorites win in those situations. Remember that this exception does not apply to claiming races, allowance claimers nor maiden races, ever.  If the TV programming does not make it clear as to what kind of race it is, just get out your mobile phone and google the track’s entries for the day and find out.
4. ·    If there are less than six horses running in a race due to a lot of ‘scratches,’ this makes such races less predictable, and perhaps not worth betting.   The only time you should even consider betting on a race with less than six horses is in the circumstances described in the ‘exception’ number 3 described directly above (a very, very heavy favorite in a handicap, stakes or non-claiming allowance race.)  Otherwise, six is the minimum.  And even then, it might not be a worthwhile wager.

(For a great example, check out the tenth race at Saratoga on August 8, 2020, the Longines Test Stakes, in which only five horses ran, one of which was a 3 to 5 favorite, Gamine, who won paying $2.60 for a $2 bet.  Using my suggested method, you would have wagered $4 to win and ended up with a measly $1.20 total profit.  If there had been more horses in that race, the payoff would have been higher, but perhaps Gamine’s odds would have been higher than 3 to 5 and she would not have fit into the circumstances described above, justifying a bet.  That is why races with under six horses offer a fine time to go wash your hands.)

Gamine Winning the Longines Test at Saratoga on Aug. 8

Saratoga Race # 10, 5:39 PM, Aug. 8, 2020

7F, Dirt, Longines Test Stakes.

Fillies | 3 Year Olds

Purse: $300,000

Exacta, Trifecta (.50), Super (.10), Pick 3 Races (10-12) Double Wagers .NO SHOW WAGERING

#	PP	Horse / Sire	Trainer / Jockey		ML
	1	Up in Smoke The Big Beast	George Weaver Luis Saez		12/1
	2	Perfect Alibi Sky Mesa	Mark E. Casse Tyler Gaffalione		20/1
	3	Mrs. Danvers Tapit	Claude R. McGaughey III Jose L. Ortiz		8/1
	4	Wicked Whisper Liam's Map	Steven M. Asmussen Ricardo Santana, Jr.		20/1
	5	Gamine Into Mischief	Bob Baffert John R. Velazquez		3/5
	6	Venetian Harbor Munnings	Richard Baltas Joel Rosario		8/5
Runner			Win	Place	Show
Gamine			$2.60	$2.10	-
Venetian Harbor			-	$2.30	-
Up in Smoke			-	-	-
Perfect Alibi			-	-	-

Also rans: Mrs. Danvers

Good Luck!