Did you watch Aretha Franklin’s funeral on TV? Emotional, wasn’t it? She was a world-renowned musician. Many of the people on the dais were too. So, what struck me about the event was how bad the sound was. It cut out often. There was a 60-cycle hum throughout. That means the sound equipment wasn’t properly grounded. Whoever operated the sound board didn’t always shut off mics that weren’t in use, so extraneous noise was included in the audio feed. And, worst of all, the main mic on the podium made noise when anyone touched it.
It’s been possible for decades to make a mic that doesn’t do that. Just look at an EV 635A. I used one of those almost 50 years ago, and Electro-voice still makes them. It’s designed for speech, not singing, so I don’t suggest they should have used one, but there must be a better mic for the purpose than whatever it was they did use.
As for the content of the program, I think it could have used fewer speeches and more Shirley Ceasar.
As an Optimum cable subscriber, I’m a week away from losing my access to Newsday.com, the website of Long Island’s major newspaper. So, I checked into what’s necessary to get free access until the end of the year. I may do it, but I’m not happy about it. First, I must give them my credit card info to get it for free. I’m sure that’s so if I forget to cancel by New Year’s Eve, they’ll charge me rather than turning it off. Second, and I’m going to call Newsday about this, it looks as if after the free trial, my wife and I will have to pay separately for access to the website. Either that, or both of us share the one sign in. If we do the second, can we view it on two devices at the same time? And third, just for web access, it costs more than the NY Times! I don’t know if it’s going to go over like a lead balloon, but it doesn’t look to me as if it’ll take off like a helium-filled balloon either.
Speaking of the NY Times, the anonymous op-ed piece about resistance to the President inside his administration astounded me. I think it’s extremely likely that the identity of whoever wrote it will be found by the FBI, the NSA, the Secret Service, or some federal agency in short order.
I don’t think it’s possible (and it would certainly undermine democracy) to remove President Trump from office under the 25th Amendment. If the Vice President and the Cabinet, or the Vice President and Congress tried to remove him that way, he could assert that he is fit to continue. If anyone attacks Donald Trump, he does fight back. That we know. So, he would claim he is able to continue. Then, it would take a two-thirds vote of both houses to remove him. I don’t see that happening.
President Trump said on Twitter a few weeks ago that making basketball star LeBron James look smart isn’t easy. I disagree. If I had the choice of spending four years in college or beginning immediately to amass what is now a nine-figure fortune, I’d probably do exactly what Mr. James did. It sounds like a smart decision to me. Plus, whenever I’ve heard him on TV he sounded intelligent. Moreover, he certainly deserves credit for all the charitable work he’s done, including starting a new school in his hometown of Akron Ohio this year.
