Squat and Squabble

Conflicting viewpoints on topical subjects

Too Many Hats

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“I was wearing my Senate hat at that time”

One of the pitfalls of selecting cabinet members who have a history of accomplishment during their careers is that nominees may have often found themselves performing two or more inapposite jobs at the same time.  This can be problematic when those roles required differing rules of conduct.

During the contentious confirmation hearings for Senator Jeff Sessions, who was selected to be (and now is) the Attorney General, Democrats asked the Senator if he had been involved with contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. The Senator, under oath, replied “no.” It has been revealed that he actually did speak to the Russian Ambassador last year, during the campaign, when he was a senator serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The issue is whether or not Sessions was acting as a senator in his official capacity, or as a campaign adviser for Trump, when he spoke with the Russian. Sessions said this morning that while he twice met with Russia’s ambassador during the presidential campaign season, he was speaking with him in his capacity as a senator, not as a campaign adviser to Donald Trump. It is a crucial distinction, the proof of which may determine the career of Mr. Sessions. The White House is vigorously defending the AG.

Predictably, Democrats are accusing Sessions of committing perjury, and are calling for him to either resign, or to be summarily executed in the public square.

This mess could probably have been avoided, or at least defused, if Session would have simply answered “Yes, I did speak with the Ambassador, but in my capacity as a senator.” But of course, he didn’t say that. It is admittedly eyebrow-raising that he seemed to have given a Clintonesque “it depends on what ‘is’, is” answer, rather than being more forthright. Further inquiry is appropriate.

The White House should support getting someone neutral (if that’s possible) to get to the bottom of this. If there is nothing there, then move on. But if there is any subterfuge, Sessions has to go.

Republicans need to wise up and figure out that the Democrats will turn over the tiniest of pebbles looking for dirt, and if there is any dirt to find, they will find it. This recurrent Russian-connection thing may be just smoke, but until Mr. Trump can prove that there isn’t a fire behind it, he can’t move forward.

“Fake News” – A Struggle to Survive

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Fake news is all about the money.

Capitalism is “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.” The pursuit of profit in a free market is a science unto itself, as capitalists aggressively hawk their goods and services to a population of consumers willing to purchase what they have to sell.

Among the long list of goods and services attracting consumer dollars is information. Consumers require information to make informed decisions regarding their health and finances; consumers also desire information about topics or persons that interest them. Wants and needs are the two driving forces that comprise the impetus of human civilization.  And people want, and need, information.
One category of information peddlers is news organizations. It takes money (LOTS of money) to pay salaries, run offices, distribute print products, operate TV networks and to maintain websites and blogs.

News organizations cannot survive without making a profit, and they constantly compete among one another for ever bigger slices of the consumer pie, known in the industry as “market share.” The bottom feeders have always been willing to lie, cheat and steal for a piece of that pie. These days the lying, cheating, and stealing has become much too commonplace, as competition for market share has become keen.

“Fake news” is all about the money.

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Fetal Bovine Serum, and a nice Chianti

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A Bay Area-based startup called Memphis Meats has figured out how to make a real meatball in the lab using beef cells, no livestock required.

As if it wasn’t weird enough that a guy from India, up in northern California, would grow beef muscle in a petri dish –  the business is named “Memphis Meats.”  Riiiight….

The lab-grown meat process goes something like this, according to CEO Uma Valeti.  Find ultra-high quality cows and pigs. Take meat cells from a pork shoulder or other cut of meat. Find the cells capable of self-renewal and cultivate them in a sterile environment. The cells are harvested early for tender cuts of meat, and harvested later for textured cuts.

No one making lab-grown meat, including Memphis Meats, has gotten around the fact that they need to use fetal bovine serum, which comes from unborn calves, to start the cell culture process. That means lab-grown meat, as of now, still requires the use of real animals. But Valeti told the Wall Street Journal that he’ll be able to replace the serum with “something plant-based” in the near future.

(A paid spokesperson, obviously)

“Mama mia! That’s a spicy ball of fetal bovine serum!”

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