American Cliches and Expressions

by | Jun 7, 2019 | English Expressions

I’m fascinated by the hundreds of clichés we use every day where the words utilized have nothing to do with the meaning of the expression. It’s amazing how clichés develop because reading or listening to  the words never gives you a clue. Imagine someone from a foreign country, who’s learning English, reading these words while trying to figure out what they mean. We’ll talk more about this and related grammatical issues in the future. But for now, here are a few examples below. Please read the clichés and maybe you’ll understand why they are so fascinating to me.

Beat Around the Bush
Bite the Bullet
Blood Is Thicker Than Water
Bring Home the Bacon
Burning The Candle At Both Ends
Give Her the Cold Shoulder
Cut to the Chase
He was “Called on the Carpet”
The “Cat’s got your tongue”
Play it “Close to the Vest”
She “broke his heart”
We’re “holding his feet to the fire”
He has a “Green Thumb”
She’s making money “Hand Over Fist”
It’s a piece of cake
I’ve Been Around the Block a Few Times
Keep His Nose Clean
Keep Your Chin Up
Let the Cat Out of the Bag
Keep His “Nose to the Grindstone”
Push the Envelope
Money Talks
More Than One Way To Skin a Cat
Red Carpet Treatment
Red Tape
They “Tied the Knot”
The “other shoe dropped”
There are no silver bullets
Until the Cows Come Home
Watch Your Ps and Qs
Whole Ball of Wax
They Went “Belly Up”
Whole Nine Yards
Wild Goose Chase
He speaks with a forked tongue
Drop a Dime on him
This might “Open a Can of Worms”
Our CEO “Weighed In” on the issue
Our new employee needs to “get her feet wet”

A Cure for Cancer?

by | Jan 29, 2019 | Health

A Cure for Cancer?

Throughout our lifetime, the primary treatment for cancer was chemotherapy, which not only kills cancer cells, it also simultaneously kills the good cells. Many patients reported the side effects of chemotherapy were as bad as, or even worse than the cancer.  But the 21st century brought new advances in computer technology which enabled scientists to understand DNA and the body’s genetic system. I know very little about the science, but the results of that research helped foster a very different approach, immunotherapy. With this technique, finding ways to get the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells, has brought a level of excitement never before seen in cancer treatment.

Here are 2 different approaches which I think illustrate why the research scientists are so excited about the near term future of cancer treatment.

60 Minutes did a fascinating report on how the Duke University medical school was using the polio virus to treat a certain type of brain tumor, which almost always resulted in death. The initial study and treatment was very encouraging as some patients, who would have died, survived, and are living a normal life.

The following comes from a June 26, 2018 story on CNN’s website. “An engineered version of poliovirus improved the overall survival rate of patients with a lethal form of brain cancer, according to results from a phase one clinical trial. Among 61 patients with recurrent glioblastoma who received the experimental therapy, 21% will survive for three years or longer, compared with just 4% of patients treated with multiple sessions of chemotherapy, the current standard therapy. “This is only the first step, and it’s opening the door to multiple new trials,” said Dr. Matthias Gromeier, a co-author of the study and a professor of neurosurgery at the Duke University School of Medicine.

I don’t know much about this Israeli team and/or the validity of their claims, but there was a fascinating story in the NY Post on January 29, 2019.

“A team of Israeli scientists claim they will likely develop a cure for cancer in the next year, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.  The new treatment is being developed by Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies under the leadership of CEO Dr. Ilan Morad, according to the report.

“We believe we will offer in a year’s time a complete cure for cancer,” said Dan Aridor, chairman of the company’s board. “Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market.” The treatment, called MuTaTo, will use a combination of cancer-targeting peptides and a toxin that will specifically kill cancer cells.”

Fox Versus the Real World

by | Jan 15, 2019 | Politics

Trump’s campaign, transition team, inaugural committee, business, and his administration are under investigation by the Southern District of NY and/or the Mueller team. However, the Fox propaganda network has a very different perspective on the events of the past 2 years. They’re telling their viewers that the paragon of virtue and honesty, currently living in the White House, is a victim of a corrupt FBI and Justice Department who are trying to negate the 2016 election. This is their “Deep State” theory. Robert Mueller, who is a war hero and a man who dedicated his life to serving his country, is considered an enemy of America by those who subscribe to Fox propaganda.

Fox implies, or actually says, the wide array of people in Trump’s orbit who plead guilty and became convicted felons are also victims. If you listen to Fox, those who plead guilty didn’t do such voluntarily, they were tricked into their plea by a devious and tricky FBI. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox will soon claim the corrupt FBI put a gun to their heads, forcing them to offer a plea of guilty by force In addition, Fox doesn’t see the criminal enterprise Trump runs as a problem for Americans. In Trump World, he’s never held accountable or responsible for anything negative. It’s never Trump’s fault, they always find someone else to blame. And that’s usually President Obama or Hillary, or in this case, it’s their belief in a corrupt Justice Department and FBI.

You will never see Fox call the President a pathological liar. Can you imagine that? In the year 2019, we have a President who tells one lie after another. He contradicts what he said yesterday, by saying the complete opposite today. This is almost as scary as their lack of criticism when Trump calls the press an enemy of the people. Every budding dictator knows the biggest stumbling block to doing away with democracy is eliminating a free press. Study the rise of Hitler in the 1930s and you’ll see an eerie resemblance to the rise of Trump. At his numerous rallies, Hitler would say, “Make Germany Great Again”. Instead of immigrants and Muslims being the scapegoats, it was the Jews and Communists. Hitler took over the free press, he replaced them with the Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Hitler than eliminated the police; in their place he installed storm troopers and the Gestapo.

Finally, Fox uses the Joseph Goebbels propaganda technique. They understand very well if you repeat something endlessly to their low IQ viewers, who never do research of their own, they will believe it. There are many examples, but start by examining illegal immigrants. Much of Trump’s base lives in rural America, where they will probably never meet nor have any contacts with illegal immigrants. Yet they incredibly believe immigrants are coming to invade their towns, take away their jobs, and become a burden on the taxpayer. The mere mention of the term illegal immigrant makes a Trump supporter’s blood pressure soar. Fox is a major threat to our American democracy.

Trump’s Base and the Mueller Investigation

by | Jan 11, 2019 | Politics

Members of Trump’s low IQ base live in an alternate reality devoid of the truth and facts. In their world, both Fox and Trump repeatedly state the Mueller Investigation is a waste of time (a witch hunt). Of course they always believe everything both Trump and Fox tell them. One always hear them say Mueller hasn’t produced any evidence of collusion with Russia. By the way, collusion is not a federal crime, but conspiracy to commit whatever is a federal crime.

For those people who aren’t swayed by Fox propaganda and keep up with the multiple investigations, they know the Mueller Team hasn’t been working for over 15 months on nothing.

  • Multiple members of Trump’s campaign and administrative teams are, or will soon be, convicted felons.
  • Most of Trump’s cabinet members tried, but couldn’t work with the dishonest imbecile in the White House
  • Trump’s personal attorney’s admitted to an array of illegal activities while representing Trump
  • Trump obviously obstructed justice when he fired Comey and talked about it on national television

In order to believe the theory promulgated by Fox and Trump, one would have to believe one or both of the following highly unlikely scenarios.

  1. Even though Trump hired an array of convicted felons in his administration and campaign, he was the only individual in that group who was honest. 
  2. Despite running a criminal enterprise before entering the White House, Trump suddenly decided to become an honest person. This 2nd one has me LOL.

Finally, one has to always ask themselves why almost everyone in the Comrade Trump Administration LIED about their contacts with Russians.