Trump Indicted

Trump has been indicted by a New York grand jury. We dot not know if it is “felony” offence or “misdemeanor” offence until he surrenders. It is expected Trump will surrender next Tuesday. 

Misdemeanor is a minor crime punishable by a fine or short-term jail. 

Felony is a more serious type of crime. 

I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am an Independent. Here are my observations:

Trump had an affair with a porn actress Stormy Daniels. When he was running for President in 2016, he paid her $130,000 thru his lawyer to buy her silence. His lawyer opened a shell company and paid this porn actress. Trump then reimbursed $130,000 to this shell company and logged as legal expenses in his company books. 

The prosecutors say Trump falsified business records by terming this reimbursement as legal fees. This is only a misdemeanor. But the prosecutors want to prove Trump falsified records to conceal another crime (campaign law violation). This would become a felony. 

I have quite a few readers who are excellent CPAs/CAs. I want their opinion. I am not an Accountant.  Correct me if I am wrong.  I think this is a bookkeeping error.

Federal prosecutors (from U.S. Department of Justice) investigated this case initially. They felt it was so weak, they declined to pursue it. New York State District Attorney (who is a Democrat) took up this case and sent it to grand jury. 

(In a grand jury, there is no judge and there is no defendant or his/her lawyers present to put their case. Only 23 jurors listen to what the prosecutor says and decide whether to indict someone or not.) 

His surrendering to the authorities is not that simple. It is more complicating. Trump is an ex-President of USA and he is supposed to be protected by Secret Service at all times. I don’t know how this will play out when he surrenders. 

Governor DeSantis of Florida. He is opposing Trump for the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 election. Trump lives in Florida. In case Trump decides not to go to New York and surrender for indictment, DeSantis said he will not allow New York Police to take him from Florida. 

I think Democrats made a mistake in indicting Trump. He will refer this indictment in a loud voice every day until the election day. He will get lot of sympathy votes. TV networks are obsessed with Trump and will cover him every day 24/7. That means lot of free publicity for him. Good or bad, he will be in the news all the time. 

Using the justice system or other branches of government to persecute the opposition makes America nothing better than a third world country.

ChatGPT (again)

A blogger friend of mine (Locomente) wrote a poetic blog post. In that I wrote as a comment: 

I loved it (the lines). “Then our paths drifted. We grew apart”. I don’t know how to turn these lines into poetry. 

Since I have been playing with ChatGPT nowadays, I thought I would ask it to write a poem for “Then our paths drifted. We grew apart”. Here is the ChatGPT generated poem. What do you think? 

Once upon a time, our paths intertwined, 

Our lives were entwined, our futures aligned, 

We laughed, we cried, we shared our dreams, 

Our friendship was a bond, or so it seemed. 

But as time passed by, our paths diverged, 

Our interests changed, our passions submerged, 

The things that once united us, no longer did, 

Our conversations turned stale, our laughter hid. 

Then our paths drifted, we grew apart, 

The ties that once bound us, no longer in our heart, 

We went our separate ways, and though we tried, 

To keep the connection alive, it slowly died. 

But the memories we shared, still remain, 

A reminder of a time when we weren't in vain, 

Though we may never cross paths again, 

The moments we had, will forever remain. 

So farewell, my friend, I wish you well, 

May your journey be blessed, your heart swell, 

And though our paths have drifted far apart,

You'll always hold a special place in my heart.

ChatGPT

Everyone is talking about how great this ChatGPT is. Therefore, I wanted to test it myself. I am not impressed. I asked this ChatGPT to give me an itinerary for visiting India for 10 days as a tourist. It gave me the following itinerary:

Day 1: Arrival in Delhi

Day 2: Delhi Sightseeing 

Day 3: Agra

Day 4: Jaipur

Day 5: Jaipur Sightseeing 

Day 6: Jodhpur

Day 7: Jaisalmer 

Day 8: Jaisalmer Sightseeing 

Day 9: Mumbai 

Day 10: Mumbai Sightseeing 

Or course, for each day it gave a detailed description of what to see in that city. I did not give them here because this will become a long blog post. 

Please remember I asked ChatGPT to give me an itinerary for visiting India (and not North India), Why no mention about Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Pune, and Palghat. (I mentioned Palghat because that would make my friend Madhu happy). 

There is a caveat at the end. It says: There are many other places in India worth visiting, so feel free to customize this itinerary based on your preferences and interest. 

If I know my preferences and interest, why would I ask ChatGPT.

Oscars

95th Academy Awards just concluded. Looks like, in recent years, a lot of Indians (particularly South Indians) are winning the coveted Oscar Awards. They are: 

A R Rahman (Best Original Score and Best Original Song) - 2008 

Rosul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing) - 2009 

MM Keeravani (for Best Original song) - 2023 

Kartiki Gonsalves (for Best Documentary Short) – 2023 

Of course, I have to mention other Indians who won this award. Bhanu Athaiya (Best Costume Design – 1982), Satyajit Ray (Honorary Award – 1992), Gulzar (Best Original Song – 2013), Guneet Monga (Best Documentary Short - 2023)

Now the regional movie personalities have come out of the shadows of Bollywood. 

I heard some unconfirmed rumor that the organizers of the Academy Awards are going to make some changes from next year. Since so many Indians from the Southern part of the nation are either being nominated or winning the Oscar Awards, they form a large crowd. Therefore, here are the upcoming changes in the food items. 

Reception – Kallu (palm wine) will be served instead of other alcoholic beverages. For hors d'oeuvres, Plantain Bajji and Fried Idlis will be served. 

There will be a dinner for winners after the awards ceremony. Here is the menu: 

Hyderabadi Biriyani 

Chettinad Chicken 

Bisibelebath 

Aviyal

Mysorepak (for sweet)

USA and Cricket

In USA, if you ask someone in the street what is cricket, he/she will reply it is an insect. Actually, the insect cricket looks like this. 

Americans were never interested in the game of cricket. This was before ODI and T20 matches. There were only test matches. Americans did not have the interest and patience to watch a test match for 5 days, almost 6 hours a day, with a break for lunch, tea, and drinks. They want all the games/matches to end in 3 hours. 

In the last 20 years, there are many Indians migrated to USA. In some schools majority of the students are of Indian origin. For example, the high school in the city of Fremont in California. The same is true in my own city, Dublin, California. In these schools, the administration introduced the game of cricket for the benefit of the Indian origin students. Slowly and steadily, non-Indian students are also taking interest in playing cricket. 

Why I am writing this? 

If only Americans play cricket, they will be dominating the game in the world. The first step has already been taken with the help of Indian Women’s Premier League. Delhi Capitals recruited an American player. She is Tara Norris from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In their first match, Delhi Capitals crushed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs. Tara Norris was the player of the match (4-0-29-5). 

I would bet within the next 25 years, USA will be world champions in all 3 forms of cricket – Test, ODI, and T20. 

Go USA Go.