Category: Domestic Affairs
The Twenty First Century Challenges
Doctor Fauci and other infectious disease specialists are saying the coronavirus may never go away. The best we can hope for is controlling the spread of this disease. The consequences are staggering.
No more crowding onto a San Francisco cable car. How will subways in NYC, Boston, Los Angeles and other cites function? Long waits to board a ferry because social distancing limits the capacity. Stretched lines to enter your local supermarket. Auto shows and other conventions eliminated because of social distancing requirements that cannot be reasonably enforced. Movie theaters with seats removed (can they survive with fewer attendees?). Big weddings will be a thing of the past (No hora or other group dancing).
On the plus side there will be plenty of room to stretch out at the Hollywood Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and other large venues. The public is more health conscious than ever in history.
Sadly America’s leadership is a failure. Politics prevails over national unity. Two old men fighting for the presidency and neither has one good sound idea on how to bring the country back to normalcy.
I am crying for the United States.
Trump, on the fringe of reality, walks out of briefing after CNN question
Once again Donald Trump promotes hydroxychloroquine cure for COVID-19. Then he doubles down on fringe theories promoting the views of a doctor Stella Immanuel who has previously attracted ridicule for claiming that alien DNA is included in medical treatments and that gynecological problems can be caused by people having sex with demons in their dreams.
Conservative columnist George F. Will writes “Biden’s election will end national nightmare.”
Have we all gone completely mad?
Are the clever, humorous marketing labels given to ethnic products at Trader Joe’s to be denied?
“Trader Ming’s”, “Trader Jose’s” and “Trader Giotto’s” are all meant to be amusing.
Instead of being racist, these ethnic names draw attention to the fact that many popular, beloved foods in America originated in other countries, thus paying tribute to their country of origin and highlighting the fact that immigrants have contributed to the enrichment and expansion of our culinary repertoire and gustatory pleasure. In truth, American cuisine is a “melting pot,” or smorgasbord, of foods from all over the world.
Are these titles any more ethnic or offensive than Polish sausage, English muffins or German chocolate cake, to name a few? Or will there be another demand to also change these names?
It’s all about political correctness.
Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR all made mistakes but they were the guiding lights that made the country great. John Muir did impact the way we treat the environment. Elon Musk has lots of problems but he also pushed the electric car market into prominence.
Try focusing on that.
Incapable of Leadership
Donald Trump, “I alone can fix it.” There are two ways of reading this slightly ambiguous sentence. First, in the way that Trump presumably meant it, that he is the one uniquely capable of fixing what is broken in Washington and politics. Second, that he could fix it alone, that is, without allies and alliances.
It was so damn is easy for Donald Trump to take on the war against the coronavirus. “I view it as — in a sense — of wartime president,” Trump said in March. He followed that up saying, “I mean, that’s what we’re fighting. I mean, it’s a very tough situation here.”
However, instead of telling Americans they had to sacrifice to win the war on the virus by asking everyone to do his part by just wearing a mask and doing social distancing, he retreated and left every city and state to fend for itself.
When the public was peacefully demonstrating in Lafayette Square, Trump had the area cleared so he could stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church. But without words written by speechwriter Steven Miller he stood there holding up a bible and he said nothing.
Trump was reportedly briefed on the alleged bounties offered by Russia to kill American soldiers in his daily presidential intelligence document but failed to act on the info given. He did nothing about the Russian program and denied he had been briefed.
Roger Jason Stone is an American conservative political consultant, lobbyist, and convicted felon was given a pardon by Trump. That was a signal to all of his political friends. The message is stick with me and I will protect you no matter what you may have done.
Will Trump be re-elected? His faithful followers could easily make that happen. Trump is an outstanding communicator when he has a script. Joe Biden has no passionate followers.
GoFundMe is a Form of Panhandling
As I parked my car at the local gasoline station I was approached by a panhandler who asked if I had any spare change. He explained he had lost his wallet and just needed some money for gas to get home.
At the super market I hear the same kinds of refrain.
Today the tech savvy have found a new way to beg for money. It’s the gofundme.com website. Want to do a memorial for someone who passed away this is the place to obtain the funds.
Solomon Joseph is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Jade Winicki in South Pasadena California and raised more than $30,000. On the web site this was posted. “The world will never be the same without him and he will forever be in all of our hearts. We know that heaven gained an angel and find comfort knowing that he will watch over all of us for the rest of our lives.
In Memory of Saji & Julie Abraham
Our Uncle, Saji Abraham, suddenly departed this world on Wednesday … $216,779 raised
A memorial for Sierra Germany Warith raised more than $28,000.
Nick Cordero, Broadway actor, GoFundMe has raised over $867,000 to pay for medical bills and provide for his family.
I have financial issues too. Maybe I should start a gofundme page. That really would make me a hypocrite. Should I care if I can raise $50,000?
I’m really not selfish. I donate money every year to six different charities. When my local NPR station said lack of donations due to the covid virus had disrupted their usual source of contributions, I sent them an extra $50. But spare change. Who has spare change?
John Wayne: The World War II Hero Who Didn’t Serve
John Wayne was a mediocre actor. Watch his movies and you will hear his stiff unemotional delivery of his lines.
No one was more a hero in World War II than John Wayne. At least that’s what the aliens will think when they view the historical footage documented in old Hollywood reels such as the Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Flying Tigers (1942), and The Longest Day (1962). Of course, we know better now. But if you’re a child of World War II, who reveled in the Duke’s onscreen heroics while welling up with pride, maybe there’s still some wiggle room to take solace in. For everyone else, fire away.
He received a 3-A deferment from the draft for family dependency since he was a father of four and had just made Stagecoach (1939) as a then unknown actor. That film also began a career of collaboration with John Ford, the iconic director who had his eye on Wayne since his days as a football player at USC and the numerous stand-in and stuntman roles he performed in previous westerns.
In real life John Wayne was no hero. He never served in the military. He was also a racist. In a 1971 Playboy interview Wayne said “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.” Also in the interview, Wayne, whose Western films like “The Searchers” were accused of perpetuating stereotypes about Native Americans, accused Native Americans of “selfishly trying to keep (North America) to themselves.”
Why the Orange County California airport changed its name to John Wayne Airport will forever be a mystery.
It’s a Culture War
I take no joy posting this on the 4th of July but the president has given me no choice.
President Donald Trump spoke at Mount Rushmore on Friday night, claiming “the left wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American revolution.”
The reality is that the United States is changing from a majority White society to a majority No-White society. That White culture is based upon European decedents. Many of those people fear the consequences of the changing racial and religious make-up of the country.
The combative address in South Dakota, using one of the more dramatic and historical backdrops of his presidency, came as Trump trails badly behind Joe Biden in public opinion polls amid a rapidly spreading pandemic, high unemployment and a national re-examination of the role of racism in American history.
Trump has indicated repeatedly — sometimes employing racist rhetoric or dog whistles — that he believes his best hope at victory lies in rallying his largely White voting base around the idea that demands for change amount to an attack on American values and culture.
Donald Trump is playing on that fear at every opportunity! His strategy for winning the November election is obvious. He is saying, “White people, you need me because I will protect your culture.” In low minority states he is likely to win.
He is correct. Fear may be is his path to victory.
Independence Day
The United States Declaration of Independence is the pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. The Declaration explained why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule.
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Abortion Rights Protected
In the U.S. legal system, there is a principle that compels judges to respect the precedent established by prior decisions on similar cases. This principle is known as “stare decisis” (Latin). This means that courts should adhere to precedent, and not stir the pot on matters already settled.
The above explanation copied from legaldictionary.net explains the reason Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the four “liberal” judges on the Supreme Court in blocking Louisiana’s anti-abortion law. Precedent was set by the striking down a similar law passed by Texas and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe versus Wade. Jeffrey Toobin, a legal analyst on CNN, explained this in this linked video.
Our legal system is derived from United Kingdom common law and has been adopted by most of the world. Unfortunately that was the reason laws allowing separate but equal in the schools and other Jim Crow laws took decades to overturn.
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. These laws were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by White Democratic-dominated state legislatures to disenfranchise and remove political and economic gains made by Blacks during the Reconstruction period. The Jim Crow laws were enforced until 1965.
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