Category: Social Behavior

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.

Theodore Roosevelt-with conservationist John Muir at Glacier-Point in 1903

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.

Painting Lipstick on a Pig

To put “lipstick on a pig” is a rhetorical expression, used to convey the message that making superficial or cosmetic changes is a futile attempt to disguise the true nature of a product or person.

That is the job of Donald Trump’s campaign manager. Trump Replaced Brad Parscale as Campaign Manager, Elevating Bill Stepien.  Both men are loyal Republican Party operatives with many years of campaign management experience.

However, Stepien will be confronted with the same issue that challenged Parscale.  Trump thinks he is smarter than everyone else and he knows how to run his campaign.

A Washington Post article by Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa summarizes the Trump campaign dilemma.
The Trump administration so far has no clear national plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 135,000 in the United States. The president has continued to defend the Confederate flag — a symbol of slavery and racism to many Americans — and, in the wake of national protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody in Minneapolis, played an actively divisive role, trafficking in racist and other offensive statements.

That leaves Stepien with only one task.  Make Joe Biden appear so bad that Americans will decide that no matter how bad Trump is, Biden will be worse.  As a smart campaign manager Stepien will do everything he can to make the president look good.  His challenge will be difficult since Trump has painted himself a victim of a media led war against him.  Trump repeatedly veers from his planned presentations as he did just a few days ago when he held a press conference that was supposed to be about China.

Since Stepien has just stepped into the job yesterday, July 15, we don’t know how he will accomplish his task.  It will be difficult because most people already know Biden’s life history both in politics and his personal life.

Painting lipstick on Donald Trump will not make him pretty because he won’t behave and he is a pig.

Something to Consider and Think About!

Someone I know forwarded this article to me.

Subject: Fwd: something to consider

While waiting for life to get back to normal consider this…

 

If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village

consisting of 100 people, maintaining the proportions of all the

people living on Earth, that village would consist of:

 

57 Asians

21 Europeans

14 Americans (North, Central and South)

8 Africans

 

There would be:

52 women and 48 men

30 Caucasians and 70 non-Caucasians

30 Christians and 70 non-Christians

89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals

 

6 people would possess 59% of the wealth and they would all come from the USA

 

80 would live in poverty

70 would be illiterate

50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition

1 would be dying

1 would be being born

1 would own a computer

1 (yes, only one) would have a university degree

 

If we looked at the world in this way,

the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious.

 

But, consider again the following :

 

If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than

one million people, who won’t live through the week.

 

If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of

prison, the pain of torture, were not close to death from starvation,

then you are better off than 500 million people.

 

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will

assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion (that’s right) people.

 

 

If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head

and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.         

 

 

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet and a few

coins in your purse, you are one of 8 of the privileged few among the

100 people in the world.

 

If your parents are still alive and still married, you’re a rare individual.

 

If someone sent you this message, you’re extremely lucky, because

someone is thinking of you ~ and because you don’t comprise one of

those 2 billion people who can’t read.

 

AND SO?

 

Work like you don’t need the money.

Love like nobody has ever hurt you.

Dance like nobody is watching.

Sing like nobody is listening.

and Live as if this was paradise on Earth.

 

I hope you Send this message to your friends.

If you don’t send it, nothing will happen….

If you do send it, someone might smile while they are reading it,

and that will be a positive.

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?

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.

There are No German Bases named “Hitler”

Robert E Lee 1863

Germany has tried its very best to put its Nazi history behind it.  The German government has paid reparations to families who were victims of the Nazi regime.  Those that did fight WW2 for Nazi Germany mostly do not want to even talk about their part in that war.  There are no bases and no statues honoring those who fought that war valiantly for their nation.  But here in the United States the South still holds General Robert E. Lee as a hero.  Lee was a colonel in the United States army before the confederacy. Lee was a traitor.

The South has continued honoring confederate military leaders to this day. Fort Benning is named for Henry L. Benning, a brigadier general Confederate States army.  Fort Bragg is named for Civil War veteran General Braxton Bragg.  Both of these men were traitors to the United States.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business (US 80 Bus.) across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, is named after Edmund Winston Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general and U.S. senator.  He too is a traitor.

In my working days I traveled to the South three times and each time I was advised not to discuss anything about slavery, Black people, or anything about the confederacy.  In spite of my best efforts there were always some people who wanted to discuss those issues.

Who is the Loser?

 

Trump-Nixon by Theo Moudakis Toronto Star

Former Secretary of State and Republican Colin Powell said in a Sunday CNN appearance that he cannot support President Trump for reelection this year because Trump has “drifted away” from the Constitution, and will instead vote for former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee⁠—and joins a growing number of the GOP and military leaders who have denounced Trump:

Former President George W. Bush (and the last Republican to hold the office) will not vote for Trump, according to a Saturday New York Times report.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush⁠—George W.’s brother⁠—is unsure of who he’ll cast his vote for in November, the Times reported.

Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Trump’s first SecDef and a four-star Marine general, published a blistering denouncement of Trump in The Atlantic Wednesday, writing, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.”

Marine Gen. John Kelly, a former Trump chief of staff, said “I think we need to look harder at who we elect” in a June 5 interview and that he agreed with Mattis’ statement in The Atlantic.

Longtime Trump clasher Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) will not vote for Trump this November, while Cindy McCain, widow of Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona (and another sometimes-Trump foe) is likely to vote for Biden, per the Times report; Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is “struggling” over whether to support Trump.

Retired Navy Admiral William McRaven, director of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, condemned Trump’s use of law enforcement to clear protesters from a Washington, D.C. church in order to have a photo op, while Marine Gen. John Allen wrote in Foreign Policy that Trump “failed to project any of the higher emotions or leadership desperately needed” during this time of unrest.

Of course Donald Trump will call all of these people losers.  Could it be that Trump is the loser?

“…One nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”

I am struck with the hanging of American flags in my neighborhood.  That is good.  The pledge recited to the flag is not a pledge to the government but to our society ending in the words  “…One nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
 

In my opinion the current marches around this country are demands for justice.  That is what makes this weekend so important.  Sadly the message has not been heard by many Americans.