July 28, 2020

Don’t know much about history

Don’t know much biology

Don’t know much about the science book

Don’t know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be

Don’t know much geography

Don’t know much trigonometry

Don’t know much about algebra

Don’t know what a slide rule is for

But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be

July 26, 2022

Running Man was a dance craze in the late 80’s. It looks like Senator Josh Hawley has done his best to revive it. Hawley was caught on camera running from the MAGA insurrectionists after he gave them the white power, clenched fist salute. Only Herschel Walker could have run faster. At the same time that the main networks were looping Harley’s run for glory, another station was interviewing Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the World Track and Field Championships. Smith and Carlos ran in the 1968 Olympics, finishing first and third in the 200 meters. On the awards platform, they both raised a black-gloved fist in support of Black Power. They were real runners, who were willing to suffer the consequences of their actions. They were expelled from the Olympic Games.

Smith and Carlos believed in a cause. You can draw a straight line from Black Power to Black Lives Matter. The specific issues may be different, but they both have a search for social justice as a common denominator. Josh Hawley doesn’t believe in anything. He is a craven opportunist. In the movie, “Casablanca,” Captain Renault famously said, “I have no conviction, if that’s what you mean. I blow with wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy.” Replace Vichy with Trump, and you have Josh Hawley. Josh Hawley probably plans on running again some day for something, and it will be just as disgusting as his run from the Capitol.

July 26, 2022

I have been trying to figure out why social media is so popular and addictive. It is not uncommon to see entire families at dinner with their heads down, doom scrolling through all their feeds and posts. I have sampled some social media websites out of curiosity, but remain free of all social media websites. I am not trying to be a curmudgeon. I just find them to be a colossal waste of time. But what makes them so enticing?

Social media is like popcorn. It keeps you busy, but it doesn’t get you anywhere. It can last a long time, but it really has very little nutritional value. You could starve to death on a diet of popcorn. In the same way, people are mentally starving to death on social media platforms.

Social media presents no challenge to the reader. We are all procrastinators, and we deal with the easy stuff first. Social media is an endless string of easy, non-threatening content. We can pretend we are enriching ourselves, but the reality is true enrichment takes focus. Social media is anything but focused.

Let’s face it. We all love gossip. There is nothing like dishing the dirt about others, and diverting attention from ourselves. We revel in the misfortunes of others. The internet is one, big yenta.

Andy Warhol made the phrase “fifteen minutes of fame” famous. We all want our moment in the sun. Social media can make us the topic of conversation for a New York nanosecond, which isn’t exactly the same as fifteen minutes. Posting something like this blog doesn’t make you famous. It just proves you can type, and are semi computer literate.

Lastly, we are all cheap. The two most powerful words in advertising are new and free. As long as you can abide the steady stream of pop-up ads, social media is free. Maybe at some time in the distant future, it will stop being new. If and when that happens (don’t hold your breath,) we will stop being its tool, and start using social media as our tool. In the meantime, in the words of the Talking Heads, “We’re on a road to nowhere.”

July 20, 2022

Polls tell us that voters want schools to spend more time on core subjects, and less time on teaching critical race theory. They also tell us that voters do not want schools to teach sexuality to kindergartners. It doesn’t matter that neither of these things are happening. Republicans like Ron DiSantis have been very effective in creating these straw man issues. Assuming these really are core issues for many voters, what do Republicans want our schools to teach?

Science is clearly not a core subject. The scientific evidence that the world is warming is overwhelming, but children are taught by their parents that you can’t believe the data because it is generated by the elites and the deep state. The scientific evidence that we were in a pandemic was dismissed by Trump, Fox News and others. The POTUS advocated hydroxychloroquine, UV light, and equine medication while he vilified the science coming out of the CDC and NIH. Georgia Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, is a walking scientific Rorschach Test for the Republican Party.

English is a core subject as long as we teach what Conservatives want us to teach. They are banning and burning books. Nobel Prize winners in literature don’t pass the Right’s litmus tests. Math is a core subject as long as it doesn’t involve counting. In real world math, 81,000,000 is greater than 74,000,000, but not in the Republican classroom. 74,000,000 is greater because 81,000,000 is a fake number. The study of foreign languages is part of the core curriculum as long as the foreign language comes from a Caucasian country, and not from a Muslim or shit hole country. The study of History is much too important to be left to historians in the MAGA universe. White, armed militia show up at school board meetings to make sure we don’t study the atrocities committed by white, armed militia.

Education used to be seen as the elevator to upward mobility. In the wrong hands, it could become the escalator down.

July 18, 2022

Donald Trump infamously tried to ban all Muslims from the United States. He made sure that Republicans would be paranoid about Muslim extremists and the fear of Shariah Law being imported from abroad. So where do Muslims stand on abortion?

The Koran does not directly address intentional abortion, leaving greater discretion to the laws of individual countries. There are no explicit prohibitions on a woman’s ability to abort her child under Islamic law. There are different schools of thought in Islam about when life begins. However, abortion is recommended any time when the mother’s life is in danger. No Muslim-majority country bans abortion in the case of the mother’s life being at risk. The mother’s life is paramount. It is not an offense for which there are criminal or even civil sanctions. Other reasons that are permitted by Muslim-majority countries include preserving a woman’s physical or mental health, fetal impairment, cases of incest or rape, and social or economic reasons.

Republican-controlled states are criminalizing women who seek abortions. They want to restrict travel to states that offer maternal healthcare. They want to criminalize anyone who aids and abets a woman seeking an abortion, and are willing to offer bounties to vigilantes to this end. They want to put doctors in jail. They want to force ten year old rape victims to carry fetuses to full term. The health of the mother is of no concern to them. They want to federalize abortion restrictions.

Congratulations, Republicans. You have traded international terrorism for a more comfortable form of domestic terrorism. And you have created a form of religious law that would make Muslims wince.

July 9, 2022

There is an old saying down South. “Wherever you find four Baptists, you’ll find a fifth.” It is an apparent attempt to point out the hypocrisy that comes with being born again. Pretty soon, the Supreme Court will decide that it is not your right to not be born again. Donald Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and get away with it. Apparently, he was right, and it is even easier now that you can open carry as you window shop. And we have an army general named Michael Flynn taking the fifth when asked if an armed insurrection of the Capitol can ever be justified. When answering the question, he looked like a Baptist after happy hour at the church. Not to pick on Baptists. Rudy Giuliani was credibly accused of over imbibing sacramental wine on election night as he was advising the President.

Beethoven’s Fifth takes the theme of heroic struggle. We all know the first four notes, dun dun dun dun. The Allies used it as a signal in WWII. I don’t see any heroes in the first paragraph. The Christian Coalition, the Supreme Court, Donald Trump, Michael Flynn and Rudy Giuliani are all co-conspirators in the overthrow of democracy and the diminution of personal rights. Donald Trump once said,”You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” Maybe the new saying should be, “Wherever you find four Republicans, one will be taking the fifth.”

July 6, 2022

When parents accept, love, and show affection to their children, even when they make mistakes or fall short of expectations, this is love unconditional. In other words, it is a form of love with no strings attached. Therefore, parents love their children for who they are, no matter what. Unqualified love is what makes identifying your own son as a mass murderer so difficult. We do not see our loved ones objectively. That is for other people. We see the potential in our loved ones, and ignore or dismiss the potential for disaster. In recent cases, parents actually abetted their sons in the purchase of firearms.

This may explain the fealty that too many people show to Donald Trump. After all, it was Trump himself, who said he could kill someone on Fifth Avenue and suffer no consequences. Only a child who knows the impotence of his parent would say something like that. Trumpies are incapable of reining in their man-child. They don’t see what is obvious to the rest of us. They have lost control of their child. Their child was willing to have Mike Pence hanged. Their child was willing to lead an armed insurrection to the Capitol, which caused the deaths of many and could have led to even more massive bloodshed. Trump supporters are okay with that because they have unconditional love for the ex-President. There is nothing he can do that could break the parental bond. To paraphrase a saying, “Don’t confuse them with the facts.”

July 5, 2022

The President of the United States is often referred to as the most powerful person in the world. We now have evidence that President Biden lives up to that reputation. In a relatively short period of time, he has engineered a global spike in energy prices and inflation. Around the world, from South Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, the cost of filling a car’s tank has skyrocketed.

Ecuador has had riots. Nigeria suffers. It may cost $125 to fill a tank in Great Britain. Hungary is rationing. Ghana used tear gas to quell demonstrators protesting the price of regular gas. In Manila, cabbies are now begging. Similar stories are coming from Laos, New Zealand, Denmark, and Hong Kong. Our neighbors in Mexico and Canada have their problems.

Biden is apparently responsible for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, two years of a pandemic, and global supply chain issues. And now, voters are willing to elect “Big Lie”Republicans because they believe the most powerful President of our times is also the least effective. Republicans are willing to sacrifice the environment, women’s reproductive rights and gun safety because they blame Biden for the price of a gallon of gas. Eventually, prices will come down, and not because Biden is the most powerful man in the world. They will come down due to natural forces. The war in Ukraine will wind down. Supply chains will restore themselves. And we may have a recession.

July 3, 2022

Now that the Supreme Court has made abortion illegal, and red states are following all over themselves to see who can enact the cruelest follow-on laws, women from all over the country are going to need alternatives for pre-natal healthcare. Women from blue states will not have a problem finding a qualified physician to perform an abortion. Unfortunately, for red state women, back alleys are back in play. Because of this and in the spirit of the American entrepreneurial spirit, I will be starting a new transportation company called Uter-US. Uter for short. Uter will have various levels of service.

UterXL will accommodate groups of six to the destination of your choice. It will be stocked with plenty of food and drinks because we know how hungry you get. You can share your tale of woe as you travel out of state. For an up charge, we will include an RN, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon.

Uter Comfort provides extra legroom because we know how uncomfortable long rides to adjoining states can be, assuming you live someplace where an adjoining state provides abortion services. If you live in a place like Louisiana, Uter Comfort is definitely for you.

Uter Black provides a premium ride in a luxury car for black women because black women are the ones most likely impacted by the new laws. At Uter, we believe that Black Wives Matter.

Uter Black SUV provides a premium ride for six in a luxury SUV. See above. We are trying to deal with the new abortion restrictions, not the energy crisis or environmental consequences.

Uter Green. If burning too much fossil fuel on the way to your abortion is a concern of yours, don’t worry. We have Uter Green where you will be whisked away quietly in your personal electric vehicle. This is also helpful in maintaining a low profile from vigilantes.

We do have Uter WAV for seniors, but this is not about you.

June 29, 2022

I hate to admit it, but I agree with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. The privileged white men who met in Philadelphia never considered the issue. The Bible does not guarantee the right to an abortion either because it is never mentioned in the Bible. Clearly, abortion is not a right like the sacred right to own a gun, which is enshrined in the Constitution.

However, we all have many rights that are not discussed in the Constitution. I have the right to burn as much fossil fuel as humanly possible. I have the right to be ignorant of facts and science. I have the right to vote for candidates who lie. I have the right to not get vaccinated. These are all rights that I have as I go about my daily business. These are not legal rights bestowed on me by the Constitution or any higher authority, but these are rights nonetheless. When I exercise these rights, I am not imposing my will or beliefs on others, which I have no right to do. In the same way, women have the right to terminate a pregnancy if they so choose. Abortion is not the imposition of a belief system on someone else. Regardless of what I believe or decide to do, you are still free to follow your own conscience. That is your right. Imposing your belief system on me is not your right. It is wrong.