Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Don’t wear them short socks…

I was in Columbia, Illinois at the first convenience store you encounter when you cross the Mississippi River into Illinois.  I stop there as it is cheaper to buy a soft drink for my round of golf there instead of at the golf course.

As I was standing in line a fellow came up behind me toting a 12 pack of Busch Light and talking on his cell phone a little loud, which is what caused me to notice him, although there was nothing unusual these days in this.

As I stood in line I heard him say, “I don’t wear those short socks.”

“Well,” I thought, “that is a bit of a strange conversation.”

Then he went on, “They don’t hide my ankle holster.”

My new best friend…not.

The rest of the conversation was about preferred grips on pistols.

In Missouri it is a free-for-all on concealed carried, and you do not even need a permit.  Illinois takes a totally different approach.  So either he was a Missouri resident and/or an Illinois scofflaw.

My personal opinion is that this country has a terminal illness when it comes to guns. Hunting is one thing, but I have a hard time imagining why anyone would need a pistol, and especially why they would  need to carry one concealed.

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Missouri GOP Looking to Criminalize State Teachers

The following article appeared in the local alternative newspaper RiverFront Times:   Missouri Bill Makes Teachers Sex Offenders If They Accept Trans Kids’ Pronouns

1st Objection

Personally, I am not a big fan of this whole pronoun phenomenon, BUT as it says in the Book of David 1:1

“Within the bounds of the Golden Rule, people being who they are, and loving who they love are not immoral acts.”

I once worked with a fellow named Walter.  He was very insistent on being called Walter and not the diminutive of Walt. I understand as I prefer the formal David to any of the diminutives of that name, but most of the time I just let it slide.  I am just generally glad someone has acknowledged my existence by calling me by name.

I see selecting a personal pronoun, more of less, in this same category.  And yeah, I realize there is a serious qualitative difference, but isn’t it the GOP that spouts all these libertarian ideals… like getting rid of helmet laws and allowing folks to carry firearms wherever they want.

The kicker for me is from the article:

“We showed that the more contexts or settings where they were able to use their preferred name, the stronger their mental health was,” the author of the study, Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin professor and chair of human development and family science, said. 

Transgender youth already face a heightened risk of suicidal ideation. Another recent study, this one by the Trevor Project, showed that in 2022 nearly half (45 percent) of LGBTQ youth surveyed seriously contemplated suicide. One in five attempted it.

Sadly the article went on to say:

Missouri remains at the forefront of anti-trans legislation efforts and is one of the most prolific in the nation for bills targeting trans youth. 

2nd Objection

My wife, Señora, was a  special education teacher, retiring after more than 30 years in the profession.  It had changed from a job she dearly loved to one she had a very hard time with.  The last three or four years she taught, at the beginning of the school year she cried for a couple weeks from having to go back.  It is, without a doubt, a very hard profession, one that does not pay particularly well when you consider the level of education and expertise required.  I could write several blog articles on why the profession has become so difficult, but the burnout rate speaks for itself.  If you are interested here is an article on the subject: K-12 Workers Have Highest Burnout Rate in U.S.

And now the Missouri GOP wants to criminalize teachers for doing their jobs and supporting students that who in all likelihood are already having a very hard time adjusting. I just cannot get my head around the fact that there are individuals out there that want to force teachers to register as sex offenders for saying he or she when this person’s rigid beliefs insists it should have been she or he.

Some things are more than a little wrong.

A Little Lagniappe

Interestingly enough the British newspaper, The Guardian, picked up this story: Missouri: home to child marriage, corporal punishment and sick ‘child welfare’ ideas

Sometimes I do not know if I am more embarrassed by living in Missouri or being from Oklahoma.

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Supreme Court Ethics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

I truly have never been more discouraged about this country than I have been in the last few years… this Supreme Court definitely plays into that discouragement.

I would hate to see John Oliver give this awful Supreme Court Justice $1,000,000 a year for life, but he certainly does not need to be on the Supreme Court bench.  Of course Clarence Thomas is 75 years old, statistically he will likely be out of here within 8 or 10 years.  However, at the end of the day, John Oliver has made a bet with himself that Clarence Thomas will not accept his offer.

We should have listened to Anita Hill.

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I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not

The following article from the alternative newspaper, Riverfront Times, popped up in my Google news feed: Missouri Ranks Dead Last in National Survey of LGBTQ+ Equality

I Misunderstood Missouri

I moved to St. Louis after living and working in Mississippi for over three years. While I left some good friends behind I was more than glad to get away from the religious conservatism that dominates politics down there.  My first impression of Missouri was of St. Louis which left me with a hopeful feeling. Then I discovered the rest of Missouri.   While St. Louis is more of a purple with bluish hues, the politics of the rest of the state is a Trumpian dystopia concerned with protecting so called guns rights and waging cultural battles against basic individual rights and freedoms, especially against women and folks with alternate lifestyles. It is deeply red, and, for me, very discouraging to the point of being depressing. Of course, I am an Okie by birth and with Oklahoma’s super hard turn to the far right, I find my native state even more depressing.

Why Would You Care

I really do not care what consenting Continue reading “I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not”

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Bill Maher On Current Middle East Crisis

I used to be a bit of a Bill Maher fan, but not so for the last several years.  I now find him to be a self-righteous pendejo, and thus hard to watch.  However, the video below was embedded in an article  that appeared in the online version of the St. Louis Jewish Light: ‘Where do you think Israel is going?’ Bill Maher quips in viral eight-minute clip.

Maher makes a lot a sense to me in his segment.  At some point you just have to move on.  Of course, it took me a few years to stop lamenting about some of the fallout from my divorce, but you just do it. Sometimes you just need to let go.

Given that this is Bill Maher, the language is reasonably clean.

If you want a good quick review of the current history of Israel and The Occupied Territories, I discussed a recently published book by Daniel Skotach at this link: Can We Talk About Israel?

And is almost always the case, there are two sides to the story, if not more.  I discussed a 2005 Arabic language movie about the recruitment of two young West Bankers to be suicide bombers here: Paradise Now | Revisited

While not Jewish myself, my wife is, so much of this strikes close to home. Especially so as our October trip to Israel – a lifetime dream of my spouse – was cancelled abruptly.

And so it goes in this absurdity we call life.

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Banned Books, Burned Books

“But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.” ~~ Mark Twain in a letter to Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, 7 February 1907

I recently finished watching a truly excellent and very timely course from Wondrium, Banned Books, Burned Books: Forbidden Literary Works taught by Maureen Corrigan, Ph.D. Ms. Corrigan is a professor at Georgetown University, a book critic for NPR, a contributor to several of the most prominent newspapers of the country, has served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, an author in her own right, and on and on.  She is unquestionably Continue reading “Banned Books, Burned Books”

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Ron DeSantis Has Asked Pope Francis to Fire These Nuns

Ron DeSantis has asked Pope Francis to fire the nuns in this picture.

“They are obviously setting a bad example for our children visiting such a pornographic exhibit,” he stated with his resting disgust face, “what was the Pope thinking letting these nuns loose with a selfie-stick instead of rulers?”

“Besides, finding humor in the male anatomy is a blatant example of Critical Size Theory, and makes some of us question our manhood,”  the Governor continued, pulling up his white boots.

Finally adding, “A man’s wee-wee should never see the light of day. The Italian government should require this museum to put a kilt on this statue… for decency sake. I really don’t care if it is considered one of the greatest pieces of art ever produced. Everyone knows that those supposed art critics work for Disney.”

Yup, I intentionally channeled my inner Andy Borowitz.

And so it goes.

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Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course

If you are of my generation or older you remember the day President John F. Kennedy was shot, 22 November 1963.  I was in 6th grade at an elementary school in Toms River, New Jersey. It was the first time in my educational career that I had had a male teacher.  He was a very tall, skinny man who I remember mainly because he was male and his reaction to the Kennedy news.  When they announced over the loudspeaker that the President had been assassinated, this man cried.  However, when I raised my hand after Continue reading “Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course”

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Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion

One of the guiding principles of my life is live and let live.  If I were being honest, I would have to admit to falling short of this goal far too often, but it is a light I steer towards.  In that same vein I have a mantra I recite whenever I am speaking or thinking about religious beliefs or sexual orientation, “Life is tough, whatever gets you through the day, whatever gets you through the night.”

My issue with many Christians, especially Evangelicals and Catholics, and Continue reading “Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion”

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