Looking Out for Each Other
Not only is the story at left touching, it’s prescriptive of a way of life that almost everyone would prefer over the one we have now.
Tagged with: Looking Out for Each Other
A Talk with a Young Politician
I just had the pleasure of meeting a freshly minted Boston College graduate who, in the fall, will become an intern for Democratic Whip (second highest ranking House Democrat) Katherine Clarke (pictured). The young man is quite excited about his new position, as he himself aspires to a career in politics.
A couple of highlights from our talk:
I told him that if I run into him in the future, I would love to hear everything he did to remove Trump from office. (I got a hearty chuckle in reply.)
He acknowledged that these are dark days for America, but he said, “If you’re going to be in politics, you’re going to run into both good and bad times. Falling prey to pessimism or despair isn’t a healthy approach.” To which I responded, “Hey, that’s profound. Go get ’em.”
Tagged with: dark days for America
Looking at the Demographics in Rich and Poor States
We’re all seen graphics that remind us that blue states tend to be far wealthier that red states; one of which is at the left. Note that all the wealthiest top six states voted for Harris in 2024, and all the poorest eight voted for Trump.
Why is this? I’m not sure there is a solid answer, other than the obvious: educated people tend a) to be affluent, and b) to vote against would-be authoritarians like Trump.
What do you notice when you drive through California? NVidia, Apple, Google (Alphabet), Facebook (Meta), Visa, Netflix, Uber, Disney, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Salesforce, Hewlett-Packard, and Adobe, to name a few.
If you’ve ever driven through “Trump country,” i.e., the southern, mid-western and plains states, you’ve seen that such financial and industrial giants are hard to come by.
Tagged with: Rich and Poor States
American Authoritarianism
As American actor Jeff Daniels points out, the United States finds itself on the brink of authoritarianism.
Tagged with: American Authoritarianism
For Better or Worse, Human Beings Are Complicated
The answer to Dr. Goodall’s question at left is our intelligence is only part of the package that is humankind. We mustn’t forget about our greed, tribalism, and cruelty.
Tagged with: Human Beings Are Complicated
Elementary School Science
In fourth grade, at age 9, we learned how eclipses work, and why the garbage at left is impossible. How sad that, a generation or two later, we live among morons.
As a clever reader notes: This world couldn’t get any darker. Good for you.
DEI in Today’s Workplace
From Newsweek:
Cracker Barrel has been targeted by a law firm seeking to defend President Donald Trump‘s policies amid allegations that the restaurant’s diversity drives are “discriminatory.”
America First Legal (AFL) has called for an official probe into the Southern restaurant chain “for potential violations of federal and state civil rights laws stemming from its discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.”
Some of Cracker Barrel’s initiatives to develop employees are focused specifically on supporting workers who are women, Black, LGBTQ+, or Latino, according to AFL. This means they “appear to offer employment benefits that are only available based on an employees’ race or sex,” the Washington D.C.-based law group said in a press release on Monday.
At my company’s high-water mark in the late 1990s, I employed approximately 115 people, and we were most definitely “DEI.” I gave explicit instructions to my HR people to hire, all other things being equal, women and people of color, because I thought that it was the best thing for the company, and the right thing to do for our world.
Of course, this was thirty years before the Donald Trump / Stephen Miller era of hate and stupidity. Moreover, my business was part of the public sector, and it never dawned on me that someone would challenge me here, given that I was the one writing the paychecks. I figured that had to count for something.
Today, apparently, all bets are off.
Tagged with: DEI in Today's Workplace
You Can Own Shares in “The” Company Replacing Wood, But Think About this for a Second
I’m trying to guess how many replacements for wood we have around us. For decks alone, there are at least eight. We don’t have “a” company replacing wood as building materials; we have many dozens.
If you’re an expert in the subject, and you think these people with their super-flamboyant “television personality” spokesperson is the very best, feel free to invest today.
Maybe you’ll be glad you did. Lol. I highly doubt it.
Tagged with: wood replacement
Why Are We Trifling about Trump’s Letters to HIs Friends?
Being on some criminal’s “list” and writing letters about “beautiful secrets” are not crimes.
By contrast, statutory rape is a crime. How hard would it be to take this monster down for his actual crimes?
Tagged with: Trump's Letters to HIs Friends
The Trump Phenomenon Is So Weird
The strangest part about the Trump phenomenon in the United States is that, until very recently, this country had a profound reverence for its Founding Fathers and their perspective on how American government should function (see left).
Tagged with: Trump phenomenon
