Corruption in the White House
Recently, we learned about Trump’s practice of charging businesspeople $5 million for an audience with him. Now, we have the news at left.
Morally, America is in freefall. Is there no stopping this?
Tagged with: Corruption in the White House
Destroying America
At left is a subject of intense debate, i.e., how did the United States come to find itself governed by “a conman with the IQ of a jar of mayonnaise?”
The common wisdom, and I can’t offer any real improvement on it, is the decline in the U.S. educational system.
I had a dear friend about 45 years ago who hailed from the Netherlands, a country in which every boy and girl, by the time they graduated from high school and went on to college:
• Was fluent in Dutch, German and English
• Read Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes
• Played the piano fairly well–at least the intermediate pieces, e.g., the waltzes, nocturnes and mazurkas of Chopin
That was almost half a century ago. Think of how much further we’ve fallen since.
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U.S.–Canadian Relations
Yes, Trump “blew up” our friendship with our neighbor to the north, but it seems that the Canadians are taking all this philosophically, which is typical of their demeanor.
Intelligent and decent people are aware that s*** happens. In this case, the U.S. has been temporarily laid low by a madman who will be gone at some point in the near future.
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Two Genders?
Here’s something we see commonly on social media. Do you agree sir or madam, completely ignorant of basic biology though you may be, that there are only two genders?
This is actually a very interesting topic among scientifically literate people, as shown here, from the National Institutes of Health.
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Starbucks — Another Good Place to Avoid
The reader who supplied the meme here doesn’t know that I’m one of very few Americans between the ages of 15 and 90 who’s never spent a dime at Starbucks.
For me, it’s a blend of boycotting and common sense. Make yourself a cup of coffee or two at home (at 30 cents apiece), or at the office (for free), and yes, stay away from abusive corporations for reasons of decency.
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Saying Goodbye to the U.S. Department of Education
The United States federal government will soon abdicate its role in ensuring that all young Americans are academically prepared to be successful in their lives.
Of course, we all saw this coming from Trump’s first term in office, where his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos (member of the 88th-richest family in America with an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion), did everything within her power to reduce our public educational system to rubble, in favor of charter, private, and religious schools.
From the department’s website (soon to vanish):
What Is the U.S. Department of Education?
The U.S. Department of Education is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It assists the president in executing his education policies for the nation and in implementing laws enacted by Congress.
This raises an interesting question: What are Trump’s education policies for the nation?
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A Golden Age for Corporate Criminals
If you run a corporation and you have a penchant for criminal behavior, this is a great time to be alive.
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Boycotting Amazon
FWIW, I boycott Amazon, etc. 365 days per year, year after year, because I don’t approve of how Bezos behaves on this planet, and in particular how he treats his employees.
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What Trump Cares About
The most amazing thing about Trump is his capacity to make (some) people believe that he cares about anything and anyone but himself.
His entire adult life is proof that, if it doesn’t make him richer and more powerful, he couldn’t give a damn about it.
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Dystopia
The creator of the meme here has every right to his pessimism, and I’ll grant that there is a great deal of evidence that he’s correct, especially given what’s happening regarding the planet’s environment and the political scene here now in the United States.
But the final chapter hasn’t been written. There are eight billion people on this planet, and the vast majority of them are good. As you read this, keep in mind that there are more than 200,000 groups operating on Earth whose purpose is environmental and social justice.
