Tag Archives: political rant

The Transition of years Part 2: 2021

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Warning, political rant ahead!

Happy 2021!  I know everyone is excited about this particular tick of the year.  Finally, at last, 2021!

Uhm, of course most of us know that nothing has changed overnight, right? 

The pandemic will get worse before it gets better – in the US many hospitals are at the saturation point, numbers will soar because of travel and gatherings, the death rate will increase from the already high 3000 a day (over 3700 on 12/30), the new strain is in the US and may rapidly spread, it takes over a month for the vaccine to work, it is possible immunity is short lived, etc., etc., etc….  We are not out of the woods.

And then there is the election thing.  A full one third of Americans think there was massive fraud and the election was stolen.  When Electoral College votes are counted, the Republicans are going to try to overthrow the results.  If that doesn’t work, there is still the possibility of Martial Law being called.  Tens of thousands of heavily armed people have sworn that they will start a revolution “to take back their country” if all else fails.  The chance for violence in our country is higher than it has been since the 1860s. Even if that doesn’t happen, that third of the people, feeling that they have been disenfranchised and that the government is no longer legitimate, will surely cause issues.

With more people currently dying of Covid-19 every day than died in the September 11 attacks (soon may be September 11 and Pearl Harbor 12/7/41 combined every day) and the threat of extreme violence on the horizon, the next few months may be, well, rocky…

Continue reading →

The News… or Not? (Rant ;) )

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A few months ago, I started to do a series that was a little more political.  At the time, I put out a proposed agenda of other topics I would take on.  Well, it obviously didn’t happen.

My first big topic was supposed to be “media”, ie, “The News”.  Wow, the more I dug, the deeper down the rabbit hole I got!  And I did not dig far enough for my liking.  Sigh.  Oh well, I will do just a quick overview, but no footnotes or anything that I had originally planned.  And no stories showing how far out a lot of “news” really is! This will be a very small, light, scratching of the surface.

As I talk to people, read things and watch “The News”, I have some interesting observations.  OK, none of this is original and many have talked about it before, but seeing it first hand and hearing someone tell me, well, it is two different things.

Right now, in the US, people live in completely, diametrically opposite worlds.  These worlds are created by the news people pay attention to, or the news that the people they talk to watch/listen to/read.

First, I have several news sources that I rely on.  I will not take the word of just one.  These sources do fact check and actually fire people for not following the proper fact-checking procedures.  Contrary to what some may say, this does not “prove they are misleading us”, quite the contrary, it proves that they take getting it right serious.

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Racism Part 2 -What Are You Willing to Give Up?

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GoldenRule

Painting by Norman Rockwell

OK, so you say “This is it”.  You have been angry in the past and have voiced strong opinion, but the death of George Floyd just switched something on.  You have talked more about racism in America and have written the words “Black Lives Matter” on your blog and Facebook pages.  Hell, maybe you even posted a sign in front of your nice suburban home.

Good.

And you’ve gone farther. Continue reading →

A Pandemic is not Political!

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mask

While breezing through Facebook a couple of days ago I saw the meme again.  The top picture showed soldier storming Omaha Beach and was labeled “Americans, 1944”.  The bottom picture was mask-wearing man, cowering behind a couch.  His eyes are round with fright.  This one was labeled, “Americans, 2020”.  I didn’t spend much time on the comments, but the general idea was how much they hated the “snowflakes” for their fear-mongering over the “Communist Cold” in their transparent hopes to defeat Trump in the presidential election.

This is actually one of the milder ones I’ve seen, but for some reason it touched a nerve.

Two quick things. Continue reading →

Political Digressions?

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Eagle

If you are a long time reader of Trent’s World, you might know that I rarely go into politics or try to tackle thorny social issues.  Yes, I have talked about social issues in the past, particularly with some of my “Compassion” posts.  I also make no bones about my feelings, I just don’t do political posts.

You may have also noticed that this unofficial policy has shifted…

This is a strange year, and I feel that I have to express some of my opinions a stronger fashion.  Looking at the world out there, today we must all put what we have out there.

There are a few things I have been thinking about lately and will most likely post about them.  OK, I have posted about some of them already.  Here they are in no particular order. Continue reading →

Racism – Admitting That There is a Problem

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GoldenRule

Painting by Norman Rockwell

One of the big problems with racism in America is that a lot of people, white people, only think of it in extremes.  They will admit that there are still some racist people around, but not a lot, except, possibly, in places like Mississippi.  That is, except for people in Mississippi, who say Mississippi is not racist, maybe it exists elsewhere, not here.  Not in America.   I mean, sure, there are some Klansmen running around, but everyone hates them, right?  I mean, I hate the KKK, so I can’t be racist.   That is how people see it – if there are no extremes, there is no racism.

Uhm, no.

It is easy to find many types of racism at many levels.

At work there are those people who think they are well meaning but might say some insensitive things here and there, not realizing that it makes some of their team members feel unwanted.  And then there is that hiring person who doesn’t realize that for some reason they call a person named James much quicker than Jamel, that they hire someone, who coincidentally is white, because they will fit in with the group better than the other candidate, who just happens to be black.  Study after study shows this happens all of the time.  It is the rule, not the exception. Continue reading →

The Weekly Smile 12/31/2018

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There was a lot to smile about this week :)  It was Christmas, of course.  I talked to family and friends.  I played with the dogs, walked on beaches, walked in the woods, did a lot of writing, some reading and other such stuff.  Here is a photo I took on Saturday:

But like last week, I want to use this week for more philosophic discussions.

Last week I said that one reason I do a Weekly Smile is so people can look back at their week and see that there actually was something to smile about, no matter how small.  Smiling, and happiness, isn’t something we need to go in search of, but something we have if we only recognize it.  Yes, people can have very hard times.  And there is mental illness that makes it impossible to see the good.  But if we take the time to think about it, it is the small moments, the little smiles, that make up our life.

This week I want to talk about why I started writing the Weekly Smile two years ago.  Yes, I do paste a little about it on every smile.  Have you read it lately?  Well, here is a little more.  (Note: Some might see what follows as very political.  It is, in a way, but ti is a tirade against the politics of division, not necessarily one party or another.  If you don’t want to read politics, just look at the pretty picture I posted, smile and skip to the end :)) Continue reading →

Vote

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Eagle

A lot of Americans talk about how great we are.  Sure, I get it.  If you push you may come up with a few answers as to why people think this is so.  “Freedom” always come up to the top.  Another one is our Constitution and our Democracy.  Well, if you are talking national level and state level, we are technically a Republic, but we all do get to vote for those who represent us in our Government.

The problem is, we don’t.

Truth is, Americans don’t vote.  There may be relatively big numbers (lower than many countries) for the presidential elections, but the numbers shrink going to midterm elections, shrink again for off year and shrink even farther for non-presidential primaries. Because of gerrymandering and the makeup of most primary voters, something like 5% of our country dictates what our Congress and most state legislators look like.  5%.  Not just 5%, but often the most extreme 5%.  That extreme 5% is who is in our Congress.  No wonder the divide is so huge!

Our biggest Freedom is the right to chose our leaders.  This is huge.  This is what we brag about, fairly or unfairly.  This is it.  Nothing is bigger.  Nothing.  When you say “I love America”, this is what you really mean.  Not one other thing matters without a vote. Not one.  Nothing.

And so few people take advantage of it, particularly where it counts, the primaries, elections where your vote counts much, much more than the presidential elections.

I know, it isn’t primary season.  But it is election season.  An important election.  Yes, the “midterm”.  But it is important for everyone to get involved.

OK, off of my soap box.  But as I am stepping down, I will repeat one more time:

Vote

(Another week to go.  I will post again ;) )

Created Equal

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Eagle

Here is something that is interesting.  In many ways the country The United States of America was created by it’s Constitution and yet we consider our “birthday” the day that we publicly declared our independence, over a decade before the Constitution was created and many years before that independence was won militarily.   (Regarding my wording – Independence was declared on the 2nd of July, but they spent two day nitpicking the wording of the document and such.  On the 2nd, John Adams wrote Abigail that the 2nd of July, the day independence was declared, would be a huge national holiday.)

A lot has been said about this document, but these days we often focus on this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Continue reading →

Science – A Rant

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Purgatory Brook

I was out for a run the other day.  I am very consciences and traffic conscious when I run.  I obey all laws and run facing the traffic.  Even though the road was wide and there was clearly nobody coming the other way, a big pickup truck slowed down as it approached.  It kept one tire right at the edge of the road, but luckily there was driveway a little ahead and I sprinted into it.  Someone screamed obscenities at me as the truck passed.  They hit the accelerator, leaving a huge black cloud of diesel fumes.  It wasn’t until later that I realized that I was wearing my “Science is not a Liberal Conspiracy” t-shirt.  I’ve had it happen before. Continue reading →