From The Mind Of Filosofa

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Election 2022, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, guns, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Today I have so many thoughts on a variety of topics rattling around in my old head that I thought I’d share some of them with you.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m still reeling from all the shootings last week and over the weekend.  So many things have gone wrong in this country over the past 4+ years, some I fear will never be reparable, such as the gun culture, but not only that.  I was watching a clip a few days ago of Congressman Jim Jordan literally browbeating Dr. Anthony Fauci, accusing him of “robbing Americans of their civil liberties”, yelling at him, interrupting him, gesticulating wildly, and demanding an exact date when people could stop wearing masks, stop social distancing, etc.  My thoughts were that this is not the way a professional lawmaker behaves!  Finally, Representative Maxine Waters told Jordan to “shut your mouth”, which I found very appropriate under the circumstances, but now the most unqualified member of Congress, Marjorie Greene, has made a motion to have Ms. Waters expelled from Congress for what she said to Jordan.  This, my friends, is just one example of the lack of intelligence and professionalism in certain of today’s members of Congress.

Then, I saw a question posed by a friend on Twitter:  Why do people who refuse the vaccine because they believe their god will protect them, think they must own a gun?  Think about that one for a few minutes.

This country has many problems today, perhaps more than at any other time in its history, and the gun culture is in the top five.  Worse yet, as long as a vast majority of congressional republicans are in the pockets of the gun lobby, ie NRA, this isn’t going to change.  They will obfuscate even policies that 80% of the people in this country support, in order to keep their donors happy.  This is not what we elect and pay these people for, and we are being cheated on a daily basis.  I have readers from all over the world, and those who are outside the U.S. are appalled by our gun culture.  Remember when the former guy called certain countries “shithole countries”?  Well, that’s how the U.S. is coming to be viewed around the globe.

There are those who would say that immigration and the economy are our biggest challenges today, but in my book, we have far greater problems.

Also in my top five is racism … and other forms of bigotry such as those who are intolerant of the LGBT community, those who believe men are superior to women, those who would demand that everyone follow their religion and that laws reflect their own beliefs and biases.  The blatant racism we see in police departments across the country is intolerable!  What’s worse is that it’s always been like this … we just didn’t see it.  The internet has placed such things under a large microscope, and we are just now awakening to the horrors that Black people have been living with … forever.

Then there’s our response … or lack thereof … to climate change in recent years.  Sure, there are many of us here who do our best to respect the environment, planting bee-friendly flowers, turning our thermostats down, driving less and driving fuel-efficient vehicles, but there are those who selfishly refuse to be inconvenienced.  Just yesterday I read an article by a woman who said we should support the fossil fuel industry, should not have re-joined the Paris Climate Accords, and basically argued that climate change is a hoax.  It seems to me that half the people in this country believe that way, are unwilling to make lifestyle changes in order to preserve this planet for their own grandchildren.

The majority of Republicans still believe the Big Lie, that the former guy won the 2020 election, despite all evidence to the contrary.  As long as that many people are that ignorant, they will continue voting for people like Marjorie Greene, Mitch McConnell, Jim Jordan and others who are intent on destroying what few democratic principles are left in this nation today.  And the votes of the few will outnumber the votes of the majority if the states are allowed to continue creating legislation that disenfranchises Blacks, Hispanics, the poor, the elderly, and the young.  If they have their way, our government will be elected only by white people of privilege.  The rest of us will become second-class citizens without a voice.

It is obvious to me that this nation is on a downhill path and the only hope for the future is for people to become educated about reality, to stop believing the myths and conspiracy theories that fill the airwaves 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on such places as Fox ‘News’, Twitter and Facebook.  Unless people wake up and learn to separate fact from fantasy, I don’t even want to think about what the U.S. will be twenty years from now.  Fortunately, I won’t be here to see it, but my daughter and granddaughter will, and millions of other people will have to live with the ‘legacy’ we are leaving them.

23 thoughts on “From The Mind Of Filosofa”

  1. Pingback: Snarky Snippets Still Going Strong | Filosofa's Word

  3. Don’t fret too much, Jill! The situation is the same here, and certainly in other countries as well. The politicians are easily overwhelmed and if possible try not to allow this to be passed on to the citizens. That is why every word, no matter how clear, on an impossible statement is suddenly an outrageous attack. Michael

    Liked by 1 person

    • I know it is … the UK is going through some similar things, as is your own Germany, and France, but no other country has the gun problem we have, and that’s one of my biggest issues. Still, we’re all in this together and hopefully someday our nations will learn the meaning of the words “humanity” and “peace”.

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  4. I listened to that COVID hearing, too, and it just about drove me nuts. Another crazy thing about it is that the GOP kept harping on the migrant crisis…from the dumbest angle possible. They kept talking about the fact that Americans have to follow masking and social distancing rules…but the migrant kids are crowded together in border facilities. They literally whined that this is a “double standard” and “unfair”! So, their complaint is, I guess, that American citizens have lost their right to be kept packed together in terrible conditions, and to infect each other with COVID? If they’re that jealous of the privilege, I’m more than happy to send some of them to a holding pen in an ICE facility, starting with Jim Jordan.

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  6. Jill, we have discussed this before, but my biggest concern over Mr. Jordan is what he did not say. What he did not say to intervene when a medical doctor was sexually assaulting his Ohio State wrestlers when he had knowledge of said transgressions over the years (for those who don’t recall, this doctor did a testicles exam on every patient from colds to headaches). On of his wrestlers said he had always admired Jordan, but for Jordan to say he was never told is simply not true.

    This is one of those very disturbing episodes that has plagued Michigan State’s gymnastic team, Penn State’s football team, a national soccer team in the UK, the Catholic Church and so on. People knew and did not say something. Mr. Jordan was one of those people. And, he makes a name for himself by beating up on people testifying before him who are telling the truth. People were harmed on his watch. They needed him to step up and he did not. Keith

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    • Indeed, Jordan’s role in the abuse scandal at Ohio State University is always in my mind whenever I hear him make some stupid comment or other. It was hyped by his Democratic opponent during the 2020 campaign, but he won by such a large margin that I can only assume the people in his district simply don’t care.

      His behaviour during the interview with Dr. Fauci was beyond disgusting … I can’t remember when I last heard a member of Congress behave so unprofessionally, so cruelly, like the donkey he is. And yet, I’d bet money he will be re-elected next year … the people in his district seem to love him, for some reason that is beyond my comprehension.

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      • Jill, plus he whipped on Michael Cohen and those public servants who dared testify against the actions of the former president. These folks knew they would be whipped, but testified anyway. Keith

        Liked by 1 person

        • Ah yes, it seems that ‘punishment’ is typical for some in the Republican Party. I had forgotten that, but I remember it well now that you mention it. I think Jordan is simply a bully … it’s his persona and I suspect he was a bully as a child. Seems to have some sense of entitlement. Kudos to those who are willing to stand up to the bullies like Jordan, despite the backlash.

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  7. I make no secret of the fact that I agree with you about gun culture and racism, especially in the police. But, I was on a blog this morning which asked why church leaders don’t condemn the actions of the police shootings. I ventured to suggest that perhaps it’s the attitude that some white people on the force don’t believe in equality. The response went on to show me two recent police shootings of white boys stopped for traffic violations which I was told the media don’t sensationalise as they do the shooting of PoC. Is it possible that racism isn’t at the bottom of all the shootings and that they are just the result of the police believing they are the only arbiters of who should hold all the power-them? A good enough reason to revisit the idea of defunding and bringing in new staff to work alongside the police and for the police to receive better training and less union help for unwarranted killings?
    Cwtch

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    • Upon reading your comment, I did a bit of research, put together a chart that I will email you later. Here’s what I found. It is true that more whites are killed by police than Hispanics or Blacks, BUT … when you consider the percentage of the population each group comprises, the killing of Blacks and Hispanics is, percentage-wise, far out of proportion. For example … while Blacks comprise only 13.4% of the population, 30% of all police killings this year so far have been of Blacks. My conclusion is that yes, there is racism in policing, and I’ve seen it myself with some of my Black friends who are routinely stopped for no reason other than perhaps driving a new car, or being in a predominantly white neighborhood. Another factor that may come into play, and I’ll have to do more research to determine if my thinking is correct, is that when whites are killed by police, there is typically just cause, whereas Blacks are often unarmed and not guilty of any major crime, such as George Floyd who was accused of passing a counterfeit $20 that was never proven, and even if true, is a misdemeanor. He was unarmed. Had that been a white man, I suspect he’d still be alive today. All that said, I do admit that the media often adds insult to injury with their non-stop coverage, but … where is the middle ground? I don’t have any answers for that. Sigh. I’ll send you the chart I put together in a bit.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 3 people

    • Dear David,
      Things must be pretty different in England to suggest racism may not be a driving force behind the misuse of fatal force in the USA, and its baby brother, Canada. How many white kids get pulled over for driving in predominantly black neighborhoods? If they are stopped at all it is not to question them about their presence there, it is to warn them about how dangerous the area could be for them. Nothing at all similar to what persons of colour experience not only in predominantly white neighborhoods, but anywhere, including in their own neighbourhoods!
      But the real problem here is not who or why the police are making stops, the question is why, in 2021, there are still neighborhoods that are predominantly segregated by race! According to the American government, all people are created equal, so why aren’t they allowed to share their living spaces. Why are police forces more likely to stop drivers of colour for very minor or even non-existent reasons than white drivers? Why is it suspicious for a person of colour to be driving a new luxury car than it is for a white person to be driving the very same car?
      Move away from traffic stops. Why do cops have their guns out and ready to use when knocking on doors behind which people of colour live than behind doors where white people live? To put it bluntly, police expect more persons of colour to act uncivilized than for white civilians to be a threat to their safety! It is this fear which leads to tragic endings.
      Racism is the biggest part of the disproportion of black deaths vs white deaths caused by cops.
      Racism is why people of colour are disproportionately-represented residents of jails and prisons in North America (Blacks in the US, Red-skinned people in Canada.) Racism exists in every facet of life in North America, from the legal to the bedroom. There may be more biracial couples today than ever before here, but the things biracial couples have to go through is probably worse today thanks to Trump setting the example of freely voicing personal racist feelings.
      Just walking through a grocery store the other day I heard a woman say to a white man with his arm around an original human inhabitant of Canada, “Couldn’t find a white woman, eh? You better not make any pink kids!” Then she abandoned her cart and strutted out the door, as if it was an insult to shop in the same store as this poor couple. I tried to apologize for the bitch, but they just brushed it off, saying they were used to it. They should not have to be used to it! Pre-2016 such words would never have been heard spoken aloud. Now they are becoming commonplace. This is a racist world!

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