In case you were wondering why far too many of our members of Congress do NOT represent us, the answer lies here in this well-spoken post by our friend Gronda. It all boils down to this: The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. Democracy in action? I think not.
Disclaimer: I’m pro-business but I truly do believe in free enterprise, competition in the marketplace where companies win by innovating, creating new widgets, smart cost cutting while paying their employees a living wage and treating them and their consumers with respect.
In short, anyone like Elon Musk buying a company at an inflated price where bills aren’t paid, employees who’ve yet to be fired are treated with disrespect, and management doesn’t deliver on a quality product, shouldn’t be allowed to stay in business. It’s the height of hubris for CEOs to blame workers who don’t want to live 24/7 in the workplace for their owners’ stupidity. This is the definition of lazy management and the antithesis of businessmen taking personal responsibility for their own lack of due diligence and failures. These greedy short-sighted CEOs have become their own stereotype of the “welfare queen.”
I know most of us will be glad when Election 2022 is behind us, and certainly we’re all hoping for the best possible outcome. In today’s post, our friend Gronda explains what the Republicans have in store if they are the victors at the end of the day, and it’s not a pretty picture. Thanks, Gronda, for sharing your prescient views.
The state of US democracy is in serious peril /Daryl Cagle / politicalcartoons.com
The following scenario is a conservative depiction of what voters can expect if GOP MAGAs gain a majority position in the US House of Representatives, post the November 2022 elections:
GOP MAGAs supporters of the defeated ex-president have started making demands on GOP MAGA lawmakers if they gain a majority position in the US Congress, like exacting retribution against everyone on the GOP MAGA defeated ex-president’s enemies list. In most cases the GOP MAGA voters are basing their commands on lies like the 2020 election was stolen from their leader by fraudulent means by the Democratic Party POTUS Joe Biden, that the ex-president’s trusted associates like the VP Mike Pence and the Justice Department’s head Mr. Bill Barr failed to do their jobs to keep their leader in power, that the US congressional GOP MAGA leaders like…
Those of you who have followed Filosofa’s Word for any length of time know that guns, America’s gun culture, and the lack of any meaningful gun regulation in this country is my top #1 pet peeve. Republicans whine about rising crime and lay the blame everywhere but where it belongs – if they looked in the Republican mirror, they would see the root of the problem. Our friend Gronda posits that the Democrats should be doing more to show the American public/voters how those crime rates are driven almost exclusively by an increase in guns and she makes her point with spot on precision. Thank you, Gronda!
Dems definitely cannot cede to the GOP MAGA candidates the high ground as they message a blame game against incumbent democrats seeking elected office regarding the increase in US homicide/ crime rates since 2019 especially since this increase can be tied to the huge increase in gun sales since 2019. Yes, not only is the increase in crime an economic issue but also, the human cost in increased anxiety is incalculable. This angst is real.
But what GOP MAGA political leaders fail to point out is that as per USFacts.org, that while violent crime was up 3.3% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to preliminary data from the FBI’s quarterly Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system, this increase also reflects a 25% increase in the homicide rate. As an added tidbit, property crime decreased by 7.9% in 2020.
Our dear friend Gronda gives us a spot-on and chilling analysis of where we are headed if the autocratic-minded Republican Party gains a majority in one or both chambers of Congress next year. The picture she paints is, for me at least, one that nightmares are made of. Thank you, Gronda! Great to have you back!!!
While Democratic Party candidates should be focusing on the 2 issues of saving our US democracy from devolving into a Fascist style autocracy and the restoration of women’s access to legal abortions, they should still be in the driver’s seat when faced with having to address economic issues.
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All discussion of issues by Dems when confronting GOP MAGAs’ favorite talking points of inflation, immigration, and crime should be tied back to US voters saving our US democracy from devolving into an autocracy. Without a strong democracy, it will be mission impossible to effectively and competently address any of these real problems.
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Our voters’ economic wellbeing, our ability to keep rights like that of same sex marriage, and the right of each person to have his/ her vote counted for their intended candidate will be made much worse if GOP MAGAs are able to become the majority party in…
Our dear friend Gronda has returned!!! I don’t know about you all, but I’ve missed her so very much! And after her hiatus, she is primed and ready to go, her usual fiery self, as her post today shows us! Let’s listen to Gronda telling us what the Democrats need to do to get the attention of the people in the coming three weeks.
If Dems want to maintain their majority status in the US Congress in 2023, they cannot cede winning the debate on US economic issues to GOP MAGA candidates.
There’re 2 things that Dems can do to successfully tackle economic issues head on. First Dems can start by trusting the intelligence of even GOP MAGA voters. No, Dems won’t move the needle by much, but any movement can make a difference in close elections. The second major argument is that if GOP prevail in winning majority power in US House and Senate, US economy including inflation will probably be made worse.
Just look at what happened in 2022 when a conservative UK politician enacted a favorite right-wing solution to any economic problem, widespread tax cuts which was the catalyst for a major financial meltdown. As per a 10/17/2022 Reuters report, “Under the new policy, most of (former PM) Truss’s 45 billion…
Hey friends! Our dear friend Gronda has been issued a lifetime ban by Twitter! For being honest. Just like the rest of us. Think we can get something going to remind Twitter that WE are the customers? Heck, if they can let some of the politicians like McCarthy on Twitter, surely a 72-year-old grandmother should have a voice!
On June 22, 2022, I as @grondamorin was responding to a tweet, when I was surprised by the following Twitter notice:
Your account is permanently suspended
After careful review, we determined your account broke the Twitter Rules. Your account is permanently in read-only mode, which means you can’t Tweet, Retweet, or Like content. You won’t be able to create new accounts. If you think we got this wrong, you can submit an appeal.
On June 22, 2022, I did file an appeal with Twitter. Here’s some of what I wrote:
I’m a 72-year-old news junky who enjoys using my Twitter account. I have less than 2,000 followers and I follow less than 1000 folks, but my tweet impressions have ranged anywhere from 300,000 to 1M. As an ex-Republican Party member until 2016, I’m pretty moderate in my views.
Based on my memory, I was responding to a @DrAmyCarson…
As I’m sure you can understand, my mood is dark tonight, and try as I might I could not come up with anything original and fun for Saturday Surprise. So, I went looking at some of my earliest Saturday Surprise posts and found this one that was fun to prepare, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, so … time to redux again, eh? This one dates back to August of 2017, before many of you were even aware of Filosofa’s Word!
I am sorry I did not get a Saturday Surprise post scheduled last Saturday as I had promised, but I simply ran out of both time and energy before my trip. One of the suggestions for Saturday Surprise posts came from Gronda, who suggested time travel – what was it like when …?
The year is 1917, and I think you will find life was just a little different back then.
If you woke up in the morning, you could consider yourself lucky, for the average life expectancy in 1917 was 48.4 years for men and 54 years for women. Once out of bed, you likely built up a fire in the woodstove to cook breakfast and heat water to wash your face with, for only about 24% of homes had electricity. Then, if you were a man, you likely headed out the door to either walk to work or take the streetcar. The cost of a car was a mere $400, but since you likely only earned about $0.22 per hour, it is unlikely you owned one. However, 1917 was the first year that traffic counts in New York showed more cars than horses. Oh, and if you did own a car, you would want to watch out for those speed limits which were 10 mph in most cities!
If you were a woman, most likely you did not work outside the home, but if you did, you were probably a elementary or high school teacher. School boards preferred female teachers not only because they were seen as more loving, but also because they would do what male principals told them while accepting less than a man’s wage. The world literacy rate was only 23%, and only some 6% graduated from high school, as most dropped out to either help on the family farm or enter the workforce.
It is doubtful that you owned your home, but if you did, it probably cost around $5,000 (about 14% of what a new car costs today!). In fact, you probably lived with one or more older generation, if they were lucky enough to outlive the average life expectancy. Oh, and speaking of the elderly … there was no Social Security, Medicare, etc. Since the women were outliving the men by some six years, widows moved in with their adult children and children lived at home until they got married, at the average age of 21. Made for a crowded household sometimes.
Now, on the weekend, if you could afford it, you might take your family to the beach for the day. Beach attire was just a tad different back then …
A trip to the grocery … remember you are only earning $0.22 per hour … could be a difficult proposition with food prices so high. You would have to work three hours just to buy a pound of butter and a dozen eggs!
Bread (1-lb loaf) $0.07
Butter (lb) $0.36
Eggs (dozen) $0.34
Ground coffee (lb) $0.30
Potatoes (10 lbs) $0.15
And speaking of food … 1917 saw the invention of the hamburger bun, and thus the hamburger was born. Today, the average American consumes 3 hamburgers per week! My family and I are definitely below average on this one. And to go with that hamburger … it was in 1917 that Coca-Cola introduced the formula that is still popular today. And where did you buy that food? The first supermarket opened just the year before, in September 1916 – Piggly Wiggly. No, I am not calling you a piggly wiggly … that was the name of the store … honest! Actually, I think these are still around in the south.
It is doubtful that you were among the 8% of people who had a telephone, and by telephone I mean
Not …
One person who could afford a telephone in 1917 was John D. Rockefeller who became the world’s first billionaire on September 20th.
Not everything was rosy in 1917, for it was on April 6th that the U.S. entered into what would become known as World War I.
Though women would not get the right to vote for another three years, they did score in 1917 when Jeannette Rankin, of Montana, became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives!!!
Today we should be grateful for Mr. Gideon Sundback for his 1917 invention of the … zipper! Early on, zippers were mainly used on boots and pouches that held tobacco. It would be another 20 years before the fashion industry began to use zippers on clothing. So … how did pants stay … oh, never mind … not going there.
And what music were Americans listening to on their ipods … er, um phonographs?
Nora Bayes had the number one selling hit record titled “Over There”.
A sampling of the lyrics:
“Over there, over there
Sent the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The ear drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Sent the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over
Over there”
Others in the year’s top ten included:
At the Darktown Strutter’s Ball by Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Poor Butterfly by Victor Military Band
For Me and My Gal by Van and Schenck
And what were you watching on television in 1917? Nothing, for television was still 10 years in the future.
Most of us have said, at one time or another, how we would love to go back to a simpler time. We get frustrated with the hustle and bustle, with our electronic toys, and long for “the good ol’ days”. But when you think about it, life was hard (and short) 100 years ago. I think I shall remain in this, the 21st century!
I hope you enjoyed today’s Saturday Surprise as much as I enjoyed writing it. Quite honestly, I have been in a royal funk for a couple of days, but once I started researching for this post, I found I was having tons of fun! Thank you, Gronda for this marvelous idea … one which we shall do again soon!
I wrote this post in August 2017 … it was only my second Saturday Surprise, and the idea came from a suggestion by Gronda for a post about time travel, so I went back 100 years to see what life was like back then, and it was enlightening and fun. Since many of you weren’t with Filosofa’s Word three years ago, I thought it would be fun to re-visit 1917 today!
The year is 1917, and I think you will find life was just a little different back then.
If you woke up in the morning, you could consider yourself lucky, for the average life expectancy in 1917 was 48.4 years for men and 54 years for women. Once out of bed, you likely built up a fire in the woodstove to cook breakfast and heat water to wash your face with, for only about 24% of homes had electricity. Then, if you were a man, you likely headed out the door to either walk to work or take the streetcar. The cost of a car was a mere $400, but since you likely only earned about $0.22 per hour, it is unlikely you owned one. However, 1917 was the first year that traffic counts in New York showed more cars than horses. Oh, and if you did own a car, you would want to watch out for those speed limits which were 10 mph in most cities!
If you were a woman, most likely you did not work outside the home, but if you did, you were probably a elementary or high school teacher. School boards preferred female teachers not only because they were seen as more loving, but also because they would do what male principals told them while accepting less than a man’s wage. The world literacy rate was only 23%, and only some 6% graduated from high school, as most dropped out to either help on the family farm or enter the workforce.
It is doubtful that you owned your home, but if you did, it probably cost around $5,000 (about 14% of what a new car costs today!). In fact, you probably lived with one or more older generation, if they were lucky enough to outlive the average life expectancy. Oh, and speaking of the elderly … there was no Social Security, Medicare, etc. Since the women were outliving the men by some six years, widows moved in with their adult children and children lived at home until they got married, at the average age of 21. Made for a crowded household sometimes.
Now, on the weekend, if you could afford it, you might take your family to the beach for the day. Beach attire was just a tad different back then …
A trip to the grocery … remember you are only earning $0.22 per hour … could be a difficult proposition with food prices so high. You would have to work three hours just to buy a pound of butter and a dozen eggs!
Bread (1-lb loaf) $0.07
Butter (lb) $0.36
Eggs (dozen) $0.34
Ground coffee (lb) $0.30
Potatoes (10 lbs) $0.15
And speaking of food … 1917 saw the invention of the hamburger bun, and thus the hamburger was born. Today, the average American consumes 3 hamburgers per week! My family and I are definitely below average on this one. And to go with that hamburger … it was in 1917 that Coca-Cola introduced the formula that is still popular today. And where did you buy that food? The first supermarket opened just the year before, in September 1916 – Piggly Wiggly. No, I am not calling you a piggly wiggly … that was the name of the store … honest! Actually, I think these are still around in the south.
It is doubtful that you were among the 8% of people who had a telephone, and by telephone I mean
Not …
One person who could afford a telephone in 1917 was John D. Rockefeller who became the world’s first billionaire on September 20th.
Not everything was rosy in 1917, for it was on April 6th that the U.S. entered into what would become known as World War I.
Though women would not get the right to vote for another three years, they did score in 1917 when Jeannette Rankin, of Montana, became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives!!!
Today we should be grateful for Mr. Gideon Sundback for his 1917 invention of the … zipper! Early on, zippers were mainly used on boots and pouches that held tobacco. It would be another 20 years before the fashion industry began to use zippers on clothing. So … how did pants stay … oh, never mind … not going there.
And what music were Americans listening to on their ipods … er, um phonographs?
Nora Bayes had the number one selling hit record titled “Over There”.
A sampling of the lyrics:
“Over there, over there
Sent the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The ear drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Sent the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over
Over there”
Others in the year’s top ten included:
At the Darktown Strutter’s Ball by Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Poor Butterfly by Victor Military Band
For Me and My Gal by Van and Schenck
And what were you watching on television in 1917? Nothing, for television was still 10 years in the future.
Most of us have said, at one time or another, how we would love to go back to a simpler time. We get frustrated with the hustle and bustle, with our electronic toys, and long for “the good ol’ days”. But when you think about it, life was hard (and short) 100 years ago. I think I shall remain in this, the 21st century!
I hope you enjoyed today’s Saturday Surprise as much as I enjoyed writing it. Quite honestly, I have been in a royal funk for a couple of days, but once I started researching for this post, I found I was having tons of fun! Thank you, Gronda for this marvelous idea … one which we shall do again soon!
Hmmmm … seems like maybe the U.S. is lagging behind even ‘third-world’ countries in managing the pandemic! Thank you, Gronda, for this enlightening post! Meanwhile, the U.S. needs some real leadership — something that has been sorely lacking for almost four years!
Remember when Donald J Trump was spouting off about sh*thole countries in places like Africa and how his GOP cronies in the US Congress were mum as he vented on these racist leanings.
See below links to reports regarding how the leader Macky Sall of one of the president’s sh*thole countries, Senegal with extremely limited resources, has successfully contained the spread of the COVID19 pandemic within his country. It has become evident that the White House can’t even begin to measure up to the leadership of one of his listed sh*thole countries to contain/ prevent the spread of a coronavirus within the USA.
Recently, President Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in a CNN interview with its host, Jack Tapper, blurted out a truth many of us had been suspicious about for months, “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we…
It’s my contention that the current Trumpian GOP political candidates have become so addicted to the easy monies provided by GOP dark money conservative ALEC type donors to where they fear the money spigot being turned off more than any backlash from even their own voters.
My question is, Why isn’t there more recent media coverage to out these “dark money (Alec/ Federalist Society) rich donors who have been using their power to pull the strings of President Trump, the Supreme Court and to cut off the legs of legislators who don’t kowtow to their demands?
Try this experiment. Whenever President Trump acts in a way that seems politically clueless, ponder as to how his actions benefit conservative GOP ALEC type corporate leaders and then, you’ll figure out what’s really happening.
Note: This blog is based on a previously published post on 12/29/2018.
The state of US democracy is in serious peril /Daryl Cagle / politicalcartoons.com 
If you were a woman, most likely you did not work outside the home, but if you did, you were probably a elementary or high school teacher. School boards preferred female teachers not only because they were seen as more loving, but also because they would do what male principals told them while accepting less than a man’s wage. The world literacy rate was only 23%, and only some 6% graduated from high school, as most dropped out to either help on the family farm or enter the workforce.
It is doubtful that you were among the 8% of people who had a telephone, and by telephone I mean
Though women would not get the right to vote for another three years, they did score in 1917 when Jeannette Rankin, of Montana, became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives!!!
And what music were Americans listening to on their ipods … er, um phonographs?
Nora Bayes had the number one selling hit record titled “Over There”. 
Filosofa's Word 