IF YOU HAD TOLD ME ON 9/12/01 WHAT THE POLITICAL SCENE WOULD BE LIKE TODAY I would have told you that you were nuts. The day after 19 terrorists flew planes into buildings to destroy the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and potentially the White House, we were united. United against a common foe that most of us didn't even realize we were actively fighting until that day. Americans stood in line to donate blood, we watched in horror as brave men and women sifted through the rubble trying to find survivors that for the most part were not there and we mourned collectively. And briefly, we were united. Fast forward to today and one can't help but think that we squandered that feeling. We let it devolve into infighting and bickering and name calling and hatred and vitriol. We are letting it destroy the country from within, which is a far more effective way of bringing own an empire, and we're doing it to ourselves. So as we remember those who lost their lives in these attacks or to the cancer and diseases they acquired trying to help, let's also remember that feeling and try to figure out how to get THAT back before it's too late.
Y'ALL THE NEW YORK TIMES HAS JUMPED THE SHARK COMPLETELY From the Paper of Record to a Tweet SO BAD today that they deleted it. But the internet is forever so here are all the details.
CAITLYN DOUGHTY IS THE FUNNIEST MORTICIAN I'VE EVER HEARD And her third book answers some of the myriad of questions she's been asked over her many years tending to the bodies of our loved ones. Her latest Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death is a wonderful compendium of odd questions. She even answered Dave's burning question! You really should read all of her books, find them here. She's on at 1 and you will love her!
WHEN ABORTION BECOMES INFANTICIDE, DOES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? If a mother delivers a baby and puts it in a trash bag and it dies, she can be charged with a crime. But when a hospital does it, it's totally cool. At least that's what a nurse testified to before a House committee yesterday. Regardless of how someone feels about abortion, how can people listen to this testimony and not feel sick at what our culture condones now? From the Daily Caller:
Stanek also told those assembled that she once witnessed a nurse deliver a live baby, cut the umbilical cord but fail to clamp it (causing the baby to begin bleeding), put the baby in a bag and throw the child in the trash.
“One night, a nursing co-worker was taking a baby with Down syndrome who had been aborted alive to our Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have time to hold him,” Stanek said. The baby was 21 to 22 weeks old, she said.
We should be better than this. Period. We're throwing babies IN THE TRASH.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS ANTONIO BROWN RAPE ACCUSATION FOR A MINUTE Let me start by saying I think Antonio Brown is a complete a-hole. I'd use stronger language but what I WANT to say might get me fired. So I'll stick with a-hole. Now he's been accused of rape by a former personal trainer in his employ. She's suing for damages and you can read the whole suit here. As much of a jerk as I think Antonio Brown is, he deserves due process. He deserves to defend himself. And his accuser has to answer very tough questions about why she would EVER resume contact with someone who stood behind her and masturbated until he ejaculated on her back. I am not blaming this woman for what happened, but GOOD GRIEF WOMEN, STOP PUTTING YOURSELF IN HARMS WAY. STOP IT. Don't go the house of a man who has ALREADY proven himself to be a sexual aggressor and deviant. STOP. IT. We have to be telling our daughters this stuff EVERY DAY. Is it fair? Of course not. But it's smart. And we need to do it. For the record, I hope Antonio Brown rots in hell.
COULD WE BE ABOUT TO SEE A HIGHER ED CONTRACTION? CBS News did a story on college closures.
OBSESSED WITH HOARDERS? ME AND THIS GUY DO TOO
OH BETA, YOU NEED TO JUST STOP I get it when people say things like "healthcare is a right" even though they are totally wrong. Healthcare IS IMPORTANT so people want to make it a right because they don't understand what actually rights are. However, Beta O'Rourke is running around making all kinds of stuff "rights". Now he says living close to where you work is a right. I'm not kidding. He said it. He's just so precious. But he's not remotely Presidential.
COULD BEEKEEPING HELP VETERANS WITH POST TRAUMATIC STRESS? I love any program that helps men and women suffering with PTS get relief. So a program that teaches vets how to keep bees and collect honey seems like a sweet idea to me. See what I did there? It seems that working with bees helps some shut down the chatter that otherwise disturbs them.
A NEW HOLOCAUST MEMOIR IS COMING OUT And it was written by a young Polish woman who started her diary when she was 15 and kept it until she was shot in the head by German soldiers at the ripe old age of 18. Never forget, indeed.
THE UNIONS ARE COMING FOR YOUR SELF CHECKOUT LANES This after they had great success in getting the minimum wage raised, which in turn has lead to more automation at stores. Now they are trying to pass a law in Oregon that would only allow TWO self checkout lanes to be in operation at the same time. The minimum wage chickens have come home to roost and they unions don't like it. Tough.
IF YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT I-BUYING A HOME, HOW MUCH EQUITY DO YOU GIVE UP? This is a glowing article about what's now being called I-buying where homeowners buy and sell a home from the same internet company as a matter of convenience. But how much is convenience really worth to you? Many realtors are ready to show you that when Open Door or other services buy your home, they almost always immediately relist it FOR MORE MONEY. So you are giving away your equity. I'm not down with that. Here is an opinion column that explains better.