Joe Nation
Joe Nation's JournalI Have Noticed a Strange Phenomenon in My Town
Often times before work, my wife and I (we work at the same place) go out to a local bagel shop, Starbucks, or some other breakfast place around town before we head to work. I have lost count the number of times I overhear some group of men talking about Jesus Christ or some other religious topic. I think some of them must be from different Christian churches around town because they seem to be comparing notes about their congregations but not always, sometimes it is just a pair of guys sitting and talking about Christ. Always middle-aged white men and they tend to speak very loudly like they want people to hear them.
I've never experienced this frequency of conversation until the past year or so and now it seems as if it happen almost every morning. My wife knows that it annoys me to sit near these people so we try to find a quiet corner. I never thought of this town as particularly religious but they seem to be coming out of the woodwork these days.
Is this just my town or has anyone else noticed this in their town?
Russian Focus Once a Dem is Elected
I wish someone at one of these stump speeches or debates would ask these candidates what exactly they intend to do about the Russian interference in our elections if they are elected. Trump is just the result, a symptom if you will, of the greater problem of Russian meddling and influence that has to be addressed sooner rather than later. I have yet to hear any of the candidates focus on this critical issue. Trump will come and go but the Russians will be around for a long time.
My hope is that the first priority of any of these candidates is to make Vladimir Putin and his government pay dearly for what they have inflicted on our country and many other countries through their covert interference. It will take some rebuilding of trust between the US and our allies but that trust should be built around bring maximum pressure on Putin's State sponsored terrorism.
New Term: Republican Immigrants
People that have left their hell-hole political party to emigrate to a land of sanity.
It's Ultimatum Time GOP - You're being called out!
We’ve seen enough of the deafening silence from the cowards in the GOP. Silence is complicity. Silence is no longer an option. You either publicly denounce Despicable Donnie for his overt racism or you fall in line behind the rallying cry of your party and own it. You can’t have it both ways.
You are a supporter of a Racist-in-Chief or you stand up on your own like a big-boy and call him out. The time for mealy mouth excuse making is over. You must ask yourself if this orange ass barnacle represents what America stands for and weather you intend to pledge your allegiance to his racist vision of this country or find your voice and stand up to an open sewage pipes of racism.
You are either complicit in this racism or you need to make a stand to defend all Americans no matter their ethnic background. Hate will not bring you anything good. Hate will destroy this country from within. It’s time to choose your side and remember, history is watching you and will judge you for the actions you take or don’t take today. What will you do?
Retirement: The great unknown
When people or couples get close to retirement, they take the biggest gamble of their lives without really knowing what lies ahead. We all are forced to do it at some point and we really are just guessing at our financial and health care futures. Questions you have to ask yourself: How long will you or your partner live? How much money will you need to survive comfortably? What about medical costs? Will my children, if I have any, have to take me in?
I am about two years from retiring and my wife and I plan to retire the same day. Her birthday. I feel like I still don't know everything I should know before taking that leap and I was wondering if anyone out there has retired or is retiring soon that wishes they had done something differently or could share something that they are glad that they did before they retired? I speak to my state retirement system representative annually and I know what my defined benefit will be. Any other suggestions that would help me during this transition to retirement financial or otherwise?
Thank you
Burn of the Century
This cowardly frat boy crawls out of the woodwork like we actually give a damn.
https://postimg.cc/qtkFZtvc
Generational Racism is Southern Red States
Children aren't born racists, racism is something they learn from their parents. One of my kids makes an annual summer trek south to Missouri for his/her partner's family get-together which usually involves a week or so of hard drinking and vocal racism at some rented cabin near a lake. My child is just not that into drinking but the Missouri relatives are straight up alcoholics.
My offspring, grew up in the north and with pretty liberal parents and met her/his partner at college. Having escaped the small southern town to get an education, my child's partner realized what a racist upbringing he/she had lived through but still attends the family get-together on an annual basis.
This may be the last year. According to my child, the racism and bigotry is on full display this year. My child has decided to call them out and I fear that this may cause a rift with the in-laws that may never heal.
Any advice on how my child can approach the subject without being ostracized by her/his partner's entire family and friends? I see no way around the inevitable here.
The racism in southern states is very real and generational. I suppose that you can find racism anywhere in the country but the south has it's own flavor of racism that persists from parent to child generation in and generation out. How to deal with this dynamic when it involves your family is a challenge with few viable solutions. As long as racism is being passed down to the next generation, we will have racism in this country well into the future. How sad people do that to their own children.
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Gender: Do not displayMember since: Mon May 27, 2013, 01:46 PM
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