March 26, 2024

You know what is NOT happening in Baltimore?

Nobody is shaking their heads and saying, "Yes, this is a terrible tragedy. But people make mistakes and maybe the pilot had mental health issues. But, hey, if you want to enjoy the freedom of buying lots of stuff inexpensively, you have to accept that these sorts of things will happen."

Nope. People are looking into what happened this morning with an eye to making sure that it doesn't happen again.

That's because it wasn't a mass shooting that took the lives of ordinary people just trying to get through an ordinary day.

December 14, 2023

It was just a TV show. . .

. . . And he was "just" an actor.

But, oh my word! The comments under this Youtube compliation tribute to Andre Braugher demonstrate how deeply impactful something and someone in the entertainment venue can be.

I can't get over how many other people turned to watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine when they were struggling with depression as I have. And the number of LGBTQ people who found strength and comfort and courage through those fictional characters is astounding.

It's certainly true that people are feeling less connected to their communities these days and that social media is a problematic substitute. But when I read people's thoughts about Andre Braugher and his work --particularly his portrayal of Captain Raymond Holt-- I feel less alone and at odds. Parasocial relationships can't meet all our mental health needs, but it feels so good to know that there are others who feel the same way and share the same values.

Extra Bonus: This commentary section only has one troll. I'm guessing that there was just something about Braugher that intimidates the little hemorrhoids who seek attention by being irritating little you-know-whats.

October 19, 2023

Received email that has sender listed as "BidenHealthcare"

When hovering over the name the link reads "aid@theinsuranceassistance.com". When I searched for "The insurance assistance.com" the website was titled "The Health Insurance Helpers."

Maybe there is nothing illegal or problematic about this company, but I didn't like the use of the President's name in that faux official way. (And yes, I do tend to be suspicious about anything unfamiliar.) I just thought that I would inform this community in case someone else is perplexed as I was.

I'm also hoping that this is the correct sub-forum in which to post this thread. Please accept my apologies if I made the wrong judgement call in this instance.

October 13, 2023

Not my art--just looked up fibonacci sequence-- thought it would be soothing.

October 10, 2023

Vox--" Why did Hamas invade Israel?"

Just posting this article here because it seems like a clear presentation of the current situation.

Note the bolded section in the quote below.

Rising tension in Jerusalem and the West Bank, weaker border security, an Arab political situation turning more and more unfavorable to the Palestinians — these are all conditions in which it makes more strategic sense for Hamas to take a such a huge risk.

To be clear: Saying it makes strategic sense for Hamas to engage in atrocities is not to justify their killing civilians. There is a difference between explanation and justification: The reasoning behind Hamas’s attack may be explicable even as it is morally indefensible.

Finally, these words sum up where we need to focus our concern.

. . . it’s clear who is suffering the greatest consequences: not the extremist leaders on either side, but ordinary Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Extending peace to anyone who reads this.

October 6, 2023

Poe Fest International Will Be in Baltimore October 7 & 8

I'm including a link for anyone interested.

The weather in Baltimore will be gray and possibily rainy this weekend. That was an unfortunate problem for the folks at Artscape last month. But when you're celebrating the work of the original Master of the Macabre, (Not you, Stephen King!) a little dreary weather seems rather fitting.

So, if you're in Baltimore and you don't fancy going to the Orioles playoff game, come celebrate a different Baltimore icon, Edgar Allan Poe.

October 3, 2023

Words Fail

But I will try anyway.

This image is clearly not real. However, it's not an over-the-top attempt at snark, either. To the artist who drew it, it is "real" in that it represents an aspirational reality. This guy actually believes that Jesus Christ is right next to Donald Trump--on a metaphysical plane of existance--offering him support through his legal tribulations. And with the Son of God by his side, how can Donald Trump not be victorious?



Trump shares bizarre courtroom sketch.

Former President Donald Trump shared a strange court sketch on social media that showed him at his Manhattan fraud case with a person who looked like Jesus Christ sitting next him.

Unlike many people, I'm not going to make any predictions as to how this period in American history will play out. One thing that I am very confident regarding, however, is that Christianity as a belief system or a core principle of moral standards will not recover from this unfortunate association between the principle subject of its faith and the principle subject of the MAGA mindset.

September 28, 2023

Two Parent Families ARE Better For Kids. . .

. . . But Right-Wing policies which lionize "traditional family values" don't help to create the stable homes that they claim to support.

[T]he problem isn’t a cultural rejection of marriage, or a nationwide feminist rejection of the nuclear family (I wish). Most people want to get married. The problem is that decades of largely conservative policy-making have fueled inequality, gutted the working class, left a generation of men isolated and under-employed and unmoored, impoverished families and made it harder for women to both control their own fertility and find suitable partners.

September 11, 2023

Woke up this morning to a little news alert on my phone.

Swiped the little icon to read, "White House offers shameless lie." I did NOT tap on the headline to open up that particular click bait. I did, however, ask myself, Which White House?

September 3, 2023

"You're Not Equal"

Posting the link to this article--which features a link to video content--here in this thread because I'm not techno-saavy enough to present the contents any other way.

There are over 4500 comments to this story and, of course, many of them are racist*. I didn't even watch the video content because I don't want the ugly images and words stamped on my brain. Just reading the story and many of the comments are so discouraging that I want a giant meteor to destroy the planet.

Okay, so I can be melodramatic. I need to remind myself that Black people face this kind of crap all the time and the number of them who want that meteor to swing by is probably on par with the statisical average of other ethnic groups, right? Seriously, at times like this, I try to remind myself of what Anne Frank wrote in her diary. She was in the midst of one of the worst "discriminatory episodes", (if you can call it that) in human history and she still believed in the basic goodness of humankind.

I tell myself that if someone in those circumstances can still hold onto hope, then I have no right to give up. All I can do is examine my own ideas and thinking process, treat people with decency and kindness and vote responsibily. Also, I come here to DU to remember that I am not alone is seeing through and condemning prejudice and discrimination of all kinds.

Apologies if this is a duplicate.



* They are also sort of stupid, but that just drags us into a chicken and egg philosophical rabbit hole, doesn't it?