Pragmatists and Idealists At War
This story is so fitting for today’s world. It’s been told for decades in various forms, if not centuries. It was included in an episode of The Closer, Season 2, Episode 15 : Serving The King.
Asst. Chief Brenda Lee Johnson explains that she heard this story while working at the CIA. Part of a Lecture for Agents.
The Struggle To Control Civilization
We’re always fighting the same fight. Using the Dark Ages as an example. Continue reading
White Supremacy Propaganda, Extremism and Online Recruitment Tactics
Yesterday I read an article about parents talking to your “white sons” about how white supremacists are using the internet to recruit kids (White supremacists are recruiting white teens online). The article included a link for how to talk to your kids about this topic and why it’s important to do so (Propaganda, Extremism and Online Recruitment Tactics).
What struck me deeply was the article included a story about a Virginia family, who dismissed the signs of their son’s interests as he just had a deep interest in history. Until he killed two people and was charged with a hate crime.
We’re from Virginia, and my son has a deep interest in history and he’s a great kid. But as a Mom, I worry about that balance between protecting my teen son, while giving him a sense of trust and privacy in his own home. Plus this issue is impacting unsuspecting families all around the world. Whither it’s Islamic Extremists, or White Supremacy groups. We have to talk to our children and make them aware of the dangers. Continue reading
Alexander Cougars
The Impact of School Shootings
It seems everyday in America, parents face the dangers of sending our kids to school. Our biggest concern used to be worrying about their behavior in school. Wondering if they’re being respectful to teachers and their classmates. When they’re very young, we worry about them being taken care of by teachers and administrators, as we put their fate into the hands of these strangers.
But today, regardless of what age they are, we worry about them coming home safe and alive! That’s the impact that school shootings have placed on many parents in America now.
My son is 15 and a sophomore in high school. We live in a rural county in North Carolina. The kind of place where you wouldn’t think of worrying about school shootings. But there isn’t any place in the U.S. where you don’t worry about someone hitting a breaking point and responding with gun violence. Whither you’re out in the middle of no where, in a big city or a sprawling suburban area. No one is immune. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
I came across a social media posting this week, concerning the impact and insights about the Trump Administration. I liked this posting, so I went on a search to find the original source.
The article was written by Charles Pierce in Esquire Magazine on October 3, 2018, in response to Trump mocking Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before Congress for the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court Confirmation hearings.
In the article Pierce calls out the vile attack by this president and then puts his comments into perspective. The piece of the article that is being passed around on the internet, leaves out the first paragraphs of the original article. So I’ll paste a link to the original story below. But here’s the part people, including me, are capturing as a rebuke of this hate filled administration.
“In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, “And we shall overcome.” I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh’s madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing “Amazing Grace” in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
May 27th
Smithsonian Magazine
May 27th at 12:46pm ·
A Long-Lost Manuscript Contains a Searing Eyewitness Account of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
smithsonianmag.com
A recovered manuscript holds the 95-year-old eyewitness account of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
May 27, 2016 11:09pm
There are many things history teaches us. One of them is to NEVER FORGET, so that we NEVER REPEAT THE PAST! Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
May 20th
Pat McCrory
May 19 at 1:56pm ·
One Democrat Attorney General and candidate for governor calls President Obama’s directive to schools “wrong,” the other supports the Obama administration
May 20, 2016 9:24pm
Once again religious zealots are oblivious of the facts. Obama’s letter to schools is simply asking schools to uphold the law and the Constitution. And once again the religious zealots are screaming from inside their little delusional bubble where facts and legal rights have no place. Hmm sounds a lot like the countries in the middle east who uphold Sharia law above all else. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
May 13th
Pat McCrory
May 12 at 6:23pm ·
The White House just announced that it won’t pull federal funding to North Carolina while we take them to court. Sometimes the only way to stop a bully is to stand your ground and stare them down.
May 13, 2016 2:27pm
If standing up for equal rights is being a bully, then I think the U.S. Government has the bigger balls. You however are a disgrace pandering to the ignorant few with taxpayer money that should be going to the education of NC’s future. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
April 29th
My FB Post:
April 29 at 2:48pm ·
Folks, I appreciate the concern about my Migraine the other day. But the 42 messages telling me how to cure migraines was not helpful. Each of you made a couple of assumptions;
1. that I told you everything about my medical condition (I didn’t and never do on social media).
2. That my brand of migraine is like your brand of migraine or like the common variations of migraines. It’s not.
Normal migraines have 3 triggers,
1. Food which can include vitamin deficiency.
2. Stress
3. Weather.
These do not affect the type of migraines I get. I’m touched that so many of you want to help. But you can stop now. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
May 6th
NPR
May 6 at 9:06am
Boaty McBoatface will live on as the name of one of the high-tech sub-sea vehicles on the main ship.
– Boaty By Another Name: ‘Sir David Attenborough’ Is Chosen For British Research Ship
May 06, 2016 4:20pm
My son has been telling me about this for, well it has to be months! Cracks me up. But I think they should have stuck to the voted name and not vetoed the popular vote. I mean, what was the purpose of the submission/voting in the first place.
Boaty McBoatface will live on as the name of one of the high-tech sub-sea vehicles on the main ship. Continue reading
What We Saw This Week
Some of my observations from around the social media networks. Comments I made, events I shared. Stories with some laughter and some concern. Some news stories that created annoyance with politics or moments of joy with a few good news stories too.
April 22nd
PolitiFact
April 22 at 10:20am ·
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says the Human Rights Campaign is “more powerful than the NRA.” We rate that False.
` N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, under fire on HB2, says Human Rights Campaign is ‘more powerful than the NRA’
The Human Rights Campaign, or HRC, is a major player in the opposition to North Carolina’s controversial new law, House Bill 2, which limits LGBT rights in public accommodations — and which McCrory was on national television to defend.
April 22 9:44pm
Well of course it’s false, he wouldn’t know the truth if walked right up to him and introduced itself. Continue reading