Let them eat … crow?

Queen Marie Antoinette is often given credit for saying, “let them eat cake”, which exemplified her disdain for the French peasants who could not afford the price of bread. After what I witnessed yesterday, though, it may be time to upgrade the phrase.

My wife and I were a few blocks from home, after running a few errands, when a HUGE black crow landed on the road about 100 feet in front of our car. After a brief pause, it flew off again. Naturally, that triggered an old memory in my head, which I’ll share with you in a couple of minutes.

I discovered a couple of years ago that a large percentage of the people of Africa actually consume rats as their protein source. Believe it or not, you can find numerous recipes on line on how to cook rats.  The link below is one example:

https://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/cookingrats.htm

None of those recipes, incidentally, would be considered ratatouille, which is a dish that it made entirely of VEGETABLES. Here is the Disney ratatouille recipe:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/222006/disneys-ratatouille/

Eating crow is a colloquial idiom, used in English-speaking countries that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position. Crow is presumably foul-tasting in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow.

Since there ARE recipes on line for cooking rats, I though that there might be recipes on line for cooking crow, and I was right. I found the video below on YouTube yesterday:

https://youtu.be/Jen1thTH7f4

If you ignore the fact that the man in this video is eating crow, the finished product actually looks pretty good. Keep in mind, though, that I lived in China for a year, where you will find PLENTY of unusual foods being served on a regular basis.

The SARS epidemic of 2002, incidentally, was caused by people in southern China eating civet cats. I saw bamboo rat, snake, and donkey on menus, and I knowingly consumed a couple of cooked worms, AFTER I had a couple of beers. I also witnessed people at a large shopping center eating squid on a stick, and chicken feet REALLY ARE considered to be a treat by a lot of people.

Would I eat cooked crow? Not a chance, and I’d feel a lot better if we had one of these guys in our neighborhood:

Godzilla

The original Godzilla movie came out in 1954. Even as a little kid, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that the special effects used in the movie were more than a little amateurish, which did little to diminish the popularity of the movie.

I discovered quite recently that there were sequels to the original movie. If you had to guess HOW many, what would you say? If you said THIRTY-TWO, you would be “right on the money”. The Godzilla series holds the Guinness record for the longest continuing movie series, since production continues on the movies even today, a period of 64 years from the original film. If you are a “car guy” that is almost the same length of time that the Chevy Corvette has been in production. (You may think that the Corvette holds the record for the longest continuously produced car model, but that honor actually goes to the Morgan 4/4, which has been in continuous production since 1936.)

I recently met a “special needs” student at a local high school who would name all 33 movies, the order in which they were released, and the plot of each movie. The last time I saw him (last week) he was wearing a Godzilla t-shirt.

I’m not a psychologist, but the young man would likely qualify as an “idiot savant”. The dictionary definition is “a person who is considered to be mentally handicapped but displays brilliance in a specific area, especially one involving memory”. The best example that I can think of in popular culture is the movie “Rain man”, which Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise starred in in 1988, but the movie “Forrest Gump” also proved that even a young boy with an I.Q. of 75 could still be a success in life. “Rain man” won 4 Oscars (including Best Picture) and “Forrest Gump” won 6. “Rain man” cost $25 million to produce, and grossed $$345.8 million. “Forrest Gump” cost $55 million to produce, and grossed $677.9 million.

When we lived in Wisconsin, we attended a concert that featured a young man named Leslie Lemke. The book about him is titled, “May’s boy”. Blind almost from birth, he faced some definite challenges, and did not start speaking until he was 6 years old. He was not able to stand until he was 12, and 15 before he was able to walk. He started playing the piano when he was 12, but the real miracle happened when he was 14. His foster parents awoke in the middle of the night to Leslie flawlessly playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no. 1, which he had heard on television that night. Leslie was soon playing all styles of music, from ragtime to classical. Leslie can remember and play back a musical piece of any length flawlessly after hearing it once, a remarkable achievement for an individual who has a verbal I.Q. OF 58.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Lemke

In our own way, all of us are “idiot savants”, at least to a degree. Over time, most of us discover talents that are truly remarkable, even though there are also a number of skills that we completely lack. The key to happiness in life is to focus on the things that we excel in, and don’t spend a lot of time worrying about our inadequacies in other area.

 

 

 

Gulf of Tonkin

On August 4, 1964, the spy ship USS Maddox, operating within North Vietnam’s coastal waters, opened fire with what the New York Times described as a defensive barrage against attacking North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Almost immediately, President Johnson used the alleged attack to galvanize Congress into passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted the president full authority to defend South Vietnam against “Communist aggression”. Johnson now had the green light to introduce conventional U.S. forces into the war on the North.

However, there was one little problem with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. There were no North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the area the day of the alleged attack.

As Johnson later confessed, the Maddox was actually firing at flying fish.

The United States actually had advisors in Vietnam as early as 1954. At the time, the Cold War, fueled in part by Senator Joseph McCarthy, made it imperative to oppose Communism wherever it appeared. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA did whatever they could to fight Communism. The CIA encouraged more than 40 coups during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. In many cases, dictators who the CIA felt were the most opposed to Communism replaced freely elected rulers. Like the crazy people in the movie “Dr. Strangelove”, members of the military (in particular, General Curtis Lemay) were seriously considering pre-emptive nuclear strikes on at least three countries.

JFK was opposed to increased military activity in Vietnam, likely due to the Bay of Pigs fiasco in the spring of 1961. Although he did approve a modest increase in military advisors, he opposed sending combat troops to Vietnam, and he also opposed bombing of military targets in the country. His plan was to withdraw completely from Vietnam by the end of 1963 or early 1964.

Then Dallas happened.

Although LBJ followed Kennedy’s wishes for about 15 months, he eventually listened to his military advisors. At the peak of our involvement in Vietnam, in the summer of 1968, we had 525,000 combat troops in Vietnam. We also started a bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder, which lasted from March 2, 1965 to November 2, 1968. Despite the fact that we dropped more bombs on Vietnam (864,000 tons) than we used in the Korean War (653,000 tons) or in the Pacific theatre in WWII (500,000 tons), the operation did not achieve its purpose, and was terminated.

If you are a slow learner, let me explain something to you.

Our enormous military operation in Vietnam was the direct result of a LIE about North Vietnam torpedo boats, and it cost us dearly. By the time all the casualties were added up, we had lost 58, 209 people in Vietnam. In financial terms, we spent $168 billion, which would be the equivalent of $950 billion in today’s dollars.

Eventually, our relations with Vietnam improved over time. During the Clinton administration, Vietnam became one of our favored trading partners, and a lot of the coffee that we drink comes from Vietnam, which is the third largest coffee producer in the world. If you try not to think of the 388,000 tons of Napalm that we dropped on the country during our military involvement there, you’ll feel a little more comfortable about your cup of morning Joe.

You have heard the expression, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”.

Despite the fact that the truth about Vietnam started to come out, especially after the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, we AGAIN fell victim to ANOTHER whopper, which also cost us dearly.

During George W. Bush’s first term, intelligence reports started to circulate than Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. As a result, Congress passed the Iraq resolution on 10/6/2002, and it was not long before our “shock and awe” campaign commenced on 3/20/2003. Hussein was quickly forced from power, and hanged by his own people, but our involvement in Iraq has been very costly for us. The death toll so far is 4497 people, but the economic cost, so far, is $1.1 trillion.

Most of our leaders felt comfortable about invading Iraq because Hussein truly was a very evil man. He invaded Iran 8/2/1990, but the conflict finally ended in a truce on 8/20/1988 without either side achieving its objective.

The truce did not quell Hussein’s desire for expansion, so he invaded Kuwait on 8/2/1990. The allies quickly created Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia, which was followed a short time later by Desert Storm, a consortium of 35 countries that quickly forced Iraq from Kuwait.

The lesson of both Vietnam and Iraq is that is not always necessary to use massive force to achieve our objectives. The Arab Spring of 2011 (which you can read more about at the link below) caused regime changes in several countries in the Arab world, including Libya, which had been ruled by the murderous Muammar Gaddafi for more than 40 years. Our losses in all those countries, including Libya, were minor, and would have been even less if Congress had not reduced funding for embassy security in places like Benghazi, Libya.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7431976391999907996#editor/target=post;postID=4064404834858146512;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=294;src=link

My dad served in WWII, a conflict that resulted in the death of 400,000 Americans. I was in college during the height of the Vietnam War, and came to realize how effective peaceful resistance can be. I was in basic training when four students were killed at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970, and thousands of people marched on the Pentagon on October 21, 1967. Resistance to the war effort forced LBJ from power, but it still took 7 more years for us to withdraw from the country completely.

I am currently reading Robert Kennedy Jr’s latest book, “American Values – Lessons I learned from My Family”. It is clear that our country would be much better off if one (or both) of the Kennedy brothers had lived, and our involvement in Vietnam would have been significantly smaller. Both Kenney brothers courageously opposed the forces of evil in our society (including people in the government) and both of them fought for “the little guy”. Bill Clinton also greatly improved our country, but the Kennedy spirit is best exemplified by our 44^th president, whom financial analysts consider to be the 8th best president that our country has ever had.

Now, more than ever, it is time to rekindle the spirit of rebellion that we experienced during my college days. Political analysts now categorize Donald Trump as the worst president our country has ever had, and many experts consider him the most dangerous politician alive today. I would be astonished if he manages to complete his first term without getting impeached, or forced to resign, but I was also very much surprised when he was elected in the first place, despite the fact that every major newspaper in the country said that he was unfit for office.

Fortunately, for all us, there are enough patriotic politicians in both parties to protect us from the worst of Trump’s excesses – but there still are not enough. Unless the adults can reclaim control of both the House and the Senate in November, we will continue to live in some very dangerous times.

Amazon bookstores should replace public libraries

Last weekend, Forbes magazine published an online article by a regular contributor named Panos Mourdoukoutas, in which he advocated replacing pubis libraries with Amazon bookstores in order to save taxpayers money. The article triggered an immediate and angry response, and the article was withdrawn almost immediately. According to Forbes, the article was withdrawn “because the article was outside of this contributor’s specific area of expertise, and has since been removed”. That’s a polite way of saying that the guy didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

The day after the article was published, Forbes issued a statement confirming the fact that libraries “play an important role in our society.” Twitter, of course, buried Forbes with a flurry of comments, and the Kansas City Star published a lengthy article on July 23 that enumerated the benefits of public libraries.

 http://amp.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article215349175.html

Andrew Carnegie realized the importance of libraries, which is why he devoted a substantial part of his fortune to the erection of public libraries.

 

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2018/04/read-you-idiot-read.html

 

Despite our strong public support for libraries, America does not have the most total libraries, nor do we have the highest number of libraries per capita. The country that has the most libraries is India (with 323,605), followed by Indonesia, Russia, and China. The Vatican has the highest number of libraries per capita (1498 per 100,000 of population), followed by Slovakia, Palua, Finland (107), Belarus (97), Czech Republic (91), Ukraine (88), Armenia (83), Maldives (83), Russia (79), and Canada(55). We are #26 on the list, with 30 per 100,000 of population, slightly below Japan (35).

https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-most-libraries-total-and-which-has-the-most-libraries-per-capita

What America DOES have, though, is the world’s largest library. The Library of Congress, which was founded in 1800, has 164 million items available for review. Its annual budget of $642 million is a lot of money, but it is less than 1/10 of 1 percent of our 2018 defense budget, which will be INCREASED to $716 billion in FY 2019. At today’s price of $94.6 apiece, $642 million would buy exactly 6 F-35 jets, with a little money left over.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_libraries

Apart from their obvious value as educational tools, the articles contained within libraries are worth a LOT of money. Earlier this week, 2 men were arrested for stealing $8 million in rare books from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, a crime that is eerily familiar to the fictional theft from the Princeton library that John Grisham wrote about in his 2017 novel, Camino Island. If your local library happens to have a copy of the Book of Mormon, they should keep it under lock and key, since an original edition sold in 2017 for $35 million.

 

https://pittnews.com/article/133625/featured/2-men-arrested-for-stealing-over-8-million-in-rare-books-from-carnegie-library/

In addition to their literary treasures, there ARE a number of libraries in the country that have resident cats. The most famous feline is a cat named Dewey, who lived in the library in the Spencer, Iowa library for 17 years. Not only did he leave a lasting impression on the town, he also attracted visitors from around the world, including a film crew from Japan.

 

 

With a net worth of $143 billion, Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. In addition to his ownership of Amazon, he also owns the Washington Post, and Whole Foods. At the end of 2017, Amazon was the 5^th largest book store chain, but the number of its brick and mortar stores is significantly less than the number owned by Barnes and Noble, which was the largest general trade chain in both 2017 and 2011.

 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/73837-bookexpo-2017-amazon-will-be-the-fifth-largest-bookstore-chain.html

In its quest to eliminate anything of value from American society, the Trump administration (in February of 2018) proposed the permanent elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, as well as the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (and virtually all federal library funding), In all, federal library funding only comes to $231 million, while the NEA and the NEH each have individual budgets of $145 million.

 

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/76047-trump-renews-bid-to-eliminate-library-funding-nea-and-neh.html

In the last 30 years, it is doubtful that the tweeter in chief has read more than a handful of books, including the ones that he published that were actually written by ghost writers. If he would take the time to read books instead of watching television 6 hours a day, he would be more likely to appreciate how dumb cuts to library funding actually are.

There is absolutely no way that Amazon, or ANY book store chain, will ever replace public libraries in our country, and that would definitely please the Scottish immigrant who was the riches man in America at the turn of the 20^th century. During the last 18 years of his life, Andrew Carnegie gave away $350 million, which would be slightly more than $9 billion in today’s dollars. He left a legacy of 1687 Carnegie libraries in every state in the country, as well as 1 each in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.. Arizona has 4, but Indiana has the most, at 156, so it’s highly likely that Mike Pence has actually been in a few of them.  

Sorry, Mr. Moutdoukoutas. You may be the chair of the Department of Economics at Long Island University, but your ideas about libraries just don’t add up. Stick to numbers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Condor Pasa

Even if I am alone, I rarely have the radio on in the car, but today was an exception. On the way back from Chuz health club, I decided to listen to some classic rock/ folk singer music on Pandora. One of the songs that came on was “El Condor Pasa”, a song that was popularized by Simon and Garfunkel in 1970. As I listened to the song, I realized that the lyrics simply did not make any sense. If you listen to the video below,  I think you’ll agree with my thoughts on this one. WHAT were these guys thinking of? (EL Condor Pasa, incidentally, translates into “the condor passes”).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pey29CLID3I

 

When I got home, I did some research on the song to see if there was any hidden meaning, and I came across the link posted below. The short version is that the song was composed in by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles in 1913, and was based on traditional Andean music, specifically folk music from Peru. After its release, the song became wildly popular, which resulted in THOUSANDS of versions around the world. In 2004, Peru declared the song as part of its national cultural heritage, and it is now considered the second national anthem of Peru.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_C%C3%B3ndor_Pasa_(song)

In 1965, Paul Simon heard the song being played by the band Los Incas when he was in Paris. He asked permission to use the song in production, and they agreed. Ultimately, it became part of the 1970 album, Bridge Over Troubled Water.

 

Although the lyrics written by Paul Simon sometimes have you scratching your head, he IS a master of composing music that is pleasant to listen to, and has done a better job than most musicians of incorporating music from other cultures into his sons. The 1987 song, “Under African Skies” still gives me shivers when I listen to it. In 2013, he produced a documentary with the same title.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI

 

  

I've come to realize that are few coincidences in life, and today was no exception to that rule.

 

The History Channel this morning mentioned that the Peruvian landmark Machu Picchu was discovered on this day in 1911. In the native Peruvian language, Machu Picchu means “Old Peak”. Since its discovery, the lost city has become one of the world’s top tourist attractions, and it attracts an average of 300,000 people a year, one of whom is a former neighbor of mine

 

 

 

The odds of hearing an old Peruvian song on the same day that a Peruvian landmark makes the news are fairly slim, but I’m convinced that it’s a sign of good luck. I guess I’d better buy a lotto ticket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PT 109

PT 109

 

 

The PT (patrol torpedo) boat was used heavily by the Navy during WWII. The boat was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and was prized due to its maneuverability and speed.

 

Surprisingly, WWII was not the first time that PT boats were used, since their first use was in the early part of the 20^th century. The boats during WWI were heavier and slower than their WWII replacements. The more recent versions were used against enemy warships, transports, tankers, barges and sampans. The typical boat included 4 torpedoes and twin 50 caliber machine guns, The boats were powered by THREE Packard V-12 engines, each of which produced 1500 horsepower, and later versions produced 1850 horsepower.  They were very effective against the Japanese, who called them “devil boat”.

 

The most famous PT boat, of course, was PT 109, which was launched on June 30, 1942. A little  more than a year later (on August 2, 1943), almost exactly 75 years ago, it was sunk by a Japanese destroyer named Amagin, which crashed into the PT boat while traveling at over 40 miles per hour.

 

 

The impact cut PT 109 in two, and immediately killed 2 men. Although 11 members of the crew survived, 2 of them were badly injured. Since the crew was approximately 3.5 miles from Plum Pudding Island, the nearest piece of land, they decided to swim for it. Their commanding officer, Lieutenant junior grade John F. Kennedy was on the Harvard swim team, so elected to tow his badly burned machinist (Patrick McMahon) to shore using a strap from a life jacket clenched between his teeth.

  

The explosion of August 2 was spotted by an Australian coast watcher, which sent 2 natives in a dugout canoe to look for the survivors, and finally found them by accident 6 days later. Since the canoe could only hold 2 people, Kennedy scratched a message on a coconut, and asked the two canoeists to deliver it to the closest PT boat, which turned out to boe PT 157, which made the final rescue.  After they were rescued, the coconut was returned to Kennedy. Ultimately, it was preserved in a glass paperweight and kept on his desk in the Oval Office. It is now on display at the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

The PT 109 story came to me this week as a I started to read Robert Kennedy Jr’s latest book, whichis titled “ American Values – Lessons I Learned from My Family.” JFK’s parents, Joseph and Rose were strict but loving parents, and they expected nothing but the best from their children, which is why THREE of the brothers became senators, and one of those three eventually became president of the United States.

 

Like them or hate them, the Kennedy family was one that raised children with CHARACTER.  Due to his bad back, JFK could have avoided military service altogether, but he enlisted the help of his father to get INTO the service. Once he got in, he later volunteered to attend the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center in Melville, Rhode Island. After completing his training on December 2, 1942, he was assigned to take over the command of PT 101. which was assigned to Panama. Because he wanted to get into combat duty, he transferred to another squadron, and was assigned to PT 109 on April 23, 1943.

 

The story of PT 109 beame a song in 1962 (see below) as well as a book and a movie. Revell also made scale models of the boat, which we owned for a period of time before it got lost in of our many moves.

https://youtu.be/vADboJwbHCs

 

History does not record whether of not JFK had bone spurs, but there is no doubt that they would NOT have kept him out of the service. His leadership during his brief tenure as president was a period of remarkable achievements, including the actions he took during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of WWIII. As a result, he is consistently rated as one of our 5 best presidents.

 

Without giving away too much of the contents of the book, I would simply urge you to read it as soon as you can. Although it provides some unsettling comparisons to today, it also does provide a way forward in today’s perilous times. The current occupant of the White House will NEVER be considered the best president our country has every had  (at least, not by rational people) but he absolutely would need to be considered one of the most dangerous politicians alive today. Pages 17 through 22 detail how our country has became a fascist state under his watch. The same pages, though, show how FDR overcame similar challenges during his presidency, which means we will be able to take corrective action once we once again have responsible leadership running our country.

 

John F. Kennedy has his share of enemies, and there are DOZENS  of conspiracy theories about his death, but the reign of JFK was, in many ways, of time of magic in America. Pages 263 – 284 provide more details on the highs (and lows) of Camelot, so I’ll simply close with a song.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7E5rtnFH4

(If you would like to read more about the conspiracy theories, click on the link shown below:)

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7431976391999907996#editor/target=post;postID=8953851075908406358;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=185;src=link

 

Camelot  youtube

Roe V. Wade is in the news again

The pending retirement of Justice Kennedy has triggered a lot of conversation in the last week or so. The Democrats are still smarting over the fact that Merrick Garland was cheated out of his rightful place on the court, and the Republicans are happy about the fact that Donald Trump was able to get a conservative judge (Neil Gorsuch) appointed to the Court. The fact that three dubious cases were decided this past week by a 5-4 vote (Texas redistricting, public employee union dues, and the Muslim ban) should be cause for concern by BOTH political parties, but most of the anguish will be on the liberal side.

The fear of many folks on the liberal side is that the 1973 case of Roe v Wade will be weakened if Trump gets another conservative judge on the bench. Since Trump has a long track record of nominating the worst possible people for positions (including the members of his cabinet) there is certainly probable cause to be worried. Since Trump’s selection is scheduled to be made public on July 9, we’ll know in the near future if we should be concerned. However, there IS speculation that Chief Justice Roberts will now swing more to the center, which may help keep things on an even keel. Regardless of who is chose, though, Republican Senator Susan Collins has gone on record that she will not approve any candidate who does not support Roe v. Wade, so things are going to get very interesting in the near future.  

Just like gun control and immigration, abortion is simply one of those topics that always generates the strongest emotions. Before you go any further, though, read the article below, which I published in January of 2011.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/01/roe-vs-wade.html

Once you are done doing that, I would next recommend reading “Scarlet A’, a novel by a professor named Katie Watson, I read it earlier that year, and found it to be the MOST comprehensive coverage of all sides of the issue that I have ever read. Another book that is worth reading is Jodi Picoult's book titled, "A Spark of Light". One fact that stands out in the book is that in Mississippi, there is only ONE abortion clinic in the entire state, and there is a law on the books that a woman who gets an abortion ban be tried for murder, and receive the death penalty.

How in the world can that be considered pro-life ?

Although abortion is prohibited by virtually all religions, the fact of the matter is that religion has little bearing on which women will have abortion, since Catholic women choose the procedure just as often as women in the general population.

 https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/24/catholics-are-just-likely-get-abortion-other-us-women-why

The real surprise this year was that abortion was legalized in Ireland, which is considered one of THE most Catholic countries in the world. By the time all the votes were counted, the “yes” votes were 66.4% of the total for the referendum, which was known informally as “Savita’s law”. Although the article posted below goes into more detail, the short version is that a 31 year old dentist named Savita Halappanavar was not allowed to induce a miscarriage for her brain dead fetus, and died as a result.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/ireland-votes-by-landslide-to-legalise-abortion

A little closer to home, a local columnist named Joanna Allhands had a very similar experience 4 years ago, and recently published her story in the paper:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2018/07/03/nicole-arteaga-walgreens-miscarriage-prescription-abortion-debate/753252002/

The irony of the abortion issue is that both sides have the same goal in mind – fewer abortions. Unfortunately, too many members of the Republican Party are following precisely the WRONG approach to solving the problem.

The number of abortions performed annually in America is at a 40 year low. The ONLY ways to reduce the number of abortions even further are (1) mandatory comprehensive sex education for ALL high school and middle school students (2) INCREASED funding for Planned Parenthood and (3) elect public officials who aren’t under the sway of extremist groups like the Center for Arizona Policy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Arizona_Policy

Your personal sex life is nobody’s business but yours, unless you are a public figure, and your sex life is inappropriate (think Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, and Bill Cosby, for starters, but don't forget to include Brett Kavanagh.

For the same reason that doctors don’t write laws, politicians should not be allowed to interfere in medical decisions that you and your doctor make in the privacy of his office.

 I’ve seen enough fireworks in my lifetime that I don’t need to be sitting outside this coming Wednesday, but I have a feeling that once Trump announces his nominee for the Supreme Court, the fireworks will start in earnest in Washington, D.C.

Enjoy the show!

Fireworks pic