The more we listen...

...the more we realize that what we hear is real.

How true is that?

Well, for instance, President Trump is now tired of waiting for Congressional Republicans (those in the Senate, specifically) to deliver to him a bill that will, once and for all, repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.  Yesterday he signed an executive order that will allow government agencies to relax restrictions on health plans that don't cover certain conditions or those that exclude pre-existing conditions.  And he appears ready to follow that by withholding funding to insurance carriers who are providing coverage to low-income people.

Remember, he's been saying he would do this for some time.  The House passed a bill and the Senate tried more than once to follow suit.  Did the spectre of a Democratic bill co-sponsored by some TWENTY Senators force the hand of the President and/or Republican Congressional leadership?

Disaster relief came relatively quickly to those affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but those in Puerto Rico, struck head-on by Maria, have not seen nearly the same kind of mobilization of help and resources.  Clearly President Trump hears the criticism, as he has attempted to squelch negative views of what his administration hasn't done there, and accuses the mayor of San Juan of playing politics when she's out in chest-deep water looking for survivors.  Who's in the right?  Are that commonwealth's citizens worth less effort because Puerto Rico is not a state, despite being populated by American citizens?

Regarding the President, I won't detail the number of items he has referenced in various tweets on these subjects and so many others, it's just too much.  But I do think that right-thinking people should be concerned when he tweets or says that he doesn't much like that the media can write and report issues that disagree with his world view, which he expresses often.

People in the entertainment world are shocked, SHOCKED at what movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been recently accused of doing over a long period of time.  A group of women, led by the example of Kentucky's own Ashley Judd, among others, have come forward with details of harassment, objectification and worse.  Now the avalanche has begun, and such A-listers as Meryl Streep, Gwynneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are coming forward with what they experienced or at least what they knew.

Apparently this is one of the worst kept secrets in recent Hollywood history.

Outspoken minorities have gone on record for quite some time about how they're treated unfairly by law enforcement personnel in cities and communities across the country, and we all heard their claims but nothing really happened.  But with police wearing body cameras and police cruisers equipped with dash cams, and with anyone with a cellphone and a conscience now able to serve as an on-the-scene reporter thanks to social media, we now see evidence that this has been the case and in greater numbers than one might have expected.

But now it's turned into an argument over whether professional (and other) athletes have the right to kneel or sit or otherwise protest the playing of our national anthem.  Is that what we should be debating, or the actions that prompt these athletes to protest in the first place?  And how many people who join the discussion understand that in most cases these athletes aren't necessarily protesting how they themselves are treated, but rather the treatment received by those without a public forum?

I didn't stay awake long enough to see all of it, but it appears that a couple of potentially questionable calls by the umpires may have affected the outcome of the Cubs-Nationals game last night, which the Cubs won late.  Are the fans who say that the Nationals were victims right?  Were the umpires?  How about the replay officials "in New York," as they say on virtually every baseball broadcast?  Frankly, I liked it better when a call was made, managers came out and raged briefly and then the game went on, no change of a bad call.

Last one....Apple just brought out a couple of new phones, with a super-duper one to come in a few weeks.  There have been reports that a few of the new models are affected by a bulging battery.  Would that deter you from buying the latest and greatest iPhone?  Personally, I think that buying any engineered product in its earliest days of actual production can be perilous.  But bad battery or not, will that phone change your life and make things better, as we've been told by experts and reviewers?

No wonder we're all so tired all of the time.  Have a good weekend!






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Something to think about

Fear

Thankful every day