On the nights of March 9–10 1945 16 square miles of central Tokyo was destroyed by U.S. bombing during WWII, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over one million homeless. Japan did not surrender so the U.S. dropped atomic bombs and an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki were killed. From 1965 to 1968. 214 tons of bombs were dropped by the U.S. over Cambodia killing an estimated 50,000 people or more during the Vietnam War.
Hypocrisy could not be more obvious. If the United States is killing innocent civilians that is OK. If others do it that is a war crime. War is brutal. Israel is fighting for its survival. “From the River to the Sea” is a Palestinian slogan declaring their intention to destroy Israel and drive every Jew from that land. Israel’s goal to destroy Hamas is a worthy goal and must be accomplished to protect the State of Israel.
President Joe Biden’s call for a cease fire means a win for Hamas. Biden has lost my vote.
I previously predicted that Joe Biden will not run for re-election. My reasons revolved around the economy. Today young people are opposed to America’s support of Israel.
The turmoil we’re seeing on campuses today brings back memories of the widespread student protests of 1968 — a comparison that won’t be lost given that the Democratic National Convention this year will take place in Chicago. The 1968 Democratic Party convention was also held in Chicago.
On March 31, 1968, following the New Hampshire primary and Robert Kennedy’s entry into the election, the president made a televised speech to the nation and said that he was suspending all bombing of North Vietnam in favor of peace talks.
After concluding his speech, Johnson announced,
“With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties, other than the awesome duties of this office — the presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
After President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection, the party nominated his vice president, Hubert Humphrey. But Humphrey’s moment of coronation quickly turned into a moment of chaos. As Chicago police, unleashed by Mayor Richard Daley, confronted anti-Vietnam War protesters with tear gas and batons on the streets outside the convention, the televised images of violence greatly harmed Humphrey’s prospects in November.
President Joe Biden knows this history. The anti-war protests in the 1960s went on for years. Now, it remains unclear whether the protests — which are not yet nearly as large in scale or scope as were the anti-Vietnam protests — will continue to intensify or start to dissipate, especially as school lets out for the summer months. And in one recent Harvard Kennedy poll surveying young people between the ages of 18 and 29 in March, the findings showed the Israel/Palestine conflict ranked second-lowest in importance, coming in below gun violence as well as bread-and-butter issues such as inflation, health care and housing.
Will Biden’s belief that a Trump victory mean the end of the American democracy continue his run for re-election? I hope so when Trump says he will be a dictator on day one.
McClatchy News Service is asking the question. The answer is he needs a job. He has name recognition and baseball fans love their favorite players even if they have been long gone from the sport.
Garvey played four seasons for the Dodgers and one more with the San Diego Padres. All that ended in 1987.
What has he done since then? It appears the answer is nothing.
Garvey has made a living as a motivational speaker, local radio show host, celebrity endorser, sports commentator and founder of a marketing firm. At one point, his speaking fee was listed as $25,000.
His February 2024 federal disclosure form, required of all Senate candidates, shows he has income from four sources.
They include GEP Talent of Burbank, Fox News, the Topps Company and IPG DXTRA of Omaha. He lists Topps and IPG DXTRA as paying him for memorabilia signings and “corporate entertainment.”
To political strategists, Garvey had potential as the latest in a line of California celebrities with no need to explain who they were to a constituency smitten with fond memories of their triumphs.
Garvey, the thinking went, could be another George Murphy, the song-and-dance man who won a Senate seat in 1964, or Ronald Reagan, the TV and movie star first elected governor in 1966 and president in 1980. Or more recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator turned governor, the last Republican to win statewide in California.
Recently, Garvey has been actively tweeting, though he offers few concrete solutions to issues he raises.
“Unaffordable gas prices are hurting Californians’ quality of life every day. I see people putting $10 in at the pump instead of 10 gallons. Join my campaign if you believe California deserves better,” he said in a post on X April 5.
“I am driven by a commitment to every Californian’s dream for a better tomorrow. Let’s move onward together,” he said in another X post.
His speeches are filled with baseball references, stretched to show that he’s not tied to ideology. Just the nice guy who Californians cheered and celebrated on the ballfield.
“In a federal position like U.S. Senate you can get those answers. On that stage, on that platform, I’ll get answers,” Garvey said.
California has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, according to a state audit released earlier this month. It was reported that $20 Billion in the past five years have been spent on the homeless. Much of that money was spent on shelters and subsidizing rent. Still, homelessness grew 6% in 2023 from the year prior, to more than 180,000 people. This was reported in the Los Angeles Times on April 9, 2024.
A homeless encampment in San Francisco in 2023. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
Now, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is asking L.A.’s wealthiest Angelenos for help. On Monday in her State of the City address, she unveiled a new campaign that asks business leaders, philanthropic organizations and others to donate millions of dollars to an effort to acquire buildings so they can be used as apartments for the city’s homeless population.
Clearly the programs to help the homeless have failed. More money for programs that have not worked is a waste of money. Who is asking what are the causes of homelessness? Publicly no one. Simply throwing more money at the problem in the same fruitless way will not stop this growing problem.
I do not know the answer. We do not need politicians taxing us for programs that do not work.
Even in the year 2024 the author of this article says it all. Appearance makes all the difference for women of every age. Even plain doesn’t work! Beauty contests will never end. A little plastic surgery for women can make all the difference.
I’d never heard of the term #prettyprivilege until this week – apparently the hashtag has over 250 million views on Tik Tok, and it’s a phrase coined by the internet to describe the benefits of being the kind of ‘pretty’ that conforms to society’s so-called beauty ideals.
I first came across it after reading comments about a viral Tik Tok loaded by 30 year old New Yorker, Melissa Weaver. Melissa had gone for an interview for the job of her dreams. One that she knew she was qualified for, and one that she was told by the recruiter, fitted her skillset perfectly.
However, Melissa was rejected for the vice presidency role because she didn’t look ‘pretty enough.’
In the video, Melissa explains that after thinking that the interview was a huge success, she was told that she didn’t get the job because she hadn’t put enough effort into her appearance.
“I did a blowout for my hair. I had on a nice top, a blazer and some earrings, but I only had on Chapstick,” Melissa explains in the video. “I didn’t have any makeup on because I don’t really wear a lot of makeup – not to be quirky, I just don’t”.
Which begs the question as she asked her followers, does not wearing makeup really make it seem like women aren’t putting as much effort or care into their job?
I was astonished that as a society we are still conditioned to believe that we have to conform to a set of out of date beauty ideals that require us to look a certain way in a job interview. Yes, as a matter of respect – to ourselves as well as our colleagues – we should look presentable and of course be clean. But is a lack of lipstick really reason enough not to hire someone? Is corporate America still that behind?
This appearance-fixed society, makes me, yes even me, the de facto Beauty Editor, take a deep breath of dismay. And now add the barrage of overly perfect filters on Tik Tok and Instagram, I fear that the pressures of looking a certain way will just get worse.
In this so-called age of inclusivity and diversity, we should be putting those archaic societal beauty standards to bed. Do men get turned down for a job if they don’t use concealer to cover up their dark circles? Pah! Of course not!
Yes, wearing lipstick can make a lot of us feel better. Makeup often gives us a coat of armour. A spring in our step. An extra jolt of confidence. And of course, for that reason, wear it! But it should be about choice.
You might say that this opinion is a bit rich coming from a Beauty Editor, working in an industry that relies on lipstick sales. However, during my career, I have always worked hard to encourage women to celebrate what makes them unique and if that’s going makeup free, then so be it.
Lipstick or no lipstick, we should be looking at the traits that make us clever, caring, honest, brave…Not whether we look like a sexy, polished and glossy character from Suits.
It’s up to society to challenge these internalised biases. We must all be on a level playing field. Whatever we look like.
On April 3, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what turned out to be his final speech, telling a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, that “I’ve been to the mountaintop” and “seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” (About 20 hours later, King was felled by an assassin’s bullet at the Lorraine Motel.)
Reported by the Associated Press. Speaking besides an empty podium that read “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace.” Donald Trump called on President Joe Biden to have a “good, solid, friendly debate” to discuss the “real problems of our country.”
President Biden MUST accept the challenge. The choice of the moderator. the time, and the place to determined.
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