Opinion: You Can Help Stop the Gunmen
Photo by krakenimages on UnsplashPhoto by krakenimages on Unsplash. The photos and headlines about a mass shooting attract the public's attention. Some people feel drawn to the excitement. Others read and feel better knowing that law enforcement’s at the scene. Some readers are just curious; others gather information in an effort to protect themselves from a possible future attack.
Read full storyOpinion: Support Gun Laws to Protect Rights
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you purchase anything through these affiliated links, the author/website may earn a commission. Americans have rights. No one has the right to take away another person’s rights. In some situations, a citizen’s rights may compete with another’s. Two people can fight over the Right to Free Speech for example. During this shouting match, the two citizens have competing rights.
Read full storyOpinion: Tucker Carlson Slipped Up on Hate Speech
Photo by Andre Hunter on UnsplashPhoto by Andre Hunter on Unsplash. Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you purchase anything through these affiliated links, the author/website may earn a commission.
Read full storyOpinion: DeSantis' Stop Woke Won't Stop Woke
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on UnsplashPhoto by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash. Conversations between the Left and Right are a little strained, if you haven't noticed. The Left is still seething at Trump’s ridicule. The Right continues to roll its eyes at "liberal" media.
Read full storyOpinion: Biden Shows Strength as World Leader
Photo by William Navarro on UnsplashPhoto by William Navarro on Unsplash. I’m feeling the price of everything. The cost of my fast food yesterday was ridiculous. Who knows how much I’ll spend filling up my tank tomorrow. Thankfully, I still have the democratic right to complain about it, to make choices, and to vote.
Read full storyOpinion: Tucker Carlson Criticizes Self
Photo by Fares Hamouche on UnsplashPhoto by Fares Hamouche on Unsplash. There's something missing. The guy ahead of me in traffic had a broken taillight and a tied-up bumper. Out his window, he was yelling at an old woman, crossing the road. By the look of the car, the guy didn’t “have it together”; yet, there he was, hollering: “C’mon, lady. Get it together!"
Read full storyOpinion: Fake News Claims Raise False Flags
Photo by Kayla Velasquez on UnsplashPhoto by Kayla Velasquez on Unsplash. People often post “fake news” under articles. Usually, it’s a false flag. For an article to be “fake news”, it has to have bad facts. “Fake news” is a false flag when it responds to articles that contain true facts. Rather than warning of fake facts, these online notifications of “fake news” may be complaints about a “fakeness” in the spin of the text.
Read full storyOpinion: Biden Bounces Back as Ratings Rise
Photo by Shane on UnsplashPhoto by Shane on Unsplash. Biden tripped midway while climbing the stairs to AirForce One last year. It's not surprising. He's our oldest President. When inaugurated, he was 78. Trump was 74 when taking office. Obama was 47. In the video, he reaches to pull himself up and falls again. As if that wasn’t enough, he goes on to stumble.
Read full storyPutin Opposes Principles
Photo by Jonathan Ansel Moy de Vitry on UnsplashPhoto by Jonathan Ansel Moy de Vitry on Unsplash. Putin called the Russian advance into Ukraine “peacekeeping” at the start of the war. The United Nations, however, lays claim to the term. UN Peacekeeping Operations dateback to 1948. The UN has used the phrase for over seventy-four years.
Read full storyCancel Culture's Missed Moments
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on UnsplashPhoto by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash. It could be the shoes left on the floor in the hallway again. Or the fighting. Or the yelling. As a parent of two young girls, I understand that it’s hard to live with uncivilized people. In this sense, I can identify with the callout movement. Like these defenders, I’ve tried to make my world a more considerate place. Like them, my efforts have sometimes backfired.
Read full storyUsing Fear, Faulty Facts, & False Fronts
Photo by Annie Spratt on UnsplashPhoto by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. So many of us sit in front of screens - our eyes glued to the latest on the stock market. We gasp and shutter at each rise and fall. At the end of the day, we speculate on the causes. We try to imagine future positions.
Read full storyFeel Feelings, Slow Down, Taste Food
Photo by Tengyart on UnsplashPhoto by Tengyart on Unsplash. The latest news on Covid can drum up intense emotions like grief, fear, and anger. We might get relief by running to the kitchen and delving into a jar of peanut butter. We can numb grief, fear, and anger by chewing on crackers or cookies. The relief that we get, though, lasts only minutes.
Read full storyFeast Freely but Follow Up to Live Well
Photo by Chad Montano on UnsplashPhoto by Chad Montano on Unsplash. Eating freely is not always bad for average people. Crunching on popcorn while watching an exciting movie feels good. A hot mug of Irish coffee in winter comforts the body and mind. Delving into chocolate cake can inspire us to do an extra-hard workout the next day. We might wake up more relaxed after that second Martini and make a big batch of hearty soup for everyone. The good moods that follow bad food can counter the negative effects on our bodies. Eating badly is not all bad. It's fun for a healthy person to feast freely sometimes, but we have to follow up with good food in order to live well.
Read full storyFictitious Content: Professional Boundaries
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on UnsplashPhoto by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash. (Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.) I read the email from Principal Myers that asked me to stop by his office after school. I gulped, afraid that he wanted to talk about the complaints that Ms. Putram made against Ms. Rochier, a teacher I worked with. Ms. Rochier and I had become close. I was a long-term substitute at the time – as a support person in her class. For weeks, I helped her manage the classroom. As I instructed students at a table in the back of the room, Ms. Rochier’s professionalism always shone through.
Read full storyOpinion: A Politics-Free Holiday
@ unsplashSay thanks 🙌 Give a shoutout to freestocks on social. A cinnamon candle in the foyer of my NJ home greeted family members as they arrived. In the living room by the fireplace, we drank wine, and while listening to holiday standards, nibbled on grapes and cheese. The kids played with their new toys; Uncle Thomas and Cousin Ralph chatted about football; my Aunt Susan and my cousin’s wife, Kathy, discussed Susan’s new job. Thinking we’d enjoy a politics-free holiday dinner, I invited everyone into the dining room.
Read full storyGift Exchange Ideas that Outshine Mine
gift exchange ideasPhoto by freestocks on Unsplash. My parents like the gifts that I give them. My father recently mentioned making a stew in the Instant Pot that I gifted him last year. My mother still wears the shawl that I got her once. The framed pictures of their grandkids that I had tucked into red and white wrapped boxes hang in the hallway of their house. “You know, I’m still using that extra sharpvegetable peeler that you got me that one time,” my dad commented on the phone one afternoon. My gift exchange ideas go over pretty well.
Read full story