GOP's Attack on Birth Control, Toyota Apologizes for Falsifying Tests, An Amazing Art Video, What I'm Reading, Cyndi Lauper Sings “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
My father sat me down one morning after I had done something incredibly stupid. He talked about responsibilities. The gist of it went like this. Son you have 3 responsibilities in life:
1) You have a moral responsibility. You love your neighbor (Golden Rule). You help the poor and respect all people.
2) You have a civic responsibility. You serve your country. You vote and serve on jury duty.
3) You have a financial responsibility. You pay your bills. You don’t renege on bets.
My father was a WWII vet, who I still miss as well as my mother. I was fortunate to have parents who always helped their children and other people.
Why is Cyndi Lauper not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
A good and interesting read, as always. In regard to the pro-lifers now wanting to ban birth control, it has seemed to me they have a dilemma within their faith. If their God says life begins at fertilization, the science informs us that the majority of embryos never attach to the uterus and are washed out in the next menstrual cycle. Does that mean their God is the number one abortionist?
It’s great to read your insights on the ephemeral nature of fame. The connection to generational awareness is especially powerful as we experience the last survivors of D-Day commemorating the day which is credited with turning the tide against Nazi oppression. Our heroes live ( and die) with the tides of time but the importance of their achievements remains.
I immediately thought of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” when I heard of the Republican efforts to restrict birth control. What seemed like fantasy in her fiction continues to be played out in reality by the extreme right. It was frightening in her fiction and has become a potentially terrifying future for our children.
On immigration, I agree one doesn’t have to become a Republican to fight the Republicans , but this isn’t “ we have met the enemy and it is us”. Expediency may be a necessary evil in the dregs of what Trump has done to our democracy.
The cinematic nature of the art without frames makes me want to pack a bag for a trip to London , with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun “ as my soundtrack.
Thank you, Kareem, for ending on a light-hearted note with our contemporary Cyndi. The previous subjects are very heavy and worthy of deep thought; but I hope everyone recognizes the urgency of saving democracy and avoiding a dictatorship by voting against the convicted felon presumptive candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
Kareem, I’m going to connect the contraception and the Toyota stories. In both cases, it’s about the sanctity of life, but they care not, in either case. From zygote to delivery, laws have been created to prevent healthcare to women, threatening miscarriage and health compromise, and are now, taking away birth control. Meanwhile, Toyota subject our lives to injury and death, knowing in the end, their profits will exceed their penalties and fines. But lawmakers, nor the courts, will interfere with their ability for creation. Which suggests to me, that this governance over women’s bodies is about control, not the preservation of life.
Thank you, fellow old person. I’m so sad that we’re going backwards at such a clip while elevating money and power beyond its previous prominence. And very sad that some women are involved in restricting our rights (talk about turncoats).
😂😂😂I know, Katharine. I’m baffled by women who can’t see where we are headed: HOUSEwives—with no voice, no identity—the days of Mrs John Doe, because Jane was only a tool, a punching bag, a non-entity. Unfortunately, all of us are at risk. This week, I’m visiting grandkids who are graduating (high school and Jr College for transfer). The high schooler votes this year, and although he’s aware, I’m still trying to cement the importance of not becoming nonchalant and weary. I’m ranting! Enjoy your week, Katharine 🙏🏽💛
I’m thrilled to be a late-in-life Granny, and I have to keep the faith for my almost 10-month old grandson. He’s delighted to be discovering the world. Wishing your grands all the best as they venture forth.
On Biden’s recent executive order - let’s be pragmatic for a moment please - what if the only outcomes were keeping immigration policy as is and have Trump win the election - or use an admittedly draconian effort resulting in a win for Biden? You also failed to mention that the Biden administration worked tirelessly to get effective immigration legislation in place - only to be thwarted by the Republican House at the last minute.
Thank you for pointing this out. And a real solution begins in the countries of origin, which requires the US to invest more time and effort in working with Central and South American governments to improve conditions in their countries. Is that going to happen?
I remember when VP Harris went to Central America to get that work started (in 2021), and read the update on the strategy for Central America from 2022 (this was during COVID, at least initially). I don’t know how effective it’s been on the ground, nor how well it’s been implemented. Is financial aid going where it’s needed? Are programs actually effective and are they reaching the people on the ground? Monitoring is needed and corrections as well if programs aren’t working and if funds are being siphoned off.
Your canvas is large as usual, Kareem. Loved the video and Cyndi is forever. Your observation on each generation needing new heroes is thought-provoking, but it seems what you are really talking about is role models. True heroes/heroines transcend their times, for people not historically illiterate, as too many are. I think of our great scientists, philosophers, human rights pioneers, among others. Just a few—Galen, Euclid, Newton, Albert Schweitzer, Louis Pasteur, Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton; Plato, Confucius, Lao Tsu, Immanuel Kant, John Locke; Spartacus, Baodicea, Joan of Arc, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, so many others. Heroes are not only of a time, but timeless. Role models are more in the present, important as they are.
Which leads to 50 Cent. More like a bad penny. Like the creature he claims appeals to black men, he is saying someone encapsulating all that is the worst in us is better than a man who, however flawed, has sought to heed Lincoln’s call to follow “the better angels of our nature.” Any person of color supporting tfg has a low IQ or Stockholm Syndrome (see, Uncle Clarence Thomas). But the border restrictions, you say. President Biden is not becoming Republican. He is trying to forestall what would be far more draconian measures should tfg be “elected”, recognizing that we cannot be the world’s asylum. Only someone intent on collective suicide would think that. No doubt we have caused some of the problems at the root of the migrations, but we are hardly alone there, nor are Western countries alone either. It is, as you note, an enormously complex issue, and will only get more so as the impacts of climate change become greater and more destructive. Regardless, non-whites and immigrants, legal as well as illegal, have to know that their situations will be grotesquely worse if tfg returns than if President Biden is re-elected. Which is why a blue vote everywhere, for every office, is existentially essential in November, not just for those groups, but for all sane, decent, fair, civil, real Americans.
Sigh. I turned 76 yesterday. As Joni Michell sang, aging children, I am one. I pray my beloved grandson may be one day as well. I fear if tfg returns, he and too many in his generation will not live long enough to be.
Thank you for differentiating between heroes and role models. The word “hero “ is tossed around too freely for me these days. We used to think hard before using that word. And with D-Day just past, that is especially true as we look at the accomplishments of those men and women.
Dear Kareem, I have to take issue with, "Pop culture heroes ride a conveyor belt for a short time in front of a cheering audience before they are dumped off the end into the disposal bin of irrelevance." Irrelevance only happens if one is stuck in the past. As I age I value my past as the fuel for my present stage of life: Elder. That is a heavy term which I realized, and accepted as my elders passed away. It is a critical role in any culture. You, of all people are an example of what it means to be an "Elder." I see you first as a philosopher who also shined for a while on the basketball court. The fact that you choose to share "My Take," is to accept the pass and play it out. You are shooting with skill and balance into the net of our minds and hearts. New game; new ball. -- Richard Sidy UCLA 1968
Thanks for the book suggestion. I look forward to reading it soon. I'm currently reading "The Violin Conspiracy" and recommend it. I appreciate your insightful and kind-hearted assessment of our world.
I was ... 23 when that video came out, and I remember it better than I thought I might! That wrestling guy! And Steve Forbert, right? The groom? And the ending out of that Marx brothers movie. A simpler time ... because not the year, because I was 23.
I don't think it is helpful or true to ask why do Republicans hate women. This lands for me as a wild over-generalization. Are you saying Republican women hate women? Or that because some people, due to their strict religious beliefs, are against abortion hate women? Etc., etc., etc. Are you trying to stoke outrage? Don't get me wrong, I love your column, I devour it when it comes out, and largely I deeply appreciate your analysis. But that question....boy, not becoming of the insightful, reasoned and nuanced commentary I've come to expect.
I can see your point. But what I mean is that groups or people who claim they are supportive while at the same time doing things harmful--even if unconsciously so--are expressing hate. They are like a parent who abuses their child believing they are helping them. Men and women who have been brainwashed over generations to believe certain limitations should apply toward women don't realize how destructive those beliefs are.
thanks for responding back - and I get what you're pointing at. Much packed into the simple question! I would say destructive is a more apt description than hateful.
When “Girls Just…” came out I thought it was a breezy, fun song to make you smile. Silly me. I was “corrected” by the hue and cry from folks who asserted that the song had set back women’s rights by (pick one: years; decades; centuries.) Sigh.
I think it was the same people who came out of the woodwork a few years later to let us know that Bart Simpson was a sure sign of the coming American dystopia.
Catching up today and the following comment caught my eye in the piece on Biden's immigration policy: "(DeSantis wants to send in hit squads to murder illegal immigrants. Violence is always the default setting for non-thinkers.) It’s a formula that works on children, which is how they view the sophistication level of thought of their followers."
Part of the problem is that the Republican leadership's view of their followers as having the sophistication level of children is not wrong. It's not a secret that many of these people are low information voters who are laboring under a belief system that is contrary to the reality directly in front of them. In between the lack of curiosity and critical thinking skills and the cognitive biases they carry, these people time and again vote against their own self interest. Doesn't matter whether the issue is climate change, the economy, national defense, discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, national origin,or anything else, when the Republican politicians whip out that red meat, they have a built in ready and willing group who will march straight down that path without a thought.
I wish CEOs and politicians had a moral compass.
My father sat me down one morning after I had done something incredibly stupid. He talked about responsibilities. The gist of it went like this. Son you have 3 responsibilities in life:
1) You have a moral responsibility. You love your neighbor (Golden Rule). You help the poor and respect all people.
2) You have a civic responsibility. You serve your country. You vote and serve on jury duty.
3) You have a financial responsibility. You pay your bills. You don’t renege on bets.
My father was a WWII vet, who I still miss as well as my mother. I was fortunate to have parents who always helped their children and other people.
Why is Cyndi Lauper not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Thanks Kareem again and again.
Sounds like a great Dad.
Very much so.❤️
A good and interesting read, as always. In regard to the pro-lifers now wanting to ban birth control, it has seemed to me they have a dilemma within their faith. If their God says life begins at fertilization, the science informs us that the majority of embryos never attach to the uterus and are washed out in the next menstrual cycle. Does that mean their God is the number one abortionist?
Ha! Wonder what their response would be to that?
It’s great to read your insights on the ephemeral nature of fame. The connection to generational awareness is especially powerful as we experience the last survivors of D-Day commemorating the day which is credited with turning the tide against Nazi oppression. Our heroes live ( and die) with the tides of time but the importance of their achievements remains.
I immediately thought of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” when I heard of the Republican efforts to restrict birth control. What seemed like fantasy in her fiction continues to be played out in reality by the extreme right. It was frightening in her fiction and has become a potentially terrifying future for our children.
On immigration, I agree one doesn’t have to become a Republican to fight the Republicans , but this isn’t “ we have met the enemy and it is us”. Expediency may be a necessary evil in the dregs of what Trump has done to our democracy.
The cinematic nature of the art without frames makes me want to pack a bag for a trip to London , with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun “ as my soundtrack.
Thank you, Kareem, for ending on a light-hearted note with our contemporary Cyndi. The previous subjects are very heavy and worthy of deep thought; but I hope everyone recognizes the urgency of saving democracy and avoiding a dictatorship by voting against the convicted felon presumptive candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
Kareem, I’m going to connect the contraception and the Toyota stories. In both cases, it’s about the sanctity of life, but they care not, in either case. From zygote to delivery, laws have been created to prevent healthcare to women, threatening miscarriage and health compromise, and are now, taking away birth control. Meanwhile, Toyota subject our lives to injury and death, knowing in the end, their profits will exceed their penalties and fines. But lawmakers, nor the courts, will interfere with their ability for creation. Which suggests to me, that this governance over women’s bodies is about control, not the preservation of life.
Thank you, fellow old person. I’m so sad that we’re going backwards at such a clip while elevating money and power beyond its previous prominence. And very sad that some women are involved in restricting our rights (talk about turncoats).
😂😂😂I know, Katharine. I’m baffled by women who can’t see where we are headed: HOUSEwives—with no voice, no identity—the days of Mrs John Doe, because Jane was only a tool, a punching bag, a non-entity. Unfortunately, all of us are at risk. This week, I’m visiting grandkids who are graduating (high school and Jr College for transfer). The high schooler votes this year, and although he’s aware, I’m still trying to cement the importance of not becoming nonchalant and weary. I’m ranting! Enjoy your week, Katharine 🙏🏽💛
I’m thrilled to be a late-in-life Granny, and I have to keep the faith for my almost 10-month old grandson. He’s delighted to be discovering the world. Wishing your grands all the best as they venture forth.
Thank You!😊 And congratulations on the little one!🎈🎉❣️
Very sad
On Biden’s recent executive order - let’s be pragmatic for a moment please - what if the only outcomes were keeping immigration policy as is and have Trump win the election - or use an admittedly draconian effort resulting in a win for Biden? You also failed to mention that the Biden administration worked tirelessly to get effective immigration legislation in place - only to be thwarted by the Republican House at the last minute.
I have done a couple articles mentioning GOP thwarting Dems’ efforts in order to not give them a win.
Thank you for pointing this out. And a real solution begins in the countries of origin, which requires the US to invest more time and effort in working with Central and South American governments to improve conditions in their countries. Is that going to happen?
Biden administration has been doing that.
I remember when VP Harris went to Central America to get that work started (in 2021), and read the update on the strategy for Central America from 2022 (this was during COVID, at least initially). I don’t know how effective it’s been on the ground, nor how well it’s been implemented. Is financial aid going where it’s needed? Are programs actually effective and are they reaching the people on the ground? Monitoring is needed and corrections as well if programs aren’t working and if funds are being siphoned off.
Agree with that.
Your canvas is large as usual, Kareem. Loved the video and Cyndi is forever. Your observation on each generation needing new heroes is thought-provoking, but it seems what you are really talking about is role models. True heroes/heroines transcend their times, for people not historically illiterate, as too many are. I think of our great scientists, philosophers, human rights pioneers, among others. Just a few—Galen, Euclid, Newton, Albert Schweitzer, Louis Pasteur, Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton; Plato, Confucius, Lao Tsu, Immanuel Kant, John Locke; Spartacus, Baodicea, Joan of Arc, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, so many others. Heroes are not only of a time, but timeless. Role models are more in the present, important as they are.
Which leads to 50 Cent. More like a bad penny. Like the creature he claims appeals to black men, he is saying someone encapsulating all that is the worst in us is better than a man who, however flawed, has sought to heed Lincoln’s call to follow “the better angels of our nature.” Any person of color supporting tfg has a low IQ or Stockholm Syndrome (see, Uncle Clarence Thomas). But the border restrictions, you say. President Biden is not becoming Republican. He is trying to forestall what would be far more draconian measures should tfg be “elected”, recognizing that we cannot be the world’s asylum. Only someone intent on collective suicide would think that. No doubt we have caused some of the problems at the root of the migrations, but we are hardly alone there, nor are Western countries alone either. It is, as you note, an enormously complex issue, and will only get more so as the impacts of climate change become greater and more destructive. Regardless, non-whites and immigrants, legal as well as illegal, have to know that their situations will be grotesquely worse if tfg returns than if President Biden is re-elected. Which is why a blue vote everywhere, for every office, is existentially essential in November, not just for those groups, but for all sane, decent, fair, civil, real Americans.
Sigh. I turned 76 yesterday. As Joni Michell sang, aging children, I am one. I pray my beloved grandson may be one day as well. I fear if tfg returns, he and too many in his generation will not live long enough to be.
Thank you for differentiating between heroes and role models. The word “hero “ is tossed around too freely for me these days. We used to think hard before using that word. And with D-Day just past, that is especially true as we look at the accomplishments of those men and women.
Dear Kareem, I have to take issue with, "Pop culture heroes ride a conveyor belt for a short time in front of a cheering audience before they are dumped off the end into the disposal bin of irrelevance." Irrelevance only happens if one is stuck in the past. As I age I value my past as the fuel for my present stage of life: Elder. That is a heavy term which I realized, and accepted as my elders passed away. It is a critical role in any culture. You, of all people are an example of what it means to be an "Elder." I see you first as a philosopher who also shined for a while on the basketball court. The fact that you choose to share "My Take," is to accept the pass and play it out. You are shooting with skill and balance into the net of our minds and hearts. New game; new ball. -- Richard Sidy UCLA 1968
Thanks for the book suggestion. I look forward to reading it soon. I'm currently reading "The Violin Conspiracy" and recommend it. I appreciate your insightful and kind-hearted assessment of our world.
Re: Cyndi Lauper.
I was ... 23 when that video came out, and I remember it better than I thought I might! That wrestling guy! And Steve Forbert, right? The groom? And the ending out of that Marx brothers movie. A simpler time ... because not the year, because I was 23.
"Captain" Lou Albano played her dad.
Great interactive art with a storm battering a ship, and water flowing outward.
One of the smartest people in the world. Thanks.
Hi Kareem -
I don't think it is helpful or true to ask why do Republicans hate women. This lands for me as a wild over-generalization. Are you saying Republican women hate women? Or that because some people, due to their strict religious beliefs, are against abortion hate women? Etc., etc., etc. Are you trying to stoke outrage? Don't get me wrong, I love your column, I devour it when it comes out, and largely I deeply appreciate your analysis. But that question....boy, not becoming of the insightful, reasoned and nuanced commentary I've come to expect.
I can see your point. But what I mean is that groups or people who claim they are supportive while at the same time doing things harmful--even if unconsciously so--are expressing hate. They are like a parent who abuses their child believing they are helping them. Men and women who have been brainwashed over generations to believe certain limitations should apply toward women don't realize how destructive those beliefs are.
thanks for responding back - and I get what you're pointing at. Much packed into the simple question! I would say destructive is a more apt description than hateful.
When “Girls Just…” came out I thought it was a breezy, fun song to make you smile. Silly me. I was “corrected” by the hue and cry from folks who asserted that the song had set back women’s rights by (pick one: years; decades; centuries.) Sigh.
I think it was the same people who came out of the woodwork a few years later to let us know that Bart Simpson was a sure sign of the coming American dystopia.
As for the folks seeing Bart as a dark omen, TG, they may not have been prescient, but they weren't exactly wrong, either.
Look forward to you news blogs on Tuesday and Friday.Well written and great insight.
Catching up today and the following comment caught my eye in the piece on Biden's immigration policy: "(DeSantis wants to send in hit squads to murder illegal immigrants. Violence is always the default setting for non-thinkers.) It’s a formula that works on children, which is how they view the sophistication level of thought of their followers."
Part of the problem is that the Republican leadership's view of their followers as having the sophistication level of children is not wrong. It's not a secret that many of these people are low information voters who are laboring under a belief system that is contrary to the reality directly in front of them. In between the lack of curiosity and critical thinking skills and the cognitive biases they carry, these people time and again vote against their own self interest. Doesn't matter whether the issue is climate change, the economy, national defense, discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, national origin,or anything else, when the Republican politicians whip out that red meat, they have a built in ready and willing group who will march straight down that path without a thought.