GOP's Katie Britt's TV Lies Exploit Women & Some Jan. 6 Rioters had Guns
Jordan Peterson Doesn't Want Lives to Be Saved, Katie Porter’s "Rigged" Election Mistake, Dogs Can Smell Parkinson's, Guys Don't Read Novels, Harry Belafonte Sings
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Coach Gregg Popovich tells us something important about living with disappointment.
Arrest of armed Jan. 6 rioter does new harm to GOP talking points: Republicans tried to spin the insurrection as a spontaneous act of patriotism. Think again.
Katie Britt defends sex trafficking story she falsely links to Biden presidency: With trembling voice, she deliberately lied about women so she could falsely blame Biden. Fake news.
Jordan Peterson Whines Over ‘Woke’ Report on Drop in Traffic Deaths: Peterson complains about a city that has zero traffic fatalities.
Katie Porter’s Ridiculous ‘Rigged’ Election Sour Grapes: Bad look to even use the word rigged.
Pet dogs smell Parkinson's disease with almost 90 percent accuracy: It’s like having a doctor in the family.
What Does It Take to Get a Guy to Read a Novel?: Most men don’t read fiction. They’re missing out on life-changing benefits.
Kareem’s Video Break: Panda bears on a slide. Nothing more needs to be said.
Harry Belafonte Sings “John Henry”: One of my favorite singers sings one of my favorite songs about one of my favorite folk heroes.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn't go our way.
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs head coach and five-time NBA champion.
Life is filled with moments that don’t go our way. Sometimes we crash and burn due to our own mistakes, and sometimes due to circumstances out of our control. Sometimes we psychologically manufacture social slights and torture ourselves with them. (“What did she mean by that?!?”) We wish for mental peace, yet life consists of daily conflicts that make it challenging. Basically, life is a series of annoying ear flicks.
Lately, I’ve been wondering how it is that a man my age still sometimes feels irritated at minor things that happen, from a rude driver cutting me off to an offhand comment from a friend that I may or may not be blowing out of proportion. After all, I know that most of these things don’t matter and have no real effect on my life. The rude driver is soon gone and I will arrive at my destination. The offhand comment, whether it had spiteful intent or was an innocent expression, will fade from my memory. Nothing of substance will have changed. And yet, the angry ferret in my gut keeps twisting.
The initial anger, sometimes even rage, that occurs happens beyond my control. I have come to accept that the uncomfortable reaction will occur regardless of the significance of the trigger, whether petty or important. The key for me is to acknowledge it early and place it into one of two categories: worthless or worthwhile. Worthless is when the Lakers blow a big lead and lose to a much lesser team. Or someone writes something negative about me that also happens to be untrue. Or the driver in front of me slows down at a yellow light so that I miss the light. These are the meaningless things that feel like a chunk of food caught in your teeth at a restaurant that you can’t politely dislodge.
The worthwhile anger is when I read about some political or social injustice perpetuated against people that causes vast suffering for no other reason than politicians’ greed and people’s indifference. I don’t even try to soothe that savage beast because I never want to become complacent, dispassionate, or compassionless about those things. I want that outrage to fuel me into action, whatever form that takes.
Sometimes, we can acknowledge our emotions without expressing them. If someone irritates us or we are disappointed by something that didn’t go our way, it’s better to treat the situation with grace than ire because when we look back on our ignoble behavior, we will then be adding shame to anger. But when someone commits truly heinous deeds that deliberately harm others, then stoking our outrage is how we overcome and banish them. And it’s how we make sure things don’t go their way.