Is Biden Too Old to Be Prez, DeSantis Is Determine to Kill Floridians, Tuberville Thinks "The Star-Spangled Banner" Is Making Our Military Weak, MTG Just Spoke Treason (Really!), Jackie Wilson Sings
Discover more from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Is Biden Too Old to Be Prez, DeSantis Is Determine to Kill Floridians, Tuberville Thinks "The Star-Spangled Banner" Is Making Our Military Weak, MTG Just Spoke Treason (Really!), Jackie Wilson Sings
My take on news, pop culture, sports, and whatever else interests me.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Silence comes in many forms. Think of it as the three “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys: one with hands over eyes, one with hands over ears, and one with hands over mouth. Hands over ears: The unwillingness to follow the news so you can claim to be unaware of bad things happening to others. Hands over eyes: Insisting on following only biased sources that confirm your own prejudices. Hands over mouth: Refusing to speak up when you know there is an injustice.
This is how injustice thrives. People who say, “I don’t follow politics,” or “I don’t watch the news because it’s depressing,” don’t seem to be short of expressing strong convictions regarding political and social issues in private. They even shake their heads and cluck their tongues sympathetically at injustice to others.
They just lack the conviction to do something about it.
Is Biden Too Old to Be President
A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 73% of Americans think that Biden is, to some degree, “too old to run for president.” An earlier Associated Press-NORC poll showed 77% of Americans—including 69% of Democrats—think Biden is “too old to effectively serve” another term. About 76% of Americans believe he lacks the “mental soundness” to be president. That’s a lot of people. But it’s also misleading.
Predictably, 59% say the same about Trump, which so enraged Trump that he challenged Biden and Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal), to acuity tests. He would decide which test would be given and the circumstances under which it would be administered. (I’m sure Honest Don wouldn’t be coached on the test, right?) He posted: “In a phony and probably rigged Wall Street Journal poll, coming out of nowhere to softened the mental incompetence blow that is so obvious with Crooked Joe Biden, they ask about my age and mentality. Where did that come from?” Notice how anything unflattering or in which he loses is “rigged.” In an irony totally lost on Trump, his childish outrage and silly challenge indicate someone who clearly lacks mental soundness.
Bottom line: Biden is 80 and Trump is 77. Sure, 60 may be the new 50, but 80 and 77 are still, well, 80 and 77. Only three years of difference, yet 18% more people think Biden has less mental capability than Trump, despite Biden acting rationally and compassionately as president and Trump having a clear record of unhinged and criminal behavior. Since when is rape sound mental behavior (“Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll”)?
So, what accounts for this difference in assessment? Part of it is what I call the .99 marketing con. You know, retailers sell something for $9.99, and the consumer subconsciously thinks, “At least it’s not $10.” We see a 7 in front of Trump’s age and think, “At least it’s not an 8, like Biden.” Only three years, but we think ten years.
Trump’s dye job helps. His hefty weight makes him less wrinkled. His relentless irrational attacks on everyone give the impression of being energetic rather than just curmudgeonly desperate. This difference in judging mental capability is what all elderly face: the grayer the hair, the slower the walk, the deeper the wrinkles—the more marginalized.
Even as an oldster myself, I get it. Youth equals energy, passion, late work nights. According to scientific research, creative productivity at 80 is about half what it was in our 40s.
But maybe how much you do in a day isn’t as important as how well you do it. Age and experience can mean making fewer mistakes (because you’ve already made them). Maybe it also means delegating for higher efficiency. Maybe it means working smarter.
Having lived a lot of years doesn’t make you wise. It’s what you learned from all those years that makes you wise. Some are just as clueless at 90 as they were at 19. But others have filled their minds and hearts with knowledge and compassion worthy of a lifetime.
Being president requires physical stamina and mental sharpness. You’re juggling chainsaws while people toss baseballs at you. Flaming baseballs. So, rather than just look at the raw number of these men’s ages, we should look at their records to see if they have been working smarter.
Trump’s record as president is a shambles of lies, misrepresentations, and destructive policies. He accomplished nearly nothing positive. The people he brought in, whom he promised would be “only the best and most serious people,” turned out to be a cabal of criminals, scammers, and incompetents—basically people like himself. This is not hyperbole, these are conclusions reached by numerous objective sources. Many of his hires have publicly warned Trump shouldn’t be president.
On the other hand, the Biden Administration has improved the economy by most indicators (even though there are struggles that he has no power over). His Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act brought $1 billion for roads, bridges, drinking water, and more. His CHIPS and Science Act provides $280 billion to improve technology and manufacture computer chips. You get the gist. With Trump, there was no gist, just tax breaks for the rich and rollbacks of consumer protections in order to make the rich even richer.
Much is made of Biden’s approval rate. Just for context, his current approval rate is nearly identical to Obama’s and Reagan’s at the same point in their presidencies. On a personal note, in 1986 I was 39 years old, and there was a lot of public chatter encouraging me to retire. Remember, in professional basketball, 39 is like 79. Had they taken a poll of fans asking whether I should hang up my jersey, I’m sure I’d have gotten Biden-like numbers. But I thought I had more in the tank, and I knew I had a team I could count on. I was right because we proceeded to win back-to-back NBA championships in 1987 and 1988. I couldn’t play with the gusto or athleticism I did in my twenties, but I knew how to play smarter, more strategic ball, and I knew how to work with an exceptional team. Plus, a lot of ice and Advil.
Still: 80 and 77.
I’d prefer younger candidates just because the toll it takes. But youth alone is not enough. Vivek Ramaswamy has proven youth plus smarmy ambition minus rational intelligence is a dangerous equation. Besides, I’m not looking for a messiah, just someone who has proven they are up to the job based on accomplishments and the caliber of people they surround themselves with.
Biden may drive the car more slowly, playing the oldies station, and with the blinker permanently on, but at least he’s driving in the right direction.
Kareem’s Video Break
A dog protecting a baby?!? It just doesn’t get better than that.
As the poet said, “Don’t be so cheap! Subscribe!”
This Week in Dumb (and Dangerous) Things Said by Politicians
DeSantis' administration advises against updated COVID shots for people under 65 (ABC News)
SUMMARY: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Wednesday advised against the updated COVID-19 shots for people under the age of 65 -- a rebuke to federal agencies, which greenlit the shots for anyone 6 months and older earlier this week.
“I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective,” the governor said in a statement Wednesday. “Once again, Florida is the first state in the nation to stand up and provide guidance based on truth, not Washington edicts.”
MY TAKE: Florida needs to slap a warning label on their governor: “Caution: Ron DeSantis may be hazardous to your health.” I’ve never seen a governor more willing to kill people in order to further his own political ambitions (“CDC calls Florida's advice against new COVID booster 'dangerous'”). Remember his recent vow to murder migrants “stone cold dead” if they were carrying fentanyl? Sure, they might be kids or innocents forced to carry it, and there’s no way to know they’re carrying fentanyl unless you capture them first, in which case killing them would be an execution. Details, right?
Poor Floridians. COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising across the country, and they’re rising even higher in Florida than in most states. As of September 11, “43 of Florida's 67 counties reported moderate levels of weekly new hospital admissions for COVID-19 -- a higher proportion than any other state in the U.S.”
According to the CDC, the leading causes of death in Florida in 2022 were 1. heart disease, 2. cancer, and 3. COVID-19. According to The New York Times, “Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 7,542,869 cases have been reported [in Florida]. At least 1 in 246 residents have died from the coronavirus, a total of 87,141 deaths.” Despite DeSantis’ anti-vax flexing, 69% of Floridians are vaccinated, including 93% over the age of 65. That tends to suggest that Floridians are taking getting vaccinated seriously (they rank 22nd), though not as seriously as residents of states with the highest vaccination rates, like Rhode Island (87.1%) and Vermont (85%).
Why isn’t their governor taking this seriously even as cases rise in his state, even after 87,000 deaths and millions of Floridians who may face long-term COVID complications? Because he’s appealing to voters in states with the worst vaccination rates (which just happen to be conservative states): Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, etc.
COVID-19 killed 1,127,152 in the U.S. How did we stop it? Through vaccinations that broke the chain of infections and reinfections. Even though cases of COVID are rising (“All signs point to a rise in Covid”), DeSantis is concerned with his falling poll numbers. He knows that people will get vaccinated despite his unscientific rantings. He knows that currently the cases are not as severe. We probably aren’t facing the kind of pandemic apocalypse we did a few years ago, but he continues to sew the seeds of mistrust of science and vaccine hesitancy that helped kill at least seven million worldwide.
DeSantis has proven he is willing to sacrifice everything—his integrity, truth, and Florida’s money—for his own political ambition. But when he’s also willing to sacrifice his constituents’ lives based on no evidence, he’s moved from dangerous to stone-cold killer.
Opinion: With his ignorance, Tommy Tuberville just gave poets an incredible compliment (CNN)
SUMMARY: This week, US Sen. Tommy Tuberville gave poets a wonderful compliment. It is imperative to root out “wokeness,” he claimed in an interview on Fox News Wednesday, adding that the world (and the US military) are falling apart because “we’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker.”
MY TAKE: In 1814, a young lawyer and sometime poet witnessed the horrific shelling of Fort McHenry by British ships during the War of 1812. It inspired him to write a poem. The young poet was Francis Scott Key and his poem was called “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The music was added later, taken from a popular British song, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” In 1931, it became our national anthem.
Yes, Sen. Tuberville, every time the national anthem is played, it’s basically a poem over a loudspeaker.
Between 1943 and 1947, the Council of Books in Wartime distributed 123 million books to soldiers. Among the books handed out was Robert Frost’s book of poetry, A Boy’s Will. They knew that literature nourishes the soul, keeps soldiers tethered to their values, reminds them what they’re fighting for.
What we really need to pay attention to is that Tuberville’s comment is designed to dismiss poetry as some sort of effete snobbery enjoyed by the intellectual elite. He’s trying to whip up support from all those book banners who never read poetry. My UCLA coach, Coach Wooden, used to quote poetry to us all the time, believing that it was a source of personal inspiration, literary education, and moral guidance. He was right.
It’s also worth noting the critical thinking lapses as well:
His claim that the world and the U.S. military are falling apart is very vague. In what way is it falling apart? What evidence is there? Most people in general would agree—and probably have always agreed—that the world is falling apart because of horrible things happening. I’m sure those living during the 14th century thought the world was falling apart because the Black Plague killed between 75 and 200 million people. Making that statement is designed to get people to agree to a general principle—which, coincidentally, is the first step in running a confidence game.
He seems to blame “wokeness” for the world’s ailments. Again, which aspects of wokeness is he referring to? After which he’d have to prove a cause-and-effect relationship. Instead, he blusters platitudes while actually doing real damage to the country’s security by refusing to approve military appointments. Even Fox News disapproves of his role in causing this “falling apart”: “Tuberville’s actions are horribly dangerous to our military and hurt American families.”
Coach Wooden would have been ashamed of Tuberville. Unfortunately, Tuberville doesn’t have the insight, probably from not reading poetry, to be ashamed for himself.
MTG Says ‘States Should Consider Seceding’ on 9/11 Attacks Anniversary (The Daily Beast)
SUMMARY: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) observed the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Monday by running the idea of states’ secession up the flagpole; something that, the last time it happened, triggered a Civil War. “If the Biden admin refuses to stop the invasion of cartel led human and drug trafficking into our country, states should consider seceding from the union,” Greene tweeted. “From Texas to New York City to every town in America, we are drowning from Biden’s traitorous America last border policies.” An hour earlier, she had tweeted in remembrance of 9/11’s victims, but seemingly couldn’t resist an opportunity to take another shot at Biden in the process. Her latest tweet marked the first outright use of the word “secede” by the Georgia congresswoman, who in February suggested that the country might be in dire need of what she euphemistically referred to as “a national divorce.” She added: “We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this.”
MY TAKE: The Woman Who Would Be Vice-President (and no doubt dreams of eventually being president) is encouraging secession. Not exactly echoing Lincoln’s belief that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Instead, she proposes the ideals of a religious cult: If others won’t follow our worshipping of the crayfish by surgically replacing hands with pincers, then we must withdraw from the fingered-hands people to form our own crayfish community. Thus spake, MTG.
Usually, if you don’t like a president’s policies, you vote in a different president. Unless you don’t think you can gather enough votes, which she seems to be admitting here. If “Everyone I talk to says this,” then why doesn’t she have a majority of the people agree with her? (Could it be she only talks to people who already agree with her?) Since the country won’t support her, she wants to form a different country that will. That would lead to the destruction of the United States.
Isn’t that treason?
This rebuke of our democracy and Constitution goes against her oath of office. She just verbally torched the U.S. flag, which I’m sure her constituents would have been angry about. But since she used seditious words instead of a match, they’ll probably never know.
Kareem’s Jukebox Playlist
Jackie Wilson: “Lonely Teardrops”
Jackie Wilson was known as “Mr. Excitement” and “Black Elvis.” When asked about Wilson’s nickname, Elvis supposedly replied, “I guess that makes me the white Jackie Wilson.” His explosive stage presence wasn’t captured in most videos because the shows he appeared on, like The Ed Sullivan Show, didn’t want Elvis swiveling his hips sexually, so they sure didn’t want a Black man being sexual in front of a predominantly White audience (as in this video from Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show in 1959). Live audiences delighted in his spins, knee slides, and back flips.
Like Sammy Davis Jr., Wilson converted to Judaism. His life was filled with drama and tragedy, including being shot, arrested, having his money stolen by financial advisors, and having three of his children die. In 1975, Wilson was on stage performing “Lonely Teardrops” when he had a massive heart attack, which ended his career and left him permanently disabled. Elvis paid for much of Wilson’s medical bills. Wilson died in 1984.
“Lonely Teardrops” was co-written by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and was named by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the “Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.” When Jackie Wilson sings it, the words seem to come from somewhere deep inside so that when they hit the air, they ignite like fireworks.
Is Biden Too Old to Be Prez, DeSantis Is Determine to Kill Floridians, Tuberville Thinks "The Star-Spangled Banner" Is Making Our Military Weak, MTG Just Spoke Treason (Really!), Jackie Wilson Sings
The Jackie Wilson performance made my day! I saw him perform in Cleveland when I was a young girl..!! Never to be forgotten!
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville is THE WORST!! (Don't get cocky, Ted Cruz! You're the dregs, too!) What the über-Tuber has been doing is absolutely unconscionable! If only there were enough truly patriotic (pro-democracy) Alabamans (Alabamians?) to recall Tuberville's sorry ass!!