Louisiana Senator Commits Hate Crime During Hate Crime Hearing & Vance Encourages People to Obey Only Laws They Agree With
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: A rumination on the most destructive emotion we have: envy.
Donald Trump's Debate Crowd Comment Sparks Confusion: 'They Went Crazy': Trump says the crowd at the debate “went crazy” for him. Except there was no crowd.
Shameless JD Vance Vows to Keep Falsely Calling Haitian Migrants ‘Illegal’: Vance just encouraged Americans to break any laws they disagree with. That’s a leader?
GOP senator insults Arab American advocate at hearing on hate crimes: I have replayed this clip several times because I still find it hard to believe someone this inarticulate and irrational is in the U.S. Senate. Oh, wait…
AOC Embarrasses Teamsters Chief After He Refuses to Endorse Harris: The president of the Teamsters refused to endorse a Democrat for the first time in 20 years. He claims the union is too divided. Looks more like he’s trying to help Trump.
Kareem’s Video Break: Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell show us some elegant tap dancing.
Among America’s “Low-Information Voters”: Turns out that there are a lot of educated people out there who choose to know very little about the candidates. Not how the Founders envisioned an informed citizenry.
Kareem’s Kvetching Korner: Jordan Peterson calls women on the internet “androids.” His reasoning will make you laugh.
What Were They Thinking: ‘Panda Dogs’: Chinese zoo goes viral for luring visitors with painted pups: New feature about amusing, irrational behavior.
JD Souther Sings “You're Only Lonely”: Souther died last week, but his influence on music will last forever.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
The chief barrier to happiness is envy.
Frank Tyger (1929-2011), nationally published editorial cartoonist, columnist and humorist for the Trenton Times.
Envy is the dominant destructive emotion in most people. It’s a tricky emotion in that it can be both healing and lethal. A small dose can motivate a person to excel, but a large dose can lead a person to hop on an endless treadmill of chasing what they can never catch. It’s an addiction that only increasing amounts can satisfy and even then the satisfaction is fleeting and the hunger returns.
While the envy of others is harmful, even more devastating is living one’s life seeking the envy of others. Not only do envy-seekers spend enormous amounts of money on ostentatious homes, clothing, jewelry, and cosmetic surgeries, but so much of their emotional energy is wasted on thinking about how to garner envy and whether or not they’re succeeding. Trump constantly proclaims how rich he is as a way of eliciting envy from those who mistake opulence for intelligence. Worse, he parades his ex-model wives to elicit envy while treating them like prized livestock. The desire to have a spouse or partner others envy is often a detriment to the relationship because the person doesn’t feel valued for who they are, only for their displayed value.
So many pop, rap, and rock songs are about having money and spending it in lavish ways to make themselves “heroes” to the envious fans who also want to be rich. Real Housewives’ main conflicts across the last two decades have boiled down to envy. Either they are envious of others in their group or they are furious when their attempts at eliciting envy fail to bring them happiness.
Envy is inevitable. I’ll watch an NBA game and envy the young legs I no longer have. I’ll read a book and envy the talent of the writer. But I’m also able to shrug those feelings off quickly because they don’t influence me beyond the moment. More importantly, I never strive to have people envy me. I don’t flaunt and I don’t brag (except about my children and grandchildren). I wouldn’t want to be the cause of anyone feeling that what they have or who they are isn’t enough.
Instead, I try to follow my other favorite quote about envy from the 17th-century genius Thomas Browne: “Let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on thy cheeks.” Well, age has certainly drawn on me.