Trump's (Non-War) War & the Self-Sabotage of Conservative Women
June 24, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Neil Young’s lyrics mean something entirely different to me today than they did 50 years ago.
No matter what Trump says, the U.S. has gone to war—and there will be profound and lasting consequences: Because of the inconsistencies and misinformation from the White House, the American public has never been less informed about the decision of our country to go to war.
Kareem’s Video Break: A horse plays with a ball—yet I’m the one having all the fun.
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown is Hitting Nursing Homes Hard: The farming, hotel, construction and restaurant industries have been devastated by Trump’s immigration policies. Now nursing homes. As if getting old isn’t hard enough.
‘More Babies and Beef Tallow, Less Blue Hair and Birth Control’: Young women embrace conservatism with little understanding of the social consequences.
What I’m Watching on TV: Patience is a terrific mystery show, The Ballad of Wallis Island is a charming movie, and Resident Alien is a very funny sci-fi series.
Kareem’s Magical Moments in Sports: I’m still trying to figure out what it feels like to jump off that cliff—and hope the suit holds together.
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling Sing “A Lovely Night”: This delightful and entertaining song and dance from the 2016 movie La La Land is an homage to old- time Hollywood musicals. It’s a joy.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
That keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
from “Heart of Gold” (1972) by singer-songwriter Neil Young
Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” (1972) was one of a series of acoustic songs he wrote after a bad back injury kept him from being able to stand long enough to play his electric guitar. It features backup singing from James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt and was a huge hit for Young, reaching number one on several charts. The song irked Bob Dylan, who thought it sounded too similar to his own work.
I’ve been listening to the song for over 50 years, and it’s only lately that I’ve been looking at the lyrics a little differently. Clearly, the song was written about romantic love (Young claimed it was the result of his romance with actress Carrie Snodgress). And for five decades, that’s how I thought about the lyrics whenever I heard it. Maybe I even secretly sang along when alone. Maybe.
But at my current age, I’ve expanded the meaning to something more universal and at the same time more personal. I realize that I’ve spent my life searching for a “heart of gold” in others, not just romantic, but also searching for the compassion, humanity, and decency in people. (Or as Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.”) I’ve appealed to that part of them whenever I’ve written about injustice toward the marginalized. I’ve been asking people who may not have been aware of that injustice to view it through their “heart of gold” and do something to change it. I don’t want to preach only to the choir, or nothing will change.
I’m also aware that the “heart of gold” I’m searching for is the one within me. I have to constantly dig deep past the daily pettiness, frustrations, impatience, etc., to reveal the light from the heart of the person I want to be, which Young expresses in the opening lines of the song: “I want to live/I want to give.” That’s me at my best, but I’m not always at my best. But I try to be.
Always looming in my quest is the awareness “And I’m getting old.” Okay, okay, I’m already old, but the line reminds me of the urgency of finding my own heart of gold as often as possible because I’m running out of time. The challenge is finding that heart every day, not just sometimes.
One of the joys of life is how the meaning of familiar things can change as you get older. You get a new perspective and suddenly something you’ve only seen one way for many years now offers fresh insight. What’s old is new again. And discovering it makes me feel new again.