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Ramblings about the world and myself |
I have never really been able to write every day. I probably won't be able to do it now. I would like to write on a more regular basis. This blog is an attempt to develop a more regular writing habit. I can't guarantee an entry every day.
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| 1Blogging Circle of Friends prompt: It's been 20 years since 9/11 . Do you feel the battle against terrorism is better off or is it worse? Do you think we've got a handle on far-right extremism or are we in over our heads? 20 years ago today we were attacked in the worst act of war by a terrorist organization on our own soil. Since then many new security measures have been implemented. We also have military drones that can reach out and attack terrorists where they live and congregate. These things make it much harder for foreign terrorists to attack us here at home and at our embassies and other places. Though effective,drones have their disadvantages. The risk of civilian casualties is high. There is also the problem of faulty intelligence causing innocent people to be targeted. I believe that extremism is a serious danger. The prompt asks about far right extremism. The far right is attracting more attention right now. Far right extremists are getting bolder. There is a history of far left extremism in this country as well. There is always a chance that they could become more active. Some examples of far left extremism include The Weather Underground  in the US, and the Red Army Faction , or Baader-Meinhoff Gang, in Europe. These groups were most active during the early 1970s.Though I am personally more liberal than conservative, I see danger from both extremes. I find it interesting that the Weather Channel gave one of its shows the same name as a terrorist organization. Was it to make a statement, or did they just not realize it? ---------------------- I wrote a short dystopic piece a while back about what might happen if right-wing militant groups got out of control. Somebody got offended within 15 minutes. I ended up making it private in order to keep from causing arguments. If anyone wants to read it, let me know in a comment here, or email me. I will give you the passkey. It really isn't All that controversial.
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| I saw something on CBS Mornings and on the local news this morning that together really burned my hide. According to CBS Mornings, there was a disturbing statistic. There were 232,000 new pediatric Covid-19 cases during the past week. In an interview on News Channel 11, in Johnson City TN, a woman was complaining about mask mandates in schools. She said something along the lines of “We just want to get back to normal.” I thought “Honey, what the hell is wrong with you?” I’m sorry to break it to all you people. This ain’t normal. People like that who act like it’s normal are exactly the ones who are keeping things from getting back to normal. If everybody did what they should, I believe that we would all be much closer to normal than we are now. I have a stake in the masks in schools debate. Several schools in Northeast Tennessee have mask mandates. Unfortunately our wonderful Governor Bill Lee, in his infinite wisdom, signed an executive order requiring mask mandates in Tennessee schools to have an “opt-out” option. This allows people like our “normal” friend to allow their children to go to school maskless. It must be remembered that this is the same Governor that declared Covid-19 a “controlled public health issue” a couple of months ago. My son has two stepdaughters. They are 8 and 11 years old. They are our granddaughters in every way. Justin and Maggie are meticulous about doing the right thing about Covid. They both still work from home and have groceries delivered. They are both vaccinated. In spite of their parent's best efforts, both children are in isolation because of positive Covid tests. Who knows? Maybe they would have caught it anyway without the "opt-out". I can't help but believe that they would have stood a better chance of avoiding it if all students were masked. They aren’t seriously ill, thank the Lord. Still, we have to worry about Multisystem inflammatory syndrome now. I pray that enough people will do the right things going forward so that we can finally get to a real normal. |
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