Violent Video Game, Red Dead Redemption II, Not Healthy For Young Minds

At a time when everyone wishes to curb violence in society, especially with gun deaths, it was alarming to see included in my national newspaper today a huge advertisement for Red Dead Redemption II.   It was no simple ad, but instead a colored four-page heavy stock paper splash that was aimed to make an impression.

It did get that here, but not for the reasons the sellers were hoping for.

This blog has continually spoken out for gun control.  Everyone is aware that gun violence is off the charts, and there is no data to show it is likely to be contained.  The factors such as an obscene availability of weapons and ease of obtaining them, is often at the heart of my posts.    But it is also very important to press for better mental health services, and a reduction in society’s desire to glorify violence, murder, and bloodshed.

Which is why I am floored at what landed on my kitchen table when I opened up the blue plastic bags of newspapers this morning.

One of the ‘new and improved’ elements to version II is that the player will get into shootouts virtually the minute the game starts.  Players can kill enemies with a wide arsenal of over 50 weapons.  The game’s shotguns allow a character to blow heads, arms, and legs clean off.   There is also something termed the Dead-Eye targeting system – which allows you to line up a series of shots before unleashing fury with your weapon.  It can be upgraded to target vital organs.  If you upgrade the ability, you’ll be able to see an enemy’s weak points glowing in an X-ray view of their body, allowing you to go for the heart or other kill shots.

This is just seriously wrong at a time when we know the impact this type of desensitizing has on young people and others who have mental health issues.

I went online this morning and looked at some material from version one, and was left knowing that the small samples I viewed can in no way be good for children and teenagers.  It is imperative that if one is truly concerned about gun violence that solutions are sought about all aspects of the issue.

Part of the problem is with video games such as this one.

 

Chuck Grassley Wearing Two Glasses (At Once)

On the CBS Evening News, a most laughable photo was taken of Republican Senator Chuck Grassley wearing two pairs of eyeglasses–at once.  Now I have seen a Wisconsin state representative walking inside the statehouse reading two books at once—but wearing only one set of glasses.  So I did a double-take of the television image, which only served to underscore that someone who was putting the story together about the Iowa Senator had less than warm feelings for the man.

But the image did spin me back to the time when State Assemblyman Lary Swoboda returned to his office after having taken a road trip with fellow legislator Barbara Gronemus.  He looked different from when he had departed just hours before.  Finally, someone asked, “Did you get new glasses?”  Lary said no, but reached up to check the ones on his face.  Sheepish is not the word to describe when recognition settled upon him that when leaving Gronemus’s car he reached on the dashboard for glasses, and took the first one he found…..well, he did have a 50/50 chance.

An assembly page was called and dispatched to make the embarrassing change.

So, yes, I get how those odd things can happen.  But to place a sitting senator in public meetings looking like a doddering fool means that somewhere in Washington there is a staffer who is having too much fun at the job.  At least Swoboda had aides who knew a good story also needs a humane ending.

And so it goes.

Megyn Kelly Today Has Been Cancelled–News Yet To Be Official

Megyn Kelly Today has been canceled, according to multiple reports.

This is good news for two reasons.

First, we should all be in agreement that those who willfully mislead the nation on an all news channel–such as what happens on Fox News all too frequently–should not then be promoted and rewarded onto a national stage.  There must be a sense of professionalism and credibility that allows for someone to take a national microphone.  Getting a new hairstyle and a high-priced consultant is not the way to win over the public.  And shame on those who try.

I have not been fond of the way Kelly has tried to remake herself as a valid media personality.  She will always be–at the end of the day–just one of the females at Roger Alies’ network.  Nothing more.  She stayed too long at a network that does not meet the journalistic standards that any serious employee could never countenance.

The second reason we can be heartened by the cancellation of this show is that she was correctly lambasted for defending using blackface in Halloween costumes. My calendar reads 2018.  Kelly should get the current version, too.

Though news reports have not confirmed the ouster of the Fox News personality there are numerous news operations citing those with knowledge of the situation saying it looks very likely the show will not be continuing.

We all can applaud NBC for making this move.

Let her go back to Fox News, after all, that is what she is most suited for.  Hang out with the morning show and add just another layer of GOP racist xenophobic haze to the air.

Recall that it was Kelly who gave us this gem, too.

“For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white. But this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. But Santa is what he is.  I mean, Jesus was a white man too. He was a historical figure, that’s a verifiable fact, as is Santa.”

First Jesus Christ was a Jew of Mediterranean descent and not the white European figure often depicted in paintings and movies.   If Kelly read more and talked less she might have known this fact.

Second, for many–and I mean MANY kids across this country and around the globe Santa is brown-skinned.  Black or even oriental.  While there is a commercial nature to Santa Claus that creates an image the reality for many boys and girls is that Santa need not be Caucasian.

I know that FAUX News is not a strong promoter of various ethnic causes or ideas that cannot  be placed into the same old box of a predetermined size, but even they must have known the limits of allowing Kelly to talk-half-cocked on prime time about the idea of Santa–and Jesus.

Donald Trump Failed To Show Leadership Qualities When Nation Required It

As the news was playing out yesterday concerning a series of pipe bombs mailed to top Democratic leaders around the nation three thoughts raced through my mind.

First, that Donald Trump must act presidential and step up to the job.

Second, I thought back through history to a time that would be most akin to what are now the headlines.  

Third, what mom would be thinking if she were able to witness the national mess.

Readers will not find it hard to believe that I was able to think of a clear example to the second and third thought, but never was able to find the leadership tone from Trump.

It was the night of the assassination of President Lincoln that a number of co-conspirators made a deadly play for the history books.  The violence of 1865 may seem a long time ago but the sinister attack on the nation yesterday–though no one was injured–had the same aims of undermining our republic.

As if the acts of terrorism were not bad enough it was the lack of seriousness and gravitas from Trump which sent waves of distress and dismay from coast to coast.  Trump acted like this all was some reality television show instead of the moment when he could have stood up and did what has failed him since Inauguration Day.  He could have acted presidential.  You know, the thing he told the nation he could so easily do.

What we see, time and again, from Trump is his excitement to deal with murderous despots like Putin, Kim Jong-Un,and now it appears, Mohammad bin Salman.  Trump was giddy about a congressman who criminally assaulted a reporter.   Regarding Republican Greg Gianfortefor body-slamming a reporter Trump said, “Never wrestle him, any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of guy, he’s my guy.”

Trump has proven to be indifferent to a journalist’s brutal murder.  What he displays, over and over, is his sickness.   And what we see from the likes of those who stand behind Trump and applaud his behavior is nothing short of dangerous.

Trump read a written comment yesterday afternoon in Washington about unity.  Every time he reads such a statement it looks like a hostage video as we all know he does not believe a word he says. In true fashion last night by the time he landed in Northern Wisconsin he was pointing his finger at his perceived enemies, and saying, “The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories.”  Today in tweets he is again off the ranch.

I take it that the White House has removed all mirrors?  No one could truly be this obtuse.  Trump took no responsibility for the national political environment and for anyone with a pulse that smacks of a pure lack of self-awareness.

As James and I worked at getting our home back to our OCD standards I thought of my mom.  She would have loved see the end result!  But I also thought about what she might say of the times we live and person now in the Oval Office.   I know in her comments she would underscore that Trump needs to meet a higher standard and set an example for everyone else.  He is the one the nation looks to, and if he acts poorly, how can he expect others to be different?

Some plain old-fashioned logic might still be the best remedy.

“Gone With The Wind” Ranks High With American Readers

I was glad to see Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell on the PBS “Great American Reads” top 10 list of US readers’ favorite novels.  It has long been viewed with negativity by some for its racial stereotypes and celebration of the Confederacy.  And I was thrilled that To Kill a Mockingbird  was selected as the #1 best-loved novel in the voting.

I suspect almost every American of a certain age has read the classic by Harper Lee.  I can understand, if after reading the book, there are perspectives and views that one wishes to share with others about what they view as inappropriate.   I have argued on this blog that the book is a classic and must not be banned based on current views of race.  The book is a solid time-piece with a most penetrating insight into the sins of this nation.

But as I have heard about the angst of some over Margaret Mitchell’s book I must ask the most obvious question.  How many people who cast criticism about it has actually read it?  My online search this morning has the tome at 689-pages.  I suspect the ones doing the criticizing were basing their views on the grand film.

Our Culture Needs Protection From Donald Trump, Too

Lets pick up blogging where I last stopped prior to this office’s renovation.  That would be with my bullish optimism with where the mid-term election polling shows our nation to be trending.  I have been paying attention to the actions of the Republicans and it says a great deal. The lack of confidence is showing up in where GOP groups aren’t spending money and how the Republican blame game is unfolding between Donald Trump and GOP operatives.

The Cook Political report has changed ratings in ten districts, including eight where Democrats’ position has improved. Democrats now have a clear advantage in 17 GOP-held seats and Republicans have an advantage in two Democratic-held seats. If the 30 Toss Ups were to break evenly between the parties (15 seats apiece), Democrats would score a net gain of 29 seats, six more than the 23 they need to retake the majority.

But it is the bottom line analysis from Charlie and his team which makes for the smile.

“We continue to believe anywhere from a 20 to 40 seat Democratic gain is possible, but right now the likeliest outcome is a Democratic gain of between 25 and 35 seats.”

It is not in doubt that we need change in this nation in a very deep and meaningful way.  All the reasons for the need to head in the opposite direction from the current Republican Party is not based solely on policy.  There are also the cultural and societal damages caused by Donald Trump which must be addressed.

Weeks back Trump attempted to campaign on his record of accomplishments, a traditional way of connecting with voters and ramp up the crowds prior to Election Day.  But that was not working, and so Trump is out on the hustings with his well-worn tactic of fear-mongering and lies, many of them about darker-skinned foreigners.  It is dreadful, and how the long-time members of the GOP think this is a good way to move a nation underscores how off the road this nation has become.  Fear, lies, and racially-tinged rhetoric only adds to the continued narrative of this Republican Party.

A man was arrested on “an abusive sexual contact charge” after a Southwest Flight landed in Albuquerque, KHOU reports.

“According to an affidavit, when he was placed in handcuffs, he asked what the sentence was for the charge he was being arrested for and later told officers President Trump says it’s OK to grab women by their private parts.”

There are many reasons to vote Democratic in November but that last story shows why they are not all about issues,  Our culture needs protection from the GOP, too.

Caffeinated Politics Is Back On The Air

It took longer than first planned.  But such is life.  With expert craftsmanship from the hands of Elliot Stith of Madison our home office, and blogging center for Caffeinated Politics, is back up and running.  A few photos of the process as it played out.

Office Of Caffeinated Politics Being Renovated

For the next 72 hours (or so) a rather major renovation project will be underway at our home.  This room which houses two desks, computers, and countless other such items will be all moved out.  The desks will be taken apart and given to those who wanted them.   Walls and floors will be washed.

Then a local cabinet maker who has been working on our project for a couple months will come in and remake this space.  There will be more floor to ceiling book shelves and two new desks all made from oak.  The desks will blend as they each will be triangular shaped and anchored together.   It all will be stained in dark walnut and covered with osmo coating (oil finish).

The move out of the office is always the hardest as things are cluttered about–which can drive me a bit nuts.  I am–like James–OCD in that we both likes things neat and orderly.   A woman and her son stopped over recently and the kid remarked how everything was so picked up and in place.   The remotes were even lined up in a row and he said. “Wow.”

So minus the clutter of the work in progress we are looking forward to the new office space.  James has hundreds of foreign language books already in alphabetical order by author ready to be placed onto shelves.   (And readers already know about my Richard Nixon collection.)

To make an added fresh start a new and large computer screen (25 inches) is coming from my favorite store–Amazon–to make for the frosting on the cake.  James continues to use two screens on his desk for his translating projects.

All said blogging will resume late Monday night.  I tell James after washing the car that we will get better gas mileage.  With that same logic all the renovations will surely impact my blogging, too.

Right?

Be back next week.