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(Jan: About US Representative Omar)

--> You can get general facts about what she has done, just by looking at Wikipedia, if you wish.

It might seem to me that information about her is at least equally available to the good American citizens who voted for her in the election.

What are your thoughts and analysis on those voters? ... She probably wouldn't be in Congress unless at least a substantial plurality of the voters in the district had voted her in.

04/13/22 12:01 AM

#24201

Jean,

I haven't looked into her district's voter opinions very much, but I understand, from reading the local newpaper articles from her state, that she comes from a district that is a highly concentrated area of Muslim refugees, which was the area that Keith Ellison represented, until he decided to run for AG of MN. He encouraged Ms. Omar, another Muslim progressive who was a friend of his and was like-minded of him. Since the area has so many Muslims, they naturally feel that Ms. Omar's progressive ideas are similar to what they, too, want to see promoted in the US Congress, as much as they understand the US Congress' purpose. I suspect that they don't understand the US Congress very well, as they haven't studied our government too much, as I have come to understand their lives so far in this country. They just know of what the prominent Muslims of their area relate to them, for the most part. That is in accordance with news articles I've read, which may or may not be accurate. Having heard pronouncements of Keith Ellison, I find him to be a man who leans far left; a man that is often in conflict with conservative goals; goals that our Founders established. I'm speaking of our Judeo-Christian ethics; ethics our Founders practiced and believed, with profound guidance from Our Creator, at the time they were writing our wonderful, national documents. At the time of this country's founding, I don't think the Islamic faith was understood very well by our settlers and Founders, and I don't think they imagined that the Islamic faith would ever come to this country to be a threatening factor. Perhaps the Muslims coming here have no desire to compete with Christians and Jews living among us, but there have been predictions leveled here, that in the Muslim schools established in several cities, ideas are taught to Muslim students that are not of a peaceful nature toward Christians and Jews, or any other religion of our land. As I have stated, I have suspicions of what the Muslim religion wants to ultimately accomplish in our nation, but this is just my opinion, and some friends of mine think I am nuts to say or think such things. I would be interested in what your opinion is of Ms. Omar and the Muslims gathering in large cities all around our nation, and particularly in our northern states, as were introduced in great quantities, by Pres. Obama, when he relocated many numbers of refugees here, during his terms of office. I think he did this particular action in a way of establishing his "own will" of having more nationalities here, as well as more religions that he felt would "level the playing field," since he felt that the US was too "uppity" in its ranking. He stated several times that the US superiority was rather offensive to the rest of the world, and needed to be reduced a tad. He once told Christians among us that "we needed to get off our high horse," and consider other differences in the world. Did you ever hear him state those sentiments, or read of such statements in your state of Massachusetts? I would be interested in your telling us of what the MA people feel of us Southerners, although I don't speak for all Southerners; just the Southerners who live in my area. And I would be interested in hearing what the people of MA think of Rep. Omar, especially her comments made of how the Jewish people are "just interested in 'the Benjamins' when dealing with Israeli issues; mainly issues of Palestinian/Israeli conflicts." Another fact that I would like to hear you comment about, or MA comments you may have heard, is concerning the issue of Rep. Omar's staff members harvesting ballots during the last presidential election, in apartment towers belonging to Muslim folks who spoke little English, yet were evidently coerced to fill out ballots, with 'help' from the staff members.

I hope I am not being offensive to you or anyone else, as I realize I am speaking boldly to a highly impressive man of great accomplishment in education and travels abroad; a man who may have opinions entirely different to what I write here.

Please feel free to "teach me anew," if I have spoken out too judgmentally or harshly, in accordance to what you have gleaned in your studies and experiences.

04/13/22 10:08 AM

#24202

Jerry May

Filled up yesterday @ $3.63 a gallon. Pretty bad to get excited as I did, when last year it was around $2.00 per.

David, funny you tube video. And yes, I have succeeded in helping my bride solve problems.

However, when I've been wrong......seems as though the more I spoke, the deeper the hole became!

No matter what though, I've found its meaningful to her, when I listen all the way through; first!

04/13/22 10:12 AM

#24203

We have a couple of golden anniversaries coming up next month. David and Karen Kennedy Seidler and Craig and Sheila Walker Duffy. Bruce and Karen Byler Anderson will hit 51.

Not as impressive, but I met Martha Salter exactly 50 years ago today when her sorority and my fraternity were working on a float for a parade. I had let one of her sorority sisters know that I wanted to meet Martha. I had actually seen her on two prior occasions, the first of which was November 8, 1971. It is odd to think that I have been married for over two-thirds of my life!

This photo was taken about a month after we met. As you can see, I use part of the photo as my avatar (or whatever it's called). No, we weren't in Hawaii.

04/13/22 10:27 AM

#24204

Jerry,

"Yes" to listening all the way through. Also, to non-verbal communication. My nodding muscles are very well developed to the point that it is hard for me to shake my head "No". Saying "Uh-huh" is a particularly useful form of communication. You don't actually have to listen. You can be singing in your mind, for example, "I Got You, Babe". Just keep nodding and saying "Uh-huh". However, when they catch on to that trick, it might lead to your "saying" yes to something that costs a lot of money.

I wonder if, as a group, younger women react differently to that video than older women. My wife thought it was hilarious, especially "snagging all my sweaters".

04/13/22 12:23 PM

#24205

Jerry May

David, She knows about my ADD, and therefore can tell I'm on another channel! So I have to REALLY listen!

Jim Bedwell,

A little while back we posted great guitar players. This kid (19 or 20 at the time) is now 25 or 26 is really good, and I'll see him when he comes to Dallas soon!

04/13/22 07:18 PM

#24206

FYI/FYA:

This was in this week's (8 April 2022) issue of "Science", the general publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (aaas.org), vol. 376 Issue 6589.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Trump plug increases vaccination"

Byline: COVID-19

An online advertisement created by political scientists and economists that featured former President Donald Trump recommending COVID-19 shots led to increased uptake of the vaccines in U.S. counties that had low vaccination rates, an analysis has concluded.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is higher in U.S. regions that voted heavily for Trump in the 2020 election, so the research team targeted them by creating a 30-second YouTube ad that featured a Fox News TV interview in which Trump recommends the vaccine. The team spent nearly $100,000 on Google Ads to place it online in 1083 U.S. counties in which fewer than 50% of adults were vaccinated; an additional 1085 similar counties that did not receive the ads served as a control group.

Compared with control counties, the study found an increase of 104,036 people receiving first vaccinations in areas that observed the ad, a statistically significant difference. The intervention's cost was under $1 per vaccinated person. In contrast, U.S. locales that used lottery tickets as a reward spent $60 to $80 per vaccination, according to the preprint study posted at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

04/13/22 08:31 PM

#24207

Marty Fulton

Hmmmmm - No one has mentioned the fact that every President since Carter has undergone a 'cognitive' analysis (test) within 14 months of taking office. So what's holding up the process? Obviously, Biden would not pass such a test unless the 'Oregon State' testing rule is applied (everyone passes). And, bully for Gov Abbott for bussing illegals to DC! Maybe someone can tell me what the cost of 'processing' an individual 'migrant' into this country costs the taxpayers? Don't forget to include months and months of housing, food, medical, CELL PHONE, etc. etc. The news clips I saw showed them all with newer, clean, apparel, and apparently have not missed a meal since 'arriving' in their new country.

ALL THIS according to plan - huh Dems?

04/13/22 10:56 PM

#24208

Jan:

You asked about Massachusetts and Rep. Omar:

You also asked what people in Massachusetts think of Southerners:

(My apologies for another long post -- I should really stop doing this!)

I don't think Rep. Omar has been anywhere near as much in the news lately as some other representatives from outside New England, so I don't really have an impression on that one.

On the other one, I can only speak for myself, and I can only compare Texas and New England from my own perspective.

My own impression is that in Texas, social divisions are more by race, and up here, they are more by social class. In both places, this is particularly visible (to me, at least) when you look at the schools.

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About Muslims and the U.S. Constitution, etc.

I'm not a consitutional scholar, but you mentioned some contitution things, so I looked at the texts of some of the amendments that seemed relevant.

At the moment, the First Amendment starts:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

That probably means for any change to voting with respect to religion, there would have to be a further constitutional amendment, since the plain text of the 1st Amendment would seem to imply that *limiting* citizenship or voting based on which religion, would be an establishment of a particular (other) religion. Also, limiting voting or anything else based on which religion would be prohibiting the "free exercise" of that religtion, since you wouldn't be fully "free", it would depend on which religion.

If there were a further constitutional amendment, it might also have to take care of the Ninth amendment, just to be sure, since it with deals with rights not enumerated.

Perhaps also the Equal Protection clause in the 14th Amendment, as well as the Citizenship clause, since (by enumeriation) it does not allow a distinction based on something else like which religion.

Arguably, the 15th Amendment -- which refers to all "citizens" would also come into play, perhaps depending on how someone defines the term "color".

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About religion and politics, there is some relevant history here in Massachusetts.

(This is all from memory, I should probably go look this up to check.)

Irish immigrants and Catholics were strongly discriminated against and disenfranchised here, certainly in the 19th centry, arguably into the 1970's.

The reasoning went something like this:

The United States is a Protestant country.
(Or: The U.S. is a Christian country, and Catholics do not count as really Christian.)
Someone who is Catholic can never really be American,
because they would always be taking orders from the Pope.
(I remember hearing Rev. Criswell say something like that about John Kennedy?)
The Irish are a different culture, and couldn't understand democracy or the U.S. Constitution.
The Irish are not real Americans anyway.
The Irish go to their own Catholic schools, where they get indoctrinated.

Also,

Until about the 1830's, to vote in Massachusetts, you had to be a (male) member of the local parish for the town.
The parishes were all Congregational, by law: "Congregational" means each congregation runs itself, not a central authority.
Catholics could not be members of the parish, since they had a central religious authorith (the Pope, or basically any Bishop).
Therefore, they could not vote.

(Perhaps reminiscent of some small Texas towns, where the membership of the local Masonic lodge was identical with the membership of the town government? My parents lived in Royce City.)

I think things changed in Massachusetts in the 1830s partly due to the Trinitarian/Unitarian schism in the Congregational churches. That left each congregation independent, but voted to hire either a Trinitarian or a Unitarian minister.
As a practical result, you now had two separate conregations in the town (called "First Parish" and "Second Parish"), so it really mixed things up.

(Our congregation is still called "First Parish of Watertown", because of that history.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again, I can speak only for myself, not for everybody in Massachusetts, but I'm from Massachusetts, and those are my thoughts.

04/14/22 08:57 AM

#24209

Jean,

Please don't be concerned about length of posts. No one is required to read them!

I have only been to Boston about four or five times. Once was when my son Christopher was in the show Ragtime at the Colonial Theatre, which was built in about 1900. Apparently, the average height of Bostonians at that time must have been about 4'2" because the seats provide almost no leg room.

I suspect that you were in Boston in 1974 during the race riots that occurred because of forced busing of schoolchildren, but I won't take issue with your observation about the differences between the south and Massachusetts with respect to race. However, I think times have changed.

There are three black U.S. Senators, and two are from the deep south -- Republican Scott from South Carolina and Democrat Warnock from Georgia. It has been awhile since African-American Edward Brooke represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate, as he did when you entered MIT.

Here are, respectively, the man who represents Richardson and north Dallas in the U.S. Congress, the current mayor of Dallas, and the recently termed-out mayor of Plano, population 287,000, where I live.

I am of two minds about your comments regarding Irish immigrants and Catholicism, although it seems that Irish Catholics from Boston named Kennedy have done OK. Also, Catholic Speaker of the House Pelosi is daughter of two Italians, another group that was not universally welcomed, and her father was mayor of Boston.

The other thing that comes to mind is that, if you are correct about the Irish and Catholics, the issue of immigration opposition clearly was not race. By contrast, today there seems to be an immediate introduction of race when anyone opposes ILLEGAL immigration.

04/14/22 09:03 AM

#24210

I just saw Jen Psaki state that President Biden is at the top of the totem pole.

I was distressed to learn how short our totem pole has become.

04/14/22 09:17 AM

#24211

David,

I believe Pelosi's father was a mayor of Baltimore.

04/14/22 10:06 AM

#24212

David:

Wikipedia has an overview artitle on Anti-Irish sentiment. Some of the examples, seem to me like they could be seen as having racist aspects -- I'm not sure where one could draw a sharp dividing line, if that is your point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment#19th_century

The following 19th-centry editorial cartoon is from the article. It reminds me of some other "monkey" pictures: things overlap.

Yes, we were in Boston in 1974. The bussing program seemed to consist almost entirely of sending black kids from West Roxbury -- almost entirely black, isolated, with low-academic schools, and socially depressed -- into Southie -- almost totally working-class Boston Irish, isolated, with low-academic schools, and socially depressed. (Also the home of Whitey Bulger.) It only involved the public schools, and only within the small geography of Boston. And private schools were such a huge part of general schooling here, compared to what I had known in Texes.

So it seemed like a fake effort.

That was also about the time the METCO program started around Boston. It was a purely *voluntary* program to bus minority kids with high academic skills out to predominantly-white suburbs (like where we later lived) to schools with higher academic standing.. Sort of like: we'll integrate, too, but only the few kids we want. And they have to come *here*-- we won't go *there* -- the burden of integration falls on you, not on us.

I think one of the effects was to "relieve" the political pressure to improve the inner-city schools academically, because the smart kids could always sign up for METCO. One effect was to make the educational quality for the general population worse.

Magnet schools might be an effort in a better direction.

04/14/22 11:17 AM

#24213

Yikes! Thanks, Janalu, for the correction. I apologize to all Bostonians. (The people, not the shoes!)

Jean, regarding magnet schools, I'm not sure if you heard this information, but it was national news when Richardson ISD created a magnet, sometime around 1977. You may recall that RISD included the all-black subdivision Hamilton Park, and all twelve grades were taught in the school there. RISD elected to create a magnet at Hamilton Park to effect more integration with younger students. They offered special programs that were impressive enough to draw whites into the school, even though they had to provide their own transportation, as I recall.

I believe that we had four black (girl) students at RHS when we were there, but you may recall that we had an orientation at the end of our senior year for the 125 black Hamilton Park students who were transfering to RHS in the fall of 1969. The student population is highly integrated now.

04/14/22 01:46 PM

#24214

In Shanghai, people with pets are being instructed to kill their pets, since pets can get the virus. I'll bet that most of those people are NOT killing their pets, but are hiding them or releasing them out in the countryside, hoping to retrieve them in a short time, when the coast is clear.

How much insanity can a person take?

I think that the illegals arriving near the capitol in DC is hilarious! Hope it continues unabatedly!

Most importantly:

Easter isn't about the bunny,

It's about The Lamb.

04/14/22 04:14 PM

#24215

Lowell Tuttle

Technically, those are migrants, not illegal aliens. They arrived at the border, applied for asylum, and were shipped to DC by bus. Legal aliens until they break the immigration laws.

04/14/22 04:30 PM

#24216

Wayne Gary

Jean, David

Jean you talked about the difference the math classes in the math dept and engr dept.

Here is what learned at A&M

The difference between an engineer and a mathematician

You stand them against the wall in a room and tell them to cross the room to the other wall. Each time they move they can move 1/2 the distance from where the are to the wall. the engineer will take about 4 moves and says he is there. The mathematician will never make it to the other wall because no matter how small the distance he can always divide it in half.

04/14/22 05:18 PM

#24217

Lowell,

Perhaps you are correct, but I strongly suspect that the vast, vast majority are lying so they can stay. It isn't about political oppression. If it were, those from Central America could simply stay in Mexico, where they also share a language. It is about economic opportunity. Not to mention drug smuggling. Besides, there are thousands who simply come in without being detected.

04/14/22 05:19 PM

#24218

Wayne Gary

Lowell,

Biden has banned the term"illegal alien" They are now undocumented migrants.

04/14/22 05:24 PM

#24219

Wayne Gary

David,Jean.

IN the 60's Hamilton Park had the highest percentage of adults wih Bachlors,Masters and PHDs of any neughborhood in Dallas. The neighborhood was about the best place foe college educated blacks. There was a a neighborhood of about 4 blocks off Pteson between Churchill Way and Valley View ( now LBJ) where black MDs and attourneys lived.

04/14/22 06:17 PM

#24220

Migrants?

They are lying opportunists taking advantage of a weak US president who should have known better than to throw the door open in a foolish gesture, but was incapable of making a proper call, due to poor judgment and radicals nipping at his heels. The Progressives who now control the Democrat Party hounded him to meet their elitist, political demands, to further their selfishness and madness toward tyrannical power.

Aliens or immigrants need to obey a country's laws, and they need to truthfully ask for entry rather than lie that they are in danger. These liars are looking for jobs, not for political asylum, as their lives are not in jeapardy, just as they realize those who coached them, had ulterior motives to 'use them.' That is why the manipulated hoards IGNORE their court dates and keep their heads down from the authorities seeking to find them. The Democrats purposely allow them to disappear into the American masses, figuring it will ultimately keep them (the Democrats) in office forever, due to votes cast by the coached, as payback.

Let us not sugarcoat the deviousness at play. The Democrat machine is at work here, gaming the system, and teaching the meagerly educated agrarians how to be masters at the cheating process. Way to go, you graduates of great American universities! Such amazing Patriots to behold!

Our Founders are rolling in their graves with disgust.

04/14/22 09:34 PM

#24221

Janalu,

Tell us what you really think. No more sugar-coating!

04/15/22 09:34 AM

#24222

Today is the 75th anniversary of the day when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Of course, he was the black person who played in the game, but most of the credit, in my humble opinion, should go to the man who made it happen -- Brooklyn Dodgers general manager (and 25% owner) Branch Rickey.

It seems to me that Robinson's great accomplishment is not breaking the color barrier, which took less than an inning. Rather it is his enduring the abuse that he had to take in every ballpark and in every city. Of course, his stats are especially noteworthy, including his lifetime .313 batting average, Rookie of the Year, batting title, and MVP award.

Small point that I just learned -- before Robinson's first professional baseball game with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League, he taught PE and coached basketball at Samuel Huston College, an all-black school that is now Huston-Tillotson University. It was the first college in Austin, pre-dating UT by eight years.

04/15/22 09:40 AM

#24223