ClydeStyle

Tag: Choices

  • ICE-Capades are not new; What have we learned?

    Since the Trump Administration took control of the government, there has been a crackdown on immigration. As of this post, the Trump Administration has deported just over 280 immigrants, and there is a lot of innocent folks mixed in there.

    He is trying to surpass former President Barack Obama in deportations. His administration exited more than 400 immigrants, and we hardly heard about it. He also did it with half of the resources Trump is using.

    You could make a comparison of the two, but there is no comparison because Obama was trying to get rid of migrants who came here and didn’t follow the rules. Trump is just trying to get rid of Brown people.

    Why? Because of White fear. There will come a time when white people will lose their numerical majority, and this country will change. Most whites are in fear of being mistreated when the tables turn. This fear is conjecture because they have no idea what will take place.

    Will there be some people of color who will seek revenge? Sure. Will there be people who want to rid America of White people because of their past behavior? Absolutely. But will it happen? Doubtful.

    The reason is simple: If Black and Brown people were that savage, they would have fought to take the country long before this. If they were that savage, they would have fought themselves into extinction by now.

    In Europe’s “Dark Age” when the Roman Empire fell, one of the main causes was greed by the government, which led to underdeveloped communities — basically, the people were too stupid to know what was happening.

    The lack of literacy and learning is a major problem in America despite the advancements we have. Greed has overcome everything — divided we will fall.

    America has always been controlled by certain folks — in fact, they have always been in control of Europe, and yet that region would have nothing if it weren’t for the help of the Egyptians. And when they destroyed themselves during the Dark Ages, the Moors came and greatly contributed to their existence today.

    America is not far from the fall. It can not all be blamed on Donald Trump as this country is 249 years old. Who’s fault do you think it is? Maybe it’s the fault of those who stay silent.

  • Living with a disability

    Although it is not talked about much, July is Disability Pride Month, and specifically, July 26th celebrates the signing of the American Disabilities Act (ADA).

    In America, we don’t do a good enough job taking care of this population. Similarly, we don’t take care of seniors either. Like everything else, money and status matter so that despite how rich of a cou try this is, we fail to take care of our most vulnerable.

    It is not even on the radar for most people. If you don’t have a disability or you’re not helping to take care of a person with disabilities, their care would not be on your mind.

    Five years ago, I was stricken with a bacterial infection that eventually made me a bilateral below-knee amputee and killed my kidneys. I am also on dialysis. Medicaid has been a blessing to me as I am taking 17 pills per day, and the prescription bill alone would be hard to afford.

    As long as I stay in the network, my health expenses are covered. But let’s talk about the coverage. I wear prosthetics and  ,  like everything else, if you have money, you will be up and walking close to normal. If you are poor, it’s an entirely different story.

    I have the lowest form of prosthetics available outside of a pirate’s peg leg. It takes me nearly 500 percent more energy to take a step than a healthy person. More advanced prosthetics could get me closer to 50 percent if I had the money.

    Because of this, many people, in my case, don’t even attempt to walk because of this. Imagine not having legs and trying to get around and do things. Even with assistance, it is difficult.

    Technology should make life easier for everybody. We decide to always bring cost into it. So what then is the benefit of being in the richest country?

    Shout out to all the caregivers who donate time and energy to help the disabled. We will pray together for things to get better.

  • Advantage: Profit and the people lose again

    Who doesn’t enjoy a good burger with fries and a cold drink? I mean, we are in the middle of summer, and there are so many places to get a burger.

    McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Culver’s, Checkers, Sonic, and Hardee’s can all give you the typical burger, fries, and drink combo. But at what cost?

    When we eat these foods, it is rare that we consider the residual effects of this choice. If we did consider it, we would not eat it. I wish all we had to worry about was the calories. A typical combo meal from any of the restaurants named would be over 1,000 calories — easily. And if we brought in carbs, fats, and sodium, you could have a heart attack just thinking about it.

    The larger chain restaurants are even worse. Chili’s, Applebee’s, Cheddars, and even Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Outback are far worse than the fast food joints.

    The reason? They are in business to make money by any means necessary, and if that means over time, millions will suffer from degenerative diseases related to obesity — oh well!

    These restaurants are giving customers what they want. For most of us, if you put a plant-based burger with lentils, beans, and mushrooms as its base next to a quarter pound beef burger seasoned well, the choice (based on taste) would be the beef burger.

    Further, if you tell us the consequences of eating both, most folks won’t care. They will make statements like, “Well, we all gotta die of something.”

    By this same logic, why would anyone save money, buy stocks, have a 401k, or invest anything in the future? Our eating decisions will ensure we won’t be around to enjoy it.

    It is hard to blame the restaurants for making a buck, and they have the nutritional information available for everyone to see.

    In the US, there are 119.9 million people with high blood pressure and 38.4 million diabetics. Heart disease is still the number one killer in America, and 40 percent of all citizens are obese which is about 100 million. The lion’s share of this is based on what we eat. You could work out for five days and literally undo your progress over the weekend by eating at the restaurants listed.

    The Food and Drug Administration could do something about this. It controls the ingredients used. They won’t because too much money is spent treating our sickness, and too many lobbyists have dispersed checks for their silence.

    YOU have to make YOU better, or the advantage will stay with profit.

  • Scariest phrase: The past is of no consequence

    Do you ever think what it would be like to live without consequences? I mean, of course, there are always consequences, but we have a history of weighing the consequences and making the decision based on what we can handle or how much we have to pay.

    Former heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, loved cars and loved to drive fast. One time, on a back road, he is caught speeding by an officer. The officer charged him $25 for the speeding ticket, which was huge back then. Johnson gave the officer $50, and the officer said he did not have change. Johnson said it was ok because he has to drive back this way.

    Clearly, he weighed the consequences and accepted his fate, which led him to pay in advance.

    Everyone seems to do that with concrete things, but what about abstract?

    If I say something to hurt my wife’s feelings and I can tell that I did based on her actions, I could just apologize, or I can simply trust that she will get over it and move on.

    If my 5 year old grandbaby gets caught playing with the electrical outlet and I slap her hands and yell at her until she cries, I could feel justified in what I did because she could have seriously gotten hurt. But I see that my actions were more than just disciplinary in nature, as her ego is bruised. Do I attempt to recover her or stand as the authority?

    What if I’m the boss over 40 employees at work and I create a hostile work environment? Or, I create racial tensions by paying my white employees 37 percent more than minorities? What if I decide to make all my supervisors white? What if I never lay off anyone white? Or how about I just treat everyone badly because I can? What if I allow my bias to lead me? What if I am demeaning to women in the workplace?

    The past has no consequences, which is one of the greatest lies ever told. Offenders must recompense their victims. But before that happens, there has to be an acknowledgment of the wrongdoing. You can’t curse your wife, and then the next time you see her, you just start talking sweet to her without acknowledging your past mistakes.

    When we don’t acknowledge our wrongdoing, we lower the victims self-esteem. God takes that personal.

    Let me be clear: There are always consequences! Whether you get them immediately or later, now or in the future, today or in the afterlife, consequences are coming! Make amends today before it’s too late.

  • Death to the freedom of the press

    In journalism school, we were taught about the history of the press and how truly patriotic it was to be a part of the historic institution of the press.

    They made sure we knew how sacred sources were and that the media, more than any other industry, would hold thebkeys to informing the public of what is happening in government.

    In the beginning, people saw the press as the watch dog, which would guard the public interest and expose wrongdoing through great investigative journalism.

    James and Ben Franklin championed this idea in colonial America and even went to jail over their writing content. According to google: “the Franklin brothers’ actions and writings set the stage for a greater understanding and appreciation of the importance of freedom of the press. Benjamin Franklin’s contributions to the printing and publishing industry, as well as his writings and political activities, helped shape the development of a free and informed citizenry.”

    Ben Franklin said, “Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government.” He would also argue that without freedom of speech and press, the constitution dissolves.

    Fast forward to 2025, and with the second term of Donald Trump, we see the deterioration of the free press. Covering the White House without being able to question anything is a problem. The days of journalists going to jail for their beliefs are over. The Republicans are just as afraid of Trump and won’t say anything about it, and the Democrats only get involved if it causes mass protests.

    For example, there should be mass protests for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is the Maryland man deported to El Salvador without due process. No mass protests, so no objections from Democrats.

    On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, and the world protested, and the Dems jumped right on the bandwagon. As of today, most of the reform gains we saw in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder have been squashed by the Trump administration. Again, no protest equals silence from the Dems.

    With the influence of the press being gutted, the Trump Administration can do whatever they want while we watch. We can now lay to rest our press.

  • How do you feel now?

    This post makes the first of 5 posts that will be written this year covering American history to see how you feel about the incident today. I will briefly discuss the feelings of the day, and then you, dear reader, can comment on how you would feel if it happened today.

    So, on June 20, 1967, Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army and was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison, and fined $10,000 and banned from boxing for three years.

    Ali had a religious conviction. It should have been the same religious conviction that everyone in a Christian society should take. But America has always had a duality with good and evil depending on the circumstance and who is likely to benefit.

    Ali said: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”

    These statements cut deep to some in America who thought Ali was being un-American for making those statements. At face value, he was expressing the great divide that has always been in America between people of color and white people.

    The issues Ali brought out were not things America wanted to deal with or discuss, and definitely not publicly. It was the type of truth that had no rebuttal, only shame, denial, and blame.

    As a result, the powers that be wanted to punish Ali, so in the prime of his boxing career, they wouldn’t let him earn a living boxing. A few years later, the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

    So, what are your thoughts on Ali. Should he have gone to Vietnam and fought in the war? Should he have gone to jail? Should he have been reprimanded for the things he said about America? To some people, the answer is “yes” to all three questions. What say ye?

  • America struggles with its plurality of morals

    We are halfway through 2025, and as we slide into summer, there will be more daylight and  more opportunities to interact with others.

    This used to be considered a good thing because it would strengthen our community ties and further develop our societal  norms. As a country, we need this more now than any other time because we are completely divided in our morals and values.

    There are several factors in developing our morality. How you were raised by your parents, peer interaction, role models, and the media help to sync our morality.

    Years ago, parents disciplined their children. Spare the rod, spoil the child was the biblical saying that made discipline important. The standard in America was to work hard for what you want. We saw our parents do it and we took our turn as we became adults.

    I was fortunate to have 4 siblings at home, and I had an older brother who went to college, and I followed his steps. I may not have gone to college if he didn’t go.

    I grew up with role models or heroes that I tried to imitate. There was a clear difference between good and evil, and the majority of the kids wanted to be the good guys!

    Then, of course, there is the media and social media where you can see and hear literally anything. The media has helped to desensitize us and blur the lines between good and evil. When Luigi Magione was arrested for allegedly shooting an insurance agency CEO in the back on a New York City Street, he was praised by many and seen as a hero. Forty years ago, there would have been gun protests, ridicule of his family, and no one in the 80s would have celebrated this shooter.

    So here is the point, in years past, people were just as selfish, greedy, corrupt, and immoral as they are today. But inside of us was a governor that would make us ashamed to be associated with such filth. Today, we can openly present opposing views to our societal norms, and it’s just OK.

    There is now a new definition of what it means to be free in America. We are now free to act a damn fool without shame, be racist, a pedophile, a junkie, or a drunk and my favorite — we can be as ignorant as we want to and that’s just fine.

    At this rate, the destruction of America is not an “if”, it’s “when.”

  • Convenience is killing us

    What is the cost of convenience these days? It seems like the better we are technologically, the worse off we get.

    Artificial Intelligence says the phrase “convenience is killing us” means that our constant pursuit of easy and readily available options, often in the form of processed foods, fast services, and readily accessible technology, is negatively impacting our health, environment, and overall well-being by encouraging laziness, poor dietary choices, and a lack of meaningful engagement with our surroundings; essentially, prioritizing immediate comfort over long-term health and sustainability.

    It has always been this way. For example, in the 1700s, we would have a wood-burning stove and a fireplace, and between the two, the family would be gathered together in one room to stay warm. The kids would be lying on the floor near the fireplace. Mama would be in her rocking chair knitting, and Papa would be smoking his pipe and reading to the family from the “good book,” and there would be good, stimulating discussion and togetherness.

    In 1830, a Scottish inventor created the thermostat, and with it, heat could be dispersed throughout all the rooms in the house with a controlled temperature and there was no need to gather together at the end of the day. By the 1900s, everyone was separated in their own rooms doing their own things. So much for togetherness.

    If you ask a person in their 90s about the way things were, you would discover that to them, it seems like we as a country are in one big hurry for nothing. Everything is fast and in a hurray. We want things now. No waiting! Patience is gone.

    And in our haste, we settled for less quality. In addition, we have sacrificed our health, created social isolation, lacked physical activity, created a negative environmental impact, and created mental health concerns. Is it really worth it?

  • Make America great? HDI is the right place to start

    For centuries, America has boasted about the great lifestyle its people share and how democracy is the best form of government.

    We brag about capitalism and all the opportunities that are available for those who work hard. The advertising we show to the world does not tell the true American story.

    We say nothing of crime, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and the ever-present wealth gap. We don’t discuss our troubled history that still plagues us today. Our poverty, poor education, and limited affordability for healthcare have the majority of America struggling. One percent of America has more money and resources than 99 percent of America.

    America always had a problem with the “haves” and “have nots,” and the “haves” like it this way. Consistently, rich politicians appear on news shows expressing what’s important to most Americans or pretending to know what Americans want. What we really want is easy.

    The Human Development Index (HDI), which was created in 1990 by a committee in the United Nation’s, was created to statistically measure and rate a country’s excellence in three main areas: life expectancy, education and per capita income.

    You would think that a country so rich in wealth and opportunity would lead the free world in this index. You would think that we would want to boast about the advantages available for our citizens and how well we all flourish. It should be expected that America rate in the top 5 of these great countries.

    Well, here are the top 15 countries: Switzerland (1), Norway (2), Iceland (3), Hong Kong (4), Denmark, and Sweden (5), Ireland, and Germany (7), Singapore (9), Netherlands, and Australia (10), Liechtenstein, Belgium, and Finland (12), and the United Kingdom (15).

    These United States are tied for 20 with Luxembourg, which means that there are roughly 19 countries that have better opportunities in wealth, health, and lifestyle than we do.

    We need to let politicians know that the type of America we want is one that stays in the top 10 on this index. We want opportunities for everyone who works hard. There is no reason that education and healthcare can’t be free, and in this country, we should have already wiped out homelessness.

    Crime is lowered by opportunities to learn and earn. Imagine that there are countries that never have mass shootings. Greed is killing us, my friend. The rich only care about getting richer, and democracy is not working for us. It is almost impossible to get the masses to vote a certain way, and both political parties have been detrimental to the majority of America.

    We need a better way, and it starts with making the top 5 of the HDI.

  • The disease of Greed

    It is hard to think of greed as a disease. The reason is that people have a choice to be greedy or not. There are some definite psychological effects of greed that explain much about what our country is going through.

    Scientists have discovered that greed is linked to the part of your brain’s reward center, leading to a pleasurable experience or sensation when a greedy person acquires something. That pleasurable sensation reinforces the greedy behavior.

    So imagine buying an extra house. You are living in your dream home, and you add another home, fix it up, and sell it. You make a 60 percent profit on the house so you buy another one. Then you do the same thing. How many more times can you do this without wanting more? When you absolutely love the benefits, it’s hard to say no.

    There is a part of greed that leads to social isolation. Most multimillionaire and billionaires experience this because they are so laser focused on making more money.

    A greedy person will do almost anything to satisfy that urge. In most cases of greed, we see where manipulation and deceit have been repeatedly used to fulfill their desires.

    Probably the worst thing about greed is that it lacks empathy and causes stress and anxiety. There are problems when you have a lot of money that many of us will never experience. When you are greedy, there is constant pressure to get more stuff. What’s worse is that you stop caring about the well-being of others as you pursue your prize.

    A greedy person is never satisfied, and that is why it always ends in a crash and burn scenario. Typical of Republicans is that they always want to give tax breaks to the rich, believing that the benefits will trickle down to the other classes. This has never happened in the history of America, but it is still their talking point.

    We saw ridiculous downsizing since President Trump has been in office, and already, he has reneged on his campaign promise not to touch Medicaid.

    The problem is greed, and as long as Congress allows, Trump will be greedy. I just hope that the checks and balances kick in before the masses in America reach their breaking point.