https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/people-i-mostly-admire/id1525936566?i=1000704954611 I am not going to thoroughly review the solution discussed in the podcast linked above. Instead, I encourage you to listen to it. I’ve written about gun violence in the US before. I’ve written about “lone wolf” shooters and about school shootings. But let’s face it – I don’t know shit about preventing shootings….
Author: Steve Ainslie
Inevitable Income Inequality
I was listening to a podcast discussing the growing wealth gap/income inequality between the average US household and the top .1%. It is huge and getting even bigger. Whatever. This is nothing new. The poor have always been getting f**ked over People wax poetic about the glory days of the US in the 1950s when…
Predicable Hypocrisy
I was listening to the news today in which a reporter pointed out another glaringly obvious hypocritical statement from a politician. The thought occurred to me: “Nobody who acts hypocritically cares.” When I was a teenager, I began to pay attention to hypocritical behavior and words expressed by religious leaders, parents, politicians, teachers and other…
Lightweight
At the end of February, my weight had risen to 148 lbs and I decided that I needed to do something about it. I am happy to report that 2 months later, I have dropped back down to 135 lbs. This is pretty much my ideal weight. I was here a few years ago before…
Not My War
I don’t approve of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, it’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and its ongoing war on Ukraine (then again, per usual, nobody asked me). Now, 3 years later, after the US has given more than $128 billion to support Ukraine’s defense, I find myself thinking: “This is not my war.”…
UnFreedom Of The Press
Trump’s intimidation of the press via threats, investigations, lawsuits, harassment and ridicule to coerce them into obsequiousness are unlike anything I’ve seen during my lifetime. I am aware that these tactics have been used before by dictators and authoritarians across the globe, but not in US. It got me wondering if tactics like these ever…
Christian Pagans
Today is Easter and once again, I’m thinking about religion, traditions and holidays. Many years ago, I learned in an undergrad religious philosophy course that the dates of Christian Holy Days (ask Holidays) were selected to coincide with the dates of preexisting polytheistic Roman and Greek holidays, which in turn were based on paganistic holidays…
Self Primary Care
Whenever I ask the urgicare doctor, the pharmacist or any specialist a general medical question, they tell me,“That’s something you should discuss with your primary care physician.” As if. I haven’t had a primary care physician in 20 years. Instead, I had insurance plans that changed every single year, even when I hadn’t changed jobs….
Brave…But Dead
When I was a child I read about Catholic martyrs, Jews and other people who refused to “convert” and were murdered because of their religion. I remember thinking at the time, “Why didn’t they just pretend to believe what their murderers dictated? In their minds, they could still believe whatever they wanted and nobody would…
Private Eyes
After a long break of nearly a decade, I’ve starting reading fiction regularly once again. I switched up my routine a few weeks ago and now spend an hour or so each evening reading a novel. For the past 15 years, I focused my reading on nonfiction because I found myself bored and uninterested in…