Real Fear for the Future

Sorry to start the day on a negative note (negative notes?), but I'm not thinking the future is that cozy a place for us Americans from this vantage point. Besides the idiot, Republican Party dotard in the White House and his emotional, irrational outbursts and actions, there are facts and statistics stacking up that don't bode well for us all.

First, let's take our information we're getting. Newspapers are famously or infamously dying.

Number of Americans Who Read Print Newspapers Continues Decline

New York Daily News Fires Half Of Its Staff

Entire New Orleans Times-Picayune staff laid off

A Major Newspaper Fires Its Entire Staff

It's predicted this is the shape of things to come, too.

NY Times Editor Predicts Most Local US Papers Will Fold

Understand, too, this is not merely longing for a bygone day. This is no way nostalgia for the past and for "the way things were", no, not at all. 

This is about most or all of us having a basis of information. This is about all of us being engaged in the social fabric, as it were. This is about all of us have a similar basis of information from which we address our communities, our metropolitan areas, our cities, counties, states, regions and even the nation at large but the world, too. We will no longer have that basis from which to start, a more common background of knowledge.

So instead of reading the daily newspaper we would all or mostly all share, now we get things off the internet, if we read at all. This is where I say we also only read things that back up what we already "know", think we know and/or believe. It pits us more and more against one another because we so sincerely believe only that which we already want to believe.

It does not bode well for us.

And then there's the fact that no one will be down there at that newspaper to keep the local City Hall, Mayor, Council and city and state government accountable. With them not there to research, write and publish what's going on, who's going to? The local blogger on the internet?  Highly unlikely. God help us.

Then there's the issue of our news media has become far too "us vs them." We have Right Wing TV like Fox, publicly declaring itself entertainment but masquerading as news and skewing things heavily for one political party and for the already-wealthy and corporations.

Why is Fox News so biased toward the Republicans

This splits and splinters us all further, all the more. It's downright frightening.

Next up is the fact that, along with all this splintering, we're all joining fewer and fewer organizations.

Americans Are Becoming Less Social

We're becoming islands, unto ourselves. We belong to fewer churches (which actually I view as an improvement but that's another issue), we join less sports teams, bowling leagues and all kinds of social groups.

 After all this, now we also have whole countries, whole nations and other groups of people, going online to splinter us further. They whip people up with all kinds of false information and/or emotionalism in order to tear us apart from within. It certainly worked in the last national election for the presidency.

Add to all this that we're spending our way into obscene, huge, unnecessary defense spending that actually weakens the nation.

America's Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think

With that spending and our giveaways to the already-wealthy and corporations, we're also spending ourselves into crazy debt and deficit spending.

Trump Proposes Record Spending, Trillion-Dollar Deficit

With that, I'll stop. God knows that's enough. And that's just what's going on in our nation. I could go on with the UK's Brexit and China's response to our, again, dotard President and a lot more.

I just don't see much good out there. We have to put our faith in the American people waking up. Waking up and voting the wrong people, in office now, out of those offices.

I hope it doesn't require reading a newspaper to get us there.

Too many Americans don't know our history

"You can't handle the truth!" Or you don't care to, anyway.

Kansas City, we better get reading

It seems Amazon recently ranked “the 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.”

Guess what major midwest city isn't on it?

You guessed--us.  Kansas City.

But guess what other major, midwestern, Missouri city is?

If you guessed St. Louis, you'd be right.

And nothing in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas or even Illinois.  Interesting.

The list:

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts
 2. Alexandria, Virginia
 3. Berkeley, California
 4. Ann Arbor, Michigan
 5. Boulder, Colorado
 6. Miami, Florida
 7. Salt Lake City, Utah
 8. Gainesville, Florida
 9. Seattle, Washington
 10. Arlington, Virginia
11. Knoxville, Tennessee
12. Orlando, Florida
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
14. Washington, D.C.
15. Bellevue, Washington
16. Columbia, South Carolina
17. St. Louis, Missouri
18. Cincinnati, Ohio
19. Portland, Oregon
20. Atlanta, Georgia

Excuse me, I have to go get my book.

There's another article on it here, too: Beyond Black Friday

Enjoy your holiday weekend, y'all.

AGAIN??

Line of violent thunderstorms kill 7 in Oklahoma, Kansas

Lessons for living

Mind you, these are mine.  Also, it doesn't mean I followed all of these at all time, through my entire life (see the last one):

--Be nice

--Be nice always

--Be patient

--As possible, be quiet

--Work hard

--Work smart

--Enjoy yourself

--Be thoughtful

--Be generous, as possible

--Help others

--Help yourself

--Don't criticize

--Love (that's it, just love)

--Don't be (too) foolish

--Don't be too serious ot take yourself too seriously

--Laugh often

--Keep everthing simple

--Read all you can

--Learn

--Never think you know that much

--Be responsible

--Lighten up, as possible and as necessary

--Forgive.  Forgive others, as necessary;  forgive yourself, as necessary

--Excecise

--Excercise caution

--Exercise restraint

--Excercise moderation

--Live life to the fullest

--Help everyone you can

--Give selflessly (but not foolishly)

--Be thrifty

--Don't be cheap

--Save, as much as possible

--Create as much beauty as possible

--Laugh as much and as frequently as possible (but don't be a fool or obnoxious)

--Don't be afraid to cry but... (see next line)

--Don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself, because that's what you're doing

--Remember we're all hypocrites at some time, to some degree, in some, different ways