Update from the Sunland
No.856
28.5.18 – 3.6.18
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
I offer my most humble apologies for creating all the confusion with my “announcement” in last week’s Update; it was not my intention to cause that kind of turmoil. As evidence with this week’s edition, I shall continue and modify the content slightly to avoid my comments/opinions on matters touching upon politics, sex or religion . . . at least for the time being. If anyone would like to read my opinion on anything, please just ask.
The follow-up news items:
-- The off-again-on-again Singapore summit between the DPRK dictator and the President of the United States [844& sub] is apparently back on (at least for now), scheduled for 12.June.2018. The emissary of the DPRK dictator, General Kim Yong Chol, carried a personal letter from the DPRK dictator to the President. General Kim had to obtain a travel restrictions waiver to meet with the Secretary of State in New York City, and then meeting with the President in Washington, DC.
-- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the administration has been dissatisfied with trade concessions from our allies and neighbors, and will impose tariffs [839], first threatened give months ago, on steel and aluminum effective on Friday. Punishing friends and rewarding adversaries is a new concept. We will see how this works out.
Fact:
Surprise, surprise, Roseanne Barr tweeted:
“muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj”
5/28/18, 11:45 PM
. . . referring to former presidential aide Valerie Jarrett. Whether Barr likes it or not, she was the marquee persona for a valuable television entertainment commodity on the ABC network and for ABC’s parent, Disney Entertainment.
Political . . . thus, no comment from me . . . unless requested.
Fact:
Conservative commentator and convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza received a "full and absolute pardon" for his crimes of funneling illegal campaign contributions to a 2014 Republican Senate candidate. D'Souza pleaded guilty to the charges in court. And, to celebrate his pardon, we were treated to a flurry of racist, bigoted, public statements from the man. Oh happy days . . .
Political . . . thus, no comment from me . . . unless requested.
Fact:
The Labor Department reported U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 223,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.8%. It is important and relevant to note that the unemployment rate has reached a level matching April 2000 as the lowest reading since 1969. The unemployment rate is approaching the threshold of full employment. There is no question the current administration has benefited from the groundwork laid by the previous administration in stimulating the economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2009.
Since so many talking heads equated Barr’s tweet (above) with Samantha Bee’s profane monologue diatribe on her TBS show “Full Frontal” Wednesday night, I considered adding her offending statement, as I did Barr’s tweet above. At first, I chose not to include Bee’s profane statement, as I was inclined to take an all or nothing approach. Yet, as the political furor mounted, I decided there was no choice remaining other than my desire not to offend anyone. So, here goes:
Bee was in the middle of her comedic rant about the current administration’s immigration policy, when she said:
“You know, Ivanka, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless c**t. He listens to you. Put on something tight and low cut, and tell your father to f**king stopit. Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes.”
The next day, Sally Field tweeted:
I like Samantha Bee a lot, but she is flat wrong to call Ivanka a c**t.
C**ts are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest.
3:05 PM – 31 May 2018
The history of comedians using profanity in social commentary on current events and issues stretching back at least to Lenny Bruce (1925 –1966), Richard Pryor (1940 – 2005), George Carlin (1937 – 2008), among many others. There is a monumental difference between profanity in comedic social commentary and blatant racism. The two events were not and are not comparable, and a White House advisor is NOT immune from the bite of comedians, no matter who is president.
Comments and contributions from Update no.855:
“Sorry to hear about the negative stuff going on with your blog. What a shame that you're ending it. I've always enjoyed reading your take on what's going on in the world. Anyway, good luck with whatever takes its place.”
My reply:
Great to hear from you. I’m sorry it was such a traumatic topic.
Thank you so much for your kind and generous words. Jeanne has been talking me back from the ledge. As indicated, I’ll probably back away from offering my opinions for a while to see what happens. I’m not sure how you conduct a vigorous public debate about topics of our time when one or more voices are silenced, but we’ll give it a go.
Another contribution:
“I am sorry to hear that Cap, I urge you to re-consider. I have never read you being a ‘pompous, arrogant asshole.’ Never! Over the decades you and I have not always agreed but we agreed to disagree and you never came back angry or that. We have a world of much disagreement and likely this polarization and fragmentation of core values or beliefs, will only continue to devolve.
“Your blog Update is likely read by many folks on your list. Perhaps you frequency on the Update is lots of work for you, and have you considered maybe a bi-weekly Update?
“Wishing you the very best and hope to still see your evaluations, analysis and opinion on many items--even if I do not always agree, or other readers don't either.
“Sorry to also read of your blog access issues, and not so sure I like the idea of Google gobbling-up another communication platform, like Blogger. That is disappointing to me. But glad you cleared-up those issues and are back on-line, and yes, I was wondering what happened to last week's Update as I never got one in my inbox.”
My response:
Thank you for your words of support and encouragement. Jeanne has been talking me back from the edge of the abyss. I’ll probably refrain from offering my opinion on any of the social topics—sex, politics or religion—unless requested. We’ll see how that goes for a while. It will not be easy to keep my mouth shut.
Yeah, I was not pleased with Google gobbling up Blogger, but it is a fact of our times. At least I finally got it working; we’ll see if I’m so lucky next Monday.
I’ll see how this new process goes for a while . . . and perhaps adjust further. We’ll see how this goes.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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