On "PC Terms" Vs. Jim Crow Days

 

After an uncomfortable conversation today, I just want to add something I should've said, if I was going to say anything at all (which I shouldn't have).

I didn't bring it up, but I questioned something that was said.

So what I wish I would've added is THIS, if I was going to say anything ...

So the reason we don't use old terms for non-white people is not because we're worried about "correct" terms, but because these old terms remind them of a past when they were segregated, treated badly and considered inferior, and those terms were used derogatorily.

I understand updated "PC terms" may be difficult to keep up with, but if you're an empathetic person, then you'll be sensitive to their experience and care whether or not you're bringing up painful memories of being segregated and treated badly.

On the other hand, if you're NOT an empathetic person, then think about it this way - using these old terms spares you both awkward discomfort? ?

Otherwise, if we're ever going to move forward in this country, we have to be willing to have uncomfortable conversations to promote better understanding.

I agree, there's a time and place, but again, I didn't bring it up :)

____________________

PS 

I always bristle when I hear the term "colored."  

I think it's because this term started during the Jim Crow Law era and segregation -  and though it's true that it was self-used during the the Civil Rights Movement by people of color, the term was later rejected, due to its origin being a white-created derogatory term. 

I'm especially surprised when white people who have married a person of color, have biracial children and/or adopt children of color use that term, in this day and age, and don't seem to even be aware that the term might bring up bad memories or sound derogatory for their spouses or kids. 

For example, I had a very dear friend who adopted a child of color and sometimes resorted to calling him her "colored" child (but corrected herself).

At first, I thought it was regional or because of her age, because she was otherwise the most empathetic person I've ever met - but it  also became clear that she had no clue about the experiences of people of color and wasn't willing to listen, including that of her own son.

She especially had no clue about the extra power imbalance of that  parent-child-of-different-races relationship -  meaning that in addition to being the parent in power, if anything went wrong between them, society would  likely automatically take her side, just based on skin color.

Over time, it became clear that she thought it her role was to save him out of poverty and teach him how to behave (white) properly, and that he should be extra grateful to her versus her other children, if that makes sense? 

(This is one of the varying definitions of "white savior complex.")

And what let me know this were some things that came out of her mouth while angry at him, despite being, as I said, otherwise the most empathetic person I knew. 

For example:

"He's just acting like his people. They talk to their children terribly."

My mouth literally dropped open.  I'd never heard her say anything like that before.

Then she asked me if I thought she was racist, because her adopted son said she was.

*Gulp*

 

Me:  "Well, I think there are varying degrees of racism: There's racism with hate and fear, there's racial bias, and then there's ignorant cultural bias where we're just unaware of black experience, which all of us white people could work on."

"In your case, I think you're righteously angry with him about some stuff he's doing - BUT - those things don't have a thing to do with skin color." 

"So honestly?  I gotta say ... I don't think you're racist overall, but what you just said -  blanket-generalizing all people of color in a negative way and calling them "his people" -  does sound somewhere between racism and racial bias?" 

"Because, I mean, not ALL people of color, talk to their children badly, they're just as diverse in personality and temperament as we are, just with a different skin color."

 "AND - many white parents talk to their children badly!"

"Case in point - how MY mother has talked both to and about me, which you've heard yourself???"  

"So in fact, that's proof that talking to your children badly has NOTHING to do with your skin color - white people may just be better at hiding it behind closed doors."  

 

 

Friend: "True, good point, like how P talks to me.  But I'm NOT racist!"

 

Me:  "Okay.  But you did ask me what I thought.  Like I said, I don't think you're hate-and-fear racist, but what you said did sound somewhere between racism and racial bias." 

"But regardless of what I think, the issue is your adopted son of color feels that you are, so maybe ask him why he thinks that, hear his experience, without getting defensive?" 

"Because I know you're mad at him for doing certain things - and though I agree he shouldn't be doing those things -  those things have nothing to do with his skin color." 

"So there's this thing known as "white fragility," and it's when we white people are confronted on something we did or said that was offensive to people of color, we tend to get defensive and act like WE are the offended one, instead of listening and keeping it about THEM initially being offended." 

"The truth is, no matter how anti-racist we think we are, we were all raised with inherent cultural bias, in a society where racism has been institutionalized, to the point we white people often don't even realize it or that we've gone along with it - so it's important that we self-examine and  allow others to educate us on their experience."

Then she just got quiet and said she'd think about it and she had to go lol.

She did ask me what I thought, so I had to be honest with her?

And quite honestly, it really takes another white person to gently explain why something isn't okay, because they don't seem to hear it from people of color (which is also proof of racism and/or racial bias).

And if we sit there silently, then they think it's okay, right?

So we never talked about it again, I'd made my point, and we were still very close (this person has since passed on).

Though that incident secretly bothered me - just reeling from the cognitive dissonance of this person being the most empathetic person I know, but at the same time, her empathy for people of color came from a place of superiority.  It was really hard to reconcile all of that in the same person.

What was especially interesting is her son-in-law was Mexican and she had a special reverence for Mexican people, legally here or not - but with people of color, they were a people that needed her guidance as a white person?

This person has since passed on, and I still don't know how to balance all that within the same person who was my very close friend, and yet I still loved her dearly :)

NC Militias VS. FEMA (and Active-Duty Soldiers Now Replacing National Guard)

 

Y'all, this is a true story, about people believing false stories without verifying them, and then becoming violent about it.

I have now verified from two personal sources that there genuinely are North Carolina militia threatening - and even shooting at -  FEMA workers, after Trump and others said that FEMA were stealing donations and funneling money to the Ukraine (among other false accusations)!

In fact, one of my sources is evacuating his family out of Western NC as we speak, and also says the National Guard is being pulled back so that active duty can come in and guard the workers/suppress the situation.

People, we have GOT to stop taking politicians' words so seriously and as gospel truth - people are getting hurt on both sides! 

Having been helped by FEMA myself, at one time, I know they are there to help people after national disaster, not take your money.

And if you DO suspect a FEMA worker, or workers, to be doing something off, then report them for investigation.

Why some people's immediate reaction is "Hey, Billy Bob - hop in my truck and bring your AR-15" is beyond me.

Again, we do NOT want a civil war - but if y'all push us and we have to defend ourselves, we will.

And good luck fighting active-duty soldiers now, NC militias, if you do.

Don't start nothing, won't be nothing. 

Zoe Wilson, the 8-Year-Old Who Drove Herself to Target 😂

I've had a super busy week, so I probably won't get to the horror-movie series for a bit, as we're going for a mini-hike on a local trail today, but this story - which actually made the NYT today - made me laugh-out-loud for a full 10 minutes!

Now, if I was the mom, I'd be freaking out!

But since I'm not, although scary and dangerous, you have to admit - it's also hilarious!  😂

So apparently, one early Sunday morning, while the rest of the family was sleeping, 8-year-old Zoe Wilson was worried about learning multiplication and was trying to get in some extra practice, when her iPad quit working. 

So instead of waking up the rest of the family, she apparently said to herself "Everybody's still Sunday sleeping, so you know what I'm gonna do?  I'm gonna get in my mom's purse and get her keys and wallet, and then I'm gonna drive myself to Target to get someone to fix it or buy a new one, get myself a Frappuccino - AND - I'm taking the family dog with me!"

And that is exactly what she did - drove herself to Target in the family SUV, with her dog in tow! 😂😂😂

Her mom, Tangie, quickly woke up and realized that Zoe, the dog and the car were missing, but she had no idea where she was, so the family was searching the neighborhood (the neighbor's Ring camera recording Zoe backing out of the driveway) - and Tangie called the police herself.

In the meantime, the store realized she was there by herself and also called police, and when they arrived, there she sat, calming drinking a Frappuccino, happy as you please! 😂😂😂

The police scolded her, but also found it "impressive" and "cute" and then posted this to Facebook ...

Very cool of them  - it's nice when police actually act like human beings 😊

Absolutely frightening for a parent, but you gotta give it up for Zoe's intelligence and industriousness - no barrier is too big for Miss Zoe to climb!

However, Mom - you DO know you're gonna have to stay one step ahead with THAT child at all times, she's almost too smart and "driven" (pun intended) for her own good!  😂

_______________________

PS - Spare us the parent-shaming, folks - it was early on a Sunday  morning, and she got up earlier than everybody else, and clearly, this kid is clever, way beyond her years!

I've gotten up early in the morning, even on Sunday morning, since my early 20s, true, but so has my daughter - and sometimes, she was up before me!

You learn your kids and learn to trust your kids, to a certain degree  - but who wouldda thunk that she - or any 8-year-old - would even be capable of figuring out how to drive herself to Target, and without incident?

No one - including the police - so give it a rest.

If the police weren't too worried, then you shouldn't be!

_________________________________________

PPS - My husband, Mark, just reminded me that early one Sunday morning - while everyone was still sleeping - he got the keys to his Mom's 1973 Mustang GT from his mom's purse, and then drove to all his buddies houses in the neighborhood and went joy-riding all over Detroit!  😂

However, he was 12 years old.

(He also was, of course, grounded for like 6 months. 😂)

But no one, including the police, would think it even possible for an 8-year-old to do such a thing - and to do so without incident - but clearly, Zoe is exceptional!

Best Horror Films: Part 1 - Best of All Time (In My Opinion)

So I've mentioned here before that there are 2 things I'm snobby about - film and architecture.

For those who haven't read those posts, this is because I figure if you have enough money to do either, do them right - don't just be throwing up poorly-crafted crap, in our faces, needlessly assaulting our senses to make a buck, right?  😂

I have also mentioned before that I was once an aspiring screenwriter, so in order for me to consider a movie "good," it has to have virtually no flaws:  No untied loose ends, no guessing the plot, who's gonna die first (or at all), or whodunit in the first 10 minutes, along with great acting, great dialogue, great camera angles, great sound, great editing, great lighting - all of it, with no flaws.  

Leaving questions at the end is okay, because it sets up for a sequel, but none of that "imagine your own ending" nonsense (which mostly makes me think they were too lazy to think of a good ending or ran out of time).

So Mark and I are also horror/psychological thriller movie fans - more paranormal ghostie stuff or psychological thriller than slasher - and it's spooky season!

Why do we like these films?

Like roller coasters or Halloween itself, it's safe fear that you can laugh at yourself about later, with the jump scares. Plus, most of them could never happen in reality.

With that said, I'm going to do 3 posts with 3 lists:

Part 1:  Best horror films of all time.

Part 2: Best in the last decade. 

Part 3: Best released in the past year thus far. 

Of note:  

I have mostly left off slasher film franchises like Halloween or the Nightmare on Elm Street films, because I'm not a big slasher-film/gore fan, with the exception of one. (Well, technically 2 on the list could be somewhat slasher-ish, but with more story and less gross gore.)

This is because they're usually more silly than scary, suspending our disbelief a little too far with a certain degree of implausibility, more gore than story.

Also, much to my husband's dismay (and despite his obsession), no zombie films - although South Korea's "Train to Busan" is worth an honorable mention. 

And of course, old Bela Legosi and Boris Karloff, 30s-style stuff isn't on the list, because although considered somewhat scary at the time, there was still a silly-scary element to them that kept you from taking them too seriously?

Also, a pet peeve - when a new filmmaker borrows a story, a plot, a scene or even an effect from an earlier film and tries to pass it off as their own; thus, any film that's done that, will not be on this list.  

With that said, Easter Eggs are okay - little nods, paying homage to prior films, silently crediting them, is okay - but ripping off a story line, a plot, a scene or an effect completely, without crediting the original, trying to pass it off as your own with new/younger viewers,  is not okay. 

Lastly, I chose the following films based on my opinion, despite whether or not critics and audiences agree (though they mostly do),  because I thought they did something unique or innovative that we hadn't seen before (at that time).

Lastly, they will be listed by name of film, filmmaker, and stars (if any).

So without further ado, I give you ... 

BEST HORROR/PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS OF ALL TIME (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):

Alien and Aliens - Ridley Scott and James Cameron - starring Sigourney Weaver. 

(I pretend the third movie in this trilogy, plus the later "resurrection" one don't exist. 😂)  

Of course, long-time readers knew these two movies would be on the list, as they are among my favorite of all time in general,  for many reasons, much of which I've written about before, so I won't belabor the details again here.

The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter -  starring Kurt Russell.  

The story of workers at remote research station in Antarctica, who are visited by a shape-shifting alien, which can take the form of the organism it consumes, any organism, either in full form or combining several life forms into one giant amalgam beast of twisted horror.

 We've come a long way since, special effects wise, but still good - something about that human head,  sprouting spider legs, scuttering across the floor (stkk stkk stkk), gives me the willies still today - aaaak!

The Shining (1980) - Stanley Kubrick adaptation of a Stephen King novel  - starring, Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.  

Nobody does creepy, psychologically disturbing like Stanley Kubrick, and nobody does evil psycho like Jack Nicholson.

Also, Shelley Duvall's fear seemed real (because it was - Stanley Kubrick was supposedly verbally abusive of her and she already had mental health issues).  

There's just an overall "haunted" feel, a cold ambience feel that's very effective, with music vs. no music at appropriate times.  

In the 80s, it was popular to run the soundtrack throughout the film, during action or climactic scenes, but Kubrick played around with this, only giving spooky music at the right times; other times, leaving you with nothing but the sound of Danny's big wheel rolling down the hallway, faster and faster until you just knew something would show up around that corner.

Also, Jack Nicholson's frozen psycho face haunts my dreams? 😂

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - BUT it must be seen in the theater for full effect  - Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick. 

The first of its kind, the "found-footage" horror genre, making it appear more realistic, made its indelible mark upon filmmaking.  You had to see it on the big screen for full effect. (In fact, I got a little nauseous with the shaking camera for extra spookiness).

This one does leave questions at the end, which normally bothers me, but in some cases, it sets up for sequels, but none of them compared; and by then, found-footage films were a common thing.

Thus, even after the sequels, I'm still left eternally wondering "Why TF was Mike just standing there, facing the wall, at the end?"

You know what I'm talking about?

At the end, Heather is the last member of the group standing, still carrying the camera, rushing in the house to see if any members of her group are alive and still in there, and when she makes it to the basement, there is Mike, standing there facing the stone wall, then we here a "whack" and the camera drops, and we hear a thud, assuming Heather has been killed and is dead.

Was he kept alive (and possessed) as bait?  Was he just hanging out? What the ??

I guess we'll never know, because I was hoping the sequel would tell us, and not only did it NOT tell us, but it was ... bad.

The Exorcist (1973) - William Friedkin - starring Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow. 

Although tame compared to today's movies, back in the day, people ran screaming from the theaters, and people born after don't seem to understand it was first of its kind.  An innocent child being possessed by demons was an entirely new (and controversial) concept on film.

The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme - starring Jodi Foster, Anthony Hopkins.

More psychological thriller than horror, but still some jump scares to be had, plus something about Anthony Hopkins' depiction of an  unpredictable-yet-controlled psychopath is almost scarier than Buffalo Bill, the serial killer that he was trying to help Agent Starling catch!  

And let's not forget, Best Picture Oscar in 1991, plus Oscar-winning performances by both Foster and Hopkins - rare for a horror/thriller flick. 

Psycho (1960) - Alfred Hitchcock - starring Anthony Hopkins, Janet Leigh. 

Speaking of psychological thriller/horror films, despite my distaste for slasher films, if you're going to do it, do it right, in Hitchcock's master-of-suspense style. 

 

The Haunting (1963) the original, not the 1999 remake - Robert Wise.

Again, mild by today's horror standards, but something about the camera lying on its side in the moonlight, as if you're seeing it while lying in bed yourself, filming the carved crown molding that eventually looks like eyes as it zooms in, in pareidolia (the psychological human tendency to make faces out of objects or when there are none), while the ghost of the fire-and-brimstone preacher vehemently preaches on, in the distance, is super scary in a realistic way - plus what happens just after (watch the film to find out). 

Here's a hint "Stop, you're squeezing my hand too tightly, it hurts!?

"That's not me!"

Aaaaak!

Scream (1996, the original) -  Wes Craven - starring Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette and more.

Now, I know I said earlier I'm not into slasher/gore stuff AND my dislike for rebooting old horror movie tropes we've already seen, but in this case, this movie was innovative, in that the killer(s) used that horror movie knowledge base that we all share - particularly the stupid decisions the characters usually make in them - to commit their crimes and tell us a new story - plus the dialog was occasionally funny!

Hereditary (2018) - Ari Aster - starring one of my favorite actresses, Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne.  

Holy Mother of God, this movie scared the sh*t outta me - and not in a fun, laugh-at-yourself kinda way - so much so that it hung on me for days after, I had nightmares as a adult.  

This is only horror movie that I will never watch again - IMO, the scariest movie ever made!

Nope, no thank you, never again, but you be my guest!

Hereditary Satanic curses that apparently leave no free will, people beheading themselves, beheaded children?

Nope, nope, and nope. 

Super disturbing - and yet still, I can recognize that it was a superbly well-made film.  

Masterful acting by Toni and Gabriel, ambience and lighting were their own character, little nuances going on in the background that if you blinked, you'd miss (Annie, the mom, climbing up the wall in the dark room while the lighting is focused on her children sleeping - naaak!)

Next Up:  Best horror flicks of the last decade - and be prepared, South Korea and The Netherlands are gaining on us and the UK for making great horror flicks!

Biltmore Estate: Minimal or No Damage

 

I was wondering how it fared, and we finally have word - apparently, The Biltmore,  its conservatory, winery, property hotels, and surrounding buildings took minimal or no damage; however, the entrance and the forest itself took damage.

Also, some of the animals are missing, so hoping their okay.

Not that this news makes any of what happened okay, it's still devastating for NC residents, but it's good to see when icons survive, it gives hope 🥲

Asheville and Biltmore Village Update ...

 I posted about this 2 days ago, having originally reserved a condo in Biltmore Village to bring my mother to see The Biltmore, and loving Western North Carolina in general, like we do - in fact, having a tentative plan to move near Boone, NC after retirement (which is 2 hours north, but was also flooded.)

We had already decided that if we did retire to the Western NC mountains, we weren't going to live in Asheville itself, because it's basically built in a valley between the mountains, on a flood plain, at the convergence of 3 rivers - nor would we live anywhere near a river period.  The goal is atop a mountain, but on a plateau, rather than hanging off a cliff - and what's happened here is the reason why, - floods and mudslides.

(You may be cut off for a bit, living that way, but you're less likely to have flood damage or mudslides that way.)

No word yet on damage to The Biltmore Estate, but this is what Biltmore Village looks like now, after the flood waters have subsided ...

The little Bavarian/Craftsman cottages are still standing (because they were well built) - but they are gutted.  😢

The video above shows more detail about the damage to the historic-cottage district, but here are some still shots I found post-Helene, now that the flood waters have receded.

I've read that President Biden will be there today - finally.

So I'm a Democrat and support Biden, and Harris as well - but the political right has a point here - if they can't be there due to the below reasons, at least give a brief press conference on it?

(I DO listen to what the right has to say, and if they make a good point, I say so - it's just so rare, these days, because most of what comes out of their mouths with Trump at the helm is completely made-up nonsense. 😂)

Now, I get it that we were all focused on how it would affect Florida instead and NC flooding was unexpected, at least to this degree.

Having gone through hurricanes myself, previously living in Florida, I also get it that the area has to be deemed safe before the president visits, and that even FEMA and military assistance are limited themselves, until the flood waters start to recede.

I get it that Biden is old, so it has to be especially safe.

I get it that in order to even get FEMA and military federal assistance, the governor of your state has to formally request it from the President (which HAS been done, despite what Trump says - you can hear the helicopters flying overhead in the video, which the reporter points out.)

I also get it that a lot of things went on at once, over the past couple of days, besides the VP debate -  a dock workers' strike, and an even more pressing issue, Iran involving themselves directly in the Hamas-Israel conflict, firing missiles at Israel yesterday. 

I get it that the President and Vice President can't be everywhere at once and they have to prioritize -  and Iran firing missiles at Israel does take precedence.

And yet also, it's been 5 days - before that, they still could've and should've at least said something via brief press conference, if they couldn't be there personally?

One of the things that really irked me was living in Florida during the infamous 2004/2005 hurricane season and watching Bush stand on our Republican-voting beach and kiss babies, but not go to Democratic-voting New Orleans until a week later, because he was in appropriately whupping it up with a Mariachi band in San Diego on the day Katrina hit, despite us all knowing how bad it was going to be, days in advance.

Also, in political terms, this is how our Governor, Andy Beshear - who is a Democrat - won over our red state.

He was there the day after the 2022 flooding in safer areas, rolling up his sleeves and literally helping remove debris, as well as making sure the people got immediate aid, housing people in state-park lodges.

NC has become a swing state - so if y'all are too busy with other pressing issues - or even just so busy with your campaign to care -  and it's just about winning over votes for you, the best way to do that is to help them personally during tragedy and show up to boost morale, or even press conference addressing them about when you are going to be there?

Also, let's not leave out the state government and what has NOT been done to the infrastructure there, despite prior flooding, most notably in 1916.

The good news is, as I said, FEMA and the military ARE there, flying in aid.

And here's something interesting ... they're using pack mules to reach past impassable roads and up to people in the mountains ...

Hey, sometimes old school works best, very cool. 

Just a Few Things to Say on the VP Debate

Go Margaret and Nora with fact-checking, defying the CBS promise to Trump and Vance on no fact-checking - simply because it's the right thing to do - get it ladies, you're awesome! 😂

Walz is doing a GREAT job debating - much better than predicted.

JD can make things sound plausible, but they're actually still based on complete nonsense that he pulled out of his backside 😏

Still, I have less to say on this one, because they remained civil and respectful of each other - so bravo to both men for that - and no one said anything TOO cuckoo like dogs and cats being eaten by Haitians immigrants. 😂

However, I do want to say this about Vance AND Trump getting mad about being fact-checked. 

If my candidate got mad about being fact-checked, they wouldn't be my candidate anymore - sorry.  

Worse, if my candidate said people were eating dogs and cats, and  it was proven that they weren't, not only would they not be my candidate anymore, but I would also question the integrity - and the sanity - of anyone who would still vote for them or believe another word they said. 

Call me crazy ethical like that 😂

If the "overload" situation is as dire as you say, you shouldn't need to "create stories to get attention to it." 

The fact that you felt you needed to make up a story has the opposite effect to sane, smart people - it instead leads us to believe the "overload" situation is NOT that dire - and, in fact, it isn't. 

No wonder Dude wants to allow misinformation to continue to run rampant and incite violence unchecked, and considers disallowing it a platform a bigger threat to democracy than misinformation itself under Trump has been 😂

I also want to address some of the more disturbing untruths that came out of shady JD Shady's mouth - besides just blaming Harris' economic policies, though she literally has nothing to do with that, as VP, other than breaking ties on bills in Congress.

 

1)  Implying that the pharmaceutical companies are all foreign "enemies" and that we need to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back here to the U.S, but after previously saying his mother was a former opioid addict.   

 

Now, this is subject I know a little something about, considering one of my contracts is transcribing the interviews between Big Pharma and insurance companies and key-opinion leaders for test-marketing before new products are launched. 

 

Erm - OxyContin, the most addictive opioid pain medication ever manufactured  - which your mother was addicted to, JD Shady - was manufactured right here in the U.S. at Purdue Pharma, which is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. 

Purdue Pharma - and their largest shareholders, the Sackler family - were successfully sued in 2007 for proven foreknowledge of the addictive potential of the opioid drug, Oxycontin, but hiding data on the addiction potential, as well as unethical rebating and promotion practices for the drug (and there have been subsequent cases since).  

Also, American pharmacies Walmart, Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens had to pay settlements for not monitoring the drug and their dispensing practices, as well as receiving rebates on sales of the drug. 

Also, American wholesaling pharmaceutical distributor companies, McKesson and Cardinal, paid settlements for the same reasons as the pharmacies above.

Now - after having my job outsourced 4 times during the Bush era, I am the last person to support outsourcing overseas. 

If you want to demonize certain Big Pharma companies, I'm with you - but demonizing anything foreign isn't the answer. 

Pretending that it's not been our own greedy American pharmaceutical corporations - operating virtually unchecked, with more tax shelters than ever under Trump -  that screwed over our own people - including your mother - is a bold-faced lie that I'm ashamed you told FOR you, because you apparently aren't.  

 

Also, FYI, Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid - meaning although it does have a component of thebaine from the poppy plant, the rest of the drug must be manufactured at a manufacturing facility, by a pharmaceutical company, because of the drug's complexity.  

You cannot just cook some up in your kitchen like meth. 

What you are referring to that is being brought from Mexico is the illegal, counterfeit form of fentanyl - and it's manufactured in China, not in Mexico - and yes, it's illegally transferred across the border. 

However, we are also partially guilty, ourselves.

Because legal Fentanyl - which is also sold on the street - was also previously manufactured by Purdue Pharma, and is currently manufactured by US companies like Pfizer in different forms. 

 

2)  He - and Trump - keep saying that Harris as the VP can stop immigration now, when they know dang well she does not have the power.  The president doesn't even have the power.  

As the moderator and Walz said - and I said in my Prez debate post - their only power is to sign an immigration bill passed through Congress -  and although there WAS a Republican-sponsored bill, Trump asked his own Republicans to kill the bill until the election was over!!!

In response to this, JD Shady said they could call the national guard then, and Walz responded "Then why didn't Trump do it himself?  Why did he not pass a bill himself?  Why did he only build 2% of a wall? Why did Mexico not pay a dime for it, like he said?" 

 

3) I'm glad to see they both agreed on outsourcing being a failure - which was a bipartisan push - first, Clinton with NAFTA and then the "Bush Push" in the mid-2000s -  but what Shady fails to address is that the reason it failed is the greed by these corporations that never "trickled down" back on us, which was the theory on cheaper labor overseas - that corporations would do better and "trickle down" on us despite the loss of U.S. jobs. 

This Republican fantasy of "trickle-down" has never once worked at a corporate level and it never will work, because it ignores the basic human-nature flaw of greed. 

Trickle down DOES work locally with locally-owned business, but is has NEVER once worked at a national or corporate level. 

 

4)  As for the pharmaceutical prices and Trump, Shady's just straight up lying.  

Trump complained about it, but did nothing.  

Biden authored and signed the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) into law, which was passed two years ago, and will go into full effect in 2025.  The gist is, Medicare will renegotiate the price of drugs that has never come down, despite several competitors being on the market.  Also, patients on Medicare will never pay more than $50 a month for a copay for their medications.    

 

5) Saying that "censorship" of misinformation is a bigger threat to democracy than the misinformation itself from Trump himself.  

Hahaha! 

Oh, he was serious.  

 Also, the pretending Trump peacefully transitioned power is just more gaslighting BS of things we saw with our own eyes, so much so, that I left the room due to gastrointestinal distress. 😂   

But then again, I have a very strong reaction to gaslighting, for personal reasons.

 

6) I think he's saying that Trump didn't try to repeal Obamacare. Uhhh ... he most certainly did. 

The  fact that he's on board with provision of public healthcare now doesn't change the fact that he was on board with repealing it.

 

7) His point on alternative energy sources and manufacturing here in America, "where it's cleaner" than overseas made zero sense.  

What was his point - that we should dirty up America, too?   

I think his point was supposed to be focusing on making solar panels here in America (which is already done) and finding new sources of energy here. 

Great, I agree - so why don't you talk to your Republican coal-company and car-company buddies about that, and see how much they'll let that fly? Neither has the greatest track record - they like to squash any other new energy sources  than oil or coal (or any competitors, for that matter).

 

As predicted, Vance kept blaming "Harris' policies" - erm - she's the VP, who had virtually no power to implement any policies, just break ties in the Senate and/or Congress on bills. 

In fact, if you'll notice, Vance - much like Trump - likes to blame all of the world's ills on foreigners and Democrats.   

I really wish that someone would just say to JD Vance: "Listen, Jethro - Eastern Kentucky, where you came from - and whom you dissed in your book - has been exclusively Republican for the past 70 years. Not to mention, it's 96% white, Christian, natural-born citizens - but is just as drug-addled and violent as any inner city in America. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for white, Christian, Republican natural-born U.S. citizens, is it?"   😄

Otherwise, I gotta say, I was troubled by both of their economic plans costing us over $5 trillion dollars!

However, the same, tired "trickle-down" policies from Republicans about less taxes for rich people and corporations, don't work - and they have never worked - so we need to at least try something new!