Okay, it’s time to forget about the Russia versus Ukraine war, the Israel versus Hamas war, the southern border, a senile President, our tanking economy, the upcoming Presidential elections and deciding what gender you are today. All that and more should be thrown to the side and instead, let’s rename 80 something plus plus names of birds because why you might ask? Because John James Audubon, for whom the Audubon society is named after, owned slaves. Yup. J.J. Audubon owned slaves so every bird that he named or carries his name or other slave owner’s names is going be changed to something less uh…racist I guess. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/d...rs-and-racists-will-get-new-names/ar-AA1jd44g Also in the news, along with being the southern border czar and the EV czar and a couple of other czar type jobs she’s been given and failed at, Kamala Harris is now the head of a new project to stop Islamaphobia. So, we have Christianity being persecuted, Jews are being attacked in the U.S. because of the war in the Middle East but Kamala has formed a “comprehensive and detailed” formula for fighting Islamophobia. It’s weird but I haven’t heard of any Jewish underground terrorists blowing themselves up in the middle of a crowd of innocents and not since the supposed Christian guy who blew up an abortion clinic have I heard of subversive Christians deliberately blowing stuff up. Yet, the White House has deemed that it’s the Muslims who are risking their very lives walking around in daylight who are the victims here. Dunno but the main worry I have about it might be because like everything else Kamala has been assigned to do, it’ll probably backfire making things worse than they are. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opin...arris-tackles-made-up-islamphobia/ar-AA1jixF0 Note: Yeah, the links I provided are indeed MSN links but this time it looks like they’re pretty much accurate.
I read the article (online) about changing the names of certain birds due to racist names.............and, I couldn't believe it! What the heck is America coming to??
Notice the Audubon Society is changing bird names, but as far as I know, they are NOT changing the name of the society naming those birds. Worrying about "Islamophobia" is quite interesting, as it seems to the the Jews in this country who are suffering being threatened and harassed, not the Muslims. Just as with all prejudice, it is often the ignorance that breeds the prejudice. I have an acquaintance who is Sikh who was called all sorts of names after 9-11, as people though he was Muslim since he wore a turban and had a beard. He ended up having to shave his beard, cut his hair, and stop wearing his turban to get the harassment to stop. The ignorant people attacking him didn't realize that there is no love lost between the Sikhs and the Muslims. They are also fierce fighters (reportedly) and that is why the Hindus positioned the Sikhs between themselves and the Muslims in Pakistan (reportedly).
Changing bird names should be easy. Just use the scientific name. A robin would be Turdus migratorius for instance. Oh look, there's a Turdus migratorius. We look forward to their arrival every spring. Maybe Turdus explains the mess they make on my mailbox.
The problem is that the binomials are often based upon the person's name. For example, Benjamin Franklin named the weeping fig tree. It's binomial is Ficus Benjamina. Regarding being turd factories, I cannot think of a bird whose binomial could not be crapus maximus. Or maybe shitz-A-where.
Who appointed these people to make these decisions for the world. No! My National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America will not change for me pertaining to the original name of the bird. Birds names have history and meaning. I find this overkill of racism many times counters our freedom and tradition to call something what it has been called for hundreds of years, like Christmas. Remember that one a few years back? Recently I read Native Americans are not happy they changed the name of the Washington Red Skins to the Washington Commanders. Our Native fellow citizens love and are proud of their identity. Their folklore is filled with descriptive names for almost everything, especially birds. That is their culture and they are honored to be called Red Skin. I hope we stop this insanity and learn to accept the historical and traditional meaning of who we are and show some respect for the past.
Okay, we have more stupid stuff in the news that might make ya scratch yer head a bit. Directly after a 13 year old armed car-jacking kid was shot and killed, the Mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, has decided to hand out free Apple Air Tags for free. Note: The free air tags are a new wave version of the old Low Jack which permits law enforcement to track stolen vehicles. Yes, its granted that car jackings in D.C. are up some 39% but the overwhelming number of those violent thefts are being done by under aged kids who shouldn’t even have been out after 9 or 10 o’clock at night. As it was for the aforementioned 13 year old who was killed, many of these kids are repeat offenders who are merely sent home after they get caught. Most certainly, if Vernard Toney Jr. had been sent to juvie after his 1st or even his 2nd of the 9 times he had been arrested for Armed car-jacking, he might be alive today. Now first, are the D.C.authorities looking to find out where the young teens are getting the guns? Nothing was said about it in the news. Did the powers that be consider enforcing a curfew for say, 16 and younger kids? Not a word. The bottom line here is that the Air Tags might help find a stolen vehicle but probably won’t help find the perpetrators of a violent crime and if the young joy riders are found, Grand Theft auto apparently doesn’t apply to them anyway and they will get sent home just to do it again, and again until they get killed like young V. Toney Jr. ………………………. A second piece of stupid news is again, about Kamala Harris and her new, new position. Yeah, I know that her position as a Islamophobia awareness ambassador is only about 2 days old but surprisingly, her new position has something to do with AI. (Artificial Intelligence). It’s a given that maybe this new position might be a good fit because it would seem that Kamala’s intelligence level is pretty much artificial but after Joe Biden watched a Mission Impossible movie and saw how AI can be used subversively, he just had to appoint his second in command to investigate the problem. On second thought, maybe having artificial intelligence makes her more suited for overseeing artificial intelligence. Funny thing but I was thinking that if Kamala is assigned just a few more positions, she’ll almost have more positions than the Kama Sutra.
When Midnight Basketball doesn't work, you gotta go higher tech. Not only don't those kids have a responsible adult in their lives, for the most part they are being used by everyone around them.
BBBBut, sometime back when an edict came out that made parents responsible for their kid’s actions, there was public outrage. “Waddaya mean that I have ta go to jail for not managing my kid’s behavior and holding him accountable for his actions”?
I have issues with a government that funds unaccountable behaviour then holds those very same people "accountable." I understand the sentiment, but once precedence is set that Person A can be prosecuted for the behaviour of Person B, we've further weaponized government in ways only they can imagine.
True but whilst states like California are not holding parents accountable for the actions of their kids, they are throwing parents in jail for not “affirming” their kid’s gender. More stupid stuff.
O gotta admit, it would have been difficult to control me at 16. My mother was a widow when I was 7 and we moved to a new location. I was pretty much on the prowl every night. When she died 7 years later when I was 16, My aunt and uncle became my guardians. Having a male presence in the house changed everything. I no longer spent time hanging out on street corners with hoods. I am a firm believer, based on personal experience, that a concerned male presence in a kid's life makes all the difference. I would bet most if not all of these kids getting into trouble are from "single-parent homes". Regardless what is said by the government on TV, everyone cannot be a perfect parent, and not every male can be a "dad", although most can beget children.
To add to that...I worked with that non-profit doing home repairs for folks. I did work in over 40 homes. I recall several where both parents were in the household (they were elderly by this point in time) and much of the damage we were repairing had been done by their adult children stealing money, meds and stuff to sell. The parents were good people who cared about living responsible lives. One I recall in particular was a married man in his early 80s who would not just sit there and watch us work..he was on the ladder next to us replacing gutters. We put down new flooring, and when we showed up to work the next day, he had already cut and installed the trim molding (to perfection.) Yet their children were living the thug life and stealing from their elderly parents...not in the inner city but out here in the rural counties. I encountered this scenario more than once. There are so many external pressures these days (I include the school systems), I wonder exactly how much control any parents have. I can envision children who have been so perverted by the world that they would do bad things merely to put their own parents in a legal bind, if they had a way to do so. ps: I cannot think of a segue to get us back on topic. Any help is appreciated.