politics

The Headline Read, “Whoopi Goldberg Cannot Afford To Leave “The View” – ‘Having a hard time like many Americans’”

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I always find news articles related to our so-called celebrities interesting. I saw the headline above on an article in News Break this morning. When reading the article, I found that the headline wasn’t completely accurate although it could be implied from what was quoted in a cited article (https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/whoopi-goldberg-admits-shed-leave-170857679.html ).

There, the A-List celebrity was quoted as saying. “If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, okay?” I decided to do a bit more research and found that, depending on the source you select, her net worth is somewhere between $20 million and $85 million. Her annual salary on “The View” is estimated to be around $10 million.

If even one of these estimates are correct, I find it hard to accept another statement attribute to Goldberg – “I appreciate that people are having a hard time, me, too — I work for a living!” she said. “If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, OK? So, I’m a working person, you know?” I am insulted by this statement. With Americans struggling to make ends meet, to afford a home, and to feed their families for a person with an annual income in the millions to say they are a working person is laughable. The vast majority of Americans are never going to come close to this level of net worth or annual salary. The mere thought of having ‘all the money in the world” is at best a fantasy.

 Another article suggested that the co-host said on Tuesday’s live show, November 12, 2024, that if she were the richest person alive, she wouldn’t show up to moderate the long-running ABC talk show anymore. Again, not a totally accurate quote, but one which shows the disconnect between Hollywood celebrities and the average American.

The same could be said of other celebrities like Dick Van Dyke and others who have openly criticized the American voter. They seem quite happy to take our money for providing some level of “entertainment” while at the same time saying they are superior to us. Meanwhile, the media seems to have fallen into line by publicizing and promoting these views again and again.

With many of these celebrities now criticizing voters still today and suggesting that they might move from our country my feelings are, “Goodbye, Good Riddance, and Don’t Come Back! You have made too much money from those voters who are too uninformed to make a choice without your help.”

“Adults,” Grow Up!

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As we grow older, we often forget the lessons we learned as children. Or, possibly, the things we learned as children have changed, either purposely or unintentionally.

As children, we played with others, either at school or in our neighborhood. Most of the time this play was peaceful even though we had disagreements. But sometimes, our disagreements turned into a crisis for us. The result was that they became shouting matches, sometimes minor fights, and we picked up our toys and went home. Once there, we told our parents, usually our mothers, that we “hated” the other person and never wanted to play with them again, or, in the worst case, never wanted to see them again. The response was often, “Go to your room and calm down. Grow up!”

Of course, the result of these life events was usually that we were playing with that same person the next day with neither of us remembering what cause the problem and having no concerns about it. So, we learned and, over time, we “grew up.” We really didn’t need our parents to get involved in most situations, only the most extreme.

Today, I look at the recent election and think that someone needs to say to many adults, grow up! It has been one week since the election. There are already fundraising efforts underway to demand recounts, there are claims of election fraud, and there is finger-pointing even within parties regarding who is to blame for losses and who should get credit for wins.  There are also predictions of gloom and doom, promises of retaliation or retribution, and even demands to change laws that have been in place throughout our history.

There are reports of celebrities claiming that they will leave the country because of the election results. Something I find highly unlikely given recent history and, if true, I believe we should wave to them as they go. Similarly, there is at least one state governor who has said that anything happening to his state will have to go through him. Perhaps he should look at the history of governors in his state who seem to follow their term in office with a term in Federal prison.

And, heaven forbid, the press seems to be unable to accept that the election is finished, and the American public has spoken. The press was simply out of touch during the entire election process. No matter how many pundits criticize the election results, or criticize voters, the results will not change. Perhaps there are more important things to focus on today and move forward. Stop talking about what you perceive as wrong and start looking at how we can make things better in the future (and respect the views of the average Joe, not the elite with whom you always agree).

Throughout our country’s history, we have had winners and losers in elections. Yet our country has survived. It will survive this time as well, no matter whether your side won or lost. Move forward, don’t dwell on the negative, and don’t hate those with whom you disagree. You are wasting your time and that of those around you. “Go to your room and GROW UP!”

The Fourth Estate

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It has now been two days since the 2024 election yet rather than accept the election results and moving forward, the mainstream press seems affixed on continually creating discord. They seem to continually publish or air statements regarding how things were unfair, biased, etc., and supporting many of those who were not elected by a majority of American voters.

According to Merriam-Webster’s web site, “The term fourth estate has been around for centuries. In Europe, going back to medieval times, the people who participated in the political life of a country were generally divided into three classes or estates. In England they were the three groups with representation in Parliament, namely, the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. Some other group, like the mob or the public press, that had an unofficial but often great influence on public affairs, was called the fourth estate. In the 19th century, fourth estate came to refer exclusively to the press, and now it’s applied to all branches of the news media.”

In other sources, there was also an emphasis that the press had a responsibility to do this in an unbiased manner, without interference by either the government or personal views. The term press has been popularly expanded to include other forms of the media, including social media. What I could not find anywhere was the inclusion of celebrities such as television and movie stars, professional athletes and coaches, or even former government officials, elected or appointed, were part of the fourth estate.

Unfortunately, when viewing the press (or media) today, it seems that these celebrities are represented as smarter or more qualified than the average American to make election decisions. This seems to be supported by the media when publishing headlines stressing the views of these celebrities. Is this actually a lack of bias?

I respect the decision of the press to provide an opportunity for opinions and editorials which offer opposing views. I do question whether any of these should be headlined by the press without being identified as opinions.

I believe the role of the press is to report the news for public consumption without telling the public how to think. I also believe that many people have come to distrust the mainline media. And, that as a result, people have put themselves in harm’s way because of this distrust. I’m not sure that we will ever return to the level of trust that existed in the era shortly after World War II where the news was reported, not interpreted.

Election Day 2024 – The Day After

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With the exception of cleaning up some leftovers, it appears that the 2024 election is now over. We, the American people, have taken the opportunity once again to make our voices heard. The results have been tallied and in the vast majority of cases, the results are in. Concessions have been made and victories celebrated. As in every election that I can remember, there were candidates who won and candidates who did not. And for each winner, there were supporters who were happy just as there were supporters who were sad because their candidate did not win. Similarly, in many locations, the voting process allowed people to express their opinion about issues other than the candidates themselves. There were winners and losers there as well. These things have happened throughout the history of our country.

One can only hope that the divisiveness and hatred that have invaded our country for the last ten years or so can now be put aside and we can move on to a more positive environment. One where we can simply agree to disagree, to put our differences aside in daily life, and to end the conflicts that have arisen between friends and family members. We can also hope for a return to the days when politically driven retribution is the exception rather than the rule. We have done this before and we can do it again.

Of course, the “celebrities” who seem to consider themselves more important than the rest of America are already lining up to create promote and encourage both antagonism and hatred among us simply to make a bigger name for themselves. I often wonder what have these “stars” in the media, acting, and sports done to qualify them to tell me how to vote or do anything outside of their field of expertise. But I suppose as long as today’s news media continues to promote them they will continue to think that the rest of the country know less than they do.

Instead of allowing ourselves to contribute to the antagonism, divisiveness, and hatred I encourage everyone to take a step back and try to calm down. If you didn’t like the election results, at whatever level, don’t worry. You will have another opportunity to share your views in a few months or years. Who know if you will then be a winner or a loser. But for now, maybe take a friend to lunch or have a drink with them at a bar and forget about any political differences you may have. Try to consider what is important for our children today – having them all agree with you or teaching them how to work through differences and move forward. And, sit down and ask yourself, “Is it better to live in a country where you are given the opportunity to express your views or would it be better to live under the thumb of a dictator who came into power through corruption, war, and military might?”

Election Day 2024

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Today is Election Day 2024. Today we have the opportunity to do something that only happens once every four years – cast our vote for President of the United States. This election has been described in many different ways by the media, the candidates, and others more than willing to share their “expertise”. Until the last few years, votes would be counted within a few days and then we would know the winners and the losers. Unfortunately, recent elections have shown this not to be the case.

In my memory, the desire to challenge election results first arose, at least on the national level, during the Gore campaign’s challenge to results based on “hanging chads” or possible errors due to the method used to record and count votes on computer cards. The next big challenge was during the last election where the Trump campaign challenged the validity of results based on how election officials counted votes and the procedures that were applied inconsistently or correctly.

Interestingly, in neither case were the challenges upheld but in one case the challenges were applauded while in the other state and local officials used the challenges as a reason to bring legal charges against the candidate. One can only hope that neither the challenges nor the court cases are needed this year.

It also seems that this year citizenship is no longer important in our elections. Instead, it seems that we have an effort to allow voting by anyone in the country – whether they are citizens or not, whether they have entered our country legally or not, whether they actually reside here or somewhere else.

Our country was founded on the right of citizens to elect our government officials. I’m not sure that is still the case. Instead, officials are selected by a few “select” individuals who are not bound to support the desires of the average citizen. This was made clear this year when one of the two presidential candidates did not face a single general election prior to be named as the party’s candidate by these “select” individuals.

All of this is only to say all citizens should get out and vote today. Vote not on what some celebrity or media expert has recommended but instead on their personal beliefs and knowledge consider important. And, hope that our country can move forward as it has since the first elections and provide our children a safe and happy place to live.