Random ponderings on a Friday
I'm exhausted once again. Three straight days of teaching and working in the office has wrung me dry. During the final hour of the final class yesterday I was so out of gas I actually stopped teaching and just took a moment to collect myself. So today I thought I'd just pondering on random things I see online.
First off, I'm willing to contribute to a GoFundMe campaign to get psychiatric help for the Hispanic woman who is the Donald Trump superfan. Why people will support people who do not have their best interests in heart sometimes escapes me.
Continuing on the #DumpTrump train of thought, his comments on the Bowe Bergdahl case further demonstrate his utter ignorance of how the military works. They don't just take people out and shoot them for desertion without due process.
There's a story going around that the Kardashian family is willing to pay Scott Disick $20 million to promise not to reveal their family secrets. What the hell secrets are there that are worth that much money to those people? Must be something really bad.
Speaking of really bad, I could have lived my whole life without the mental image of Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner (prior to her transition) joining the "Mile-High" club.
North Charleston, NC will pay a settlement of $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott, who was shot in the back by a white police officer. That's fine, but until this jerk cop is convicted of murder, this is nowhere near over. However, the settlement is a good thing as it will provide for his family for the rest of their lives, without the trauma of a trial.
Damon Dash, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records failed to get a judge to allow him to visit his children without supervision. In a hearing where his ex claimed his pot smoking endangered their kids when they visited with him, citing an incident where they had eaten pot-laced sweets prepared for him; the judge denied unsupervised visits. That same judge also ordered Dash to not blaze up for 24 hours before visiting with his kids. Keeping the kids away from pot is one thing. Telling a person he has to avoid weed for 24 hours before seeing his kids seems like an overreach.
A 58 year old maid from India working in Saudi Arabia is being treated at a hospital after her female employer chopped one of her arms off. The attack was apparently in retaliation for the maid complaining to authorities. Kasthuri Munirathinam told police she was mistreated, not being paid and wasn't being given enough food to eat. Saudi authorities in India have not responded to requests for comment.
The average salary for a long-haul truck driver working for Walmart is $73,000 a year. Yet the shortage of drivers continues to grow. Mostly because as we work toward a balance between our jobs and our lives, we don't want to be away from home for days at a time, week-in and week-out. I couldn't be a truck driver. Too hard to drive and surf the web at the same time. A bit dangerous as well.
Over at UCLA, the boys from Sigma Phi Epsilon and the girls from Alpha Phi threw a party. The Kanye Western party, where some students wore blackface, attempted to dress like Kardashians, and some of the girls wore costumes to make their rear ends look larger. The activities of the fraternity and sorority involved have been suspended while officials investigate. Supposedly you have to be smart to get into UCLA. Doing something like this, particularly in the wake of similar activities at other Greek letter organizations on the campuses of other colleges and universities is a clear indicator of a lack of intelligence; and common sense.
A woman considered to be a major player in the ivory smuggling trade in Africa was arrested in Tanzania. 66 year old Yang Feng Glan, nicknamed the Queen of Ivory has allegedly smuggled over 700 elephant tusks, with a value in excess of $2 million, out of the African continent. China is traditionally the largest market for ivory on the planet. As the population of the elephant dwindles, the need to not kill them for their tusks grows. Long past time to stop this trade and I hope they give this woman a long prison sentence.
Daraprim is the name of that drug that caused a major controversy because the manufacturer, Turing Pharmaceuticals had raised the price from $13 per tablet to more than $750. The brouhaha seemed to go away when the company's new CEO, Martin Shkreli promised to lower the price. Weeks later, in pharmacies, the price is close to $900 per tablet. Shkreli refuses to comment. Legally, he has every right to do this. Perhaps Congress could find time between fundraising dinners and wasting tax dollars to look into this. After the push the debt ceiling problem a few months further down the road of course. Better still, maybe another major pharmaceutical company could start manufacturing its own brand of this drug, since the patent has expired.
First off, I'm willing to contribute to a GoFundMe campaign to get psychiatric help for the Hispanic woman who is the Donald Trump superfan. Why people will support people who do not have their best interests in heart sometimes escapes me.
Continuing on the #DumpTrump train of thought, his comments on the Bowe Bergdahl case further demonstrate his utter ignorance of how the military works. They don't just take people out and shoot them for desertion without due process.
There's a story going around that the Kardashian family is willing to pay Scott Disick $20 million to promise not to reveal their family secrets. What the hell secrets are there that are worth that much money to those people? Must be something really bad.
Speaking of really bad, I could have lived my whole life without the mental image of Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner (prior to her transition) joining the "Mile-High" club.
North Charleston, NC will pay a settlement of $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott, who was shot in the back by a white police officer. That's fine, but until this jerk cop is convicted of murder, this is nowhere near over. However, the settlement is a good thing as it will provide for his family for the rest of their lives, without the trauma of a trial.
Damon Dash, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records failed to get a judge to allow him to visit his children without supervision. In a hearing where his ex claimed his pot smoking endangered their kids when they visited with him, citing an incident where they had eaten pot-laced sweets prepared for him; the judge denied unsupervised visits. That same judge also ordered Dash to not blaze up for 24 hours before visiting with his kids. Keeping the kids away from pot is one thing. Telling a person he has to avoid weed for 24 hours before seeing his kids seems like an overreach.
A 58 year old maid from India working in Saudi Arabia is being treated at a hospital after her female employer chopped one of her arms off. The attack was apparently in retaliation for the maid complaining to authorities. Kasthuri Munirathinam told police she was mistreated, not being paid and wasn't being given enough food to eat. Saudi authorities in India have not responded to requests for comment.
The average salary for a long-haul truck driver working for Walmart is $73,000 a year. Yet the shortage of drivers continues to grow. Mostly because as we work toward a balance between our jobs and our lives, we don't want to be away from home for days at a time, week-in and week-out. I couldn't be a truck driver. Too hard to drive and surf the web at the same time. A bit dangerous as well.
Over at UCLA, the boys from Sigma Phi Epsilon and the girls from Alpha Phi threw a party. The Kanye Western party, where some students wore blackface, attempted to dress like Kardashians, and some of the girls wore costumes to make their rear ends look larger. The activities of the fraternity and sorority involved have been suspended while officials investigate. Supposedly you have to be smart to get into UCLA. Doing something like this, particularly in the wake of similar activities at other Greek letter organizations on the campuses of other colleges and universities is a clear indicator of a lack of intelligence; and common sense.
A woman considered to be a major player in the ivory smuggling trade in Africa was arrested in Tanzania. 66 year old Yang Feng Glan, nicknamed the Queen of Ivory has allegedly smuggled over 700 elephant tusks, with a value in excess of $2 million, out of the African continent. China is traditionally the largest market for ivory on the planet. As the population of the elephant dwindles, the need to not kill them for their tusks grows. Long past time to stop this trade and I hope they give this woman a long prison sentence.
Daraprim is the name of that drug that caused a major controversy because the manufacturer, Turing Pharmaceuticals had raised the price from $13 per tablet to more than $750. The brouhaha seemed to go away when the company's new CEO, Martin Shkreli promised to lower the price. Weeks later, in pharmacies, the price is close to $900 per tablet. Shkreli refuses to comment. Legally, he has every right to do this. Perhaps Congress could find time between fundraising dinners and wasting tax dollars to look into this. After the push the debt ceiling problem a few months further down the road of course. Better still, maybe another major pharmaceutical company could start manufacturing its own brand of this drug, since the patent has expired.
posted by me at 5:05 PM
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