Six Days: Harris Walz

It's time to Break It Down!

 

Americans are immersed in one of our sacred rites of passage, the political quadrennial, familiarly known as the race for the presidency. By the time I post again, Americans in Washington DC, and all the states, except Hawaii, will have completed voting. Polls will have closed, election staffs in dozens of states will have begun counting ballots, and several states’ results will have been tallied and revealed. By the account of most polls and of the experts who interpret them, the race is currently considered too close to call. 

 

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times normally endorse a candidate for president. This year, interestingly, the two journalistic giants opted, within days of one another, not to make a presidential endorsement.

 

Jeff Bezos, WaPo owner, stated, of his rationale, that he pulled the editorial (which endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris) because newspaper endorsements do not influence the outcome of elections; they just create the appearance of putting one’s thumb on the scale. He concluded, it was the right thing to do. In fact, he said the paper would discontinue the practice, which it has carried out in every Presidential Election since 1976. Moreover, it should be noted, they even endorsed several candidates in the 2024 election cycle. And there’s more. Coincidentally…or not, on the same day, Bezos prevented his editorial board from publishing WaPo’s endorsement, executives from his aerospace company met with Donald Trump. Both Blue Origin, and Amazon, compete for federal contracts. It’s not inconceivable, there may have been, implied or explicit, some motivation or incentive to drop the endorsement…especially one that would not be for Mr. Trump. For whatever it’s worth, Bezos maintained there was no connection between the meeting, which he disavowed knowing about, and the endorsement cancellation.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, LAT owner, said his decision would be less divisive in a tumultuous election year. While his daughter asserted the Gaza War influenced the decision not to endorse (also Vice President Kamala Harris), Dr. Soon-Shiong said Gaza did not play a role, and added, his daughter has no role at the times, and she does not participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board. Coincidentally, Soon-Shiong, like Elon Musk, one of Trump’s biggest backers, is from South Africa. Perhaps, more importantly, he also has history with Trump. The two reportedly discussed the future of medicine after Trump’s 2016 win. None of that means there was anything nefarious about the nixing of the endorsement. But…

 

Several members of both papers’ editorial board resigned after the owners’ decision to quash the endorsement editorials. 

 

WaPo and LAT notwithstanding, there will probably never be a dearth of presidential endorsements. Over the past two months, I have been intentional in writing about something other than presidential politics. There are a host of reasons, but primarily, I zigged while there was a whole lot of zagging. During this time of year, the topic is almost inescapable. As a result, I could write about most anything, and no one would feel as though they were shortchanged, since the convo was pervasive.

 

America, it is said, is evenly divided between those who prefer Harris, those who prefer Trump, and those who prefer none of the above. And yes, Robert Kennedy, Jill Stein, and Cornel West are also running, but let’s face it, while one or all of them collectively, could play the role of spoiler, when the dust settles (which may take a while), either Harris or Trump will be the next Commander-in-Chief.

 

Donald Trump is a cult of personality; 1 of 1. He could say anything, or nothing (well, that last part is probably not possible for him), and he’d get 47% or more of the vote. He has engendered a loyal following. He once said he could shoot someone on 5^th Ave., and nor lose any votes. While that is a theory, yet to be tested, I say, let’s leave it there. Just understand, his former Vic President is unavailable, his longest serving Chief-of-Staff, absent, his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, otherwise engaged. NBC reached out to 44 people who served in Trump’s Cabinet. Only 4 said publicly, they would support his re-election bid. One said he met the definition of a Fascist.

 

Trump and his loyalists started early trying to define Vice President Harris, as soon as President Biden stepped aside and endorsed her. Among their favorites, based upon frequency of use were stupid, dumb, low IQ, mentally impaired, and DEI hire. All of that seems downright ludicrous, when viewed through the lens of her having destroyed him in their only debate. Add to that her list of elective offices, which include, San Francisco District Attorney, Attorney General of California, United States Senator, and Vice President of the United States, her qualifications compared to his, or anyone else’s are in a word, stellar. With that, I will just cut to the chase and announce that I am proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Office of President of the United States. “Six Days: Harris Walz!”

 

I’m done; holla back!

 

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

 

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

 

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the link below:

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Coast-to-Coast: Play Ball!

Break It Down!

 

A couple of weeks ago, I penned a post about Major League Baseball. If you told me at the time, that I’d do it again in two weeks, even though I’m not a better man, I would have wagered you on the subject. At the time, I hadn’t watched a baseball game since the 2020 World Series. By the way, that hasn’t changed. There is, however, a good chance that it will in the next few days.

 

The World Series begins Friday, featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers from the National League, and the New York Yankees from the American League. The Dodgers won that 2020 World Series; the last time I watched a game. As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I grew up rooting for the Dodgers. For the Lakers too, but that’s a story for another day. 

 

Despite failing to win a hundred games for the first time since 2018, the Dodgers had the best record in baseball this year. Full stop. Nevertheless, the bitter pseudo-historian in me laments the fact the erstwhile Bronx Bombers have owned my beloved Dodgers in the Series. The two squads have met 11 times, the most of any two teams in baseball. The scoreboard reads Yanks 8, Dodgers 3. That includes 6-1 while the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and 2-2 since they moved to the City of Angels. One of my few pleasant recollections is the last time they met, in strike-shortened 1981. LA prevailed, winning 4 straight, after dropping the first 2. I never recovered my passion for the game after that strike.

 

The Dodgers, without question, boast a star-studded case. None shine brighter than Shohei Ohtani. In the off-season, the Blue signed the two-way superstar to a 10-year, $700 million contract. Ohtani played his way to fame as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, with whom he excelled as both a pitcher, and a slugger. He spent this year, his first with the Dodgers, as a designated hitter, and skipped pitching altogether, as he recovered from surgery. To make it interesting, he became the first MLB player to amass 50 homeruns, and 50 stolen bases.

 

Let’s be clear though, the Yankees will by no means be an undercard. They have mega-talent, in their own right. While it will be Ohtani’s first World Series, it will also be the debut of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gleyber Torres.

 

The Yankees won the National League East and were the American League’s first seed. The best of the East meets the best of the West, fitting, indeed. By clinching a berth in the World Series, the Yankees will be returning to the World Series for the first time since 2009; a 15-year absence. This will be the 120^th World Series. The Yankees have made 41 appearances, winning 27, and the Dodgers have made 21 appearances, winning 7. According to the oddsmakers, the Dodgers are slight favorites. No active MLB players were alive the last time Yankees-Dodgers was a thing. “Coast-to-Coast: Play Ball!”

 

I’m done; holla back!

 

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

 

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

 

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Indigenous Peoples' Day: Why?

It's time to Break It Down!

 

Monday was Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Still called Columbus Day in most of the United States, it is a day celebrated on the second Monday of October, October 14 this year, to honor the cultures and histories of the Native American people. The day is centered around reflecting on their tribal roots and the tragic stories that hurt but strengthened their communities.

 

Indigenous Peoples’ Day got its start at a U.N. international conference on discrimination in 1977. South Dakota, in 1989, was the first state to recognize the day. Two California cities, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz followed suit. Although the day is still considered Columbus Day in most places, many people have begun calling it Indigenous Peoples’ Day to celebrate the rich culture and the lives of the Native American people.

 

For Native Americans, Columbus Day was an often-painful reminder of a violent past, constituting 500 years of colonial torture and oppression by European explorers like Columbus and those who settled in America. Indigenous Peoples’ Day draws attention to the agony, trauma, and broken promises that were erased by the celebration of Columbus Day. Before his arrival, the indigenous folk were successful self-sufficient communities that sustained life for millennia.

 

Year after year, the movement to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day is spreading to more and more states, towns, and cities across the United States. Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrates, recognizes, and honors the beautiful traditions and cultures of the Indigenous People, not just in America, but globally. Their way of life and culture carries wisdom and valuable insights into how we can live life more sustainably.

 

Today, 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and not Columbus Day. Over 130 cities including Arlington, Amherst, Cambridge, Brookline, Marblehead, Great Barrington, Northampton, Provincetown, Somerville, and Salem also celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Numerous organizations are seeking to address the lack of access indigenous people have to higher education. They have also created scholarships to help address this challenge.

 

HOW TO CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

 

1. Read indigenous literature

Some must-read books include “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” by Bartolomé de las Casas, “1491: New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus” by Charles C. Mann, “An Indigenous People's History Of The United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, and “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown.

2. Attend an event

Attend an event hosted by a group of Native Americans or a Native American organization. Learn more about how you can be of assistance with any issues that the group is facing.

 

3. Host a movie screening

Watch a movie with your friends and have a discussion afterward. There are a plethora of films to choose from like “Dances with Wolves” (1990), “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” (2015), “Gather” (2020), and “Indian Horse” (2017).

 

5 FACTS ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

 

1. Female warriors 

Native American women fought alongside men in battles, the most popular among them being the Buffalo Calf Road Woman of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.

2. Popcorn 

The Indigenous Americans were the first to domesticate the strains of maize that produced popcorn thousands of years ago.

3. Maria Tallchief 

The first Native American (and American) to dance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and with the Paris Opera Ballet was Maria Tallchief. Hockey

4.    Hockey 

The Native American tribes of Foxes, Saux, and Assiniboine played a game called shinny, which is where hockey came from.

5.  The sequoia tree

The sequoia tree is named after the revered Cherokee leader Sequoyah, who created an alphabet for his people.

 

WHY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY IS IMPORTANT

 

1. It celebrates the original inhabitants

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday that celebrates the Native Americans, the original inhabitants of North America.

2. It recognizes the indigenous cultures

Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the beautiful indigenous traditions, cultures, and lives all around the world.

3. It stands in solidarity with the indigenous people

We take a stand for and support the indigenous people on this day. We should also offer our support to those who invest and uplift the indigenous communities.

 

I have observed there are folks who go out of their way to say Columbus Day, rather than Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Undoubtedly, they consider themselves making a point. In this hyper-partisan era, any concession to individuals of non-European heritage rubs some folks the wrong way. In that light, it’s important to remember that what Columbus really discovered when he arrived in the Americas was that…he was lost. Indigenous Peoples’ Day:  Why?

 

I’m done; holla back!

 

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

 

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

 

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the link below:

 

https://nationaltoday.com/indigenous-peoples-day/

http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2024/10/indigenous-peoples-day-why.html

The Fall Classic: It's About That Time

It's time to Break It Down!

 

It is often said time flies. It doesn’t. At least not in the literal sense. 24/7/365 has been a standard for quite some time, even though this year has 366 days. But the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year, years in a decade, decades in a century, and centuries in a millennium have been set for some time now. And they all proceed according to long observed, and widely accepted terms. They are as predictable as the atomic clock is reliable.

 

But over time, customs do change. Sometimes, it can seem like only yesterday, when in reality, it was eons ago. When I was growing up, baseball was America’s game. It was the first game I was exposed to; introduced by my father who was a most ardent fan of the game. He even played a little semi-pro ball, at least that what I’ve been told by relatives who knew him in his salad days. 

 

My father was not just a baseball fan, like many Black men in his era who followed the sport, he was a Dodgers fan. At an early age, I inherited my love of the game from him, and also my Dodger fandom. Watching the Saturday afternoon game of the week together was our thing. 

 

As the arc of life would have it, I spent a couple of summers in New York, after third and fourth grades. Although that was way before Cable TV, in New York, the home of the Yankees and the recently formed Mets, there was a game on most evenings during the summer. I don’t remember all the players, but Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, pitchers for the Dodgers were two of my early personal faves. Bob Gibson, and Juan Marichal were also standouts. Yes, I had an affinity for the guys who had the ball in their hands, and who on good days, baffled hitters, and occasionally threw no-hitters, and on the rarest of occasions, a perfect game.

 

Baseball’s playoffs began over the weekend. Entering Tuesday, all four series were tied 1-1, for the first time in history. This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees clinched the best records during the regular season in the National and American Leagues, respectively. The Dodgers, with 98 wins, had the most wins in all of baseball, this year. Yankees and Dodgers are the quintessential names in baseball, somewhat akin to the Lakers and Celtics in basketball. The two teams have met 11 times in the World Series, with the Yankees prevailing 8 times. The thing that helped make Yankees-Dodgers compelling baseball was, before the Dodgers moved to Los Angels, they played in Brooklyn. Not only that, but before moving to San Francisco, the Giants played in the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. You can almost imagine the electricity of having three Major League Baseball teams in one city. While the Dodgers and Giants pursued westward expansion, they both landed in the same state, so their rivalry continued. Meanwhile, back in New York, the Mets entered the cityscape in 1962, and in 1969, the Miracle Mets won the World Series. That’s a story for another day. 

 

Today, of course football is far and away America’s Game. It unlikely that unless one is an adult male of a certain age, one would even recognize what Fall Classic pertains to. And while anyone who knows me could tell you, I’m no football fan, I also can no longer lay claim to the title baseball fan. I do still pull for the Dodgers, but I haven’t watched them play a non-World Series game in decades. So yeah, that means I haven’t watched a Dodger’s game since the 2020 World Series (in which they defeated the Tampa Devil Rays). But who knows? The World Series is set to begin October 25^th. The Dodgers have been beastly during the regular season, and ghastly during the playoffs in recent years. The San Diego Padres, another Cali foe seems to have their number. The beat the Dodgers last night to take a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 Series. It would be a shame to waste the best record in baseball; GO DODGERS! “The Fall Classic: It’s About That Time!”

 

I’m done; holla back!

 

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

 

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

 

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the link below:

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James Earl Carter, Jr.: Centenarian

It's time to Break It Down!

Jimmy Carter, the 39^th president of the United States, set a record yesterday, October 1, when he observed his birthday, and became the first American president to reach triple digits.

 

It’s a milestone more and more Americans will reach in the years to come – and frankly, it’s something for which our national social safety net is unprepared.

 

Carter left office in 1981 after Ronald Reagan defeated him in his reelection bid. He was 56, at the time, too young for Social Security and Medicare.

 

A very long, incredible retirement

 

Carter opted not to follow the traditional post presidential path of dedicating himself to sitting on corporate boards and raking in speaking fees.

 

Instead, Carter got his hands dirty building houses, took on peace missions to Cuba and the Middle East, negotiated the release of hostages, lived in his hometown, taught Sunday school and college classes, wrote books, and won Grammys.

 

His has been, indisputably, the longest, most righteous and most productive post-presidency in history, although John Quincy Adams’ post-presidential, anti-slavery efforts in Congress get honorable mention.

 

In the nearly 44 years since leaving office, Carter helped essentially eradicate Guinea worm, a parasite that infected around 3.5 million people in the mid-’80s and just 14 in 2023, according to The Carter Center.

 

It’s been 22 years since he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, just as the US was preparing for war in Iraq. Carter also paid a landmark visit to Cuba that year.

 

It’s been nine years since Carter announced at a news conference that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and might not have long to live.

 

CNN’s Stephen Collinson wrote at the time:

 

“I have had a wonderful life,” Carter said with the same unsparing honesty and meticulous detail that marked his presidency. “I’m ready for anything and I’m looking forward to new adventure,” Carter said, in the 40-minute appearance before the cameras, in which he frequently beamed his huge smile and never fell prey to emotion. “It is in the hands of God, whom I worship.”

 

Carter had more to do

 

By December 2015, Carter announced that after treatment, the cancer was gone. A timeline of his life maintained by CNN’s research library has many more notable entries.

 

It’s been nine years since Carter published an autobiography, “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety.” He won a Grammy Award – his second – for the audiobook. He would win a third a few years later.

 

It’s been seven years since he was hospitalized for dehydration in Winnipeg, Canada, where he was outdoors – still working! – for Habitat for Humanity, the organization with which he had a long association.

 

It’s been five years since he won that third Grammy in 2019, broke his hip and joked that there should be an age limit on the presidency since he couldn’t have done the job at 80. He also turned 95 that year, and became the longest-living American president, surpassing George H.W. Bush.

 

It’s been nearly two years since Carter entered hospice care and almost a year since his wife, Rosalynn, died. They were married in 1946.

 

More people will turn 100

 

As remarkable as Carter made his years since American voters retired him from the White House, there’s also something increasingly normal about people living to 100.

 

Former presidents, all well-to-do and protected by a generous pension, aren’t a representative sample of society, but it’s notable that the four oldest former presidents – Carter, Bush, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan – all lived in the 21st century.

 

Overall, US life expectancy dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it lags behind other developed countries, according to an analysis by KFF. As of 2022, the life expectancy for US males was 74.8 and for US females was 80.2.

 

But the population of 100-year-olds is expected to quadruple in the coming decades, according to Pew Research Center. It estimated in January that the current number of centenarians was around 101,000 and that the figure would increase to about 422,000 within 30 years, a small but growing portion of the US population as the average age increases and the birth rate declines. Today, celebrate “James Earl Carter, Jr.: Centenarian!”

 

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/politics/jimmy-carter-presidents-what-matters/index.html

 

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/01/jimmy-carter-100-birthday-president-record

http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2024/10/james-earl-carter-jr-centenarian.html