Opinions

A big Internet plus is that you can look up almost anybody; especially 2020 presidential candidates. All, obviously, have websites. Google a name, and 100 sites or articles appear in a millisecond. It takes some sifting to learn more about any of the couple dozen Democrats running.

So, I wasn’t really kicked out; just told I would have to leave… and escorted to the door. No chance to talk to with Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock in Des Moines that day.
Oh, it wasn’t his fault. Perhaps I over-assumed. Following presidential candidates this summer for the Iowa Wildlife Federation and a couple other environmental organizations, I make some connections and I miss some. I am asking candidates if they will support the Endangered Species Act, if elected. Today’s “guests” are Governor Steve Bullock of Montana and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

A recent luncheon with some of my old school friends, several of whom I first met in kindergarten, brought to mind the toys and activities we enjoyed during the late 1930s and early ‘40s. Looking back, I suppose I had more toys than the average child from a family of comparable means, because of my dad’s belief a child’s business was playing, and the tools for that business were toys.

I’ve been feeling a little blue this week.
It all started when I came across a video posted on Facebook that really set me off. The clip was taken by an anonymous bystander in a store of what is presumably a mother and her 4-year-old. The preschooler is acting horribly, throwing a foul-mouthed tantrum because she wants something she can’t have. A store employee or manager steps in to intervenes and keeps the child from grabbing what it wants. The woman and child are black. A sloppily-dressed bystander is also black. The man intervening is white.

Mom and Dad recently celebrated their 71st anniversary without any fanfare. Actually, they were going to do nothing at all, but a late morning doctor appointment found them driving home, Mom sitting on her pillows so she could see over the steering wheel, past Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant on a Tuesday. They like the food, service and price at Pepe’s in general, and they specifically like Taco Tuesday, when they both can get a large lunch, chips and salsa included, for under $6 each.