Month: February 2024

Food For Thought-The Valentine’s Edition

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Food for Thought – the Valentine’s Edition

 

Food for Thought-the Valentine’s Edition

 

By Cate Rees-Hessel

 

I (Heart) Ketchup

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Most of us are seeing all things red and, of course, pink. All this thought of red makes me think about my favorite condiment: ketchup (NOT catsup). My other half was quite upset when I put ketchup on his white truffle fries. Since I originally hail from the Steel City, the home of Heinz, I put ketchup on just about everything. You can take the girl out of Pittsburgh, but you can’t take the Pittsburgh out of the girl. I love many brands but good ol’ Heinz is my favorite.

Seeing Red

My spouse is from the Chicago suburbs, and didn’t understand ketchup on eggs, steak, potatoes, beef, pork, etc. – things we don’t eat much of but when we do, requires the red stuff. In the nearly three decades I’ve lived in Chicagoland, I have yet to understand Chicago hot dogs: bright green relish and, gasp, no ketchup. I’ve been known to sneak a few contraband packets into Gene and Jude’s. I recall a barbeque at the home of my husband’s relatives. I searched for my favorite elixir and then I saw it, nestled amongst the questionable condiments, turned a paltry brown with age. I was forced to use barbeque sauce on my burger; now, I’m not bashing BBQ sauce – it’s great on chicken and ribs – but for a burger or a hot dog, I love me some Heinz.

And Again…

Another cookout some months later at the same household brought forth the same ancient bottle of antiquated ketchup. As I reached for the steak sauce, I made a mental note to decline further invitations to dine at the house of these folks. Perhaps a nice Heinz gift basket with a double-volume set on entertaining etiquette and food safety would make a lovely Christmas gift for the residents of that domicile. At least there was nothing pumpkin spice served, but how I longed for ketchup, vibrant red, sweet and spicy like me.

It’s No Truffle, Really

In my opinion, truffles should be chocolate, but for V-Day, must we “trufflize”?  Nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen while researching to write this: salted caramel truffles, dark chocolate ganache truffles, lavender chocolate truffles, fudgy brownie truffles, applesauce truffles, cookie dough truffles, strawberry shortcake truffles, cake batter truffles, S’mores truffles, pink champagne truffles (I’ll take one of those), huckleberry jelly truffles, buttercream frosting truffles, French vanilla bean truffles, green gumdrop truffles, salted mango truffles, lemon/lime truffles, Tamarind truffles, rum raisin truffles, hollandaise truffles, cherry cola truffles, banana split truffles, blueberry cheesecake truffles, pecan pie truffles, chocolate milkshake truffles, tangerine truffles, green tea truffles, passionfruit truffles, orange Jello truffles, peanut butter and jelly truffles, rhubarb truffles, jelly bean truffles, mocha latte truffles (I’ll have two of those), the dreaded pumpkin spice truffles, and just in time for your Valentine, Love Bug truffles.  I ask you, what happened to Whitman’s Sampler, or the Hershey’s Pot of Gold?

All That Glitters

As long as my chocolate confections come with a little something sparkly, I’m happy.  My husband is big on placing jewelry in food. – nothing says romance like a cracked molar and expensive dental work.  I am a simple kind of girl – give me some plain ol’ chocolates in a velvet heart-shaped box with a big ribbon and an even bigger diamond, then I am content.  This year, however, we are dressing up and going to a fancy restaurant for truffle oil pasta and mushrooms, poached salmon with white truffles, and black truffle risotto, because we got style…

Sojourner Truth Quote

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Sojourner Truth Quote

Sojourner Truth

“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness that surrounds me.”

Editor: Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women’s rights, and alcohol temperance. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, in 1797, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.

 

 

Grandma, Unhoused in America

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Grandma, Unhoused in America

Grandma, Unhoused in America

By D.S. Mitchell

Face of the New Homeless

The lack of housing for low-income people or those on fixed incomes is a big problem and experts are working on it but there is no one size fits all solution to alleviating homelessness; certainly, more affordable housing units and additional housing vouchers are needed, but many of the homeless need specialized housing. Housing that offers wheelchair ramps, roll in showers, grab bars, single level units and other accommodating features to assist the many older and disabled individuals now facing homelessness.

55 and Over

As baby boomers age into senior citizens, a series of recessions and the lack of a strong social safety net have pushed more and more elderly people into homelessness — a number that’s only expected to rise. Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council of Homelessness tells us that “Seniors over the age of 55 are the fastest growing group of people experiencing homelessness and for many of them, it is first-time homelessness.”

Why is this Happening?

Like with most things there is no simple explanation; the reasons are complex. Most obviously, the U.S. has an aging population. With aging, people are more at risk of poverty, more subject to traumatic events, such as the death of a parent or a spouse, and more likely to suffer with chronic illness, such as diabetes and heart disease,  and at increased risk for falls and other physical injury.

Stagnant Income

While their income is limited, rent costs have skyrocketed across the country. Housing protection and assistance available during the COVID-19 pandemic have expired, leaving many people on the street. In addition, many of these folks with stagnant incomes are of retirement age, but are still working part-time, at low pay hourly jobs with no chance of a raise, just to supplement their Social Security check.

​Federal Action

On December 19, 2023, President Biden, alarmed at the unprecedented number of people with no place to live, across all age groups, released an ambitious federal plan to strategically reduce homelessness by 25% by 2025. The plan will address the lack of affordable housing, aid people in crisis, and prevent people from losing their homes to foreclosure in the first place. Focus of the action are those most seriously effected: people of color, veterans, the disabled, and the elderly.

Statistics On the Growing Problem

From 2009 to 2017, HUD statistics indicate the number of unhoused individuals aged 51-61 grew from 14% of the total homeless population nationally to nearly 18%. The percentage of people 62 years or older living on the street has nearly doubled. Predictions indicate that by 2030 the number of unhoused individuals over the age of 65 will triple compared with 2017.

From the 1990s                                                

The younger half of the boomer generation have long been the dominant group among unhoused adults. In 1990, on average those folks were 30 years old; today their average age is 62. But it isn’t just the long time homeless, many are newly unhoused; people tossed out of houses and apartments for the first time. These people often experiencing a total shattering of their lives.

Nothing New

The shortage of affordable housing in the United States goes back at least 40 years; Ronald Reagan’s war on “welfare queens” did incredible damage to the social safety net and it has never been repaired. This long-time problem has been exacerbated by a number of factors. Large corporations are buying up apartments and single-family homes and charging whatever the market will bear. In fact, rent and home prices have skyrocketed, while the country has recently experienced exceptionally high inflation on basics like food and gasoline. However, economics are only part of the explanation for the dire straits many elders find themselves in.

Growing Numbers

In 2023, homelessness shot up by more than 12%, with an estimated 653,104 unhoused individuals living on American streets and in her parks. I personally have a hard time accepting these numbers, because of the large number of displaced persons I see everywhere in my small southern Oregon town. All that aside, these numbers represent the sharpest increase ever in homelessness, leading to the largest unhoused population ever recorded in the United States.

Graying of the Unhoused

Recent HUD data shows that nearly 1 in 5 people in the United States (that’s ‘effin 20% of the population) have no permanent place to live and a good share of those people are 55 years or older. Some are calling the spike in unhoused older citizens the “graying of America’s homeless.”

 Intervention and Prevention

Advocates for the homeless preach intervention and prevention. For example, it might be better to pay for a seniors medication or arrange for meals than allow them to become homeless because they have had to choose between the landlord and the pharmacy.

Bigger Than the Finances

As already suggested, the issues are often more than just financial. Recent studies indicate that older unhoused people have problems performing daily activities and have greater difficulty with walking, seeing, and hearing. Furthermore, they are subject to falling, and their overall health is significantly worse than those of the same age in the general population. Importantly many of the identified individuals also have significant cognitive impairment.

In San Francisco

The problem is so significant that in San Francisco they are planning for at least one shelter set up specifically for older adults and those with disabilities. Similar shelters are being planned for New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Boston.

Self-Medicating                                           

Exposure to the elements, poor diet, lack of sleep or fitful sleep, failure to take prescribed medication, shunning of professional services with doctors or dentists are commonplace among the homeless. Their physical circumstances trigger anxiety and depression, leading some to self-medicate with drugs and or alcohol. Such problems create a need for low barrier shelters, and housing, which are few and far between.

New Approach                                                  

Many experts are suggesting several types of shared housing situations that might be good solutions for the graying homeless population.  A homeowner takes in a tenant, cohousing (where there is a cluster of private mini homes with communal spaces or a large central building with separate bedrooms and shared kitchen and living room) or the immensely popular backyard Accessory Dwelling Units. ADU’s are springing up in neighborhoods across the country where zoning laws allow them. ADU’s are usually built on the lot of a single-family residence.

Conclusion

I wish I could conclude with a happy ending, but I see no happy ending here. As baby boomers age into senior citizens, a series of recessions and the lack of a strong social safety net have pushed more and more elderly people into homelessness — a number that’s only expected to rise over the next few years before common sense tells us it will drop off, probably after 2030, as the boomers die.

Reasons Republicans Keep Voting For Trump

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41 Reasons Republicans Vote For Trump

 

Trump followers recognize Donald's special talents

41 Reasons Republicans Vote For Trump

It’s Because He’s Exceptional, Of Course. He Just Keeps Amazing America and the World. Just Check Out These 40 Memorable Trump Moments and Then You Might Understand The Devotion of His Followers.

 

By David Shadrick

Over the last weekend, I spent some time thinking about the many reasons why Republicans keep voting for Donald Trump. I realized that many liberals may not understand the phenomenon; so I thought it might be a good time to highlight some of Trump’s special moments. Each MAGA follower has a different reason for their allegiance; below is a list of just a few reasons that will cause Republicans, to once again vote for their favorite Mango Mussolini:

  1. Missile defense systems go ding, ding, ding,  woosh-boom
  2. Trump being able to pinpoint the importance of the Revolutionary War patriots capturing the airports from the redcoats when the rest of the world missed it.
  3. His soaring confidence on daily display. Today, Trump said he was sure to beat Barack Obama this time. Full faith assault from the Trumpster.
  4. Public faith in Trump’s promise that he is the only one that can prevent World War 2.
  5. His fevered commitment to re-institute the search for Hillary’s missing server.
  6. His undisputed Poster Boy status for the white Christian supremacist movement. He ascended to that position after claiming white supremacists were very fine people at a rally where a young woman was  killed by a white supremacist. The level of disgust is immeasurable; I guess that’s why his faithful love it.
  7. Donald’s phenomenal ability to conceal the purpose of his strange island escapes with kinky Jeffrey Epstein.
  8. His standout performance in managing to bankrupt his Atlantic City casino. I have to admit this one took real talent and perseverance and I might add a lot of criminal activity. Go Donald.
  9. The little known fact is that if Trump had invested the $480 million he got from daddy back in the 80’s instead of ripping off average folks with fraudulent schemes, he would actually be as wealthy as he now falsely claims he is. So I assume the voting factor here is that he has an amazing talent for spending other people’s money.
  10. Trump must be a great business man and negotiator, his followers argue, wasn’t he sharp enough to convince a judge that he should only have to pay $25 million to settle the Trump University students claims of fraud? Is that what it means to be a “stable genius?”
  11. Watching the amazing feat of converting his original White House staff and cabinet members (all Republicans) into whistleblowers and book authors. Our heads are still spinning over that incredible result; one best seller after another, a feat to remain unduplicated in our life times.
  12. Republicans apparently delight in Trump’s cheap shots and insulting nicknames tossed at those who oppose him or just a powerless person like Ruby Freeman. Laughing at other people is MAGA escapism.
  13. His decision to fire Alexander Vindman’s twin brother Yevgeny from the administration, because he looked like his whistleblowing brother. More praise for the king-god being able to get a two-for-one termination.
  14. Having the guts to appear everyday, out walking around in public, in stage makeup.
  15. Again, brave enough to face the cameras with open suit jacket unable to conceal his plate of pancakes six pack.
  16. His near limitless ability to self promote; creating a notorious braggart of immeasurable proportions. Size matters, at least in some things.
  17. Man, woman, TV, refrigerator, elephant.
  18. His habit of talking when the helicopter blades are turning.
  19. Recognizes friendly admirers in a crowd and has an elevated ability to seek out softball questions.
  20. Famous for his golden toilets. I’ve wondered if this isn’t some form of compensation? Maybe we should ask a Republican what it is about gold toilets that make people think Donald is cool, rather than weird.
  21. Staying in the golden touch department. Trump has elevated McDonald’s to White House cuisine.
  22. Trump is such a Diet Coke fan that he had a button installed on his White House desk to order them express. Now, that is ingenious. Maybe I am not showing enough respect for his inventive spirit.
  23. Trump’s revered place in the WWE pro wrestling Hall of Fame. Certainly a first for an American president. Another first place. They just keep adding up, I have to admit it.
  24. Back to compensation, according to stormy Daniels Trump has an exceedingly small penis with a peculiar mushroom top. I’m not sure why that would encourage the vote, but in some depths of the Republican Party there is; I’m sure, empathy for the poor man.
  25. Managing the news so adroitly that his former “attorney/fixer”, Michael Cohen, was sent to prison for three years for election fraud done for Donald Trump’s benefit.
  26. Totally destroying Rudy Giuliani, “America’s Mayor’s” reputation in record setting time. One record setting event, after another. Amazing. Go Donald.
  27. His immense capacity to hate; the depth and breadth of it is unsurpassed in modern politics.
  28. Trump’s  ability to call our dead soldiers “suckers” and the military “a failure of liberal woke-ness” and still get most of the military votes. Astounding, you got this one, Donald.
  29. There’s been a lot of discussion of a recent diagnosis of Cranial Rectal Inversion Syndrome, that  may possibly bring out the sympathy vote. We’ll have to wait on this one, unprecedented, I must say.
  30. Trump and MAGA have taken over the American flag as its political symbol, as if liberals were not patriotic; and boy, oh boy, are the Republicans giddy over that accomplishment.
  31. Then there’s Trump’s unrestrained enthusiasm at the possibility of shooting migrants as they attempt to cross our southern border.
  32. His ability to demand that we “build a wall” in every recorded speech, without missing once, for nearly a decade. How does he do it?
  33. Pride in Trump’s ability to uncover treatments for COVID; such as exposing the inside of the body to light, or that unimaginable idea (prior to Donald, that is) of injecting bleach directly into the blood stream. An amazing research scientist, so ahead of his time, all without education. His natural powers of deduction far surpassing the Fauci crowd.
  34. Without any meteorological training Trump attempted to predict the path of Hurricane Dorian. No other president has drawn with a black sharpie like their Donald, sadly he was about 1200 miles off on his landfall prediction, but again he was the first president to ever attempt such a prediction. Get the man another sharpie!
  35. Due to his habit of inflating real estate prices he has topped the list of fraudsters in New York. How does he continue to exceed expectations. It just never stops.
  36. Trump far exceeds other former presidents in the felony indictment department, also. Donald Trump is in fact the first and only man in presidential history to have even one felony count brought against him. His exceptionalism is undeniable.
  37. Well certainly, if Trump is re-elected he could establish another first for presidents by being the first to wear an ankle bracelet.
  38. We got another Trump first; the only U.S. president to attempt to overturn the government by insurrection and refusal to leave office. Startling; may I say, unprecedented. Donald’s creativity shines like no other.
  39. The first president since 1895 that hasn’t known how to drive a car. Zoom, zoom.
  40. His continuing reassurance that he is “a very stable genius.”  This one I don’t understand unless the belief comes because of his constant repetition of the  phrase.
  41. Trump’s ability to convince people he is as dumb as a rock, or a man with the intellect of a fifth grader, and then slap them down with a “you’re fired”!

I know I’ve just scratched the surface of all the reasons to vote for Trump but I have reached my 500-word limit and so we will have to continue this in another article. Get registered. Vote.