You’re welcome, and you have more self control in biting your tongue than me. Also, my parents are in a similar age bracket to yours. My dad turns 73 next month, and my mom turned 68 earlier this month. I knew my parents were conservative, but I didn’t know how much so until our argument this weekend. Every time I cited something idiotic Trump has done or said in recent days, my father either questioned the source of the information or said you are taking what he said out of context. However, what really disturbed me was when he, my sister, brother in law and myself started discussing the removal of the Confederate flag in public places and renaming military bases, he said the flag didn’t stand for slavery anymore in his mind. We were all shocked by the comment because he knows better and asked him to explain why he believes that. As for my mom, at one point, she questioned whether the Los Cucos’ delivery driver would be able to read the note on on our front door saying to bring the fajitas around to the back door. As soon as she uttered the words, I said “Really, Mom?” I was disgusted and appalled. The irony is the argument started because I had the audacity to say I believe Lina Hidalgo is doing a great job in trying to keep Harris County residents safe (unlike Abbott) after he said he would never vote for her. He dislikes her latest mask order because he doesn’t think a business should get fined if one of their customers doesn’t wear a mask. However, it’s like you said, for the sake of my relationship with my parents, it’s best to not discuss certain political topics. I’m glad I learned that lesson this weekend.
I overheard many anti-Lina Hidalgo utterances whilst walking around with my wife this weekend. It's confounding: Yes, I'm really sorry that someone is posting a speed limit for you, but there is a reason, even if we all push its boundaries. That's sadly funny about the Los Cucos driver. It's sadly sad about the Confederate flag. It is and has always been a symbol of racism, no matter how people twist their logic around it, like those that say the Civil War was "primarily about states' rights". Well, sure; and what bothered those secessionist states so much? Hmn, er, gee, let's think, this is a toughie (cue Jeopardy music; cue "Church Lady" voice), "Could it be........slav'ry?" But I got you beat on the Mom / Los Cucos thing, when I mentioned to my mom that a few years ago I read "Gone With the Wind". I managed to get out, "You want to get a picture of Southern attitudes today, you get a lot of it from that book, the post-Civil War attitudes" etc etc. It's an evocative, beautifully written, unbelievably racist epic (Ashley, Rhett, Frank in the book were all Klan or Klan sympathizers). Mom was pushing back on Confederate statues and the flag and "erasing our history". "Mom, how do you think African Americans would feel these days about a book like that?" "Enlightened." KLUNK went my and my wife's lower jaws on the floor. And this is a Democrat. Maybe I should say Dixiecrat. For those who believed electing an African American as President would erase a lot of our ugly history? Sh***********y**********t.
My parents turn into giant snowflakes if you say anything anti trump. I would say anti-republican but I have no fcking idea what republican values are anymore. Anyways I just do what I can to avoid any possible political discussion. But **** everything is politicized today.
So one of my defaults is to say we're a pretty weird and regional country because there's a lot of variation among states. I should probably add to that the intra-city variation levels in Houston. I've been out and about (city, suburbs, Asian places, outer suburbs), and mask wearing ranges from heavy to non-existent (pre-county mandate).
Once upon a time, my mom was distressed that her Catholic church had a Spanish Mass on Sundays. She said " we don't need a Spanish Mass, we have high class Mexicans".
It’s sad that so many of us can share similar stories about our parents. It also shows that we have so far to go as a society.
Honestly, it's one of the most disconcerting things over the last few years. A lot of us who grew up with slightly more conservative parents were taught morals by people who were outraged at Bill Clinton's conduct in office. To watch them descend into blind support for Donald Trump has been downright sad. The dissonance between who they were and who they've become now that they have pump themselves full of cable news and YouTube conspiracy playlists is sometimes too much to think about. The people who taught us to never trust strangers are now beholden to con men that they are force-fed through algorithms.
We're a very class driven and status conscious society. Marketing promotes personal inadequacies and finding that edge over our peers. Our consumerist society is not sustainable yet we're still driven to work our assess off for status symbols that serve as guide points or milestones. The most common identifier is that it happens across all social circles. It's been 50 years since government cracked down hard desegregation, yet people start doing it themselves by moving into exclusive neighborhoods with arbitrary entry rules. One might call it "safer" or having "more opportunities" with its schools, but there's something more implicitly driven within their social circles. Incredibly interesting how we've done differentiation to ourselves.
If true, there is a special place in hell reserved for Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, and his administration.
A single taped death is a tragedy, but a million deaths...is the beautiful beginnings to the Griftiest Grifts of all Grifts!
If this can be verified it sounds like criminal charges should be filed against anyone falsifying the records.
Politico has a good piece on their success. Their early push for testing widely (basically ignoring the CDC limit on who you can test early on) and their hard push for tracing and isolating literally everyone confirmed and suspected were key to their success.
And California with even more than that. The virus doesn't care about your political party or local government. It will only honor keeping people apart and keeping them masked.
