Putting The Bully In Bully Pulpit
Donald Trump is Mr. Bad Example. Continue reading Putting The Bully In Bully Pulpit
Category: Kids Today
Kids Today Just Don’t Want to Save Money!
Buy a house, young’uns! “A lot of folks said that millennials would go off and just rent,” said Jonathan Corr, chief executive of Ellie Mae in Pleasanton, Calif. “But as they hit those life-event years in terms of getting married, having children, they’re starting to make that transition.” That doesn’t mean they’re ready to sign a check. Millennials in about half of large metropolitan areas are underestimating how much they’ll need for a down payment on their first home and are not saving at a fast enough pace. I see “incredibly screwed by the service/gig/contract economy and paying too much … Continue reading Kids Today Just Don’t Want to Save Money!
NYT: Pedophilia & One-Night Romps are Equally Sexy Hijinks!
In a review titled, no kidding, “John Colapinto Revives the Male-Centric Literary Sex Novel,” we get this gem of a passage: There was a time when the great American male novelists took delight in writing about sex. Rebelling against a literary tradition that perhaps underestimated how much space animal urges take up in the male brain, many big hitters of the 20th century, like Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry Miller, Philip Roth, John Updike and Saul Bellow, dived into the muck with the zeal of Rabelais or Cleland. Sex was freedom, sex was adventure, sex was a good time, sex … Continue reading NYT: Pedophilia & One-Night Romps are Equally Sexy Hijinks!
Survival is beautiful
In my experience, the most difficult thing about surviving a trauma has been the dark, grim sense of how I felt I was supposed to react. When it comes to other successful endeavors in life, people are always looking for positive things they can tell you: “Hey, congratulations on the big promotion!” “Way to go! Your home run won the game!” “Nice job on this paper! 100 percent! A+” Positivity oozes out of everything we like to tell people for whom we are happy or grateful. However, in surviving horrible colleagues, baseless inquisitions, heavy bouts of depression and other issues, … Continue reading Survival is beautiful
Not Everything Sucks: ‘The Go’
Kids Today. They’re kind of AWESOME. Eraina Smith said her only child wouldn’t take no for an answer upon proposing the T-shirt company. Relenting to the idea has resulted in the sales of about 1,000 shirts so far, she said, adding that the shirts range in price from $15-$30. Raven also recently unveiled Straight from the Go hats ($20) and envisions coffee mugs, cellphone cases and more on the horizon. The proceeds from all sales will be directed at various causes. “I want to see where it can take me,” said Raven, who made her first donation March 5 to the tune of … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks: ‘The Go’
Oh Yeah, Why Aren’t You Praying for THIS?!!!
An explosion in a Pakistani park today, and instantly: WHY AREN’T YOU TWEETING ABOUT THIS OH YEAH THEY AREN’T WHITE: A suicide bomber killed at least 52 people, including many women and children, at a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, according to government officials and police. The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, a few feet away from children’s swings. Around 150 people were injured in the explosion, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Pakistan has been plagued by a Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs, and sectarian … Continue reading Oh Yeah, Why Aren’t You Praying for THIS?!!!
Negging Young Voters
Another day, another round of “young people are so stupid, hah hah, why don’t they listen to us they are so stupid!” on the Internets. And it’s not that certain generations do or don’t vote. This isn’t about numbers. After I politely suggested on Twitter that assuming they don’t vote is a bad way to open your argument, I got half a dozen ‘splainers all WELL ACTUALLY up in my mentions, citing various studies that show that this, that or the other group we are currently referring to as “millennials” does not vote in numbers comparable to their noble forbearers. … Continue reading Negging Young Voters
On Standing Up
I have new neighbors. All I knew about them until a few weeks ago was that they had tiny children, wore hijabs and said hello as we passed one another in the alley. That’s my relationship with most of my neighbors, to be honest, especially in the winter months when we all just want to get inside as quickly as possible. A few weeks ago, however, we had dinner. They only moved here a few years ago, for work and school. We talked about our kids, about schools, about learning other languages and our first encounters with other cultures. Kick … Continue reading On Standing Up
Aww, Are Republicans Bumming You Out, Republicans?
Poor pookie: Every negative stereotype I have tried to combat for the last 8 years about republicans has been utterly destroyed in the past 9 months. — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 4, 2016 I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until someone listens: THE ONLY PEOPLE DISMAYED ABOUT THE STATE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE THOSE DEPENDENT ON IT FOR A DOLLAR. If you make your living, as many center-right columnists do, pretending that you belong not to some frothing mob of religious bigots but to the party of Dwight David Eisenhower First of His Name, then you … Continue reading Aww, Are Republicans Bumming You Out, Republicans?
Get Off My Lawn Sign: You Kids Don’t Understand How Voting Works!
If only there were people who are highly paid and so much more experienced than the stupid kids. Those people could be tasked with communicating with voters, organizing them, getting them to the polls … nah, probably just easier to write lecture-y stories about how dumb young voters are. Amazing to me that this strategy doesn’t result in rafts of enthusiastic young voters. I know I can always convert people to my point of view when I start by calling them stupid! A. Continue reading Get Off My Lawn Sign: You Kids Don’t Understand How Voting Works!
Racist Kids are Just Being Racist Kids!
Social media is also probably to blame for “sensationalizing” their racist taunting, says sports reporter in the year of our Lord Jesus Chickenfried Christ 2016: … Bishop Noll won the game 56-52, but Andrean won the headlines. How? By using racially-charged cheering tactics made popular by a GOP presidential frontrunner. In Andrean’s cheering section, a handful of impassioned super-fan students hoisted a large Fathead photo of Trump, along with a sign stating “ESPN DEPORTES.” This echoes Trump’s campaign rhetoric against illegal immigrants and his promise to build a wall along the Mexican border. “Build a wall!” Andrean students yelled to … Continue reading Racist Kids are Just Being Racist Kids!
I’m Done With All Your Hillary and Bernie Feelings, Internet
TED CRUZ WANTS TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE. Genuinely, I think he does. I think he wants to bring about the end times. I think he is living in a comic book and none of the rest of us are real to him. Marco Rubio is six years old and he keeps thinking if he talks faster and louder it will make him sound smarter. Debate moderators ask him why his own people think he sucks, and he yells about his Lord and Savior. Jeb Bush once ruined an entire family’s life just to make points with the Jesus freaks … Continue reading I’m Done With All Your Hillary and Bernie Feelings, Internet
Mothers, Here is How You’re Screwing Up Your Baby Today: Cellphones!
MOTHERS PUT DOWN YOUR CELLPHONES: Mothers, put down your smartphones when caring for your babies! That’s the message from University of California, Irvine researchers, who have found that fragmented and chaotic maternal care can disrupt proper brain development, which can lead to emotional disorders later in life. HOLY SHIT. That sounds terrifying! I will never text in Kick’s presence again lest I warp her brain for life! Hey, maybe Mr. A can handle all my calls and work e-mails and everything else that happens, you know, on a 21st century basis in the world. This lead says nothing about fathers using … Continue reading Mothers, Here is How You’re Screwing Up Your Baby Today: Cellphones!
Let Them Eat Cake: Student-Loan Edition
Yeah, this is totally what students need to save them from debt: Gov. Scott Walker announced a legislative package on college affordability Monday that would eliminate the cap on student loan interest that borrowers can deduct from their state income tax, putting an average $165 extra in taxpayers’ pockets. The package of bills drawn up by Republican lawmakers also provides students with additional information about their student loans so they can make smart financial decisions, emergency assistance so they can stay in school and internship opportunities to connect students with Wisconsin employers. First, this is pretty much like trying … Continue reading Let Them Eat Cake: Student-Loan Edition
The Generational Feminism Olympics, Yay!
I am so not looking forward to the next 10 months of this bullshit: Do you notice a difference between young women and women our age in their excitement about Hillary Clinton? Is there a generational divide? Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided. Guys? Which one of you forgot to send Debbie Wasserman Schultz the list of stuff ladies younger than 40 care about? Because she seems to be under the impression that young women aren’t working as clinic escorts, or donating to … Continue reading The Generational Feminism Olympics, Yay!
Good Luck Making the Clenis a Thing Because Kids Today Don’t Know What That Is
I take a lot of comfort in being on the older end of the voting spectrum these days. Because if I am old, it means there are fewer and fewer people who give a damn what Bill Clinton did with what chick in what room in the White House. I mean it, there are voters who were in diapers when this happened. And my generation found it tiresome and pointless, so Kids Today will just be … confused. We literally made a federal case out of this? The general liberation of the youngs on the topic of who is having it … Continue reading Good Luck Making the Clenis a Thing Because Kids Today Don’t Know What That Is
Kids Today Just Don’t Get It
“It” being enough to eat, but you’d never know that from all the trend stories about how today’s college students are being ruined by trigger warnings and safe spaces and helicopter parents: There’s a campaign here to start a food bank for students who can’t afford food, even though many work full time. Many also are raising families. It’s a stark view of the reality of American higher education, in which rich kids go to elite private and flagship public campuses while poor kids — including those who score higher on standardized tests than their wealthier counterparts — end up at … Continue reading Kids Today Just Don’t Get It
Books are Home #SaveOurLibrary
MT @JBowlingJ: #SaveOurLibrary Students at DuSable HS stage a read-in to protest their #SchoolLibrary closing! pic.twitter.com/Gw0gK794Ix — YALSA (@yalsa) December 12, 2015 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Chicago students fight for their last librarian: At the DuSable Campus, Ms. Sayigh is a calm but buoyant presence who loves and respects her students. She tells me it’s a myth that teenagers don’t read. Hers do, all the time. The first thing you see when you go into her space is a shelf full of student recommendations. She runs a weekly book club. She has a cabinet of books so popular that it’s kept behind the … Continue reading Books are Home #SaveOurLibrary
Heroes often fail
A young woman from my feature writing class sat in my office and stared at me long and hard. She halted for a moment before saying something I knew to be true: “I’ve never seen you like this before.” We were sitting in my office during perhaps the worst stretch of my professional life, discussing how the concept of feature writing relies on both factual reporting and observation. She was probably one of the best kids I’ve had in a long time and she wasn’t off by much in what she was observing. I looked back at her with a … Continue reading Heroes often fail
Mizzou and Racism: Did I finally take the red pill?
(Got the OK from the boss before posting. Sorry to step on people’s time, but I figured there was no way this would be happening today. Friday seemed too long to wait. Thanks– Doc.) When I was 24, I packed up everything I owned (a sad and tiny amount that barely filled one-fourth of a modest moving van) and trekked out to Columbia, Missouri to begin my adult life. Through a bit of fortune and fate, I had landed a job teaching at Mizzou as a member of the professional-practice track at the “Best Journalism School in the Country.” I … Continue reading Mizzou and Racism: Did I finally take the red pill?
Kids are Brave and Smart and Will Figure This All Out
What it comes down to, I’m starting to understand, is trust: Hand-wringing over what has become known as hookup culture is nothing new, of course — the panicky-sounding term has been around for decades now. But a hookup is not always the blithe and meaningless sex with strangers that the term conjures. Even among college students, it’s defined differently from person to person and situation to situation. It could mean anything from kissing to intercourse, with a crush, with a friend, or, yes, sometimes with a relative stranger. The script, according to this ritual, is: First you fuck, then (perhaps) … Continue reading Kids are Brave and Smart and Will Figure This All Out
A Tale of Two Stories: Helicopter Parenting and Poverty
The Washington Post: And how can parents help their children become self-sufficient? Teach them the skills they’ll need in real life, and give them enough leash to practice those skills on their own, Lythcott-Haims said. And have them do chores. “Chores build a sense of accountability. They build life skills and a work ethic.” Lythcott-Haims said many parents ask how they can unilaterally deescalate in what feels like a college-admissions arms race. How can they relax about getting their child into Harvard if every other parent is going full speed ahead? The Washington Post: The 86 members of Ruleville Central’s senior … Continue reading A Tale of Two Stories: Helicopter Parenting and Poverty
Kids Today Don’t Pay for Their News!
Except they do, lots of them: In a world flush with free information, some young people are still willing to shell out for news they read. A recent poll shows that 40 percent of U.S. adults ages 18-34 pay for at least some of the news they read, whether it’s a print newspaper, a digital news app or an email newsletter. [snip] A quarter of those polled paid for some type of digital news, while 29 percent paid for a print paper or magazine. Older millennials are more likely than younger millennials to pay for print news products. That effect … Continue reading Kids Today Don’t Pay for Their News!
Technology is Ruining Kids Today, Says Author Who Hates Technology, Kids, also Today
Jonathan Franzen reviewing a book about how technology has ruined us all for real connection? How have I so displeased you, Ceiling Cat? Conversation is Turkle’s organizing principle because so much of what constitutes humanity is threatened when we replace it with electronic communication. Conversation presupposes solitude, for example, because it’s in solitude that we learn to think for ourselves and develop a stable sense of self, which is essential for taking other people as they are. (If we’re unable to be separated from our smartphones, Turkle says, we consume other people “in bits and pieces; it is as though … Continue reading Technology is Ruining Kids Today, Says Author Who Hates Technology, Kids, also Today
Your Daughters are Beyond Your Command: Susan Brownmiller, Slutwalks, and the Responsibilities of Feminists to One Another
Young women, before you make any mention of rape, or rape culture, or how it is bad, you must first cite Susan Brownmiller! I was wondering if you have been following the discussions of rape activism on college campuses. Yes, very closely. In the 1970s we had an extraordinary movement against sexual assault in this country and changed the laws. They [the campus activists] don’t seem to know that. They think they are the first people to discover rape, and the problem of consent, and they are not. Jesus TITS. How exactly should they be demonstrating that they are not the … Continue reading Your Daughters are Beyond Your Command: Susan Brownmiller, Slutwalks, and the Responsibilities of Feminists to One Another
Millennials are ruining everything, unless they’re not
‘Dear Millennials: You’re Ruining the Economy. Move Out.’ That is the actual headline: During the dreary days of the recession, it made sense for young adults who needed a roof over their heads to stay home while job opportunities were slim. But they were expected to move out when they got jobs or better-paying jobs. Of course, the job market still has a way to go to give young adults better financial footing. Yet unemployment is less of an issue now, with 7.7 percent of those 18 to 34 unemployed, compared to 12.4 percent five years ago. Pay has also … Continue reading Millennials are ruining everything, unless they’re not
multiple juveniles at the location who do not live in the area
This is the part that stuck with me: The McKinney Police Department said officers went to the pool because they got calls about unruly teenagers. “The initial call came in as a disturbance involving multiple juveniles at the location — who do not live in the area or have permission to be there — refusing to leave,” it said. “McKinney Police received several additional calls related to this incident advising that juveniles were now actively fighting.” Who do not live in the area. I wonder how it was possible to tell. Just, you know, on sight.I wonder if there was something about … Continue reading multiple juveniles at the location who do not live in the area
Nobody, Like, GETS Jerry Seinfeld Anymore
Or maybe you just suck, dude: Cowherd said that Chris Rock and other comedians have suggested that stand-up on college campuses is increasingly difficult because of the level of political correctness, and Seinfeld — who has never been a particularly controversial comedian — said that he doesn’t play colleges. He says that he hears that college students — and the entire younger generation — are too politically correct. Jerrers, you have one joke. It’s about being a sticky, obnoxious asshole who surrounds himself with other sticky, obnoxious assholes who have one joke each. Back when nobody had ever made a show like … Continue reading Nobody, Like, GETS Jerry Seinfeld Anymore
Better Science Instead of Moral Panics, Please
Author posts hectoring piece on how your precious children should never be near a single screen in operation until they are 40, because while yeah, thousands of children are going hungry every day, the iPad is our country’s greatest parenting challenge. Trouble is, a lot of the science relied upon in that piece is, to use a technical term, total crap: 5. False premises lead inevitably to false conclusions. Rowan says, “technology use restricts movement, which can result in delayed development.” The studies that have shown that restricted movement leads to developmental delays are animal experiments employing conditions of extremely restricted movement (i.e., … Continue reading Better Science Instead of Moral Panics, Please
Paul McCartney, Kanye West and How Kids Today Don’t Understand Real Music
Nothing is more disheartening than watching my generation become just as obnoxious and insufferable about the Music Of Youth as our parents’ generation was about ours: After Kanye West released his new single “Only One” featuring Sir Paul McCartney yesterday, some of the rapper’s fans took to Twitter to publically admit they had never heard of the legendary Beatles rocker until this week. Needless to say, the Internet exploded with hilariously appropriate reactions to the general stupidity of society. We can only hope some of the “Who Is Paul McCartney?” tweets are jokes. If they aren’t, it’s safe to say we are all doomed. No, society is not … Continue reading Paul McCartney, Kanye West and How Kids Today Don’t Understand Real Music