......and when a bystander intervenes to protect innocent straphangers( primarily female), he is prosecuted by a Soros DA( Alvin Bragg). NYC vs Daniel Penny
Good point, Robert. However, Penny acted on his own. There were plenty of others there who could have, and should have, joined him. It's much easier to demonize an individual, especially when you frame it in the usual race baiting way. Thanks.
And you would spend the next ten years of your life draining your life savings paying attorneys to fight off the lawsuits you would get for inflicting injuries and mental anguish on the perp. That's today's America.
I was arrested a few times for that. did not drain all my money. spent 3-5K on totally useless lawyers. as I said to the other guy it is over quick no one can film it then go to another car and get off the train
for me it is maybe not for you. see my pic. worked out and sparred in boxing gyms for 20 years and at home. I would be off the train or in another car then get off before anybody showed up. Penny was interviewed by scumbag cops and he was acting like they were his best friends. had no lawyer and fell into their trap.
I would like to say that if I saw a woman being battered by a larger man that I would intervene. The one thing that I would fear is that the dude battering the woman would turn his attention to me. In my efforts to protect the woman and myself, I would have to resort to some ugliness that would end up with significant damage to the bastard who is attacking the woman. In today's America I would now spend the next decade of my life paying lawyers and attorneys to help me fight off the inevitable lawsuit for damages I inflicted on the sucker who was attacking the woman.
That might prevent me from intervening. Why should I try and sacrifice everything I own and enjoy in my life for the woman? Given how women behave today she would probably join the lawsuit and side with her abuser. Yeah, women are that crazy.
I think I have shopped only once on Crackhead-Friday in a store. Maybe a few times online but mostly just ignore the hype of it all. You have to realize that we are being marketed to death by everyone under the sun. Every organization and institution has something to sell. I abhor all the ads and consider myself to be adverse to ads and marketing. It's one gigantic crap show.
Black Friday as an event did not exist until the late eighties. Yes, there was the obligatory news story on the day after Thanksgiving, with a national reporter standing at a mall somewhere on the east coast, and telling us what the economists were predicting...but the term was not in use...folks back then would have not understood the term. Remember how in 1983 fights over Cabbage Patch dolls got violent, and this was so unusual that it was a major news story? I remember all this very well. There is even a Wikipedia page called: Cabbage Patch riots. As life became more homogenized and meaningless, Black Friday "traditions" emerged.
I'm one of those folks grateful to be alone on holidays. I feel that I've earned this peace after a lifetime of dealing with over-the-top BS. Just to make my gratitude even stronger...I read (online) advice columns from the major national newspapers. It boggles my mind the rotten behavior people will except from family members and so-called friends. Why would anyone put up with such treatment? I can only surmise that the terror of being alone trumps everything else. Fear of being alone really ruins so many people's lives. What truely bothers me is the feeling of being rushed through the year. I prefer being in a tropical climate, but if I'm stuck in a temperate climate...I would like to be able to enjoy the seasons. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons, and I feel like I have never been able to really enjoy the Thanksgiving season (back when I actually participated in it) without the relentless push to start Christmas the day after Halloween.
By the way, Donald. No witches were burned at Salem...they were hung. The NWO order is now framing the witch burning craze in Europe as an attack on women...but of course we never get the real truth. The witch burning phenomenon did not become a real frenzy until the custom in Europe emerged for the village (most likely the mayor...or European equivalent) to be able to claim all the land and goods of the dead "witch"...which is why almost as many men were accused of witchcraft, as women. It ALWAYS comes back to people in power figuring out how to grab everything. Two of my ancestors were burned as witches.
Thank you, Scott. I know I was getting a bit pedantic there, but Kris Kris had an excellent comment, and I just thought it lent itself to that. And yes, how often do we see "lose" spelled as "loose?"
Thank you for the correction. I see so much poor writing online. No punctuation; using your for you're; sentences one must read ten times to understand. I'm talking about paid writers here...the comments are much worse.
Exactly, Scott. High standards are always a good thing. Perhaps we can make the Grammer Police a regular thing here? I hereby nominate you for chief of police.
"Black Friday as an event did not exist until the late eighties." Yes, my experience was the same. I did not know what the hell it was and once I found out, I wanted no part of it. (I reference the kid in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)..."Make a Buck, Make a Buck"....
In my parts Black Friday was definitely a phenomenon as far back as the late '70's- minus all the insane sales. When I worked at the Steakhouse in the Mall during the '80's the Black Friday weekend was the most grueling time for the outfit. The line was out the door from the opening bell until and hour before close.
I also noticed that you follow Gemma O'Dougerty. Good choice.
The day after Thanksgiving has always been a huge shopping day, but to my knowledge, the term "Black Friday" (with the accompanying violence and insanity) was not used until the nineties. Fighting over Cabbage Patch dolls was a big news story all of December of 1983. Several national newspaper columnists weighed in on the topic...noting it as a marker of how crude Americans had become. This is a good example of the frog in the boiling pot. Every year the uncivilized behavior of Americans gets a little worse...and what was a big story in 1983...is not even newsworthy now. In 1985 a friend and I had a flea market booth. Our booth neighbor used to make the remark he was "in the black" once he had made that sale of the day that pushed him from break even, to profit. I knew what he meant, but that manner of speech was unusual at the time, and I wondered if other people understood his meaning.
Gemma is very courageous. She is not afraid to speak the truth. She also has wonderful discernment, especially about controlled opposition.
I started my own little tradition last Black Friday. I decided I’d pray to be shown to someone truly in need in Vancouver, BC. Downtown East Side. I never give people money.
I will, however buy them food, give or buy them secondhand clothes, buy them groceries or do the UNTHINKABLE (thanks to the pseudoscientific nonsense “war on drugs” ). Treat people struggling with addiction, homelessness etc, like HUMAN BEINGS instead of HUMAN GARBAGE.
My faith guides my actions, and my exposure to 3.5 years as a SOCMed in Afghanistan, my time as an RN and prior to that as an EMT, has shown me the true nature of humanity and that we are responsible for each other.
When we lift our neighbor up with a kind word, a smile, a bag of groceries or our time with the elderly and lonely, we lift our community up. We lift ourselves up. That’s responsibility for each other.
I’m always led to those who I can benefit the most on what I call White Friday. I do the same for my homeless and destitute brethren on veteran’s day.
Alms giving is a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Full stop. I f I claim to want things to change, no one is going to care or listen. But if I DO the things that bring about change then maybe, just maybe someone else will too.
I’m not out to change the world or force my point of view on others. Just love them. Realize I am no better than anyone and no one is better than me.
The smallest thing can have the biggest impact. See, that’s the difference between Christians and Socialists:
The Christian says, “what can I give OF MYSELF to help this person”
The Socialist says, “what can I steal or take from another to help this person”
Now you know the difference if you didn’t before. That said, I wish for all a blessed Christmas and a safe New Year.
My goal is to buy less and less. I am 70 years old and I am facing the fact that soon-- in one way or another-- I will be exiting this Earth to be with the Lord. I will leave all my things behind so it's fairly useless to try to gather even more things into my home! So...forget Black Friday and all other marketing schemes and extremes!
My wife and I used to go out early on Black Friday back in the '90s, and aside from occasionally needing to line up for awhile before opening, it was a pretty pedestrian affair. But then one year (2003 or 2004?), I queued up in the middle of the night at a Walmart to get what really was a great deal on a laptop, of which they only had 10. I expected to stroll back there at opening, as I used to do, but when they opened the doors, people started running in. I realized I had to run also if I was going to get one of those 10 laptops.
It wasn't knuckle sandwiches or boots in the groin or anything, but suffice it to say that I got the 10th one. But I felt beyond stupid. I went home and told my wife that day that we aren't the kind of people that should be doing that stuff, and that was the last year we ever did.
It's sad to see such covetousness played out every year—each decade in America, digressing into more materialistic attitudes and a less spiritual mindset.
Thanksgiving was the first Holiday I absolutely loved about America in the Sixties. I knew how to cook but never having prepared a turkey I had to learn that. But a day set aside to give thanks and to cook extra special dishes was really great I thought. Knew nothing about Black Friday way back then but it never occurred to me to set foot into one of those stores in later years.
When did the real insanity really start when people stopped eating dinner with family so they could camp out on sidewalks overnight to be first into the Friday morning stores?
Anyway I thought that this craziness was over by now after Covid, wars all over and special South American gangs having fun all over. But no, my son showed me a picture on X from people still ripping packages from each other, trampling over kids and screaming in one of America's Walmart's today.
You mentioned one thing which I never really thought of but so true. People take pictures with their cell phones of everything and anything, yet there are never any pictures available from school shootings or other mass shootings. How convenient. Apparently no one has cell phones in the Ukraine either because no pictures what is really going on in the killing fields. But somehow Israel and the USA are mad that there are actual cell phone pictures arriving from Gaza and they say that those are all not real and made up. Of course mainstream media won't show them and they tell us not to rely on alternate media it might disturb our brains with "misinformation".
Another funny thing I heard that a guy was all mad at Elon Musk adn was going to sell his Tesla, no longer wanting to drive a car from a "white supremacist". He was going to buy a Volkswagen instead. Where does he think Volkswagen came from? Africa or Central America made by black and brown people? That's how insane we have gotten.
Whoops…you are right! But Jesus did say that the Ten Commandments could be summed up in loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Plus if you look at the Ten Commandments, the requirements cause you to wind up treating other people rather kindly. And I'm not so sure that good decent Jews around the world are not still enjoying and reading the Old Testament as their holy literature.
Matt 19: 19-20 - this is easily missed. It’s Jesus’s encounter with the rich man, who claims to love his neighbor as himself, along with other commandments. He walked away from Jesus not being able to give up his worldly wealth. But I’m sure I’ve seen it in the Old Testament as well. Just trying to be fair.
I have an inclination to believe that people going after Black Friday deals are the same people who vote Democrat. Willing to believe in something for nothing and failing to understand that if the deal looks too good to be true then YOU are probably the product.
big investigation in Australia. all those low low low prices promotions, they jack them up one week, lower them the next. both the monopolists/monopsonists.
Home shoveling snow today. Madame is working 16 hours. Please note what happened to the guy in the subway who rescued someone recently and was hauled off to jail. The Daddy is now the accused just because he acted as he should. Watch the vigilante with Bronson. I just finished writing a novel in which a vigilante wiped out a child-trafficking ring.
I touched on that, in replying to another comment, Jim. If there is a crowd, and a group act to stop a threat, then I don't think it can be framed the way they framed the Penny case. Thanks.
I was the only one home on my street. My neighbor stopped by, said she was looking forward to ham dinner at her niece's, and her ex would be bringing by a turkey dinner for her. I had a few spoons of peanut butter. Can't wait for Christmas...
Please receive my very deepest sympathies! When my father died after 63 years of marriage, and having known each other since they were nine and 11 years old, my mother said that half of her was gone and that she could not reorient herself no matter how she tried. I can only imagine how it must feel!
It feels horrible. It's even harder due to the fact that my neighbors ignore me. I always raved about what a nice little community we had here. Dead end road with about a dozen houses. We always shared from our garden and we helped anyone with anything, if we were able. Now, people drive by and won't even look at me. It's disheartening, to say the least.
Well, obviously I don't literally "like" what you describe in your comment, Stephanie. While it was never really practiced much, "love thy neighbor" is extremely rare in America 2.0. Sincerely hoping things get better for you.
You really didn't need to explain that. I know you're good-hearted. I just thought, for the past six years, that our neighbors were kind as well. Apparently not. I'm on an emotional roller coaster. I'm hoping things get better, too, but I honestly don't see how they will. Thank you, though.
I feel truly saddened by what you gave described here. If they would just come and share their sorrow, it would help so much. As they say, a sorrow shared is a sorrow cut in half. But…we have become a stressed and dull of heart people. It reminds me of a story that I read about a missionary couple who had expended their entire life on the mission field doing good and preaching the gospel. They retired and as they returned home to the United States and the ship pulled up to the port, there was much cheering. Everyone was meeting and greeting their loved ones and leaving and then the old couple found themselves alone with no one there to meet them or embrace them. The woman looked at her husband and tearfully said, “ Oh, Ray, there is no one here to meet or help us! Have we served for so long for this?” To which her husband replied, “Dear Wife, we are not home yet. They're waiting for us there.” of course he was referring to eternal life. And so I would say to you that you are not quite home yet and that The Giver of all good things and the rewarder of those that do good deeds for others is waiting on you to complete your team and there you will be rewarded mightily! May the Lord grant that you experience abundance of reward and that the sorrow in your heart be healed. I am praying for you!
And in the uncultured world of East Texas, in which I grew up, we take it even further and mix it with maple syrup and eat peanut butter and syrup sandwiches!
I feel a deep regret that someone told me to put peanut butter on a banana and eat it. It is so delicious that I am drawn to it constantly and you talk about fattening!
Thanks Don for yet another well written article. Loneliness and excessive shopping go hand in hand. The more lonely one feels (which usually is unacknowledged) the more compensation one needs to keep the pain at bay. It looks to me that people who fight over "deals" on Black Friday are in a kind of panic mode thus physiologically unable to even notice when another person is in need of help and thus unable to feel compassion in any way.
Don´t get me wrong, I´m in no way trying to excuse the obvious degeneration ALL Western societies have reached by now. I´m just trying to get to the roots of the problem.
Most people probably can´t even envision life without a TV ( I stopped watching TV back in 2008), video games or their smart phones (don´t have that either) - or whatever "bargains" they feel the need to acquire.
Western countries have become deeply addicted societies which of course is usually just referred to with alcohol and drugs (and those people are sadly still being ostracized) - but it just shows how deeply we have become estranged from one another, nature and God - and how deep the feeling of inner emptiness really runs.
I had the best Thanksgiving I've had in a long time. My niece who hasn't been back to Florida since moving to New York about 14 years ago came down with her family. My nephew, his wife and their foster daughter were here from Baltimore. It was so nice to have kids around for a change. Us Boomers are aging fast, and so I try to savor my time with family as best I can. I agree with you on 'Santa Baby'. I hate that song almost as much as I hate 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer'!
Donald as a now reformed LOVER of Christmas and american legend, this time of the year I know refer to as Hollowdays. All based on pagan myth and cultural manipulation. Why would people walk zombie like over a dying man or sit by and watch a rape? No soul, it's been dulled with cultural and consumer opium. Christ never commanded or even suggested we celebrate his birth by giving each other unaffordable earthly presents, so teh pagans in charge of the already hijacked "christian" churches said well how about let's celebrate the winter equinox and transform the orgy, human sacrifice festival of saturnalia into a celebration of Christ's birth that will win those people over, see we christians can have a good time too and while we are at lets pander to the witches with yule logs and christmas trees and a littel guy with magic flyiong animals in a red suit, lets call him Satan Claws ( intentional misspelling). Well the pagan origins go back to babylon, egypt et cetera. The truh is out there is you care to find it. So after a few hundred years of Tavistock based Dickensian christmas is it any wonder we are where we are now. There is nothing Good or Holy in the celebrations of Christmas or Thanksgiving. If you want accurately celebrat Christ's birth you should probably shot for September and you can give thanks to God without gorging yourself or buying another tv or mind dulling electronic device. God is really not concerned with you getting a great deal and I doubt He's not too proud of the nation that supplies the means of death that continues to take life after life. The real magic of teh holidays does not make reindeer fly but it is the black magic that causes people to trample in teh name of a good buy. Enjpy your Hollowdays , zombies.
I have seen some vids that deeply disturbed me. One is convience store in Detroit. Indian cashiers behind bulletproof glass dealing with hostile cursing blacks who are stealing and trashing the place. Another showing disgraceful behavior of American tourists in Japan. Especially blacks acting up on the subway harassing Japanese. I can’t help but feel we are in for a reckoning of some kind. I don’t hate Trump but I do not accept him as my savior. The country is too far gone and perhaps it’s time to disconnect life support
......and when a bystander intervenes to protect innocent straphangers( primarily female), he is prosecuted by a Soros DA( Alvin Bragg). NYC vs Daniel Penny
Good point, Robert. However, Penny acted on his own. There were plenty of others there who could have, and should have, joined him. It's much easier to demonize an individual, especially when you frame it in the usual race baiting way. Thanks.
most guys are to cowardly and weak to intervene so they use daniel penny as an excuse
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Would you have intervened as did Mr. Penny?
yes I would have and instead of holding him around the neck I would knock him out and get off the train
And you would spend the next ten years of your life draining your life savings paying attorneys to fight off the lawsuits you would get for inflicting injuries and mental anguish on the perp. That's today's America.
I was arrested a few times for that. did not drain all my money. spent 3-5K on totally useless lawyers. as I said to the other guy it is over quick no one can film it then go to another car and get off the train
Is it that easy to just knock somebody out?
Still, you would likely end up in peril of prosecution by pukes with power.
for me it is maybe not for you. see my pic. worked out and sparred in boxing gyms for 20 years and at home. I would be off the train or in another car then get off before anybody showed up. Penny was interviewed by scumbag cops and he was acting like they were his best friends. had no lawyer and fell into their trap.
Presumably you are strong enough. I was thinking about mechanics. How do you knock somebody out?
I would like to say that if I saw a woman being battered by a larger man that I would intervene. The one thing that I would fear is that the dude battering the woman would turn his attention to me. In my efforts to protect the woman and myself, I would have to resort to some ugliness that would end up with significant damage to the bastard who is attacking the woman. In today's America I would now spend the next decade of my life paying lawyers and attorneys to help me fight off the inevitable lawsuit for damages I inflicted on the sucker who was attacking the woman.
That might prevent me from intervening. Why should I try and sacrifice everything I own and enjoy in my life for the woman? Given how women behave today she would probably join the lawsuit and side with her abuser. Yeah, women are that crazy.
I think I have shopped only once on Crackhead-Friday in a store. Maybe a few times online but mostly just ignore the hype of it all. You have to realize that we are being marketed to death by everyone under the sun. Every organization and institution has something to sell. I abhor all the ads and consider myself to be adverse to ads and marketing. It's one gigantic crap show.
Black Friday as an event did not exist until the late eighties. Yes, there was the obligatory news story on the day after Thanksgiving, with a national reporter standing at a mall somewhere on the east coast, and telling us what the economists were predicting...but the term was not in use...folks back then would have not understood the term. Remember how in 1983 fights over Cabbage Patch dolls got violent, and this was so unusual that it was a major news story? I remember all this very well. There is even a Wikipedia page called: Cabbage Patch riots. As life became more homogenized and meaningless, Black Friday "traditions" emerged.
I'm one of those folks grateful to be alone on holidays. I feel that I've earned this peace after a lifetime of dealing with over-the-top BS. Just to make my gratitude even stronger...I read (online) advice columns from the major national newspapers. It boggles my mind the rotten behavior people will except from family members and so-called friends. Why would anyone put up with such treatment? I can only surmise that the terror of being alone trumps everything else. Fear of being alone really ruins so many people's lives. What truely bothers me is the feeling of being rushed through the year. I prefer being in a tropical climate, but if I'm stuck in a temperate climate...I would like to be able to enjoy the seasons. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons, and I feel like I have never been able to really enjoy the Thanksgiving season (back when I actually participated in it) without the relentless push to start Christmas the day after Halloween.
By the way, Donald. No witches were burned at Salem...they were hung. The NWO order is now framing the witch burning craze in Europe as an attack on women...but of course we never get the real truth. The witch burning phenomenon did not become a real frenzy until the custom in Europe emerged for the village (most likely the mayor...or European equivalent) to be able to claim all the land and goods of the dead "witch"...which is why almost as many men were accused of witchcraft, as women. It ALWAYS comes back to people in power figuring out how to grab everything. Two of my ancestors were burned as witches.
Great points, Kris. You were one of those I was thinking of, in terms of enjoying being alone. As long as someone is happy, who cares? Thanks.
As a rule, I try not to make negative comments about newborn babies appearances but those Cabbage Patch Kids were just plain old ugly! LOL
My grandmother said the same thing and refused to by one for me. She said she would only buy me pretty dolls.
Not for nuthin', Kris Kris, but those witches -- while not actually being burned at Salem -- were hanged. Not hung.
Pictures get hung; people get hanged. :)
I respect the grammar police.
We need them now more than ever, with people spelling lose as loose, & etc.
Thank you, Scott. I know I was getting a bit pedantic there, but Kris Kris had an excellent comment, and I just thought it lent itself to that. And yes, how often do we see "lose" spelled as "loose?"
Thank you for the correction. I see so much poor writing online. No punctuation; using your for you're; sentences one must read ten times to understand. I'm talking about paid writers here...the comments are much worse.
Exactly, Scott. High standards are always a good thing. Perhaps we can make the Grammer Police a regular thing here? I hereby nominate you for chief of police.
"Black Friday as an event did not exist until the late eighties." Yes, my experience was the same. I did not know what the hell it was and once I found out, I wanted no part of it. (I reference the kid in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)..."Make a Buck, Make a Buck"....
In my parts Black Friday was definitely a phenomenon as far back as the late '70's- minus all the insane sales. When I worked at the Steakhouse in the Mall during the '80's the Black Friday weekend was the most grueling time for the outfit. The line was out the door from the opening bell until and hour before close.
I also noticed that you follow Gemma O'Dougerty. Good choice.
The day after Thanksgiving has always been a huge shopping day, but to my knowledge, the term "Black Friday" (with the accompanying violence and insanity) was not used until the nineties. Fighting over Cabbage Patch dolls was a big news story all of December of 1983. Several national newspaper columnists weighed in on the topic...noting it as a marker of how crude Americans had become. This is a good example of the frog in the boiling pot. Every year the uncivilized behavior of Americans gets a little worse...and what was a big story in 1983...is not even newsworthy now. In 1985 a friend and I had a flea market booth. Our booth neighbor used to make the remark he was "in the black" once he had made that sale of the day that pushed him from break even, to profit. I knew what he meant, but that manner of speech was unusual at the time, and I wondered if other people understood his meaning.
Gemma is very courageous. She is not afraid to speak the truth. She also has wonderful discernment, especially about controlled opposition.
Gemma should call out E Michael Jones, the Octopus Dei Shill.
I agree.
"Two of my ancestors were burned as witches. " Are you sure they weren't hanged?
A better way to have phrased it: "They went to the scaffold".
Excellent commentary, Kris.
I started my own little tradition last Black Friday. I decided I’d pray to be shown to someone truly in need in Vancouver, BC. Downtown East Side. I never give people money.
I will, however buy them food, give or buy them secondhand clothes, buy them groceries or do the UNTHINKABLE (thanks to the pseudoscientific nonsense “war on drugs” ). Treat people struggling with addiction, homelessness etc, like HUMAN BEINGS instead of HUMAN GARBAGE.
My faith guides my actions, and my exposure to 3.5 years as a SOCMed in Afghanistan, my time as an RN and prior to that as an EMT, has shown me the true nature of humanity and that we are responsible for each other.
When we lift our neighbor up with a kind word, a smile, a bag of groceries or our time with the elderly and lonely, we lift our community up. We lift ourselves up. That’s responsibility for each other.
I’m always led to those who I can benefit the most on what I call White Friday. I do the same for my homeless and destitute brethren on veteran’s day.
Alms giving is a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Full stop. I f I claim to want things to change, no one is going to care or listen. But if I DO the things that bring about change then maybe, just maybe someone else will too.
I’m not out to change the world or force my point of view on others. Just love them. Realize I am no better than anyone and no one is better than me.
The smallest thing can have the biggest impact. See, that’s the difference between Christians and Socialists:
The Christian says, “what can I give OF MYSELF to help this person”
The Socialist says, “what can I steal or take from another to help this person”
Now you know the difference if you didn’t before. That said, I wish for all a blessed Christmas and a safe New Year.
That's beautiful, Chad. You are certainly walking the walk. Thanks!
My goal is to buy less and less. I am 70 years old and I am facing the fact that soon-- in one way or another-- I will be exiting this Earth to be with the Lord. I will leave all my things behind so it's fairly useless to try to gather even more things into my home! So...forget Black Friday and all other marketing schemes and extremes!
🥳👏
My wife and I used to go out early on Black Friday back in the '90s, and aside from occasionally needing to line up for awhile before opening, it was a pretty pedestrian affair. But then one year (2003 or 2004?), I queued up in the middle of the night at a Walmart to get what really was a great deal on a laptop, of which they only had 10. I expected to stroll back there at opening, as I used to do, but when they opened the doors, people started running in. I realized I had to run also if I was going to get one of those 10 laptops.
It wasn't knuckle sandwiches or boots in the groin or anything, but suffice it to say that I got the 10th one. But I felt beyond stupid. I went home and told my wife that day that we aren't the kind of people that should be doing that stuff, and that was the last year we ever did.
Thanks for sharing that, Bill!
It's sad to see such covetousness played out every year—each decade in America, digressing into more materialistic attitudes and a less spiritual mindset.
Thank you again for a great essay.
Thanksgiving was the first Holiday I absolutely loved about America in the Sixties. I knew how to cook but never having prepared a turkey I had to learn that. But a day set aside to give thanks and to cook extra special dishes was really great I thought. Knew nothing about Black Friday way back then but it never occurred to me to set foot into one of those stores in later years.
When did the real insanity really start when people stopped eating dinner with family so they could camp out on sidewalks overnight to be first into the Friday morning stores?
Anyway I thought that this craziness was over by now after Covid, wars all over and special South American gangs having fun all over. But no, my son showed me a picture on X from people still ripping packages from each other, trampling over kids and screaming in one of America's Walmart's today.
You mentioned one thing which I never really thought of but so true. People take pictures with their cell phones of everything and anything, yet there are never any pictures available from school shootings or other mass shootings. How convenient. Apparently no one has cell phones in the Ukraine either because no pictures what is really going on in the killing fields. But somehow Israel and the USA are mad that there are actual cell phone pictures arriving from Gaza and they say that those are all not real and made up. Of course mainstream media won't show them and they tell us not to rely on alternate media it might disturb our brains with "misinformation".
Another funny thing I heard that a guy was all mad at Elon Musk adn was going to sell his Tesla, no longer wanting to drive a car from a "white supremacist". He was going to buy a Volkswagen instead. Where does he think Volkswagen came from? Africa or Central America made by black and brown people? That's how insane we have gotten.
Happy belated Thanksgiving!
Beautifully expressed, Inge. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you, too!
“the Golden Rule is Christianity”. Very well said.
Thanks, John!
more and more the Olden Rule. Golden rule more and more , who makes (owns, hypothecates) the gold makes the rules. (youknowwho's)
I heard that the Golden Rule is a basic tenet in most religions.
Not in the youknowwho's religion.
One could argue the case that it is. In the Ten Commandments it says love thy neighbor as thyself.
It doesn't say that in the ten commandments. And that's not their holy book, anyway - the talmud is.
Whoops…you are right! But Jesus did say that the Ten Commandments could be summed up in loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Plus if you look at the Ten Commandments, the requirements cause you to wind up treating other people rather kindly. And I'm not so sure that good decent Jews around the world are not still enjoying and reading the Old Testament as their holy literature.
Matt 19: 19-20 - this is easily missed. It’s Jesus’s encounter with the rich man, who claims to love his neighbor as himself, along with other commandments. He walked away from Jesus not being able to give up his worldly wealth. But I’m sure I’ve seen it in the Old Testament as well. Just trying to be fair.
I have an inclination to believe that people going after Black Friday deals are the same people who vote Democrat. Willing to believe in something for nothing and failing to understand that if the deal looks too good to be true then YOU are probably the product.
Good point, Steve. I just don't see how they can look at the prices, and not understand that these are usually not amazing deals. Thanks.
big investigation in Australia. all those low low low prices promotions, they jack them up one week, lower them the next. both the monopolists/monopsonists.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-26/coles-woolworths-supermarket-price-specials-cost-of-living/104470674
Home shoveling snow today. Madame is working 16 hours. Please note what happened to the guy in the subway who rescued someone recently and was hauled off to jail. The Daddy is now the accused just because he acted as he should. Watch the vigilante with Bronson. I just finished writing a novel in which a vigilante wiped out a child-trafficking ring.
I touched on that, in replying to another comment, Jim. If there is a crowd, and a group act to stop a threat, then I don't think it can be framed the way they framed the Penny case. Thanks.
I was the only one home on my street. My neighbor stopped by, said she was looking forward to ham dinner at her niece's, and her ex would be bringing by a turkey dinner for her. I had a few spoons of peanut butter. Can't wait for Christmas...
It's great to see you commenting here, Stephanie. I'm hoping things get better. Thanks.
I love peanut butter spoons! Especially Jif peanut butter. You and I could have had a feast together! LOL
I would have loved some company. My partner of almost 20 years succumbed to his heart failure in September.
Please receive my very deepest sympathies! When my father died after 63 years of marriage, and having known each other since they were nine and 11 years old, my mother said that half of her was gone and that she could not reorient herself no matter how she tried. I can only imagine how it must feel!
It feels horrible. It's even harder due to the fact that my neighbors ignore me. I always raved about what a nice little community we had here. Dead end road with about a dozen houses. We always shared from our garden and we helped anyone with anything, if we were able. Now, people drive by and won't even look at me. It's disheartening, to say the least.
Well, obviously I don't literally "like" what you describe in your comment, Stephanie. While it was never really practiced much, "love thy neighbor" is extremely rare in America 2.0. Sincerely hoping things get better for you.
You really didn't need to explain that. I know you're good-hearted. I just thought, for the past six years, that our neighbors were kind as well. Apparently not. I'm on an emotional roller coaster. I'm hoping things get better, too, but I honestly don't see how they will. Thank you, though.
I feel truly saddened by what you gave described here. If they would just come and share their sorrow, it would help so much. As they say, a sorrow shared is a sorrow cut in half. But…we have become a stressed and dull of heart people. It reminds me of a story that I read about a missionary couple who had expended their entire life on the mission field doing good and preaching the gospel. They retired and as they returned home to the United States and the ship pulled up to the port, there was much cheering. Everyone was meeting and greeting their loved ones and leaving and then the old couple found themselves alone with no one there to meet them or embrace them. The woman looked at her husband and tearfully said, “ Oh, Ray, there is no one here to meet or help us! Have we served for so long for this?” To which her husband replied, “Dear Wife, we are not home yet. They're waiting for us there.” of course he was referring to eternal life. And so I would say to you that you are not quite home yet and that The Giver of all good things and the rewarder of those that do good deeds for others is waiting on you to complete your team and there you will be rewarded mightily! May the Lord grant that you experience abundance of reward and that the sorrow in your heart be healed. I am praying for you!
Beautifully put, JoJo. Thanks.
Thank you. Your words are deeply appreciated.
And in the uncultured world of East Texas, in which I grew up, we take it even further and mix it with maple syrup and eat peanut butter and syrup sandwiches!
Around here (central PA), it's peanut butter & banana. I've never had one.
I feel a deep regret that someone told me to put peanut butter on a banana and eat it. It is so delicious that I am drawn to it constantly and you talk about fattening!
My mother liked them, but there are just certain combos I can't bring myself to try. I love PB and I love bananas- just separately...
Thanks Don for yet another well written article. Loneliness and excessive shopping go hand in hand. The more lonely one feels (which usually is unacknowledged) the more compensation one needs to keep the pain at bay. It looks to me that people who fight over "deals" on Black Friday are in a kind of panic mode thus physiologically unable to even notice when another person is in need of help and thus unable to feel compassion in any way.
Don´t get me wrong, I´m in no way trying to excuse the obvious degeneration ALL Western societies have reached by now. I´m just trying to get to the roots of the problem.
Most people probably can´t even envision life without a TV ( I stopped watching TV back in 2008), video games or their smart phones (don´t have that either) - or whatever "bargains" they feel the need to acquire.
Western countries have become deeply addicted societies which of course is usually just referred to with alcohol and drugs (and those people are sadly still being ostracized) - but it just shows how deeply we have become estranged from one another, nature and God - and how deep the feeling of inner emptiness really runs.
I think that's a fair and insightful way to look at it, Michelle. Thanks!
I had the best Thanksgiving I've had in a long time. My niece who hasn't been back to Florida since moving to New York about 14 years ago came down with her family. My nephew, his wife and their foster daughter were here from Baltimore. It was so nice to have kids around for a change. Us Boomers are aging fast, and so I try to savor my time with family as best I can. I agree with you on 'Santa Baby'. I hate that song almost as much as I hate 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer'!
I'm glad your family came together, Annette. That's what the holidays are supposed to be about. Thanks.
Donald as a now reformed LOVER of Christmas and american legend, this time of the year I know refer to as Hollowdays. All based on pagan myth and cultural manipulation. Why would people walk zombie like over a dying man or sit by and watch a rape? No soul, it's been dulled with cultural and consumer opium. Christ never commanded or even suggested we celebrate his birth by giving each other unaffordable earthly presents, so teh pagans in charge of the already hijacked "christian" churches said well how about let's celebrate the winter equinox and transform the orgy, human sacrifice festival of saturnalia into a celebration of Christ's birth that will win those people over, see we christians can have a good time too and while we are at lets pander to the witches with yule logs and christmas trees and a littel guy with magic flyiong animals in a red suit, lets call him Satan Claws ( intentional misspelling). Well the pagan origins go back to babylon, egypt et cetera. The truh is out there is you care to find it. So after a few hundred years of Tavistock based Dickensian christmas is it any wonder we are where we are now. There is nothing Good or Holy in the celebrations of Christmas or Thanksgiving. If you want accurately celebrat Christ's birth you should probably shot for September and you can give thanks to God without gorging yourself or buying another tv or mind dulling electronic device. God is really not concerned with you getting a great deal and I doubt He's not too proud of the nation that supplies the means of death that continues to take life after life. The real magic of teh holidays does not make reindeer fly but it is the black magic that causes people to trample in teh name of a good buy. Enjpy your Hollowdays , zombies.
I can't argue with you, spnbb. I would argue, though, that the holidays do generally bring out the best in people. For what it's worth. Thanks.
I have seen some vids that deeply disturbed me. One is convience store in Detroit. Indian cashiers behind bulletproof glass dealing with hostile cursing blacks who are stealing and trashing the place. Another showing disgraceful behavior of American tourists in Japan. Especially blacks acting up on the subway harassing Japanese. I can’t help but feel we are in for a reckoning of some kind. I don’t hate Trump but I do not accept him as my savior. The country is too far gone and perhaps it’s time to disconnect life support