2016

Doesn't that feel weird to write or say?  2016.  Where did 2015 go...or 1967 or 1971 or...for that matter?  I suppose 2017 is next?

I admit to being somewhat of a grammar snob.  If I make mistakes here or in other writing, usually they are due to carelessness or lousy typing skills.  Sometimes, though, my misuse of words and etc. are deliberate.  I get worked up, if just a bit, when I see mistakes in newspapers, magazines, and even books.  OK, some of them are likely just carelessness, like mine.  But some are not and are obviously not.  This AM in the newspaper I read about a former Detroit Tiger who died last year, identified as "an alumni" of the last World Series championship team from Detroit.  Sorry...but "alumni" is plural and alumnus is singular.  I suppose it's bigoted of me to add the feminine forms are "alumna" and "alumnae."  But, I refuse to call females who act "actors," preferring "actresses."

Why, by the way, and when did "actors" begin to be used for both genders?  How in the world might "actresses" be offensive, let alone insulting?  Oh, my fault--I'm sure it's a microaggression.

Another article in the paper this AM equated the treatment of Jews and Muslims in this country.  The writer was a philosophy professor at a local college.  He missed a big, big difference in Jews who have come to the US and Muslims, particularly recent immigrants, who have come.  The Jews did not come here looking to kill Americans, to harm the US.  I know, probably more than many/most people, that the overwhelming majority of Muslims and other Middle Easterners are not terrorists.  I have written about my experiences.  But how many terrorists attacks have been perpetrated by migrant Jews??????  The philosophy professor might need to brush up on his logic.

Another op-ed piece was really terrific in the Free Press.  Sometimes I agree with the writer and sometimes not.  This one nailed it.  With the idiotic murder of a 7-year old girl in Detroit, Rochelle Riley asks if all black lives matter or if it's just if the shooter is a white police officer.  Of course she acknowledges they do, esp that of a 7-year old.  The little girl was playing in her living room when a person who had been in the house earlier and apparently had been "dissed" went out and got a gun and shot up the house.  Another young girl was wounded, but will survive.  Riley's piece and others like it need to be on the front pages every day.  Focus needs to be refocused on the deaths of so many of our people in places like Detroit, Chicago, DC, etc. at the hands of animals.

I see Arne Duncan is resigning as Sec of Education.  It's too bad he didn't resign about 7 years ago, when he was appointed.  Oh, he has his supporters (and his page at the Dept of Ed Web site is little more than a hagiography, undeserved), but you can probably tell I'm not one of them.  He's a promoter of the Common Core.  He's big on test, test, and test some more.  One of the primary reasons college tuition has skyrocketed is the entry of the federal gov't in the loan/financial aid business.  ("Hey, let's crank up tuition and room and board!  The feds are giving or insuring loans and they won't default.  Look how they bailed out......")  Duncan pushed to limit annual repayments at 10% or less of a debtor's income.  Even more, he favored eliminating the loans after 20 years.  Gee, I wonder what the current scofflaws will see in that?  Of course, those in the know likely suspected as much.  I don't believe he ever taught a day in his life (although I might be wrong) and he was a career administrator, at various levels.  He'll probably go out like Holder, with great fan fare, but having worsened an already sad state of affairs.

Oops!  I just noticed the time.  The Lions are on!  Oh, I'm just kidding.  I couldn't care less and won't be watching.