History & Comment for April 28, 2025

A look at historical and current events on this day, comment and humor so dry it would make a camel thirsty. 

Transcript

This is History and Comment for Monday the 28th of April 2025. 

Lots if comment today. 

I am a big fan of ice cream, it is one of my vices.   I have visited the Ben and Jerry’s factory, but find their products to be expensive for regular consumption and a bit over the top on inclusions.    They have also never shied away from who they are,   Commie, hippies.   Founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have always put their politics and ideology on center stage.  It is just who they are.  That is fine.    Well until the Spring 2000 when they went capitalist and sold their company to the multi-national Unilever for $325 million.  With the agreement that the new owner would continue to support the  Companies vision engaging "in these critical, global economic and social missions".    All has been mostly fine for the past quarter century.  The Ben and Jerry’s Foundation which still received a substantial donation each year from Unilever but of late has become too woke to handle.    The Foundation and founders strongly want to support their leftist agenda including the Palestinians and limit the sale of their ice cream in Israel.    The brand has been sold off in Israel.   

The 74-year-old founders want to buy the company back and make it more woke. Unilever does not want to sell.  

There are a couple of social media influencers that I have looked at of late, both involved with  baseball and youth coaching.    One is the left fielder for the Savanah Bananas, known by his initials RAC or on his channels as Coach RAC.   Now he certainly does have a social media presence with almost half a million subscribers on You Tube.   He posted a short the other day,  with an overtly religious message.   Having debate with himself.   One alter ego, praying to make it to the Big leagues and the other explaining that you do not need to be wildly successful to be a messenger for God.  And in fact success might be counter productive.   It was a very good sermon in a baseball setting.  

Most churches and the suits have trouble keeping teenagers attention, especially the guys and here is a popular player posting a very good sermon point.    

The video also brings up another point.   Folks who have been successful need to be very cautious in their public gratitude.    There is a very fine line.  Folks were critical,  of Rush Limbaugh’s boast of His being talent on loan from GAWD.  With a strong southern drawl.  Usually spelled G-A-W-D.  It was his typical over the top delivery, but I think in his way he was thankful.   

But too much public gratitude can come across poorly.   Because not everyone makes their dreams come true.   To hear someone ooze with public gratitude essentially is saying God loves me more than he does you.    Now in every case they will denigh that is the intent, but it comes across that way.  It makes folks question why God has not favored them.   Off the cuff,  this was the case with Hannah in the Old Testament.   

Coach RAC delivers a very good message on the topic in a 60 second street video.  And it has 90,000 views in less than a week.   

We might want to ask   if we are doing things in a wrong manner.  Paul said, he would become all things to all people that he might win some.   Maybe we are too rigid and stuffy to relate.   

I’m reminded of my thought on the “What would Jesus do”  theme.    It fails because we see Jesus on a religious, pious pedestal and not as a Jewish teenager or 20 something who was also a normal person, doing normal Jewish things.   

On interpersonal relationships,   sorry folks were are doomed as a society.  I went out to dinner the other night and noticed a group of six or so younger folks and the majority were absorbed in their devices.    We can no longer have a direct conversation with other people.    We are more attracted to the dopamine fix from the latest bright images on our devices than a real relationship and conversation with real people.     It really is related to addictive behavior and brain chemistry.   I had a casual conversation with a primary school reading teacher over the weekend and she agreed with are too overstimulated to be able to concentrate on black letters on white paper for any extended time period.   

Harvard University has been making waves of late, mostly for the same reason Ben and Jerry’s is in the news.  They want to take the wrong side in the Israel debate.   The ivy-league university has forgotten the Golden Rule.  He with the gold rules.   The President says they should not be getting millions of dollars of federal funding because their view are counter to Federal Policy.    There are a few points here.   One they are being outright hostile to one of our closest allies and the only remotely democratic nation in the region.   Two, Federal dollars always come with strings on policy.    Sometimes  I agree with the intent and other times I do not.  Watch to see who is aligning with the University and who is not.   

A third point is they had no issue under previous administrations when the polices when their way.   The one issue is the wild swings in the political winds is like thermal shock on a fine piece of glassware.    Do not think for a second I beleive the problem is we are too far to the right, but that the others have been too far to the left.   

Harvard University has billions of dollars in their endowment.  Money that is set aside to draw interest and grow to fund the university for decades and maybe centuries in the future.   A cut of a few million dollars is not earth shattering.     They just want the Federal Government to fund their radical views.   

We could also,   link the behavior of folks to the Tesla Company.   Wheater you like what Elon is doing in Washington has zero, nada, ziltch to do with folks who bought his cars last week or five years ago.   Validating a tesla car is not a political statement but just criminal mischief and should be prosecuted as such.   It is also, insanity and in fact terrorism.   It does little in respect to the policies and everything to innocent people whose only association is they bought a product from a Company that at the time the left was fawning over.     Whether you like Elon Musk’s policies or not or Jerry Cohen’s, infliciting injury on people who have purchased their products in not a good plan.   Nor civil.    If a guy in a MAGA hat knocked a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream out of someone’s hand how would it be handled?   

The Left always resorts to the lowest level of barbarism to make their point.    Any human will.  Just folks on the Right tend to be a bit more civil.     

I was talking to a friend this weekend. His situation brought to mind the Alan Parson Song The games people play. And the Jonny Depp line from Pirates of the Carriean.   You can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest.    My friend was hired to do a job for which he is highly skilled.   Now the Company does not want to let him do the job he was hired for.   Some times Carde Blance is not what is appears.  Workplace politics are coming to bear and he is not happy.   It is a rough deal.    When pressed most folks will cave and default to a low level and outright dishonesty.  It is human nature.   When Cain was confronted by God about his brothers whereabouts, his answer was why should I know.     Man is woefully deceitful.   

There is a bill working its way through the Illinois legislature that would ban the use by K-12 school from using native names and images as mascots.  The topic is widely debated if it is derogatory or respectfully.     Even native groups are divided.   One downstate school, that would be affected, estimated the cost would be between 1.5 and $2 million dollars for just their school.   Of course Illinois school have an abundant surplus of money for such projects.   

We have talked about this subject and come to the conclusion that both parties were human and as such were keen at politics and warfare.    Atrocities were committed on both sides.   Maybe the greatest one was making native Americans a ward of the Government.   But that is history,  removing a name will not change that.    I side with the camp that thinks it is a way of showing respect.   And a waste of effort, time and money.     Many native names are common throughout the country.   Maybe the folks in Springfield should study their states history.   Illinois is a French derivate from a native word meaning people of the tribe.    Indiana means the land of Indians.    Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri are also native derived.    I suspect most of the state names beyond the original 13 have such meanings.   The exception might be those with Spanish influence.   

The Indiana Legislature has agreed to from a commission should Illinois concure to discuss changing the border.    It is waiting on the Governors signature.   

Late night host Jay Leno is celebrating his 75th birthday today.                                                         

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