The Standard

06/21/2024

I’m so sick of it I could scream. It’s a conclusion favored by many arrogant foreign nationals and self-righteous American expatriates: That if the citizens of the United States are stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump, then America gets what it deserves. I’d like to briefly explain how ignorant, arrogant, petty, and insulting that is.

Not to mention wrong.

The sheer ignorance of the comments blaming Americans for the failures of our government is grating and infuriating

06/21/2024

I don’t like people.

I find no reason for pride in this. It’s quite sad, in fact. I wish it were not true, but it is. Humanity is a cl*******ck, and I find most people exhausting and tedious. Oh sure, there are a few clever individuals that I’m fond of, family members I adore, and a few kindred spirits I halfheartedly tolerate because they amuse me, but for the most part, the human race annoys the ever-loving s**t out of me.

A Curmudgeon explores the existential conflict between quiet compassion and profound annoyance

10/20/2023

Jeff Van Drew (NJ-R), who once claimed to be a moderate Democrat before betraying voters and his party by switching parties and pledging his undying loyalty to Donald Trump has voted three times in support of Jim Jordan, the most hardline Republican in the party.

How do you explain shifting from a moderate Democrat to a radical Republican?

08/22/2023

The Cape May County GOP is once again abdicating any responsibility in caring for its citizens. They’re selling us out to private business for profit.

“STATEMENT OF CAPE MAY COUNTY COMMISSION DIRECTOR LEN DESIDERIO ON THE PROPOSED PRIVATIZATION OF THE CREST HAVEN NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER

“The County of Cape May is faced with a difficult decision on the continued government operation of the Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (“CHNRC”). This is a question that has faced many New Jersey Counties. Over the past decade, Salem, Mercer, Monmouth, Burlington, Cumberland and Morris Counties, as well as others have all reached the same conclusion that Cape May County has now reached.

“For the past two years, the County of Cape May has taken a very hard look at CHNRC operations, including having our Auditor and Chief Financial Officer look back over several years to assess the financial health of the facility. During this time, the County also worked hard to stabilize the management and staffing at the facility, which was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to overcome the industry push towards the home health model. We found that from 2018 through 2021, our facility operated at a total taxpayer-covered deficit of over $26 million. The Board of Commissioner’s responsibility is to all the taxpayers, and it is clear that the long-term care facilities in Cape May County are able to provide the care that is needed in our community. It is no longer feasible for taxpayers to shoulder the amount it costs to operate Crest Haven. As so many other New Jersey County governments have concluded, the operation of long-term care facilities is best left to the private sector.

“Our first concern is for the residents of Crest Haven. A contract will only be awarded to a company that has the dedication and ability to continue to provide the best care to Crest Haven residents. No resident will be turned out and the County will assist every family throughout any facility transition.
The employees of Crest Haven are also of paramount concern to the Board of Commissioners. With that in mind, any contract will have to include a commitment to retain as many current employees as possible. The County is also retaining a substantial number of employees and moving them laterally within the County workforce. The County is committed to ensuring that no one will lose their job.

“This was a big decision for the County, and it was a hard decision, but sometimes the easy decision is not the right decision. It might be easier not to change. But it would be unfair to ask County taxpayers to continue to cover an annual operating deficit that has reached over $7 million and is projected to surpass $10 million per year before the end of the decade.
We know not everyone will agree with this decision, but as so many of our fellow Counties have done over the past several years, it is time for Cape May County to ensure the long-term care of the Crest Haven residents while relieving taxpayers of an unsustainable and growing multi-million-dollar annual deficit.”

12/19/2022

https://medium.com/ellemeno/the-myth-of-hiring-only-the-best-candidates-c3a7c652e019

“The Myth Of Hiring Only The Best Candidates”

The fallacious argument against diversity in the workplace and our inability to see value outside of our own experiences.

The fallacious argument against diversity in the workplace and our inability to see value outside of our own experiences

12/19/2022

https://capemaystandard.com/2022/02/23/book-banning-is-only-the-tip-of-the-spear/

Still relevant.

School Boards have once again become the chosen battlefield of conservative activists interested in fighting a culture war at the local level. We saw this in the 80s when there was also a groundswell surge to ban books, music, video games, and movies. Back then, it was less partisan, with elements f...

07/26/2022

The latest trope that seems to have taken social media by storm is the idea that the mainstream media is making some concerted effort to hurt Joe Biden, or the Democratic Party in general, in order to perpetuate a cycle of outrage and conflict for profit. This isn’t quite a conspiracy theory yet, but it has all the makings of one. Some evil cabal of the rich and powerful, coordinating their efforts to control the masses for their own dark purposes. The Illuminati of news.

The news media is designed to be critical of those in positions of power — holding them accountable regardless of political party

07/26/2022

In today’s political environment, you can’t criticize the Democratic Party, the leadership, or our elected officials without either being accused of disloyalty or aiding and abetting the enemy. I trust the Republicans aren’t much different, but it can be hard to tell. I’m not sure they give a s**t what the average voter thinks or says.

More often than not, the Democratic Loyalists will come at you hard enough that most people don’t even bother trying to cross them. Why risk the backlash? Where is the upside? Why not just quietly support the party, give a little money, and vote when asked? That’s certainly what the Democratic party would like you to do. Go along quietly. That, in and of itself, should be a big red flag.

The Democratic Party’s willful blindness to its shortcomings hinders its ability to deliver on the promise of the real American Dream

07/26/2022

How many times during — and after — the series “The West Wing” did you hear people long for Jed Bartlet to be the actual president of the United States? How often did we wish to hear him deliver an emotionally rewarding Aaron Sorkin speech rather than a dry policy dissertation from Jon Favreau? In today’s entertainment-infused, celebrity-obsessed culture, what better way to sell a political agenda than by Hollywood-ing the s**t out of it?

What is a statesman really, but a spokesperson with charisma and gravitas that can inspire a people?

07/08/2022

Democrats spend a lot of time and energy trying to craft the perfect message that will reach everyone and offend no one. I’m sure they spend a lot of money testing these messages till they find the one that nobody hates.

This is not to say that messaging isn’t important. It’s critical. But it’s not always what you say but how you say it. Despite what you may hear, as a political party, the Republicans are horrible at messaging. Their leaders are terrible public speakers, they say outrageous nonsense, and they come up with stupid slogans that don’t make sense and are extremely easy to ridicule. They’re awful. The difference is that there is always a deeper meaning behind their message.

It’s not what you say that matters. It’s what voters hear.

Elections are won by energizing voters with a compelling, emotional appeal, not focus-group-tested slogans

07/04/2022

An Independence Day message to the part of America that still believes in democracy—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

American voters need a more effective way to pressure government to act more aggressively without resorting to disengagement or abandonment

07/02/2022

“You guys desperately need a series of constitutional amendments to reflect the values of most 21st-century Americans,” wrote an Irish fellow to me recently.

That might be the understatement of the millennia.

As I began to briefly explain the inherent difficulty in passing any sort of constitutional amendment in today’s political climate, and the overwhelming hurdle of getting two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, plus two-thirds of the State Legislatures, to approve any such measure, it occurred to me that America had long ago outgrown the framework of a document inexpertly envisioned in the latter part of the 18th century. We had let it sit idle, atrophying, believing it was special and without cause for concern. Now gangrene has set in, and the entire system has become septic.

After 246 years, 21st-century America has outgrown the confines of an 18th-century document that was poorly and hastily drawn

06/30/2022

https://medium.com/ellemeno/being-critical-does-not-make-one-disloyal-717a86e08368

Requiring blind trust and absolute loyalty over critical thinking is how you end up in a cult or in jail.

Requiring blind trust and absolute loyalty over critical thinking is how you end up in a cult or in jail

06/30/2022

The Dismal Failure of the Democratic Party And What To Do About It

After decades of failed leadership, the Democratic Party has become an impotent vessel for failed promises and empty gestures.

After decades of failed leadership, the Democratic Party has become an impotent vessel for failed promises and empty gestures

06/30/2022

I want the Republicans to lose.

This isn’t a passing fancy or fleeting thought. It’s more of an obsession. Sometimes, I want them to lose more than I want to win. Not a little. But a lot. Of course, that’s illogical and nonsensical, and I would never put any serious energy or resources into making that happen. My desire for retribution is severely limited, short-term, and typically fugacious. I don’t even care that much about winning, not in a political sense. My desire is not tribal. It’s existential.

The single issue is preserving democracy (with a soupçon of go-f**k-yourself to the Republicans) in order to preserve America

06/04/2022

Teaching Kids To Fish

Teaching children is not about rote learning, it’s about learning to be curious about the world.

Teaching children is not about rote learning, it’s about learning to be curious about the world

06/04/2022

Learning I Don’t Have To Swing At Every Pitch

With a daily influx of tragedies and insults, attacks on civil liberties and privacy, it’s nice to know we can take a pitch here and there?

With a daily influx of tragedies and insults, attacks on civil liberties and privacy, it’s nice to know we can take a pitch here and there

06/04/2022

Tell Me Why (I Don’t Like Mondays)

Bob Geldof’s ode to school shootings has always been a haunting reminder of the senselessness of unhinged violence.

Bob Geldof’s ode to school shootings has always been a haunting reminder of the senselessness of unhinged violence

06/01/2022

“If You Want To Solve Gun Violence Stop Focusing On Mass Shootings” by David Todd McCarty

In the big scheme of things, mass shootings remain outliers in the epidemic of gun violence in America.

In the big scheme of things, mass shootings remain outliers in the epidemic of gun violence in America

05/27/2022

“Racing Towards Oblivion” by David TOdd McCarty.

As the pace of life speeds up, our relationship with time has become fraught with anxiety.

As the pace of life speeds up, our relationship with time has become fraught with anxiety

05/27/2022

Guns and Slavery: American As Apple Pie

The same mentality that claims guns are a sacred, fundamental right, also supported the moral argument to preserve slavery.

The same mentality that claims guns are a sacred, fundamental right, also supported the moral argument to preserve slavery

05/27/2022

Partisan politics and America’s delusions of grandeur.

Partisan politics and America’s delusions of grandeur

05/26/2022

“Are Democrats The Real Narcissists?”

While Republican voters seem willing to fall in line as long as their team wins, Democrats want their way or they won’t play.

While Republican voters seem willing to fall in line as long as their team wins, Democrats want their way or they won’t play

05/20/2022

"How America Lost That Loving Feeling" by David Todd McCarty

Once enamored by the ambitious ideal that America represented, we have abandoned idealism for cynicism, and embraced individual identity over a national one.

Once enamored by the ambitious ideal that America represented, we have abandoned idealism for cynicism, embraced individual identity over a…

05/06/2022

American history ain’t what it used to be.

Long gone are the halcyon days of honorable white men setting off on their own, charting a course of liberty and justice for all. The esteemed founding fathers in their powdered wigs and buckled shoes, clamoring to break free from a tyrant who taxed their tea without their consent. Yes, yes, it was a gentler time that reasonably required a bloody revolution.

The slaves helped, of course. It was a big country full of pesky natives, and someone needed to do the hard work of taming it. Who better than a hoard of Africans, stolen from their homelands and brought here in ships, to toil away in the hot sun. Surely, no soft, white European could be expected to survive such torment. Let the dark peoples of the New World do the hard labor, so that noble white men were free to think high-minded thoughts on the nature of personal freedom and equality, in order to create a more perfect union of exclusivity and greed.

— David Todd McCarty

American history is filled with racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, colonialism, exceptionalism, and hate

05/04/2022

JD Vance is Ohio’s version of Jeff Van Drew. Spineless cowards with no principles who simply want to be somebody important and don’t care who they have to blow to get there.

05/04/2022

Voting is power.

05/04/2022

Privacy is foundational to civil rights and the basis for liberty in a free and open society.

The right to privacy is fundamentally at the core of civil liberties in America. Liberty, otherwise known as personal autonomy, is central to our belief that as human beings, we have certain inalienable rights, that should not be abridged by the government. The Bill of Rights is basically a list of....

05/04/2022

The time is ripe for a hero to emerge that can lead Democrats to victory. It’s not our current president, but it could be. Who will stand up and say, “No more.”

The tanks are rolling in. Who will be our Zelensky?

Who will stand?

05/04/2022

During the McCarthy hearings, if you were called, you testified (on television), whether you plead the fifth or not. Turn the tables. Make all these people show up and testify about their role in Jan 6. If they plead the fifth, they plead the fifth. Make them do it publicly, question by question.

Ask them the questions. Let silence be their answer.