Carole Simpson

Zip It on the Ailments, Old Folks!

Sep 13, 2019 | Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Zip It on the Ailments, Old Folks!

Hello, Everybody. I have something to say about old people’s complaints about getting old. It’s boring.

      Who wants to hear all about their aches and pains, and operations and what the doctors said? I know—it’s very important to them, but not to the rest of us. Now, I’m not talking about people with life-threatening diseases that most people would want to know about. I’m talking about visiting or calling up a friend and having them talk only about the things that hurt. Their knees, their hips, their stomach, their back. That’s all they want to talk about.

      Lately, I’ve been hearing complaints from all kinds of friends and relations. I guess it’s because there are more older people alive today than ever in our history. The 74 million baby boomers are getting old and, by God, they’re going to tell you about it. But if they don’t start talking about things other than their pains, people will avoid them and stop calling or visiting. Then the old folks will be lonely, and they’ll complain about that.

      Aging is inevitable, universal and terminal. It is what it is. So, you may as well make the most of it and stop your belly aching. Nobody wants to hear it.

See you next time.

The Right to Bear Arms? Maybe Not

Sep 8, 2019 | Gun Violence, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

The Right to Bear Arms? Maybe Not

Hello everybody. I have something to say about the right to bear arms.

The American people are nearly unanimous in wanting something done to stop the gun violence and mass shootings which have shattered the nation’s domestic tranquility. Yet nothing has been done. Not by the President; not by Congress. The Second Amendment to the Constitution is one of the biggest obstacles. And I believe it’s because it has been misinterpreted. Yes, even by the Supreme Court. Do you know what it says?  It reads, and I quote:

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” 

The National Rifle Association and gun advocates have conveniently lopped off the first words of the Amendment and use just the last words: the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Bet you probably haven’t even heard the whole sentence.

The Founding Fathers write first about a state militia in which citizens can keep arms to protect their state from the federal government or other entities that would do them harm.

Do you really think they intended for Americans in 2019 to own nearly 400 million guns to protect themselves? No. They could never have imagined the deadly guns available today. They were talking about muskets, not AK-47s. And they were talking about state National Guards, not Bonnie and Clyde.

Since a conservative Supreme Court has interpreted the Second Amendment to protect gun owners, Americans will continue to take license to buy guns. But there is nothing in the Constitution that would prevent our government from placing limits on what kinds of guns people can buy and what kinds of people can buy them. Fellow citizens, can’t we at least do that?

 Until next time.

Bye-Bye Baby

Aug 27, 2019 | Family, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Bye-Bye Baby

Hello everybody. I have something to say about sons who get married.

         Our family is heading to Los Angeles in a few days to attend the wedding of my Baby Boy to a perfectly lovely California girl. But I am feeling a little melancholy. He’s 38 years old and it’s time, but he’s still my Baby Boy. I feel like he’s abandoning me for another woman. I know, that’s stupid.

        I gave him my all. I taught him to walk and to talk and to read. I potty-trained him and made him get his homework in on time. His father and I were like hawks when it came to high school parties. He never gave us any trouble and he’s now a successful Hollywood talent manager representing directors and screenwriters. But he is still my Baby Boy.

        No one was more excited than I when he announced he was getting married to his long-time girlfriend. She’s a professional woman in the movie industry, has a great personality and she’s a knockout redhead. We have traveled and celebrated holidays with her. She fits in very well. What more could a mother want for her Baby Boy?

         The wedding, I’m sure, will be lovely. And I’ll be happy. But you know what would make me really happy?  For my Baby Boy and his wife to have some babies soon. This Grandma can’t wait for more baby boys and baby girls.

See you next time.

Unfashionable Summer

Aug 15, 2019 | Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Unfashionable Summer

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about how people dress in the summertime. I don’t know if you have traveled by air lately. But I was stuck at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and I had time to sit and just look at people passing by and most of them looked bad.

I want to be comfortable like anyone else while traveling on a plane. I understand the desire to shed suits and ties and dresses and heels, but I think the traveling public has taken casual, way too far.

I want to start with the men. I know I’m generalizing but a majority were in tank tops and shorts with hairy arms, hairy legs and hairy backs on display, and a gazillion tattoos amidst the fur on their bodies. And you could hear them clomping down the concourse, slap, slap, their naked feet in rubber flip flops. Not a pretty sight. There was a sea of baseball caps, baseball caps everywhere. I always thought they looked best on baseball players. A couple of macho men sported straw cowboy hats and I don’t think they were flying to Wyoming.

The ladies did not escape my prying eyes. Like the men they had parts of their bodies exposed for all to see.  There were teenage and college-age girls wearing short shorts and you could see their butt cheeks hanging out.  And hanging out in front of women of many ages, were “the girls.” Too much of the girls was hanging out.  Belly buttons and love handles, better left unseen, were poking out from under tube tops and cropped shirts. Let me not forget the plus-size women squeezed into leggings so tight they seemed they would burst at any moment.

I’m not beyond criticism. You probably hate this colorful blouse I am wearing. But I can hardly wait for colder weather when everybody has to cover themselves up to stay warm. Everybody will look a whole lot better.

See you next time.

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Fear and Loathing in America

Aug 12, 2019 | Congress, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say., Trump | 0 comments

Fear and Loathing in America

Hello Everybody.  I have something to say about “fear and loathing,” in all of America. The 255 mass shootings so far this year have freaked us out. The white nationalist expressions of racial hatred and anti-Semitism have made us afraid to go work, shopping, church, school, movies and doing things outdoors. We don’t feel safe anywhere.  And to make things even more scary is the fact that most Americans have no confidence that the government will take the actions or pass the laws that would calm our fears and keep us safe.

       The most visible of fear was the video taken in Times Square when a motorcycle back-fired and hundreds of tourists ran for their lives because they thought somebody was shooting a gun at them.

      When Trump gave his inaugural address, he spoke of “American carnage.” That struck me. It was an odd description. Now I wonder if he were talking about the past or predicting the future? Because we are definitely seeing the carnage.

     President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans when we entered World War Two, that the only thing they had to fear, was fear itself. With apologies to FDR…today we have to fear young white men with tiny little brains and great big guns.

Until next time.

Reagan Called Black People “Monkeys”

Aug 6, 2019 | Racism, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Reagan Called Black People “Monkeys”

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about racist presidents. I’m sure you’ve heard about the racial slurs Donald Trump has been hurling around recently. But Ronald Reagan? One of the most beloved and revered Republican Presidents? No!!!

       Ohh, yes!!!  From the archives of the Nixon Presidential Library an audio tape was just released of a conversation between President Richard Nixon and Reagan, who was then Governor of California. In 1971, Reagan called Nixon and told him about what happened in the United Nations the day Communist China was accepted as a member.

       The delegates from Tanzania apparently did a victory dance on the floor. And from the transcript of the phone call let me quote what Reagan said to Nixon: QUOTE:  “Last night, I tell you to watch that thing on television as I did. To see those monkeys from those African countries, damn them.  They’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.”

      And Nixon enjoyed retelling that nonsense again and again.

      As a reporter I covered both Reagan and Nixon… and it was hard to imagine them calling black people “monkeys,” and “cannibals,” I only saw them at official events where they acted very presidential. At first, I laughed about the stories, they were so ridiculous. But then I got angry. I remembered that recently my 10-year-old granddaughter at her predominantly white private school, was called a “monkey” on four separate occasions. My cute little granddaughter. She couldn’t understand why her classmates would call her names like that.

       Where do little white boys learn that it’s okay to call a little black girl an ape?  Well, probably at home, or it could be from the media, or maybe even from presidents of the United States.

See you next time.

Trump’s Racist Tweets Go Too Far

Jul 29, 2019 | Racism, Something. To. Say., Trump | 0 comments

Trump’s Racist Tweets Go Too Far

Hello Everybody.  I have something to say about Donald Trump’s racist, malicious, and hurtful tweets about black Congressman Elijah Cummings and Baltimore.

Trump has the audacity to demean my people, and brown people living in American cities. He says they are crime, rat and cockroach-infested. He suggests the people are to blame. Really, Donald? Really? How about neglect, poverty, no jobs, redlining and the lack of public services? I think so.

      I watched the respected Victor Blackwell, a CNN anchorman, fight back the tears as he expressed his anger at Trump for calling Baltimore, the city in which he was born and bred, a “disgusting…mess”…”filthy and dangerous” and of course, “rodent-infested.” I suppose he’d say the same about my old neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago.

       There are 37 million African Americans in this country. Thirty-seven million. It seems Donald Trump has only been exposed to black athletes and rappers. Oh yes, and his Uncle Tom Cabinet Secretary Ben Carson.  Has Trump ever had contact with working class and middle class black and brown people?  The vast majority who work hard every day to survive and who strive for the same things white people want: a good job, a nice home, good schools for their kids, and the pursuit of some happiness. Has Trump seen them? No, he hasn’t seen them. He doesn’t want to see them. Easier to paint us all with a wide brush of criminal activity, low I.Q.’s and dirt.       

       I have nightmares. You know what I think Trump is up to—and it scares me to say this—but I think he would like to begin the eradication of black and brown people from America. His Twitter campaign and his rallies have been building hatred and distrust. His master plan includes denying Muslims entry into the country.

       But his main attention is focused on South of the Border. He’s barred immigrants from Mexico and Central America. His administration has made those brown people seeking asylum, “untouchables” by forcing them into inhumane conditions. And by God he’s going to wall them off. And the cities, which he ignores other than to denigrate them, will be left to black people, who will only be able to find refuge in crime-infested ghettos.

It makes me so mad. Nobody in this country seems to have the will, the desire or the courage to stop Trump from tearing the country apart. What are you doing?

Mueller Time, Not Great

Jul 25, 2019 | Congress, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Mueller Time, Not Great

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about Robert Mueller’s performance before two House committees. To be blunt, it was bad. It was sad.

        The Special Counsel reluctantly agreed to testify about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. When Mueller began answering questions, he seemed to start going downhill.

         It pains me to say it, but Mueller looked old, older than his 75 years. His speech was halting, and he kept asking his House interrogators to repeat the question. At times he seemed confused. Unfortunately, I think most people came away from the hearings not remembering Mueller’s assertion that the president could be indicted after he leaves office, but with a strong impression that Mueller is losing it.

        New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries said the Democrats didn’t ask Robert DeNiro to testify, they asked Robert Mueller. Well, that’s what they got. And he did little to increase calls for impeachment.

       See you next time.