The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
THE MINIMUM WAGE & ME
by Burt Prelutsky
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Tuesday Top Headlines
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CBS fires executive “not even sympathetic” for Vegas victims because they’re “Republican gun toters” (Los Angeles Times)
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Las Vegas concert shooting prompts ESPN to change its mind about airing the national anthem (The Washington Post)
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NFL owners have data that support Trump’s claim on NFL protests hurting TV ratings (The Washington Free Beacon)
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U.S. to retaliate against Cuba for sonic attack by expelling majority of Havana’s diplomats (The Washington Times)
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IRS involved in $5 million push to pressure Americans to buy liar-nObamaCare (The Washington Free Beacon)
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Policy: Lynchpin of teachers union power returns to the Supreme Court (American Enterprise Institute)
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Logistics, Relief Expert Lady Gaga Knows
Real Reason Trump “Ignoring” Puerto Rico
by rickwells.us
{rickwells.us} ~ Lady Gaga is female but she is no lady. And her atrocious behavior both on stage and off, as a tool of the America-hating, Trump-bashing... Democrat Party is enough to make a maggot gag-gag. Gag-gag followed the lead of her fellow piece of trash, Democrat Al Green of Texas, repeating his spew of earlier Saturday, saying politics was behind the imaginary “failures” of President Trump in Puerto Rico. There are no Trump failures in that territory but there are a lot of worthless sponges who are willing to let food that could feed their territory sit on the dock and in ships rather than clear roads and drive delivery trucks. They’re ungrateful parasites in every sense of the words... https://rickwells.us/logistics-relief-expert-lady-gaga-trump/.
CNN: Zilch on Menendez Trial
Bombshell, 2 Hours on Price Plane
by Mike Ciandella
{newsbusters.org} ~ The double standard at CNN is stark. The cable news network can’t seem to find much time for the three-week long unfolding drama of the corruption trial of sitting Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from NJ... But it found nearly 2 hours in just one day to cover HHS Secretary Tom Price’s flights on private jets this coverage was all before Price's resignation. The prosecution presented evidence Thursday which suggested that Menendez of manipulating a shipment from the United States to the Dominican Republican in order to benefit Salomon Melgen, the same wealthy friend who reportedly also gave Menendez $60,000 in bribes. But these latest accusations received no coverage on CNN at all... https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mike-ciandella/2017/09/29/cnn-zilch-menendez-trial-bombshell-2-hours-price-plane?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTXprM1ptSTNNakE1WlRBNCIsInQiOiJ4OWI1TENscDU3NHk1XC81SFwvWkl6T0V2NUFzd2pLblhMZHpcL0xwNHVpUjJPaE5jU0tpcGxkaXFPMkZnS2lWUlZwR1RNSk01ZFZvWGtkMGdWb3ltOFNSSm81MWRoMzd1NnV5QmJyWFBGUkRiSDk2ekZTdmZnMnQ4ZExzeDFkY2pHTyJ9.
New Study: Most UK Jihadists
Tied to Non-Violent Islamism
{investigativeproject.org} ~ Ties to non-violent Islamism are strongly associated with an eventual embrace of jihadism, according to a new study that explores the trajectories of British jihadists... In "For Caliph and Country: Exploring How British jihadis Join a Global Movement," researcher Rachel Bryson seeks to find out how a radical global ideology has captivated so many people living in the United Kingdom. More than three-quarters of 113 randomly selected British jihadists studied were linked with non-violent Islamist organizations and networks prior to their radicalization toward jihad. For this study, jihadists include people who have engaged in terrorist operations, active supporters, and facilitators of jihadi activity... https://www.investigativeproject.org/6754/new-study-most-uk-jihadists-tied-to-non-violent
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Antifa Planning Communist
Revolutionfor America on November 4
by C. Mitchell Shaw
{thenewamerican.com} ~ The communists in the Antifa crowd are planning to begin a revolution in America on Saturday, November 4... almost exactly 100 years after the Bolshevik Revolution that took Russia out of the frying pan of Tsarist rule and into the fire of communist totalitarianism. While some see Antifa activists as the modern heroes of anti-Fascism — fighting against racism, sexism, and a litany of other “isms” — and others see them merely as the snowflake crowd of spoiled brats demanding free everything, the reality is that Antifa is one tool in the communists' toolbox to bring America to her knees. And Saturday, November 4, 2017, is the day they have chosen for the opening salvo in the American Bolshevik Revolution... https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/27027-antifa-planning-communist-revolution-for-america-on-november-4.
VIDEOS.
FEMA Official: San Juan Mayor Has Not Been Participating
FEMA Official: San Juan Mayor Has Not Been Participating
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Jesse Watters: Media Malpractice.
‘Old’ Kosciuszko Bridge Brought Down (It Was More Of A Parking Lot Than A Bridge).
Peter Schweizer Explosive Interview W/Tucker Carlson: Congressional Insider Trading.
Journalist Laura Ling’s Captivity in North Korea.
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THE MINIMUM WAGE & ME
by Burt Prelutsky
When the minimum wage is the topic of discussion, you will often hear that one of the many problems with it is that it deprives young people of the opportunity of getting that first job that will help instill in them the work ethic, the importance of presenting oneself in the best possible light, the importance of discipline, of showing up on time and doing the job right. And maybe even doing a little bit extra, so that the employer will pat himself on the back for having been perceptive enough to hire such a sterling character in the first place.
There is also the importance of realizing that money doesn’t simply grow on trees or sprout miraculously from your parents’ pockets, and the pride that comes from earning money through your own efforts.
You might even learn a few other lessons. I know I did. From the time I was 13 until I was 22, I worked every summer at my father’s cigar stand in the Harris-Newmark building located downtown at 9th and Los Angeles. It was a tall building, nine or 10 stories, filled entirely, so far as I could tell, with offices and factories devoted to manufacturing women’s clothes.
These places are called cigar stands, but we mainly sold cigarettes, candy, gum, soda pop and coffee. One of the things that made the job so onerous is that there was so little space between the back of the counter and the front of the refrigerator which stretched across most of the back wall. And as that little space was filled by at least three people -- my dad, my oldest brother and me, and sometimes, my mother -- it was hardly possible to turn in any direction and not bump into someone.
Making it even worse is that there was a large coffee urn next to the refrigerator, so once you filled a styrofoam cup, if you were jostled by one of those people, the coffee would almost certainly scold your wrist.
But, worst of all were the customers. The rich ones were the guys who owned the dress and bathing suit companies. It was for them that we carried cigars. As it happens, we also carried them. As a sign of their importance in the universe, they would never pay for the cigars when they got them. Instead, we had to run a tab for them, and hope they would pay up at the end of the month. Sometimes, they would keep my father dangling for weeks before finally settling their debt, a luxury his suppliers didn't extend him.
I came to despise them so much that I would feign idiocy rather than acknowledge I knew which cigars they always smoked. That was because, as another sign of their superior station in life, they would snap their fingers in my face, signaling, for instance, that they wanted three Churchills, and they wanted them this very instant.
For my part, I would look blank, the look that Tucker Carlson adopts when some liberal on his show is saying something utterly stupid. Even though the schmuck had ordered the same three Churchills every day for a month, I preferred having them think I had the memory of a gnat rather than allow them the satisfaction of treating me like a lackey.
But, lest you wonder why their boorish behavior didn’t turn me into a class-conscious communist, the natural antidote was there before me, constantly. I refer to the men and women, generally blacks and Hispanics, who worked for the white factory owners. If you didn’t watch them like a hawk, they would rob you blind, just waiting for you to turn your back to pour a cup of coffee so they could swipe a candy bar or a pack of gum.
My dad was working longer hours than they were, toting garbage pails filled with empty pop bottles down to the basement, and making only slightly more money than they did. But they had no compunctions about stealing a nickel or dime’s worth of merchandise.
If I hadn’t already been very good at math, I suppose the decade I spent at the cigar stand would have taught me to make change. Instead, I came away knowing that I never again wanted to work in sales, and that character and integrity have little or nothing to do with race, or whether people are rich or poor.
● Presenting the other side of capitalism, we have the case of John Harding. He let me know that after a hard day’s work, he recently stopped at a Domino’s. Knowing that his elderly mother liked their cheesy bread, he decided to surprise her with some and to pick up a chicken sandwich for himself. He had $112 in his wallet. The bill came to $17.89.
The $12 wouldn’t cover it, so he gave the cashier the hundred-dollar bill. He was told they couldn’t cash it. They suggested he go to a bank and get change.
He concluded with: “Have you ever heard of a restaurant telling a hungry customer to leave and get change? Very unprofessional.”
In response, I wrote: “Did they post a sign the way that taxis and some businesses do, alerting the customer that they can’t handle anything larger than a twenty? If not, you might have a lawsuit. Just the threat of one might be enough to get the pizza giant to supply your mom with cheesy bread for the rest of her life.
“At the very least, I would send an angry letter to Domino’s V.P. in charge of customer service. You might never have to pay for another pizza.”
As a rule, I’m not in favor of suing at the drop of a hat, but it’s outrageous that a business that sells something made from 20 cents worth of flour and 25 cents worth of pepperoni for $10 or $15 refuses to break a hundred-dollar bill.
● The other day, I heard from a reader in Colorado Springs who had moved there from El Dorado County in California. Never having heard of the place, although I’ve lived in California for over 70 years, I asked him where it was located.
He wrote back to say “It’s a Gold Country county, due east of Sacramento. Because it’s in the foothills, it’s got great wine-growing soil and climate. El Dorado County has a saying when it comes to their major export: El Dorado sells wine; Napa sells auto parts.”
That’s such a good line that if my rheumatoid arthritis meds didn’t conflict with alcohol, I’d probably run out and buy a bottle of El Dorado.
● Another reader, responding to my identifying myself as an optimist, wrote: “I have long suspected that you are an optimist. Disappointment goes hand-in-hand with that appellation. Which is why I am a cynic and a pessimist. I am never, ever disappointed. Hardly ever surprised, either. I became this way after a stretch in the Marine Corps, and becoming a federal cop cemented the notion. The ultimate curse in both institutions: ‘What could possibly go wrong?’”
In response, I let him know that “I assume that most things that people put their hand to will end disastrously. So, perhaps the fact that somehow I am still alive at the age of 77 is the only excuse I have for my otherwise inexplicable optimism.”
● Pete Wick of Woodbridge, CA, sent me a list of pithy remarks. They each had a famous name attached, but I knew for a fact that some of them never said what they are credited with having said, so I’ll leave the names off the ones I can’t verify.
“The only reason they say, ‘Women and children first’ is to test the strength of the lifeboats.” (Jean Kerr)
“Wood burns faster when you have to cut and chop it yourself.”
“Kill one man and you’re a murderer, kill a million and you’re a conqueror.”
“We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea.”
“I don’t believe in astrology. I am a Sagittarius and we’re very skeptical.”
“Hollywood must be the only place on earth where you can be fired by a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap.” (Steve Martin)
“The first piece of luggage on an airport carousel never belongs to anyone.”
“I have kleptomania, but when it gets really bad, I take something for it.”
“Too many Americans worry less about losing their constitutional rights than losing their TV transmission.” (Burt Prelutsky)
● It recently occurred to me that I generally enjoy getting feedback from my readers, and perhaps some of you would appreciate having the opportunity to communicate with like-minded people. I am willing to help facilitate the program, but in order to keep it manageable, I think it would be best to limit the out-reach to people who reside in the same state.
Unfortunately, there are states where I have only one subscriber.Even more where I have none. But in those states where I have between 2 and 5, which might indicate you suffer from political isolation, I am willing to supply you with the email addresses of others who let me know they would be interested in having the modern version of a pen pal.
Those states are Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and two in Canada.
If you’re interested, send me an email (BurtPrelutsky@aol.com) and be sure to mention your state, so I don’t have to look it up.
If you want to Comment directly to Burt Prelutsky, please mention my name Rudy. BurtPrelutsky@aol.com
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