Stop Lumping ALL Older Black Folks Together

While watching CNN recently, I listened to the commentators talk about the impact the black vote will have on who gets the nod in the Democratic party to run for President.  The general consensus was (backed up by a recent  Poll) that Joe Biden had an overwhelming amount of support from black people age 65 and older. According to Michael Nutter, a former Philadelphia Mayor and current Democratic National Committee member, the assumption is, "You go with what you know.  A lot of folks know Joe Biden.  There's power and loyalty in that."  Why?  Because he was President Obama's VP?  He, just like many of the other white candidates, are pimping the black vote.

I'm not quite in that age group but I'm close enough and, for the record, I am NOT on the Joe Biden bandwagon.  As a matter of fact, most of the people in my circle aren't in his camp.  Many of us haven't forgotten how disrespectful he was to Professor Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings AND the fact that he didn't offer an apology until he officially entered the presidential race.  Those of us who read and listen to more than one news source may recall some comments printed back in 1975 when he was a Senator.  He was quoted by a Delaware publication as saying:

"I don't feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather.  I feel responsible for what the situation is today for the sins of my own generation, and I'll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago."

If you watched the most recent Democratic debate, you saw him avoid answering the question when a reporter brought up the comments he made in 1975.  Instead, he rambled on about how some black parents don't really know how to raise their kids.

Putting Joe Biden front and center as the CHOICE of the Democratic party is another media ploy---just like the media couldn't get enough of the soundbites and antics of Donald Trump during his presidential run.  I've said it before and will continue to say it:  The media is responsible for putting Trump in the White House.

Here's the truth about polls:  They can be shaped anyway you choose for the result you want.  I don't actually know what "overwhelming support by black voters 65 and older" actually means because I don't know how many voters were actually surveyed for the responses provided.  I do know that if you only interviewed 1000 people and more than 600 said they support Biden, that could be viewed as overwhelming support but interviewing only 1000 black people 65 and over is ridiculous when the population is more than four million.

I vote faithfully EVERY ELECTION even though I do feel, sometimes, that my vote holds little value (especially after the 2016 Russian interference).

If any political pundits do happen to read this, please be advised I am not on the Joe Biden bandwagon and I would appreciate it if you respect the fact that not all of us speak with the same voice when it comes to politics.  Thank you very much.

Baby Boomers Wanted for Marijuana Survey

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), marijuana use among baby boomers between the ages of 55-64 has jumped a whopping 455 percent!  Thankfully, I am NOT in that statistic but it shows that smoking pot isn't necessarily "a thing of the past" when it comes to the baby boomer generation. We were known for becoming the first generation to become openly infatuated with, and addicted to, illegal drugs.

And get this:  Marijuana use among people 65 years old and older is up by more than 300 percent!

Certainly, the fact that marijuana is legal for recreational use in 9 states and legal for medical purposes in 30 states contributes to this dramatic increase.

With this in mind, award-winning senior living designer, Lisa Cini, has created a survey to determine if and how today's baby boomers and seniors are using marijuana.  She says the information she gathers anonymously will help her and her team understand if and how marijuana use among the baby boomer generation should be accounted for in the living environments they create for us. 

I've already taken the survey so even if you aren't currently a "weed head" you can still help her out with your responses.  Here is the link:

https://content.leadquizzes.com/lp/ZyyQC3WChA

Oh, and in case you didn't know....here are the 9 states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use:  Washington State, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and Washington, DC.

These are the states where marijuana use is NOT legal for any purpose:  North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana, Kansas, Utah, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho.

Millennials and Digital Dating Abuse

As the mother of a Millennial, I became concerned when I read the results of the annual Truth About Abuse Survey conducted by Mary Kay.  Yes, I'm talking about the same Mary Kay Company that created an empire by making women of all ages look beautiful and developed many entrepreneurs who show off their financial success with their trademark pink cars.

The survey implies there is a new epidemic spreading among our young people and it's called Digital Dating Abuse.  So exactly what is this type of abuse?  According to The Women's Freedom Center website, Digital Dating Abuse is "a form of verbal and/or emotional abuse, which can include unwanted repeated calls or text messages, pressure to send nude or private pictures or videos, and the use of social media networking sites to bully, harass, stalk or intimidate a girlfriend/boyfriend.

Some of the signs of digital dating abuse include a boyfriend or girlfriend who:

• Tells you who you can or cannot be friends with on Facebook or other sites
• Sends you negative, unwanted, insulting or even threatening email, Facebook messages, tweets or other online messages
• Uses social media sites to keep constant tabs on you and constantly criticizing you
•   Looks through your phone frequently, checks up on your pictures, texts and outgoing calls.  

• According to the Mary Kay survey, 1 in 4 young people say they have personally experienced digital dating abuse.  So if you are a parent reading this, that means your adult daughter could very well be a victim or the young adult of one of your friends. 

• 69 percent of young people believe their peer group is more likely to tolerate abusive behavior online than in person.
• 60 percent say they would not tell a parent or guardian if they were experiencing digital dating abuse.
• 76 percent of college students say they have been victims of abuse, compared to 61 percent of high school students.

The 2017 survey is part of Mary Kay's Don't Look Away campaign which works to educate the public on recognizing the signs of an abusive relationship.  

Parents BEWARE! 

Baby Boomers and Millennials Differ on the Confederate Statues Removal

According to a recent survey conducted by Valient Market Research, more millennials want to see the confederate statues removed than do baby boomers.  These results are not surprising to me because I do believe millennials are more progressive thinkers while a large number of baby boomers have become more conservative and stale-minded as they age.  (Not me, of course).

As the Valient Poll reflects, 39 percent of Generation Y said they thought the statues should be removed, 30 percent said no, 20 percent were unsure and 11 percent had no opinion.  Meanwhile, 56 percent of baby boomers said they were opposed to the removal, along with 60 percent of people 72-years-old and older.

As for the breakdown within the various ethnic groups, it should come as no surprise that more than half of Blacks are in favor of the removal, compared to just 30 percent of whites.  What I did find rather shocking was the fact that 56 percent of Native Americans said they were not in favor of their removal.  That was even higher than the 49 percent of whites who said they against it.  

As a veteran journalist, I am often skeptical of many surveys because I always question whether they truly represent the MAJORITY of public opinion.  In this case, only 1000 people were surveyed online.  That certainly does not reflect the over 300 million people in the U.S. and if you only have 10 blacks taking the survey, only 6 would have to say they oppose the statue removals to make it reflect over 50 percent.  

I am a baby boomer who grew up in the Midwestern part of the United States so I never gave much thought to the whites in the South and their continued loyalty to the Confederacy.  But having lived here for more than 30 now, I have become very politically aware of the fear and hatred some Blacks feel towards the confederate flag and the statues of their so-called fallen heroes who did their best to divide the nation by seceding from the Union over the issue of slavery.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 1297 confederate statutes in the top 10 states of Virginia, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Florida.  Meanwhile, Oregon, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota and Minnesota are the ONLY states that don't have any at all.

I really didn't have an opinion about the confederate statues until I saw the events of a Unite the Right play out in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017 that ended with the tragic death of a young woman named Heather Heyer.  While I truly believe everyone should celebrate their heritage, I also believe the neo-nazis and white supremacists have turned their misguided, warped sense of pride into a very divisive racial issue. Perhaps Washington should consider a Museum for the Confederacy but they do not deserve to be publicly displayed as an example of great leaders who fought and died for the DEMOCRACY of this nation.

Do you see anybody in Germany protesting for the right to erect neo-nazi statues in Germany?

Family is Good for Your Health

A new survey of 1500 older adults indicates health and well-being may actually depend, in part, on how much time they spend with their extended families.

The survey, commissioned by the National Council on Aging and Humana Inc suggests that family reunions and relationships inspire older adults to stay active and pursue their own well-being. It found that nearly 90 percent of those surveyed say they feel revitalized when they spend time with family and 70 percent say they wish they saw their families more throughout the year.

In addition, one-third of those polled say they see themselves as the "connector" in the family---meaning they believe their role is to encourage communication among other family members and help coordinate family gatherings and reunions.

For more information about this survey, visit www.Humana.com/family

Spending Your Life in Tears for One Reason or Another

Did you know women spend one year and four months of their lives in tears. According to a recent survey researchers found that from birth to the age of 78, a woman will be find herself crying for at least 12,013 hours.

Here are some reasons baby boomer women might cry:

menopause
weight gain
divorce
cheating husband
adult children who return home

OK...so how many times did you cry today?

Do you cry when you look in the mirror? Another survey indicates women are constantly concerned by their appearance and worries about aging. Woman worry about their bodies 252 times a week on an average. One hundred women aged 35 to 69 were given clickers in an experiment to register each time they worried about the ageing process.

Over seven days, the average number of clicks was 252.

The survey showed that on average women had negative thoughts 36 times a day.

One woman, who had a facelift ten years ago, clicked 1,400 times over seven days but admitted she thought it would be more. In her waking hours, she said she experienced a negative thought about herself approximately every three minutes.

So how many negative thoughts went through your head while reading this?