Opinionated Blogs (1,909)

Since January, I noticed 2 out of 7 trees in the Y-intersection of the road near my apt, had a green nylon string tied around its trunk. Wondering if it was a death sign. Then days and weeks passed by and I thought I was so wrong since they were all cropped at the top. I noticed that every winter or near the end of winter, trees are cropped down. Perhaps in preparation for summer. Then near the end of Feb, I noticed that the two trees were literally leveled down to the ground. And so I was right all the time. They were so big that a person can't possibly hug it alone. Not sure if it's for safety purposes since it's near electricity lines. Just a bit sad passing by it everyday seeing 2 dead trees.

Meghan Markle reveals feeling she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore' in Oprah Winfrey interview

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's highly anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey dropped several bombshells regarding the couple's exit from the royal family.

In the wide-ranging interview aired Sunday, Harry and Meghan described painful palace discussions about the color of their son’s skin, losing royal protection and the intense pressures that led the Duchess of Sussex to contemplate suicide.

The interview with Winfrey was the couple’s first since they stepped down from royal duties and the two-hour special included numerous revelations likely to reverberate on both sides of the Atlantic.

Harry told Winfrey that he felt trapped by royal life and was surprised that he was cut off financially and lost his security last year. He also said he felt his family did not support Meghan, who acknowledged her naivete about royal life before marrying Harry, as she endured tabloid attacks and false stories.

"I went to it naively because I didn't grow up watching the royal family," Meghan said. "It wasn’t something that was part of conversation at home. It wasn’t something that we followed."

Meghan said she and Harry were aligned during their courtship because of their "cause-driven" work. But she did not fully comprehend the pressure of being linked to the prestigious royal family.

"There was no way to understand what the day-to-day was going to be like," she said. "And it’s so different because I didn’t romanticize any element of it."

Meghan, who is biracial, alleged that when she was first pregnant with son Archie, there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born." Markle said that she was not privy to such conversations, but that Harry was. She would not reveal who had the conversation with Harry, however, as she felt it would be too "damaging" to do so.

Meghan said she soon grew concerned about her son not having a royal title because it meant he wouldn’t be provided security.

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Not $2,000. Not $1,400.
Thanks Joe for another $600.

What happened to your promises of first $2,000 and then $1,400 ?

I'm waiting.

"We have won after all, because it was us versus powerful countries and we still managed to overcome our fear and break the deafening silence of decades of oppression exposing unspeakable atrocities," I told



A farmer in Çorum sold the meteorite he found in his field to a US buyer for 180 thousand dollars.

"Billion" is a word we need to stop using. It represents such a vast amount that it's vague to the point of meaninglessness to anyone not a mathematician. Any discussion using "billion" is automatically and immediately evicted to the realm of the terminally abstract, lacking any reference to the world as we know it.

What do we use as a replacement? The phrase per capita, which provides with a clear and undeniable connection to the real world. The calculations are simple: there are approximately 330 million people in the United States. A billion is 1,000 million, so dividing 1,000 by 330 equals 3.03. In other words, when the federal government spends one billion dollars, the proportionate share for every man, woman, and child is a little over three dollars. Every time you hear that a government program costs X billions of dollars, just multiply the lead number by three to arrive at your share of the spending. You should then wonder, "Did I get my money's worth?"

Instead of saying, "The U.S. Department of Energy 2021 budget ask is $35.4 billion," we should say, "The budget ask is $106.20 for each and every person in the United States." The Department of Education's ask is $66.6 billion. That works out to $199.80 for every American.

Let's take some hypothetical situations to see what this means. The federal tax burden of family of four of these two federal departments will be $424.80 for energy and $799.20 for education for a total of $1,224. Remember that this is just two of the many federal budget line items.

A family of eight, for both departments, would pay $2,448. Remember: these amounts are just for federal taxes. There could also be state and local taxes earmarked for education or green energy. These could be special items such as property taxes, special assessments, and state taxes.

The question everyone should ask is, "Am I getting my money's worth?" I'll bet most people in Texas don't think they are getting their money's worth from the Department of Energy just now.

Here is a list of the 100 worst schools in America as of June, 2017. I will bet most people with kids in these school districts don't think they are getting their money's worth from the Department of Education.

So...the next time you hear or read the word "billion," just think "three dollars." Then ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" You might be surprised how often the answer is no.

By the way, President Biden is proposing a $1.9-trillion stimulus package. Your share of that amounts to $5,700. Do you think you will get your money's worth?