Vickie Akin: June 20, 2019 News Roundup

MICROAGRESSIONS: CAN WE PLEASE JUST STOP!

An employee at the University of Minnesota apparently had the audacity to tell someone hello in an assumed language. Oh the humanity! A restaurant staffer on campus wished someone of Asian decent a greeting in Japanese. The Asian student, rather than being a grown up and 1) continuing on with his life, or 2) correcting the staffer via an actual conversation to let her know his tender feelings were hurt, he decided that he must, in the name of justice, file a complaint against the staffer. Fortunately for the young student, the campus bias team took swift action and referred the case to the Ethical Advocate Program. This is like when your most annoying co-worker tattles to your boss that you took too many binder clips out of the supply closet. Why must we always get people in trouble, have them reprimanded, or worse, lose their job? If you're in college, you should be practicing the art of adulting. Try it, it's not that hard.

I once had a flight attendant speak Spanish to me. I am an American of Italian heritage, and I do not speak Spanish. Literally, no offense taken. The flight attendant was trying to be nice. There was no nefarious agenda to her "implicit bias" so let's all move on with our lives.

REPARATIONS

Judiciary hearings are being held on slavery reparations. In a nutshell, the those for reparations believe the Federal Government supported slavery, and are therefore, responsible for reparations. Also, that all whites received the benefit of unpaid black labor, and are therefore, responsible for paying reparations. The opposition feels that if anyone is responsible for damage to the African-American community, it's Democrats, though a long and sorted racist history. I have no problem whatsoever with some of my tax dollars going to improve black communities. I do have a problem giving those tax dollars to Democrat city leaders, who have shown time and again that they are not capable of spending said tax dollars to the benefit of the black communities.

So far, I've heard no productive solutions from either side.

CALIFORNIA

Recall efforts are underway to recall the Los Angeles mayor for his failure to address the dire homeless situation. Democrat-led Los Angeles is spending millions of dollars to solve the homeless crises, that only keep getting worse. Recalling Mayor Eric Garcetti is a good start.

RIVERA BEACH, FLORIDA AGREES TO PAY 65 BITCOIN TO HACKERS

The city recently voted to pay nearly $600k to hackers who encrypted their files. Lesson: Don't click on unknown email links.

CREEPY JOE

Get your popcorn ready because it's going to be along election. Creepy Uncle Joe is off to a good start. He touted how graciously he worked down the aisle with segregationists within his own party and was rightly taken to task for it. He now states he was only emulating Ted Kennedy, his hero. Let's all remember that Ted Kennedy was a sexist, womanizing, frat boy who drove drunk, crashed his car, and left a young women to die.

I look forward to much more Biden.

AOC'S REFERENCE TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS

I really don't even know how to respond to this ridiculousness. Detention centers have been around a long time. Suddenly, they are all President Trump's fault. The horrors of Nazi concentration camps are not comparable to detention centers. Also, throwing the term Nazi around at everyone you don't like is ridiculous, and demeaning.

SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE SCHEDULES HEARING ON LIBRA

This seems to me like it's all semantics. Facebook will get its Libra, and hopefully millions will get an introduction into cryptocurrency. Ultimately, this will be good for Bitcoin.

SUPREME COURT RULES PEACE CROSS CAN STAND

Obviously, as a Christian I'm not offended by Christian symbols. The Supreme Court ruled the cross is a monument to fallen soldiers, and, therefore, can stand. Folks, a few religious symbols do not mean the government is endorsing a religion. Also, they won't hurt you. Really.

PHILADELPHIA REMOVES 72 POLICE OFFICERS FROM DUTY

The Philadelphia Police Department removed 72 police officers from duty due to ugly social media posts. I am a ardent supporter of the police. I believe they have a difficult job, and most want to do it well. That said, I went to Plain View and reviewed the posts. They are disturbing. Good call here.

PRIDE ACT OF 2019

This act seeks to 1) remove husband/wife lingo from federal forms, and 2) allow same-sex married couples to amend their previous tax returns in order to file "married." First using "spouse" and " married couples" is fine, I don't see much, if any, opposition there. On the tax return amendments, it is my understanding that couples already married in a same-sex states prior to the 2013 Supreme Court decision were allowed by the IRS to amend back to three years. Honestly, I have to disagree with the second part of this bill. Same-sex marriage became the law of the land in 2013. Laws frequently change that affect lives and finances, going back to "right" every injustice is just not feasible. I'm sure if I were on the possible receiving end here, I would feel differently.

LITECOIN FOUNDATION TO RELEASE PHYSICAL DEBIT CARD

We've heard this before from Litecoin, so I'm really hoping this time is the real deal.