Tag Archives: FDR

Humor

Welcome to Bernie’s Campfire

Video Leave a comment

Welcome to the first installment of Bernie’s Campfire, a weekly radio address similar to FDR’s fireside chats featuring Bernie Sanders. The program is recorded by a campfire as Bernie believes “the billionaire class has a stranglehold on fireplaces, leaving many Americans with no choice but to start campfires to heat their homes.” We will release new episodes every Thursday and will tackle topics ranging from income inequality to gun control, the show will also feature dispatches from the campaign trail and answers to questions sent in from the public. Please send any questions you have for Senator Sanders to BerniesCampfire@gmail.com or tweet @SandersCampfire.

Humor

New Friend – Black Superheroes

2 Comments

Dear My New Black Friend,

Growing up, my favorite superhero was Captain America. Who did you look up to while growing up? Other than Green Lantern—he was a cool dude, am I right?

Stay Black, Todd

Dear Todd,

You know who I had to look up when I was growing up? Misty Night. Who’s that? Exactly: No one knows who Misty Night is. Actually, I don’t know any mainstream black superheroes. I know what you’re thinking. “What about the Black Panther?” That’s not a superhero, that’s an animal! You can see a black panther at the zoo. Can you drive down to the National Zoo to see Superman? No. And they don’t have black panthers at the National Zoo, but that’s not the point. And don’t give me that Obama-Man crap! Obama is not a superhero; he’s the president! No one was putting Roosevelt in a cape and expecting him to walk.

Say what you want, but honestly white superheroes have it easy. You can dress like a bat and stand in people’s houses in the middle of the night, and everybody wants to be you for Halloween. Hell, we have a holiday where a fat man in red goes down people’s chimney leaving kids presents, and nobody inquires for a background check. But a black superhero? Shit, Shaft got ticketed for jaywalking during 9/11.

In short, I too liked Captain America.
Thank you for your question.

Screen Shot 2015-10-14 at 6.25.51 PM

–Giovanni Kavota

Humor

Back In My Day – The Ebola Crisis

1 Comment

You kids are living in a golden age of medical technology. MRI machines, remote controlled robo-doctors, take-home pregnancy tests–the list goes on. Life expectancy is so high, I have yet to succumb to tubes shoved up my nose to tell me how to breathe, and I’m 86. Every disease is a fleeting cultural phenomenon that has the youth of this country hootin’ and hollerin’ as they dump water on their heads or run from one place to another.

But back in my day we knew how to take a disease head on. We didn’t partake in gimmicky viral videos; we targeted the viral infection, and we eliminated it.

In fact, there are many disease you’ve probably never heard of, thanks to my generation. Polio, for instance, is a thing of the past. I’m sure many of you don’t know what polio is, so I’ll be brief for those of you who will find this “too long” or “don’t read.” TL;DR polio was a horrible nightmare disease that left its victims sick to the point of paralysis.

When polio ravaged the countryside we had a real president running this once glorious nation. That president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man who took note of the coming polio epidemic and set out to battle it personally. This was a man who understood you couldn’t wait around for a disease to reach its potential 100,000 weekly diagnoses. He learned firsthand how the disease affected the human body, all in the name of science. And it’s thanks to his bravery that polio is a thing of the past.

President Roosevelt wasn’t the only one to take on disease. Taft foresaw the current obesity epidemic and wedged himself into a bathtub as a warning to the nation about the dangers of obesity. Even a president in office as recent as Ronald Reagan was brave enough to come out using a hearing aid, a move to eliminate the stigma associated with common geriatric devices, it was the greatest thing he could do for national health during his presidency.

So perhaps this young hotshot in the White House ought to take a lesson from his elders. All I know is back in my day, Ebola wouldn’t have been a problem.

Giles-Giles Fisher (Guest Contributor)

Giles is a prominent member of the Falls Church Assisted Living community. He is well read, with over 30 books currently in his room and over one hundred in storage. Giles enjoys playing backgammon on wednesday afternoons with his pal Franklin.