Random Thoughts 2015, Volume 2

Is there anything new to add after the latest mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that hasn't already been said before?  Or will likely be done about it?

Pope Francis has said that climate change is happening.  Now if he could only convince corporate executives and politicians who worship money more than they do God.  Oh by the way, doesn't the Pope have his own toxic mess to deal with?

How can anyone have an intelligent discussion about the Trans Pacific Partnership if no one knows, or can say what's in it?

Rachel Dolezal used to run the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP until her parents claimed she was born white.  Dolezal said she identifies as black, and those aren't her real parents.  Who's telling the truth?  Does it really matter if she's black or white?  And how did the NAACP get caught up in all this?

The clown car that is the number of Republican candidates running for President now includes Donald Trump.  He may not be the nominee, but he's upped the entertainment quotient considerably.

With all due respect to Senator Bernie Sanders, isn't he just token opposition for the Hillary Clinton juggernaut?

A woman on the ten dollar bill to stand alongside Alexander Hamilton?  What happened to the efforts to get rid of Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill?  For what it's worth, our choice would be Eleanor Roosevelt.

Jerry Seinfeld has complained that political correctness is killing comedy.  No Jerry, 9/11 did.

Brian Williams is back at NBC after being suspended for "misremembering" certain things about how he covered events.  He's been demoted to "breaking news" anchor status at struggling MSNBC.  How much do you want to bet that Lester Holt, who replaced Williams as "NBC Nightly News" anchor, is looking over his shoulder?

Bruce Jenner is now Caitlyn, a former Olympic decathlon champion who became identified with the Kardashian circus--and look what she is now.  So far, she hasn't been asked by the International Olympic Committee to give back her gold medal from the 1976 Games, and already she's being put up as a model of 'courage'.  Well, if changing your sex is something you thought you should have been doing all along, maybe it is courageous.

In other news, Kim Kardashian announced she's pregnant with a boy.  A fact which shouldn't surprise most NPR listeners, or anyone else.