Legging it

This past Sunday two teenage girls were not allowed to board a United Airlines flight at Denver International Airport headed for Minneapolis because they were wearing leggings.

That sentence is all it took for social media to go crazy. People too lazy to read the whole article were going off half-cocked hurling insults at United for being unruly. It doesn't take much to set off Twitter and Facebook, even something as trivial as this did it.

Here's the part people missed: the teenagers were "pass riders." Per United: "One of the benefits of working for an airline is that our employees are able to travel the world. Even better, they can extend this privilege to a select number of what we call "pass riders." These are relatives or friends who also receive the benefit of free or heavily discounted air travel... When taking advantage of this benefit, all employees and pass riders are considered representatives of United. And like most companies, we have a dress code that we ask employees and pass riders to follow."

The New York Times aptly named one of their articles on this matter: What Can You Wear on a Plane? It Depends Who’s Paying. Another New York Times article, After Barring Girls for Leggings, United Airlines Defends Decision, explains that this was started by a passenger who waiting to board a flight at the same airport. She took it upon herself to tweet about what was happening during the incident while saying that United was "policing the clothing of women and girls."

The leggings weren't really the issue. The only issue was that the teens didn't follow the dress code for pass riders. United wasn't doing anything crazy.

The only reason I brought this up is to paint a picture of the social climate today. Many people hear a fragment of a news story or a conversation and go straight to social media for blood. 

As I said, even something trivial like a dress code violation can be turned into a social media firestorm. People have mostly been this way forever, but social media made it easy for people to rant and rave while being completely ignorant. There were twits before Twitter.

As the young folks say today: check yo self before you wreck yo self. As in think before you do something. It's a crazy idea, isn't it?

A Day Without Women (edited)

I would like to take a moment to thank the women who not participating in "A Day Without Women". These women, the ones not participating, are doing the right thing by going to work, taking care of their children, or doing whatever else they have to do. The women participating in this demonstration are doing themselves, their families, and society more harm than good. Women are important to our country and I don't deny that, but marching and laying out of work are not proving anything. 

There's a lot of supposed problems with being a woman in America, according to the news. I'm here to say that America is the best country on the planet for women. Women in America can vote, they can go outside without a man, they can drive, beating women is a crime, they can have a career in practically any field, they don't have to wear hijabs, and they can do pretty much anything they want to. In other nations around the world women aren't allowed to do anything I listed and their husbands can legally beat them. Many women in Africa have to walk miles through deserts and war torn towns just to get water for themselves and their children.

So, to the women laying out of work and marching, please don't let the media and the radicals get you riled up about how bad America is. Compared to the Middle East and Africa, America is paradise. Don't forget that when you're complaining about oppression. My hat goes off to the women in the Middle East and Africa who have to live in those conditions. These women are the ones who truly need help in this world. Why don't you march to that? 

There's just no sense in this mess. I'm not trying to be "that" guy, but I'm tired of people who live here complaining about America. I know America is not perfect, however, no other country is as good as America. We have it good here. 

Edit: I removed the original ending, because I wrote it in haste and it got off of the message I was trying to get across. All I meant to say was that I don't see the problems these women talk about. I do, however, appreciate all that women contribute to our country. 

Pres. Trump's Address to Congress

President Trump's first address to Congress on Tuesday was very presidential and much different than his campaign speeches. Trump didn't use his normal language, but he spoke calmly and collected. That's not to say that I doubted he had the ability to speak this well, because he knows how to give speeches. I'm glad he did change his tone from his campaign speeches; I didn't particularly like those speeches, but that's in the past and not the present. As many pundits have put it: Trump became the president in that address.

Another thing that this address displayed was the pettiness of the Democratic Party. I read a study the other day (I can't find link to it) that said about 64% of Americans agree that if the Democrats don't work with Trump then their standing among citizens will be harmed. If this study is a good representation of Americans, the Democrats should reconsider their course of resistance and persistence, as Hillary Clinton encouraged in her little video. Most Americans hate political gridlock and that's what Clinton is suggesting. 

The Democrats certainly showed themselves at the address Tuesday by refusing to stand and clap at almost everything. They seem to have forgotten that they are our representatives, We the People put them there. 

Trump pointed out some serious problems that need to be fixed and promised to fix them, which he hopefully will. The problems that I'm personally glad he brought up are ISIS, Iran, the attacks on Jewish people, the infrastructure of our country, school vouchers, and immigration. All of these problems should have received bipartisan applause and should receive bipartisan attention in Congress. 

I'm going to keep this post short, because I'm working on a longer post on another topic. Nonetheless, I wanted to at least commend Pres. Trump on a well put together address. I'm trying to be a little more supportive of the President, even though he wasn't my first choice. I was a part of this election, which is something I'm proud of. I only hope politicians and regular citizens will be less angry about Trump.

I know everyone doesn't agree with Pres. Trump's policies and I get that. I have empathy for them after the last eight years. I'm not going to trash Obama, but I didn't agree with most of his policies. Regardless of my personal feelings, Obama was the president. The office of the president should be respected no matter your personal feelings.