Dave Richards for July 17th…………
--Well, here we are, folks, our first full-fledged heat wave of the summer and it seems to me that a lot of people have adopted my attitude on the matter. Just grin and bear it. The two extremes of temperature are both “enjoyed” here in Rhode Island. But between the two I’ll take the summer heat any day. (Especially in January.) I’m not any more comfortable than anyone else sweating, but there’s always a fan or air conditioning available and I have decided that I’ll complain about the cold and keep my lip zipped about the heat.
Be careful out there….
--Speaking of being careful, I’m reading a report from the federal Center for Disease Control that over the last 20 years there has been an increase in deaths from “unintentional injuries”. This made me think. What is an “unintentional injury”? According to the study, the three leading causes of death in this category are traffic accidents, drug overdoses, and falls.
It still doesn’t make good sense to me. Traffic accidents have been happening for over a hundred years, but if you believe the car commercials today’s automobiles are safer than automobiles have ever been, automatically hitting the brakes for you if you are distracted or don’t see a hazard.
Next, drug overdoses. Today they have this miracle drug called Narcan. It’s supposed to save you if you overdose on opioids. We never had this back in the 60s and 70s. When you overdosed back then, that was the end of you.
Then there’s falls. With the proliferation of mobility aids like scooters, electronic stair-lift chairs, and wireless buttons you wear to call for assistance, some of which automatically call for help when it detects a fall even if you don’t. You’d think deaths from falls would be on the decline.
Add all this up and I just can’t figure how accidents today cause a more than 40% increase in deaths. Is it possible that people aren’t trying hard enough to be safe?
As I said, be careful out there.
--Speaking of illegal drugs, police in Loretto, Tennessee have issued a press release asking the public to refrain from flushing them down the toilet. Of course, I don’t know much about illegal drugs but the one thing I thought I understood was that people who use them only flush them when in imminent danger of being caught with them by law enforcement officers. At that point they don’t care. Nonetheless, the cops in Loretto are telling folks to call them to dispose of their illegal drugs safely. Hmmmmm. Seems to me that’s about the last thing those folks would want to do, especially since the cops don’t promise not to arrest you if you give them your stash to dispose of safely.
My understanding is the reason the police have issued this request is because they’ve been pestered by some wildlife which has recently been ‘exposed’ to some meth amphetamine which made them act crazy aggressive. The animals include a squirrel and an alligator. Okay…..
--Dr. Maria Carrillo is a neuroscientist with the national Alzheimer’s Association. She’s making news in Los Angeles at a convention of nearly six-thousand Alzheimer’s researchers with her message of living a healthy lifestyle to avoid the dreaded disease.
Yes, it’s a hard sell. For centuries members of the medical profession have been trying to “guilt” people into healthy living, and sometimes they resort to scare tactics. At first this seemed to be more of the same. But upon further study, Dr. Carrillo backs her statements up with data which indicates that people who don’t get enough sleep or use chemicals to assist them in sleeping have a higher likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s in later life than those who get the recommended number of “Z’s” most of the time.
--Lastly, the Trump Administration has a new twist on an old idea. Many have been frustrated with the number of people coming over the U.S. border with Mexico into our country from other countries all over the world seeking asylum. Some have called this “Immigrant Laundering”. In other words, they don’t come to America directly from their home country, they come to America but first stop in Mexico because they’re told it’s real easy to into the U.S. from Mexico. Then they request asylum saying they would be in danger if they go back to their homelands.
Well, the clever idea, I think, is that Mr. Trump has issued an executive order which states that if an immigrant goes to Mexico or a similar country, they must first seek and gain asylum there before they’ll be allowed to seek asylum in the U.S. In other words, “if you are fleeing for your life and you don’t come directly to the U.S., seek asylum where you land. If granted there, we may extend you the same courtesy if you come here”.
I think this is one time I can agree with the president. This order allows people to use the asylum request legitimately, but not take unfair advantage of it.
--That's what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332.
Thanks for reading.
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