Horned... Everything?

What is this weird trend of putting unicorn horns on all sorts of stuffed animals? Of course there have been stuffed unicorns since I was a little girl (I still have one named Maria from when I was seven), and narwhals are a hot commodity right now, but they really exist. In December when Travalon and I went to visit my relatives in Chicago, we found a little dragon with a unicorn horn, and we got it because we have a couple of other dragons. Since dragons (like unicorns) are imaginary, I have no problem with adding a horn to one. But now I see kittens and owls with unicorn horns! What the what?? Where is this trend coming from, and how do we end it?

Going back to my topic yesterday of the shocking greed some people are demonstrating during this current tragedy, I forgot to mention one of the most egregious examples: the small business loans gobbled up by huge corporations. To be fair, a number of them have been shamed into giving the money back, but I recently saw a horrific statistic that 95% of small businesses owned by people of color were denied these loans, and 90% of small businesses owned by women. Partly this is because the big banks prioritized the big companies, since their commission from a $4.9 million loan is much larger than their commission from many $17,000 loans. But where was the oversight? Why was a corporation that owns high-end steak houses getting an enormous loan from a pool that was supposed to be for tiny businesses with less than a dozen employees? I regret to say that I am not shocked that this happened, although the corporations themselves do seem a bit shocked by the backlash against them. Since I don't regularly eat $100 steaks, my boycotting these companies wouldn't make much difference, but you would think they would consider the bad publicity. I am a bit surprised at how open the corruption is nowadays, and how little some people care whether they are considered hypocrites. At long last, have they no decency?

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Make 2020 a Jubilee Year!!

So many people are struggling right now. My neighbor says she has talked to other small business owners who are down to their last $25, and it seems unsustainable that everyone would be so broke. I said her landlord should not charge rent during this time, and she said he has a mortgage, so then I had an idea - why not make 2020 a jubilee year? In the Bible, every fifty years they had a jubilee year, when all debts were forgiven. Think about it: not only is 2020 a nice, round number and so fit for a special year, but if the landlord didn't have a mortgage and the tenants didn't have rent, then the only people out money would be some obscenely rich people in the banking industry, who instead of making $50 million in bonuses this year maybe could only get a $10 million bonus or something. The sad thing is that some of the richest people on earth are actually making a huge profit during this pandemic, while so many other people are losing money when they already have so little. A jubilee year would rectify those wrongs. How do we start a movement?

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Million Dollar Bill

A coworker gave me a million dollar bill. Check it out:

I love that the president on it is Rutherford B. Hayes. And why do we always refer to him that way? Never Rutherford Hayes without the middle initial. I mean, is there some other Rutherford Hayes we could get him confused with so we must specify the B?

The best part about this fake bill is that it is a bit of stealth evangelization, which my coworker didn’t notice when he gave it to me. (He thought it was a joke, but not that kind of joke.) Here is what it says on the back:

The million-dollar question: will you go to Heaven when you die? Here’s a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God’s name in vain? Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That’s not God’s will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. You broke God’s law. But Jesus paid your fine. That means He can legally dismiss your case. He can commute your death sentence – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please repent (turn from sin) today and trust alone in Jesus, and God will grant you the gift of everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it.

Then it gives a website that I checked out for your convenience. It seems to be a website that sells religious tracts. So this million dollar bill is actually a sales pitch.

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Poor Guy

My office mate Light Bright told me this story yesterday: as she was waiting in line to vote in the recent election, she struck up a conversation with the short white guy with an East Coast accent behind her. He was telling her that he was sick of all these rich politicians who only care about other rich people, and wouldn’t it be nice if they would buy his groceries since he couldn’t afford to. He went on and on about how poor he was, and how poor his mother out in New York was… and then he pulled out a Smart phone. Now neither Light Bright nor I have Smart phones. Hey! Maybe that’s why we can afford to buy groceries.

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