Drug & Alcohol Epidemic in Teens & Young Adults.

The US Drug & Alcohol Epidemic Starts With Our Youth: The drug and alcohol epidemic in teens & young adults in the United States has reached an all-time high, with more people using prescription opioids than tobacco and more people with substance abuse disorders than people with cancer. In 2016 the Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a landmark report asking Americans to face up to our addiction epidemic and to the misuse and abuse of chemical substances. His report showed that substance abuse disorders cost the U.S. more than $420 billion a year. Dr. Vivek called for a cultural shift in the way Americans talk about the issue, and recommended the actions we can all take collectively to prevent and treat addiction and promote recovery. The surgeon general also shed some light on a common solution for these problems, and it starts with our youth: our teens and young adults. “Preventing or even simply delaying young people from trying substances is important to reducing the likelihood of a use disorder later in life.” He placed an emphasis on the importance of preventing and addressing substance use early on in adolescence, because teens who use alcohol before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder later in life, compared to those who drink at age 21 or older.

The Drug and Alcohol Epidemic In the US: Did you know that an estimated 20.8 million people in our country are living with a substance use disorder? This is a staggering number: it’s 1.5 times the number of people who have all cancers…combined. It is a calculation that does not include the millions of people who are currently misusing substances but may not yet have a “full-fledged disorder.” Even though the reasons for the high prevalence of prescription drug misuse and addictions vary due to many factors, one of the major factors is ease of access. In fact, the number of prescriptions for some medications has increased dramatically since the early 1990s and sadly the misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are “less harmful than illicit drugs” are likely contributors to the problem.

It Doesn’t Stop at Prescriptions: The biggest crime is the access our youth (teens and young adults), have had to medications. Studies show that teens and young adults who misuse prescription medications are more likely to report use of other drugs. There are direct associations between prescription drug misuse and higher rates of cigarette smoking, heavy and episodic drinking, and the use of marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other illicit drug use among young people under the age of 21. One of The National Institute of Drug and Alcohol (NIDA)’s surveys of substance use and attitudes in our youth found that high number on teenage students reported nonmedical use of the prescription stimulant Adderall and the opioid pain reliever Vicodin. It seems that after alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco, prescription drugs (taken non-medically) are among the most commonly used drugs by teens. When asked how they obtained prescription stimulants for nonmedical use, more than half of the teens and young adults surveyed said they either bought or received the drugs from a friend or relative. For far too long, people have thought about addiction and substance abuse disorders as a disease of choice, a moral character flaw or failing. It’s time to blow the lid on these stultified perceptions because we now fully understand that these disorders actually change the circuitry in our brains. They affect our ability to make decisions, change our reward system and alter our stress response. That tells us that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, and that we need to treat it with the same urgency we do any other illness. In the past we may have underestimated how exposure to addictive substances can lead to full blown addiction but this is no longer the case.

Why Teens and Young Adults Are More Prone To Addiction: Many teens turn to alcohol, marijuana or other substances as a means of coping with stress, relating to their peers, and rebelling against authority. Drinking or smoking are common starting places because to young people it may seem both cool and also excitingly risky because it’s forbidden. Unfortunately, as the Surgeon General report states, those people who begin drinking before age 15 are 4 times more likely to develop an alcohol addiction than those who wait until they are over 20. Teens who start using drugs at such an early age are more likely to have substance abuse problems and addictions later in life. One of the main reasons teens and young adults are more susceptible to addiction is their brains are still developing and will be growing and changing well into their mid-twenties. While in some ways the teenage brain is as smart as that of an adult over age 25, the ability to fully conceptualize long-term consequences, which happens with significant late growth in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, is still a work in progress.

What We Can Do To Curb The Addiction Epidemic: The addiction epidemic is real. The upshot is the US has a critical opportunity to accelerate significant and lasting change in the way substance use disorders and addictions are perceived and managed. The important call to action is for the government and elected officials in the current administration to do the following:

1. Identify and implement effective prevention and treatment programs

2. Improve prevention treatment programs

3. Integrate treatment for addiction into mainstream medical care

4. Increase access to treatment through enforcement of the parity law

5. Conduct more research which will allow us to build a public health approach to substance use disorders

There are prevention strategies, and for teens and young adults already enmeshed in addiction treatment strategies, that can address substance use disorders. Some programs are school-based, college-campus-based, or community-based, some are online and some are in person. Many programs teach our youth how to manage stress in a healthy way, because stress is one of the main reasons kids turn to substances like alcohol, illicit drugs and prescription painkillers. The key is to implement many of these evidence-based interventions.

Get Help: Solutions For Teen and Young Adult Addiction: While I’m calling attention to some pretty stark statistics here, I also want to recognize there are reasons to be hopeful. All across the US we have examples of communities stepping up and implementing prevention programs and treatment programs. And the good news: those programs are changing the lives of young people. We’ve been dealing with substance disorders for centuries. The only difference now is that we have solutions that work. Teens and young adults who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction or dependence do not have to suffer alone. There are several treatment options available, many of which are designed exclusively for teens and the unique challenges they face. If you suspect you or a loved one is becoming dependent on any drugs, or alcohol, the sooner one stars treatment the more likely it is to succeed. If you would like more information on treatment options and support groups please contact us: Call 888-535-2133

Too fat to fight: Pentagon Grapples with Obesity Epidemic.

Washington (AFP) - Forget about the high-tech military challenges from China and Russia, the Pentagon is facing a fast-growing national security threat that could be even trickier to tackle: America's obesity crisis.

A study released this week has found that nearly one-third of young Americans are now too overweight to join up, a worrying statistic for military officials already facing recruitment challenges.

"Obesity has long threatened our nation's health. As the epidemic grows, obesity is posing a threat to our nation's security as well," the Council for a Strong America states in its new report.

The Army last month announced it would miss its goal of attracting 76,500 new recruits in 2018. The shortfall is of about 6,500 soldiers -- the first time since 2005 the service had missed its hiring targets.

A strong US economy and tight jobs market played a role, but the numbers highlight the dwindling pool of applicants the Pentagon has to draw from.

According to the Defense Department, obesity is one of the top reasons why a stunning 71 percent of Americans aged 17-24 do not meet the military's sign-up requirements.
"Given the high percentage of American youth who are too overweight to serve, recruiting challenges will continue unless measures are taken to encourage a healthy lifestyle beginning at a young age," states the study, entitled "Unhealthy and Unprepared."
Other factors such as prior drug use or a lack of academic qualifications are also taking a toll.
The report, compiled by a group of retired generals and admirals, notes that the obesity issue is a particular worry as it comes when fewer young people are interested in joining the military in the first place.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general, last month said the shrinking pool of Americans eligible to serve was a "big concern."
"It's a sad state of affairs when 71 percent of the 18 to 24-year-old males in this country cannot qualify to enter the United States Army as a private," he said.
The problem should be addressed at the local level, he said, praising efforts of retired service members who are working in schools "to try to restore physical education where it's been taken out, to try to get school lunches to be things that fuel the body, instead of just giving them crummy food."
- 'Pudgy soldiers' -
The obesity problem persists even after boot camp.
According to retired Army major general Jeffrey Phillips, the military spends more than $1.5 billion each year treating obesity-related health conditions and filling positions vacated by unfit troops.

"I saw it myself: pudgy soldiers visibly pushing, or beyond, the 'height and weight' standards," Phillips wrote in a Military Times commentary.
The new report says the Pentagon has recognized the long-standing obesity problem, and is taking steps to improve the health of its troops.
One Army program, known as the Performance Triad, "aims to improve soldier readiness and encourage healthy behaviors, and to provide support to soldiers in these areas."
The Army has also introduced a new physical fitness test that measures the likelihood recruits will go on to meet the physical demands of their selected military job.
Many military facilities are equipped with top-notch gyms, and dining facilities on US bases around the world often provide nutritional guidelines.
The report concludes that the solution lies in ensuring children and parents learn about the vital importance of healthy eating and physical activity from a young age.
"Basic training lasts weeks, but building strong troops takes years. Encouraging healthy lifestyles early in life will help our nation prepare for future challenges," retired Air Force general Richard Myers said.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year found that 2.2 billion people worldwide are believed to be overweight, and more than one in 10 people are obese, fueling a global health crisis that claims millions of lives every year.

Of the world's most populous countries, the United States leads the way in terms of obesity among children and young adults, at 13 percent.

The Charleston, S.C. Shootings: When Man Becomes the Lower Animal.

One of the major fascinations I have for the Animal Planet TV channel is the constant insight it gives into the natures of the various species of animals in the jungle. One such knowledge is the strange fact that animals have no hatred for each other. As vicious as they are, carnivorous animals will never kill another animal except strictly for food. Unless it’s starving therefore, a lion or tiger will simply look on, with no interest, while a goat, deer or some other animal strolls by.

It’s however strange and quite confounding that it’s “a different kettle of fish” with human beings, the so-called higher animals. In addition to the natural law, Man will often also have to be compelled by several man-made laws before agreeing to live together in the same neighborhood. Yet, in spite of these applicable laws, there is no guarantee of amicability in the compelled desegregation. Filled with a nature that is lacking in love, kindness and decency, most humans are conceived, born and raised with such hateful orientations that will make monsters green with envy. Unlike the lower animals, offspring of humans must be taken through various forms of refinement in terms of trainings in etiquette, educational institutions and occupational codes and ethics. Sadly however, some of them will still escape through cracks in the refinement system and end up as dregs, thieves, psychopaths, rapists, perverts, and murderers.

One such example among the many society misfits is the man who went into a church in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday and proceeded on a shooting spree. He ended up fatally shooting 9 persons, including the pastor. Their only crime was that they were black.

It's tempting to describe the cold-blooded murderer as a dysfunctional character, one of the lowest in human species. But that will be too charitable. So, he is better described as a deranged animal of the worst kind. Except that even an animal of his type is not fit to live in a jungle.

Becoming Incredible Hulk at What Price?

This 25-year-old man risks his life by injecting oil and alcohol into his biceps in a dumb bid to become a real life version of the incredible hulk. There are many more fools like this guy (even among celebrities) who are doing "everything" to develop their biceps and triceps. They do this to enhance their performances in sports, act in movies or (and) for vanity.

Alas, they are all current or future candidates of impotence, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease, mental disorders, severe hair loss (they are often bald-headed) and several other physiological damages. The guy (Romario Dos Santos) a Brazilian bodybuilder, nearly lost his arms in his quest to bulk up. “I remember the doctor told me that they would need to amputate both arms…they said everything in there, all my muscles, were rock." He is now warning others to stay clear of all the dangerous "addictive".

It was Leopold Von Ranke who said (and while saying it, he must have been shaking his head in pity) “He who overcomes himself is divine. Most see their ruins before their eyes; yet, they go on into it.”

A Set of Twins With Two Fathers.

The New Jersey Law Journal reported on Thursday that a New Jersey woman got the shock of her life when she discovered that her 2-year-old twins have two different fathers. The mother (identified as “T.M.” in court documents) got the news last winter when she received the results of a paternity test mandated by a family court as part of her application for public assistance.

The order was made so as to establish the paternity of the twins (in order to make the twins' "father" pay child support). DNA test results however revealed that the woman had two sexual partners who are now separately responsible for the kids' paternity.

This is grossly absurd. But then, what else really is new in America when it comes to sex? A couple of years back, a young woman appeared on “The Maury Show” to know the father of her new baby. The man she suspected was invited to the show for a DNA test which proved that he was not the father. Then, she brought another man who was found to be free from the paternity as well. After the eighth man was also cleared, the show host was livid with anger as he asked her “Just how many men did you sleep with within the same period of a menstrual cycle?” I lost interest in the case after the woman brought the 12th man from her neighborhood. Alas, even that one was cleared by DNA.

One thing I keep finding painful in stories such as these though is the unfairness of the women involved to the children born out of such sexual recklessness. The hapless kids could have been spared all the nonsense if only their mothers were not so dumb as to engage in unprotected sex. When a woman spreads her itchy legs wide open while shutting off her brain, this is what happens.

Tasha Smith: When Life Imitates Arts.

When the movie, "Why Did I Get Married?" by Tyler Perry came out, I was of the opinion that a lot of single women should learn from the lessons that were abundantly exhibited in the movie in the area of marriage. This is because too many women appear to be interested only in mundane issues when considering future husbands. It’s always irritating to me when I hear women give reasons why they are in love or marrying a man. The stupid reasons usually range from “Oh, the guy is so cute!” to “He is great in bed”, “The man is rich” and “He has a nice car”. The most annoying part of it is that the affected women are the educated types that are not expected to be so dumb.

And, of course, the dumbest in this group of women are the celebrities. I often wonder whether it’s the fame or money that gets in the way of their common sense. An example of this stupidity is that of Tasha Smith, star of Tyler Perry’s "Why Did I Get Married?" It’s a classic case of life imitating arts. The woman obviously learned nothing from the movie’s many lessons.

According to TMZ, the actress “will think twice about getting hitched again -- the now ex-husband she calls a glorified assistant just scored a fat settlement in their divorce.” The woman has been ordered by a court to “hand over nearly $7k/month in spousal support to Keith Douglas. That's on top of the $50k she already shelled out to him in December.” The million Dollar question now is what was the woman thinking when she met, courted and getting married to a guy she now suddenly consider to be a “glorified assistant”? If the man actually fits that description then, she must be a glorified, damned fool!

Humans Can Learn From Tigers.

Humans have a major lesson to learn from tigers in the area of food consumption. Those sleek cats do not eat like gluttons. A tiger never eats unless it’s hungry. When hungry, it will hunt down a deer or any other source of food. And, no matter how many sources of foods are around, a tiger will promptly stop eating as soon as its stomach is full. No more hunting. Not for snacks and not for desserts. It will not even hunt for sports. It’s no wonder therefore that there are no over-weight tigers. Rather, every one of them is healthy, agile and fit as a fiddle. Why can’t we, as humans, learn from tigers?



 

 

 

 

My Husband Doesn’t Know I’m Really a Man.

As usual, I was listening to the Steve Harvey Radio Show this morning when it came to the segment of “Strawberry Letter” which often sounds incredible but absolutely true. The letter read this way:

“Steve I have been married for 2 years and my husband is ready to start a family. My problem is…I was born a man. I had a sex operation before I met my husband…so, he doesn’t know. I’m afraid to lose him if I tell him. Steve what do I do?”

In his response, Steve Harvey admitted that he knew nothing about sex change. He however advised the wo(man) to simply find a way to make the husband divorce her. As far as Steve was concern, if the wo(man) should dare tell the husband the truth, she would have to become a man all over again in view of what a typical man would do upon hearing such an ugly, disgusting truth.

My personal reaction as I listened to this letter was that of “what else is new?” In this society, it's quite normal for a man to meet a woman, both fall in love with each other and before anyone can say “lovey-dovey”, the two are standing before a Justice of the Peace, mumbling "I do”. In the United States, most couples don’t bother to meet each other’s families. Yet, it’s considered rude for one partner to ask about the other party’s age. Asking for her/his birth certificate or some childhood photographs is off limits. In fact, it’s worse when one partner seems too inquisitive about the other person’s background. And that’s why the institution of marriage is being subjected to a lot of abuses every second in God’s own country.



In the above picture, adopted from a BBC Documentary titled "Sex Change Soldier", Ian Hamilton is a Captain of the Parachute Regiment and one of the most highly decorated officers ... in the British Army. He has served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. But in 2007 Ian became the first officer and the first paratrooper in the history of the Armed Forces to undergo a sex-change operation.

The Ugly Sides of Social Media.

Social media have contributed immensely to the improvement of communication and social relationships among people across the global community. However, there is a prevailing sad, ugly trend whereby a whole lot of people are surrendering their entire existence to the many social media in the cyberspace.



For such people therefore, the economic law of diminishing returns have set in. Worse, too many individuals have unwittingly become emotionally dependent on the people they meet on social media. And it's from such people they seek the validation and determination of their self-worth. The multiplying effects of this reckless and dangerous trend are especially manifesting in the lives of many teenagers and young adults who depend on total strangers for the maintenance of their self-esteems. Consequently, some of them have ended up becoming victims of scams, statutory rapes, cyber-bullying, manic depressions, suicides and murders.

93 Year-old Woman Denied Funeral Because She “Owed” Back Tithes.

In Texas, a 93-year-old woman (Olivia Blair) had been attending a church for about 50 years. She is now dead but her pastor refused to allow her funeral service in the church. Why so? The pastor said the old woman “owed” some back tithes!

According to the church’s pastor, the other “sins” committed by the deceased was that she “...had not paid her dues, and she had not attended the church in recent years.”

But when contacted by KRIV FOX 26, the dead woman’s daughter retorted that “For the last two years, my mother has been in either a nursing home or she’s been in a hospital. And the last few months, she was in a coma!”

Now, what manner of a shameless pastor would ignore a sick, old church member for so long and then turned around to condemn the poor woman for not paying tithes in her period of agony and anguish?

X                                                                                          X                                                                              X

And in a related incident, a pastor (in a different American church) has directed members of his church to stop practicing cremation because according to him, “When Jesus comes back, how do you expect him to be going around searching for the remains of your loved ones that have been cremated and whose ashes have been scattered all over the ocean and some other places?...”

And this guy is supposed to be a "Man of God"?

10 Survival Tips for Young Black Folks in the United States.

In the wake of the ridiculous verdict of the St. Louis County grand jury on the cold-blooded shooting of Michael Brown, here are ten survival tips for young black folks to consider:

1. Stay away as far as possible from any city or town that has no favorable racial diversity in its law enforcement agency.


2. If you’re already stuck in such a city or town, avoid driving in the evening as much as possible.


3. Don’t go driving about with your car loaded with black friends. It’s a sure invitation to racial profiling at the hands of white cops.


4. If you get pulled over by a white cop, make sure to place your two hands calmly on the steering wheel as he or she approaches the car. And put a “zipper” on your lips!


5. When the cop asks for your driver’s license, registration and insurance, gently inform him or her when you’re about to reach for the required documents.


6. Make sure to say “Yes sir/ma’am” or “No sir/ma’am” to any question asked.


7. It’s DUMB to swear, curse or argue with anyone that has a gun. If you disagree with a cited violation or traffic ticket, keep your feeling to yourself. You can always go to court later to argue it out.


8. Please NOTE that cops are humans too. They have prejudices, frustrations, miserable lives and anger management issues just like other mortals.


9. Yes, this is a land of freedom and liberty. But if you rely on that slogan to confront an armed cop (legitimately or not) you may be doing so at your own peril.


10. And, lest I forget, there can never be any change in this God’s own country unless you and I make it a duty to always go VOTE at every election!

These are times that call for common sense. It’s better to appear stupid and be alive than to “show off” and end up six feet below!

Chris Rock as a Drop-out.

“I dropped out in the tenth grade to work at 'Red Lobsters'. And trust me…to drop out in the tenth grade is the dumbest thing to do. You might as well drop out in the second grade. In fact, the guy who drops out in the second grade is more qualified to do a job than the one that drops out in the tenth grade. This is because the person that drops out in the second grade will have eight years of more experience than the guy that wastes time waiting all those years to drop out.” – Chris Rock.

The Lesson Here is that it's DUMB to drop out of school. For every drop-out like Chris Rock that became a celebrity, millions of other drop-outs are languishing in illiteracy, ignorance and dead-end jobs.

What Really is the Matter With Some American Men?

This piece was inspired by a “strawberry letter” written to the Steve Harvey Radio Show this morning.

A man left his southern hometown for a better job prospect in a faraway city. Upon his arrival in the city, he met another man from his hometown who he described as “wonderful” and they began a “relationship”. All the while, the gay lover was still resident in the hometown, making the relationship more of a long-distance affair.

Then came a point in time, when the city man had to travel to his hometown to attend the wedding of a woman who he described as his best friend. Decked in a beautiful wedding gown and grinning from ear to ear was the “lucky” bride. But guess who the groom was? It was the guy who was in a deep gay relationship with the city man.

Shocked beyond words, the city man quietly left the wedding and was now wondering if he should tell his best friend (the bride) that the groom was “On the Down Low”, a term commonly used in describing men who are having sex with women and men. They are like bats. On the one hand, they are running with rats and, on the other hand, they are flying with birds.

Now, I personally don’t care what anyone does with his or her body in the privacy of their lives. After all, this is America, a land of liberty. But it’s grossly unfair for any man, as it is with the guy in this story, to deliberately expose the lives of women to unnecessary health risks that can lead to deaths. Why can’t such men simply make up their minds on what sexual orientation to abide with instead of trying to “eat their cake and have it”?

A lot of men with this “down low” nonsense are exposing their unsuspecting wives or girlfriends to undue grievous physical and emotional hazards. Yet, among these dysfunctional men are professionals (powerfully-dressed guys), celebrities, religious folks and even clergymen. They live a double life. In public, they parade themselves as being “happily” dating or married to women while, secretly, they are having sex with fellow men.

This is a shame!



 

 

 

 

 

Ebola as the New Instrument of Stereotype.

The Ebola crisis has begun to take its tolls on the private businesses of African immigrants from Ebola-afflicted countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In Harlem, cab drivers with origins from the affected African nations are losing customers at a very fast rate. One cab driver said one customer threatened to get out of his cab as soon as he discovered he was from Guinea. It was a most terrible stigma.

Similar fate is being suffered by African women who braid hairs in Harlem, New York. Unlike before the Ebola scare, a lot of the women are now often seen sitting idly every day as no one wants to patronize them for fear of contracting Ebola.

There have also been reports of Liberians in Washington who are being directed by their employers to get off their jobs temporarily. “If I’m on the metro, I don’t talk,” Liberian writer Alphonso Toweh told the Washington Post. “If I’m on the bus, I don’t talk. If people hear the accent, they think you are a Liberian and that you have Ebola.

This is not only ignorant but also pathetic!

A Case of Two Deadly Diseases.

Known simply as D68 or Enterovirus 68, this lethal disease usually begins like a common cold in a child but it can end up sending the child to a hospital or worse. Right now, Enterovirus D68 is sweeping through the United States and causing 691 confirmed cases and at least one death so far. First discovered in California in 1962, it was promptly isolated. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the strain this year has been particularly brutal.

And there is Ebola or Ebola virus disease (EVD), a disease caused by an ebolavirus. The symptoms of this disease usually manifest between two days and three weeks after victims come in contact with its virus. It was in 1976 that the disease was discovered Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As at 2014, the worst casualties so far have been seen in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia,

Currently, these two diseases are causing so much dread and attracting so much global attention with such a panicky fervor as to make AIDS, HIV and other diseases green with envy. And no thanks to these two horrible diseases, no one is talking about Obamacare, immigration law reform and other sensitive issues confronting the United States as nation.

 

 

 

 

The Height of Moral Degradation in Gods’ Own Country.

“The Strawberry letter” segment on the Steve Harvey Morning Show is one of my favorites. Every morning, people write letters to the show, baring their souls on some very personal issues. Some listeners are of the view that the letters are fictitious. But the presenters and, especially Shirley Strawberry, have often stated that the letters are real. And I believe them.

Today’s strawberry letter was a two-handed, heart-wrenching type. A man ( the letter-writer) wrote to say that he loved his wife (to whom he has been married since ten years ago) but that at the moment, he was at what I would describe as an emotional cross-road.

On the one hand, he started an affair with a sibling of his wife about three years ago. The sibling in question however was the twin brother of his wife. Now, the lover is threatening to inform his sister about the affair unless the letter-writer divorced her. Here was a guy desperate enough to break his sister’s marriage just so that he and the letter-writer could continue their gay relationship without hindrance.

On the other hand, the letter-writer wanted to justify the affair with his brother in-law by disclosing that his wife had cheated on him shortly after they got married. And guess who she cheated with? It was the letter-writer’s father. In fact, the woman got pregnant and had a baby boy for the older guy. The little boy is now being raised by the letter-writer. In view of this cheating issue therefore, the letter-writer believed that he had the moral right to comply with his gay lover’s demand.

Tommy Nephew’s response to the bundle of absurdities was the best in my view. At a future family re-union, Tommy gave hints about the way principal characters in that letter would be introduced?  To start with, the man’s wife would simultaneously be seen as his wife and as a step mother. The man’s gay lover would be introduced as his brother in-law and as his “significant other”. And the letter-writer’s hapless son could also double up as his brother. What a spectacle that family re-union would exhibit?

And I thought I had seen and heard everything about moral degradation in God’s own country. But that strawberry letter on the Steve Harvey Morning Show has since convinced me that I “ain't seen nothing yet"

Black America's Invisible Crisis by Lois Beckett.

In America, violent crime is down significantly since 1993, when the nation’s gun homicide rate hit its peak. But there are still neighborhoods in cities like Oakland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Newark, New Jersey, where shootings are a constant occurrence and where the per capita murder rates are drastically higher than the rest of the country. Some 3,500 American troops were killed during the eight-year war in Iraq. Within the same time period, 3,113 people were killed on the streets of Philadelphia. According to FBI data, between 2002 and 2012 Chicago lost more than 5,000 people to homicide—that’s nearly three times the number of Americans killed in action in Afghanistan…

Over the past 20 years, medical researchers have found new ways to quantify the effects of the relentless violence on America’s inner cities. They surveyed residents who had been exposed to violence in cities such as Detroit and Baltimore and noticed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): nightmares, obsessive thoughts, a constant sense of danger. In a series of federally funded studies in Atlanta, researchers interviewed more than 8,000 inner-city residents, most of them African-American. Two thirds of respondents said they had been violently attacked at some point in their lives. Half knew someone who had been murdered. Of the women interviewed, a third had been sexually assaulted. Roughly 30 percent of respondents had had symptoms consistent with PTSD—a rate as high or higher than that of veterans of wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.



Experts are only now beginning to trace the effects of untreated PTSD on neighborhoods that are already struggling with unemployment, poverty and the devastating impact of the war on drugs. Women—who are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD, according to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—are more likely to show signs of anxiety and depression and to avoid places that remind them of the trauma. In children, PTSD symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Kids with PTSD may compulsively repeat some part of the trauma while playing games or drawing, have trouble in their relationships with family members, and struggle in school. “School districts are trying to educate kids whose brains are not working the way they should be working because of trauma,” says Marleen Wong, Ph.D., the former director of mental health services, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Men with PTSD are more likely to have trouble controlling their anger, and to try to repress their trauma symptoms with alcohol or drugs. Though most people with post-traumatic stress are not violent, PTSD is also associated with an increased risk of aggression and violent behavior, including domestic violence. The Atlanta researchers found that civilians they interviewed who had PTSD were more likely to have been charged with a violent crime and incarcerated than other people of similar backgrounds without PTSD—but the cause and effect behind this wasn’t clear. For some people, PTSD symptoms may have contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system, while others may have developed PTSD later. “Neglect of civilian PTSD as a public health concern may be compromising public safety,” the researchers wrote.

Culled from Essence, October, 2014.

 

Revenge of Mother Nature.

In God’s own country, we love to abandon things, irrespective of their importance. Unlike most other civilized nations, we easily get bored. And when that happens, we rush to dump and trash important stuff.

We are like a spoilt child who gets a new toy but after a few days, get bored with it and expects something new. And whenever we don’t quickly get that “something new”, we invent it. It’s like that with music genres, sporting events, education, historical monuments and core moral values.

Nothing however has suffered the most ridicule and trashing as core moral values, a major part of which is sex. Out of boredom and a strong need for extreme excitements, too many people have resorted to sexual adventures that will make jungle animals blush with embarrassments. And as fate will have it, this is an integral aspect of life that is often met with some very stiff repercussions from Mother Nature whenever there is a breach.

Keep scrolling down beyond the picture below for more write-ups:



Let’s start with anal sex. Even dogs don’t stoop low to do it. Those indulging in this type of sexual style risk all kinds of diseases, the worst of which is renal failure. There is another sexual variety called fellatio a.k.a. blowjob. This is an oral sex act involving the use of a mouth or throat. As a result of this dumb “style”, there are lots of women and men who are now suffering from oral gonorrhea. This disease destroys throats and mouths with painful, cancerous inflammation, stinking pus and very ugly sores.

If the above examples are considered horrendous, what about bestiality? This is the practice where a man or a woman has sex with an animal. Out of loneliness, boredom or desire for excitements, a growing number of women now indulges in sexual relationships with their dogs. Out there also are men who regularly have sex with dogs, goats and donkeys.

And, of course, Mother Nature has a way of dealing ruthlessly with all these crazy perverts. Ironically, when they go see their doctors, they project the image of nice, cool individuals who just happen to suffer from some strange diseases as shown in the picture below.

A Special Plea to Hackers.

Why is this blog threatened as a major target of hackers? For motives or reasons best known to them, hackers have been making strenuous, continuous attempts at breaking into this blog. Just yesterday alone, 780 (seven hundred and eighty) attempts were made to hack into this blog. Why???



This is a small-scale blog that stands as a humble pedestal for the conveyance of opinions that are personal to me. The blog is relatively new on the cyberspace and it’s influence and reach are not enough to warrant the interest of any serious hacker worth his/her “salt”.



I am therefore using this medium to plead with all the concerned hackers to please leave this blog alone. Let it be!

 

 

The Scourge of Obesity Among Young People.

Early in the morning last Saturday, I was inside a Shoprite store when I saw a woman jump onto one of the store’s scooters. I thought she was merely sitting on it while waiting for someone. But she soon drove it into an aisle to look at the arrays of items. I then wondered why such a young woman would need a scooter to shop. I however noted that she was grossly obese.

I was also at the Christiana Mall (Delaware) the other week and observed the many young men and women, all in their early twenties, as they practically struggled to walk. In my opinion, these young people are human “time-bombs” who pose serious health dangers to themselves. If anything at all, they risk sudden heart failures on daily basis.



The nagging question on my mind at that point was why there were (and still are) so many fat young people all over the place? The answers, though, could not be far-fetched. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the sources of the problems and the possible solutions to the issue of obesity among the young folks.

On the one hand are the too many young people who are ignoring the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They eat like gluttons with reckless abandon. And their choices of “favorite” foods are usually the junks. For folks eating and drinking so recklessly, aren’t they supposed to do some daily work-outs? The answer is no! Many of them actually hate any form of physical exercise like the plague.



On the other hand, there are those among them who restrict themselves to some expensive so-called organic foods, bottled water and all kinds of cute, exotic stuff BUT after consuming all those expensive foods and drinks, what do they do?

• They drive cars with automatic transmissions without breaking a sweat.

• They use remote devices to control their televisions in a bid to avoid getting up once-in-awhile.

• They go to stores and, instead of walking along the aisles to do some physical exercise they lazily get on motor scooters to ride around in pleasure.

• At work or when visiting public places, they go everywhere by elevators.

• And back home, they sit opposite televisions for hours, turning themselves into “couch potatoes”.

And so, these young people pile up fats. Their stomachs protrude as if they are six-month pregnant, they pants and grunts while trying to do the most minimal chores and turning their fat bodies into “comfortable homes” for diabetes, heart diseases and numerous other ailments. And, of course, they end up getting sick most of the time until, one day, when their body time-bombs will explode!