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Four more years! The case for Jimmy Carter in 2020.

We’re just days before the 2018 midterms, but it’s time to fasten our safety belts for the major whiplash that’ll happen November 7th, when Washington quickly shifts into 2020 mode.

Things are a lot different for the Democratic Party in 2020. Although Bernie Sanders put up a surprisingly big showing for an underdog in 2016, Hillary Clinton was the party’s clear choice from the onset.

Don’t believe me, just ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz.


However, there’s no such clear-cut favorite in 2020. Sure, some Democrats are rooting for Senator Elizabeth Warren. But pragmatists fear she’s a bit too left-of-center to win a national election.

Kamala Harris, the first-term democratic senator from California, has shown herself to be an aggressive fighter for progressive values, but does she have enough experience in Washington to be president?

If former vice president/America’s drunk Uncle, Joe Biden, throws his hat into the ring it’ll be a “big fucking deal.” But, let’s not forget, the Scranton Scrapper already as two failed presidential bids.

With so many wishy-washy candidates, I propose a Democrat that poses the sharpest contrast to the presumed Republican nominee, Donald Trump. A man who has the moral courage to restore America’s image abroad while providing the steady leadership needed to quell domestic chaos.

I nominate Jimmy Carter.

[rebelmouse-image 19398225 dam="1" original_size="1915x1511" caption="via Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons" expand=1]via Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons

Much like the heroes and villains you see in comic books and movies, politics thrives on candidates that contrast one another. For every David Dunn in "Unbrakeable," there is a fragile Mr. Glass. For every intense Batman, an unhinged Joker. For every warm and positive Beto O’Rourke, a cold and calculating Ted Cruz.

Jimmy Carter grabbed national attention back in the mid ‘70s, by representing a stark contrast to the cynical and scandal-ridden Nixon years. Carter called for an elimination of government secrecy and repeatedly told voters, “I’ll never tell a lie.”

Jimmy Carter is an honest-to-goodness man of the people. The former peanut farmer spoke plainly, wore the type of clothing you could pick up in the Sears men’s section, and to this day, still teaches Sunday school at the Marantha Church in Plains, Georgia.

Personality-wise, candidate Carter would provide a day-and-night contrast to the bloviating, ostentatious, pathological liar that is Trump. But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The contrast in their behavior is even more striking.

Through Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy Carter builds homes for the needy.

Donald Trump builds monuments to himself.

[rebelmouse-image 19398226 dam="1" original_size="824x441" caption="By Brad/Flickr " expand=1]By Brad/Flickr

Jimmy Carter was the first president to put solar panels on the White House. Trump put a 30% tariff on imported solar panels to stop the growth of alternative energy.

The 39th president is a self-made man who lives modestly in a two-bedroom home that’s assessed about $167,000.

Our 45th president's (who inherited over $400 million from daddy) penthouse.

Carter and Trump also have divergent thoughts when it comes to women.

In the run up to the 1976 election, Carter confessed to Playboy magazine that he sometimes has impure thoughts about women. “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust,” he said. “I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.”

In the run up to the 2016, Trump infamously bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy,” and committing adultery IRL.

Donald Trump is a cartoonish display of American materialism who routinely brags about his wealth and is known to inflate his net-worth for the sake of ego.

Carter once berated the American people for being too materialistic in his infamous “malaise speech. In his speech, which addressed the oil crisis and unemployment, Carter asked Americans to do some soul searching.

While the speech was popular when delivered, his inability to capitalize it would be his demise.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose...

We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I’ve warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.

America has clearly taken the second path of "self interest" and "fragmentation." It looks like this ...

.. and this.

Did Carter's speech predict the historical inflection point where America lost its way?

Could it have occurred just two years later, when Ronald Reagan defeated Carter and Americans pledged their allegiance to self-interest over community?

What if we could turn back the clock and take the first path instead?

Jimmy Carter of Plains, Georgia is 94 years old. Although constitutionally-eligible to hold the office of president for another term, his age and recent health battles make his candidacy as likely as the return of Reagan.

[rebelmouse-image 19398227 dam="1" original_size="4556x1884" caption="via LBJ Library/Flickr " expand=1]via LBJ Library/Flickr

However, even though Jimmy Carter was a one-term president whose accomplishments in the oval office haven’t been lauded by historians, he has left a beautiful legacy as a human that shines even brighter in America’s current darkness.

So, when Democrats look for a candidate to run against Trump in 2020, they should know there is much more on the line this time than economic growth or international relationships.

America’s moral fiber is up for grabs and, for those looking to restore it before it's too late, there are few better examples of it than the life and values of Jimmy Carter.

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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Family

Pediatrician shares two simple tips that could save a child's life at a pool party

"The more folks present, the safer the pool is, right? Wrong."

Photo by Ash Dowie on Unsplash

If there's a body of water anywhere, a designated adult needs to have their eyes on it.

It's that time of year when the weather across the country is warm enough for families to enjoy outdoor barbecues, picnics and pool parties. That means it's also the time of year when tragedy will strike a certain percentage of families who get blindsided by how quickly and easily a child can drown in a backyard pool, even when they're surrounded by people who care about them and their safety.

We've all been at a gathering where adults are coming and going, chatting, setting up food, taking trips to the bathroom, all while kids are busy playing in the water. In such scenarios, it's easy to assume that someone else is keeping an eye on the pool.

But as pediatrician Diane Arnaout has shared, the harrowing reality is that the more people there are at a pool party the more likely it is that a child could slip into the pool or become distressed in the water without anyone noticing.

In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 77,000 times, Dr. Arnaout wrote:

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Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS.

On May 25, the show’s Instagram page posted a touching video of an off-the-cuff moment between Barrymore and a fan during a taping of her show. In the clip, Barrymore realizes that someone in the audience is crying. So, instead of ignoring the fan, she jumps to action to see what is the matter.

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Pop Culture

Musician uses traditional Chinese instrument to create hypnotic cover of 'Hotel California'

There are literally hundreds of covers of this song floating around on the internet, but this one has its own unique flair.

Moyun/Youtube

Moyun peforms "Hotel California" on the guzheng.

The Eagles' hit song, “Hotel California,” has been covered countless times over the years by a variety of artists, including the likes of Nancy Sinatra, the Gypsy Kings and that guy at your local karaoke spot.

And while every rendition gives the song a fresh dynamic, one musician with a penchant for mystery has transformed the rock n’ roll staple into something entirely new.

Using a traditional Chinese string instrument called a guzheng, Moyun plays the song focusing mostly on its two guitar solo arrangements, creating a sound that has all the otherworldly beauty of an ancient folk tale.
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Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
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Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

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