Famous Sayings #156 — ‘Don’t Tread on Me’

July 14, 2019

As the flag says, ‘Don’t tread on me.’ If you try to attack me, I will strike, just like a rattlesnake.

This famous saying is somewhat controversial, based on who you ask because it has been connected to racists and reactionaries. However, the slogan dates back at least 245 years.

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What Does ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Mean?

In a general sense, the slogan “Don’t Tread on Me” serves as a warning to people who want to take advantage of someone else or violate their autonomy (Xavier). In short, the slogan means, “Would-be oppressors beware.” If someone tries to hurt someone else, that second person will fight back and won’t back down.

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Famous Sayings: #94 — ‘On Cloud Nine’

December 29, 2017

It feels like I’m on Cloud Nine.

Here we are. This is the final Famous Sayings post I will do for 2017, so I’d thought I end it on somewhat of a positive note. This phrase might not have much of a connection with current events, but it is one that’s very familiar.

Plus, it was fun to do the research for this post (and mess with Photoshop for a bit).

Now, without much ado, let’s look at the phrase “on cloud nine.”

About Hillary Clinton’s New [Burn] Book

You’re not alone, Hillary. I couldn’t believe what happened on Election Night. Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. Some rights reserved.

This is a couple of days late, but I wanted to weigh in on What Happened, a new book that dropped on September 12. Well, after looking at a number of reviews and find a buttload of quotes, I would call this a burn book because it contains a series of essays where Hillary Clinton unloads on a bunch of people including James Comey, Jill Stein, Vladimir Putin, The Bohemian Professor, and The Sad Bambino.

The Reception of this book was mixed (even before the official release), which is to be expected of the offering of such a polarizing figure.

The have been a number of memes where Twitter users shared photoshopped images of the book.

pic.twitter.com/o1x6X2qQdM

— Trumpism 9.0™ (@Team_Trump45) September 3, 2017

There was even a controversy with Amazon reviews.

But the book tour has been selling out in blue states and sales of the book itself have already set 2017 records.

Now what do I think of the book? Well, I haven’t read it. However, I have found some in-depth reviews and I have found quite a few quotes from the book to boot.

Based on the limited information I have, this is a non-review. But it looks like the book is covering everything Clinton has already said about this past election ad I do have thoughts on those areas.

Here goes.

News Roundup (August 14, 2017)

Hello, readers! If this is my only News Roundup of this month, I’m going to make it count. This time, I have worked on 10 important stories from this month I wanted to discuss, plus a commentary.

John McCain Is Ailing, but He Can Be Fairly Criticized

Sen. John McCain addresses the audience at the 129th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aug. 25, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

This past week, many Americans heard or read some said news about Arizona Sen. John McCain. The six-term senator, a war veteran and former POW, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He had to be hospitalized because doctors found a brain tumor.

McCain had the tumor removed completely, but he had the same form of cancer that killed Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and Bo Biden (former Vice President Joe Biden’s son). The prognosis is not good for Sen. McCain, who is 80 years old.

After this news came out, there were people on the left and the far right who went after McCain and said he deserved this illness. I would never wish that on anyone.

On the other hand, it is fair to criticize McCain’s Senate votes, past and present.

In particular, McCain made a key vote in order to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (A.K.A. the ACA or “Obamacare”). I want to share my thoughts on this development. Let this serve as a prelude to a deeper discussion of health care in the United States.

Famous Sayings: #71 — ‘Eat, Drink, and Be Merry’

July 21, 2017

Let’s eat, drink, and be merry.

Usually, the phrase “Eat, drink, and be merry” might cause one to think of a joyful scene with people dining together. In most cases, it might be used in a positive sense.

The saying may often be used in a hedonistic sense. In that case, one would stretch it out to “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” In that case, people are dining without a care in the world.

The words “Eat, drink, and be merry” are thus often interpreted as “living life to the fullest”. Or if it’s stretched out, it could mean “enjoy life as much as possible because we won’t live forever” (Got Questions). However, the words were originally used to espouse different principles.

An Overview of Republican Bills in 2017

Much attention has been paid to Trump’s antics and the latest attempt to take health care away from over 20 million Americans, but there a many harmful Republican bills currently being considered. A few have already by signed into law and many more are still in committee.

Now, I can’t go over them all in this post (or can I?) but I would at least like to highlight a bunch of that I have already read about. Let this be a simple guide to the horrible laws we might live under.

Famous Sayings: #61 — ‘But You Can’t Fool Your Mother’

May 14, 2017

You can fool everybody some of the time and you can fool somebody all of the time, but you can’t fool your mother.

Since today is Mother’s Day where I am I decided to wait and share this post 2 days late.

For the day, I wanted to pull a quote that was somewhat well known. It was hard finding a good quote for Mother’s Day that had a clear origin, and so I finally settled on this one. (Now that I think about it, I could have used “Mama knows best.”)

Famous Sayings: #59 — ‘Say Cheese!’

April 28, 2017

Now, say ‘cheese!’

Photograph by Scubaspa Maldives (via Flickr; some rights reserved – CC License 2.0)

I originally had another idiom ready for today, but I changed my mind when I came across a Google doodle. As it turns out, today would have been Marie Harel’s 256^th birthday today. The Frenchwoman was the inventor of Camembert cheese.

After finding that out and reading up a bit, I decided to go with “Say cheese.” It’s a loose connection, but bear with me…

Famous Sayings: #31 — ‘Once in a Lifetime’

October 9, 2016

This only happens once in a lifetime.

Many of us have heard this phrase and we basically know what it means. Like the post I did last week, something that happens “once in a lifetime” is rare. However, a once-in-a-lifetime event is even rarer, if we go by the literal meaning.

Got that, WWE?

Now, as I was looking out the history behind the term, I came across a tidbit of information that needed more digging. I was also reminded of the 1980’s band Talking Heads.