Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore.
This year, about 70% of Americans will participate in Halloween, and will spend $7.4 billion. Yes, that’s with a “b”.
This huge avalanche of funds will go on such items as candy, costumes and decorations.
Halloween candy alone has run up a $2 billion tab every Halloween for the past three years.
And $350 million will go for pet Halloween costumes.
Spending on Halloween has risen by more than 55% since 2005.
Here’s how those expenses break down:
Costumes – 38%
Cards – 5%
Decorations – 27%
Candy – 27%
Click here: Wait, Americans Spend How Much on Halloween? – The Atlantic
Those putting out this avalanche of money will, of course, be adults. And a lot of those costumes will be worn by adults at parties across the nation.
This will be especially true in San Francisco.
In 1979, Halloween in its Castro District shifted from being a children’s event to a celebration among homosexuals.
The massive crowds quickly overwhelmed the streets, mass transit and due to the Castro’s location along two major transport corridors, disrupting traffic flow well outside the neighborhood.
In 2002, 500,000 people celebrated Halloween in the Castro and four people were stabbed.
It continued to grow into a massive annual street party until 2006, when a shooting wounded nine people and prompted the city to call off the event.
In 2007, 600 police were deployed in the Castro on Halloween. By 2010, San Francisco had banned the event in the Castro, directing celebrants to various balls and parties elsewhere.
But there’s another force working to suppress Halloween joy among its participants: Political Correctness.
A recent article in Anaswers.com offers Politically Correct advice on how to enjoy Halloween–without hurting the Politically Correct sensitivities of almost every group imaginable.
Click here: Top 15 Major Halloween No-No’s – Answers.com
For example:
Adolf Hitler: “There should be no need to explain why a Hitler costume is wrong. It’s offensive and upsetting to many people, especially those who survived the Holocaust and those who lost family members to it.”
Homeless Persons: “Dressing kids up as hobos used to be cute, but now it is a no-no. It is rude to the growing homeless population in America, which includes people of all walks of life and all economic profiles.”
Illegal Alien: “Making light of the issues America faces with the constant deluge of illegal immigrants crossing the borders is not politically correct, and it’s disrespectful to the people attempting to cross the borders, or even those who immigrated legally.”
Terrorist: “With terrorism hitting the news 24/7, it is never okay to dress as a terrorist. Even worse, some parents allow their kids to dress this way.”
Others on the list of groups that Answers.com believes it’s Politically Incorrect to dress up as include:
- Blacks (if you’re white)
- Plane crash victims
- Michael Brown (the thug whose shooting by a Ferguson, Missouri cop has touched off race riots)
- “Dirty Mexicans” (features a picture of a woman wearing a mariachi outfit and a man sporting a sombrero, serape and drooping moustache)
- Dead Steve Irwin (the publicity-hungry “Crocodile Hunter” who died when he got too close to a manta ray and it put a stinger through his chest)
- Christopher Reeve (the “Superman” actor who was paralyzed from a horse fall, wearing a large white neck brace)
- Pimp (“Glamorizing this type of person is offensive to all the women who get stuck in that vicious world”)
- Naughty Priest/Nun (“It is offensive to anyone stuck in the middle of all the church scandals that became big news in the ’90s and 2000s”)
If you follow the guidelines of this article, you might as well skip Halloween altogether.
So, if you subtract all the costumes that Politically Correct mavens say you shouldn’t wear, here’s what you end up with:
DON’T DRESS UP AS:
- Hobos, because it will hurt the feelings of bums who won’t be attending Halloween parties anyway.
- Adolf Hitler, because you’ll offend anyone who survived the Holocaust. (The same could be said for any actor who portrays Hitler in a movie, such as Downfall or The Bunker.)
- Terrorists, because you might upset Islamics, who make up the vast majority of the world’s terrorists.
- Illegal aliens, because it’s not nice to spotlight people who constantly violate the immigration laws of the United States.
- Naughty priests, because it’s offensive to mock religious hypocrites who violate the bodies of children.
This list is potentially endless.
Yet no one objects to
- Children–or adults–dressing up as pirates like Blackbeard, who once terrorized the oceans as modern-day terrorists menace the world;
- Those who dress up like skeletons–when almost everyone has lost a friend or family member to death;
- Those who dress up as witches, who have been associated with evil for hundreds of years;
- Those who dress up as Satan–the literal personification of evil for millions of Christians, Jews and Muslims.
The whole idea of Halloween is to momentarily step into a character that’s utterly different from you.
So if you are a terrorist, try dressing up at Halloween as Dr. Albert Schweitzer or Florence Nightingale.
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WHY THE RELIGIOUS REICH SUPPORTS TRUMP
In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on November 10, 2016 at 3:34 pmDuring the 2016 Presidential campaign, many pundits–and ordinary citizens–repeatedly asked: “Why are so many evangelical leaders supporting Donald Trump?”
Evangelical leaders like:
Donald Trump
After all, evangelicals have long portrayed themselves as champions of “family values.”
And these aren’t exactly consistent with a man who brags: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful–I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy.”
So why are they backing Trump?
Power.
Power to control the lives of those they have long hated and despised.
Among these:
They expect Trump to sponsor legislation that will–by force of law–make their brand of Christianity supreme above all other religions.
A foretaste of what’s to come occurred on March 26, 2015.
That was when Mike Pence, then Governor of Indiana, signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
This allows any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party.
Officially, its intent is to prevent the government from forcing business owners to violate their religious beliefs.
Unofficially, its intent is to appease the hatred of gays and lesbians by the religious Right, a key constituency of the Republican party.
Thus, a bakery that doesn’t want to make a cake for a gay wedding or a restaurant that doesn’t want to serve lesbian patrons now has the legal right to refuse to do so.
And a hospital can legally turn away a gay patient if it wants to.
The bill passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of the Republican-controlled state legislature. And was signed into law by the governor who is now Vice President-elect.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence
“Today I signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because I support the freedom of religion for every Hoosier of every faith,” Mike Pence said in a statement on the day he signed the bill.
“The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action.”
Bill-signing ceremonies are usually highly public events. Governors–and Presidents–normally want their constituents to see them creating new legislation.
Yet for all his praise for the bill, Pence signed it in a ceremony closed to the public and the press.
On June 22, 1941, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union. Shortly afterward, he appeared to have second thoughts.
Turning to an aide, he said: “At the beginning of each campaign, one pushes a door into a dark, unseen room. One can never know what is hiding inside.”
Maybe Pence, like Hitler, sensed that he was pushing open “a door into a dark, unseen room.”
And this may well be the case.
Through that door has already marched the First Church of Cannabis, founded by Bill Levin. Its registration has been officially approved by the Indiana Secretary of State, and the IRS has granted the church tax-exempt status.
A mural in the church in the style of “The Creation of Adam” features two hands–where one is passing a joint to the other.
No doubt many Indiana legislators are furious that their effort to attack gays may have brought legal marijuana to their highly conservative state.
But worse may be to come.
Since 9/11, Right-wingers such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have warned that Muslims are trying to impose Sharia (Islamic law) on America.
And now Indiana’s legislators, in elevating religion above the law, have pushed upon that door “into a dark, unseen room.”
Actually, both the leaders of the Republican party and adherents of Sharia agree:
Eventually, some Muslims in Indiana will claim their rights–guaranteed in Islamic religious law. One of these is to have as many as four wives.
And they will claim that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects those rights.
Imagine this happening on a national scale–and you’ll have the America that’s swiftly approaching.
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