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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THE EVIL THAT POLITICIANS DO
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on February 1, 2016 at 12:01 amYes, like a toxic waste plant that spews out poison every four years, it’s Presidential primary time for the Republican party.
And its two most radical and ruthless candidates for President are flinging slime with gusto.
Rafael “Ted” Cruz, the United States Senator from Texas, has accused his rival, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, of having “New York values.”
And during the January 14th Republican Presidential debate in South Carolina, he defined these as:
“Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and focus on money and the media.”
Among Right-wingers, “liberal,” “pro-abortion” and “pro-gay” are the ultimate in insults.
But Donald Trump was quick to respond with an explosive charge of his own: Rafael Cruz is not an American citizen–and therefore not eligible to be President.
What made this accusation so effective was Cruz’ having been born outside the United States–in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban father.
Rafael “Ted” Cruz
The U.S. Constitution specifically states that “No person except a natural born citizen…shall be eligible to the office of President.”
Cruz has argued that because his mother was an American, he became an American citizen at birth. But courts have never ruled on the issue of what constitutes a “natural-born” citizen.
And, at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, Trump smacked Cruz with an even more incendiary attack:
“Ted Cruz may not be a US citizen, right? But he’s an anchor baby. No, Ted Cruz is an anchor baby in Canada. But Canada doesn’t accept anchor babies.”
“Anchor baby” is a Politically Incorrect term for usually poor, non-white aliens entering the United States to have a child born on American soil, which grants automatic citizenship.
And if the child is a citizen, its parents stand an excellent chance of being allowed to stay.
Trump asserts that children born in the United States to illegal aliens are not American citizens, as they are today considered under the law.
Donald Trump
At first, the issue of Cruz’ eligibility seemed confined to Republican politicians and those likely to vote for them. But then others outside the Right began weighing in.
Mary McManamon, a Constitutional law professor at Widener University’s Delaware Law School, concluded in an Op-Ed for The Washington Post:
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is not a natural-born citizen and therefore is not eligible to be president or vice president of the United States.”
How did this all start? With the ultimate target of Republican hatred–Barack Obama.
Ever since Obama became a Presidential candidate in 2008, Republicans have accused him of being ineligible to hold office.
Without a political scandal (such as Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky) to fasten on, the Republican party opted for slander: Obama was born in Kenya–not Honolulu–and thus was not an American citizen.
From this there could be only one conclusion: He would be an illegitimate President, and should be removed from office if elected.
And this smear campaign continued after he won the 2008 election. Right-wingers like Trump insisted that Obama “prove” his citizenship fitness to hold office.
During his first two years in office, Obama tried to ignore the charge.
But polls repeatedly showed that large segments of the country believed it. Finally, even Obama’s closest advisers warned him: You must address this and put it to rest.
So, on April 27, 2011, the President released the long-form version of his Hawaii birth certificate.
The long-form version of President Obama’s birth certificate
For the vast majority of Americans, this settled the issue. In 2012, to the fury of Republicans, Obama won a second, four-year term.
Fast forward to the 2016 Presidential race.
Donald Trump, seeking to destroy his foremost rival, lobs the “anchor baby” charge against Rafael Cruz.
To most Americans, this conjures up the image of poor Mexicans flooding across the United States border to apply for welfare.
It’s a highly effective way to inflame the elderly, white voters who make up the base of the Republican party.
But it’s also guaranteed to inflame millions of Hispanic Americans–those who are here legally as well as those who are here illegally.
The Republican party has long earned the hatred and distrust of most Hispanic Americans through its calls to “seal off the border” and deport Hispanic illegal aliens.
And, in 2012, millions of Hispanics gave President Obama a second term.
So long as Cruz stays in the race, Trump will continue to use the “birther” issue against him. And it will continue to dog him, as it did Obama.
But it will continue to anger most of the 55 millions Hispanics living within the United States.
The votes of elderly whites command the attention of Republican primary candidates. But Hispanic voters will play a decisive role in the general election.
Thus, Republicans may come to regret their use of the “birther” issue as they learn the truth of Shakespeare’s line: “The evil that men do lives after them.”
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