Tag Archives: bullying

No bullying allowed

Southard Middle School in Princeton, Texas, is no place for bullies … if the signs I saw on the walls of the library and in the hallways are any indicator.

I believe they are. Thus, I want to applaud the school system for sending out the message to the students who might fancy themselves as tough guys or girls.

I went to meeting at Southard the other evening where I saw the posters. Now, to be sure I am acutely aware that Princeton Independent School District is far from alone in promoting the no bullying allowed message. Such messaging has become almost an essential part of public schools’ doctrine … as it should.

Indeed, I recall when former first lady Melania Trump decided to take on cyber bullying as her signature issue. That was a noble endeavor, although her work on that project too often became buried under the reporting of the nonsense occurring elsewhere during her husband’s administration.

Public school systems have taken that message, though, and are sprinting with it.

I’ll be attending another meeting next week down the street where I live; the meeting will occur at Lowe Elementary School. To be sure I will look for more messages on the walls at Lowe. I hope to see them.

The school system here has earned a high-five from me on its efforts at reminding students that bullying has no place.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Trump seeks ‘deeper undertanding and respect’? Wow!

Donald Trump issued a Christmas statement in which he did something truly remarkable.

The man who bullies incessantly, who hurls epithets, insults and innuendo indiscriminately has called for a greater emphasis on understanding and respect.

To which I say: Holy moly, man!

Trump wrote:

“While the challenges that face our country are great, the bonds that unite us as Americans are much stronger. Together, we must strive to foster a culture of deeper understanding and respect — traits that exemplify the teachings of Christ.”

Of course he is right. However, that it would come from someone whose tenure in the only public office he ever sought has been marked by incivility, disrespect and an abject lack of understanding is startling to the max.

Oh, my.

Is Joe Biden really, truly ready for this?

The chatter is beginning to get louder.

It involves former Vice President Joe Biden and whether he intends to run for president of the United States in 2020. Media are reporting the ex-VP is a couple of weeks away from making that decision. The chatter includes a lot of speculation that he’s inclined to run — but that “family matters” might hold him back.

I would vote for the former vice president in an instant were he to win the Democratic nomination and run against Donald Trump in 2020. However, I don’t want him to seek the nomination. I want a younger, fresher candidate to face the president . . . presuming, of course, that he runs for re-election!

I want to broach this Biden “family matter” situation directly and speculate on what Biden might face in this social media age from the Twitter bully who masquerades as president of the United States.

Donald Trump is a vicious social media bully. He knows no bounds. He attacks anyone with impunity and is unafraid to attack anyone’s family. Vice President Biden’s family well might present Trump with a target that is too inviting to ignore.

Biden’s elder son, Beau, died in 2015 of brain cancer. After Beau Biden’s tragic death, Joe Biden’s younger son, Hunter, divorced his wife . . . and reportedly had been dating his brother’s widow.

This is precisely the kind of family drama that might lure the president into a hideous Twitter barrage. Thus, it becomes incumbent on the former VP to ponder whether he wants to expose his family to the torrent of viciousness that Trump is capable of unleashing.

When you take on Donald Trump, you must be willing to steel yourself against the ferocious nature of the president’s makeup. Donald Trump is capable — and, oh, so willing — to say anything about anyone who opposes him.

This is the kind of fight Joe Biden can expect to face if he decides to take this final plunge into the political free-for-all required of anyone who wants to become president of the United States.

Melania: most ‘bullied person in the world’? Hardly

Nice going, Mme. First Lady. You have a perfectly noble and legitimate cause upon which to base your first ladyhood and then  you trample all over it with a weird assertion about how you are among the “most bullied” people on Earth.

I could not believe my eyes and ears when I heard about this from Melania Trump.

She told ABC News the following, according to CNN: “I could say I’m the most bullied person on the world,” Trump told ABC News in an interview during her first solo trip to Africa last week … . You’re really the most bullied person in the world?” asked ABC News’ Tom Llamas during the exchange. “One of them, if you really see what people saying about me,” Trump said.

She isn’t among the most bullied people on Earth.

I feel confident in making that counter claim. Mrs. Trump  married a man who would become president no doubt knowing full well what she was getting in the bargain. Indeed, Donald J. Trump has dished out all sorts of bullying insults on his way to the presidency and, of course, since he became the Bully-er in Chief.

The message that Mrs. Trump wants to send forth is designed to call attention to how social media have become a bullying instrument used against children. That is a noble cause and I applaud that effort.

However, for her then to internalize and personalize it in this manner by suggesting that she is among the world’s top victims of this (mis)behavior detracts from the seriousness of a totally serious cause.

I am amazed she would say such a thing.

In this corner, the former vice president …

It has come down to this.

A former vice president of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, spoke to a Miami conference and said if Donald J. Trump and he were in the same high school, he would “beat the hell out of him.” The issue on the table dealt with the treatment of women by men.

So, what does the president of the United States do? He responds via Twitter (naturally, yes?) that “Crazy Joe” lacks emotional and physical strength and that he — Trump, of course — would take him out. Here is Trump’s tweet: “Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!”

I do not know which is worse: the former VP saying out loud that he would beat up the president or the head of state responding via social media with a “so’s your mama!” retort.

This is the kind of stuff one usually sees occurring between middle-schoolers. It’s a close call, but I’ll give the “raspberry” in this exchange to the president.

He is the one who occupies the office that, in an earlier time, used to command decorum, dignity and discipline. The former vice president is known to be a bit loose of lip at times; but this is the first time I’ve ever heard Biden actually state a desire to do physical harm to another public figure.

Trump, though, actually has extolled the virtue of beating someone up, such as what he has said about demonstrators who showed up at his political rallies. That, however, occurred before he won the election and took the presidential oath of office.

Donald Trump promised many times he would be “more presidential” once he took that oath.

Well, so much for promises.

POTUS bullied Sen. Warren?

I have heard some “bullying” references in the past day or so about Donald John Trump’s idiotic reference to “Pocahontas” at a ceremony saluting the Native American Code Talkers who helped win World War II.

The president, standing in front of President Andrew “Trail of Tears” Jackson, made a tacky and totally inappropriate reference to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claim of Native American heritage. He referred to her as “Pocahontas,” which he has used to disparage the Democratic senator for as long as he’s been a politician.

Trump’s crack about Sen. Warren yanked attention away from the Code Talkers, who were deployed during WWII to communicate battle plans in their native language, which the enemy couldn’t translate. What’s more, he did so while standing in front of an American president, Jackson, who issued an eviction order that launched what amounted to a 19th-century Native American death march, aka the Trail of Tears.

Now comes the references from some observers that he sought to “bully” Warren with that idiocy.

This brings to mind an issue I have raised before: When is the first lady going to launch her anti-bullying initiative, which she announced she would make her theme during her time in the White House?

Many of us out here have wondered whether Melania Trump should counsel her husband, the bully in chief, about his own proclivities toward using Twitter as an intimidation tool.

The first lady aims to target her campaign toward children bullying their peers. My thought is this: Children aren’t born to bully; they learn about it from many sources, including their elders.

Melania needs to sit down with Donald and tell him about the consequences of his own juvenile behavior.

If only he would listen.

Bullying on the football field? You must be kidding

Aledo High School scored a 91-0 football victory over Western High School this past week.

The response from one of the Western parents was for the books: The parent filed a bullying complaint against Aledo … for running up the score.

http://www.wfaa.com/sports/high-school/Aledos-91-0-win-earns-formal-bullying-complaint-from-Western-Hills-parent-228766911.html

I don’t quite know how to respond to this one. I can start, I suppose, by stopping my laughter.

Aledo Head Coach Tim Buchannan said he kept his starting players on the field for 21 snaps. That’s it. Then he put in his reserves, who then continued to romp over Western.

What does a coach do? Does he tell his players to deliberately miss tackles or blocks?

This incident reminds me a bit of a sporting event I once reported on back in Oregon when I first started out as a journalist in the late 1970s. I was a sportswriter for a small paper in Oregon City. West Linn High School, across the Willamette River, was one of the schools I covered. West Linn had a very good baseball team. They were coached by a fine guy, Terry Pollreisz, who knew when his team was matched against an inferior opponent.

One afternoon, he found his team on the field against an utterly hapless opponent. They kept scoring runs virtually at will. Pollreisz then employed a strategy that backfired. When his players hit routine singles, he told them to run for second, hoping the other team would throw them out. It didn’t happen. The outfielders would toss balls into the stands. Pollreisz’s base-runners then would advance to third. Then they’d score on the next hit.

This went on until the game ended. I cannot recall the score. Suffice to say it was a mega-blowout.

The opposing coach then became angry with Pollreisz, accusing him of “running up the score.” Pollreisz’s said his intent was to give the other team ample opportunity to end these rallies.

The other team did not file a bullying complaint against West Linn’s team, which incidentally went on to win the Oregon state 5A championship that year.

I feel badly for Western High School’s team. Those kids’ esteem has been battered by a 91-0 defeat. However, they weren’t bullied.