Should Poor People be Allowed to Have Children? -- Unplugging Children for the Holidays -- Victoria's Secret is Kaput

We have an economy that has been carefully crafted to serve those at the top, and yet for many of those who struggle, even if they’re working, we have so much contempt. By the way, people of all income levels make decisions that might appear ill-advised or even crazy. And not all poor people remain poor, or make bad choices, or have a lot of kids, but we’re quick to wag a finger at those who do.   By Steve Lopez in the LATimes. 

If ev'ryone waited till they

had excellent jobs with good pay

to start having kids

we'd all hit the skids

(would YOU be here now, anyway?)

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Although there are gizmos, gadgets and apps that purport to do all of these things, you can get the same — if not better — results with toys that don’t plug in or require batteries. Think of a board game, finger paints, a pile of Lego bricks, or a tea set for a make-believe tea party.

“High-quality toys need not be expensive,”  pediatricians emphasize.

Karen Kaplin in the LATimes.

Kids are now hooked on a screen.

They never are heard, nor are seen.

So come this Yuletide

sit them at ringside --

for Uno and checkers, I mean.

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Instead of people focusing on high-profile models such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid or Adriana Lima’s retirement, there were lots of thinkpieces. Specifically, about why the annual lingerie runway show is problematic; whether it has a place in “an era of corporate wokeness”; how some viewers are boycotting the show; whether the brand is “over”; and more. The New York Times reported that while Victoria’s Secret is still the top lingerie brand in the country, sales are down and the stock recently dropped 41 percent.   Washington Post. 

The market is down, I must say,

for peddling sheer lingerie.

The issue of gender

ties each pantie vendor

in knots like complex macrame.

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