Good Choices Today for a Healthier Retirement Tomorrow
Lifestyle choices you make today can lead to a healthier future and retirement. Eating a healthy diet of whole grains, high fiber and lean sources of protein, and exercising at least 30 minutes daily can help control or delay age-related health problems associated with aging, like high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
It is important to develop habits of healthy eating and regular exercising; and, it is important also to set short- and long-term goals to achieve and maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine.
Make these five tips a habit and priority every day:
Try to be physically active for at least 30 minutes on most or all days of the week.
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Choose foods that are low in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium. Avoid or restrict foods that are fried, processed and consist of refined carbohydrates.
Pick whole grains and lean sources of protein and dairy products.
Practice all five types of exercise—aerobic, endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility.
Recently, four Black Alumni from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 1988 penned a short, yet strong message and call to action ‘Pledge’. The Pledge was written for and shared with their approximately one thousand classmates.
They asked their classmates “to read carefully and consider acknowledging publicly” the intent and and message of the Pledge.
I offer their message to my blog readers to do likewise, to read carefully and consider acknowledging.
Pledge:
“Recent reprehensive comments of a fellow Naval Academy alumnus, along with the worldwide call to address racial inequality and police brutality have deeply impacted many of us in ’88.”
“We have drafted a Pledge that we ask each of you to read carefully and consider acknowledging publicly.”
“This Pledge is not only about race, but about openly discussing and understanding all our differences as people and offering a deeper level of support for each other in a way that many of us have already come to embrace in our lives.”
“It is about conversation, engagement, and using our influence to help us be even stronger as a class and better friends.”
I will take these 3 steps:
1. Listen to my peers.
I will interact intentionally with shipmates and have real conversations about our respective life experiences.
My commitment is not only to hear but also to try to understand. I pledge to listen to my Class of 1988 brothers and sisters.
2. Lead by example.
I will engage to address any displays of injustice and any statements of untruths.
If I am in an environment among friends or peers and something insensitive, derogatory, or untrue is proffered, I will reject it and encourage others to do the same.
I will lead by example. Silence is no longer an option.
What I can do, I will do.
3. Leverage my network.
I will use my sphere of influence, an important extension of me, to the benefit of my classmates and the U.S. Naval Academy.
It is critical that we all affirm our commitment to fairness and integrity, and that we carry out our message to the broadest audience possible.
One of their Naval Academy classmate wrote an article that appeared on the website www.medium.com where she pledged to do the following:
“I recognize that we are men and women of action, and only through our actions can we effect a change.” She wrote. “Because it is not enough to only recognize and speak against the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters who served alongside me, I commit to you that I will also engage on your behalf.”
“What I can do, I will do. I commit to each of you to serve alongside you.”
White Woman Calls Cops on Man of Color Writing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on His Own Propertyin San Francisco
James Juanillo, who is Filipino, was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” with chalk in front of his Pacific Heights home when he was confronted by Lisa Alexander and her walking companion who eventually called the police.
Alexander and her partner, Robert Larkins, accused James Juanillo of vandalizing the property and claimed that Juanillo didn’t live there. Juanillo says to Alexander “you don’t know if I live here or if this is my property,” to which Alexander responds, “We actually do know, that’s why we’re asking.”
Lisa Alexander, former CEO of the La Face skin care line, reportedly is already suffering professional consequences since video showing her and her partner confronting James Juanillo in the posh Pacific Heights neighborhood went viral. Her partner was fired from his job at financial services firm Raymond James.
“When I watch the video I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did,” Alexander said. “It was disrespectful to Mr. Juanillo and I am deeply sorry for that. I did not realize at the time that my actions were racist and have learned a painful lesson. I am taking a hard look at the meaning behind white privilege and am committed to growing from this experience.”
Trial in Britain shows dexamethasone responsible for survival of one in eight patients on ventilators
A cheap steroid has become the first life-saving treatment in the Covid-19 pandemic, described by scientists as a major breakthrough and raising hopes for the survival of thousands of the most seriously ill.
Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that prevents the release of substances in the body that cause inflammation. Dexamethasone is cheap, available from any pharmacy, and easily obtainable anywhere in the world.
Dexamethasone is used to treat many different inflammatory conditions such as allergic disorders and skin conditions. Dexamethasone is used to treat conditions such as arthritis, blood/hormone/immune system disorders, allergic reactions, certain skin and eye conditions, breathing problems, certain bowel disorders, and certain cancers.
Investigators said the drug was responsible for the survival of one in eight of the sickest patients – those who were on ventilators – in the Recovery trial, the biggest randomised, controlled trial of coronavirus treatments in the world.
Dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients (rate ratio 0.65 [95% confidence interval 0.48 to 0.88]; p=0.0003) and by one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only (0.80 [0.67 to 0.96]; p=0.0021). There was no benefit among those patients who did not require respiratory support (1.22 [0.86 to 1.75; p=0.14).
U.S. Army bases and installations in the South named to honor Confederate generals include slaveholders and generals who failed on the battlefield
The U.S. Army has 10 posts named after Confederate generals across the South, including major installations at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Hood in Texas.
Experts told Vox that they believe the Army has dragged its feet on this issue for years regarding why those 10 facilities haven’t had their names changed for three primary reasons: 1) the pervasiveness of the Lost Cause myth in Army culture, 2) bureaucratic inertia and competing problems, and 3) courting controversy
These installations–three in Virginia, two in Louisiana, two in Georgia, and one each in Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas–tended to be named after local rebel generals— either by the local community or by the U.S. Army, which appeared to believe that traitorous Confederate Army history was a part of its own history.
The Confederate generals, whose names should be removed from U.S. military bases, were not only on the losing side of the secession and rebellion against the United States, some weren’t even considered good generals and don’t appear to deserve celebration.
The 10 Confederate generals include some who made costly battlefield blunders; others mistreated captured Union soldiers, some were slaveholders and one was linked to the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
Several retired Army generals support name changes.
Retired Army General David Petraeus, U.S. Army, Retired, wrote in The Atlantic that the names should be changed. “These bases are, after all, federal installations, home to soldiers who swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Petraeus wrote. “The irony of training at bases named for those who took up arms against the United States, and for the right to enslave others, is inescapable to anyone paying attention.”
“Most of the Confederate generals for whom our bases are named were undistinguished, if not incompetent, battlefield commanders,” Petraeus wrote.
“Can a White Person Understand the Black Experience? Layers of pain, mistrust, and taboos keep people divided along racial lines.”
Having frank discussions about or asking questions about racism and injustice is challenging for many well-meaning people. They simply don’t know how to approach or “connect to our fellow human beings who are from different ethnic/racial groups and cultural traditions”.
This is particularly difficult when there are over 200 years of racism, injustice and oppression between groups; and, it is difficult while significant social, health and economic inequities remain.
Without an American and world history lesson, it’s safe to say that there are many reasons for discomfort on both sides. This is the major reason why most White people do not understand the African American experience in America.
“Yet, making an authentic connection with another person means understanding, empathizing, and being able to see the world through their eyes.” And, it is hard to imagine that people of color are living a completely different experience in America simply by virtue of their race, ethnicity or gender.
Racism hurts.
As much as people of color adopt a stoic attitude and pretend that racism does not impact their psyche, repeated and persistent racism can be traumatic. And it hurts doubly so when those around refuse to acknowledge the experience and its potential impact. Well meaning people tend to view an experience as only a single racist occurrence, rather than understand that the incident adds to a lifetime of accumulated experiences and frustrations.
People of color do not want other people to discount their experiences or tell them that they’re being overly sensitive. So if you are a White person patiently waiting for a “Black person to spontaneously share their experience, you may be waiting a long time.”
By Brian Wesbury, Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors L.P
The US economy is healing much faster than anyone expected, justifying recent optimism in the stock market and showing the benefits of easing lock downs around the country.
Non-farm payrolls rose 2.5 million in May, easily beating the consensus expected decline of 7.5 million. The private sector did even better, adding 3.1 million jobs. Civilian employment, an alternative measure of jobs that includes small-business start-ups, rose 3.8 million.
The gains in payrolls and civilian employment are both the largest on record for any single month, although, obviously, they both come immediately after the worst month for jobs in history. The largest gains in jobs in May were at restaurants & bars, while construction, health care & social assistance, retail, and manufacturing all did very well, too.
The other piece of surprising news was that the unemployment rate, which the consensus expected to rise to 19.0%, and which every economist thought would rise to at least 16.0%, instead fell to 13.3%. That is still extremely high, but at least it’s moving in the right direction sooner than anyone thought. The labor force (people working or looking for work) increased by 1.7 million in May, although it’s still down substantially from earlier this year.
The worst headline of the report was that average hourly earnings fell 1% in May after rising 4.7% in April. However, just like April’s wage gains weren’t really good news, May’s decline isn’t really bad news. Job losses in April were concentrated among lower-paid workers, so average hourly earnings rose because those still working typically made more money. Now, as lower-paid workers are rehired, their pay levels reduce average earnings.
We like to track what the report means for workers’ earnings, and today’s news was good. Total hours worked increased 4.3% in May. Multiplying hours by earnings shows that total earnings rose 3.3%. That said, total earnings are still down 6.1% versus a year ago, which means workers have less purchasing power generated by actual production, versus purchasing power coming from government benefits.
The unemployment rate is going to remain at unusually high levels for at least the next few months, but today’s report is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit and how quickly businesses have been able to adapt to a global pandemic and unprecedented shutdowns of the US economy. A full recovery is still a long way off, but there should no doubt at this point that the recovery has started.
CEOs comments condemning racism and police brutality towards Black and Brown American citizens, with few noteworthy exceptions, appear little more than marketing campaigns
In the past couple of week, many American Fortune 500 CEOs have released statements both internally to their employees and externally to the public condemning George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Amy Cooper’s weaponizing the police against a black man in NYC Central Park, Ahmaud Arbery’s ‘running while black’ shooting death in Georgia, and Breonna Taylor’s assassination inside her Louisville, KY, home.
A few Fortune 500 CEOs have gone a step further and commented on the unjust plight and persistent racial and economic inequities experienced Black people in America. One example is Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. “‘Black lives matter’ doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter.” Jeff Bezos replied to an upset Amazon customer. “Black lives matter speaks to racism and the disproportionate risk that Black people face in our law enforcement and justice system.”
Randall Stephenson, AT&T Executive Chairman and CEO, has come out strongly imploring corporate CEOs to “speak up for racial justice” and to take deliberate action to combat racial economic inequality. He stated that that it is difficult to conduct business in an environment where “a large class of our people are perceiving and experiencing injustice.”
Additionally, Apple CEO Tim Cook strongly condemned the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. He acknowledged that racial injustice persists in America and that “…many people may want nothing more than a return to normalcy, or to a status quo that is only comfortable if we avert our gaze from injustice.” And, Amazon posted on Twitter a statement condemning the “…inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people in our country must stop.”
However, many of the hundreds of CEOs comments condemning racism, police brutality and social injustice towards Black and Brown American citizens appear little more than marketing campaigns written by their corporate marketing officers and legal counsels to position their organizations on the morally and politically correct side of these protests.
Only about 1 percent of CEOs in the S&P 500 Index are black, and last year (2019) 37 percent of corporate boards had no black members, according to Black Enterprise magazine.
The question to ask these suddenly enlightened CEOs is how have they led their respective corporations to right the many social and economic wrongs perpetrated on Black and Brown people over the past decades.
In areas where CEOs exercise immense influence and control over their respective organizations, we must ask these chief executives ‘what have you done lately’ for Black and Brown people. Are your corporate boards and senior executive leadership (C-suite) teams segregated (predominantly white male only) or are they inclusive and desegregated with people of color and women? Are your corporations engaged with and involved in improving the conditions for the citizens in the marginalized communities in which they’re headquartered? Finally, are you using your corporate lobbying influence in state and federal capitals to address racial and economic inequities?
Real societal change can occur only when people of color and women are included in the hard conversations about race, social justice and economic equality of opportunity, and they have more than a token voice at the table. Additionally, societal change is possible only when corporate executive leaders’ values and monetary incentives (salary, benefits, bonuses and stock options) are aligned with solving these long ignored wrongs.
“America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots.” Dr. Martin Lither King, Jr.
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that racism is tearing our communities apart. One lesson we should all learn is that silent carriers help spread racism,” IBM’s CEO Arvin Krishna commented in a message to employees. “This is why it falls on all of us to do away with the legacy of bias, prejudice and racism that has led to these unspeakable events. The tragedies that have occurred should strengthen our determination to do more.”
“We cannot develop leaders for our nation’s military online”. Vice Admiral Sean Buck, USN, Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1982.
The U.S. Naval Academy is planning to have its 4,400 midshipmen return to campus in Annapolis, Maryland, for the fall, after students completed the last semester with online learning from their homes around the nation due to the coronavirus, academy officials said Monday.
Vice Adm. Sean Buck, the superintendent, told the academy’s Board of Visitors he has been communicating with the leaders of the nation’s other service academies, and they also plan to have their students on campus in the fall.
“I can tell you, as of this morning, every single military service academy in this country is opening in the fall,” Buck told the board in an online meeting. “We all are developing very detailed plans with regards to health, safety and the protocols that we need to put in place to manage risk.”
While academics can be done online, Buck said the other two pillars of the academy’s mission statement are developing midshipmen morally and physically, and those goals require hands-on experiences on campus.
Ken Frazier, chairman and CEO of Merck, joins “Squawk Box” on racial inequality and corporate CEO using their influence to remove barriers to opportunities in America
