Search Posts
Recent Posts
- Beyond Sunshine: Unbreakable bonds of a Rhode Island close-knit community – Walter Potenza September 7, 2024
- Rhode Island Weekend Weather, Sept. 7/8, 2024 – Jack Donnelly September 7, 2024
- Business Beat: Engel & Völkers welcomes Rob Silva as Real Estate Advisor September 7, 2024
- In the News… recap of the week ending Sept. 7, 2024 September 7, 2024
- Burn with Kearns: NFL inspired workout for 40+ folk – Kevin Kearns September 7, 2024
Categories
Subscribe!
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
![Jen Brien - small jen brien commentary](https://rinewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-02-at-5.39.43-PM.webp)
It is what it is – Jen Brien
by Jennifer Brien, contributing writer
“CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG”?
I think about that RODNEY KING quote quite a bit these days and the answer is “NO”. WE WILL NEVER, EVER, all get along BECAUSE the elite running this show don’t want us too. Don’t you guys notice all the crazy mixed messages that’s sent to us daily? EXAMPLES:
1.) One side screams “INCLUSION” but only if you’re a certain type. It definitely doesn’t include JEWS or WHITE FOLKS right now, let’s be candid about that. IF YOU’RE WHITE, YOU’RE WRONG and if you’re white and straight and a Christian or JEWISH – FORGET ABOUT IT. SO much for inclusion. I’m not supposed to say it, but it’s true.
2.) SUNNY HOSTIN talks daily on the “VIEW” about making the world a better place and then she makes racist statements about CAITLIN CLARK that are not challenged, and are ABSURD at best.
3.) THE PRESIDENT, who claims he’s a “UNIFIER”, recently said “REPUBLICANS and TRUMP don’t see you in the future of AMERICA”. He was speaking to an all-black college at a commencement ceremony. That is so INCENDIARY IT’S breathtaking – as well as an outright lie. We live in really messed up times right now. REALLY MESSED UP. YOU have to be on your game daily not to be hoodwinked by the machine. I seriously urge everyone to push back against groups of people who claim they come in peace but espouse hate.
I urge everyone to do their own research and not be told how to think. I urge everyone to remember why we love this country and what makes it so special as they tell us everything that’s wrong with AMERICA. I urge people to avoid the MEDIA LIES AND DECEPTION that takes place every single day from the big 3 networks, cable TV and NEWSPAPERS. Folks, DON’T let them rattle the foundations of who we are in our communities. THEY HATE us, we don’t hate each other. REMEMBER THAT.
___
TURBULANCE = CLIMATE CHANGE
OMG. YOU can’t make this up. I don’t know, before rolling out some so called “expert” to push an agenda, let’s talk about all the crap that’s being sprayed into our atmosphere EVERYWHERE to include the biggest little state in the union. News outlets are about to tell you (scare you) into believing severe TURBULENCE IS DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, but not so fast. Let’s get a comprehensive look at ALL the facts before you try to jam another asinine idea down our throats like you did with COVID. THEY are so hell bent at achieving whatever goals “they” need to achieve, ANYTHING is used to get us to believe the lies. NOT ONE study I’ve looked at takes into account all the titanium, aluminum, sulfur, diamond dust and other things they’re spraying into the atmosphere across the U.S as various agencies pursue “SOLAR GEOENGINEERING”. GET back to me when you have a real study done with ALL the information. WE ALL thank you in advance. P.S SOLAR GEOENGINEERING ” weakens the stratospheric ozone layer, alters precipitation patters, affects agriculture, ecosystem services, marine life and air quality”.
Just saying.
___
THOUGHTS ABOUT THINGS
“WHY do people take selfies of themselves in HOSPITALS, half dead in johnnies, and then post them on FB? C’mon. ARE YOU that desperate for attention?”
“I wonder if BIDEN wears depends”…. (random thought)
“How come VETERANS only get 1 day… but the gay community gets a whole month?”
“I’M not a Republican or Democrat… I’M an AMERICAN”
“The folks who hate the U.S need to have a chat with BRITTNEY GRINER”
“HOW COME all of a sudden really smart people can’t define what a woman is?”
“PRISCILLA PRESLEY NEEDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY WITH THE CHEAP BOTOX INJECTIONS. DAMN”.
___
SUMMER CONCERTS
There had to be one concert in your life that YOU’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER that was just the most amazing thing you EVER experienced! I can tell you, for me, it’s a toss up BETWEEN PINK FLOYD in FOXBORO with my siblings and various friends, vs. STEVIE RAY VAUGHN at the PPAC with my best friend in high school “DON BABY”. Every summer millions of folks head wherever to go see whomever. Last summer I went to see RICK SPRINGFIELD for the one billionth time (he signed my RUBIKS CUBE!!!) and this summer I’m going to see a much-needed Christian worship night in AUGUST at TD GARDEN. If you have a great concert you want to share leave a message in the comment section below of this column. WHO are YOU seeing this summer and/or what WAS THE BEST CONCERT you’ve ever been to!?? I want to know! I love it when you all leave comments here or on my FB page! YOU can find me on FB, BTW, by typing in Jennifer Brien (not Jen)
___
RON DIED… NOW WHAT?
A lot of people have asked me “HOW ARE YOU?” (after I ripped that question a few weeks ago in the column here… (I do hate THAT QUESTION) after the sudden passing of RON. I’ll say this: It’s weird without him, an adjustment, and terribly difficult. DEATH is HARD. Everything right now is just void. I do what I have to do, and then, not much else.
Life goes on but for me, I’m just going through the motions, trying to get right again after the wind got pummeled out of me. This is the second time in my life in 4 years a really important person just disappeared. First my father who collapsed and died in his kitchen, and then Ron who collapsed and died in his home in East Greenwich. I never got to say goodbye to either. They just left. Disappeared. That’s the part that sucks, but IT IS WHAT IT IS. There’s something to be said about Elisabeth Kubler- Ross and her 5 stages of grief, and I’m definitely trudging through those stages right now.
Everyone has suffered a loss, but some, I feel anyway, are much more traumatic than others. My friends argue with me on this point “DEATH IS DEATH” they say. NAH, I strenuously disagree. A clean goodbye at someone’s bedside is rough enough, but when someone exits stage left without warning…. BRUTAL.
I’m also dealing with the long, slow goodbye of my mom. She’s suffering with so many maladies at this point it’s hard to keep up, but her mind has changed and she’s no longer the mom I grew up with. I mourned her loss last year, but she’s still here. THAT one is wicked. Really cruel. DESPITE all that, there is a light here. IN ALL OF THIS I have come to learn that we really shouldn’t do 2 things: CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK (though we are trained to care) – and procrastinate. I know SO MANY PEOPLE who are “tomorrow people”. “I’ll do it tomorrow”…. “I’ll call them tomorrow”…. “I’ll shoot that email over tomorrow”. Ya well, tomorrow isn’t here …. TODAY IS and it’s all WE HAVE.
I have a small circle of people who have supported me and propped me back up during all of this. One person who has especially been a cheerleader has been my sweet Christian friend from Canada, JEAN. I do love God and try to live right now, but I AM definitely rough around the edges IN THE SPIRITUAL DEPARTMENT and that’s where JEAN comes in. Jean gets me and believes in me, and we actually met through the radio AT WBZ and have remained friends ever since. She is very far away but has helped keep the spark in me when it started to dim. She is a wonderful person, friend, and source of strength. The point I’m making is maybe we should all tell each other how we feel about the folks in our lives. One of the biggest regrets of people who are left behind when someone dies IS THINGS LEFT UNSAID. Don’t be greedy with your words. The journey through life is a series of lessons, and some quite painful. That is true, but I’ve found what’s more painful is not having said all that should have been said to people that have left us without goodbyes. For what it’s worth, gang – just passing THAT along.
(Oh, btw, the NOW WHAT part of this? I have all the equipment for a podcast I just need to set it up. That’s above my pay grade but it will sort itself out. I’ll def have it going before the ELECTION. GOD WILLING.)
That’s all I got this week my friends, IT IS WHAT IT IS.
Till next week,
Jen
___
![](https://rinewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-26-at-5.53.28-PM.png)
Jen Brien has over 20 years of radio broadcast experience having hosted shows on WPRO and WHJJ with Ron as well as her own shows on WRKO and WBZ in Boston, WXTK on Cape Cod and WHAM in Rochester, New York. Jen was born and raised in Woonsocket and served six years in the Army MP Canine Unit.
Another great article Jen. Yes, I’m always amused by politicians who tell you they’re the great uniter while speaking with a forked tongue and manipulating the lesser alert minds.
I didn’t know your husband or your father. So my condolences.
But since you mentioned Biden and I wasn’t sure what your “doesn’t include Jews and white folks” comment was about, you might have wanted to say something about Donald Trump since Monday was Memorial Day.
I just learned that John Kelly, his former chief of staff, confirmed his quotes in a 2020 article in The Atlantic.
“Why should I go to that cemetery (Aisne-Marne),” Trump asked Kelly, who lost a son in Afghanistan? “It’s filled with losers.”
In a separate conversation with Kelly on their 2018 trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at the Battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers”.
Losers and suckers.
I opposed the Vietnam war (rightly so) and fortunately didn’t have to serve. The draft ended several months before my lottery number would have been called. I also opposed the Gulf war, joining with more than 100 journalists in Tokyo to sign a controversial “not in our name” petition.
And while I don’t support some of the things students have said and done in their anti-Israel protests, I think we can agree that Netanyahu has mishandled the war and the world would be better off if Israel found a way to remove him.
Back to Trump: Since you said you’re neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I don’t think his comments about American war dead, along with his hostile comments toward Gold Star families and John McCain, are “American”.
Roger Schreffler
Providence