By ,
Published May 10, 2017
Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Perception vs. Reality
Perception does not always equal reality.
The Department of Health and Human Services has released a survey finding almost 97 percent of adults in America identify themselves as straight, 1.6 percent say they are gay or lesbian, and less than 1 percent bi-sexual.
That is considerably different from how the public perceives the sexual makeup of the country.
A Gallup survey in 2011 indicates more than half of Americans guessed that one in five people in this country are gay or lesbian.
That's 20 percent perception vs. 1.6 percent reality.
One administration critic says there is a reason for the gap.
Quote -- "This is the ultimate media disconnect. Both news and entertainment bombard Americans with images of gay weddings, gay adoptions and transgender triumphs all claiming to be what NBC called 'The New Normal'...The CDC numbers prove what we've been told might describe Hollywood. but not the rest of America."
Others, however, question these results. Quote -- "These numbers undercount the nation's LGB population...There's still a tremendous amount of stigma that may prevent LGB individuals from expressing themselves honestly in a government survey."
Silver Lining
Another horror story for the VA has allowed some store clerks to become heroes.
Michael Solsona lost his legs stepping on a land mine in Vietnam and is confined to a wheelchair.
A chair that he repeatedly asked the VA to fix or replace.
A New York TV station reports the chair finally fell apart right in the middle of a Lowe's store.
Enter the Lowe's staff who refused to allow the vet to fix it himself at home.
Instead the clerks tore that chair apart and re-built it like new in the middle of the store.
The staff said it was their honor to help that veteran.
Geography 101
Finally, Washington D.C. is often seen as a separate world because of the so called "inside the beltway" mentality, and all the political back and forth, but the District of Columbia is still part of the U.S. and that was news to one TSA employee.
A TV reporter was stopped by a Florida TSA agent who said the reporter's D.C. driver's license was not a valid ID.
Justin Gray eventually got through security and reported the issue.
The TSA's press secretary said he would personally look into it and later tweeted -- quote -- "Yes, a crazy town, but Washington is located in the United States."
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/grapevine-geography-101-for-the-tsa