{"id":27526,"date":"2025-02-27T21:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T02:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=27526"},"modified":"2025-04-16T09:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T13:54:46","slug":"the-jokes-on-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=27526","title":{"rendered":"The Joke’s On US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas<\/em> \u2013 \"\"<\/a>Stephen Colbert (b 1964) makes a lot of jokes. It\u2019s his business. He looks at what\u2019s going on in the world around us, and then, with comedic wisdom, tries to help us deal with it. Remember what he said back in 2010, when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform blew up and created one of the largest environmental disasters in world history? That platform was 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana in Gulf of Mexico waters. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the relentlessly spreading oil. I remember how hard it was to watch the oil-drenched birds, the tar-streaked beaches, the fishermen\u2019s \"\"<\/a>boats sitting idle, the blaze that just wouldn\u2019t go out. Stephen tackled the angst it caused with this comment: \u201cI don\u2019t think we can call it the Gulf of Mexico anymore. We broke it, we bought it. We need to create a Gulf of America fund to help pay for the cleanup.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Stephen Holland (b 1955) is a politician who served as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1985 to \"\"<\/a>2020. In 2012 Stephen submitted a Bill to the Mississippi Legislature to change the name (on state documents) of the Gulf of Mexico<\/em> to the Gulf of America<\/em>. In an interview with NPR at the time, he explained that the Mississippi GOP appeared to want to \u201cpush anything Mexican out of the state, so renaming the body of water would help with that cause.<\/em>\u201d His fellow legislators were irked with him for using humor to make his point.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump (b 1946) is currently serving as the 47th<\/sup> president of the United States. On January 7, 2025, before he was sworn in, he told reporters of one of his plans: \u201cWe’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Gulf of America \u2013 what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. We’re going to change, because we do most of the work there, and it’s ours.\u201d\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/em>On January 20, 2025, Donald signed Executive Order 14172 directing the interior secretary to adopt the name Gulf of America, specifying an area of the US continental shelf “extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.” He declared February 9, 2025, to be \u201cGulf of America Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US Interior Department confirmed that US federal agencies would use the name Gulf of America from January 24. The executive order does not compel the use of the new name by non-federal agencies, private companies, or foreign entities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sundar Pichai (b 1972) is an Indian-born American business executive and since 2015 serves as chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Part of his responsibilities include overseeing Google Maps. Sundar was one of the billionaires in attendance on Donald\u2019s inauguration day.<\/p>\n

On February 10, 2025, this announcement was made by Google: In the U.S., the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has officially updated \u201cGulf of Mexico\u201d to \u201cGulf of America.\u201d As we announced two weeks ago and consistent with our longstanding practices, we\u2019ve begun rolling out changes to reflect this update. People using Maps in the U.S. will see \u201cGulf of America,\u201d and people in Mexico will see \u201cGulf of Mexico.\u201d Everyone else will see both names.<\/em><\/p>\n

The names you see in the Maps app are based on your country location, which is determined by information from your phone\u2019s operating system (e.g., iOS and Android), including your SIM, network, and locale. If you\u2019re using Google Maps on the web, the names are based on the region you select in your Search settings or your device\u2019s location, if you haven\u2019t selected one.\u00a0<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Life on Planet Earth Today<\/strong><\/p>\n

Things just got a whole lot more complicated, it seems. I don\u2019t think these last two fellows are joking. I looked up the definitions of GULF. There are two.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gulf as a noun (area): An area of sea surrounded on three sides by land<\/li>\n
  2. Gulf as a noun (difference): An important difference between two things or groups of people<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Our #2 \u201cgulfs\u201d (differences) are growing like crazy! You know how someone elected to represent \u201cthe people\u201d (like Miss America, with a sash and sweeping hand or a winner in the midst of a thousand-balloon-drop) vows to work towards \u201cworld peace\u201d or \u201ctwo chickens in every pot\u201d? Donald and Sundar just pissed off most of the breathing world and made the US (that is \u201cus\u201d) look like we don\u2019t care to be friends with folks in other countries. \u201cHigh and mighty\u201d comes to mind. Not a smidgen of humor involved.<\/p>\n

    I decided to gather some \u201cGulf of Mexico\u201d facts and find out who named it in the first place.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    The following details come directly from the trusty Wikipedia Gulf of Mexico<\/em> site.<\/p>\n