The Way Things Are

Today is National Pina Colada Day.
Photo by YesMore Content on Unsplash

“If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, then in a field,…it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”

Exodus 21:22, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, Calvin’s Commentaries (Edinburgh;repr. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999)

French pastor and theologian, John Calvin, was born on this day in 1509 (died 1564).

Read into today’s politics what you will. All I’m saying is that the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be.

On this day in 1991, Boris Yeltsin took office as the first elected President of Russia. On June 16, 1992, President George H.W. Bush welcomed Yeltsin to the White House. I had the privilege of being on the lawn that day.

That and I find myself without a political home.

Maybe that’s as it should be.

I’m approaching retirement from a career where I’ve spent forty-four years in government and public policy. Trust me, I know how bad it is on the inside.

It’s hard though, not to just want to play a little bit of politics.

You know, like this small pint of ice cream won’t hurt my diet, will it?

The news is like a train wreck though. I can’t turn away. I can’t be unconcerned.

But I don’t have to play in their reindeer games.

River City Community Players
September 13-14, 20-21

Yes, I post links and memes below. Some because I think they’re funny. Others because they’re articles you’re not likely to see with a casual viewing of the news. Do with them what you will. Or won’t.

The best thing I’ve learned from Social Media is that you can just scroll on by.

Cue Dionne Warwick.

Sure it’s hard not to leave the snarky comment. It’s harder for me to scroll by when someone has posted something that’s obviously misinformation.

But they don’t want my correction.

That’s our problem. We’ve lost the ability to have conversations about things and not just spew talking points.

We can no longer have civil conversations. We’d rather snark and trade memes to get “our” side’s point across.

And that’s why we are where we are today.

I don’t have solution. I wish I did.

IN OTHER NEWS

Former Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe dies at 89
Fox News
Inhofe, a Republican, was the state’s longest serving senator from 1994 to 2023 and passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his wife Kay, his children and other family members, a former senior aide tells Fox News.

The Democratic Party Must Speak the Plain Truth to the President
The New York Times Editorial Board
For voters who held out hope that President Biden’s failure to communicate during last month’s debate was an aberration, the intervening days have offered little comfort.

People Who Would Never Cheat In Elections Horrified By ‘Stop Cheating In Elections’ Bill
Babylon Bee
“I want to be clear. This bill is racist, xenophobic, transphobic, and possibly arachnophobic,” Said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s not the ‘no cheating’ part that bothers us because obviously we would never, ever cheat. But it’s outrageous that Republicans would want to take measures to stop us from cheating. Which we never ever do.”

BORN ON THIS DAY

1856 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American electrical and mechanical engineer (d. 1943)
1875 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (d. 1955)
1920 – David Brinkley, American journalist (d. 2003)
1921 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the Smiley (d. 2001)
1921 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, co-founded the Special Olympics (d. 2009)
1926 – Fred Gwynne, American actor (d. 1993)
1943 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and journalist (d. 1993)
1945 – Ron Glass, American actor (d. 2016)
1972 – Sofía Vergara, Colombian-American actress and producer


Available on Amazon.

BENEDICTION

 
Boris YeltsinBorn on this DayJohn CalvinPoliticsSocial MediaWednesday