Beers All Around

Photo by Dan Barrett on Unsplash

The fourth was with me yesterday as I had a follow up appointment with my doctor, in his words “no detectable disease.”

I’ll take it.

The wife of a late friend posted on my Facebook thread “Beers all around,” something Matt would post regularly as he returned from his scans. Sadly, we lost him a couple of years ago.

Speaking of beers all around, today is Cinco de Mayo. Which is not Mexican Independence Day. Look it up, it will do you good.

However it is Yom HaAtzmaut, which is the national day of Israel commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

I’d like to visit Israel again some day.

And Mexico as well, for that matter.

Or…anywhere.

Seems like we have fifteen days of slowing down the travel and not going anywhere.

Not to worry, I have been to the beach.

And later this year, my best friend and I are taking an old man road trip.

Available at
The Write Side Shop
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Details when they’re confirmed.

If you’d like to help with those details, hit the tip jar, visit one of my shops, or click the ads on the page.

Speaking of details, I have entered a season of “how the heck did I get so busy?”

Seriously.

If you’ve followed, I’ve been trying to narrow to the focus, to limit the projects.

Somehow, now that I’m back to work at the park on weekends, the weeknights have exploded with activities.

It will all settle out. Both the wife and the sons are coming up on the end of their school years.

And in some cases, I’m just saying “no thank you, I’m not going to do that.”

I will admit that it caught me off guard.

I’m traveling for the day job next week. It makes things a little tricky for the blog and the 100 Day Project, but I have a plan.

We’ll see if I can stick with it.

That’s what we have to do.

We have to plan.

When the plans change, we have to be flexible.

Speaking of keeping up with things, have you checked your news feed this week?

And we’re six months away from the election.

Pace yourself.

Beers all around.

American actress and singer Alice Faye, known for introducing the song “You’ll Never Know” was born on this day in 1915. (d. 1998)


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Journalists from multiple news outlets test positive after White House Correspondents Dinner weekend
CNN Business
In the days since WHCD weekend, reporters and staffers from CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Politico, and other participating news organizations have tested positive for the virus. Most notably, ABC’s Jon Karl, who shook hands with President Biden and who sat next to Kim Kardashian, has fallen ill, as Politico’s Maxwell Tani first reported.
Read More.

The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics
Shaun Kenney at The Republican Standard
Thus Breyer questions whether or not the US Supreme Court alone actually played a major role in ending segregation. For insight, Breyer turns to Vernon Jones, who argues that without the Brown decision certainly nothing could be done before hand, but at the very least the SCOTUS provided the catalyst so that the civil rights era could move forward against the legal architecture of racism. Read More.

True Comradeship
The Art of Manliness
True comrades have each other’s backs. If one man in the group falters, the others help him up and stand in the gap. In turn, when that man again finds his footing, he turns around and reciprocates: he sees what he can contribute to the team; he doesn’t just express his gratitude in word, but in deed. Read More.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1864 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (d. 1922)
1914 – Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)
1927 – Pat Carroll, American actress
1942 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1944 – John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter

BENEDICTION

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:7–8

A New Hope

In the lexicon of the political class, the word ‘sacrifice’ means that the citizens are supposed to mail even more of their income to Washington so that the political class will not have to sacrifice the pleasure of spending it.

American journalist and author, George Will, was born on this day in 1941.

Forty-five years ago this month, Star Wars: A New Hope premiered in theaters.

For a certain generation, it changed the way we went to the movies.

The Write Side Shop
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It changed a lot of things. And it brought us forty-five years of joy, with a couple of disappointments. Many of us have passed the joy along to our children.

But, as much as they may love the series, they’ll never have the joy of seeing that first light saber or the shock we all felt when Vader said “Luke, I’m your father.”

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Not even the “Who Shot J.R.?” frenzy could top that.

My boys are huge Star Wars fans.

For the older, when we introduced him, we introduced pizza and movie night. Every Friday night for years, it was pizza and a movie. More often than not it was The Empire Strikes Back.

The younger one came along and jumped on the bandwagon, or speed racer. And then there was the Christmas when the only thing he wanted from Santa was a Darth Vader voice changer.

It’s around here in a closet somewhere.

Today they’re both adults and can recite to you the Star Wars cannon.

They can do the same with Star Trek, which is my preferred world, because after all, that was also revolutionary.

And, with very rare exceptions, Star Wars or Star Trek are the only series the four of us can watch together and be mostly happy about it.

Back when I first saw the original Star Wars trilogy I, along with just about everyone else, thought that it was great, and that it was over. We didn’t have VCRs or streaming service. We had no idea that there would be more films, series, product marketing, and more.

We were just enjoying the heck out of some good movies.

True, The Phantom Menace almost ruined all of that. But honestly, I watch all nine over the Christmas holidays and, other than Jar Jar, I didn’t mind the movie so much.

I mean with the prequels, at least we realized that Luke’s whining is hereditary.

May the 4th be with you.

American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor, Randy Travis, was born on this day in 1959.

True story: My aunt had a cat that loved Randy Travis. She would put the video on and the cat would come and sit in front of the TV. But not when it was multiple stars. Only Randy.


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

If Roe is overturned, look for 3 long overdue developments
Kayleigh McEnany at Fox News
Three important developments would occur should the draft holding in Dobbs become the actual holding of the Supreme Court: the aberrational abortion laws of the United States would cease in some jurisdictions; the unsound and roundly criticized legal reasoning of Roe would be undone; and America’s abortion laws would be reconciled with the mainstream opinions of the American public. Read More.

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Introduce Legislation To Defund Biden’s Disinformation Board
Daily Caller
The bill would completely bar federal funding for the DHS’ “Disinformation Governance Board,” something Johnson said the Republicans will do if President Joe Biden does not get rid of the board. Read More.

After Chanting All Night, Crowd Of Worshippers Still Can’t Get Moloch To Answer Them
The Babylon Bee
“We’ve chanted, and danced, and even cut ourselves with knives, but still, Moloch is silent,” said protest leader and male feminist Skeeve Rapenburg. “Why does he not hear? Why won’t he send down fire from the sky and consume this infernal SCOTUS building? MOLOCH! HEAR US!” Read More.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)
1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)
1946 – Gary Bauer, American political activist

BENEDICTION

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:7–8