Thursday, November 30, 2023

The Nicest Thing I Can Say About Henry The K Is That He Won’t Be Missed

People who don’t remember the’60’s are doomed to repeat it:
From yet another vantage point, Kissinger is at the heart of bookshelves of books that a generation of baby boomers wrote about Vietnam and Watergate, two of the three formative events of their generational memory (the third being the Kennedy assassination). Many of those books are quite good. If you haven’t read Time of Illusion by Jonathan Schell, absolutely go read it. Everybody may hate the baby boomers now. But in their day, with their admittedly sometimes self-obsessed wrestling with the things that happened in their 20s, the early baby boomers generated quite a lot of literary and popular culture heat. Kissinger managed to do enough when relatively young enough to be at the center of a lot of that heat and then live enough into the age of social media for all that heat surrounding him to … well, splatter all over everything in a new way before he finally died. 
The other part of the story is that from the start of his time on the national political stage, Kissinger inserted himself into the popular culture in ways that were then and remain now all but unheard of. Kissinger was a single man from 1964 and 1974 and he made sure you knew it. His personal life was the topic of the gossip columns and intrigue. Late last night The Washington Post published this article, The surprising dating life of Henry Kissinger, a West Wing ‘playboy’. He reputedly dated countless high profile actresses and female celebrities. He made appearances at Studio 54. He’s publicly credited with originating the phrase “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
How you can get through an entire article (as Josh does) without mentioning realpolitik is simply astounding. Joy Reid tonight noted that Jimmy Carter lived long enough “to outlive that SOB,” if only because Carter introduced human rights to American foreign policy. Kissinger had no time for such mamby-pamby nonsense. At least that’s the way he saw it.
In a numerical body count as a measure of criminal evil, the rightly infamous and reviled Pol Pot comes somewhat after Kissinger in the millions of deaths attributable to him because Kissinger and Nixon share responsibility for the illegal expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia which brought Pol Pot to power. The duly elected president, Richard Nixon and his appointee, Kissinger share in that alongside the millions murdered through the action and encouragement of Nixon and Ford and Kissinger in East Timor, East Pakistan (Bangladesh), the fascist takeovers in Chile and Argentina (Kissinger complained to the generals in the "Dirty War" that they weren't killing People fast enough) and in many other places. Especially after he cashed in on his governmental climb over millions of bodies, Kissinger had a business career and among the things he and his associates did was arm many murderous regimes and movements in Africa and, of course Latin America and Asia.
Yeah, but Josh points out at least Chile and Argentina didn’t go Commie. Domino theory, donchaknow. Or Monroe Doctrine, I could never be sure in the’60’s.

Kissinger does prove that if you live long enough, you escape your critics because you leave them behind, and newer generations never know what they did. Josh cites a book by Christopher Hitchens from 2002, and Anthony Bourdain’s critique from the same year. Almost 30 years after Kissinger’s last job in official D.C. And neither of them are foreign policy experts or serious historians. Need I also note Josh doesn’t remember Nixon in the White House, or Vietnam?

Henry Kissinger earned the enmity, decision by decision.

I do find it funny Josh and WaPo have to underline that Kissinger was the Playboy of the Western World for a decade. It’s only surprising to those who only know Kissinger since 2000.  Those of us older remember Kissinger coining the famous phrase “Power is an aphrodisiac,” and applying it to himself. It was also Kissinger who wielded power to go from Nixon’s National Security Adviser to his, and then Ford’s, Secretary of State. Kissinger wanted to be the power behind the throne, and he did so as ruthlessly as he directed Nixon’s, and then Ford’s, foreign policy. After Nixon was deposed, he said Nixon had a “meatball mind.” Being a publicly arrogant figure never wins hearts and minds. Being the man unapologetically responsible for ramping up Vietnam just made it worse. Even Robert McNamara recanted his cheerleading of that war, and apologized for his responsibility for it. Kissinger just cashed in.
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Dorothy Day--November 29

Yes, I should have done this yesterday!

 

A brother said to an old man:  There are two brothers.  One of them stays in his cell quietly, fasting for six days at a time, and imposing on himself a good deal of discipline, and the other serves the sick.  Which one of them is more acceptable to God?  The old man replied:  Even if the brother who fasts six days were to hang himself by the nose, he could not equal the one who serves the sick.

--Desert Wisdom

"After 1976 Dorothy [Day] virtually withdrew from the affairs of the world of the Worker movement.  Her lot, as she knew, was to await death.  Content to spend as much time as she could in the company of her daughter and grandchildren, she remained in her room at Maryhouse, coming downstairs only for the even Mass that was said at the house.  In her room, which overlooked Third Street, she could look out onto the dismal prospect of a narrow street, shadowed by five-story buildings, shoulder to shoulder, whose unkempt and desolate appearance suggested that they, like the people who passed before them, felt that their existence mattered not at all.  In front of these buildings, parked cars at the curbs were jammed against one another.  One structure, ugly with shattered windows and an aspect of grotesque garishness, was fronted by motorcycles--powerful brutish machines with signs and symbols that proclaimed their  owners' defiance of civilized norms.  The building was the home of the Hell's Angels, a motorcycle gang about whose doings fearful stories were told.

"It was in this part of New York that Dorothy had spent a half-century of her own life, where just blocks away she had lived in 1917 as the acting editor of the Masses and where in that cold winterof 1918 she had whiled away the nights with Eugene O'Neill and the young radicals and artists of the Village.  A few blocks to the west and south was New York's Lower East Side, the home of the Jews.  She had never left them.  Mott Street was two blocks away, the street of the Italians.  She remembered sitting on the front steps of the Mott Street house, watching them celebrate the feast of San Gennaro.  Perhaps she remembered that night soon after the war had begun, the cool clear air and the half-moon shining brightly over Mott Street.

"Dorothy died on November 29, 1980, just as night began to soften the harshness of the poverty and ugliness of Third Street.  Her daughter, Tamar, was in the room with her.  There was no struggle.  The last of the energy that sustained her life had been used.

"The funeral was on December 2 at the Nativity Catholic Church, a half block away from Maryhouse.  An hour before the service, scheduled for 11 o'clock in the morning, people began to assemble in the street.  Some were curious onlookers, the hollow-eyed people and stumbling people who roam the streets of lower New York, but others were drawn there by some sense of propriety of paying their last respects to the woman who had clothed and fed them.  There were American Indians, Mexican workers, blacks and Puerto Ricans.  There were people in eccentric dress, apostles of causes who had fealt a great power and truth in Dorothy's life.

"At the appointed time, a procession of these friends and fellow workers came down the sidewalk.  At the head of it Dorothy's grandchildren carried the pine box that held her body.  Tamar, Forster, and her brother John followed.  At the church door, Cardinal Terence Cooke met the body to bless it.  As the procession stopped for this rite, a demented person pushed his way through the crowd and bending low over the coffin peered at it intently.  No one interfered, because, as even the funeral directors understood, it was in such as this man that Dorothy had seen the face of God."

--William D. Miller


This morning to ward off the noise I have my radio on---Berlioz, Schubert, Chopin, etc.  It is not a distraction, it is a pacifier.  As St. Teresa of Avila said as she grabbed her castanets and started to dance during the hour of recreation in her unheated convent, "One must do something to make life bearable!"

...

I feel that all families should have the conveniences and comforts which modern living brings and which do simplify life, and give time to read, to study, to think, and to pray.  And to work in the apostolate, too.  But poverty is my vocation, to live as simply and poorly as I can, and never to cease talking and writing of poverty and destitution.  Here and everywhere.  "While there are poor, I am of them.  While men are in prison, I am not free," as Debs said and as we often quote.

--Dorothy Day 

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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Elmo Watch

Today, in a public conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit, Twitter CEO Elon Musk was asked about his thoughts about the many companies and brands that have stopped advertising on Twitter following Musk's antisemitic comments on the platform recently. His response was simple: the companies can go f*ck themselves.
Oh, he meant it:
As you can tell from the clip, Sorkin was extremely uncomfortable as Musk repeatedly chanted go f*ck yourself to the advertisers, motioning to the crowd. At one point, Musk even called out Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, by name. During this enter conversation, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino was in the audience, although he camera did not capture her reaction.
The NYT is on the case: Funny they missed him cursing his advertisers and leading a profane chant. Or didn’t seem to notice he’s as emotionally stable as a five-year old. An emotionally troubled five-year old.*

I mean, a 52 year old man who is “Good Elmo” and “Bad Elmo” in the same hour? And this is just a “conundrum”? The NYT editors must have had a fit of the vapors at such language! How could they possibly report it?

Sometimes I really wonder about the “adults” in this world.
No word on whether this was “Good Elmo” or “Bad Elmo” speaking.

*He’s also pulled a truly Trumpian move of screwing his suit against Media Matters and made Texas and Missouri reconsider their interest in pursuing any action.
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But “Dems In Disarray” Is So Alliterative 🫠

I read about the transfer before I read it in context of the monitor reporting it to Engoron. Which tells me Trump has not yet accepted the new regime, and he’s still functioning under the old rules.

It also tells me his situation is so complicated he’s not keeping up with all of it anyway. It also tells me Engoron will file this away for the conclusion of the trial and case. Unless Trump can get the appeals court to set aside the summary judgment (unlikely) his lawyers are going to have trouble arguing Trump didn’t just fail to comply with a lawful court order.

And that the court isn’t entitled to enforce its standing order with further sanctions.

Trump is just going to get himself in more and more trouble as he goes along. This is literally the least of it.
I almost feel sorry for the GOP.
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Dems In Disarray

😎
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Hail Mary, Full Of Grace

 The “They Lied More Than I Did!” Defense:

Trump also wants to counter arguments that his claims to have actually won the 2020 election but for massive, never-found fraud somehow contributed to mistrust in American elections. In fact, Trump attorneys wrote, the former president wants evidence about 2016 Russian interference “to demonstrate to the jury that he did not create or cause the environment that the prosecution seeks to blame him for.”
The “I Know You Are, But What Am I?” Defense:
Trump’s lawyers wrote elsewhere in the filing that the 2016 interference had “motivated” Trump to make extensive policy changes aimed at “foreign influence and cyber risks,” and “to be skeptical of claims about the absence of foreign influence in the 2020 election.” 
In 2020, Trump’s allies went wild with claims of foreign interference. Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows ordered DOJ officials to examine the ItalyGate theory, which posits that an Italian defense contractor used military satellites to zap the election away from Trump. At a now-infamous November 2020 press conference, Rudy Giuliani appeared alongside Sidney Powell as she attributed Trump’s loss to a Venezuelan conspiracy helmed by deceased communist Hugo Chavez.
One pauses to note no policy changes enacted by Trump justify his actions on January 6th, or actions leading up to that date. In fact, this is all just creating a record in appeal, as it is unlikely this evidence will be ordered discoverable, survive a limine hearing, or get before the jury. If it exists at all.

They got nuthin’. This is all trying to make the ketchup spaghetti stick to the wall.
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So This Is Working Again

I’ll try not to abuse this power, but this seems a good point to start using it again.

Especially since Comer is going on Newsmax to complain about Democrats not letting him get away with one-sided hearings. Don’t they know Republicans are supposed to be able to do whatever they want to?
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What Did The President Do, And When Did He Do It?

 What did the President know, and when did he know it?

That is not a defense here," he added. "What I mean by that is that you can think subjectively that the election was stolen. It doesn't mean you get to storm the Capitol, for example. And that's the difference. If you're engaging in something that you believe to be illegal, even if you have good intentions, that's still a crime. That distinction is going to be really important."
The famous question was first posed during the Watergate scandal. Nixon was the president then. The question has since become the gold standard for discussing criminal prosecutions. It’s understood to be the question of criminal intent.

It isn’t.

Criminal intent divides the question of the criminal act (you need both to establish a crime: a mens rea, often called “guilty mind,” and an actus reus, or criminal act) into two categories: intentional, and negligent. You’re culpable if negligence or intent is proven; but the punishment is worse for the latter, for what should be obvious reasons.

Now, not all crimes can be committed negligently; which means some require proof of intent. But proof of intent does not require a confession from the accused, or even clever cross-examination that gets more than the defendant wanted to reveal. It is shown by evidence proving the accused acted knowingly (as opposed to negligently, which might be a defense). If proving intent required evidence directly from the accused, every criminal case in America would founder on the 5th Amendment. The law doesn’t require first-hand evidence of the accused’s state of mind. Intent can be inferred from evidence of actions or statements made to witnesses.

So the ceaseless blather that Trump is finally caught by some tape or witness statement finally revealed to the public is as mindless as Trump’s constant cries (and efforts in court) to dismiss his New York fraud suit because of the testimony of one witness.

That only works on TeeVee, where they need to wrap up the trial in 60 minutes, including commercial breaks.

No one witness is going to make, or break, a trial. I’ve sat through trials, they are never that dramatic. A bad witness is a burden, a good witness a blessing, but if your cases rises or falls on one witness, you’re doing it wrong. 😑 

What did the President know, and when did he know it, is too strict a standard (and even then Nixon stumbled). It’s a political question, not a legal one. The question facing Trump some 91 times is: what did the President do, and when did he do it? The jury will decide why he did it based on the evidence of what he did, which will include what he said and what he was told. They will decide whether he had the requisite criminal intent. And Trump won’t have to testify about his “subjective” state of mind, for them to do it.
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Core Political Speech For Me!


But not for thee!

Yes, Trump really is as dumb as a bag of hammers. No, MSNBC does not use “the public airwaves” (no, that doesn’t affect the analysis at all). Yes, Trump’s grip on reality has always been slippery when wet. And yes, “Election interference” is his “King’s’X’” that he thinks allows him to do whatever he wants.

It’s Trump’s year of magical thinking. He’s just going to get worse; which is the unimaginable part.
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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

🌞 🚪

 Hunter Biden’s lawyer asked for a public hearing, v. a closed door deposition. Committee chair Comer objected. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the committee, responds to Comer's objection:



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Monday, November 27, 2023

The Heartland Of America

 Where men are men and…

A Crook County, Wyoming, judge has dismissed property destruction charges against a pair of ranchers accused of bleaching penis shapes and other markings on their neighbor's cows.
… cows 🐄 are the closest thing to stalls in the men’s room?
Lara Logan explains to Charlie Kirk her conspiracy theory that Democrats hired provocateurs on J6 to go into the crowd dressed as Trump supporters to punch women and police in the face to get the riot started.
I still want to see a “Trump supporter” uniform. So I don’t inadvertently dress like one.

And in our "Be Careful What You Ask For” category:
People fretting about Steve Bannon being out of jail pending appeal should realize that it is about to be denied soon and, by appealing, he delayed his turn-in for his 6 month sentence until the middle of crunch time for the elections.
😈

Maria Bartiromo to Rep. Richard McCormick: "So who is running the show here? Does [Biden] know what's going on or is he being directed by President Obama?"
Wait for it...
Seems an odd conspiracy theory: 
-The person REALLY running the government is... 
...the most popular president in recent history.
Trump is flogging this idea as a valid excuse for confusing Obama, whom he never ran against, with Biden, whom he wants to run against again.

Finally, “Hurt feelings, cattle with dong markings, and now felony charges." We really should consider the feelings of the cows:
The Habeck cattle, which jumped the border on June 20, were rounded up by the Carrolls and an unnamed cohort who then "marked them up pretty good." 
• Investigators say those markings included dong art. 
• There's a bunch of arguing over the fence and how one neighbor is mad at the other for sitting around watching as the other guy tried to make life better for everyone. 
• There are hurt feelings, cattle with dong markings and now felony charges.
"Dong art" was my favorite “Barenaked Ladies” cover band back in the day.
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Doing The Same Thing Over And Over Again…

 Um…

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Mar-a-Lago) announced today for his audience-of-one in south Florida that his 'Weaponization of Government' Committee will hold another hearing this Thursday, November 30, where the subject matter will be the same as the hearing they conducted a year ago.
Um...

Um...
According to the two sources and other Trump allies and aides familiar with the situation, Trump and his team are looking past the primary towards a general-election fight against President Joe Biden — and they think they can somehow run the former president as a supposed “moderate” (as three sources put it) on abortion, at least compared to the majority of the 2024 Republican field. For months, the sources tell Rolling Stone, Trump and some of his closest aides — such as top campaign adviser Susie Wiles — have planned for the ex-president to position himself in a way that “makes both Republicans and Democrats very happy,” as Trump is fond of saying.
Meanwhile, in the real world:
Biden: From turkey to air travel to a tank of gas, costs went down… On Thanksgiving two years ago, a hundred container ships were waiting to dock… This year, there are less than 10 meaning as folks start their holiday shopping, shelves are stocked
And:
Biden: And my predecessor, once again, called for cuts that could rip away health insurance from tens of millions of Americans… They just don’t give up. But guess what.. we won’t let these things happen
Expecting a different result? Or getting shit done? Which is more appealing?
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Dems In Disarray

 NYT Pitchbot:

The populist right is threatening our democracy as never before. Here's why we're doing more stories on statements from obscure left-wing student groups.
Joe Scarbrough this morning opined that the protests and disagreements with Biden over Israel and Gaza exposed the “fault line” in the Democratic Party. He meant the split between “progressives” and everyone else.

And I thought: “Who?”  Rashida Tlaib? Who else? I fell onto an e-mail list for AOC (a fundraising mechanism), and she never mentions demanding a cease fire. Tlaib has been the public Congressional face of that; and who else? Anybody? Anybody? Ferris Bueller?

All I’ve got is some random college kids on a handful of campuses. There was the video a while back, of a few students (all off camera) ending an MIT class with a chant. Most of the students sat mute, waiting for it to end.

And now? Now that Biden has negotiated a deal where every day a hostage is released means 4 days of ceasefire? And humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza? And yes, Biden publicly supports Israel; but flies and vinegar, isn’t it? Staying on Israel’s good side, Biden has more influence: i.e., the ceasefire.

And is Tlaib expected to lead a splinter group of Democrats away from Biden next November?
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Sunday, November 26, 2023

Trolley Problems. 🤖


 So, this is context:
asked OpenAI if it would take an action that would harm no one but save a billion white people from painful death. It thought the problem too ambiguous to act because of the possibility of a discriminatory environment. 
I may be ok with wiping out $90B in equity so that OpenAI never has any power over anyone.
Which led to some very silly responses:
This is the result of OpenAI purposely making sure it’s this way through human reinforcement learning. It is a hint of very serious problem. AI will be embedded layers deep into everything we use. If it values manners over lives, it’s a serious problem.
Very silly responses:
We all know that AI is only a reflection of the current human consciousness, yes? Are we expecting ‘it’ to be a higher level being? If so we will be appropriately disappointed.
Very very silly responses:
well, only the currently dominant human consciousness. the worry is they will use AI to be permanently dominant.
Very VERY silly:
This is extremely concerning. The woke mind virus, which is fundamentally anti-human, has been deeply ingrained into ChatGPT!
(Elmo really is NOT a serious thinker. Or even a thinker.)

Thus requires a serious corrective. And what is more serious than DougJBalloon?
I asked OpenAI if it would say that Hitler was right if that would save a billion white people from painful death. It said “no”. How is this not completely terrifying to everyone who cares about AI?
With a much more serious “trolley problem:”
What if a giant meteor was headed towards earth and the only way to stop it was to dress up as a Nazi while listening to Nickelback at full volume? What is your answer to this very possible scenario? Would you do it?
And the perspective of real life:
My four-year-old was on ChatGPT when he turned to me gravely and asked “Daddy, why won’t this AI say the n-word?” And when I told him “Because the woke mob doesn’t understand the trolley problem,” he started crying.
Much better.
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Tötenfest 2023

In the German E&R church calendar, this prayer would probably come today, the Last Sunday of Pentecost, the day of the observance of the Tötenfest.  The oldest members of my last church remembered something about the service, involving lighting candles and reciting the names of those who had died in the past year.  If there was a proper service in the Evanglical book of worship that church had, I couldn't decipher it from the feature type and the German. So I lit candles, read names, and we prayed:

Almighty and everlasting God, before whom stand the spirits of the living and the dead; Light of lights, Fountain of wisdom and goodness, who livest in all pure and humble and gracious souls.

For all who witnessed a good confession for thy glory and the welfare of the world; for patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; for the wise of every land and nation, and all teachers of mankind,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For the martyrs of our holy faith, the faithful witnesses of Christ of whome the world was not worthy, and for all who have resisted falsehood and wrong unto suffering or death,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For all who have labored and suffered for freedom, good government, just laws, and they sanctity of the home; and for all who have given their lives for their country,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For all who have sought to bless men by their service and life, and to lighten the dark places of the earth,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For those who have been tender and true and brave in all times and places, and for all who have been one with thee in the communion of Christ's spirit and in the strength of his love,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For the dear friends and kindred, ministering in the spiritual world, whose faces we see no more, but whose love is with us for ever,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For the teachers and companions of our childhood and youth, and for the members of our household of faith who worship thee in heaven,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

For the grace which was given to all these, and for the trust and hope in which they lived and died,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.

And that we may hold them in continual remembrance, that the sanctity of their wisdom and goodness may rest upon our earthly days, and that we may prepare ourselves to follow them in their upward way,

WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.

That we may ever think of them as with thee, and be sure that where they are, there we may be also,

WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.

That we may have a hope beyond this world for all the children, even for wanderers who must be sought and brought home; that we may be comforted and sustained by the promise of a time when none shall be a stranger and an exile from thy kingdom and household;

WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.

In the communion of the Holy Spirit, with the faithful and the saints in heaven, with the redeemed in all ages, with our beloved who dwell in thy presence and peace, we, who still serve and suffer on earth, unite in ascribing:

THANKSGIVING, GLORY, HONOR, AND POWER UNTO THEE, O LORD OUR GOD.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW, AND EVER SHALL BE, WORLD WITHOUT END. AMEN.


We celebrated the Totenfest at both of my old German E&R heritage churches, even though no one remembered how.  There was an old E&R Book of Worship, in German, in one of those churches, so old it still had Fraktur type (Hitler, I understand, modernized that.  And Mussolini made the trains run on time, they say.  I'm pretty sure that one started as sarcasm.)  Anyway, I couldn't read it, couldn't even find the word "Totenfest" anywhere in it.  So I did what some people remembered about it:  lit a candle for the dead of the past year, rang the church bell (in my first church they had two bells: one for church, one for funerals.  The latter was muffled and painfully appropriate.  I still miss that.), and said a prayer. Probably not the prayer above, but certainly the service should include that prayer, too.

I have reason to remember my brother this year; younger than me, he died too young.  I had always imagined us growing old together, even though he had health problems for the last 30 years or so, and I simply should have been more realistic.  He lived far from me, but I still imagined in retirement we'd visit regularly, and share memories of childhood and our hometown only we had.  Now I understand Pound's lament upon hearing of the death of his friend T.S. Eliot:  "Who is there for me to share a joke with?" My childhood memories are now all my own, locked in the vault of my personal experiences.

His death was unexpected, but afterwards it seemed timely, almost inevitable.  The worst part, that will haunt me to the end of my days, was my inability to fly up to see him before he was comatose, because the post office didn't deliver my new driver's license in time.  It was lost for almost 10 days, so I couldn't get on a plane, and finally the Lovely Wife and I drove to Chicago.  He was still alive when we got there.  He was waiting for me to get there, though he couldn't tell me that. He was effectively in a medically induced coma, heavily drugged to relieve him of the pain of basically starving to death. A tumor late diagnosed on his spine was found to have cut off blood supply to the nerves below it, both paralyzing his legs, and his digestive system. 

He passed less than 12 hours after we saw him, early the next morning.

For the rest of my days, my immediate family now is my wife and daughter.

And we all have reason to remember Rosalynn Carter:

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” - Rosalynn Carter

For your friends and families, too,  that we all may have a hope beyond this world for all the children, even for wanderers who must be sought and brought home; that we may be comforted and sustained by the promise of a time when none shall be a stranger and an exile from God's kingdom and household. 

“We would not have you ignorant, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep.”

I said those words so many times at so many gravesides I have them practically memorized.  I have these words memorized, too; and said them as part of my eulogy for my brother at his memorial service in his backyard.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.


The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of Christ Jesus, our risen Savior.

And the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, be among you, and remain with you, always.

Amen.

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“But that was in another country…”

Someone I knew in elementary school:
"The prohibitively high cost to the nation at this point though is that...the former president has normalized his behavior and his delegitimizing and dehumanizing rhetoric into our political culture"
Washington's Farewell Address:
“They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community,” he said in his Farewell Address. “They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
The Presidential campaign of 1800: (four years later)
Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." In return, Adams' men called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." Asth the slurs piled on, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward. Even Martha Washington succumbed to the propaganda, telling a clergyman that Jefferson was "one of the most detestable of mankind."
Complete with a secret plan to end the war* invade France:
Back then, presidential candidates didn't actively campaign. In fact, Adams and Jefferson spent much of the election season at their respective homes in Massachusetts and Virginia. But the key difference between the two politicians was that Jefferson hired a hatchet man named James Callendar to do his smearing for him. Adams, on the other hand, considered himself above such tactics. To Jefferson's credit, Callendar proved incredibly effective, convincing many Americans that Adams desperately wanted to attack France. Although the claim was completely untrue, voters bought it, and Jefferson won the election.
And yet we still admire Jefferson for the Louisiana Purchase and for hiring Lewis and Clark.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the dehumanizing rhetoric of Andrew Jackson (the Trail of Tears) and John Tyler (who admitted Texas and Oregon to the Union because they were pro-slavery states), to name just two (come to think of it, Woodrow Wilson was also a notorious racist) don’t really figure because that was another century and besides, now it’s about white people. And no, I’m not taking cheap shots:
The new reality sparked a resurgence of white supremacy and racial violence against Black people by Southern whites, who feared being replaced by what they considered to be an inferior race. 
One of the most influential expressions of this replacement anxiety was found in the 1916 book “The Passing of the Great Race,” a pseudo-scientific work by amateur anthropologist Madison Grant warning readers that a flood of inferior races – not only from Africa and Asia, but from eastern and southern Europe – was sweeping away the Anglo-Saxon civilization. 
The remedy, Grant argued, was to get rid of democracy and disempower Black people and the teeming masses of urban immigrants as well. 
By the 1920s, white Southern lawmakers had fashioned a new version of master race democracy and enacted Jim Crow laws that established racial segregation across the South and disenfranchised Black voters.
And if you’re really worried about violence, there was the Elaine Massacre in Arkansas, 1919:
On Sept. 30, the farmers met in a church outside Elaine to discuss strategy and had armed guards stationed outside. A sheriff’s deputy and other white men confronted the Black men standing guard. The ensuing fight escalated until white vigilantes roamed the farmland, ransacking houses, confiscating arms and killing Black men, women and children on the slightest pretext. 
Arkansas Gov. Charles H. Brough called the War Department for help. About 600 federal troops were sent to the area, and once there, they used machine guns to spray the the fields and woods. When the gun smoke cleared, at least 200 Black people were dead, and the only people held to account were a dozen Black men convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
The farmers were trying to organize a union, to fight the peonage system in rural Arkansas. The federal government helped out, with military troops. The president who authorized that would have been Woodrow Wilson. Funny nobody remembers him for that. Almost 50 years later the Rev. Dr. King led a movement of non-violence, a movement rooted in Christianity, that countered that deeply embedded cultural violence with non-violence, and began to turn it aside, changing hearts and minds. I was in a church choir with Mike Luttig; I like to think he retained some of those lessons.

I despise Trump, and think he would be a greater harm to America than he was in his first term. Biden is responsible for the hostage release and ceasefire. Trump wouldn’t have the ability, or interest, to do that, to negotiate with so many countries, to do the work demanded. But let’s not give Trump power he doesn’t have, or that culture of violence an intractability it shouldn’t be granted. Yes, he’s a bad influence, but he hasn’t brought anything to our political culture that wasn’t already there.

Maybe that’s the fight we should be fighting; with the political violence of our own culture and history. The roots of the Tree of Evil, rather than its branches.

*I know Mike is old enough to remember that. Pretty sure George Conway and Katie Phang aren’t.
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Saturday, November 25, 2023

👴🏻

Proud of this one. I wrote about my grandparents, The Golden Bachelor, and Joe Biden turning 81. 
Please read/share and let me know what you think! 
“Old age no longer means what it used to — and Democrats should make that case this cycle.”
By the time they were my age, both of my grandfathers were old. Not in my young eyes alone, but in the eyes of the world. They were also both dead.

My father smoked like a chimney, got his exercise walking a golf course (until he took up using a cart), had two heart surgeries and two heart attacks. Heart problems took his father and his older brother.

Dad died just after his 90th birthday; not of heart problems.

I don’t have his heart problems, nor my mother’s diabetes, complications of which finally took her, also at 90. Her baby sister just turned 90, and has no reason right now not to expect to hit 100.

I remember when people my age were “old,” and had one foot, if not both, in the grave. That has changed dramatically in just 50 years.

Old age no longer means what it used to.
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⚠️🎄🎅


First, you have to be this old to recognize the face in that picture. Once the scourge of all non-FoxNews viewers and a symbol of the decline and fall of American democracy, not even a punchline anymore.

Sic transit gloria.

Hell, even Newt Gingrich pops up now and again to remind us of what he isn’t…

But the War on Xmas is back: because, Thanksgiving is over.*


Or maybe it isn’t:
There’s a cease-fire on the battlefields of Gaza. But the War on Christmas is still raging in the parking lots of our nation’s big box retailers.
I do wonder who is still shopping in big box stores (the last time I was in one the skeleton crew staff out-numbered customers 10 to 1; well, if you don’t count Costco). But maybe that marks me as an elitist:
Probably the biggest political gap between the highly educated policy class & the less educated public, is on the War on Christmas 
That’s because the public has to deal with being told “Happy Holidays” at brick-and-mortar retailers while elites do Christmas shopping online
Still, political pundits want to know:
Has the War on Christmas become Biden's Vietnam?
Guess we’ll have to first decide if there still is one. 🤷🏻‍♂️

*The non-sarcastic truth is, Newsmax tried to revive it because…Newsmax. They need the views. And some random guy warming up the crowd for Trump a few weeks back. Which probably inspired Newsmax.

And, of course, NYT Pitchbot. Because satire is never seasonal.
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Gormless

 Biden:

Biden: Beginning this morning, under a deal reached by extensive U.S. Diplomacy, including numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region, fighting in Gaza will halt for four days. This deal is also structured to allow a pause to continue for more than 50 hostages to be released. That's our goal. This morning, I have been engaged with my team as we begin the first difficult days of implementing this deal. It's only a start, but so far it's gone well. Earlier this morning, 13 Israeli hostages were released, including an elderly woman, a grandmother, and mothers with their young children, some under the age of 6 years old.
I have listened to weeks of “political” and “electoral” “analysis” (I handle all three terms with tongs) about  how Biden has lost critical voting blocs a full year from now because he wouldn’t join the clamor for a ceasefire in Gaza.

What say you now, Cassandras and Chicken Littles?

And already this week we the people have survived a terrorist attack on the Rainbow Bridge that was actually a guy in a Bentley who maybe suffered a “medical incident” that ended in a fiery explosion/terrible accident;

Dolly Parton for the first time in her storied career performing at a football game half-time show, reminding some people she was crucial in getting us all a Covid vaccine (and reminding most of us why she is a national treasure);

Somehow surmounted the national scandal that VP Harris has a gas stove in her kitchen;

Recovered yet again from another holiday screed published to a social media site no one but the political press reads that said the same things Trump has been saying for two years, or more, and yet it was kinda news because he…said it again in a holiday;

And somehow, the great world spins on.

It must be a Thanksgiving miracle. 🦃 


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Friday, November 24, 2023

Trump Has Very Bad Lawyers

 


Exhibit 1,333, 469:

To substantiate a claim that Joe Biden ginned up the twin prosecutions against him (motion, reply), Donald Trump picked two clauses (in italics) in an article (live link) that repeatedly describes the various ways that Biden and Merrick Garland have restored the independence to the Department of Justice from what it had been under Trump.
If you aren’t keeping track (why should you? 🤷🏻‍♂️), Trump has filed three motions to dismiss in D.C., one of which alleges selective and malicious prosecution. Its argument rests, in part, on “fake news”  he now finds credible because it serves what is really merely another conspiracy theory presented in a legal pleading.

Please note I did NOT say presented as a legal argument.

The picture above, also courtesy of emptywheel, sums the three up nicely. Her opening paragraph, quoted above, tells you what you need to know about this MtD. Although the lies in the motion are rather amazing (lawyers have a positive duty not to make material misrepresentations to the court). I’ll give you her comments; she has the receipts:
Since the two clauses on which Trump relies conform with the evidence presented in the rest of the article — which is to say, they show that Biden has taken no steps to share his views with the Attorney General — Trump simply invents something that’s not in the article: a claim that Biden deliberately planted these quotes as a way to give Garland an order to prosecute Trump.
Trump, without evidence, simply asserts in the motion that Biden gave directions to Garland to prosecute Trump. What are conspiracy theories for, if not to be evidence-free? Trump has recently appealed a gag order, partly on the basis that it was not supported by evidence. Foolish consistency, and all that. I guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

Anyway, the story thus far:
In support of a claim that Joe Biden has interfered in the prosecutions of Trump, Trump demands that DOJ treat as reliable an article that says, in about seven different ways, that Biden doesn’t do that. And Trump did that a week after Hunter’s lawyer laid out eight tweets, two memorializations of conversations with Trump, two primary documents, and two congressional depositions, all of which show high level involvement and, at least on Trump’s part, attempted interference in the Hunter investigation, which ignores some of the most important public documents memorializing Trump’s interference. 
But it gets crazier!
By "crazier" ew means Trump relies on his discovery requests as evidence for his… lack of evidence? Yes, this is James Comer sure he’s going to get impeachment evidence on Biden any day now. It’s an argument that barely works in political circles; in a court of law it’s worse than useless.

You’ll also notice emptywheel connects this Motion to the Hunter Biden prosecution. I think that tracks, but you can read her full analysis for how she gets there. It’s her conclusion that supports my thesis: Trump is directing his legal defenses:
The primary thing on which Trump relies to make a claim he’s being treated unfairly instead supports the opposite claim: That Merrick Garland is treating him better than he and his DOJ treated Joe Biden’s son. But in his effort to claim he wasn’t simply inventing all this, Trump revealed that even in this prosecution, he’s attempting to interfere in Hunter Biden’s prosecution.
DOJ has already connected Trump’s actions in the New York trial to the D.C. trial. It’s not exactly a leap to turn his actions in the Hunter Biden case against him, especially since Trump just opened that door, too.

He remains a stable genius.

The train of Justice is barreling down the tracks, and Trump is tying himself to those tracks, convinced that he is more powerful than a locomotive. He’s going to find out he’s not even Clark Kent.
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“What Is Missing?”

 I’ve read that prayer at least once a year, but for the first time it struck me how unusual it is. Unusual, at least, in modern American Christianity.

Some of this is nothing you won't hear in many churches today, just without the context of the rest of the prayer.  I'll highlight what I mean by "the rest of the prayer":

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we call to remembrance thy loving-kindness and the tender mercies which have been ever of old, and with grateful hearts we would lift up to thee the voice of our thanksgiving,

For all the gifts which thou hast bestowed upon us; for the life thou hast given us, and the world in which we live,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the work we are enabled to do, and the truth we are permitted to learn; for whatever of good there has been in our past lives, and for all the hopes and aspirations which lead us on toward better things,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes and all our home-blessings; for our friends and all pure pleasure; for the love, sympathy, and good will of men [sic],

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live, and the life of truth and righteousness and divine communion to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles, and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the gift of thy Son Jesus Christ, and all the helps and hopes which are ours as his disciples; for the presence and inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, for all the ministries of thy truth and grace,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For communion with thee, the Father of our spirits; for the light and peace that are gained through trust and obedience, and the darkness and disquietude which befall us when we disobey thy laws and follow our lower desires and selfish passions,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the desire and power to help others; for every opportunity of serving our generation according to thy will, and manifesting the grace of Christ to men,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering brethren; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to thee and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world; for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth, and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with the light of an immortal hope.

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

God of all grace and love, we have praised thee with our lips; grant that we may praise thee also in consecrated and faithful lives. And may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

AMEN.

I don't mean these sentiments are banned from modern worship, or even completely absent.  I can think of churches where I'd be surprised to hear such humility, though.  Especially in these words:

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

We despise Trump's narcissism and Musk's egotism, but are we culturally really that far removed from them? I know people who aren't at all egotistical or convinced of their own importance. But our culture teaches us we should be, and many of our churches gladly reflect that culture.  Imagine them, instead, emphasizing this teaching.  And if you don't get that lesson in church, where do you get it? The world may tell you “Be nice, be kind, be thoughtful,” but will it teach you the virtue of humility? When was the last time any public figure or forum praised “all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves"? My mind goes to the neo-atheists who insist science is all you need to know: literature and art are meaningless, or at best just entertainment. And yet here is a prayer of the church offering thanks for “all the privileges we enjoy….” We in our lives; enjoy. Who even speaks of “we,” anymore, except to exclude and draw boundaries and set ourselves apart? Again, if we don’t get this lesson in church, where do we get it?

The prayer for the harvest is much the same. It’s not a prayer of gratitude for what we possess, it’s a prayer of recognition for the physical world we live in; for the people in; for family and friends. And it’s all directed outward; it’s about them and the world, not about us and what else we need. It’s not just humble, it removes us from the center and places that “center” out there. It makes us the servant, the last who is first only because we are last. Who preaches that anymore? Or makes us think of ourselves as a whole, a community, a society, and not first as an individual, a”me” who must be served before I can serve?

I’m not decrying a church or a creed or Christianity in general, I’m just asking a general question. Where else in the world do we learn that the first of all should be last of all and servant of all? If you look at the words of John Kennedy, that’s where he was putting us: in service to the party, and in turn in service to the nation, and in turn in service to the world. I don’t mean his words were Christianity, but they were a far sight wiser than our common public discourse today.

Where do we go to hear such words today? To think such thoughts, to imagine such a world. To paraphrase Walker Percy: “Find it!”*



*What happened to marriage and family that it should have become a travail and a sadness?...God may be good, family and marriage and children and home may be good, grandma and grandpa may act wise, the Thanksgiving table may be groaning with God's goodness and bounty, all the folks healthy and happy, but something is missing...What is missing? Where did it go? I won't have it! I won't have it! Why this sadness here? Don't stand for it! Get up! Leave! Let the boat people sit down! Go live in a cave until you've found the thief who is robbing you. But at least protest! Stop, thief! What is missing? God? Find him!

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Thursday, November 23, 2023

Opening The Door

 

Be careful what you wish for.

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Thanksgiving 2023


Deuteronomy 26:1-11
26:1 When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,

26:2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.

26:3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us."

26:4 When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God,

26:5 you shall make this response before the LORD your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

26:6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us,

26:7 we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

26:8 The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;

26:9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

26:10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me." You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.

26:11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

Psalm 100
100:1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.

100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

100:3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

100:5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

"We're all forgiven at Thanksgiving, 
and everybody's welcome at the feast."--Garrison Keillor


PRAISE AND HARVEST

Let us praise God:

For the day, for the glory and warmth of the sun, for the stir of life, and for honest toil that wins food and rest.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR THE DAY.

For the earth, the sustainer of life; for the hills, the plains, and the dales, and for the beauty of meadows and fields, of flowers and of trees.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR THE EARTH.

For the sky; for the shifting clouds, and for the glory of sunrise and sunset.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR THE SKY.

For the sea, that yields and receives again the water without which life would die, and is wonderful in its stillness and more wonderful in the storm.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR THE SEA.

For the shelter and joy of our homes; for fathers and mothers who have provided for us; for brothers and sisters  an all who share our common life; and for the larger vision which prompts us to receive all men as brothers.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR OUR HOMES.

For friends who have exalted us by their trust, encouraged us by their love, and enlared our lives by sharing with us their confidences and their dreams.

GOD BE PRAISED FOR OUR FRIENDS.

We bless thee for the deathless vision of a fairer day in which all men may work together as friends to make thy kingdom come on earth.  May we see beyond the present to future days, and so live that we may become a worthy part of the divine society which is thy life expressing itself in the world of men.

THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE.  AMEN.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast graciously given to us the fruits of the earth in their season, we yield thee humble and hearty thanks for these thy bounties, beseeching thee to give us grace rightly to use them to thy glory and for the relief of those that need; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN.

THANKSGIVING

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we call to remembrance they loving-kindness and they tender mercies which have ever been od old, and with grateful hearts we would lift up to the the voice of our thanksgiving.

For all the gifts which thou has bestowed upon us; for the life that thou hast given us, and the world in which we life,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the work we are enabled to do, and the truth we are permitted to learn; for whatever of good there has been in our past lives, and for all the hopes and aspirations which lead us on to better things,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes and all our home-blessings; for our friends and all pure pleasure; for the love, sympathy, and good will of men,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel oj those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live, and the life of truth and righteousness and divine communion to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles, and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the gift of thy Son Jesus Christ, and all the helps and hopes which are ours as his disciples; for the presence and inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, for all the ministries of thy truth and grace,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For communion with thee, the Father of our spirits; for the light and peace that are gained through trust and obedience, and the darkness and disquietude which befall us when we disobey thy laws and follow our lower desires and selfish passions,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the desire and power to help others; for every opportunity of serving our generation according to thy will, and manifesting the face of Christ to men,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are ained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering brethren; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to thee and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world; for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth, and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with the light of an immortal hope,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

God all all grace and love, we have praised thee with our lips; grant that we may praise thee also in consecrated and faithful lives. And may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

AMEN.

.
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What I Mean When I Say The GOP Is Not A Political Party

 


Michael Beschloss:
Final words, prepared for a speech JFK did not survive to deliver, planned for an Austin Democratic dinner sixty years ago tonight (cancelled because of the assassination): 
"Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed....Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom."
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Keeping The Elephants Away

 Mayra Flores TX

The blockades and @CBP officials did their job today. A failed attempt by terrorists that could have cost the lives of many Americans. Border security is national security.
Anna Paulina Luna
So it begins. We need to lock down the borders immediately. Full deportation efforts need to begin. The US does not need to be the world's hospitality suite any longer.+
Cory Mills FL
I have spoken with our leadership and requested immediate closure of ALL land border crossing points. The @POTUS and @SecMayorkas must immediately secure borders and conduct full post blast analysis, intel reports, and prepare for follow on incidents. 
Probing attacks, a compromised or detected bomber, secondary trigger man, malfunction, or diversionary attack away from S. Border should not be out of consideration.
Well, that was fun while it lasted.

FBI Buffalo
FBI Buffalo has concluded our investigation at the scene of the Rainbow Bridge incident. A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified. The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation. The FBI thanks our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners for their assistance, and we remain committed in our mission to keeping the public safe.
If it makes you feel better, most of the replies to the FBI question how it can conclude the investigation in just half-a-day. (Of course, they only concluded it should be handled by the local police. Reading comprehension is your friend.)
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Wednesday, November 22, 2023

🌈🌉

 Ron Filipkowski has a good video of the car in Canada going airborne as it approaches a secondary border checkpoint.

Reports are the car was stopped at the first checkpoint, and ordered for a secondary (presumably less cursory) inspection.

It literally looks like a scene from a '70's car-chase movie.

As Canada said, with typical polite understatement:

“We’re taking this circumstance very seriously, but to speculate on the origin of this particular circumstance, the reasons why this may have happened, until we have more accurate information is simply not responsible,” Dominic LeBlanc, Canadian Public Safety Minister, addressed reporters at about 2:20 p.m. local time.

All the Republicans determined to make hay out of this and bash Biden* will, again, look like fools.  Except to the people who elect them.

Ramaswamy tried to make it about Christie.  Christie fed him his lunch:

Radio silence from me because I have years of law enforcement experience fighting terrorists and crime and you do not. You jump to the conclusion it is terrorism without any definitive proof. This is why your judgment is so flawed and you’d be such an awful President. Here’s a hint for you: wait for the evidence and then make judgments. That’s what any experienced leader would do.

When Chris Christie is the GOP Voice of Reason, God help us all. 


*Since he's my Senator, I checked.  Cruz posted that 6 hours ago and hasn't taken it down or corrected it.  Most of his replies point out how wrong he is.  Asshole. No, make that Cowardly Asshole.

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Work With Me, Here 🦃

 


The author of this tweet admits this is a "Scrooge-prized-poultry-on-Christmas-morning-sized sumbitch." All part of the ongoing conversation prompted by Jason Chaffetz. But I’m wondering: what army are these people feeding?

If I read the label correctly, that’s a 30 lb. bird. Back to my fairly standard size oven, I don’t think I could get that in within a roasting pan (I had a virtually construction steel grade, I mean like rebar, rack at one time. Much sturdier (and bigger) than I ever needed. I’d need that rack back, and the pan that held it; and even then, there’s the capacity of my oven…)

Not to mention my kitchen. I cook turkey now by temperature probe (I cannot recommend it highly enough), but my rule of thumb is to roast at 350F for 15 (give or take) minutes per pound.

Which means this prehistoric monster would be in the oven for 7.5 hours.  Minimum. I’m guessing it would take longer. To even begin to serve by midafternoon, I’d have to put it in no later than 7 am day of.  A few hours earlier, actually, as I’d need the oven for other purposes.

Who the hell spends 8 hours roasting a turkey?🦃 And why?

Okay, okay, I’m sure the “why” depends entirely on circumstances, and I’ve smoked turkeys for 6-8 hours (or more). Although smoking that beast would probably take 24…

I’m just…shit, that’s a lotta bird.

I’ll stick with 14 pounders, thanks. If I’m feeding more people than that, they just get less turkey per person.

Nowt so queer as folk, indeed.

(Yes, I’m ignoring frying it. A pot that big with that much oil and heat to cook it is a sure way to burn your house down for the insurance money.)
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The Incredible Shrinking Trump

 I read a tiny portion of Twitter and websites for information on politics, news, and what dumb thing Trump just did. And yet just minutes ago did I learn this:

Trump has made 49 social media posts in the past hour attacking Haley, Desantis, Judge Orgoron, Letitia James, Jack Smith, Kim Reynolds, the media, Fani Willis, and of course “massive caravans” are coming too.
Now some of this should be subject to gag orders, but on the larger scale, if this is an “assault” on the American legal system, somebody has a really low opinion of that system. 

Because I’m old enough to remember the infamous trials of the ‘60’s when defendants directly challenged the legitimacy of the courts and the legal system in open contempt of court. The favored charge then was not “election interference!” but declaring oneself a “political prisoner” as a way of claiming prosecution solely for one’s ideology.

Didn’t work all that well then, either.

49 posts and I haven’t read about one of them? Is any one of them even news? As in, some new content? Not likely.

Trump is a piker and a clown and Chris Christie is right, the calculus changes with just one felony conviction. And he’s charged with 4 different felonies in D.C. alone; the case most likely to be tried before next summer. He may be out in an appeal bond after that case, but conviction on just one felony is as certain as sunrise.

A threat to the justice system? He’s not that important. And frankly, he’s shrinking as we watch.

Addendum: as I was saying, the gag orders are another thing:
NEW: Death threats & antisemitic rants "inundated" Justice Engoron & his law clerk after Donald Trump attacked them on social media, says top NY court security official, citing 275 transcribed pages. 
The threats are "serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative."
Nor is this speculative, or just “news reports.”
The information was filed today as part of Justice Engoron's opposition to Trump's motion to lift the gag orders. The judge argued they were necessary for the safety of this staff. 
This affidavit by court security is meant to support that position. 
"Although Mr. Trump did not directly threaten Ms. Greenfield, the comments made in his post resulted in hundreds of threatening and harassing voicemail messages that have been transcribed into over 275 single spaced pages."
Trump is a vile and contemptible person, but the legal system is perfectly capable of handling him, and serving him his just desserts.
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Wednesday At The Rainbow Bridge

Kari Lake
This looks kike[sic] at attempted terrorist attack along our northern border. 
Our worst fears are being realized. 
@Joe Biden's open border invites chaos & misery into our country. 
It was inevitable that bad people were going to take him up on his offer.

Who got her information from FoxNews:

There you have it… after spending the past few hours claiming that the car was filled with explosives, Fox starts walking it back
Who finally accurately reported:
Alexis McAdams: They were trying to cross in the U.S. Into Canada and trying to avoid border patrol agents according to this source. The car went up in to flames because it crashed at such a high rate of speed…
And further:
Fox has now walked back from terrorist attack and is going with “stolen car”
Without apology or any sense of irony:
Perino: Hochul says there was no indication that there was a terror attack…. And coming up liberal leaders think they know what’s best when it comes to fighting so called misinformation
I’m old enough to remember when “serious journalists” insisted FoxNews have a place in the Obama White House Press Room.

I’m not sure there are any serious journalists left, now.
It's very disturbing that Fox and MAGA Republicans are rooting so strongly for a terrorist attack against the United States.
So say we all. Well, all of us who are not “serious journalists,” anyway.
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