Jack Smith indicted Trump on 4 charges. The good news for Trump is that none are insurrection. The bad news is that they are all serious and provable. There are also six others (I hope I counted that right), mostly lawyers. John Eastman and Sidney Powell are surely two of them and probably Rudy. I hope Rudy.
Break out the champagne!
Here ya go. Click to see the official document.
Lets start off on our weekend playtime with South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace who took her butt to the Prayer Breakfast and let it be known what a major sacrifice she was making to be there.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace tells audience she declined sex this morning to show up at a prayer breakfast: pic.twitter.com/8wwE2lxIMT
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 27, 2023
Yeah, she said that:
Said Mace: “When I woke up this morning at 7, I was getting picked up at 7:45. Patrick, my fiancé, tried to pull me by my waist over this morning in bed and I was like, ‘No, baby, we don’t got time for that this morning. I got to get to the prayer breakfast and I got to be on time.’”
We’ll pray for ya, Honey. Ya gotta admit that prayer breakfast stuff works pretty good for that sin of fornicating.
And to add to the inappropriate behavior scorecard …
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) “cursed out a group of Senate pages late Wednesday night in the Capitol,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Van Orden, a freshman, was giving a tour for several dozen visitors around midnight when he happened upon Senate pages lying on the floor of the Rotunda, taking photos of the dome.”
“Van Orden cursed out the pages, who are in their last week of service, calling them ‘lazy shits’ and told them to ‘get the f*** up’ off the floor.”
Well, come to find out, there was lotsa alcohol being consumed in Orden’s office prior to the incident. I’m shocked, just shocked I tell you.
Yep, I saw it. You can see it, too.
Okay, so here’s what happened. They lost the wifi connection and he’s buffering.
P.S.- the guys’ eyes behind him are hysterical. They have no idea what to do. Let’s say Albania attacks the US and these guys are in charge. Holy crap.
When thinking of politics I often think of analogies. One of the things I noticed on my cruise was that there were a lot of jackasses on the cruise. They were rude to the staff. They were abusive to employees and people on shore. They were every description of the ugly American you could think of. I have no idea if they were conservative or liberal. It would make life easier to assume they were conservative, but I have no way of verifying that.
In looking at the lyrics for Jason Aldean’s song “Try that in a Small Town” you can see the subtle nods towards racism. When looking at the video you can’t avoid the subtle nods for racism. Left vs. Right is the main fault line everyone focuses on, but big town vs. small town is another fault line. There are others. Honest vs. Dishonest. Asshole vs, Kind. Narcissist vs. Empathetic. America has always been a collection fault lines and separations. Essentially we have made it through by standing with people we have common cause with even if we have other areas where we disagree. As much as the overt racism and sexism bothers me, there was something else I noticed immediately.
“Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalkCarjack an old lady at a red lightPull a gun on the owner of a liquor storeYa think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like.”
I hate to be the “nobody is talking about” guy, but there is an image inherent here about big city life. I’m sure this is what people in small towns believe. It’s only been shoved down their throats for decades. Hell, the 2017 inaugural address was titled “American Carnage”. It was offensive on any number of levels, but more offensive to me as a writer. It was like a sixth grade thought experiment where the winner got his/her dystopian essay read on national television.
The biggest fault line dividing America today is fact vs. fiction. Aldean is telling a terrific story here. You could probably picture Gotham from all of those Batman movies where everyone was afraid to go outside and crime was just around the corner. SNL had a sketch years ago where they talked about someone in New York getting mugged every thirty seconds. So, they just made it the same guy. Chicago, Portland, New York, and Los Angeles are all billed as hell on earth. Yet, crime statistics per capita would tell you that they are statistically more safe than traditional red areas.
Where does this fiction get us? Well, it gets a huge divide in our politics as rural areas vote red and urban areas vote blue. Since our constitution skews towards real estate and not people it means that these small towns are over represented in Austin, Washington, or your own state. Add in a little gerrymandering and the story keeps perpetuating itself. Only criminals and dead beats live in the city. Good people live in small towns. This isn’t left vs. right anymore. It is fiction vs. non-fiction. Certainly the picture they paint of big city life is frightening, but it is about as true as a dystopian novel.
Something happened today that triggered strong feelings for me and some other people I know. Some of them are avid readers here, so I need to tread lightly when mentioning this person. Suffice it to say, he had been progressive and something happened. I’m not a psychologist or a licensed professional counselor. I have a mere masters in school counseling. So, I can only guess what happened. Moreover, I’m not even sure it matters in the grand scheme of things.
Ostensibly, he said some very hurtful things to a friend of ours. Again, no details are needed. I saw him on the golf course today and said hello. We talked for a few minutes and exchanged pleasantries and that was the full conversation. I certainly didn’t seek him out. I’ve barely thought about him in several years. In a private conversation with one of the people more intimately involved in the situation I came upon something. It is something I discovered a few years ago and it has changed my life immensely.
Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves. It has nothing to do with the person being forgiven. They can seek forgiveness or not on their own time. Forgiveness is about us letting go of the anger, hurt, and pain. It is about us driving that person out of our lives. People often talk about the difference between forgiving and forgetting. I never forget. What ends up happening is that whatever the source of that anger and pain over being hurt is released. I allow myself to set it free. It’s gone.
Certainly, I get much of this from my own background and education. However, this is not necessarily a religious thing. It certainly can be, but it doesn’t have to be. It is more about mental health than anything else. When I think of the people in my life who are hateful, vindictive, and bigoted it just makes me incredibly sad. What must someone have gone through to carry all of that with them? I certainly don’t seek them out. I have no time or inclination to try to reform people like that. When I run into them I try to be as gracious and cordial as possible. After all, many of them feel glee when they are allowed to ruin your day with their crap.
Hate feeds hate. For years, we have been told we need to fight fire with fire. I steadfastly refuse. When doing this you become that which you hate. Certainly the occasional joke at someone’s expense is fine. We certainly should feel free to laugh at idiots when we encounter them. However, I am not suppressing my joy and love just to give someone that which they probably crave anyway. They want our outrage. They want our anger. They want our derision. Let’s not give it to them. Whatever few undecided folks are still left need a clear choice between hope and love and hate and derision. It can’t be a choice between two sides that hate each other. That’s not really a choice at all. It must be a choice between community and love on one side and narcissism on the other.
It has begun. We got the back to work email from our principal this past week. You are seeing back to school commercials from the various stores that sell school supplies and back to school fashions. Officially my return date is August 2nd, so I have less than a week and a half of summer vacation left. As we see more and more controversy over curriculum, school policies, what is available in the school library. It’s high time for a talk with an actual teacher to help us sort through these issues.
Hold off on the school supplies
Believe it or not, most campuses are going with tablets or laptop computers. Textbooks are online or not used at all. Traditional school supplies are limited. Our local elementary did a great thing when the PTA sponsored a packet of supplies you could purchase in advance and avoid the rush of the stores. People will go out and buy pens, pencils, notebooks, backpacks, folders, and numerous other supplies they may not even need. As bad as it seems, wait until you hear back from the teacher. Also, your teacher will help you if you help him or her. They will give needy students writing utensils, notebooks, paper, and folders for those that just can’t get those items.
Just Ask your teacher
It never ceases to me amaze me how many people are convinced we are grooming kids, teaching them CRT, or whatever else their cousin Jethro told them on the YouTubes. If you want to know what we are teaching your child please ask us. Many districts ask their elementary and junior high teachers to send home weekly notices outlining what will be covered that week and how their kid’s grade will be calculated. We don’t have that kind of time in high school, but if you reach out to us we will take the time to give you all the information you need.
Your kids won’t tell you the full truth
I know this is shocking. It isn’t lying per se. Many students leave out the part of the story that makes them look bad. Others will be as honest as they can be, but don’t understand the context. Our daughter did this dozens of times. My teacher did this or my teacher told us that. We either wrote it off or sent a note to the teacher to ask them their side of the story. So many parents come in guns blazing and come away looking foolish. I work with between 120 and 180 students in a given year. I don’t have time to single out your kid and treat them badly. It would be wrong to say that I don’t think about them away from work. However, I’m invested in their success. I can’t say every single teacher thinks of things that way, but the vast majority do.
We are trained to accommodate different needs
Don’t ban the book from your kid’s library. Call up or email the school librarian. Give them a list of books you don’t want your kid to check out. I’m positive they will help you. The age of reading a specific novel or play is coming to an end. Many teachers utilize lit circles where they give their students a choice of what to read. I’m sure those teachers will work with you if you object to the choices they have. We are working on analytical skills. We want students to read and analyze what they are reading. Even if you brought in your own book that you wanted your child to read I’m sure their teacher will work with you. Again, the end goal is to build skills they will use later in life.
If you have discovered anything you have discovered a general theme across the board. We want parental involvement. We want to communicate with our students’ parents. We want you to be curious about what we are doing. It creates some work on the front end, but it makes life on the back end so much easier. So, if you have a question ask us. Just don’t assume your cousin Jethro has all the answers.