REUNION POST-MORTEM

I can't tell you how much I appreciate time spent with family. Lois & I recently celebrated our 2021 in Omaha, sharing a rented house with the Broders, the Worley's, Nathan & Laura & their brood. Highlights:

> Family pictures at Zorinsky Lake on SAT. The rain held off & the kids cooperated wonderfully. Our last set of family pictures was for our 40-yr wedding anniversary--we just celebrated our 46th--which didn't include Calvin & Claire, so these latest pictures were overdue.

> Nebraska rib-eye steaks & hamburgers, expertly grilled by my son-in-law Craig.

> A visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo on SUN--the best zoo in the U.S. & possibly the world.

There are a lot more highlights, but I'll just leave you with these few.

A CONTINUED CONVERSATION

I recently shared an exchange of comments on Facebook with Archibald Campbell. I had commented re:  the NYT "Journalism & the NYT . . . Isn't that an oxymoron?" Mr. Campbell replied, "I know a celebrity billionaire politician told you to hate any media that didn't give a pro-trump, authoritarian line, but it is not the job of a free press to do that." He continued by saying, "I doubt you have a valid opinion on any of this, since you just believe what celebrity billionaire politicians tell you to believe." I know that I was risking a violation of one of my 2021 resolutions--not engage in useless conversations on Facebook--but I couldn't take this egregious assault on my character lying down, so I continued the conversation by commenting, "So do you just believe what the NYT tells you to believe?"

Mr. Campbell couldn't leave well enough alone. He replied, "Wait, why do you believe everything a celebrity a celebrity billionaire politician believes & you don't even question it? We are talking about you because you are the one who believes false narratives about repealing the 1st Amendment, so we want to know why we should change our minds by someone who had blind faith in a celebrity billionaire politician . . . How come you can't answer that? Why are you so afraid to explain yourself & your blind obedience in a celebrity billionaire politician.

COMMENT:  Mr. Campbell seems to have fallen in love with the phrase "celebrity billionaire politicians." Anyway, I should know better, but I replied:

I'll explain my "blind obedience" to "billionaire elitist celebrity politicians" when you explain why you blindly believe everything the NYT prints. [Perhaps I should also mention that in a subsequent post re:  the NYT & an offer of paying only $1 per week for a subscription, I posted, "$1/week? Isn't that $52/year? That seems like a lot to pay for newspapers to potty-train a dog.

CRIMINAL MINDS

"Iowa man allegedly threatens to blow up McDonald's over lack of sauces. An IA man was arrested over the weekend for threatening to blow up a McDonald's after the restaurant allegedly failed to include dipping sauces with his order . . . Robert Golmitzer, Jr., 42, called up his local McDonald's in Ankeny after finding he had no sauces for his Chicken McNuggets. He allegedly threatened to blow up the restaurant & punch an employee over the offense." Fox News, 6/29

SCHOOLS & COVID

"In districts that prioritize teachers over students, student outcomes are significantly worse. Prior to the pandemic, elementary students in teacher-favoring districts tested at a level that that was over a year behind their counterparts at student-favoring schools in math and reading. Teacher-favoring districts also had 26 percent more students failing to graduate from high school. These achievement gaps are only somewhat smaller when we control for geographic and demographic characteristics of school districts." Michael Strain, National Review Online

MORE NEWS ABOUT COVID

"POLL:  Pandemic over, say 57% of Republicans . . . Only 4% of Democrats agree." Drudge Report

TRENDING

"Athlete so oppressed by America that she's representing America in Olympics." Babylon Bee

DEPT. OF SHAMELESS JOKE-STEALING * 

Courtesy of Reader's Digest, March 2021

"Super unprofessional when ventriloquists argue with their puppets over which one is the dummy. Figure that out backstage."

COURAGE

"Now, courage lies in authenticity. Authenticity has not been, until recently, conflated with courage. In fact, authenticity very often acts directly against the virtue of courage. After all, walllowing in the solipsistic generally involves ignoring the demands of a higher noble goal. But now, our higher virtue isn't in upholding & defending some standard for civilization at risk to ourselves. Higher virtue lies in finding our personal truths, & then demanding applause from the rest of the world. Heroism lies in forcing the world to bow before our subjective ideas of truth & decency. Of perhaps there's another possibility. Perhaps the new definition of bravery does serve some higher goal:  the goal of tearing down the old definition of the good. True courage lies in personally rejecting old systems of thought & objective truth & in joining with others to demand that all systems of power be brought low . . . When called upon to face true enemies of freedom, civilization requires men willing to charge beaches on behalf of higher truths, not men focused on finding their 'inner truths,' many of which bear no resemblance to reality. To use the same terminology to describe both phenomena is a betrayal of true courage." Ben Shapiro, Norfolk Daily News, 6/19  In case you're wondering, yes, I know what "solipsistic" means:  "Of or characterized by solipsism, or the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist."