On CNN's 'State of the Nation', two of the people on the panel were former Senator Rick Santorum and former mayor and close in race for Governor of Florida, Andrew Gillum.
Santorum gave the NRA's stock in trade answer to the gun crisis: 'guns don't kill people, people kill people.'
Gillum immediately responded, "that's like saying opioids don't kill people, the people who take opioids kill people."
Brilliant. So brilliant I wish I had thought of it. So brilliant I'll be using it over and again.
As I've said before and will doubtless have to say again, if the guy in Sante Fe and the guy in Ohio--or Vas Vegas or Sandy Hook or Parkland...on and on--hadn't had a gun they would have been lucky to kill one person before they were subdued by the crowd.
People may 'want to kill people', but without guns they wouldn't be very successful.
Guns and opioids kill people.
Well done Mayor Gillum!
Well done!!!
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Coming up on 49
While we're on Oak Island in September with Mimi, Tim, Eleanor, Jack, Sherry and John, Bern and I will celebrate our 49th anniversary.
One short of 50.
But we've known each other longer than that.
We met in introductory Latin class in high school (Amo, Amas, Amat). I was a Senior and she was a Freshman. I was 18 and she was 15. I was taking Latin because I had applied to Shimmer College (now part of the University of Chicago) and they required a year of foreign language. The only language taught at Gary High School was Latin.
I didn't go to Shimmer and I didn't learn much Latin. I need to remind you I grew up in a very rural part of southern West Virginia. There were 99 people in my graduating class. I rode a bus 13 miles, twice a day, to get to high school. These were the coal fields. Both our fathers were coal miners--Bern's until he retired, mine until after WWII when his lungs wouldn't let him go back inside the mountains.
We dated that year and whenever I was home for three years of college. Then in 1964, she joined me at West Virginia University and we were again senior and freshman. I went to Cambridge to Harvard Divinity School the next year and then in September of 1970 we were married and went back to Cambridge together.
I was 23 and she was 20.
And here we are, together and settled and joyful, 54 years after we met. We have spent all those years--not always easily--together.
Together.
I can't imagine a life I could have lived without Bern. I really can't.
I've spent 3/4 of my life with her.
She is my life.
She really is.
What a joy!!!
One short of 50.
But we've known each other longer than that.
We met in introductory Latin class in high school (Amo, Amas, Amat). I was a Senior and she was a Freshman. I was 18 and she was 15. I was taking Latin because I had applied to Shimmer College (now part of the University of Chicago) and they required a year of foreign language. The only language taught at Gary High School was Latin.
I didn't go to Shimmer and I didn't learn much Latin. I need to remind you I grew up in a very rural part of southern West Virginia. There were 99 people in my graduating class. I rode a bus 13 miles, twice a day, to get to high school. These were the coal fields. Both our fathers were coal miners--Bern's until he retired, mine until after WWII when his lungs wouldn't let him go back inside the mountains.
We dated that year and whenever I was home for three years of college. Then in 1964, she joined me at West Virginia University and we were again senior and freshman. I went to Cambridge to Harvard Divinity School the next year and then in September of 1970 we were married and went back to Cambridge together.
I was 23 and she was 20.
And here we are, together and settled and joyful, 54 years after we met. We have spent all those years--not always easily--together.
Together.
I can't imagine a life I could have lived without Bern. I really can't.
I've spent 3/4 of my life with her.
She is my life.
She really is.
What a joy!!!
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Now, baseball...
How about them Yankees!!!
They are 40 games over .500, 1/2 game better than the Dodgers for the best record in baseball, 10 games ahead of the Rays and an amazing 17.5 games ahead of the Red Sox with 40 games left to go.
Go, Yankees!
All of that with two first basemen out, Aaron Hicks out, Elsberry out for the season, Stanton--their power hitter---only playing 6 games, two pitchers out and one just coming back....
More injuries than an a nursing home.
Still--best record in baseball, 40 games over .500, and best of all 17.5 games ahead of the Red Sox with 40 games to play.
I shake my head when I watch them because so many of the names of the starters are new to me.
Amazing.
When I was growing up, the sport's commentator on channel 6 in Bluefield would begin his show with, "Let's see who the Yankees clobbered...."
This year feels like those years of Berra, Mantle, Maris, Whitey Ford, Bobby Richardson and on and on.
Great for me.
Not for Sox fans.....
They are 40 games over .500, 1/2 game better than the Dodgers for the best record in baseball, 10 games ahead of the Rays and an amazing 17.5 games ahead of the Red Sox with 40 games left to go.
Go, Yankees!
All of that with two first basemen out, Aaron Hicks out, Elsberry out for the season, Stanton--their power hitter---only playing 6 games, two pitchers out and one just coming back....
More injuries than an a nursing home.
Still--best record in baseball, 40 games over .500, and best of all 17.5 games ahead of the Red Sox with 40 games to play.
I shake my head when I watch them because so many of the names of the starters are new to me.
Amazing.
When I was growing up, the sport's commentator on channel 6 in Bluefield would begin his show with, "Let's see who the Yankees clobbered...."
This year feels like those years of Berra, Mantle, Maris, Whitey Ford, Bobby Richardson and on and on.
Great for me.
Not for Sox fans.....
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
OK, back to Politics
House member Steve King (R-Iowa) yesterday said that if all the human beings in each of our ancestry who were the results of rape or incest were removed from our family trees, there would be no human race today.
He said that to oppose a proposed Iowa state law that would allow abortion in the cases of rape and incest.
Even conservative, pro-life Republicans are calling for his resignation.
He has already been removed from his leadership on some House committees for racist statements earlier in the year.
He defends his statements by talking about Genghis Khan and how the rape and pillaging of that horrible invader increased the human population.
Genghis Khan?
How has this guy been elected every two years time after time by the people of Iowa?
With Genghis Khan as a hero, it actually, as hard as it is to believe, makes the President look not so bad.
Well....Not really.
He said that to oppose a proposed Iowa state law that would allow abortion in the cases of rape and incest.
Even conservative, pro-life Republicans are calling for his resignation.
He has already been removed from his leadership on some House committees for racist statements earlier in the year.
He defends his statements by talking about Genghis Khan and how the rape and pillaging of that horrible invader increased the human population.
Genghis Khan?
How has this guy been elected every two years time after time by the people of Iowa?
With Genghis Khan as a hero, it actually, as hard as it is to believe, makes the President look not so bad.
Well....Not really.
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Very good news
My optometrist referred me to an opthamologist with dire warnings--probably because a different eye doctor referred me last year and I didn't go. (It was in my records.)
Dr. Ryan's dire warnings--pointing the book I had with me (I always have a book with me) and said, "You'd better go or forget about those!"
So, I went.
She was a tiny woman. After one person put drops in my eyes and 10 minutes later another person took pictures of my eyes in some weird machine, she saw me and told me my macular degeneration was very, very minor. She actually said 'very' twice! and put me on some vitamins but said there was 'nothing to treat now'.
Bless her little heart!
This is a huge place in Waterbury that doesn't have optometrists--only people who deal with more than basic eye exams.
I whispered to Bern while we were there (she went because I didn't know if I'd be able to see to drive after the exam) "I feel really young in this waiting room."
It was true. Most people there had aides and canes and wheelchairs.
It's good to feel Young and to know I can have books in my life.
Many thanks, God.
Dr. Ryan's dire warnings--pointing the book I had with me (I always have a book with me) and said, "You'd better go or forget about those!"
So, I went.
She was a tiny woman. After one person put drops in my eyes and 10 minutes later another person took pictures of my eyes in some weird machine, she saw me and told me my macular degeneration was very, very minor. She actually said 'very' twice! and put me on some vitamins but said there was 'nothing to treat now'.
Bless her little heart!
This is a huge place in Waterbury that doesn't have optometrists--only people who deal with more than basic eye exams.
I whispered to Bern while we were there (she went because I didn't know if I'd be able to see to drive after the exam) "I feel really young in this waiting room."
It was true. Most people there had aides and canes and wheelchairs.
It's good to feel Young and to know I can have books in my life.
Many thanks, God.
Monday, August 12, 2019
Try to absorb this....
FACT CHECKER, a totally neutral and non-biased group, said today the President HE-WHO-NOT-BE-NAMED has spoken 1219 false or unverifiable statements in 928 days as President.
That is an average of 13 untruths a day in twitter or in spoken word.
Do you lie 13 times a day--and I don't mean answering questions like: "do these pants make my butt look fat?"
I mean lies that matter.
I mean lies about immigrates, boarder walls, policy, the environment, other prominent people, realities!!!
Try to absorb this--the leader of our country and the free world LIES 13 times a day, on average.
Deep breaths. Head between your knees if need be. Breathe into a paper bag. Have some water. Walk it off.
Do I need to talk about this any more to make it more real?
How much more real can you make it than 13 serious untruths a day?
By the most powerful man in the world.
If you can, in some way, absorb this--DO SOMETHING FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!
This has to stop in 2020 if not by impeachment.
This madness has to stop.
It has to.
Really.
Truly.
For the sake of all of us....
That is an average of 13 untruths a day in twitter or in spoken word.
Do you lie 13 times a day--and I don't mean answering questions like: "do these pants make my butt look fat?"
I mean lies that matter.
I mean lies about immigrates, boarder walls, policy, the environment, other prominent people, realities!!!
Try to absorb this--the leader of our country and the free world LIES 13 times a day, on average.
Deep breaths. Head between your knees if need be. Breathe into a paper bag. Have some water. Walk it off.
Do I need to talk about this any more to make it more real?
How much more real can you make it than 13 serious untruths a day?
By the most powerful man in the world.
If you can, in some way, absorb this--DO SOMETHING FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!
This has to stop in 2020 if not by impeachment.
This madness has to stop.
It has to.
Really.
Truly.
For the sake of all of us....
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Almighty God!!!
So the President (WWNBNH) re tweeted a tweet tying the Clinton's to Jeffery Epstein's suicide!
How can we be here? Conspiracy theories forwarded by the Leader of the Free World about political opponents--one of whom got 3 million more popular votes than he did in the 2016 election.
How can everybody in America not be made crazy by this?
Has the outrageous become too common place?
Has the stupid become normal?
Have lies become semi-truth?
How bad can it get?
I'm not sure I want to know.....
How can we be here? Conspiracy theories forwarded by the Leader of the Free World about political opponents--one of whom got 3 million more popular votes than he did in the 2016 election.
How can everybody in America not be made crazy by this?
Has the outrageous become too common place?
Has the stupid become normal?
Have lies become semi-truth?
How bad can it get?
I'm not sure I want to know.....
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