This is not an Easter post. It’s not even a Easter Vigil post. I long ago realized that I should leave the inspirational posts to other Patheos writers who, quite frankly, have more inspiring things to say, and say them in more inspiring ways. But here are a few thoughts for that point in the day when the ham and/or lamb is in the oven, or has been eaten, and everyone has scattered to the different parts of Grandma and... Read more
Earlier today, I saw a snippet of a speech by Emma Gonzalez, emerging gun control activist, in which she spoke of “ostracizing” the school shooter. When I first saw this, I assumed it was from this past weekend’s march/rally, but it turns out that it was from a rally back in February, and I was able to find a full transcript of the speech. Here’s the key paragraph: So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled... Read more
This is not something that I’m promoting widely in this space, but I wanted to share this with my regular readers, who may be interested in this update, as it’s a new project of mine: a second blog, in which I write on retirement issues specifically, at a “bigger name” platform. (Yes, you’ll just have to click over there for the details.) As a reminder, I’m always happy to see any articles you come across that you think I might... Read more
For Illinoisians and others following the race: Rauner wins, but with so close a margin as to get my hopes up. Yes, it’s not really a surprise that Governor Bruce Rauner won the primary, given that challenger Jeanne Ives was considered to be too far to the right for even Illinois GOP voters, let alone for the general election, and had little campaign cash, besides. Such polls as there were showed her trailing by a margin of something like 30... Read more
Hotly anticipated . . . the Jane the Actuary endorsements in this Tuesday’s Illinois primary. If you’re voting on the Republican ticket For governor, Jeanne Ives. Yes, in the ordinary course of events this violates the Buckley Rule of the most conservative electable candidate — but I don’t believe that Rauner will win in the fall, so it’s a moot point. And, yes, Ives isn’t very judicious in the way she expresses her views on these social issues, but that’s... Read more
No, those aren’t “my” Cub Scouts; these are just generic public-domain Cub Scouts. I didn’t take any pictures, let alone any from-the-back pictures of tonight’s meeting. But for what it’s worth, I thought I’d share with you what I was up to. I titled this post, my last “planned” pack meeting, and by that I mean that I’m leaving my Commtitee Chair duties behind at the end of the school year, as my youngest is now a Boy Scout. In... Read more
The voters have spoken, and by the narrowest of margins, Democrat Conor Lamb will be the next representative from Pennsylvania’s 18th district. The Democrats’ choice for this special election was a charismatic, photogenic, young, moderate (with hints of conservative) candidate. You’ve got to admit, he’s handsome, in a college-student sort of way. The Republicans’ choice was someone with the relevant resume but whoo boy, does he sound nutty, at least according to his Wikipedia profile, assuming it wasn’t maliciously tampered with:... Read more
It’s a new Instant Pot recipe! Or, rather, I made a few tweaks to one from my cookbook, as follows. One of the things I was looking for with the Instant Pot was a solution to the problem of having available time in the afternoon, even the late afternoon, but then having an errand or activity just before dinner, whether it’s picking up a kid from a class, or, as is the case on many Sunday nights, Teen Mass, which... Read more
In the news today, Toys R Us is most likely liquidating its US operations. Bloomberg reports, Toys “R” Us Inc. is making preparations for a liquidation of its bankrupt U.S. operations after so far failing to find a buyer or reach a debt restructuring deal with lenders, according to people familiar with the matter. While the situation is still fluid, a shutdown of the U.S. division has become increasingly likely in recent days, said the people, who asked not to... Read more
It’s International Women’s Day today – an occasion that Americans were pretty indifferent to, in our pre-social media days. But now Facebook wanted to be danged sure we knew about the day, so here are three observations. One. In my twitter feed earlier today, a comment that in, in recognition of International Women’s Day, we Americans need to step up, via the federal government, our subsidies of child daycare, so that mothers of young children boost their labor force participation... Read more
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