Three Matters for Which to Be Thankful

1) The best Thanksgiving movie out there may be For Your Consideration. It is another inside baseball movie about behind-the-scenes Hollywood made by Christopher Guest. The movie inside this movie starts as “Home for Purim.” But because of it’s Jewishness, Hollywood producers (one played by Ricky Gervais — the creator of “The Office”) re-purpose the movie for Gentile tastes. Very good, ironic, boomerish, and very Christopher Guest.

2) The easiest way to make good cranberry sauce. Put 12 ounces of whole cranberries, one orange (with rind) quartered, and one cup of sugar into a food processor and turn on. After about 30 seconds you’ll have a condiment that all guests and family will remember more than the Detroit Lions’ game.

3) The neglect of civil religion by President-elect Donald Trump. In the words of Michael Peppard:

Here’s my one point of hope for the Trump presidency: so far, Donald Trump has not tried to wrap his political positions in Christianity. Thank God.

White Christians may have elected him, but he didn’t pander for that vote nearly as much as observers thought he needed to. In fact, Trump shows no interest in religion at all, even the basic civil religion of “God bless America,” citations of the Psalms, and the self-sacrificial ethos of public service.

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