Yep

 

I would add that Trump is not widely expected to win.  The latest batch of polling shows Trump barely ahead of Biden, and not much different than it has been for much of the year.  A squeak-by advantage well within the margin of error. 

Perhaps that is good news, and shows social and Christian conservatives saying enough.  Maybe Christians and others who value the Life movement are saying , they have debased themselves and held their noses for eight years.  But they will not simply act like sheep and push the appropriate button as Trump moves to diminish opposition to one of the most critical moral crises in modern history. 

Trump was never a conservative by any stretch.  The Left portrayed him, as it does all enemies, as a far right neo-Nazi misogynistic racist.  But in honesty, Trump in many things has been left of center, especially regarding animal pleasures.  Why the sudden party platform shift, I don't know.  I do know I've heard little push-back from conservatives - social, Christian, Catholic or otherwise.  And nothing will play up to the 'lie of the pro-life movement' more than standing by as that movement is chipped away at by the GOP while handing over votes in due order.  

It might just be time that we accept the end of the Christian era and a new phase in the history of the Faithful.  It's not time to compromise the Faith to stay loyal to a party that has never really wanted us in the first place, and increasingly is making that clear under the leadership of Donald Trump. 

I wonder if this is true

 

I just don't have the time to look it up, times being what they are.  It's from the Internet, and I've developed a strong distrust for anything I find there, especially on Social Media.  In fact, I was going to post on the increasing number of Social Media posts I see that are dead wrong - photos don't match text, facts wrong and such - until I was informed that it's part of the whole posting gig.  That is, it benefits posts to have many comments for some measures of stats.  Thus they post things that are wrong and sit back as hundreds rush into to say 'Hey!  That's wrong'.  It's a comment, and that's what matters. 

That's not the only problem, but it adds to the distrust I've had for years.  So the above image could be bunk and nothing more.  The only reason I post it is because last year, during our local media's attempt to convince us that the mid-80s are life threatening, I looked up the all time high temps for the Midwest.  And I believe there were only a couple times that the all time highs weren't in the 1930s.   You know, the Depression, those droughts and dust bowls and all.  Because I noticed this referenced the 1930s as a comparison date, and it seemed to fit with what I found last year, I decided to post.

The point being my belief that the climate changes, just as it always has.  That often times we're watching cycles of changes where the climate fluctuates, changes, shifts and changes again.  I'm not saying our approach to STEM hasn't had an impact on the climate.  It probably has to a degree.  But it's simpler than the politics of Global Warming.  Or the two months long daily apocalyptic coverage of our summer temps this year. 

A nice birthday and needed change

So it was our third oldest's birthday last week. Hurray!   As I've written before, we usually consider this our half of the year.  But now things have changed.  Both our daughter-in-law and our granddaughter have birthdays in May.  Our son and daughter-in-law will likewise celebrate their wedding anniversary in May. Plus there is the Kentucky Derby!  We must fix our idea of when our half of the year starts, or if it means anything at all by now.  After all, the Transgender movement is trying to enshrine November (Thanksgiving) as the month for all things non-gender.  So it was only a matter of time.  

Nonetheless, whatever the movers of grand agendas say, for our part it was nice to have a celebration after some pretty rough weeks over the last couple months.  We know there are people in the world who have it worse than us.  People in third world countries, extreme poverty and starvation, embroiled in wars and invasions.  But then, as one of my sons once said, if you need to keep appealing to war zones and famines to remind yourself your life isn't too bad, that does say something. 

Nonetheless, we're still blessed, and we know it.  But as can happen in life, things can just torpedo you broadside and, for some reason, it sometimes feels like it hits all at once.  So after the dust settled, it was a joy to see our third oldest and his usual enthusiasm carry the day. 

It wasn't a milestone birthday, but we did pull out the stops.  One, because it was nice to celebrate and enjoy again and focus on the good of the last couple months.  Two, because his big 21st Birthday fell when Covid and lockdowns were still about, and it ended up being a bit compromised, with problems of the day mitigating the fun his brothers had around their 21st birthdays.

While it wasn't some grand trip through Europe, it was our version cast over several days owing to scheduling.  In an odd twist, of all the things he wanted to do, we dusted off an old game from their youth called Dread Pirate.  That was from a time when board games were ascending and some pretty hefty production standards were used.  In this case, he joked that the game was really just a pirate version of Chutes and Ladders with phenomenal production standards.  I mean, metal castings for playing pieces, cloth board, wooden box - that's impressive.  Truth be told, it was also fun.

Of course he received a sizeable amount of board game and game related material.  He is our game guru after all.  Including games that are apparently big in the video game world - Skyrim - and a little addition I threw on that's a D-Day based wargame.  I thought his birthday coinciding with what will likely be the last big hurrah for that historical event made sense. 

Otherwise we fired off some fireworks - since they're now legal before and after July 4th.  We pulled our resources and our oldest made him a phenomenal steak and lobster dinner. Again, our oldest has broken restaurants for us since there is seldom anything he can't cook better than what we'll find in even the best eateries in the area. 

Then the brothers set aside an entire day to play his favorite board game of all - Twilight Imperium.  After that we just chilled and watched a couple episodes of Blue Bloods.  When they were young, we usually took a day to make their own on their birthdays.  In recent years schedules just don't allow that, and we have to spread things out over a few days.  But it's worth it.   

Chutes and Ladders perhaps, but Grade A production values!

Making everything fun as usual

A pregame warmup for July 4th for his big day

Yeah, it was that good. 

The brothers and the game - I played but don't know what I'm doing