Holidays

Color him father

Featured image I wrote this on Father’s Day in 2010. It is a post that struck a chord with at least a few readers. I amplified it in 2020 and am taking the liberty of reposting these reflections in honor of the day. My father was a thoughtful man in his own way. In the last years of his life he recited for me the things for which he was most grateful. »

In the Beauty of the Lilies

Featured image In honor of Memorial Day, I am re-posting this video which I recorded in 2007. I did a second post with the same video in 2014. It is from a choir concert in which my youngest child participated when she was 11. I will repeat what I wrote in 2014, then add an additional comment after the video. ********************************* Mark Steyn wrote yesterday (actually, it’s an excerpt from his book »

Torture thoughts on Memorial Day

Featured image Today remember and honor all those who died in military service to the United States. Leo Thorsness is the Minnesota native who was awarded the Medal of Honor for unbelievable heroics in aerial combat over North Vietnam in April 1967. Within a few days of his heroics on the Medal of Honor mission, Col. Thorsness was shot down over North Vietnam and taken into captivity. In captivity he was tortured »

Happy Easter!

Featured image To all of our Christian friends and readers. It is a glorious day, and a perfect day to celebrate the safe return of America’s two downed airmen. »

In re Presidents Day

Featured image George Washington was the first American to be honored with a national holiday. The holiday was observed annually on February 22, the anniversary of his birth. Observing Washington’s birthday as a holiday we absorbed the idea that Washington was a great man and that we owe him a debt of gratitude. Unfortunately, February 22 was last observed as a holiday in honor of Washington in 1970. By law, the holiday »

The prophetic voice

Featured image When Martin Luther King, Jr., brought his nonviolent campaign against segregation to Bull Connor’s Birmingham, he laid siege to the bastion of Jim Crow. In Birmingham between 1957 and 1962, black homes and churches had been subjected to a series of horrific bombings intended to terrorize the community. In April 1963 King answered the call to bring his campaign to Birmingham. When King landed in jail on Good Friday for »

Merry Christmas!

Featured image A very Merry Christmas to our Christian friends and readers! And, really, to everyone, since Christmas has become a universal holiday in which all are welcome to participate. Christmas is a season of joy and hope, and it is important to remember that, notwithstanding the conflicts and the crises of the moment, there have rarely been times in human history when there has been so much reason to be hopeful. »

In Honor of Veterans Day

Featured image I am not a veteran. I have three brothers, and none is a veteran. We come from a civilian family. But my grandfather served in World War I, and my father in World War II. I know nothing of my grandfather’s service, but, in honor of Veterans Day, this is what I know about my father’s experience. He was a college student in South Dakota when the war broke out, »

Color him father

Featured image I wrote this on Father’s Day in 2010. It is a post that struck a chord with at least a few readers. I amplified it in 2020 and am taking the liberty of reposting these reflections in honor of the day. My father was a thoughtful man in his own way. In the last years of his life he recited for me the things for which he was most grateful. »

Torture thoughts on Memorial Day

Featured image Today we seek to remember and honor all those who died in military service to the United States. Leo Thorsness is the Minnesota native who was awarded the Medal of Honor for unbelievable heroics in aerial combat over North Vietnam in April 1967. Within a few days of his heroics on his Medal of Honor mission, Col. Thorsness was shot down over North Vietnam and taken into captivity. In captivity »

Happy Easter!

Featured image …to our Christian friends and readers. I wasn’t sure what to say about Easter this year, so I searched our archives to see what I have written in the past. I found that in most years there was a news hook. Usually, the news was bad, involving attacks on Christians around the globe. This year, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Maybe there is a positive trend here that I »

The prophetic voice

Featured image When Martin Luther King, Jr., brought his nonviolent campaign against segregation to Bull Connor’s Birmingham, he laid siege to the bastion of Jim Crow. In Birmingham between 1957 and 1962, black homes and churches had been subjected to a series of horrific bombings intended to terrorize the community. In April 1963 King answered the call to bring his campaign to Birmingham. When King landed in jail on Good Friday for »

Merry Christmas!

Featured image To all of our Christian friends and readers, a very Merry Christmas! I hope you, like us, will be spending the day with family. »

And happy Hanukkah too

Featured image This year the holiday of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas, which means that it begins at sundown this evening. The holiday has a particular resonance in the current context. Our friend Binyamin at Jewish World Review has forwarded Dave Rubin’s account of the holiday’s history in the video below. Rubin calls it “A Special Hanukkah Message for AOC & Ilhan Omar.” Amazingly enough, the Jews would still like to be left »

Time for Some Christmas Cheer

Featured image So it’s Christmas Eve, which can only mean one thing: time to view the sleeper classic Christmas movie: Look, even 20th Century Fox has come around: The majority view about Die Hard is not without controversy; in fact, the theological-political problem shows up for duty, even on Christmas Eve: Chasers: »

From Kamala drunk to Kamala sober

Featured image You may have heard of the appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober. In the Thanksgiving Day video below, Kamala Harris is filmed in the same location and attire that she appeared in earlier this week when some doubted her sobriety. It must have been filmed later the same day, by which time Kamala could walk a straight line. In the Thanksgiving video, however, Harris was joined by Doug Emhoff. »

Thanksgiving Greetings

Featured image Donald Trump posted this last night on Truth and other platforms. It is a sort of not-very-deep fake, featuring Joe Biden, Adam “Pencil Neck” Schiff, and others: pic.twitter.com/FhHeS8WdrK — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2024 Do I approve? Not really. Do I wish that our President-Elect were a little more dignified? Yes. But it is a small point: I am happy to settle for not being crazy. »