“I took Duckworth to the dog show up in the city last weekend,” Dud said. The other members of the Mule Barn truck stop’s world dilemma think tank and philosophy counter just looked at him. Doc put it gently. “Dud, was this so he could get some inspiration on looking good?”
Want to know how to cause a church split?
One day in 1951, during Willie Mays’ rookie season, my father took me to the Polo Grounds in Manhattan to see him play. What I recall most vividly is emerging from a shadowy corridor under the stands into the astonishing sunlit green of the outfield grass. The sheer expanse of a major league playing field is something you’re not prepared for as a child.
A bill to restrict land purchases in South Dakota didn’t pass in the 2023 state legislative session, but a proposed rule change at the federal level would require foreign citizens and companies to get U.S. government approval to buy property within 100 miles of eight military bases. One of those bases is Ellsworth Air Force Base in western South Dakota.
It was one of the most gratifying compliments I have ever received. It was graduation time at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, where I was the chaplain. Our graduation speaker was Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. She had just recently written her book, “On Death and Dying.” In our death-denying culture, it had become an overnight sensation. As we were leaving the commencement exercises, she took me aside to thank me for my words at the beginning and the closing of the ceremony. It was a reflection on what I said, not a casual “thank you.” It was obvious, she had actually listened to my remarks.
President Joe Biden was born Nov. 20, 1942. That has been a well-known fact, or at least a widely available fact, since Biden entered national politics a half-century ago. The fact that Biden is 80 years old now, and that he will be 82 when the next presidential term begins, and that he will be 86 when that term ends — all that has been known at all times surrounding Biden’s campaigns and presidency.
VERO BEACH, Fla. — I saw it lift into the dusky heavens, reaching upward in a stunning ballet of determination and grace, creeping across the sky in an orange streak, stretching toward Earth’s orbit. And somehow, the rise of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket defied the notion that there is no revelation in repetition.
I like taking photos when I’m out of the country. Photographing things in Mexico is effortless. I’ll never understand the nuances of every festival or ritual, but I can enjoy the pageantry and the color and the incredible effort and artistry that goes into creating so much beauty.
After a half-century of decline, the U.S. Episcopal Church has 1.5 million members, and its average weekly attendance was just above 500,000 before COVID-19 and 300,000 afterward.
Despite my own advanced age, I have relatively little to say about Joe Biden’s. If I were in his shoes, I’d accept the thanks of a grateful nation and step aside. Apparently, that puts me among the majority of Americans, 70% of whom in a recent NBC News poll said he shouldn’t run for reelection. Almost as many said his age is a factor. The president is 80.
The instructions said it would take about an hour to set it up. It took me considerably longer. I’m kind of a perfectionist about such things. I wanted all the corners to be absolutely square and all the screws straight with their tops beneath the surface of the wood.
After cleaning up yet another pile of vomit in my storefront doorway, it’s time for a speak out.
VERO BEACH, Florida — Three-quarters of a century ago, when Joe Biden and Donald Trump were children, this state was a backwater, both the smallest in the South and the smallest east of the Mississippi, ranked in the bottom half of the states by population and by home ownership. Its six members of the House — fewer than Oklahoma — were nobodies, representing a sprawling peninsula that was basically nowhere. It had enjoyed booms (land, citrus) and busts (land, citrus) in recurring waves of dreams and dross. The University of Florida had about the same student enrollment (2,604) as Vermont’s Middlebury College has now (2,526).
Down at the sale barn Satuday, the think tank had coagulated there with coffees to go to celebrate spring. Doc and Dud had their dogs with them, while Bert and Dewey and Steve went stag.
In the movies, the penitent enters a confession booth, kneels and whispers to a priest behind a lattice screen: “Forgive me, father, for I have sinned.”
The TSA agent looked stern — as they usually do. “I’d like to look inside this bag, ma’am,” he said.
Now that the cable TV news networks are firing people left and right, how about if they fire Donald Trump? Sure, he can be a short-term ratings booster, but what about the long-term costs? If Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon could be shown the door, why not the most ubiquitous talking head of them all?
Maybe they should try reversing the national news cycle every evening. There is always that “feel good” clip at the very end. It allows the news anchor to leave you with a smile on her face after 20 minutes of bad news and eight minutes of commercials. Even the local news is beginning to follow the same pattern. Last night my wife and I just looked at each other when the first commercial happened. We couldn’t believe how we had heard one bad news story after another. Who wants to watch? How does it make us feel?
“My cousin has twins. She got pregnant again. Her boyfriend is a gang member. She had an abortion. How can anyone say she should have had the baby?”
The Justice Department has been investigating President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden for a long time. The probe began in 2018, before the elder Biden even decided to run for president. It is now in its fifth year. Hunter Biden has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The investigation continues.