Some music

Eagles, 1977, Capital Centre, Maryland (I think).

I see dead people

On this Thanksgiving, thousands of families are missing their loved ones who have died of the coronavirus. When people disregard COVID restrictions, they put other people's lives at risk, not just their own. Maybe that's easy to do if all you see are death numbers on a screen. But every number represents a real person who is missed by their friends and families ...

Thanks

Woodstock

I dreamed last night that I was posting this song written by Joni Mitchell on my blog. In my dream it was the Crosby, Stills & Nash version, which has the words a little different ...



When I was young I believed that we were special in a good way, that we had the potential to make the world a better place. Now half the country is comprised of a would-be dictator's meat puppets. So disappointing.

Don't risk

Here's Rachel Maddow, who has been quarantining since her partner caught the virus: "Your Risks Could Hurt Those You Love Most" ...



I understand this. My sister, my brother-in-law, and I are in a bubble ... if one of us gets it, it's probable that we all will get it.

Bad governor

Let it not be said that I am such a partisan Democrat that I ignore when my own people mess up. Case in point: my governor, Gavin Newsom ...



The first clue of his fallibility? He was married to this ...

3 cats

I tried to get a photo of the squirrels in the pecan tree but they eluded me. Instead I got some pics of my cat companions ...

Here is Hansel sitting amid all the pecan schmutz ....

Mouse was on his favorite dead tree stump ...

Here's Mango, who lives down the street but stops by every day ...

Celebrate

There is dancing in the streets as Americans around the country celebrate the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Our victory. The last four years of a national nightmare will soon be over.

The walk-back

Remember when Pope Francis said that he was for LGBTQ civil unions?

And remember when I posted here that nothing would come of that? Here is the inevitable walk-back from the Vatican ...

Vatican says Pope's comments on same-sex civil unions were taken out of context

[...] "It is clear that Pope Francis was referring to certain provisions made by states, and certainly not to the doctrine of the Church, which he has reaffirmed numerous times over the years," the letter [from the Vatican] explains ...

The church has a vested interest* in trying to insure that gay people cannot have legal families like the rest of us ... spouses and children. ... and this is why they lobbied against making marriage equality legal in the US. The church will not recognize civil marriage equality, much less marry gay people in the church. And the church will not allow LGBTQ people to adopt children from Catholic run facilities. The party line is that gay relationships are "intrinsically disordered" and that basically, God doesn't want gay people to get married.

The Pope is fully on board with this stance - do the research if you don't believe me. Stop saying he is a liberal. Stop hoping he is going to make any meaningful changes for the better in the church. He wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't a party man.

This is one of the many reasons I've given up on the church.

* About the vested interest .... I'll ask you to imagine how few Catholic priests we would have if the church couldn't convince gay Catholic men that their only option for having a family was joining the priesthood.