One biography I read of George Washington described the context just before this most famous State of the Union address, where he described what we should be grateful for, as a nation.
In the year prior there had been mounting criticism of Washington, carping in the public about how he was too old, too weak, probably had dementia (sound familiar?). He was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to separate the young Turks in his cabinet, there was a lot of division at the time how to proceed with this spanking new nation. George Washington was a famously proud man, and it deeply disturbed him to receive any criticism at all; he would coldly cut off people who offended him, permanently. But he decided to take the high road. Reminded us why we are here.
That startled Congress to the point they stopped busting his reputation (well, a bit). I think of this a lot as we watch the especially toxic, nasty exchanges with the Congress, our representatives yelling and screaming at each other about this or that, getting nothing done. We say such turbulent times never existed before, but they did--a lot. Democracy is a messy business and has descended into embarrassing brawls several times.
However, now is different in that I cannot imagine an MTG or Gaetz or any member of the Freedom Caucus ever sitting down and shutting up or doing their jobs. Trolling is their profession, not governing. We have social media (Musk, Zuckerberg) and Fox (Murdoch) to thank for their presence, as well as a dearth of education in civics and how our government operates.
I hope America wakes up and remembers what we're here for. Not this, that's for certain.
Puzzled how a National Defense Authorization Defense Bill could be "woke" I did a search.
➤ It “reiterates” that no Defense Department money is to be spent on drag shows or other events involving drag queens, the summary says, and caps base pay for Defense Department employees whose positions are primarily related to initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce.
This is really nutty since drag shows have been around forever. One of my earliest high school memories is a girl's bathing suit contest at band camp in which the "contest" which involved boys in girls' swimsuits, replete with boobs and makeup! That was in the Sixties!
And one of the annual entertainments at a retirement community where I worked post-retirement about twenty years ago was a "Womanless Wedding" in which one of the male residents (or one of the staff) was dressed as the bride.
One biography I read of George Washington described the context just before this most famous State of the Union address, where he described what we should be grateful for, as a nation.
In the year prior there had been mounting criticism of Washington, carping in the public about how he was too old, too weak, probably had dementia (sound familiar?). He was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to separate the young Turks in his cabinet, there was a lot of division at the time how to proceed with this spanking new nation. George Washington was a famously proud man, and it deeply disturbed him to receive any criticism at all; he would coldly cut off people who offended him, permanently. But he decided to take the high road. Reminded us why we are here.
That startled Congress to the point they stopped busting his reputation (well, a bit). I think of this a lot as we watch the especially toxic, nasty exchanges with the Congress, our representatives yelling and screaming at each other about this or that, getting nothing done. We say such turbulent times never existed before, but they did--a lot. Democracy is a messy business and has descended into embarrassing brawls several times.
However, now is different in that I cannot imagine an MTG or Gaetz or any member of the Freedom Caucus ever sitting down and shutting up or doing their jobs. Trolling is their profession, not governing. We have social media (Musk, Zuckerberg) and Fox (Murdoch) to thank for their presence, as well as a dearth of education in civics and how our government operates.
I hope America wakes up and remembers what we're here for. Not this, that's for certain.
Puzzled how a National Defense Authorization Defense Bill could be "woke" I did a search.
➤ It “reiterates” that no Defense Department money is to be spent on drag shows or other events involving drag queens, the summary says, and caps base pay for Defense Department employees whose positions are primarily related to initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce.
https://wapo.st/3uYNbhH
This is really nutty since drag shows have been around forever. One of my earliest high school memories is a girl's bathing suit contest at band camp in which the "contest" which involved boys in girls' swimsuits, replete with boobs and makeup! That was in the Sixties!
And one of the annual entertainments at a retirement community where I worked post-retirement about twenty years ago was a "Womanless Wedding" in which one of the male residents (or one of the staff) was dressed as the bride.