We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand.

— Spurgeon

If I’m understanding these numbers correctly (caveat), the Census Bureau now believes Mississippi’s population *grew* by 100k+ from 2010-20, rather than shrank. Hope there are as many headlines about that as there were about supposed population loss.

When I look at your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

— Psalm 8:3–4

One of the greatest fits of an actress for a character, in the greatest sitcom of all time.

Completely true story—working on valentines for our two year old’s daycare class, we realize the other boys in his class are named Willie, Waylon, Hank, and Kash.

I’ve closed an unusually high number of loans the last couple of years for Californians moving to rural areas of the Pine Belt. No family/job here. All cite lower cost of living, most mention politics as impetus.

Several years ago, my grandmother opined that someone “went out of his way to be stupid.”

I’ve found the quote has more and more applications as time marches on.

I feel like this is a Seinfeld episode where George gets a job in a PR firm and floats this idea to their biggest client, the mayor—“What if you just say it costs NOTHING??”

Then he gets fired when it backfires and the mayor loses re-election.

“The jailer had a wife, and let me tell you, she was awful,
But she brought that hot bologna everyday,
After seven days, she got to looking so much better,
I asked her if she’d like to run away.”

Alternative headline: GOP chances to retake House, Senate in 2022 improve dramatically

At some point, we’ll wonder why more decent people aren’t running for public office, and this kind of nonsense—along with protesting in front of officials’ homes—will be to blame. Common decency isn’t even sacred anymore.

U.S. Army rescues little girl in Honduras from flooding due to Hurricane Eta

You want hypocritical media bias? Here's the The Washington Post on Justice Scalia dying and the same paper on the death of Ginsburg. Seem slightly different?

God bless America, land that I love.

So up until right now there was someone alive whose father fought in the Civil War. That's mind blowing. wsj.com/articles/last-…

Reminder of just how fortunate we are, even now, to have been born when we were and where we were.

My 15th great uncle, Thomas Culpepper, was beheaded by King Henry VIII in 1541 for having an affair with the Queen, Catherine Howard (who also was beheaded). Before her execution, her final words allegedly were “I die a queen, but I would rather die Culpeper’s wife.”

“None of which is to deny the unkindness, suffering, and misfortune in the world — only to put it in perspective. In the 2010s, we were awash, whether we realized it or not, in tidings of comfort and joy. May the same be true in the 2020s.” bostonglobe.com/2019/12/26/opi…

I approve this message.

Happy D Day 75 years ago I was in Auschwitz - thanks to the allied forces we were liberated End of January 1945 Wow!!