Category: Blithe Spirit

Ringling Brothers, coals of fire, going thru the motions . . .

Fr. Brian this a.m. on Ringling Bros. et al. closing after 100-plus years: Change there is, but God is constant.

Which is good to keep in mind, though it would not work for one who does not think there is a God. On the other hand, allegiance to this concept is held by Buddhist and other non-Christian philosophy, the concept being in part to keep a part of oneself on the outside of things looking on. Not 24-7, obviously: you’d be unable to cross a busy street with all your other-world outside-ness. But as a refresher in the midst of trouble? Brian had it right.

Secondly, and related to this, words from the 1950s Catholic mass, 3rd Sunday post-Epiphany, which I for one find refreshing — the St. Paul reading, Romans 12.16-21, with its “to no man rendering evil for evil.” Talk about your hard sayings!

The rest of it is here:

Brethren: Be not wise in your own conceits. [Don’t be a wise guy.] To no man rendering evil for evil. . . . If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. [Ouch.] Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: “Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” But “If the enemy be hungry, give him to eat; [Oh boy.] if he thirst, give him to drink. For doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.” Be not overcome by evil: but overcome evil by good. [There you go.]

Some passage, with the memorable “heap coals of fire upon his head,” which sounds odd but is explained by the following “overcome evil by good,” which I love for its ironical pitch.

You wanna get back at the s.o.b. who cut you off on Clark Street? Well bless him for his inventive solution to getting where he or she has to get. Better yet, manage a smile for the offending oaf, and not a self-congratulating smirk either. For this good (non-ironic) smile, you have to calm down, to be sure, which is my hard saying for the day. Hard, hard, time to go through the motions, the best you can do. . . .

Obama impact considerable, says Rush Limbaugh

Good stuff:

January 16, 2017

 I see President Obama regrets not having a greater impact on his party. But he did!!! Obama presided over the Democrat Party being defeated, rejected and repudiated. Since 2010, the Democrats have lost over 1000 electoral seats all across the country.

In only 4 states do they control a governorship and state legislature. It doesn’t matter what John Lewis thinks or does, or any other Democrat. Thanks to Obama, they simply do not have the votes to stop Trump, even with John McCain trying to help them. And it is eating them alive.

Maybe new White House (-area) press room with room for talk show people and bloggers

Recognizes the reality of today’s communications.

The White House’s iconic James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, renovated a decade ago with modern lights and wiring, may soon be much quieter. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” that, at least temporarily, the daily briefings may move “50 feet to the EEOB,” the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across West Executive Drive from the White House.

Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary tells me: “While no decisions have been made, there is enormous interest in covering Donald Trump … The current briefing room only has 49 seats so we have looked at rooms within the White House to conduct briefings that have additional capacity to accommodate members of media including talk radio, bloggers and others.

“It looks like the most likely new venue is on the first floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, South Court — new and TV-ready, with 150 seats.

Spicer was responding to an Esquire posting by Peter Boyer, a former Fox News executive and New Yorker writer, quoting a senior Trump official as saying of the press: “They are the opposition party … I want ’em out of the building. We are taking back the press room.”

That last comment, a killer, also recognizes today’s communications.

Source: Axios AM: Mike’s Top 10

Trump Open to Shift on Russia Sanctions, ‘One China’ Policy

Getting ready for the world’s biggest poker game. Will show up the retiring boy president for the amateur he is. You have to wonder how good a community organizer he was, at that.

President-elect Donald Trump suggested he would be open to lifting sanctions on Russia and wasn’t committed to a long-standing agreement with China over Taiwan.

Keep-’em-guessing Trump, they called him. Good.

Source: Trump Open to Shift on Russia Sanctions, ‘One China’ Policy – WSJ

Who shaped cop culture laid out in DOJ report?

John Kass answers a whodunit, among a dozen other episodes listing this:

It wasn’t the police that sat on the video of Laquan McDonald, the black kid shot 16 times by a white cop until dead. It wasn’t police that refused to release the video until Emanuel was safe and had won a tough re-election.

Whodunit? The pols, Kass argues, and who are we to disagree?

Source: Who shaped cop culture laid out in DOJ report? They weren’t saints. – Chicago Tribune

Hole-digging Chicago style

The more things change . . .

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pitching Wall Street investors on the latest city borrowing plan, a $1.2 billion package that, like previous versions, pushes hundreds of millions of dollars of debt into the future at higher costs to taxpayers.

The mayor is continuing scoop-and-toss borrowing, which involves paying off old bonds with the proceeds from new ones — a practice akin to taking out another mortgage on a house to pay off the old mortgage, kicking payments down the road.

An Emanuel budget spokeswoman said this year marks the last scoop-and-toss bond issue.

And I believe her, don’t you?

via Six years after Daley, Emanuel still using high-cost borrowing practices – Chicago Tribune