Not sure why the landslide of negativity regarding invites to King Charles’s coronation. If it was Diana instead, would all these entertainers be falling over each other to get in line?

What’s at stake here? Why all the bad vibes? Do they just not like the guy because things didn’t work out with Diana? He is a bit of a bump on a log, but still… whatever that was between Charles and Diana– it wasn’t love.

Maybe Keys McKeysmore and His Accordions of Excellence are available.

It’s March 1, the whole month unfolding within the season of Lent, which means a month of Friday fish fries sponsored by local Catholic churches and fire companies, and midweek worship services that hardly anyone will attend. So… Lent.

And 31 days of struggle between a waning Winter and an emerging Spring. Chances are the wind will periodically howl, the weather will get enticingly warm and then turn on us, and this will go on for the entire month, most likely into April, maybe even May.

But the warmth is coming, the red bud will bloom, and, come hell or high water, we will enjoy that occasional picture perfect Spring day.

Alex Murdaugh gets top billing on the morning’s news feed. Nothing like a juicy, real-life murder mystery… Ron DeSantis seems to have prevailed in his childish kerfuffle with Disney (yeah, Ron…), and a ransomware attack is unfolding at the U.S Marshalls office.

That’s right, the U.S. Marshalls.

It won’t be nukes that bring us down. It’ll be a fucking computer virus.

And a fascination with stupid people.

Smile for the camera, Vlad. That’s it, good job. I guess that’ll pass for a smile. Probably the best you can do.

Now turn away and furrow your brow and bare your teeth and scowl, because that’s what’s really going on inside, you beady-eyed little man.

The Wuhan controversy is front and center again. Is there new information concerning the origins of Covid-19, corroborated by all major networks and government agencies? Or is it just MOTS— the current cold war motif with China, or Fox News and the WSJ creating a diversion so they can take some pressure off the network over the recent embarrassing revelations about how Fox on-air personalities really felt about Trump and his accusations of a stolen election?

Pays to be skeptical.

One thing I know—I’m really tired of hearing about this. I feel like we’ll never know for sure now. Like many other things in this hyper-partisan atmosphere, it will be a political hot potato, the facts remaining elusive, accusations flying, because someone’s always trying to control the narrative.

We can choose what we get angry about, what turns us on, what gets under our skin, lights a fire. Peoples’ passions are as varied as people themselves. But this doesn’t mean all passions are created equal.

After one gets done listening to or walking awhile in someone else’s shoes, maybe they’ve earned the right to make an assessment, to evaluate and offer observations and opinions.

I’m not talking about the value of painting tiny action figures under a magnifying glass. I’m talking about political stances and broadcasting hate and fear and misinformation, which appear to be in never-ending supply. And the embrace of which is likely serving the ends of people who are up to no good.

The thing about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and others is that we have a good idea of what they’re up to, yet people still buy what they’re selling.

Emily Kohrs. Remember the name. She’s a member of the grand jury in the Georgia election case and she’s been talking to the media.

Apparently, jurors have been given lenient instructions about doing such by the judge in the case.

And people think Trump is in trouble? Not when you have an apparently sympathetic judge and motormouth jury members like Kohrs.

Anyone want to reassess their prognostications regarding Trump being on the hook this time?

Every now and then, I get to wondering how things would be different in the world if certain people hadn’t overdosed or died in a plane crash or car accident, or been cut down by assassins’ bullets. Music unwritten and unsung, leadership and wisdom and inspiration lost.

Fresh in my mind is Abraham Lincoln, who never got to oversee and offer his insights and guidance on Reconstruction. The challenge would have been getting enough people to share his measured, less retributive approach. But that became a non-issue, as Andrew Johnson was thrust into the spotlight. Turns out he wasn’t gifted in the same way as Lincoln, to put it mildly.

In fact, one could say Johnson was a disaster from the get-go. His presence on the ticket was really nothing more than a political calculation, a means of securing votes from those who leaned pro-slavery in the north. So, who knows, perhaps he was such an effective hindrance that we couldn’t get off on the right foot and are feeling the effects to this day. Or maybe a healing of the Union was never meant to be, despite passage of some landmark Constitutional amendments in late 1865 (13th), and in 1868 (14th).

In any event, Lincoln’s was a monumental loss.

Maybe people get dangerous dogs because they like the way it makes them feel. Some sort of twisted power trip. “Don’t mess with me. Look at the dogs I have. They will ruin your day.”

Few things anger me more than seeing headlines like the one from this morning’s batch of uplifting and heartwarming accounts of some irresponsible neighborhood terrorist in Texas whose dogs killed an 81-year-old man, mauled the woman he was walking with, and made life difficult for those who came to the rescue.

What are people doing with dogs they have no intention of handling, or can’t handle? What the hell are they thinking? Can it be that these animals end up doing exactly what the owners hoped they would do?

Imagine being out for a walk and ending up maimed or dead because a perturbed animal with a bite pressure rivaling the Jaws of Life decides to protect its territory, or was somehow set off. A senseless, gut-wrenching tragedy.

A Donald Trump speech coming today. Oh boy! Wow us, Donald, with your dark world view and twelve-word vocabulary. We await the preponderance of wisdom delivered as only you can deliver it.

You’re always such a delight.