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It's A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall On Us All

1/29/2025

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​He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
-
Matthew 5:45
​       Alas, we are at this moment a country as divided as can be. But this is about to change:
         When the mass deportation of migrant agricultural workers and those who work in the egg, dairy, meat, and other food processing sectors cause grocery prices to soar and food inventory to drop;
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​      When the deportation of undocumented workers in the construction trades along with punishing tariffs on imported materials make home repairs skyrocket in cost and hard to come by;
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    When you can't buy a new car because tariffs have cut availability and sent prices through the roof; when Trump's tariffs on foreign goods raise the price of almost everything;
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     When the American automobile industry flounders in obsolescence because, in his promotion of out-dated fossil fuel technology, Donald Trump has crushed electric vehicle production and China rules the future and the world in producing the electric vehicles that the world wants;
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​     When restaurants lack workers and nursing homes lack care staff;
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     When our gay and transgender friends or loved ones or selves live in fear and suffer mistreatment at work and in society because Donald Trump has declared that in this country only gender straight men and women  are allowed to exist;  
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     When the safety of our food supply is no longer guaranteed because last Friday Trump fired the independent Inspectors General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, under which falls the Food and Drug Administration; ​
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    When millions lose their health care because Donald Trump has abolished the Affordable Care Act;
    When the old childhood scourges of  measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough,  tuberculosis, and most terrible of all, polio,
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...return to the population of American children because Donald Trump put an elderly  anti-science vaccine denier in charge of our nation's health policy;
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   When American tourists aren't welcome in other countries because Donald Trump has made Americans the most despised people on the planet; ​
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   When, between threats to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland and Trump's international bullying, our country has not an ally to stand with us should we be in need;
    When the bitter harvest is reaped from what Trump's misadministration has sown, then the hardship that rains down will fall on those who voted for and supported Donald Trump as well as those of us who opposed him.
         And then at last we'll be a united nation. At least in our misfortune.
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​References:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/paul-krugman-sounds-alarm-donald-131621342.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-deportation-plan-effects-undocumented-farmers/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/29/usda-inspector-general-escorted-office-trump-white-house/78024513007/

https://www.foodprocessing.com/food-safety/regulatory-compliance/news/55263979/trump-fires-three-inspectors-with-oversight-on-food-agencies
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Bishop Mariann Budde And The Ketchup-Covered Christians

1/24/2025

1 Comment

 
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        The way I see it, there are two kinds of Christians:
        The first kind treat their religion like a sort of God-given holy ketchup of sanctified self-righteousness that they pour all over themselves. They go through  life - and often on social media - spouting holy-speak, proclaiming their love for and personal attachment to Jesus to make sure everybody else knows what they themselves believe: that they're special, blessed, spiritual, good, right and, especially, above reproach because of their exceptional relationship to God, who is in them well-pleased. And don't you forget it.
          But it's all just so much holy ketchup covering what's underneath, which might be fine, but which also might be rancid with self-satisfaction or unkindness or intolerance or greed or cruelty or all of the above that they can't or won't recognize in themselves because the holy ketchup has gunked up their consciences and leaked into their souls.
         The second kind of Christians are all the ones who aren't first kind. The ones who, be they good, bad, or indifferent, nonetheless don't feel the need to cover themselves in holy ketchup and make sure everyone knows they're Christian. Subsequently they don't stand out like the first kind.
​           Now,  it has come to pass that for the past several days since the Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, the ketchup-covered Christians have been in a state of outrage.
​          On the Friday before Trump's inauguration there was a massive D.C.  Make America Great Again pep rally that kicked off with  a veritable holy ketchup Christian fest led by holy ketchup Christian podcasters Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma, aka Girls Gone Bible,  
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...who thanked God for choosing Donald Trump to be His vessel and prayed mightily for God to empower Trump while granting America  "power beyond belief." They likewise prayed for the condemnation of anyone who opposed Trump, declaring that, as God was for Donald Trump, who could be against Donald Trump? 
           The holy ketchup continued to copiously flow all weekend long in the D.C. area with several worship and prayer services led by Christian Nationalist MAGA worship leader and entrepreneur Sean Feucht,
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...who sang the praises of the Lord and Donald Trump and said things like, “The weapons of our worship are ready to praise over our nation’s capitol” and “What a truly historic day to have this many BOLD BELIEVERS serving in the top positions of government in our nation!” and "Take back territory for his kingdom."
​          And all this holy ketchup made Donald Trump as happy as having a big glob of regular ketchup on his cheeseburger.
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         But then came inauguration day and the traditional inaugural interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral where Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C., 
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...said the following words during her sermon:
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     “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
      "There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They…may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples.
      "I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.
       "May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
​
        And with those words Bishop Mariann Budde hosed off the holy ketchup and went at the consciences of Donald Trump and his entourage with a roto-rooter. They did not like it,
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...and have been howling ever since over the affront. On his Truth Social site Donald Trump petulantly wrote:
    "The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people...Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job!"
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         Others of Trump's ketchupy minions have called for Bishop Budde  to publicly apologize to Donald Trump, called her a national embarrassment, called for her to be deported, called for her death.
         But  Mariann Budde's words asking for mercy, compassion and humanity are the heart and soul of of the Gospels. And for saying those words there are those who would like to see her crucified. 
        But here's something I keep wondering: Among that crowd of hundreds in the National Cathedral who heard Bishop Budde speak, and in the millions of holy ketchup-covered Christians who've read what she said, might there be one whose heart her words changed? 
References:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/who-is-rev-mariann-budde-bishop-who-drew-trump-s-ire-at-prayer-service/ar-AA1xKCrD

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5270918/bishop-mariann-edgar-budde-trump-interview

AA1xKaRghttps://baptistnews.com/article/when-worship-becomes-an-act-of-cruelty/

​https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/22/what-did-the-bishop-say-to-trump-during-prayer-service-heres-the-full-transcript/
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The Longest Day

1/21/2025

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​​                          Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:   
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​
​The Longest Day

       It's been determined that the longest day of 2025 will be June 24, the Summer Solstice. 
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       But I swear, for me the longest day of this year - maybe the longest day in a lot of years - was yesterday, January 20, 2025.
         I woke up yesterday knowing what would be going down on this day of days and I just didn't want to think about it. And yet I knew I'd be thinking about it all day, even if I put myself on a media blackout, which I pretty much did for the day. And so I wanted the day to be over. Rational or not, I just did. 
          Which was a shame. Because it really was a beautiful January day,       
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...and also because I've always believed that it's a shame to wish away a single day of your life.  Not that I've never before had one of those days that I wished to be over; I have.  And I wanted this one to be over, too. 
          And so I attempted to fill the day with all kinds of time-consuming activities.
         I shoveled snow and chatted a bit with my wonderful neighbor who was also out shoveling snow.
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      I cleaned out the fireplace,
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​...then built a cozy fire.
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      I did the laundry, washed the floors, vacuumed the rugs, then changed the vacuum filter.
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        I practiced my ukulele,
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...and piano.
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        I did The Crossword,
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...worked on my next novel,
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...and spent a long time talking with a lot of people on the phone. 
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      And still, try as I did, on this day there seemed no way to hurry the sundown.
     Any more than there'll be any way to hurry the next for years or what we're going to be in for.
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ByeBye TikTok. Wait, Just Kidding.

1/19/2025

2 Comments

 
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     Last night at 11:32 pm I received the above image in a text from one of my children.
          OMG, thought I, did they really pull the trigger on TikTok? I checked my own TikTok app, and sure enough:
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       Now, I can't say I was personally broken hearted at the news last April that the United States Congress passed with broad bipartisan support a law giving TikTok, a Chinese-controlled interest,  270 days to sell the app to an American buyer or be banned in the U.S.  Nor did I grieve last Friday when the Supreme Court stood up for the validity of that law.
         That being said, though I have a TikTok account, I'm not much of a fan. (But then, most of the stuff on TikTok isn't particularly Boomer-centric). I really only plugged into the app in hopes that it might be a platform upon which I might advertise my books. To that end I made a few videos which, alas, did not, as far as I could discern, boost my book sales very much, if at all.
          I then thought that I might take a whirl at being a TikTok storyteller.
        Here are a few of my TikTok efforts (most of which are re-runs from a blog from a couple of years ago, www.ailantha.com/blog/youre-never-too-old-to-tik-tokoo-old-to-tik-tok).         
       However, as it turned out, making even a minute-long video took time and effort, and, as most of these efforts received only a few hundred views - less than a nano-micron in the TikTokverse - after posting about half-a-dozen vignettes I ran out of TikTok-making mojo, and, for that matter, much further interest in TikTok.
​       In any case, it’s since come to light that China has been using the TikTok app as an espionage tool to harvest vast amounts of sensitive data and spread covert disinformation, which makes TikTok as it exists now a threat to American national security. Which is why Congress decreed that TikTok must be bought by an American company or be banned in our country.
        Yesterday TikTok's 270 days to find an American buyer were up, though if TikTok had been under contract to be sold to an American buyer by yesterday the deadline could have been extended for three more months. But it wasn't, which meant that the platforms that carry TikTok in the U.S. - Google, Apple, and Microsoft -  were required to shut off TikTok or face a fine of $5,000 for each of the 170 million American TikTok users. So last night they did shut TikTok down. Because 5,000 x 170 million is a lot of dollars.
           But then, there was that notable little quirk in the shut-down message,     
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​...which suggested that TikTok's American carriers were in league with Donald Trump, who in fact promised to sign an executive order the very second he was sworn in as President tomorrow cancelling the law banning TikTok.
        And sure enough, today TikTok was back on, and note the tribute paid to Trump,
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...indicating that its carriers were betting on Trump legalizing them on his own power, and also that he'd pardon them from paying the 5,000 x 170 million dollars they now owed for breaking the law by running TikTok after the deadline.
          All of which is interesting, because during his first Presidency Donald Trump led the battle cry for either 100% American acquisition of TikTok or the banning of the app. That was on his list of to-do's-that-never-got-done, along with an infrastructure initiative, health care reform, and an immigration solution.
          But then, lo, during his latest campaign, Donald Trump's supporters used TikTok to spread pro-Trump ads and messages, which resonated in particular with those millions of young people for whom TikTok is their main news source. Trump has said himself that TikTok may have won him the election. 
        And so to Donald Trump the TikTok-China connection and the national security threat it engenders no longer matter because the TikTok platform now benefits Donald Trump, which is why he intends to bring back TikTok by executive order.
​        
       Except here's the thing: A President may not issue an executive order to allow something that's against the law. And issuing an executive order to allow TikTok to operate while still under Chinese ownership will be breaking the law. 
       And so on his very first day, his very first minute in office Donald Trump intends to break the law.
​        But will anyone stop him? Will anyone even care?
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References
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/19/tech/tiktok-ban/index.html
​
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5258396/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-new-law-could-ban-tiktok-in-2025-heres-what-happens-next-111917426.html

https://factmyth.com/factoids/presidents-can-use-executive-orders-to-do-whatever-they-want/

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Shame On You, Mike Johnson, You Ignorant Schlub!

1/15/2025

1 Comment

 
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​     It's bad enough that Southern California is burning, that tens of thousands have lost their homes and all their possessions, and that those of us with loved ones there are worried and heart sick.
​       Bad enough is the stress, sorrow, fear and suffering of those wildfire victims who've lost everything, 
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...including their neighborhoods, which will need to be cleaned of the toxic mess left behind from burned cars, houses, chemical products, and horrific amounts of other things before those areas will even be habitable again.
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      All of that is terrible enough without Republican Speaker of the House - and by extension steward of the distribution of Federal disaster aid - Mike Johnson, 
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...making the statement that emergency disaster aid to the devastated areas of California needs to be tied to "conditions." Said Johnson about whether he and his fellow Congressional Republicans would in fact put conditions on the distribution of aid to California: 
​        "I think we ought to have a serious conversation about that. 
Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is. Conditions (will definitely be) part of the discussion."
           How cruel. And how unseemly for a man in a position of great power whose responsibility is the welfare of all Americans, not just those living in states that reliably vote for his political party. And how far from the Golden Rule written in the gospel of Saint Matthew - do unto others as you would have them do unto you - is the attitude of this publicly  self-proclaimed, self-righteous, uber-pious Bible-quoting Christian,
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​...whose own state of Louisiana was devastated 20 years ago by Hurricane Katrina and to whose residents massive aid and help were sent not only from the Federal government and the Red Cross but from compassionate Americans all over the country.
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      And on top of that...how ignorant. How ​ignorant to call California's state and local leaders derelict in their duty. Has Mike Johnson not been following the news and all the information and analysis that's been on new sites everywhere since the fires broke out?
       Does the Speaker of the House not know that 
California is the best equipped state in the country to deal with wildfires? That fire prevention is built into the state's building codes and that all local fire departments are backed up by CalFire, the state agency with a multi-billion dollar budget and some of the world's best-trained firefighters? That California residents living in fire risk zones are required to create "defensible space" around their properties by clearing away vegetation? That climate change has made for higher temperatures, drier vegetation, and more and hotter wildfires in the American West that, as we've now unfortunately learned, can defy the wealthiest, most resource-rich state with the most stringent fire prevention regulations? Does Mike Johnson know that?
          I learned all that from one news article in the New York Times by climate reporter Christopher Flavelle. Didn't Speaker Johnson have access to that article?

            Didn't he read anywhere that, thanks to good rain and snowfall last year the reservoirs around Los Angeles were filled to brimming, that there was no water shortage, even with one reservoir in the fire zone empty and off line for repairs? 
           Doesn't he know that the reason some fire hydrants went dry was not because there wasn't enough water or hydrants or hoses or fire fighters, but because these fires were so enormous, so strong, so fast moving and relentless that the flames sucked up water faster than the main storage tanks and reservoirs could supply the water to the hydrants? Does he understand the power of the Santa Ana winds that are propelling the flames, and that each burning ember flying through the air can ignite a house or a tree or brush that will produce a hundred more embers to ignite the next flame? Does he understand the problem of firefighting in wildland-urban interface - that is, where human activity and development intermingle with natural areas?
         Does he understand that fighting wildfires depends greatly on the use of planes that drop water and spray fire retardant on the ground but that this time the ferociousness of the Santa Ana winds has been preventing the planes from aiding the ground battle against the fires? Does he realize that those winds, in tandem with a mass of dry vegetation, are what's keeping the fires alive and growing and that as long as the winds blow the fire will grow and dwarf our human efforts to contain it?
         Is Mr. Johnson not aware that not all wildfire management policies are in the hands of the state? That current Federal environmental laws place considerable obstacles to controlled burning of vegetation that would reduce the risk of wildfires but also cause dangerous smoke pollution? 
           Hasn't Mike Johnson been educating himself on the history and circumstance and attendant factors regarding the California wildfires? Has he been  reading any of the news articles that have been disseminating all the above information and more, making it clear that the problem of the California wildfires is far more complex than the simplistic, inane, uninformed, at times false or misleading and, of course, politically-driven verbiage that he and some of his fellow Republicans have been spouting?
            In truth  chances are that Mike Johnson is in fact at least as much up on the  news of the California wildfires as I am and subsequently knows at least as much about the complex reality of the situation as I do. He probably knows quite a bit more. In which case his ignorance is not of the mind, but of the soul.  Shame on you, Mike Johnson.
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​References

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/conditions-should-be-placed-on-california-wildfire-aid-house-speaker-mike-johnson/ar-BB1roZvz

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/climate/california-fires-climate-change.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/los-angeles-fire-water-hydrant-failure.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/us/wildfires-pacific-palisades-water-shortage.html

https://www.newsweek.com/controlled-burns-california-forest-management-los-angeles-fires-2012492
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A Prayer For Los Angeles

1/10/2025

17 Comments

 
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      Here in Columbus, Ohio it's a calm, chilly snow-covered day.
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      But as I look at the lovely winter scene outside my window all I can think about are the images from two thousand miles away of vast, sweeping monster fires propelled on the strong, fast-moving Santa Ana winds blowing through the mountain passes of Southern California and bringing down burning destruction on Los Angeles.
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      The fires  have so far burned down the homes of tens of thousands of people and destroyed acres and acres of beautiful, iconic areas of Los Angeles county,
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...and more people and places are in danger still.    
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       For the past two days the Southern California fires have been on my mind all day long. This is a place where I spend weeks several times a year. I have friends and loved ones there.
​      My niece and her husband and children live in Studio City a few miles from the Sunset Fire.
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      Fortunately they're safe so far.
      I have other dear ones living in the South Bay area about twenty miles south of the raging Palisades Fire.
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         They're safe as well from the flames, but are suffering from the massive smoke and  stench and need to stay indoors or wear face masks when they go outside. They sent me this picture  of the volleyball beach two miles from their house:
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      I have a close friend in my neighborhood who has a niece living between the     and the Palisades Fire and area of the Sunset Fire, but she is also safe so far.
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       My sister and her husband live 75 miles to the south of Los Angeles in Fallbrook.
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    They're safe so far as well but have been notified to be ready to evacuate should the winds change direction and carry fire their way.
        My loved ones in Southern California have been in ongoing communication with each other, those in less danger offering shelter to those in more.
        And all I'm able to do for them is to tell them that here, two thousand miles east in the snow and 14 degree weather, my home is always open to them all. That and pray.
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17 Comments

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" That Almost Wasn't

1/5/2025

4 Comments

 
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​      It was New Year's Eve, we had a houseful of out-of-town holiday visitors, among them some children, and we were powwowing to come up with something to do to ring out the old year and ring in the new that would be fun, festive, and family friendly. 
       It was one of my daughters, who was among the visitors, who suggested doing what our family used to do to celebrate New Year's Eve: We'd go out for dinner at Friendly's, then go to a movie. (I should add that when our children were young we seldom took them to the movies and almost never out to eat, except on New Year's Eve, which made doing both quite a special, and apparently in my daughter's case memorable, occasion).
       However, I had to break it to my daughter that Friendly's was no longer in business in Columbus, Ohio, which she was sad to hear. Still, everybody generally liked the idea of dinner somewhere else and a movie. 
        For dinner we came up with Bibibop, a fast food Asian eatery that everyone liked. Finding a family friendly movie playing around town turned out to be more of a challenge.
         There were Wicked and Moana 2, but the kids had already seen those. I suggested Mufasa until I looked at the stanky Rotten Tomato reviews.
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      There was also Sonic the Hedgehog, which did pretty well Rotten Tomato-wise,
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...except that none of the adults, myself included, felt that we could handle watching almost two hours of an animated video game.
​       Then I found this movie playing at the nearby Easton Town Center Mall:
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      I'd seen the stage version of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and had memories of a funny, poignant, entertaining story of a family of naughty children who highjack the town's Christmas play with an unexpected outcome. And the reviews were top of the line. 
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    The kids and I checked out the trailer and a thumbs up was given all around: Bibibop for dinner and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" it would be.
     Now, here's something I haven't mentioned. Some of our holiday guests, including the children, were Jewish. But I didn't think that would matter, and neither did the children or their parents. A comedy is a comedy, and every comedy needs a setting, but good comedy will transcend its setting, which, as I recalled, this particular comedy did.
       And so when evening rolled around we headed for the mall,         
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...which was full of families who, like us, had come for a New Year's Eve outing.
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        We had our yummy Bibibop, strolled around the mall for a bit, then headed for our movie.
          Now, for me the first red flag popped up - well, maybe not exactly a red flag; more like a pink flag - anyway, it was during the opening credits of the film when the name of the production company showed on the screen:      
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       To me the word "Kingdom" suggested - just a tad - a purveyor of evangelical Christian content. But, of course, I thought, I could be wrong. Except that by about three minutes into the movie I saw that I wasn't wrong. The story was preachy, churchy, and Christian-y, and the characters of the renegade children weren't just naughty, but downright nasty, a passel of raggedy, terrorizing little thugs.
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        I found the movie alternately treacly and disturbing, and I wondered how the children in our group and their parents were taking this mix of religious Christmas corn syrup and juvenile delinquency.
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          I dearly wished we'd gone to see Sonic the Hedgehog. (And how in the world, I wondered, did this goopy flick snag a 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes?).
​         About fifteen minutes into the movie there was a loud siren which I - and it later turned out, other members of our group - though was part of the film, a police  car, say, coming after the bad children. 
          But that wasn't it. A moment later the screen went dark, the theater lights came up, and a voice over the loudspeaker told us that there was a fire in the mall and requested that we leave immediately by the nearest exit. Which we did, so quickly that the children left behind their popcorn and candy.
        (Note to all Easton Town Center movie goers: should you ever be in theater 22 as we were and have to make a quick get away from the theater, take an immediate left as soon as you exit the theater. There's an emergency exit leading to the outside right there. On the left of theater 22, that is).
           Now, I would certainly never wish a fire emergency on any person, place, or thing.  But dare I admit I was never so grateful for a fire emergency as I was for this one that rescued us from this movie and my embarrassment at having taken our Jewish  guests and their children to see it? I now wondered if  - and worried that - they might have been offended. 
             In fact, nobody was offended by the movie, but imagine my surprise when one of the kids asked if we could go back later and finish watching it. 
              "What, you liked it?" I asked. 
               "Yeah," they replied.
               As it turned out, the children, themselves middle schoolers, were not strangers to the problem of school bullies, and so this plot line resonated with them. As for the rest of the movie, they were curious and intrigued. They wanted to find out what was going to happen next. 
​                And so I volunteered to bite the bullet and, provided the mall had    reopened (it had; it turned out that the fire was not critical) to take the kids back  a couple of days later to see the rest of the movie. Which I did. And which they really liked.
               But here's the punchline: This time I ended up really liking the movie, too.
             
  Almost immediately after the point in the movie where we left last time  there was a major plot turn...and what to my wondering eyes should proceed to develop but an engaging, funny, heart-tugging story about a family of impoverished children who were hungry for food, care, knowledge, acceptance, and a sense of self-worth. And about a town full of  church-going Christian folks who in fact could be self-righteous, self-important,  judgmental, and unkind. And about how it took a crew of children who were themselves poor outcasts to bring to life the story of a baby born in a stable and laid in an animal feeding trough full of hay.   
                By the end of the movie I was roaming through my purse for a Kleenex.  It turned out that the comedy and humanity of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" did, in fact, transcend its setting.
​                And I'm more than willing to grant the movie its 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
4 Comments
    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
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    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
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    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

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