Thanksgiving 2022

Marie Barone was ahead of her time with her tofu turkey

ALOHA, ALL!!

As we prepare to give thanks, think about how different our country looks now than even a few years ago.  What will it look like in the future?  How will we be celebrating holidays like Thanksgiving?  The following look into the future is courtesy of HDR reader Steve.  While I’m thankful for all we have, there is a feeling of uncertainty in the pit of my stomach.  A feeling that I’m sure many of you have as well.  While we ponder our many blessings, let’s also vow on this Thanksgiving to not let the following scenario happen.  It’s not a pretty picture.  

GOD BLESS AMERICA – PASS THIS ON!!!

“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her husband.

“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,”  he answered.

Actually Winston wasn’t very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington .  Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and the “bad” example it sets for the rest of the world,” Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be.  Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as exciting.  Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in.  It was more the thought of eating another Tofu Turkey.  Even though it was the best type of VeggieMeat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce, and mincemeat pie), it wasn’t anything like real turkey.

And ever since the government officially changed the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.

Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats – which were monitored and controlled by the electric company – be kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.

Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family.

Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of life-saving medical treatment. He had had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program.  And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort.  “The RHC’s resources are limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone.  “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Ed couldn’t make it either.  He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines – for everyone but government officials.  The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.

Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in.

Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion.  No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government-mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids.  Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity” in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.”

Winston’s own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022.  That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for “unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved.  Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine.  Almost.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact.  “A living Constitution is extremely flexible”, said the Court’s eldest member, Elena Kagan.  ” Europe has had laws like this one for years.  We should learn from their example,” she added.

Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children.  He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner.  Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford.  She whined for a week, but got over it.

His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether.  Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism, or any of a number of other calamities were “just around the corner”, but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility.  It didn’t help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being.  Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.

The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to “spur economic growth.”  This time, they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.

Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement.

At least, he had his memories.  He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.  He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2012, when all the real nonsense began.

Saying grace before carving the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’ when we had the chance,” he thought.  However, that would not have been accepted as being “politically correct” by the then administration.

Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.

Mark Twain once said: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

A Day Of News

ALOHA, ALL!!

The news came at us from all angles today….so let’s get to it:

Senate Approves ‘Border Surge’ Plan In 69-29 Immigration Vote

Supreme Court Clears Path for Same-Sex Marriage in California

Supreme Court Boosts Gay Marriage; Strikes Down DOMA

Section 4 of Voting Rights Act Found Unconstitutional

Carl Writes:

CNN’s ‘Crossfire’ to return with Stephanie Cutter, Van Jones, S.E. Cupp and Newt Gingrich

How many of us remember warnings from the 1950’s and 60’s that if we were not vigilant, communists could become as common as members of the Chamber of Commerce (HELOOO….Van Jones). And how many can forget Stephanie Cutter and her lies about Romney (and his IRS records)? Gingrich is perhaps in his best job, where leadership and follow-through isn’t needed. SE Cupp is a rising star and will do a phenomenal job.

I recall telling my sons just after Obama had finished his first year, “can you live in this kind of economy and culture for another three years like the last one? Could you do it for six years?” Don’t want to say it, but can you endure another 11 years?

11 American Cities That Are Shells Of Their Former Selves

Exile Update (News You Can Use)

If you and your spouse are thinking about ex-patriot status (or dual citizenship, if possible), here are some links.

10 best international retirement havens – Slide Show – MarketWatch

The 18 Best Places to Retire Overseas – On Retirement (usnews.com)

Australian Citizenship – Applying for citizenship (A bit of news – Hard Left Prime Minister Julia Gillard was voted out of her leadership post today by left wing former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Rudd is expected to stand for the top job in September against moderate Tony Abbot is September)

21 Best Places To Retire In The World – Business Insider

Other Links to Take Your Mind Off Collapse of the USA (Or How To Become a Low Info Voter)

Explanations To 15 Jokes Only Smart People Can Understand

Celebrities Freak Out About Gay Marriage Victories On Twitter

Just Texted to Me: America Is Raising A Generation Of Kids Who Can’t Think Or Write Clearly (Ya Thnk?)

GOD BLESS AMERICA – PASS THIS ON!!!

One More Thing:  Obama left on his family vacation to Africa today.  That’s OK….we didn’t need that $100 million, did we??