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Friday, November 13, 2015

Miscellany: 11/13/15

Quote of the Day
When planning for a year, plant corn. 
When planning for a decade, plant trees. 
When planning for life, train and educate people.
Chinese Proverb
via Catholic Libertarians
I've only been to Paris once--while my Dad, in the military, was stationed in northeastern France (I was in middle school). As conservative Catholics, we set off one holiday break to go visit Lourdes; unfortunately, our family van broke down on the way; long story short, we ended up in Paris and later took a train ride back home. We hit the usual tourist sites in Paris; I remember as we were driving through the city Mom scolded me over reading a comic book, warning I would later regret not making the most out of the experience.

The French are an interesting people. My Dad was unable to procure family housing, so we lived on the economy, renting a house in a small town near a bordering farm. To this day, I miss the locally fresh-baked crunchy baguettes with a spongy interior; Mom used to buy these large balls of Gouda cheese from a cheese wagon making the rounds. The local French were friendly; I remember the young farm boy knocking on our door wanting to play cowboys and Indians with me.

My folks were third-generation Franco-Americans (from French Canada) and bilingual all their lives (in fact, French was my first language until I started kindergarten). [I think one side of my family tree--my mother's side--has been charted back to northern France. My uncle, a retired priest, once stored the documents in a strongbox, which someone eventually stole. [I would have loved to see the thief's face when he viewed the box's contents.] The French are also a proud people; some local women were trying to place where Mom came from based on her French accent and concluded that she was from Paris. When my Mom said she was born and raised in the US, the women were dismissive, arguing that Americans didn't know how to speak French properly.

Today's horrific terrorist attacks in Paris were a crime against humanity. My thoughts and prayers for the victims of the atrocities and their surviving family members and the people of France. Join us in the prayer embedded at the bottom of this post.

Chart of the Day: Agricultural Production

Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day
Obviously photoshopped, but hilarious...

 Political Potpourri

Two new state polls--more bad news for Donald Trump. In Florida, his lead over Carson is negligible, and favorite son Rubio is surging--only 5 points behind. In 5 of the previous 7 polls, Trump had over a 10-point lead, the prior one by 20. In Georgia, Carson holds a 2-point lead, snapping a 5-poll winning streak for Trump in the 30% support range. There continues to be a dogfight between Rubio and Cruz for third; Cruz placed third in GA.

Student Parasites and Economic Illiterates



Facebook Corner

(Reason). Welcome back to the Reason Weekly Contest! This week’s question is: With all the furor on campuses, please come up with one non-racist, non-sexist sentence from a college president that will send 99 percent of the students into full-fledged protest mode.

"The unicorn went home to Denmark."

Choose Life: Avery is Hungry



Political Cartoon


Courtesy of the original artist via Reason
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Aretha Franklin, "You and Me"



Prayer for the Victims of the Paris Terrorist Attacks




Let us #PrayforParis together now.
Posted by Father Frank Pavone on Friday, November 13, 2015
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