Sunday Morning Reflections

Just this last week I read something on the web by Rich Lowry, Editor in Chief of the National Review.  He posited that if I desired a candidate for 2024 who wouldn't touch entitlements or start a foreign war Donald Trump was my guy.  Lowry's claim is that Trump is a genuine moderate.  

Interesting couple of insights Mr. Lowry.  My expectation would have been something more cerebral but this is worth unpacking.

First-off, the 800 pound gorilla in everyone's room is social security, Medicare and Medicaid.  I've touched on this subject before.  This year the combined cost of these programs (oftentimes referred to as entitlements) will exceed more than half of the entire federal budget. Ironically, it is at the heart of the debt ceiling drama and source of no small amount of budget heartburn.  Neither party will outwardly acknowledge this and no amount of clawing-back unspent COVID relief funds, shrinking the IRS or Medicaid work requirements is going to fix any of this.  

 

Face the music folks, something needs to change as the funding dynamics of these entitlements are totally messed-up.  Baby boomers are retiring in numbers not seen before.  Program beneficiaries are living longer than ever before.  The birthrate in this country is barely at a replacement rate.  Something needs to happen to extend the solvency of these three programs.  A grand bargain like Reagan and O'Neill struck in 1983 where both parties agreed to benefit and revenue changes that extended program solvency for decades. Trump is hardly Reaganesque and regrettably some of his most-popularized promises remain unfulfilled.  Border security, immigration reform and Obamacare come to mind.  Big Fat Nothing Burgers.  Ignoring this impending entitlement funding crisis is willful blindness.  It is hardly moderation.

As for starting a foreign war, I presume Lowry is making passing reference to the Russian invasion in Eastern Europe.  The last time I looked Joe Biden isn't waging war in Ukraine.  That is what Vladimir Putin is doing. I'm all for a legitimate and necessary debate about the degree, nature, costs and long-term usefulness of our aid to the people of Ukraine to defend against a senseless war they did not provoke. 

Nevertheless, I remain mindful of what former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had to say on the matter:  Give Kyiv what it needs to win, or it will cost the United States more in the long run. I am not naive.  That is a totally thoughtful and moderate observation.  Something you'd expect from the guy who graduated first in his class at West Point.

Conservatism is not to be confused with Trumpism.  A movement driven by absolute loyalty to a personality and embrace of the lie that the election was stolen in 2020 is not interchangeable.  I have never worshiped a living person or embraced conspiracy over truth.  Abandonment of aspiration for reprisal, compassion for anger and optimism for resentment.  Settling scores and exacting retribution in lieu of governing is not my style. It is immoderate.

 

Asking me to view and respond to my world with a mindset of offense and persecution and to fabricate an alternate truth when there is no evidence of legitimate grievance. To twist myself into knots to embrace this is a bridge too far. It's not how I was raised, it's not how I evolved and it's not in my wheelhouse. It is not moderate.

 

Leaders in the image of Larry Hogan, Chris Sununu and and Asa Hutchinson are so normal as to be summarily dismissed out of hand by a party co-opted by extremes and the theater of the absurd. It isn't aspirational like Nikki Haley.  It's lame.

 

A campaign platform of fear, preoccupation with gender dysphoria, Bud Light beer and election denial isn't making the cut for this guy.  Upon further reflection; conservative, independent and center-right voters aren't buying the anti-woke stuff.

 

We're not falling for any of it.  

 

And who drinks Bud Light beer anyway?  It's piss.

Belly-up To The Bar

Those that know me well would also know that I have a thing for old, historic watering holes, or taverns.  Recently the family and I spent seven days in New York and took the opportunity to dine at the oldest standing structure in Gotham City.

Established in 1762, this is New York's oldest and most historic bar and restaurant.  Fraunce's Tavern is a National Landmark and watering hole of any number of the Founding Fathers. 

After the last British troops departed for England, on December 4, 1783 General George Washington gathered his officers here to honor and thank them for their service and bid them an emotional farewell.

Cheers!

Friday Music

Released in 1993 as the second single from their first album this is one of my favorite alternative rock songs ever.

A studio quality performance is live.  Hard to believe.

What's Up by 4 Non Blondes...

Irony

One of the great ironies I heard on satellite radio is following the departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox there are people blaming leftist Main Stream Media (MSM).

Fox is the leading cable channel in America.

It is the MSM.

Behind the Curtain

From our recent travels through Eastern Europe we happened to visit the towns of Torgau and Wittenberg.  Both figured significantly in spread of the reformation and one of my favorite  subjects - beer.

Resting place of Katharina Luther in Torgau

Five centuries ago a German monk named Martin Luther published 95 criticisms challenging the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church – notably the sale of indulgences.   

The reform movement began in Germany in 1517 but soon spread throughout much of northern Europe.  Although he intended to reform Catholicism and not break it apart the result led to the creation of Protestant churches separate from the Roman Catholic Church.  The Church of England broke from the Roman Catholic Church later in the 16th Century. 

 

It was Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon who were the driving force behind the long-overdue reformation of the Catholic Church's practices of the era.  Constructed in 1340 upon the palace grounds of the Duke it was All Saint's Church that became the official church of the University of Wittenberg and provided a pulpit for Luther and Melanchthon to preach. 

 

The original door to which Luther nailed his 95 Theses was destroyed by fire in 1750; with a magnificent bronze replacement installed in 1858.  Luther and Melanchthon are both entombed within this church.

 

 

The town church of St. Mary is renowned as the first ti have celebrated mass in German rather than the traditional Latin.  It was here that bread and wine were first offered to worshipers for the first time, earning it a place as the Mother Church of the Reformation.

 

 

 

The Luther children were baptized in this font - remaining in continuous today

 

It was here that Luther preached his sermons and later married former nun Katharina von Bora. 

 

Lucas Cranach, The Elder, was not only a court painter he was also a printer, held a license to sell wine, was elected mayor three times, owned many properties and was the wealthiest man in Wittenberg.   All likenesses of Luther painted from life were completed by Cranach The Elder.  Who knew?

Martin and Katharina

 

Luther’s act of conscientious defiance changed the world religiously, economically, politically, socially, and intellectually.  The written German language too.  It even changed beer as we know it today.  Yup – beer. 

 

Luther family living room

During a time where water was unsafe, beer was drunk by everyone and was the nutritional and social fuel of Germany.   Coincidentally, the Catholic Church had a stranglehold on beer production, since it held the monopoly on gruit — the mixture of herbs and botanicals used to flavor and preserve beer.  Hops – on the other hand – were considered noxious weeds and were not taxed by the church.  As a consequence a Protestant brewer who might care to defy the Catholic Church used hops to preserve and flavor his brew instead of the herbs.   

Martin's beer stein

 

 

As it turns out hop-flavored beer travels well and the export of this hopped beer may have contributed to the spread of Protestantism.  To this day, many breweries sport a picture of Martin Luther on their wall.   

 

On this day we absorbed a boatload of church history, and literally walked in the footsteps of Luther and his family.  As far as history goes this was bucket list-worthy. 

A worthy read is this:  Beer and the Reformation.

 

 

 

Harem Scarum

Further evidence of that the local gobblers have gotten into a courting state of mind.

From the trail cameras are solo gobblers gathering their harems.

Looking forward to hunting with my pals, Lawyer, Six Deuce and Braumeister and crooning the turkey love call...

Quote Of The Day

Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

-Fox News Media 

Trail Camera Bonus

While we were vacationing in Eastern Europe and interesting development was occurring here.  Something that was unexpected.  One of the trail cameras was patiently documenting the kill/discovery of a whitetail deer by a pair of coyotes.  It was nothing short pf a remarkable coincidence.  An unchoreographed sequence of photographs captured over five days.  I couldn't have staged it better if I tried. 

 

After we returned home I went out to fetch the SD cards on the trail camera trap line and I came across the remains of the deer laying within the field of view of a trail camera. The camera is circled in the image.

 

Examining the skeletal remains and judging from the size of the bones and the skull this appeared to be a yearling doe (born in spring 2022). Likely cause of death was predation by coyote.

 

Do I know that for sure?   Nope. Nevertheless, the photographic evidence is beyond circumstantial. 

 

What I do not know is if the deceased was crippled by a collision with a vehicle, weakened by winter and lack of browse (unlikely in farmland country) or otherwise compromised only to succumb to the whim of Ma Nature.

 

Nature can be a cruel mother. Yet that's how things work. Everything on the landscape is someone else's dinner.

 

These images document what unfolded.

 

Everyone eats whitetails....

 

Of hundreds of digital images here are a select number that capture what unfolded.

 

The event unfolded like this with a pair of coyotes lounging-about in the snow.  Then, over the course of about 20 minutes, they alternately feed-upon and drag a deer carcass into view.  What are the odds of this happening spontaneously?

 

For following morning the first to arrive on the scene are the crows, followed by additional avian predators.

 

 

Bald eagles - both adult and juvenile 

 

And, of course the coyotes returned

There were nocturnal visitations

 

More daylight visitors

 

Crows in a standoff with a juvenile bald eagle

And nocturnal

This alternated on and off...

 

 

 

Including a visitor from the arctic circle who winters here - The rough-legged hawk 

 

 

Curious deer and turkeys paid a call

And on the fifth day the batteries died

 

Almost 20 years of trail camera monitoring and I've never had something like this unfold.  I'm not one to anthropomorphize things but it's almost like these coyotes were doing me a solid favor.

 

Variety

From the trail camera trap line I bring you a stringer of various critters who have had their images curated over the past month.

Key takeaways?  

Snow on the ground until just recently.

Plenty of variety.

Coyote

Check out the spurs on this gobbler

Striped skunk

Robin

Cranes

Possum

Deer

Crow

Chickadee

And a teeny, tiny Boreal or Saw Whet owl 

Behind The Curtain

Following a good night’s rest and breakfast we started our day with a guided walking tour of 6 miles beginning with Praha, Ulice Na Příkopě, connecting Wenceslas Square with the Republic Square. It separates the Old Town from the New Town.

This included banks, former banks, municipal buildings, churches, squares, architectural and historical interests, narrow streets, bronze and stone statues, oddities, interests and other ephemera from an old European city featuring the oldest university in Europe.

Highlights included: The Marian Tower located at the 50^th Meridian, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and Palace, Czech parliament buildings and St. Vitus Cathedral.  More stops for Czech Pils, wine and food!

Church of St. Gall

Marian Tower

Charles Bridge - Built in 1357, this medieval bridge spans the Vltava River connecting Old Town and Lesser Town.  It features two Gothic towers and lined with 30 Baroque statues of significant religious figures in Czech history.

Prague Castle and Palace

St. Vitus Cathedral

 

 

Random Street Scene

Staroměstský pivovar U Supa