Christimas Greetings

Luke 2:10-11

Saint of the Day

It's been a while since I wrote about one of the saints.

December is so consumed with the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations that the saints honored at this time of year are almost completely forgotten.

Not that they mind, of course. After all, they're saints. They're not concerned with being noticed.

Most of us are familiar with St. Stephen's Day, December 26, either from the carol about King Wenceslas and/or the post-Christmas holiday of Boxing Day, which is celebrated in several countries. But outside of the Marian feast on December 8, the Immaculate Conception, who knows much about December saints?

So with this week being the home stretch of Advent, I decided to look up today's "Saint of the Day," and I learned something. I had never heard of St. Nemesius before, but I won't forget him. Poor guy. That was one rough end he endured. There's not much information about it, but how much do you need if someone was burned alive? You can stop right there for me, thanks.

December 19, feast of St. Nemesius. I'll remember.

Chambers, Branches--Whatever!

 

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Image: CO2islife

The new darling of the left seems to be the amusingly idiotic Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Her $21 trillion "Pentagon accounting errors" that would fund "Medicare for All" are actually defense spending transactions by our government.

Oops. I think maybe another source besides the left-wing magazine The Nation is in order. But prior to benefiting from additional homework, it's necessary to comprehend that you're wrong. In Ocasio-Cortez's case, that might take considerable effort.

Although newly elected, Ocasio-Cortez appears to be unfazed by factual challenges. Consider this jaw-dropping statement:

"If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress—uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House."

She doesn't realize it, but Ocasio-Cortez is quite fortunate that she is not required to take a US citizenship exam to serve in Congress. Last year I helped a coworker study for the citizenship test, and it's no piece of cake. Those pesky government structure questions come up with dependable frequency. Any naturalized US citizen could have explained to Ocasio-Cortez that the government has three branches, not "chambers." And she got all three "chambers" wrong, anyway. It's not "the presidency, the Senate, and the House"--it's the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. That's enough to flunk the citizenship exam right there. Double--or is that triple?--Oops. The new congress woman from the Bronx is woefully uninformed, yet blissfully unconcerned.

But, of course, being a loyal lefty, she gets a quickly glossed-over pass from the media. I wonder what would have happened to Sarah Palin had she made these outrageously stupid remarks. Well, I don't really wonder. Can you imagine the cacophony of ridicule and criticism Palin would have suffered? Her gaffes would have filled at least a couple of 24-hour news cycles.

One of Ocasio-Cortez's goals is to be president. This week she went off on an incoherent tangent about the US Constitution saying "he cannot run unless he’s 35," when actually the text reads "person," not "he." Evidently the Constitution represents more required reading for this wondrous new gift to our "chamber of Congress."

Ocasio-Cortez doesn't have a clue about the three branches of government, but she does successfully complete the three sections of stupidity: ignorant, egotistical, and unaware.

Well Done...

...good and faithful servant. ~ Matthew 25:23

George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the USA - Streeter Lecka/Getty Images