Meme Dump

RIP Mr President

There are but a few people I consider heroes but, alongside Rosa Parks and Harvey Milk there has long been a space for Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100.

I have always said that, while he accomplished some great things while president—promoting human rights for all at a time when many in this country were marginalized, adding to the national park and preserve system, reestablishing governmental credibility after the Watergate Crisis, and with  the Camp David Accords, forging a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel—it was his post-presidential life and work and message that proved him to be the greatest ex-President who ever lived.

In 1946, Jimmy Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and then joined the Navy submarine branch, working his way into “Rickover’s boys,” the unit of America’s nuclear submarine fleet championed by Admiral Hyman Rickover. Carter was on his way up until a death at home changed his destiny …

His father Earl, a farmer and businessman, passed from cancer in 1958 so Jimmy and Rosalynn, and their children, returned to Georgia to take over the family farming business. It was there he first ran for school board, then state senator. He was elected governor in 1970, serving one successful term before launching an improbable bid to become president, winning the Democratic nomination and then defeating Republican President Gerald Ford in November 1976.

 I remember seeing footage of inauguration day when Jimmy, Rosalynn, with their daughter Amy, chose to walk from the capitol back to the White House. He was an everyman; he was any man.

In November 1979, Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostages. Carter tied negotiations, then launched a rescue mission that never reached its target because of helicopter failure. Carter’s Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher completed negotiations under Algerian auspices to free the American hostages, who were released after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president so he often gets the credit, but it was Jimmy Carter who brokered the release.

Jimmy Carter returned to Plains and he could have lived a quiet life, but instead he chose to step up and live his last, best act. He and Rosalynn began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, building houses for the poor; then the couple founded the Carter Center, which focused on making peace and spreading health and democracy around the world.

As leader of the Carter Center, he won the Nobel Prize, the United National Human Rights Prize and many other notable awards from countries, organizations and world leaders, and both Jimmy and Rosalynn were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, who said:

”Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have done more good things for more people in more places than any other couple on the face of the Earth.”

Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley wrote in his book “The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter”:

“People will be celebrating Jimmy Carter for hundreds of years. His reputation is only going to grow."

Rosalynn died a little more than a year ago; the couple is survived by their children Amy, Chip, Jack and Jeff; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

RIP Jimmy

And thank you for showing all of us the way.

The Funny Papers

Michael de Adder, Max Espinosa, Pedro X Molina, Bill Bramhall, Alexandra Bowman, Jack Ohman, Bill Day, Lalo Alcaraz, Nick Anderson, Christopher Weyant, Mike Luckovich, Gary Huck, Jeff Stahler, Tim Campbell, Marc Murphy,

Why Is It ...

… that I feel the need to tell anyone that I offended this year that they need to work on themselves so I don’t have to repeat myself in 2025.

… that every time I complain about an escape room sucking, the nurses remind me that i'm in the psych ward.

… I feel the need to wear many hats at work … Chaos Coordinator, Mischief Manager and Supervisor of Shenanigans.

… that I realize not that I’ve reached that age where I appreciate a nice handrail.

… that I need y’all to know that if I die choking on a Gummy Bear please tell everyone I was killed by a bear and say no more.

… that when a neighbor says Hi to me I tell Carlos we need to move.

… that people look shocked when they ask me if I skateboard or snowboard and I tell them I charcuterie board.

… that my friends still don’t get it that you should never put me on speaker phone. EVER!

… that I keep looking for the Adult Elf on the Shelf that moves around the house at night mopping floors, doing laundry or taking out the trash.

… that before I Agree to 2025, I’d need to read the Terms and Conditions.

My Eyes Are Wet ...

 

I'll ...

Peace Love Happiness

I didn’t know what you wanted for Christmas, so I’ll regift what I gave y’all last year … and the years before that: a repostage of my annual holiday wish that still holds true … for me:

Christmas means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

It's a religious holiday.
It's a shopping holiday.
It's a day for those who shop religiously.
I'm not a big fan of either.

So, for me, Christmas is a day to spend with those you hold most dear in your heart. For me, it's Carlos and my family. Of course, the family is mostly on the Left Coast and I'm over here on the right, so Christmas is me and Carlos, and Rosita and Consuelo Roca Jones—our furry kids.

It's a day of relaxation and togetherness; reflection and laughter; of a good dinner cooked and shared by the two of us. It's not a day for What did you get? or for thinking How could I have spent so much? It's a day for How lucky am I?

How lucky indeed.

Christmas is more than a celebration; it's a connection we all can share regardless of faith, if we look at it as a day of Peace. A day to relax; to forgive, if not forget. To be at Peace.

Every year I get the same question from friends and strangers alike: What are you getting for Christmas? What do you want for Christmas? And I always say, What I get is a lovely day. What I want, and I ask for it every year, is Peace on Earth.

So here's to Peace on Earth, and the little parts that each of us plays in creating our own peace. To make amends to those we may have slighted in the past year; to those who may have slighted us. To talk with the people we love just because we love them. To be nice.

Just to be nice. Now, there's a concept. Maybe if we all took a moment to think about how we'd like to be treated, we would find ourselves treating others the same way. It's a small step, but an important one. A Please here and a Thank You there. You're Welcome is good, too, though My pleasure, is better. Hold a door open for someone; let someone with fewer packages get in line ahead of you. Lay off the horn. Don't speed. Smile. Be nice.

Be at Peace.
Merry Christmas world.
Happy Hanukkah.
Happy Kwanzaa.
Merry Festivus.
Happy Holidays.
Peace.

And so that's my wish for you and yours. Health. Happiness. Love. Peace.

And, while I've said it over and over again, that I have my personal spiritual beliefs and they do not follow the teachings of any organized religion, every Christmas, no song makes me feel more peaceful, happier, more at ease, or more hopeful than this one.

And so I'll end with O Holy Night, not because I am a religious man, but because I am a hopeful man, a peaceful man, a contented man. And no one, for me, sings it better than my girl, JHud.....Jennifer Hudson.

I wish you Peace Love Happiness

Christmas Meme Dump

Minute Rant

The Funny Papers

Chris Britt, Pedro X Molina, Ann Telnaes, Marc Murphy, Dave Whamond, Benjamin Slyngstad, Jack Ohman, Mike Luckovich, Clay Bennett,