Everyone has something to be grateful for at Thanksgiving.

This is the essence of this American celebration of remembrance.

And to truly celebrate it, there are things you must first forget!

Forget the turkey and all those side dishes. Forget watching football matches on TV. Forget the respite from work and school. Forget backyard “turkey bowl” football games. Forget the trip “through the woods to Grandma’s house.”

Forget Black Friday and the over-commercialism that has overwhelmed the real reason we celebrate this day.

Instead, remember that history tells us that our country’s first settlers (102 pilgrims fleeing Plymouth, England, some seeking religious freedom, others seeking prosperity in the New World) survived a perilous ocean voyage of 66 days to land at the tip of Cape Cod in November 1620. .

Remember also that these men, women and children now living in a vast, unexplored and disturbing place later discovered that Native Americans inhabited the land, befriended them and shared a simple moment of feasting, d friendship, trust and thanks for these four ephemera. centuries ago.

Also remember that the simple gathering of the early Plains was first recognized as a “national harvest holiday” by George Washington in 1784, at the request of Congress.

This festival is the origin of the holiday we call Thanksgiving today.

Although the actual date of the celebration had long circulated in official circles (so what’s new?), it was to be observed on the last Thursday in November, as proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln.

It was changed to the fourth Thursday in November, courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, with Congressional approval in 1941. And that’s where it is today.

Despite the date changes, the actual intention and meaning of this revered holiday is still the same, or at least it should be.

Ultimately, putting all the “forgotten things” into their proper perspective, Thanksgiving is above all a special day (to be observed 365 hours a day, 24/7) to ignore what you don’t have and thank God for what you have. , especially in these times when so many places in our world seem unrewarding and hopelessly dark.

Seven “asides” for Thanksgiving

While you wait to enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner with your family (and with tongue firmly in cheek), consider these seven “side dishes” to pass the time:

1) Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry about it in a classic Caddy than on a bike with a curved rim.

2) Forgive your enemies, but remember the names of these sons of arms.

3) Help someone in trouble and they will remember you when they get in trouble again.

4) Many people are alive today only because it is illegal to shoot them.

5). Alcohol doesn’t solve any problems, but neither does milk.

6) Discussions cost nothing, except when Congress does it.

7) On Thanksgiving Day, families across America will sit down to eat dinner at the same time – halftime!

PS: No one asked for this, but another wonderful thing about Thanksgiving is that it’s the one day of the year where no one objects to someone giving them the bird!

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Post-election reflection

Last November, in Banter, we wrote this post-election:

“To begin with, as expected, participation was lackluster. Pennsylvania’s biggest election race, a hotly contested battle for a state Supreme Court seat in which more than $20 million was spent, drew about three million votes in a state with about 8,000 votes. 6 million registered voters. This is even more troubling when you consider that the state has about 13 million residents and the winning candidate, Dan McCaffery, received about 1.6 million votes. The vast majority of Pennsylvanians remained silent.

“The numbers are darker at the local level. Philadelphia elected a mayor with 28% of registered voters. Cherelle Parker won her historic victory as the city’s first female mayor with about 210,000 votes in a city of more than 1.5 million people.

“In Reading, a town of about 95,000, Mayor Eddie Moran was re-elected by just 3,200 votes, but the numbers are a sad commentary on interest in civic life beyond national politics. “

“Authorities had to close a polling place inside Radnor High School in Delaware County due to a bomb threat. The polling location was moved to Radnor Elementary School and a Common Pleas Court judge ordered voting hours there to be extended.

“A year from now, many more people will be going to the polls and sending in absentee ballots, with great emotion. »

Fast forward a year.

On November 6, the Richter scale of American politics reached its seismic peak because of an “earthquake” named Donald John Trump.

And it will never be the same again!

With Trump’s 312 Electoral College votes, the 73,517,201 popular votes to Kamala Harris’ 69,204,767 votes, according to NBC News a week ago, and the boost that propelled the Republican Party into control of both chambers of Congress, the “status quo” landscape is transforming. Plowed and shaking is still strongly felt throughout the Beltway and Blue States and as far away as Beijing, Taiwan, Moscow, Pyongyang, and kyiv.

Yes, elections do indeed have consequences!

In Pennsylvania, three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Casey finally conceded (and congratulated) David McCormick on November 21. Time and tide wait for no man, even the son of a former governor.

The nominations and appointments to powerful positions in the new administration are causing apoplexy and great anxiety among thousands of federal office holders and bureaucratic “helpers and parasites” installed in political “plum jobs” that would allow them to keep their jobs regardless of who wins the presidency.

Expiration dates will soon be written on most of these “fruit baskets”.

The nomination of Dr. Mehmet Oz (remember his bid last year for the U.S. Senate seat won by John Fetterman) to oversee Medicare and Medicaid (announced November 21) is sure to spark controversy on all sides of the The ICU and the new President’s Men were named, as was Trump’s (since withdrawn) nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general.

The President promised that he would make things happen!

Enough for now. More to come in a future column.

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Ultimately, no one asked, but looking at the election losers, the shocked Democrats, and the members of the media circus now performing under the D.C. big top, we wonder if Thomas Jefferson was right when he wrote in 1784 : “with all the defects of our constitutions, whether general or particular, the comparison of our governments with those of Europe is like paradise and hell.

Hmm.

The last word: Have a good day, good luck and good news tomorrow!

Comments invited to [email protected]

Originally published: November 22, 2024 at 11:06 a.m. EST