Thoughts for the Day, December 8, 2023: Thank you Norman Lear. Hunter, what were you thinking.

Hunter, Hunter, Hunter.  How can you not pay your taxes?  Did you really think you were going to get away with it?  You are the son of a U.S. Senator, a former U.S. Vice-President, and the current U.S. President. What were you thinking?  You have no one to blame but yourself.  Hunter gets my Onion of the Day.

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If you live in a glass house, you shouldn’t be throwing stones.  It was a lesson I was taught early on in life.  Unfortunately, not everyone has learned the lesson, especially the Florida Republican Party Chairman, Christian Ziegler.  

According to multiple sources Ziegler has been accused of assaulting a woman who had planned to meet Ziegler and his wife, Bridget co-founder of Moms for Liberty, for a three-way sexual encounter, according to a Sarasota police affidavit. Both the woman and Bridget Ziegler have admitted to detectives that there was a previous sexual encounter between the three of them more than a year ago. When the lady found out Bridget was not going to attend the liaison, the accuser opted out saying she was only interested in Bridget. Ziegler showed up anyway.  He says the had consensual sex, she said it was rape.

No charges have been filed against Ziegler and his attorney says he will be exonerated, but the investigation is still ongoing. Governor DeSantis has called for Ziegler to step down as GOP Chair.

Bridget Ziegler, who currently serves on the Sarasota County School Board. Bridget Ziegler was a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a national parents-rights organization started during the pandemic in 2021 that focused on ending COVID-19 restrictions and mandates in schools but quickly expanded to lead the charge in banning books they considered objectionable in classrooms and school libraries, winning seats in local school boards and eliminating curriculums that included sex education, LGBTQ issues, discrimination, and racial issues.

Needless to say. there are calls for Christian and Bridget to resign from their respective political positions. You cannot not make this stuff up. The Ziegler’s get a second Onion of the Day

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Norman Lear, the king of sit coms in the 70s died earlier this week at the age of 101. In celebration of his 100th birthday in July 2022, he wrote a guest opinion piece for the New York Times, reflecting on his first century and his thoughts on the future. I want to share parts of the essay.  The link to the full article follows.

Norman Lear: On My 100th Birthday, Reflections on Archie Bunker and Donald Trump

Reaching my own personal centennial is cause for a bit of reflection on my first century — and on what the next century will bring for the people and country I love. To be honest, I’m a bit worried that I may be in better shape than our democracy is.

I was deeply troubled by the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 — by supporters of former President Donald Trump attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Those concerns have only grown with every revelation about just how far Mr. Trump was willing to go to stay in office after being rejected by voters — and about his ongoing efforts to install loyalists in positions with the power to sway future elections.

I don’t take the threat of authoritarianism lightly. As a young man, I dropped out of college when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. I flew more than 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism consuming Europe. I am a flag-waving believer in truth, justice and the American way, and I don’t understand how so many people who call themselves patriots can support efforts to undermine our democracy and our Constitution. It is alarming.

At the same time, I have been moved by the courage of the handful of conservative Republican lawmakers, lawyers and former White House staffers who resisted Mr. Trump’s bullying. They give me hope that Americans can find unexpected common ground with friends and family whose politics differ but who are not willing to sacrifice core democratic principles.

Encouraging that kind of conversation was a goal of mine when we began broadcasting “All in the Family” in 1971. The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about — issues that were dividing Americans from one another, such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War and Watergate — were certainly being talked about in homes and families. They just weren’t being acknowledged on television.

For all his faults, Archie loved his country and he loved his family, even when they called him out on his ignorance and bigotries. If Archie had been around 50 years later, he probably would have watched Fox News. He probably would have been a Trump voter. But I think that the sight of the American flag being used to attack Capitol Police would have sickened him. I hope that the resolve shown by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and their commitment to exposing the truth, would have won his respect.

…I do not lose faith in our country or its future. I remind myself how far we have come. I think of the brilliantly creative people I have had the pleasure to work with in entertainment and politics….. Those encounters renew my belief that Americans will find ways to build solidarity on behalf of our values, our country and our fragile planet.

Opinion | Norman Lear: What Archie Bunker Would Have Thought of Donald Trump and Jan. 6 – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

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Quote of the Day: “This is our century, dear reader, yours and mine. Let us encourage one another with visions of a shared future. And let us bring all the grit and openheartedness and creative spirit we can muster to gather together and build that future.” Norman Lear.

Orchid of the Day: Mark Fenrich, 34, and his family. Fenrich has received four kidney transplants in life.  All four kidneys have been donated by members of his immediate family or relatives.

Onion of the Day: Hunter Biden and Christian and Bridget Ziegler

Question of the Day: What were the above thinking?

Image/Video of the Day:  Thank you Norman Lear.

(2) All In The Family – Archie’s Eulogy for Stretch Cunningham (1976 episode-7.19) – YouTube