America 250 and Other Stuff

 

by Pa Rock

Semiquincentennialian

Happy semiquincentennial everyone!  The celebration of our nation's 250th birthday got off with a bang last night in my neighborhood as the dogs and I hovered inside the house listening to what sounded like a combat scene from "Saving Private Ryan."   Rosie and Gypsy were scared of the gunfire they were certain was occurring just outside the walls of our fortress, and Pa Rock was fearful his drunken neighbors would set the woods on fire with their firecracker bravado..  It was truly a night to remember!

Billionaire entertainer Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs football star Travis Kelce will remember last night for a more personal reason.  They were married yesterday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York City (by comedian Adam Sandler!) and (presumably) spent their first night together as husband and wife.

(Okay, I am now officially in "Ramble" mode!)

I saw a clip from singer, songwriter, and social activist Dolly Parton on social media yesterday where she acknowledged and thanked Taylor and Travis for their $2 million donation to her "Imagination Library," an early childhood literacy program that mails free, high quality, age-appropriate books every month  to children from the time they are born until they turn five-years-old.  Dolly gushed with gratitude as she acknowledged and thanked the happy couple.  (Hey folks, Dolly's program is open to everyone, regardless of income level.)

Taylor and Travis made $26 million in charitable donations yesterday to more that twenty causes across the country.  Recipients included organization working with children, such as the one run by Dolly, food banks, and animal rescue operations.  One of their donations was to Children's Hospital in Kansas City - where Travis plays professional football for the Kansas City Chiefs and the couple reportedly own a home.  (As a former child protection worker with the state of Missouri, I have had many interactions with Children's Hospital of Kansas City.  It is a top flight organization that will put the donation to good use for the direct benefit of children.)

Elon, what have you done for anyone lately - or ever?

In other news, ICE reportedly arrested 10,000 immigrants during a five-day period at the end of June.  Clearly America's underbelly survives and still poses a deadly threat to our immigrant friends, work colleagues, and neighbors.

The thought occurs to me that I have personally been riding the planet for almost a third of our nation's history.  Oh, the things that I've seen - most of which I've already blogged about here!

I was here (well, actually in Noel, Missouri) for our nation's "Bicentennial,"  or 200th birthday party in 1976, - a 28-year-old father of a 2-year-old son who would turn three within three weeks, with a second child on the way.  I marked the day by doing something I had never done before, or since, and remember well the thrill of accomplishment that followed.  Today I am going to repeat that endeavor, and I will likely write about it in this space on Monday.

So have a rockin' Fourth - and if you happen to be in Washington, DC, avoid the National Mall and its overheated MAGA cultists like the plague - and DO NOT pee in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool no matter how much it looks and smells like an Okinawan benjo ditch!   (If you do, masked ICE goons or bored National Guard Reservists will likely arrest you for sex crimes and you'll finish off the holiday weekend picking cotton in South Sudan!)

Enjoy your day - and do something memorable so that you can blog about it in fifty years!  Happy Fourth of July!