Boo
J. D. Vance was booed at the Olympics
No surprise, had I been at the Olympics, I'd have booed Vance, and I'm an American. Trump has brought the U.S. into universal contempt, so that a symbol of it gets jeered is no surprise.
Vance must go home and cry seeing his chances of being President decline below 0 every day. His only hope in the first place was the application of the 25th Amendment and so far, in spite of my expectations, no luck there.
Trump was asked about the event.
REPORTER: “The vice president got booed during the opening ceremony. What do you make of that frosty reception?”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “That's surprising because people like him. Well, I mean, he is in a foreign country, you know, in all fairness. He doesn't get booed in this country.”
Truly, Trump is clueless.
Ignoramus at National Prayer Breakfast
I don't see the point of this anymore.
Truth be known, I probably never did. I appreciate prayer, obviously, but this, at least in my memory, has been sort of a lukewarm American Civil Religion event in which the sitting President makes a nod towards religion The same guy could have been chasing skirts all week and then sound like he was really sincere at the breakfast.
Here's JFK's 1963 speech there.
February 07, 1963
Senator Carlson, Mr. Vice President, Reverend Billy Graham, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, gentlemen:
I am honored to be with you here again this morning. These breakfasts are dedicated to prayer and all of us believe in and need prayer. Of all the thousands of letters that are received in the office of the President of the United States, letters of good will and wishes, none, I am sure, have moved any of the incumbents half so much as those that write that those of us who work here in behalf of the country are remembered in their prayers.
You and I are charged with obligations to serve the Great Republic in years of great crisis. The problems we face are complex; the pressures are immense, and both the perils and the opportunities are greater than any nation ever faced. In such a time, the limits of mere human endeavor become more apparent than ever. We cannot depend solely on our material wealth, on our military might, or on our intellectual skill or physical courage to see us safely through the seas that we must sail in the months and years to come.
Along with all of these we need faith. We need the faith with which our first settlers crossed the sea to carve out a state in the wilderness, a mission they said in the Pilgrims' Compact, the Mayflower Compact, undertaken for the glory of God. We need the faith with which our Founding Fathers proudly proclaimed the independence of this country to what seemed at that time an almost hopeless struggle, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. We need the faith which has sustained and guided this Nation for 175 long and short years. We are all builders of the future, and whether we build as public servants or private citizens, whether we build at the national or the local level, whether we build in foreign or domestic affairs, we know the truth of the ancient Psalm, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
This morning we pray together; this evening apart. But each morning and each evening, let us remember the advice of my fellow Bostonian, the Reverend Phillips Brooks: "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
[The President spoke first to the gentlemen in the hotel's main ballroom and then to the ladies in the east room.]
Ladies:
I'm glad to be with you again this morning with the Vice President, Reverend Billy Graham, Dr. Vereide, Senator Carlson, the same quartet that was here last year and the year before.
I think these breakfasts serve a most useful cause in uniting us all on an occasion when we look not to ourselves but to above for assistance. On our way from the last meeting to this, we met two members of Parliament who carried with them a message from Lord Home to this breakfast, in which Lord Home quoted the Bible and said that perhaps the wisest thing that was said in the Bible was the words, "Peace, be still."
I think it's appropriate that we should on occasion be still and consider where we are, where we've been, what we believe in, what we are trying to work for, what we want for our country, what we want our country to be, what our individual responsibilities are, and what our national responsibilities are. This country has carried great responsibilities, particularly in the years since the end of the Second War, and I think that willingness to assume those responsibilities has come in part from the strong religious conviction which must carry with it a sense of responsibility to others if it is genuine, which has marked our country from its earliest beginnings, when the recognition of our obligation to God was stated in nearly every public document, down to the present day.
This is not an occasion for feeling pleased with ourselves, but, rather, it is an occasion for asking for help to continue our work and to do more. This is a country which has this feeling strongly. I mentioned in the other room the letters which I receive, which the Members of Congress receive, which the Governors receive, which carry with them by the hundreds the strong commitment to the good life and also the strong feeling of communication which so many of our citizens have with God, and the feeling that we are under His protection. This is, I think, a source of strength to us all.
I want to commend all that you do, not merely for gathering together this morning, but for all the work and works that make up part of your Christian commitment. I am very proud to be with you.
Kennedy, who was a (bad) Catholic, was only able to get elected by promising not to be really Catholic, an act of betrayal to his faith that has hurt Catholics ever since. At least with Trump we don't have that, as he's some sort of undeclared Protestant, he says. Crediting that claim, which I don't think deserves much credit, he's a really bad Christian.
None of which stops people like Franklin Graham and Paula White-Cain from praising him.
White Cain was pretty restrained in her opening remarks there. She isn't always so restrained. Trump wasn't restrained in his babbling remarks, which departed greatly from Christianity.
I'm pretty skeptical about any real attachment, or perhaps understanding, of Trump to religion. Indeed, I'm firmly convinced the damage he's doing to Evangelical Christianity is deep.
Trump announced a May 17, 2026 national prayer gathering on the National Mall as part of the White House's 'America Prays' initiative, which encourages one million people to dedicate weekly prayer time. Such prayer would be beneficial no doubt, but a big gathering on the National Mall is a mistake. It's going to gather a counter prayer demonstration for sure by Christians who see through Trump, and it'll likely generate a mass protest. It'll be difficult to keep it from getting out of hand.
That's a Sunday. Maybe J.D. can note that he has to go to Mass and skip out.
Drip
For the 2026 US Olympic drip, the teams has white duffle coats and a sort of winter themed sweater with the flag on it. It looks nice, but Norway has accused the US of stealing the star motif on the sweater.
I have a duffle coat I wear as a winter overcoat. I really like it. I've had it for years and year, but oddly suddenly I'm getting compliments while wearing it. It always catches me off guard as it is getting long in the tooth, but still I get a fair number of them.
The same is true with a Hanna Hats panel cap I've been wearing for about 25 years or so. I've always received some compliments on it, but I"m getting a lot all of a sudden. A guy actually interrupted a conversation he was having with a woman at a store just to ask me "what's that sort of cap called"?
In other somewhat surreal conversations, I picked up pizza on my way home from an unsuccessful goose hunt the other day and went into the joint in a heavy surplus European camouflaged coat. I'm too cheap to buy the designer camo that other people do. Anyhow, I parked my Jeep right in front of the place and when I went in the girl waiting the counter said "What kind of a car is that?"
It was a Jeep.
That was a surprising question as Jeeps look like Jeeps and they have since the very first Jeep.
Probably because of my coat she then asked, after getting my pizza, "where you in the military"? I affirmed and she thanked me for my service.
I note this as this sort of somewhat awkward but ready engagement seems common for people in Generation Alpha. Indeed, back to the hat, I've had some young women, probably 20 years old or less, just look at me and say "I like your hat" in passing. It's a little awkward and surprising.
When I was 20 myself, young women never told me that, darn it.
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