The overweight (and he really is overweight) guy is an electoral miracle worker.

Except that…

He isn’t!

“Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear…”
Jeremiah 5:21

It was not quite fifty years ago – a fact established by the number of folks who complained that I did not celebrate Mass “in Latin, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Ordained maybe five years, I lost it!

It still tops the list of the most unforgettable moments of the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

In the Roman suburb of Corviale and after celebrating Mass, Pope Francis met with and answered questions from the neighborhood’s children. 

Ohhhh! How we wish this were true!

Respectfully (and this is the kindest phrase we can find), Florida Surgeon General Joseph Lapado is a horse’s patootie.

From The Los Angeles Times (“ChatGPT pulled teen into a ‘dark and hopeless place’ before he took his life….” August 28, 2025):

“Adam Raine, a California teenager, used ChatGPT to find answers about everything, including his schoolwork as well as his interests in music, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Japanese comics.

Please!

Really, please!

If you’re any age between conception and 140-years-old, don’t come to Florida!

There are funeral processions and…

There are funeral processions!

Lincoln. John and Robert Kennedy. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Name the city is famous for:

• Paczli - a Polish pastry (or pastries; we’re not sure).

• Vernors ginger ale

• Faygo sodas

• Bumpy cake – a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting “bumps”

• Superman Ice Cream – a swirl of vanilla, blue raspberry, and cherry ice cream

Stumped?

Hoping we are correct, we grit our teeth as we write “It may have been Euripides (c. 480 B.B – c. 406 B.C.), who (to the best of our ability to determine) first observed “every man is like the company he is wont to keep.’” 

Ohhhh! How we wish this were true!

In fact, it’s like an ole fashion good news-bad news-sad news joke delivered as an email with a link to a Facebook post that began: 

"BREAKING: The Catholic Church enrages MAGA world as the Archdiocese of Miami unequivocally condemns [TNSFIDCOTEOTFE] as ‘unbecoming of public officials’ and ‘corrosive of the common good.’ The Church has quickly become Donald Trump's greatest enemy: ...”

At least historically, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is wrong.

In a January 25 “Message to the Force” the Secretary insisted “We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military.”

Half-right ain’t right.

And the psalmist was barely half-right:

Weeping may stay for the night,
     but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
Psalm 31:4

It was the “bug spray” man.

Almost fifty-two years later, that says it all.  

The bug spray man?

“A People Without A Memory Is A People With A Future”
Plaque Outside the Estadio Nacional

“Our scars make us know that our past was real.”
Jane Austen

There’s a special place in Hell for these woman.

Practicing the virtue of Mercy toward their families and because their cases have been or will be determined by criminal courts, we won’t name them, but there’s a special place in Hell for them.

The bishop was late. 

Of course, he was almost always late.

His diocese was huge, with few paved roads.

He was just 27.

So good that he was almost universally referred to as “El Caballero de Futbol” – the “Gentleman of Football.” 

He went to Mass and Communion almost daily and read the Bible daily. 

And he had a great and untamed mullet. 

We’ve found (Truthfully: Just remembered.) the new theme song for the presidential administration: Release by The Platters in 1955, The Great Pretender.
Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender,
Pretending that I'm doing well.
My need is such, I pretend too much.
I'm lonely, but no one can tell.
Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender,
Adrift in a world of my own

On November 1, 1968, during his training with Charlie Company, 1^st Battalion, 22^nd Infantry regiment, 4^th Infantry Division, Thomas William Bennett wrote home, “Out of obligation to a country I love I will go and possibly die…”