This is Day 343 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve. Deb and I are great.
Today’s header image, by the way, is 40 years old.
Well, it looks like the month of February came and went without news of one of my favorite traditions. I scoured the Interweb but found no mention of the Kentucky All-State Choir Conference, held each year at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville.
And why would I care about that?
Each night of the annual three-day conference, attending students gather along the balconies of the hotel’s 18-story atrium and sing our National Anthem. Dozens of YouTube videos capturing the stirring a capella performance have gone viral over the last several years. If you’ve ever heard it — and provided you’re a Patriot with a pulse — you’ll never forget it.
This year, apparently, the patriotic tradition was a casualty of Pandemic Theater.
I’m sharing a video recorded at the 2020 conference — watch and listen, please, and remember that these kids are part of America’s future. Knowing that, and hearing their young voices, will move you.
Yes, I watched Trump’s CPAC speech yesterday. He pretty much stuck to the teleprompter for a good long while, to my surprise. Then he set the script on fire and reverted to… well, you know. He is who he is.
It looked to Deb and me like he’d lost a little weight.
I expect some folks were disappointed to hear him declare that he wouldn’t be lunching a new political party. I’m bummed, too, in a way, because this country suffers greatly from the two-dominant-parties system. We need a viable alternative — emphasis on viable.
That’d take time to build. We don’t have that kind of time. Trump apparently recognizes that, so he’ll press his case through the GOP. As Donald Rumsfeld once said,
“You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
It’s the most rational choice from a less-than-ideal menu. Anyone who’s cranky about that should get off their ass and begin the long process of building a viable alternative.
If you’ve been reading Ubi Libertas Blog for any length of time, you might come away with the impression that I’m something of a hardass — uncompromising and uncompassionate, dismissive of the weak and the passive, the uncommitted and the disengaged.
I dunno about the hardass part, but I can understand the rest of it.
I’m unwilling to compromise on principle. My compassion is reserved for those who, in my judgment, deserve it — the rest of the time, I’ve learned, all compassion does is make me stupid. Weakness, passivity, ignorance and being agnostic about matters of consequence are unacceptable to me.
If we’re to succeed — as individuals, as a society and as a nation — Reason will guide us. Principle will fix our position. Courage will hold the ground on which we stand. And strength will carry the day.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath