January 8, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Good morning friends. What coffee do you enjoy while reading this feature? We’ve long enjoyed a mellow breakfast blend for morning routine though it should be noted we keep rather odd hours and, as likely as not, morning routine happens in the late afternoon.

Whatever you enjoy, even if it’s tea, we’re grateful you’re reading this.

MORNING BRIEFING
Here are some things you may find interesting to know:

Almanac
In 1297 – The Grimaldi Family is established as rulers of Monaco, a position they still hold, when Francois Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, knocks on the door of the fortress on the Rock of Monaco. Francois could not be bothered to reproduce and his reign was later taken over by a cousin.

In 1790 – President George Washington delivers the first State of the Union message in New York City. At 1,089 words, it remains the shortest State of the Union speech ever. Washington had taken office on April 30, 1789.

Your Hit Parade
#1 songs on this date in 1983:
Hot 100 – Maneater…Hall and Oates (4th and final week)
Soul Chart – Sexual Healing…Marvin Gaye (10th and final week)
Country Chart – Can’t Even Get The Blues…Reba McEntire (1st and only week)
Album Chart – Business as Usual…Men at Work (9th of 15 weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,612: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
$21.920: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
666: days until 2020 election.

Philosophy 101
Corruption was in the mores of the times and in the nature of man. – Will Durant, The Story of Civilization: The Reformation

Some things are universal, and some of us humans being corruptible has been true since time immemorial. Corruption, like every other obstacle to our path, is something we must fight every day.

Now, for our purposes, corruption doesn’t necessarily mean taking bribes or running a numbers racket. It means anything that distracts us from making our time serve us. It could be anything: the snow needs to be shoveled, the kids taken to practice, that show you’ve DVR’d is demanding attention.

We must attend to our self-cultivation, to our path, to the life we were meant to live every day. Not some days and not others, not some weeks and not others. Every day. Till we die. This is the only way to insure we will live the life we were meant to live.

Missing one day on our path is hard, but after that it gets progressively easier and before anyone knows anything we have squandered months, years and even decades off our path, living a life we were not meant to live, life’s great tragedy. Being on our path every day sounds daunting at first, and perhaps it is, but after a while it becomes second nature and we do it as a matter of course. All we need is the wisdom to know the life we were meant to live, the courage to go and live and the patience to see our path through to the very end. When we have those three things, the life we were meant to live will present itself every day.

Have a good day, and many thanks for reading.
Kaitlyn

But even if President Trump was a private citizen again by Monday, our country would still be divided. Trump was nominated for president by fractured GOP that is surprising some by still hanging around, was elected by a partisan and fractured electorate and it was a partisan and fractured America that showed up at the polls this past November.

That is not going to change anytime soon, unfortunately. Our loss, because we deserve better, but we are not going to receive better until we start demanding it at the ballot box.

In 1999 – The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins in the United States Senate. Accused of one article of obstruction of justice and another of perjury in his carrying on with Monica Lewinski. Clinton was acquitted of both articles on February 12.

Have a good day, and many thanks for reading.
Kaitlyn

January 3, 2019

Dearest Readers,

Today our Earth makes its closest point of approach to Mr Sun, getting as close as 91,403,556 miles, a phenomenon known as perihelion. If we are so close, how come it will be ten below today? In July we will reach aphelion, when we are the farthest away from the sun.

MORNING BRIEFING
Here are some things you may find interesting to know:

Newsmaker Line
Border Patrol agents are now shooting tear gas across the Mexican border in an attempt to keep people from coming across the border illegally.

This is wrong.

You know, we appreciate secure borders as much as you do. We also appreciate the benefits of a robust immigration policy because anyone who denies the influence immigrants have had here over the centuries have either forgotten their history lessons or never learned them in the first place because unless your last name is Tonto we’re all descended from immigrants.

But we should be better than throwing tear gas across the border.

Almanac
In 1521 – Pope Leo X issue what is known as a Papal Bull – a really official proclamation – excommunicating Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. Luther had had the nerve to question assorted Church teachings and practices.

In 2000 – The final daily Peanuts comic strip runs. It featured Snoopy sitting on top of his dog house with a typewriter and a note from creator Charles M Schulz announcing his retirement. The Sunday strip ran for a few more weeks, the final running on February 13th and it was probably not a coincidence Schulz had died the day before.

Your Hit Parade
#1 songs on this date in 1970:
Hot 100 – Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head…B.J. Thomas (1st of four weeks)
Soul Chart – Someday We’ll Be Together…Diana Ross and the Supremes (4th of four weeks)
Country Chart – Baby, Baby (I Know You’re a Lady)…David Houston (1st of four weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,607: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
$21.909: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
671: days until 2020 election.

Philosophy 101
It is not possible to run a course aright when the goal itself has not been rightly placed.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
English philosopher

A lot of this world is knowing where you are going. As we heard somewhere you are not going to climb Mount Everest wandering about the Gobi Desert and those that get on in this life do so because they have a plan for it. It’s a plan that stems from deep inside, telling them the life they are meant to lead. Successful people then have the courage to and live that life and the patience to see their paths through to the very end. They ensure their goals are rightly places, and they live the lives they were meant to live, life’s great prize.

Have a good day, and many thanks for reading.
Kaitlyn

January 2, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Yesterday we talked about how the first of the year is a wonderful time to focus on new goals. The second day of the New Year is the time to start getting to work. Now, goals are not achieved in a day, so it won’t be done all at once, but every day we must take steps toward our goal’s accomplishment. The longest journeys begin with a single step.

Today I am starting work on my new novel, Katy and Markie: Love and Lust. What small steps are you taking today?

MORNING BRIEFING
Here are some things you may find interesting to know:

Newsmaker Line
Our government’s budget impasse continues. House Democrats, who take control Thursday, unveiled a series of bills designed to re-open the government, but don’t hold your breath.

We should be surprised at none of this. This past November a fractured and bickering America reelected a fractured and bickering government and we can only blame incumbents and the media so much. The fault for this is ours. We elected it and we got it; none of this should be a bulletin because We long ago stopped holding our elected leaders, or ourselves, really, accountable. Freed from accountability, our leaders will ensure fiascos like this will continue until we start demanding otherwise.

Almanac
In 1860 – The planet Vulcan is announced at a gather of scientists in Paris. Theorized to be in orbit between the sun and Mercury for reasons that would make no sense to you or me, Vulcan’s existence wasn’t entirely disproven until a solar eclipse in 1919.
In 1974 – Having nothing better to do as his administration collapses, President Richard Nixon signs a bill making the national speed limit 55 mph. A law that could not have been more ignored had they given prizes for non-compliance, its repealing would begin in 1987.

Your Hit Parade
#1 songs on this date in 1982:
Hot 100 – Physical…Olivia Newton-John (7th of ten weeks)
Soul Chart – Let’s Groove…Earth, Wind and Fire (6th of eight weeks)
Country Chart – Love in the First Degree…Alabama (2nd of two weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,606: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
$21.910: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
672: days until 2020 election.

Philosophy 101
When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?
– Henry David Thoreau

This life is very personal. Of course, we all have family and friends and their attendant obligations, but at its core, we must live our own life. No one can do it for us. Those that get on in this life are those that realize this and work to make something happen for themselves. Successful people have the wisdom to know the life they were meant to live, the courage to go and live that life and patience to see it through to the very end.

Each of us has a responsibility, to ourselves and our fellow humans, to do this. Our lives and our planet works better when we do.

Have a good day, and many thanks for reading.
Kaitlyn