Monday Musings - August 10, 2020

1. The month is racing past. This is the second Monday of August 2020. There are five Mondays this month!

2. The Orioles have through some magic achieved a .500 record for the year and were thwarted by the Nationals yesterday in achieving a winning record due to the ineptitude of the grounds crew to install the tarp on the field. Believe it or not--had the game been stopped in the same place because of rain--it would be a win for the Orioles. As it is, the game was suspended and will be continued on Friday night. The Orioles are tied for 6th place in the American League with two other teams.

3. Chris and I spent Saturday with friends at a Virginia winery--and it was fantastic. We are beginning to get out and do some of the things we enjoyed B.C. It is not hard to do if we are conscious of physical distancing and respectful of others. 

4. Florida is in sight! We have selected dates for our first trip to the Sunshine State of 2020! This will be the second planned trip of the year. We canceled the first due to coronavirus. 

5. We have received enough rain of late that the lawn is continuing to grow despite the heat. Usually about this time of year I can mow on a biweekly schedule--but not this year. 

6. The last presidential primary of 2020 occurs on Tuesday--Connecticut. After that, next week, the Democratic Convention and we will be finally in the run to the election on November 3rd.  This all started almost two years ago. If they are always running for office, when do our political leaders ever do real work? 

7. Here is hoping that the COVID-19 numbers begin to show improvement this week. 

8. Does anyone else find it weird that the nation's two largest foreign competitors (China and Russia) cannot agree on who should be the next president? They are as confused as our allies.

9. Today in History. After a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist, President James K. Polk signs the Smithsonian Institution Act into law on this day in 1846. In 1829, James Smithson died in Italy, leaving behind a will with a peculiar footnote. In the event that his only nephew died without any heirs, Smithson decreed that the whole of his estate would go to “the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Smithson’s curious bequest to a country that he had never visited aroused significant attention on both sides of the Atlantic.

‘Christianity Will Have Power’: The Pledge That Bonded Trump to Evangelicals - The New York Times

Scenes From a Biker Rally, Undaunted by the Virus - The New York Times

Millennials Slammed by Second Financial Crisis Fall Even Further Behind - The Wall Street Journal

U.S. National Security Adviser Says China Targeting 2020 Election - The Wall Street Journal

Chaos coast to coast as plans change and a school year like no other launches - The Washington Post

5.1-magnitude earthquake strikes North Carolina, is felt hundreds of miles away - The Washington Post

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under security law - Reuters

'Holy warrior' selfies: Pakistan teen feted for killing U.S. blasphemy suspect - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

History tells us that 56 men signed the original Declaration of Independence in '76, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. By the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, some had given their lives, most had given their fortunes, but all had preserved their honor.

We Americans today are not often asked to make such sacrifices. Most never have known the kind of winter that our forefathers suffered through at Valley Forge. Nevertheless, it will take new determination, new resolve, to preserve the treasures of our Revolution.

We live in a precarious world threatened by totalitarian forces who seek to subvert and destroy freedom. The peace we enjoy is maintained only by our strength and resolve, and it's our duty to fortify both.

Remarks on Signing a Proclamation Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the British Surrender at Yorktown, Virginia September 14, 1981

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD