Monday Musings - November 27, 2023

 

1. And it has arrived--the last Monday of November leaving just four Mondays remaining in the year. Christmas is exactly four weeks away!

Nicole's Christmas Tree Arriving
Odenton, MD
November 26, 2023

2. Family NFL Report. The family teams did as good as possible during the long series of games beginning on Thursday. They went 3-1, but two of the teams were playing each other.

Cowboys (8-3) shot-up Commanders (4-8), 45-10

Steelers (7-4) outlasted Bengals (5-6), 16-10

Ravens (9-3) held-off Chargers (4-7), 20-10

Dolphins (8-3) swam past Jets (4-7), 34-13

3. Christmas trees are abounding. Yesterday, Nicole's Christmas tree arrived and was decorated. It was a family event and nearly everyone participated. The Christmas season is off and running. 

4. It is amazing how time flies at the holidays. Fast! Tomorrow is a travel day back to Florida for three weeks of warmth and then we return for Christmas and New Years! Wow!

5. Today in History. On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of “Deus vult!” or “God wills it!”

Born Odo of Lagery, Urban was a protege of the great reformer Pope Gregory VII. Like Gregory, he made internal reform his main focus, railing against simony (the selling of church offices) and other clerical abuses prevalent during the Middle Ages. Urban showed himself to be an adept and powerful cleric, and when he was elected pope in 1088, he applied his statecraft to weakening support for his rivals, notably Clement III.

A US Navy ship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker. Then ballistic missiles were fired toward it - CNN

15-year-old Pennsylvania boy faces first-degree murder charge in shooting of a homeless man - CNN

4-year-old Israeli American released from captivity as an orphan - CNN

Human Rights Watch says rocket misfire likely cause of deadly Gaza hospital blast - Reuters

March against antisemitism draws 50,000 in London - Reuters

Three dead as storm hits Crimea and Russia's Black Sea coast - Reuters

Negotiators Work to Extend Israel-Hamas Truce - The Wall Street Journal

Investors See Interest-Rate Cuts Coming Soon - The Wall Street Journal

Her last puppy died in the D.C. day care flood. Her new one just got stolen. - The Washington Post

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD