Still thankful, despite it all

Friends, I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and had the opportunity to spend some time with those you love.  I did and had a great day and evening.  I so feel for those who either don't have anyone with whom they can spend days like Thanksgiving or choose not to due to memories of difficult visits in the past or the fear of more of them in the future.

And my heart goes out to those affected, directly and indirectly, by the shootings in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Chesapeake. Virginia.  President Biden says he plans to make another attempt to ban assault weapons, and I know he means it, but I'm not sure how many willing partners there will be, even in a lame duck session of Congress.

Speaking of Congress, we now know with more certainty that Republicans will control the House and Democrats will continue to control the Senate, although there are a handful of races still yet to be decided. Alaska finalized results of its two races, one for Senate and one for the House.  Lisa Murkowski will continue serving her home state in the Senate, but Sarah Palin could not pull off a dramatic comeback over Democratic challenger Katie Peltola.  

Kari Lake, the former Obama-supporting TV anchor from Phoenix, Arizona who later became a Trump acolyte, still has not conceded defeat in her race for the governor's seat in Arizona, but the sitting governor has already conducted an official welcome of the declared winner and current Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs.

Former President Trump has had his Twitter privileges restored but says he's happy with his Truth Social platform, which he partially owns.  Trump was spotted dining at Mar a Lago this week with Kanye West, another former Twitter exile, and well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes.  So it appears that planning for the 2024 campaign is already well underway for Mr. Trump.

And Twitter is still functioning, which is amazing in itself, given how many self-destructive moves have been made by its new sole owner, billionaire Elon Musk.  I frankly expect to go to the Twitter client I use one morning and have the perpetual "Twitter is down" header.

Like most people, I felt a certain sense of relief and even pride when Ukrainian forces drove the remaining Russian troops from Kharkiv recently.  But that may have been short-lived, as Russian missiles have put a serious dent into the Ukrainian infrastructure and have knocked out power in large parts of the country.  But the Ukrainian people have proven such resilience that it will not surprise me to see them overcome this latest setback.

Back to where we started, I am so thankful for my family and what they mean to me.  And I feel sure that you are, too.


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