CM

Former Bay Area News Community Columnist for 25 years, Patriot, Wife, Mom and GiGi! Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present! Isaiah 41:10

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@LoriShemek Good Morning!
Curious why these are considered fermented, but sauerkraut on the store shelf is not? Does it apply just to the green olives?

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

So true!!

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

A lot of problems in life are solved by simply adjusting your internal narrative from saying you “have to” do something to saying you “get to” do something. It’s a reminder that most of what we complain about today is something our older self will wish they could go back and do.

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@txsalth2o @AlexForbesOps Perfect response @txsalth2o ! That’s what we did when my kids were little and everyone had a great time! Expectations are so different now…

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@LoriShemek Indeed! I buy it from the refrigerator section at the store, per your previous advice!

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@JamesLucasIT Bittersweet… Of all the newspaper columns I wrote, the ones that touched on children growing and leaving the proverbial nest, garnered the most feedback. One reader responded, “Ouch!” However painful, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Bittersweet. Indeed.

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@FreddyLA7 I love this! USA can’t wait to welcome you back! College football is a festive fall tradition!

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@Johnny_Joey You’re the true definition of a hero! Thank you for your service and for being an incredible inspiration!

[Buzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson]

BUZZCUT: FAREWELL CALIFORNIA

(A Thread)

1) Farewell, California. I’m leaving.

I arrived in July 1993 and fell in love with the state, the weather, the beaches, the skiing, the people, and San Francisco.

I’d just completed Air Force Command and Staff College (a year of professional military education for rising commanders in the services), and I was selected to be the Operations Officer for a C-141 squadron based at Travis AFB, California.

The afternoon that I first drove through the gates, I was hooked.

The weather was perfect. Sunny days that stretched forever without the brutal humidity of the East Coast or the crushing winters of the Midwest. I could ski the fresh powder at Lake Tahoe in the morning and water ski in the afternoon on the Sacramento River. The diversity of this state blew me away: rugged coastlines, towering redwoods, golden hills, and the vibrant energy of San Francisco.

For decades, California was my home. I built a life here, raised a family, flew commercial airline routes out of its airports, operated militarily all over the world. and soaked in everything that made it special.

The beaches from Malibu to Big Sur, the skiing at Mammoth and Heavenly, the hiking in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevadas, and yes, even the quirky, electric vibe of San Francisco in its better days.

This was the Golden State. I loved it deeply.

But something went terribly wrong. Over the years, especially under decades of one-party Democrat rule, the politicians in Sacramento turned this paradise into something unrecognizable. They didn’t just mismanage; they actively created policies that prioritized ideology, virtue-signaling, and political power over the basic needs of working families. 

The result? A state that has become unlivable for far too many.

(Continued…)

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@FreddyLA7 @redsteeze Could not love this post more! Going to miss your American adventures in our wonderful country!

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@guypbenson Love this! I try to stop too when I see them and I usually give a little tip on top of their asking price.

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@txsalth2o @hnault613 I just bought the book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (How to Free Yourself and Your Family of Clutter) by Margareta Magnusson, for this very reason!

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@guypbenson ❤️🙏❤️

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@TulsiGabbard Amen! And, thank you for your service!!

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

Photo credit: Pinterest

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

God Bless America!

There’s something so nostalgic about this photo, which conjures up feelings of deep pride and profound gratitude to be living in the greatest country in the world

Praying for future generations to prosper, as our founding fathers envisioned for our country

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

You've probably heard this before, but it's always worth repeating. Something extremely cool about the "Star-spangled Banner," the American national anthem, is that it asks a question, and it's the question at the heart of everything in the American worldview.

"Oh, say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming..."

So the anthem begins with a question and a scene. One man, a patriot, is asking another man, another patriot, "can you see it?" at sunrise after a long, dangerous night.

The "it" in question is going to be revealed to be the flag, our "star-spangled banner," which they had last fully recognized and honored as the sun set, daylight failed, and night crept over them the evening before.

Can you see it? Say! Can you see it?!

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming..."

Here we find that the "it" is in fact the flag, our star-spangled banner, and we learn why the question is being asked.

The flag is described as having flown and streamed gallantly over ramparts of war through a perilous fight. All could have been lost. The flag, and even the fledgling country for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible.

Say! Can you see it? Now that the light is back?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"--And the rockets' red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there!--"

They could see it through the battle in the light of the rockets and bombs that threatened them, here and there in quick glimpses. But it was still there throughout! But now? At dawn?

Say! Can you see?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?"

The urgency is palpable with every refrain. They have to know. It's the first thing they must know as the sun begins to light the sky, even before it rises.

IS IT STILL THERE?!

Say! Say!! Can you see? Can you see it?!

At the heart of every American beats the fundamental truth and reality that what we have here is precious, that it's worth fighting for, to the death if necessary, and that it's fragile. That at any moment it can be lost. That we have to remember to look for it because last night might have been the night in which it failed.

Every day, every year, every generation.

The American fight for freedom, to live in self-governance within ordered liberty, is ongoing and never-ending. The price of the land of the free is that it must be the home of the brave. We have to defend it, defend it, and defend it again, against all enemies foreign and domestic, because what we have is amazing, rare, fragile, and worth every cent of treasure, every drop of blood, and every risk to our sacred honor to protect it.

Our anthem is not a declaration. It is not a proclamation. It is not a statement.

It is a question.

Every time we sing our wholly unique national anthem, we as American ask the question again. IS IT STILL THERE?! Are we still America? Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

Because it's a question, the answer is not known. It is not a guarantee. It cannot be taken for granted and isn't. And what an honor to ask and take up our part in the story, in the American Experiment, in the greatest country the world has ever known.

For tonight, the last night of our first 250 years, as the sun gave way to twilight's last gleaming and darkness overtook our land once again, the answer was still yes. We can see it even tonight in the red glare of rockets, with small bombs bursting in air, fill the sky with the noble tribute of fireworks once again.

And we all ask ourselves, will it still be flying at dawn?

This is what it means to be an American.

Happy 250th, America! Now for many happy returns!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

Love this!

[The Herald @heraldscotland]

The Boston Globe has dedicated a full page in today's edition to the Tartan Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇺🇸

The letter in Boston's largest newspaper reads: "Dear Tartan Army,

"You came for the World Cup, but gave us something more.

"For a week, you turned train stations into singalongs, Fenway into a football ground, and an ordinary June into something we'll be talking about for years.

"Boston has hosted championships, parades, and celebrations of every kind. But we've never hosted guests quite like you all.

"Thank you for the laughter, the bagpipes and the memories. The World Cup will move on. So will the songs, but we'll never forget the joy you brought to our city."

𝘐𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 @SPARScotland

𝘐𝘔𝘈𝘎𝘌: 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵

[CM @chitchatwithcat]

@HarmeetKDhillon Beautiful!❤️

[Adam Housley @adamhousley]

I find it interesting that so many people attack @elonmusk for becoming a trillionaire after building companies, creating products, generating jobs, and helping create wealth for countless employees and investors. Yet there’s far less outrage directed at a government that has spent and wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars—often with little accountability, limited transparency, and documented cases of fraud. One fortune was built by creating value people chose to support; the other was spent using money taxpayers had no choice but to provide.