Some insight into today's political landscape: What's the meaning of the phrase 'A plague, (pox), on both your houses'? A frustrated curse on both sides of an argument. From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1592: MERCUTIO: "I am hurt. A plague o' both your houses! I am sped. Is he gone, and hath nothing?"

Good morning blog readers and welcome. It is Wednesday, May 5, 2021, and, the craziness continues. Speaking of what passes for the national governmental scene these days. As some might recall, I spent a couple of years working in a civil service position at the Fort Polk US Army training center back in 1968 and 1969. I worked as an administrative assistant to the Sergeant Major who was the office manager for the Public Affairs office. We had many responsibilities including the publishing of a weekly newspaper, therefore, we had a full-time staff doing photos almost around the clock. These photos were used locally in our own newspaper, 'The Fort Polk Outpost', and, they were provided to news outlets as requested around the world. No photo was ever released until it had undergone scrutiny by several levels. The photo above was first released by the Carter Center and it depicts the visit of President Biden and his wife with former President Carter and his wife. In our office so many years ago, this photo would have never seen the light of day. Sure it has gone viral as people see the obviously perspective issues. The left-leaning folks have exhausted themselves explaining how the combination of a wide-angle lens and a bright flash produced the giant Bidens up against the little people Carters. Folks all over the world are fascinated by this photo. In addition, it demonstrates how the Bidens want everyone to continue to wear masks but they didn't see the need to even though they were around a 96-year-old former president and his 93-year-old wife. That also made for endless chatter forth and back on social media. The CDC jumped in to say they had all been vaccinated, therefore, there is nothing to see in this photo. That may make sense, however, it doesn't explain what President Biden wore a mask walking alone to meet the Carters and he put the mask back on when he left the meeting to return to his car. I suppose it is about messaging. If the idea was to have the Bidens tower over the Carters, mission accomplished. Having some firsthand experience when a photo ended up not being as flattering as the Commanding General wished it to have been, well, again, the photo above in our group, back in the day, would have been shredded. (Professional folks have shown how it could have easily been altered and fixed. This is either an intentional distraction or a colossal mess up. With Twitter melting down with all kinds of memes and critical comments, I found it interesting that ABC news in its handling of the photo only saw the wonderful smile on former President Carter's face. Go figure.)

This morning Mr. Bentley and I sat outside around 5 a.m. and we enjoyed the quiet breeze amidst a 61-degree reading. That, along with a hot cup of strong Community Coffee, well, it's hard to improve on this as a way to get your day started. My eldest reminded me that we should enjoy that temp while it is still available, and, we all know that even without climate change, hotter days are in our immediate future. We've been there and done that. Mostly every summer. That is, as I recall. I do hope you have a great day and don't take my comments too seriously about the presidential photo. After all, as Mark Lowry put it, "Professionals built the titanic and amateurs built the Ark." I'll leave you to ponder that one for today. Take care and may God add His blessings. Amen. .....More later.