So, I am not, nor never have been, a fan of Maureen Dowd. I think she's pretty close the to the definition of what's wrong with the main stream media.

She's also notorious for what we formerly called HDS (Hillary Derangement Syndrome) but which we now know as HRS (Hillary Reality Syndrome).

But when she is right, she is right, and she does an excellent job of laying out points that most of us here agree on in her new NYT editorial.

Over the past week, the American public have seen a great deal of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an American soldier, Captain Humayun Khan, who died in 2004 while fighting in Iraq. The Khans and their son are / were Muslims, and Khizr Khan gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention last week denouncing Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric and arguing his proposed immigration ban on Muslims is unconstitutional. Trump has reacted with his usual bloviating, including jabs at Captain Khan's mother, resulting in an escalating war of words with the family.

Both Republicans and Democrats have rightly denounced Trump's attacks on the fallen soldier's family. That said, all the praise for the Khans rings hollow for me. Although they were brave for condemning Trump, they have failed to call Hillary Clinton on her support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq which killed their son in the first place. They took the stage to speak on behalf of a politician who voted to send their son to his death.

My Gut Reaction: I rarely agree with the orange bigot, but he had a point when he noted that it was Hillary Clinton, not him, who voted for the Iraq War.

More below the fold...

This is the famous Bixby letter:

Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln

I cannot even begin to make a comparison between the second Republican nominee for the presidency and the current one.

I don't usually do two posts in a day, but I was struck by this juxtaposition on the Google News main page:

'Terror Situation': Munich Mall Attack Kills At Least 6, Suspects On Loose NBCNews.com

Stocks climb, approaching record highs again Los Angeles Times

Those who are concerned that a Hillary Clinton administration will mean expanded US military aggression across the globe, may be closing the barn door after the horse is stolen.

So, it's not a big deal to most people, but to me, it's a MAJOR thing. I finally was able to let my kids out on their own without panic.