Good morning, friends!

This is the day after Thanksgiving, a our feast of homemade pizza highlighted the occasion.

War news runs a tight gamut from seeming to draw to an end in Ukraine, to potential escalation into a huge regional war in the Place Where Oil Is. Over and over, I am reminded of the guide on my tour of Jordan. He had to laugh about Jordan having no history of invasions, since they have no natural resources anyone wants, except a bit of tar. His people take pride in that, since they can always be peace negotiators with nothing to gain, nothing to lose. They have far fewer problems being a poor country than we do being the Exceptional Country. Jordan's history is proof Smedley Butler knew what he was saying...war is a racket.

More than 20 years ago we invaded Iraq. Three years ago Iraq asked us to leave. We are still there.

“Iraqi priorities and the US are increasingly at odds,” Abdul Mahdi said during his address to parliament.

He said a US troop withdrawal was the only way to “protect all those on Iraqi soil” – especially American forces that require protection from the Iraqis.

Thanksgiving!

It's a holiday, whatever its origin, it's a holiday. So, I'm taking it! Husband is making dinner for the family. Go man, GO! We are having chicken instead of turkey. I will be happy. Dessert is pumpkin pie with whipped cream, or maybe the other way around, dunno?

A seasonal picture! Crabapples from a tree we planted about 15 or 20 years ago.

This was an especially well-informed discussion of American politics, which isn't common these days. There is also a bit of discussion about international politics: Ukraine, the Middle East, Spain. Some of it was great, other parts not so great. Long having been a watcher of the two Alexes, I was wondering about their take on American politics. I guess they let this guy Barnes speak for them. It is long: 2.5 hours. Below are some critical notes.

On my way home from the farm with earthling2 driving, so punching this out on my smarty phone.
One thing I like about being in a rural location is there is no TV and scattered radio. I lived without radio and TV for 18 years down in SoCal, so this is not new.