Here is the lineup for this delayed blog: cruise notes; a gun gift; what/who is corrupt; word of the year?; pay for college athletic directors.

Cruise notes. This blog was delayed while I was taking my raditional early winter family trip to get my sister out of the northwestern PA snow belt. Everyone enjoyed the warmth and leisurely pace traveling round trip Miami, 4 sea days plus stops in San Juan (Puerto Rico), St. Thomas, and St. Maartin.

Win an engraved shotgun? We can begin to grasp the outrageous extent of the gun culture in the US when Sen. Cruz's presidential campaign is raffling off an engraved shotgun. Of course, the winner can chose the alternative gift, an autographed copy of Cruz's book, A Time for Truth. Want to bet on the winner's choice?

Really, should I? Columnist George Will's column last Thursday discusses the plight of former VA governor, Robert F. McDonnell. What should be the appropriate definition of "quid pro quo?" McDonnell's conviction on bribery charges has been upheld by an appeals court and the Supreme Court has taken his appeal to decide whether or not he was "one step over the line, sweet Jesus." Mr. Will includes these two quotes from the late Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis.

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.  and  Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent.


Thā? Singular "they," the gender-neutral pronoun, has been named the Word of the Year by a crowd of over 200 linguists at the American Dialect Society's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Really?

College education. If you thought college might be first and foremost about education, think again. The school's loftiest, most admired, world-famous professor may be paid not much more than a building custodian. The only comeuppance for the most colleges' athletic director may be that he is probably being paid less than the head football and/or basketball coach. Remember Forrest Gump: "Stupid is as stupid does"?

Thank you for reading.