Kith & Kin

The actual box in my actual attic with the actual documents from George Washington in it. Created with Copilot AI. Now here is an amazing coincidence! On the very day Donald Trump is slated to accept the Republican presidential nomination, on the very day , I say, I have found several amazing artifacts relating to George Washington, including the speech he gave when accepting the very first presidential nomination! Jacky and Patsy Washington, George and Martha ’s children. Seriously. No, this isn't a joke. That ’s really what they looked like. [public domain] While cleaning out my attic this morning at 4 (I don ’ t know why, I guess I was just in the mood), I came across an old cardboard box. To my amazement, in it I found several original documents from the 1700s that pertain to George Washington himself ! How the box got there, I have no idea, but items it includes will, I believe, result in a significant rewriting of American history. Dusty documents inside included the followin...

I am not a political person. I always try to stay out of political discussions, and I’m not going to argue with anyone about his or her political opinions. In addition, I am not particularly a fan of Pres. Trump. You can ask my wife—I have waxed eloquent in frustration about him numerous times. His presidency was chaotic, and his public statements are often cruel, cockeyed, irresponsible, and inflammatory. There is no question that his rhetoric has been a factor in the degeneration of civil political discourse in America. Nonetheless, I am not surprised at all that there was an assassination attempt on him yesterday. Why? If you were of a certain unbalanced mindset and you believed all the foolhardy, overblown statements regarding Trump made by politicians and pundits and celebrities over the past few months, you too might decide that assassination was justified. What statements am I referring to? Let’s look at just a few recent examples from three online sources.   T...

Some memories stay fresh in our minds because they are so special or so amazing or so shattering that we play them over and over throughout our lives. Some memories, though, are hidden in the haze of our history and then surprise us by appearing when a random event triggers them. For instance, a couple of days ago I saw a bicycle and one of those hidden memories jumped out suddenly. I stopped walking for a second and carefully turned it over in my mind. Yes, I remember now—it really happened that way. I had completely forgotten. . . . The Bike I had picked out the coolest bike I’d ever seen from the all the bikes available in the bike store in little old downtown Fredericksburg. This was the era of Footsies , hula-hoops , Jarts , bell bottoms—and banana bikes. AI generated by Copilot Banana bikes had a distinctively elongated seat. They were usually bright in color, with high handlebars decorated with tassels that flapped in the wind. At some point I put plastic clickers...