We celebrate America’s day of family, friends, and gratitude with self-titled “President Trump Pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey“, which Shealah Craighead captured on Nov. 24, 2020. Camera and photo vitals are not available. Shooting location, for the fowl named Corn, is the White House Rose Garden.
I had wanted to feature something about the Pilgrims, whose pilgrimage to this continent would be a 400-year-anniversary celebration in Plymouth, Mass., if not for the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)—also known as COVID-19—pandemic. Failing to find an appropriate Creative Commons-licensed image and seeing that the President likely gives amnesty to his last bird—following the General Services Administration declaring Joe Biden “apparent President-elect“—plans changed.
The pardons they be flying, with another going to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Not surprisingly, reaction splits along partisan lines—and that includes the increasingly activist medias, both new and news, which is main reason I don’t link to a story about the happening.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases, which for the record are positive test results and not illnesses, are rising and causing panicked political responses. Such as:
- California Governor Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom restricting business and other activities in the state, which includes a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew (cough, cough, through December 21) affecting 94 percent of the population.
- New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham closing grocery stores, which includes Walmarts, leading to food shortages.
- Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine banning alcohol sales for Thanksgiving eve.
Political and health officials across the country are discouraging American families from gathering together today. Poignantly and pointedly, John Turner writes for the Boston Globe: “The Pilgrims would agree: Cancel Thanksgiving this year“.
If only President Trump could grant us all clemency from the COVID-19 insanity. Instead, several hundred million people are locked in various figurative, but hugely real-life-changing, prisons:
- Fear of fellow folks spreading SARS-CoV-2
- Confinement, because of stay-at-home orders and curfews
- Ordered closure of businesses, which might fail without income
- Unemployment, because of forced furloughs from shuttered employers
- Limits on where and when anyone can gather together and in what size groups
Well, at least someone has something to be grateful for. Isn’t that right, Corn?
Photo Credit: Shealah Craighead