Surprises and the lack thereof

 Took today off; had a busy weekend, and I have the vacation days, so I slept in, did leg day at the gym, and attended to the many various chores and emails and links as best as I could.  On the one hand I didn't do all that much, but on the other I did do a lot of the little things that didn't necessarily need to get done, but it is always good to do so.  The email box is slightly more empty, the list of links somewhat curtailed.  All to the good!

Last week, as we know, I hit Mason's Creamery.  It was pretty good!  The ice cream was quite rich, and they had a choice of whipped creams...I took peanut butter, but when I return, will try the marzipan. They don't have a lot of ice cream flavors, but the selection was good enoug

Watched "The Man With the Golden Arm" today (755 on the NFR). It was...ok?  I liked it, sort of; I guess I have very little sympathy for those who use and abuse illegal narcotics, but I also know the movie's subject was highly controversial for its time, so I can see its inclusion.

https://thecritic.co.uk/what-can-never-trump-learn-from-the-19th-centurys-free-soilers/

Interesting take; I predict that even if there is a small migraton to the Dems, it will still be powerless.  Caesar, I believe, said that he loved treason but hated the traitor, so there is that.  Also... given the more ideologically extreme positions each side is taking, I find it hard to believe that even the most milquetoast of GOPers will find anything on the Dem to agree about, at least in terms of policy.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/catholic-schools-are-losing-students-at-record-rates-and-hundreds-are-closing-11620651600?mod=hp_listc_pos4

I am shocked, shocked, by this.  More seriously...I have said many a time that the biggest problem with Catholic education is not its expense but that we spend so much on educating non-Catholics for absolutely no return on the investment, and this is the result. The students and the parents are not in the pews on Sunday, they are only around in the parish for the duration of the schooling (if then), and the actual Catholics in the pews are called upon to do more for less.  It is not sustainable now, and the only reason it worked before because parishes had so many people and envelopes coming in that you could delay the paying of the piper...even if a whole orchestra was being subsidized.