Did you know that both Mother's and Father's Days are national holidays?  Of course they are always celebrated on Sundays, so they are not a federal holiday.  President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 designating  Mother's Day  as the second Sunday in May.  Of course motherhood has long been cherished, and the ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals in honor of mother godesses Rhea and Cybele. Mind you, the Greeks and Romans also honored fathers, and in Catholic Europe, St. Joseph's Day ( March 19 ) is a feast day dedicated to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.  But Father's Day in the USA had a rather startling beginning that few know. First, Father's Day did not become a national holiday until 1972. The reason why has everything to do with civil rights movements in the 1960s. The story starts in 1964 when a middle-aged father and mid-level federal appointee, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, dreamt a solution to America's racial conflict in his sle...

About that  Ukraine-Russia War , and the meeting in Saudi Arabia about a ceasefire: Ukraine welcomes this proposal. We see it as a positive step, and we are ready to take it," Zelenskyy said. "The United States must now persuade Russia to do the same. If Russia agrees, silence will take effect immediately." So what's happening in the  Gaza Strip  these days? Israel has for 11 days now blockaded the region with no food, fuel or medicine allowed to cross into the territory. Deadly Israeli attacks continue. There is a new round of negotiations in Qatar. Latest info has 61,700 dead Palestinians. What about Trump's plans to convert the Strip into a tourist resort?  No one in the Middle East likes it. Six days ago on March 4, only a few days after the end of the first phase ceasefire, a  Palestine Summit  was held. Involved Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, rejecting Trump's plan, but demanded an end to all forms of violence and a r...

The big news of the day is the  longest presidential address to Congress in history .  President Donald Trump talked for a little more than 100 minutes.  I watched the whole thing, and wonder why. Many Democrats did not even show up, and  some just left during his speech , with  Rep. Al Green  (D-Texas) being booted out.  Several held small signs.  Women wore mostly pink.  Others wore blue/yellow in support of Ukraine. He mostly bragged about doing so much. He repeated his assertion to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal. Assailed the Biden Administration a lot, calling Joe the worst president in American history.  One of his lies/exaggerations, for polls have  Trump as the worst .  In that survey, Biden came in as the 14th greatest president. Here is  one example : “Over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security databases, are aged over 160 years old,” Trump asserted. He then added there are 1,041 people over ...