Halloween Costumes That Can Get You Fired -- My Ballot ain't safe anymore -- Killing Saudi Critics

An Idaho superintendent has issued a public apology and placed 14 employees on paid administrative leave after staff at a public elementary school dressed up as Mexicans and a border wall for Halloween. WaPo.  @emrosenberg 

When dressing up for Halloween

beware of the national spleen

that lacks any humor

and sits like a tumor

upon the American scene. 

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The controversy is the latest in a rash of concerns that have flared across the country, as candidates in both parties have traded accusations about threats to ballot integrity amid multiple reports about voting irregularities. The issue has started to affect voter confidence, according to new polling, which shows that a majority of voters in both parties are deeply suspicious about the opposing party’s commitment to fair elections.  WaPo.  @AmyEGardner

My ballot ain't safe anymore.

The hackers who work way offshore

have got it disguised

so it's compromised

and makes me vote for Michael Moore!

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To repatriate its critics, the Saudi government has tried to lure them back or enlisted friendly regional governments to arrest them or even carried out brazen kidnappings in Europe.  WaPo.  @kfahim  @LovedayM

Killing Saudi critics is easy as can be.

You stuff 'em in a basket, then skewer them promptly.

Or have a friendly nation put them in chains, toot suite.

Then hang 'em up to perish out in the glaring heat.

Rather than a critic, I'd be a camel there --

No one would try to shoot me and I'd get loving care.

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"Never trust a furriner."

Curious - if you go to church today, how is the election being handled? Did your pastor discuss it? What did you think? Email me Elizabeth dot Dias at nytimes dot com

Elizabeth Dias, of the New York Times

In reply to her tweet of six hours ago, I emailed her thus:

I belong to the Provo Utah North Park Stake, the North Park Second Ward, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (which is no longer the ‘Mormon Church’ or the ‘LDS Church’ if you please.)

I attended Sacrament Meeting this morning at 8:30 a.m.  As is customary in the Church on the first Sunday of the month, the Meeting was mostly taken up with members from the congregation going up to the pulpit and sharing their testimony about the Church. On an impromptu and voluntary basis. Most of those who got up (including me) felt moved to talk about the Book of Mormon. No one said anything at all about the upcoming Elections. There were no endorsements, harangues, complaints, or even suggestions to get out and vote. If you had landed from Mars and gone into our Meeting you would never know there was any kind of election going on at all.

And I like that. I get enough guff from the media during the week on who to vote for and what will happen if I don’t vote a certain way. On Sunday I like to forget all that and try to contemplate on the peace and beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- not the machinations of Trump or the deteriorating global environment. This is not a head-in-the-sand attitude -- it is a prudent and temporary hiatus from the gloom and contention of the modern world. I think it lowers my blood pressure and I know it gives me more patience, charity, and perspective when I dive back into the real world of politics and elections tomorrow.

And really, if you have ever studied the Book of Mormon, it has a lot to say about modern politics and the destiny of our country and the whole of North and South America. Here is just one quote:

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.    2 Nephi Chapter 1 Verse 7.

There’s plenty more language like that in the Book of Mormon that we all would do well to heed during the upcoming election.

BTW -- I am in no way a spokesperson for my Church, and the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

Whenever my church I attend

I find it a peaceful godsend.

No politics mar

This pleasant sidebar;

My bowels and my stiff neck unbend.

Haiku: the last gasp of blue

the last gasp of blue

before the winter winds push

it too far away

The prodigal and the miser

The New Retirement Plan: Save Almost Everything, Spend Virtually Nothing

A group of younger workers, devotees of the FIRE movement, are seeking ways to duck mistakes made by prior generations.

(Headline in the Wall Street Journal)

Never spend another dime,

then retire in quick time.

Young people now think it wiser

to become a grasping miser.

I am old and broke, but hey --

this prodigal enjoys each day!

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"Better save for a rainy day."

Haiku: dividing the sky

dividing the sky

the contrail leaves behind it

wonder and doubt

Haiku: dry and thick of skin

berries and seed pods

brown and red in autumn sun

dry and thick of skin

Fools Before God

. . . and consider themselves fools before God . . .

2 Nephi. Chapter 9. Verse 42.

As vast and wide as all the stars, as deep as cosmos goes;

the Lord God is omnipotent and all that is He knows.

The past and present, what is to come, are right before His eyes;

what mortal fool would dare to think to be as great and wise?

Yet some have thought they could compete with Jesus Christ on high;

that what they thought and did and said made glory their ally.

The Earth can hold no wisdom, nor power like the Lord's.

A fool cannot dispute that, with swelling words or swords.

I know I am a fool, oh Lord, before Thy shining throne;

that I lack any power to exalt myself alone.

Have mercy on my ignorance and lead me with Thy grace,

that I, a clown, may someday see Thy keen and loving face!

Haiku: the dull displaced leaves

the dull displaced leaves

are going to a new home

in their caravan

Haiku: light brown and dark brown

light brown and dark brown

rings inside a fallen tree

are recorded where?

Haiku: the screaming yellow

the screaming yellow

hysteria of limp leaves

as they fall silent