The Bidens Are On The Outs

Former First Lady Jill Biden and her vain, snooty,

partner in elitism as well as in marriage former 

President Joe Biden are facing an ever-shrinking 

fan base. The Democrats blame this non-dynamic 

duo for enabling President Trump's return to the 

White House. 

First, She told CBS News Rita Braver that regarding

Joe's performance in his debate against Trump, 

"I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since ...

as I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having 

a stroke.'" (Oops!).

Second, in another interview, she said that had Joe

stayed in the 2024 presidential race he would have 

won (Double oops!).

To be sure, the Bidens have always lied about sensitive

matters such as Joe's feeble health, especially to them-

selves. Your amused Peasant assumes that they actually

believe their own BS. Enjoy your retirement, you losers!

MEM

Dolly Parton, R.I.P.

Usually I post tributes to conservative political

figures of note when they shed this mortal coil,

but today your respectful Peasant is going to 

pay tribute to an American icon, a member of 

Country Western musical royalty, a generous

philanthropist, and a person who loved people

and cared about them so much that she gave over

$600 million to charities in the course of her storied

life and career, and also gave money directly to 

financially struggling people to pay for their medical 

treatments or their college educations or to house,

clothe, and feed them.  

Dolly Parton, regarded by many as the Queen of 

Country Music, left the world's stage two days ago 

to step onto the heavenly stage and join Heaven's

choir. 

Dolly was an unlikely woman to have the life that she

had; born into abject poverty in a one-room cabin 

in Pittman Center, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve

children to her parents, a sharecropper and tobacco

farmer with his own land and a Pentecostal preacher

and his wife. Two of Dolly's songs which she had written

and recorded were based on her childhood memories

about her impoverished but joyful life. Dolly's father

paid the local country doctor with a sack of corn meal

for delivering Dolly, as the Partons had little if any

money. 

Parton began singing in her local church at six years of age.

She went on to sing on local TV and radio shows once word

got out about her singing ability. At 13 Dolly recorded the 

single "Puppy Love" for the Louisiana label Goldband 

Records. It was her first record, and was quickly followed 

by her first appearance at the Grand Ol' Opry, where she met

Johnny Cash. He introduced her as "a little girl here up from 

up in Tennessee" to the audience. Cash also encouraged Dolly

to follow her own instincts regarding her career. It proved to

be the best career advice in the world for the rising singer.

In the 1960s Parton's career gained new and stratospheric heights

as she was signed by musician and country star of the day Porter

Wagoner to be his co-star on his TV show. They had chart success

singing duets together along with Dolly having similar success with

singles. Parton would outgrow her partnership with Wagoner and 

have even more success as a solo performer, though sometimes 

appearing and recording with some fellow singers such as 

Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. Dolly also

performed for our troops and boosted the United States with her

shows while avoiding falling into politics; she steadfastly refused 

singing any songs with political content and never voiced her 

opinions on political matters, preferring to leave that up to the 

politicians as she said in many an interview. Dolly simply wanted 

to love and accept everyone as they were and for what they were,

and this fortified her already strong popularity. Along the way,

she built Dollywood, a theme park with Dolly's music among the 

may things Dolly being featured. 

Dolly also did some acting in movies, among them the very popular

"9 to 5", as well as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in which

she played the Madam!

Although not a political figure to any degree, Dolly Parton was a

living example of the American rags-to-riches ethos. Dolly showed

everyone what was possible in building a successful career and a 

life of accomplishment and plentitude. Most importantly, Dolly

showed the country, and the world, what having a positive outlook

and a kindly, friendly, and characteristic personality could help one

achieve --- and her sharp and laugh-provoking wit certainly helped!

At the age of 80, following a brief bout against cancer, Dolly Parton

passed away, leaving her legacy of love and joy in her music, her films,

and the way she lived her life. She will always be not just an example

but a guiding light for the world to follow. God rest you, earthly angel.

Requiescat in pace. 

MEM

On My Irish Holiday

Your favorite Peasant had a ball as usual, attending

the Milwaukee Irish Fest; getting together with old 

friends and making new ones, enjoying both returning

musical guests and new ones making their Milwaukee

Irish Fest debuts, dining on sublime entrees by Ward's

House of Prime which had a food booth at the fest,

and attending the Irish Mass for Peace and Justice

--- an annual event at the fest every Sunday morning

of the festival weekend, such a beautiful mass, always

with an Irish priest as celebrant.

This year's fest was my 25th, all consecutive. This is why

I call it my annual Irish holiday! 

It's down to business once again next week.

And for the next twelve months your part-Irish Peasant

shall be looking forward to next year's fest with growing

anticipation and eagerness as we approach mid-August 

once again!

MEM

I'll Be Enjoying the Greenery!

Friends. I shall be on my annual Irish holiday from August 13 - 16.

The Milwaukee Irish Fest will take place once again, and your

part-Irish Peasant shall be there with friends and maybe some 

family too! So this week there won't be any posts.

I shall, of course, be with you next week and will tell you about

my grand time at the fest. And perhaps I'll have some commentary

on a news story then as well!

Until then!

MEM

On Pope Leo XIV and Artificial Intelligence

The relatively new Pope Leo XIV has made clear his intention

to write an encyclical about artificial intelligence as soon as he

was chosen to be pope. This has made Magnifica Humanitas 

possibly the most widely anticipated encyclical since at least

Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council. While it 

cautions against "equating this type of 'intelligence' with that

of human beings", it also acknowledges that technology is a 

wonderful part of humanity's God-given capacity for creation 

and invention while rejecting the Luddite view that tech is 

something that is anti-human and therefore anti-humanity.

Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum  is the Catholic Church's

insistence that no new system or technology can justify 

reducing human beings, made in God's image, into cogs

of a larger machine. Humans are therefore ends in themselves,

and that proper end is defined by God, who created people

and casts down the kings and queens from their thrones 

while lifting up the lowly --- meaning this is His way of

exalting the downtrodden and toppling the high and mighty.

Pope Leo XIV 's document gets more than sufficient backing

from Pope Leo XIII's work, giving it intellectual heft.

As a Catholic and as one who has mixed emotions in regards

to artificial intelligence and how it would be utilized, your

curious Peasant is most eager to read the pope's coming

encyclical.

MEM

The Late Show Goes Bye-Bye

Earlier this year The Late Show hosted by a not-very-

funny funnyman Stephen Colbert had its finale. The 

show's demise made clear that the banal and vapid 

celebrity chit-chat and left-chic political preaching

by both Colbert and his guests are neither desired nor 

appreciated by the national television viewing audience.

Despite what the left-wingers, especially the Hollywood

lefties claim Colbert and his show did not fall to censorship

but to ever-falling ratings. 

Stephen Colbert came to prominence as an actor playing

a parody of populism a' la Bill O'Reilly. When he got hired 

for his hosting gig at CBS he placed himself in service to

the progressive causes du jour and ceased to be a parody of 

conservatism and conservatives and became an irritating

court jester for the Liberal Establishment. 

Now, people certainly have their politics and political 

differences, but at the end of a busy weekday they just

want to watch something purely entertaining which would

take them out of the realm of the hurly-burly of political 

news as well as news about other blood pressure-raising

events; the last thing they want or need is having some

moronic Hollywood types expound on political topics on

which they know not from hunger but starvation.

This truth has evaded Stephen Colbert, and that's why his 

show went down the Nielsen ratings drain. And why should

CBS, or any other network continue to carry a failing, 

flailing show, losing money along with viewers? That's why

Colbert and The Late Show was given the hook.

Furthermore, there are some other late evening talk shows

and their hosts who are in similar straits. They would be wise to

take a lesson from Colbert's painful experience and adjust the 

content of their shows accordingly. Will they do so is entirely

another matter.

MEM

Lindsey Graham, R.I.P.

Last Saturday evening we lost a solid, hardworking Senator,

a staunch conservative, and a true patriot; U.S. Senator 

Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suddenly passed away. 

Just two days after his 71st birthday and a day after returning 

from an official an official visit to Kiev, Ukraine, Graham 

died from what was reported as a "brief and sudden illness"

in his home. Graham's colleagues on both sides of the aisle in 

the Senate respected and admired him greatly for, among other

things, reaching and working across party lines on many issues,

including assisting Afghan refugees. Graham was a senator who

understood the United States' role in the world.

Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, the son of parents 

who operated a restaurant, a liquor store, and a pool hall. He was

the first member of his family to attend college, where he joined 

the Reserve Officer Training Corps. When Graham was twenty 

his parents died, and he took over the upbringing of his much 

younger sister Darline, who was 13 at the time. The service 

allowed Graham to attend the University of South Carolina

in Columbia so he could be Darline's legal guardian.

By the by, Darline has been appointed by South Carolina's

governor to serve the remainder of her brother's senate term.

And she's running for a full term in that senate seat!

Graham graduated with a BA in psychology in 1977, earning a

Juris Doctor from his university's law school in 1981.

Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the 

JAG Corps (Judge Advocate General Corps) in the United

States Air Force in 1982 and began active duty straightaway.

Graham worked his way up to the rank of Colonel, serving 

in the Air National Guard and later the Air Force Reserve.

In 2014 he received a Bronze Star for meritorious service as

a senior legal adviser to the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His legal training and experience made him a good choice to be

on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A neoconservative, Graham was derisively called a "moderate

Republican" by the Tea Party. He called himself a "fairly conser-

vative Republican" and a "Reagan Republican" with "a twang of

moderation" and an "independent streak". But just when 

conservatives in the GOP were ready to write Graham off as a

RINO (Republican in Name Only) he would assert his conservative

leanings on a particular issue and quell the harsh criticism aimed at 

him --- his staunchly pro-life stance on abortion being one such 

instance, where he sponsored the Pain-Capable Unborn Child 

Protection Act, which bans abortion after 20 weeks of gestation

on a nation-wide basis, making exceptions to save the life of the 

mother, pregnancy through rape or incest. 

Graham also received awards from national animal protection

organizations for, among other things, supporting the end of the 

slaughter of horses, particularly that done for commercial purposes.

He also worked to ban shipping horses to slaughter facilities in 

other countries. 

Graham always supported the maintenance of the United States' 

military capabilities in order for our country to be able to defend

herself as well as to fulfill its responsibilities as an ally to nations,

especially those under threat from hostile neighboring countries

i.e. Israel and the existential threats from Iran and various terrorist

groups allied with Iran. 

Sen. Graham worked to preserve the United States' exceptionalism

in every way it is exceptional. His work is now finished, and he 

is rightfully honored as a faithful public servant and advocate for 

the well-being of our country and we, her people. Requiescat in pace,

Senator. Thank you for all you have done.

MEM