59 Comments

“Previously belonging to fiction”?

I don’t think so.

You can’t make this stuff up…….

Way to go!

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Well put throughout. Captured a feeling in these strange times -- curiosity that takes us to near weariness yet on alert beneath the surface. Thanks!

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Its true. I have grown weary with worry.

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Fascist doesn't even describe this movement. Maybe nephilic feudalism...

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I had to look up "nephilic" and I'm not sure I found the right definition: does it refer to people in Scripture who survived the Flood? I didn't know they existed.

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Now that pro sports has embraced “gaming,” can we trust it anymore? I fear a Black Sox 2.0 is coming our way.

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Good morning Mr. Keillor!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading why you will not be playing golf in Oman. Your thoughts regarding the carnival runway atmosphere around our former president are spot on, as is your review on why we SHOULD NOT defund the police.

Thank you for your colorful and intelligent writing and your wit and wisdom.

All the best to you!

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The man knows no bounds. Now I read that he's using campaign contributions to pay his legal expenses. It's incredible. What comes next?

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Why oh why does anyone follow this thug much less vote for him and those who follow him like lemmings . Great column

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Are you referring to the Bidens who somehow gained a fabulous fortune by learning how to monetize their public office, much like the Clintons and all the other Democrats who will do anything, including lie, cheat, destroy reputations with lies, to keep power.

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Welcome to the column. Glad to have you here.

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Good one, GK....turn the other cheek.

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Yeah

Not

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Projection, Whataboutism, Yawn

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I am curious as to why you spend so much time posting rants about Trump. The Democrats, Bidens, Clintons, and all the career politicians have all become millionaires doing nothing except be politicians and run our country into the ground. Please include them all in your rants. You often speak your worries about gun control. But, if Democrats really wanted it, they could have done something when they had control of the government. They want to keep the two party system because they are all in this together. Look at both sides of the coin and you will see. Stick to comedy, you are better at that.

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You apparently don’t grasp the sheer magnitude of the problem. Garrison Keillor has a brilliant mind coupled with piercing insight into human foibles, and we who know that desperately need and want his genius wit. He is eminently qualified to direct it on whoever and wherever he sees fit. I suggest you read Mark Twain’s essays.

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Laugh out loud! I think I see the magnitude pretty well......it is on BOTH sides. Garrison seems to think it is only Trump and the Republicans.

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founding

Kate, I’m with you! Ken McSwain on one side, David Baker on the other. Let’s face it, gang! We’re here in the Niagara River, headed possibly for Niagara Falls, and it might not really matter which political party we belong to. COVID has been upsetting the balance of our economy, resulting in lost jobs and lost manufacturing ability, etc. Don’t get lost in labels, Ken, David and the like. GK tells it like it is and looks at society as a whole! Rich and poor, native and foreign-born, red, white, black and blue. Like the Niagara River, he’s a force that allows us to mingle and learn to appreciate each other. And, as the saying goes, “Laughter is the Best Medicine! Thanks, Thanks, THANKS So MUCH, Dear Host, for being OUR MEDICINE MAN!

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I don't belong to either party and us independents have something to say about this.

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Glad you could join us here.

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I'm just a harmless old man saying his piece, mumbling in the chimney corner. Not worth your while to condemn. I don't agree that the country is in the ground but if you feel so strongly you should sign over your IRA to the Trump campaign and elect him and make the country great again.

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A fool and his money are soon parted.

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Ironic. Pitching a book labeled ‘Cheerfulness” while griping incessantly about a nutty former President. Please stop, Mr. K.

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I wrote about him cheerfully.

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You did

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Touché

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Re “griping incessantly” - I learned a new word a couple of days ago: “chuntering” (look it up)

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Any day you learn something new is a good day.

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Oh no, you've addled my poor brain - the comparison of Donald Trump to Taylor Swift conjures up some very bizarre imagery. 🤯

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founding

Actually, my friend, I’ve seen “Lawn Order” go both ways. I was standing on the lawn of “Tricky Dick’s” presidential palace overlooking the Pacific Ocean once, and a Security Guard came up to me with a look in his eye as if I must be composing plans to bomb the place. There are some people who go into “Law Enforcement” to build up their egos – they can be very difficult to be “rational” with. On the other hand, some folks with stars on their shirts can get very calloused about their jobs. I was at a large parade in Pasadena one New Year’s Day, and the “oversight” was minimal. My two daughters were preschoolers at the time. The crowd pressed in on them so much that they were in danger of being trampled, physically!

Sure, there are a lot of factors involved. I think, perhaps, the biggest factor could be “at the Admission Gate.” If Junior Colleges accept all applicants who want to go into Lawn Order, in order to have good looking statistics for number of graduates, etc., that process can lead to psychologically unfit folks in positions that really require maturity and broad-mindedness. I had a friend who attended such a course, and I found it worrisome that the school didn’t seem to have any sort of psychological pretesting to determine fitness for the job.

Or, in terms of a personal observation, once I was on a bus going from Detroit, MI to Ontario, Canada. We were in a huge traffic jam prior to crossing the International bridge. I looked out my window, and saw a uniformed policeman kicking a prone, handcuffed young man in the head! I couldn’t believe my eyes! “Police Brutality,” right in front of maybe 500 people, by the time the traffic jam moved on! I was sitting in the front seat, across the aisle from the driver. “Can you believe that???” I asked. “Lady. This is Detroit,” was his answer. It seems to me that attitudes toward “Lawn Order” often have to do with the current societal times. Let’s hope things are looking up!

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I agree with what you said about screening for fitness for "Lawn Order" occupations. I once heard someone say that they wanted to join the police force so they could drive as fast as they wanted and could harass people they didn't like. The psychology professor I had in college told us that he was on a committee which developed a psychological test to determine if applicants were fit to join the Green Berets. He said that one aspect of the test screed for people with psychopathic tendencies who would not be bothered by guilt if they killed people.

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I had a friend, now deceased, who unsucessfully ran for Sheriff with the slogan "I'm tired of riding in the back seat!"

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I would tend to believe that screening wouldn't be the responsibility of the educational institutions, let people go to class but the screening should be done in the hiring process.

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Spot on, Garrison! Well done!

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wow —THANK YOU! I NEEDED THIS BREATH OF FRESH AIR —

Teri

Friday Harbor, WA

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You nailed it, GK! You’re firing on all cylinders and I hope you don’t ease up!

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I am 91 and each day I sit back and write a poem or two and send them out to friends. Often they email back how they enjoyed the daily poem. If I had Trump's email address, I would send one to him. I would write a special poem about and for him. I beleive he would react in not a very nice way.

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He doesn't read unless it's a letter of adulation from a sycophant. Why would you waste your effort on him. He might take note if you put your note on a piece of currency and then only if the dignitary pictured was him - in which case it would not be a dignitary and it would be counterfeit. So, go ahead.... He's a con-artist and a counterfeit decent human anyway.

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We might enjoy reading it, though. 😊

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