Christmas in Maine

• It's cold in Maine today with snow on the ground.  Tomorrow it is predicted to be much warmer with snow turning to rain.  It's been like that alot this winter - cold and warm - back and forth.  Our bodies get confused as they begin to adapt to the cold and then it turns warm again.  Lots of people we know are sick including MB who can't seem to shake her rough cough.

• We had a lovely Christmas day made particularly special by a lunch date with our high school neighbor Leann who we befriended soon after moving to Bath nine years ago.  She so kindly took the money her parents gave her for Christmas and bought gifts for all her friends.  She's learned to have a sharing heart.  In the evening we went to the home of friends in nearby Brunswick for dinner and little skits.  Three of us from the Addams-Melman House sang a homemade song that introduced the carrot cake we brought along with us.

• It was a pleasant surprise to see the outgoing Obama administration go off the rails and abstain on the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel for their illegal settlements in Palestine.  Less surprising was the response to the US abstention by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who vowed Saturday to not allow the US to give any more money to the United Nations until it reversed its Friday decision. The Hill newspaper in Washington reported Cruz tweeted that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, adding, "No US $ for UN until reversed."  It is this kind of talk coming from supremely arrogant Republicans in Congress that is going to make for some very interesting times during the next four years.  My guess is that these prima donnas are going to help drive the US empire right over the cliff into the abyss.

• It was encouraging to see this short video below of Christians in Aleppo celebrating their liberation from the US-Saudia Arabia-Qatar-Israel-Turkey funded, armed and directed ISIS terrorists just in time for the holy holidays.  It has been a tragic several years to watch the US and its allies try to turn Syria into another Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya.  There can be no doubt that one reason the US has been demonizing Russia is due to the fact that Moscow has determined that it will not allow another nation in the Middle East to be turned into a failed state.  For the deep background story on why Syria was being punished by the US and its allies read Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s piece here   
Bruce