Anthony Rizzo has been traded from the Cubs to the Yankees? I know the Cubs have been talking about the need for a shake up lately but dayamn!

Oh phew! Just when I thought I missed taking Nathan the 7-Eleven today for 7/11 and free Slurpees, I found out that, for the second consecutive year, there was no event held. 

For years -- heck, decades -- Hollywood has sought to reboot the venerated Fletch film franchise that starred Chevy Chase in what I maintain was his best role ever. He was perfectly cast as investigative reporter Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher. You'd swear author Gregory MacDonald wrote the books with Chase in mind. 

I got a pop-up on my phone about an hour ago of a like on an Instagram photo I took from a name I didn't recognize. About 15 minutes ago, I received another notification of a comment on a photo from another name I didn't recognize. Both were attached to the same image in my account.

And how do we celebrate Father’s Day? Hunkered down in our lower level bathroom hiding from a tornado warning caused by a storm hitting us now that may or may not have produced a twister one town south of us and rotation due west of us that is heading east. 

The news came down the pipeline today that the victim of a recent cyberattack paid more than US$10M to liberate their computer network from the ransomware attack they experienced last week. 

This kid beat leukemia at age six and was able to return to school. Once there, he was greeted with a standing ovation of class and schoolmates. If you can't see the embed below, check it out on Reddit.

Y’know what? I don’t care what the CDC says, I’m still wearing a mask in public for the foreseeable future. I know Katie and Nathan agree as well.

Hey, I've got a couple questions for you all that I'm seeking insight on. While they are parenting related, it's kinda tangential and, honestly, they can be answered by anyone. So take a look and leave a reply in the comments.

While I don't shop at 7-Eleven all that often, I do have their app and I receive emails from being part of their "members club." Why? Because Nathan and I would occasionally go for walks or bike rides during the summer when we needed a break and go there for a Slurpee.

For a while, I used the Apple News app on my iPhone to get my daily news fix.

Yeah, so I went ahead and created my own contribution to the #BernieMittensMeme. What of it??

I was having a spirited debate with some friends regarding a quote in an article about Garth Brooks and his performance at President Biden's inauguration yesterday. The article said, "Brooks has played almost every inauguration since Jimmy Carter’s presidency, save for Ronald Reagan’s and [45]’s." 

“He’s small. He just looks small.” 
—Dana Bash, CNN, describing Cheeto Pres as he boarded Marine 1 to leave the White House for the last time. 

The closer we get to Inauguration 2021, the more nervous I get about the fact that the Democratic Party is going to have full control over both the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as the Presidency.

I am proud to be an American. But, right now, I’m just not proud of some of the people who call themselves my “fellow Americans.”

...Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up phrases and clauses that balance, like.

Okay, sorry, no more Schoolhouse Rock. Though the temptation be mighty! This is about the great Conjunction in the sky... the alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, and Earth that happens every 400ish years and is theorized by Johannes Kepler as being the celestial event that guided the wisemen to Jesus' birth manger in Bethlehem.

I knew it was coming. We all knew it was coming. That didn’t make it any easier, though, when this popped up on my phone earlier this afternoon...

I completely forgot that with a new Democratic White House, that Ajit Pai, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, will likely be canned, if he doesn't quit first. To him, I sing (with apologies to Don McLean)...

This is the greatest thing I’ve seen on the Web in God-only-knows how long. The creativity that went into it... outstanding! Well done, @_gh0stn!

This is my world and I am world leader pretend
This is my life
And this is my time
I have been given the freedom
To do as I see fit
It's high time I've razed the walls that I've constructed

Too much COVID crap going on. Way too much. Make it all stop. Please!

Just as I’ve been saying that they both need to and should do, the State of Illinois is firing up a resurgence mitigation plan for dealing with a pretty major flare up of COVID-19 cases in a regions 7 and 8 around the Chicagoland area. This will begin on Friday, October 23.

I know he’s not the greatest candidate. I know he may not be everyone’s first choice.

I really had no idea what I was going to blog about today and then the news came down the wire... Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist and founding member of Van Halen, succumbed to cancer at the age of 65. 

“Because you weren’t President screwing things up!”

–Joe Biden

’nuff said.

I thought I had seen everything there was to see regarding footage of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. A buddy sent me the link to this documentary made by two French filmmakers who were there. 

Blew my mind earlier tonight to hear that Chadwick Boseman — the brilliance who starred as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown, as well as bringing to life T’Challa, also known as the Black Panther — died from stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 42, Jackie’s jersey number. 43.

Because I get my prescriptions from Walgreens, I’m subscribed to every email under the sun that they send out. Typically, I delete them sight unseen. But one came in today with the following subject line that caught my attention immediately...

I’ve paid very little attention to any sort of sports this season mostly because they’ve all either been canceled, postponed, or abbreviated to the point where they feel pointless. Don’t get me wrong, I miss sports, but I’ve missed them for years now. 

It’s official! Joe Biden’s running mate for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election is California Senator and former Attorney General Kamala Harris. 

One thing I’ve noticed when going out on walks or trekking across the occasional parking lot or stopping at a busy intersection is that the regular assortment of outdoor litter is now being supplemented or supplanted by face masks. 

I've gone a little hypocritical here in that, despite (or maybe "in spite of") my antiracist cries, when it was announced that the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company was retiring their Native American "maiden" logo, Katie and I may have gone online and ordered some maiden-adorned apparel. Please don't judge us too harshly.

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A coworker, who is a fellow parent and part-time teacher like me, shared this video. I am, in turn, sharing it with you. It's powerful. And heartbreaking.