--GOD IS GREAT, BEER IS GOOD, AND PEOPLE ARE CRAZY

 

 …Hey, You.
How’s your holiday weekend going so far?  Mine’s been pretty darn good.  It’s hard to complain when the weather makes everything look like a slice of paradise.

 ...On the lake yesterday I saw a woman sitting on an inflatable white swan, a little girl swimming with floaties on her arms, two grannies in a canoe, slews of fishermen, lots of wake boarders and water skiers, the Sheriff, but thankfully, no boat donning a confederate flag so far.

Oh, and I didn’t see you.

…I’m taking a poetry break to share some things I recently learned that you might find interesting.  The first one blew my mind:

-A 7th grader at Lance Cpl. Anthony Aguirre Junior High School in Houston was awarded a certificate that read "MOST LIKELY TO BECOME A TERRORIST" inside a border of cheerful stars.  Lizeth Villanueva, who was bestowed the unwanted honor, said her teacher gave out different "mock awards" including “MOST LIKELY TO GET ALONG WITH WHITE PEOPLE” to her advanced learning class. The teacher told them they were supposed to be funny but they "might hurt students' feelings."

-36% of women said they’d take a pay cut, gain 10 pounds or remain celibate six months in exchange for clear skin

-Co-workers make 49% of American feels shame or guilt for taking a vacation.

-President Obama spent $97 million dollars on vacations in 8 years.

Trump has spent $24 million dollars in his first 10 weeks.

--23,000 people were killed in Mexico last year in the fight against drug cartels.  That death toll is second only to Syria, and well ahead of Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, countries where was violence is frequently in the news

-Americans spent $6.7 billion on legal marijuana in 2016, up 34% from 2015

--4,169 people died from drug overdoses in Ohio last year alone, a 36% increase.  The bulk of the deaths were opioid-related.

-A 59.60-carat pink diamond sold for a record $71.2 million in Hong Kong on Tuesday to local jewelers Chow Tai Fook after a five-minute bidding war between three phone bidders.

The "Pink Star", the largest Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America according to Sotheby's, set a new record for any diamond or jewel at auction.

-Joining the rarefied $100 million-plus club in a sales room punctuated by periodic gasps from the crowd, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s powerful 1982 painting of a skull brought $110.5 million at Sotheby’s, to become the sixth most expensive work ever sold at auction. Only 10 other works have broken the $100 million mark.