I cannot help but think that one cause of Tom Lehrer's death yesterday at the age of 97 might have been real events finally overtaking what even his fertile satiric imagination could conceive.

Ozzy belongs in heaven if for nothing else then for The Osbournes, the naughties MTV reality series which showed that, like the LGBTQ community, the "Satanic" left could display the sort of family values the Christian right preached about more often than practiced.

Happy my Senator is Duckworth who tells Hegseth: "This now seems to be about whether women are qualified to serve in combat not ... about whether you are qualified to be secdef.... You are not...." before destroying him with her questions.

I am a fan neither of monarchy in general nor of King Charles III in particular, but I must say that this year's King's Speech was - in form and content, sentiment and delivery - a speech orders of magnitude better than anything the US's once and future president ever has or could deliver.

On solstice at this political moment remember, as descent into darkness was a gradual one, so reemergence into light must be gradual, even if it begins today. Antiphon:O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Scripture reading for Election Day: 1 Samuel 8 (the people ask for a king)