Brian Burch

USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving. Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free. I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these." "They just come with the table, man." They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat. I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared. "Did we…?" "Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless." Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined. My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude." Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man. I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy. Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most. Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.

This is America.

A light show honoring Antoni Gaudí has just lit up Sagrada Família. It felt like the tallest church in the world, for a moment, let its impossible beauty be seen by its creator.

@mich_enjoyer @owroot Everything north of US10 is Up North. There is no debate.

Where does Northern Michigan begin? It’s a divisive question, but @owroot has an answer!

In what will certainly become one of the most fundamental speeches of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told the Spanish Parliament, before receiving a 7-minute standing ovation: "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization." "If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?" he said, speaking to a gathering of politicians, many supporting abortion and euthanasia. "Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?" "Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person." "For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile," he said, repeating what John Paul II emphasized decades ago. Starting his speech he commented that Church's is the "message offered in the spirit of service to the human person." "When the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate," Pope Leo said, emphasizing "the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good." He hailed Spain as country that "has known how to view the human being as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political order. It has recognized the human being as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench -- in a word, as someone whose dignity takes precedence over all utility and to whose service legislative action is subject." He said it was Catholic orders that "helped to shape a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties." "That aspiration continues to resonate today: that dignity, justice and the common good should be the measure of social relations, both at the national and international levels." Referring multiple times to his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical, he said: "When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all." "In this context, the family — the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community — takes on particular importance," Pope Leo said. "The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging." "Human life can never be treated as a commodity," the pope said. "A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted; it attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame." "I invite you, then, to lift your gaze to the world around you, not to turn away from reality, but to remember that every decision by public authorities affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard." "The expanse of one’s vision consists precisely in looking more deeply at what is at stake in every public decision. This is why, alongside technical solutions and legal reforms, a moral renewal is also needed." Video: Vatican Media (fragment of speech follows)

I’ve had this flag in my garage since before we moved into this house, seven years ago. Just putting off drilling into the stone. I mounted it today to prepare for America’s 250th celebration! #america250

Today in 1929, Vatican City became a sovereign state!

.@Intuit must be the most incompetent customer service on the planet. I am having the same conversation with them that I had last week. They don't do what they say they will do, and they can't complete simple tasks. As a 13-year customer, this is unacceptable.

“or whatever” indeed.

Thread.

@RickDeVos strange, Norwegian fjords and fields distributing swords is cool, but no basis for a system of government.

It begins.

Gene Rayburn: microphonic visionary. #RETVRN

AND THERE IS A PHOTO

The Boys are all gonna become President Arthur stans.

Fact about me: I LOVE sport wagons. 3-series. A4. Jetta. XF. Even the Regal. Every one of them. Make Wagons in America Again!

Los 25 minutos previos al amerizaje de Artemis I comprimidos en 60 seg Crédito: NASA

@AmericanAir @AmericanAir thinks it’s a “big,” legacy airline, but they operate like a low-cost, budget carrier.

@AmericanAir It’s even worse. Your flight team came in late last night, and instead of letting us know LAST NIGHT, we are STUCK on this plane, missing our connection, rebooked for THE NEXT DAY. This is complete disrespect for your customers.

As a result of @AmericanAir’s incompetence, we are going to miss our connection. We are boarded for a SCHEDULED flight and while finding our seats, the plane delayed so the crew could “complete a rest period.” Truth is: they screwed up check-in so bad, they are holding us.