Sunday evening, March 23, at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, Conan O'Brien received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. An annual ceremony honoring American humor first began in 1998 and has continued every year since, except during the pandemic years of 2020/21.
Here, sharing a direct quote from a story in this mornings Washington Post 3/24/2025, written by Travis M. Andrews, titled:
COMICS ROAST CONAN O'BRIEN, TORCH TRUMP AT KENNEDY CENTER'S TWAIN PRIZE
Twain was suspicious of "mindless American might," O'Brien said.
"He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed."
Quoting Twain, he said,
"Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and
your government when it deserves it."
Posting and commenting politically. It is often said that two things can be true at the same time. I believe this absolutely applies to the statement above, and so rewriting for this time and place to say: "now, in this time and this place, we can be patriotic, we can and must support our country in every way possible ~ yet, not be supportive of the government we have, for it does not deserve our support."
Whatever "label" you choose: Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal, Conservative, Progressive, Moderate choose: Fight, not flight. Every individual, every institution, everything that has made the "United" States united ~ united, strong, powerful, productive, and once a place of freedom for all ~ is being ripped apart every hour of every day. Silence is not golden.
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