Things that make you go hmmm…

Plymouth Town Councilwoman Donsenia Teel received a turkey, a gift card, and wings from a free turkey and lunch giveaway on Friday to help community members struggling ahead of the holidays.

Organized by Washington Regional Medical Center in Plymouth, dozens of people lined up outside the hospital to receive relief, hospital staff say, as the town’s food pantry remains down and many residents continue to face economic hardships, according to WITN. Hospital staff distributed 100 turkeys in total.

Nov. 10, Teel cast a vote in support of closing the Plymouth Food Pantry…  OK…

Nobody begrudges Teel a turkey, but somehow her accepting a turkey dinner feels … wrong … since council voted to evict the food pantry — see our story here about how the pantry has to be gone by Dec. 1.  The food pantry will be open next Tuesday to assist those in need.

Hospital CEO Frank Avignone paid for all the food himself and said local businesses also donated gift cards for Friday’s event. That’s a good thing. Avignone said Needs 2B Cleaned, The Wash House, Top Shelf Band, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, and A Plus Heating and Air donated gift cards. Wings-N-Thangs and Lemonade With A Glo were on hand, serving lunch paid for by the hospital.

“Nobody likes to go into the holidays on a negative note. A lot of people are suffering, and are not able to buy groceries,” Avignone said to WITN. “This is important, so we can help support their health.”

Again, I’m glad Teel got a turkey and the hospital helped the needy.  

However, wouldn’t it have been cool if the drive-by mainstream media reporter – who is probably clueless as to who Councilwoman Teel is – had asked Teel why she voted to evict the food pantry while she was in line waiting for a free turkey dinner at Friday’s giveaway?

After all, there are going to be a lot of hungry folks – estimated to be between 80-100 families per week, probably more, who will not be able to count on the food pantry that will be closed ahead of the Christmas and New Years’ holidays. 

Media’s Treatment of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump and Epstein 

As we all know, Georgia congresswoman Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is resigning from Congress. I find it interesting that mainstream media and Democrats are holding Greene up as a paragon of virtue for her defiance of President Trump when these same folks have been harshly criticizing Greene for years — they never gave a crap about Greene, even being derisive of her conspiracy theories, until she was critical of Trump.  

And then there’s this exchange between Trump and an ABC reporter about Jeffrey Epstein this past week.

“​​It’s not the question that I mind, it’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions,” Trump said.

“I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert — and I guess I turned out to be right,” he added, noting that he thinks former President Bill Clinton and Larry Summers, who ran Harvard, were connected to Epstein’s sexual exploitation of women and girls. “They went to his island many times. I never did. Andrew Weissmann, I hear. All these guys were friends with him. You don’t even talk about those people. You just keep going on the Epstein files.”

Trump’s not wrong when it comes to the double standard in coverage of him in the media. 

Trump said ABC’s licencing should be revoked, calling it a “radical-Left” network.

“You’re a crappy company,” he said to the reporter.

“I think the licence should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” he said. “And we have a great commissioner, a chairman who should look at that because I think when you come in and when you’re 97 percent negative to Trump and then Trump wins the election in a landslide, that means obviously you’re not credible and you’re not credible as a reporter.”

He then urged the reporter to look into which Democrats allegedly received money from Epstein, as well as who spent time on Epstein’s island.

“Larry Summers was with him all the time,” Trump said. “That creep … Reid Hoffman, was with him all the time. I don’t know Reid Hoffman, but I know he spends a lot of money on the radical Left. Reid Hoffman, in my opinion, should be under investigation. He’s a sleazebag. And those are the people — but they don’t get any press. They don’t get any news. And you’re not after the radical Left because you’re a radical left network.”

I could go on and on about the media mistakes, but instead, let’s end on a high note with a column about Thanksgiving.

THANKSGIVING, A DAY OF THANKS OR JUST TURKEY DAY

By Keith Throckmorton

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV): “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Psalms 100:4 (KJV): “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Today, the recognition of God as our creator is becoming more and more compromised to satisfy the abominations of society. The meaning of Thanksgiving is becoming more and more known as Turkey Day. Thanksgiving is not about eating turkey, enjoying big meals, or watching football; it is about thanking God for our blessings. The holiday of Thanksgiving began centuries ago. 

The meaning of the first Thanksgiving for those early pilgrims was just the opposite. It was about thanking God for their survival and celebration as such. Their lives, in every way, had been burdensome, complicated, and challenging.

In September 1620, a small ship “Mayflower” left Plymouth, England, heading to America. There were 102 passengers on board for the voyage. The treacherous and uncomfortable journey lasted 66 days. The Mayflower and its passengers arrived near the tip of Cape Cod. A month later, the Mayflower, with its passengers, crossed Massachusetts Bay and established the village of Plymouth.

In November of 1621, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. The pilgrim’s first corn harvest was successful, inspiring Governor William Bradford to organize the celebration. Invited to the festival were the Native American Wampanoag people. The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted for three days.

There are records documenting what the menu consisted of. It is believed that the meals were prepared using the foods, spices, and cooking methods of the Native Americans, as the pilgrims had no oven, sugar, or other supplies. The meals did not have pies, cakes, or other desserts associated with modern Thanksgiving. It is believed that turkeys were part of the festivities due to New England’s abundance of edible wild turkeys.

The second Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1623. The purpose was to thank God for ending a prolonged drought threatening the previous year’s harvest. This blessing prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. From there, Thanksgiving became an annual celebration in other New England settlements.

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress designated one or more years annually for Thanksgiving. In 1789, the first Thanksgiving proclamation was made by George Washington. President Washington called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War and ratification of the U.S. Constitution: subsequent Presidents, John Adams and James Madison, designated days of thanks.

In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, a known editor, writer, and author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb, ” had been on a mission to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, Sarah had been writing to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians. Due to her efforts, Sarah had earned the nickname “Mother of Thanksgiving.”

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln responded to Sarah’s request with a proclamation for all Americans to “commend to his [God] tender care all of those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable strife” and “heal the wounds of the nation.” President Lincoln designated Thanksgiving as the final Thursday in November. It was celebrated on that day until 1939 when Franklin D Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week to boost retail sales during the Great Depression. The change in the Thanksgiving celebration became known as “Franksgiving.”

The difference was met with much opposition. In 1941, the celebration was moved back to the fourth Thursday in November, which remains today.

Thanksgiving is more than turkey day, eating and watching football. If the reason for this holiday is to have any meaning, the spirit of the pilgrims of 1621 and the history of the day must be remembered and restored.

Psalms 95:2-3(KJV): “Let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

Keith Throckmorton, Fairfax County Police (Retired and Chaplain), Hertford, NC