Eclipse: What Does It Mean?

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1. Will Thomas says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:15 am

   Amen. Also, quoting MLK, Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” We must speak truths to those who preach hate and for those who support the “haters.”

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2. Lloyd Lofthouse says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:19 am

   I want to add to that.

   Dear God, have Fake President Donald Trump think he is superhuman and can stare directly at the sun without safety glasses during the eclipse, and then strike him blind. That shouldn’t be difficult, God, because the Kremlin’s Agent Orange already thinks he can do anything and get away with it and he thinks he is the greatest leader and businessman in human history. He even thinks he is famous and can grope women anytime he wants without their permission and get away with that too. To Trump, he is the greatest groper in human history. If he had the chance, he’d even grope the Virgin Mary. Doesn’t that piss you off, God? Don’t you want to turn this serial liar and traitor to his country into salt from the Dead Sea? In fact, The Donald is probably scheming to take Your place.

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3. marynwill says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:26 am

   It worked for the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

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4. Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:30 am

   Dear Diane,

   A HUGE MAHALO for this post and that sign.

   Yes! Made me laugh. We are leaving for Alliance, NE. My husband has been planning this for 5 years…funny. We will indeed take BLOTTING of the Sun, as a definite sign.

   Good one, Diane. This post touches a really DEEP and vulnerable place inside of me.

   Again, thank you.

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5. LeftCoastTeacher says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:36 am

   A big ball of cheese is going to plunge the entire country into darkness. Yup, that’s a story about Trump alright.

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6. Cecelia says:

   August 20, 2017 at 11:54 am

   Thanks for the levity. As a Catholic I have struggled to maintain praying since last November. I did find some support by reading the Catechism again and noting the many, many pages supporting social justice practices. I continue to take an hour of prayer at my church in solitary every Monday afternoon. I pray each week for the removal in the most peaceful possible way of the man my fellow Americans put in office. I will be in the chapel tomorrow during the prime viewing time in my location during the eclipse and once again will pray that God will intervene in a way that will not only end this siege but teach us some very clear lessons. I was tempted to give up the faith practices when I saw bumper stickers on cars in my church parking lot last year saying TRUMP and then lawn signs for Trump/Pence all along my short drive to work (that remained long after the election and many snow events) and folks in most of the places I shop with the red MAGA hats. I stopped shopping in a grocery where I had a fuss with a guy with clipboard way before our state primary when he told me to sign the petition to get Trump on our state ballot and I refused. The guy told me “everyone deserves a chance to be on the ballot” and I replied “not him”. So, even before all the campaign issues, the election, the horrendous inaugural and insane 200+ days he has worked for US I saw and smelled his ratness. I do what I can to express to others that he is dangerous and evil but it basically comes down to just having the courage to keep on praying and speaking up about how wrong he is and how wrong it is to have him as president. So….I too am looking for a sign from the Almighty, not because I haven’t seen numerous messages but because others keep ignoring them. Whatever, it takes, prayer, sheet cake eating, eclipses…..please end this siege God. PLEASE!

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7. Joe says:

   August 20, 2017 at 1:01 pm

   Thanks, Diane, for the levity and humor. This site helps to keep me sane. We are living through an actual Stephen King inspired horror supernatural show. The reality of a Trump “presidency” is even more bizarre and horrific than King’s worst nightmares. Hopefully Trump will resign or be impeached before he does even more damage to this country. Not that we will be that much better off with Pence but we will be marginally better off and that can make all the difference in the world.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     August 20, 2017 at 1:05 pm

     One at a time.

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8. Susan Lee Schwartz says:

   August 20, 2017 at 1:33 pm

   LOL! only it isn’t funny as this presidency has blotted out America.
   “Trump resigned the presidency already — if we regard the job as one of moral stewardship, if we assume that an iota of civic concern must joust with self-regard, if we expect a president’s interest in legislation to rise above vacuous theatrics, if we consider a certain baseline of diplomatic etiquette to be part of the equation.

   “Trump hasn’t been exercising the duties of his office. He’s been excising them, one by one. The moral forfeiture of the past week was the capper. A president is supposed to safeguard the most sacred American institutions, repairing them if need be. Trump doesn’t respect them. He has sought to discredit and disempower the judiciary, the free press, the F.B.I., the Congressional Budget Office. He even managed to inject politics into, and pollute, the Boy Scouts. This is the course of a tyrant.

   “I kept coming across variations on the verdict that he had “failed to lead,” and that phraseology is off. “Fail” and “failure” imply that there was an effort, albeit unsuccessful.
   Trump made none. He consciously decided that he didn’t care about comforting or inspiring those Americans — a majority of them — who weren’t quick and generous enough with their clapping. He was more interested in justifying himself.
   So he picked division over unity, war over peace. And make no mistake: He didn’t merely shortchange the presidency. He left it vacant.”
   frank Bruni NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/opinion/sunday/president-trump-resignation.html?ref=opinion

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   • dianeravitch says:

     August 20, 2017 at 3:56 pm

     Trump has not a shred of morality, ethics, or decency in his bloated frame. He is about himself. Me-me-me.

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9. Susan Lee Schwartz says:

   August 20, 2017 at 1:36 pm

   “Here is yet another oddity, another upending of traditional expectations. Americans accustomed constitutionally and politically to civilian leadership now find themselves relying on three current and former generals — John Kelly, the new White House chief of staff; H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser; and Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense — to stop Mr. Trump from going completely off the rails.

   “This, in essence, is where we are now: a nation led by a prince of discord– who seems divorced from decency and common sense.

   The alarm bells were loud and swift. Five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff delivered a rare rebuke, condemning race-based extremism in the military and the nation. Foreign leaders, from Secretary General António Guterres of the United Nations to Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, condemned intolerance and a failure of leadership in the White House.
   Mureen Dowd: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/19/opinion/trump-nazism-republican-party-failing.html?emc=edit_th_20170820&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=50637717&_r=0

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10. Duane E Swacker says:

    August 20, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    We’ll see what the fish have to say about the eclipse!

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11. Wait , What? says:

    August 20, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    pres is a climate denier and probably thinks the eclipse is a liberal granola eating woodstock-like hoax to get people to flock to the fields away from ambient light. Odds are he couldn’t explain the science if he had to.

    I hope there are pictures of the Obamas for pres to see all day on CNN (Chauncy Gardinier’s only source of information)

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12. Mamie Krupczak Allegretti says:

    August 20, 2017 at 7:09 pm

    I’m waiting for Trump to say that the eclipse is all his doing – as a marvelous gift to the American people. 🙂

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13. m4potw says:

    August 20, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    I am with Guru Lloyd Lofhouse that if current US President will challenge the nature by looking or staring at total eclipse while his followers take a picture of his look at the total eclipse. Hopefully, Trump’s supporters like Nazi and white extremist will follow his example. This kind of picture of Trump and his followers to stare at the total eclipse will be sensational, ha ha ha…

    Hopefully, Trump will tweet and post his picture on Instagram and Facebook that he is not blind. This will scare Chinese and North Korean leaders due to Trump’s power over nature. Yes, Trump and his followers can prove to the world that they are not blind from total eclipse. Wait and see! Back2basic

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14. Kas Winters says:

    August 20, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    PERFECT!!

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15. Catherine Martinez says:

    August 20, 2017 at 10:26 pm

    Lol

    On Sun, Aug 20, 2017 at 10:01 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:

    > dianeravitch posted: “I am married to a Roman Catholic who believes in the > power of prayer. Let’s see if this one works. ” >

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16. Duane E Swacker says:

    August 20, 2017 at 10:26 pm

    What does the eclipse mean?

    It means that the moon is in just the right position to block out the sun, taking a few hours to do so. The moon’s shadow (hey, isn’t there a song* in there?) will race across the USofA and most everyone will freak out over a rather common occurrence.

    *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0rDW5j1KU

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    • Roy Turrentine says:

      August 20, 2017 at 10:47 pm

      Common only in geologic time. Perhaps your students are right about your age. I have been telling mine that all we had to learn about continents when I was in school was Pangea. Made me so sad when we began to drift apart.

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