Putin has ordered Russian troops into Ukraine.
The decrees on recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics order the Russian armed forces to go into separatist territory on peacekeeping missions. pic.twitter.com/cjKMidlD4Q
— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 21, 2022
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which now presents itself of congratulating you on the present favorable prospects of our public affairs. The recent accession of the important state of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States (of which official information has been received), the rising credit and respectability of our country, the general and increasing good will toward the government of the Union, and the concord, peace, and plenty with which we are blessed are circumstances auspicious in an eminent degree to our national prosperity.
In resuming your consultations for the general good you can not but derive encouragement from the reflection that the measures of the last session have been as satisfactory to your constituents as the novelty and difficulty of the work allowed you to hope. Still further to realize their expectations and to secure the blessings which a gracious Providence has placed within our reach will in the course of the present important session call for the cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness, and wisdom.
After 36 years of construction & delays, the Washington Monument was dedicated #OTD in 1885. Built to honor George Washington, the 555-foot-tall obelisk was the tallest building in the world at the time. 137 years later, it still awes & inspires. #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/6Ay70QCCX3
— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) February 21, 2022
By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
When even your enemy, George III, calls you “the greatest man in the world” during a war you deserve your own holiday.
Happy birthday (observed) to #GeorgeWashington still a symbol for America and the World. #WashingtonsBirthday pic.twitter.com/YnOiECnBk3
— Craig Bruce Smith (@craigbrucesmith) February 21, 2022
Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22nd until well into the 20th Century. However, in 1968 Congress passed the Monday Holiday Law to “provide uniform annual observances of certain legal public holidays on Mondays.” By creating more 3-day weekends, Congress hoped to “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation.”
One of the provisions of this act changed the observance of Washington’s Birthday from February 22nd to the third Monday in February. Ironically, this guaranteed that the holiday would never be celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, as the third Monday in February cannot fall any later than February 21.
Contrary to popular belief, neither Congress nor the President has ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington’s Birthday be changed to “President’s Day.”
Today we celebrate George Washington's Birthday, also known as President's Day to many around the nation. Today serves as a reminder to reflect on the leaders of our nation, past and present, who have guided us through our nation's infancy to the present day. #SemperSupra pic.twitter.com/4jm3DYpfUL
— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) February 21, 2022
God of all wisdom, we offer thanks for John Henry Newman, whose eloquence bore witness that thy Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and who didst make of his own life a pilgrimage towards thy truth. Grant that, inspired by his words and example, we may ever follow thy kindly light till we rest in thy bosom, with your dear Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, where heart speaks to heart eternally; for thou livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
On this 21st day of February 1801 St. John Henry Newman, C.O. was born. pic.twitter.com/zogjwRH5US
— FrDavid AbernethyCO (@pghoratory) February 21, 2022
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.
Amen.
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." – Ansel Adams.
Happy birthday to pioneering photographer Ansel Adams who was born on this day in 1902. The bend at the Snake River Overlook in Wyoming’s @GrandTetonNPS is an iconic shot and one Ansel Adams took himself. pic.twitter.com/c6RWukJqc8
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) February 20, 2022
Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
and the man who gets understanding,
for the gain from it is better than gain from silver
and its profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
–Proverbs 3:13-18
Beautiful rainbow over Little River this morning. 📸 via Mark Shea. #scwx #ncwx pic.twitter.com/my8H4qVDhU
— Ed Piotrowski (@EdPiotrowski) February 21, 2022