The Cookie Castle News
About Memorial Day And Biden's Unforgivable Lie
IN THE MAY 24, 2025 ISSUE
Royal Greetings From The Cozy Castle Kitchen
Food For Thought
Laugh of the Week
Product Review
— Outsunny Pop-Up Tent
Household Hint
Recipe Of The Week
— No Churn Lemon Ice Cream
A View From The Castle (News Commentary Blog)
— Cancer Diagnosis Notwithstanding — Biden Told One Unforgivable Lie
CookieQueen Entertainment
Cookie Queen Cookies & Cakes
Cookie Queen Cookbooks
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ROYAL GREETINGS FROM THE COZY CASTLE KITCHEN. .
So - it’s Memorial Day weekend and I can’t help but wonder if there are many people left in the United States of America who actually know the reason for this holiday.
Ask people what they have planned for the weekend and most will talk about food: Picnics. Barbecues. Weenie roasts.
I asked friends, family, neighbors about their plans. Not one person mentioned anything they planned to observe the meaning of why we have observe Memorial Day.
I understand how the picnic/food aspect came to be. In the OLD days our grandparents would have picnics on what they called Decoration Day — but they would have these picnics at the cemeteries where they went to honor those who gave their tomorrow so we can have our today.
My Memorial weekend began at 6 a.m. today when I started the day with prayer in remembrance of all those who died in service to this nation.
Next on the agenda was to put out\my patriotic yard decor. I just got a new red, white and blue wind spinner.
While I pounded the stakes into the ground I gave each hammer blow in memory of someone who died so that I could enjoy this beautiful day.
I hurried to complete my morning chores so that I could watch the Graduation Ceremony at West Point Military Academy. For the first time ever on TV Real America’s Voice showed the entire “long gray line” march into Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y. Impressed. And shocked to see how many women were among the graduates — 25% of the 1,000 graduates are female.
And then they showed the parents of those Army cadets. That’s when I started crying. These people are willing to do something that few of our approximately 346,790,860 citizens will or can do. While we are not currently at war - there is no guarantee that any of these 1,000 graduates won’t have to use the weapons they have learned to operate. And no guarantee that they will return home safely to their families.
President Donald Trump gave the commencement address. He spent most of his speaking time introducing members of the class who had received special honors. There were four Rhodes scholars in the class — all women!!! Instead of “hogging” the spotlight, President Trump invited some of the honorees to speak as well.
He talked about the graduates and their achievements. He even honored cadets in the Century Club — those who had completed 100 hours of “marching time” — demerit punishment for minor infractions. The crowd roared with laughter when President Trump pardoned them all.
There was a huge American flag fluttering in the wind behind him. And there was lots of exciting military music to be heard. I am a John Phillips Sousa aficianado.
Tomorrow I will attend Mass — and I hope they will play some patriotic music too before, during and after the service..
On Monday I will go out early so that I can lower my giant flag to half-staff at sunrise. At noon I will raise the flag to full-staff. This practice symbolizes mourning and a reaffirmation of patriotism. At 8:30 I will head to Saint Margaret Mary Church in Lower Burrell — this time for a special community Mass to mark the true meaning of MEMORIAL DAY. We will remember the brave men and women who died while protecting us and people around the world.
Then I will rush home to watch the “wreath laying” ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery which begins at 10 a.m. Commander in Chief Donald Trump and Marine veteran Vice President J.D. Vance will participate in this event.
There are many wreath-laying ceremonies planned tomorrow and Monday in hundreds of National parks throughout the country. Former Steeler and decorated Vietnam War veteran Rocky Blier will be the guest speaker tomorrow (Sunday) at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies for the Memorial event which begins at 11 a.m.
On Monday Jenni and I will do what we usually do on Memorial Day — we will go to a nearby cemetery and walk around and pick up flags that have fallen on the ground. Jenni is very good at finding them. We put them back in their holders and say a prayer at each gravesite of people we did not get to know.
That’s our Memorial Weekend. What are you planning?
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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LAUGH OF THE WEEK
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PRODUCT REVIEW
I have a blueberry bush in a pot. It is huge — six years old — and provides a wonderful crop every year. I protect this bush through the winter by wrapping the pot in bubble wrap and covering it with three protective cloths. In spring and summer I protect my crop from hungry birds by putting up a huge tent. The tent is difficult to put up and requires the assistance of a friend. This year wanted to find an easier way to protect the berries and chose the tent pictured below. The description said it was pop-up tent— take it out of the package, throw it in the car and it automatically becomes a tent.
That much was actually true. I was shocked at how easy it was to turn this mess of mesh into a tent. Then I used the ground stakes and guy wires to stabilize it. I also added eight (two on each side) huge rocks to weight down the tent aprons. It's well made and the four zippered mesh openings make access to the inside so easy. It would be able to walk in and pick my berries easily instead of bending over at the waist as I had to do with toehold tent. I was so happy with my choice of tent.
An hour later there was a 14 mph wind that came through which is when I discovered I had just wasted $89. My tent got flattened. FLATTENED. Bummer.
It took longer to fold it up and put it back in the box to send back to amazon — I explained that this thing is not wind stable.
Overall Dimensions: 70.9" L x 70.9" W x 86.6" H, for 2-3 person or one very large potted blueberry bush.
It’s now only $73.55 — but I do not recommend buying it at any price.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW37TYHS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
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HOUSEHOLD HINT
I use rice a lot and I never knew this: it contains concerning levels of arsenic and lead. Yikes. I use rice to make the beef/sweet potto stew that I feed my dog.
A study of 211 different grain samples found in 105 different brands of rice had high levels of heavy metals, including brown and white rices produced in the southern U.S. and arborio rice from Italy.
Heavy metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are associated with a number of health risks, including developmental delays, liver and kidney disease, and cancer.
To reduce your risk, choose rices that had lower levels, such as California-grown white rice and jasmine rice from Thailand. You can also cook your rice like pasta with an excess of water to help remove some of the metals. And as I am doing right now — you can soak the rice in water for an hour before cooking with it.
Rinsing the rice before cooking it, or soaking it for at least a half hour before cooking it can also reduce the amount of heavy metals in the rice. — and can decrease arsenic concentrations by 13% to 84%.
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Other helpful household hints can be found in the second edition of my book "Never Scrub Another Toilet- The Cookie Queen Tells you How to Keep your Castle Clean and Other Ways To Live Like Royalty."
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RECIPE OF THE WEEK
I posted this recipe for Lemon Ice Cream last year. But since then I discovered a new way to make it and wanted you to have that as well. This one does not require an ice cream machine or churn. Simply stir, pour, freeze. And it tastes just as wonderful as when it is made in the machine. You can use either fresh or bottled lemon juice. I’ve used both. Rita and Maria — two of my very good friends — stopped by to visit this week and I served this. Rave reviews!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
How To Make It
* Whisk all ingredients until the sugar dissolves.
* Pour into loaf pan . Cover with plastic wrap.
“ Place pan in freezer 3-4 hours or overnight.
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A VIEW FROM THE CASTLE (News Commentary Blog)
Cancer Diagnosis Notwithstanding — Biden Told One Unforgivable Lie
If you subscribe to this newsletter you might recall that I was one of the first journalists to mention that Joe Biden was not all there. I called him Brain Dead starting in 2019. Not just in the newsletter — I had a sign in my front yard declaring that fact which is now obvious to everyone.
As it should have been to everyone back in 2019 — everyone with eyes and ears and was not themselves brain dead.
So this week when highly-paid Main Stream Media folks claimed that they “just didn’t know” it makes me wonder what else they are not reporting that is patently obvious.
I can understand why those on Team Biden — his wife, his son, his grandchildren, his doctors and lawyers, his closest aides — did not report that he was totally incapable of doing the job that uninformed morons voted him to do. That was their job — to protect Brain Dead Biden.
But I now do not want any of these people — the Media and the Democrats and the Bidens — telling us to just move on from this “news” because the poor old geezer has metastatic bone cancer.
He may or may not. I will never ever believe anything they say after four years of blatant lies. And anyone who knows anything at all about cancer knows that you just don’t “discover” metastatic cancer overnight unless you have not seen a doctor in many many years. Biden saw doctors often and had the best medical care available. Those of us with medical knowledge know that he most likely had symptoms for years and probably was being treated for it while allegedly the president because he had many of the side effects of drugs used to treat prostrate cancer.
That is neither here, nor there. Maybe he has bone cancer. Maybe he does not. I cannot feel sorry for him and not because he lied to us about who was running this country for the past four years. I will not move on because of a lie he has told since the day his first wife Neilia died Dec. 18, 1972.
Neilia was on her way with their three little kids — Beau, Hunter and Naomi — to buy a Christmas tree. She was heading west along rural Valley Road in Hockessin, Delaware. At the intersection with Delaware Route 7 (Limestone Road), Neilia pulled out in front of a tractor-trailer traveling north along Route 7 and crashed into the truck. Police determined that Neilia drove into the path of the tractor-trailer. Neilia and Naomi died. Beau had a broken leg and Hunter had a skull fracture. The truck driver, Curtis C. Dunn, 47, of Avondale, PA, was not injured.
The police report stated that Neilia was at fault for the accident. But from that day on until just recently Joe Biden claimed that the truck driver caused the accident because “he drank his lunch.” That was not true. The man had not been drinking. Delaware Judge Jerome Herlihy, who investigated the crash, told CBS News, "There was no indication that the truck driver had been drinking.
But every chance he got, Joe Biden blamed the man for his wife’s death to gain sympathy and votes. He often would say, “A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly and killed my daughter instantly and hospitalized my two sons …”
He said it on TV, on radio, at campaign stops, in the White House — even after the man’s family wrote him letters begging him to stop telling that lie. Mr. Dunn died in 1999 and his family attributes his death partly to Biden’s slandering him far and wide. His daughter Pam Hamill said, "He was haunted and was tormented by that for years.”
Last fall, a spokesman for Biden said that the senator "fully accepts the Dunn family's word that these rumors were false."
How about he accepts the police report that rumors told by Biden were false.
That lie is unforgivable. Biden knew it was a lie and yet he said it over and over and over and over.
Biden had no compassion for this man or his family. He deserves no compassion now. He is just an evil pathetic demented liar.
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COOKIE QUEEN ENTERTAINMENT
The Original Class Act has been entertaining audiences for the past 33 years. We sing. We dance. We act. We'll make you laugh and some times there will be a tear or two as well as we perform music loved by mostly older folks.
The Original Class Act is available for both daytime and evening performances. We come with our own sound system. All we need from you is an audience, a space to perform and a nearby room to change costumes.
Just like the old movie story - a group of friends got together to “put on a show” for the church fun fair way back in 1992. We presented an entire program of Cole Porter music.
The three-day gig stretched into 33 years as the phone never stops ringing. Everyone wants to book our group for a retirement home, nursing home, church dinner, a women’s club or lodge meeting, family gathering. We perform for political rallies and just like the late Bob Hope, we even do benefits to raise thousands of dollars for worthy causes and we often do benefit shows at the VA in Aspinwall.
The Original Class Act performs throughout the tri-state area for groups from 10 to 3,000.
The group’s extensive repertoire features more than 2,000 songs including Broadway hits, country-music tunes, religious favorites, movie themes, Disney songs, patriotic anthems, inspirational hymns, and holiday favorites for just about every holiday - Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Oktoberfest and Thanksgiving.
All shows are choreographed and costumed with members of the group making most of our outfits. This is a very talented bunch - at least that’s what audiences tell us after giving us rousing standing ovations.
You can book us for a date by phoning 724-339-0920 or e mail us at cookiequ@verizon.net.
Here is a list of our current programs. You may request a song list for any program:
* American Salute - Features patriotic songs, music from the Big Band era, Rock ‘n’ Roll hits from the 50s - music Americans love to hear.
* Best of Broadway - Have a favorite show tune? It’s probably in this program which features hits from dozens of Broadway shows.
* Classic Cole Porter - You’ll hum or sing along on every number. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll reminisce.
* Disney on Parade - Features songs near and dear to the young and the young at heart from all your favorite Disney movies.
* Everything’s Coming Up Flowers - In 2018 we developed this program for a show we did at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. All of the songs mention blossoms of some kind - roses, daffodils, lilies, hyacinths, crocuses. Come “Tiptoe through the Tulips” with us as we celebrate the beauty and musicality of flowers.
* In The Good Old Summertime - A joyous celebration of summer with lots of familiar tunes.
* Irish Festival of Song and Dance - featuring traditional Irish favorites and some sing-along numbers too. We have new Irish costumes this year and can't wait to show them off.
* Love Changes Everything - Love songs from movies and musicals. As Cole Porter says, “Let’s Do It.” Time for romance and some song and dance.
* Lullaby of Bird Land - all songs that mention birds ….. blue birds, robins, doves, eagles, turkeys. A great program for springtime.
* Music From the Movies - Pick a movie - pick your favorite song. It’s probably in this show. Everyone’s welcome to sing along too.
* Oktoberfest - Get out your dancing shoes & warm up your pipes for a visit to old Germany. We bring the music, you bring the beer.
* One Woman, 20 Songs - A Tour de Force - Sometimes not all of our members are available for the date you want. Never fear - one of our members will be there. Pat - recently received rave reviews for her one-woman show. She sings, dances and presents a fashion show of costumes while performing her solos from each of the group’s programs. One attendee asked her, “Are you from Broadway?” Another told her, “I’d be willing to pay to see this show in Pittsburgh.”
* O Solo Mio - A Concert of Our Favorite Solos” - Members of The Original Class Act (and sometimes a guest performer too) have chosen their favorite solos to sing for you. There are songs from movies, Broadway, holidays and some inspirational music too. Maybe one of their favorites is one of your favorites.
* Showtime Showcase - This program features two dozen of our favorite numbers from all of the shows that we have done in the past 29 years.
* Let Us Lift You Up - Traditional hymns and inspirational songs from Broadway and movies - including You Raise Me Up, El Shaddai, Scarlet Ribbons, To Where You Are, Roads, Lord of All Hopefulness, God of Our Fathers, The Lord's Prayer, O America, In God We Still Trust, All God's Creatures, Child of Peace, Hallelujah and songs from Sister Act, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
* December Holiday Festival - The show features traditional holiday music, some sing-alongs and lots of glitz and glamour in the many costumes changes.
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COOKIE QUEEN COOKIES
Current Cookie List As of 1/25
Amaretti $7
Amaretti (filled) $9
Apricot Delight $9
Biscotti $7 (frosted white with red/green drizzle)
vanilla
almond
lemon
anise
Brownies $15
Chocolate Chip $7
Cho Chip/Nuts $8
Chipettes $7
Cho Mac $7
Coconut Mac $7
Cowboy Cookies $8
Fudge Dusters $7
Ginger Snaps $6
Gingerbread Cutouts $7
Gobs, Cho $8
Gobs, Pkin $7
Ladylocks $9 (8 oz)
LemonTarts $9
Molasses Oatmeal $6
Molasses Raisin $9
Nutrolls $9
Oatmeal:
cho chip $6
plain $5
pecan/cc $8
apricot $8
cherry $8
raisin $6
Orange or Lemon frosted $7
PB OF $5
PB Cups $8
PB Kisses $8 (with my ganache, not Hershey Kisses)
PB Cho.Chip $8. (New this year)
Pecan Tassies $9
Pizzelles - Anise $6/18
Pizzelles - Vanilla $6/18
Pizzelles - Filled $8
Pumpkin Cho Chip $9
Pumpkin Gems $7
Snickerdoodles $8
Snowballs $9
Sugar - Ch Chip $6
Sugar - Pecan $7
Sugar- Almond (Van frost with Toasted Almonds) $8
Sugar -Trees $7 (red/green frost)
Jewish stars $7 (blue/white frost)
Thumbprints $9
Chocolate
Apricot
Lemon Cream
Raspberry Cream
Vanilla Cream (can be tinted in your colors)
Triple Cho Chews 8
Weecakes $6
I also do Buckeyes - which are candy, not cookies. $9/12 (Dark or milk cho)
For Thanksgiving:
Pumpkin/Cream Cheese Pie (must return MY pie pans)
Pumpkin Roll
Carrot Cake
Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. It’s one of the necessities when planning a wedding here in Western Pennsylvania. But not so in other parts of the country. I often deal with chefs at restaurants that hail from Southern and Western states and they ask me, “What’s with this cookie table at weddings?”
The custom is old world. European. Italian. Slovak. Cookies are expected. Back in the old country when a bride and groom would greet their guests to “collect” their gifts, they gave in exchange a small plate of cookies to take home. Many of these people who immigrated to the United States and mostly to the Eastern United States brought this custom with them.
You’ve probably wondered why little old ladies will stuff cookies in their purse before leaving a wedding reception. Now you know.
Anyway - it’s a nice custom and most area brides want cookies at their weddings. But how many should there be and what kind?
You know your guests better than I do. Are they cookie eaters or not? Are most of the guests in their 20s - these people usually are watching their weight. Are most of the guests men? Men like chocolate anything and they don’t like those dainty fussy cookies like Peaches. They want a brownie or a gob.
Are some of your guests children? They like smaller cookies - but lots of them.
Does the guest list include elderly women? They want the old-fashioned cookies like nutrolls, kolachi, pizzelles. And they want to take some home.
So - my stock answer is this: If you are having a sit-down meal and cake - then figure on a minimum of four cookies per person. Though - if you are Italian - you know in your heart it’s better to have too many than not enough, then figure on six per person. My cookies can be frozen IF there are any left over. If the cookies will be out before the appetizers are served, guests coming from the church will be hungry and will snarf down every cookie in sight and fill up and then they won’t eat the expensive meal. Try to discourage having the cookies out before dinner is served.
How many different kinds should you have? Not too too many because, when the nutrolls get raves and people start talking them up and then someone goes in search of a nutroll and there are none left - - bummer. It’s better to have fewer varieties and more of each cookie.
Here are some other questions often asked by prospective brides:
1. Do you tray cookies? Yes - but that costs extra for the trays and my time. I have spent six and seven hours traying cookies for big weddings. And you should ask at the reception hall. Some venues want to use their own trays for the cookies ... and they will charge you for this service. I prefer to tray them myself because sometimes folks who don’t know beans about cookies will put things on trays that just don’t go together.
For example, they will put anise pizzelles on a tray with other cookies. Once you put anise anything on the tray - all of the cookies taste like anise. Or they will put soft and crisp cookies together which means soon they all will be soft as the crisp ones absorb moisture from the soft ones. And then they all taste bad. And then there was the time that some dopey country club demanded that I have the cookies there on Friday morning for a Saturday evening wedding. As chance would have it, my singing group had a show at the same country club on Friday evening. Nosey as I am, I walked into the room where the wedding was to be held the following day and there were my wonderful cookies - already on uncovered trays with flies buzzing all over them.
2. Do you do “cookie favors” for the guests? Yes - and they are really nice. It’s a small box of six cookies. On the top of the box there is a pretty note thanking the guests for sharing this special day and then the name of the couple and the date of the wedding. These little boxes are usually a huge hit. One mother of the bride called me to say, “Those cookie boxes are all that people could talk about the next day at the post-wedding barbecue. Our out of town guests took them to their hotel rooms and enjoyed them late at night. Everyone raved about the cookies.” But I don’t do cookie bouquets? To get cookies to stay on a stick like that they have to be pretty darn hard. I don’t make hard tasteless cookies.
3. Do you make Peaches? No. No. Definitely no. I do not make anything that takes longer to make it than it does to eat it. Besides, have you ever seen how many of those half-eaten things get thrown out?
4. Do you make sugar cutout cookies? Yes - but only trees, stars and dog bones. My sugar cookies are so tender. If you want something with an appendage like a turkey neck or legs or arms they will break. Not doing those.
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COOKIE QUEEN CAKES
It is most important that your wedding cake taste good. You want guests leaving your reception to say, “That is the best wedding cake I have ever tasted.” That is why you have chosen THE Cookie Queen to bake the cake for your Special Day. My cakes taste really good. I do not specialize in elaborate decorations.
I specialize in making “one of a kind” cakes. I do not have a portfolio of cake photos because I simply refuse to do any cake design twice. Each cake is unique and is designed for YOU alone. If you have a photo of what you would like your cake to look like, please bring it to our initial consultation or Email it to me (cookiequ@verizon.net) prior to your consultation to save time.
Here is a selection of the most popular Cookie Queen wedding cake ideas:
1. A two-tiered “show” cake with the 10” bottom to be cut at the reception and served at the head table and the 7” top to be frozen for the First Anniversary. Undecorated double-layer sheet cakes are served to the other guests from the kitchen. This way everybody gets icing. There are no center cuts.
2. Filled cupcakes and Weecakes (mini cupcakes) are ideal because your guests can choose their favorite flavor of cake and frosting. The tiered cupcake stands are very expensive and I have found them to be unstable - so I no longer use them. If you choose cupcakes, I recommend still having a small two-tiered “show” cake to cut at the reception.
3. A selection of 9” cakes in many different flavors: You can choose the usual chocolate, vanilla, marble or anything else you might want to have: carrot, spice, chocolate-cherry, chocolate- raspberry, German chocolate, rum cream, lemon cream, pineapple cream, peanutbutter-chocolate or a choice of your own. Cakes are on display where guests can select their favorite and cut their own slice.
4. 8” cakes on each table - so the guests can serve themselves at each table. This provides dessert and eliminates the expense of table centerpieces. But - there sometimes is wasted cake with this method. However - any leftover cake can be frozen for use at a later time.
Prices: based on the batter, filling, frosting and number of servings you will need.
Floral Decoration: I will coordinate with your florist and have them design the flowers or I will work with your colors and design the flower decorations myself.
Frosting: I do butter cream or whipped cream only. If you wish a smooth rolled fondant finish, please select another baker. The fondant may look nice but tastes terrible. Also I do not use “white” chocolate. There is no such thing and “white chocolate” has a strange after-taste. (FYI: White chocolate contains no chocolate liquor. It is a mix of cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin, milk solids and vanilla. Chocolate liquor is the brown paste leftover after the cocoa butter has been extracted from the cocoa nibs.)
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COOKIE QUEEN COOKBOOKS
The Cookie Queen has published three cookbooks: “Royal Recipes From the Castle of the Cookie Queen,” “Hassle Free Holidays” and “Never Scrub Another Toilet.”
To find out more about her books go to her Amazon Author’s Page:
amazon.com/author/thecookiequeen
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COOKIE QUEEN CLASSES
Did you know that the Cookie Queen teaches cooking classes? A gift certificate for a class here at the Castle would make a great holiday gift. I offer a whole host of classes from two to make bread to how to make pie crust to how to make dinner in 15 minutes. You can also design your own class. Tell me what you want to learn and I will teach you. And you can bring a friend or two.
But not more than 5 in a class. Fees depend on what we’ll be learning and how many will be participating. You can purchase a gift certificate by messaging me at cookiequ@verizon.net.
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This newsletter has been published weekly for the past 30 years. You can read some of the back issues on Substack. (
) Or message me for any back issues you'd like to read.