Right Turn from the Left Lane

“Ladies and gentlemen…!”

Step right up! Three rings of distractions, meaningless side shows, and overpriced concessions – all dissolving like cotton candy before your very eyes.

Welcome to the circus! All the old-time grand masters are gone. Rainbow freaks now run the show: Bearded Ladies, Angry Clowns of Color, and America Sucks Statue Topplers.

Replaced by all-new sideshow oddities:

MAGA Republicans
Blue Collar’d White Men, and of course…
Stay at Home Moms

Kids are admitted free! ^{(*…without an accompanying adult, duh)}

Well, not free free – their parents pay, sorta. In exchange for an unlimited season pass, a circus fee must be paid by their parents, by all parents, including those who are not parents. And pay they must.

Ready for some Fun n’Games? Find your admittance pea squirreled away under a set of half-shells:

Federal Nuts
State Nuts
Property Nuts
Sales Nuts
Poor Nuts (State-run Lotteries)

No luck, huh. Wanna try for double-or-nothing? Guess where it all went. Sorry, if you thought you actually had a chance. Carnival barkers invented the: “Now you see it, now you don’t.”

Losers get to beg door-to-door with guilt-induced over-priced chocolate bars to cover basic supplies.

Hang onto your wallet.

For your convenience, there are tents up everywhere! But your kids must go to the neighborhood show. And go they must.

“Choice” would, at least, allow some to escape the fairgrounds and attend some other show, but nothing’d be different. Every circus is run by the same Bᴀʀɴᴜᴍ & Bᴀɪʟᴇʏ Dᴇᴘᴀʀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏꜰ with all the same animals, acts, and clowns.

“Different” would be getting their free-entry fee back, but… good luck with that. The circus has a refund policy:

ɴᴏ ʀᴇꜰᴜɴᴅs

You’d think choice would also include to go or not to go, but…

The circus has your money
The circus has your kids

So, your choice is their’s. The only choice left is: Do you wanna stick your head in the lion’s mouth, or not?

Parents who don’t want their kids to grow up to be clowns can always run off to somewhere else – someplace serious, perhaps even religious, or just less funny. But they’d hafta cough-up the cost of admission themselves, in effect paying twice: Unrebated vanishing into thin air circus penalties along with pay-for-play tuition fees.

Meanwhile… the rest of us still get our pockets pick’d for children we don’t have to attend a circus nobody wants.

Vouchers? The Gʀᴇᴀᴛᴇsᴛ Sʜᴏᴡ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ Pᴏᴛᴏᴍᴀᴄ has already ruled that circus vouchers do not violate the 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 clown-clause:

Separation of church and all else

But vouchers are just smoke and mirrors. The Ringmaster pockets money with one hand then with the other waves hopefuls through hoops to get a coupon good for another show. Rather than escape the circus, suckers become part of it.

…and vote democrat.

Which is why the carnival is a one-trick party town: If some dull gray morning the tent flaps opened to a chorus of crickets, every tenured pensioned acrobat and artist would still dance an’ prance under color’d lights in sequined tights and floppy shoes. Then curtsey to their own applause.

So, as the sun fades on an uninspiring day… nothing but memories remain, nothing of value gained, and nothing to show for it all but a cheap souvenir to hang on the wall.

“Hope you enjoyed the show!”

…there’s one born every minute.

The Way Outs
Kids need less classtime and more playtime, time with dad, and the Flintstones.

Get a Clue
The suspects may change, but the solution is always the same. Scooby-Doo 101: To solve the mystery, solve the crime.

^{Genesis 22:7} And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb? ⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb.

^{Isaiah 53:3} He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

^{John 1:22} Who art thou? ²³ I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. ²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

^{John 10:9} I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ^{John 10:1} He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ^{John 10:10} The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

^{Isaiah 53:6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

^{Luke 24:7} The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

^{Matthew 27:11} And [Pilate] asked him: Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. ³¹ and led him away to crucify him.

^{Luke 23:33} And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. ^{Mark 15:27} And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. ²⁸ And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith… ^{Isaiah 53:12} He was numbered with the transgressors.

^{Luke 23:34} Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

^{Luke 23:39} And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ^{Romans 5:8}

^{John 3:16} For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

^{John 20:1} The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away. ¹⁵ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ¹⁶ Jesus saith unto her, Mary.

^{John 14:6} I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ²⁷ Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The Cry of the Rocks
Truth can be ignored but cannot be made untrue. Truth just is, even if held by just one. One plus God.