Thanksgiving 2015 in the United States seems to be getting defined by all the trouble in the world. Chaos overseas.. Terror in Paris. And Turkey shooting down a Russian jet.
Is this life during wartime, or just life as we will now know it..?
The NEW YORK TIMES headlines lead us into the Thanksgiving holiday. The Macý's Thanksgiving Day Parade is featuring giant floats of Power Rangers and Peanuts.. but it will not be difficult to see the other presence: A militrized police force with heavily loaded weapons staring back at people.. they may be mistaken for Darth Vader. But they are not, they are the police protecting the city from any and all threats. Named or unnamed..
So far unnamed, though assumed.
The TIMES reports.
As an expected three million spectators turn their eyes skyward on Thursday morning, police sharpshooters on rooftops will be peering down for any signs of trouble at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In addition to Snoopy and SpongeBob floating overhead, there will be mobile cameras and police helicopters, specially trained police dogs sniffing for traces of explosives and officers patrolling on horseback, said James P. O’Neill, the New York Police Department’s chief of department, its highest-ranking uniformed officer.
Observation posts, staffed by officers from the elite Emergency Service Unit, will be watching for suspicious activity; officers will use radiation detectors to seek out evidence of a dirty bomb; and teams of plainclothes officers will mix unobtrusively with revelers spread along the two and a half miles of the Manhattan parade route between 9 a.m. and noon.
Dirty bombs.. And Al Roker.
The new staples of our holiday tradition.
While the United States may be force feeding themselves en masse today, there are problems awaiting attention tomorrow. Such as Turkey refusing to say sorry to Russia for shooting down its jet. Instead they want an apology.
Neither seems likely.
Welcome to the Black Friday that awaits the United States after the calorie and carb malaise wears off by midnight.