Finding a service opportunity

Don't ask God if you don't want an answer. Like in 5 minutes. After my devotions Sunday morning I reread a post Christmas letter from our friends John and Sue. They moved to Yakima some years ago but he was a pastor at our church and we've known them since 1974. They too had recently moved to a retirement community, so I was reading about their interesting, challenging life of service in their new community. I sort of sighed a prayer, something like "Lord I'd like to be of service like John and Sue." Then I picked up my phone to take my morning walk through the halls, down the stairs, past the front desk and back. I stopped to look at the Columbus Dispatch and read about the governor's race (Vivek Ramaswamy). Then I heard something--some people have pets and my first thought was a Siamese cat. Sort of howling. So I redirected my usual route to follow the sound, and after a few turns saw a door was open and someone was yelling for help. I found a resident on the floor covered in blood, grabbed her hand and told her I'd get help. Because of the blood I didn't recognize her, but as soon as we spoke, I knew her voice. I alerted the security staff. She was soon off to the hospital via the Columbus squad, and I hope she'll be OK. She was lucid enough to talk to me and I stayed with her until they took her out of the building. For being 98, she's a tough gal. Pray for her. And me. I was a bit shaky. My mornings are usually not this eventful.

The mess in Minneapolis

With the help of Hakeem Jeffries ["We must reform our broken immigration system and create a pathway toward citizenship for the millions of undocumented (illegal aliens) hardworking individuals who dream of becoming Americans"] and the left-wing, never-Trump media, Gov. Tim Walz allegedly covered up fraud [theft of federal benefits] in Minnesota. Ms. Renee Good chose to disobey lawful orders so ICE could remove dangerous criminals preying on innocent citizens, and lost her life.

Food costs--eggs and walnuts

 Remember about 2 weeks after Trump took office and the price of eggs (about $5 a dozen) was beginning to fall, Democrats complained he hadn't fixed it yet. Today, I bought a dozen eggs for 87 cents. Yet they act as though food prices haven't changed!

Speaking of food costs. There is one very healthy food that didn't go up during Biden's reign and has stayed stable all during Trump's. Walnuts. I usually buy them in 16 oz bags (California, whole). They've either been 3/$10 or $3 a bag for probably 6 years. Very good for heart and brain. For breakfast today I had a sliced banana, about an oz of walnuts with milk. Also cheddar cheese on toast with butter.

https://earthsidefarms.com/blogs/earthside-blog/nutritional-value-of-walnuts?

Egg Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

Diane's question about Presidents Obama and Trump

"Here's a question for all of my Democrat/liberal friends who are decrying the US capture of Maduro in Venezuela. What’s the difference between President Obama ordering US forces to enter a sovereign nation, without their permission, to intentionally kill Osama Bin Laden, who was under a US indictment (issued in 1998, under the Clinton administration) and President Trump ordering US forces to capture Nicolas Maduro—unharmed--to prosecute him under a US indictment for narcotrafficking issued in 2020? If you have a cogent answer other than “Orange Man Bad,”

I would be delighted to hear it.

Don't forget Manuel Noriega in Panama when George HW Bush ordered troops on the ground to capture him."

Did Santa bring you any good books?

Did you get any books for Christmas? I got one--an ESV archeology Bible. My NIV was lost in the move, so rather than fret every day I just asked for a different one. But here's what Bob got. I'm reading the one on the far left, "An inside job" by Daniel Silva (2025). It's not a genre I like, but I'm really enjoying it. He's a good writer.

As I age, I read less and less, although I have plenty of time. I just can't find a comfortable place with good light.

Mamdani tries to make NYC Venezuela

Not my words, but exactly my thoughts from the newsletter of investment advisor Joel Ross:

"Mamdani has only been in office a few days and each day it gets much worse as he announces his appointments. They are all far left radicals who will destroy the city. Their policies are socialist to communist and anti-capitalist and anti- landlord. The result will be a much worse education for poor kids and a far worse rental apartment situation. No developer is going to want to start a new multi project. Dealing with evictions has just become totally impossible. Schools will experience a downgrade in education in the name of diversity. The homeless will begin to reappear in parks and on the streets in spring. Tisch as police commissioner is all that prevents crime from going way up again, and we will see how long she lasts. Now Mamdani has lashed out at Trump for arresting Maduro. That is right out of the Socialist manifesto. He already is virulently anti-Israel. He knows nothing of how to run the city but suddenly he thinks he knows about geopolitics. He is dangerous because now he has a bullhorn and will be read and followed on social media. We can expect much more of that. He abolished the Adams committees and definition of anti-Semitism. His father is a rabid outspoken anti-Semite who actually is a professor at Columbia-where else. This is going to bad or worse than we all expected."

So true about Mamdani's parents. All bad ideas come from academe, and it's probably worse when they are Communists who flee from India via Uganda.

He's appointed a "tenant advocate" who thinks home ownership is "white supremacy." Landlords should be fleeing the city. Zohran Mamdani’s new NYC tenant advocate called to 'seize private property,' blasted homeownership as 'white supremacy'

This corruption didn't begin with the Somalis

Before tracking down "root causes" and supply chain history of the Somali day care fraud, I hope Congress stops and looks at two basics: Head start (turned 60 in 2025 in the failed War on Poverty which we lost ) and the corruption in the nonprofit arena (got really bad during Bush I who wanted to reduce federal employment with "faith-based" solutions).

By any definition and all the studies, Head Start has failed miserably--40 million children, their parents and the tax payers. Not every daycare is a head start model, but it's been ingrained in generations that children will be better off if mom leaves home to work and someone not family takes care of the kids. That's the old south slavery model, isn't it? By 2nd grade all academic gains are lost.

 
The whole nonprofit grants from the federal government model so the money is controlled locally is riddled with corruption, nepotism and graft, The Somali thing is the tip of the iceberg, and it's not just day care. It's good intentions gone bad.

https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/fbci/qr3.html?

Some think the Head start failure is a result of this year's fraud investigation (60 years), but it was declared a failure at 50 years and 40 years,  It's never passed the smell test. Head Start is in turmoil - The Hechinger Report

Epiphany, January 4

I remember when I first learned about Marco Polo, the 13th century Venetian diplomat who lived in China as a young man. I was about 10 years old and we were living in Forreston, IL so it was probably 5th grade. I just loved history. And it was about that age and this time of year we were also singing, "We three kings of Orient are," the hymn that tells about the 3 Magi arriving to worship the new born king led there by a star. I learned about 50 years later, there weren't 3 kings, but 3 gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, so no one knows how many Magi showed up. The 19th c. hymn writer wrote it for a children's play.

 
We celebrate that event on January 4, so I was reading today about an illuminated French manuscript of 1410 of "The Book of the Wonders of the World" by Marco Polo written in 1298. The original no longer exists, but there were hundreds of copies and translations and it was a best seller, some beautifully illustrated. Over the years, many people have doubted certain stories in Polo's travel account.
I was quite surprised to read that while traveling through Persia (Iran) the locals told Polo a "true story" of the 3 Magi and told him to visit a fortress to see their tombs. The 3 bodies were together and still intact with their hair and beards. The story known in that area was "they set out for a distant land in order to adore a prophet who had been born and to offer him 3 gifts--gold, frankincense, and myrrh. . ."

Of course, even as a teen, Polo knew the Bible story, and perhaps he wanted to enhance it--but still, he thought there were 3 Magi just like the guy in Pennsylvania who wrote the hymn hundreds of years later.

  

Cover, Magnificat, January 2026

Ending the old, beginning the new--while sick

 We had plans to go to a friends' home for dinner last night (prime rib and the trimmings) but Saturday I felt a cold coming on and by Wednesday it was really out of control. So Bob went alone. He also went out for orange juice and kleenex this morning, but I'll be down probably the rest of the week. I've watched some Hallmark movies but am too tired to read. Bob is sleeping through all the football games, so it's not an exciting New Year. Back to bed.

Happy New Year anyway! May 2026 be good to you.

The $9 billion fraud in Minnesota "for the children"

I've heard but not researched that some MSM are complaining that MAGA type citizens are overly concerned about $9 Billion fraud in child learning scandal in Minnesota. But I do know that the investigation began during the Biden administration, that the NYT has had a story about it, that local watchdog groups were investigating and the buck didn't stop at Walz's desk. He says he's been working on it, so why is $9 billion the tip of the iceberg and the learning centers are still open?

Hey, that's Bill Maher

 Bob has taken to watching old reruns of the TV series, "Murder She Wrote," and today I looked up from my blogging and said, "Hey that's Bill Maher, the late night political commentator."  "You mean the one who got fired and then rehired?" "No, but it's Bill Maher with long curly hair,"

So I looked it up and sure enough, it's "Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble" Episode aired Feb 19, 1989.