Today is Pentecost Sunday, Acts 2:1-11

2 On the day of Pentecost^[a] all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. ² Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. ³ Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. ⁴ The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

⁵ Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. ⁷ They were excited and amazed, and said:

Don’t all these who are speaking come from Galilee? ⁸ Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? ⁹ Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, ¹¹ Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.

http://preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/VSS-2.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY8fDjBN1LU

The riots have bumped Covid19 from the news

Even without an investigation and a trial, there was almost universal agreement that the white policeman killed an unarmed black man in Minneapolis. With such unity on a charged racial matter, the left had to move in and stop the peaceful protests with organized rioters in many major cities. Looting, burning, assaults and arrests.

Michael Rechtenwald wrote yesterday: “Just watched for hours as sectors of Minneapolis were burned to the ground, killing whatever message was being conveyed--although I don't think the rioters had a message, other than to reap and sow chaos and destruction. This is the work of the media, the left, and the wantonly depraved. It's not the mere loss of property that I lament. Thousands of people will suffer from this, including blacks, whose livelihoods will be lost and whose lives will be otherwise diminished. Whoever is behind this, and I have my suspicions that it was sown by particular contingents and their masters, they are enemies of the people.”

What has happened recently in Minnesota with the police is deeply disturbing, and seeing it is now turning into looting and rioting even in Columbus, Atlanta, and Los Angeles forcing people to take sides based on race when we know it is a small number of people doing criminal acts should give us pause. My nephew, a California policeman, has written an impassioned post on the grief and anger he feels that a member of his profession has done the unthinkable--caused the death of someone he should have protected. With other officers standing by and not intervening! I have heard all conservatives/Republicans in media condemn this from the very beginning. And now it's time for the liberals/Democrats to condemn the demand for retribution when there's been no trial.

It is disturbing to see people rushing to judgement with no trial, evidence or protection for the accused (by video) until proven guilty, reenacting the old lynch mob mentality of 60-100 years ago. They've made a joke of our justice system--a joke that has been used on minorities many times in the past. Instead of realizing this lynch 'em high method was used against blacks and poor whites to terrorize by mob demonstrates the failures of 60 years of passing and enforcing laws guaranteeing civil rights or assuring trials for criminals.

The looters, the Democrat leaders and finger pointing self righteous by-standers on social media haven't read the police statistics--more whites are killed by police and at a higher rate than blacks. Who riots then? The leading cause of death of black children under 5 is not guns or whites or police--it's the people who care for them--fathers, mothers, boyfriends, step-parents. And 38% of abortions are for black babies. Someone in the "black lives matter" movement doesn't know or care that even black children in the womb and crib and Head Start have lives, too. It's easier to have his buddies take a video in front of a smashed store window to show his bravery and manhood and rush in to steal a pair of shoes.

In 2016 there was an increase in gang violence and assaults in Minneapolis. No one rioted when the police chief said she was proud of the stats because they were lower than expected!

Affordable housing destroyed during protests

“Midtown Corner's upper five stories were planned affordable housing. The building would have had 190 units, with rent keyed to households making between 60 and 80 percent of the area's median income.

The apartments were the final piece in Wellington's development of the former Rainbow Foods space on East Lake Street. It had already finished adding an Aldi and a charter school called Universal Academy. Both of those buildings were also damaged in the protests.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2020/05/28/affordable-housing-minneapolis-burned-wellington.amp.html?

Ted Talk by Jonathan Haidt applies to today’s division

https://youtu.be/8SOQduoLgRw Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals (and conservatives, but he's a liberal talking to liberals). He's lecturing (Ted Talk) during the Bush years, so that's where the laughs are. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be civil and open-minded. And by "we" he means liberals (he surveyed the audience first). Still useful for the Covid divisions, on why liberals want to keep the lockdown, and conservatives want the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. This of course, is a flip of the usual vision of liberals as progressive, because in 2020, they are the regressives.

OK for Buckeyes to date Wolverines

All Ohio State students, faculty, staff and student employees are required to pass ANNUAL re-education courses in sexual matters. It's probably the same at your alma mater or institution of interest. I recall when this type of required re-education back in the 1990s was small group workshops from time to time, then they grew to a cottage industry for social workers and psychologists, now they are a national industry with thousands and thousands of employees and enforcers. The big catch all loophole which could get you denied a merit-based salary increase or public shaming is the term "gender-based." https://titleix.osu.edu/navigation/prevention/training.html

I read through the 17 pages of the university's sexual misconduct policy, only one brief paragraph of which was about protection of the accused (not innocent obviously)--and the policy is labeled, "interim," which means it could change at any moment.

It appears that the only safe relationship for a Buckeye is to date or become involved with someone from University of Michigan!

To mask or not to mask

I bought a box of disposable, one use, non-washable masks yesterday--50 for $25. I am concerned that they were made in China, but I'll keep a sack in the glove compartment instead of a used one on the passenger seat. Don't want to panic any people, and the evidence doesn't seem to be conclusive that it makes any difference. But I consider it polite like sneezing into a hanky, or using a napkin at dinner. Considering that most of us are self-centered (just look at all the selfies or dinner photos on social media) the story should have been that we protect ourselves, not others, by wearing a mask. And if we wait for the research to be published, it will probably say that.

https://fee.org/articles/stop-forcing-people-to-wear-masks-over-covid-19-fears/?

This is a very small study—4 patients: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-1342

Safety and sanitation in the workplace.

https://osu.app.box.com/s/yzjb809hg9tx6zg5jhm2d1r24r0x9y8s

Hand hygiene, social distancing, the proper use of PPE and routine cleaning—helps to reduce and limit the spread of viruses and infection to keep staff and patients safe.

I noticed from reading old (2009) recommendations during that pandemic (which didn't close down the economy or lockdown our normal activities) that sloppy habits of hygiene returned after the emergency passed. I hope some of these guidelines continue, like NOT EATING at workstations, and that applies not just to ICU, clinics, receptionist areas, but at ALL work places. It's difficult enough to clean computer equipment and keyboards, without adding the grease from French fries and Fritos. Plus for the patients nearby, there is the smell problem.

And I don't consider constant use of sanitizer a substitute for thorough hand washing with soap.

Can we survive this pandemic’s economic fall out?

I survived the “Asian Flu,” 1957-1958 (was sick, but the college didn't close) with about 1.1 million deaths worldwide, 116,000 of those in the U.S. I survived the “Hong Kong Flu,” 1968-1972, with about 1 million people worldwide, including 100,000 in the U.S. I don't remember if we had it--maybe that time Phil threw up all over Dr. Batterson wasn't the chili. I also survived the 2009 H1N1 pandemic which was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009. There were an estimated 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations, and 12,469 deaths. I don't remember anyone blaming President Obama. Certainly not the media.

You can read the summary at https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm. Medical measures like testing, public announcements, and vaccines were used. The only economic measures I saw in the summary were travel advisories. The economy survived those pandemics. The schools didn't close. The elderly didn't die alone in nursing home lock downs. I just don't know about this pandemic. Can we survive our "leaders?"

What I said about the 2009 Swine Flu in April 2009: https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/search/label/swine%20flu

Marion E. Boyer, former Lakesider, has died

We were saddened to get a phone call from Jim Boyer last night telling us his dear Marion had died of ALS May 16.  I don’t remember exactly the year, but I know the place where I met Marion.  It was in the Green Room (now Chautauqua Hall) of the Fountain Inn at Lakeside.  We discovered chatting before the lecture began that we were both librarians.  “Marion the Librarian,” how often she must have heard that line from the musical, The Music Man, but she laughed anyway. She and Jim had the sweetest, tiniest cottage.  We loved going there and sitting on their porch. Jim and Bob were on the Design Review Board together, so instead of just the wives knowing each other, we were a couple friendship. Many breakfasts together at the Patio and over in Marblehead. It’s so hard to lose a friend, especially to such a terrible disease. Her final days were grim, but she stay alert and active until her final illness, pneumonia made her too weak. Karen “Happy” Day, also a Lakesider, died about 5 years ago of this disease.

“With God's help and with courage, Marion Elizabeth Boyer, age 77, battled ALS until her death on May 16, 2020. Marion was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She graduated from King's Collage, Canada's oldest university, established in 1789. She met her husband Jim, when he was an exchange student from Muskingum College at Kings. Marion earned a fifth year education degree from Dalhousie University and began her teaching career at historic Chebucto School in Halifax. The school's basement served as a makeshift morgue for Titanic victims. After studying at OSU and UT, Marion received an Ohio school librarian certification. She spent most of her 35 year teaching career as a school librarian and reading teacher at Northwood Middle School. Surviving are her husband, Jim; daughter, Lori Boyer Gow, Eddie Gow and two cousins living in Canada.

After retirement, Marion was actively involved in a number of organizations. She was a lifetime member of the Lucas County Retired Teachers Association where she was on the Board of Directors, was editor of the Slate, a monthly newsletter, association secretary, and chair of a program awarding scholarships to college students with financial need who demonstrated outstanding potential as teachers. She volunteered in the Toledo Hospital Gift Shop and directed the Flower Hospital Auxiliary High School speech contest. For a number of years, she was a judge of the First Lego Contest at the former DeVilbiss High School.

Marion enjoyed summers in Nova Scotia and at their cottage in the Chautauqua community of Lakeside, Ohio. As a member of the Lakeside Woman's Club she was in charge of the annual Tour of Homes. Marion is a 2014 graduate of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the oldest continuous book club in America, formed in 1897 to support adult education. Each winter, she and Jim enjoyed Road Scholar trips to warmer states. So she could vote in support of progressive causes, Marion became a naturalized United States citizen in 1982. At St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Marion served on altar guild and was a Lay Eucharistic Visitor.

A service will be held at a later date. Ashes will be interred in St. Michael's memorial garden and All Saints Anglican Cathedral in Halifax. Memorial donations may be made to the Northern Ohio Chapter of the ALS Association, 6155 Rockside Rd., Suite 403, Independence, Ohio 44131.”

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?pid=196211449

Minnesota riots vs. Covid19 shutdown, guest blogger Brian Good

“I don't watch television news anymore so I am not being tripped up by the daily narrative. What I think is happening is that there were apparently riots, looting and maybe an assault yesterday that is getting some news coverage.

My question is simply this: I have no idea why these people are upset other than it appears there was the loss of a life that happened under questionable maybe egregious terms. (Keep in mind I don't know the underlying story so I am not dismissing the incident, I just don't know about it.)

What I do find to be concerning is that somehow we have managed to stop the US Economy in large part, traded civil liberties, and witnessed harmful effects to our population at large over what appears to be a media-driven fear campaign with questionable data, an undetermined source, and a massive display of tyranny by certain Governors who are demonstrating they are unfit for office at a minimum and possibly criminally negligent with the way that the nursing homes have been used in this situation.

Why are people rioting and freaking out about one person when they are losing their constitutionally protected rights, not just in one case but across the nation? Why isn't that the cause of riots?

The death count totals out of Italy have shown that something like 97% of the people that died from coronavirus were elderly with some complicating serious health condition. That seems to line up with the covered up but now released data in Ohio where 70% of the deaths were from nursing homes and the average age of the lost patient is 81. (I am sure these numbers will evolve so this is a snapshot in time of what the data is saying so far...) Look at NYC and the whole way that the nursing homes were used, there is a lot to that story; $1M political donation > exemption from lawsuits over corona > patients being parked into nursing homes when both hospital beds and alternate care/relief facilities were available (Comfort ship, makeshift hospitals that were built and went completely unused)...

So why make a big point here? 1) The elderly in nursing homes have essentially no voice, most are a burden financially to their states and it looks like they were targeted in this process. Criminals released from prisons over Coronavirus? Also a group with essentially no voice that is a financial burden to the states, also a large percentage of the population that was infected with the virus.

Nobody is rioting about the weakest in society being subjected to something that 1) can kill them at a high rate 2) They can't leave where they are 3) They should be protected 4) The mismanagement and related deaths are covered up by the Governors and health officials and even worse were used to spin tyranny on the US population!

That's the type of thing that I would hope we would have riots over. Not to mention the power grabs trying to limit or remove second amendment rights, right to gather and worship, etc...

It is fine if you don't agree with me, I just have to point out that the reaction to loot and riot over the loss one life under unusual circumstances while possibly a terrible thing, seems penny-wise and pound foolish.

Protest publicly if you need to but do it for the right things.”

A note from True the Vote

“They are LYING to you.

BIDEN. PELOSI. OBAMA. CLINTON. SCHIFF. CLAPPER. BRENNAN. ELIAS...

All of them.

They lied about IRS TARGETING.

They lied about SPYING.

They lied about RUSSIA.

They lied about FISA.

Now, using the fog of COVID, they are lying about the "convenience and safety" of their MAIL BALLOT SCHEMES. Make no mistake, this strategy has been well crafted and long-planned. They know full well that making radical changes to election processes could crater November's elections.

These politicos and power brokers look down at us from behind their podiums and issue edicts that are breaking the backs of millions of small businesses and families across the nation. Even as the “curve has flattened” they have continued to encroach.

Consider all we’ve been put through. Consider all that’s been exposed.

Then ask yourself- do you really believe power-drunk bureaucrats are creating new election laws to make it easier for you to vote them out of office?

No. They are engineering chaos to control outcomes. Just like we’ve seen them do with COVID. "

Where does love go to die?

Question for you. Where does love go to die? Does it just end up in a graveyard of documents, with bank records, divorce papers and junior high yearbooks?

Our son who died at 51 on April 21 had most of his life and memories packed into 8 cardboard "banker's boxes," which I've been going through. All neatly labeled. Lose papers in file folders. They were in a closet with his grandpa's fishing vest and pipe rack, and Christmas decorations which he didn't use in 2019 because he was mad at God. His friend Keith helped me bring them to our house and I've been sorting and pitching.

Last night's task was his school annuals, business management coursework from Columbus State (he got an A which I don’t ever recall seeing before), several packages of photos of a 1973 Olds to be restored, parts catalogs, owner's manuals, ideas for songs and poems, and. . . love notes and cards between him and his former wife and him and his step-daughter. There it was--evidence. Yes, they all went in the trash sack along with elementary school report cards. How many times does a mom need to read, "Phil is charming, but could do better if he'd just apply himself." Who would want notes of a dead love?

I had a really good chat with her and her daughter (now 29--can hardly believe it) after she called me on Mother's Day. She lives in California now and I'll probably never see them again. Where does love go to die?

Putting COVID-19 in perspective. . .

"CS Lewis wrote this in 1948 after the dawn of the atomic age:

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Americans gave up too easily

Yesterday at the lake house we were getting ready to  go to a friends’ home for breakfast.  ABC tv news was on. Shouting fear, anxiety. Oh woe. This is so awful. We need to crawl back in our holes. So I switched over to Fox using Roku. Exactly the same stories, same footages. Calm reporting, no shouting; explaining that people on beaches and private parties weren't "social distancing." There was a video of a man throwing money from a car and he drew a crowd--they weren't social distancing either. Then on to the stories, honoring those who had sacrificed their lives. What this Memorial Day is about.

But now that our freedoms have been taken away for 2 months, perhaps the day will mean more? We've seen how easily Americans give up liberty and how quickly our governments at all levels are willing to take it.

Later, on our way back to Columbus from Lakeside  we passed a small cemetery on Rt 4 with the veterans walking through with flags and a good size crowd gathered. Did my heart good to see that rural America will not live in fear.

In one small town on Rt. 4 where the public library is on main street there was a sign announcing curb side pick up of books.  Now how hard could that be?  Our suburban public libraries didn’t do that, even though the restaurants figured out how to do it.

Yes, how easily Americans can give up their freedoms—libraries, churches, schools, leisure activities, parks, and no one put a gun to our heads.

An update from a Covid patient, Chad Crouch

This letter was dated April 13—The treatment in isolation sounds grim.

“First of all, thank you for praying, texting and checking in with us.  We appreciate your thoughtfulness and concern.

I am now on day 15 of fighting the Covid19 virus.  My symptoms started off as a fever and slowly went down hill from there.  I have experienced all of the various symptoms you have heard described.  On days 11 and 12 I could tell my breathing was becoming an issue and I could hear “crackling” in my lungs.  After talking to my GP, he recommended I go to the ER.  I waited a day and when things continued to spiral down, I went into the ER. 

Testing positive.  I had a chest CT and it showed pneumonia.  I then had the nose swab test and it too came back positive.  So I was kept in the hospital for monitoring.

I appreciate the work the nurses and Doctors are attempting to do during this pandemic.  However, there is no treatment, medicine or consistent information for the virus.  It is only a triage situation where if you need a ventilator, they take you to the ICU and if you don’t, they just monitor you. 

The nurses and techs don’t come in very often.  There are a number of reasons for that.  Exposure to the virus is primary.  Second, it take s a long time to get prepped to come in the room.  They have to put on two pairs of gloves, two gowns (one plastic), two face masks, a pair of goggles, and a face shield helmet.  You get your own stethoscope and thermometer that has to stay in the room.  When they leave, there is a specific way they have to take off the outer layer of plastic gown, fold it up, pull off the second pair of gloves and wrap it around the gown, throw them away in the room, then wash their still-gloved hands and exit the room.

This means they try to “bundle” their services and combine things like bringing food and checking your vitals into one visit.  Otherwise, they throw things to you through the door or put them on the floor for you to go pick up (tricky when you are connected to 8 wires and an IV), and talk to you on the phone or through FaceTime.  I never saw a doctor in person.  They only called and looked at me through a window.  I never saw the face of any nurse, tech or doctor. 

Other than one puff of Albuterol when I arrived, I had a total of 4 Tylenol pills.  I also had an IV drip with Saline and was monitored for Oxygen, heart rate and blood pressure.  My oxygen levels remained low, but acceptable.  After two days in the ER, I was discharged to come back home. 

I am now home.  I don’t feel any better or worse.  I am thankful I didn’t need a ventilator.  I could hear the lady in the room next to me cough endlessly for hours.  She was eventually moved to ICU. It was a good reminder to be thankful that I was stable and not getting any worse.  The nurse told me she was close to my age.

I am now quarantined for another 14 days.  I had already been quarantined for 21 days due to the fact that my son, Preston tested positive on March 23.  My daughter and Wife also have had it, but all three recovered relatively quickly and without need for any hospitalization.  I held out the longest and got it the worst. 

I now have to report my temperature, heart rate and oxygen levels every day to the hospital and to the health department.  When Preston tested positive, he was close to the first case in Jessamine county.  I was about #50.  Amy and Caitlyn were never tested.  We were all trying to avoid taking a test or medical treatment from others who needed it worse.

Next?

The doctors say I should recover from the pneumonia over time at home.  If my oxygen levels drop below 90%, they will have me come back in.  So I wait and monitor.  My fever still comes and goes, but not as much as before.  I am trusting for healing over this week.  I do have my GP on speed dial in case I do need to try the “experimental” treatment of a combination of anti-malaria and antibiotic meds. 

Once again, thanks for your texts, thoughts and prayers.  I wish I could report a sudden miraculous return to health, but I believe it is coming in time.

Chad

p.s.  Feel free to forward this on to anyone that has been asking or praying for me.  I can’t begin to imagine how many people that is, thanks to you.

Chad Crouch

Cre8tive Group.com

ChadMCrouch.com

President
Cre8tive Group
304 E. Main Street
Wilmore, KY 40390

When helping hurts—The Ross Rant, May 23

. . . A new study shows 68% of laid off workers now earn more, 134% of regular wages,  not working than on the job. 20% make twice as much and the bottom 10% three times as much. The Dems, of course, are demanding that the $600 and unemployment pay be extended through year end.  The study showed the average worker is no making 42% more sitting home than working. Reality of business never interferes with their ideology, and political pitch to lure workers to think the Dems will pay them more to not work while the greedy Republicans deny it to them. Welcome to the Dem policies of socialism. This is called buying the election. McConnell is correct that there should be no more money for states and cities beyond the $150 billion they were already given unless it can only be spent on virus needs.  The rhetoric about having to lay off cops and firemen is already all over the press and it is the standard political rhetoric from Dem mayors to avoid having to deal with the real issues of pensions and over spending. Hopefully the Republicans will hold firm on this. It is the last chance to fix the fiscal mess in big cities and blue states. This is a big issue for November. If you wondered what happened to the extra unemployment dollars plus the $1200 subsidy, retailers report it went to buy big screen TVs, apparel, and other non-essential goods since mid-April. So if you listened to the media there are only stories of food banks and people who can’t make it. That is just media propaganda. Reality is, most unemployed are better off now than if they were working, and getting them back to work and off the free ride is the real issue. “