7-up and antenna TV for 5 days

Five days in the guest room with antenna TV and 7-up. But it wasn't all bad. On "Decades" channel I watched an old documentary (PBS Nova 1999) "Lords of the Mafia: Russian Mafiya" about the Russian criminal network and how it had spread throughout the world after the break-up of the USSR. It had long existed and wasn't Communist, but sure weren't nice guys either. At that time they had infiltrated almost every industry and level of government of the U.S. The documentary was old enough that cyber-hacking wasn't part of the scheme--just the old fashioned spies, moles and criminals, theft, torture and death. Not hard to see it in the DNC or RNC, or any of our intelligence agencies. No Putin necessary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HueP4vj28v0

Obsessed with sex

Why is what's between your legs more important to Democrats than what's between your ears? Democrats are protesting, harassing, vilifying, destroying careers, businesses, and employment for millions in religion, academia, education, medicine, investment, the arts, design, fashion and military if the politico-sexual views don't agree with their own. It's gone beyond the toddler tantrum and middle school mean girls. You could almost assume they want the country to fail, particularly for those most vulnerable and insecure. If the Democrats lose that voting block, . . . well, probably the world as we know it would end. Millions of mid-level, well-paid hacks out of a job pushing papers and grants.

Since Trump won they've gone after the fashion industry, Milo Yiannopoulos (gay writer, but not socialist), a blind opera singer, all conservatives in film and theater, LL Bean's employees and owners, and before that innocent school children wanting to pee in privacy while Democrat bureaucrats advocate for sexually mutilating confused children and pressure the medical profession with loss of grants and publishing research.

Good-bye, President Obama

Good-bye, President Obama. I do have some positive things to say. I loved your family (as promoted by the mainstream media, about which I hope they were accurate). I wish more young men would live up to your example of a faithful husband and involved father. I loved that the American people, black, white, young, old, Republican and Democrat had put the past behind them and voted a black man into the White House. But your party came before your race, honor and your country. It was a huge disappointment for millions. Race relations, as all the burning cities, cop killings, rising crime rates and demonstrations show, have never been worse. But maybe it helped break the mold of politics as usual--the Republicans fielded the most diverse group of candidates in the history of the country--female, black, Hispanic, Indian, leaders of industry, doctors, a pastor. It was fabulous. Democrats brought out same old, same old. Former FLOTUS. Aging socialist.

Being a retiree living on investments (either pension or private) we did well, as did anyone with investments. Especially the super rich. I hope under Trump, more Americans, particularly those who've been added to SNAP and unemployment roles (millions more than 2008) can also start to save and invest and pay off debt.
You did fail us in all matters of security--foreign wars, border, and cyber. You schmoozed with our enemies and stabbed long time friends in the back. It's nice to have a glib sense of humor and charming speeches on the telepromptor, but we needed much more. You are with the party of bullies and bigots and I hope as the titular (and only young) leader, you could turn that around. That would be real change.

We conservatives had 8 years of pain and frustration while your socialist, tired, boring ideas destroyed your national party. That "popular" vote Ms. Clinton got was made up of only a few boroughs in NYC and LA--otherwise she lost by 500,000 popular votes. We are United States, don't let your party of poopers destroy the country with marches, demonstrations and fake news. If you are as much a patriot as you say, you can do it.

Time out for shingles

It's been a rough week.  Friday night I noticed a small sore spot on my forehead.  Did all the normal week-end stuff--dinner with friends, church, congregational meeting. Monday noticed a few more spots but thought I had pink eye.  By Tuesday got the diagnosis of shingles, possibly in my eye.  Lots of meds, more doctor visits. Spent most of the week in the guest room in the dark.  Shingles vaccine, which I've had, is 51% protective, but we hope it lessens the break out. Today my eye is open, so that's progress. Thank God for adult children living near by.

The Golden Globes propaganda show

FBI document dump (not Wikileaks) of Clinton e-mails during the Golden Globes and football, as Meryl "The Devil wears Prada" Streep whined that Hollywood stars are being maligned. By whom? Actors have fancy award shows for themselves holding the TV audience hostage while they condemn the next president of the United States.I didn't watch the show--just saw the juicy, slimy parts on Fox.  I was catching up on "The is Us" and one of the actresses who plays Kate the obese daughter, Chrissy Metz, was up for an award (didn't win).  The new season starts Tuesday on NBC.  It really is a quality show--let's see if they can keep it up.  The obligatory gay character/problem was introduced in the last minutes of the 10th episode of season one and one of the favorites seems to be dying in the hospital. And that's all I'll tell in case you have seen it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4100238/This-star-Chrissy-Metz-wows-plush-amethyst-gown-Golden-Globes-overcoming-knee-injury

http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/fbi-dumps-another-300-clinton-email-investigation-documents-without-warning/

Two years later, we're still vulnerable

Two years ago after the Sony hack, Obama announced a new cybersecurity agency. Yesterday I watch two security experts on the opposite side of the political fence tell why there was or wasn't evidence that Putin either did or didn't influence the recent election, both having read the exact same report. Since the intelligence report was released (not leaked as before which was evidence enough of its failure) now the American voter knows how Obama was helpless or ignored a perceived threat to our election because he thought voters would accept the worst of two flawed candidates. It's in the Constitution that the President is supposed to protect us, and he has failed.

 

 Here's my take.  It makes no difference--we'll never find a person who changed her vote; we'll never find a news report that isn't biased.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-continues-attacks-on-intelligence-agencies-ahead-of-classified-briefing-on-russia-1483728966

 

 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cybersecurity-agency-idUSKBN0LE1EX20150210

http://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-05/watch-live-senate-hearing-russian-hacking-and-us-cybersecurity

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/01/06/after-briefing-from-intelligence-agencies-trump-vows-to-beef-up-cyber-security-n2267932

 

Americans knew who they were voting for; they knew which candidate insulted the voters; they knew which candidate would continue to use their tax dollars to kill the unborn while doing little to clean up the VA scandals; they knew which candidate would continue the scare stories about climate and which one would try to stop the drugs coming from Mexican drug lords and which would call out Islamic terrorism.

 

Now the American voter wonders what else we're not being told about threats to our power grid, our military, our research records, our health records which he force on to the internet in a cumbersome system,

That said, those same Americans who were sick of the lies and hate knew they would be vilified and ridiculed if they spoke their views to pollsters and anonymous callers. They knew the hate the leftist were directing at them; they'd read about CEOs who'd lost jobs for how they voted in California. 

 

I think the surprise at the Trump win, even from his supporters, had nothing to do with Putin. It had everything to do with the hate, fear and scorn directed at ordinary Americans. It was our very own political power house Democrats from the very top in the White House, to the candidate they chose, to the DNC's Podesta, to the media lap dogs to the Republican never Trumpers and Congressional swamp dwellers who ignored the sluggish economy with all the part time jobs, the street riots and protests, rising health care costs, and illegals pouring over our borders.

Winter Squash--Butternut

We love Butternut squash, but I think it is a pain to cut it up and prepare, so I'm dropping this in my blog so I can find it.  Tips for preparation from World's Healthiest Foods.

Rinse winter squash under cold running water before cutting.

All varieties of winter squash require peeling for steaming except Kabocha and butternut squash. You can peel winter squash with a potato peeler or knife.

Butternut squash has a unique shape that requires a special approach to cutting. To cut into cubes, it is best to first cut it in half between the neck and bulb. This makes peeling it much easier. Cut bulb in half and scoop out seeds. Slice into 1-inch slices and make 1-inch cuts across slices for 1-inch cubes. This is the best size and shape for steaming.

If you are baking your squash you don't have to peel it. Cut the ends off, cut the squash in half lengthwise down the middle, scoop out the seeds and bake. Alternatively you can leave the squash whole, pierce a few times with a fork or tip of a paring knife, bake and scoop out the seeds after it has been cooked. You can peel cooked squash easily with a knife and then cut into pieces of desired size.

Save those seeds that you scooped out! Seeds from winter squash can make a great snack food, and can be prepared in the same way as pumpkin seeds. Once scooped out from inside the squash and separated from the pulp, you can place the seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and lightly roast them at 160-170°F (about 75°C) in the oven for 15-20 minutes. By roasting them for a relatively short time at a low temperature you can help minimize damage to their healthy oils. Linoleic acid (the polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid) and oleic acid (the same monounsaturated fatty acid that is plentiful in olive oil) account for about 75% of the fat found in the seeds.

Kellyanne Conway--the woman who put Trump in office

 
Kellyanne will turn 50 the day her candidate becomes president. She was raised on a farm by her mother, grandmother and aunts. Married at 34, she had her four children in late 30s and early 40s. She's a success in a business overwhelmingly owned by men, shutting out all the talking heads and experts (even Rove who seems to be wrong more than he's right). She turned down contracts for data sets she thought immoral. She's strongly pro-life. She says family time should not mean everyone is looking at a different screen.

http://www.hoover.org/research/kellyanne-conway-discusses-presidential-election-2016

Cyber security and Obama

Russia, China and North Korea have been cybersnooping for years. Why is Obama drawing a line in the cybersand now? He won't do anything. He just wants to discredit Trump. Podesta's e-mails with the password of "password" were virtually unknown to those who watch the MSM--CBS, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN. How much time did they give to the DNC sabotaging Sanders or giving information to Clinton for the debates or bad mouthing Catholics? 2 minutes? 3 max?

"The administration uses only diplomatic and law enforcement means that have had little or no effect in deterring massive hacker attacks, primarily from China, along with those originating in Russia, Iran, and North Korea. China’s cyber attacks continue unabated, despite an announced agreement last year in which Beijing promised to curb some cyber spying. Vice Adm. James D. Syring, head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, revealed to Congress in April that Chinese military hackers are relentless, conducting cyber attacks on his agency’s networks “every day.” . . .

 Feckless Obama administration cyber security policies already have produced massive losses of U.S. data to foreign states, including valuable intellectual property from the private sector, and sensitive strategically valuable sensitive data from U.S. government networks."

 Washington Free Beacon, June 1, 2016

Christianophobia

Prof. George Yancey: "I have been studying Christianophobia — a highly intolerant form of antagonism toward Christians and Christianity — from the perspective of a sociologist for the past few years, and while I do not know if Clinton herself has Christianophobia, I am confident that many people in her political circle do. Those with this type of bigotry tend to be white, highly educated, politically progressive and wealthy — characteristics that probably describe Clinton's team."

 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/march-web-only/what-christianophobia-looks-like-in-america.html

 http://www.christianpost.com/author/george-yancey/

Dr. Elaina George explains how to fix health care

http://drelainageorge.com/a-doctors-prescription-the-fix-for-our-ailing-healthcare-system/

"The stated intention behind Obamacare was to improve the healthcare system. However, it has become apparent that the changes implemented were based on incorrect assumptions: first, that having health insurance equals access to quality affordable healthcare; second, that central planning via government regulations and mandates could be used to control costs; and third, that the behavior of doctors and patients could be controlled by implementing rigid practice guidelines (i.e., value based medicine, care driven by algorithms instead of physician judgement) and increasingly shifting the cost of healthcare to patients leading them to self-ration by pricing them out respectively.

The end result has been an increase in healthcare costs, decreased competition among insurance companies with monopolies in some states, and a decrease in both primary care and specialist physicians. Whether you like Obamacare or not, an honest assessment would conclude that it is simply not sustainable.
There is a solution which would provide a solution for everyone."

Then she lists 14 points, from block grants to states to price transparency to tort reform to expansion of Health Savings Accounts.

Winter has returned

Yesterday it was spring-like with mid-50s and rain. He got to use his new supersize umbrella.  Today it's in the low 30s and dropping, so all the other new Christmas gifts were appropriate--new slim line jeans, new socks and new ski mask.  He says the socks are like walking on clouds.

"Dear Members of Congress" public announcement from Hillary supporters demanding obstruction

Celebrities who gave us 50 years of violence and immorality in films, theater, advertising and literature are now going all squishy and prissy, making a filmed public announcement against Trump, claiming anti-this and anti-that. Islam is not a race, and drug lords don't deserve our protection of an open border and sanctuary cities.  The popular vote majority was all from their territory and not the other 49 states, but even if he'd won the popular vote in California, they would still be just as vicious. They are better than the rubes in fly over country and this is about power. They are losing across the nation in every state house, suburban house and school board. Sorry folks, you lost me in those staged, bloody murder scenes torturing and raping women, blowing up innocents and sweaty sex scenes--all for money. No credibility to get on your high horse now.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/12104/oh-joy-more-actors-film-silly-anti-trump-public-hank-berrien

"The video was created by Humanity for Progress, formerly known as Humanity for Hillary, and directed by Liz Garbus. The featured players, including Sally Field, former The View co-host Rosie Perez, Jeffrey Wright, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Lea DeLaria, Zoe Kazan and fashion designer Naeem Khan, refer to themselves as speaking for the majority of Americans, reminding their prospective audience that Trump lost the popular vote."

Link rot and content drift

I've been blogging for over 13 years, and link rot and content drift are problems when I go back to search my archives. You may not like pulling books/journals off the shelves of libraries, but you'd like them even less if after you opened them, certain pages had been ripped out or marked over with black ink, you discover that you need the 4th ed. and you're holding the 2nd. I often get comments asking me to check a certain entry because the links don't work. That's just the internet. I referenced a lot of government sites before 2009 and as soon as the new administration came in, they disappeared. There is a "graveyard" somewhere, but I don't search it.

 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0167475

The inauguration

"President and Mrs. George W. Bush will attend the 58th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony on January 20, 2017, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They are pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power - a hallmark of American democracy - and swearing-in of President Trump and Vice President Pence."  From the President's Facebook wall.

Velveteen jeans from Talbot's

If those terrific jeans you got at the resale shop are a little snug, put them on while they're still damp (always wash those bargains) so they can stretch a bit. Loving these velveteen jeans I bought yesterday at Volunteers of America on Henderson Road. Talbot's, $1.50.   I checked on line.  A 5 pocket straight leg fit below waist velveteen pants is about $90 new, on sale $47. I love a bargain.

I think the color is "indigo." I called them navy.

Christmas is over--putting things away

Hand made from 40 years ago, wreath and tree

Birds made by Mom for the kids

Lazzy Bear reading through the x-mas cards

Old table cloth used again--maybe 40 years old?

The tree is back in the attic and the decorations are put away.  I still need to wash the table cloth and pack away and go through the Christmas cards and letters in the cardboard mailbox.  Lazzy Bear is from 1986, and he's holding up well.

It's that time again

Marriage and the Culture Warriors

"We can ask, till we are exhausted from asking, what they mean by “marriage,” if the thing is not rooted in the fundamental biology of the human race, and exactly what justifies any boundaries at all wherewith they suppose they can limit the definition. If man and man, why not man and woman and woman?

Why not plan for and even intend impermanence? Why not plan for and intend what used to be called adultery? Why not two elderly brothers who live together and do not engage in sodomy?

It won’t matter. The aim was never rational coherence, or even a concern for the common good. The aim was power: to get what they wanted, to keep it, and to crush those who would question their right."

 https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2016/12/29/speak-truth-to-power/

Water and feed your brain to make it grow

"If you want to think faster, be more creative and live life to the fullest, you will want to begin by feeding your brain good nutrients. While the brain weighs on average only 2% of our total body weight, it consumes up to 20% of the nutrients we take into our bodies.

Studies have shown these following foods have the maximum beneficial effects of our brains.

• Walnuts and raw almonds are great for the brain and delicious to eat. Substitute almond milk in your breakfast cereal to jump start your brain for the rest of the day.
• Jolly Green Giants - leafy dark green vegetables such as kale, spinach, collards and even romaine lettuce slow the rate of cognitive decline.
• Dark Chocolate - the flavanoids contained in dark chocolate improve circulation which helps speed oxygen to the brain.
• Monosaturated Fats, such as olive oil actually slow down brain aging. Enjoy avocados, another source of monosaturated fats; they improve vascular health and circulation.
• Eat more cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts. Studies have shown that people who eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables and leafy greens have a slower rate of cognitive decline.
• Indulge in foods rich with Omega 3’s such as salmon, sardines, lentils and flax seed.
• Eat more berries; the more colorful the fruit, the better it is for your body. Enjoy at least one serving of fruit a day.
• Stay hydrated. Dehydration can lead to impaired cognitive function.

From Brain training, 9 easy steps.

Income Mobility in the U.S. from 1996 to 2005, updated in 2014

The degree of mobility in the overall population and movement out of the bottom quintile in this study are similar to the findings of prior research on income mobility.

• There was considerable income mobility of individuals in the U.S. economy during the 1996 through 2005 period as over half of taxpayers moved to a different income quintile over this period.
• Roughly half of taxpayers who began in the bottom income quintile in 1996 moved
• Among those with the very highest incomes in 1996 – the top 1/100 of 1 percent
• only 25 percent remained in this group in 2005. Moreover, the median real income of these taxpayers declined over this period. </
• The degree of mobility among income groups is unchanged from the prior decade (1987 through 1996).
• Economic growth resulted in rising incomes for most taxpayers over the period from 1996 to 2005. Median incomes of all taxpayers increased by 24 percent after adjusting for inflation. The real incomes of two-thirds of all taxpayers increased over this period. In addition, the median incomes of those initially in the lower income groups increased more than the median incomes of those initially in the higher income groups.

Previous research on income mobility over the past several decades has generally found that about half of those in the bottom quintile move to a higher quintile and also that more than half of households move to a different income quintile within about 10 years.

Report of the Department of Treasury, updated 2008 

 http://reason.com/archives/2014/06/04/income-mobility-myths

Begin the new year with good thoughts

 

Good wishes for 2017.  I found this on the Facebook page of Noel McInnis, who went to Mt. Morris High School and also played trombone in the band (as I did).  We had a wonderful beginning for the New Year with an around the world tour in food and new year symbols from sauerkraut balls to noodles, with David and Donna members of our church.  They've recently moved to a mid-20th century ranch from their 2 story 19th century historical home.  Joyce and Bill, our "regular" Friday night date also were guests.

H - Hours of happy times with your dear ones
A - Abundant time for relaxation
P - Prosperity
P - Plenty of love when you need it the most
Y - Youthful excitement at life's simple pleasures

N - Nights of restful slumber
E - Everything you need
W - Wishing you love and light

Y - Years and years of good health
E - Enjoyment and mirth
A - Angels to watch over you
R - Remembrances of happy years

100 of the World's Healthiest Foods--Criteria

This list is found on the web site World’s Healthiest Foods, with more explanation, but this should be easy to remember. http://whfoods.org/foodstoc.php This website has a nice newsletter that offers recipes and answers questions. I don't always read every issue, but usually find something useful.

1. The World's Healthiest Foods are the Most Nutrient Dense

2. The World's Healthiest Foods are Whole Foods

3. The World's Healthiest Foods are Familiar Foods

4. The World's Healthiest Foods are Readily Available

5. The World's Healthiest Foods are Affordable

6. The World's Healthiest Foods Taste Good

It’s good to know that foods that are familiar (or at least to me because it’s what I ate as a child, which means very little processed food) and reasonably priced, and taste good, are also good for me.

Let NPR and Bloomberg explain the hatred for Steve Bannon

 Full interview by Fresh Air, NPR with Joshua Green,  without my comments and cut aways (it is very long and very opinionated) is http://www.npr.org/2016/11/17/502413784/journalist-says-steve-bannon-had-a-years-long-plan-to-take-down-hillary-clinton

Dave Davies, NPR: Tell us about Steve Bannon. Where did he grow up? What was his background like?

JOSHUA GREEN (senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek): Well, Bannon grew up in a blue-collar, Irish-Catholic family outside a naval base near Richmond, Va. And after college, he joined the Navy - this was in the late '70s - wound up with a job in the Pentagon got a Master's degree in Georgetown. . . . Bannon described it to me is he had to talk himself into a job at Goldman Sachs, but he wound up specializing in mergers and acquisitions, and this was at a time when Wall Street was changing and banks like Goldman recognized that there was going to be a premium on specialization. . . . he wound up as a dealmaker making deals between movie studios and TV companies . . .  started a boutique investment bank that got further invested in setting up deals between people like Ted Turner and Castlerock Pictures. . ."

NPR: Because he was in the entertainment end of the financial industry, he ended up making movies. . .  connected with Andrew Breitbart. Tell us who he was and how they got together.

GREEN:  Andrew Breitbart was a conservative provocateur. . . worked for Matt Drudge who runs the Drudge Report website. . .  Breitbart was an interesting guy because he lived and circulated in Hollywood which, as we know, tends to be a bastion of liberalism.  He delighted in kind of, you know, provoking and outraging those liberals, really derived a lot of joy,  . .   Breitbart, I think, conscripted Bannon into what was then - it was pre-Tea Party, but it was that kind of Republican populist view that we have to kind of rise up and take back our government and take back our culture.  Bannon became the executive chairman of Breitbart News after Andrew Breitbart died. . . 

NPR: Andrew Breitbart died in 2012 suddenly, and Bannon became executive chairman of Breitbart News. Was his approach any different from Mr. Breitbart? . . .  In 2012, when Steve Bannon was the executive editor of Breitbart, he established a research arm - the Government Accountability Institute. What does it do?

GREEN:  . . .So not only was Bannon executive chairman of Breitbart News, but then with some of the same financial backers, he started the Government Accountability Institute which is a nonprofit research organization based in Tallahassee. . . a research organization that is going to do digging and stick to the realm of facts, and they're going to investigate corruption in cronyism in government, be it Republican or Democrat. GAI was a pretty sleepy shop.

But what really brought GAI into the forefront was that GAI's president, Peter Schweizer, wrote the book "Clinton Cash" that became an unexpected best-seller back in the spring of 2015, just as Hillary Clinton was getting ready to launch her presidential campaign. It drove up her unfavorability ratings, and it raised all sorts of pernicious questions about who Clinton - in the Clinton Foundation had financial relationships with and whether or not this was going to be a problem in her presidential campaign.

. . .  What GAI did instead was to reach out to investigative reporters and mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and others and try and encourage their reporters to take this research that they'd done and to go off and do some digging on their own. And they did, and that wound up resulting in front-page stories in a lot of major newspapers that got this negative information about Clinton in front of a whole different audience than reads Breitbart News or listens to talk radio.

And if you look at how Donald Trump chose to run against Clinton in the general election, Trump was essentially channeling the same attacks that Bannon had conceived and pushed in the "Clinton Cash" book. And so - and, you know, so ultimately, you know, he succeeded in this year's-long plan to plot and carry off the downfall of Hillary Clinton.

NPR:  The concern (about Bannon in the White House) is that it suggests a tolerance, if not embrace, of racism and anti-Semitism. What about the idea that Breitbart News itself propagates, you know, white supremacist views? I mean, The New York Times editorial on this said to scroll through Breitbart's headlines is to come upon a parallel universe where black people do nothing but commit crimes, immigrants rape native-born daughters and feminists want to castrate men. The Southern Poverty Law Center says he made Breitbart News a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill. (I post this question in full, because it propagates lies in the form of an innocent question, with no credible source). What's your sense of the content of Breitbart News?

GREEN: Well, it is certainly inflammatory and fixated on race, on religion, on all the sorts of things that have upset people. I think the thing to understand about Breitbart - and this is not to excuse anything they write or publish - is that they are deliberately provocative. They're aiming to offend and upset people in order to stoke the grassroots anger at government and the broader culture. . .

NPR: You know, it's one thing if white supremacists read Breitbart News and if they write shocking comments in response to the stories. But as you look at the content, I mean, does the website seem to, you know, embrace and propagate these views of white nationalism and white supremacists? What's your sense?
(Another provocative question, to communicate the leftist views of NPR--the interviewer Davies is building up steam).

GREEN:  [I interviewed him in 2015] And what he said essentially was that they are trying to reach an audience that doesn't have an outlet anywhere else in mainstream media. I pulled up some of the quotes. He said, you know, we focus on things like immigration, ISIS, race riots, what he calls the persecution of Christians. He says, we give a perspective that other outlets are not going to give. There are not a lot of outlets that are covering that, at least not from the perspective that we should be running a victory lap every time some sort of traditional value gets undercut.

The question I was always interested in getting at with Bannon was do you really believe this stuff - because a lot of it is offensive and inflammatory. And he said, you know, personally I'm mixed on a lot of this stuff. But we're airing a lot of things that traditional people are thinking that don't get mainstream media representation anymore. So they were making a market for these kinds of views and these kinds of stories and attracting an audience, what's turned out to be an extremely large and powerful audience by tapping these sentiments. (Davies pretends the leftist media is never provocative or inflammatory.) . . .


NPR: He's an interesting character, and, you know, in your profile of him, the photos show him wearing cutoffs. And when you see him in photos now like with the transition team, he really stands out from the Trump family who are so carefully, you know, tailored and coiffed.. .

GREEN: That is just him. I mean, if you want to be blunt, he looks like a bloated homeless alcoholic... (imagine an Obama supporter being described this way on national radio--wouldn't happen)

NPR: (Laughter). 

GREEN: There's been so much kind of shock and consternation about how a guy like Bannon who is so far outside the bounds of anybody who'd typically be considered for, you know, a West Wing position gets elevated to one, I think it's important to remember what we've just witnessed and what Trump himself has just seen that Bannon - and this is what originally attracted me to him as a profile subject - is a smart guy and a clever strategist who orchestrated this elaborate plan to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency that we've just watched work. It succeeded. And so I think that Trump has a degree of faith in Bannon that he doesn't have in another people.. . .

. . .  Part of it was Breitbart News with its rolling narratives about how Clinton was corrupt and doing Benghazi and this and that and really stoking all this conservative right-wing anger against her and against any Republican that treated her as anything less than, you know, a terrible pariah and a threat to the country. That eventually came to include people like Paul Ryan who are the most mainstream of Republicans. And then on the other hand, you have the Government Accountability Institute and the "Clinton Cash" book that figured out a way to kind of hack into the mainstream media and propagate these negative anti-Clinton stories. It had the effect of driving up her unfavorability ratings.

If you look at what happened in the election, essentially Clinton was too unpopular to reconstitute the Obama coalition that got him elected twice. She lost the presidential race narrowly. I mean, to my mind, Bannon is one of the major figures, if not the major figure, that conceived of an orchestrated and carried out that attack. That was what he laid out in the piece that I thought was so interesting. And, to be honest, I never thought in a million years he would carry it off. But, look, he has. (And since he fooled Green, he needs to be demonized.)

Low fat and no fat diets may be dangerous to your health

If you want to make a New Year's resolution that should be easy to keep, give up low-fat or no fat food items. For 40 years the U.S. has been on the fast track to obesity problems--diabetes, more cardiovascular problems, and decreased exercise and activity because it's just tough to do it with all those extra pounds that damage knees and hips. Now it turns out the the U.S. government, the professional nutrition organizations, academic researchers and the food processing companies (which followed government guidelines) probably had it wrong.

When I was a child about 40% of our calories came from fat--mostly animal fat. My mother cooked with lard, we drank whole milk (cream would freeze and push up the cap when the delivery was on the porch), we used butter, we ate eggs and bacon, but sugar especially when rationed during WWII and Korea was used frugally. Somewhere along the way my mother was swayed by articles on nutrition published in women's magazines--and in the 60s and 70s she switched to margarine and 2% milk, she was cautious with eggs, and bacon probably wasn't used. Lard became Crisco and then Safflower Oil and Peanut Oil for her fabulous pies.

For 40 years Americans tried to decrease their use of fat--we (at least I) bought low-fat or no-fat salad dressing, skim milk, low-fat sour cream, skinny bread, and added carbs just as the government recommended, and sugar was added to processed food to make them palatable, as the flavor and satiety  was gone. Special chemicals were added to provide texture and thickening. So we just ate more of everything because the food didn't taste or feel right and didn't satisfy. And we all got fatter and less healthy; cardiovascular diseases which had been on the decrease, began to increase; diabetes which had been relatively rare became an epidemic. In studies of low-fat, high carb diets, those studied had higher rates of premature death, not lower as was expected. Industry went along because there was a profit to be made--ordinary products like dairy and cereal were advertised as low fat; diet products proliferated and became a huge industry as did weight reduction surgery and weight clubs and support groups. Exercise products and clubs sprung up.

Researchers know more about the human body in 2016 than they did in 1966--men and women aren't the same (no matter which pronoun is demanded), blacks and Asians aren't the same, teens and elderly aren't the same, children are not just small adults, our grandparents did actually pass along culture as well as genes, and you just can't change thousands of years of evolution of our bodies' response to famine and plenty by having the USDA or HHS mandate food for school lunches and grants for academic research.

So put some butter on that toast, and fry up some bacon and enjoy the New Year while you wait for the next expert to report on why we need to believe them about climate change.

 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2564564

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/12/16/dr-david-ludwig-clears-up-carbohydrate-confusion/

 

 

Is marriage the culprit?

 "Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015" I've found the gap problem. Marriage. Married couple households in 2014, $81,118; female headed households $36,193; male headed households $53,746. In 2015, it was $84,626; $37,797; and $55,861. I think that's a big jump for all groups, but obviously, married couples do better. Even with my math challenged thinking, I know that two earners will usually yield more income than one earner.  I'm not sure why, but it seems to be in the best interest of government departments and agencies to expand poverty definitions, and there's a new one in the works which adds in all the government benefits instead of using wages/income and adjusts for geographic area. You would think that would lower poverty rates, but it seems to increase them. It's called Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).  Also, in the first four years of the Obama administration real poverty that lasted 48 months was only 2.7%. Most poverty rate measures are based on months.

White Trash Sliders

 

I saw this recipe on my great nephew Jacob's Facebook wall--"White Trash Sliders."  Really simple.  But I added a few veggies to make it a bit more nutritious/delicious. 

1 lb. sausage (I used Bob Evans mild natural)
1 lb. hamburger/ground beef
1 lb. Velveeta
Use your favorite seasonings, but I then added

half a chopped onion
2 stalks of celery cut fine
sliced button mushrooms

I cooked the meats over low heat, and drained off the fat and added the veggies. Then cut up the Velveeta in smaller chunks and add it, stir over low heat, turn it off, and put the lid on.

This is to be served on small buns, but my husband is out with another woman for lunch, so I'm going to mix some chopped lettuce and cooked rice, and put it over that.  Yummy.

End of the year contributions, 2016

 Why do I have 5 envelopes for some organizations and none for others?

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Coming Home Network International, Zanesville, OH
Lutheran Bible Translators
Pregnancy Decision Health Center, Columbus
Lower Lights Christian Health Center, Columbus
St. Gabriel Radio, Columbus
168 Film Project (California)
Lakeside
COCINA (Haiti school)
EWTN (Alabama)
Pinecrest Community (in memory of my parents) Mt. Morris, IL
Salvation Army

Donations in Kind
Cat Welfare (memorabilia, jewelry), Columbus, rescue
Discovery Shop (wedding dress) Columbus, cancer

Memberships
Ohio History Connection
Columbus Museum of Art

Death with dignity gears up to take Ohio

So you were OK with aborting your kids' siblings in the name of "choice," or your career, and now they'll return the favor with "death with dignity" legislation and lies when you're old and just too much trouble to take care of. This is a heads up that the pro-life community is looking out for you just as we did the unborn.

“It is a sad truth that after more than two generations of telling parents that they have the right to choose if their children live or die, it is children who are advocating for their parents, spouses, and selves a right to death. Six states (Oregon, Montana, California, Colorado, Vermont, and Washington), along with Washington DC have legal assisted suicide laws. Colorado proponents raised nearly $5 million for the ballot issue adopted in November of 2016, which won by a 2 - 1 margin. Even as European proponents reconsider their support for the laws, the US continues to push forward and expand assisted suicide. Every indication is that Ohio is next. 

An Ohio-based “death with dignity” organization secured its nonprofit designation with the IRS in just one week last April; the group has organized speaking tours, media “educational” seminars; it is hosting events with major medical facilities; and it has identified lawmakers to introduce legislation in early 2017.” Fall 2016 newsletter, Greater Columbus Right to Life.

And notice how quickly the Ohio group got its IRS status--there are still conservative groups waiting after the last IRS scandal and Obama's election. The same administration that funnels money to Planned Parenthood supports removing mom at the other end.

An attack on Jews

Let's get real, Mr. Kerry. This is an attack on Jews by the U.N. and the Obama Administration, no matter what you call it. Have you told Turkey or Egypt they can't be Muslim? If the dove of peace miraculously joined the two sides in Israel in hand holding love, there is still the civil war in Syria, hundreds of thousands of refugees, nukes in Iran thanks to Obama, ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to Obama, a civil war in Yemen with interference from the Saudis and the U.S., Turkish coups and unrest with Russia, with your fingerprints all over it. So let's pick on our only ally and the only democracy in the middle east. Your boss is doing his best to screw things up for President elect Trump so he'll be so busy putting out fires he can't touch his precious failing insurance scheme.

What he said--Senator Ted Cruz

"America is an unshakable friend of Israel, and we are horrified at what has transpired this week.
I believe Obama's and Kerry's shameful conduct will backfire. That it will be short-lived, and will inspire a bipartisan repudiation of their radical anti-Israel agenda.

All Americans who understand the value of the U.S.-Israel alliance must immediately and unequivocally reject their false and dangerous narrative, and reassert our fundamental commitment to Israel's security.

Thankfully, Congress and the incoming administration can and I hope will take decisive action to intercept the administration’s final and desperate Hail Mary, and that should begin with eliminating U.S. funding to the U.N., unless and until this disgraceful resolution is reversed." (posted on Facebook)

Christmas Waste watcher--$139 Billion

$139 Billion. As a percentage of the total budget, I suppose that isn't huge, but when I think how we struggle to raise money for small projects, it's breath taking.  Or even big projects like crumbling neighborhoods.  That $139B could go a long way toward cleaning up water problems in aging cities to make them safer for children.

 "Some of the spending items detailed in the [waste] report include a Pentagon Task Force that spent $150 million on lavish, rented villas in Afghanistan with flat-screen TVs in each room; $356 million on a computer system that does not work; $34 million spent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to introduce Afghans to soybeans; and $47,530 on “elegant” bicycle shelters for the National Institutes of Health." (CNS) https://russell.house.gov/sites/russell.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Waste%20Watch%206.pdf

Trump is a business man (definitely not a politician), so we'll see if he can cut any of this theft in office by bureaucrats, or if he'll have to play the game. 

The Purpose of all this Propaganda

"The entire purpose of 60 years of slanted media and slanted news and slanted education and social pressure and brainwashing and deception and indoctrination — all of it, everything we complain about every day, all day, for years and years and years — the purpose of all this is to get people to vote for the most left-wing candidate in each presidential election. The goal is to bring about a self-imposed silent revolution in America, a democratically elected socialist government voted in by low-information rubes unaware of what they’re doing.

And it has looked ever since Obama’s ascendancy in 2008 that this long-term strategy had reached a tipping point of success from which there was no return — no conservative could ever win another presidential election. With each passing year, the population was getting younger, more radical, more brainwashed, etc. (Midterm/off-year elections are a somewhat different story, as regional conservative outposts could still elect local representatives — but on a national scale, they were greatly outnumbered by burgeoning young generations of leftists.)"

Zomblog.  http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=2143

Zombie also writes at PJMedia

Hezbollah working close to our border

"Where do terrorists get their money? Although we think of Islamic State as the richest terror group in the world, a recent report prepared by the U.S. House Task Force to Investigate Terror Financing yields a shocking result: The largest terror “fund raiser” in the world is close to the U.S. border in Central and South America.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group -- essentially an arm of Iran -- has been linked to drug trafficking organizations in the Americas since 2010.

Yet fifteen years ago, when the group began smuggling cocaine into Europe and the Middle East, it was only able to moving small quantities. Now, Hezbollah is moving hundreds of tons of the drug into these locations, amassing “hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars” in currency around the world."

Clarion Project.  http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/global-terror-america%E2%80%99s-doorsteps#

Have you tried coloring?

If Obama's legacy weren't already destroyed . . .

The U.N. Security Council and Israel

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly reaching out to President-elect Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress in order to prevent the Obama administration from what the Israeli government fears is an American attempt to have the U.N. Security Council pass more resolutions against Israel by approving principles for a Palestinian state, The Times of Israel reports.

This comes after the Netanyahu government was angered that the Security Council on Friday condemned Israel’s settlement activities when the US failed to veto the resolution."

We only have one president, but it looks like he is attempting to make things difficult for President elect Trump with last minute actions. Netanyahu has publicly blamed Obama for the resolution’s passing.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/netanyahu-trump-congress-block/2016/12/25/id/765552/

Christmas 2016 recap

We served communion at UALC Lytham 10:30 service--really a good crowd--great sermon by Jeff Morlock and then home to prepare dinner. While things bubbled and cooked, the family was enjoying "A Christmas Story" in the living room.  They've all seen it so many times, they were speaking the lines. I put out some snacks in the kitchen, like the Harry and David box Rick and Kate sent of cookies, popcorn and candy, some crackers and cream cheese, plus a new cereal I found--Rice Chex with dark chocolate mixed in which makes a nice snack.

 It was probably the largest ham I've ever fixed. Phil donated it. I did find the right glaze recipe by checking my blog when I couldn't find one.  Just real maple syrup with about a generous teaspoon of mustard.  I basted it about 3 times, but it was so large, Phoebe had to help, and Mark had to lift it out of the oven.  The the rest of dinner was potato salad, tossed salad, vegetable casserole, green beans, sugar free apple pie, home made pickles from my Mom's recipe, olives, garlic bread, corn muffins, and wine using my gingerbread boy plates.  I won't do that vegetable casserole again--although everyone tried it, there was a lot left over and no one offered to take any home.  We have so much ham left over, it will take months to use it up--even after sending half of it plus the bone home with Phoebe (we're hoping for some of her delicious bean soup for cold January nights).

We received so many nice gifts.  Big surprise for me was a necklace I wasn't expecting.  We got gift cards to our favorite Friday night date spot Rusty Bucket, my favorite brand of Merle Norman foundation and a lovely Coach leather clutch bag which can be used with a strap. I don't like big, bulky bags, but this is just the perfect size.  I got a lovely, cozy robe, and subscription to my favorite magazine and a book from my TBR list;  Bob got a huge umbrella since he claims he gets wet under these lady types and his box of goodies for watching bowl games. He got two books, one as a trial for a new mystery series, plus Megan Kelly's new bio and YakTraxs for walking in the winter plus a knit facial ski mask.  The Levi's I got him fit well, he's already using the new billfold, but the hat has to go back to Kohl's.  We both got underwear, but we deserved it.

Merry Christmas 2016, same hair style I had in 1946

Kevin's movie countdown

Before I start snapping green beans and creating a glaze for the ham for our Christmas dinner, I tuned into Fox and Friends for its happy clappy Christmas stories and songs. Great stories about blankets for rescue dogs and a little boy who has many seizures and hour—but parents can’t work or they would lose his Medicaid. Then a song about Santa Claus by a Girl Scout choir, and the feel good reunions about military people home for a few days and reunions with family.

Kevin McCarthy was on to talk about his five favorite Christmas movies—but he was skyping from the home of his in-laws neighbors who had a wireless connection, and his wife’s parents didn’t! Since he’s sort of a nerd who’s on TV a lot, you’d think Fox would take care of that for him.

#5 Christmas story*
#4 Love actually
#3 Nightmare before Christmas
#2 It’s a wonderful life*
#1 Home alone*

I’ve seen three* of the five—not too bad since we rarely go to movies. Love actually sounds pretty good from his review.  Maybe I'll have to check with my daughter to see if it is in MASSIVE and HUGE collection of movies.

Ready for dinner, tonight and tomorrow

We're having a casual Christmas Eve dinner before church. So I decided to set the table in the kitchen and then also set the table in the dining room for tomorrow. It will be a little cramped, but I can put all the food on the counter.  I have two sets of Christmas dishes and am using them both.  Unfortunately, they don't have serving pieces, so I have to do a work around. This Paul McCobb mid-century modern set was our original dining room table (has 2 leaves) with a matching china cabinet, and we purchased it in 1964 when we had a very small dining room (house on White St. in Champaign, IL). The house originally had a very large dining room, and we built a wall down the middle to make two rooms.  When I say "we," you know who did the work. In the mid-90s this set resided for awhile in our daughter's home until she bought a dining room set.  Recently I checked on buying two additional chairs thinking I'd move it back to the dining room, but it appears it is now the most expensive furniture in the house.  Two additional chairs would be about $3,000. All the tree lights, inside and out, are ready.

The Ghost of Christmas Future Imperfect Conditional

 
The Ghost of Christmas Future Imperfect Conditional

http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/continuousconditional.htm

http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/conditional/

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/Grammar/conditional2.htm

Brief history of the Christmas creche

At our church we have a display of nativity scenes/creches from all over the world representing all cultures and ethnicities, arranged from the collection of David and Donna Hahm. Donna is a member of Friends of the Creche and in 2007 with the help of our church's Visual Arts Ministry brought the biennial show to Columbus/Dublin.

"The first-ever Nativity scene recorded in history was created by St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis was concerned that the meaning of Christmas was becoming lost as most people were more focused with the ritual of gift giving them they were of the true message of Christmas.

Determined to remind people what Christmas is really about, he set about creating the world’s first known Nativity scene to help tell his people of The Nativity Story. It was created in a cave and near Greccio, Italy, and involved real people and animals, making it a living Nativity scene.

This is a life size nativity display at our Mill

Run campus.

Today, nearly 800 years later, we still hear religious leaders echoing St. Francis’s words. The true message of Christmas is becoming lost; buried underneath layers of secular traditions. Yet at the same time, we also still see nativities everywhere come Christmas time." Read more at http://festivenativities.com/

Can Christians agree to pray for other Christians

Let all Christians pray in agreement that President Trump can help these Christians. Their plight is currently ignored by our government.  He is their last hope. "The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul, Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf told Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) this week that without President-elect Donald Trump’s help, Christian families who have escaped ISIS in the Erbil area of the Kurdistan region “are finished.”" (CNS News, Dec. 23, 2016)

 Sharaf, who was the very last bishop to flee ISIS in Mosul in June 2014, told Smith, “So often concern for Christians is minimized. I am so happy, because you are the first American who has come to just ask about the Christians. We pray that President Trump will help us. We are the last people to speak the Aramaic language. Without help, we are finished.” 

“This Christmas season, the survival of Christians in Iraq, where they have lived for almost 2,000 years, is at stake,” Smith, who is chair of the House panel on global human rights and international organizations, commented on Monday.

Pray also for Representative Smith who called the legislation he is proposing “a blueprint for how to assist Christians and other genocide survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.”
 https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5961

The Good News at Christmas

We have a friend on our Christmas card list that we haven't heard from in a number of years, but we'd continued to send our card each year. We met her husband about 45 years ago when he lived in Columbus when he was single, so I'd actually never met her.  Today we got a card/letter from her catching us up on the news of her now adult children, all doing well--and one we've seen on TV. But two big surprises--after 10 years of widowhood, she has met someone to love and he has led her to Christ. Wow. What a wonderful surprise present for us--first to hear from someone we'd lost touch with, and then to find out she's now in touch with God.

Middle school is much harder than the 1950s

 
I picked this title up at Barnes & Noble a few days ago.  I made it to page 4.  Middle school is a lot harder than I remember.