Reading to children

 

Sounds wonderful, but as a mother who read to her children every day, and who took them to the library, and bought them books, I don't believe this. It's good cuddle time, it's enjoyable for parent and child, but not every child enjoys book reading.

“The commission spent two years poring through thousands of research projects conducted in the previous quarter century, and in 1985 issued its report, Becoming a Nation of Readers. Among its primary findings, two simple declarations rang loud and clear:

“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”1 “It is a practice that should continue throughout the grades.”2 The commission found conclusive evidence to support reading aloud not only in the home but also in the classroom.

In their wording—“ the single most important activity”—the experts were saying reading aloud was more important than work sheets, homework, book reports, and flash cards. One of the cheapest, simplest, and oldest tools of teaching was being promoted as a better tool than anything else in the home or classroom— and it’s so simple you don’t even need a high school diploma in order to do it.”

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
(Penguin, 2013, 7th edition).

Everyone’s a victim, if she feels it (except white males)

https://www.prageru.com/videos/facts-dont-care-about-your-feelings

Has someone used the wrong pronoun?  Opened a door for you?

Mitt’s 2012 campaign, assessment from a friend

Those of us who supported Mitt Romney in 2012 are terribly disappointed in his bizarre behavior before he’s even sworn in as a Senator.  We didn’t need one more RINO Never Trumper in DC.

“Mitt’s campaign was lackluster and lacked sending a message that enticed people.  We went to one of his rallies here and it was pretty much boring—verbatim of all talks he did over and over.  And I was disappointed that there was no explanation why conservatism is priceless.  Now I know.  He’s mostly Democrat.  Flakey.  The two of them need to have head adjustments.  Mitt busy being virtuous.  Sometimes the country needs bombastic.  Sorry Mitt.  You don’t get it.  Waiting to see what he intends to accomplish by his mere appearance in the Washington fray.  You got it.  I’m irritated.  I hope he learns something of value in his journey. “

At the fitness center

 

I haven’t noticed any increase in traffic—must be fewer resolutions to exercise and lose weight this year.

About a month ago I mentioned a man I was watching who was having a huge struggle using his walker, but who wouldn’t accept help from anyone. It would take him about 5 minutes to get from the door to the rowing machine.  I would watch him each time I’d decide I really didn’t want to walk a mile on the Treadmill, then I’d keep going when I saw how hard he was working to build up his legs

Then one day I saw him taking a few steps without the walker, and then he stopped using the walker all together.  Another member told me his injury was from a failed surgery to fix something else.  Then this week he was hit and knocked down by a car in the parking lot walking into the building!  He came in and exercised anyway, but we both think the police should have been called.  The woman who hit him used the excuse she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids!

I met a woman at the fitness center around Thanksgiving who is really pleasant and attractive and in excellent shape.  She’s usually finishing about the time I arrive (which is rather early) and works somewhere nearby. She has 11 dogs, 5 cats, a pot bellied pig, and 4 horses and lives around the Johnstown area.  She says the pig is about 9-10 years old and is rather elderly for a pig.  She showed me his photo on her smart phone.  I haven’t seen photos of her grandchildren, but I know she has at least two.

Week-end plans?

January resolutions

 

1)  While watching the evening news, I resolve to do one page of 6th grade math a day.  So far, I’ve done 2 pages and have an A+ average. I need to review what is a numerator and denominator—must have covered that in an earlier grade.*

2)  And on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Lifetime Fitness I’ll do 2 sets of 15 instead of 2 sets of 10. So far, since yesterday was Wednesday I up to date on this one.

3)  A third resolution was to clean out one drawer a day, but when I started, the first 2 things I removed was my mother’s address book which required great study and a blog, and the second was a letter from my brother in September 2016, and after I came out of my faint, I was too weak to continue.  I may have to change that one a month.

4) The fourth resolution for January has already been scratched—play my trombone daily.  What was I thinking?

*

Guest blogger Laura on why she left the Democrat party to vote for Trump

“I was raised in a Catholic family that always voted Democrat. I clearly remember my parents saying the Democrats are for the poor the Republicans are for the rich. I struggled with issues growing up, having a father that abused me physically ,and mentally which sent me in a world win of depression, and other addictions.  Fast forward to when I started voting--of course, I voted Democrat--my Father was an Electrician, and Mom worked full time in retail. I noticed my father leaning towards Republicans at this time, and again I was young, and didn't pay much attention to politics, unlike this day and age. I voted for Clinton twice, and Obama twice; the second time I was weary, but did it anyway. I started to see him divide this country, so that's when I really started to do some homework.

When Hillary ran, there was no way I was voting for her or Bernie as I do not believe in Socialism, and that's exactly what the Democrats became, and fully acknowledged it. The old Democrats were gone. The party my parents voted for were gone, taken over by horrible people with many skeletons in their closets that went for both sides in my opinion. [I was being] called names because I didn't trust or agree with Hillary when just 10 years before her stances were completely opposite. She basically lied about so much; no way in good conscience could I vote for her.

Here comes Trump down that elevator. I thought originally he was a joke, but the more I actually listened, I did my own research. I found him to be genuine for his love of our Country. So there it was, I was voting for Trump, had my Trump signs out in my yard! Some of my friends didn't understand and  said that he is racist because they listen to CNN or just follow like sheep. The hardest person was my best friend of 25 years, a gay male. We have been through thick, and thin together and unfortunately to this day his hate for our President is overwhelming, so we just don't talk about politics, and I block him from seeing my Trump posts. It's much easier then him going off on my Facebook about the President.

I have also researched things about our Border, let me tell you it is much worse then anyone thinks besides little kids being dragged across. There are Cartels bringing them over, and doing horrible things to the women. That's not including the drugs, sex trafficking is a huge issue that no one wants to talk about. We need more Border Security, we need a wall. This is not a joke, it is a mess out there, and some of the Border a 5 year old can jump over.

My husband is in the National Guard, and was also in the Air Force at 19. He is still in the National Guard at 49 he also opened my eyes to things I had no idea about, like the funding being cut to crap in Obama years, and so much more. I also have a daughter from a previous relationship who is gay, I love her dearly, and originally she hated President Trump with a passion. She's in college, and being gay so of course automatically being "labeled " a liberal. I try, and get her to listen to Brandon [leader of Walkaway], and she actually agreed with him on some things so there is hope for her as long as the college doesn't try to brain wash her, being a gay women you’re automatically suppose to be a liberal apparently. These are the people we need to reach out to, the young who are not educated, and just follow their friends, along with the gay community. I understand their feelings because that's all they hear unless they take the time to really research like I did.

I changed from a Democrat to Republican on paper for President Donald Trump, and will vote for him again. He is an outsider, kind of what I was all of my life. I love his take no crap attitude that some people find repulsive. I cannot ever see myself voting Democrat again, not with the left liberal agenda and not anyone who agrees with socialism. I am unfortunately in a State that will never vote for our President, but I will, and continue too support him.

I see these groups of people trying to keep this Country divided. We cannot let that happen--there is so much more to all of us. I will say this, 2020 will not be easy, they didn't see a Trump win coming last time, now they do. They are doing everything they can to divide us, take down conservative pages or just people who aren't conservatives per se, but free thinkers . . . [and a few personal thoughts for people on the Walkaway Facebook page]

That fish wrapper, Washington Post

If it were paper, it would be good to wrap the garbage. I glanced at the headlines in my e-mail Washington Post today, and noted 15 of the 20 articles were simply rants against Trump, or supporting those who have dissed him like Nancy Pelosi and Mitt Romney. The others, if I deep dived, would probably have swipes at the President, like the article on China's economy, or dysfunction in Congress which probably blame him. I did see an article about Spectrum (our cable carrier), so I'm not sure if that was about Trump, but I'm sure it can be twisted to fit the narrative.

The anti-Trump articles bring in vast amounts of money to the MSM, and they are first of all, capitalists trying to survive in an increasing competitive news field. And sometimes capitalism can be very dirty—like yelling hate speech at their competitors or trying to stop their stream of income through online payments.

A book review in Forreston, 1949

 

At least I think it was 1949. . . that’s the year the book was published. This book was made into a movie in 1952 starring Cary Grant and Betsy Drake.

I don’t think I read any of those books she recommended, but I do remember Jimmy Lewis who had a wonderful voice and white blond hair, and Davis Folkerts, a precocious piano player. Davis must have been about 10 years old when he performed for the ladies. He retired as professor of music from Central College in Pella, IA, in 2017 and was still playing the organ at 79. He learned to play the instrument in the sixth grade according to the local paper which covered his retirement 2 years ago.

I found this clipping inside her address book which seems to be from about 1990-2000. It’s full of names I remember, many who died that decade, according to her notes.  I’m not sure how I inherited either the address book or the clipping inside it.  I’m sure she didn’t put it in there.

But it’s fun to think of her at 37, giving a book review—I don’t remember her enjoying public speaking--getting out of the house and chatting with ladies of the community may have been an adventure. As I recall, the local library was a volunteer effort, open only a few hours a week, and run by my first grade teacher, Miss Flora.

Exercise ideas (not goals, not resolutions) for the New Year (just January)

I’m not a goal setter (I’ve written on this numerous times), but I am a problem solver. So a year ago I used my Silver Sneakers on my insurance plan to join an exercise facility. (I had originally joined one next to Panera’s in 2015 but bursitis ended that.)  Didn’t like the first one I tried on Bethel Rd.  (it has since closed) and have now been at Lifetime Fitness on Henderson about a year.  I ride a stationary bike for three miles, walk on the treadmill for one mile, and three times a week I do resistance exercises using the machines, mainly working my arms.

“Vigorous stationary bicycling is the best weight-loss exercise among gym activities, according to the “Harvard Heart Letter.” It burns 782 calories per hour in 155-pound people and 932 calories per hour in 185-pound people. Moderate stationary bicycling burns 520 and 622 calories per hour in the same people. Vigorous exercise raises your heart rate to 70 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate; moderate exercise raises your heart rate to 55 to 70 percent of its maximum. The maximum heart rate is 220 heartbeats per minute minus age. In contrast, walking 4.5 mph, the fastest speed most people can walk without changing their technique and becoming power walkers, burns 372 and 444 calories per hour in 155- and 185-pound people.”

https://healthyliving.azcentral.com/stationary-bicycle-vs-walking-exercise-9889.html

I do 3.5 mph three times during the one miler on the treadmill and get to 104 heartrate then drop back to 2.5 mph. When on the stationary bike I also increase the heart rate 3 times in the 3 miles to 104.  On either, it’s about 25 minutes. So I’d have to recalculate the above figures, but it looks like an hour on the bike burns more calories than an hour walking, even at a moderate pace.  Also the bike doesn’t bother my hips or knees.

My plan for January is to increase the resistance machines to 2 sets of 15.  I’m currently doing 2 sets of 10.  When the instructor showed me last January, she started me on 2 sets of 20—which I knew immediately wasn’t going to work for me.  If you pull or injure something you have 2 sets of nothing as you sit at home eating another slice of toast with cheddar cheese.

Why Fox is better for News

Fox News is far more reliable than CNN or MSNBC for this reason—it separates the news programs from the opinion shows, and you are never confused about which you’re watching. I may only watch 10 minutes of the morning chit chat, or 10 minutes of the 6 o’clock news, but I’m never puzzled about whether it’s news or opinion. The other networks not only ridicule and demean Trump, they also belittle his supporters, which doesn’t seem like a good plan to draw in viewers. But they don’t really need to add people who have different viewpoints because Trump has made so much money for them because the haters tune in to get their latest fix of Trump derangement.

I use a wide variety of sources from print, to digital to YouTube commentary to TV news shows. EWTN nightly news.  Jordan Peterson’s channel. Lionel Nation on YouTube.  I can’t help but see the broadcast media, and Fox always shows what’s going on in the Clinton News Network, etc. Occasionally I even watch or listen to PBS, but it’s a challenge because they don’t even realize the narrowness of their writers and reporters and therefore can’t offer anything right of center. Those other avenues of alternate opinions are being challenged however; the leftist cabal is pressuring them not to carry conservative voices, nor to accept payment methods which would dry up alternate viewpoints very quickly.

One of the nasty characteristics about a capitalist system (and the news networks depend on investors and advertising) is you need to destroy or block your competition. That use to be by offering a better product, but today it’s done with smears against personalities or owners. Find a few “non-profits” to call them racist or homophobic, and you’re on your way to a clear course to the big money.

Reading at the fitness center

I usually take something along to the fitness center to read while I'm on the cycle. A guy stopped and asked me what I was reading. "An article on Marxism," I said. His eyes widened. Then I explained that Michael Rectenwald is a former communist, NYU professor, who has seen the destructiveness and damage in that system. So I was reading his recent article in New English Review which explains why it's no use trying to convince the communist with arguments, evidence or pathos that the equitable price of a workers' paradise cannot be millions of lives. He thinks that like him, they'll just have to "hear the screams" themselves.

https://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=189524&sec_id=189524

https://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=189367&sec_id=189367

Mitt Romney’s jealous temper tantrum

It's a shame about Romney (Flake 2.0). He lost to the most narcissistic, race baiting president ever, who made us a weak laughing stock around the world.  Mitt was Mr. Nice Guy. He's now attacking the only Republican who could win against the entrenched leftist culture.  Romney is finally showing some spirit and fight which he didn't have in 2012, but it's 6 years too late

Remember when Trump was selecting his future cabinet in Trump Tower and Romney was called in.  Not sure what the interview was for, but apparently he didn’t make the cut.  Holds grudges like a woman.

Homeless in Columbus

There was an odd juxtaposition of articles in Monday's Columbus Dispatch (December 31, 2018).

1) Immigrant who is a janitress bought and fixed up a run down home in Linden area and is helping to revitalize the area (photo--really cute home, she's on the porch), "Affordable housing key to revitalized Linden." Like other home owners she is happy to see home values increasing as a result of her determination and hard work.

2) Terrible homeless problem in Columbus, higher than during the recession and higher than the other parts of Ohio, and there is a need for the new law (January 2, 2019) to prevent evictions or there will be more homelessness. And the writer looks to Homeport to continue providing more affordable housing (government money). "Resolved for 2019: It's time to decrease local homelessness." https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20181231/editorial-resolved-for-2019-its-time-to-decrease-local-homelessness

I wrote about this "problem" over a decade ago at my blog, pointing out that Columbus Housing Partnership over 20 years (now 30) had millions and millions in government grants to "solve the housing problem" in Columbus. It created Homeport in 2004. Based on the just the money, there should be no low income person in Columbus without housing. Except. https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/11/cityliving-network-and-homeport-of.html

Homelessness is just not about affordable housing. It's alcoholism, drug use, poor living skills, chronic illnesses, bad family relationships, mental illness, and the nanny state.

Dave Barry asks

“Is there anything good we can say about 2018? Only this: It got us out of 2017. But even that didn’t work out as we hoped.

As you recall, we, as a nation, spent all of 2017 obsessing over 2016: the election, the Russians, the emails, the Mueller probe, the Russians, the Russians, the Russians. … That was all we heard about, day after soul-crushing day, for the entire year.

So when 2018 finally dawned, we were desperately hoping for change. It was a new year, a chance for the nation to break out of the endless, pointless barrage of charges and countercharges, to move past the vicious, hate-filled hyperpartisan spew of name-calling and petty point-scoring, to end the 24/7 cycle of media hysteria, to look forward and begin to tackle the many critical issues facing the nation, the most important of which turned out to be …

… the 2016 election.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2018/12/30/feature/dave-barrys-year-in-review-2018/?

In November. . .

For their part, the Democrats appeal to voters with a three-pronged message:

Prong One: The Democrats are the party of fairness, diversity and inclusion.

Prong Two: Anybody who disagrees with the Democrats about anything is Hitler.

Prong Three: But more racist. [and a few Democrats I know certainly fit this category because believing in borders is obviously racist]

Meet The Nativity

A Christmas comedy in 4 parts.  One of the best I’ve seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvmh99alpJk&feature=share

Jesus still changes things.

Best lines: When boyfriend is asked if he has a gift (for baby Jesus) he says, "I have nothing," and when the step-mother is asked if she wants to hold the baby, she says, "But my hands are dirty."

On snazzy start up watch companies

My ongoing discussion with customer service, Kimberly.

“I have the feeling you kids have never talked to your grandparents.  Wouldn’t we all be saving a lot of time if the company just included instructions that are on the website with the nice packaging?  Just a thought.  I paid $300. That’s $200 more than I ever paid for a watch.

The least I should get is instructions.  I bought a $10 toaster at WalMart and have instructions in 3 languages.  Happy New Year.”

Norma

Advice on plurals, Ohio Farmer 8(3):23, January 15, 1859

Remember, though box

in the plural makes boxes

The plural of ox

Should be oxen, not oxes.

And remember, though fleece

In the plural is fleeces,

The the plural of goose

Aren’t gooses nor geeces.

And remember, though house

In the plural is houses

The plural of mouse

Should be mice, not mouses.

All of which goes to prove

That grammar a farce is

For where is the plural

of rum and molasses?

There are many versions of this poem on the internet, and most start with ox and oxen, and some include papoose, man, vine, etc. But this just shows people were having fun with it 160 years ago. I copied it on the back of scrap card when I was writing an article about women writers for this journal for Serials Librarian. It's possible there are more cards, and they are in the dark recesses of my desk.  I had opened a drawer wondering if I needed to make a New Year’s Resolution about cleaning my desk!

There are also many explanations in Quora on how all these plurals happened, and they don’t seem to agree with each other.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-word-oxen-used-for-the-plural-of-ox-and-not-oxes

Welcome to Flight #2019

Seen on the Internet--a flight plan for 2019.

Hello, welcome to Flight #2019. We are prepared to take off into the New Year! Please make sure your Attitude and Blessings are secured and locked in an upright position. All self-destructive devices should be turned off at this time. All negativity, hurt and discouragement should be put away. Should we lose Altitude under pressure, during the flight, reach up and pull down a Prayer. Prayers will automatically be activated by Faith. Once your Faith is activated you can assist other passengers. There will be NO BAGGAGE allowed on this flight. The Captain (GOD) has cleared us for takeoff. Destination GREATNESS.

Some come to the New Year with great sadness and loss

A note on Facebook from our friend Sue in California.  We’ve known her in person about 15 years, but knew of her years before that because she’s such a close friend of Bob’s sister, Debbie.  Sue spent a week with us in Lakeside in 2017, and by the end of the week I think she knew half the people in town—she’s just has that kind of super personality.  She and her first husband had 3 sons, and they lost one, Michael, late in 2018. She had to leave her home in California and go to Oregon to live and care for him after he was released (briefly) from the hospital.  We were one of the many friends privileged to have a thank you note from Michael in his handwriting before he lost the use of his hands.

“Before 2018 ends, I want to make sure I thank all of my family and friends for all your love and support. It has been the most difficult year of my life and for Kevin and Chris as well. Without all of your support it would have been even worse.

We appreciate all the food baskets, flowers, plants, gift cards, money towards plane tickets, letters and cards that we have received and are still receiving over the last 8 months. Michael loved them too. If you sent them during the brief time he was out of the hospital in October, you received a handwritten thank you card from him. Those were the last notes he ever wrote. Sometime in early November he lost the ability to use his hands to write.

My beloved coworkers even donated some of their vacation time so I would receive full pay for the month of December.

Tonight is brutally hard for me to go into 2019 without his midnight phone call. He always called me to say “Happy New Year Mom” and to let me know he was safe. I know he will be saying it, I just won’t be able to hear his voice.

God bless you all in 2019 and know that in your time of need, I will be there for you as well.❤️❤️❤️”

Happy 48th Anniversary Jeanne and Bob

 

I’ve never seen them looking better.  This fall they began home sharing and are now in a household with 4 generations, their daughter and husband, their grandson, and his twin girls—plus Diva the dog.  There is lots of activity, which has been wonderful for Bob who has been ill.

10 tips for year-end estate and financial planning

We may not be in a position to do #6 (gift up to $30,000 to an individual if married), but we all need to do #10, organize our records for 2019, and shred documents no longer needed for retention.

Also, in 2018, you can contribute up to $18,500 in your employer-sponsored retirement plan (i.e., 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the Federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan). Employees aged 50 or older who participate in such plans can contribute an additional $6,000 in "catch-up" contributions. #3

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/year-end-estate-and-financial-planning-checklist-make-your-list-and-check-it-twice

Ten resolutions from the American Medical Association

AMA's 10 resolutions for the New Year. I'll need another list. Already have done all of these.

1. Know your risk for type 2 diabetes--
2. Be more physically active—
3. Know your blood pressure numbers—
4. Reduce your intake of processed foods, especially those with added sodium and sugar—
5. Take antibiotics only as prescribed--
6. Alcohol only in moderation, up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men--
7. Quit tobacco and nicotine, declare your home and car smoke-free --
8. Properly dispose of any leftover medication and never share--
9. Stay up-to-date on vaccines—
10. Manage stress—

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-offers-10-health-recommendations-new-years-resolutions

Baby new year 2019—Monday Memories

My mother kept a "commonplace book," in which she pasted poems, cartoons, articles from magazines, and things she'd hand copied or typed from books. I see familiar names--McCall's, Chicago Daily News, Farm and Ranch, Christian Herald, and Rockford Morning Star. As a child I would sit and look through it often--a small, 3-ring black leather notebook. I particularly enjoyed the poem, "For a female cat named Horace," because it reminded me of my friend's cat "Butch" who populated Forreston, IL with kitties and the one about how to make a recipe taste like mother's--walk 5 miles before dinner. She may have been saving clippings in a box for years, but the first item was the baby New Year 1946 with a broom greeting old man 1945 giving him a terrible mess. So here it is again, Mom, for 2018-2019. The world is still a mess and we need you.

I wrote about her commonplacebook in January  2010, and noted:

“Her final hand written entry (in the scanned copy) is undated; but it was near the end of her life--perhaps the end of 1999. She died in January 2000. There is no attribution other than her name.

If
Each day we fill a page
The year a volume makes
These last ten books are very full
of joys
changes
sorrow
growth.
Gently place this year on the shelf--
if there is room.
Close the decade.

Tickle Me Elmo is for all ages

This is a photo of my nephew David apparently doing a little emergency repair or battery replacement on his grandson’s Tickle Me Elmo.

Someone had given a Tickle Me Elmo to my mother-in-law (maybe us, I don’t remember) when she was in a nursing home.  She loved that toy and would squeeze it, and would just beam when it laughed.  We inherited it after her death in 1998. Bob kept it on a shelf in his office, and one day I suppose the battery malfunctioned and it began vibrating and giggling on its own. Sort of creepy. Not sure what became of it—perhaps we donated it, because it’s not in his office now.  The photo is from 2006.

 

Our mothers in 1993.

Just a little word--at

A very common phrase among Christians is, "God will meet you where you're at," and it just hurts my ears. I heard it three times in worship this morning. What is the purpose of "at?" What does it link? Why not, "God will meet you where you are."

So I looked at a grammar page and found, "We meet you where you’re at and bring you where you want to go with a free placement test."  Even the English teachers say it.

Prepositions are difficult for English learners, and we make them more difficult by dropping them where they have no function.

Summer School of Faith-Sixth, 2018-Charles Craigmile, Culture Lost, Culture Reclaimed

June 12:  The Crisis of Culture - How We Lost our Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smIAuenhqBw

June 19:  The Doctrine of Creation - A Subversive Theology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foz7_HYn3fo

June 26:  Liturgy and the Eucharist - Bridging the Gap
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=FdcejG3GcVI

July 10: The Church – “Called to Communion” https://gloria.tv/video/AtnhXhUUp3eG2R7AAGTjiod9n

July 17: Death and the Afterlife – “The Passage Home ”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGEXlsNjPlk

First week:  Many anniversaries in 2018. End of WWI in 1918.  Czar in Russia and family assassinated.  200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth. We have a sense our culture is in crisis. Catholics are experiencing closings of schools, hospitals, shortage of priests.
Uses “Introduction to Christianity” by Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)

Week 2 uses Genesis—a radical text.

Week 3, the liturgy and mass, true worship of God

Week 4, The church, the call to communion, uses Ratzinger’s 1991 book, “Called to Communion,” compilation of his speeches

Week 5, Death. Uses “Eschatology,” 1997, by Ratzinger, his last major work as a theologian. The Kingdom of God is the fundamental teaching of Jesus—it is Christ. Eternal life starts now.  The door to mercy is through repentance.

Charles Craigmile holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy, with minors in Latin and Greek from the University of St. Thomas, an MA in philosophy from DePaul University, and an MBA from JL Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Charles has also completed three-years’ course work toward a graduate degree in Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein. Over the last 25 years, Charles has taught Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) programs across the Chicago area, most recently at St. Mary's in Lake Forest.

Russian bots now linked to Democrat sources—Big Tech implicated now—Linkedin, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail

Hamilton 68 Dashboard, the online tool that purports to monitor and expose narratives pushed by the Kremlin on Twitter, is funded by Democrats and neoconservatives bankrolled in part by NATO and USAID --

The only 'Russian bots' to meddle in US elections belonged to Democratic-linked 'experts' | 28 Dec 2018 | US cyber-security experts have blamed Russia for meddling in American elections since 2016. Now it has emerged that authors of a Senate report on 'Russian' meddling actually ran a "false flag" meddling operation themselves.

A week before Christmas, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report accusing Russia of depressing Democrat voter turnout by targeting African-Americans on social media. Its authors, New Knowledge, quickly became a household name. Described by the New York Times as a group of "tech specialists who lean Democratic," New Knowledge has ties to both the US military and intelligence agencies. Its CEO and co-founder Jonathon Morgan previously worked for DARPA. His partner, Ryan Fox, is a 15-year veteran of the National Security Agency who also worked as a computer analyst for the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Investors pumped $11 million into the company in 2018 alone.

Morgan and Fox have struck gold in the "Russiagate" racket, which sprung into being after Hillary Clinton blamed Moscow for Donald Trump's presidential victory in 2016. Morgan, for example, is one of the developers of the Hamilton 68 Dashboard, the online tool that purports to monitor and expose narratives being pushed by the Kremlin on Twitter. The dashboard is bankrolled by the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy [sic] -- a collection of Democrats and neoconservatives funded in part by NATO and USAID.

https://www.legitgov.org/Hamilton-68-Dashboard-online-tool-purports-monitor-and-expose-narratives-pushed-Kremlin-Twitter

LinkedIn co-founder 'sorry' for funding 'Russian bot' disinformation campaign against Roy Moore | 27 Dec 2018 |

The co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, has apologized to Republican Roy Moore for funding an organisation that faked a 'Russian bot' involvement to mar his election campaign in Alabama. American Engagement Technologies (AET), which Hoffman gave 750,000 to, put 100,000 of the entrepreneur's m-ney towards New Knowledge, a cybersecurity firm which fabricated some 1,000 Russian language Twitter accounts to follow Moore. The company used the tactic to link the controversial Republican to so-called Russian influence campaigns and then fed it to the mainstream media. They also created misleading Facebook pages urging Republicans to support a 'write-in' candidate instead of supporting Moore.

Yahoo, AOL, and Gmail are caught red-handed trying to influence the 2018 election --"One Test, in Florida, 100% of Republican Rick Scott's emails went to spam in Yahoo, while 100% of his Democratic opponent Bill Nelson's emails went to our Yahoo inbox." | 29 Dec 2018 |

Is the world of email biased against conservatives? ... Our team created email addresses with different email providers and signed up for the email lists of around fifty different candidates, committees, and political nonprofits. In the month leading up to the election, we tracked how many emails were sent from each entity, and what percentage of those emails made it into our inbox. Republicans Were Sent to Spam Far More Often Than Democrats --The results were striking, across every email provider... In Nevada, Democrat Jacky Rosen averaged over 90% placement in inboxes, compared to Dean Heller's over 90% placement in spam. In Florida, 100% of Republican Rick Scott's emails went to spam in Yahoo, while 100% of Bill Nelson's emails went to our Yahoo inbox. While these were the most dramatic examples, this pattern emerged in every toss-up Senate race we tracked.

https://imge.com/news/email-providers-suppress-republicans-2018-election/?

I bought my husband an MVMT watch for Christmas

But it came with no information, instructions or warranty.  When I wrote the company and asked, I got some of the answer in an e-mail from customer service, and some in an attachment which if printed would be white on black. Really?  So I did what I should have done before I ordered: I looked up the company. It was crowd funded.

“When Jake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante dropped out of college to start MVMT in 2013, they had no clue what venture capital was. Instead, the duo raised around $300,000 in preorders through Indiegogo, the crowdfunding site, to create their first line of watches.

MVMT’s minimalist aesthetic, accessible price points and messaging about cutting out traditional retail middlemen appealed to a segment of millennial shoppers more willing than past generations to try out new brands and not equate high prices with quality.

“Watches are marked by flashy brands and millennials reject that idea,” Kaden, of Union Square Ventures, said.”

                

The watches are handsome.  And so are the founders. The instructions aren’t.

“MVMT was also an early mover in podcast advertising and marketing on Instagram at a time when the media formats were growing in popularity but advertising demand hadn’t fully caught up.

It didn’t hurt that they had picked product categories in watches and sunglasses that boasted big profit margins. Tuft & Needle did, too.

By the end of 2017, MVMT had managed to cross $70 million in annual revenue, mainly through its own website but also dabbling with sales on Amazon.

Along the way, its founders did learn what venture capital was — watching the press attention grow for heavily backed consumer startups like Warby Parker and Harry’s — but still kept their distance. Cautionary tales like that of Jessica Alba’s Honest Company — which raised too much capital at too high of a valuation, while convincing itself it was a tech company — spooked the founders.

“Once you do it one year, you have to do it next year; it becomes this bad cycle,” Kassan, its CEO, said. “I think having the discipline and flexibility was just the secret for us all along.”

https://www.recode.net/2018/8/29/17774878/consumer-startups-business-model-native-mvmt-tuft-needle

https://www.chase.com/news/012617-mvmt

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/01/how-two-25-year-old-college-dropouts-built-a-watch-company-that-made-60-million-this-year.html

                                

https://www.mvmtwatches.com/products/bourbon-rose

“The Bourbon Rose takes on a rich brown and gold colorway, pulled from iconic wood tones of California modern design. Italian tanned leather straps, a matte face and domed crystal complete this 41mm stainless steel case. A special exhibition case back reveals the dynamic intricacies of the automatic movement. . .

Automatic watchmaking is a centuries-old and deeply admired practice. Constructed with up to three-times the working parts of our traditional analog quartz watches, automatic movements harness energy through the natural motions of the wearer’s wrist. This powers the intricate series of wound springs and gear trains within the watch to keep time, making the Arc Automatic our most sophisticated timepiece to date. . .

Sleek steel and rich leather embody the core duality of the Arc Automatic. Inspired by the experimental spirit of 1960s architecture, this model explores the tension of modern design and timeless style.
This self-winding machine is distinguished by its intricate mechanical heartbeat. The gears that drive the smooth sweeping motion of the hands are powered by the natural movements of the wearer, revealed by a sculptural exhibition case back.’”

Here’s the small print I didn’t read when we ordered it. . .

“The Arc Automatic is best worn every day to keep accurate time, and should be fully wound before every wear. It’s best to keep in the watch winder when you are not wearing it. Avoid magnets, shocks and water exposure. In the event that water penetrates the case, repair immediately. Avoid setting the date between 9:00 p.m. -- 1:00 a.m. Best to avoid extreme temperatures, as accuracy is compromised below -10°C and above 60°C. Best to service approximately every 3 years to ensure long-term quality performance. In the event of time-delay or other unusual occurrences, service immediately. “

USAFacts—a new way to gather government statistics

This non-profit has been launched by Steve Ballmer and wife Connie.  Although most non-profits established by wealthy capitalists claim to be non-partisan and unbiased, we’ll have to see about that.  When Ballmer gives interviews we’ll see the clues. But since I frequently use government statistics myself in making my points about medical costs, education, immigration, sex/gender, religion, animals, housing, etc., I welcome any source which can make sense of it all, particularly the blending of federal, state and local.  Federal dollars, for instance, are only 3% of total spending on education.

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/full-interview-steve-ballmer-discusses-usafacts-new-10-k-government/

“USAFacts is a new data-driven portrait of the American population, our government’s finances, and government’s impact on society. We are a non-partisan, not-for-profit civic initiative and have no political agenda or commercial motive. We provide this information as a free public service and are committed to maintaining and expanding it in the future.

We rely exclusively on publicly available government data sources. We don’t make judgments or prescribe specific policies. Whether government money is spent wisely or not, whether our quality of life is improving or getting worse – that’s for you to decide. We hope to spur serious, reasoned, and informed debate on the purpose and functions of government. Such debate is vital to our democracy. We hope that USAFacts will make a modest contribution toward building consensus and finding solutions.”

https://usafacts.org/

  

The plan is to divide all government statistics by the four items in the Preamble’s mission statement.

“Revenue And Spending

Government revenue and expenditures are based on data from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Each is published annually, although due to collection times, state and local government data are not as current as federal data. Thus, when combining federal, state, and local revenues and expenditures, the most recent year shown is 2014, the most recent year for which all three sets of data are available. We show government spending through two different lenses:

Spending by segment: We recategorized several programs and functions to align them with four constitutional missions based on the preamble to the constitution:

• Establish Justice and Ensure Domestic Tranquility
• Provide for the Common Defense
• Promote the General Welfare
• Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity

This approach is modeled after what businesses do for their own management accountability and shareholder reporting. Public companies present their businesses in segments – a logical framework for discussing the areas in which the they operate. We do the same for government. In using this constitutional framework, we have made judgements in how we group programs. . .

Spending by function: We also show spending by functional categories such as compensation for current and past employees, capital expenditures, transfer payments to individuals, interest on the debt, and payments for goods and services. “

Flashback 1986 Norwester

 

I don’t recall ever seeing this photo of our son’s junior year in high school.  I guess they didn’t get any copies.

We can’t get away from it

Priceton.org

The new totalitarians aren’t new at all—they go by the names diversity, tolerance and inclusion

 

Harley Price, Canadian professor at University of Toronto  Priceton.org

What not to say to a convert

“When I walk into a room and say to people I meet ‘I’m Jewish’ often I will get the response ‘but you’re Black.'” Since when are the two mutually exclusive? People often make offensive racial assumptions about Jews (and converts) of color. Just like we’re not all named Rosenberg, one convert of color says it’s helpful to note that “Judaism is not a ‘race’ of white people. One of the things people should be mindful of is not to assume all people of color in the synagogue are converts (or the help, for that matter).” Yavilah McCoy (The Color of Jews)

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-dos-and-donts-of-talking-to-converts/?

Goy jokes are not funny.

“Words like shiksa (gentile woman) and shaygetz (gentile man) both derivations of the word for “dirty” in Yiddish, don’t make converts feel welcome either. Blondes with blue eyes, converts or not, tend to hear these words more often than converts like me with olive skin and big brown eyes. Still, my first Passover went south after someone repeatedly threw the word shiksa around along with some other ugly words about non-Jews. At the first bar mitzvah I attended, jokes about non-Jews were flying all over the place.”

Much of the advice in this article also applies to Christians. I stopped attending a Bible study by a pastor on a topic in which I was interested because of the sly little digs at Catholics, since I knew some of the invited guests were Catholics, or some grew up Catholic.

Much of if boils down to being an insider or an outsider whether a small town, a group, a church, a club, a resident new to the neighborhood, an alumnus, or a political campaign.  We just can’t assume we are all like minded.

The trans-movement is destroying real women

“In 2014, when I was a freshman, Mount Holyoke began admitting transgender and “non-gender-conforming” students. That means students who identify as men, or otherwise as nonwomen, can attend.

Doesn’t admitting transgender men to a women’s college undermine their claim that they are actually men? Or is Mount Holyoke simply a male-free zone, open to anyone except biological men who identify as such?”

Wall St. Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-alma-stops-identifying-as-a-mater-11545868845?

Yes, it’s true.

I got a Happy Light for Christmas

Overview (Mayo Clinic)

“Light therapy is a way to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and certain other conditions by exposure to artificial light. SAD is a type of depression that occurs at a certain time each year, usually in the fall or winter.

During light therapy, you sit or work near a device called a light therapy box. The box gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light.

Light therapy is thought to affect brain chemicals linked to mood and sleep, easing SAD symptoms. Using a light therapy box may also help with other types of depression, sleep disorders and other conditions. Light therapy is also known as bright light therapy or phototherapy.”

https://verilux.com/products/new-happylight-touch

Homeless in Seattle

I do not understand how a city can spend so much on the poor and yet have so little effect. What's the answer--it obviously isn't more money. "According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, the Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year. That’s nearly $100,000 for every homeless man, woman, and child in King County, yet the crisis seems only to have deepened, with more addiction, more crime, and more tent encampments in residential neighborhoods. By any measure, the city’s efforts are not working."

https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-homelessness

Pathological altruism = altruism in which attempts to promote the welfare of others instead result in unanticipated harm, . . ”.

Socialists know more money won’t help so the only answer must be to make the rich poorer.

Four years ago they were asking the same questions.

“Seattle’s liberal voters and politicians don’t mind spending money on social problems. And there’s a lot of money here. King County has the largest United Way in the country. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — the world’s wealthiest — puts money toward the homeless in its home town.

All told, King County officials estimate that a billion dollars or more has gone to help the county’s homeless over the past decade. Nearly 6,000 units of affordable housing have been built, more than in any city except New York or Los Angeles.”

http://www.invw.org/2015/03/02/after-10-year-plan-why-does-seattle-have-more-homeless-than-ever/

"On one night in the greater Seattle region in 2018, 12,112 individuals were experiencing homelessness, with 52 percent living unsheltered. In the Columbus region’s 2018 count, there were 1,807 people experiencing homelessness with 16 percent living unsheltered." https://www.geekwire.com/2018/cities-making-dent-homelessness-seattle-can-learn/

https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/7/31/16072102/washington-state-homeless-student-population

The Orientation and Disorientation of Caregivers by Peter Rosenberger, guest blog

By Peter Rosenberger author of 7 Caregiver Landmines and How You Can Avoid Them

 

(Available in Kindle and Paperback from Amazon) Peter Rosenberger hosts a radio program for family caregivers broadcast weekly from Nashville, TN on more than 200 stations. He has served as a caregiver for his wife Gracie, who has lived with severe disabilities for more than 30 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zete6PeZozA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKxgyymMy4c

“Walking into Waffle House for breakfast, I held the door for two men. The younger man awkwardly helped his older companion with a walker and oxygen tank. No stranger to these things myself, I waited for several moments while nodding to the younger man. Mustering a sad smile, he expressed his gratitude for my patience.

As they slowly exited, I stepped in—only to be stopped by one of the longtime servers. “Peter, go out there and talk to that young man! His name is Randy, and I ain’t serving you breakfast ‘til you do,” she stated forcefully.

Decades of Waffle House visits with her taught me that disobedience usually involved a tongue-lashing. And, she really wouldn’t serve me until I talked with him.

Dutifully returning to the parking lot, I approached Randy, stuck my hand out and said, “I was told to come out here and talk with you—and Judy won’t serve me breakfast until I do. What’s going on?”

Randy’s eyes instantly filled with tears while sharing that this was their last breakfast out before hospice came that afternoon for his partner. Listening, I understood why Judy sent me back to the parking lot.

I speak fluent caregiver.

Randy added, “We’ve been together for 24 years, and I am just so upset. I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid I’ll go into my room and cry—and won’t be able to stop.”

Chatting for a while, as Randy’s companion quietly sat in the car with the engine running, I offered things learned from a lifetime of caregiving for my wife who lives with severe disabilities. Giving Randy my card and sharing he could call anytime, I prayed with him, hugged him, and watched him breathe a bit easier. Returning to the restaurant, Judy, with brimming eyes, nodded her thanks and served me breakfast.

Strengthening and encouraging my fellow caregivers serves as one of my deepest passions. I understand the brutality of the journey in ways few do. I also understand that the caregiving burden borne in the gay community is all too often compounded by judgment from people of faith. People who share my faith.

Caregiving respects no sexual preference, creed, politics, religion, or race. The harshness of caregiving saves all its assaults…to wage on the bonds of love. In the face of a chronic illness or disability, that love isn’t sexual or about sexual orientation. The love compelling one person to put themselves between a vulnerable loved one and even worse disaster—is something far different and worthy of respect.

Suffering and sorrow tend to put differences into perspective. The ministry of grace vividly displayed from the cross of Christ, can flow from us without this incessant need to fix, change, or dispute those who live differently.

In that parking lot, Randy and I were not gay versus straight. Nor were our doctrines and creeds discussed. While I remain devoutly evangelical with deep convictions, I never asked Randy’s beliefs. I just saw a fellow caregiver grieving as he ministered to a suffering loved one. Randy and I have that in common.

Caregivers struggle. They deserve care—not judgment for their fears, mistakes, or even their lifestyle. No one has ever argued me into a relationship. But there are those who loved me into one.

When the AIDS epidemic crashed upon society, all too many in the gay community were shunned. In the process, a vast number suffered with a horrific disease without the comfort of Christian ministry. That tragedy can’t be undone. Yet, that same community stands in need now, as they grieve while caring for aging and disabled loved ones.

Acceptance is not agreement. In order to care for someone, one is not bound to condone a lifestyle operating in contrast to Scripture. Yet, ministering hands reached into my grief and trauma to help me get to safer ground. I would be a poor steward of that help …that grace …if I didn’t offer it to others as they journey down the heartbreaking path of a caregiver.

While I’ve learned to speak fluent “caregiver,” it’s my Savior’s native tongue.”

More calls from Democrats for Trump to resign

The Dow rose 850 points today, the index’s biggest point increase since October 2008. It gained 3.9%, the biggest percentage gain since August 2015.  https://myfox8.com/2018/12/26/dow-soars-600-points-as-stock-market-bounces-back/ Meanwhile, Democrats for the last week (actually the last 2 years) have been planning Trump's impeachment, this week imploring Republicans to have their come to Jesus meeting with Trump, who actually has a about the same approval rating as Obama at the same time in office.  And Obama had all the help from the media, academe, and entertainment culture that have been attacking Trump. This morning Washington Post was gleeful at the prospect of a financial worldwide collapse--they don't worry about you--just want to attack Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/opinion/impeach-fire-president-trump.html

https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/12/13/after-2-years-in-office-trumps-approval-rating-matches-obamas-at-same-point-of-presidency/

Old fashioned lies or bullshit?

If I refer you to an environmental, medical or nutritional story, I do try to use a responsible source, whether it’s about chocolate, red wine, vaccines or pollution from balloons. There are a lot of scare stories on Facebook and the Internet.  Best not to pass them along.

I wish there were a better word, but this does seem to cover the territory.

https://www.llrx.com/2018/12/the-bullshit-algorithm/
Does the story…
1. …feature a powerless, helpless, or disadvantaged victim?
2. …push a political or identity hot button?
3. …result in the most dramatic outcome possible (death versus injury)?
4. …include irrelevant details (details not directly relevant to the crux of the situation)?
5. …suggest a simplistic next step or action (get rid of X, stop eating Y)?
6. …include a “twist” in the story, a surprise, or a big reveal?
7. …feature “scientism” (little evidence with big conclusions)?
8. …include hard to verify evidence (no links to reputable source, or only links to other non-authoritative sources)?
9. …use anecdotal versus statistical corroborating evidence?
10. …make grammatical or spelling errors, or use clumsy language?
11. …use over the top emotional appeals incongruent with the situation?
12. …use scientific jargon (e.g. “dihydrogen oxide” instead of the more common “water”)?
13. …attempt to be relatable using the experience of people “like you”?
14. …make spurious correlations (seeing patterns of related items that could have other causes)?
15. …dangle dread (chemicals!) without explaining the context of risks?
16. …push for urgent, immediate action?
17. …include charts, graphs, images, or videos that don’t have anything to do with the core features of the story?
18. …hint at a conspiracy, that someone is hiding something (ideally, a “big corporation” or “big government”)?
19. …publish first in a “bullshit attractor” (TED Talk, Facebook, etc.)?
20. …include statistics touting its popularity (e.g. how many people are talking about this)?

Are nose rings attractive?

Captive animals, this is what I think when I see a nose ring in an otherwise attractive woman. My rural background, I suppose. Also worn by bulls so they can be led around by paying attention to the pain. I thought it was cruel when I was a child--and now I wonder if the person just didn't have enough problems--had to add some.

How Chuck Schumer really feels

Reasons to build the wall

The main objections I hear from Democrats about the wall they were in favor of in 2006, but not in 2017-18 (because Trump is president) are, 1) it won't work, 2) the cost, and 3) it's racist. Let's briefly touch on racism. Border security is not and never was, racist. If it were racist all security methods would also be racist. Even the locks on your doors and automobiles. We wouldn't have security at our northern borders or our airports if protecting borders were racism. During the Obama years, Border Patrol was apprehending illegals from high risk countries coming in from Canada (164 in 2011), and they weren't Canadians, most were recent Muslim immigrants to Canada.

If we judged government programs/policies by cost or whether they work, Head Start, which costs about $10.6 Billion in programing and $5.7 Billion in childcare (2017), would have been dropped years ago. No party will even touch that idea.

It was like pulling teeth to get an impact study (begun in 1998, data collection began in 2002, reported in 2010), but after billions and billions spent on Head Start since 1965, the final impact study showed some social and intellectual advancement in the pre-school years which was lost by the end of first grade. The final study, done by the government and analyzed out the wazoo, showed a huge workforce was paid, children had moderate to good day care, better health care, but the goals of the program were not met. The Head Start children on average did no better than the control group which did NOT receive all those benefits of a government pre-school. Even after a decade of study, the conclusion was--we need more study, more analysis, more explanations, and more money.

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/executive_summary_final.pdf

If high costs and no discernable results are good enough for Head Start for 50+ years, it should be good enough for at least a decade of border security.

Trump’s words more powerful than Clinton’s deeds?

On September 20, 2016, some 6 weeks before the most divisive election I can remember, I wrote in my blog,

“Hillary was speaking at an airport on Sunday in the same zombie voice and blaming Donald Trump for recruitment of terrorists [I had cited  a comment Trump had made about a bombing by a Muslim in NYC]. She stated it as fact. Again, his off the cuff words are more important than her carefully planned actions which helped create ISIS and the explosive situation in Syria from her days as Secretary of State. She even said she has "contributed to acts" and current strategy. Not a good recommendation. Stop when you're ahead, lady. “

Mrs. Clinton contributed to the current mess in the middle east, yet Trump is being heaped with blame for withdrawing our troops from Syria. Obama went through 5-6 defense advisors, including some who didn’t see eye to eye with him, yet losing General Mattis is causing a veritable melt down on the Sunday talk shows. When Obama dumped Hagel, the NYT referred to it as an “itch” for change.  The MSM always have us on the brink of a tsunami/hurricane/tornado/earthquake unlike any other. They keep Democrats and Never Trump Republicans in a constant state of anxiety and hatred.  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/defense-secretary-james-mattis-to-leave-as-of-january-1-trump-taps-patrick-shanahan-as-acting-secretary-of-defense.print

We’ve always had propaganda, but “fake news” is relatively new—and from the left

According to Sharyl Attkisson, who has researched and tracked it, fake news is relatively recent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa7QvcKYGZA&feature=share

The fake news meme began with Obama about a month before the 2016 election and the media ran with it--aggressively fact checking every word Trump said or tweeted, but not his opponents. Then came the calls for Big Tech to fact check. Was it a campaign to shape our news, by labeling website and stories "fake?" Follow the money. The money behind the first story by a non-profit First Draft (shortly before Obama's speech) came from Google. Imagine that. The parent company Alphabet was all in for Clinton. And then the smear to blame the right for Hillary's failures by David Brock (former right wing gay journalist in the 80s and 90s who flipped to the progressives and became top Hillary supporter); particularly he blamed Bannon and Breitbart News. He began to pressure Facebook and other social media to label conservatives, alt-right. Actually, since Brock's been involved since 2012 in pushing Clinton on the Democrats, he was just covering for his own failures. He had transformed an ethics group to a partisan group and "resigned." Then H. Clinton, the queen of fake, jumps in--remember her fake video and false Benghazi stories? She starts demanding fake news investigations, like "pizzagate." Wants to protect our democracy and innocent lives. (David Brock's boyfriend owned the pizza store.)

So, keep watching. It's very revealing. Although Trump talks about fake news, the opposition, the never-Trumpers, those with TDS, actually started the meme, and Trump ran with it and called them out for bias and sloppy reporting. The leftist media finally tired of the Fake News when Trump took it over, and they declare it dead and owned by the right. She goes on to explain how political lackeys and reporters work together--aka blackmail, and she has records of 2009 Obama aide e-mails with reporters.

They shall not grow old

Today at the gym I heard about "They shall not grow old" a film about WWI using British footage, and by the magic of technology, massaged to make a wonderful retrospective. As far as I can tell it is/was available only Dec. 17 and Dec. 27, which means we have another chance. In Columbus it's at Cinemark on Bethel Rd., 1 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-they-shall-not-grow-old-review-20181215-story.html

2018 is the 100th anniversary of the end of that terrible war that wiped out a generation of European men. Americans entered it late, but the Ohio History Center has a fabulous exhibit.

“After receiving hundreds of hours of footage from the museum, whose archive is among the world’s largest, the first order of business for Park Road Post was cleaning the film up, removing dust, scratches, tears and other flaws.

Then there was the tricky question of timing, of getting footage that was hand cranked at a variety of speeds to all sync up to today’s 24-frames-per-second standard without looking speeded up or slowed down.

Next came colorization, a process that went to extraordinary lengths to achieve accuracy, including trips to actual footage locations to take thousands of reference photos. No detail, not even the color of a button, was too small to get right.

The same kind of meticulousness went into the soundtrack, where sounds like horses hooves and footsteps in the mud were layered in.”

On December 24

Off to the gym before starting the real workout in the kitchen preparing for our Christmas Eve dinner. Coach Tyler sent an e-mail workout with squats, bridges and step jacks, which I won't do because I'll be busy.

"T’was the workout before Christmas and it’s made to be done in your house…

While your kids and family are perhaps stirring, like a not so little mouse…

Your exercise shoes are tied with great care…

And you know, that St. Nicholas soon would be there…"

Mary’s Yes

I was listening to Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth; the infancy narratives" (2012, Random House) this morning and he noted St. Bernard's homily about Mary's Yes. So I just had to look it up, first in my books on spirituality of the middle ages, and then on the internet. Although his personality was a bit prickly, his writings are wonderful.

"The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life."

https://www.piercedhearts.org/hearts_jesus_mary/heart_mary/annunciation_mary_fiat_st_bernard.htm

He also cited another idea, which I haven’t tracked down (I’d have to replay that part) that Mary conceived Jesus not through the womb, but through her ear (hearing the Word). I did find this citation. 'Through her ear the Word entered and dwelt secretly in the womb' (attributed to Ephrem, H. Mary 11.6). Something else interesting to look up.

Whomever/whoever

https://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoever.asp

 

Rule 1. The presence of whoever or whomever indicates a dependent clause. Use whoever or whomever to agree with the verb in that dependent clause, regardless of the rest of the sentence.

Rule 2. When the entire whoever/whomever clause is the subject of the verb that follows the clause, look inside the clause to determine whether to use whoever or whomever.

Santa baby

I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.

P.J. O'Rourke

St. Augustine

“He was a daring, in-your-face iconoclast. A wild fornicator, he had many mistresses and a bastard son. A self-confessed thief who declared “the evil in me was foul, but I loved it.” St. Augustine, A.D. 398.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/augustines-good-and-evil_2741796.html

Do open borders mean open security gates around Democrat mansions?

Let God figure it out

Non-profits, politics, and Trump Foundation

Nonprofit Organizations: There are 1,571,056 tax-exempt organizations, including:

1,097,689 public charities
105,030 private foundations
368,337 other types of nonprofit organizations, including chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations and civic leagues. (Source: NCCS Business Master File 4/2016)

How many of these non-profits, particularly the foundations which must choose which non-profits to fund, could survive the scrutiny that has been lavished on the Trump Foundation by people who hate the President?

People employed in the non-profit world wouldn't agree with me, but I believe we have too many, that they are too political, and too rich with too many getting their money from government grants, where you "dance with the one who brung you." Non-profits account for 9.2% of all wages and salaries paid in the United States and their share of GDP was 5.3% in 2014.

https://nccs.urban.org/data-statistics/quick-facts-about-nonprofits?

Robert Bruce wins the Arlington Million

  My Canadian cousin reported this in her Christmas letter.  I didn’t know there was such a horse and this was reported in Bloodhorse magazine.  https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/229006/robert-bruce-rallies-to-arlington-million-victory?

Inside library story. We used to get a subscription to Bloodhorse at the veterinary library at OSU where I was the librarian, but didn't catalog it. One day to clear the shelf I put about 2 years on a small table outside the library with a sign, "Free to a good home." Someone put all the magazines on the floor and took the table.

Blacks disproportionately aborted in NYC

"Non-Hispanic black women continue to be disproportionately impacted by abortion. In 2016, as in previous years, more African American babies were aborted than were born alive in New York City”.

I reported this on my blog some years ago and was told I was being racist for reporting it!

https://www.lifenews.com/2018/12/21/more-african-american-babies-are-aborted-than-born-alive-in-new-york-city/?

This is what you get with socialism

“Eighty years ago (November 17, 1938) Stalin ended the Great Terror, citing “local excesses” that had come to his attention. It wasn’t until two decades later that the KGB tallied the victims of the sixteen-month reign of terror at 1,334,360. Half were shot, and the rest sentenced to the Gulag. The Gulag itself continued to grow during and after the Second World War. It reached its peak of 2.5 million prisoners shortly before Stalin’s death. Of these, one out of five were women.”

https://www.womenofthegulag.com/

“Many hoped the Bolshevik Revolution one hundred years ago would usher in a new era of gender and class equality. Following the revolution, Soviet Russia declared “International Women’s Day” an official holiday, and “Marxist feminists” romanticize communism to this day. Women of the Gulag, both a remarkable book and a documentary film, highlights the disparity between the Soviet Union’s alleged gender equality and the reality of life for women under communism.”

Yes, we hear about gender equity from our college students and leftists in business and government.

“Joseph Stalin was responsible for the deaths of over 20 million people. Yet today in America, teaching on the crimes of communism is so bad that almost one third of Millennials think President George W. Bush killed more people than this Marxist mass-murderer. Those who are familiar with the history of Stalin’s Soviet Union might recall the name of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and his iconic Gulag Archipelago. Fewer still know that the majority of those who experienced—and survived—the Gulag were women, and it is their experiences, their memories, that must be preserved and shared to ensure the next generation understands the consequences of Stalin’s failed collectivist policies and his horrific disregard for human life.”

https://womenofthegulag.com/media-press/

Remember the hotel with ghosts? he asked

No, I had no recollection.  I guessed several trips, like to Pennsylvania.  Then to Columbus, Indiana where we stayed in an old restored hotel.  No. That wasn’t it.  And he kept describing—we’d walked through a woods. He had no idea why it had popped in his mind, but he was so sure.  Must have been on one of our architectural tours.  So I opened the blog—and there it was July 25, 2005.

“The 1886 Crescent Hotel is old, creaky, and supposedly visited by ghosts, but we had a beautifully restored room, and the group enjoyed a fabulous morning brunch in the delightful dining room. The gardens host many weddings--one the night we arrived.”

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2005/07/1295-north-west-arkansas-thursday.html

https://www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=LCwP5AhTqqo

The Wall Street Journal Christmas Gift to the Country

Published on Christmas Eve in the Wall Street Journal since 1949 written by the late Vermont Royster and it has been published annually since

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar. Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression — for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

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“Vermont Connecticut Royster (April 30, 1914 - July 22, 1996) was an American journalist whose career at The Wall Street Journal spanned half a century. Royster was no ordinary journalist, he studied literature and classical languages—Latin and Greek —and his writings reflected these influences. He tackled the issues that affected people in their everyday lives with thoughtful insight, touching on the essentials of life. He had an unfailing faith in the American people and in the greatness of the United States as a country blessed by God. His Christmas and Thanksgiving editorials, reprinted every year since Royster wrote them, continue to resonate with people's desires for freedom, peace, and prosperity in a world filled with challenges.”https://uts.edu/news-and-events/615-in-hoc-anno-domini

The Story on Comey, interview with Trey Gowdy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt0xprEaJfU

Different standards for Clinton who had a bevy of lawyers, and Flynn who was told he didn’t need to have a lawyer present.

No one believes Cohen—especially not Democrats—the day before.

So far, the Mueller investigation has been bank fraud, and lies, and collusion is not a crime, but none has been found.

The head of the FBI can’t remember anything, and still doesn’t know anything, showed no curiosity, can’t corroborate anything. And this guy was head of the FBI?  In his mind, he’s always right. The book was a joke—a very high opinion of himself. An amnesiac with incredible hubris.