The old Democrat line again

At a Townhall yesterday, Biden said, "No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty." According to government statistics, no one does. Even during the Clinton administration decades ago, it was shown that to avoid poverty 3 things are required.

1) Finish high school,

2) be over 21 and married before having children, and

3) have a full time job.

Just those three can lift most children from poverty and break the cycle. If both parents are working 40 hours a week even at minimum wage (the old one) the family won't qualify for poverty programs because their income would be too high. It's not that there aren't exceptions like mental illness or intellectual deficiencies, alcoholism, drug abuse and illness which might prevent full time work, but overall, Joe is lying to us.

This speech was the old Democrat chant and whine for more money to redistribute among their faithful, and that ours is not a land of opportunity. You can never make America great again under Joe because legislation will prevent it.

Democrats continue to make these 3 simple rules, articulated in the 1990s by Ron Haskins in a Brookings report, difficult for the low income.

1) They denigrate and ridicule the value of marriage/children in all the cultural areas they control,

2) they weaken the necessary moral principals to sustain the education system by focusing on intersectional, racial and social issues leaving millions of children uneducated in the basics for employment, and

3) they make it difficult for young people to get good employment through programs that punish the employers, like raising the minimum to job killing levels.

The Bachelor Host is called a Racist for asking for grace for a contestant

It makes no difference how important you are in your government or business position, the woke police can dredge up your college or even elementary school behavior and "cancel" you. Did you “like” something on Facebook or Twitter casually moving on?   This needs to stop, but it's been so successful by leftist haters, I doubt it will. Especially if a liberal can replace you in your job to continue the narrative. No one is safe, not Democrats, not libertarians, and certainly not Republicans or the a-political.

WALSH: ‘Bachelor’ Host Called Racist For Advocating Grace And Forgiveness. Now He’s Stepping Down From The Show. | The Daily Wire

Lockdown computer model from 14 year old's science project

Maybe someone else would have come up with the same computer model for a lockdown and social distancing as a 14 year old girl did for her science project in 2006. But as of now, she's the only culprit. It had never been tried before, and for good reason. It would destroy the world economy and kill millions more than the virus.

Social Distancing for Coronavirus Has a History - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Also, the FB "fact checkers" still have a grey/black shield over my research on the lack of research about SKSAM and this virus (spelled backwards)

Traumatic Brain Injury

About 35 years ago I applied for a job as the Director of an organization helped victims of TBI, traumatic brain injury. I had some of the qualifications they were seeking, like research and supervising staff, the advanced education, but I didn’t know anything about TBI. So I researched it before the interview. I didn’t get the job, but I never lost my interest in TBI. When I see articles about children’s sports injuries, or NFL brain trauma, or head injuries from auto accidents or falls, I always stop to read them. I’ve known two brilliant women whose careers and lives were devastated in auto accidents during their post graduate college years.

Today I saw an item about a coming conference at OSU, the annual CBI Research Day (Chronic Brain Injury) CBI Research Day | Discovery Themes, The Ohio State University (osu.edu) on March 10. I looked at the qualifications of some of the speakers and for articles they’ve published since I won’t be attending, even virtually. This item about Dr. Christine MacDonald was particularly interesting: Combat concussions worsen over time, not lessen.

“The EVOLVE study, for which she is the lead researcher, found that those who suffer combat concussions worsen over the course of their 1-year and 5-year follow-ups; 80% seek mental health assistance by the 5-year follow-up, and only 19% achieve a “sustained resolution of their symptoms.” The service members had blast or non-blast related concussions, but none had more complex or severe brain injuries.” The Invisible Wounds of War — Concussion Alliance

Electromagnetic controlled cortical impact device for precise, graded experimental traumatic brain injury - PubMed (nih.gov)

Clinical and imaging assessment of acute combat mild traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan (nih.gov)

Cerebellar White Matter Abnormalities following Primary Blast Injury in US Military Personnel (nih.gov)

Amy K. Wagner, MD, Chair for Translational Research at the University of Pittsburgh, is the keynote speaker, and Carrie Lynn Esopenko, PhD, Asst. Professor of Rehabilitation & Movement Sciences at Rutgers is the Spotlight Speaker. 

The database at the University of Pittsburgh, certainly shows some interesting statistics:  Whites (67%) are far more likely to be victims than blacks (19%), an overwhelming number are single--never married, divorced, widowed (67%), males are 73.5%, and 52% of the causes are vehicular crashes.  TBIMS_NationalDB_update.pdf (pitt.edu)

2022 elections—Freedom of speech and assembly

I think this will be the big issue for 2022 elections. Silencing us. Using non-government entities to destroy our First Amendment rights.

Sarah Sanders who is running for Governor of Arkansas:

"From "cancel culture" to big tech censorship, liberals are determined to dismiss, defeat, and repress any opinion that isn't in line with theirs.

They even went as far as banning a then sitting President of the United States from all platforms."

Right now, they are attacking supporters of the President who went after the swamp, but others are being silenced too. Doctors, lawyers, librarians, teachers, professors, entertainers and business owners are questioning the unproven medical advice and policies related to the pandemic. They are being silenced, whether or not they are the president's supporters. Time to step out and speak up. Stop cancel culture in your schools, churches and non-profits. Stop the scam. Stop the lockdown. Know what's going on in your state and community.

And you Democrats will be silenced next. Learn from history. Germany, Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba and others have much to teach you.

Different perspective on Christian nations and Covid19

I was researching the missionaries John and Betty Stam (I'll write more later) who were murdered by the Chinese Communists in 1934 thus starting a missionary movement, when I came across an article about them by Dr. Eugene Bach at the Back to Jerusalem* website. I checked, as I often do, to see what else he had written, and found an interesting perspective on the role of Christian nations in this pandemic:

"The truth is, the world is crying out for Christian nations to come up with a solution. Most people do not realize how much we depend on Christians nations – not even the nations themselves. In fact, citizens of traditional Christian nations are crying out for more atheism, separation of church and state and the outright rejection of Christian ideas and traditions in society, but when they look to their counterparts in atheist nations like China and Russia, they do not see any hope. Subconsciously, perhaps they do not even expect it.

Russia was one of the first nations in the world to develop a vaccine last year and the WHO completely ignored it. Nobody trusted it – the process was not as transparent as many would have liked.

China also developed a vaccination last year and there were some nations who bought it. However, after it was revealed that it was only 50% effective in Brazil, the confidence level sank.

So, reluctantly, the world turned to nations based on Christian principles that make it possible for refugees are looking for a place to go, where do they go?medical and scientific breakthroughs.

It is not just about scientific and medical breakthroughs, though. When the world is in crisis and

When Iraqi and Syrian refugees ran from ISIS, they didn’t seek refuge in neighboring Kuwait or Qatar. They didn’t apply for refugee status in Vietnam or Laos. When economic refugees leave their home in Sri Lanka or Nepal, they do not apply for citizenship to China or Russia."

Coronavirus Reveals The World STILL Turns to Christian Nations for Help - Back to Jerusalem

I was particularly challenged by his statement: ". . . citizens of traditional Christian nations are crying out for more atheism, separation of church and state and the outright rejection of Christian ideas and traditions in society, but when they look to their counterparts in atheist nations like China and Russia, they do not see any hope. Subconsciously, perhaps they do not even expect it."

I'm not sure I have his high opinion of the so-called Christian nations, many of which forgot their Christian heritage long ago, and those of us who still claim it have squabbling groups of Christians with no unity and no charity for each other.  I'll need to do more thinking and research on this.

*What is the Back to Jerusalem movement? "Many mistake the idea of Back to Jerusalem as a movement of the Chinese church to evangelize Jerusalem. However, Back to Jerusalem is the goal of the Chinese church to evangelize the unreached peoples from eastern provinces of China, westwards towards Jerusalem. The vision was birthed among the Chinese in the 1920s, and since that time, the churches of China have strove and even suffered persecution to fulfill what they believe is their integral role in fulfilling the Great Commission. Our organization partners with the church of China to not only evangelize the religiously oppressed areas of Asia, but to also train and send Chinese missionaries into the unreached regions of the globe, including Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu nations.

Paying the college loans for those who signed for them

I worked at the local public library and the drug store when I was in high school.  In summers and during the school year in college I worked various part time jobs--usually the college library.  My parents provided most of the cost going without since 3 of us were in college at the same time. Dad would have considered it an embarrassment to take money from the government. Then when I got married during my senior year, my parents provided me with a loan which we paid back in a year or two. 

College education costs became a huge bubble since those days (1960s), worse than the real estate bubble of 2007-08, and mainly because the government flooded the colleges with loan and grant dollars. The colleges and universities just raised tuition and built more buildings and cut back state support. Academe has continued that bad planning by luring young people away from those colleges that could have benefitted them in order to meet federal requirements for minority enrollments. And with slight of hand academe "counted" foreign students whose governments were paying for their educations in their minority quotas.  The American minority students took on loans they could never pay back and never got those good jobs without the degrees they were promised. This is what happens when we think someone else will pay, and since it isn't the government's money, they just throw it at anything and anyone that moves.

There is no free lunch.

Where are the Walk-aways?

The walk away campaign, crushed by Big Tech, was probably the most multi-cultural, diverse and interesting political group on Facebook (and maybe other platforms). I learned a lot about the challenges of people who are trans, gay, disabled, very rich, very poor, black, Latino, victims of violence, over educated and under educated. What an amazing group telling their stories of coming to the fresh air of conservatism after years of being trapped by the left.

Often the reason was that their own "community" to say nothing of lover or family, had deserted them when they began to question the obvious -- Marxism, lying candidates, lies about Trump, the swamp creatures, etc. If you're already in a group that has been tested and tried for being different, it's a huge blow to have them turn on you because you THINK FOR YOURSELF! Also, many got to that point by doing their own research when they notice obvious failings in their Democrat party.

I didn't read every post, but they were usually sincere and autobiographical on why they walked away after voting years for Clinton or Obama, or Bernie. The non-citizen posts from other countries were particularly poignant and encouraging as they had their own battles with political correctness.

But the Left, those guys who like to talk about "my truth," couldn't take it. Brandon, a former gay hairdresser with a knack for offering hope, and his 500,000 followers (plus probably that many who just read their stories about walking away from the Democrats) have been de-platformed, jailed, silenced or whatever you want to call it.

Brandon was a huge Trump supporter. Not all his walk away members were and they didn't claim to be Republicans. They all had in common that Democrats had lied to them year after year and nothing ever changed. For whatever reason, Trump brought them changes in jobs, attitude and hope.

Collecting My Thoughts: The cost of walking away for Linda

Collecting My Thoughts: Why Donna left the Democrats—she didn’t—they left her

Collecting My Thoughts: Myrna walked away from the Democrat Party in 1988

Collecting My Thoughts: Why Andrea walked away from the Democrats

Collecting My Thoughts: Jim tells a familiar story about Democrat friends

Some pep talks are not truthful—especially ones about truth

I saw this in the daily dose of coping encouragement in the OSU medical newsletter—which these days is mostly about Covid19.

“We can banish fear by realizing the truth.

“Am I afraid to be alone?” This fear can be subdued by the realization that we are surrounded by people each and every day.

People who care about us are all around us every single day. They’re willing to support us at the drop of the hat — but only if we let them know we need their support.

The number of people willing to support us is inexhaustible and unfailing, as long as we engage in open communication making clear our need for their support. Funny thing, when we support each other: Our bonds grow stronger, and we’re much more successful in our endeavors.”

Think about that first sentence in the context of what we see every day.

We knew the truth about glioblastoma when our son was diagnosed on October 1, 2019.  We knew he would soon die and that our lives changed forever on that day.  That was the truth.  It didn’t banish our fear.

We saw enough evidence about mail in ballots and middle of the night vote counting for the November 3 election to know the truth.  It hasn’t banished fear about where our system of government is heading.  The truth is not banishing fear, it’s causing us to lose our basic freedoms.

I’m looking out my window at fresh snow, I know it will be extremely cold and slick when I go to the grocery store.  That’s truth.  But I’m still afraid to drive there.

And there are NOT inexhaustible and unfailing people surrounding us and available to help at the drop of the hat.  Those people are locked in their homes.   True, this was written to support the highly stressed medical workers dealing with a pandemic who see people every day. but imagine throwing that guilt trip on people already stressed to the limit.  And although sometimes just the right person comes along to help or support, that’s the exception, which is why we often mention it in our prayer groups and Bible studies (now available only on ZOOM).

Platitudes and cheap grace.  That’s what a lot of coping stragies are.  This advice was followed up with a video of horses playing with rubber balls.  Cute.  But it didn’t banish the fear based on Truth.

Should churches receive PPP to pay their staff?

ON AVERAGE, CHRISTIANS GIVE 2.5% OF THEIR INCOME TO CHURCHES. During the Great Depression, they gave 3.3%. Giving is way down since 1990.

Even though tithers are in the minority (5-10%), their tithes still make up a large part of the budget for churches (one-half to three-quarters according to Barna). The number in the pews who drop $1-$5 in the collection plate, if that, are in the majority. We discovered while still in our 20s that we were never short of money once we started tithing.

That said, I think it is unethical for churches to be applying for and receiving government money for PPP. First, most of them closed at least for awhile. Second, many of them still had at least part of their regular source of income. Third, as non-profits, churches don't pay federal taxes, because technically they have no income. (Their employees do pay taxes.) Fourth, I'm guessing the smallest and poorest churches probably couldn't even afford to apply--it's a very tedious and time consuming application.

I know it's legal--the two largest churches in my area got $677,000 and $667,000--and that was for 2.5 months to pay their staff. The information is public. at www.federalpay.org

The confusion and misinformation (and hatred of Trump) concerning hydroxychloroquine has been resolved—Statement of AMA, Resolution 509

Background:  Early in the 2020 pandemic HCQ was approved for early use, and then rescinded when two studies claimed harm.  Meanwhile, President Trump talked about HCQ in glowing terms at a press conference, and the leftists in media and Big Tech jumped on that as a reason to demonize a perfectly safe and effective treatment used in many countries with a lower death rate than the U.S.  They also criticized American doctors who were using it, and ridiculed them.  The American Medical Association finally reversed its harmful course in the November 2020 addendum to the Handbook, and in Resolution 509, approved its use in the early states. Just in case it disappears, here it is.

“Whereas, The original studies published in The Lancet and The New England Journal of  Medicine (NEJM) initially citing harm due to hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine use were retracted by said journals due to dubious research methodology and incorrect conclusions, 

Whereas, AMA policy H-120.988, “Patient Access to Treatments Prescribed by Their 38 Physicians,” supports a physician’s autonomy to prescribe medications the physician believes to 39 be in the patient’s best interest, where the benefits outweigh risk and the patient consents; and 

Whereas, Physicians have used off label medications for years and this use is supported by 42 existing policy; and

Whereas, Data regarding harm have been limited due to poorly designed studies or studies usually in Stage 2 or later, or stopped without harm but no effect in phase 2 and hypothesis 

Whereas, There are many studies that indicate that the use of Hydroxychloroquine,  Azithromycin is effective and front-line physicians are using the therapy where permissible ; and

Whereas, The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious medical issue, people are dying, and  physicians must be able to perform as sagacious prescribers; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association rescind its statement calling for physicians to stop prescribing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine until sufficient evidence becomes  available to conclusively illustrate that the harm associated with use outweighs benefit early in the disease course. Implying that such treatment is inappropriate contradicts AMA Policy 8 H-120.988, “Patient Access to Treatments Prescribed by Their Physicians,” that addresses off  label prescriptions as appropriate in the judgement of the prescribing physician (Directive to  Take Action); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA rescind its joint statement with the American Pharmacists Association and American Society of Health System Pharmacists, and update it with a joint statement notifying patients that further studies are ongoing to clarify any potential benefit of hydroxychloroquine and combination therapies for the treatment of COVID-19 (Directive to Take Action); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA reassure the patients whose physicians are prescribing  hydroxychloroquine and combination therapies for their early-stage COVID-19 diagnosis by issuing an updated statement clarifying our support for a physician’s ability to prescribe an FDA approved medication for off label use, if it is in her/his best clinical judgement, with specific reference to the use of hydroxychloroquine and combination therapies for the treatment of the earliest stage of COVID-19 (Directive to Take Action); and be it further 

RESOLVED, That our AMA take the actions necessary to require local pharmacies to fill valid prescriptions that are issued by physicians and consistent with AMA principles articulated in AMA Policy H-120.988, “Patient Access to Treatments Prescribed by Their Physicians,” including working with the American Pharmacists Association and American Society of Health System Pharmacists. (Directive to Take Action) “

I have removed the footnotes from the partial document so it would be easier to read, but you can find them in the original document. Nov 2020 Special Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates - Handbook Addendum (ama-assn.org) 

Considering that this was in an addendum to a handbook issued too late to be included and circulated before the election, the timing is definitely suspicious.  I’m not familiar with this blogger, he wrote

“So, there we have it. HCQ could not be approved before the election, because President Trump had recommended it. Meanwhile, with an 8o +% reduced risk of having to be admitted to the hospital if administered with Azithromycin and Zinc as soon as testing positive or symptoms occurred, many (70000+) lives could have been saved.

It has come to my attention that the resolution, while adopted got stopped before a new and valid recommendation was issued. There are powerful interests in the AMA that want to keep things as they are rather than advance real medical science based on real results, and never admit a mistake. Meanwhile, people are dying because of lack of solid, but inexpensive medical solutions.”

American Medical Association Rescinds Previous Statement Against Prescription of Hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 Patients. (Updated) – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. (lenbilen.com)

How the Democrats did it

Everyone is talking about the TIME article which explains how the Democrats did it. "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election."

https://youtu.be/FTWlq7PqQVQ

Waiving Covid tests for illegals.

Tucker Carlson reported last night: "The New York Times, Reuters and others reported last week on the CBP releasing hundreds of migrants into Texas and California owing to ‘overflow facilities’ already being full.

Less than one month into Biden’s Presidency, there is already a new ‘border crisis’, according to officials, with facilities unable to hold or test migrants.

“When we release people that break our laws without bothering to test them for the virus – the same virus we’ve used as a pretext for wrecking your life – what we’re saying in the clearest possible terms [is]: “We don’t like you,”‘ Carlson said, of the Biden Administration

Franklin Country death rate from Covid: .0066

I've been looking at the Ohio "Dashboard" for Covid this morning. The state fatality rate is .012 from Covid with 922,143 cases and 11,695 deaths. If your loved one has died of Covid, that's 100% for your family, however, closing down the state and listening to terrifying news every evening for .012 death rate seems callous for the rest of us, especially the elderly who can't see their families, and the young adults whose careers and businesses have been shattered.

Now a look at the counties. Huge differences in cases and death rates. Our three largest counties are

Franklin (Columbus, the largest, has gained 13.2% since the 2010 census), death rate .0066

Cuyahoga (Cleveland which was the largest in the 2010 census, but has lost 3.5% in a decade) death rate .013

Hamilton (Cincinnati) death rate .0069

Franklin Co. had the most cases, and the lowest death rate.

I looked at the race/age/poverty figures, and Cuyahoga (Cleveland) is older, with a larger minority population, and higher poverty rate. I'm no expert in statistics, but the spread between the races appears much smaller than the age spread. Because the co-morbidities increase with age, this could be the reason. In developing countries, for instance, the death rate is lower than the U.S. and Europe even though they don't have as good a health system. They have younger populations. (And maybe they were allowed to use HCQ?)  My friend Anna Loska Meenan, a retired physician, says India’s death rate is a fraction of USA, and they can buy HCQ over the counter.  Trump was right and was demonized by the media and the medical establishment.

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards?

The lynching of Donald Trump, private citizen

The thought police will squash the person who even suggests there were irregularities in the 2020 election. And there's probably 50-70 million who are becoming more suspicious every day wondering why Democrats are so afraid. Lynchings were performed without due process by special committees of the self righteous, and the results were known ahead of time. We're seeing this played out again in the most powerful and corrupt city in the world where the word justice is meaningless and Democrats have shredded the Constitution.

Fascism—Trump or Biden?

What exactly is fascism? The Democrats for 4 years accused Trump of being a Fascist and Antifa proclaims to be fighting Fascism. Nope and nope. Here's how it works. Silence and jail those who disagree. Make new laws. Work with the scions of industry to insure their support and transfer to them some powers of government (to protect religion, speech, assembly).

"Hillary’s latest op-ed in the Washington Post, a paper owned by the richest man in the world whose company deplatformed Parler, calls for expelling Republican legislators, passing “new criminal laws”, and government oversight of social media platforms. This is fascism." Frontpage, Jan. 20, 2021

Hallelujah. Jesus is Lord

I can't verify the Hallelujah story, but it's a good one.

Erling Olsen in his Meditations in the Book of Psalms writes in 1937 (on Ps. 147, p. 1013) that the word Hallelujah (Praise the Lord) was taboo in Germany because it is a Hebrew word.

His book is enjoyable not only for all the history and analysis of the Psalms, but because he was living in and comments on the era of terrible economic depression, a time of terrible drought and crop loss, and the build up to WWII.

Hitler tried to blame all Germany's problems on the Jews and diminished them as human beings. Forbidding certain words is not new to our era--like stolen election or even an acronym like MAGA. It's typical in power grabs. Hitler considered Jews inferior to the German master race. He convinced many Germans that Jews weren't worthy of the rights enjoyed by other Germans even thought they'd been neighbors and friends for decades and centuries. That power enhancing trick is being used today by certain totalitarians in government, entertainment, business and education aided by Big Tech. Demonize Trump supporters and then on a larger scale, all white people, and on to Western Civilization and its core values. It's been a growing crescendo for at least 3 decades, maybe more. It's in "studies" curricula, "woke" speech, intersectional group speak, behavior demands, shadow banning and cancel culture. It's in the 1619 myth and in the climate change hysteria. We've been here before. The House Un-American Activities Committee lasted from 1938-1965, then got a name change. If you look at a list of the committee members in Wikipedia, by far the majority were Democrats.

Olsen says (it was a radio show later published in book form) Hallelujah is the language of heaven. Brush up on it now, he says, so you will be fluent when you get there. Olsen also warns us not to forget our knee exercises--don't forget to pray and praise. Our hearts can grow cold without praise.

Teaching guilt and shame in reeducation courses

Knowing the helper/healer/teacher and the beneficiary/student/client  have different cultures which affect learning and relationships is, of course, essential.  Missionaries know this; middle managers are either taught or learn it; a city teacher should study rural values if she wants to be rehired by the school board of farmers.  Doctors and nurses and aides should be learning this all through college and medical school.

For example, when I was a department head, I had to accept and understand some aspects of Muslim immigrant cultures—like why my female student employee was driven to work by a male relative and why she would never attend a social event with our staff. I also had some disabled student employees—one from India whose polio limp not only affected her work, but her arranged marriage. One student was on the autism scale and I needed to modified her schedule for less client contact. My male assistant was on his journey from Daniel to Danielle. The student whose problem was knowing more than the boss (could be cultural?) just had to find a new job.

There’s something different in the “reeducation” modules included in certification the last decade or two. The supervisor/employee is expected to relearn her own culture and be embarrassed and shamed by it.

The following are the learning objectives and course description in a federal government “cultural competency” for 5 hours of certified, continuing education course to meet various requirements for maintaining a professional license.  I’ve not sat in for the classes, so whether it qualifies for “cancel culture” or “critical race theory” I can’t say.   I’ve high lighted the buzz words that set off alarms for me.

Learning Objectives

After completing this continuing education activity, participants will be able to:

• Describe how culture, cultural identity, and intersectionality are related to behavioral health and behavioral health care.
• Describe the principles of cultural competency and cultural humility.
• Discuss how our bias, power, and privilege can affect the therapeutic relationship.
• Discuss ways to learn more about a client's cultural identity.
• Describe how stereotypes and microaggressions can affect the therapeutic relationship.
• Explain how culture and stigma can influence help-seeking behaviors.
• Describe how communication styles can differ across cultures.
• Identify strategies to reduce bias during assessment and diagnosis.
• Explain how to elicit a client's explanatory model.

Cultural and linguistic competency is recognized as an important strategy for improving the quality of care provided to clients from diverse backgrounds. The goal of this e-learning program is to help behavioral health professionals increase their cultural and linguistic competency.

Course Outline

• In Course 1, An introduction to cultural and linguistic competency, you'll learn what culture has to do with behavioral health care.
• In Course 2, Know thyself – Increasing self-awareness, you'll learn how to get to know your cultural identity and how it affects your work with clients.
• In Course 3, Knowing others – Increasing awareness of your client's cultural identity, you'll learn how to get to know your client’s cultural identity.
• In Course 4, Culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions and services, you'll learn how to build stronger therapeutic relationships with clients from diverse backgrounds.

The estimated time to complete all 4 Courses is between 4 – 5.5 hours.

Keep in mind, that today’s young professionals have been exposed to probably a decade or two of such classes.  I wonder if they see it as a blow off class sort of like our health classes in high school where they put worms in alcohol to show us about the dangers of drinking.  Even at 16 I knew the worms would die in a bottle of Coke. Social and behavioral manipulation can backfire.

Home - Think Cultural Health (hhs.gov)  This information was dated or updated in 2019, the Trump administration, and will be revised, deleted, or rewritten as Biden appointments move in.

Pray for the nation's protection

"Morning Brief: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview aired on Feb. 4 that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will use artificial intelligence to comb through troves of personal data on U.S. citizens recovered from Chinese technology and apps and use the intelligence as a weapon to strong-arm the United States.

Let's pray against this attack on our information because Jesus is not only our savior but our protector. " Darlene in her morning prayer request via e-mail.

And while I'm at it, I'll pray against those in our government who are accommodating the CCP.

Pompeo tweets communist China infiltrating Congress, schools and more | American Military NewsAmerican Military News

Pompeo: Sanctions from China are a 'message' to Biden administration | Fox Business

Pompeo says China’s repression of Uighurs is ‘genocide’ | Financial Times (ft.com)

Mike Pompeo: China sanctions Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump officials for violating 'sovereignty' - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)  

Honoring Officer Sicknick

Finally, the Democrats care about police--at least one of them, the Capitol officer who died the day after the January 6 attack. Brian Sicknick.  But there's no evidence on how he died. (I've heard he was a Trump supporter.) At first, it was reported he died of a stroke. Then that was changed to hit on the head. But instead of all the videos that circulate at other suspicious and politically motivated deaths, I've yet to see them. Yet many people (reporters) with cameras were there. An unarmed woman with no criminal record was shot in the back, and two other police officers have committed suicide, and three protesters have died of medical causes. Who's in charge of those investigations?

Democrats ignored all the attacks on their own cities and other federal property like court houses and statues. Democrat mayors and councils said, "Ho hum, no big deal" as their citizens were terrorized by hoodlums, miscreants and vandals. ["Thugs" is now considered a racist term because Trump used it, even though Obama used it before him.] Their cities were looted and burned by BLM, a well funded Marxist organization, and Antifa an anti-fascist Fascist group who can fund their own travel and expenses. They ignored attacks on police and supported the "defund police" movement. They then elected Joe Biden the guy who wrote the $30 Billion 1994 crime bill that has funneled so much money to the states to fund those same police departments and which some blame for so many black men in prison. Bill Clinton said, "You can't have civil justice without order and safety." Democrats are well organized to take advantage of chaos and crises, but are really messed up inside their hearts and heads.

Americans need a religious revival says famous agnostic

“The Founders were not really super orthodox,” Charles Murray observed. “They were all nominally Christians, but they wouldn’t pass the litmus test for a lot of evangelicals today. But they were absolutely, emphatically agreed that you cannot have a free society with a constitution such as the one they had created unless you are trying to govern a religious people. If you do not have religion as the controlling force, then the kinds of laws we have could not possibly work.” Without religion, Murray told me, there was simply no “intrinsic motivation” for people to behave morally — and no definition for what constitutes moral behavior in the first place."

Q&A with Charles Murray: Religious Revival That Could Save America | National Review

Proportionality, equity and percentages, Thomas Sowell

So many areas of research and information are being damaged by the equity and/or proportionality myth. Every minor subdivision in archeology or biophysics or cytology or even librarianship must now have its search committees focusing on gender and color instead of number of research projects completed or published articles or work record.

Every time I pass a competitive sport event on TV (because I don't sit down to watch), I don't see anyone who looks like me, either on the field, on the bench or even in the stands. I think that's as it should be. And if it's football or basketball, if I didn't know better I would suspect that black men are 90% of the population. But, at least in professional sports, equality rules, not equity.

Thomas Sowell: "According to proportionality dogma, every group in society must be equally represented at work or school according to their percentages in society. If not so represented, the cause must be discriminatory bias and the only remedy is government action in the form of quotas, now passed off as “diversity.” Those who argue this way, Sowell explains, “cannot show us any society—anywhere in the world, or at any time during thousands of years of recorded history—that had all groups represented proportionally in all endeavors.” For example, Sowell cites the National Hockey League.

More NHL players are from Canada than the United States, and more players from Sweden than California, which has nearly four times the population. Therefore, Sowell says, “Californians are more ‘under-represented’ in the NHL than women are in Silicon Valley. But no one can claim that this is due to discriminatory bias by the NHL.” The discrepancies are “far more obviously due to people growing up in cold climates being more likely to have ice-skating experience.”

Letter from friend Bill, who lives in Florida

My favorite senator, Joe Manchin (D) WV, is the man of the hour. He is and has been a great guy for the residents of WV and the USA as a country. He does work across the aisle with ease. His thought process puts his party's issues way down the list of importance, way behind the people of WV and the citizens of the USA. We could have a no better person to be the senator in power that can swing issues for the betterment of our country. He rejects the $15 an hour minimum wage as he realizes this just costs thousands of jobs to disappear for those folks who need these jobs, particularly folks in WV. He realizes the destruction of the energy industry for the supposedly green energy program is not in the best interest of the country and its citizens while killing thousands of high pay jobs. The environmental results of the private sector, increased use of natural gas, and fracking have made huge improvements during the last 3 years in our environment like no other country.

As we move forward addressing our economy and the country's health, Senator Manchin's thoughts will be the dominate mind set. Even though you may not be a member of his party nor a citizen of his state, send him a note of encouragement. Circumstances place him in a position that directs the future of our country. We could not have chosen a better person.

William Lundholm

Florida

Manchin says he doesn't support raising minimum wage to $15 per hour (msn.com)

Biden moves ahead with killing the unborn

From a Christian friend: "The day before the March for Life, the Biden Administration reversed the Mexico City Policy, which had prevented our tax dollars from funding abortions overseas. Now, our tax dollars are being used to spread the heinous policies of abortion worldwide.

 
We need to confess this sin for our nation and ask God for mercy. We also need to pray to change the hearts of our leaders to follow God. "

AMEN.

5 pro-life reactions to Biden rescinding the Mexico City Policy - The Christian Post

If you are a Christian and you voted for Biden, what do you think of his anti-Christian, pro-Marxist policies now? Are you pleased he's not only ordering more soldiers to DC for "show," but also to Syria?  Are you happy he's going to give more money to Iran, just as they announce a nuclear bomb? Are you pleased that more Americans--thousands--lost jobs at the stroke of a pen, or that in spite of all his criticism of Trump's Covid successes, he really had no plans except masks and social distancing?

The obvious answer is the right one

This really isn't funny, but it may be the funny answer. The question was, on a “health” website, Why is the HIV rate so high among young male Latinos (it's 21% when they are 16% of the population, which actually is a lot better than young black men whose HIV rate is 42% with 13% of the population). There were ten responses from Latinos (with photos): they ranged from immigration policies to no health information in Spanish to homophobia in the Latino community. Only one response mentioned having sex with other men as the reason, and he said, "Latinos are hot and we love sex."

Could Homelessness become a Conservative issue?

Hugh Hewitt today has a good program on homelessness in California. It's not a new topic for him. Today he is suggesting that Conservatives should take this on as a cause. Liberals/progressives and Democrats/socialists have failed hugely, and are using the issue only to grab more money to solve a problem they really don't want to solve.

He says it is both a humanitarian issue and a property issue. The homeless were better off in the old days (pre-War on Poverty) when there were institutions to house, feed, and care for them rather than allowing them to live on the streets and destroy businesses and homes. Considering how the Left has revealed its hatred for private property, especially in various Marxist groups like BLM, their willingness to let this fester makes some sense.

The Left will always make homelessness an income issue, or a racial issue, and until a transwoman can't get into a women's shelter in San Francisco or Seattle, or the official count once a year, you won't even hear about it. Are they dying of Covid? Haven't heard much about that, but considering the living conditions and the co-morbidities of alcoholism and drug abuse, I would think so. It will look great on those requests for funding to hire more people at comfortable salaries for the non-profits and expanding government agencies.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1928898523917429&ref=watch_permalink begin at about 1 hour with Byron York discussing the failures in California

Another attack on President Trump—Codifying Constitutional Norms.

"Codifying Constitutional Norms" based on what a liberal thinks was President Trump's bad behavior doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Will they codify Biden's bad behavior in China and Ukraine with his family's help? Of course not. Only those presidents who are a threat to Democrats or the deep state. Getting cozy with China doesn't seem to be threatening them.

Gould, Jonathan, Codifying Constitutional Norms (January 19, 2021). Georgetown Law Journal, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3769465 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3769465

IED statements

Statements on gender identification and underrepresented voices don't live up to their promises.  My comment at a federal agency, "Contact Us" page.

I was reading your IED statement: "“RESOLVE is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in its operations and products. We welcome and actively seek contributions from all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, gender identifications, and areas of expertise to build a fair, balanced, inclusive, and representative knowledge base on violent extremism and beyond. RESOLVE strives to elevate the work of diverse and underrepresented voices through inclusiveness in its membership, contracting and hiring practices, research conceptualization, literature reviews and publications, and capacity building activities.”

Is there anyone on your staff or among your contributing researchers, contractors or donors who are registered Republicans or Conservatives of any type? Do you know the rate? I'm a retired librarian (associate professor). In 2004, based on political contributions, librarians were 223:1 liberal to conservative, and in 2016 they were 419:1 liberal to conservative. That's not diversity. I'm not being snarky, and I'm not a troll. This is an honest question. If you have no diversity of opinion or politics, you are biased and not inclusive. Also, you don't mention age. Isn't that included in the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 for any agency receiving federal funding.

I'm 81. I'm not looking for work, but I do want to know how my tax dollars are being used. I'll be watching.

Attacks continue on Trump supporters

RESOLVE used to be primarily focused on violent extremism, particularly Islamic. Now through its subgroup, Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism (REMVE), it is focusing on so called "white supremacists." As the Biden administration defines them-anyone who supported Trump (not in the REMVE mission statement, but the media has explained that to us for 4 years).

Just as freely elected Adolf Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag in early 1933 as an excuse to become a dictator, the Democrats are using the attack on the Capitol building. They see it as their opportunity to label all of us who either supported Trump (black, white, Asian, Hispanic), or who believe our election rules need to be examined in light of the pandemic induced mailed ballot fiasco, as dangerous. They know better, but it sells well, (so did Hitler's excuse) and it is being used to shut us down on social media. Democrats now in control of 3 branches are joining forces with the oligarchs in Big Tech. They are the ones, not the Trump supporters, who are in dangerous territory, as history shows. Free markets, no new wars, prison reforms, and lower taxes do not define a leader of a free society as a fascist or racist. But stomping on free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly does. An impeachment with no evidence and no trial certainly does. Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE) (resolvenet.org)

There are white supremacists, I'm sure, just as there are black power advocates, BLM members, Antifa disruptors and anarchists. But I'd like to see something about how they are funded compared to the billions that BLM has raked in since the Floyd death in Minneapolis and the burning and looting of Democrat controlled cities the past 8 months. They are a miniscule group, and they haven't caused the spike in murders and property crime that the anarchists on the Left have caused. We know the FBI has infiltrated them, that's their job, but where were they on January 6? Creating the problem?

Using ethnicity or religion as an excuse to tamp down legitimate protests is an old, old, trick of tribal leaders, Czars, monarchists, totalitarians, and apparently American presidents.

RESOLVE is not a U.S. government agency, it's an international dot net organization supported by our taxes that is used as a revolving door for various academics and politicians from a variety of nations. It is attached to the much older USIP established in 1984. "RESOLVE is housed at the U.S. Institute of Peace, building upon the Institute’s decades-long legacy of deep engagement in conflict-affected societies." Although I've never made a study of the various peace/conflict resolution non-profits, I suspect we've never had as many wars since these entities sprang up after WWI and WWII. It does "research."

If you have the time, you can click on all the logos (I hate that instead of an easy to read list) of international organizations connected to this 501-C-3, the advisory board, and research council. I'd need some other FBF to work through all them. It's just one "tiny" group now shifting focus to U.S. citizens they don't like and fear.

Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE) (resolvenet.org)

The obligatory inclusive statement:

“RESOLVE is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in its operations and products. We welcome and actively seek contributions from all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, gender identifications, and areas of expertise to build a fair, balanced, inclusive, and representative knowledge base on violent extremism and beyond. RESOLVE strives to elevate the work of diverse and underrepresented voices through inclusiveness in its membership, contracting and hiring practices, research conceptualization, literature reviews and publications, and capacity building activities.”

I’ll just bet they don’t want my contribution, background, ethnicity, or age—which is not part of this IED statement.

Does character matter to you, Pt. 2

TRUMP’S REELECTION BID:

As Joe Biden himself declared, in a colossal political gaffe: “We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”

And they did just that.

In 2016, with a 55.7% voter turnout, Trump managed to defeat Clinton with 46.1% of the popular vote (62,984,828) to her 48.2% (65,853,514), but amazingly he managed to win 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227.

In 2020, with a 66.7% voter turnout, Biden defeated Trump with 51.3% of the popular vote (81,268,757) compared to Trump’s 46.9% (74,216,722), for 306 electoral votes over Trump’s 232. (Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen received 1.2% (1,865,873).)

Not since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 has a Republican presidential loss left the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives under Democrat control.

A New York second after the election results were in, Trump protested: “This election was stolen. It was a rigged election, 100 percent, and everyone knows it. It’s going to be that I got about 74 million votes, and I lost? It’s not possible.”

As I noted previously, Trump inspired seven million more Democrat votes than he was able to garner for himself. He energized his opponents, though I should note that in key swing states the numbers were very close.

Fact is, Trump was not wrong about the election being rigged, but his claim about voting-machine irregularities was not how the Democrat Party rigged it. As it turns out, voter fraud was the Demos’ final coup against Trump. But the fraud was perpetrated by way of what I outlined in “The Left’s Bulk-Mail Ballot Fraud Strategy.” The Democrats beat Trump on the ground with their bulk-registration and bulk-mail balloting strategy, including the receipt of millions of votes that were undocumented by any reasonable standard of identification. It worked, and it will work in future elections if it goes unchecked.

Prior to the November election defeat of Trump along with otherwise mixed results, I declared that the Democrat bulk-mail balloting and ballot harvesting programs opened the election to massive fraud. There is no way to adequately verify the identification of those receiving or returning bulk-mail ballots. There is no way to authenticate ballot signatures, which requires a substantial level of expertise.

Recall that the Democrats made reference to the “red mirage” ahead of the November election, noting that initially it would look like Trump had won in some states but that would change when the bulk-mail ballot totals were calculated. That’s exactly what happened.

To fully comprehend the Demos’ fraudulent bulk-mail strategy, consider the following voter regulations as proposed by Nancy Pelosi in House Resolution, the grossly misnamed “For the People Act of 2021.” It is an effort to pass the same HR 1 bill that failed in 2019 — except now there is no Senate majority gauntlet to reject this effort to establish a Democrat majority in perpetuity.

Pelosi’s HR 1 stipulates that the federal government will, contrary to our Constitution, have the power to set universal regulations regarding voter-identity requirements, in order to implement universal bulk-mail balloting. HR 1 asserts: “A state may not require an individual to provide any form of identification as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot. … A state(s) may not require notarization or a witness signature or other formal authentication (other than voter attestation) as a condition of obtaining or casting an absentee ballot.”

That should alarm every American dedicated to the future of American Liberty.

Despite Joe Biden’s “unity” theme, the Democrat agenda is anything but.

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT CHARADE 2.0:

Unfortunately, given the elevated rhetoric about election fraud, on January 6th, a fractional faction of thugs undermined Trump’s entire legacy and MAGA movement by rioting in our nation’s Capitol building. These badly misguided jackasses were not “Patriots”; they were adherents of a personality cult, which is inevitably and irrevocably antithetical to Liberty. As I have written previously, I hope Trump’s “election fraud” protests and the DC riot don’t overshadow the legitimate concerns about election fraud — but Democrats and their Leftmedia are doing everything possible to ensure that disgraceful event defines Trump and all who have supported his policies.

To that end, the House and Senate are now undertaking another impeachment charade to spit shame and embarrassment on conservatives, particularly those in Congress whose seats will be contested in 2022. This absurd political theater, the unconstitutional trial of a former president, is scheduled for the week of February 8, but Demos will drag out this theatrical farce as long as possible before citizen Trump will be acquitted.

Signaling the asininity of this charade, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in what competes with the latest Biden gaffes, declared, “Senators will have to decide if Donald John Trump incited the erection.” (Make up your own joke here…)

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has already removed himself from presiding over this political pretense, which now falls to president pro tempore of the Senate, Patrick Leahy, (D-VT). Leahy administered the oath to Senate “jurors” earlier Monday: “Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of Donald John Trump, former president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws, so help you God?” Anyone repeating those words who does not object to this proceeding is violation of that oath.

And to bolster their impeachment theatrics (which any seasoned security analyst will tell you invites trouble), Washington is still occupied by armed battalions of National Guard troops and armored vehicles manning barricades topped with concertina wire. Additionally, DHS has issued a national terrorism alert to extend the theatrics nationwide! Meanwhile, leftists continue their urban attacks and assaults on police officers at unprecedented rates.

MOVING FORWARD — OUR MISSION:

The Biden/Harris regime declared before the election: “This election is a ‘BATTLE for the SOUL of the NATION.” Post election, it is now a BATTLE for the FUTURE of AMERICAN LIBERTY.

I hope Trump will put whatever voice he has moving forward behind the most capable congressional candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm election — that he will do nothing to further foment division. Fortunately he has indicated that he does not support, and in fact rejects, the defeatist notion of a third party. And, according to his post-presidential advisory team, Trump’s goal “is to win back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022.”

Despite all the handwringing about political divisions on the Right, that split is over support for Trump the personality. There is no split over support for the Trump administration’s considerable policy successes. As Biden disables those policies with a flash flood of executive orders, and his fellow socialist Democrats reverse policies with legislation, that will have the net effect of further unifying conservatives going into the 2022 midterms.. . “ 

Mark Alexander, Patriot Post, January 27, 2021  And I’m posting this because sometimes links are delete.

Does character matter to you? Pt. 1

Any conservative that praises Trump always qualifies his words with comments about his character. Matching Joe Biden's abortion plans for American babies against Trump's plans to allow them to live and prosper for me is hardly a character match. Trump always wins.

Mark Alexander, January 27, 2021, Patriot Post:

“What follows is a compilation of observations and references regarding the election, administration, and unfortunately the defeat of Donald J. Trump after one tumultuous term as president by the corrupt socialist Democrat Party regime.

Astoundingly, Trump was displaced by a dullard baked potato, Joe Biden, who has accomplished virtually nothing to make America a better place for those he ostensibly has represented over the course of his almost five decades as a Beltway politician. But as I have argued, the Biden ticket is actually headed by the leftist who will soon replace him, Kamala Harris.

I have divided my observations into several categories in order to be as concise as possible about Trump’s four years as president.

TRUMP THE CANDIDATE:

A quick review of my early columns about primary candidate Donald Trump reveals that my greatest concern was that of his character — it was not comparable in the least to George Washington or Ronald Reagan. Full disclosure: I was firmly in the Ted Cruz camp, with Marco Rubio as a running mate.

Soon after Trump became the Republican nominee in 2016, I contacted a longtime friend who had security responsibilities for Trump and his family, and I asked him what I needed to know about his boss. He said that Trump’s personal interactions with people, be they friends or his employees, are totally different from his public persona — that there was a deep shared respect and loyalty among those who knew him best.

Ahead of the election, I wrote about why I was voting for Trump — as if I would’ve ever considered an ounce of support for Hillary Clinton. I responded to inquiries from conservatives that I was confident that Mike Pence, whom I first met decades earlier, would not have joined Trump’s ticket if he were not confident that Trump would take the country in the right direction. And I was totally confident that Trump would follow through on his commitment to nominate constructionist jurists to the Supreme Court.

Within a month of Trump’s shocking Electoral College victory over Clinton, it became clear that his administration was shaping up to be the most conservative and consequential in decades, what I called a “Reagan revival.” But even so, I still had concern about his “New York values” and wondered whether his presidency would be hamstrung by his brash bravado.

But we praised his administration’s policies, if not his character, from day one. Ironically, in the years that followed, we regularly and simultaneously took fire from those claiming we were either “too pro-Trump” or “too anti-Trump.” I guess that’s indicative of being devoted, first and foremost, to American Liberty above any politician or party affiliation.

TRUMP THE PRESIDENT:

Perhaps Trump’s most obvious leadership “style” was that he was a bomb dropper. As I wrote shortly after he took office in 2017: “The day he arrived in DC, he dropped a bomb on the status quo in Congress and its special interests. He dropped a bomb on the regulatory behemoths and their bureaucratic bottlenecks. He dropped a bomb on the trade and national security institutions and alliances that failed miserably over the previous eight years. And he dropped a bomb on all the pundits and mainstream media outlets.”

The net results of Trump’s take-no-prisoners style is that he left office with an extraordinary list of accomplishments eclipsing those of any president since Reagan.

TRUMP THE TARGET:

No president has ever been more relentlessly assailed by the enemies of Liberty than Donald Trump. The deep-state coup against Trump was not broad but it was certainly deep.

Orchestrated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, whose fingerprints are all over the coup crime scene, in collusion with Hillary Clinton and her co-conspirators who fabricated the “Russian Collusion” charade, the effort to undermine the Trump administration from within was staggering in its callous defiance of the law.

While the cutouts in this operation have been exposed, it is former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan who should be indicted for their roles in setting up the fake FISA warrants that seeded the entire conspiracy.

I’ve taken some shots in regard to my consistent use of “deep state” and “coup,” but the fact is this was a deep-state coup, as the most recent evidence about the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, the early layup for taking down Trump, reveals.

When Robert Mueller’s investigation fell flat, it led to Coup d'État 2.0, the phony effort to impeach President Trump for what Joe Biden actually did in Ukraine. Of course, that effort also failed.

Of course, the Demos’ agenda received 24/7/365 assistance from their Leftmedia propagandists and their Big Tech silencers. Mainstream and social media platforms are the primary propagators of “fake news,” such adulteration being the “true enemy of the people.” And with Biden/Harris in office, now herds of so-called “journalists” are promoting the suppression of free speech, when it is speech that does not comport with their political or social views.

As I have often pondered, consider what the American political landscape would look like if the mainstream and social media platforms were actually politically neutral, or if they actually affirmed the First Amendment.

TRUMP THE MISCOMMUNICATOR:

(Warning: If you are among the small number of Trump supporters who are not capable of reading well-reasoned criticism without emotionally decompensating, skip this section…)

President Ronald Reagan was described by friend and foe as “the great communicator.” However, he disclaimed that attribute, saying in typical humility, “I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation – from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries.”

Unfortunately Donald Trump was unable to comprehend or exhibit an ounce of the humility which earned President Reagan the great communicator accolade.

Trump’s communications proliferated an unmitigated arrogance never before witnessed in a president. He made all things politically divisive all the time, and he was omnipresent — he never gave his social media accounts a much-needed rest. The Democrats and Leftmedia had Trump’s number; they knew how to trigger him, and they mastered it.

Soon after his inauguration, seeing the communication catastrophe around the bend, I wrote, “Memo to POTUS: Stop Swapping Stupid With Jackasses.” The point was that Trump’s endless cycle of inane insults was a significant obstacle to his agenda, and he can be his own worst enemy and was engendering a meteoric rise in those who hated him.

It was as if he thrived on the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” his social media posts triggered. But the result would ultimately prove to be his most prominent “Achilles Heel.”

While many of his supporters rightly reveled in his blistering attacks against Democrats and Leftmedia talkingheads, too often Trump’s relentless attacks drifted into fratricide, which served only to undermine his leadership. He would have benefited from a broader application of President Reagan’s wise counsel — his “Eleventh Commandment” against fratricidal attacks: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

The brashness and brawn that made President Trump an effective bomb dropper dominated his social media bombs and fomented enormous division and hate. With a modicum of self-restraint, he could have gained much more ground with a broader constituency, while still keeping his base fired up. But he never exercised restraint.

As for Trump’s relentless and unmitigated self-aggrandizement, I’m reminded of Aslan’s wise advice to Prince Caspian in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia: “If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not.”

But what hurt Trump most was his erratic communications during the course of the ChiCom Virus pandemic this past year. In April I warned, “Mr. President, Don’t Be the Poster Child for CV19 Misery,” but his self-destruction was evident, and the corrupt mainstream media was only too happy to oblige. The media helped Demos hang COVID-19 around Trump’s neck like an albatross.

To that end, a wise friend and a very astute political observer, Cal Thomas, offered this observation: “Last August, Trump was questioned at a White House press briefing about polls showing his popularity was declining. Asked to explain, he responded, ‘Nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all.’ It was a rare moment of transparency for him.”

Cal continued: “There is still a remnant of old-fashioned values my grandparents’ generation embraced and tried to instill in their descendants. One was not to belittle, demean, talk down to, or call other people names. Trump has consistently ignored that advice. While a large number of Americans still support him and the number who voted for him far outpaced any other Republican presidential candidate, or incumbent president, it wasn’t enough. The reason can only be his personality. Most Americans expect a certain amount of dignity emanating from one who temporarily holds our highest office. Could Trump have achieved all he has without the name-calling? I think so.”

Rarely do I agree with WaPo political analyst Charles Lane, but I agree with every word of this recent assessment: “I was just reminded by how much more his celebrators might have to celebrate if the president had managed to modulate his behavior and behave decently, and speak in a civil tongue even in the face of a lot of criticism — much of which was, inevitably, unfair. He might have been reelected if he had been able to manage his impulses and personality. … Those who are disappointed that he has been defeated ought to consider how much he has been his own worst enemy over the last four years.

If then-President Trump could have mastered a degree of consistency and humility in his ubiquitous communications, I believe he would be in his second presidential term. It was Donald Trump’s election to lose, and he did. He did not lose because of something he did this year, but because of what he did not do over the last four years: listen to wise voices about moderating his caustic and chaotic communications. He would not have lost a single core voter over that moderation, but he did manage to incite a massive groundswell of opposition that cost him — and all of us who have backed him over the last four years — the continuation of his administration’s policies, which have in virtually every area served our whole nation well.

Elections are almost all about personality, 90% the person and 10% the policy. Trump did not understand that his efforts to rally supporters rallied far more adversaries.

The candy bombers; the untold story of the Berlin airlift and America's finest hour

Our book club (on Zoom these days) will be discussing "The Candy Bombers" by Andrei Cherny this Monday. It's an absorbing book, and the author is a beautiful, graceful writer and consummate researcher.  At first I thought I'd found someone who knew the similarities between Fascism and Communism--the flip sides of the same pancake, but after reading his bio (he's a Democrat and progressive with time in the Obama administration) he seems to be unaware of the dangerous path we're going down. Perhaps because this was published 12 years ago.  He's the son of Czech immigrants. 

It's frustrating that today's totalitarian Democrats keep referring to President Trump as a fascist, but perhaps they are just the CNN muddle brained social media arm chair historians, since Trump fits none of the check marks for a fascist.  Our newest president who seems to be a stand-in for Barack Obama's third term is locked arm in arm with Big Tech--a much better fit the classic definition.

That said, I do remember the airlift that saved Berlin, and America's finest hour, as the subtitle claims. That's how we learned it in school. We were the good guys.   I even remember some of the post WWII review Cherny provides and a few of the names who figure in this story, like Lucien Clay and James Forrestal.  But I can't imagine how I remember.  I was only 6 when the war ended, I didn't go to movies that much in the late 1940s that I would have seen news reels, and my family didn't have a TV.  Perhaps we did read about it in American history classes as seniors, about a decade later. In any case, reading about what happened between the closing of the war and the beginning of the airlift in this book can certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth.  Americans, and the other victors, were certainly not behaving in "the finest hour" image I learned in school. Germans were starving and dying of malnutrition while the victors were doing little about it, fulfilling Roosevelt's idea that they needed to be punished more severely than what happened after WWI in order to "learn a lesson."

Harry Truman has always been one of my favorite presidents, perhaps because he's the first one I remember.  On p. 183 the author describes March 1948 after the Communists seized control in Prague.  Truman was in the Florida Keys, and of course, the press was being critical for his being on vacation.  Cherny notes a letter he wrote to his daughter, Margaret (another president who confided in his daughter), that "the situation was just like when Britain and France were faced with in 1938-9 with Hitler.  A totalitarian state is no different whether you call it Nazi, Fascist, Communist or Franco Spain."

He wrote:  "A decision will have to be made.  I am going to make it.  I am sorry to have bored you with tis.  But you've studied foreign affairs to some extent and I just wanted you to know your Dad as President asked for no territory, no reparations, no slave laborers--only peace in the world.  We may have to fight for it.  The oligarchy in Russia is no different from the Czars, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Charles I and Cromwell.  It is a Frankenstein dictatorship worse than any of the others. Hitler included. "

And that's what we're slipping into with the Biden administration. A sycophant media. Hold overs from the Obama administration who've been strategizing for 4 years to take us back to being government dependents. An oligarchy composed of powerful Big Tech companies who are closing down all expressions of conservative thought while the political parties seem helpless to control them. 

Also, the inside negotiations and personality conflicts between many key players and the military and the politicians in DC which Cherny masterfully portrays are disturbing to read.  I suppose that is common to every government with the petty disagreements, party loyalties, and idiosyncratic behaviors. I just haven't read that much and found it difficult.

There were 3 conventions that summer of 1948--the third was the "progressive" (Democrats) with Henry Wallace, who had been Roosevelt's v.p. in his 3rd term, but was pushed aside (thankfully) by conservatives in the Democrat party.  I loved the description of the Progressives in 1948--nothing has changed:

 "The delegates were young--the average age was 30 and many were in their teens. 3/4 of the delegates were new to politics (McGovern was 26). 2 out of 5 were labor union members . . . the mood was merry. Each day began with a sing-along of folk music. (Pete Seeger). . . at any moment during the proceedings, there would be numerous huddles on the convention floor forming around young men and women who had spontaneously begun strumming a guitar. . . The party platform called for an increase in the minimum wage, a strong action against racial discrimination, national health insurance, a Dept. of Peace, higher levels of farm supports, guaranteed pensions for older Americans. . ." p. 315

The U.S was already having problems with the Communist threat inside, and Wallace didn't have the slightest complaint about Soviet Communism, but found fault with the American government 's attempt to move against domestic communists. Any delegate at the progressive convention who wanted to slip a word into the platform that might be anti-Soviet, was shut down.

Yes, it does all sound very familiar.

After Biden takes their jobs. . .

Written by a Keystone Pipeliner: (copied from Facebook)

Today is a heavy day. Its hard to believe something I love so much can be taken away by people that have no idea exactly how I make my living. They have no idea the pain and misery and sacrifice that comes with this job.

This job kept me from being a shit bag like alot of the lower class kids I grew up with. This job kept me off drugs and out of jail. This job moved me out of the slums. This job gave me a below average simple man that started with nothing but bad credit and a shitbox truck the ability to rise above alot of my peers. I didn't have to get a goverment loan that I can't pay back for an education I'll never use.

All I had to do is put in my time and give it my best. I worked hard to get where im at. Nothing is free or given on the ROW. You earn it. Every damn bit of it. You work 7-12s no matter the weather. You miss holidays, birthdays, ballgames and all the other things 9 to 5ers enjoy.

Yes the money's good. It's not about the money. It's the feeling you get when you and your buds are ringing wet covered in mud after a 16 hr shift doing a tie in.

It's knowing you belong to something so much bigger than yourself.

Mr President how dare you take that away from me. You a man that has done nothing but live of my tax dollars. How dare you sale all of us out. How dare you shut down whole communities and make us dependent on foriegn oil again.

How dare you take food from our familys mouths.

How dare you sir.

Joe Biden says . . .

Joe Biden says America hasn't lived up to her promises. If he were talking about "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," I'd agree with him. He's all for snuffing out lives full of potential before they get a chance to be born, and some after they are born. If he were talking about the percent of black babies who are aborted (more blacks aborted in 4 days than 80 years of lynching) I'd say yes. If he were talking about the miserable showing the "woke" graduates of our colleges and universities infecting the businesses that hire them, I could agree.

But he's not.

If he were talking about the failed politicians returning to positions of power and wealth for over 40 years, politicians like himself, I'd be cheering him on.

But he's not.

He's talking about blaming Trump and the 75,000,000 million Americans Biden's now trying to "cancel" so they can't get jobs in government, industry, academe, entertainment, or any other respectable activity. So if you believe America is great, the way Donald Trump did, with all kinds of possibilities and gifts for the world, if you think America First is a great slogan, the way millions did, get ready for your deprogramming.

Get ready for lectures and workshops and sermons on "anti-racism."

Get ready for self-hate and despising Western Civilization.

Get ready for the truly fascist system the Democrats are putting in place as government and big industry (Big Tech, oligarchies) work together to strip you of your freedom of speech and your freedom of religion while destroying your wealth.

When is Maxine's trial and conviction?

• Maxine Waters called for impeachment because of the electoral college vote in 2016. 
• She denied that Donald Trump was the rightful President of the U.S.A. 
• She said at a public event that she wanted "to take Trump out" and the audience cheered. 
• She called for attacking Republican cabinet members. FOR FOUR YEARS. Where are the charges against her?

https://youtu.be/XCYEDOZH29k

Bye-bye Wuhan Virus

The Biden speech police have declared you can't speak of the Chinese Virus or the Wuhan Virus. There goes the Hong Kong flu (1968) and the Asian flu (1957). Also, if you read any article about the Swine Flu of 2009, it always includes the word Mexico where it apparently originated. But I suppose because Obama was being called the "deporter in chief" (untrue: Clinton deported 12,290,905 and Obama 5,281,115 during their 8 year terms) by some immigrant organizations, it wouldn't catch on if it were called "Mexican flu." Maybe on a slow day of rewriting history, some interns could go through all those government documents that included the word Mexico. The pork producers probably would have preferred a country of origin, because a lot of pigs lost their lives (early) due to political correctness.

Impeach Johnson

Why not impeach LBJ? Look at all the bad stuff he did, and all the horrible, racist, nasty things he said. The young men he sent to Vietnam. The religious freedom he crushed leading to decades of law suits. The government programs he launched with the so-called War on Poverty that we not only lost, but have spent trillions of dollars lining the pockets of middle class bureaucrats.

Yes, he's no longer president, and yes, he's dead, but for vindictive, partisan, nasty politicians who can't read the Constitution, that should make no difference. They want to make sure he doesn't run again.

Anti-racism isn't what you think

 The so-called "anti-racism" movement doesn't mean what you think. It means you are a racist and you need to change. It's today's critical race theory, and that's not what you might have learned about critical theory if you were in college a few decades ago. But woke leaders get led astray by non-profits looking for grants and wealthy leaders of organizations pushing to divide our country. Saw this in the OSU news today:

"Chancellor and CEO Hal Paz, MD, shares the significance of the anti-racism movement within our health system and defines the difference between anti-racism vs. not racist. Developed by the ARAP Faculty and Staff Training and Development Action Group, Minute Matters is a monthly series of short videos highlighting an important topic or key term pertinent to the anti-racism movement."

At its root, it is anti-white, anti-America, anti-capitalism and anti-western civilization. You will never not be a racist. The micro charges will just get smaller and smaller and include some really big values.
Are you ready to give up on ‘objective, rational, linear thinking, “ “controlled emotions,” “the scientific method,” and “quantitative research” all defining characteristics of being a racist.

How about such values as “individual responsibility,” or “working hard for success,” or “plan for the future,” or “delayed gratification." You must be a racist.

Do you value “continual improvement and progress,” or "written tradition,” or "personal property ownership?” Oh my, you are such a racist.

Or maybe you think the “nuclear family is the best social unit” for raising the next generation, and God forbid, you believe in Jesus Christ (or any god). You just may be hopelessly mired in White Culture and will require deprogramming. If you voted for Trump, you could lose your job.

I haven't read Dr. Paz's message, and don't want to. He probably needs to save his job from a twitter mob. But if you really are curious about anti-racism, read this one. And if you are an OSU alumni, close your wallet and demand some accountability.  

What anti-racism really means and how to talk about it - The Spectator - news, politics, life & arts

Democrats are the real crazies

The black clad rioters on inauguration day 2017 didn't bother the Democrats. Barely got news coverage. Over 200 were arrested.

Hillary Clinton complained for 4 years that the 2016 election was stolen. She appeared on friendly left night time TV whining and moaning and rolling her eyes that she got more popular votes than the President (which no one denied, but it's not our system).

Nancy Pelosi threatened all sorts of mischief and called the President despicable names because of the 2016 election and then settled on a 3 year, multi million impeachment trial.

Maxine Waters called for impeachment because of the electoral college vote in 2016.

Democrats were colluding in 2016-2017 to buy off electors to get them to change their votes.
Women who usually have their wits about them dressed up in pink hats and lady parts and made fools of themselves during the inauguration of 2017.

Mitt Romney tried to buy his way into the cabinet and was rebuffed so he turned on the President.

People in MAGA hats were attacked in pubic places for 4 years.

Jussie Smollet, a prominent gay TV star staged an assault supposedly by "Trump supporters," two Nigerians he'd bought and paid.  

So-called cable news reporters for 4 years maligned Trump supporters and the President.

Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the U.S., was raising bail money for Antifa and BLM rioters who were destroying neighborhoods and federal and state property.

And now they are saying we're all in a crazy cult and need to be deprogrammed and the First Amendment ignored because many state election laws were violated due to the pandemic and people returning from the grave to vote! So who are the crazies? The ones reenacting the novel 1984 or the ones who accepted all that crap for 4 years while the country continued to prosper?

A fraction of a tiny fraction attacked the Capitol and Democrats are beating their breast acting like it's the end of the world when they ignored it all during the summer of 2020. The FBI has all those groups infiltrated.  Where were they? The ANTIFA riots are still going on in many Democrat run cities.

Tuskegee was a tragedy, but let's move on

I think it's time for racialists in the medical field to stop blaming the suspicion of vaccines among blacks on the Tuskegee experiment conducted between 1932-1972 by the public health service of the U.S. Get your butt out there and start flooding the churches, schools, stores, buses, clinics and neighborhoods with pro-vaccine information. Go after them like you did the vote in Georgia.  There are millions of blacks working in the medical field--they've got phones, they've got networks. Go after them, and stop trying to make political hay.  Try reprogramming them instead of Republicans who disagree with ABC or CNN.

We had two governors of very populous states, California and New York, expressing suspicion and distrust all during the Trump efforts to get the virus under control. He gave them both additional money, our money, to ramp up their treatments, and the thanks he got was, "No thanks, sucker." The blame is a whole lot closer than 1932. 

We've got CNN and MSNBC who have been complicit in the misinformation, and are now all kissy face with Biden and wanting to close down any dissenting voice and reprogram Republicans. How's that for good science? Biden's now told us that there's nothing he can do, after months of criticizing President Trump from his basement and saying he had a full proof plan. He has returned to the basement to catch a nap.