Saturday, June 26, 2021

Where major corporations are investing, guest blogger Michael Smith

"If you are paying attention, you do not need an army of analysts or a divining rod to find water here.

Meat prices at the grocery store are going up - and yet the price on the hoof is not. As a matter of fact, many cattle producers are caught in a squeeze and losing money on a per head basis. I saw a report a few weeks ago that noted the retail businesses have a profit margin of about $30 per head of cattle while the meat processor’s margin is around $1000 per head. The rancher’s margin? Between $10 a head and loss of $30, depending on the timing of the sale.

How does that work? The answer is that it does not.
 
The meat processing industry is controlled by four companies, Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef, that process 80% of all slaughtered animals and because access to processing is so limited, you either sell to them or one of their agents or you do not sell at all. Why would the meat processors be putting so much pressure on the producers of protein on the hoof?

Well, at present, three of the four major processors have gone woke, adopting the ESG methods of corporate control. Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance data refers to metrics related to intangible assets within the enterprise, roughly equivalent to China’s Social Credit System (that ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy).

And a good ESG score means you must believe in anthropogenic climate change. The “climate scientists” at the UN have determined that livestock production, especially raising cattle, generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent than transportation. In 2006, senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official Henning Steinfeld said, “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.”

Cow farts are killing us.

Why would meat processors be destroying their own businesses?

They really are not. They will still process cattle, but the meat will be far more expensive, a luxury for most – but where these companies are putting their investments is telling – fake meat. Each of these companies are pouring millions into research and development of plant-based protein meat substitutes.
Plant-based? Is it any wonder why Bill Gates is the largest private owner of farm land in the United States?

Several large investment firms are buying up single family homes. BlackRock, the largest asset management firm on the planet with over $9 trillion in assets, and other money institutions buying up single-family homes as quickly as they can at rates higher than the average homebuyer is willing to pay. Of course, taking homes off the market by overpaying for them, drives overall home prices up.
Why? Well first, these investment firms can borrow money at historically low rates, even lower than any individual home buyer, but the goal is more insidious - BlackRock and others are causing a shift from home ownership to renting (BlackRock is also the third largest institutional shareholder in the "engineered meat" producer, Beyond Meat).
 
Renting degrades the economy for lower and middle class folks while limiting their upward financial mobility by robbing them of the equity increases home ownership typically brings. This is not just BlackRock, Bloomberg just published an article claiming that “America should become a nation of renters”, further stating “The very features that made houses an affordable and stable investment are coming to an end.”

This idea, coupled with BlackRock’s actions, simply points to a commoditization of the housing market and a consolidation into corporate control of the foundational asset of the American family, their own home. It represents the loss of individual control of another asset class and a created dependence on corporations for the most basic of needs, shelter.

Now, add to that the control over media and the fact the Internet Overlords and Social Media Commissars have become agents of the federal government and the Democrat Party, and you have a pretty good idea of where the corporations and the big investors think we are going.

Biden's government continues its radical eco-agenda. Aside from being implicated tree spiking in the Pacific Northwest, an ecoterrorist act, and support for government enforced population control, Biden's horrific nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone-Manning, is notoriously anti-cattle grazing rights on federal lands. In her graduate thesis, Stone-Manning wrote:

"The origin of our abuses is us. If there were fewer of us, we would have less impact. We must consume less, and more importantly, we must breed fewer consuming humans."

The thesis also goes on to claim that cattle grazing on public lands is "destroying the West."
While not busying himself with mumbling incoherently, creepily whispering to reporters and lying about the Constitution, Dementia Joe is shutting down pipeline construction and cutting off oil leases on public lands.

What could go wrong?

Pick any dystopian novel or movie production – Blade Runner, Alien, Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green, even The Fifth Element – all feature a future managed and controlled by marriages between corporations and governments and people dependent upon that unholy marriage for housing and sustenance.
 
This is a future being created today in the boardrooms and halls of government - and a one that is entirely avoidable.

They say science fiction will become science fact.

Let us hope not.

Remember – Soylent Green is people."

*     *    *

Glenn Beck has also done extensive research on the problem,  https://youtu.be/PQTbpJl2-Ho  seeing it as an extension of the Obama fundamental transformation.  The great reset.




Friday, June 25, 2021

BLM nominee wants to limit your family size

"Tracy Stone-Manning, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), once wrote that Americans “breed” too much, called American children “environmental hazards,” and stated that U.S. citizens should stop “at one or two kids” for the sake of the environment." (Catholic vote, via The Loop)

Our birth rate is below replacement, so we've got a nominee who wants even more reasons to import low income immigrants to do the bidding of rich, government and hi-tech plutocrats?

A comment on this story by Bill M.: "I have 6 kids. Had my wife and I stopped at 2, the world would have missed out on an environmental biologist, a food quality manager, a nurse practitioner and a biomedical engineer. All have impacted the world positively! I guess the first 2, an epidemiologist and a chemical engineer would have be OK." 

Usually these "save the planet" folks are all for aborting black and brown babies.

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show--in Rush's time slot


I had my first opportunity to listen to https://clayandbuck.com/ show the last 2 days. On 610 am in Columbus they are in the Rush Limbaugh time slot--noon to 3 p.m. I'd never heard of Clay, but have followed Buck off and on since he was a regular on the Glenn Beck show years ago. Good topics--not news of course, but clearly stated to be their opinion. At CNN and MSNBC you get opinion shows, "hate America shows," "excuse the Bidens all their crimes shows" which are called news. Bad idea.

But I am a tad concerned about Buck's speech in this format. I don't know if he's speaking faster than usual because there are 2 of them and it's conversation, or if he's got a loose tooth. His formerly very precise and careful speech is sounding squishy. It's the sibilant sounds--anything with an S sound, see, say, first, or with some letter c words like, place, which seems to be an orphan without its own sound. Some consonant blends also sound slurpy to my ear.

Maybe it's my imagination, but I think when two speakers are very close in sound (they both are very deep), they are difficult to distinguish in radio format. Red Eye Radio, which is a talk show for truckers in Texas, with Eric Harley and Gary McNamara, has the same format, and I can't tell the two of them apart.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

The voter ID bill could actually hurt--we have a history

Senate Republicans blocked an election overhaul bill favored by Democrats. The party-line vote was 50-50, ten votes shy of the 60 votes needed to break the filibuster and advance the legislation, which would ban voter ID requirements and enable ballot harvesting. (The Loop)
All voters, but particularly blacks, should be very cautious about any government program intended to protect their vote or push ahead their community.
 
How did those free-ways through your neighborhoods in the 1950s work out for you and your businesses?
 
Did knocking down old buildings in your neighborhoods and building high rise slums really benefit your communities' safety, spirit, and health?
 
What did school integration do for your students when black teachers were moved to white districts so white kids could be exposed to successful adult blacks?
 
And how about all the wealth transfer programs that keep you on Medicaid and in Section 8 housing because you would lose benefits if you tried to advance?
 
What about all the federal and state aid that have pushed dads out of the home--are your young men stronger or have they just joined gangs?
 
And have you really benefitted from all these full of fluff and fat administrative departments for D.I.E. (diversity, inclusion, equity) so universities and companies can brag about their POC percentages (all clustered in HR).
 
Do programs, policies and award shows for millionaire blacks that focus on race really help you reach your goals in the middle quintile?
Racism hurt us all in the past, and the neo-racism that focuses on color rather than character and skill (white fragility books, reeducation camps, CRT, BLM, the squad, etc. all funded by whites) won't be any better. By weakening the country through more socialism, it could be worse.

Monday, June 21, 2021

Biden and the Bishops

President Biden said he doesn't think the U.S. bishops will deny Holy Communion to him or other pro-abortion Catholic politicians. And for once, I agree with Biden--not that he's doing to the right thing by violating both church law and the dignity of the most powerless and poor, but that the Bishops will cave to the demands of the world. We'll have to let Jesus sort this out on Judgement Day.

Saturday, June 19, 2021

A poem about Lakeside

We'll be putting our Lakeside house on the market soon (turn key) so I'm removing personal items. Came across this poem about our Lake Erie written on a dinner napkin (probably the Patio) by a guest, which my husband matted and framed. Duke taught a poetry class at the Rhein Center, and he and Bob went to high school together.

The lake swells and drops
In rolling rhythm
As the morning sun announces
The beginning of a new day.

Reflections of sunrise
Glisten in the water
As my eyes divert to keep
The brightness at bay.

Only the artist can capture
This spectacle of light and water
On a morning like this in a
Place as inviting as Lakeside.

Duke Thomas Low 7-13-07

Friday, June 18, 2021

Bad stuff in Fulton County, Georgia and in Michigan and Arizona

 MAJOR SCANDAL BREWING: 'Just the News' Investigation Finds More than 100 Batches of Absentee Ballots in Fulton County Could Be Missing (thegatewaypundit.com)

https://americasvoice.news/video/panRMiFEBJjrmeL

Georgia investigator's notes reveal 'massive' election integrity problems in Atlanta | Just The News

Georgia audit documents expose significant election failures in state’s largest county. Records suggest more than 100 batches of absentee ballots in Fulton County could be missing. | Just The News


Hundreds of people concerned about the integrity of the Nov. 2020 election gathered outside the Michigan Capitol Thursday to protest and deliver roughly 7,000 affidavits claiming fraud and demanding a forensic audit.

Mike Huckabee said in his newsletter of June 18, "Let’s go to Maricopa County, Arizona, where the forensic examination phase of that audit is going on, with the end of this month being the target for completion. CNN reported that ballots are being trucked to a lab in Montana for analysis and showed aerial video of the remote, private land it allegedly was on. “Is this the secure, private laboratory?” CNN’s Gary Tuchman asked. “Is Arizona voting data inside that cabin? We just don’t know –- but it could be.”

According to Ken Bennett, spokesman for the audit, the voting system data is being reviewed by subcontractor CyFIR. He says he doesn’t know where this lab is, which is causing CNN to report it as a big secret and to imply that the data might be non-secure and compromised in some way. They say CyFIR CEO Ben Cotton has taken data from Arizona to Montana. But Bennett speaks more precisely, saying Cotton has a COPY of the data created by Dominion from the hard drives and servers that Maricopa County used in the election. “The original data was left completely intact,” Bennett says. https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/arizona-audit-data-taken-secret-lab-rural-montana-analysis

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Great Reset: Housing Shortage EXPOSED (2021)

 Last year we sold our son's house in Canal Winchester, Ohio.  We noticed then the demand for housing, and I became aware of the large real estate groups (to whom we didn't sell, at least I don't think we did).  Then later I became aware of the vast amounts of wealth that was made during and because of the pandemic.  Is private property coming to and end?

https://youtu.be/-CESSiPk6qs  Video on real estate values, super wealth, "reset," and global economy by "Man in America."

It's a hard life at Lakeside Chautauqua



Some days at Lakeside are not so lazy, but I'll still fit in time for a nap.
7 am: Walk along the lakefront.
8 am: Bob meets the Guys Club at the Patio for breakfast.
9 am: Preacher's hour Rev. Thom Shafer, Steele Memorial
8:30-noon: Farmer's Market at Old Schoolhouse
10:30: Taste of Lakeside, Blue Bird Cafe at Walnut Plaza
1-2 pm: Women's Club opening, Green Gables
Noon-3 p.m. Taste of Lakeside, B n B tour
5 ish: Supper with the Kullbergs at the Patio Restaurant
7:30: Vespers with Rev. Shafer
It's a tough life, but someone has to do it.

Monday, June 14, 2021

Another ZOOM group

 I participated in yet another ZOOM group at 4 p.m.  This is a writer's group, and if you're accustomed to ZOOM meetings, I think it works well.  The "facilitator" is Martha (Marti) who lives just a few doors south of me at Lakeside and is a published novelist.  She's been teaching at Lakeside's Rhein Center for many years, and last year because of the pandemic her group developed on line. I took her class many years ago and really enjoyed it.  This year, I was invited to join this group, although I haven't done much creative writing for many years.  Blogging and posting on Facebook are not usually creative--I just let off steam. I think there were 9 of us including Marti, 5 of whom I already knew. They are speaking/writing from Michigan, Toledo, Columbus, Florida and of course, Lakeside. 

Marti suggested a topic--writing a letter to someone, alive or dead--if we already weren't working on some thing.  Two of the women are working on novels, so they proceeded with that. I wrote a letter to our son, Phil, who died in April 2020 about music, his big love.  Then we all shared our writings after 30 minutes and commented on each others efforts.  That's something I need to really work on.  Being positive and supportive is what makes any writing group work.  The whole point is to keep writing, not perfection.  It's so easy for me to spot the flaws or the gap.  I'll work on being more supportive.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Criminals have stolen Covid19 assistance money--$400 Billion

According to WSJ referring to an Axios report, criminals have absconded with large amounts of the Covid money. Shock and awe!

"Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me, a service that tries to prevent this kind of fraud, tells Axios that America has lost more than $400 billion to fraudulent claims. As much as 50% of all unemployment monies might have been stolen, he says.

Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, estimates that at least 70% of the money stolen by impostors ultimately left the country, much of it ending up in the hands of criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere."

Friday, June 11, 2021

Black households under Trump



How did black Americans fare under that mean, racist, Republican tweeting president?

"Black median household income in 2019 increased 7.9%, the largest on record and, per American Enterprise Institute economist Mark Perry, “almost nine times the average annual increase of 0.90% over the last half-century.”
 
Moreover, in 2019, 29.4% of black households had income of $75,000 or more, compared with 28.7% of black households that had income of $25,000 or less. This was the first time, ever, that the percentage of high-income black households exceeded the percentage of low-income black households."

You can see why the academics and leftist politicians are frantically trying to convince the nation through CRT in the schools, their lap dog woke corporations and the planned rioting of BLM that there is no hope for black America unless whites are demeaned and destroyed. They must make black Americans perpetual victims, hopeless and helpless without the protection of a "benign" Democrat controlled government. Yet who is it who gave them the KKK, Jim Crow, and fatherless homes from the War on Poverty? The Democrats in government.

You won't convince your Democrat friends with emotion or yelling. Try some facts. Money isn't everything, but since they want to portray blacks as po' folk trapped in the ghetto, let's check it out. 

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

A book friend goes home, Jean Ives

I knew Jean only casually before I retired from Ohio State, but got to know her better after 2000 when we were both in the same book club. She was always prepared and added a lot to our knowledge. I think she was the one who brought Maisie Dobbs to our book club, and my husband read the first in the mystery series and he's read them all since then. Maisie became a regular fixture for our summer porch reading.

Ives, Jean Ellen, 1934 - 2021

Confident of her destination, Jean Ives went to her heavenly home on March 31, 2021. Preceding her in death were her parents Burt and Mary Seldon, and sister Ann Williams. Her surviving family include her husband, David; her children, Eric Ives and Laura (Lino) Lino; along with granddaughters, Luciana and Isabella Lino and Kaylee and Jessa Ives; and great-granddaughter, Keilana Lewis. Jean was a founding member and actively involved in Bethel Presbyterian Church as an elder and teacher in the Bethel Series bible course, among many other activities. Jean attended Bethel College and the University of Minnesota, and earned her MS at Kent State U. Always open to new challenges, she also earned Para-legal certification from Capital University Law School, and the CPCU Insurance designation. She served as librarian for the Griffith Insurance Library for 15 years and worked in the main OSU library for the remainder of her career. Jean was an avid reader, particularly of mystery novels, and also enjoyed symphony and jazz concerts and travel. A Celebration of Jean's life will be on June 12 at Bethel Presbyterian Church, 1735 Bethel Rd, at 11 am, with visitation the previous hour. Memorial gifts in Jean's name may be made to Bethel Presbyterian Church.

Our new washer has arrived

 Our new washing machine, an Amana, was delivered this morning. The 40 year old Kenmore was great--best I've ever had--but sprung a leak our first week here, and who has a part? Now we'll have to hire a plumber (who weighs less than 120 lbs), because the hook up is spliced and diced and the drain pipe opening is near the ceiling. A second home has all the appliances that fail in the other home, but only about 1/5 of the living time. In the last two years I've replaced the oven, the dryer and the washer. The new owner will enjoy them.

Health equity?

Demands for "health equity" for racial and ethnic groups is a push for more government control. The CDC reported in 2014 that the 5 top causes of death were diseases primarily of personal behavior, 1) diseases of the heart, 2) cancer, 3) chronic lower respiratory diseases, 4) cerebrovascular diseases (stroke), and 5) unintentional injuries. These are most often a result of obesity, smoking, drinking, drugs, lack of exercise and other risky behavior. HIV rates are still very high among young black men who have sex with men, and CDC says risk factors are poverty, high rates of unemployment, and cultural stigmas. Doesn't mention risky sex. I'm no doctor or researcher, but any poor, unemployed man who doesn't have sex with men will not be at risk for HIV.  The costs of unintentional injuries are huge--motor vehicle, drugs, suicide,  work, falls. The burden on employers and society in general runs in the billions of dollars annually. . . $1,097.9 billion 

JAMA editor not woke enough?

I have no horse in this race--but JAMA is a journal I read often and is frequently quoted in the media.
"Mike Davis, founder and president of Unsilenced Majority, today released the following statement regarding the firing of Dr. Howard Bauchner, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). 
“You would think that in the middle of a pandemic, the Journal of the American Medical Association would be focused more on its medical reporting and less on woke nonsense, but you’d be wrong. The firing of its top editor speaks to the priorities that have infected so many of our institutions: feelings, not facts; tone, not substance. Unfortunately, while our leaders in government, science, media and technology dedicate their attention to assuaging the woke mob, the advantages we have as a country are deteriorating. Scientists’ only concern should be science. Journalists’ only concern should be journalism. Educators’ only concern should be education. THE MORE WE GIVE INTO THE NOTION THAT IT'S ACCEPTABLE AND EVEN EXPECTED TO CANCEL THOSE WHO DEVIATE FROM WOKE ORTHODOXY, THE MORE WE'RE SETTING OURSELVES UP FOR DIVISION AND FAILURE. JAMA should rescind its unfair and ridiculous politically-motivated firing of its top editor immediately.”
The editorial policies have been pretty liberal for years, but with "structural racism," we're dealing with a religious cult and one of the underlings insulted the most high goddess and denied her awesomeness and truthiness in a podcast. Dr. Bauchner groveled and apologized (my interpretation of reading about it in our unbiased news like CNN and NYT), but that goddess has no mercy in this religion.

Monday, June 07, 2021

The entrepreneur

Met a young entrepreneur today in Lakeside. He's opened a shop of "vintage" sports wear. Used t-shirts, jeans and athletic logo clothes from the 80s and 90s. Although I have clothes older than he, it was great to see the ambition. He "sources" his own stuff by going to yard sales and resale shops. If Jeff Bezos goes into space, this guy has his feet planted firmly on the ground.

Sunday, June 06, 2021

Returning to normal

Here at Lakeside, Ohio, things look pretty close to normal. Hand shaking and hugs. Very few masks. Several programs inside Hoover Auditorium due to bad weather (but that's a start). Restaurants with normal seating. The dock is closed but that's because of a 2 day storm with 9' waves that possibly damaged it and threw benches and light poles into Lake Erie.

  
It was beautiful but strange last night.  Gorgeous sunset and no one on the dock which has been declared unsafe because of the storm a week ago.  I've never seen this before.


Transgender athletes

The Gallup poll asked Americans: “Do you think transgender athletes should be able to play on sports teams that match their current gender identity (or) should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth gender?”⠀

A massive majority (62%-34%) of American adults said transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on teams that match their biological sex (“birth gender”).

Saturday, June 05, 2021

How is deplatforming different than any other discrimination?

Our internet was out this morning so I was watching via antenna a Detroit station which featured a story about a local civil rights legend. There was film of her (now deceased) retelling her story of being denied service at a recreation park (or something public) because of her skin color. It reminded me of Big Tech denying President Trump service any Democrat, anarchist or Palestinian terrorist can have because he exposes the swamp and collusion with oligarchs which threatens them.
Wall Street Journal: "Facebook Inc. said it is suspending Donald Trump’s accounts for two years, formalizing a long-term penalty for the former U.S. president after its independent Oversight Board said the company was wrong to keep the ban open-ended. 
Facebook said it would revisit the suspension two years from the date of its initial move to suspend him on Jan. 7, the day after the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Assuming he is then reinstated, Mr. Trump will face a “strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions” if he commits further violations, including permanent removal of his pages and accounts, the company said. 
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed a desire to run an open platform enabling free speech. So much for that. This latest decision to attempt to edit U.S. political speech means many more editing decisions await. The Journal reporters note:
In responding to the board’s criticism, Facebook also opens the door for more, as the company will now be required to make more subjective decisions on whether posts from political figures violate its rules surrounding misinformation, hate speech and other issues that are hotly debated. Those judgment calls are likely to escalate partisan complaints around whether the company is being fair in how it applies the rules.
Will Facebook now ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists who dismissed the idea of a laboratory origin for Covid-19 in 2020?"

Friday, June 04, 2021

Checking through old exercise blogs

 I used to be in an exercise blogging group, Exercising through the Church Year (40days40miles.blogspot.com).  I never met any of the women, and by 2015 there were only 2 of us still writing, and then only once or twice a year, so it sort of died a natural death.  Since I didn't establish the blog, I only contributed, I can't delete it!  But today I was browsing through some of things I'd written about exercise and weight loss or exercise and osteoporosis, and I clicked on one of the other women in the group, Michelle Francl-Donnay.  Found out that although she never said much in our group, she is a writer--a science writer in chemistry. Tracked her down and see she also writes for the Vatican.  Here's an interview  Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe: Molecules, Particles and People - ideaXme (radioideaxme.com)  She's had an interesting life.

Science Writing | Michelle Francl-Donnay (michellefrancldonnay.com)

Speaking of exercise, I did pretty good today.  I did 6 miles at the wellness center here in Lakeside, and 2 additional miles walking.  It's partly cloudy, but has warmed up some.  Some days I've walked to the wellness center (which would make sense), but today I drove since the sky looked iffy. 



The struggle--never ending

  

In summer we spend a lot of time reading books on our porch, 
then a short walk to the kitchen for a snack.

 

Thursday, June 03, 2021

University of Virginia embarrasses itself

Infecting more minds of mush, The University of Virginia School of Law said Wednesday that Robert Mueller will participate in a class on his infamous investigation, which examined alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia, Russia, Russia. He probably won't reveal why, when they knew by the beginning of the investigation, that the whole FISA warrant was fake and illegal. Now if he were going to explain himself for that travesty, it might be a class worth attending. Otherwise, all it will be is an outline of how to drag in people on process crimes, and destroy the people's trust in the system. I don't know why a law school would demean itself by doing this, except he graduated there in 1973.

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

Biden in Tulsa

I see Biden was beating the racism drum again, promising more federal assistance to black businesses to close the wealth gap. This time he was in Tulsa, a terrible tragedy's 100 year anniversary, but in deaths and dollars hasn't matched the Year of Floyd. Biden's become rich in the business of politics for 45 years, he's contributed to so many of the inequities and "help" of the past, like trying to defeat black candidates, killing black babies in the womb, marginalizing and weakening the black community with years of "help" with promised federal money that bought nothing but votes. Even the current V.P. hand picked for color and sex called him a racist and sexist during the primaries. But, hey, it's worked before, why not use the same strategy to fool Democrats again?

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

How will police be replaced with social workers?

Perhaps you've wondered how Leftists are going to reimagine policing by sending in social workers? How will gun violence, breaking and entering, domestic violence (often the source of calls to police) and child abuse be handled? Your problem, like mine, may be we're thinking of the traditional social worker we knew years ago. Tsk, tsk. Now it's "radical social workers" who will be saving the homeless, the ex-con, and those others oppressed by white people. Notice, although whites are the majority of those in social dysfunction like crime, homelessness, and family distress, they are also blamed by the researchers and experts (who are also mostly white) for the "system." 

This is a review article called "The opposition." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6145824/ It cites the latest trendy academic sources to lead the unrest, division and violence. Learn the ever evolving language. The key word is "transformative." Transformative potential, transformative consciousness, transformative action. The author cites his own unpublished work and leans heavily on CRT. This article is 4 years old and predates the years of Obama and Trump, but you can see the ground work was prepared decades before for the year of Floyd. This "perfect storm" wasn't an accident. These ideas always spring from academe, not the grass roots or neighborhood.

The Marxist roots of critical race theory

"Critical race theory (CRT) was officially organized in 1989, at the first annual Workshop on Critical Race Theory, though its intellectual origins go back much farther, to the 1960s and ’70s. Its immediate precursor was the critical legal studies (CLS) movement, [which is] an offshoot of Marxist-oriented critical theory. "(Britannica)

"Critical theory (CT) is the Marxist-inspired movement (1920s) in social and political philosophy originally associated with the work of the Frankfurt School (also influential for National Socialism, aka the Nazis). Drawing particularly on the thought of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, critical theorists maintain that a primary goal of philosophy is to understand and to help overcome the social structures through which people are dominated and oppressed.
 
Believing that science, like other forms of knowledge, has been used as an instrument of oppression, they caution against a blind faith in scientific progress, arguing that scientific knowledge must not be pursued as an end in itself without reference to the goal of human emancipation. Since the 1970s, critical theory has been immensely influential in the study of history, law, literature, and the social sciences." (Britannica)

The Germans involved in the Frankfort School left Germany and found positions of power in America's most prestigious universities in the 1930s-1940s from which many of the current problems stem.

Monday, May 31, 2021

New study from Europe suggests evidence Covid19 comes from lab

 An explosive new study claims researchers found 'unique fingerprints' in COVID-19 samples that they say could only have arisen from manipulation in a laboratory

DailyMail.com exclusively obtained the new 22-page paper authored by British Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr. Birger Sørensen set to be published in the Quarterly Review of Biophysics Discovery

The study showed there's evidence to suggest Chinese scientists created the virus while working on a Gain of Function project in a Wuhan lab
 
Gain of Function research, which was temporarily outlawed in the US, involves altering naturally-occurring viruses to make them more infectious in order to study their potential effects on humans
 
According to the paper, Chinese scientists took a natural coronavirus 'backbone' found in Chinese cave bats and spliced onto it a new 'spike', turning it into the deadly and highly transmissible COVID-19

The researchers, who concluded that COVID-19 'has no credible natural ancestor', also believe scientists reverse-engineered versions of the virus to cover up their tracks

'We think that there have been retro-engineered viruses created,' Dalgleish told DailyMail.com. 'They've changed the virus, then tried to make out it was in a sequence years ago.'

The study also points to 'deliberate destruction, concealment or contamination of data' in Chinese labs and notes that 'scientists who wished to share their findings haven't been able to do so or have disappeared'
 
Until recently, most experts had staunchly denied the origins of the virus were anything other than a natural infection leaping from animals to humans

Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci defended US funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, saying the $600,000 grant was not approved for Gain of Function research

Chinese scientists created COVID-19 in a lab and then tried to cover their tracks, new study claims | Daily Mail Online

Memorial Day, 2021

 Our terrible storms on Lake Erie have cleared out (Port Clinton was in a state of emergency) and the holiday to memorialize the fallen heroes of our wars has appeared warm and sunny.

I walked to the Wellness Center on Sixth St. (about a mile) and then spent 3 miles on the exercycle.  The cycle had been moved (and maybe replaced, not sure) to a different window, so I couldn't see the pool.  However, I did see the small woods and open lot, and had the fun of watching a young deer nibbling tender shoots for breakfast.  I walked back home through the woods and Seventh Street rather than walk along the lake, the lakefront still being strewn with debris from the storm.  So I had five miles in before 8 a.m.

Then at 10:30 I went to the Memorial Day event on the lawn in front of the pavilion, and enjoyed it immensely.  We are usually not in Lakeside on this holiday, and I found the small town atmosphere with a mayor and city council (from Marblehead), and locals telling about the service of their fathers in WWII quite moving. One man's father had been in the Philippines waiting for the invasion of Japan, when the bomb was dropped.  He said there was much rejoicing--something we don't often hear about that terrible loss of Japanese people, yet it did save thousands of American lives. One woman told of her own father whose 4 year enlistment was up on December 8, 1941, so he was commanded to remain another 4 years. She was born after he returned after the war.  Bob Grim, head of the Lakeside Board also told of visiting Normandy with a 95 year old veteran who had been there when he was 19 years old. 

I sat next to a woman, my age or older, whose name was Nancy.  It was her first time in Lakeside and she was quite charmed by it all.

I took me back over 75 years, probably a year or so after WWII to the Memorial Day service in Mt. Morris.  The rifle salute scared me then as much as today, but I knew my Dad was home. I also thought about Uncle Clare, killed in 1944 in China and how my mom and grandparents grieved. Collecting My Thoughts: Remembering Uncle Clare on Memorial Day

Five characteristics of successful civilizations, guest blogger Michael Smitih

Earlier Michael wrote:  "It is hard for anyone with an open mind to look at the policies and executive orders of the Biden administration, contrast and compare them with those of the Trump administration, and not see the Democrat's total, unrestricted, all-out war on every aspect of America - what she is, who we are and how we live.

You can see the attacks accelerating, the condescension and threats are turning into actions - if they cannot bring us to heel with laws, rules, and regulations, if they can't make every single one of us a dependent beggar, they will make your savings worthless and break the entire country with spending and debt."

That passage made me think about how I once proposed that the most successful and long-lived civilizations of history have the five characteristics in common, that the loss of any one of the five results in decline, loss of more than one results the fall of the civilization. In these civilizations, the overwhelming majority of their members share:

• A common theism,
• A common ideology,
• A common culture,
• A love of the aforementioned, and
• A willingness to defend all the above (with deadly force and to the death, if necessary).

A common theism is important – to be a unified civilization and survive challenges from other, competing civilizations, there must be a unity at a spiritual level. Contrary to what our ruling class and the elite academia believe; the rise of Islamic terrorism is not driven by economic or political motives. Most academics and devotees of secularism deny that Islamic terrorism has a religious and spiritual genesis because they give little or no credence to their own spirituality and are motivated by a form of dialectic materialism rooted in their own fealty to socialism and communism. Jihadis come from all strata of Islamic and Western society, we have seen the wealthy and the poor, the educated and the ignorant become agents of human destruction. Islamists conceptualize this “struggle” as Islam versus the infidels – this is the only dimension they understand. If Western civilization cannot unite behind a single, motivating, spiritual organizing principle, it will fall. The Crusades are often thought of in pejorative terms but in more visceral times, the Islamic threat was far more obvious and therefore imminently more visible.

A common ideology (and by ideology, I mean a concept of freedom, liberty, and the governance necessary to preserve them) is also necessary. A common understanding of the political process, the legal environment and a broad understanding of the governing structure is essential. To avoid an arbitrary and capricious nature of savagery, people must be able to predict how their interactions will affect others and what the reaction from those “others” will be. This commonality must also be as minimal as possible – for it to bind all the civilization, it must be simple and clear enough to be understood by the most common of men in that civilization.

Like ideology, a common culture is required – and this does not mean that it is unchanging or without variation, just that it is shared across the civilization as new, unharmful and enhancing aspects of other varying cultures are assimilated (and assimilated is the key point). Important aspects providing strength to a civilization are the stability and predictability brought about by the common bonds between its people – Rousseau called it a social compact or contract. It is the mutual understanding of how things are going to work in society and what are the expectations of, and duties between, members of the civilization.

It goes without saying that the members of a given civilization must love it – that is to be totally and completely devoted to it. Members must value liberty, the systems that protect it, the culture that drives it and the spirituality that preserves it. Absent that level of devotion, the final aspect of defense is impossible - the willingness to defend the civilization with force and with the risk of one’s own life.
For better or worse, it seems clear that Western civilization has witnessed varying degrees of success in the intermixing of these five characteristics. It is a personal belief that America’s success has resulted from
 a) Christianity, 
b) the classical liberalism of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, 
c) the unique American ability to assimilate the best of the world’s cultures and create a singular American culture, 
d) the nationalism and patriotism of American exceptionalism and 
e) the willingness to expend its treasure and give the ultimate sacrifice of American lives to defend the ideals incorporated in these five characteristics and to provide the opportunity for the rest of the world to benefit from them as well.

America’s decline is not an inevitability; it is a choice – we are choosing to violate the characteristics of success (or at least we are not stopping those who are).

Every single one of these five characteristics are under active (and passive) attack. Given that the failure of one set us on a path to destruction, it is not a stretch to imagine that multiple violations of all five will spell our end just as it has the great civilizations of antiquity.

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Biden wants $2 Trillion for infrastructure

Who owns U.S. Infrastructure? Not the federal government. So with a $2 Trillion request from Biden for something it doesn't own, where is the money going? State and local governments and the private sector own 97% of the nation’s nondefense infrastructure, and they fund 94% of it. This is just a "green new deal" tax. In other words, a pay back to unions, oligarchs and party hacks for getting Biden into office.

Dave Ramsey says Millionaires are made, not born.

79% of millionaires in the United States didn't inherit ANY money.

Our team conducted the largest study of millionaires EVER. The top 3 careers of the over 10,000 millionaires we talked to were, 
1. Engineer 
2. Accountant 
3. Teacher. 
They became millionaires through consistent investing, avoiding debt like the plague, and smart spending. No lottery tickets. No inheritances. No six-figure incomes.

You have what it takes to build wealth and leave a financial legacy. Stay the course. You got this!

Thursday, May 27, 2021

A look at Lakeside's weather for the holiday week-end

I read this on Facebook.  Temps have dropped (Thursday evening).

"For those packing for the weekend - here's a quick heads up that the weather starts off  HORRIBLE! Friday will be wet and cold and windy, with steady rain all morning turning to showers in the afternoon. High temps barely above 60 (so plenty of room at the pool.  Winds will be blowing steadily out of the northeast all day, turning quite strong by Friday evening with gusts > 35mph at times. So no dock walks either .

Saturday will still be chilly but drier with some sunshine (although the NWS still says there is a chance of showers until 2 pm, I just don't see that as much of a threat after sunrise at the latest.) Highs in the 60s.

Back to near 70 with sunshine by Sunday and well into the 70s and dry Memorial Day too."

When lie dresses like truth

The Lie said to the Truth, "Let's take a bath together, the well water is very nice. The Truth, still suspicious, tested the water and found out it really was nice. So they got naked and bathed. But suddenly, the Lie leapt out of the water and fled, wearing the clothes of the Truth.

The Truth, furious, climbed out of the well to get her clothes back. But the World, upon seeing the naked Truth, looked away, with anger and contempt. Poor Truth returned to the well and disappeared forever, hiding her shame. Since then, the Lie runs around the world, dressed as the Truth, and society is very happy...

Because the world has no desire to know the naked Truth.

Painting: Truth Coming Out Of The Well, Jean-Léon Gérome, 1896.




Wednesday, May 26, 2021

What is the Palestinian state?


Posted at the Thomas Sowell Foundation:

“A crash course on history of PALESTINIAN STATE:

1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state
2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
3. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
4. Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid Arab-Kurdish Empire, not a Palestinian state.
5. Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
6. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a Palestinian state.
7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a Palestinian state.
8. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sassanids, not a Palestinian state.
9. Before the Sassanid Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean state, not a Palestinian state.
12. Before the Hasmonean state, there was the Seleucid, not a Palestinian state.
13. Before the Seleucid empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not a Palestinian state.
15. Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state.
17. Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
20. Actually, in this piece of land there has been everything, EXCEPT A PALESTINIAN STATE.”

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

A day of small pleasures, May 25

Beautiful day in Lakeside with a walk through the neighborhoods to observe the new builds and remodeling, and lunch on the deck.  The internet down for 5 hours, just as were admiring all the work our daughter had done to add new features to our Roku and get everything up and running. We are planning to try out the Slack House historic cafe this evening. It's named for an old residence/former boarding house that was removed in the early 60s when the mentality was tear it down and build something new. Now it's in the building that replaced it. Each generation and director has fresh ideas--some work, and some don't. I visited the new archives site today, in the location of the old "Shadetree" a store of many evolving tastes.  I will miss the former archivist, Dakota. I also visited the Memorial Garden on my morning walk where Phil's ashes were placed last August. I can find the spot because of the dwarf iris which bloom early, are hardy and carefree, and the young oak shading the spot. It was lovely and quiet at sunrise.

Saturday, May 22, 2021

First day back at the lake May 22, 2021

We ran into the usual detour on Rt. 4—but every year in a different place, so we get to see something new. This time we were routed through Bellvue on 269. Many people always take that route, but it is 6-7 miles longer. More scenic, however.

Sitting on the porch last evening we saw and talked to as many people in one evening as we would in a week or two in Columbus. Scott and Carol our neighbors next door, Ross our neighbor across the street, both Bob and Martha neighbors half a block south of us, Tom and Lori almost neighbors 2 blocks, Jon and Katie neighbors one block north, and we saw Don, a former neighbor in Columbus who has moved further to the east of us here, out jogging while we ate dinner on the deck. Today I ran into Steve, our neighbor who is a retired antique dealer and getting ready for next week’s sale. Stopped at the Patio Restaurant and bought 4 donuts and saw the owner’s son. Walked to the little grocery store and saw Ray, and got a free cupcake from his granddaughter’s graduation party last night. Yes, there are many people around this week-end.

One block to the east of us is Lynn Avenue, and we found out 3 male neighbors died over the winter. One was going through an incredible remodeling—turning a very modest cottage into something quite spectacular—even moved the house briefly and put in a basement. Our properties almost touch although we’ve only met them at one party when Scott and Carol were celebrating their 50th. So now his widow is left to see this through without him, and he was only 55. Last year it was our street. Our son Phil died, Jan’s niece whom I remember from when she visited as a child, Jon and Katie’s daughter in law, Claude’s wife Brenda across the street, and another neighbor we always spoke to as she walked her dog, but didn't know her name.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Patent protection

Is Biden discouraging patent protection? "The announcement that the United States might waive intellectual property rights could stymie the discovery and deployment of new vaccines; returning us to the same vulnerable position we occupied in the closing days of 2019. All the wiser and yet, somehow, not. While I remain firmly in the camp that the patent system needs to be updated and reformed, we must appreciate that patents do indeed provide an incentive for innovation."

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Catalog browsing--Uline

I just love sitting down with the 800+ page Uline catalog. Oh sure, you can read it on line, but it brings back the memories of the old Sears and Roebuck, or the Montgomery Ward catalogs. Mom would give us the old one for craft and paper doll projects when the new one arrived. (Yes, and in the 40s some still used them for t.p.) The real name of the family is Uihlein, but it's been simplified for customers. Everything from pegboards to zippered partitions, from key holders to trash cans, from stretch wrap to label guns, from respirators to wall clocks. And the packages and tape to ship them. They've got boxes to ship your art, guitar, unicycle, dishes, wardrobe, wine, and drum set.

I've written about this catalog before. Collecting My Thoughts: Enjoying the Uline Catalog

Collecting My Thoughts: Thank you, Uihlein family

Liz, the president, writes interesting tidbits. In 2019 she compared Texas and California where they have companies, and California didn't look too good because of taxes, regulations, cost of living and gas prices. This year it's China, Covid and U.S. policy. She is very pro-American, and admits it's hard to compete with China, although about 20% of their products come from China. She says publicly held companies are too concerned about their stock share price and don't invest enough in new equipment and up date their plants. She liked Trump's support of American companies, and his "America First" philosophy. She wants a clearly defined policy because Democrats are trying to undo the lower taxes, increase in tariffs, Trump's new trade deals, and stopping the endless wars which were bad for security and the economy.

She writes, "America sorely needs a coherent, largely united trade policy. If we don't get this done, this century belongs to the Chinese."

You go girl--you make more sense than most of Congress.

Joe Biden mixes family with fuel

In 2004 and 2008 Joe Biden told conflicting stories about coal mining in his family, and now he's done it again at the Ford Electric Vehicle Center in May 2021. Actually, I don't care what his grandfather did, just like I don't care if your great great grandparents who were freed black slaves, owned slaves themselves as many did. I do know the media would have taken Trump to the woodshed for a whipping, if he'd flip flopped on important union and fossil fuel issues.


Supporting the Democrats on abortion

On Resurrection of the Dead day you'll be asked about your support of the party that has killed millions of helpless babies, because Jesus IS coming back. He said there are sheep and there are goats. He has said some go to Hell and some go to Heaven. By their own actions he'll know who has done what. Matt 25 makes that clear.  You've said you don't approve, yet you support the Democrats and all the media that push abortion for any reason and any stage of life. No one gets elected as a Democrat if they don't support the euphemism "Women's health," or "Women's right to choose." Pelosi and Biden defy their church's teaching, yet you support them. And the Bishops who look away will have to answer to Jesus some day.

According to CDC in a decade 143 babies were born alive during an abortion out of about 9 million. Is 143 struggling, squirming live babies left to die OK with you? If you include the previous decade the number is 362. What number is good for you? And those 8 or 9 month aborted developed babies, not born alive whose brains were sucked out or limbs sliced off in utero so they wouldn't be "born alive" and therefore legal. Their body parts are sold. Do you go along with Democrats on that? If you read through the Gospels, Jesus can ask some really tough questions. I don't think "I don't vote" or "I didn't approve" is going to get you past that judge.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Is the First Amendment bonkers?

I think the conservative news media are being too hard on Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, for his bonkers comment about the First Amendment. We've got Big Tech shutting down our First Amendment Rights claiming they can do it because they aren't "government." They behave like a public utility then claim their first amendment rights to shut down a sitting president and his 75,000,000 supporters. You've got to admit, that sounds bonkers to all of us who aren't Democrats. We've got governors declaring our churches as non-essential, while allowing tattoo parlors to stay open. That's bonkers. Our freedom of assembly went right out the window at the say so of minor government civil service employees in departments of health. That's bonkers, too, so let's give Harry a break if he finds our First Amendment has no teeth, no consistency and is being tossed about as a political football.

Monday, May 17, 2021

The Unsilenced Majority

The Unsilenced Majority:

“We strongly believe that corporate censorship, thought-policing and politically motivated blacklists and boycotts are having a corrosive effect on our country and will ultimately lead to a less free world. We also believe that freedom of speech and diversity of thought are fundamental bedrocks of a free society and should always be protected and celebrated,” Mike Davis said. “The Unsilenced Majority speaks for an emboldened majority of Americans who recognize the imminent threat that cancel culture poses to our nation. The rising intolerance of cancel culture is breeding fear and paranoia in our politics, across the corporate world, at our children’s schools and even in our neighborhoods. It must be stopped. The Unsilenced Majority aims to harness grassroots opposition to fight back against cancel culture before it’s too late.”

Let's see where this goes. Will conservatives fight back? Recently talked to a teacher in one of Columbus' wealthiest suburbs, and seems the indoctrination about inclusiveness and diversity is mind deadening. It would be my guess that this suburb may have tops 2% POC, and they are wealthy immigrants--doctors, lawyers, academics--from Africa and Asia.

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Good ol' Uncle Joe is a KILLER!

He killed the Abraham Accord, Trump's finest accomplishment, by restoring Obama's 2016 "humanitarian" Billion+ dollars to Iran and the back room deals which fund Hamas and kickstarting the nuclear deal which Trump scrapped.

He killed innocent Palestinian civilians because Hamas launches attacks on Israel from heavily populated areas, even schools and hospitals. They hate Israel more than they love Palestinian children, and so does our squad in Congress.

He killed the recovering job market by flooding American workers with benefits and disincentives to return to work.

He killed the Keystone Pipeline, emboldening Russian hackers to shut down the Capitol Pipeline for ransom crippling the east coast with no way to get fuel there quickly.

He is killing the value of retired people's savings and retirement funds with runaway inflation caused by his foolish leftist policies and his party's hatred of Trump.

And it would seem he's killing the ratings of CNN and MSNBC because who wants to watch them slobber over him while ignoring the race riots caused by BLM and its woke sponsors?

Non-defense spending

 Six charts illustrating what is happening to non-defense spending/safety net. 6 Charts Highlight Trends Driven by Growing Nondefense Spending (dailysignal.com)

The growth of the federal budget and the debt has been driven by an unsustainable growth in nondefense spending.

These charts illustrate how we got here and the long-term consequences to our nation’s financial health.

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Christian doctors discuss Covid19

The "Doctor doctor" program on EWTN broadcast May 15 a discussion of May 11 (before the latest CDC announcement) with 2 doctors, one in Portland, OR and one in Fargo, North Dakota.

https://www.ewtn.com/radio/shows/doctor-doctor I don't have the exact broadcast number, but it's the latest if you look at the listing. Learned that 84% of those most vulnerable (over 65) have at least one of the shots, and 71% are fully vaccinated. They answer most of your questions, although for some there's no answer right now. This is a Christian, and medical perspective, not political. Interesting discussion also of "long Covid," and the value of vaccinating teens.

I went to the gym and then the local grocery store this morning, and neither is requiring masks. 

Friday, May 14, 2021

No mean tweets from Joe



No mean tweets from Biden. However, we do have soaring inflation, our enemies laughing at his failures, the whole nation, including Democrats having absolutely no idea who is in charge. But you’ve got to hand it to Democrats they are more clever by 10 and more evil by 5 than the Republicans who are acting like the Katzenjammer Kids (the comic strip, not the band). We all watched and sort of snickered during the primary campaign when Bernie and Mayor Pete and those fake ethnic ladies were all swinging so left it took our breath away, yet good old fumble bumble Joe seemed reasonable and moderate compared to them. Now they’ve unwrapped their plan and he’s “Uncle Joe” straight up bait and switch socialist heading for Communism or National Socialism with the help of his cronies in Big Tech. He’s making Bernie look like Ronald Reagan. What he has said and done in his 45 years has been so racist and misogynist, he can make Trump look like a 10 year old, yet the media just kicks it under the rug with, “Oh well, that’s just Joe”.

And Democrats got 9% for Covid out of the Covid bill, and 6% for infrastructure out of the infrastructure bill (because child care is infrastructure), and people making twice as much money to stay home as they’d get if they went to work, while he’s pushing an inflationary “stimulus” when there are 8x more jobs than unemployed looking

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Monday, May 10, 2021

The Left is killing comedy, humor, parody and satire

https://fb.watch/5oXRZ0jYeT/ 

The Left is killing satire. They are indeed a parody, plus they are censoring humor. Snopes (leftist) checks their satire as "false" information and threatens the Bee as "fake" news. Of course, it's fake, it's satire, but the left is using it to control and condemn. Humor can deliver the truth, and for the Left that's scary.

The Leftists are so absurd, like claiming men are actually women, and 2 + 2 = 4 is white supremacy, calling mothers, birthing people, that a satire site can get in trouble with Big Tech. 

My own theory is a bit more sinister--Babylon Bee is run by Christians, and the Left (and increasingly the Democrat party) hates Christians of any color, ethnicity or academic rank. Unfortunately, I know a lot of Christians who haven't caught on.

Biden vs. Biden

In 1968 the Democrats had 3 factions. And today they have 3 factions or blocs, according to Pat Buchanan. And Biden has a foot in all three camps.

"There is the Biden liberal establishment that controls the media, the academy, the Congress, the administration.
 
There is the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren-AOC progressive-socialist wing.
 
And there is, today, a new militant and radical third force. Included in its ranks are Black Lives Matter, antifa and protesters who burn Old Glory, tear down statues, monuments and memorials, assault cops, smash and loot stores and riot at will."

Saturday, May 08, 2021

The strength and power of the Catholic Bishops

The Catholic Bishops apparently don't have the power or desire to stop Uncle Joe from embarrassing the Church or receiving communion--they aren't as powerful as the CEOs of Twitter and Facebook who had no trouble shutting down a sitting U.S. President while spreading lies about him.
 
Out of the $1.9 trillion stimulus (which we don't need) Uncle Joe is sending $467.8 billion off to help kill the unborn. And he is propped up by the party that denies Church teaching on marriage, religious freedom, sexuality and gender ideology. That's a lot more serious than mean tweets, don't you think?

 Even if you're pro-choice, you must see the duplicity of a guy who left his pro-life values behind so he could be Obama's vice president in 2009. Then in 2020 he ran as a moderate with strong Catholic values (or so his campaign ads said on Catholic radio) and is now lurching left of Bernie Sanders who never kept his motives or ideology a secret from the voters. And what an insult to Mary, the mother of God, when he flashed the rosary beads of his deceased son during a virtual visit with Mexico's president. It's embarrassing for our nation--not to have a Catholic president--but to have such a big phony. And the media who raged that President Trump dared to carry a Bible while investigating a fire in a DC church, just shrug at his hypocrisy.

Obesity not race is reflected in Covid deaths

Obesity, not race, is creating the unequal results for recovery from Covid19 and a higher death rate. Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be overweight, their illness and death rates are higher. But you'd have to go into the statistics or read the last paragraph of an article on "health disparities" to find that out. In 2017-2019
  • 6 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic White adults.
  • 15 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among Hispanic adults.
  • 34 states and the District of Columbia had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic Black adults.
80% of Covid victims are overweight or obese, which leads to the other co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And the rate is also high for whites. My state, Ohio has 30-34% obesity rate, according to this CDC map. Very few articles report differences within a racial group and why. No way to make it all about race if the reporter/researcher reported the truth on lifestyle vs. race.

Almost 72% of Americans are overweight or obese according to USAFacts compared to about 14% in the early 1960s. Just a quick observation: we have more government involved in our food system, there are many more weight loss programs, and in the 70s more women began working outside the home causing the restaurant industry to boom and fewer meals at home.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html?

Covid: CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized were overweight or obese (cnbc.com)

https://usafacts.org/articles/obesity-rate-nearly-triples-united-states-over-last-50-years/?




Friday, May 07, 2021

Pregnant people

This is what "science" has become. Woke. Notice that women no longer go into labor, "pregnant people" go into labor. This movement is so anti-woman it's beyond anything or any era of misogyny.
"Researchers integrated information from 45 protein, metabolite, and immune data points to identify a window two to four weeks before a pregnant person will go into labor."
Fortunately, in the actual article, "pregnant women" and "mother" are correctly used. However, woke editors are easing you into the word changes so that if later you start to object you will be called "transphobic."  Stop it now.

The Discovery Shop--donations 2013

The Discovery Shop (cancer fund raising) is just up the street, and I like to shop there and donate there.  In May 2013 I mentioned the things I was taking that day from my so-called "vintage clothes collection."  This week I bought medium blue summer slacks for $1.34 and Volunteers of America, and a pleasant blue (different shade) knit shirt at Discovery for $3. Although neither appear to have been worn, I always wash them.  You just never know . . . 

"I wouldn't say I have a vintage clothing collection, but I have saved a few favorites over the years. Some are leaving the house tomorrow for the Discovery Shop (cancer). A 1963 wool winter coat--sort of the Jackie Kennedy style knock-off, except I bought it at K-Mart. A long, floor length cotton print skirt, 1973, I enjoyed wearing at Lakeside. A black and cream silk dress for my daughter's wedding rehearsal dinner in 1993. A purple formal I wore on our 2001 Alaskan cruise. I still have formals my mom made for me in high school, blazers she made for me for college, the wedding dress she made and some favorites from the 80s and 90s with giant shoulder pads."

The Media's double standard

It's not a tragedy that Biden told an old guy's story about Amtrak. The tragedy is that if Trump had said anything even remotely as false and fabricated, the media would have run with it for weeks. Now they just shrug and say. "Oh well, it's just the charm of good old Joe. No big deal." Joe's story is as believable and as easily checked as the Democrats' Russia, Russia, Russia lie which they used in an attempted coup against a duly elected president.

Thursday, May 06, 2021

Welcome to the Government Attic--where librarians can browse

". . . http://governmentattic.org  provides electronic copies of thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they're all here. Think of browsing this site as rummaging through the Government's Attic -- hence our name."

Image on each document: "The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. The public records published on the site were obtained from government agencies using proper legal channels. Each document is identified as to the source. Any concerns about the contents of the site should be directed to the agency originating the document in question. GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website."

Can't decide if it's like an attic in a haunted house or a trash dump in DC. One document I read was from 1980 reporting on an incident from the Census of 1950 whereby two people from the White House tried to get a census tract when the White House was being remodeled and they needed to move President Truman. Seemed to be based on personal recollections. One neighborhood was rejected because it had too many foreigners living there and the President was moved to Blair House. However, remember this was only 5 years after WWII and the beginning of the Korean War, and this was the president who ordered the A bombs.

Some documents I attempted to look at were hundreds of "blank pages," and others so redacted, they were impossible to read. I browsed scattered issues of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) employee newsletter, FERC Insider, 2016-2018 which had health tips on lowering blood pressure, where to travel on vacation, where the FERC choral group was performing, favorite restaurants in DC, the agency's Weight Watchers program, energy saving tips in winter 2016, computer tips on changing passwords and creating file folders, a security story about intercepting a group that had planned a protest against FERC (see something say something), FERC had a football club and a child care center so there were announcements for that, retirement announcements, and obituaries with all the names redacted. This agency was very intersectional with special interest groups for LGBTQ, Middle Eastern, Asian, Women, African American each promoting special lectures and events. Photography contests which included pet and flowers. And it was voted the best place to work. Who knew?

Because the FOIA request was apparently for specific issues, the last of the Obama years was Nov. 2016, no. 10 and the first of Trump years, June 2017, no.6 and it changed to a better resolution and color instead of B & W. Although the heads and managers changed with the party, the civil service and middle managers stayed.  One woman I recognized in all most all the issues, both administrations.  She usually wore the same outfit for photos.

Today is National Day of Prayer



National Day of Prayer, May 6

I sing as I arise today!
I call on my Creator’s might:
The will of God to be my guide,
The eye of God to be my sight,

The word of God to be my speech,
The hand of God to be my stay,
The shield of God to be my strength,
The path of God to be my way.

Attributed to St. Patrick

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Watching the hawks from the living room window

Sometimes it's tough to watch Mother Nature in action. I just saw the hawk swoop down, and then what appeared to be a mama rabbit take off chasing it. She won't win of course, even if the hawk drops the baby, it will be too late, but she's putting up a massive fight. Yesterday I saw the hawk chasing a heron that was 10x its size--probably protecting her babies or eggs. A mother robin has chased away our nesting doves near the front door, and stolen their nest.

Meanwhile, I'm listening to a Zuby podcast. (British) He's interviewing a woman who's had to go to court to get her job back. And she'll probably lose the case. She used the wrong pronoun and was accused of being an absolutist for using male and female words. She was required to use the terms, "men who were assigned male at birth," torturing the English language instead of a baby rabbit.
 
Birds seem to be smarter than people these days.



HGTV reruns with exercycle

I'm always finding something new playing around with Roku, a streaming service which allows viewing TV without a cable box. Trying to find something to watch from my exercycle that isn't politics is hard, but the other day I found on "free channels" some reruns of HGTV, and one of our favorites--House Hunters International. Yes, I know it's all scripted and the homes they choose have already been selected, and the others were never actually in the running or even on the market. Still, they are fun to watch and we always learn about the city/country and the life styles.

So there was a family from Kansas who had been living in Amsterdam for her university job for two years who wanted to move to Scotland so he could start a "Scottish Games' business. In the process of their selecting the house in Stirling, I got to review our wonderful trip and gorgeous scenery there in 2017 where we met our friends Robin and Karen, and Gene and Barbara who live in California. 

The second one I watched was an African couple, both doctors, moving from Houston back to Ghana, Africa, so their children could be nearer family members. Their Houston home was nothing short of a mansion so I wondered what they'd find in Accra, Ghana. Not to worry, every home they saw was even more spectacular than the last, plus the city is on the ocean. I think the market scenes were for the tourists, because the 1% lives the same no matter what the country.

Humanized mice using fetal tissue

Some Christians want to judge the salvation and eternity of other Christians. Not me. But I will say, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are really bad Catholics.
 
When President Bush placed a limit on fetal cell research, the research using adult stem cell research boomed, and it looked like we would not need millions of aborted babies to feed the ravenous research labs of industry and academe. But hey, the Democrats got back in power. It's just so lucrative and there's always a supply.

Bioethicists will somehow try to convince you that using aborted baby parts to create "humanized mice," is really OK. I mean, all these hospitals and universities have boards and committees to look at the proposals, yet they can't see further down the road than their mega-million dollar grants and the next promotion. It's science, so it must be OK, right?

"Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein comes to mind, though that would be kind. At least Dr. Victor Frankenstein stuck to grafting dead human flesh upon dead human flesh. These 21st-century scientists intermix human with rodent. Perhaps more fitting for these new pioneers would be another novel: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World." . . .
 
“In September, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh published their work on the development of humanized mice and rats with ‘full-thickness human skin.’ ” This so-called “full-thickness human skin” from fetuses was grafted onto rodents “while simultaneously co-engrafting the same fetus’s lymphoid tissues and hematopoietic stem cells from the liver, so that the rodent models were humanized with organs and skin from the same child.” This coveted “full-thickness fetal skin” was taken from fetuses aborted at Magee-Women’s Hospital at 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Human hair was evident on the mice by 12 weeks: “In the scalp grafts, fine human hair can be seen growing long and dark surrounded by the short white hairs of the mouse.”

Aliens or angels?

I haven't paid a lot of attention, but there's been some buzz on the news lately about space aliens/extraterrestrial beings visiting earth--that the government is investigating? A quick search shows a January release, but I've heard something more recent, or maybe reporters and producers are catching up on the TBR pile now that they don't have Trump to kick around and consume their every thought.

"Based on the CIA’s recent release, on January 14, 2021, of nearly 3,000 pages of documents that detail a wealth of fascinating data about UFO behavior and capabilities , it seems they know a lot and have known a lot about this topic for quite some time. These freshly declassified US government UFO info documents (published in their entirety on The Black Vault ) reveal the truth about harrowing and awe-inspiring encounters between reliable witnesses and “unidentified aerial phenomena” of unknown origin that have been occurring since the 1950s."

The Bible is full of references to beings which God created that are higher, wiser, more intelligent and flexible in appearance than human beings. Depending on the interpretation of certain words, there are at least 7 levels higher than us. And they are not chubby little cuties and we don't become angels when we die, because "they aren't us." Just two mentions, then you can search.

Ps 34:7 "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them." 
Good to know!

Heb. 1:14 "Are not all angels spirits in the divine service sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?"

Based on what's going on in the swamp with the CIA and FBI, and the self appointed, unelected rulers in Big Tech, perhaps we're just having more appearances of angels looking out for us than usual.

Tuesday, May 04, 2021

Worshiping at St. Agatha, May 2

This morning I "attended" via YouTube the May 2 service at St. Agatha, in our former neighborhood, but I've never been inside. I saw something really strange to a Lutheran--holy water being sprinkled on the congregation instead of in a font for fingers. Perhaps it's the pandemic, or maybe they always do it that way. The priest and the deacon walked up and down the aisles and sprinkled everyone (aspergillium), making a special stop for the young children, who seemed to love it. Water is everywhere in the Bible, and has many special meanings. I looked it up, and discovered this is a sacramental, not a sacrament. I had guessed it was a reminder of baptism, but apparently it's much more.
Repentance of sin. The ritual washing background of holy water comes into play here, says, Father William, who quotes Psalm 50, which reads in part, “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.” St. John the Baptist underscored this sentiment in calling people of his time to conversion. This is occasionally recalled during the course of the Mass, he adds, when the priest sprinkles the congregation with holy water.
 
Protection from evil. Catholic tradition has long held that holy water is a substantial force for keeping evil at bay. A proponent who wrote specifically about this in 1562 is Saint Teresa of Avila: “From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue.”

Baptism. “In making the Sign of the Cross with the holy water, we are mindful that we are called to renew those baptismal promises of rejecting Satan, all his works, and all his empty promises, and to profess our creedal faith,” writes Father William. “Once again, we repent of sin, so that we can offer our prayers and worship to God with pure and contrite hearts.”

https://occatholic.com/its-the-water/?

 

Book Club selection for 2021-2022

  

Book Club Schedule for 2021-22  
All Book Club meetings will be on first Monday at 2 PM at Bethel Presbyterian unless noted otherwise.

September 13--The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron led by Mary Lou 

October 4--The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore led by Peggy at Peggy's home

November 1--A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier led by Carolyn C.

December 6--Pearl Harbor Christmas by Stanley Weintraub led by Carolyn A. at Carolyn's home

January 3--This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear led by Carolyn A.

February 7--A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd led by Cindy 

March 7--Gilead by Marilynne Robinson led by Marti 

April 4--The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott led by Margie 

May 2--Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky led by Peggy 

Runner-ups include--The Gown by Jennifer Robson,  Good and Angry by David Powlison, 
No Surrender by Chris Edmonds



Sunday, May 02, 2021

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch and today's problems of race

Our sermon today focused on the apostle Philip (feast day May 1) and the Ethiopian eunuch who was an important government official, who was baptized after Philip explained to him the meaning of the Prophet Isaiah's words. Our pastor mentioned that the Lutheran Church of South Sudan which our church supports was no longer in South Sudan, but in refugee camps in Ethiopia, the oldest country to officially be Christian, and home of the largest Lutheran church in the world. That wasn't the topic of the sermon, but my mind went to the trouble makers in the U.S. who would have you believe that color (white) is the problem. That's just to raise money from guilt-ridden, virtue signaling whites and woke corporate CEOs who see an opportunity for a profit. Not so, if you follow the civil wars and unrest in Africa. If race were the problem, then the Irish and English would never have had a war, the Germans and French would have never had a conflict, nor the Ukrainians and Russians and the Japanese and Chinese.

In Sudan, there was a long civil war (about 50 years, 2 million dead) which included black Muslims (backed by Arab Muslims), indigenous peoples and black Christians tribes. After the South Sudan was created in 2011 and that civil war ended, then the politicians in South Sudan (which is 60% Christian) began to fight each other based in tribalism and the churches as peacekeepers were overwhelmed.
https://www.meforum.org/22/sudan-civil-war-and-genocide

I looked through the centuries of history for this area and it's terribly complex involving languages, cultures, tribes and religions, but skin color is the least of their worries. Anyone who believes the BLM and Democrats' lies about race (which is a Marxist ploy) just needs to look at the on going wars and power strubbles in Africa.