Preacher of the Week

John Ed Mathison is our preacher of the week at Lakeside. Before retiring at 70, he was senior minister at Frazer Memorial UMC in Montgomery, AL for 36 years. It grew from 400 to 9,000. Now at 83 he has a busy schedule of training ministers and speaking at conferences. Today he mentioned something I know I'd heard before, but he said they surveyed 800 of their new members to find out how they got to the church. 92% were brought by a friend or neighbor. That's probably the case for most churches. https://johnedmathison.org/ He has a blog and a radio spot called "Got a minute" in which he shares his faith and humor for 58 seconds on secular stations.

How Biden defeats the vaccine

A person we care about is in the hospital with Covid.  He began feeling ill on Sunday and Monday night was having trouble breathing, so his wife called the squad.  He's tested positive for Covid, but until then, they had no idea this was the cause.  He's on oxygen, but not a ventilator as I understand it, although his wife can't see him. so we're not positive.  Yes, he and his wife were vaccinated in February.  However, he lives in  a border state where the Biden administration has been making it very easy to non-Americans to cross the border.  Yes, some may be sent back, but according to some reports 40% are testing positive.  Shame on Biden and his duplicity--telling Americans to get vaccinated while shipping in the virus along with the drugs, crime and prostitution. 

Table for two, posted on FB as Ted Nugent

Hello.
Hi, table for two, please.
Sure, and your name.
Jessie.
Great. And do you and your guest have your vaccination cards?
We do. Can you tell us who our server will be?
Um, looks like Brad will be your server tonight.
Great. Can you show us Brad's vaccination card?
Um...
And also, can you provide me with proof that Brad is not a carrier of HIV, Hepatitis A or B, or any other communicable diseases?
Um...
Also, we would prefer not to be served by someone who is on or uses recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, etc, so if you could provide us with Brad's most recent tox screen, that would be great.
Um... Let me get the manager for you.
That would be great, thanks.

Why do we give?

Six years ago I wrote this thought about giving, alms, charity, and mercy and the long term benefits.

"I read the Columbus Catholic Times, a hand off from a family friend. I'm learning a lot. Just this week I noticed a difference in how Catholics and Protestants use the concept of giving. Catholics suggest "works of mercy" or "works of charity," and Protestants say we will change poverty, schooling, politics, the environment, etc. if we just chip in $10 for the food pantry, or a backpack for Highland school child, or cleaning up a town after a flood or tornado. There's a huge difference. We are to give because Jesus gave first, not because we will end poverty (we won't) or make up for the terrible home of a child (we can't). According to Matt. 25, we will meet Jesus in those acts of kindness and service, so we do them without expecting the reward of change. Meeting Jesus is the reward."

Texas takes stand on sexual abuse of children through surgery

One should be an adult before choosing for no medical reason a double mastectomy or penectomy with castration and a lifetime on toxic hormones. In fact, I can't even show you a video of the procedure without first declaring my age to some faceless guard at YouTube! I think the medical team and parents colluding on this should lose their license to practice medicine and to parent. The trans agenda can't even agree on terms--it's no longer a sex change, it's not even sex reassignment, it's gender affirmation. How's that for lipstick on a pig.

Texas determines sex-change surgery for minors is child abuse - TheBlaze

ABA (American Booksellers Association) which is even more liberal than ALA (American Library Association) has profusely apologized for outraging its members by sending out "Irreversible Damage," by Abigail Shrier, an extremely well researched and sensible book which includes the premise that there is a social contagion effect of young girls rushing into invasive transition surgeries and medical interventions for gender dysphoria that they are likely to regret later. Listen up sensible people--there is no honor, no common sense, no tolerance for the truth and certainly no freedom of thought, speech or religion on the Left. 

Just say NO to idiocy.

After Trans Activists Try To Ban Book, It Becomes A Bestseller (thefederalist.com)

My walking routine--no rain today

No one has ever accused me of being an athlete, but I do walk 2 miles every morning along the lake front and maybe another 2-3 miles during the day. Or maybe it's a stroll. However, this morning on my walk I fell in step with a younger woman, about 65 maybe, and she was really stepping. I changed my pace because we live on the same street and it seemed rude to fall down on a park bench to catch my breath. I barely made it to my front porch before I collapsed.

Ike warned us in 1961

When Democrats like Pelosi or Schumer piously mouth the words, "Our Democracy," it's not because they are patriots who are in awe of American exceptionalism or America the leader of the free world. No. They really mean "Our Oligarchy." They definitely don't mean Conservatives, Republicans or Libertarians. Ike warned us about government leaders like them 60 years ago--and at the time I thought only of the military, not being able to see our future relationship and a McCarthy-like control by leftists in Congress and Big Tech, which is bigger and more powerful than the military was in the 1960s. But his warning about government married to private business holds. Corporate power now pulls the strings of government, intent on "transforming" (destroying) our Republic.  When Big Tech has the power to shut down the President of the United States, The Commander in Chief of the military, then it's more powerful than the President or the military. Interpretation: Commander in Chief Clause | The National Constitution Center

 
"President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had come to understand large organizations that feed on government power and dispense vast private benefits, was not shy in warning about the danger they pose to the republic. His warning about the “military-industrial complex” that he knew so well is often misunderstood as a mere caution against militarism. But Ike was making a broader point: Amalgams of public and private power tend to prioritize their corporate interests over the country’s.

That is why Eisenhower cautioned against the power of government-funded expertise. “The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever-present and is gravely to be regarded,” he said, because “public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.” Government money can accredit a self-regarding elite. Because “a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity,” government experts can end up substituting their power for truth. " (We the People Convention) America is now a Classic Oligarchy - Not a Republic! | We the People Convention | wethepeopleconvention.org

  

  

From The Nation, 

August rain showers

 This morning I started out on my 2 mile walk (sort of a loop, and I'm probably exaggerating).  I stopped at a near-by "little library" and selected a book, "Nutribullet. Life changing recipes."  They lie.  I have one and it didn't change my life.  I went back and dropped it on our front porch rather than walk with it, then headed south to Fourth Street.  I'd gone about 3 blocks (stopping at another little library) when I felt a few sprinkles.  So I turned around and walked about a block to the Idlewylde Bed and Breakfast and sat on the porch for awhile.  When it stopped, I decided to go north along the lake, dawdled a while in the Walnut Street business district, and headed for the dock.  The sky over Kelley's Island was purple.  I thought that meant the rain had gone north over the lake.  No.  I waited at the pavilion for the storm to pass along with 3 fishermen and a dog walker I see every morning.

The Lakeside mission is to enrich the quality of life for all people, to foster traditional Christian values and nurture relationships through opportunities for renewal and growth which we call the four pillars--spiritual, intellectual, cultural and physical--while preserving Lakeside's heritage.  For almost 150 years (established as a campground in 1873) Lakeside has welcomed all ages to its beautiful grounds on the shore of Lake Erie, west of Cleveland and east of Toledo, and two and half hours from our home in Columbus. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Paces. Our little town has more than 900 private cottages which we own (lease) with 99 year leases. The non-profit organization, officially called "Lakeside Association" owns more than 50 structures, four major parks, and a large waterfront area for recreational water sports and fishing. There are cottages for rent, bed and breakfasts for brief stays, two hotels, and a campground for seasonal or overnight stays. Our little town is supported in part by assessing the cottage owners and through gate fees for all who enter from approximately Memorial Day to Labor Day. This way all who enter are able to enjoy our many recreational and educational events at the lakefront, the playgrounds and parks, the pool and wellness center, tennis courts, pickleball and shuffleboard courts, education and religious programs and lectures, entertainment in Hoover Auditorium by name performers and local groups, the Steele Memorial Bandstand in the park, and our wonderful Rhein Center for the Living Arts and the beautiful lakefront pavilion (built in 1909 and rebuilt in 1988) for enjoying sunsets and sunrises, concerts and worship. Most of the businesses in Lakeside are seasonal and include restaurants, a real estate and rental office, dress and gift shops, a wonderful book store, ice cream, coffee and carry out spots, and a beauty shop. There are many active organizations and volunteers that support the community from art teachers, to shuttle drivers, to garden helpers, to ushers and greeters. We also have a museum and archives to keep us grounded in our history.  

Our first summer at Lakeside was 1974 when our children, Phoebe and Phil, were 6 and 5 years old. We rented various cottages near the lake until 1988 when we purchased a small, year round house built in 1944 surrounded by wonderful neighbors from around the country. We went from one week rentals, to two weeks, to partial summer to full season Lakesiders after we retired over a 47 year period. Lakeside and the near-by Marblehead Lighthouse have presented many opportunities for subjects to paint as well as a place to teach at the Rhein Center for the Living Arts. 

El Paso, surviving a tragedy

One of the most unfortunate outcomes of the pandemic and lockdown is the division, even hatred, it has generated in our country, churches, and relationships--politically, spiritually, and physically. I appreciated this blog by Carrie Bucalo, who wrote about how El Paso came together to pray and work to heal after a shooting on August 3, 2019 that killed 23 at a Walmart wreaked havoc on the community. I scrolled through about 20-30 articles (mainly on the 2nd anniversary of the tragedy) and found only the usual ramping up of hate, alarm, anger, pleas for more gun control laws, and blame from NYT, LAT, NPR, CNN, and local news. The "never waste a crisis" usual suspects. I didn't browse FB, Twitter or the other cesspools of hate on the internet. It's as though the media can't be sated; it must have more blood to meet the budget and needs of stockholders.

Jesus has a different way.

CITY OF FAITH
by Carrie Bucalo

"There are many things that can weigh a marriage and a family down, but nothing could have prepared us for the day a gunman showed up at our local Walmart and wreaked havoc on our El Paso community. It was our eldest son's birthday, and a miracle, really, that we weren't in that store buying a present the morning the shootings occurred.

Immediately, my husband and I called everyone we knew, and we received phone calls from worried family members and friends all around the world [she's a military wife]. My heart sank when I saw my children's school on national television. It had become the reunification center for all those misplaced by the tragedy. We watched the story unfold from our living room as our school's principal, counselors, and staff worked behind the scenes, attending to the needs of survivors, all the while preparing for the first day of school, just nine days away.

We prayed for the survivors and the victims at Mass the next day, and we attended a city-led prayer vigil. It was amazing to see a city come together like that, and even more amazing to see the smiling faces of our school's principal and teachers on the first day of school. Against all odds, they were there with open arms and open hearts to welcome everyone back. My family is deeply grateful for all of those mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers who didn't let hate paralyze their faith. Their witness is still moving mountains today." Articles (healedbytruth.com)

Using aborted baby parts in medical research

Can you really trust science and scientists? Recent revelations by the Center for Medical Progress show how scientists used scalps from aborted babies to create “humanized” mice and rats to study the human immune system. BREAKING: University of Pittsburgh ADMITS Hearts Beating While Harvesting Aborted Infants’ Kidneys – The Center for Medical Progress I looked through the NIH forms for the grants to use baby parts for medical research and wondered about the long chain of experts, from language to enumeration to composing the agreements between NIH and University of Pittsburgh (and I'm sure many others). If I read this correctly, there is great care in assuring that the lab animals received "humane" care. Too bad the babies didn't.

Government-Funded Researchers Sought Aborted Minorities for Organ Harvesting (freebeacon.com)

NIH reverses Trump-era restrictions on fetal-tissue research (nature.com)

Scientists are Growing Aborted Baby Hair on Lab Rats - The DENISE SIMON EXPERIENCE (founderscode.com)

Here's what it reads like in medical, sanitized, safe jargon (I've removed the footnote numbers, but those lead you to other studies): "Humanized mouse models with human fetal-derived hematopoietic system and autologous lymphoid tissues are well-established. Additionally, full-thickness human fetal skin readily engrafts onto immunodeficient mice and develops into adult-like skin due to its high regenerative capability. Furthermore, human fetal skin exhibits low levels of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I and II expression, which results in reduced immunogenicity compared to adult skin. Thus, human fetal-derived tissues and cells provide a feasible means to develop a humanized mouse model with autologous human skin and immune system."

For longer term studies, rats are used: "Evidence also suggests that nude rats support engraftment and development of full-thickness neonatal foreskin." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71548-z

Fixing little leaks

I cut and pasted this from Joan Shaw Turrentine's post and she got it from the Facebook page “Christians Laughing.”

 
A man was asked to paint a boat. He brought his paint and brushes and began to paint the boat a bright red, as the owner asked him.

While painting, he noticed a small hole in the hull, and quietly repaired it.

When he finished painting, he received his money and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter and presented him with a nice check, much higher than the payment for painting.

The painter was surprised and said “You've already paid me for painting the boat Sir!”

“But this is not for the paint job. It's for repairing the hole in the boat.”

“Ah! But it was such a small service... certainly it's not worth paying me such a high amount for something so insignificant.”

“My dear friend, you do not understand. Let me tell you what happened:

“When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention the hole.

“When the boat dried, my kids took the boat and went on a fishing trip.

“They did not know that there was a hole. I was not at home at that time.

“When I returned and noticed they had taken the boat, I was desperate because I remembered that the boat had a hole.

“Imagine my relief and joy when I saw them returning from fishing.

“Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole!

“You see, now, what you did? You saved the life of my children! I do not have enough money to pay your 'small' good deed.”

So no matter who, when or how, continue to help, sustain, wipe tears, listen attentively, and carefully repair all the 'leaks' you find. You never know when one is in need of us, or when God holds a pleasant surprise for us to be helpful and important to someone.

Along the way, you may have repaired numerous 'boat holes' for several people without realizing how many lives you've save. 

Make a difference....be the best you can be ...

Have a blessed day

Judging polices on intentions rather than results

We have so many "feel good" policies that drain us dry, and should be a warning, but our leaders never learn, and perhaps the citizen-voters don't either. Virtually every transfer of wealth program in the War on Poverty failed a the macro level, and struggled at the micro. Like Head Start. The government's own studies at year 50 showed almost no advantaged for the thousands invested in each child. But it feels good, hope never dies, and the program will continue to be a bloated, over-sold, under achieving with good intentions so you can get back to your nice life. These programs make politicians wealthy, they get them reelected. These programs provide millions of jobs for the middle class bureaucrats and their staff who run them, from the grant writers, to suppliers and operators, to social workers to the low income who are hired in to staff them.

This article is 22 years old--but not much has changed. https://fee.org/articles/why-the-war-on-poverty-failed/

I remember the Harrington book that launched LBJ's war. I was so excited we could end poverty in my life time. However, the standard for poverty simply went up to accommodate a perpetual lower class. Then we went to "gap" instead of material wealth. Or looked at ZIP codes. Then we judged all by race, color and ethnicity, not actual need. And in all the administrations since LBJ, only the Trump years made an actual, real dent and improved the lives of millions without robbing Peter to pay Paul. And that was just too scary for leaders of both parties--loss of power, sound the alarms!

The War on Poverty: 50 years of failure | The Heritage Foundation

The War on Poverty After 50 Years | The Heritage Foundation

Homelessness in America: An Overview | The Heritage Foundation

"The welfare state is self-perpetuating. By undermining the social norms necessary for self-reliance, welfare creates a need for even greater assistance in the future. President Obama plans (2014) to spend $13 trillion over the next decade on welfare programs that will discourage work, penalize marriage and undermine self-sufficiency."

And scholars will always disagree. The Accomplishments and Lessons of the War on Poverty | Scholars Strategy Network

Where are the workers?

Yet still Joe Biden pretends he needs to "save" Trump's booming economy with inflationary government goosing.

NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg reports: [From the Wall St. Journal]

Small businesses continue to struggle to find workers to fill open positions. Forty-nine percent (seasonally adjusted) of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, up 3 points from June and a record high reading. Unfilled job openings have remained far above the 48-year historical average of 22 percent.

Overall, 61 percent reported hiring or trying to hire in July, down 2 points from June. The issue will be whether the supply of labor will cooperate. Owners’ plans to fill open positions remain at high levels, with a seasonally adjusted net 27 percent planning to create new jobs in the next three months, down 1 point from June’s record high reading.

Operating almost like a law of physics, a labor shortage naturally and reliably motivates employers to increase the incentive for employees and potential employees to show up for work. Mr. Dunkelberg reports:

Seasonally adjusted, a net 38 percent reported raising compensation, down 1 point from June’s record high of 39 percent. A net 27 percent plan to raise compensation in the next three months, up 1 point from June and a 48-year record high reading. There is little an owner can do to attract needed employees other than offer higher compensation."  Where Are the Workers? - WSJ

Wall St. Journal, "Where are the workers?" Aug. 5, 2021

Global Economic Intersection Blog | June 2021 Small Business Optimism: Labor Shortage Remains a Challenge for Small Businesses as Inflation Increases | Talkmarkets

Jobs Report and Jobs Data from the NFIB Small Business Research Center | NFIB

TB vaccine is 100 years old--and it's not 100%; and flu season is coming

 Although we have the BCG vaccine for TB, it isn't 100% and other public health measures are necessary to control the disease. Killing nearly 1.5 million people in 2019, it stood as the leading global cause of death from an infectious pathogen, according to the World Health Organization. Do not expect the Covid vaccine to be perfect or 100%.

 Bile and Potatoes, 1921 | The Scientist Magazine® (the-scientist.com)

Although masks don't provide much protection against Covid19, they really help during flu season. I plan to mask up for that. And the flu will probably be baaaack with a vengeance this fall and winter.
"In the United States alone, influenza viruses cause hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of fatalities each year. During the pandemic, however, a drastic change occurred: there was a precipitous drop in infections with influenza and other respiratory viruses—and in some parts of the world, some of these pathogens are nowhere to be found.

. . . Mask wearing, social distancing, and other restrictions implemented to stave off SARS-CoV-2 are thought to be the primary culprits in the decline in other respiratory pathogens in circulation. As such measures are lifted, though, scientists are expecting the missing viruses to return—and are pondering what will happen when that occurs. " The Pandemic Crushed the Flu--What Happens When It Returns? | The Scientist Magazine® (the-scientist.com)

Who controls the information that is supporting your beliefs and values?

There are many ways to interpret statistics for this lockdown, and this is just one of them--Case Fatality Rate--CFR. It is the political slant of the writer which determines which is selected. I'm a conservative Christian, so CFR supports many of my points. The Case Fatality Rate for the seasonal flu is about .1% to .2%.  That's higher than the CFR for Covid19.  By age, Covid19 looks very bad, unless you realize many or even most, of the people who were/are most at risk (in China it is 20%) are not in the labor force, and not in school. So why were the schools and the economy shut down?⁠

Most of the fatalities had co-morbidities. So why was the health system which managed those diseases for us put in peril? See the other methods at Ourworldindata.org to find the figures that match your level of fear and anxiety, your politics and your list to the left or right so you can be better informed than the Facebook and Google fact checkers and the Washington Post.
⁠
I'm a retired academic librarian (Slavic studies, Latin American studies, agriculture, veterinary medicine over the course of 25 years) and although I've forgotten a lot, I do remember well that to the victor belong the archives. Whoever controls the information controls what you are allowed to know, even in your public library. And keep in mind that public librarians are 223:1, liberal to conservative, higher than the ACLU.   And right now, that is Big Tech. If they can shut down the most powerful man on the globe, the President of the United States, imagine how they can crush us!

Note: Case fatality rate, also called case fatality risk or case fatality ratio, in epidemiology, the proportion of people who die from a specified disease among all individuals diagnosed with the disease over a certain period of time. Case fatality rate typically is used as a measure of disease severity and is often used for prognosis (predicting disease course or outcome), where comparatively high rates are indicative of relatively poor outcomes. It also can be used to evaluate the effect of new treatments, with measures decreasing as treatments improve. Case fatality rates are not constant; they can vary between populations and over time, depending on the interplay between the causative agent of disease, the host, and the environment as well as available treatments and quality of patient care.

Case fatality rate is calculated by dividing the number of deaths from a specified disease over a defined period of time by the number of individuals diagnosed with the disease during that time; the resulting ratio is then multiplied by 100 to yield a percentage. This calculation differs from that used for mortality rate, another measure of death for a given population. Although number of deaths serves as the numerator for both measures, mortality rate is calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the population at risk during a certain time frame. As a true rate, it estimates the risk of dying of a certain disease. Hence, the two measures provide different information. (Britannica)

Who and what is science? Who can you trust?

Most of you who lived through the tobacco cancer linked investigations and pay outs of the 1990s, would react with shock if you were told to trust R. J. Reynolds "science" about lung disease and smoking today. And that's about how unbiased today's scientists are who are taking money from the federal government (NIH) to investigate the novel virus currently causing the lockdowns and mask orders. Even if the NIH funded scientists are not publishing in that field, they will be shut out of research on immune system, or ivermectin or HCQ as a tool in fighting a global pandemic. If they appear as expert witnesses on a cable show or podcast, they risk their careers and funding if their conclusions don't support Big Pharma, CDC and WHO. The host who books them or interviews them, risks being deplatformed or their monetization contract. 

Trust the "science?" No, follow the money.

Exercise in the afternoon? I'm ready for a nap

Afternoon exercise instead of morning? I'm ready for a nap!

"Exercise training elicits superior metabolic effects when performed in the afternoon compared to morning in metabolically compromised humans." https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.14814/phy2.14669?

"Compared to participants who trained in the morning, participants who trained in the afternoon experienced superior beneficial effects of exercise training on insulin-stimulated peripheral glucose disposal, insulin-mediated suppression of adipose tissue lipolysis, fasting plasma glucose levels, exercise performance, and fat mass. In addition, exercise training in the afternoon also tended to elicit superior effects on basal hepatic glucose output."

Well, I'm not metabolically compromised, I hope.

Obesity and discrimination

Someone sent me a link about obesity by Theodore Dalrymple. There was a paywall, so I didn't read it, but wondered--was she telling me something? Bob and I are both 30 pounds heavier than when we met in 1959.

So I did a search, "Dalrymple obesity" and see there are over a decade of articles by him, each just as alarming as the previous. It seems one is no longer "obese" but "has obesity." That's an important language change. It's a disease in the new medical speak, he says (he doesn't seem to agree with that language). Now it's a pandemic larger than the one we're in right now and accounts for a high death rate. And over 2 billion (in 2014) globally have this disease. It used to be a disease of the rich, but now it's a disease of the poor.

 
Dalrymple, a physician, admits he's prejudiced toward personal responsibility. He's balanced enough to point out evidence going a different direction, like a study on antibiotics which is so much more common in the last 50 years, particularly given to children. Something similar has often occurred to me--we consume an alarming amount of medicines, supplements, toxins, and chemicals that produce a stew that probably isn't fit for human consumption--the fluoride in water for tooth decay to zinc oxide for skin protection to antibiotics in the meat. And there must be hundreds of examples. I take 2 prescriptions for my heart and one for my bones, then I toss down non-prescription fish oil for my bursitis (it works), calcium for my bones, and Vit. B complex for my brain health (not sure that's working). Your mileage will vary.

However, whether obesity is a "have" or an "is", overweight people of every ethnic group, sex, age, and race face serious discrimination and bullying everyday. I believe it is far worse than racial discrimination and because it affects both health and careers, existing or new laws and regulations don't stop it. There have been advocates, support groups and ad campaigns, urging the non-obese who are now the minority to just be kind, nice, and non-prejudiced, but so far I don't see it working.

 
So while the jury is out on the cause of 73.6% of Americans being either overweight or obese, it's everyone's responsibility to be kinder and stop the discrimination. No rioting or culture cancelling necessary.

Thoughts on Cuba

Why now, Cuba? First, when Castro took over they were propped up by the USSR. Then when it collapsed they turned to Venezuela which Cuba had infected with Communism. In turn it collapsed and Cuba lost again in the game of dictators. Both countries lost enormously in the exodus of its middle and upper class. When tourism finally came back to Cuba under Obama's circumventing the law, the pandemic soon followed. Supported by relatives in the U.S. for decades with remittances (billions), the Cuban government and its lackeys and apologists in the U.S. media and the Democrat party, the people have said, ENOUGH. Is it too late?

We could learn from Cuba and Venezuela, but will we? We have powerful socialism lovers in Congress and the White House.

https://providencemag.com/video/venezuelas-chavismo-disaster/  

Our media flunkies are bragging about the literacy rate in Cuba. What's to read? More Communist propaganda about how great the Castros were? More lies about the heroic Motherland? And who can trust the data from a Communist country? Other Latin American countries also saw literacy and health care improve in the same decades, and they didn't have to give up their freedoms. Also, if a family tried to provide their children with religious instruction, those children would then not be allowed a higher education and a career. How's that for literacy?

And it's all coming to the USA if you don't pay attention to your local school board, stop the cancel culture workshops in your churches and community organizations, if you don't put the NFL and MLB owners in their place by refusing to play (watch) their games or support their sponsors, if you don't go to the polls in 2022, if you don't insist on honest elections free of "pandemic" special rules for some.

Senator Sanders Is Wrong on Cuban Education and Healthcare | Cato at Liberty Blog

Cuba isn't the only western country with political prisoners. Compare the January 6 prisoners with those arrested for the ongoing assaults on Democrat run cities and federal property. You can't even find a total because our "free press" refuses to investigate. Here's just ONE list for ONE riot in ONE city. Our Columbus still hasn't recovered from the Floyd riots. 

More than two dozen Antifa rioters charged for Portland mayhem (nypost.com)

There will never be a fair investigation as long as Nancy Pelosi is in charge, because she's the one who dropped the ball (deliberately, I believe) when she knew from undercover investigation that people planned to storm the capitol. That said, she's ordered no investigation of who killed Ashli Babbitt, and unless that's included there should be no investigation.

Media bias

Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC is blaming Trump that Biden minority voters aren't getting the vaccine. She's blaming the people who are telling the truth for "misinformation" on cable news (which Democrats dominate). She's the culprit. No one on Fox or Newsmax has told people not to get the vaccine, but plenty on MSNBC and CNN have blamed Trump who pushed to have the vaccines developed for their failed roll out. Trump is living rent free in their heads.

The wealth gap--again

Democrats have whined and moaned about the wealth gap or wealth inequality for as long as I can remember--even back to the 40 years I was a Democrat. That Jeff Bezos and Nancy Pelosi would laugh at my current wealth compared to theirs really doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when Bezos can buy and sell Pelosi and SHE is fearful of that gap between them. She's the one insecure, not me. Together they (with other Democrats and CEOs) pass laws that take my wealth to transfer to people who probably need a social safety net, but she and he won't pay for it.

What really helps the poor are good jobs, not more government handouts. Under Trump, real wealth held by the bottom half of households grew faster — over three times faster — than wealth held by the top half of households in the 2017-2020 period, and almost three times faster than for the top 1 percent. Now Biden is paying people to not return to work, something that will not help them advance and succeed.

Thank goodness for men who can fix things

I'm back in my Columbus home at my desk by the living room window. While we've been gone (at Lakeside), the light bulbs have all been replaced and the windows and screens have been washed by a friend who started a handyman service after he retired from his corporate CEO job (likes to putter). I need sunglasses it's so bright. And at Lakeside, all our 1944 cast iron plumbing is being replaced by plumbers who are strong and thin enough to slide into the crawl space next to the basement to get access.

 Old age is certainly exciting. So many changes.

And I still don't have a smart phone

Four years ago I wrote this. Nothing much has changed.

Not only do I not know how to use a smart phone as many my age do, but I don’t know how to do the simplest, ordinary everyday tasks familiar to my grandmothers (b. 1876 and 1896): harness a carriage horse, kill, gut and pluck a chicken, milk a cow, trim a kerosene wick or bank the stove with corn cobs to heat water for a weekly bath. Nothing I did in my professional life (academic librarian in Slavic Studies, agriculture, veterinary medicine at 2 different universities) lasted even a year or two, and unless they were digitized, my publications have disappeared. Did the student reconstructing road kill for a class project go on to make a difference, or the horse on the treadmill help someone get tenure? It was exceptionally interesting--but did it matter?

I do think education is over rated. At least higher education Did my job make a difference like the men who build, plumb and wire houses that last for over a hundred years? Or was it even as important as the commercial truck drivers who deliver food that someone else has grown, harvested and packaged for my use?

 
I probably spent half my professional life attending meetings, or writing reports, or staring at budgets of cuts that never seem to come together. At annual review time with my boss (he visited each library) I'd scoop everything off my ancient desk and put it in a box. About 6 weeks later I'd look in the box--usually nothing needed attention. Occasionally today I run into a former dean or department chair at Panera's who remembers me, and that's nice, but I do wonder if they have the same thoughts I do.

There is a new normal after the pandemic

I doubt that I'm the only one who is questioning the "new normal" for work, church and education, let alone reliance on virtual medicine. I'm stunned by the happy talk. No one expected a pandemic to disrupt our lives; so why do smart people expect there will be no more world wide disruptions or disasters of a kind we're not prepared for?

Like a volcanic explosion to create another "year without summer" like in the 19th century or a little ice age to last 500 years instead of global warming?

Like China totally in control of the cyber-grid and closing down the financial system, the churches, and their puppets in the White House?

Or a bio-disaster escaping from our own government supported labs?

Or a natural plague of rodents like the mice in Australia?

Or increasing shutdown/lockdown of Christians and our courts upholding that oppression?

Or unusual tropical diseases brought in across our border by illegals from many countries entering through Mexico then scattered around the country by plane and bus to be dropped in unsuspecting communities?

We had a taste earlier of a gasoline supply hack, and a hack of one of the major food suppliers (increasingly controlled by only 4 companies). Those hacks should have shown us how vulnerable we are, how fragile the safety net is. We've already seen Big Tech become more powerful than an elected President while half the country and one party looked the other way. Why do we assume this behemoth can't shut down the entire government, the military and the science complex we're depending on to solve our moral and spiritual problems?

Those who misled us during the pandemic

"The United States suffered through two lethal waves of contagion in the past year and a half. The first was a viral pandemic that killed about one in 500 Americans—typically, a person over 75 suffering from other serious conditions. The second, and far more catastrophic, was a moral panic that swept the nation’s guiding institutions.

Instead of keeping calm and carrying on, the American elite flouted the norms of governance, journalism, academic freedom—and, worst of all, science. They misled the public about the origins of the virus and the true risk that it posed. Ignoring their own carefully prepared plans for a pandemic, they claimed unprecedented powers to impose untested strategies, with terrible collateral damage. As evidence of their mistakes mounted, they stifled debate by vilifying dissenters, censoring criticism, and suppressing scientific research."

https://www.city-journal.org/panic-pandemic

Joanne Reece Launer (1933-2021)

A friend called today and told us of the death of Joanne Reece Launer, a friend since 1967, one of the first we met when we moved to Columbus. We were in a Couples Group with her and her first husband, Jim, at First Community Church, and they lived just a few blocks from us. We knew her daughter as a toddler and remember when her son Tim was born. She was 88.

Joanne Pugh Reece Launer. On Sunday, June 21, 2021, Jo went home to be with the Lord at the age of 88 after struggling with Parkinson's disease for several years. Joanne ("Gumpy" and "JoJo" to her 6 grandchildren) was born on February 17, 1933, in Dayton, OH to Walter and Margaret Pugh. She graduated from Springboro High School, received her elementary education degree from Miami University in 1955, and taught for many years in Kettering and Upper Arlington, OH. On April 11, 1964, she married the first love of her life, James Sabine Reece. They shared 28 wonderful years together and raised two children, Christine (Reece) Mathews and James Timothy Reece. After being widowed for 18 years, she married the second love of her life, Emil Andy Launer on March 13, 2011. They were devoted to one another and enjoyed 10 laughter-filled years. Joanne's life was marked by her love for her family and friends, her passion for education, and by living out her faith in the Lord through her wonderful cooking, hospitality, and service to others. She was an avid Cincinnati Reds and Ohio State football fan all her life, as well as a killer Rummikub player. She was active in church membership and attended several Bible studies. After her retirement, she kept busy traveling with friends, substitute teaching, and leading tours at the Ohio Statehouse. She was an extremely loyal friend and had a sharp wit and a fantastic sense of humor. Joanne was preceded in death by her parents Daniel and Margaret, her brothers Bob and Tom, and her first husband Jim. She is survived by her husband, Andy; sister, Sandy (Larry) Hefflin; children, Christine (Todd) Mathews and Tim (Harriet) Reece; and her grandchildren, Amanda, Trenton, Aaron, Kathryn, Luke, and Rachel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the charity of your choice, in Jo's memory. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Dublin Baptist Church later this summer. Please visit www.schoedinger.com to share a memory or send condolences to Jo's family. Arrangements Entrusted to SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST, 1740 Zollinger Rd., Upper Arlington, OH 43221. Legacy.com

The true cost of food--final 2021 report by Rockefeller Foundation

This report it being touted by various liberal sources charging the "American diet" or "food system" is killing us, the environment, damaging the health of minorities and costing all of us $1.1 trillion annually, much more than the price tag.

 
I've glanced through it (if Washington Post loves it, it must be worth reading, right?) I can't see there's anything different than what I knew when I was Agriculture Economics librarian at OSU in the 1980s. Except the heavy emphasis on equity and underserved communities. That's a giant wet snow ball that gets bigger with every report from the foundations and universities.

 
One thing for sure--as you see more and more stats on the inequities of the pandemic, you can certainly look at diet, obesity, and its outcomes. We were told this from the beginning of Covid that co-morbidities are a serious problem. Obesity is 1.2x more prevalent in Black Americans and diagnosed diabetes are 1.7x higher in Latin Americans than White Americans, and 1.5x higher in
Black Americans than White Americans. So behind the curtain is the "blame whites" for the diets and culture of minorities, even though co-morbidities among whites are nothing to brag on. If we've learned nothing else, we've been told blacks should be arrested, or die, or buy homes at the same percentage as their population.

If you read the bibliography/footnotes/side bars/ tables, you see enough holes to drive a truck of pastries through. This is not to say the "system" isn't wasteful or fattening, but the suggestion is always for big brother to do something--do anything. I've been reading these final reports for 40 years. And Americans just get fatter, waste more food, and eat out even more.

 
And now that Biden is in office, what's another trillion or so? Do you really think the $$ from the $2.2 trillion American Rescue Plan will go to eat more vegetables and fruits? Families with a joint income of less than $150,000 will receive $3,600 per child under the age of 6, and up to $3,000 for children between 6 and 17 years old in 2021.

"Even using this limited scope, human health impacts are the biggest “hidden” cost of the food system, with close to $1.1 trillion per year (est.) in health-related costs to American taxpayers. The majority of these costs—$604 billion—are attributable to health care costs related to diet-related diseases such hypertension, cancer, and diabetes. The additional costs are impacts from health care costs from workplace injuries, food insecurity and pollution, and additional costs attributable to obesity." p. 17

 True-Cost-of-Food-Full-Report-Final.pdf (rockefellerfoundation.org)

You can down load this. Wonderful graphics. Just remember the direction it goes.

Biden working for censorship like Hong Kong and Cuba

Biden is working quickly to control/shutdown freedom of speech. Like Hong Kong and Cuba. Both Communist governments.

"“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook , ” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday, referring to coronavirus misinformation. Meanwhile, the Surgeon General, an officer in the department of Health and Human Services, released a report with a page of suggestions on “what technology platforms can do” to crack down on certain information. The Verge reported that officials at Twitter “met with the surgeon general’s office on Monday to discuss its misinformation policies.” (Wall St. Journal, "Censorship coordination deepens," July 16, 2021)

Democrats--the party of wealth and power

How often during the last year of wokeness have middle- and lower-class Americans listened to multimillionaires of all races and genders lecture them on their various pathologies and oppressions? . . .

 
Do we need another performance-art sermon on America’s innate unfairness from billionaire entertainers such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, or Oprah Winfrey, or from multimillionaire Delta or Coca-Cola CEOs? . . .

 
By 2018, Democratic representatives were in control of all 20 of the wealthiest congressional districts. In the recent presidential primaries and general election, 17 of the 20 wealthiest ZIP codes gave more money to Democratic candidates than to Republicans. . .

 
Class is fluid; race is immutable. So by fixating on race, the left believes that it can divide America into permanent victimizers and victims—at a time when race and class are increasingly disconnecting.

Victor Davis Hanson
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/07/15/democratic-party-wont-admit-its-become-party-of-wealth/?

Let them die says CRT proponent

I haven't heard any parents opposing CRT threatening blacks with death, but that's how the proponents are responding--let them die. Michelle Leete, vp of PTA and NAACP in Fairfax, VA. So all you Democrats believing this is no problem, that it's just academic, listen up. . . It's Marxism.  I'm calling it hate speech.

 https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/16/let-them-die-fairfax-pta-and-naacp-officer-calls-for-the-death-of-who-oppose-crt-to-die/

What is choice--to a Democrat?

Democrats still don’t understand choice. One can have a vaccine (aka the shot which isn’t actually a vaccination), and still advocate for freedom of choice. Democrats only think abortion when they say choice, when that is destroying someone else’s body. A choice to kill. The most vulnerable. The weakest. Those who can’t fight back. Democrats ridiculed Trump’s Warp Speed, called it dangerous, said he’d never meet the deadline, said it was unsafe. Now they fret that many don't trust the vaccine.  Well, duh!  Fauci, who Trump put on TV every night, and who was supposed to be advising him, was actually working behind the scenes covering up his deeds with the Wuhan Lab. The media said calling it the Wuhan Virus was racist, further trying to smear Trump. And as they all now admit sheepishly, it most likely was a leak (or a deliberate plant) from a 3rd rate lab that U.S. taxpayers were funding and with whom Fauci had been working by funding a non-profit through the NIH. So that implicates us all, if we use the systemic racism meme of the woke—we taxpayers helped the Chinese spread a pandemic.

Also, after denying inflation for months, the Biden folks are finally admitting it, but still going ahead with the 3+ trillion demands to spread it. I saw a very ordinary steak at the grocery today for close to $20/pound. Used car prices are up 85%. We can’t trust Biden and cronies on anything—not health, not inflation, not Cuba, not withdrawal and leaving our allies behind in Afghanistan, not securing the border, not stopping the drug traffic, not protecting our freedom of speech and assembly, and definitely not with our money no matter what they say it’s for—Covid, infrastructure, families, etc. And Blacks particularly should not trust the most racist president ever (based on his speeches and voting record of the past)—he thinks they are too dumb to get an ID!

Recommendations for alternative listening

My friend Julie recommends some alternative radio sources if you're missing Rush.

"I started following people on the back channels or Rumble like x22, patriot streetfighter, AWK [And We Know],  Mel K, RedPill78, Santa Surfing, Thrivetime Show. Also listen to folks on Youtube like Dutch Sheets, Elijah Streams, Monkey Werx. Much more interesting and they can talk about everything that is really going on in the world. Also listen to Dr. Dave Janda on Sunday afternoons on WAAM radio out of Ann Arbor. He has a great show with great guests. I was a loyal GB and Rush listener for many, many years but Glenn isn't as interesting any more compared to all the other stuff I'm trying to watch on the internet. Since the Cabal owns all the radio syndicates, I think their people have their hands tied about certain topics. I have heard Buck and Clay [Rush replacement in that time slot in Central Ohio] a few times when I'm in the car. They're not bad but they could never replace Rush. I loved Rush mostly for his humor and nicknames. I will never forget Rush saying, "Struck Stroke Smirk." Your eyes will be opened wide once you start following some of the online/rumble/bitchute/brighteon. Let's see if FB blocks this post because of some of the names mentioned."

My friend Terri suggests the following.  "Other good alternatives... The Right Side with Doug Billings (He just went through all of the patents filed since 2004 and the published plans for lockdowns, media involvement/hype re vlrus, testing and vaccin3 - yes since 2004), The Professor’s Record, Stew Peters of Red Voice Media, Liz Wheeler, Man in America (based in Columbus OH)... a lot of Patriots working hard to get the truth out there since MSM is covering it up!"

And of course, I always recommend Zuby's podcasts , a rapper and athlete, with various people in the know and in the news. Conservative Christian.  He's the son of Nigerians, a British citizen, with an American accent. 

Which Black Lives Matter

 

One man died in May 2020 due to poor police training, not racial animostiy, in a Democrat run city. Thousands rioted and hundreds, mostly young black men, died (most media sources stopped giving totals after June 2020). But primarily in Democrat control cities like Columbus, Ohio, where police were told to stand down. (Mayor denied it, but we are friends with a black police officer.) Do Black lives really matter, and are you being told the truth about police? When interviewer Scott Pelley (CBS) asked Minnesota AG Keith Ellison whether the murder was a hate crime, the prosecutor replied: "I wouldn't call it that because hate crimes are crimes where there's an explicit motive and of bias. We don't have any evidence that Derek Chauvin factored in George Floyd's race." 

 I wrote this 5 years ago—Obama was president--and it’s still true.

Black lives matter began on social media, was picked up and distributed by mainstream, all about the false narrative that police kill blacks out of proportion to the population. But crime isn't committed that way. The victimization rate for Blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for Whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for Blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost eight times higher than the rate for Whites (4.5 per 100,000). (Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 NCJ 236018) From 2003-2009 among reported arrest-related deaths, 42% of persons were white, 32% were black, and 20% were Hispanic. And crime rates for blacks is 8x that of whites. (Bureau of Justice. Arrest related deaths, 2003-2009. NCJ 235385) So Whites are being killed at a higher rate than Blacks. We don’t see it on TV cable news.

Twitter thread on why Trump supporters are suspicious of 2020 vote count

This is copied from This is By Far, Best, Most Thoughtful Explanation For Why So Many Americans Believe 2020 Was a “Sham” (redvoicemedia.com) I'm not a Twitter user, but assume numbers with an x refer to a twitter post (which limits size, but it can go on, and on).  This one had 34 paragraphs. It lays out all the failures of the Democrats, our laws, the media (especially), the results of the Covid lockdown, the governors, etc. which combined have created a lot of suspicion. (Update:  Tucker identified writer as Darryl Cooper. Tucker Carlson Why So Many People Believe The Election Was Rigged (July 9, 2021) (rumble.com)

"I think I’ve had discussions w/enough Boomer-tier Trump supporters who believe the 2020 election was fraudulent to extract a general theory about their perspective. It is also the perspective of most of the people at the Capitol on 1/6, and probably even Trump himself. 1/x

Most believe some or all of the theories involving midnight ballots, voting machines, etc, but what you find when you talk to them is that, while they’ll defend those positions w/info they got from Hannity or Breitbart or whatever, they’re not particularly attached to them. 2/x

Here are the facts – actual, confirmed facts – that shape their perspective: 1) The FBI/etc spied on the 2016 Trump campaign using evidence manufactured by the Clinton campaign. We now know that all involved knew it was fake from Day 1 (see: Brennan’s July 2016 memo, etc). 3/x

These are Tea Party people. The types who give their kids a pocket Constitution for their birthday and have Founding Fathers memes in their bios. The intel community spying on a presidential campaign using fake evidence (incl forged documents) is a big deal to them. 4/x

Everyone involved lied about their involvement as long as they could. We only learned the DNC paid for the manufactured evidence because of a court order. Comey denied on TV knowing the DNC paid for it, when we have emails from a year earlier proving that he knew. 5/x

This was true with everyone, from CIA Dir Brennan & Adam Schiff – who were on TV saying they’d seen clear evidence of collusion w/Russia, while admitting under oath behind closed doors that they hadn’t – all the way down the line. In the end we learned that it was ALL fake. 6/x

At first, many Trump ppl were worried there must be some collusion, because every media & intel agency wouldn’t make it up out of nothing. When it was clear that they had made it up, people expected a reckoning, and shed many illusions about their gov’t when it didn’t happen. 7/x

We know as fact: a) The Steele dossier was the sole evidence used to justify spying on the Trump campaign, b) The FBI knew the Steele dossier was a DNC op, c) Steele’s source told the FBI the info was unserious, d) they did not inform the court of any of this and kept spying. 8/x

Trump supporters know the collusion case front and back. They went from worrying the collusion must be real, to suspecting it might be fake, to realizing it was a scam, then watched as every institution – agencies, the press, Congress, academia – gaslit them for another year. 9/x

Worse, collusion was used to scare people away from working in the administration. They knew their entire lives would be investigated. Many quit because they were being bankrupted by legal fees. The DoJ, press, & gov’t destroyed lives and actively subverted an elected admin. 10/x

This is where people whose political identity was largely defined by a naive belief in what they learned in Civics class began to see the outline of a Regime that crossed all institutional boundaries. Because it had stepped out of the shadows to unite against an interloper. 11/x

GOP propaganda still has many of them thinking in terms of partisan binaries, but A LOT of Trump supporters see that the Regime is not partisan. They all know that the same institutions would have taken opposite sides if it was a Tulsi Gabbard vs Jeb Bush election. 12/x

It’s hard to describe to people on the left (who are used to thinking of gov’t as a conspiracy… Watergate, COINTELPRO, WMD, etc) how shocking & disillusioning this was for people who encourage their sons to enlist in the Army, and hate ppl who don’t stand for the Anthem. 13/x

They could have managed the shock if it only involved the government. But the behavior of the corporate press is really what radicalized them. They hate journalists more than they hate any politician or gov’t official, because they feel most betrayed by them. 14/x

The idea that the press is driven by ratings/sensationalism became untenable. If that were true, they’d be all over the Epstein story. The corporate press is the propaganda arm of the Regime they now see in outline. Nothing anyone says will ever make them unsee that, period. 15/x

This is profoundly disorienting. Many of them don’t know for certain whether ballots were faked in November 2020, but they know for absolute certain that the press, the FBI, etc would lie to them if there was. They have every reason to believe that, and it’s probably true. 16/x

They watched the press behave like animals for four years. Tens of millions of people will always see Kavanaugh as a gang rapist, based on nothing, because of CNN. And CNN seems proud of that. They led a lynch mob against a high school kid. They cheered on a summer of riots. 17/x

They always claimed the media had liberal bias, fine, whatever. They still thought the press would admit truth if they were cornered. Now they don’t. It’s a different thing to watch them invent stories whole cloth in order to destroy regular lives and spark mass violence. 18/x

Time Mag told us that during the 2020 riots, there were weekly conference calls involving, among others, leaders of the protests, the local officials who refused to stop them, and media people who framed them for political effect. In Ukraine we call that a color revolution. 19/x

Throughout the summer, Democrat governors took advantage of COVID to change voting procedures. It wasn’t just the mail-ins (they lowered signature matching standards, etc). After the collusion scam, the fake impeachment, Trump ppl expected shenanigans by now. 20/x

Re: “fake impeachment”, we now know that Trump’s request for Ukraine to cooperate w/the DOJ regarding Biden’s $ activities in Ukraine was in support of an active investigation being pursued by the FBI and Ukraine AG at the time, and so a completely legitimate request. 21/x

Then you get the Hunter laptop scandal. Big Tech ran a full-on censorship campaign against a major newspaper to protect a political candidate. Period. Everyone knows it, all of the Tech companies now admit it was a “mistake” – but, ya know, the election’s over, so who cares? 22/x

Goes w/o saying, but: If the NY Times had Don Jr’s laptop, full of pics of him smoking crack and engaging in group sex, lots of lurid family drama, emails describing direct corruption and backed up by the CEO of the company they were using, the NYT wouldn’t have been banned. 23/x

Think back: Stories about Trump being pissed on by Russian prostitutes and blackmailed by Putin were promoted as fact, and the only evidence was a document paid for by his opposition and disavowed by its source. The NY Post was banned for reporting on true information. 24/x

The reaction of Trump ppl to all this was not, “no fair!” That’s how they felt about Romney’s “binders of women” in 2012. This is different. Now they see, correctly, that every institution is captured by ppl who will use any means to exclude them from the political process. 25/x

And yet they showed up in record numbers to vote. He got 13m more votes than in 2016, 10m more than Clinton got! As election night dragged on, they allowed themselves some hope. But when the four critical swing states (and only those states) went dark at midnight, they knew. 26/x

Over the ensuing weeks, they got shuffled around by grifters and media scam artists selling them conspiracy theories. They latched onto one, then another increasingly absurd theory as they tried to put a concrete name on something very real. 27/x

Media & Tech did everything to make things worse. Everything about the election was strange – the changes to procedure, unprecedented mail-in voting, the delays, etc – but rather than admit that and make everything transparent, they banned discussion of it (even in DMs!). 28/x

Everyone knows that, just as Don Jr’s laptop would’ve been the story of the century, if everything about the election dispute was the same, except the parties were reversed, suspicions about the outcome would’ve been Taken Very Seriously. See 2016 for proof. 29/x

Even the courts’ refusal of the case gets nowhere w/them, because of how the opposition embraced mass political violence. They’ll say, w/good reason: What judge will stick his neck out for Trump knowing he’ll be destroyed in the media as a violent mob burns down his house? 30/x

It’s a fact, according to Time Magazine, that mass riots were planned in cities across the country if Trump won. Sure, they were “protests”, but they were planned by the same people as during the summer, and everyone knows what it would have meant. Judges have families, too. 31/x

Forget the ballot conspiracies. It’s a fact that governors used COVID to unconstitutionally alter election procedures (the Constitution states that only legislatures can do so) to help Biden to make up for a massive enthusiasm gap by gaming the mail-in ballot system. 32/x

They knew it was unconstitutional, it’s right there in plain English. But they knew the cases wouldn’t see court until after the election. And what judge will toss millions of ballots because a governor broke the rules? The threat of mass riots wasn’t implied, it was direct. 33/x

a) The entrenched bureaucracy & security state subverted Trump from Day 1,

b) The press is part of the operation, 

c) Election rules were changed, 

d) Big Tech censors opposition, 

e) Political violence is legitimized & encouraged,

f) Trump is banned from social media. 34/x

They were led down some rabbit holes, but they are absolutely right that their gov’t is monopolized by a Regime that believes they are beneath representation, and will observe no limits to keep them getting it. Trump fans should be happy he lost; it might’ve kept him alive. /end

A good prayer for these times

A Lakeside friend sends several e-mails a day--sometimes jokes, sometimes political comments, and then one like this. This is really good. I’ve been grumbling again about some of the failings of our church (as I see it), but perhaps the Lord is making biscuits.

A pastor attended a men's breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area of the country.

The group had asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast:

"Lord, I hate buttermilk," the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going.

The farmer loudly proclaimed, "Lord, I hate lard." Now the pastor was growing concerned.

Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw white flour."

The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn't the only one to feel uncomfortable.

Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits.

So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen."

Is Washington Post waking up to the truth about Covid relief

“Of the tens of billions of dollars allotted by Congress for emergency aid, only $1.5 billion had been spent by the end of May.” July 7, 2021 Washington Post

Whew.  Are they really catching on to the crooks in this business?

Let's recap how Kelly (a nurse) feels about the vaccine

"Let’s recap:

I am not anti vaccine.

I am pro choice vaccine.

If you have COVID T-Cell antibodies, you have protection almost to the same degree as one who is vaccinated, and the CDC never encouraged people to be tested before getting the vaccine. Think about why that is .

Children are low risk and do not need the vaccine ( I don’t care what Fauci says) unless they have a significant pre-existing condition.

The vaccine isn’t a cure . You can still contract COVID but most likely will have a mild case but THIS IS SPECULATIVE.

The government and Health experts made many errors and mistakes with recommendations so therefore, we have every right to question their authority.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for a government official to go door to door other than to track YOUR PERSONAL DECISION.

The vaccine is widely accessible now . If you want it you can get it .

Our “experts” politicized this virus . You cannot mix politics with science and that is exactly what they did .

We will continue to hear variant after variant from the media and they will use that to keep the fear alive. People are getting COVID fatigue. They’ve stopped listening a long time ago.

The answer was simple ; protect the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with their lives, but that did not happen did it?"

Thoughts on diversity

A terrible sight watching the implosion of the rest of the Champlain complex in Surfside, Florida. Reporters have focused many times on the diversity of the resident community, some home owners there for 40 years. It's beautiful. But when they report on flyover country, Trump supporters and political alliances in their big money making stories, they don't comment on the beauty of Finns, Swedes, Germans, English, Irish, Poles, Serbians, Italians, Russians, Ukrainians, Afghans, Egyptians, Lebanese, Israelis, Palestinians, Croatians, Spanish, Welsh or the mosaic of nationalities that make up this great country, IF they are pale or Caucasian. The liberal media only care about skin color. Not culture, families, relationships, skills, not even history--when many of these groups were avowed enemies, yet now are united brothers and sisters under God and flag.

 
The purpose of the media is 1) to make money, and 2) divide and conquer with a dangerous political agenda.

The woke military

How are Americans served by the woke take over of the military? Recommending that sailors read books that trash the Constitution and denounce the country as irredeemably racist is not just absurd—it’s downright dangerous. Why recommend books staking out extremist positions when the Navy is newly embarked on an effort to drive political extremism from its ranks?

On Feb. 26, three Republican members of Congress—Jim Banks (Ind.) Doug Lamborn (Colo.) and Vicky Hartzler (Mo.)—wrote the Pentagon expressing specific concerns about the divisive messages espoused by several of the books and the lopsided nature of the reading list. The books in question were Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” and Jason Pierceson’s “Sexual Minorities and Politics.”   The Navy’s Reading Program Undermines America’s Security | The Heritage Foundation

We all know these movements never elevate--they only devolve. Knock down a statue of a local confederate hero in a small town park (who was pardoned by 2 different presidents), and move on to President Lincoln and a Catholic saint. It's like an alcoholic saying one little drink won't hurt and it might steady my nerves. Meanwhile, children work in mines for rare earth minerals to feed our cell phone addictions, and Nike uses slave labor in China whom we're afraid to offend. And we smugly say our generation is smarter and more humane.

Over the years, conservatives have been systematically blocked, removed or silenced in academe, so from the rough draft to the review committee to the publisher to the library, all gates are closed by leftist gatekeepers. In the schools and the libraries you find very little of an alternate viewpoint than what comes out of the universities.  Now the same is happening in the military if one wants a promising career. It seems many decades since 9/11 when patriotism soared instead of 20 years. You'll read the same drivel in every scholarly journal whether medicine, religion, biology, archeology, history, foreign service or music--climate change, racism, CRT, genderism, and America is a terrible, oppressive country. The other day I read about why Go Fund Me efforts were racist.

Biden's dragnet

The FBI has 14,000 hours of video footage of January 6 and are arresting people all over the country in a huge dragnet, but still no word on who murdered Ashli Babbitt. Hundreds of rioters have been sent back to the streets of Democrat cities like Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland to loot and burn again making minority neighborhoods pay for their crimes, and uncounted numbers of drug pushers and sex traffickers are invited to cross the border during this administration which has lost sight of protecting its own citizens.

https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/01/defund-the-fbi/

Marinated Cucumbers, Onions, and Tomatoes--nice summer salad

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe.  Usually, they are too complicated and I don't bother.  But this one looks easy.  I saw it at a cousin-in-law's Facebook page. (We've never met.)

Marinated Cucumbers, Onions, and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

3 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
3 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup oil

How to make it:
Combine ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving

GOP hearings on origin of Covid--lab or market

I hope you watched the GOP's hearings on the origin of Covid--hearings the Democrats refused to participate in, and Dr. Fauci wouldn't appear. The cover up gets more massive all the time. Fauci was sending hush up warnings to his own people, not even Birx was included, then calming, no problem e-mails to the Trump advisors. The man knew from the beginning this was from a lab and that he'd be implicated because the research on gain of function had continued despite Trump stopping it.

 
One scientist testified that everyone who knew him told him not to testify, and one even told him it was because it might help Trump! Another scientist was told his lab would never work again with the Chinese if he testified about the origins of the virus. I doubt this was reported on cable news. That "we may never know" line they've been repeating? They already know.

https://youtu.be/YeW5sI-R1Qg

Democrats are so worried about an outspoken Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is a match for AOC, but they don't seem to worry about the huge crimes (and deaths) perpetrated by non-elected bureaucrats on the American people during this pandemic.

2008 and 2016--one president failed, the other one didn't

When Obama was elected in 2008, people were dancing in the streets--going wild--at last the USA had overcome. 99% of black voters voted for him and white liberals sighed with relief! Yet the country spiraled downward for 8 years under more oppressive government control. No progress for blacks, economy slumbered, war didn't end, took forever to get the wealth transfers out the door.

 
Then Trump was elected in 2016, and the same people wept, got hysterical, screamed, marched in pink hats. Yet he actually met his commitments, best employment record ever for minorities, Europe had to step up and pay its bills, the border although not solved (it's Congress' problem) settled down and criminals were stopped, and religious freedom blossomed. Yet, the crooks in government, both parties, were horrified. They ramped up the intersectionality, and called everything, EVERYTHING, racism. They threw everything at him. Biggest con job ever. If Obama ushered in a glorious black renaissance for 8 years, how did it change overnight when things got better for everyone?

White Fragility is causing massive divisiveness

There are even white men (gasp) who have something to say about the motives behind the planned, organized divisiveness. James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose, "Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender and Identity – And Why This Harms Everybody" (2020). He exposed the bogus scholarship behind the woke movement. It should have laughed some of these authors and experts off the planet, but instead they just publish more because they make so much money. They are tearing apart the workplace, our schools, our universities, our churches, our clubs, and now quiet sleepy, all white gated Lakeside.

Defund the police

Amazing how the Democrats in Congress with their carbon copy media are now trying to say defund police is a Republican idea. I guess NYC will have to paint over those defund police signs in the street?

Will all the videos of AOC and the squad and their co-conspirators disappear? Or maybe the ignorant voters could look at the federal budget and see Washington DC doesn't fund the local police. 

From USAFacts: "State and local governments spent $193 billion on law enforcement and corrections in 2017. Local governments were responsible for $129 billion, or two-thirds of that spending. Law enforcement spending ranks behind education ($684 billion) as the second-largest spending category for local government budgets." 

Infrastructure is also state, local and private developer spending--so when you see Biden charming CNN and MSNBC with his lies about that, just look it up.

About virtue signaling yard signs

A gentle reminder. Lakeside is a respite, or could be, from the aches and ills of the pandemic and 24/7 politics. Our Association rules are quite clear about signs and advertising, rule 1.9, p. 115 of the current LOPA Directory. Not only are political belief signs not permitted except before an election (i.e. not during the season), but they are off-putting to neighbors, guests, and renters no matter how clever by half.

This poem might be a good yard sign. . . on your own property.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

—Emily Dickinson

The so-called insurrection

Pelosi wants to investigate the January 6 incident where a woman was killed by either Capitol police or a private security guard. We've never found out. Because she wasn't black, Pelosi just lauded the police. But the truth is not what she's looking for. She wants to threaten and demean every Trump supporter, even if they were never involved. She doesn't want to look at the killings since the George Floyd death, and the billions of losses to businesses and black communities in Democrat controlled cities. Because to Pelosi, Black Lives Don't Matter. Only power, control and politics matter.

A year ago at Lakeside

A photo of our nation in a lockdown that had never been tested or proven effective, ordered by governors and low level public health officers drunk on power, wearing masks that had never been tested for this virus, while refusing to allow discussion and censoring science by the very companies who were making money hand over fist by keeping us out of libraries, churches, and schools.

 

Things are much better this year; I see only a few masks.  Usually Democrats.

Americans are becoming serfs in their own country.

Bill Gates is the biggest "farmer" in the country--owns millions of acres of farmland rented to other farmers. Controls the seeds.

Four food processing corporations own 80% of our processing ability, the "food chain."
Four financial institutions are buying up all the affordable housing and eventually we'll only be able to rent.

 
Big Tech and Big Pharma silence free speech and research about the global pandemic, putting our lives in danger.

 
A major, left of center podcast (Darkhorse) has been shut down for daring to suggest Ivermectin can be a tool, not a cure, not a vaccine, just like other safe medications.

 
Big Tech colluded with Democrats to shut down the only president of either party, to bring new ideas and a fresh look at the power of our intelligence agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI) that are spying on Americans and particularly conservative organizations and non-profits. He called out our "allies" to pay their fair share, and protected our Bill of Rights and Border. How scary was that for the moles in government!

Democrats in Congress are encouraging crime in black communities through defund police efforts, slogans and street riots,, assisted by a flow of illegals to take their futures, as well as encouraging death to their next generation through abortion.

 
Academe has become completely a left wing think tank for Marxists in the government, and the gatekeeper for who teaches and who gets in, after convincing generations they couldn't succeed without a college degree.

‎Bret Weinstein | DarkHorse Podcast: COVID, Ivermectin, and the Crime of the Century: DarkHorse Podcast with Pierre Kory & Bret Weinstein on Apple Podcasts

https://youtu.be/PQTbpJl2-Ho  The meat mafia, Glenn Beck

Report | Food and Power: Addressing Monopolization in America’s Food System — Open Markets Institute

Monopolies in Meat: Endangering Workers, Farmers, and Consumers - The American Prospect

Corporations are buying houses — robbing families of American Dream (nypost.com)

Why Bill Gates is the largest private farmland owner in the United States - Vox

If You Sell a House These Days, the Buyer Might Be a Pension Fund - WSJ

The definition of food insecurity. It isn't hunger.

USAFacts is doing a feature on "food insecurity." That term was invented because there is not enough actual hunger in the U.S. to measure by population and put in a graph. However, I read far enough to get to the "food desert" definition. Notice: "easy and ample access." 

"What is a food desert? The Department of Agriculture defines them as an area where low-income people do not have easy and ample access to food retailers. This limits people’s access to affordable, nutritious food."

Here's what happens. When a chain store with jobs and fresh fruits and vegetables plans to expand in a poor neighborhood, they are run out of town by organized protests from the Left and tied up for years in the courts battling city codes. It's like when AOC got an Amazon distribution center run out of her district. And what company would ever invest in Portland or Minneapolis after the anti-police, pro-crime riots of the last year?

https://usafacts.org/articles/which-cities-have-the-most-people-living-in-food-deserts/?

https://www.salon.com/2020/06/03/kroger-grocery-closed-protests-food-inequality-desert/?

Looters Leave More Food Deserts In Black Communities | BlackDoctor.org - Where Wellness & Culture Connect

Chicago's George Floyd reaction looting foists 'food deserts' on locals: 'What did we accomplish?' - Washington Times

What Really Happens When a Grocery Store Opens in a ‘Food Desert’? (nyu.edu)  a paragraph summary follows:

"Over the past decade, federal and local governments in the United States have spent hundreds of millions of dollars encouraging grocery stores to open in food deserts. The federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative has leveraged over $1 billion in financing for grocers in under-served areas. . . We studied the grocery purchases of about 10,000 households in those neighborhoods. While it’s true that these households buy less healthy groceries than people in wealthier neighborhoods, they do not start buying healthier groceries after a new supermarket opened. Instead, we find that people shop at the new supermarket, but they buy the same kinds of groceries they had been buying before."

Sit back and enjoy what's great about America--at least 15 years ago

Having grown up in Mumbai, India--Dinesh D'Souza is able to identify aspects of America that are invisible to people who have always lived here. As a "person of color," he is competent to address such questions as what it is like to be a nonwhite person in America, what this country owes its minority citizens, and whether immigrants can expect to be granted full membership in this society. This article is 15 years old. Today's virulent race theory and hate-America first isn't new. Obama wasn't even president when this was written, although he built on it. It was developing in the 1980s and 1990s in its own homeland, the U.S. academic system, where I worked.

https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/whats-great-about-america?

Trump came to Wellington, Ohio. I'd never heard of it.

I was a huge fan of Ted Cruz--still am. Probably the finest speaker in the Senate. I never thought I'd think of Trump as a fluent, articulate speaker--but then the Democrats put Joe Biden in the White House. The leftist whisperer--green new deal, ya'll come and invade our country, steal more from the middle class with inflation and raising taxes, enrich the oligarchs, stop the Christians, and encourage class/race hate. All with that deer in the headlights look, fumbling his index cards because he can't see the teleprompter. Yes, Trump has never sounded so good, so sane, so practical.

https://fb.watch/6o521WFHDb/

Ethics probe stopped by Biden

This week a mumbling, whispering confused Joe Biden referred to the Tuskegee Airmen as the men the federal government experimented on for decades--completely rewriting history. The media just smile. Good old Joe. Well, the government did actually experiment on black men right into the 1970s, and it is still protecting experiments with humans--and Biden is pushing child abuse by shutting down the investigation. This research was stopped by President Trump, but it's baaaaack. The ghouls of the Biden administration have given the “best and brightest” government researchers and agencies "license to use the skin, brains, liver, and eyeballs of aborted children for taxpayer-funded research."

 But Biden doesn't tweet, thank goodness.

Biden To Shut Down Fetal Harvesting Probe After Shocking Revelations About Brutalized Babies (thefederalist.com)

There have been many government commissions and ethics panels. List of former entities found in the Georgetown archives. https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcbe/reports/past_commissions/?  some of which include fetal and stem cell. Good intentions, no results. Looking through them in the index section, I see that most authors are "unknown," and the comments and summaries are gobbledegook of academics and bureaucrats, particularly this 1975 report on Research on the Fetus, Research on the Fetus (georgetown.edu)