Elizabeth Truss, new Prime Minister UK

My friend Bill (from high school) says: "UK voters have to be thrilled! Their newly elected Prime minister, Elizabeth Truss, announced today massive changes for the UK. The UK is now suffering from 14% inflation and high energy cost we can not even understand. She is cutting income taxes as well as adjusting the income tax scheduled levels which will further reduce income taxes on citizens of the UK. In addition she is opening up fracking immediately to address the energy situation the population faces. There are other changes as well to address the problems the UK faces. You will not get any news in the USA on these changes as it is a total embarrassment to the present administration in the USA. Can the UK take over the world leadership ,position that the USA continues to destroy ? As we move into a second class country lead by the current administration we continue on our down ward direction and in many ways based upon our supply situation moving to a third class country. I don't know if the UK can supply enough energy to fill the void from Russia as the USA could have ,but it is very interesting. Prime Minister Truss immediately takes over a positive imagine in the image of Margaret Thatcher as well as being compared to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump in terms of positive change employed in a speedy fashion."

What do you think? Why aren't we in a position to supply energy? That's a trick question. We all know it is Biden.

A taste of fall

Today we enjoyed a taste of fall--about 77 degrees here in Columbus. Our noon meal we ate on the deck--grilled salmon with honey/cinnamon glaze, butternut squash, steamed cabbage, salad of orange sections and onion slices on fresh spinach leaves topped with shredded carrots. Bob got some chocolate chip cookies, but I'd already eaten 2 while baking them this morning. A perfect day. We began eating our main meal at noon about 6 months ago.

Wokeism and abortion in the miliary

It seems Leftists in government aren't worried about wokeism now being demanded for our military to create disrespect and hate for whites is a threat to our safety, but pregnancy of female soldiers is. Rand Corp. study: "The Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court ruling will limit service women’s and DoD civilian women’s access to reproductive health care and affect the health of these critical populations." War isn't pleasant and people are killed, including innocent civilians. However, killing the unborn citizens to protect the readiness of the military? Now that's cold. Can our female soldiers not be continent long enough to complete their enlistment?

And yes, we tax payers paid for this, so how could the results have been any different? "This research was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD), which operates the RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI), a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense intelligence enterprise." They admit at the beginning of the study that they deliberately made the military dependent on female recruits. 4 women with interests in "gender studies" diversity and inclusion and advanced degrees in psychology, sociology and Spanish are the authors.

The Rise of Wokeness in the Military | Imprimis (hillsdale.edu)

Landmark Women's Reproductive Health Survey Shows Need for Improvements in DoD Reproductive Health Care | RAND

Ob-Gyn: No, The Dobbs Decision Does Not Put Women's Lives In Danger (thefederalist.com)

The hypocrisy of the Biden administration

Joe Biden has authorized the "inhumane political" shipment of 1.7 million illegals throughout the country, making all states "border states." Yet the liberals go all "safe space" on us if they get 50 bussed or flown into their million dollar home neighborhoods and ship them off to towns that have better social services. Wow. What hypocrites.

Biden admin to ship migrants from border to US cities (nypost.com)

Biden has been bussing migrants to blue cities since 2021 | The Post Millennial | thepostmillennial.com

Biden dumping illegal migrants around the nation without notice | Washington Examiner

Aunt Leta and Uncle Ben

I can't recall when I signed up for Family Search, the huge Mormon data base of genealogy, but every now and then I get an interesting e-mail alerting me that there's new information in my family tree. Lask week it was the marriage certificate of my Aunt Leta and Uncle Ben. She was my grandmother's sister, and he was my grandfather's cousin. She lived in Illinois and he lived in Tennessee, but for some reason (I never heard a family story about it) they were married in Henerson Kentucky.  In my memory, they were always "old," but I was surprised to see they didn't get married until 1940, Ben was 46 and Leta was 34. Leta's baby sister, Ada, who would have been about 26, was one of the witnesses. They had no children, but Ben had a son Gene from a first marriage who was mentally challenged. Gene died in 1999 having lived many years in a care facility, and by then there was almost no one to look after the final arrangements and burial. Except my dad who was in his 80s. He made the arrangements and went to the cemetery with a few other distant cousins in the cold and snow to pay respects, because that's what families do. I think he got pneumonia. You just never know what old memories will show up in your e-mail.

Eat real food, get more rest, and move more

It's odd for me to enjoy podcasts (auditory processing), but I do. Since I got a smart phone, I use it more for podcasts than phone calls. Here's Bari Weiss (one of my favs) in a conversation with Dr. Casey Means, a Stanford trained physician who left the traditional medical system behind to solve the one problem that she says is going to ruin us all: bad food.

Honestly with Bari Weiss: Eating Ourselves to Death on Apple Podcasts

I've often wondered about the "equity" push in medicine and public health. A large number of health problems are caused by lifestyle--eating, drinking/drugs, exercise (or lack of) and sexual promiscuity. Like Covid. We knew 2.5 years ago obesity was a predictor of serious Covid complications, including death. But pushing pills and vax was the solution. What if "equity" is just one more way to kill off Americans, particularly minorities? (Someone out there hates BIPOC, and it isn't the Trumpsters).

Dr. Means in this podcast talks about all the body parts that go bad from poor nutrition, and particularly obesity. 4 out of 5 black women are obese or overweight. Body positivity can kill you and that's a hot trend. Healthy at any size is a lie. 93% of us have metabolic disfunction according to her even if we aren't obese. By the time you find out you're pre-diabetic, it may have been 10 years in the making. Is this all a part of Big Pharma profits? Which foods are really bad for you, according to Dr. Means? Fake meats (highly processed); seed oils; sugar. She approves of intermittent fasting.

Just bought Halloween Candy today. The first 4 ingredients in those little orange pumpkin candies are sugar, corn syrup, salt and honey. Now I'll have to hide it from me.

The Best and Worst Foods for Your Metabolic System – Dr. Casey Means - Levels (levelshealth.com)

Northern, rich sanctuary cities complain about illegal invasion

"MSNBC’s Chris Hayes called the migrant flights “deeply deeply sick and dehumanizing” as if the 50 individuals were shipped to a concentration camp. CNN actually compared the flights to one of the nation’s most glamorous vacation spots to the Nazi Holocaust. The Washington Post’s Max Boot, who last month called Martha’s Vineyard “the real America,” condemned the move as “beneath contempt” for the Florida governor.

The majority-white, wealthy liberal enclave where median home sales are north of $1.3 million and where 150,000 tourists descend every summer should, however, be well-equipped to absorb 50 new migrants into its community. After all, rich white liberals have spent the better half of the last decade lecturing Americans to bring home “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and welcome unchecked illegal migration."

10 Even More Awesome Places To Send Illegal Immigrants (thefederalist.com)

Kinley Shogren painting

Kinley Shogren (1924-1991) was a "fine Cleveland artist of the mid-20th Century. He became known for his popular watercolor scenes around rural Ohio, and was an authority on Great Lakes shipping and ships. He painted a great number of the freighters and other craft sailing the Great Lakes, including an accurate detailed written description of the boat for each." From an auction site description.

And today I was browsing through art items at the cancer resale store and noticed a Kinley Shogren painting of a boat in a harbor--sort of misty with two other boats barely seen in the fog.  I'd never heard of the artist, but noticed the note on the back that he was from Mansfield, Ohio and the painting was a class study. Usually, I'm not impressed with their art items, but for $10 I thought it was wonderful.  So I bought it. There's some glare on the glass but this is a pretty good likeness.

https://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2019/12/ohio-artist-kinley-shogren.html  Local paper features a show, include the obituary.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/features/local-artists-painting-finds-new-church-home/464098118  A painting of Jesus by Shogren done for a church is placed in another church 40 years later.  His son tells of posing for his father.

https://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/author-lots/3kx4mfel/  47 lots of paintings and prints

His typical style is very tight and realistic, particularly the ships and landscapes.  He was concerned with accuracy.  But I like the fresh and quick sketch look of my "find." Here are others I found at auction sites.

  

Update.  The name on the back of the painting (seems to be original owner) is Neal Layne.  I looked him up and he lived our community, died in 2003, and was an architect.  Bob remembers him!  Services were here in UA but he is buried in Mansfield, where the artist taught and had his studio. 

Napping benefits

I like to post about napping, because I've always been one to nap--my mom did too. This study has a little age on it--9 years, but I was wondering if I would work a few math problems before I napped, I might get better at math. Sleep On It | NIH News in Health

“We’ve learned that sleep before learning helps prepare your brain for initial formation of memories,” says Dr. Matthew Walker, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. “And then, sleep after learning is essential to help save and cement that new information into the architecture of the brain, meaning that you’re less likely to forget it.”

The real costs of an abortion

The Unintended Costs of Abortion (buzzsprout.com)

Why are pregnant mothers dying at much higher rates in the United States compared to other developed countries? Dr. Monqiue Chireau Wubbenhorst, an OB/GYN, has the answers.

EP027: Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst

In this episode of The EDIFY Podcast, Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst tackles the data and debates surrounding maternal mortality rates in the United States. As an OB/GYN, Dr. Wubbenhorst also discusses some of the unintended consequences of abortion and the dangers she sees with the growing advocacy for abortion-by-mail. This podcast is a must-listen as our states start to debate these issues.

Who are the fascists?

"If there are fascists in America these days, they are apt to be found among the tribes of the left. They are Mr. Biden and his people. . .whose opinions have, since Jan. 6, 2021, hardened into absolute faith that any party or political belief system except their own is illegitimate, inhuman, monstrous, and (a nice touch) a threat to democracy. The evolution of their overprivileged emotions – their sentimentality gone fanatic – has led them in 2022 to embrace Mussolini’s formula: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” Or against the party. . . meanwhile their thinkers wonder whether the Constitution and the separation of powers are all they’re cracked up to be." Lance Morrow, WSJ

Even with the border wide open for anyone to walk across, we still hear H. Clinton and Biden Spox solemnly mouthing, "threat to democracy" when frowning about Trump supporters. Yet we are in the midst of the most totalitarian government in post WWII in the USA.

The Democrats are the election deniers and have been since 2000

The Democrats have been the worst election deniers. Why is that not an insurrection via the media and fake impeachment procedures? Who did Trump put in jail in his 4 years? They made up the Russia story and ran with it. Gaslighting. Lies.

https://youtu.be/XX2Ejqjz6TA

An immigrant who is a MAGA Republican has a message for Joe Biden

Message from an immigrant for Joe Biden.

https://youtu.be/lP5gOqkUF_A He wants someone to get this to Joe Biden.

Important exercises for older adults

While any movement is always better than none, there are certain foundational exercises that need to be performed on more than designated workout days, says Ann Phelps, D.P.T., a physical therapist at Athletico Physical Therapy in Chicago.

Why? Because that’s how you’ll get the results you want, from improving strength and mobility to building better balance to staying independent longer.

Below, Phelps shares the four most important exercises to add to your daily routine.

4 Exercises Older Adults Should Do Every Day (silversneakers.com)

Reminders of Lakeside

Yesterday I bought some long stem sunflowers at Kroger, but when I looked in our cabinets, I didn't like the choices of vases. Instead I cut the stems and selected a small blue bowl made by our Lakeside friend, Ed Day, who died in 2020. I think Ed and Happy had a sale when they moved from Dayton to Lakeside after retirement. That's probably how I happened to have it. It's inscribed on the bottom with his name and date. Then I added some lovely hand painted Blue Ridge China (Mountain Ivy pattern) from the Southern Potteries company (1916-1957) Erwin, TN. I bought these from the Lakeside Archives in 2020 when they had a little store (for just one season) of donated items where the Archives is now located on Walnut St.

  

  

Biden calls out GOP MAGA as fascist

It's nothing new to point out how the Democrats accuse the Republicans of doing what they themselves are doing. Like smearing all Trump voters as fascists because they question the tricks and travesties of the 2020 election, when Hillary Clinton, Stacy Abrams, Al Gore, etc. have all done it earlier, longer and louder. But they have "science" to back them up. Well, social science. There was a pseudo-scientific study done in the 1950s , "The Authoritarian Personality" by Theodor Adorno and others. It was massaged a bit for American academe and was popular in the 1980s with all sorts of levels of personality traits to explain the Germans of WWII and the right wing Americans. And of course, they could then pin it on anyone not buying into the Democrats' left party line from pronouns to polar bears. It's now used to explain any form of patriotism, flag display, devotion to western family structure including traditional marriage, and common civil qualities like merit, hard work and duty. It fit right into the whole BLM fight created by 3 over-educated Marxist lesbians who needed a scam to make money. They may hate capitalism, but they LUV money.

Just 2 of the qualities on the scale of fascism show how silly it is, since they most perfectly describe the horrors of today's Leftist in government and academe--concern that the world is going to end (anyone heard of ramping up fear of climate change?) and obsession with sex (whoa! 50+ genders and boys can be girls by just imagining it and famous universities with medical departments to remove healthy breasts and implant penises in little confused girls?) There's more, but you get my drift. Crying fascist while pointing one finger with four pointing back at the accuser is just typical Democrat sign language.

 
But if you ever doubted, take a look at the slavish devotion to chaos commands of the BLM/Antifa movement and the mindless Democrats who rushed to cry "defund police," but now deny they ever said it during the George Floyd riots. The travesty of the J-6 trial and their obsession with destroying Donald Trump are perfect examples of the authoritarian scale they love to use on others.

 
Warning: I know nothing about this author (a British Jazz saxophonist and political writer whom the left calls racist and anti-Semitic, of course) or platform, and the site is censored by FB, so that's something. But on this topic, they are right. Our own media shows it every day in every way. Like Biden's last speech. When you have nothing to say and are an empty suit, accuse half the country of being fascist.

https://www.newsfromtheperimeter.com/home/2020/12/27/the-fascist-scale-revisited

Laying siege to the Institutions--Christopher Rufo

Christopher Rufo is the new "hate on him" guy that the Left loves to ridicule and demean. Why? Because he exposes Wokeism, CRT, trans-agenda, queer theory, intersectionality, etc. with the Sword of Truth, and a clear explanation of their own Leftist/Marxist history and direction. What looks like chaos to you, is well planned."The leftist dream of a working-class rebellion in America fizzled after the ’60s. By the mid-1970s, radical groups like the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground had faded from prominence. But the leftist dreamers didn’t give up. Abandoning hope of a Russian-style revolution, they settled on a more sophisticated strategy—waging a revolution not of the proletariat, but of the elites, and specifically of the knowledge elites. It would proceed not by taking over the means of production, but by taking control of education and culture—a strategy that German Marxist Rudi Dutschke, a student activist in the 1960s, called “the long march through the institutions.”

This idea is traceable to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, who wrote in the 1930s of “capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society.”

This march through our institutions, begun a half-century ago, has now proved largely successful. Over the past two years, I’ve looked at the federal bureaucracy, the universities, K-12 schools, and big corporations. And what I’ve found is that the revolutionary ideas of the ’60s have been repackaged, repurposed, and injected into American life at the institutional level." https://christopherrufo.com/laying-siege-to-the-institutions/

Controlling K-12 of public and private education is essential. Why else have the DoJ attack parents? The younger the better. Perhaps the only Biblical principal the Left has learned well, is Proverbs 22:6--"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." In my opinion, the Leftists are the losers with old, tired ideas in contrast to our U.S. Constitution (which they hate) has the fresh, recent and revolutionary ideas. The only similarity might be that the 60s Weather Underground and the 2011 Occupy Movement were the white, young, wealthy and best educated; our Founders were also white, young, wealthy and well educated. The difference is the radicals of the 1960s and 21st century were spoiled brats and guilt ridden by their own abundance. Their only desire was/is to create chaos--and the plan now begins in the schools--even pre-K. To create confusion about family, marriage, sex, religion, purpose, meaning, ambition, merit, etc.

Tracking down an artist, Julia Crainer

We brought all our artwork to Columbus on Saturday from our recently sold Lakeside home.  One I had always enjoyed, but didn't have the provenance, had defeated my internet searches. From the signature on the original painting of hot peppers I bought at Cottage Accessories, a little resale store in Lakeside in 2008, I was looking for Julia Grawer. I did find other paintings by that signature, at an Minnesota auction site of radishes, garlic and lettuce.  It had been sold but it did have an enlargement feature for the signature.  When I clicked on that, I could see that the name was Crainer, not Grawer.  The i and the n looked like a w without enlargement.  So I kept looking, and finally found an auction site where someone had left a comment about her:

"Julia Crainer is a lovely artist from Texas who has taught at Coastal Bend College and Concan Porcelain Art School. I have been lucky enough to take a watercolor class with her 3 times. Loved EVERY minute of learning from her. She painted this watercolor of corn which she either grew or bought at the market. Her signature style in some of her prints... is to watercolor...and when finished....add fine ball point pen marks on top in black ink." :D

Once I'd tracked her to Texas I looked for an obituary that mentioned "art teacher," and I found one, very lovingly written by a son. She died November 19, 2015 at 90.

"Julia was born in Bay City, Texas to MacMillan and Gladys Ballard Arrington on November 29, 1924. In Passing, She was undoubtedly greeted after hugging her Soulmate husband Everett, by many of the family, friends, and students that she loved, taught, mentored and inspired in her long, productive, and inspiring life that crossed over previously.

Julia’s life was centered on family and art. When at three she was given paints, her natural gift for art was discovered and encouraged by her gifted parents. Later her talent was recognized by several artists who mentored her. A short autobiography written for a 2010 gallery display of Crainer’s multi-media artwork states,

“…. My life has been too long and full for me to include everyone who has been significant in my life and career, but I must mention Everett Mac and Jim, my dear sons who, along with my Everett, have been the center of my adult life. I thank my family, teachers, students, and friends for all they have done to enrich my life.

I also want to thank God for giving me my gift and a family that encouraged me to use it. As a two time cancer survivor, I also thank God for restoring my health. I believe God gives each one of us gifts that he expects us to use for others and for Him. I was put here to have two sons. As a teacher, I try to help others develop their gifts as many helped me develop mine. I hope to teach as long as God grants me health and life.”

The Lord gave mom over 70 years as a Teacher, 56 Yrs as a wife, 70 yrs as a Loving Mother and almost 92 years of living Life making so many new loving friends along the way.

Crainer’s joy was creating special Art works for her family, but her Artwork is known far beyond her family, friends, and state. Many of her paintings reside in foreign countries and other states. 

More here.  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/202953990/julia-ballard-crainer

She makes a great pork tenderloin

 So I asked her.  How do you do this?  She told me, but I was on my walk at Lakeside, and had stopped by her house (she was sitting outside reading), so then she texted  me.

Salt, pepper, olive oil, bacon grease/ however you choose to season

> Braise to brown on stovetop
> 400* oven, do not cover
> 20-25 min.
> Done when 145* internal temp./I use a meat thermometer
> Let rest 5-10 min. before slicing.
> Serve & enjoy!

She's a vegan.  But remembers when she wasn't, so she still does a great dinner party. She had put bacon in the coleslaw, so that's how she happened to have the bacon grease. It was yummy too.

If you leave the gate open -- author unknown

This is making the rounds. I don't know the writer/source.

"If You Leave the Gate Open"

If you leave the gate open, the cow will wander off. So, if you intentionally leave the gate open, you want the cow to wander off. You can't blame stupidity or laziness. It was intentional.

If you cut police budgets, you will get more crime on the streets. So, if you intentionally cut police budgets, you wanted more crime on the streets.

If you cut back the supply of oil, gas prices will go up. So if you intentionally cut back the supply of oil, you wanted gas prices to go up.

If you print trillions of dollars without increasing the supply of goods, inflation will hit hard. So if you intentionally print trillions of dollars without more goods you wanted inflation to hit hard.

If you leave the southern border wide open, you get more drug trafficking and human trafficking. So if you intentionally leave the border wide open, you wanted more drug trafficking and human trafficking.

If you shut down 40% of the supply of baby formula in February, you'll get a huge shortage. When you KNOW a huge baby formula shortage is coming because of the FDAs actions, and you purposefully do nothing to prevent it, month after month, until the crisis finally hits hard, you INTENDED this crisis.

It is time to recognize the evil people behind Joe Biden. They want crisis. They want chaos. They want riots. They want conflicts in your town.

 
Their stated purpose years ago with Obama was to "take the US down a few notches on the world stage." You can feel the quality of your life going down with the country.

These are not foolish or misguided people. They are taking our country somewhere we don't want to go...

https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/04/taking-us-down-notch-thomas-sowell/

The Purple Martin, Robin and Hummingbird

On my morning walk today I was thinking about some of the common birds I see--the purple martin, the robin, and the hummingbird. In central Ohio, the robin sticks around, but here near Lake Erie they migrate to get away from our bitter winters. The purple martins come in the spring and are gone by August 1--they eat thousands of mosquitoes while they are here and then fly 5,000 miles to South America. The hummingbirds are around for about 3 seasons, but they also migrate. They also eat a lot of bugs, but too many people try to "help" with sugary mixes to attract them--sort of like welfare, good intentions but bad results. Robins are omnivores--bugs and berries, but they are also a food source for predator birds.

So what if there were a government program for equity among the birds. What would that do to diversity if there were a D.I.E. department that tried to force the robins to fly the wind currents of the swallow family (purple martins are swallows) to South America.

 
Or what if Biden passed an executive order that purple martins had to sacrifice their lake habitat to become a food source for the hawks in my back yard in Columbus?

 
What if the hummingbirds had to be inclusive and share that bottle of sugary mix with the robins who then would stop eating bugs because the goo tastes better?

 
And what if the robins decided they needed the longer wings of the swallow so they could eat on the fly instead of toiling to dig the worms out of the ground? Would we have surgery clinics for bird wings?

 
How hard could it be to convince a female purple martin she'd look more sexy and be more successful if she only had longer wing feathers of the male purple martin? Maybe the female purple martin could apply to the government for the longer feathers transplant of the male (a sexual attractions feature).

 
Silly you say. So are the equity demands being foisted on us in the laws and regulations of a power hungry government--federal, state, local, and the lily livered, go along to get along woke corporations, non-profits and churches.

Climate change narrative of Big Tech

 Facebook wants to tell me how climate is changing in my area each time I post research that goes against its power agenda. It sends a message about temperatures in my geographic area even though temperature isn't climate. Every morning I walk where there use to be a glacier retreating to what is now Canada as the Great Lakes were being formed. I think I know the climate has changed. Now, go and harass elsewhere Oh mighty Meta (Facebook's new name).

What is an existential threat?

I can't figure out why the left thinks Trump was/is an "existential" threat. What does that even mean? That he might run out on our allies and Americans in the middle east? That he might increase our taxes? That he might hire enough IRS agents to populate a small city? That he might drive the economy into inflation and recession at the same time? That he might lead the charge against freedom of speech? That he might collude with the press? That he might encourage the FBI to attack his political enemies? That he might worsen the relationship with China? That he might destroy the fossil fuel industry condemning us to a return to the pre-industrial age? That he might encourage WWIII?

Who exactly is a threat to the United States? I think he's living in the White House, not in Trump Towers.

Jennifer Sey, former gymnast, fired for speaking out for children

Jennifer Sey lost her dream job with Levi Strauss for speaking out against the crusade against children, forcing them to wear masks and lose 2 years of education. Earlier she was (belatedly) considered a hero for exposing the underbelly of the gymnastics Olympics. But when she used that toxic mix to speak up for the voiceless, she was "cancelled."

 
"More broadly, emotional and physical abuse was actually the norm and we were all so beaten down by that and made so obedient that when we knew there was a sexual abuser in our midst, we would never say anything," Sey recalled to Indianapolis Star reporters in a scene captured by the documentary.

 
"The standard methodology of coaching in elite gymnastics was cruelty," she told the documentary." But when she said the school lockdown and masking were cruel, no one listened. In fact, her woke corporation sent this life-time Democrat packing.

https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/netflixs-athlete-a-who-is-former-gymnast-jennifer-sey

https://summit.news/2022/02/16/levis-brand-president-says-she-was-offered-1-million-to-shut-up-about-being-fired-over-criticizing-covid-restrictions/

“This didn’t seem at all controversial to me. I felt—and still do—that the draconian policies would cause the most harm to those least at risk, and the burden would fall heaviest on disadvantaged kids in public schools, who need the safety and routine of school the most.”
“In the summer of 2020, I finally got the call.”

“‘You know when you speak, you speak on behalf of the company,’ our head of corporate communications told me, urging me to pipe down.”

Despite pleading that she was merely speaking in a personal capacity as “a public school mom of four kids,” Sey said the final straw was when she appeared on Fox News with Laura Ingraham and criticized further school closures.

Levi Strauss & Co. subsequently released a false statement claiming Sey had “resigned from the company.”

The colleges' role in the student loan crisis

"Here is how the education industrial complex works.

 The universities spent $130 million lobbying to get this loan forgiveness done. The university needs money to pay for the vast overhead created by all the costs of the DEI staffs and the high operating overhead of all the amenities they now offer. 

So, they raise tuition, and then convince students to take out loans to cover the tuition which is really to cover their inflated operating budget. The student wants to attend, so they borrow, not understanding the economics of what they are doing. 

The government makes the loan with no assessment of ability to repay, or if the course of study is one that will provide a job paying enough to cover repayment. The school gets its operating costs covered by getting the students to borrow the needed working capital to operate the school. They then can put donations from rich guys who want their kid admitted, into their huge endowment which is just a giant investment portfolio. 

So now the university has gotten the student and the government to cover their operating costs, with zero liability to the university for the borrowed funds. It is magic. It is a total scam.

Meantime they have courses like gender studies, or others that have nil value to the student or employers when they graduate. So now the kid has no way to earn enough to pay the loan that financed the university operating budget. That is the reality of student loans. Universities are a corrupt cabal now destroying a whole generation with nonsense courses, and no free thought allowed. This will harm the nation for many years. This is one more example of why we are fighting the Amy Wax war. Between teachers’ unions and university corruption and ideology, we are in real trouble educationally."

(The Ross Rant, 8/27/22)

Comments on Amy Wax mentioned above: "On Dec. 20, Wax in an interview with Glenn Loury, a professor at Brown University, said that since “most” Asian Americans support the Democratic Party, “the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.”

After backlash to those remarks, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Dean Ted Ruger announced on Jan. 14 that he had initiated a faculty review process that could result in sanctions imposed on Wax." (Daily Princetonian, Jan. 27, 2022)

The National Archives and Republican Presidents

The National Archives is somewhere in the mess at the raid on Mar a Lago. Seems to be some history there. In July 2004 I blogged about the selection of anti-Bush titles the Archives had in its on site government book store. Jonathan V. Last had written about it in the Wall St. Journal. As deep swamp staffers, they don't seem to like Republican presidents. Ever.

"The author, Jonathan V. Last, says there is not one neutral or admiring book on President Bush, just the anti-Bush, anybody-but-Bush, bashes. I've seen these political tables at Barnes and Noble Bookstores, but they at least make an effort to present a variety of views. Mr. Last said something to the clerk, who apparently assumed he was approving of the staff choices, and he responded, "We tell [the people who complain about the titles] that they're not anti-Bush. They're just correcting the facts." The accompanying cartoon shows a puzzled customer at book tables labeled: Harangues, Screeds, Conspiracy Theories, and Rants. Last's final paragraph is priceless:

"It's possible that George W. Bush is an illegitimately installed fascist monster leading America's military-industrial complex on a nuclear crusade for world domination. But what kind of dime-store dictator can't even crush dissent at his own bookstore?"

Surprise visitors today

 I heard some commotion outside and heard voices.  It turns out our good friends Tom and Natalie, their daughters and sons-in-law, and three grandchildren were renting a cottage just a few doors away.  A good reunion. Tom helped us in 1989 when we had carpet installed, and he and Bob's Cursillo group came up here during the winter one year.

How the Left manipulates our language, and thus our thought, to shut us up

On my walk along the peaceful, quite Lake Erie this morning, I was listening to Molly Hemingway, "You're wrong" podcast, of The Federalist Radio Hour, and she commented on the use of the word denier and denial by Democrats. From that is the origin of this blog entry. I haven't done much with my Smart Phone, but it is useful for podcasts and radio archives.

Take the smear, "denier." It works with the holocaust. Not with Climate, not with Election. I know this comes as a shock to those who've accepted a cartoon version of history, climatology, weather, and science, but those the Democrats and "scientists" demean as "climate deniers" do not deny that there are changes--we question your research on the speed, the causes, the events, and the politicization, etc.--all of our theories and ideas are also backed up by sound research. Plus, some like me, are old enough to remember Paul Ehrlich's scam, "The Population Bomb."

And we also don't deny the election. We question the results, those entrusted with the counting, the changed rules even by Republican governors which were never lawful, the drop boxes, the incredible turn around in just key states in the middle of the night, etc. Every political party, voter and candidate can question the results of an election. Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, for example. It's a built in part of our system. Democrats invented the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax so we would question and impeach a lawfully elected president who threatened (but didn't succeed) to drain the swamp.

By appending the word "denier" to Climate and to Election, the Democrats actually want you to associate it with a terrible time in the 20th century which resulted in the deaths of millions of Jews. (This resulted in the new state of Israel, which Democrats are also conflicted over.) They want to view changes in climate as requiring that I be tried in a court of phony research. If I were employed, they'd take my job. They want us to believe that the J-6 protestors were more dangerous than the Civil War, the U.S. war that killed more Americans than all others combined. 

That word DENIER is part of their plot to diminish us, to insult us, and to bully. And that's not a conspiracy theory. That's basic Democrat 101.

H

Wednesday night picnic August 24

 The last family picnic of the season--we're sitting at a picnic table with Bob and Pat Borean in the foreground and a few others enjoying hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad, chips, watermelon, cookies and lemon-ade. You can see us in the second photo too, Bob in the navy shirt on the white chair.  Games for the kids, always fun to watch.

  

Harder than it looks--shoulder exercises--Silver Sneakers

 https://youtu.be/cTE_pEtQmV0

It can be challenging to get through daily activities when your shoulders don't move the way they once did. Here are six daily exercises that can help improve your shoulder range of motion.

I found these challenging, so did fewer than she suggested. 

Why did Ezra tell the Jews to send away their foreign wives and children?

The command by Ezra to divorce the foreign wives certainly sounds cruel and not inclusive by our modern values.  We're reading Ezra today in our Women's Bible Study at the Lakeside Women's Club.  I'm not sure I ever read it, but it was very interesting.  I even did some deep diving into Bible commentaries on the internet.  Would you believe there are some Christian authors who treat Ezra-Nehemiah as leadership guides or building programs for churches!  Whoa. But to our modern values, separating families sounds very harsh. Read what this commentator on the Hebrew Bible has to say:  https://elwynshebrewbiblepage.weebly.com/the-inter-marriage-crisis-in-ezra-and-nehemiah.html

"Ezra 9 blames the intermingling of the races as the cause for his people’s woe, and why it should be forbidden[2]. This “intermarriage crisis”, as Ezit is commonly referred to, is therefore very important. For Ezra, the problem with foreigners and other non-returnees is that they were associated with “abominations and uncleanliness”, and intermarrying with them threatened Israel’s stability and its prosperity, as represented by land ownership, since God required the people to be clean and free of abominations in order to possess it.

A code in Ezra specifies who could marry who. A Jew could only marry another Jew who had experienced the Exile. Those who had remained in the land during the Exile were unacceptable. Ezra provided a genealogy distinguishing between those who were considered acceptable and those who were not, but it is suspect. Those who had married “other” women were commanded to divorce them. This was motivated by a fear of pollution of the Holy Seed and uncleanliness.

A Holiness code is also described in Ezra Ch 17, holiness being the antithesis of impurity. Ezra’s command was not to mix the Holy Seed. This was a means of consolidating a new identity. On the other hand, Nehemiah offered other, potentially more concrete, reasons for the denunciation of mixed marriages: such marriages produced children who could not speak the Judean language (Neh.13:24), and Solomon’s experience showed that foreign wives can cause a man to sin (Neh. 13:26). Solomon tolerated the worship of gods other than Yahweh, and did so because his foreign wives gave him the opportunity to do so (1 Kings 11).

Related factors include concern about the influence women have on their families. Children would likely learn the language of a foreign mother, and within the household a woman’s religious practices could influence the beliefs and practices of her children and her husband. The culture and religion of the father and the family’s feelings of connection and deference to them could conceivably then be threatened. Marriage also affected property ownership and inheritance, geared as they were in order to protect land tenure. If the wife or the children had strong connections to a community other than that of the husband/father, the land could effectively leave the community’s sphere of influence. In certain circumstances, Jewish women could possess and inherit land[3] and this may also have been the case in Judah. During the post-Exilic period, there was an attempt to reconstitute a new tradition: that the land has been polluted by the intermarriage of those who stayed behind during the exile, so the returnees had to distance ourselves from that.

The consequence was that the local residents - Samaritans who thought of themselves as the direct descendants of the original Northern Kingdom - were without any right to the land, and those who had been deported and gone into Exile, or rather their descendants, those of pure blood, came back with the message that the land belongs to us and we are going to seize it and settle there[4]."

Maajid Nawaz, British activist and radio presenter

 https://youtu.be/zJX3byjYSMc

Interview with Joe Rogan. But not full.  You'll remember Rogan was "cancelled" because he wouldn't toe the line about Covid. He is available on subscription on other channels. Most sites I check say, Not available. 

Podcast notes: #1780 - Maajid Nawaz | Joe Rogan Experience • Podcast Notes

  Comments from other listeners.

"I normally want to leave people to discover on their own but i cannot recommend this episode enough, the most succinct 3+ hr (with ALL the proof) explanation for the current state of world affairs and our potential future that I've heard."

"Joe gets canceled by the media then comes out with an interview no media would even dare to report on. Good way to shut down the negative hype around Rogan right now!!"

"Terribly important interview. Joe is the greatest he has ever been. Obviously challenged by all this, but who wouldn't be. Maajid is obviously a true man of faith, it is amazing what he has accomplished despite so much opposition. Much support to both of them!"

"I've listened to just about every JRE, and started listening 10 years ago. Maajid is one of the most interesting and articulate person I've ever listened to on the podcast. So glad he's out there."

Putting my smart phone to use

Since I received a smart phone, I've rarely made a call, but I listen to lots of podcasts. Lately, one of my go-to sites has been Dark Horse. Bret Weinstein was cancelled by Evergreen University in 2017, so he and his wife now earn a living making life hard for the pompous, the woke, the bureaucrats, Big Tech, the vicious virtuous, and powerful players and he gives space to the disappeared and cancelled. He is a biologist so has interesting things to say about the medical system and medical statistics. Definitely not a Republican or a Trump supporter, but if you are one, you'll enjoy this one. He just uses bigger words.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bret-weinstein-darkhorse-podcast/id1471581521 More than one platform, but I don't know how these work.

Truth or lies

 

Is he a dog or a woman or a tree?

I don't know if Megan Rohrer is a transwoman or a transman, but Rohrer was a bishop in the Sierra Pacific ELCA (Lutheran) Synod. I say WAS because Rohrer has resigned due to another issue, not the gnosis where the mind has delusions of being in the wrong body. The squabble seems to have been about a Spanish speaking congregation with BLM overtones or maybe undertones. ELCA does not speak for "Lutherans" of other synods, and maybe not even for their own members by electing Rohrer.

If my mind tells me that I'm in the wrong body, what's to keep it from deciding my mind really resides in a body that is a dog. . . or a dogwood tree? It's my mind--shouldn't I have a voice rather than your antiquated theories of gender? Because transgenderism has morphed into the woke movement (part of critical theory based on Marxist ideas of oppression and oppressors) there's no reason it can't expand to accept my delusions too. But because I still have a mind, my mind is telling my body to refute and criticize the gender/woke delusions currently residing in the medical, education, religious and entertainment industries. I won't settle there and I won't use their silly language.

New federal regulation in HHS concerning conscience rights

"This is an election (2022) about power and control," said Planned Parenthood. I rarely agree with PP, but that's one comment, although they mean the opposite of what I believe, they are right about. Power to kill AND control your religious and speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Biden administration which is bankrolled by powerful organizations like the teachers' unions, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Emily's List, wealthy woke corporations and Soros backed entities, is proposing a new HHS rule which would force doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals to perform-participate in abortions, transgender mutilations and other procedures pro-life conservatives (and probably many Democrats who are Christians) consider morally bankrupt, cruel and sinful. By law, even morally stunted bureaucrats must accept comments on rules like this. Make your voice heard. Don't just comment your outrage to your friends on FB, tell Joe how you REALLY feel about being forced to participate in sin. Regulations.gov. 

When you look at "conscience protections" we already have it's hard to believe we'd go through this again, but the pro-death forces are very well organized, financed and backed up with clever lawyers (in the N.T. they are called Pharisees and Sadducees). It will be "found" in the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). If the rule passes, it could close hospitals and end the careers of many fine doctors and nurses and healthcare staff. Maybe you are undecided on transgender/affirmation thought, but would you assist in removing the healthy breasts of a middle school girl, or castrating a little boy at the request of his parents or social workers? It's the ultimate child abuse.

The only Christians that seem to be well organized enough to fight this and sound an alarm are the Catholics. I could find very little on it, but here's one https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/04/05/transgender-abortion-hhs-242759 If your church or denomination has a bioethics department, check with them. If not, take it to your Sunday School class. This is our abolitionist movement. Don't be caught asleep at the switch.

This is the government double speak that describes this: HHS Announces Proposed Rule to Strengthen Nondiscrimination in Health Care | HHS.gov. These days all victim theories are put in the context of the civil rights rulings, a huge smokescreen. This at least assures you it is Joe Biden's doing through an executive order. It twists the meaning of "restores rights" "stands up for" and "affirms"--the bureaucrat who wrote this must have grown up on 1984 Newspeak.

Philosophical Puzzles about Transgenderism — The National Catholic Bioethics Center (ncbcenter.org)

Did Obama take 30 million documents?

The headlines of the anti-Trump fact checkers are that Trump lied about Obama taking 30 million documents with him when he left the WH. But when you read the article it says yes, Obama took tens of thousands of documents to Chicago, BUT they go on to say they then went to possession of federal government archives after sorting to be digitized and made available to the public. In other words, Trump was right again and this is a word war with fact checkers. Really, you can't trust these checkers whether in print on paper or pixels on your screens. Has anyone seen or used digitized Obama papers taken from WH? It has been 6 years. Are they redacted? Do they exist? That's your assignment.

The Obama Foundation says the Archives control 1.5 Billion Obama pages--but those are the "born digital" documents. He couldn't have removed them even if he tried. It goes on to say there are 30 million paper documents he took which WILL Be digitized. I saw no way to get into this data dump. It's like a library hit by a tornado if they are even there. If you use the timeline and go to "Afghanistan trip" I found 3 photos probably available on the internet and easier to use. No pdf or e-mail trace. No scanned hard copies. This library is either a hoax or has only hired the janitor. 6 years.

Old tapes stored in Bill Clinton's sock drawer may have a impact on the MAL case. Old Case Over What Bill Clinton Hid in His Sock Drawer Could Unravel FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid (westernjournal.com) U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington D.C. ultimately rejected Judicial Watch's suit by concluding there was no provision in the Presidential Records Act to force the National Archives to seize records from a former president.

Unfriending on social media--divisive or deserved?

"Democratic voters are almost three times as likely to have “blocked, unfriended, or stopped following someone on social media” after Donald Trump’s victory, according to a study released Monday [Dec. 2016]."

No surprise here. Democrats are not inclusive and hate diversity of thought or opinion. IMO, they are also more likely to be racist in their support of policies that hurt blacks and other minorities through their own good intentions. That said, that article is 6 years old. So I am also less likely to "friend" a Democrat whereas before I was much more forgiving and open minded. It really began with the BDS--Bush derangement syndrome--before a black president, an orange president, and the current confused resident of the WH. Now, if I don't know they are conservatives but we are acquainted, I choose not to put up with it. And so the divide widens.

Mom Jeans

Usually, you would not trust a librarian for fashion advice. It's not just a stereotype. . .

 
Mom jeans. Remember that term? I'd never heard of it until they made fun of Obama wearing "mom jeans" for riding a bicycle. My friend Bev says it was a popular term in the 70s. But I saw jeans at Wal-Mart labeled, "Mom Jeans," and bought a pair. Great fit and comfort. High rise with extra room in the thighs. Soft, slightly faded denim. I bought up a size since I had no idea of the fit or how they would wash. I only found them in junior size which I probably haven't worn for 60 years. Love them.  Went back and got another pair in a darker shade.

"The mom jean silhouette is a specific one. Its defining features include a high-waist, which helps to streamline the figure, as well as an ever so slightly baggy leg. Most purists will say that mom jeans fall straight on the legs, but the truth is that there are already an infinity of silhouettes within this category, as long as they keep the high rise: Flared, baggy, and balloon are some of the most popular variations." Vogue, April 15, 2022

Covid and Wokeism

Covid and Wokeism. This writer, David Suissa, calls them both viruses, but I'd say one is a virus, the other is a metastasis. Both have hit us at the same time creating suspicion, anger, incivility and fear. The virus is inclusive; the metastasis is exclusionary. The virus goes after our cells; the other after our souls.

"It’s odd that these two major forces have hit us at the same time. They’re mirror opposites. The fear of dying from COVID makes us small and humble and deeply grateful just to be alive. 

Wokeism nurtures the opposite of gratitude. We feel cocky, entitled and intolerant. Anyone who offends us must be attacked, if not cancelled. Any speaker who will offend us must be stopped. We have a right to not be exposed to anything that might hurt our feelings or make us feel “unsafe.” " . . .

"Wokeism is a symptom of modern decadence, when maximum convenience and comfort trigger a nostalgia for epic struggles and dramatic causes. Absent these historic movements of yesteryear, the woke must come up with endless grievances to gain power and boost their self-esteem. That’s why they can’t stand to recognize real progress—it undermines their grievance-obsessed narrative.

A key tenet of wokeism is to preach inclusion and diversity, but with a crucial catch: Wokeism scrupulously excludes ideological diversity, which would be too messy. We’re inclusive in all ways, in other words, except when it comes to your opinions.

 
COVID is truly all-inclusive. It comes after all of us. It’s straightforward. It wants to enter our bodies and contaminate our cells. . . wokeism contaminates our souls. "

Sunrise, August 15 at Lakeside

 

Can you see the Naked Ladies?  That's the name for the pink lilies that pop up about the first week in August with no leaves to cover their beauty.  We have a few in our yard, with some on the table right now that had fallen down.  You can also see in the photo in the distance a freighter that has arrived in Marblehead to load up oar from the quarry.  Yesterday I saw three of them, one in dock, one near by, and a third one further out.  I've heard it's the largest quarry in the country.  Our friend Tony who a member of a geologist/rock club was inside the mine this past week collecting beautiful rocks with gem stones (don't recall what they are called), and he gave us one with purple and blue stones in it.  He says the pieces are so sharp (broken up and left by large equipment} that glove, shoes and pants can be ruined in just one trip into the mines.

Anne Herbert, a not so good prophet

"The only way I can make any sense of recent presidential elections is that the most vivid person wins, regardless of content, because too many of us have been dressing our lives in beiges and are suckers for a red tie and shiny shoes that look like relative strength. " Anne Herbert, APRIL 1983 (The Sun magazine)

I had never heard of this writer before today (or so I thought), but this quote is attributed to her, and obviously the 2020 election made her a bad prophet. The most bland, beige, but evil one was appointed the winner in the last presidential election. The one with the red tie, the one most vivid who could draw thousands to come out to hear him and the hate and ire of the media, the one who terrified the deep swamp and Big Tech both, the one with the track record for making all lives better, even life for those not yet born, didn't return to the White House. I'm down the rabbit hole of Herbert's movement (The Kindness Movement of the 1990s) and I may have more to say later. Maybe not. This may be it. She apparently preferred Carter over Reagan--but so did I, so what can I say?

List of 30 good things President Trump has done for America - Wayne Grudem

Facebook is following you

 Meta injecting code into websites to track its users, research says | Meta | The Guardian

“Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been rewriting websites its users visit, letting the company follow them across the web after they click links in its apps, according to new research from an ex-Google engineer. The two apps have been taking advantage of the fact that users who click on links are taken to webpages in an “in-app browser”, controlled by Facebook or Instagram, rather than sent to the user’s web browser of choice, such as Safari or Firefox. “The Instagram app injects their tracking code into every website shown, including when clicking on ads, enabling them [to] monitor all user interactions, like every button and link tapped, text selections, screenshots, as well as any form inputs, like passwords, addresses and credit card numbers,” says Felix Krause, a privacy researcher who founded an app development tool acquired by Google in 2017. In a statement, Meta said that injecting a tracking code obeyed users’ preferences on whether or not they allowed apps to follow them, and that it was only used to aggregate data before being applied for targeted advertising or measurement purposes for those users who opted out of such tracking…” It would be a good idea to read the whole article.

Lunch on August 12

 I went to the farmer's market this morning and bought beets with leaves, Swiss chard in 2 colors, tomatoes, peaches and some bakery treats.  I already had spinach, onions, etc. on hand.  So here's a photo of lunch, which we ate on the deck because the weather was wonderful--chicken tetrazzini, fresh cooked beets, steamed spinach, and a raspberry scone.  All very yummy.  But in the middle of the afternoon, I remembered I hadn't taken my Xarelto (blood thinner), which I remembered I put on the plate so I wouldn't forget it. Apparently, I ate it with the chicken.  To be sure, I enlarged the photo, and see it sitting there trying to look like part of the rust colored flower on the plate. So, I'm trusting I ate it.

Monkey Pox

A note from my doctor (not to me personally, but to all COPC patients):

"We don’t know whether it [monkey pox] can be spread from someone without symptoms and that is also being researched. At the time of this writing, the infection is being seen mostly in gay and bisexual men. Therefore, this group should be extra vigilant in monitoring for symptoms and take precautions to limit their exposure.

Avoid skin-to-skin contact with anyone with a rash that looks like Monkeypox and avoid sharing objects or clothing that someone with a rash has used. Frequent hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer is also recommended."

Do you suppose if someone shows up at work or school classes, they will be asked to leave because work spaces are tight or work items--door knobs, pencils, books, copiers, toilets--have to be shared, or would that be homophobic?  The pictures I've seen look a lot worse than a "rash."  If they show up at ER, how will others be protected?

Also, Biden didn't act quickly on this and the vaccine is in short supply. The first U.S. case was identified in May 2022, and now it's called a global health emergency.  How are we to avoid it if it is also on people's hands? I've looked at the photos and it looks very painful, plus disfiguring.  Time to bring out the hand sanitizer and gloves?

This video is so low key and careful about saying anything that might upset anyone. But it sounds like how HIV got out of control in the 80s after it began in the gay community.

https://youtu.be/1eJw-KH0wcI

Gender and sexuality alliance clubs in our schools

"The main national organization behind this campaign, the GSA Network, is a professionally staffed nonprofit with a multimillion-dollar annual budget. GSA Network serves as an umbrella organization for more than 4,000 “gender and sexuality alliances” across 40 states. Once called the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, the group rebranded in 2016, reflecting a new focus on “the limits of a binary gender system.” The individual chapters, which operate in elementary, middle, and high schools, often use the language of “LGBTQ inclusion” and “anti-bullying” in their public relations, but behind the scenes, the central organization is driven by pure left-wing radicalism that extends far beyond sexuality."

GSA isn't subtle about it's goals. It's not just to sexualize your children--comes complete with the usual anti-capitalist pro-Marxist drivel. I wonder who is funding these clubs?

"In a manifesto, the organization calls for the “abolition of the police,” the “abolition of borders and ICE,” the payment of “reparations” to minorities, the “decolonization” of native lands, the end of “global white supremacy,” and the overthrow of the “cisgender heterosexual patriarchy.” The organization is also explicitly anti-capitalist: its literature is littered with references to “anti-capitalism” and, during one board meeting, its leaders fantasized about what life would be like “after capitalism falls.”

GSA Clubs Smuggle Gender Ideology into K-12 Education (city-journal.org)

All conservatives (and liberals too who are figuring out this scam) need to understand the basics--these expanding victim groups which supposedly are about equality, diversity, fairness, tolerance, etc. are at their roots, Marxist. It won't end. Don't look for common sense, American values, decency, fairness, tolerance and certainly your kids won't get a good education. The point of all this is manipulation--to destroy, divide and conquer. Gay or straight, black, white or brown, immigrant or native, all children will be hurt, but they (and you) are being used to destroy the family and society through the schools.

It worked in the 20th century--they murdered 100 million of their own people in various countries using class warfare--citizen against citizen. In our era, instead of division in classes and workers, they are using sex, gender and race. Same book, different cover.

Don't be distracted

 

The misnamed Inflation Reduction Act

It's no shock to me that this Inflation Reduction Act is the opposite of the words, but a tax grab--exactly the intention of the Democrats. It's the government that got us into this mess by throwing money at anything that moved from 2019-2022, and that includes the Trump years.

"Using the Tax Foundation’s General Equilibrium Model, we estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.1 percent and eliminate about 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States. It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income quintile over the long run.

By reducing long-run economic growth, this bill may actually worsen inflation by constraining the productive capacity of the economy." https://taxfoundation.org/inflation-reduction-act/

Walking while old

 Can you hear me breathing hard?  We were in church (outside in the park) from 8:30-9:30 and then eating with friend at the Patio restaurant until about 10:15.  Then a walk home, change into cooler clothing, and out again for a short walk on Oak and Lynn before the day heats up.  I think it's supposed to be high 80s.  I'm using my smartphone to track, count and analyze my walking. Which means I have to keep it with me, either holding it or putting it in my pocket.  I rarely have made a phone call, but use it for listening and information. This message is from The Ridge Senior Living. I'm posting it for reference and inspiration for other days. How Many Steps Should a Senior Get in a Day? | The Ridge (theridgeseniorliving.com)

My smartphone says, "Step length is the distance between your front foot and back foot when you're walking.  The ability to take longer seps is related to your long term mobility.  Strength and coordination changes can affect your ability to take longer steps.  Step length will decline with age. Today, August 7 my step length is 28.7-33.5 inches

The smart phone also records "double support time." That's the percentage of time during a walk that both feet are on the ground. If you spend more of the walk with weight on one foot instead of two, there is better balance. The measure will fall between 20 to 40%. Today Sunday August 7 my Double support time is 25-28.4%, that's down from 27.8 - 31.6% on Wednesday, July 27. I hope that means my balance is better, although it doesn't feel like it.

The Relationship between Walking Speed and Step Length in Older Aged Patients - PubMed (nih.gov)

Impact of walking states, self-reported daily walking amount and age on the gait of older adults measured with a smart-phone app: a pilot study - PubMed (nih.gov)

15 Best Walking Apps for 2022 - Free Apps to Track Steps (prevention.com)

Walking Every Day

Walking is widely known to be one of the very best exercises for seniors. It’s low impact, low cost and low risk for injury. Plus, the benefits are many. Walking can: 

• Improve circulation, lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart muscle
• Burn calories and help manage body weight
• Ease joint pain and reduce lower back pain by strengthening core muscles
• Strengthen bones and help fight osteoporosis
• Improve balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falling
• Boost your immune system
• Improve your mood, reducing anxiety and depression
• Improve cognitive health

Environmental sustainability at Lakeside

According to one of our speakers this week at Lakeside, "Nearly half of the 300 million tons of plastics produced each year are only used a few short minutes before they are tossed away into our lakes, oceans and landfills to sit for hundreds of years."

Every person can see to it if they use plastic, it doesn't end up in the public spaces or water sources. I'm guessing 30 years of working with people to be aware of pollution was lost in the 2 years of the lockdown and forced masking. I've never seen as much trash in the environment as I've seen since March 2020. The cartons used for carry out must be uncountable. For awhile we couldn't even take reusable shopping bags into the stores. But the bigger problem is that those who are the richest among us, who have 2 or 3 homes, or drive electric cars or install solar panels on their houses--they are urging and voting for policies that really hurt those not so affluent in the name of saving something they don't know what.

 
Pick up after yourself and use less. Just like mom told you. Humans need water to live, but they survived for eons without carrying it in plastic bottles. And don't vote for people or policies that will destroy the pensions of retirees or agriculture in other countries.

The parental example

What life lessons did your parents teach you? We had a question like that in a group exercise at the women's club this week. I wrote a blog about this in 2007, and it's a good thing because by 2022 I would draw a blank.

Thirteen Little Things

When we are children we learn life time lessons from our parents, some by their words, others by actions. Today I'm jotting down 13 habits, techniques, behaviors, attitudes, etc. learned from my parents that are still with me, some without thinking about them, some throw aways, in no particular order. Chime in with a few of yours.

1. If you are with someone, always open the door and let your friend(s) walk through first.

2. Make a square, military corner on the bottom sheet (when I was a little girl there were no fitted sheets) to keep it from pulling loose. Stop to admire your effort. Although I don't do this now, the principle of doing something right the first time and taking pleasure in it is a good one.

3. Always wear an apron in the kitchen. Aprons certainly aren't what they used to be, and it seems to me food splashes more, so when I put one on, I often think of my dad who always reminded me, even as an adult.

4. Turn housework into a game (usually against the clock). My mother was big at trying to make "work" into "fun." This usually got an eye roll from me and a whine.

5. Respect others with your appearance. Both my parents would "fix up" for the other after their work day, and we always ate as a family with properly set table, pleasant conversation.

6. Clean up the kitchen after the meal; never leave dirty dishes on the counter or in the sink. I often fail with this one--maybe this would be a good New Year's resolution.

7. Start the week right with church attendance.

8. A gentleman always comes to the door to pick up a lady for a date. First timers meet the parents.

9. Sit like a lady (this was back in the days when girls and women usually wore skirts or dresses). Corollary: don't slouch.

10. The proper way to answer the phone. We often had to take orders for my dad, so this greeting I no longer use. However, I still keep paper and pencil by the phone, and I try not to mumble. I also overheard how dad spoke to his customers and even today I expect this from business people.

11. "A soft answer turns away wrath." This is my mother's from Proverbs 15:1. Never quite grasped this one, but it worked for my mother, who lived it and often quoted it. I can't remember her ever raising her voice (but she had a look in her eye that could stop you in your tracks).

12. The person who feeds the puppy is the one who will be loved by it. Usually this was Mom, because despite all our promises to care for it, she's the one who usually took pity on the poor thing. When I was growing up the dogs and cats lived outside. If it got bitterly cold, they could stay on the porch or in the basement.

13. In your lifetime you will probably have three really good friends. I'm still thinking about this one. Life has different stages--friendships vary--but the number seems pretty accurate.

Indian Princess and Campfire Day--memories

My cousin in South Carolina sends out a weekly spiritual message to her friends and relatives and often closes with a "day" event, like popcorn day, or fly a kite day etc. I always look forward to what she has to say. Today she reported is "Campfire Day," so I looked it up, and it seems early August is a good time to sit by a campfire with friends.

 
But it made me wonder what had become of Indian Princesses and Campfire Girls (an outgrowth of father-son recreation and moral guidance by the YWCA in the 1920s), which my daughter and I (and her dad) participated in during the 1970s. I had a lot of fun strolling down memory lane with that one, like how we got our *first cat (see photo), the nice mothers of Tremont School I met, and the scary overnights at a camp in southern Ohio (forgotten the name).

After an extensive 2 minute search I learned that anything with the word Indian in the title is racist/colonialist/demeaning to native Americans so organization has separated from the Y. There are locally run organizations because daddy-daughter activities are still enjoyed and earning badges for service is still considered useful in building character and strong women. There is a local unit for the younger girls in my own community called Two Rivers Council (2 rivers, the Scioto and the Olentangy meet in Columbus).

 
"Two Rivers Council is a group of dads and daughters that strengthens that strong family bond through structured but casual activities - time apart from work and school to focus on family. During our time together, dads and daughters learn outdoor traditions, discuss current events, help out in our community, and enjoy our time in the great outdoors.
Our group includes Upper Arlington girls between kindergarten and third grade. Most of the girls attend Barrington with a few from Tremont, St Agatha, Wellington, and Columbus School for Girls. "Senior Princesses" in grades 4 and 5 are most welcome too! We take our Longhouse name from the two rivers that flow through Columbus: the Olentangy and the Scioto. The sun rises on the Olentangy and sets over the Scioto.

 
The Y-Indian Princess Program (now called Adventure Princesses) was an outgrowth of the Indian Guides, a father-son program started in 1926. That program enabled fathers and sons to participate in a variety of activities that nurtured mutual understanding, love, and respect. The first Indian Princesses came together at the Fresno, California YMCA in 1954. Today, as then, our program affords an unusual opportunity for the concerned and busy father to foster growth in his daughter's development and an understanding of the world around her. The father's role helps her in developing self-esteem, confidence with her peers, and appreciation for the differences among people and families."  https://tworivers.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=9&club_id=837212

*This is not our first cat, Mystery, born in 1976, but she looked like this.   I can't seem to find any photos of her on my computer.  In those days we didn't take photos every few hours. She was coal black except for a few white hairs under her chin.   We named her Mystery because she was so tiny when our daughter brought her home from an Indian Princess overnight with her dad at Camp Akita, her eyes were blue and we didn't know her sex. She was sort of sickly and the mother and all the other kittens ran away, but Phoebe caught her. Somewhere I do have a photo of her and the children with a carved pumpkin, so it must have been near Halloween. She got well and lived for 18 years.