Time, ambition or will

 Although I often say I'm rarely busy, I do have a dilemma right now because I can't get done what I'm planning in my head. It's taking up a lot of space there between my ears and probably melting brain cells--particularly during my morning quiet time when I could be reading the Bible, reading something for book club, or researching.  I know the time is available--it would take about two-three days of intense research, writing or using the telephone (I hate that). Other than going to doctors' appointments, shopping for groceries and exercising at the gym (which is only about 2 miles away) I really am not a busy person.  The ambition for doing anything at all is flagging, and since I've always been highly distractable I don't finish a lot of projects (I suspect if I'd ever been tested for ADHD I could have scored high enough for the school system to have upset my mother).  So it's probably will.  I just don't have the will (determination, strength of character, self-discipline, backbone, tenacity) to sit down and do it.  Just do it.  Isn't that a slogan?

1. Prepare a well thought out argument about the wisdom of UALC's proposed capital campaign for remodeling both campuses. I know no one will listen--I've been through this a number of times since I was 11 years old.  For this I've gone all the way back to 1951 when the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren (see below 1956, $321,000) began its campaign to "add a few classrooms" for $13,000 to its building on Seminary Avenue and I conclude (in my busy mind) with Covid lockdowns, inflation, use of space in our current huge buildings, needs of our mission partners, and our current bond issue to increase even more our real estate taxes (just had a huge bond issue 3 years ago).
2. Research the seven books of the Bible (Septuagint) removed by Luther and now called "Apocrypha"  by Protestants--Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I and II Maccabees - plus sections of Esther and Daniel. It's the Bible Christians used for 1500 years.  Most of my personal library about the Bible is Reformed, Lutheran or Baptist, so it would take some effort to find balanced research. The public library is useless. Sometimes the internet is no help--either has too much or only the "approved" version. 
3. Find out why two words (without Christ) were added to the confession we use on Sunday. Even the 10 minutes I took to look at my old hymnals started me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how hymnals are revised and the copyright works.
4. Many art discussions and shows. Raphael tapestries (yesterday) being the most recent, but find many others, particularly in Magnificat. I have 2 magazines subscription, New Criterion and First things that have wonderful articles, but they sit on the living table for a month before the new issue arrives, then they are moved to my office.
5. Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
6. My latest decorating mistake--new bedspreads for the guest room--didn't turn out well. Need to replace, and that means shopping and spending money.
7. Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
8. Practice math. I need to start talking to myself, something like "I'm good at math," or "I can do this," or "Time to work through a few math problems."
9. Analyze the cost and advantage of new garage doors (most of the residents all ready have them, but since ours was less than 15 years old, we were exempt). It would replace one massive door with 2 smaller ones.
10. Find out how to get an approved Covid test for an upcoming colonoscopy.  I don't want to drive to the east side just because I'm part of a particular group and that's what COPC does.
11. Plan for our upcoming art show which will be hung on November 11, but the room for the reception is Sunday November 27.  Write my stories about the paintings, some of which go back to 1974, some using old photos, 1912, 1944, 1950, plus old Lakeside Rhein Center paintings in workshops. 
    
    
    
12. And my goodness.  So many things to relearn on the current computer (labels, database creation, scanning photos, pdf, etc.) that I knew for the old computer. So many things on the smart phone which I've had since February.
13. November book club. Will I read it?
14. Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
15. Do something, or at least think about the musty smell in all the books and papers in the basement--I mean the "lower level" or the "man cave" aka office.  Had them all cleaned about 5 years ago.  Should I call Janet again--I can't get on a ladder anymore and she's just a few years younger; need to research the right solution to safely wipe down shelves and books. 
16. And did I mention going through all the "archives" of our art collection?  Two painters, plus all the paintings we've collected by other artists since the 1960s. We have frames, glass, acrylic, pieces of matt board, pieces of backing board, all standing up in a closet, or on shelves.
17. Should I buy more food for emergency storage?  Joe is talking Armageddon and nuclear war so we've got a crazy leader in Russia and a demented leader in the USA, and I don't even have extra batteries in the house, and I see a lot of pasta in my "emergency tornado" food box.  How would we cook pasta if Putin dropped a bomb on NYC or DC? Remember in the 1950s when the basement of our school building was lined with huge bundles of dried (I assume) food stuffs.  Must have been for the whole town. And we learned to duck under our school desks.  Sure, that will solve the problem our government doesn't know how to fix.
18. I'd better go do my hair.  Washed it this morning.

The new bivalent dose isn't catching on

Remember how everyone was trying to get the first dose of the vaccine? We went out in blizzards and stood in lines in February 2021. 80% of Americans trusted the CDC, President Trump, Fauci, and our local governors to keep us well. Now only 5% have received the latest bivalent dose that's been available for a month. But when the Democrats who had bad mouthed its development in 2020 did a flip and started pushing it while destroying the careers of medical people who suggested treating the disease and confining only those most vulnerable, and demanding lockdowns and school children get it when they weren't in danger, distrust of any politicians hawking the wares of Big Pharma set in.

Investing in your retirement and other boring topics

I got a late start in preparing for retirement. I was in my mid-40s with a full time tenure track job at Ohio State University and a put and take savings account. When I read the pension forms that came with all the other forms I might as well have been reading Russian, Распишитесь, пожалуйста. I began reading the Wall St. Journal--which was delivered to the Veterinary Medicine Library. I was trying to figure out the difference between a stock and a bond, learning about long term gains, what is a mutual fund, figuring out defined benefit and tax deferred annuities. And I'd call my Dad or talk to my brother who was a stock broker. We still made horrible mistakes by anyone's gauge of naivete.

 
But early on I know I decided I didn't like certain stocks, and that some investments weren't worth the return because they were in violation of my core beliefs. I didn't know what it was called but I wouldn't invest in tobacco, alcohol, certain food, health and beauty products (animal testing), and viaticals (insurance plan cash out, like for people with AIDS). Eventually, because large corporations eat up smaller ones, if I liked a snack product it later would be owned by a tobacco company (R.J. Reynolds and Nabisco or Philip Morris and Kraft). And then that group would split or merge into an even larger blob. But still, for awhile I could feel smug and self-righteous--I was a Democrat then and that's what they do.

 
That's the principle when talking people into accepting ESG--environmental, social and governance investing. Most of us do want to be moral, upright and kind to the poor and patriotic. The rub is who gets to decide, and who is pushing this? At this point in our history, the left is moving from the locker room pep talk to a full court press. This is how a Republican study committee looks at ESG:

"A small handful of leftist bureaucrats and board members are behind ESG. Americans never voted for it, but ESG is still making the entire country poorer, more reliant on foreign oil, and less free. ESG is a cornerstone of Democrats’ Green New Deal agenda and one of the most serious long-term threats to energy independence and Americans’ pocketbooks. The Republican Study Committee will push to make combatting ESG a priority after 2022."

In other words, we won't be able to make the choices and mistakes I made in the 1980s about what values and products I wanted to take care of me in my old age. However, if you google, bing, brave or duck-duck-go the term ESG, you'll find several pages of only the most wonderful, positive and downright religious sounding explanation. But if you start or own a company, you won't be able to invest, expand or even use a bank to pay your employees if you don't meet the government (or United Nation's) ESG goals for climate, equity, sustainability (never defined), science, gender, guns, abortion, etc.

The Left’s ESG Movement Is Coming After All Americans (dailysignal.com)

What Is Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing? (investopedia.com)

And as far as retirement goals? Nothing has hurt us as badly as Biden's inflation and killer green economy, or helped us as much as Trump's Make America Great Again ambitious plan.

JP Morgan Chase cancels Ye

I heard on the radio that Chase has "cancelled" Ye (Kanye West). They can say it's his anti-Semitic remarks, but we know what it's about.

• He supports Trump;
• he appeared on the Tucker show;
• he had the audacity to say publicly white lives matter;
• he doesn't buy into the BLM nonsense;
• he speaks out for divorced fathers;
• he believes blacks don't have a place in the economy like other groups as long as they are on the dole;
• and he's a Christian.

But Trump is the #1 reason, The same Trump who has a Jewish daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. And the same people hiding behind this story ridiculed and insulted the Kushners and tried to destroy her business. The same ilk is OK with Berkeley, on the left coast, having "Jewish Free Zones" on its campus. These same hypocrites on the Left are OK with slaves in China and OK with the published death threats from Muslims against Israel. If I knew how to cancel my Chase account, I'd do it. Maybe someone can send me the name of the guy to write to. I do a lot of that.

JPMorgan Chase Terminates Relationship With Kanye West (businessinsider.com)

Prominent bank abruptly cancels Kanye West, gives him just weeks to move accounts to another bank - TheBlaze

I watched the Tucker interview and was very impressed. I didn't know much about Ye (his new self-chosen name), in fact, didn't even know he was divorced.

In Christ Alone, the controversy for almost a decade about a modern hymn

 And how do you interpret this hymn? "In Christ alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

In our traditional service this Sunday (Oct. 9) we sang "In Christ Alone" which is a contemporary song, but I do like it and it fit the sermon theme, sort of. After the service I asked one of the pastors who's also a musician about the words in the second verse, “on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” Isn't that Calvin's interpretation, I asked. He assured me, it's in Lutheran theology. But it appears I'm not the only one asking.  Some people just don't sing that verse.

After our wonderful Sunday dinner which was sort of like my mom's (over done beef roast because it had to go in the oven before we went to church) I googled it. WOW. All sorts of controversy and that very line kept it out of some hymnals, including a Presbyterian!

I don't think it fits the whole O.T. sacrificial system we've been following up to the Cross, and God does come off sounding kind of nasty and petty, punishing someone for what others did instead of Jesus voluntarily offering a sacrifice we (humankind since Adam and Eve) haven't been able to do. But I know from being at a gazillion Bible studies over the last 50 years, that is how many Protestant denominations see that.

So what does your church do? Just sing it lustily and don't pay attention to the words just the emotion? Revise that verse and violate copyright? Receive it and believe it?

Here's just one article I looked at it. I shook my head and thought, "This is why there are 35,000 Protestant/Bible based denominations." https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/did-jesus-die-to-satisfy-gods-wrath/

And others: The Wrath of God Was Satisfied: Wondrous Love in the Awful Cross | Desiring God   The wrath of God satisfied? – Theology Everywhere   Wrath or Love? Calvin on Why Jesus Goes to the Cross | Reformedish (derekzrishmawy.com)   (PDF/Books) The Wrath Of God Satisfied Download FULL | Automation Journal (this one sounds really good, but I didn't download it) and from Augustine How Augustine Viewed the Cross | Billy Kangas (patheos.com)

And this one with a long quote from N.T. Wright, a prominent Anglican theologian: The Bible Guy | “The wrath of God was satisfied”? (steventuell.net)  Another N.T. Wright fan: 3a9f50ff-0846-417a-85a2-7623c472877f.pdf (calvin.edu)

But I did read a lot of viewpoints, and some fairly lengthy articles on copyright, and how hymns can form theology long into the future.  But this blogger from Australia fit my understanding best:

"Sydney Anglican blogger David Ould helpfully pointed out in the online debate that God’s wrath is not satisfied by severely punishing an unwilling child. Nor is the Father like a sadistic teacher.

“The solution to all this, the Scriptures teach, is that one dies in our place. The entire OT sacrificial system models this and then Jesus Himself comes and does it. He is no “abused child” and there is no “lashing out by God”, rather He chooses Himself to lay down His life (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). Those last two verses are stunning how they tell of the unity of purpose between Father and Son:

John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’” The Wrath against Wrath: “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” - Eternity News

Why does Biden want marijuana convicts out of federal prisons?

 Biden lies to us about blacks and marijuana. The claim his writers/handlers are using is, “While studies show white and Black people use marijuana at similar rates, a Black person is more than three times as likely to be arrested for possession than a white person, according to a report from the ACLU that analyzed marijuana arrest data from 2010 to 2018.” That's bunk. ACLU definitely doesn't have the best interests of the black community at heart. Read any famous writer or observer of black/Negro life in the 20th century and you'll see marijuana is a huge factor in the destruction of families and businesses.

"Blacks comprise one-third of all treatment admissions nationally for marijuana abuse, though they represent only about 13 percent of the nation’s population. Among cannabis users, blacks have a nearly 70 percent higher rate of cannabis dependence than whites (16.82 percent v. 10.01 percent).

Cannabis is the illicit drug for which black drug abusers are most frequently treated (29 percent of all drug treatments), according to a 2013 U.S. Treatment Episode Data Set compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. By contrast, 12 percent of whites in drug treatment were there for cannabis abuse."

So do black lives matter to Biden? Doesn't look like it to me?

The renaming of military bases

Years ago Lakeside used to have a Civil War week. I remember attending a lecture on John Bell Hood and wondering why we had a military base named for a Confederate, and one who'd lost so many men. Then Victor Davis Hanson explained that today in his podcast. It turns out that after WWI Congress realized how poorly prepared the U.S. was. The Southern Democrats made a deal to get the appropriation. They would provide the land for the bases, which could revitalize their economy in the south, and they got naming rights. Now 100 years later Democrats who never noticed the Confederates before, are flipping on their agreement because of George Floyd guilt. They are really scrounging for wokeness in those disappeared names. Of course, not Patton or Westmoreland, they are too white. Isn't there anyone out there who served in the Gulf War who is a minority that has a good name for those streets, schools, and military forts?

"According to the commission’s report, Fort Benning will be named Fort Moore; Fort Polk will be renamed Fort Johnson; Fort Bragg will become Fort Liberty; Fort Gordon will become Fort Eisenhower; Fort Hood will become Fort Cavazos; Fort Lee will become Fort Gregg-Adams; Fort Pickett will become Fort Barfoot; Fort Rucker will be renamed to Fort Novosel." Fox News

Flying taxis and Chinese education

This morning I saw a TV report of a flying taxi being demonstrated in Dubai, made by the Chinese. The minute I saw it I was pretty sure the Chinese schools aren't submerged in woke and are making mincemeat of our union controlled, big government schools tying our young people to the failures of the past with D.I.E., diversity, inclusion and equity.

What a shame. The Chinese still have slavery, and Dubai lives on the servanthood of low income workers imported from all over the Asian and African world who can't become citizens. In the U.S. where we have a global population representing hundreds of ethnicities and cultures and we have opportunity for all, Leftists rotting the core of the Democrat party strangle our citizens with critical theory, climate lies, and destruction of our foundation in Western Civilization which has given all freedom to achieve and grow.

Happy Anniversary Vatican II

Today is the anniversary of the convening of Vatican II, October 11, 1962. 60th anniversaries don't get the hoop-la of 50th, but the document and changes (1962-1965) are still being analyzed, discussed and argued about. It was an attempt to put a 2,000 year old religion with 4,000 year old roots into the contemporary world. Maybe it was just the 60s and all we associate with those changes or maybe Pope John XXIII (who didn't live very long) really will go down in history as the man who made all Christians study more, speak differently and challenge authority about everything.

Of all the changes I will just address the language. Latin was (and still is) the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, but Vatican II without changing any content did completely change understanding of the lay person by introducing the vernacular (native or heart language) into public worship.

 
Christians evangelizing after the Resurrection of Jesus originally spoke Greek--it was a "world" language. Jesus and his disciples didn't speak or read Hebrew, but spoke Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect and used a Greek version of the Scriptures (Septuagint), what we now call the Old Testament. That worked pretty good for a few centuries, but by then Latin was the language of influence, literature and business everyone used in the Roman kingdom. St. Jerome is known for his massive efforts to get the Holy Scriptures (both old and new) into the people's language--now called the Latin Vulgate. Pieces of scripture were always available in the native language, but that was for personal use, not public worship. And today, none of us whether we speak English, or German or Russian, would even recognize any of those translations from the Greek. That's how language is--always changing--and English has more words than any other western language. Because "the sun never set on the Union Jack" and the sailors took the King James Bible with them, English has more borrowed and foreign terms than any other language.

Now to today. The latest language squabble in the Church is that Pope Francis has decided to stop use of the Latin Mass, even though millions of devout Catholics think the documents of Vatican II never say NOT to use it, only that the vernacular is best used to encourage the faithful. They LOVE the Latin Mass. Latin is still used in all official documents concerning doctrine, worship, and law. So that change has made some Catholics really unhappy. And ironically, Francis' demands were issued in Latin. Pope Francis restricts celebration of traditional Latin Mass (catholiceducation.org)

We see constant changes in our language without a pope or church--this coming from Twitter, Tech, Academe, the prison population and particularly from Marxist based manipulation. Truth is now "my truth," and "racism" applies only to people of a large swath of Europe. "Community," "narrative," "gender," "transition," and even "Constitution" have been twisted and reconfigured to meet a political agenda. 

And yet so many intelligent, educated people can no longer define what a woman is! St. Jerome is rolling in the grave.

Attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life centers

There have been at least 73 attacks on pregnancy centers and pro-life offices, along with at least 83 attacks on Catholic churches, since the Supreme Court's decision was leaked to the public on May 2, according to CatholicVote, a Catholic political advocacy group.  Yet the FBI sent heavily armed federal agents to the home of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist, over allegedly shoving a Planned Parenthood worker following a verbal altercation. The local police had already investigated it and found nothing criminal. Imagine the hysteria of the media if 83 black churches had been attacked in a few months. Remember the non-story about black churches in the 1990s being burned, and it turned out it was just the media not doing their research. Well, they are certainly quiet about the problem the Left has with keeping babies alive long enough to be born.

Has The FBI Arrested Any Suspects In 150 Attacks On Pro-Life Groups And Churches? | The Daily Caller

One Lie at a Time

Today I listened to a Becket Cook show, "One lie at a time" that discussed the Norman Lear comedies of the 1970s-80s, like "One day at a time," "Maud," and "All in the family." He referred to Lear's sit-coms as promoting the Marxist plan to abolish the traditional family by demeaning the role of fathers, glamorizing or laughing at sexual promiscuity, promoting subjective truth and no boundaries values, and normalizing the secular humanist view. Certainly something to think about because the younger boomers and older gen-x were simmered in this cultural stew.   One Lie at a Time - The Becket Cook Show - Becket Cook (lifeaudio.com)

Becket had a successful career as a set designer in the Hollywood fashion world. He gave up that career and his flamboyant gay lifestyle when he became a Christian and went to seminary. He speaks at a lot of conferences and churches and has a podcast where he interviews many interesting people, some from the entertainment community (like Chynna Phillips).

Europe's winter energy supply endangered by Biden

The UK had rolling blackouts before the Russia-Ukraine War because of "renewables." Can't imagine what England is in for this winter now that Joe has become the fossil fuel gatekeeper. The U.S. could've have been the energy savior of the world, but Joe Biden's handlers wanted something different. We could have also been a leader in "renewables" because solving these sort of money making problems with technology is what the U.S. capitalists are known for. But again, someone thought it better that young minds in college focus on old Democrat lies like skin color, Jim Crow and which bathroom and pronoun to use. The D.I.E. cabal chose the meme that achievement, ambition and competition are "white," and therefore bad for minority youth, condemning them to a life of servitude in debt to the government.

"Andrew Crossland, an energy consultant who runs a website that tracks UK energy usage, told ITV News the UK has lost its energy diversity and energy independence because the country has closed almost all of its coal power plants, with the gap in provision mostly filled by imported gas." (Oct. 2021) Could the UK face blackouts this winter due to soaring energy prices? | ITV News 

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and SCOTUS

A Democrat FB-er (rhymes with fibber) claims there are no restrictions from the Democrats on speech and religion. Says it's just a myth. Wonder if he's aware of Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist., a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court and was just settled in July 2022?

Really? A coach prays privately, after a game, on the field when lots of others were also milling around and expressing their like or dislike for the outcome, but because he prayed, he lost his job. That's not religious oppression? He'd been doing it for years, bothering no one, but some ONE supporting the opposing team complained to his employer. "The District disciplined Mr. Kennedy only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his students after three games in October 2015." 

That he won his case is important of course, but that it ever went that far is a travesty. It shows the harassment of Christians, and religion in general, just like the case against the Nuns who would not pay for birth control coverage for employees and the baker who wouldn't design a wedding cake for gay customers (whom he served for other events) and the florist who wouldn't design arrangements for a gay wedding. There have been so many cases about the first amendment either on speech or religion making it to SCOTUS I'm amazed at the stupidity of those who get offended by someone else's beliefs and are upset that the activity is protected by the Constitution.  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/21-418 The Decision was 6-3, and guess who wanted to dismiss the protections for religion and speech--yup--Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan--the liberals.

I'm not familiar with the legal terms, but as a life time church member I know "establishment" of a religion or church takes a lot more work and time than praying silently on a football field for a few minutes and absolutely no one could construe that as a government activity or coercion. Except a Democrat.

"Monday’s ruling, Sotomayor concluded, “weakens the backstop” that the establishment clause provided to protect religious freedom. “It elevates one individual’s interest in personal religious exercise,” she contended, “over society’s interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all.” (SCOTUS Blog, June 27, 2022) 

There is no phrase "separation between church and state" in the Constitution. It is written to protect us from the government not the other way around. At least for now, Congress opens each session with prayer.

Who is rich, and who pays the taxes in the USA?

In response to a Democrat on Facebook who slavishly follows his party line about taxes, border, religious freedom, education, political motives, abortion, etc. here's the truth about federal tax cuts in 2017 (aka, Trump presidency and his keeping his word to the voters)

"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans' tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.

Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent." (From Yahoo news via The Hill, Dec. 24, 2021)

 
Although any tax cut benefits the rich since they pay over 70% of the federal income tax and the lowest income receive wealth transfers and 50% don't pay any federal taxes. With the Trump administration tax cut the top 1% who pay over 40% of the taxes saw their average rates fall to 25.4% from 26.8%. 

They make the most money--it's incredible how well millionaires can do in the USA, but they pay far more than their "fair share" and Democrats just want to drive them out of the country. Every president since I've been voting (JFK, 1960) has brought in more taxes to support some pretty odd and bizarre programs by reducing taxes, not punishing the successful. Biden wants to punish success, and although he puts "rich" at $400,000, we know he lies and doesn't keep his word.

"Rich" is a relative term. But if you're talking income from salary and not "wealth" you need to be earning $350,000 to be comfortably rich in an expensive or coastal city. (That's virtually all of Congress and "think tank" CEOs in DC.) And if you do and you are a family of 4, contribute to a 401k, pay federal and state and local taxes, plus FICA and take a child credit, you're paying $92,160 (32%) in taxes. And you can see the upward creep in taxes at https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-income-do-you.../ 

Democrats in Congress, the most overpaid and underworked Americans, lusting for more money to fund their socialist programs like climate change and woke capitalism, are mad that the rich actually made a lot more money with a tax cut that was smaller than the middle class. Duh! They didn't get rich by being stupid. Maybe they took that savings and invested it in stocks, or bought a new income property or paid off some high interest loans, or started a small company. The tax cuts made no difference to the low income or the no-income. You can't take away from zero. In the USA you can earn over $50,000 a year yet with Earned Income Tax Credits, the government will give you another $5,000 if you have 2 children and you pay NO taxes. No wonder people jump the border to get here.

What's next after transgenderism?

What rights group will be next for the Democrats to elevate to top victim heap they need to protect for political power?

The only rights group with any credibility and truly victims of injustice we generally call the "civil rights movement" of the 1950s-1960s and they were black citizens, or African Americans. This movement had been going on for decades and was lead primarily by blacks with political pushing by the Republicans. They worked for years to pass anti-lynching legislation (always stopped by Democrats) and civil rights legislation (were finally successful after years of Democratic blocking) when under Eisenhower the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed. Civil Rights Act of 1957 | Eisenhower Presidential Library (eisenhowerlibrary.gov)

With the 1970s came Feminism. Possibly it had a few victims, but it brought it's own problems. Marriages failed and children began their childhood in day care. It was mostly legislation about safety, employment and sports. It got a big shot in the butt with #MeToo.

After Feminism, the attention turned to homosexuality, discrimination, marriage, and AIDS. Or as it's loosely known, the gay culture, or Queer culture, an umbrella term they use, not me.
After the Defense of Marriage Act (1996-2015) failed and homosexuals had the legal right to marry and divorce, there was so much money left in the coffers by the big donors, they needed another cause to add to the movement now called Intersectionality which had by then become radically cultural Marxism.

And that's how Transgenderism rose to the top. With less than 1% of the population and being biologically impossible. The current group at the head of the banquet leaves women and minorities to eat table scraps. And it's destroyed the concept of safety from sexual assault and women's sports. We now in a very short time have "affirming surgery," "chest feeding," male athletes competing in women's sports, and chemical or surgical castration of young boys and men. Oh yes, and drag queens at story hours.

No one loves a victim like the Democrat party. Who's next? They are in the kitchen making the sausage. Will you join?

The Hutchins and Houck cases

I know it's ancient history, but did the FBI arrest Alec Baldwin when he killed with an unregistered prop gun Halyna Hutchins? Don't we have federal and state gun laws? Is that a less serious offense than someone being pushed at an abortion event which the local police had already investigated and settled? Can we always expect the FBI to show up for cases under local jurisdiction or just for Catholics or just for pro-lifers? Do you remember how many Antifa or BLM rioters were arrested at home in front of their families by the FBI? They were burning down federal buildings and looting private property. It looks to me like the pro-abortion guy was assaulting the pro-lifer's son--that's why the local police settled it. Parents are allowed to protect their children, or were until Joe got on the scene. Why is Joe Biden using the FBI as his personal terror squad?

FBI arrest of Pennsylvania pro-life activist 'stinks to high heaven,' former prosecutor says: 'Loser case' | Fox News

Putin's war on Ukraine is our proxy war

Why does Putin think those territories belong to Russia? We helped. Check your history books, Democrats. 

When Obama was running for re-election in March 2012, a live microphone picked up his conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"Obama told Medvedev it was important for incoming President Vladimir Putin to "give me space" on missile defense and other difficult issues and that after the 2012 presidential election he would have "more flexibility." (cns.news) No one tried to impeach him, but that message was far more dangerous and with a death toll far worse than anything Trump said to Zelensky on the phone, which he had every right to do and which was recorded live with no secrecy or whispers.

 
After Putin had that nod of approval from Obama, Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in Feb-March 2014 and sided with the Assad regime in Syria's civil war. It's been chaos in that region since.

 
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden got involved with Burisma for $50,000 a month, with no evidence he knew anything except his paternity. They were too smart to hand him a check--it was laundered through New York-based capital management firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai. And our media were too dumb or too bought to ever follow up on the corruption of the Biden Crime Family.

We're now in a proxy war, killing Russians and paying Ukrainians to do it.

The lived experience of Don Lemon

When Don Lemon of CNN says he knows Hurricane Ian was caused by climate change because he lived in Florida as a child, he's using the typical "lived experience" theory of the Left. Of course, the "lived experience" of the right doesn't count. Especially that which shows two well known FDA approved safe drugs can help treat a modern disease developed in a lab in a country on the other side of the ocean which spread and killed millions around the world.

National Hurricane Center chief shuts down CNN's Don Lemon trying to link Hurricane Ian to climate change | Fox News

News about the new booster from OSU

I have received an Ohio State News Alert:

"Individuals can receive the new COVID-19 booster two months after completing any primary series or any previous COVID-19 booster dose. The Pfizer bivalent booster is APPROVED for people who are 12 or older."

Approved? So I looked that up. It hasn't been approved by any agency that I can find in the Pfizer notice. It clearly says it's a permit for an unapproved product. And it also says this product is to prevent Covid-19, which the previous 4 shots haven't done, nor does the CDC say it prevents Covid.

Is this misinformation or mixed messaging or carefully worded warning not to sue?

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to permit the emergency use of the UNAPPROVED PRODUCT, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent (Original and Omicron BA.4/BA.5) for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 12 years of age and older."

So I continued browsing and on p. 19 (about which OSU doesn't warn it's 50,000 students and probably that many staff and faculty)

"Postmarketing data with authorized or approved monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines demonstrate increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly within the first week following receipt of the second primary series dose or first booster dose, with most booster doses likely administered at least 5 months after completing primary vaccination. For the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, the observed risk is higher among adolescent males and adult males under 40 years of age than among females and older males, and the observed risk is highest in males 12 through 17 years of age. Although some cases required intensive care support, available data from short-term follow-up suggest that most individuals have had resolution of symptoms with conservative management. Information is not yet available about potential long-term sequelae. The CDC has published considerations related to myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination, including for vaccination of individuals with a history of myocarditis or pericarditis (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical considerations/myocarditis.html).
Revised: 31 August 2022

Columbus CEO uses diversity as soft porn

There's so much I could tell you about the "Columbus CEO" Fall 2022 issue. 1) It's gone completely overboard for D.I.E., 2) it's now a quarterly instead of a monthly, 3) it's now including soft porn in it's stories about D.I.E.

Yes, indeed, in this fall's issue (almost wrote month) cover story about Donna James, a black woman, fully clothed, who is going to make Victoria's Secret more inclusive and diverse so it can regain it's huge share in a dwindling skimpy underwear market it includes this photo. Evidence of inclusion. All shades of black, maybe a trans model (didn't read the story), an African model, obese, and who knows, perhaps one of them is mentally ill or challenged.

The story with the cover seemed to indicate that this accomplished savvy black woman is a shrewd 65 year old businesswoman who would turn the company around after the #metoo movement, a clientele that has moved on to hard porn and sex positivity (i.e. anything goes including choking and slapping and beatings), a scandal about Les Wexner's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the transmovement where men are not only moving into women's locker rooms and sports, but taking their modeling jobs. That's a lot to dump on an older woman who wears long hair and matchy-matchy pant suits to work--like the 70s. She probably doesn't wear the product.

And I'm not surprised "Columbus CEO" has moved to fewer issues. How long can you attract advertisers who want to hold on to a market that is based in a city that is 72% white, 16% black, 4.3 Asian, 4.3 Hispanic and the rest "other" with stories on racism, gender anomalies, obesity is good, all the while telling your market they are bad, disgusting people taking up too much space on the planet?

Maybe it will work--I was a librarian not a publisher (Ray Paproki), and I'm certainly not their target audience. To me, it looks like shooting yourself in the . . . foot.

Update: Last year's Future 50 (in business, influence, etc.) cover issue had over half women, 40% black, and when I looked through, none live in areas predominately black or minority, virtually all in high income areas with big salaries. Does that show success or that "Columbus CEO" is a hypocrite and all the diversity articles are just hype to be on the bandwagon? The editor for that issue is now gone.

Kamala Harris is a blatant racist and classist

Kamala Harris may be the biggest racist of the year, or maybe of the Biden administration. . . and that's saying something. Democrats will claim that Trump is a racist with no evidence.  But the Biden gang proves it every day.  Her latest scandal is she has politicized Hurricane Ian because she wants "equity." Federal money she told a Democrat political group should go to the poor and [read] black people. I guess if a black multi-millionaire loses his property because the house was too close to the water on Sanibel, FEMA should give him more money than the white middle class guy who uses his property to invest for his retirement. But in her mind it's about "climate change" (used different set of words to be cagey) and systemic racism. The woman, who most recently told the world we were allies of North Korea and cackles like a crow, cannot be trusted with history, science, common sense or the best interests of black Americans.

The referendum, fair of course, in Ukraine

Putin says they have voted to be Russians--the Ukrainian territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Yes, we know how those middle of the night boxes arrive mysteriously full of votes. Of course, when it happens on the other side of the world instead of 8 critical swing states, the Democrats do get smart and will cry foul.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/30/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-annexation-intl/index.html

Think before you vote--it's still taking a life no matter what Democrats call it

If you live in a state that is going for a constitutional amendment for abortion (like Michigan) think before you vote. Especially if you are pro-choice. The amendment goes much further than Roe, and that's one of the slogans--return to Roe. That's a lie. It removes your parental rights, it forces you to pay for them, it removes your right to conscience protection if you are a health worker, and in the extreme since it could allow a 14 year old to decide to abort, it could remove her protection of current age of consent laws. If she can decide abortion, why not sex with an adult man? Liberals/progressives, Democrats, humanists just lie about important issues. I don't know why, but you always need to dig down deep for the truth. They also play with words. On the ballot, it will not be clear in most cases. Investigate before you vote. It's abortion anytime, anyplace, any reason. That could mean no regulation of clinics, or it could mean sucking out the brain the day before the due date. Although on that last one, if it's legal, I suppose the baby doesn't need to be dead before delivery to avoid homicide charges.

"Calling it a “hodgepodge of nonsensical gibberish” and a “word salad” of “incomprehensible argle-bargle,” opponents of the measure say it is so riddled with typographical errors that state officials should strike it from the Nov. 8 ballot.

“The text of the amendment is filled with run-on words that are incomprehensible, making an already confusing amendment impossible to understand,” Christen Pollo, spokeswoman for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children, a coalition of pro-life groups opposed to the proposal, said Aug. 16.

“Amending the constitution is serious business” she added, “and these people didn’t take it seriously enough even to proofread their own language.”" Oops! Typo-filled Michigan abortion amendment could have used a proofreader | Catholic News Agency

For those poorly catechized Christians who believe the liberals' lie that Jesus didn't address abortion, a common event in first century middle east, keep in mind what both the OT and NT says about taking care of the poor, weak and hungry. You can't find a better definition of a pre-birth baby.

October by Robert Frost

Since it's October 1, I thought I'd post the October poem by Robert Frost, but some critic spoiled my plan by reminding the reader that Frost was writing about death. It's the crows. When poets write about crows, says the critic, that tells you death is coming. But critics know that, and I didn't.

Poetry Analysis: October, by Robert Frost | The Literary Dragon

So let's just go with face value of the poem. The rows of maples on Henderson and McCoy have just a touch of gold this morning. Always sad to see since we know what coming, but thankful for the beauty.

"Taken at face value, this poem speaks, with a simple elegance, of the unique beauty of a crisp October morning. With an attention to detail that is characteristic of Frost, the poem carefully lays out the scene: just a quiet morning in early October. The air is silent, “hushed” even, but for the distant sound of crows. Multicolored leaves paint the ground in bright colors-red and gold and brown. A simple scene, rendered instantly familiar to any New Englander. Who would think to look any further?"

I checked my blog, and I've written 3 other posts about Robert Frost. I’m old enough to have actually attended a poetry reading by Robert Frost, one of the 20th century’s most famous and favorite poets, when I was a student at the University of Illinois. (He died in 1963.) My date that night was someone I'd met at Chinese Student Club, and I'm not sure if he understood anything, but he was polite and listened carefully. My roommate Dora Lee was Chinese (her family escaped from Communist China) which is why I attended Chinese Student Club.

The poem ends with grapes.  Isn't that nice?   A symbol for communion for Christians, although I doubt Frost of thinking in that direction.

Serendipity trivia:  While I was looking for a photo of Frost at the U. of I. on the internet, I took my 1959 Illio (yearbook) off the shelf.  It didn't have a good table of contents or index for special events so I started leafing through it.  I saw a photo of students at the first football game packed in like sardines, and there were two women from my house, McKinley Hall, Sandra McArthur and Mary Jo Brodd.  I also attended that game (got sick which is why I remember), so I studied it pretty carefully to see if we might have had a block of tickets, but I didn't see me.

The farm on Daysville Road

 In May we sold our summer home in Lakeside, Ohio, after owning it for 34 years. Part of the sale contract was we would stay until Labor Day, so we did get to enjoy one last summer. That's just a little longer than we owned our home on Abington Road where we raised our family. We bought it in 1988 and I still was suffering from a bad case of "empty nest." I remember how much fun it was to decorate it--we were starting from scratch because everything needed to be refreshed, remodeled, or replaced. In May 1989 Bob and his friend Ron changed the paint color from white to mauve, which it remained through summer 2022, our last year.  Some knick knacks and mementos made the trip from Columbus to Lake Erie, although I didn't want it to look like our home in Columbus.  I shopped in Sandusky for things like sheets and towels, and I believe the wall paper (all the rage then) in cream, mauve, rose and blue, came from a Columbus store. 

One of my own paintings seem to fit the theme of the master bedroom--sort of rural and folksy with maple furniture from the 1940s, so it made the trip to the summer home and stayed for 34 years.  This is an acrylic painting I'd done around 1978 from a photo I'd taken in around 1974 of the field of soybeans and neighboring farm at my mother's family farm near Franklin Grove.  I believe at the time I was told that was the --------- place, and it may have even been a distant relative, but I've forgotten the name. If I had the Lee County History book, I could perhaps look it up.  

I doubt that I painted the buildings accurately because it was the sky, particularly the clouds, that caught my eye that hot day. The sun was high in the sky and the fluffy clouds created a shadow on the fields.  The farm land in that part of Lee County is very flat, so when you're outside, you have a feeling that it's all sky--maybe like Montana which is called "big sky." A story that was told to me, I think by my father, is that this area was all marsh in the 1800s when the white settlers arrived. It was near Inlet Swamp.  I'd heard from my grandmother that her father had tiled the land to drain the water. He got the land very cheap, maybe $1.00 an acre because it was swampy and wet--considered worthless for farming.  If I could see what's west of that farm on Daysville Road in the painting I think it would be Old Mill Road and Franklin Creek Park.  

 So this painting hung in the Lakeside house for 34 years, and is now in the bathroom off my office.

Joe and Kamala--not a good week

Joe honored a woman in the room who was dead and Kamala said the U.S. was in an alliance with North Korea.

I don't blame them, I blame the Democrats for electing them. They knew exactly what they were getting--a confused old man past his prime (if he had one--he had a 45 year record as a gaffe machine and plagiarist) and a woman chosen for her race who actually called Biden a racist during the 2020 campaign! Now how dumb can the voters be!

And then his Spox Karine Jean-Pierre tried to cover for him when even the usually cover-up press corps brought it up. All she needed to say was, "He misspoke," and although it would have been a lie, it would have been over.  She just went on and on with her fable.

Vice President Kamala Harris commends US alliance with 'Republic of North Korea' in DMZ speech gaffe | Fox News

Watch: Joe Biden Searches Room for Deceased Congresswoman in Incredibly Awkward Moment – RedState

Transgenderism goes mainstream

Does anyone remember maybe 40-50 years ago Billy Graham was vilified by the Leftists for suggesting that rapists might be castrated to stop their attacks on women and boys? He apologized. Now we have everyone from university medical schools, to the AMA to the President of the United States claiming it's OK either through surgery or hormone blockers to castrate boys who fantasize about wearing dresses and attracting men. Yes, even adolescents or younger, no counseling, just confusion or a fantasy. And some of the parents go along to get along. My, how things change in the Halls of Ivy.

 
And we get to participate in this new form of child abuse by funding it with our tax dollars. We've got a clinic right here on the Ohio State campus (and all the other public university campuses like Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati). An abusers' "heaven." Only they dress it up (no pun) a little and call it, Transgender Heaven. Look it up, I'm not kidding.

Rare earth minerals

Having sold off so much of the US strategic critical mineral reserves, the US now depends on China for rare earth minerals, which are crucial for everything in the US military from F-35 fighter jets, missiles, and tanks to mobile phones and radio communication.

The rare earths dependency on China stems in part from the fact that extracting rare earth minerals is an extremely polluting process that China has been willing to undertake, while most other countries have not, including the US, which ironically prides itself on having strict environmental regulations in place."

How the US Squandered Its Strategic Minerals :: Gatestone Institute

Compare and contrast the response to Katrina and Ian

Let's review some history of the media and Democrat party (redundant). Remember Katrina? In 2005 New Orleans was devastated. It had a black Democrat mayor responsible for the local evacuation and safety. Louisiana had a female Democrat governor who should have had the rest of the state ready to respond as well as her neighbors. Who did the press blame? President Bush. Why? Because he flew over and looked at the devastation and didn't parachute into the eye of the storm. Makes sense right?

 
Let's contrast to Ian, the storm currently devastating Florida. Some in the mainstream media (not all are so stupid) can't blame Biden so they want to discuss "climate change" which they confuse with weather. That way they can continue to back Biden's inflationary plans for the green new deal (IRA) instead of fighting highest inflation in 50 years, shortages of fuel which could leave Europe freezing this winter, and chaos at our southern border with the sex and drug trafficking.

 
Because DeSantis was better at controlling Florida's economy while the rest of the nation locked down and shuddered at the latest pronouncement of Fauci and CDC (many of which have been proven wrong) the left has temporarily postponed their attacks on Trump (J-6 clown show was set aside) and moved on to DeSantis, like the ugly ladies of the View, the MSM talking heads and the Soros backed twitter bots.

Oh yes, and President Bush was called racist during rescue efforts during Katrina, because many died in the poor, black neighborhoods of NOLA. Four years later when all the data were examined, it turned out that NOLA with 65% black population showed 51% of the dead from all storm related causes were blacks, and it was the elderly that were most vulnerable. That should have been the take away from that disaster. It could have been applied to the pandemic, along with centuries of experience. But no. For holding on to power, Biden needed to control the whole nation, and particularly shut down the churches while leaving bars and tattoo parlors open. Governors (like ours in Ohio, a Republican) followed meekly, trusting one science, but not another. Mayors of blue cities allowed crowds for rioting but not open churches because George Floyd was a good cause (for BLM).

 
In NOLA during Katrina and aftermath many of the elderly died when the power was out. In Florida, I heard on an interview yesterday, all nursing home and retirement facilities have 100% secondary back up for power. (Those fleeing in electric cars were just out of luck.)

Hurricane Katrina Deaths, Louisiana, 2005 | Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness | Cambridge Core

Are you a classicist?

A Pelosi staffer (an intern) interrupted Victor Davis Hanson in a luncheon presentation for government staffers accusing him of being a classicist. Puzzled, VDH questioned what he meant. He said that because he was a classicist he was oppressing the poor and working classes. When VDH calmly explained that a classicist was a scholar who studied ancient languages, literature and history of Greece and Rome his attacker stormed out, grabbing several boxes of pizza as he left. And that my friends is what goes on in the bubble we call D.C. (VDH show on Sept. 27, podcast)

Joe Biden just doesn't care

Joe Biden doesn't care about those who worked and paid their own costs for college--tuition, fees, transportation, housing, meals, and social life for four or five years, more if they went to graduate school.

Joe Biden doesn't care about those who applied for loans and grants and graduated with debts they paid off just as they had agreed to do.

Joe Biden doesn't care about those who were promised more than could be delivered, who left college with debt that plagued them for many years. Like the appliance repairman who was here a few days ago who left college with $40,000 debt and a job that didn't pay as well as he had before he enrolled.

Joe Biden doesn't care about those who finished high school with a degree or GED and went on to build a successful life and never went to college or accumulated no debt for their training on the job.

Joe Biden doesn't care that each U.S. household since he's moved in part time at the White House has lost about $4600 a year due to inflation.

Joe Biden doesn't care that he's adding $4 Billion (CBO figure) to that 8.5% inflation to illegally forgive student debt which will affect the middle income much more than the lawyers and doctors who can now spend more without their student debt.

Joe Biden doesn't care that he's given the green light to academic administrators to raise their tuition and fees even more.

What Joe Biden really cares about is the votes he's buying for the November election to keep the Democrats in power to spend, lie and steal.

Inflation costing Americans an extra $460 per month: analysis (nypost.com)

2022-09-27-garrison-v-us-dept-of-education-complaint.pdf (pacificlegal.org)

St. Lorenzo Ruiz Feast Day

 One of the advantages of using a Catholic publication (Magnificat) for my morning meditation time is the history and fine art that I learn.  As a protestant, my exposure to Christian history, after the death of the disciple John, was whatever happened after 1708 (Church of the Brethren) or later when we joined Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, the dispersion and scattering of Christians into thousands of denominations after Martin Luther (German) and John Calvin (French) in the 16th century. 

On the Catholic calendar today is the feast day of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, and he was born around 1600 and canonized by John Paul II in 1987.  Although some U.S. Christians deny that Christians today are martyred or persecuted for their faith (the largest number by Communists), that's not what the statistics show.  Just because we have the First Amendment to our Constitution in the U.S. and do not feel personally persecuted doesn't mean it isn't happening in Asia and Africa where the growth is the strongest. 

"[He] and his 15 companion martyrs, all members and associates of the Dominican Order, were slain in Japan between 1633 and 1637.  Persecutions stemmed from a 1603 edict by the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu banning Christianity.  From 1623, suspected Christians were forced to tread on images of Mary and Jesus. Those who refused were executed.  The tortures from his period were designed to force the victims to renounce their Faith.  Some Christians did apostasize.  The men and women honored today spent their last excruciating hours with their hearts raised in prayer and hymns of praise." (Magnificat, vol. 24, no. 7, p. 388-389).  

So of course, I had to turn to the internet for more information since my personal library is not much help. His death is just too gruesome to repeat, I don't even recommend that you look it up, but I was struck by the fact he was sort of an accidental martyr.  Although a devout Christian, he really hadn't intended to be a missionary to the Japanese, and got there by accident fleeing his homeland on a homicide charge. He arrived in the middle of a terrible persecution, but his faith and early training held up and endured the most terrible torture. 

Because this group of Christians who were killed in the 17th century were in Nagasaki, one of the bombed cities at the end of WWII, I continued looking through historical material on the internet.  I found out a remnant of the Christians survived, and even had a thriving community in the 1940s.  That area of Nagasaki where they lived was at the center of the destruction and was destroyed.  One Christian survivor of the A-bomb  believes "the war ended because of our sacrifice.” https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2015/10/08/nagasakis-hidden-christians-survive-persecution-and-the-atomic-bomb/

Christian Persecution in the 21st Century - Good News Christian NewsGood News Christian News (goodnewsfl.org)

Compare the media treatment of Trump and Biden

Let's do a dose of "whataboutism."

Remember how hysterical the media Democrats (redundant) were about the Charlottesville attack with a car during a protest about removing a statue from a city park 4 years ago? Remember who they blamed? That's right. President Trump, who had nothing to do with it, and had said nothing violent or "fascist" about the local dispute. They condemned him as a racist for NOT condemning the perp strongly enough, even though at the time there was no motive, no information on the killing. They blasted that all over the news for months. Now compare that to the crickets from the Left and Joe Biden's handlers in the recent death of teen-ager Cayler Ellingson, 18, who was killed on Sunday in North Dakota after 41-year-old Shannon Brandt ran over him with his car deliberately following a political dispute. Brandt claims Ellingson is (was) a right wing, Republican terrorist, using the words of Biden, Clinton, and other Democrats hyperinflated with their own power. Brandt not only hasn't been condemned for following the suggests of Biden in how to deal with right wing opponents even if they've never done anything, he's walking free on low bond. Meanwhile, parents are terrorized by the government for speaking out at school board meetings, and the FBI is sent to arrest a pro-lifer in Florida whom they claim "pushed" a pro-abortion agitator. Well, Brandt "pushed" an opponent with his car, and killed him. And that guy goes free.

Democrats, especially the media, have no standards, no foundation in goodness, and no idea of truth and justice. They are all talk and they redefine the words to fit their narrative--it's not justice, it's JUST US. Whether it is about the value of life (willing to abort babies and sexually abuse children with "medical" transcare), or the security of our nation (allowing millions of unexamined border hoppers in), or the rights of women (forcing them to compete with men with the slice of a knife, or popping a hormone pill or just fantasizing about their bodily needs), they twist and turn the words to stay in power.

The bureaucratization of the killers and the dehumanization of their victims

I noticed this phrase in a City Journal article about the Russia vs. Ukraine war: "Russian atrocities against Ukrainians rely on the bureaucratization of the killers and the dehumanization of their victims." Re-read that carefully. Read it again. Let it sink in. In a less bloody form, that's the battle we are experiencing in the U.S. A huge bureaucracy, wealthy, powerful, masked and murky is battling their imaginary foe made up of their brothers and sisters of the same culture, history and language with demeaning, dehumanizing name calling like "deplorable," "racist," "terrorist," and "you-name-it phobics." More recently and with just a veneer of benign slurs, Colleen Shogan, Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the National Archives and Records Administration (the agency going after Trump), was questioned about a paper in which she disparaged every two-term Republican president since World War II as being not too bright--perhaps too stupid to run the country. See the slant? Demean and diminish. Divide and conquer. Just a change in flag and uniform. Methods are the same.

"In all these cases, in circumstances as distinct as those in Germany, Rwanda, Armenia, or Ukraine, we find a machinery of barbarism with no particular relation to one or another culture. It has been perfectly demonstrated and analyzed during trials for genocide, particularly in the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. The barbarism always stands on two foundations: the bureaucratization of the killers and the dehumanization of the victims."

Russia's Machinery of Barbarism | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Boring books

I've mentioned before that I listen to a lot of podcasts. They are more interesting than radio or TV shows and most don't have commercials. Particularly for walking outside, loading the dishwasher or sleeping. Today I found one called "Boring Books for Bedtime," and it consists of truly boring books read slowly by a woman with a soft, husky, hushed voice. The list of titles is indeed boring. Just to try it out I listened to the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog Grocery Department. But some titles are on butterflies, or oceans, Aristotle, Darwin, Thoreau, political issues of 50 years ago, or home building (in 1894). Here's one that actually sounds like it would keep me awake--"Pictures from Italy" by Charles Dickens. Truly a wonderful idea.

https://boringbooksforbedtime.libsyn.com/relaxation-rewind-the-color-of-a-great-city-by-theodore-dreiser-part-1

Italy has its first female prime minister

So the new prime minister of Italy is "far right wing" according to U.S. media--no to gender nonsense, yes to traditional family and border security, no to Muslim terrorism. Sounds like the U.S. before Obama decided to "fundamentally" change the country in 2009.

Baby names

Today I was going through papers from my desk at our Lakeside house (sold) that I brought back to Columbus. Some warranties, notes from Mrs. Thompson (previous owner) on names of plants, and old bills. Like removal of 4 skunks, $60, about 30 years ago. I'd never paid attention to his name before, but it was Ulice. The first thing I thought of was that Mama didn't know how to spell Ulysses. But I looked it up. Yes, it is an American male name, though very rare. Then I learned it was first recorded in 1886 as a birth name. Ulysses S. Grant was president from 1869-1877. I'm going with my first guess.

Speaking of skunks last week we reported a huge wasp nest in the tree in front of our house, and I looked out just now and saw a guy with a big ladder wearing a haz-mat suit and big hat. Not an easy job, I'm sure. I will observe from inside and won't ask him his name.

There are so many workers out there who at the end of the day can say they've accomplished more than our Congress and President.

Biden steps in it again--on abortion

 He doesn't speak for the Roman Catholic Church.

Biden commented on abortion at a Democratic fundraiser on Thursday during a discussion about a Republican proposal to restrict abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. “I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic,” Biden said, “my Church doesn’t even make that argument.”

“This may be the most outrageous thing Joe Biden has ever said,” said CatholicVote President Brian Burch regarding Biden’s comment about what the Church teaches. Burch pointed out that the president was essentially arguing that the Catholic Church, for the first time in its history, now endorses abortions in some cases.

“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed as an ends or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (No. 2271).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also has addressed the difficult situation of a pregnancy conceived in rape.

“(A)ny woman subjected to sexual assault needs our compassionate and understanding care, including psychological and spiritual as well as medical support,” Richard Doerflinger, the then associate director of the pro-life secretariat, said in a July 2013 commentary on the U.S. bishops’ website.

“(A)ny child conceived in rape is, like his or her mother, an innocent victim. That child, too, has a right to life, and destroying the child does not punish the rapist or end the woman’s trauma,” he added.

“Does Joe Biden think he knows more about abortion than the pope?” said Burch. “More than our bishops? More than 2,000 years of Church teaching that abortion always ends the life of an innocent unborn child?”

  

Biden Claims Catholic Church Now Allows Some Abortions - CatholicVote org

Joe Biden: Wrong on Catholicism and Abortion | National Review

President Biden fundraiser remarks muddle Catholic teaching on abortion | Catholic News Agency

Sustainability of phosphorus, an essential plant nutrient

We need phosphorus for food, and it's being wasted, so we might run out, but it is also a pollutant according to globalist researchers. I noticed in the recent LAS publication, The Quadrangle, that a professor of sociology and law at the University of Illinois, Anna-Maria Marshal, is a co-principal investigator with the National Science Foundation in STEPS which received a $25 million grant for research in phosphorous sustainability. That's a lot of money but STEPS involves 9 universities. Her part--study how people can be encouraged to adopt innovative technologies. So when I looked up her bio, which wasn't included in the article--guess what? She's also an associate professor of gender and women's studies, and associate professor of global studies. Her research interests are environmental justice movement and the LGBTQ movement. For background on this phosphorus sustainability movement I looked up one of the references.

The Story of Phosphorus Sustainability implications of global phosphorus scarcity for food security, by Dana Cordell, PhD thesis, published January 2010, abstract, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265282063

"In a world which will be home to nine billion people by the middle of this century, producing enough food and other vital resources is likely to be a substantial challenge for humanity. Phosphorus, together with nitrogen and potassium, is an essential plant nutrient. It is applied to agricultural soils in fertilizers to maintain high crop yields. Phosphorus has no substitute in food production. Therefore, securing the long-term availability and accessibility of phosphorus is crucial to global food security. However the major source of phosphorus today, phosphate rock, is a non-renewable resource and high quality reserves are becoming increasingly scarce. This thesis estimates peak phosphorus to occur before 2035, after which demand will exceed supply. Phosphorus scarcity is defined by more than just physical scarcity of phosphate rock and this thesis develops five important dimensions. For example, there is a scarcity of management of phosphorus throughout the entire food production and consumption system: the global phosphorus flows analysis found that only 20% of phosphorus in phosphate rock mined for food production actually reaches the food consumed by the global population due to substantial inefficiencies and losses from mine to field to fork. There is also an economic scarcity, where for example, while all the world’s farmers need access to sufficient fertilizers, only those with sufficient purchasing power can access fertilizer markets. Institutional scarcity, such as the lack of governance structures at the international level that explicitly aim to ensure long-term availability of and access to global phosphorus resources for food production that has led to ineffective and fragmented governance of phosphorus, including a lack of: overall coordination, monitoring and feedback, clear roles and responsibilities, long-term planning and equitable distribution. Finally, geopolitical scarcity arising from 90% of the world’s remaining high-grade phosphate rock reserves being controlled by just five countries (a majority of which are subject to geopolitical tensions) can limit the availability of phosphorus on the market and raises serious ethical questions."

What if you've been told for two decades that phosphorus is dangerous What Is The Purpose Of Phosphates In Laundry Detergent : Phosphate Fertilizer (finefertilizer.com) and now you're told you need it because it's essential so farmers should conserve and limit use, Phosphorus progress in Ohio – Ohio Ag Net | Ohio's Country Journal (ocj.com).

Nutrient Pollution: How Excess Nitrogen and Phosphorus are Shaping Health Outcomes | National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (ncelenviro.org)

The Issue | US EPA

"Phosphorus plays many roles in society today – both desired and undesired. At any moment in time, phosphorus fulfils numerous different functions – on vastly different temporal and geographical scales: transporting split-second signals to the brain in the chemical ATP*, or immobile as a Ca3(PO4)2 molecule in apatite-rich phosphate rock that took tens of millions of years to form, awaiting extraction, or gradually being drawn up from soil solution by plant roots via chemical diffusion, or discharging from our bodies in a momentary drop of urine before being diluted by a flood of flush water to join other household and industry wastewater at a distant treatment plant, polluting water bodies as cyanobacteria, or simply cycling naturally between land, biota and water without being noticed by most of society. Because of its multiple roles and manifestations, phosphorus is perceived quite differently by different sectors. Table 5-1 identifies 12 different forms of phosphorus, each with different perceived societal functions and each relating to different societal sectors.62" p. 80 of title cited above, followed by excellent graphics, tables, etc.

On p. 102 of this 2010 paper the problem of Morocco and Western Sahara which is phosphate rich was noted. In President Trump's backed Abraham Accord The United States recognized Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over Western Sahara. "By the end of November 2021, the government of Morocco announced that it had earned $6.45 billion from the export of phosphate from the kingdom and from the occupied territory of Western Sahara. If you add up the phosphate reserves in this entire region, it amounts to 72 percent of the entire phosphate reserves in the world (the second-highest percentage of these reserves is in China, which has around 6 percent). Phosphate, along with nitrogen, makes synthetic fertilizer, a key element in modern food production. While nitrogen is recoverable from the air, phosphates, found in the soil, are a finite reserve. This gives Morocco a tight grip over world food production." Morocco drives a war in Western Sahara for its phosphates : Peoples Dispatch

*Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a complex organic chemical that is found in every cell of the human body.

Using Radio Garden and finding Gunsmoke

 Using the Radio Garden app, you can listen to radio all over the world, so after browsing Oberlin, Ohio and Nantucket, Massachusetts, I landed in Chicago (globe has bright green lights to guide across the world), but no city names until you stop. I found a radio station, Wild West Old Time Radio, and it was playing an episode of Gunsmoke.  William Conrad played Matt Dillion. Gunsmoke (radio series) | Gunsmoke Wiki | Fandom According to the fan site, Conrad was considered (but not seriously) for the Marshall Dillion part when it went to TV, but he was too heavy.

"[Some] argue the radio version was more realistic. Episodes were aimed at adults and featured some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, scalpings, massacres, and opium addicts. Many episodes ended on a somber note, and villains often got away with their crimes.

Nonetheless, due to the subtle scripts and outstanding ensemble cast, over the years, the program evolved into a warm, often humorous celebration of human nature."

Interesting to hear the commercials--especially for cigarettes. The writing and sound effects are so good, you don't even need an old black and white TV to enjoy it.  I seem to remember my sister Carol being a big fan of this show which ran from 1952 to 1961.

News of the day

" Criminals discovered that 2011 to 2021 Kias and 2015 to 2021 Hyundais equipped with ignitions that use a physical key, rather than a wireless key fob and push-button, could be started by using the tip of a USB cable, and the technique was posted online last year. Tens of thousands of the cars have been stolen since, some of them by teens not even old enough to have a driver's license." Fox News

And speaking of keys and stealing, I've been locked out of my Facebook account. A friend asked if it was a hack to steal my information, but I suspect that because I've been a member for over 10 years, the old timers never gave away as much as the newer enrollees. Now it wants a cell number so it can check to see if it's really me signing in. Hmmm. Sounds like a way to harvest phone numbers and sell them. My friend Connie (I have her e-mail address) told me it has happened to her, but she is able to use her cell phone to log-in, so maybe I'll try that. Other friends (Justine, Bev, and Dena) say they've not had that message.

And speaking of hacks, don't ever try that one to silence the beep on your microwave. It really works, and now how to get it back! You never know how important they are until you lose them.

Mike Huckabee suggests the government's motives for taking Mike Lindell's cellphone and what's happening with inflation. Morning Edition - September 22 - Latest News - Mike Huckabee As a retiree on a fixed income we do worry about inflation. And as an American, I am concerned about how the Biden administration is punishing anyone who questioned the 2020 election--although not all the Democrats like Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, or Stacy Abrams who questioned elections they didn't win before 2020.

"A federal watchdog on Thursday found that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the nation’s unemployment insurance program during the pandemic, using the Social Security numbers of dead people and other tactics to deceive and bilk the U.S. government." Washington Post.  Am I shocked?  Nope. There was so much graft, greed and corruption in the Covid pandemic it's just crazy. 

The Gospel of Matthew

Biden is hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to come after the middle class--particularly the Trump supporters (because that's where we be). How do we know that? Well, there are only about 700 billionaires, so if he's looking to find some unreported wealth to cover his misbegotten spending, that would leave a lot of these guys/girls with nothing to do. And he certainly won't go after the faithful Planned Parenthood manager, or the Head of the D. I. E. department at your local college, or a woke classroom instructor at Google.

However, it was a deceitful, money grubbing, hated tax collector who wrote the Gospel of Matthew. His life was transformed after he met Jesus. Let's pray for those 87,000, pray that they wake up and see what the boss is doing, and leave the cushy government security job for something better. Look at the lives changed by that other tax collector. Jesus did that 2000 years ago, he can do it again.

https://www.learnreligions.com/matthew-tax-collector-and-apostle-701067

Biden’s 87,000 IRS Agents Set to Become Woke Army of “Equity” Enforcers  - AMAC - The Association of Mature American Citizens

Is the IRS really hiring 87,000 new auditors? No, it isn’t. - Vox  (this is how the left sees it)

Canned stewed tomatoes, a taste of home

Last week our daughter brought over some freshly canned tomatoes and pickles, but I told her 2 pints of tomatoes would be plenty. I was thinking of spaghetti or casseroles. Then today I opened one to pour over a beef roast, and tasted a few chunks. Wow. Memory overload. My mom used to can tomatoes until I thought I'd never look at another stewed tomato. My dad (and the fathers of my friends) used to crumble soda crackers over them and add sugar to eat as a dessert. It would make me gag, but I guess it was a Depression era treat. Thus I had not tasted cold stewed, freshly canned tomatoes in about 60 years. It was like greeting a long lost friend.

Prager U, Stephen Moore, Red State vs. Blue State America

"We're supposed to be the United States of America. But in many ways, we're now divided into two very different nations.

There is red state America.

And there is blue state America.

The red states favor conservative, small government, free market policies: low taxes, light regulation, tough-on-crime policing, and worker freedom. Think Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, and Utah.

The blue states favor a liberal/left, big government approach: high taxes, heavy regulations, high minimum wages, and mandatory union membership. Think New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, and, of course, California.

Progressives like to argue that their big-government, high tax policies are economically superior and thus better for the poor, minorities and working-class Americans than those of red states. Conservative policies, progressives contend, are culturally backward, and tilted to benefit the rich.

Let's test this thesis by comparing three of the largest red states: Florida, Texas, and Tennessee with three of the largest blue states: California, New York, and Illinois.

If progressive policies really work, then Americans should be rushing to get into the blue states.

But just the opposite is happening.

Americans are packing up their U-Hauls and heading to the red states. According to the New York Times, in August 2020, so many people wanted to leave New York City that moving companies were turning away business. They just couldn't handle the demand.

This exodus may be accelerating, but it's not new.

Over the last decade the three big blue states each lost an average of one million people to other states, while the three big red states gained almost a million from other states.

Makes perfect sense. Americans like freedom. Small government means more freedom.

And freedom means opportunity.

Let's say you're looking for a job. Over the last decade, Florida, Texas and Tennessee have gained twice as many jobs as the progressive states.

Not only that, but your money goes further in red states. According to a 2019 Tax Foundation study, your $100 stretches to $111 in purchasing power in Tennessee, while in New Jersey it shrinks to $89.

If you're a big corporation or a small company looking for a business-friendly environment, affordable housing or maybe just a better quality of life, where are you going to go?

The tough decision is not choosing a red state or a blue state. The tough decision is which red state to move to.

Progressives like to say that this isn't about economics, it's about weather. The red states tend to be in the South and southwest where the weather is warmer.

But that doesn't explain why so many people are leaving California which has the best weather in the country.

So, what does explain the migration from blue states?

Start with taxes. The two most populous blue states — California and New York — have the highest tax rates in America, while the two most populous red states — Texas and Florida — have no income tax at all.

When taxes get too high, people move to where taxes are lower. The problem for the high-tax states is that these people take their money, their ambition, and their employees with them.

Then, there is crime.

Do blue cities do better than red cities?

The answer, of course, is no. Of the twenty cities with the highest murder rates, 18 are run by left-leaning Democrats — and for the most part, have been for decades. And these cities aren't getting safer; they're getting more dangerous.

A good chunk of Minneapolis was burned to the ground as a result of riots, following the death of George Floyd.

Portland had over 90 consecutive nights of rioting — not peaceful protests, rioting.

Seattle allowed an entire section of the city to declare itself an autonomous zone — a first in American history!

Progressive governors, progressive mayors, progressive police chiefs run all these cities and states.

Ask any resident of Los Angeles or San Francisco about the rise in homelessness and you'll get a litany of horror stories. Both cities, of course, have a long history of progressive mayors.

How about keeping us healthy and safe? Surely the progressive states, with their strict lockdowns, did a better job saving lives from the coronavirus.

Nope.

Adjusted for population, as a resident of New York, New Jersey or Illinois, you were three, four or even five times more likely to die of the virus than if you lived in a red state like Florida, Texas, Georgia, Utah or Arizona.

Progressives and liberal Democrats may mean well. They certainly talk a lot about how much they care about the poor, minorities and the working class.

Yet somehow, it's always the poor, minorities, and the working class who pay the price for their bad policies. That's why those who can move, move. Those who can't get stuck with the short end of the stick.

Red state America is prospering. Blue state America is in meltdown.

So, where do you want to live?

I'm Stephen Moore, economist at FreedomWorks, for Prager University.