More racist schools in Fairfax Co. or more sites of hidden documents?

Today on Bruce Hooley's show (98.5 FM Columbus) he was taking bets (not for real) on which numbers will increase faster--the number of schools in Fairfax Co. (DC) involved in the racist equity scandal (now up to 17), or the number of documents (now over 20?) and sites (is it 4 or 5) involved in Joe Biden's scandal. Either way, you know Democrats are involved at every step of the way. They are brushing off all their Jim Crow methods of the past.

The worst scandal, of course, is how the FBI and the media are treating two document situations, one far more serious than the other. Trump had a right to the documents and Biden didn't. Biden had his for 6 years in a variety of places not secured with one place paid for by the Chinese, the other in a house with his druggie son. What could possibly go wrong. The FBI raided Mar a Lago, but they are allowing Biden's lawyers to use kid gloves and blind folds to find and report is.

75% of the students cheated out of their merit scholarship reporting on college applications were Asian American. I'm betting not a one was Hispanic or Black.

Jimmy Carter doesn't get respect

 Well, I liked/like Jimmy Carter. To compare Biden with him as examples of poor presidents is ridiculous. Biden has been a crook and a liar since he found his home in the Democrat party. He has no match among our presidents in deviousness and dementia. I always thought Trump got more accomplished than any presidents in my voting life (1960- ), but now Biden has also made him look virtuous, honorable and brilliant, words I wouldn't have used before 2021.

Old letter--May 25, 2000--cleaning out the files

 What would I do without old letters cluttering up my computer files?  I'm trying to delete the dead wood, and found this from 2000. It must have been a slow day.  It was about 4 months before I retired.  My dad was still alive.  9/11 hadn't changed out lives. Obama hadn't poisoned the well. Bob was helping Dad with remodeling the Lustron and we would be there in the fall to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. I had fallen at work on a wet floor, and was still looking for help for the pain.

"My Dad called today to tell me Wanda Wiggins had mentioned me in her Pine Creek column in the Mt. Morris paper. I had written her a "fan" letter because even though I don't know anyone she talks about, her column has the folksy touch I like in a small town paper--like when you and your Mom wrote for the paper. I sent her my Tales from Pine Creek that I wrote for the family reunion in 1993. Because she grew up there and was the same age as my Aunt Lois, she really enjoyed it. Her children all went to Mt. Morris H.S., but were much younger than us.

I got a full two page e-mail/letter today from a guy in Indiana who has remodeled a Lustron. I asked him about replacing a bathtub, and I got a blow by blow description of everything he did--insulation, wiring--all the outlets he put in the kitchen. The guy was really into Lustrons!

I finally saw a doctor about my foot/leg problem from my fall on May 9. It just wasn't getting any better and my right leg and back were hurting from limping. He had it x-rayed and said there are no broken bones. There is a fluid build up from the bad bruising, and the fluid moves around, which is why some days it hurts and other days seem OK. So I'm to keep it elevated, use ice, and take an anti-inflammatory, which I still have from my rotator cuff problem. He also said I have all but 5% motion in my shoulder, and I could probably not worry about that--I think it is reverse psychology because I told him I hadn't been doing my exercises as I should.

We're going to the Lake house for Memorial Day week-end. I'm taking a vacation day so I'll have a 4 day week-end."

Drag Queens and powerful Democrat Women

Drag is insulting to real women, so why would these prominent and powerful Democrat women be so eager to demean other women? It's complicated. Since the performers are gay men, women don't have to be threatened by their masculinity and instead cavort with fake women dressed in clown outfits. It's also a virtue signaling act for liberal women. And the American Library Association, which is primarily female in sensible shoes and little make-up, joins in on the game promoting drag queen story hours in tax supported libraries. Is it any wonder that Brown-Jackson can't tell us what a woman is?

"Representative Alexandria ­Ocasio-Cortez appears to be the biggest drag fan in the United States Congress. She posts opinions and predictions about RuPaul’s Drag Race to social media (which has brought his net worth to $65 million). She attends drag events privately and, according to Out magazine, is “a massive Valentina stan.” No surprise, then, that Ocasio-Cortez leveraged her 2018 electoral victory into an open request to serve as a Drag Race celebrity judge, a dream she fulfilled in 2020.

Ocasio-Cortez was not the first Congressional drag fan to appear in the Drag Race franchise. Representative Nancy Pelosi has made two appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, the first in 2018 and the second in 2022. Senator Elizabeth Warren made a video appearance at RuPaul’s DragCon NYC in 2019, the only 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to do so. In 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared onstage with Drag Race winner ­Symone during a Capital Pride event. Later she hosted a Pride Month gathering at Number One Observatory Circle with Drag Race contestant Shangela, who was the first person ever to attend an event at the vice president’s official residence in drag. But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outdid them all. In 2019, at New York City’s Elmo Lounge—“the über gay Chelsea restaurant,” in the words of the New York Daily News—she became the first U.S. presidential candidate to be interviewed by a drag queen."

Fairfax County up to Seven Schools hurting Asian American students

Now it's 7 schools in Fairfax County promoting "equity" by hurting other students. "These high schools include Annandale High School, West Potomac High School, John R Lewis High School, Edison High School, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Westfield High School, and Langley High School. The Virgina Governor told ABC 7, "They have a maniacal focus on equal outcomes for all students at all costs. And at the heart of the American dream, is excelling, is advancing, is stretching and recognizing that we have students that have different capabilities." He continued, "Some students have the ability to perform at one level, others need more help, and we have to allow students to run as fast as they can to dream the biggest dreams they can possibly dream and then go get them." Youngkin also said, "The reality is that we have a superintendent in Fairfax schools who has explicitly stated that her top objective is equal outcomes for all students, regardless of the price."

Virginia Gov Glenn Youngkin slams 7 Fairfax schools for hoodwinking merit students to boost 'equity' | MEAWW

George Santos lied, but it doesn't matter

George Santos is an embarrassment to our system for electing our representatives--his state (New York) should be ashamed for not checking on his background. And where was the New York Times? We (and maybe he) probably have no idea who he really is. But he can't match Joe Biden, who again told the same lies he's told before at the MLK event. His party just smiles and says, Well that's just good old Joe. A new twist was mispronouncing Ketanji Brown Jackson's name and saying she was one generation from Civil Rights movement to Supreme Court, as he skipped right over Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.

 
I was thinking, that if a man can become a woman and we have to believe it because feelings matter more than truth, why can't he become an honest, upright, moral U.S. Representative just by speaking it and you all have to believe him?

Biden claimed in 1987 he graduated in the top half of his class at Syracuse College of Law. He was 76th in a class of 85.

Biden falsely claimed in 2022 he was arrested for trying to see Nelson Mandela in South Africa,
In 2021, Biden claimed in Idaho his “first job offer” was from a local lumber and wood products business, Boise Cascade. The company said there is “no record” of Biden’s claim.

Biden claimed in 2021 he visited Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were murdered in 2018. Biden did speak to the Tree of Life rabbi. He never visited the synagogue, as he claimed.

Biden claimed in 2022 he had visited Afghanistan and Iraq twice as president. The New York Post marked Biden’s claim as false.

Biden claimed in 2022 claimed he was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1965 by the late Sen. J. Caleb Boggs (R-DE). A search of Boggs’ records fails to produce evidence to support Biden’s claim.

Biden has falsely claimed twice in 2022 that his late son Beau died in Iraq. Beau died at a Maryland hospital.

Biden falsely claimed in 2019 that he never discussed business deals with Hunter. But Joe Biden left Hunter a voicemail in 2018 about a business deal with Chinese energy giant CEFC, directly contradicting Joe Biden’s statement in 2019.

Biden falsely claimed in 2022 he passed “student loan forgiveness.” But no student loan legislation has been passed through Congress.

Biden claimed in 2022 he was “sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically.” But Biden told the BBC he is Irish. Media reports suggest Biden is five-eighths Irish, stemming from two Irish families.

Biden falsely claimed the price of gas is “down from over $5 when I took office.” The day before former President Donald Trump left office, the national average price of gas was $2.38. 

"Biden told congregants at Georgia’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day that he began his career as a mid-20th-century civil rights activist. Biden said he “started off as a 22-year-old kid on the east side in the civil rights movement.” (He had denied this in 1978).

"Biden also told congregants at the Ebernezer Baptist Church that he went to a predominantly black church as a teenager." He didn't.

"During an overtly political speech marking the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Biden falsely claimed that Officer William “Billy” Evans died as a result of “threats by these sick [Jan. 6] insurrectionists.

Contrary to the president’s assertion, Evans was killed three months after the Jan. 6 riot in April 2021 by a Nation of Islam supporter who killed the officer by running him down with a car. The instance marks the second occasion in which Biden has conflated Evans’s death with the events of Jan. 6."

"During a speech on Nov. 1, Biden incorrectly claimed the United States has “the lowest inflation rate of almost any country in the world.”

As of September, the rate of inflation in the U.S. is 8.2 percent. Even though countries use different measures to calculate their inflation rates, the U.S. still had a larger increase in the cost of goods and services than many developed countries including Canada (6.9 percent), Japan (3 percent), Australia (7.3 percent), and Italy (5.79). 

While many countries around the globe are suffering from price hikes, the U.S. inflation rate quadrupled, rising faster than Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Japan, India, China, and others"

"Biden similarly told voters in New Hampshire in November of 2021 that his house burned down with First Lady Jill Biden inside of it." But it was a kitchen fire and fire dept. put it out within 20 min.

"During remarks at the Democratic National Committee Reception on Sept. 22, Biden falsely claimed the Roman Catholic Church caved on allowing exceptions for abortions in the case of rape and incest."

"In a “climate crisis” speech about fossil fuels in Massachusetts on July 20, 2022, Biden incorrectly claimed that he has cancer caused by oil pollution in his home state. Biden said that growing up, pollution in Delaware was so bad that his mother had to use windshield wipers to “get literally the oil slick off the window.”

"During a speech about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision, Biden claimed he had written “a number of law review articles” about the right to privacy referenced in the now-overturned Roe v. Wade decision." It didn't happen.

"Biden blames Trump for what he says is an excessive amount of executive orders, the facts show Biden is on track to outpace the former president’s executive authority tally. During his first few months in office, Biden clocked more than 42 orders. Trump, on the other hand, issued 33."

Full List Of Every Lie Biden Has Told As POTUS: 207 And Counting (thefederalist.com) (as of January 15, 2023)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today the nation pauses to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Always up for a photo-op, Democrats gather to hear Biden beat the dead horse of voting rights* and ignore that MLK was a Christian, a Republican and didn't lead riots in the street. King didn't march for equity, but equality. He had his battles with police, but I doubt he would support defunding them and hurting minority communities. He had his battles with the FBI and struggled with a bureaucratic, intrusive federal government, just as we do today. He would be thrilled with the huge advances Blacks made during the Trump administration. In fact, the MLK of the 1960s would probably not support the goals and mission of the Democrat party of 2023.

* Voter turn out for blacks was higher than whites in 2008 and 2012--there is no voting rights problem when there is someone they want to vote for. Biden doesn't attract them.

Speaking of photos, I tend to agree with those who are objecting to the new statue unveiled in Boston. Some say it's pornographic, including children and his relatives. "This is awful,” the British rapper and podcaster Zuby added in a tweet."

Paul Johnson has died at 94

"Paul Johnson, prolific journalist and best-selling popular historian, has died at 94. The range of his writing’s subject matter was astonishing: from Egyptology and the history of the Jews and Christianity to that of the United States; from studies of Mozart, Napoleon, and Darwin to art history and the history of modern times. He was, as this range might suggest, vastly knowledgeable and possessed of an elephantine memory. He was also a formidable polemicist: indeed, it was as if he were born with polemic in his blood."

I have his A History of the American People, c1997. Amazing writer. Originally a Leftist and Socialist, he moved to the Right when he realized what it actually was. Unfortunately, Johnson wrote very loooong books--about 1,000 pages with 2,000 notes. So I haven't finished the book.

Knowledge and Verve: Remembering Paul Johnson (city-journal.org)

"There’s an old joke that academics bitterly complain about popular historians for the high sin of publishing books people enjoy reading. Few working journalists have written history with as much elan and narrative force as the British author Paul Johnson, who died this week at age 94." Wall St. Journal

The time line of the Classified Documents taken by Vice President Biden

 https://sharylattkisson.com/2023/01/chronology-of-president-bidens-classified-document-saga/?

"The Presidential Records Act requires all presidential and vice-presidential documents to be transferred to the National Archives once the official leaves office. Classified information is not permitted to be in private possession outside of strict rules and controls.

Unlike the case of former President Trump's documents, which is also under investigation, President Biden is not claiming to have had a right to possess the classified documents. In fact, he says he does not know their contents. Trump, on the other hand, had been actively negotiating with authorities, arguing he had a right to the documents, when the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home on August 8, confiscated and photographed the documents, then leaked information and photos to the press."

Alert on the latest racist trigger word--field

Part of Wokeism is to gain power (it's a type of colonialism and the invading country is called Woke) and control over the language. Now they've come for the word "field" because . . .are you ready for this?--slaves used to go in the field to harvest? That's why there are so many people in the D.I.E. departments at universities soaking up the tuition money--someone is hired to sift through the dictionary, idioms, music, slang and comedy routines and find racist language.

USC will no longer use the word 'field' over racist 'connotations' (nypost.com)

Obesity in children--drugs and surgery?

Since drugs and surgery are working so well for the wallets of medical centers and Big Pharma for "treating" gender confusion in children, now "they" (probably 2 people with a government grant) want the same treatment for children who are overweight or obese. "They" want to skip right over stop eating garbage and get off your butt, and go right to surgery. Children don't buy the family's groceries, adults do that. And really, how many people who've had that drastic surgery as adults have slipped back after 5 or 10 years? It's a very hard and difficult decision, but now they want to get their hands and knives on children who can't fight back.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/american-academy-of-pediatrics-shredded-for-pushing-surgery-to-fight-childhood-obesity-questionable-at-best/ar-AA169xkb

I sure hope there are doctors with common sense who push back. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" needs to be brought back and brushed off.

A good Climate year

"2022 has been a good year in terms of climate, and it also reaffirms the positive trends toward a reduction in the intensity of climate change in many of the main indicators: temperature, Arctic sea-ice extent, sea level, and extreme phenomena. Let us not be fooled by those supported by our taxes. We have nothing to fear from climate change now or in the foreseeable future. Richard Feynman, one of the best physicists of the 20th century, said in 1966 that “science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts”, and Stuart Firestein teaches us that ignorance is the fuel that makes science advance. Those who believe they know what is wrong with the climate, who refuse to accept their ignorance, are not advancing science, but hindering its progress by slowing it down. They do not deserve to be called scientists because they do not serve the cause of science, which is to increase knowledge. They are only trying to line their pockets by defending an orthodoxy of clear political interest. It is clear why the climate panel is called “intergovernmental.” https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/07/2022-seventh-warmest-year-warming-slows-down/

I'm no scientist, but then neither are a lot of those who claim the title. Here's my take as a retired librarian; when there's drought in California, they whine climate change, and when it rains too much, they cry climate change, and when they have no plan to keep the reservoirs full, they blame climate change. It keeps the bureaucrats fat and the professors published.

How is the University of Pennsylvania involved in the latest Biden document scandal?

University that housed Biden center pressed to end FBI China spy probe after big Beijing donations | Just The News

Big China connection during the years UPenn was paying Biden almost a million to be "faculty."

"The University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League institution which collected tens of millions of dollars from China while paying Joe Biden and hosting his foreign policy think tank, successfully pressured the Biden Justice Department to end an FBI counterespionage program targeting Beijing's increasing influence within U.S. academia.

Attorney General Merrick Garland shut down the FBI's so-called China initiative in February 2022 shortly after more than 160 members of the University of Pennsylvania faculty signed and made public an open letter demanding the program be shuttered, on the grounds that it amounted to racial profiling. The faculty letter was part of a larger university battle against the program. "

https://youtu.be/pZJftHe7byo Tucker Carlson on the Penn Biden Center.

ALA again touts banned books

 The ALA is The American Library Association. LJ (Library Journal) is its publication. It's one of the many professional and non-profit organizations on the left that drum up support by claiming the USA is racist and corrupt and only their members can save it. ALA is right up there with ACLU and George Soros' Open Society. Once a year ALA does a Banned Books week/month (I've forgotten) in the fall, but now with all the trans and LGBT hoopla, it's expanded to Winter. No books are ever banned by a public library except by their own staff in the back room, even if parents parade and riot, they wouldn't do it. Plus there are many ways to get books in this country--just ask a drag queen, for instance, or even local churches sponsor pride events. I picked up a card game at Marc's this morning and put it back when I saw it was promoting rainbow LGBT values on the box cover. It's not like it's a hidden topic. It's 2% of the population getting 30% of the news, art, school curriculum, movies, fashion and advertising/graphics for packaging and selling everything from tooth paste to dog food.

What does happen at the library is something like this: a tax paying parent or other adult may ask why such a book or subscription has been purchased when Christian books are excluded. Or why when a pornographic title is taking up shelf space is patron's favorite hobby considered too esoteric or little used for purchase. The one title most consistently "banned" is the Bible.

Complaining is not banning. Asking for proportion or fairness is not banning. Advocating for children not to be abused with surgery or hormones is not banning information. Requesting that U.S. history not be defamed and ridiculed is not racial discrimination. And right-wing activists have the same rights as the Green-go climate activists, the BLM supporters, and the remove the borders advocates. They pay taxes too.

"Brooklyn Public Library’s Nick Higgins, Amy Mikel, Karen Keys, Jackson Gomes, and Leigh Hurwitz have been named LJ’s 2023 Librarians of the Year for their work on Books Unbanned, providing free ebook access to teens and young adults nationwide to help defy rising book challenges across the country. In 2022 Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned Team began providing free ebook access to teens and young adults nationwide, defying rising book challenges across the count. In the past year, book challenges became part of the national discourse. Efforts to censor what materials U.S. kids, teens, and young adults can access—primarily content about race and LGBTQIA+ issues—are increasing, often in the places those resources are needed most. From January to August 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) logged 681 attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 unique titles—the highest number of challenges since ALA began tracking them. From July 2021 to June 2022, the freedom of expression nonprofit PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans listed 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 titles. It has become increasingly clear to many that these censorship efforts go beyond complaints from individual concerned parents. Libraries and classrooms have become the targets of coordinated political campaigns frequently led and/or funded by right-wing activists. As a large and well-resourced institution in the relatively liberal jurisdiction of New York City, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is well positioned to ensure access to the full range of books it deems valuable for its community of readers. The library also provides free digital cards to New York State residents, and previously offered out-of-state cards for a fee. But several staff members, as well as President and CEO Linda E. Johnson, felt that BPL could—and should—do more for those beyond the borough’s borders.” (Library Journal, Jan. 3, 2023)

How to lie with statistics. 2022 showed a 23% decease in Black characters in children's "best sellers." Duh. Look what happened in 2020. All the publishers (that's the key--it's money) and all the librarians (they can make or break a publisher's decision) rushed to stock up on titles with black face/black characters, no matter the quality of illustration or writing style. After the media began running other stories (like hate Trump, or Covid), the choices dropped as did demand. So by 2022, the unusually high number had dropped.

Here's another one: Only 12.12% of children’s books are about black or African characters. Hmm. 18.7% of the population are Hispanic/Latino. Black is between 12% and 14% depending on how mixed race is counted. White is between 60-70%, depending on how mixed race is counted. Also only about 7.64% of children's books have black authors; so that means white authors are incorporating more black characters. White authors of children's books write about all topics, but black authors write over 91% about back characters, Is that good or racist? (Wordsrated. com Mar. 22, 2022).

Fairfax County schools aren't Fair, they are woke

Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, VA is an outstanding school with competition to enroll. Now its reputation is besmirched by some equity administrators who decided they could help black students by hurting Asian students. Why are there no calls for equity in sports? What if only 13% of all football scholarships could go to blacks and 7% had to be Asians? Now they are finding out it might be "systemic," with more than TJ administrators in on the game. https://wjla.com/news/local/thomas-jefferson-high-school-miyares-fairfax-county-schools-investigation-fcps-tj-controversy-award-national-merit-scholarship-delay-governor-glenn-youngkin-launch-attorney-general-ann-bonitatibus-parents-students-virginia-education

Racism is ugly. It's ugly when it's used against blacks and Mexicans and it's ugly when it's used against Whites and Asians. When we allow these D.I.E. mission and goals to infect our schools, businesses, military, award shows, investments, and churches it's just Jim Crow 2.0 in black face. And Jim Crow laws from the 1880s to the 1960s were a Democrat party method to choose winners and losers on the basis of race. Now the anti-white, anti-Asian push is being used to divide our nation and to make others sit in the back of the bus.

So long, Joe

It looks like Democrats (whoever is in charge) will use the hidden documents in the closets to bring down Biden. They didn't want him running in 2024. Too much a liability. When CBS breaks with a story that makes Trump look good and Biden bad, and the night time vigilante comedians turn on him, it's just starting to look painful. The way these guys do business, those documents that vice presidents can't even have, could have been planted. After all, it's been going on over 6 years, and no one wondered where they were? NARA, DoJ, CIA, and his handlers?

He'll retire to spend more time with his family--many of whom should be in prison.

Twitter, Big Government, Big Pharma and J-6

With all we've learned from the recent Twitter dumps about the 2016 and 2020 elections and Covid vaccine and the role of Big Pharma and the government have had in stomping on the First Amendment and the enormity and seriousness of how that destroys our nation, it's time for all the J-6 people to be freed, exonerated and paid reparations. A group of angry citizens infiltrated by the corrupt FBI, CIA, DoJ, and the role of Nancy Pelosi, the DC police and mayor puts the U.S. beyond the 3rd world or Soviet justice system.

 
And the citizens and the media already knew about the laptop and how the gov't spread the rumors with media's cooperation that it was Russian "disinformation." So now we find out Joe Biden's personal guards and lackeys found top secret documents in his clocked closet before the mid-terms and kept it quiet. To add the the alphabet soup departments, that escape involves yet another swamp creature, the NARA (national archives), which apparently in 6 years had never noticed they were missing, yet jumped all over the Mar-a-lago documents in a closet. I've often told you how left leaning librarians are, but they are nothing compared to archivists.

 
This smells worse than a street in Pelosi's district in San Francisco. And no matter how they try to flush it into the ocean, I think some of this is going to stick.

Summer School of Faith 2022, Vatican II

This would have been the 10th year of this series, however it didn't meet in 2020 because of Covid.  It is excellent, and Charles Craigmile is always interesting and entertaining.

https://youtu.be/Zb19B8uHOTU Vatican II, 60 years With Charles Craigmile

"Explore the documents of Vatican II, the institution of reforms, the ideal and the real regarding Vatican II. You've heard a lot about it--now dive into what the council was all about!
Class 1: Dei Verbum – Dogmatic Constitution On Revelation (Persons and Propositions)
Class 2: Lumen Gentium – Dogmatic Constitution On the Church (True and False Reform)
Class 3: Sacrosanctum Concilium – Constitution On the Liturgy (Active Participation)
Class 4: Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World (Nature and Grace)
Class 5: Other Topics from the Council Theological themes – interpretation and development of doctrine Ecumenism Religious Liberty 

Recommended Bibliography:

 
The Documents of Vatican II, Walter Abbott, SJ, 1966
An Introduction to Vatican II, Matthew Levering, 2017 (Excellent!)
Vatican II Collection, Word on Fire, Bishop Barron, 2021
Reclaiming Vatican II, Father Blake Britton, 2021
The Disputed Teachings of Vatican II, Thomas G. Guarino, 2018
The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, Father Ralph Wiltgen, SVD, 1966
Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1968

I'll add the other links as I find them.

Norma’s ABC’s of Democrat corruption

Abortion
Border
CIA censorship and collusion
Diversity Inclusion and Equity
Education, Department of
FBI
Green New Deal
Homeland Security, Department of
Interference, Election
Justice, Department of
Kerry, John
Laptop, Hunter Biden’s
Mail in Ballots
National Security Council, Biden’s
Open Society Foundation—George Soros’ grants 
Perkins Coie
Questions, Biden answering
Russia, Russia, Russia
Surveillance
Transagenda
Ukraine—VP leveraged $1 billion in aid and Hunter gets $83,000/month from Burisma
Vaccine mandates
Woke
Xi Jingping
You Tube, Google, Facebook, Twitter social media collusion with government
Zuckerberg

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty , former hero of the pandemic,

Jeffrey Tucker comments on our intellectual class: "It’s a terrible reality now that you are far more likely to get clear thought from anyone who is not dependent on the system they are denouncing. A chef at a restaurant, a specialist in dry-wall installation, a barber, or a bartender is freer to tell the truth than the faculty of Harvard, Yale, and Oxford. I have no fix for this problem. I’m merely observing it."

https://aaronkheriaty.substack.com/p/what-has-the-last-three-years-done?

Epiphany of the Lord

Happy Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany is one of the big three in Christian celebrations, but not all Christians have the same day and some fundamentalists think it's not in the Bible (it is), and don't have a special day. We also sing about it in the familiar song, "The 12 days of Christmas." Technically, the 12th day was January 5, and the actual celebration is January 6. But some feast days are "moveable" and you'll need to check your calendar all year for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Advent. This holy day celebrates the appearance of the Wise Men from the East described in Matt. 2 bearing gifts (also a prophecy in Isaiah 60). Some Eastern traditions also commemorate Jesus' Baptism and his first miracle at Cana on this day. No one really knows how many kings there were, the three Magi comes from the 3 gifts. There could have been 25 or 50 or 100. That's not the point--they came to worship a king. Here's what I found at Christian Post, Jan. 6, 2023.

"Epiphany, otherwise known as Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day, is, along with Christmas and Easter, one of the three principal and oldest festival days in the Church. Traditionally marked on Jan. 6, Epiphany — which comes from epiphaneia, Greek for “manifestation" — is typically celebrated by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and some Eastern Orthodox churches.

While some traditions link Epiphany with the “wise men” from the East who sojourned to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth, some Orthodox traditions say it’s more aligned with the baptism of Christ,"

Is this a thrill killing asks Judge Jeanine of Fox

 I heard Judge Jeanine Pirro of The Five on Fox mention suspected killer of 4 students, Bryan Kohberger, in a comment about the thrill killing of Bobby Frank by Leopold and Loeb in 1924. Loeb was killed in prison, but Leopold was paroled in 1958 to the Church of the Brethren Service commission and served in Puerto Rico. My memory is a little fuzzy after 65 years, but a young man I was dating in college served with him the summer of 1958.  I remember when he returned and came to see me in Mt. Morris he brought me a long play record of Puerto Rican music.

A Second Chance at Life: From Convicted Murderer to Brethren Service Volunteer – Brethren Historical Library and Archives

Identity politics and the Left

I subscribe to "New Criterion," and it must have had a great ad, because I doubt I've read more than 2-3 articles in my first 6 issues. But Roger Kimball has a good editorial in January 2023 issue, that I'll just give a tease:

"If chattel slavery hadn’t existed in the United States, the Left would have had to invent it. What we mean is that the idea of slavery has become so dear to the disciples of identity politics that without its moral sanction they would be lost. Absent the original sin of slavery, the entire racialist racket that holds our society hostage would sputter to an inglorious halt. The race hustlers promoting 'affirmative action' (i.e., race- or sex-based discrimination) would be out of business, as would the real-estate magnates and firebugs of Black Lives Matter. Ditto the angry historical fantasists behind The 1619 Project.. . .  https://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/1/the-mob-comes-for-madison

Anti-racism, microaggression, knocking down statues of saints, white supremacy--you know the deal. Yet slavery has existed since the beginning of history, and particularly flourished in Africa, and still does. Even Biden's administration looks away while women and children enter servitude to pay their passage across the border in sex slavery. People anxious to make a new life come from all over the world to flood our borders.

And I've said something similar about poverty. We have so many programs to fight poverty from the government and non-profits (including churches) that if poverty disappeared tomorrow, we'd have to reinvent it or have millions of unemployed staffers and CEOs who would be out of work. Race hustlers and poverty pimps. It's far more than a cottage industry--it's big business.

Happy 180th Anniversary

When John William Corbett was born in 1816, in Jefferson City, Jefferson, Tennessee, United States, his father, James Corbett, was 32 and his mother, Mary Polly GRISHAM, was 24. He married Elizabeth Eudaley on 5 January 1843, in Jefferson, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 7 daughters. He lived in Jefferson, Tennessee, United States in 1860 and Tennessee, United States in 1870. He died on 9 April 1907, at the age of 91, and was buried in Jefferson, Tennessee, United States. John Patton Corbett was the 11th of his 12 children.

History of this name: This is the name of a family descended from Hugh Corbet, a Norman baron who settled in Shropshire following the Norman Conquest. One of his descendants, Sir Richard Corbet, was granted land near Shrewsbury in 1223; since the 13th century, this place has been known as Moreton Corbet. The name was taken from Shropshire to Scotland in the 12th century and to northern Ireland in the 17th century, and thence to North America by at least one group of bearers of the name.

The radicalization of race

 https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/the-radicalization-race-philanthropy-and-dei?

Many of the practices and principles of DEI violate the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act. DEI suppresses rights of some while elevating the rights of others. Numerical quotas, government race-conscious policies, and speech codes do nothing to close the real disparities of achievement, because they do not address the root causes. Simon Fraser University professor Karen Ferguson had it right when she wrote that Bundy and his men dealt with the “psycho-cultural and therapeutic issue of black identity without having to deal with the structural and material issues that initially fostered the call for black self-determination.”

That is still the lethal charge against DEI. It works to eradicate all the best aspects of the American experiment that have brought prosperity and possibility to so many: the rule of law, respect for individual rights, and equal treatment under the law. DEI is leading the country to the tyranny of collective rights, where people’s fates are in the hands of elites.

Glossary and Definitions for Military Transgenderism

Note the definition for RLE. That means the male or female in their original sex as born, as created by God, may be sleeping, bathing, toileting with members of the other sex before taking hormones or surgery. The example I was reading was what the commanding officer does when HE becomes pregnant if he hasn't completed, or begun, the transition. This apparently is why we have birthing persons.

DoDI 1300.28, April 30, 2021 Change 1, December 20, 2022

GLOSSARY

G.1. ACRONYMS. ACRONYM MEANING

AC Active Component

BCA body composition assessment

DEERS Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System

DHA Defense Health Agency

DoDI DoD instruction

DSM-5 American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition

DTP Delayed Training Program

ETP exception to policy

HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

MPDATP Military Personnel Drug Abuse Testing Program

MTF military medical treatment facility

PHI protected health information PII personally identifiable information

PRT physical readiness testing

RC Reserve Component

RLE real life experience

ROTC Reserve Officer Training Corps

SCCC Service Central Coordination Cell

TRICARE Military Health Care

USCG United States Coast Guard

USD(P&R) Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness



G.2. DEFINITIONS.


These terms and their definitions are for the purpose of this issuance.


TERM                                              DEFINITION
cross-sex hormone therapy The use of feminizing hormones in an individual assigned male at birth based on traditional biological indicators or the use of masculinizing hormones in an individual assigned female at birth. A common medical treatment associated with gender transition.
DTP A program established by the Secretary of the Army to provide a personnel accounting category for members of the Army Selected Reserve to be used for categorizing members of the Selected Reserve who have not completed the minimum training required for deployment or who are otherwise not available for deployment.
gender dysphoria A marked incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and assigned gender of at least 6 months’ duration, as manifested by conditions specified in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition (DSM-5), page 452, which is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
gender identity An individual’s internal or personal sense of gender, which may or may not match the individual’s biological sex.
gender marker Data element in DEERS that identifies a Service member’s gender. Service members are expected to adhere to all military standards associated with their gender marker in DEERS and use military berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities in accordance with the DEERS gender marker.
gender transition is complete A Service member has completed the medical care identified or approved by a military medical provider in a documented medical treatment plan as necessary to achieve stability in the self-identified gender.
gender transition process Gender transition in the military begins when a Service member receives a diagnosis from a military medical provider indicating the Service member’s gender transition is medically necessary, and concludes when the Service member’s gender marker in DEERS is changed and the Service member is recognized in the self-identified gender.
human and functional support network Support network for a Service member that may be informal (e.g., friends, family, co-workers, social media.) or formal (e.g., medical professionals, counselors, clergy).
medically necessary Health-care services or supplies necessary to prevent, diagnose, or treat an illness, injury, condition, disease, or its symptoms, and that meet accepted standards of medicine.
mental health provider A medical provider who is licensed, credentialed, and experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions and is privileged at a Military MTF (in the direct care system). Private care sector civilian TRICARE authorized mental health providers may be involved in a specific Active Duty Service member’s care. These providers are credentialed through the managed care support contractors.
military medical provider Any military, government service, or contract civilian health care professional who, in accordance with regulations of a Military Department or DHA, is credentialed and granted clinical practice privileges to provide health care services within the provider’s scope of practice in a Military MTF.
non-urgent medical treatment The care required to diagnose and treat problems that are not life or limb threatening or that do not require immediate attention.
PHI Individually identifiable health information (as defined in the HIPAA Privacy Rule) that, except as provided in this issuance, is transmitted or maintained by electronic or any other form or medium. PHI excludes individually identifiable health information in employment records held by a DoD covered entity in its role as employer. Information that has been de-identified in accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule is not PHI.
PII Information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. Defined in OMB Circular No. A-130.
RLE The phase in the gender transition process during which the individual begins living socially in the gender role consistent with their self-identified gender. RLE may or may not be preceded by the commencement of cross-sex hormone therapy, depending on the medical treatment associated with the individual Service member, cadet, or midshipman’s gender transition. The RLE phase is also a necessary precursor to certain medical procedures, including gender transition surgery. RLE generally encompasses dressing in the new gender, as well as using self-identified gender berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities.
SCCC Service-level cell of experts created to provide multi-disciplinary (e.g., medical, legal) advice and assistance to commanders regarding service by transgender Service members, cadets, or midshipmen and gender transition in the military.
self-identified gender The gender with which an individual identifies.
stable in the self-identified gender The absence of clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning associated with a marked incongruence between an individual’s experienced or expressed gender and the individual’s biological sex. Continuing medical care including, but not limited to, cross-sex hormone therapy may be required to maintain a state of stability.
transgender Service member Service member who has received a medical diagnosis indicating that gender transition is medically necessary, including any Service member who intends to begin transition, is undergoing transition, or has completed transition and is stable in the self-identified gender.
transition Period of time when individuals change from the gender role associated with their sex assigned at birth to a different gender role. For many people, this involves learning how to live socially in another gender role. For others, this means finding a gender role and expression that are most comfortable for them. Transition may or may not include feminization or masculinization of the body through cross-sex hormone therapy or other medical procedures. The nature and duration of transition are variable and individualized.

A mother's love

I try to use Brave for my search engine, but occasionally I get thrown into an MSN site which feeds me all the latest dirt on celebrities. They seem to die awfully young--as was this announcement about a gay porn star who worked for oddly named studios--names I couldn't repeat here. In any case "a woman [who] identified herself as his mother . . . wrote, “Thank you for all of your kind words. [He] was a light in this world and he is now a light in Heaven…. He is also with all of his friends and family who went before him…. [When he died,] He was at someone’s home whom we don’t know where that was or who he was with. This is not a message of blame.” The announcement went on to say he'd been living in a medical care facility being treated for something not explained.

Really, life is hard on the wild side.

Time to declutter

 

What is the Average American?

We hear a lot about "the average American" but what exactly is that?

According to the Washington Post, the average American is a woman. 

50.8% of Americans are women.

is white and not Hispanic. 60.7%

is 52 years old.

has a bachelor’s degree.

works in health or education.

earns $889.62 per week (figures are from 2018).

lives in a city.

is politically independent but tends to vote Democrat.

has a 26.1 minute commute.

is married and living with spouse.

is an evangelical Baptist.

disapproves of Trump’s performance….(in 2018) but believes that he has strengthened the economy.

There are a few other points listed, but read the linked article and make up your own mind.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/13/this-is-what-the-average-american-looks-like-in-2018/

Pope Benedict has died December 31, 2022

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was named the 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005, at the age of 78, and chose the name of Benedict XVI. He was the first German pope in several centuries, the second consecutive non-Italian pope and the oldest pope elected since Clement XII in 1730, according to church records. He retired on February 11, 2013.

https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/the-lasting-legacy-of-pope-benedict-xvi/?

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer For The Unborn | EWTN

BREAKING: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at age 95 | Catholic News Agency

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-benedict-xvi-has-died-at-the-age-of-95/ar-AA15PRXO?

Barbara Walters has died

So Barbara Walters has died at 93. She was famous for being a first, a pioneer, and for her interviewing skills--she let the famous people talk instead of hogging the limelight. Today I heard that she was most proud of her legacy of paving the way for women in (TV) journalism. That's where I draw the line.

Next comes a very unpopular viewpoint, so you can leave this post and move on.

Women, particularly journalists whether news anchors on TV or "influencers" on Tik Tok have contributed little, at least no more than men who read lines written by others. The women of Fox at least have great legs and shoes. We've let the fake floozy Drag Queens show us how the world sees us. And unfortunately, their audience is often adoring, silly liberal women.

In fact, compared to the women of the 19th century big three (emancipation of slaves, temperance, and civil rights for women) the 20th and 21st century women pale by comparison. I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about our culture or world affairs in high school or college, but I can't think what women have done beginning with 2nd wave feminism (late 60s) that has changed the world for the better. It wasn't exactly the industrial revolution, the polio vaccine or DARPA (think Internet). Nope, sift through any cultural institution of the last 60 years--academe, entertainment, media, science, politics, literature and the arts--and women mostly are known for advocating to kill their own children--the weakest and most helpless humans in the world. I don't see that as a great legacy. The one thing men can't do and women became wannabe men.

As individuals women have gained a lot of freedom since the 60s, but often freedom is the enemy of freedom.

Returning to The Blessing music of 2020

This morning I was listening again to the various versions of The Blessing, when hundreds of Christian groups came together during the 2020 lockdown ignoring denominational boundaries and squabbles and sang the Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26. Then I came across the one from Uzbekistan sung in Russian and Uzbek--I didn't even know there was a Christian presence in Uzbekistan. It was lovely, as was one of the comments.

https://youtu.be/pvYTUDivB4Q

"I am crying. As a young boy I grew up in Uzbekistan as an MK. [missionary kid] The early 2000's I recall them like if they were yesterday. I remember my Parents friends being afraid, being beaten by the police, I remember the police coming to our house everyday and taking away our car. I remember a car at night in our house, I remember helping carrying bibles translated to Uzbek and hiding them in our basement. I remember the Uzbek underground church and worshiping in silence from our houses. My family and I were kicked out of the country around 2006 and were not allowed re-entry. Many times I wondered what happened with our brothers in Christ in Uzb... until a few days ago I saw a news article about the growing Uzbek church and now I see this video and see how all those tears, all those times we felt impotent,... My parents work did not go in vain. To see the seed they planted and to see the beautiful garden it has become brings tears of joy to my heart. I long to go back to Uzb one day, to kiss the soil, drink choi eat Osh, and Thank God for his many blessings."

Yes, there were good things happening in the church during the lockdown. If you need a few blessings for the New Year, settle in and listen to 10-20 of these from all over the world, and crank up the sound. Thank you, cousin Gayle, for sending the Blessing in your note today.

The old lady blogger

My New Year's resolutions are usually for one month--then I'm on to something else--perhaps it will be poetry? I may try to do Fly Lady for a month. I have a lot of things to throw out, and that's a good method.

In March 2007 I wrote this, "The Lady Blogger's Comforts" being lifted from Robert Southey's "The Old Man's Comforts." If you've read Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll does a parody of this, "Father William."

My version, The Lady Blogger's Comforts

You are old, Lady Blogger, the young man cried,
The brown locks which are left should be grey;
You are hale, Lady Blogger, a hearty old gal,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In my twenties thirties, Lady Blogger replied,
I remember'd that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.

You are old, Lady Blogger, the young twit cried,
And pleasures with youth pass away;
And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In my forties fifties, Lady Blogger replied,
I remember'd those days could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Lady Blogger, the rude kid cried,
And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful, and love to write about it all,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

I am cheerful, young man, Lady Blogger replied,
Let the cause your attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remember'd my God
And he has not forgotten my age.

The notes say that Southey wrote "Old Man's Comfort" in 1799 at the age of 24. He died when he was 70.

A hand written copy of Southey's poem is in the Morgan Library and Museum, https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/alice/12 and our book club in January will be reading "The Personal Librarian," about a black woman passing for white who helped build that library, Belle da Costa Greene.

Tucker Carlson interviews Dr Aseem Malhotra on the corruption of medicine by Big Pharma

 https://youtu.be/w3MPnBpfrRk

Also, Dr. Peter McCullough Interviews Dr. Aseem Malhotra (substack.com)

My interview with United Kingdom cardiologist Aseem Malhotra, survey results, and more - USSA News | The Tea Party's Front Page.

Big Pharma’s Takeover of Modern Medicine Created a ‘Pandemic of Misinformed Doctors’ • Children's Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

Why work?

In many states, it pays not to be employed, so if you're trying to run a business and serve the public, the government is working against you and using your money to do it! https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/12/27/in-many-states-welfare-and-benefits-pay-more-than-median-income-n520167 Two working adults with 2 minor children--a family can receive over $100,000 annualized equivalent in cash and benefits in 3 states, and over $80,000 in 14 States, with NO ONE WORKING! And what is that doing to the morale and ambition of our young adults?

This study Reports - Committee To Unleash Prosperity) also finds:
• In 24 states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies for a family of four with both parents not working are the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household income.
• In 5 states, those two programs provide the same family with both parents not working the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household income and benefits.
• In 14 states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies are the equivalent to a head of household earning $80,000 in salary, plus health insurance benefits.
• This is a higher wage than is earned by the national median secondary school teacher, electrician, trucker, machinist, and many other jobs.
• In more than half the states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies exceed the value of the salary and benefits of the average firefighter, truck driver, machinist, or retail associate in those states.
• In a dozen states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies exceed the value of the salary and benefits of the average teacher, construction worker, or electrician in those states.
• A family of four with income over $227,000 qualifies for ACA subsidies in all states and families earning over $300,000 a year still qualify for ACA subsidies in 40 states and DC.

Bird watching

I've never made it a priority, but I thought it would be nice to know more about birds. God must have had such fun designing them. My fellow librarians gave me binoculars as a retirement gift, thinking I'd lounge on the deck and view birds. About 12 years ago I participated in some morning birding group walks at Lakeside. Great people. We even went to the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Magee Marsh Wildlife Area for a lecture and bird watching. Some could identify 100s of birds. Me, not so much. I think I learned about 5 more birds than I knew at age 10. So when I saw a bird calendar at Marc's this morning for $1, I thought it was a bargain and I could look at a page a day. And now I feel really smart, because earlier they were $16.99 according to the web site. Audubon Birds Color 2023 Page-A-Day Calendar - Calendars.com

SBF lives well while J-6 victims rotted in jail

Sam Bankman-Fried who perpetrated the largest fraud in U.S. history is out of jail and free, living at his parents' home (Mommy is a leftist lawyer) while thousands have lost their life's savings and retirement funds. He funded the campaigns of many Democrats in Congress, the same folks who railroaded the J-6 protesters into prison to rot. The same Democrats who then made a "documentary" of the witch trial, so they can frighten and terrorize other Americans into silence. The same Democrats who are importing millions across our southern border to ensure they have enough cooks, babysitters, gardeners and prostitutes to do the jobs Americans don't want, or at least want minimum wage.

"The former millionaire, who was arrested in the Bahamas last week and spent barely more than a week at the jail there before being repatriated to the United States on Wednesday, has now returned home in time for Christmas. He was observed using his computer there in the American Airlines luxury travellers’ lounge before boarding a trip on Thursday night in California." SBF’s Judge’s Husband Used To Work With FTX - InsideBitcoins.com

Regulator wined and dined by SBF and FTX out at the SEC (msn.com)

Polyamory & pills: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX party pad (nypost.com)

FTX and SBF Saga Explained: What Happened in Crypto and What It Means (businessinsider.com)

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX pals ran 'massive multi-year' fraud: SEC (nypost.com)

Year end wrap on the News

I've been listening to the year's end wrap ups of the 2022 news cycle. Makes me wish for the slap heard round the world. All our news media, including Fox, perpetuates the lie of the "right wing." I hear of "progressives and moderates" vs. the "right and far right."

 Tell me O wise ones ankle deep in the swamp, what is right wing about: lower taxes, the Abraham accord, secure borders, building a wall both parties voted for in 2006, little babies allowed to complete their life span, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, requiring our "allies" to pay for what they agreed to, the highest income growth in 50 years for black citizens, low inflation, fair trade, and no new wars?

 
And what in the name of all you admire and love is progressive about running out on our allies in Afghanistan like you did in Viet Nam, or killing babies in their finals day of womb life, or waving your little flags at George Floyd riots, or promoting raging inflation by opening the flood gates of government money, or imposing more regulations to induce clogged supply lines, or covering up Pelosi's failures with a witch trial like J-6, or destroying the careers of women with the transagenda, or amputating the breasts or genitals of teenagers, or allowing fentanyl to kill thousands, or enslaving women for the sex trade just so you can accuse Republicans of fearing your replacement plans, or forcing millions to consume an untested product long after its been shown not to provide the protection and heath you promised, or the classic right wing, fascist agenda of infiltrating and linking government with business?

Out of practice

 I'm serving Christmas dinner tonight--Christmas Eve.  Then tomorrow we'll have left overs.  That works out well because Christmas is on Sunday this year, and our church will have a 10 a.m. service.  It's not hard to throw a few sandwiches and left-overs on a paper Christmas plate if you don't get home until 11:30.

However, I'm more than a bit out of practice.  I made the potato salad yesterday and cut up some of the fruit. So this morning I've been making sweet potatoes with brown sugar glaze, mixing up the onions, red peppers, mushrooms and bacon for the green beans that are steaming, putting the rest of the fruit together, and getting the ham ready to go in the oven about 4 p.m. But the messiest thing was the scalloped corn.  I don't make it often because Bob hates, loathes, despises corn.  I need a few guests if there is even the smell of corn. But after 62 years of cooking, I've made it many times. You should have seen the kitchen!  I must have used every pan and bowl I owned, and checked the computer 5 times (couldn't find my old recipe if I even had one).  I even pulled out my Mom's red Hall's mixing bowl looking for her magic to be sure it would come together.

Yesterday I opened a can of worms, or at least a box of pictures and letters, and they were spread all over my office floor.  We decided we needed to put all our home made Christmas cards into one album.  I found an empty album, but Bob found a better one, so today he inserted all the cards we could find, beginning with 1985.  I think there are 29 in the album.  When we lived on Abington, he made silk screened cards a few years, but they are the wrong size for this album.  My college roommate Dora, who is a profession artist, made lovely cards, and we have them arranged in a frame as a piece of art. dora hsiung - fiber artist - fiber art

Ready for Christmas Eve

My table is all set for Christmas--with reminders of those not here. I'm using Phil's Christmas table cloth, my sister Carol's plate from 1978, some gift dessert dishes from my mother-in-law, a bread plate from The Bruces in AZ, some of my good China serving bowls my mother gave me back in the 1960s, silver plate from my husband's Bruce aunts and uncles (wedding gift 1960), little snow people dressed warmly purchased during a Thanksgiving visit at Rehoboth Beach with my sister, hand painted Christmas plates I bought locally, and with the Christmas tree near by with ornaments from many friends and travels over the years. And of course, we have the snow and drifts from the 2022 "blizzard" to make things snowy and bright.

Update:  Dinner cancelled--one of the guests was ill.  So we ate sandwiches and watched church service on Zoom. Fixed the meal on Christmas day after the 10 a.m. church service, we had dinner about 1:30, and opened our presents.

Preparing for the storm of a generation

I've now received three warnings about the coming storm--Ohio State, Spectrum (cable/wi fi provider) and AEP (electricity). Add to that the TV coverage when the weather departments get to display all those charts. Let's keep in mind that the people who really will be keeping us up and running aren't in Congress or at the University. They are line men, truckers, cable personnel, grocery store workers, the road crews, police and fire, and medical staff. All the politics and infighting will have to wait while the real backbone of the country keep us safe. Pray for all of them. Guess I'd better check on the batteries and candles. We're all-electric in this house.

Also, I noticed they are now naming winter storms.  When  did that start?

Update for Friday: The storm is expected to become a “bomb cyclone” Thursday evening into Friday. A bomb cyclone is when a storm rapidly intensifies – and drops 24 millibars (a term used to measure atmospheric pressure) in 24 hours. The storm is expected to reach the pressure equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane as it reaches the Great Lakes, with the weather service describing the strength of the low a “once-in-a-generation” event.

We'll have our Christmas dinner on Saturday evening with left overs on Christmas day.  That way we have time to go to church on Sunday (Dec. 25).  Here's the menu so far:  Glazed ham, baked yams, potato salad, escalloped corn, green beans, relish tray, mixed fresh fruit, possibly biscuits, with my daughter bring mac/cheese and an apple pie.  I have brownies in the oven right now, but now sure they are on the menu.

Yesterday I finished addressing all the Christmas cards, although I have some short letters to compose and send for out of country people.  Obviously, most won't make it by Christmas,  I had a terrific mess--some people may get two.  In 2021, I bought a new computer, but my daughter didn't have time to get it set up until the spring.  Just in case my label program wouldn't transfer (and it didn't), I printed an extra set from Dec. 2021.  Then in November she had time to work on the labels in a Word program.  After the 11th, I decided I couldn't wait any longer so I used 50 of the labels from the Dec. 2021 run, then we got the new labels for 2022 all corrected, sorted and printed.  But the sort was different, and some labels had been corrected.  Also we had given out about 24 cards at our reception on the 11th but hadn't tracked who got them.  I thought I'd go blind working back and forth between the two lists!  Finally, the are in the mail.

If you didn't get one, let me know.  We also have quite a few from other years.

Musk is voted off the island

"Elon Musk’s Twitter Poll Shows Users Want Him to Step Down as CEO" (WSJ) 

This shouldn't be shocking. Conservative voices were blocked or shadow banned on Twitter. With the help of the FBI (or ownership) it even shut down the President of the United States. The majority of users of Twitter probably loved being Trump haters, going all woke, feeling smug and self-righteous. Hey, they may be Democrats but they are human, filled with rage, anger, angst, mental deficiencies, jealously, worship of false gods, lecherous, and black thoughts. It is a club--belly up to the bar boys and let's talk smack. So when a new owner shows up, it's safer to leave or show him the door than to flee to Canada (where early euthanasia is a real risk in the health care system especially for those mentally confused).

Black Face vs. Drag queens

Odd isn't it. Democrats get all exorcised if someone performs in black face or wears a colonialist costume and carries a "Don't tread on me" flag or reenacts the Boston Tea Party, but are OK with grown men beclowning themselves like 19th century ladies of the night and performing for little children. A local downtown church, St. John Church of Christ, had a drag queen perform during worship Sunday (I think that's the date, but I'm not a Columbus Dispatch subscriber). The Dispatch sensitivities were all ruffled because a few protesters gathered across the street. Their performance was not OK with the liberal media although it is protected speech. But drag queens performing burlesque in God's House? That was just fine.

The Border Crisis created and maintained by Democrats

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused lifting Title 42 immigration restrictions while the high court considers a Republican-backed request for a longer hold against the plan. What a shame that Congress the entity in charge of protecting the border can't stop the crisis with our decades long laws when we're sending billions to Ukraine to protect its border; when the border "czar" Harris has never been there; when Joe Biden the current resident of the WH has ever seen the problem; when the Democrat media ignores the problem except to blame it on Republicans; when we are all border states now and being invaded by drug cartels (especially Ohio) and sex traffickers; when we've had to suffer from lockdowns and restrictions, yet Democrats have been encouraging thousands to invade who have the infection. But shame has no place in the Democrat party unless it's something that triggers them like the word mother or woman.

Rerun from October 19, 2019

Today is Sunday and we're making arrangements to be with Phil later (had brain surgery on Tuesday). Funny flashbacks to the 1970s. Raising kids is a challenge, and those families you see in the church narthex on Sunday morning, smiling and sweet and adorable, have probably just been through hell to get there with car seat hassle and snow suit zipping and "Where is your left shoe, young man?"

One Sunday morning we finally got everyone into the driveway and were heading for the garage when Phil did a break away run, dashing the opposite direction. Bob's a pretty quiet, calm, reserved guy, but he'd had enough and in those days he was bigger than Phil. He caught him, tanned his little bottom, and almost tossed him into the car. Phoebe and I just stood there wide eyed, and didn't say a word.

We walked into the narthex of UALC after a short drive down Mountview Rd. and I'm sure all the congregants nodded and smiled and thought, "Isn't that just an adorable family, and so well behaved, too."

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

 https://youtu.be/A134hShx_gw

I used to have a lot of respect for "scientists." They were the real deal. I was an Agriculture librarian for several years, and a Veterinary Medicine Librarian for 14. I loved to walk across the street and see what was going on in the vet hospital. None of the fake squishy stuff we in the "social sciences" researched and wrote about. Between the woke nonsense and the pandemic locked lips, that admiration is mostly gone--unless the doctor graduated before 1985. It's all about D.I.E. now, and they can't say a word about the best candidate NOT being selected, or the ridiculous question on forms so they don't trigger anyone. Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Gov, and U. of Biggest have shut them up. The ultimate lockdown. Where else will the grants come from--the grants of which 60% goes to the university and department? And how will you find a trans, black, disabled woman to be on the research team? It was always hard to go against the grain--like if you had a different theory about Alzheimer's, but couldn't get anyone at NIH or NSF to take the risk. But now? Good luck if you're white and male--might as well go into plumbing with Dad rather than waste 8 years and thousands of dollars. It would be like being the best female swimmer in your school, but the college scholarship goes to the male who joined the team at 15 when he discovered he was feeling a little bit female--about the same time he couldn't place on the men's team. That's what a science career is now.

Digital dump #6 by Elon Musk

While the media mavens wring their hands about being blocked from Twitter for doxxing (they never worried about a president being blocked), they ignore the big story. The FBI was permanently surveilling Americans using their First Amendments rights to free speech instead of chasing the bad guys. They were not checking on charges, but snooping. Probably hoping to find imaginary white supremacists. Where is the white supremacist who bailed on our allies in August 2021, or who sent billions to Ukraine in 2022 with no way to account for the money, who who has left our border wide open for drug and sex trafficking for 2 years. Yes, where are those bad guys--on social media--or sitting in the White House telling jokes no one understands?

This is what upset them--not the news of the corruption in the FBI: “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info,” Musk wrote." The Gateway Pundit

Twitter Files: Elon Musk: Matt Taibbi: Part 6 of the Twitter Files reveals FBI connections to the platform (ndtv.com)

Elon Musk Targets the FBI as 'Twitter Files' Saga Continues (msn.com)

At least dump 6 got the libs talking. They'd been ignoring the Twitter expose of their own culpability until they were caught doxxing and punished. Twitter files: CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS blackout coverage of Elon Musk leaks | Fox News

Churches and the Paycheck Protection Plan of 2020 (PPP)

Very few churches turned down the PPP money, but they sure shut their doors and service obligations when the state said tattoo parlors and bars were essential but churches weren't. Not taking the name of the Lord in vain has got to be bigger than not cussing and swearing.

https://youtu.be/6NhKH91nvJg Dave Ramsey's view--he feared the rules would be changed

Church, Ministry, and the PPP: Should Churches Take Government Handouts? – Dispensational Publishing

For some churches, paying back PPP loans is better than forgiveness (religionnews.com) Some churches didn't use the loans or gave them back.

Ministries and Churches Receiving More than $1-M in Paycheck Protection Program Funds – MinistryWatch Evangelical churches that received a million or more in PPP

Rodney Stark 1934-2022

I just read that Rodney Stark died this past summer at 88. I don't have many favorite authors (because I usually don't remember names), but I enjoyed his clarity, readability and style. That said, I really didn't know much about him. From Breakpoint: "His book "The Rise of Christianity" was published in 1996. In it, Stark argued that the incredible growth and spread of Christianity were because it offered more to people than any of its competitors. In particular, Stark argued that the rapid growth of the Church was, in large part, due to how Christians treated women. This, especially compared to the pagan treatment of women, led to more conversions, which led to the faith being spread through social networks. Also, prohibitions of abortion and infanticide led to an organic growth of the Church, and how Christians responded to persecution and plague led to a growth in credibility. "The Rise of Christianity" was so groundbreaking that it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize . . . In 2005 Stark wrote what may be his greatest book, "The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success." "

So first century Christians saved babies from abortion and infanticide and their numbers grew. And Christians responded to plagues. Or maybe God blessed them. Just a thought.

2022-IJRR-Are-Religious-Nones-Really-Not-Religious.pdf (baylorisr.org) Are Religious “Nones” Really Not Religious?: Revisiting Glenn, Three Decades Late This 2022 article may be his last.

The First Amendment has been shredded by U.S. government agencies

"The FBI was not the only one to flag content. The Department of Homeland Security and several state governments notified Twitter of content they thought was problematic. Some of this was done through the Partner Support Portal, an outlet constructed by the Center for Internet Security, a partner organization with the DHS.

"What most people think of as the 'deep state' is really a tangled collaboration of state agencies, private contractors, and (sometimes state-funded) NGOs. The lines become so blurred as to be meaningless," Taibbi concluded."

Twitter files: Tech giant was in 'constant and pervasive' contact with FBI | Washington Examiner

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-respond-after-twitter-files-6-reveals-fbi-flagged-users-and-tweets

CNN panel seethes over Musk not giving them Twitter Files: 'Not in the spirit of free speech' | Fox News

Twitter reinstates accounts of suspended journalists and Mastodon (msn.com)

Elon Musk releases Twitter's files on censorship of Post (nypost.com)

Trafficking in Persons Report 2022

Before we talk reparations with California governor Newsom trying to earn points so he can get to the White House with all the crazies, lets do something about the 28,000,000 slaves, mostly in Africa and Asia, that haven't been set free. Instead of giving money to African leaders as reparations to combat climate change, Biden should be asking them for reparations for black Americans, if this were actually a moral issue.  Africans are the ones who sold their enemies or victims of raids to the Europeans who couldn't go into the interior. We outlawed slavery in the Civil War. Many African countries have done it only with lip service.

"Let us stand together and press for accountability from those leaders who condone and support human trafficking, create conditions ripe for mass exploitation, and perpetuate this fundamental insult to human dignity. Those that perpetrate, condone, or support this crime must be held accountable." Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, Biden administration.

Reading through the report [search by country name] you may wonder as I did, how much of the money and effort are going for ending slavery--I see climate change, many groups skimming funds for "counseling" for victims, services for marginalized people (aka diversity and inclusion) LGBTQ rights, etc., the usual woke agenda now being imported to countries with more than enough of their own problems without taking advice from the Bidenistas.
President Clinton signed this Act in 2000 and President Bush put it into action. It has been tweaked and fiddled and diddled. Time for action. I don't know how fraud is avoided because reporting a reduction of the crime of slavery or passing more laws would seem to reduce the funding, although I'm not sure how that works. 

Typical report, after the dull, dry information of inadequate facilities, staffers and laws, what makes the 2022 report different is the toll the pandemic took: "As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Kenya, and traffickers exploit victims from Kenya abroad. Traffickers exploit children in forced labor in domestic service, agriculture, fishing, cattle herding, street vending, and forced begging. Traffickers exploit women and children in sex trafficking, often facilitated by family members in informal settings, throughout Kenya, including in sex tourism in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. In 2020, an international NGO reported there are between 35,000 and 40,000 victims of sex trafficking, including child sex tourism, in Kenya, of which approximately 19,000 are children; most perpetrators are Kenyan and, to a lesser extent, foreign tourists. Government officials and NGOs report traffickers increasingly exploit children in sex trafficking in private villas and vacation homes to avoid law enforcement detection in hotels. Workers in Khat cultivation areas and near gold mines in western Kenya, truck drivers along major highways, and fishermen on Lake Victoria also exploit children in sex trafficking.

During the pandemic, traffickers increasingly exploited children in sex trafficking, including using online recruitment tactics, and in forced labor in domestic work and forced begging. Employment agencies, both legal and fraudulent, recruit Kenyans to work in the Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, and Oman), Central and Southeast Asia, Europe, Northern Africa, and North America, where traffickers exploit them in massage parlors, brothels, domestic servitude, or manual labor; Kenyans who voluntarily migrate in search of employment opportunities are also vulnerable to exploitative conditions."

I wonder if Kenyan children get counseling about top and bottom surgery or if that is just for American sexually abused children.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/kenya/

Was Mary the ghost writer of the Gospel of Luke?

 Our senior Bible Study has been looking at the 4 gospels and the birth story of Jesus Christ.  Yesterday it was Luke, then a worship service, followed by a nice lunch.  I asked our pastor if Luke had interviewed Mary to get all the details about the birth story.  There were a lot of intimate details not usually known to anyone but the mother.  He conceded that some Bible experts think Luke may have talked to her.  Here's my response (not in class, but privately).

"About Luke interviewing Mary. I think she is the source, or ghost writer, for Luke, as Paul was the source for Acts. Luke says he's a good researcher, he hadn't met Jesus, he's the only New Testament writer who wasn't a Jew, and the "experts" say his Greek was the best of the New Testament. The role of the Holy Spirit was to choose him, I think. But as a woman who has given birth and raised children, I see details in the story no one knew except Mary. Today I grilled my husband on a few details about our oldest son, Stanley (b. 1961 d. 1963). I asked him if he remembered the name of the clinic where he was born. No. Did he remember what surgery he needed before we could bring him home. No. Did he remember how and where our mothers slept while staying at our tiny apartment when they came (separately) to help us the first week or two. No. Did he remember how the diapers were washed. No. Did he remember what floor of the apartment building we lived on. No. Did he remember the bouquet of flowers he brought me in the hospital. No. He did remember the birth announcement because he designed it. So mothers remember a lot of details that the fathers never think about, and wouldn't mention to anyone unless asked. I think Luke includes the details about the women, not just to include them as the wider church, but because Mary noticed--Elizabeth her cousin and the baby John jumping in her womb, the wedding miracle, the woman at the well, the widow of Nain, Martha and Mary, the woman who anoints his feet, and the women at the tomb. We know women were among the followers, and Mary was with them. Who else is going to tell Luke these stories? Paul wasn't there. Mary was very young when Jesus was born; many other followers would have been deceased by the time the gospels were written 50-60 years later. And of course, your commentaries from seminary days didn't say much--all were written by men, and you don't know what you don't know and you don't investigate what has never occurred to you. Just yesterday, I learned that mice can't vomit. I was a veterinary medicine librarian for 14 years, knew a lot about lab animals but didn't know mice can't vomit (and I also know more than most people about pig poop). And it had never occurred to me that they couldn't, so I never asked, wondered, or speculated about it.

Mary, “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Our son died 60 years ago, and I still have little treasures I ponder. Mary remembered and blessed us all with this beautiful story recorded by Luke."

Stop the race wars

Most poor Americans are white (61% of the population receiving welfare, listed as "means-tested cash assistance" by the Census Bureau, is identified as white, while 33% is identified as black.) Most ill Americans are white. Most obese Americans are white. Most diabetics are white. Most cancer victims are white. Americans who serve in the military are mostly white and male and middle class. Most American workers who grow your food (25,896 agriculture workers are white and majority are male), work in factories, deliver your products, fix your plumbing (there are 276,986 plumbers of which over 95% are men, and 68% are white), build your houses, repair your roofs, keep your cars running (99.4% of auto repairmen are male, but women make more in that field), pave your roads, plow your streets after a blizzard, restore your electricity after a storm, and who protect your families are primarily white men. So who do the leftists/Democrats/progressives attack? White men. Instead of recognizing their importance in society, they criticize them and call them "white supremacists." They call them every dirty, despicable name, weaken the fabric of our society, and demean their humanity. And the worst accusers? White men! People in Congress looking for your tax dollars to spend on their campaigns. Time to stop it. Need some lawsuits using "hate speech" laws because this slander and behavior would not be allowed with any other group--groups, incidentally, artificially made up by the government.

Ideology of power

 Remember when Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s blamed all Germany's problems on Jews? The U.S. went to war to stop him. Now we have a fascist group in power in all areas of our culture from government to corporations to teachers unions who are blaming all their problems on a race, particularly white Christians. Was Hitler wrong because of the group he chose to hate, or because his ideology of blame was used to expand his power base? We can examine three civil wars going on right now in 2022--Ukraine/Russia, South Sudan and Ethiopia--where the same ideology is put forth about "otherness" to create dissension, division and disaster among those of the same nation/people/religion. But at the base is lust for power.  #TruthMatters.

Brandon Straka and J-6

 #Walkaway is one of those organizations that is blocked by social media mafia because it accepts all--gay, straight, trans, drag queens, black, white, brown, those living outside the U.S., Christian, Jew, Hindu, bakers and candlestick makers--all who want to walk away from the lies of the Democrat party. Brandon Straka, the founder, who is gay, was sentenced to 3 years of probation after being swept up in the gulag net after J-6, for speaking at a rally before J-6. I considered him a political prisoner. No one burning federal and state buildings or destroying businesses in the 2020 riots that affected hundreds of blue cities received the harsh treatment of those the government snared in the protest of the outcomes of the November 2020 election. Those people are free to loot and burn again, and even if arrested for current crimes they will be back on the streets the next day.

Mice can't vomit

The editor of a science journal I subscribe to admitted in his final editorial that he didn't know that mice can't vomit until just recently. Wow! No matter how much the mice want to, or how many papers are on the internet claiming it to be so, or how often the White House Resident issues a statement and invites little mice to a bill signing, mice can't vomit. I didn't know it either, but apparently most scientists know mice don't vomit (being an editor, he doesn't have a biology background). But you and I know some things scientists don't know, or at least have to keep quiet about or lose grants or their bottom surgery position. Here it is. Women are not men, and men cannot become women just because they wear a certain type of underwear, slather on lipstick and mascara, or have their penises turned inside out with surgery. Don't submit to this heresy and hysteria. #TruthMatters. Don't you be forcing those poor little lab mice to puke!