Hazy and smoky in central Ohio

This is from a Forbes article 4 years ago. But we had heard it from an Arizona tourist guide in 2003--environmental regulations are part of the problem with wildfires. You wonder what other "green" goals will cause havoc in 20 years.

"Yet in spite of blaming climate change and attacking President Trump for suggesting bad environmental policies made California’s fires worse, California’s outgoing governor, Jerry Brown, quietly signed two bills to correct the worst of the state’s fire management policy missteps, proving Trump was right all along." (Forbes, Nov. 27, 2018)

Not a topic I usually research, but central Ohio is pretty smoky from 161 fires in Canada. A friend posted on Facebook an aerial photo of Mt. Verson, OH, and you can barely see the town. Our dinner guest last night had already sought emergency medical attention for his asthma earlier in the day.

Update: Everyone's talking about the smoky haze and hot weather. Photos of downtown Columbus are amazing--we can hardly see it.   And I'm concerned about the guys on my neighbor's roof. They've been replacing it for over 12 hours. Want to bet they are immigrants?

Mis- Dis- and Mal- mischief in the Justice Department

THE WEAPONIZATION OF CISA: HOW A “CYBERSECURITY” AGENCY COLLUDED WITH BIG TECH AND “DISINFORMATION” PARTNERS TO CENSOR AMERICANS

"The First Amendment recognizes that no person or entity has a monopoly on the truth, and that the “truth” of today can quickly become the “misinformation” of tomorrow. Labeling speech “misinformation” or “disinformation” does not strip it of its First Amendment protection. As such, under the Constitution, the federal government is strictly prohibited from censoring Americans’ political speech. The government also may not use third parties to bypass the First Amendment and conduct censorship by proxy.2"

But that's exactly what our federal government did.

cisa-staff-report6-26-23.pdf (house.gov)

Among other things . . . 

• CISA is “working with federal partners to mature a whole-of-government approach” to curbing alleged misinformation and disinformation.8
• CISA considered the creation of an anti-misinformation “rapid response team” capable of physically deploying across the United States.9
• CISA moved its censorship operation to a CISA-funded non-profit after CISA and the Biden Administration were sued in federal court, implicitly admitting that its censorship activities are unconstitutional.10
• CISA wanted to use the same CISA-funded non-profit as its mouthpiece to “avoid the appearance of government propaganda.”11
• Members of CISA’s advisory committee agonized that it was “only a matter of time before someone realizes we exist and starts asking about our work.”12

Good buy.

I was in Walmart on Bethel last Thursday and noticed how nice the fresh flowers looked, so I stopped. There were 3 price levels for bouquet size. I picked out a $5, all buds, but I knew they were lilies. There were 13-14 buds, now in full flower--pink, yellow and orange. What a lovely surprise. God's artistry.

Michael Rectenwald's message for leftists

Michael Rectenwald is the author of numerous books and poetry collections. He is a retired professor of literature. He's recently started a podcast, and has a website, Michael Rectenwald Home.

•  Let leftists live imprisoned in 15-minute cities, under constant surveillance, wearing masks, & submitting to endless useless vaccines, or worse.
• Let them survive on UBI issued in CBDC, with digital IDs that track their every move from cradle to grave.
• Let them forgo real meat, eat synthetic meat, toxic vegetables, and bugs.
• Let them submit to smart city technologies that track their carbon footprints and issue them social credit scores so they feel like good compliant citizens.
• Let them have their Marxism, critical race theory, transgenderism, and servility to the ever-burgeoning state.
• Let them think they are radicals as they serve as the foot soldiers and accomplices of the globalist elite.
• It's time to separate from these people. No reconciliation is possible.
• The only question is whether the totalitarians they serve will let us out.

The 15-minute city (FMC or 15mC) mentioned above is an urban planning concept in which most daily necessities and services, such as work, shopping, education, healthcare, and leisure can be easily reached by a 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point in the city. At this point, I think they exist in China.

UBI is universal basic income.

CBDC is central bank digital currency and is generally defined as a digital liability of a central bank that is widely available to the general public. Today in the United States, Federal Reserve notes (i.e., physical currency) are the only type of central bank money available to the general public.

Quick trip to Indianapolis

Saturday we had a quick trip (80 mph on a moving parking lot all the way) to visit my sister-in-law Jean, and a few other relatives.  We went out to eat at her favorite restaurant, Sero's, a Greek family style restaurant that serves breakfast all day. Indianapolis Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Restaurant | Sero's Family Restaurant (serosfamilyrestaurant.com)

  

Enjoying lunch at Sero's

Visiting at Jean's home

Secretary Bird

We have a bird calendar on our kitchen table, and although I wouldn't say I've "learned" new birds, I've at least seen them, and often we discuss the more unusual ones. Today's is "secretarybird." Not common around here, but endemic to sub-Sahara Africa. Just had to look up this one. When I first saw it I thought it might look like a secretary with a pen in his hair, and I was close according to this video, but the name was similar and different before that time. They have the body shape and hunting instincts of eagles, but legs like storks, and can be over 4 ft. tall. Their legs are very powerful, and they can kill and eat snakes.

https://youtu.be/difrBNjGwLo

Yesterday Bob asked what I did with them when I tore them off, and I said I kept them, but wasn't sure (in a house already with a lot of clutter) what I'd do with them. Maybe I should learn to draw birds, he said. And so, here is a "how to" video. https://youtu.be/2ptuRthuGko 

Many begin to doubt what we were told about "science"

"Little tears are forming in the fabric of belief. Many who believed that taking their shots was the only right thing to do, are noticing inconsistencies in the official story. The failure to prevent disease. The rashes and the fatigue. The cognitive deficits. The heart damage and the cancers. The sudden deaths among the young and apparently healthy. The adverse events.

These things can nag at one’s consciousness.

Most who were compliant, however, still believe on balance that it was the right choice, even if it came with risks that we were not told about.

“Because I had my shots, when I did get Covid, I was barely sick for a day or two.”

“Because” has no place in that sentence. It assumes a causality for which there is no evidence."

Read more here: https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/its-not-too-late?

Heather Heying is an evolutionary biologist and I listen to her podcast with her husband Bret Weinstein. They are life long Democrats and university faculty, now on the outside for questioning the vaccine, the blatant evil treatment of scientists who disagreed with Fauci and CDC. They are openly opposed to the current transgender hysteria of Democrats.

Blogging ideas for December 2008

Before Facebook, I carried a blog notebook in my purse, and would jot ideas down to research and comment on. At the end of the year, I'd evaluate what I DID NOT write about. December 2008: Here's several for that year:

"Abstinence is 100% successful in controlling the spread of AIDS and in reducing poverty, but it's a political wasteland with the pro-abortion crowd. There's no money in abstinence." 

"There are 39,000+ runners in the NYC marathon--26 in the 80-90 year old division. In my dreams!!!" 

"Theresa Hogan has an op-ed saying don't make this a single issue election--abortion. Why not? I might not word it that way but we do need a leader with character, not one who gets a 100% rating from NARAL."

"In NY the UN Secretary [Ban Ki-moon--Korea] looks up from his latte and polished desk and says he's "concerned" that women and children are being raped; homes burned and sons murdered. Someone buy this puppet a ticket to the Congo."

"In Jos Nigeria clashes of ethnic violence have killed over 400 and displaced over 7,000--mainly Christians by Muslims. I'm not going to say it was buried in the back pages of the paper because the victims were Christians, but I will say it was because they were Africans. But when you've killed millions by taking DDT away from them, what's a few more? Where are the happy-clappy, sappy-crappy one-globe folks when you need them?"

"Recipe for Buckeye Pie"

My interests and opinions haven't changed much in 17 years--politics, people and pie.

Note: I had to look up a Congo war in 2008, because the almost continuous wars in Congo had killed about 6 million since the late 90s. It was 2008 Nord-Kivu campaign. Killing thousands of Africans doesn't get a lot of press in U.S. media because they can't find a white policeman to blame it on.

Breakfast today, the protein in two eggs

 Today I had a delicious breakfast:  2 fried eggs, sprinkled with some ham crumbles, 3 small slices of sharp cheddar cheese melted on top, and a handful of fresh spinach steamed on top.  I decided to check the grams of protein because older people need more protein and I really don't know how much protein I consume.  I asked Brave, my search engine, "eggs protein" and got this "summary."

"Eggs are a complete source of high-quality protein, containing all nine essential amino acids.2 On average, a medium-sized egg contains around 6.4 grams of protein, which makes up around 12.6% of the overall edible portion.4 Egg protein is highly digestible and an excellent source of essential amino acids, with the highest attainable protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score.0 Eggs are a versatile and affordable way to get protein in the average American diet.1 They are also a complete source of important nutrients like choline and eye-protecting antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.3"

This is an AI generated response, a summary.  I didn't even get to do my own research--browsing the selection of articles already shown because of an algorithm. If you rely on the "summary" you see only what Big Tech's librarian wants you to see. It's phone SIRI with footnotes. The sources for this summary didn't show, but appeared as "tags." You have to click on the tag to see who/what wrote this. Virtually every search I've done recently has been AI generated. Most people will not look further than the "summary."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9316657/ "The health benefits of egg protein"  I use NCBI for every medical, nutritional, physiology, exercise, health search I do--it's what I begin with. AI did it for me. It's a quick and dirty search, but has rarely failed me. A big advantage is you can often get a full print, and many references to other sources.

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/291485/10-foods-with-more-protein-than-an-egg/   Eatingwell.com is owned by a digital media company with many brands, called Dotdash Meredith, the business division of IAC.  Eating Well the magazine was created in 1990 in Vermont and was purchased from the original publisher, folded and was restarted as a quarterly and acquired by Meridith Corporation in 2011. Bingo.  I know Meredith because it published Better Homes and Gardens (founded as Successful Farming in 1902). When you click on eatingwell.com you see its last print issue was April 2022, and Meredith was acquired by Dotdash. If magazines were families, Eating Well would be related to and distant cousin of Daily Beast through Barry Diller who founded Fox Broadcasting Network. The staff bios are worth reading and most of the hard blood and guts of journalism are from or live in Vermont where the magazine began almost 35 years ago.

There were some other tags that AI used, but 2 I trust if good enough for two eggs, which I estimate at about 20 grams for my complete breakfast dish.  All I needed was a label.

Exercise, lactate and brain health--introductory material

"It has been well established in epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials that habitual exercise is beneficial for brain health, such as cognition and mental health. Generally, it may be reasonable to say that the physiological benefits of acute exercise can prevent brain disorders in late life if such exercise is habitually/chronically conducted. "

 

 Title:  Effect of Exercise on Brain Health: The Potential Role of Lactate as a Myokine
Takeshi Hashimoto,1 Hayato Tsukamoto,1 Soichi Ando,2 and Shigehiko Ogoh3,*
Metabolites. 2021 Dec; 11(12): 813.
Published online 2021 Nov 29. doi: 10.3390/metabo11120813  PMCID: PMC8709217
PMID: 34940571
Norbert Nemeth, Academic Editor

Effect of Exercise on Brain Health: The Potential Role of Lactate as a Myokine - PMC (nih.gov)

-------------------------------------------

"Population aging has become a worldwide phenomenon. Degenerative changes in brain structure and function occur with aging, causing a cognitive decline in older adults. In addition to aging, vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, Huntington and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as some metabolic diseases such as diabetes, are accompanied by an increased risk of cognitive impairment or dementia. This poses a great challenge to public health and socio-economic development in many countries. However, due to the difficulties in developing new drugs for cognitive impairment, especially in AD, and the lack of drug-specific therapeutics available for the treatment of AD dementia stage, more and more researchers now focus on non-pharmacological intervention.

As an economical and practical non-pharmacological therapy with no toxic side effects, regular exercise was proved to be an effective means for preventing and treating cognitive impairment or dementia, which could reduce the risk of dementia in healthy people and even higher risk gene carriers. The comprehensive health benefits of exercise are systemic, multi-dimensional and multi-organ, including skeletal muscle, cardio-respiratory system, vascular system, liver, fat, and brain. Hormones, exerkines, and metabolites produced by different tissues, and organs during and after exercise are secreted into the blood circulation and then act on brain tissue, thereby playing a neuroprotective role. The discovery of novel mediators associated with exercise and their mechanism of action will be an important development direction in this field."

Title: The potential mechanisms of lactate in mediating exercise-enhanced cognitive function: a dual role as an energy supply substrate and a signaling molecule

Xiangli Xue, Beibei Liu, Jingyun Hu, Xuepeng Bian & Shujie Lou
Nutrition & Metabolism volume 19, Article number: 52 (2022)

---------------------------------------------  

Daytime napping

Highlights

• Whether daytime napping is causally associated with brain health remains elusive.
•  We studied the causal role of daytime napping on cognitive and neuroimaging outcomes.
• We found a modest causal link between habitual napping and larger total brain volume.

Regular Naps May Slow Brain Shrinkage | Technology Networks

From the Ross Report, an investment newsletter

"It is very clear we are now in a situation where the Democrats will do anything to win, and to destroy their opposition. The timing of announcing the indictment was set to offset the evening news about the FBI memo on Biden so the mainstream media could ignore the Biden story. It is clear the Biden family has been bribed, and is totally corrupt. The guy who bribed Joe has it on tape. The Ukrainian accountant for Burisma who had direct knowledge suddenly died. It is clear the Clintons are very dirty and Hilary should be in jail. She had the illegal server and destroyed evidence under subpoena, but she walked away. The Clintons pocketed tens of millions in what were essentially bribes run through the foundation. It is just a question of, is Biden dirtier than the Clintons?  Obama took docs and refused to turn them over -no action against him. The nation has now become a corrupt cesspool controlled by very dangerous people who will stop at nothing to retain power and destroy those who try to stop them.

While there have been corrupt people in power before, and other underhanded acts, this series of attacks on Trump and phony claims like Russia Gate, and the impeachments, are the worst in modern history. It rivals the Continental Congress [which] tried to undermine Washington at Valley Forge to get rid of him. It is far from clear where this goes. Much of the charges against Trump in this latest attack are going to get dismissed as they come under the civil law of the Records Act. The one place he has a real issue is his intentional obstruction, and the showing of material to reporters.

The Durham report is damning about how the Democrats, and the FBI, and DOJ schemed to get Trump, but it is unfortunate he never brought indictments. Why we do not know. What we did see was the mainstream media push aside Durham as nothing new when in fact, it is a massive scandal. The nation is in a very dangerous place now, and how all of this unfolds, and who will be the next president is totally unclear. With the mainstream media covering up for Biden, and all out attacking Trump like they did with Russia, it is unclear what the vast number of voters will understand about what is really happening. The media continue to be heavily biased and dishonest. I believe this case will harm Trump with enough voters that he will not be the nominee. One of his most diehard supporters told me yesterday even he has had it with Trump. Barr has explained that he did not indict Biden because at that time there was barely any real evidence and it was still being investigated, and so he turned it over to a US Attorney to dig in. Then he left office and the Biden White House has managed to bury the FBI investigation. Barr did not determine there was no case as has been falsely stated by some Democrats and the press. Truth was the opposite. He did not have near enough then to indict Joe. That is all changed now with the Republicans pursuing what DOJ did not pursue." Ross Report, June 19, 2023

Our taxes pay to glorify a cult--21 federal agencies

This is disgusting. I want my money back. 

• Are there no homeless on the streets? 
• Are there no 18 year olds aging out of foster care? 
• Are there no rivers to clean up? 
• Does Flint have clean water yet? 
• Are there no forests that need a controlled burn? 
• Are there no parks that need lights replaced? 
• Are there no potholes in DC that could be repaired? 
• Are there no pre-schools that need appropriate children's books? 
• Are there no babies to save from the abortionist cabal?

Surely our taxes can do better than paying to advertise a religious cult. Talk to any gay man or lesbian and you'll find out this is not about them, it's about transagenda.

Examples: Taxpayer Dollars Fund Federal Pride Month Celebrations (dailysignal.com)

 
"Department of Education: Rather than focus on increasing the overall math, science, or literary scores of American children, the Department of Education decided it was more important to create this pride post on Twitter: “Our message to LGBTQI+ students, teachers, and staff as we begin #PrideMonth: ED has got your back.”" ED also means erectile disfunction, something the children they are maiming will have as adults.

"The Smithsonian Museums: The taxpayer-funded museums offer a lineup of LGBTQ events for the month of June, including sexuality talks and “drag story hours” featuring “drag queens” reading books to children." Although called a "non-profit" (over 1.5 Billion income) this clump of many museums gets over half its funding from the government and enjoys all the special perks of government agencies, including obscene salaries for its executives.

"Veterans Affairs: Under the theme “We All Have a Seat at the Table,” the United States Department of Veterans Affairs is holding its third annual “virtual Pride Month.” This monthlong event features online seminars on topics that include “A Legal Guide to LGBTQ Couples,” “Healthcare and Fertility Preservation for Transgender Patients,” and “A Clinical Guide to Gender-Affirming Prosthetics,” to name a few. " Gender affirming Prosthetics? I guess that's fake breasts so veterans can prance around the White House with naked chests during Pride Month.

The Dominion Voting Software

So all these "crazy" people, Trump included, who said there was something wrong with Dominion weren't so crazy after all? All that money Dominion got from Fox? What's going on? The Halderman Report.

"The warnings are stark, suggesting that Georgia’s voting machines could be manipulated by bad actors in mere minutes. Halderman argued that attackers could alter the QR codes on printed ballots, and install malware on individual voting machines “with only brief physical access.” They could attack the broader voting system if they have the same access as certain county-level election officials, his report said."

Expert report fuels election doubts as Georgia waits to update voting software (nbcnews.com)

From Feb. 1, 2022 What We've Been Waiting For: Judge May Release Bombshell Report on Dominion Voting Machines in Georgia (westernjournal.com)

From Sept. 9, 2022  Tech Experts Warn Georgia's Voting System in Danger After Trump Supporters Busted Copying Software (thenewcivilrightsmovement.com)

Software updates on new voting machines in Georgia | 11alive.com

After a lengthy delay in disclosure, Georgia Report on Dominion Systems explodes onto the scene: Analysis | News | city-sentinel.com

Tucker is causing heart attacks on the left

Interesting to see how the low rated media are treating Tucker on Twitter. Using adjectives we've all said about them! Anti-semitic, unhinged, paranoid, deranged, conspiracies, slapped together, his hair sticking up (?) They would kill (and they are trying) for his audience numbers.

A letter from Bird about corruption

From: Dennis (surname removed)

To:  Editorial Page Editor
Riverland News

Hillary Clinton erased thousands of potentially damaging emails and took a hammer to cell phones to render them useless, but nothing happens. Barak Obama has boxes of classified material from when he was president, but nothing happens. Mike Pence has boxes stored from his time as vice-president, but nothing happens. We all saw Joe Biden on that stage in a foreign country saying that if the prosecutor investigating his son isn’t fired the country would not receive U.S. tax dollars, but nothing happens. Joe Biden has hundreds, maybe thousands of boxes from when he was a senator and also vice-president, some stored in his garage, but nothing happens. I guess that’s OK, because Joe’s vintage Corvette is protecting them. But when Donald Trump has boxes stored at his estate in a locked room, that has an extra lock installed as requested and has a secret service detail in residence, this demands a federal indictment. Ask yourself why this is happening. One reason of course is that Trump is again running for president and the left is petrified that if elected, he will finish the job of draining the swamp and put them all out of work or better yet in jail where most of them belong, But I believe it is because the House is now investigating Biden on potential corruption charges for accepting millions in bribes when he was vice-president that could result is his impeachment, a legitimate impeachment. That’s why this is happening.

Dennis 
Rainbow Springs

Matthew 25

Matthew 25 has always been a favorite of mine. Recently, I read a wonderful reflection on Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa carried the Gospel in her hand without a book. Sometimes when asked to describe the Gospel message, she would take her listener's hand and pinch each finger, saying, "You. Did. It. To. Me." You did it to me. This five-finger gospel, taken from Matthew 25:40, summed up for Mother Teresa the truth about the body of Christ and showed her the way to love the God she could not see in the brother or sister she could see.

Father Jonah Teller, Magnificat, June 2023, p. 245

The fast fall of Fox

Although I haven't watched Fox News since Tucker was fired, I did hear from Matt Walsh that the 8 p.m. time slot has dropped from 1st to 41st. The women running Fox apparently were put there to destroy it. Owners must have their own supply of money independent of their investment. Fox not only hates its viewers, but also its employees. They are required to see "reeducation" messages and attend classes on LGBTQ sex and depravity. Things that would get anyone fired in the workplace. Years ago, I had a gay boss and a trans employee--they were honorable people who would be horrified by what is going on. Fox management pushes porn on its staff. I suppose it is a ploy to get them to resign, but those folks have mortgages, college debt, and church pledges to pay, so only the most screwed up, kinky or privately wealthy will stay. Sorry to see it. I loved the Fox ladies at noon and the Five. Meanwhile, Tucker continues spilling the beans on all our media sources. Episode 4 was on Biden's methods to destroy our Constitutional election process. Jail his opponent for "crimes" he Biden has committed. Banana Republic. We be it.

Excess deaths not related to Covid. Many are reporting on this.

https://youtu.be/hHXICFnF-do

This research is from England. Dr. John Campbell

https://youtu.be/CROf3xmGzYI

This is from Korea, myocarditis. COVID-19 vaccination-related myocarditis: a Korean nationwide study | European Heart Journal | Oxford Academic (oup.com) It's not mild. Over 44 million people in the study. Given  vaccination-related myocarditis cases including deaths (VRM)  why is the CDC recommending the vaccine for everyone ages 6 months and older in the United States for the prevention of COVID-19, asks the author.

https://youtu.be/FxIug6k1mso

This is from Australia. 12% higher than normal. 34% of excess deaths not related to Covid.

These videos June 16 and 17, 2023.

Episode 3 for Tucker, and Fox fumes

Tucker Carlson released his 3rd episode and "claimed that comments Trump made during a 2016 Republican primary debate marked the exact point at which "permanent Washington" determined to throw Trump in prison. Carlson featured video footage of Trump saying the U.S. should never have been in Iraq, that America had "destabilized the Middle East," that the claims made about weapons of mass destruction had been a lie, "and they knew there were none."

Carlson said that Trump's statements regarding weapons of mass destruction being a lie "sealed his fate."

Carlson said that Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and Sen. Lindsey Graham had described Trump as a "visionary genius up until the moment he lost power." Carlson said "then they unsheathed their real agenda — as always the neocon war agenda. And they piled on with maximum force." (from Mike Huckabee newsletter)

Tom Fitton on Trump Indictment

 

Jason Whitlock speaks out on Garth Brooks' message

 Excerpt from a longer message: Whitlock: Garth Brooks befriends the fallen angel in the lowest place - TheBlaze

"Diversity, equity, and inclusion form a false religion. It’s a religion designed to supplant the word of God.

Diversity is not a solution to America’s problems or anyone’s. It’s an excuse and a tool for elites to pursue power. Diversity favors the people born into power and wealth. They decide who gets elevated based on the whims of their feelings.

The hyper-focus on diverse hiring de-emphasizes qualifications and merit. An individual can make himself qualified through hard work and discipline. Merit is open to everyone. “Diversity” is completely subjective, cannot be earned, and is partially determined by sexual lifestyle choices.

Diversity promotes division and chaos among the non-elites. It incentivizes people to choose alternative identities. It undermines a culture of competition that is critical to America keeping its standing as the leader of the world."

The sad state of U.S. leadership

Biden may become our most blood thirsty White House Resident. Plunged Afghanistan back into control of the Taliban and deserting our allies; promotes abortion at any time during pregnancy killing millions of unborn, particularly minority children; took bribes from both Ukraine and China which will ultimately kill millions; lauds and encourages the LGBTQ agenda during Pride Month, sterilizing the young with sex hormones and surgeries while promoting zero birth rates; sends billions in war weapons and makes no plans to promote peace, killing both Russians and Ukrainians; wastes billions on fanciful green schemes while ignoring immediate solutions. An evil man.  Evil.

And I thought my math was bad! The FBI.

What's behind the domestic terrorist numbers increase? Biden loves to lie about it.  Where does that come from?  It's FBI "marketing" strategy. The FBI Whistleblowers have reported that in the past when they were told of suspicious activity of a group of 5 or even 20, that was one incident. Now, they are told to open 5 (or 20) full separate investigations. When the pro-abortionists were protesting and making threats at the homes of SCOTUS, a clearly illegal activity, they were told to open cases on the pro-life people as "terrorists" rather than the pro-aborts who were protesting the decision, which is patently absurd. Promotions and salary increases are dependent on the number of cases each office investigates.

Also, it's the old "if you build it they will come" strategy.  Throw out enough grant money and they'll come running to spend it on "finding" terrorism.

"In February 2021, DHS released $77 million in grants to state governments to better understand the domestic violent extremist threat, and DHS plans to increase that amount this year to approximately $128.5 million. Congress is also requiring the National Institute of Justice to perform a “feasibility study” into the potential to create an independent clearinghouse of online extremist content that would fund independent sleuths who could provide tips when they observe potentially criminal behavior. The clearinghouse – originally recommended as part of the Anti-Defamation League’s PROTECT Plan – is far from operational, but to have Congress mandate a feasibility study is an excellent first step." ADL.org 

Lakeside 2023 season

We're in Lakeside for 2 weeks. Now we are renters again as we were from 1974 to 1988. Lakeside is celebrating its 150th season and our 50th. It's been cool, but sunny, and in this photo we are enjoying the circle of benches near the lake after lunch.  There is a little haze from the Canadian fires, but not terrible. Because of the wind patterns Lakeside had less smoke than Columbus.  Last night we had dinner with our friends the Cassidys from Tennessee and then enjoyed a wonderful show in Hoover Auditorium by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Today we have a high school graduation party for our good friend and neighbor from Cincinnati, Jack, and tomorrow a memorial service for our summer pastor of the last 15 years Rev. Irwin Jennings. This week I attended all the Faith Hours, with wonderful gospel preaching by Pastor Zac Hess of Grace Polaris in Westerville.

Our two week schedule

Saturday June 3 --travel to Smith Cottage on Lynn; Hoover program, "Whose line is it Anyway" with Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood 7:30.

Sunday June 4 --Church at Hoover Auditorium, 10:30, preacher Zac Hess, Grace Polaris, Columbus; evening 6:30, Heidelberg University Faculty Woodwind Quintet at Steele Bandstand

Monday through Thursday --Faith for Living, Orchestra Hall, Zac Hess, 9-10

Monday June 5 --Women's Bible Study, 10 a.m. Lakeside Women's Club; Film Festival 7:30 p.m. "Everestman." "The Last Last Hike," "Pony boys," (my favorite, about summer of 1967)

Tuesday June 6 -- Film Festival, 10:30 "American Dinner," "American Heartbreak," (Kent State, 1970),

"CLE Urban Winery Story," "Archie Hough Bakeries"

Wednesday June 7 -- Film Festival, 10:30 "Pheasants of Detroit," "Honk." (excellent!)   Dorothy Fuldheim by Anne McEvoy 1:30 Hoover; Picnic in Perry Park 5:30

Thursday June 8 -- Film Festival, 10:30 "Daniel and Nate" (teen is caregiver for brother), "Lizzi, Deeper than water" (paralympics) "The Prospector," "Rocks 4 Sale"; Silent movie, "Spite marriage," 1929 Buster Keaton and Dorothy Sebastian. Clark Wilson organist.

Friday June 9 -- Dinner with Cassidy's; 7:30 New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, Hoover

Saturday June 10 -- Afternoon, Jack's party--saw many friends; Phoebe and Mark arrive for the week; sold the golf cart for $6500 but we keep it until the 16th

Sunday June11 -- church at Hoover, preacher Dr. Simangaliso Kumalo of South Africa;

Memorial service for Irwin Jennings, Pavilion,  reception at LWC

Monday June 12-15 -- Women's Bible Study, Lakeside Women's Club, 9 a.m.  Monday - Thursday, Faith for Living, Dr. Kumalo, Orchestra Hall (not very good) 10-11. 1:30 Book Review LWC, Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles; movie 7:30 Lincoln

Tuesday June 13 (It was Civil War week, but I didn't attend programs); LWC, meet and greet, M.A. Stephens: 6:45 Art Show Reception. Bob got Merit Award for Fisherman painting;  8 p.m. Keynote Speaker, Clark Kellogg (gave him Bob's book) Hoover

Wednesday June 14 -- Guy's Club 11:30; Ida McKinley reenactment 1:30 Hoover; Picnic in Perry Park, 5:30

Thursday June 15 -- Guy's Club breakfast, 8:00 Patio; dinner at JJ's with Phoebe and Mark for Father's Day

Friday June 16 -- Breakfast at Idlewyld 8:00; Farmer's Market with Phoebe 8:30;  Tram Tour 1:30; Sons of Mystro (violins) 7:30 Hoover; new owners of the golf cart picked it up.  Named it "Bruce."

Saturday June 17 -- Pack up, cleanup, ride home.

What's coming down the pike after transgenderism

Transableism, Trans-speciesism, Trans-humanism--so what pronouns should we use for these confused, self-maiming and deeply disturbed people/animals/machines? Ask a Democrat. As the Leftists on Social Media, government and academe wander further into La-la land they've gone way beyond destroying Western Civilization (the Constitution and the United States they abandoned long ago). Annihilation of the world is their goal. This is not a conspiracy theory; all you have to do is follow the breadcrumbs tossed to their followers. People who willingly blind themselves or amputate limbs, people who demand litter boxes in schools, are just the natural evolution of a cult that maims children in the name of "affirming" their own delusions.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/29/transabled-people-choosing-to-identify-as-handicapped/?

https://youtu.be/YVJEtY-2kL0  What is transhumanism, EWTN

Back to the seventies, Hippity Hop and Big Wheel

I'm not sure why I posted this 10 years ago on Facebook, except to tell of my parents' voices in my head. They are about 60 in the photo, so I was maybe 34. The original in 2013 said, "Hallmark should have a card to celebrate the day you become your parent(s). (Heard on the radio) I would love to sound like my mother, but usually it is Dad who speaks. He would give a solid yes or no, and Mom would say, "We'll see," so we interpreted that any way that suited us."

Now I've waited too long to tell about the visit or what we did. If I had my photo album, I might have notes. It was spring, that's a flowering quince which will take over the yard if you aren't careful, a sand box which Bob built and the neighborhood cats used. The kids weren't very interested in t.  The toys are Big wheel and Hippity Hop. Anyone remember those? Today about 50 years later I'm wearing mom's hairstyle in this photo. It's very windy this week at the Lake. Not once did I ever hear her complain about her hair, but I do every day. Every day. Oh, how I miss her wisdom, strength and love of service.

Diversity and Inclusion the Immigrant way

Big brawls you may not see on your cable news. American immigrants fighting from Maryland to California with Antifa and schoolboards about LGBTQ agenda in schools. Armenian-Americans and American Muslims seem to be less passive than all those white supremacists. This is real diversity and inclusion,

Protests and Violence as Immigrants, Muslims Kick Back Against #PRIDE LGBTQI2+ to Kids - NewsRescue.com

Fights Break Out at School Board Meeting Between Antifa and Parents (dailysignal.com)

Quebec on fire

 Massive forest fires are coating much of Quebec in haze and smoke | CBC News

"Yan Boulanger, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada said that the ground covered by the fires in Quebec's commercial forests in the past four days is massive and estimates that it's equal to what was covered in the past 10 years combined."

Fires Burn Across Quebec (nasa.gov)

Fire season in Quebec usually starts in late May. In an average year, only 247 hectares (a square mile) of area would be burned by June 5, according to Quebec’s fire prevention agency (SOPFEU). But so far this year, 160,000 hectares (600 square miles) have burned.

Schnormeier Gardens for a nice summer trip

 Ohio's 'secret garden' filled with Asian treasures | 10tv.com

This might be a nice trip to take this summer as we check out the places we've been missing these last 50 years. We're at Lakeside right now, but soon we'll be free to explore.

Schnormeier Gardens | Japanese Style Garden in Gambier, OH

Dining near the garden - Schnormeier Gardens

"The focal point of the property is a spectacular Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home. This private residence was completed in 1994. Other structures on the property include a Japanese teahouse, garden house, Chinese pavilion and arched bridge. An ever growing collection of unique sculptures are also located on the grounds.

Our gardens have a distinct Asian flavor and feature a variety of plantings rich in color and texture. Rare conifers are plentiful here. Large boulders and stone walls add dimension and contrast to the landscape. Designed with a bold vision and attention to detail, the gardens offer delightful viewing in any season."

Tara Reade and Russia

Tara Reade, one of the women who has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, has decided to seek asylum and citizenship in Russia. Well, they were calling her a Russian agent anyway, so that will certainly ramp that up. She was interviewed by Megyn Kelly, who also interviewed her several years when the scandal (ignored by media and Democrats) broke. She seems terribly naive about Russia--says it is beautiful and she's never felt so free. I believe her about Biden, she even filed a complaint and told people at the time (Democrats say to always believe the woman unless she's reporting on one of their own), but she's pretty dumb about Russia. It's not just Putin. Russia has had such a long run of terrible, awful leaders from before recorded history, that I can't imagine anyone seeking citizenship there. Do they even have an immigration policy? Who breaks into Russia?

Chick-fil-A and DEI

No one ever objected to Chick-fil-A having gay, black, Asian, female or atheist employees. It helped them build their brand as Christians. Chicken and good service for all. Just as Jesus offers salvation for all as a gift, and not by force and offers an opportunity to love your neighbor through service. But now it has created a DEI department, which is just a trinitarian formula for a cult that promotes anger, hate, and the religion of division. They've submitted to the corporate cronyism that is the hallmark of the Biden Administration. I've never eaten there--not even a nugget of chicken, if they have that. I guess that opportunity has passed me by. This is not like Amazon, McDonald's or Ohio State having bloated DEI departments, committees and task forces at every level. Chick-fil-A was openly proud of its Christian roots and philosophy. 

DEI is a religious cult (aka DIE). 

DEI is anti-life (pro-abortion); 

anti-woman (destroys women's safe spaces, sports, careers); 

anti-capitalism (submitting to ESG, an invention of Community China);

anti-American (teaches destruction of the free-market); 

You can't be woke/dei-ist and love America and Jesus. Don't bend the knee for Caesar.

Chick-fil-A sparks anti-woke outrage for hiring VP of DEI (nypost.com)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Chick-fil-A

Gender dysphoria and population

Gender dysphoric people are rare (less than 1%), but among those who are children and seeking a solution that will change their bodies to fit in with the current fad, 80% are girls. Cross sex hormones and genital and breast surgery will make them sterile.

The fertility rate in the U.S. is below replacement, the sperm count for men all over the world is dropping mysteriously, and chemical abortions in the U.S. requiring no medical supervision are at an all-time high, further endangering the wombs of women. You can't fix this with immigration, which is the latest form of colonialism and slave labor, leaving other countries drained of brains and brawn.

Democrats are the new flat earth society led by prosecutors trained in the methods of the Salem Witch Trials. They are blind to what they are doing by pathologizing this condition and eager to destroy our country. They are so terrified to swim against the LGBTQ tide that even those whose brains still function, go along with the BIG LIE.

The LGs have been taken over by the BTQ+xyz group, and it has spread.  My doctor's office now says my sex was assigned. Formerly respected journals now refuse any real information that confirms biological sex. Species confusion, trans-humanism is chasing at the heels of the chest feeders. Huffington Post reported on that almost a decade ago, so don't think this is about civil rights, or "finding" a true identity. We bought into the "it's all about love," or "it doesn't matter what adults do." Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.  

Third anniversary of the riots

We're in the 3rd anniversary of the worst riots in our history, riots supported by some in our federal government, and many at the state and local level. Yet many of those criminals got a slap on the wrist or very short sentences. Kamala Harris raised money for them. None got what the J-6 protestors did, because some black lives matter much more in politics. But most who lost their lives in these massive, nationwide, primarily blue cities were black. The businesses destroyed and the homes burned were owned by blacks. Those lives didn't matter at all to the Democrats.

In Portland they voted to defund the police. "The effect in the streets was immediate: From Jan. 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020, Portland had just four murders. In the following 12-month period, Portland tallied 94 homicides."  'Where are we headed?' Portland's record-setting year for murder fuels search for answers (yahoo.com)

Say what? APoB

 Listening to Dr. Peter Attia on a podcast today (he has a new book so he's been on several), he was discussing the 3 most important things for preventing heart disease--the #1 cause of death.  1.  Blood pressure (he recommends 120/80)--check.  2.  No smoking--check.  and 3. APoB.  Say what? Had to look that one up.  I don't see it on my lab reports.  Apparently, neither have most people--even doctors.  Here's what I found on a website called Levels.   https://www.levelshealth.com/blog/why-apob-may-be-a-better-cholesterol-marker

What is the ApoB Test?

"The ApoB test measures your body’s level of Apolipoprotein B-100 (also simply known as ApoB). ApoB is a protein that helps carry cholesterol and other important compounds through your bloodstream to the tissues that need them. Testing for this protein helps doctors quantify the number of potentially dangerous cholesterol-carrying particles in your body, thus giving insight into your risk of heart disease. . . 

"To understand how ApoB predicts heart disease risk, we first need to step back and understand cholesterol. Cholesterol is a waxy substance, a type of fat (lipid) that’s essential for human life. It’s used by cells as a structural material (to build cell membranes and insulate nerve cells) and as a building block for important hormones (e.g. cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone). Every cell can make its own cholesterol, but it’s produced in the largest quantities by the intestines (which absorb and repackage some cholesterol from dietary sources) and the liver. These organs then export cholesterol to other cells and tissues via the bloodstream. But this step presents the body with a challenge: Cholesterol is hydrophobic. It does not disperse easily in the blood but instead clumps together like oil in water. The solution is a particle called a lipoprotein—a molecule that encases cholesterol in a hydrophilic shell so that it can travel through the blood in small, discrete parcels.

There are many different types of lipoproteins that sequentially change into each other as triglycerides are offloaded. At the beginning of this chain is the Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) molecule. VLDLs are formed when your liver bundles cholesterol along with triglycerides (another fatty substance that stores energy) into a large, protein-wrapped molecule. This molecule is “low-density” in the sense that it floats in blood—it is buoyant. The VLDL is then sent out into your bloodstream, where it circulates until it encounters a cell with an open receptor (typically a smooth muscle cell or fat cell). The VLDL then deposits its triglycerides into the cell, which can store them or use them for immediate energy." continues at web site. Important to read.

. . . "ApoB can give you critical information about your long-term heart health. This may be especially important for people with a personal or family history of heart disease, as well as people with a current heart disease diagnosis who are monitoring their condition."

Secrets of Hillsong, pt. 2

Last night I finished watching the FX Vanity Fair four part documentary on Hulu, The Secrets of Hillsong, a Christian (Pentecostal) megachurch in Australia, which spread to the United States. Much of this story was revealed in 2022 on the Discovery Channel. I was unaware of any of this, mainly because Hillsong first became famous through its music, which so many churches were already using. I don’t attend a service that uses that so there were probably discussions I ignored.

The first episode is primarily about Pastor Carl Lentz, the rock star pastor of the New York City Hillsong church who was so charismatic and charming (think Bill Clinton charisma but younger and better looking) that he became an entertainer-preacher who had celebrity guests like Justin Bieber, Kevin Durant and Vanessa Hudgens at the worship services. Lentz even appeared on the View. The footage shown of the services looked like rock concerts, but with more arm waving and jumping up and down. Even OSU Buckeye football fans don’t get that worked up!

Pastor Lentz falls from grace due to marital infidelity in the first episode after the audience has been introduced to his incredible ability to spin the Gospel and sway with the culture, but if that were the point of this documentary, there would be no story. The underlying theme and purpose in my opinion is to tell the audience that Christianity and Christians are a bunch of fakes and charlatans out of step with LGBTQ, BLM and Feminism, plus they are stealing money from their congregants and molesting children as sidelines.

In episode one we are introduced to the journalists and writers who put this story together (obviously with Pastor Lentz’s input). They dead pan pithy explanations yet do not condemn. That is left to the other on camera speakers, mostly from the NYC church who at one time were “volunteers” in responsible positions. (By the end of the 4th episode, they’ve all left the church, and some have left the faith, but you don’t know that in episode one). In the first episode, these are all women, several black, one possibly Hispanic, and one gay man who had been on a reality show with his boyfriend. In the 3rd or 4th (don’t remember) episodes we meet some men who worked with the Australian church, and like Lentz, were dismissed or “cancelled” by Brian Houston, the Australian founder of Hillsong (originally that was the name of the music arm, and the church took the name).

The final episode focuses on the sins of Brian Houston and his father Frank (d. 2004), who had been charged with child sexual abuse, but the church and particularly son Brian took no action even after a lengthy investigation by secular authorities. The trial is coming up in June, so that is yet to be revealed. Maybe there will be a fifth episode.

As I watched the very moving stories about the child abuse, I couldn’t help but think that this looks like nothing compared to what our current “leaders” from entertainment to school boards to medical clinics to churches are accepting-- the mutilation and sterilization of children who cannot give consent, either to attend drag shows, read assigned books or to have their bodies destroyed. Will they ever come to trial?

https://youtu.be/5_aIauL2xKA Shout to the Lord (Hillsong) The composer is at piano, and the lead singer might be Darlene Zschech.

https://news.yahoo.com/where-brian-houston-now-hillsong-203049379.html?guccounter=1

Keep in mind if you watch this, that from start to finish, the whole point appears to be to condemn all Christians, not a particular church or group of sinners. Why would Vanity Fair care? There are other sources for this story which may not have that slant.

Memorial Day, 2023

Today is Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, originally observed on May 30. It began in the South in 1866 to recognize their war dead, and became a national holiday in 1868. We now memorialize all those who died in service to our country, and it has become customary to honor also our friends and family who are deceased. To my knowledge, my family on my mother's side has only one Civil War dead to honor, Jacob J. George, my great grandfather's youngest brother. In a cruel irony, his parents who lived in Adams County, Pennsylvania (Gettysburg is in that county) sent their youngest boy to live in the relatively safe area of Lee County Illinois with his adult brother, a farmer.

Although we can find Jacob's name in the History of Lee County Illinois with the other volunteers from Company G, he and the others (almost 2,500 just from that county) had no idea they'd signed on for bad food, injuries, disease and prison. Lee County was paying $100 bounty, and it probably seemed like a great adventure to him (obviously lied about his age). He enlisted on January 4, 1864 when he was 15 years and one month old.

He's buried in The National Cemetery in Nashville, TN with over 16,000 soldiers, both Union and Confederate, whose names are known, and another 3,500+ unknown. He died in the hospital of acute diarrhea on May 10, 1865, having entered the hospital on April 12. General amnesty was proclaimed by the President on May 29, 1865, and the war ended. Many in this cemetery were transferred from hospital burial grounds. His Discharge papers (death certificate) showed his age as 18. He was 16.

It was about 120 years later that my mother and her sister learned about Jacob through the genealogical research of their cousin, and a few letters were found that he had sent his sister in Iowa describing his ordeal and homesickness. This is my own speculation, but I'm guessing his brother in Illinois, my great-grandfather, never mentioned him to his family. His birth and death dates are not in the family Bible. It's possible that when Mom was a little girl waving her flag at the parade on May 30 when the old Civil War veterans marched by, some may have been from Jacob's regiment.

Death and the Civil War: Extended Trailer | American Experience | Official Site | PBS

More evidence about the virus source

"Chinese scientists affiliated with the People's Liberation Army filed a patent for a Covid-19 vaccine in February 2020, with their research indicating they began working on a vaccine at least by November 2019, nearly two months before Beijing disclosed the Covid outbreak, according to a report on the virus compiled by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and his staff.

Additionally, Wuhan researchers filed for a patent in December 2019 for an "integrated system for use in biological protection" that would detect air pressure changes to maintain negative airflow and ensure that the lab operates safely.

The patent application also included data from between September and December 2019 indicating that the WIV was experiencing serious issues with its ventilation systems.

”The outbreak of an airborne viral pneumonia is one way that such problems could have become evident to the WIV leadership," the Rubio report states."

https://sharylattkisson.com/2023/05/report-early-chinese-vaccine-patents-adds-to-evidence-of-covid-lab-leak/?

A return to the worship of Caesar

Calling out every organization and person that doesn't bow and worship the policies and confusions of the Biden administration as "white supremacists" is indeed ugly and false. It's also leftist dog whistle for "Christian." But Rome did that too in the first and second centuries. Christians were expected to worship Caesar and were considered immoral pagans because they didn't revere the Roman gods. They were "cancelled" too--thrown to the lions for entertainment. We've been through this before. But Garland/Biden Satan's tricks don't change much. Be brave and smart. Don't let Garland Goons go after Christians with his names and slurs. Speak up.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/26/gama-sosa-merrick-garland-new-criminal-class-youll-be-part-of-it/

"Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in Gulag Archipelago (pg. 505 if you’re interested) that in the early days of the USSR, thieves and murderers were often treated with kid gloves. They could be rehabilitated, the party line went, and they were often allowed to commit crime if they targeted the right people.

Not so for anyone considered a “political criminal,” either directly or by association. Those people eventually ended up in the GULAG. Now this might seem unsurprising, until you realize that the crime of opposing the state could be something as simple as having more money than your neighbor, belonging to the wrong ethnic group, being Christian or simply existing."

Secrets of Hillsong

 I'm not sure I'll ever watch the documentary, "Secrets of Hillsong" (on HULU).  It sounds disgusting, but wonder if you have. 

"A non-denominational Christian church that began in Australia in 1983, Hillsong quickly expanded to a global audience, including the U.S. and nearly 30 other countries–launching its first U.S. location in New York City in 2010. The church’s rapid growth can be credited to its casual, almost secular style–pastors wear shredded jeans and leather jackets while preaching instead of more traditional wear; music for the congregants at a Kings of Leon concert; and church services are regularly held in venues like nightclubs." (Time description) 

Sex, child abuse, spousal abuse, money laundering, celebrity Christians--not a word about Jesus in all the articles I looked at. 

The Story Behind 'The Secrets of Hillsong' | Time

'The Secrets of Hillsong' explores allegations behind the international megachurch : NPR

Four Big Takeaways From The Secrets of Hillsong’s Carl Lentz Interview | Vanity Fair

Fourth anniversary of our kitchen fire in Lakeside

What I wrote 4 years ago, May 25, 2019.

"If we're on your prayer list, thanks. It never hurts to be preemptive. We're OK. The fire has been put out, and we had some clean up. The cottage odor is a combination of Febreze, scented candles and burned butter. We had a wonderful meal at Sortino's (Sandusky, OH) on Thursday evening and came home with 5 carry out bags + bread. However, the 20" stove in our summer home wouldn't quite hold everything when we tried to warm up dinner the next evening and (we're blaming Bob) some fettuccini alfredo over flowed, dripping butter, which then caught on fire. The four of us in the tiny kitchen (think Keystone Cops) were a hoot, with Phoebe rescuing our dinner from the flames and Mark squelching the fire. It is cleaning week-end so we then had fine soot over our freshly washed cabinets, counters, and floors. BUT. No one was hurt and there's no permanent damage. Supper was delicious once we all settled down, and I think there's enough for tonight's dinner. I do plan to buy a new stove, though."

Disparate Impact and racism

 Black homicides: Remove all deaths caused by police (6 unarmed blacks in 2021) and all deaths of blacks caused by whites, and it would make almost no difference in the rate and percentage. Homicides of black women increased by 33% in 2020. Disparate impact is the odd law that is putting black criminals back out on the street to terrorize more black victims. It's considered structurally racist that crime rates are higher for blacks. That's disparate impact fall out.

Your mother's dementia diagnosis: The MCAT is now considered structurally racist because too many blacks can't pass and get into medical school. So, although it didn't begin in 2020, since the George Floyd riots and the rise in white guilt there's a push to eliminate the standards so more blacks enter medical school. Asian Americans have the highest MCAT scores and black Americans the lowest. The Asian American who didn't pursue a career in Alzheimer's research because the team needed to be racially balanced isn't available to find the cure for your mom because of disparate impact, i.e., all that matters is race.

What would Thomas Sowell say about disparate impact.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5szK1RX0gevURrY2BHCmer

Medical School Acceptance Rates by Race (2023): Does Ethnicity Play a Role? — Shemmassian Academic Consulting (shemmassianconsulting.com)

What the Media Doesn’t Want You To Know About 2020’s Record Murder Spike | The Heritage Foundation

Finding fun together as a family

 Our niece Joan lives in Indianapolis.  I often see on Facebook places she's taken her class (she's a teacher) or her grandchildren, or her friends for a day of adventure, fun or crafts. Sometimes it's a farm, or a park with forest and a fishing hole, a historic site, or a craft assembly.  Here's a photo of Joan, her sister, her two daughters-in-law, and her son's girlfriend.  They all made items out of wood and painted them.  Bonding and fun! We probably have businesses like this in Columbus, but I don't know where they are.

The economy

All the numbers look good according to the pro-Biden reports. Except when corrected for inflation they are all underwater, from retail to manufacturing to investment capital to jobs. They still can't get the workers to return--it was too easy working in pajamas, or less. As the election cometh, so come the lies.

I haven't shopped Target for years. It went all out trans during the Obama administration around 2012 where all this started, beginning with making the Target restrooms unsafe for girls and women. Then Target began devoting a whole month to the rainbow, for 2% of the population, hacking a rainbow sent by God after the flood which they stole from Christians and Jews. Now they've got swimsuits in the women's department with a "tuck" feature for men, so men can frolic in the women's locker rooms and real women will be at risk of assault. What ever happened to all those brave ladies of "Me Too?" Never believe a man who says he's a woman. And if the woman has just discovered she was raped 20 years ago, don't believe her either. Especially if the perp is a politician or movie star or rock celebrity.

My heart breaks for my country

 We’ve recently seen but few have read the Durham Report which is 380 pages of crimes at the highest level of government, especially of an agency that will call parents at school board meetings “domestic terrorists” but won’t police its own criminal bureaucracy. No one will be charged for these crimes even though some ineffective, powerless protesters from two years ago are still without trial. The very criminals listed in this report are still seeking more citizens to charge for January 6 for even being near the Capitol. Other rioters and looters from the summer of 2020 have never been charged or have received light sentences.

Also this week we heard testimony of three whistleblowers from the FBI.  The agency which is supposed to protect their rights, and our rights to disagree with the government—the FBI--refuses to recognize they are whistleblowers!  Their damning testimony seriously calls into question the events of January 6, 2021. And therefore, some members of the Congressional committee sneered and ridiculed their stories of abuse, loss of jobs and income.

We are embroiled in a horribly expensive (in both blood and treasure) proxy war in Europe between two Christian nations, while at the same time ignoring the debt ceiling reality. More billions approved today.  No one in our government is even suggesting brokering a peace.  Thousands of people are dying and we stand at the brink of nuclear war—no one in the world will survive that.  Not even the people who are making billions from such a war. Meanwhile, we ignore two other major wars among Christians because they are in Africa.  Black lives do not matter.

We no longer have borders.  And without borders there is no country.  6.5 million people—including Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, Africans, Chinese, Afghanis--have entered our country illegally in the last two years under the present administration.  They join all those who came before them and are now protected by a patchwork  of Executive Orders.  These are not legal immigrants, and few are refugees.   The years of promising “The American dream” in story, poetry and song to our own citizens is a joke. Much of the mischief is caused by NGOs, paid for by our donations to our churches and grants from our government with our taxes.

Coming across the border financed by the drug cartels and NGOs is a huge drug enterprise. The sex trafficking of women and children is also very lucrative. This is killing our own children and the children of other nations.

Special interest money is choking off the spirit and promise of the United States.  No one can or even wants to stop George Soros who has put 70 prosecutors in powerful big city offices  which have politicized the criminal justice system.  The criminals they put back on the streets are allowed to terrorize minority communities.  

Our U.S. oligarchs like Bezos, Gates and Zuckerberg are steam rollers at election time allowing our Bill of Rights to be mangled and rendering our own votes useless. Twitter was allowed via the mob violence of its “members” (and bots)  to destroy all manner of civil rights and protections.  No one stops them; they are the worst crony capitalists in our history and make the Ukrainian, Russian and Chinese oligarchs look like beginners.

Children are being maimed by “top and bottom surgery” and made infertile with cross sex hormones and genital surgery in tax supported “gender affirming” medical clinics all over the country—one at Ohio State just a few miles from my home.  Transgenderism has become the new civil rights movement of the current party in power as mentally confused children are told from an early age from their libraries to their school classrooms to the locker rooms of the sports teams that biological sex is not real. We have Supreme Court Justices who cannot define a woman because sex has become a political tool instead of God’s way of procreation.

The pandemic lockdown threat is not over.  All the societal protections bowed to a powerful bureaucracy which gave authority over our lives to local and state public health agencies with unelected, barely educated staffers. That power can be reinstated at any threat because we gave up freedom for safety.  All lessons from the past about health, quarantines, masks, mental and physical health were tossed overboard.  It was lust for power, not concerns for safety or life. Our church boards, pastors, priests, synods and fellowships just closed down and accepted money they didn’t need to use as they wished—but it was all “legal” when I questioned my church.  Legal but not moral. Some churches which did stand up to this injustice are still having battles in court.

Our independent media are a joke. The misinformation and disinformation are coming from the very agencies that warn us about the problem. In foreign countries journalists can be jailed; at home they are fired, cancelled or reassigned.

Churches and pregnancy clinics are terrorized and vandalized and the FBI looks away or arrests people praying at clinics. We are expected to follow some unstated law about pronouns.

Whether you call it gaslighting, dystopian, or just crazy, we Americans are in a very bad, bad place. We are not just denying God, we’re denying biological evolution, all the achievements of Western civilization, the beauty of nature, and ordinary common sense.

Gorsuch speaks out on lockdown, fear, declared emergencies, civil liberties

Statement of GORSUCH, J.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ARIZONA, ET AL. v. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

No. 22–592.

Decided May 18, 2023

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22-592_5hd5.pdf

. . . Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country. Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale. Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes.13 They shuttered businesses and schools, public and private.14 They closed churches even as they allowed casinos and other favored businesses to carry on.15 They threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions too.16 They surveilled church parking lots, recorded license plates, and issued notices warning that attendance at even outdoor services satisfying all state social-distancing and hygiene requirements could amount to criminal conduct.17 They divided cities and neighborhoods into color-coded zones, forced individuals to fight for their freedoms in court on emergency timetables, and then changed their color-coded schemes when defeat in court seemed imminent.18 Federal executive officials entered the act too. Not just with emergency immigration decrees. They deployed a public-health agency to regulate landlord-tenant relations nationwide.19 They used a workplace-safety agency to issue a vaccination mandate for most working Americans.20 They threatened to fire noncompliant employees,21 and warned that service members who refused to vaccinate might face dishonorable discharge and confinement.22 Along the way, it seems federal officials may have pressured social-media companies to suppress information about pandemic policies with which they disagreed.23 While executive officials issued new emergency decrees at a furious pace, state legislatures and Congress—the bodies normally responsible for adopting our laws—too often fell silent. Courts bound to protect our liberties addressed a few—but hardly all—of the intrusions upon them. In some cases, like this one, courts even allowed themselves to be used to perpetuate emergency public-health decrees for collateral purposes, itself a form of emergency-lawmakingby-litigation. Doubtless, many lessons can be learned from this chapter in our history, and hopefully serious efforts will be made to study it. One lesson might be this: Fear and the desire for safety are powerful forces. They can lead to a clamor for action—almost any action—as long as someone does something to address a perceived threat. A leader or an expert who claims he can fix everything, if only we do exactly as he says, can prove an irresistible force. We do not need to confront a bayonet, we need only a nudge, before we willingly abandon the nicety of requiring laws to be adopted by our legislative representatives and accept rule by decree. Along the way, we will accede to the loss of many cherished civil liberties—the right to worship freely, to debate public policy without censorship, to gather with friends and family, or simply to leave our homes. We may even cheer on those who ask us to disregard our normal lawmaking processes and forfeit our personal freedoms. Of course, this is no new story. Even the ancients warned that democracies can degenerate toward autocracy in the face of fear.24 But maybe we have learned another lesson too. The concentration of power in the hands of so few may be efficient and sometimes popular. But it does not tend toward sound government. However wise one person or his advisors may be, that is no substitute for the wisdom of the whole of the American people that can be tapped in the legislative process.25 Decisions produced by those who indulge no criticism are rarely as good as those produced after robust and uncensored debate.26 Decisions announced on the fly are rarely as wise as those that come after careful deliberation. Decisions made by a few often yield unintended consequences that may be avoided when more are consulted. Autocracies have always suffered these defects. Maybe, hopefully, we have relearned these lessons too. In the 1970s, Congress studied the use of emergency decrees.27 It observed that they can allow executive authorities to tap into extraordinary powers.28 Congress also observed that emergency decrees have a habit of long outliving the crises that generate them; some federal emergency proclamations, Congress noted, had remained in effect for years or decades after the emergency in question had passed.29 At the same time, Congress recognized that quick unilateral executive action is sometimes necessary and permitted in our constitutional order.30 In an effort to balance these considerations and ensure a more normal operation of our laws and a firmer protection of our liberties, Congress adopted a number of new guardrails in the National Emergencies Act.31 Despite that law, the number of declared emergencies has only grown in the ensuing years.32 And it is hard not to wonder whether, after nearly a half century and in light of our Nation’s recent experience, another look is warranted. It is hard not to wonder, too, whether state legislatures might profitably reexamine the proper scope of emergency executive powers at the state level. At the very least, one can hope that the Judiciary will not soon again allow itself to be part of the problem by permitting litigants to manipulate our docket to perpetuate a decree designed for one emergency to address another. Make no mistake—decisive executive action is sometimes necessary and appropriate. But if emergency decrees promise to solve some problems, they threaten to generate others. And rule by indefinite emergency edict risks leaving all of us with a shell of a democracy and civil liberties just as hollow.

Highest rate of gun violence was in the 1970s

 

  

What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. | Pew Research Center  

While 2021 saw the highest total number of gun deaths in the U.S., this statistic does not take into account the nation’s growing population. On a per capita basis, there were 14.6 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2021 – the highest rate since the early 1990s, but still well below the peak of 16.3 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 1974.

Also notice it was during the Obama years the gun deaths crept up after dramatic decline following the Omnibus Crime bill in 94--before George Floyd, before Covid. I'd start looking at who George Soros funded in high crime rate cities. I don't have dates, but right now he has funded 70 prosecutors still in office. Another 12 have been removed.

"From 2014 to 2021, Soros’ $40 million in campaign spending helped elect so-called social justice prosecutors across the country while dozens more benefited from the billionaire’s largesse while in office." New York Post June 8, 2022.

Map of Soros backed prosecutors https://twitter.com/LELDF/status/1641212886663020546

What we learned from the FBI Whistleblowers

"A former FBI agent testified before Congress Thursday saying that the FBI manipulated data to make domestic terrorism linked to Jan. 6 seem like a nationwide phenomenon instead of an isolated incident. . .

Steven Friend: “Typically you would investigate Jan. 6 as one case with lots of subjects, but instead the decision was made to open up a separate case for every single individual there,” he said during the hearing. “And instead of, on paper, investigating them from the Washington field office, spreading and disseminating those to the field offices around the country, and if the individual lived in that area.”

“In effect,” he added, “it made it look like there was domestic terrorism cases and activities that were going on around the 56 field offices when in fact the cases were really all from Washington, D.C., and Washington had a task force that was responsible for calling the shots in all those cases.” Whistleblower: FBI manipulated J6 cases to make domestic terrorism appear widespread - Alpha News

Losing my pie touch

"After all these years of declaring myself the second best pie baker east of the Mississippi (my mother was #1), I've learned an extremely painful lesson today. I've lost my touch. I may never bake again. . . " September 10, 2006.  

 This probably wasn't my last pie, but I knew I'd lost my touch and today came across the date I realized it was never going to be the same. Collecting My Thoughts  Almost 17 years ago. Based on the date, I may have been baking it for our anniversary.