Celebrities more important than children

Medved show on reparations—click bait?

I like Michael Medved show, but he's dropped the ball on today's show which is about slavery, reparations and income disparity. It's beginning to sound like the radio equivalent of on-line click bait. His callers are poorly informed, repeating every meme they’ve seen or heard, and he's not doing much to correct them.

1) Slavery is a bigger industry today than in the 18th century and is still world wide, still primarily Africa and Asia. https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/region/middle-east-north-africa/ CNN estimates 40 million.

2) Reparations--how to hand out wealth for work your ancestors did when the U.S. has a million African immigrants a decade in the late 20th- 21st century who choose this as their country, but only 300,000 Africans came as slaves. Barack Obama would not get any reparations under the plan--no slavery in his background, yet 99% of blacks voted for him.

3) Income disparity between blacks and whites, or blacks and Hispanics virtually disappears if you control for marriage and education. A single mom with 3 children and a high school degree won't match or even come close to the income of a lawyer and doctor and 2 children, but that's who gets thrown in the mix when "households" are factored in these studies of income. Wealthiest households in the United States are not white, but Indian-American and Filipino-American.

What’s that smell?

In this week’s newsletter from World’s Healthiest Foods we find out what that strange odor is from urine after eating asparagus.

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=12#healthbenefits

“One of the unique phytonutrients in asparagus is asparagusic acid. Asparagusic acid is the compound responsible for the urine odor that many people associated with asparagus. In chemical terms, asparagus acid (1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid) is unusually reactive due to the two sulfur atoms that are positioned adjacent to each other in the molecule. Among other things, this increased reactivity helps asparagusic acid break down rapidly and its derivatives are what researchers believe we smell after asparagus has been consumed.

However, it's important to note that people differ in three basic ways in terms of asparagus consumption and urine odor. First, there are differences in digestion while asparagus is inside our GI tract and differences in the absorption of asparagusic acid. Second, there are differences in the way we metabolize asparagusic acid if it gets absorbed up into our blood steam. And finally, there are differences in our ability to detect the presence of asparagusic acid derivatives. These factors can combine in such a way as to produce some unusual results. For example, one person might end up with significant amounts of asparagusic acid derivatives in his or her urine, but be unable to detect the odor, even when another person can!

There is one further important point that we would like to make about the urine odor of asparagus and asparagusic acid. This molecule has as its core component a sulfur-containing structure called 1,2-dithiolane. We have included asparagusic acid as a key nutrient in asparagus and we have placed this content about asparagus odor within our Health Benefits section because 1,2-dithiolane is a key structure for the formation of a key sulfur-containing organic acid and antioxidant called alpha-lipoic acid. In fact, it is the presence of 1,2-dithiolane that allows alpha-lipoic acid to participate as a cofactor in the enzyme activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Both of these enzymes and their activities help provide a critical doorway into the pathways of aerobic metabolism, which requires special antioxidant protection. While researchers do not yet have a complete picture of asparagusic acid in terms of its antioxdant function, the presence of 1,2-dithiolane in its structure suggests that this function will be involved in a major way. “

According to the newsletter, asparagus now has its own plant family named after it—the Asparagaceae family.

Read the rest of the newsletter (above link) for more details about the nutritional value of asparagus.

Such a bargain, $1600!

I used to have a coffee blog and noted interesting things I overheard or saw at the coffee shops. I gave up adding to that blog sometime in 2014 because I gave up a habit of 60 years--I rarely go out for coffee anymore, so I don't have much to say at that blog. But I have a new source now of odd and unusual things. Things I hear at the gym. Like Friday. "So there was this watch for $3,000, but I got it for only $1600."  And here I was feeling smug for getting 1/2 price at Volunteers of America on a cute pair of corduroy jeans, name brand.  They had been $2.00, and I got them for one dollar.  A little snug—I prefer jeans with a little more space in the legs, but for $1.00, not bad.

Nikolas Cruz’ birth mother was drug addicted

Drug addiction problems followed Nikolas Cruz from before birth. He was violent even as a toddler. Very sad story.  His adoptive parents where older and paid $50,000 to the lawyer for the medical care and legal fees to adopt him, but he was a problem child from the beginning.  The Cruz family also adopted his half brother when the birth mother was in prison.

https://nypost.com/2018/02/27/alleged-school-shooters-mom-paid-50k-to-adopt-him-from-drug-addict/?

Feeling rejected? You’re not alone.

The Old Testament lesson in church today was from Isaiah 53. We have pew Bibles at UALC, but I also have one in my purse, which I opened. "He was despised and rejected by men," and in the margin I had written from some previous sermon or Bible study, "Reject or its root appears 120 times in the Bible." So if you're feeling rejected, you're in good company. I checked online and found a list of 100 verses about rejection.

 https://www.openbible.info/topics/rejection

Misinformation and disinformation on social media

I wonder who has been analyzing the Russian social media interference in the 2016 election, and just how retweeting disinformation or misinformation is determined. How reliable is that source that has caused so much angst and terror among supporters of Hillary Clinton and our own media?

I've been looking at other topics in Twitter, and one study done in the Arabic language on medical topics had 51.2% false and 48.8% true information. Another on STDs and medical information also had a number of bad jokes about sex from avatar and anonymous sources. Does this mean that Arabic speaking medical people have been duped by spies and foreigners or that people who joke about STDs are somehow a threat to security? What do we actually know about all kinds of misinformation on Twitter, FB, Snapchat, etc. whether nutrition, HIV or Hillary Clinton?

Irish-American Month

March is Irish-American month. I'm guessing that's about 25% of the U.S. and Canadian population. My Irish settled in Tennessee (which was part of N. Carolina) after Pennsylvania and arrived before the rush and decades before the Revolution, so I don't particularly identify as Irish. It was fun to visit Ireland about 12 years ago.

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/03/irish-american-heritage-month-new-resources/?loclr=ealocb

1890 census data on population density of Irish.

The current census says about 11% of Americans report Irish ancestry, but that's because so many people don't know their heritage. Irish were very poor, spread out all over, and many immigrants did their best to forget their past. According to Wikipedia, the population of Ireland is about 6.3 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, making the Irish diaspora one of the biggest of any nation. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues.

Subscription databases for finding Irish American heritage. https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/irishamerican/databases.html

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/world/tennessee.htm

If you go online and check Irish immigration/slavery, you'll see the liberals and academics poo-pooing the research that the Irish were ever real slaves. Yes, bought and sold for their labor by England so their land could be confiscated, but not REAL systemic slaves like the Africans. Well, tell that today to the millions and millions of sex slaves, child labor slaves, domestic slaves and agricultural slaves in numbers greater than the transatlantic 18th c. slavery. Yes, tell them that they aren't REAL slaves.

The trouble with excuses. . .

If there were 1) no NRA, 2) a perfect screening database for legal gun ownership, and 3) no high capacity gun magazine [and there actually wasn't one], the Parkland shooter would still have killed 17 people, or more if all his plans and gun had worked properly [it jammed].

The failures, the reasons he was not stopped, and those people are dead, are
1) Sheriff Israel and his "leadership,"
2) the school board,
3) the superintendent,
4) the federal government "Promise" program,
5) the officer who guarded the perimeter instead of going into the school,
6) the FBI,
7) security guard who hid.

No matter how much you want it to be so, the anti-gun people can't blame the President, the NRA, the shooter's age, or even legal rifles. The result would have been the same if H. Clinton were the president. The difference would have been in the news media coverage and the social media memes whipping up the hate and hysteria.

9 easy stretches for back and hip pain

I think I’ve done all of these at various times.  It’s been a long time since my horse fell on me, but all I have to do is bend over to tie my shoe to remember.

https://blog.paleohacks.com/stretches-lower-back-and-hip-pain/#

Remembering Srebrenica

Mick Wenlock writes:  “Every once in a while I find myself getting mad and irritated enough to want to dust off a subject I have written about many times. Every time some tight ass smug European opines that wanting to have firearms to resist government oppression is old fashioned, out of touch, ridiculous I grit my teeth. And then I just have to bring this out.

Nearly 23 years ago, in mainland Europe 8,000 men and boys were marched out by their government and massacred. This happened 400 miles from Rome, 990 miles from London, 700 miles from Berlin. 8,000 men and boys marched out, lined up and shot.

It was in Srebrenica a part of Serbia.

If those 8,000 men and boys had all been armed - even with shotguns, the Serbs could not have done it.

It's not 'ancient history" nor is it something that only happens in places like Rwanda or Syria. it happened right under the noses of the so called 'enlightened" European governments who did less than nothing. Despite having a Dutch Battalion of soldiers in the area posted to safeguard the civilians no less, they did NOTHING.

The next time some pompous twat speaks about how not trusting the government is stupid, paranoid or silly ask them to explain this to you.

The UN promised to protect those men and boys, western Europe sent troops and they all did nothing while the local government massacred them.

Sorry - just once in a while i have to remind myself of how close it all is.”

The sheriff, the superintendent and the school board

According to an agreement Sheriff Israel had with the school board and superintendent, juvenile arrests were cut in half--those 17 deaths could have been prevented. Cruz was never arrested for his clearly illegal behavior. If the Sheriff and the school had done their jobs, Cruz could have never bought those guns. Because of a November 2013 agreement, he had no criminal record.

http://jjie.org/2013/11/05/south-florida-squeezes-school-to-prison-pipeline/

Here's how you cut juvenile arrests in half in just 3 years--long enough for Nikolas Cruz to carry out his threats:

*Sheriff Israel said that he instructed BSO deputies to issue juvenile civil citations, not arrests;
*The BCSD’s own written policy encouraged handling even criminal activity “outside the criminal justice system”;
*The BCSD’s own written policy did not actually require arrests, even for felonies and serious threats to school safety;
*Cruz’s behavior included repeated disruptive behavior, violent outbursts, threats, and physical assaults on other students; and
*Cruz was never expelled or apparently arrested for this behavior.

https://www.redstate.com/sarah-rumpf/2018/02/27/the-broward-sheriffs-juvenile-arrest-conspiracy-might-actually-be-true/

Racism and white privilege

Let's have a "conversation" about white privilege and racism on the Left. It's obvious that when suburban white teens are mowed down by a classmate, the left springs into action calling for more gun control. Their non-profits and think tanks even help organize the traumatized teens into a movement to march on DC (and btw, the President). Ironically, one of the organizations helping with this mobilization plan is Planned Parenthood, which has already facilitated the elimination of about 1/3 of those teens' generation and over 40% of black pregnancies! Another poke in the eye is the same organization which marched against Trump screaming for violence dressed like women's genitals was demanding more abortions.

The Left didn't organize any marches against guns during the Obama years when black teens were being killed in Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis or Detroit--maybe because those cities are all controlled by Democrats, or maybe because blacks are already pulling the D lever, so they are really looking for a fresh group of voters, and soon these kids will be 18 and voting. I'm calling out their racism and their white privilege as they all have security guards protecting their homes, businesses and government offices.

Timeline for the Parkland shooter

February 5, 2016 – The Broward County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous call reporting that the shooter had threatened on Instagram to shoot up the school.

He also posted picture of himself with guns and knives. The information was forwarded to the school deputy who didn’t follow up.

September 23, 2016 – A counselor reported to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office that the shooter had possibly attempted suicide attempt, was cutting himself, and had expressed interest in buying a gun. It was reported to his school who said they would conduct an assessment.

September 28, 2016 – Florida Department of Children and Families, who had formerly been alerted to posts on Snapchat of the shooter cutting his arms and saying he wanted to buy a gun, were called to the Cruz home to investigate a disturbance. They ruled that he was “at low risk of harming himself or others.”

September 24, 2017 – A YouTube user sent a tip to the FBI, via tips@fbi.gov, reporting that a commenter named “Nikolas Cruz,” wrote “I’m going to be a professional school shooter” on his YouTube channel. The FBI responded that they could not “positively identify” the person who posted this comment.

November 1, 2017 – A family member called the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report that the shooter had weapons and asked the police to come take them. The weapons were not collected by police.

November 30, 2017 – A caller from Massachusetts calls the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report that the shooter was collecting guns and knives and could be a “school shooter in the making.” No report was filed.

January 5, 2018 – Call to FBI tip line, a person close to the shooter reported that “has a desire to kill people” and could “conduct a school shooting.”

This tip was never passed on the local Florida FBI office.
Source: http://www.glennbeck.com/2018/02/27/glenn-breaks-down-the-parkland-shooting-timeline-this-was-a-massive-failure-of-the-system/?

Retired school security officer has protection

"Reporters who attempted to approach the West Palm Beach home of ex-Broward County Sheriff's Office Deputy Scot Peterson were reportedly met with resistance from at least six police officers who were standing guard outside." Fox News.

What if there had been 6 armed police officers protecting Parkland school kids?

To the mayor of Oakland. . .

8 U.S. Code § 1324 (a) (1) (A) (iii)

Any person who, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).

8 U.S. Code § 1324 (a) (1) (B) (ii)

A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

What are malacidins? Drugs from dirt

"Recently, NIH-funded researchers discovered a new class of antibiotics, called malacidins, by analyzing the DNA of the bacteria living in more than 2,000 soil samples, including many sent by citizen scientists living all across the United States [1]. While more work is needed before malacidins can be tried in humans, the compounds successfully killed several types of multidrug-resistant bacteria in laboratory tests. Most impressive was the ability of malacidins to wipe out methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin infections in rats. Often referred to as a “super bug,” MRSA threatens the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year [2]."

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2018/02/20/powerful-antibiotics-found-in-dirt/

http://www.drugsfromdirt.org/DrugsFromDirt/news/

When Melissa called the benefits office

The mother of my friend Melissa (I met her 13 years ago through blogging and now we're friends on Facebook) died recently. She. . .

"Called the benefits office to report my mother’s passing.

'Push 5 to report a death.

Please accept our condolences. I need to pass you on to...

Health and Wellness.' "

Shooter Nikolas Cruz himself asked for help

"Just weeks before the call to the FBI tipline, Mr. Cruz himself called 911 after a violent episode at the house where he was living. Punches had been thrown, household items broken, and he fled to a nearby park.

“I kind of got mad and I started punching walls and stuff,” Mr. Cruz told the dispatcher, his voice trembling during a 5½ minute call in late November, according to police records released this week. “The thing is I lost my mother a couple weeks ago, so like, I’m dealing with a bunch of [inaudible] right now.”"

Wall Street Journal report
https://www.redstate.com/slee/2018/02/26/parkland-failures-shooter-called-police/?

And more on the failures of the Boward County Sheriff's Department including the airport shooting in 2017.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fort-lauderdale-hollywood-airport-shooting/fl-airport-shooting-draft-reports-20170602-story.html

“Don’t do bad stuff,” Leviticus 19, God.

Leviticus 19

12

You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

13

You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not commit robbery. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your laborer.j

14

You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

15

You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.

16

You shall not go about spreading slander among your people; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

17

You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person.

18

Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.