Who knew what when? Theodore McCarrick

“More than sixty years after his priestly ordination, nearly five decades after he began sexually abusing young men and boys, more than four decades after his episcopal consecration, and at least nineteen years after his preying on seminarians was first reported to the Vatican, Theodore McCarrick is – we are told – on the verge of being removed from the clerical state”

In this era of either hyper-vigilance over a joke or a yearbook 35 years old,  contrasted with a casual accepting attitude toward homosexuality, the church will be conflicted over what to do.  So far, the oversight and caring for the teens and boys who have been abused is just disgusting.

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2019/02/14/mr-mccarricks-mess/

DC resident sees the culture wars up close

“I am a chiropractor, who has lived in the DC area for 35 years. During that time, I have had the opportunity to treat Generals, Colonels, employees of the CIA, the FBI, hundreds of government workers, as well as members of all of the branches of the military. I have never, in that time, encountered the intolerance, racism and hatred that exists in the Democratic party today. Some of my dearest friends are Liberals, and have been for years, and it is only recently that their sanctimony and animosity has gotten to the point that we can't have a civil conversation regarding our President. I kept quiet during President Obama's two terms, because I knew that if I had dared to disagree with him, I would have been labeled a racist. I am saddened by the 'soundbite nation' that we have become. Fact and truth seem to have no place in the Democratic Party, nor in the Liberal media, for that matter.”

(from the Walk Away site on Facebook)

She’s in the belly of the beast. . .

Why Trump is attacked on immigration

The reason President Trump is attacked on immigration has nothing to do with reality--just check out Obama, Bush and Clinton's records. Trump is attacked about ICE and "beds" for violent criminals because he is. . . Trump. Otherwise, we'd have to assume Democrats love traffickers, rapists and murderers and want to return the southwest to Mexico.

"The most recent enforcement figures released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on December 30 [2016] offer the latest evidence of these trends. Eighty-five percent of all removals and returns during fiscal year (FY) 2016 were of noncitizens who had recently crossed the U.S. border unlawfully. Of the remainder, who were removed from the U.S. interior, more than 90 percent had been convicted of what DHS defines as serious crimes.

Border apprehensions and removals increased in FY 2016 compared to the prior year, DHS reported. In FY 2016, DHS carried out 530,250 apprehensions and 344,354 removals, compared to 462,388 apprehensions and 333,341 removals a year earlier. Despite the increase, these numbers were far lower than the peak of enforcement operations at the beginning of the Obama years, after he inherited a robust enforcement regime from his predecessors. These numbers dipped as new enforcement priorities were put in place, before rebounding slightly at the end of the Obama presidency. " 

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/obama-record-deportations-deporter-chief-or-not

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both children of immigrants

Have you ever looked up Kamala Harris' ethnicity? Some second generation Americans (parents were immigrants) turn on the very people who welcomed their parents. And she's also lived in Canada after her parents divorced. These figures were for Sept. 2018.

 "Approximately 12 percent of members of Congress are immigrants or children of immigrants. There are 12 foreign-born members, of which only one is Republican. Democrats account for 39 of the 53 members of Congress with at least one immigrant parent. First- or second-generation immigrants represent 23 states, with California having the most, and they come from various regions throughout the world. Over the course of American history, there have been 413 foreign-born Americans that have served in Congress, out of 12,000 total. For this reason, the debate over America’s immigration laws is deeply personal for some members." 

If immigration is deeply personal why do some want no borders for the country of their birth? https://news.yahoo.com/daily-digit-first-second-generation-…

Our president is also the son of an immigrant--and he seems grateful to be an American. Why do our media continue to conflate those who come illegally and those who have to follow the very difficult challenges to be a legal immigrant?

Thurberville--March book club selection

Although I haven't ordered it yet (library computer system seems to be locked up) the selection for our book club on March 4 is Thurberville, by Bob Hunter. (Ohio State University Press, 2017)

"James Thurber’s Columbus was not today’s Columbus—or even yesterday’s. It was a Columbus he both knew and created, a place perched on the fringe of reality and the fringe of his imagination. It is the place Bob Hunter revisits in Thurberville, a book where the author separates truth from fiction and identifies what parts of the famous humorist’s hometown of 180,000 exist in the burgeoning metro area of more than two million today.

Thurber’s Columbus was a wild and crazy place, a city full of fascinating and sometimes peculiar characters, many in his own family. Because of the widespread popularity of his stories, that was also the Columbus that many of his readers around the world came to know.

Thurberville chronicles those characters and explores that world. But it also examines the real city where Thurber struggled and then blossomed as a college student, worked as a newspaper reporter and a press agent, and achieved international fame as a humorist and cartoonist after he left town, in part by writing about the subjects he left behind." 

https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814213377.html

Translating the Bible into Kikerewe

Americans are rich in God's Word. From where I'm sitting in my office I can see 11 Bibles, including my grandmother's, one in Spanish, one in Russian, and a Tyndale which pre-dates the King James. But many people still don't have the Bible in their language. "Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria is home to 100,000 people, mostly fisherfolk. It is remote. It is difficult to get there. There are churches planted, but growth is minimal. Many Kerewe people do not understand Swahili, the national language most often used for preaching and worship. In fact, many are not in church because the Bible is not in their language." But things are about to change. Lutheran Bible Translators are there and they now have one book in Kikerewe, the language of their heart. https://lbt.org/eagerly-waiting/? We support this ministry (as does our church) and love hearing how God's word is changing lives.

Teachers’ salaries—not what you think

Some questioned my figures for hourly wages for teachers (in a post about the union strike in Colorado on Facebook) being on average $60/hour.  However, the latest I've found is $61.91--$41.41 is the wage, and $20.50 the benefits. Sept. 2018 figures. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.

Benefits for public employees are far more generous than private sector. "Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $34.53 per hour worked in September 2018. Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $50.03 per hour worked in September 2018. "

For the most part we don't pay federal income tax on our benefits, and the government is lusting after that--believing it belongs to the federal government. The employers get a write off too. Imagine the "windfall" to the federal government to waste with just the medical deductions from workers and the business write off costs for the employers.

Kamala Harris must be swooning at the thought!

Democrats working hard to destroy us

Realizing that the Mueller investigation will go nowhere, Congressional Democrats are gearing up for an all out assault on Trump--investigating everything about him. (Wouldn't surprise me if Jeff Bezos isn't funding it.) Along with the Republican Never Trumpers they can't believe someone has blown their cover exposing the graft and corruption in Washington. They are furious at what he's been able to achieve in 2 years. Every time they do this, his ratings go up, and his base becomes more solidified. So they've had to change tactics.

The latest trick is the Green Grab Deal of AOC and her aging groupies. Hoping to make the stock market shake in fear and collapse the roaring economy, they proposed to take our property, transportation and health care and then denied it. If they can get people to lose faith in America, in our economic system and our president, they hope to be able to destroy her as Marxists have been attempting to do for 90 years.

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” Winston Churchill

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/12/694060405/mcconnell-plans-to-bring-green-new-deal-to-senate-vote  This NPR article is good to read if you want to see how biased this source is.  McConnell is exposing how silly all this is, and NPR leans backwards (or leftward) to say it just isn't fair to Democrats to catch them with their pants down.

Some people just don’t get it.

Because of lower taxes, refunds will be smaller. This seems to upset people who prefer to allow the government to use their money before filing taxes.

From the NYT article: "The result is that taxpayers may be paying less over all but still getting a bill after filing their return. That has caught many people off guard."

Proving that it is hard to underestimate the financial understanding of the average American. They paid less taxes, but are still upset

What about NAD+

Highlights:  “NAD+ and sirtuins in aging and disease,” Shin-ichiro Imai and Leonard Guarente, Trends in Cell Biology, 2014, Aug. 24(8): 464-471. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112140/  71 references

• NAD ⁺ plays a key role in regulating metabolism and circadian rhythm through sirtuins.
  
• NAD ⁺ becomes limiting during aging, affecting sirtuins’ activities.
  
• NAD ⁺ decline is likely to be due to a NAD ⁺ biosynthesis defect and increased depletion.
  
• Supplementing key NAD ⁺ intermediates can restore NAD ⁺ levels and ameliorate age-associated pathophysiologies.
  

Another article (print full text, free) to read at the fitness center.
“NAD AND THE AGING PROCESS: ROLE IN LIFE, DEATH AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN” Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2017 Nov 5; 455: 62–74.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5419884/

“NAD was discovered over a hundred years ago (Harden and Young, 1906), and now that it has achieved its status as a super-centenarian molecule, its role in the biological process of aging is being recognized (Braidy et al., 2011; Gomes et al., 2013; Lin et al., 2000; Massudi et al., 2012; Scheibye-Knudsen et al., 2014; Zhu et al., 2015). It has been shown that NAD levels decline during chronological aging, and that this decline is both a consequence of the aging process and also a contributor to the development of age-related cellular dysfunction (Braidy et al., 2011; Gomes et al., 2013; Massudi et al., 2012; Scheibye-Knudsen et al., 2014; Verdin, 2015; Zhu et al., 2015). It is possible that a vicious cycle exists in which molecular mechanisms involved in the aging process, such as oxidative stress, DNA damage, senescence, and inflammation, lead to tissue NAD decline which subsequently exacerbates the processes that caused its decline in the first place (Figure 1). To potentially intervene in this vicious cycle it is crucial that we understand the mechanisms that lead to cellular NAD decrease during aging and, in particular, whether the decrease is mediated primarily by changes in its degradation, synthesis, or both. Furthermore, it is critical to understand how oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammation, and senescence impact cellular NAD metabolism during the aging process. In the current review we will present a critical analysis of this subject, and will provide new mechanistic hypotheses to explain the age-related NAD decline.”

The grey, golden years—Vantage Point Devotional for February 13

I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
Psalm 71:18

In Psalm 71, we see David reminiscing on his life, and now acknowledging the grey in his hair. While he is filled with praise for God’s lifetime of provision, he is eager to pass what he has learned to the next generations. David asks the Lord to sustain him so that he might.

Aging has its challenges…failing health, falling income, possibly even thoughts of uselessness or obsolescence. But God wants you to glory in your grey. You have lessons to teach. Times when God healed health issues, or provided just the right job when you thought financial ruin was looming. You are not useless so long as you can have the sound of praise in your heart and in your voice. Grandparents can often get their messages through to children and youth when the words of parents fall on deaf ears.

What legacy are you preparing for the generations who will follow you? The most important is their memories of your love and praise for the Lord. Ask Him to be your sustainer through your grey (or golden) years. Intercede for God to grant His loving wisdom to the grandparents who serve in Congress, the courts and the Trump Administration.

58 1/2 years

Homocysteine, vitamin B and me

About eight years ago I examined the evidence (in recent articles at a level I could understand) that high levels of homocysteine (>15 micromole/L and the threshold is about 10-11) were  linked with cognitive decline in the elderly and that supplements of B6, B12 and folate (folic acid) could slow the decline.  So at that time, I searched out B supplements that were close to those used in the studies, but that wasn't easy since the studies were sort of all over the map. But I did find a brand by Country Life (Basic B Caps) that I liked and which didn't seem to upset my stomach. I had no testing to show my homocysteine levels were high, but the articles I read reported that it was elevated in the elderly.  The studies in the U.S. are different than those in other countries because since the 1960s by law our food is fortified with folic acid, so this affects how useful additional supplements would be late in life.

Recently I have reexamined the issue of high levels of homocysteine and health problems in the elderly, including cognitive decline, cardiovascular events, atherosclerosis and strokes.

I'm a librarian, so my article of choice is always begin with a review article, and I've found several that update what I'd read eight years ago. Review articles have extensive bibliographies which saves time in wandering around the internet. I also always look for full text, and sometimes only the abstract is at the journal site, but may be somewhere else, like Research Gate.

The issues of heart disease and stroke still seem to be unclear, but homocysteine's affect on the brain seems more clear--it damages it--cognitive decline, white matter damage, brain atrophy, neurofibrillary tangles and dementia. Some studies suggest the jury is still out on whether high homocysteine is a marker or a cause, but whichever, supplements of vitamin B are slowing down the damage.

In Sweden, all patients with memory problems are routinely screened for high levels of homocysteine and if they show elevated concentrations, B vitamin supplements are recommended. The Smith/Refsum article concludes that 17 million people (30%)  in the U.S older than 60 could benefit from lowering their homocysteine levels.

"Homocysteine, B vitamins, and cognitive impairment," David Smith and Helga Refsum, Annual Review of Nutrition, 2016, 36:211-239. This includes and additional 15 pages of supplemental material https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305418844_Homocysteine_B_Vitamins_and_Cognitive_Impairment

"The controversial role of homocysteine in neurology: from labs to clinical practice," Rita Moretti and Paola Caruso, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2019, 20, 231. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/1/231

Both articles suggest further research.  Meanwhile, I'll stay with the B vitamins, but will try to get more naturally through leafy green vegetables (Romaine lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, kale, spinach) for folate B9  https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/foods-high-in-folate-vitamin-B9.php  which may act differently than folic acid (disagreement on this) which is what most supplements have, and B12 (meat, fish, dairy--beef, chicken, pork, lots of cheeses, tuna, salmon ) https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/g1967/vitamin-b12-super-foods-47012607/   https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/foods-high-in-vitamin-B12.php#vitamin-b12-requirements and B6 (turkey, beef, Tuna, sweet potatoes, potatoes) http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=108

Gene mutations that affect homocysteine are very rare.  https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/mthfr-gene-vaccines-facts-myths/

"5,10‐Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677C→T and 1298A→C mutations are genetic determinants of elevated homocysteine,"  R. Castro, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 96, Issue 4, 1 April 2003.

210th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday

“While the Civil War raged in late 1862, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wanted to stop the trade of Southern cotton. A number of Jews were involved in the cotton trade, including some in black market activity, and on Dec. 17, Grant issued a shocking order calling for the expulsion of all Jews from a wide swath of the South.

Fortunately the order had little impact because of faulty army communications – and to President Lincoln. When Lincoln heard that Grant was attempting to banish Jews, he quickly reversed the order.

“To condemn a class is, to say the least, to wrong the good with the bad,” Lincoln said. “I do not like to hear a class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.””

https://www.jta.org/2019/02/12/opinion/when-president-lincoln-fought-for-the-jews?

He complains that he's homeless--he's lost his party home

There's an article in the Atlantic by a former Republican who says he can now see the "other side." He describes what the Republican Party used to be when he was part of it during Reagan and Bush: "Republicans argued for limited government, economic growth, and free trade. The party respected the role of religion in public life and envisioned America as a welcoming society to immigrants and the unborn." In other words, everything the Democrats didn't then and not now, not ever. And Trump is all of that. He has NEVER rejected legal immigration. The author is a never Trumper; he's warped his mind so he has gone to "the other side" of socialism, infanticide, religious restrictions, and slow growth. In short, he hates Trump.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/i-left-gop-because-trump/581965/?

How many bartenders are there in Congress?

That's not how we do it, AOC.  She says she's the only 29 year old bartender in Congress, so that shows how Congress doesn't represent the American people. There are a lot more 29 year old female librarians than there are 29 year old female bartenders, and I don't ever recall one of them being in Congress. For good reason.  That's not how our Representatives are elected, m'am--by employment category. In fact, in the universe of employed women in the country, just how many 29 year olds are middle class, college educated barkeeps?

It’s not easy being green—Ben Shapiro

Episode 713 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBZ8sT8Omjc
Jeff Bezos exposes the National Enquirer as a blackmail racket, the Democratic Green New Deal gets off to a rough start, and we check the mailbag!

Episode 712  https://youtu.be/oEQlZcRb0hc
It's not easy being Green, and it's not easy these days for the MSM to continue to cover for the racism, lies and anti-Semitism of Democrats.

The racism on today’s college campuses

I saw this in a closed Facebook group, so I'll only share parts. A parent posted (with the texts) that his college student son (enrolled at Berkeley I believe) was studying Chinese with a classmate. His son is white, the classmate a member of a "protected" minority, but they are friends. The friend told his son that they probably couldn't study at his dorm because whites were not allowed to be in the building although blacks, Latinos and Asians were, and he'd check, but he thought if he did come there he would have to sign some sort of form. So the 2 of them were looking for a different study space.

I attended college in the bad old days of residential segregation, employment discrimination and open racism of the 1950s-1960s, but my U. of I. dorm McKinley (owned by the YWCA) had blacks, whites, Asians, and many immigrants (most from Chicago, the daughters of refugees from both Nazis and Communists), and my roommate was Chinese. We had all varieties except boys--they were welcome only on the first floor public area and in the basement serving our meals. What amazing freedom college kids had in those days.

Update: I checked the race and gender page of Berkeley's enrollment information.  21.3% white and 32% Asian.  But to make that look better, each Asian is broken out by country--China, Korea, Japan, etc.--9 categories for Asians, but only one for whites.  Not even immigrant Irish or Swiss or English.  Just White. Like that white blob at the SOTU last Tuesday.

Men in drag—shameful

Apparently, not all American blacks found blackface offensive--some even used clownish make-up that way, but most do. What was once considered fun and vaudevillian by the majority, even TV and film stars, must go.

OK. Now let's get rid of adult men dressing in drag. Since I first became aware of it maybe 50 years ago I have found it extremely offensive for men to make fun of us that way. Oh sure. The drag queens don't call it that, but how else would you describe the emphasis on prosthetic breasts, caked on make-up to hide stubble, ballooning wigs, ridiculing the way women move, walk and talk? Isn't that vaudevillian? Isn't that "womanface?" Whether it's called cross dressing, transvestite, impersonation, or clown face, it's insulting to women.

Just as there is nothing wrong or shameful about a real black face and physique, there is nothing wrong with a woman's face or body. We're built this way for a reason--to fulfill God's command to be fruitful and multiply. We were made in God's image, not from dirt, but from bone and flesh. Women wear make-up to look attractive and sexy--some more successfully than others. Blue lips and green fingernails no matter which sex applies them, do not suggest health, vitality and fertility. Having men ridicule us for profit or fun or just plain meanness, is not a compliment, and it certainly isn't amusing. Let's make dressing in drag as acceptable as Confederate war hero statues.

Hide your yearbooks and annuals in case Democrats ever take up this cause (they won't since they are confused about sex and gender anyway). I know you'll find it even in my high school year book from the 1950s with the athletes dressed as the cheerleaders wearing skirts and wigs for a school skit.

What else do they want to take from us?

In the name of equality, which Dennis Prager says is the ideology that killed 100 million people in the 20th century, what else besides fossil fuels, borders,  religious rights, history and memorials, wealth, the unborn and language do the Democrats want removed or controlled by the government?  Creativity, curiosity and critical thinking.  Those minds are very dangerous to Socialists.