Who is Black Lives Matter?

BLM's founders openly admit to being Marxist ideologues. Their self-confessed mentors include former members of the Weather Underground, a radical "leftwing" terrorist group that sought to bring a communist revolution to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. BLM is friendly with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, whose socialist policies have brought economic collapse and untold misery to millions of people there." (Gatestone Institute)

BLM was initially created by 3 lesbian feminists, who want to do away with patriarchy (that's what feminists always say) and the nuclear family. In short, destroy the nation. Ironically, they've been responsible for the deaths of more black men and boys (riots in various cities including Baltimore and Ferguson) since they emerged after the Trayvon Martin killing, than just about any gang known to the police.

God Bless America, Kate Smith

https://youtu.be/_zF7a0wB-Lg

Grocery stores can stay open, but churches can’t?

I'm not sure I've ever shopped at a grocery store associated with Southeastern Grocers. Their web page has a statement I wish we'd seen from our churches. They stayed open--they were "essential." They also donated a lot of money to food pantries and are supporting a big fund raiser for July 4.
"We are committed to providing the safest and healthiest store experience for our associates, customers and communities.

We will continue to refine our processes and protocols in our stores, with health and safety as our guide, as long as this pandemic remains a threat. You can always count on us."
Southeastern Grocers, Inc. (SEG) is the parent company and home of BI-LO, Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie grocery stores. It is one of the largest conventional supermarket companies in the U.S. and is located in 7 southeastern states.

8928 Prominence Parkway, #200 / Jacksonville, FL 32256 / Local: 904-783-5000 / Toll Free: 1-800-967-9105

Maybe they have a parking lot somewhere that a church could meet.

Trump haters lose again

Great success for hydroxychloroquine study in Michigan. "Patients with a median age of 64 were among those analyzed, with 51% men and 56% African American. Roughly 82% of the patients began receiving hydroxychloroquine within 24 hours and 91% within 48 hours, a factor Dr. Marcus Zervos identified as a potential key to the medication’s success."

I don't know why Trump haters wanted people to die. And this one has been around for years and is inexpensive.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/02/michigan-henry-ford-health-study-finds-hydroxychloroquine-lowers-covid-19-death-rate/5365090002/?

Compare the costs of Remdesivir (about $3,120) to Hydroxychloroquine (about $1.00).

People are waiting too long for medical help

Here's how the virus kills--fear. In Michigan, 62% of the ambulance runs were too late--people feared Covid19 at the hospital. Stroke and cardiac coming in much too late.
(figure from radio report, but this article confirms)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/05/er-visits-plummet-amid-pandemic-we-know-more-people-dying-home/3067993001/

Let’s deny both history and art

Art has to say a lot, and be useful and meaningful years later. In this statue the black man is shaking off the shackles and rising. Democrats have battled this every step of the way, and still are. Now the art has to go. They are afraid too many are escaping their grasp.

Let it be known everywhere,” [Frederick Douglass, noted black abolitionist] declared, “[that] we, the colored people, newly emancipated and rejoicing in our blood-bought freedom, near the close of the first century in the life of this Republic, have now and here unveiled, set apart, and dedicated a monument of enduring granite and bronze, in every line, feature, and figure of which the men of this generation may read, and those of after-coming generations may read, something of the exalted character and great works of Abraham Lincoln, the first martyr president of the United States.”

https://www.faithwire.com/2020/07/01/boston-taking-down-lincoln-emancipation-statue-after-unanimous-vote/

Do not cower before naysayers

“Great works arduously built are also easily torn down.  But the destruction of a statue of George Washington, set aflame and pulled to the ground, does not redefine the man or the nation he helped found.  The violence only perpetuates the very hatred the destroyers purport to condemn.  Credit, rather, to the man who entered the arena, and who, defiant at the helm of an unsteady vessel, plunged through an ice-filled Delaware to forge a more perfect union founded upon an untried ideal.  Only if he had failed to try would he have failed as a man.  The ultimate success of our nation’s founders is entrusted to each new generation to safeguard and carry forward.

And as in the secular landscape, so in the eternal arena, success is not the final word.  Christ Himself lost in the arena.  He ended up on the Cross, his enemies gloating over his downfall and dividing up his garments.  Apparent victory, the acceptance of the moment, is not what ultimately matters.  The battle is not of this world, and the present arena is but the threshold to eternal reward.

Do not cower before the naysayers.  Theirs is a limited influence.  Do not let your life be defined by anything but your witness, the content of your character, and your reliance upon Almighty God.  Your face may be bloodied, your life’s work in pieces, you may end up seemingly defeated, but yours may be the effort Our Lord needs most.”

From Credit to the Man by Elizabeth A. Michell, July 2, 2020
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/07/02/credit-to-the-man/?

Slaves in Paradise

"Slaves in Paradise." That's what Fr. Christopher Hartley called the Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic who work the sugar cane fields. Slaves who live right next door to the U.S. He worked as a missionary in the beautiful D.R. about 10 years (1997-2006) and exposed the cruelty, and was eventually expelled. In the interview I heard on the radio, he named the wealthy family, and he called the workers "slaves," although in all the articles I checked they are called "immigrants," and usually the family is not named. He is English-Spanish and grew up in luxury and at one time worked with Mother Teresa. If BLM really cared about people of color, they'd be doing something about modern day slavery which is world wide. I heard the interview on "Kresta in the afternoon," EWTN and Ave Maria Radio, June 29. Documentary is "Price of sugar."

"The people in Father Hartley's parish were lured across the border from Haiti into the Dominican Republic by the promise of good jobs. All of them had their identification papers taken from them so that they are now undocumented workers in the sugar plantations — basically they are slaves. They spend twelve hours a day, seven days a week, in the fields cutting cane with machetes. In the shanty towns built by the plantation owners there is no electricity, clean water, education, healthcare, or adequate food.

These Haitian immigrants are poorer and blacker than the Dominicans and they are hated as outsiders. Father Hartley has made it his personal mission to fight for their human rights. He has single-handedly taken on the wealthy family that owns many of the plantations and controls the media."
 https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/17417/the-price-of-sugar

Are you a coward or just a racist?

Have you seen the hand lettered signs "Silence is violence?" It's the opposite of what it says. That means you aren't allowed to speak your truth at all, you can only bow and scrape. In fact, your silence is compliance and acceptance of the racism myth and that as a white person you are evil. "Silence is compliance." A Catholic priest in Carmel, Indiana, is the Bonhoeffer of our times. He's telling it like it is. He's not being silent. He actually called out the rioters and looters. Called them names! Melted a few snowflakes. Support him by not being silent about this insanity.

I realize you may not be retired like I am, you don’t have a monthly pension, so you're afraid to speak out--might loose your job. Or friends. It doesn't matter if my pastor sees my criticism of the church--he has no idea who I am. You tell me on the QT that you support everything I write but, . . you must be silent. I do understand, really, and thanks for the private messages. I'm not posting for glory or likes. I post the truth. But please stop being cowards. You are letting them destroy Columbus (or whatever city you live in). You know they won't stop with the removal of the Columbus statue, or the stand down order of the police, don't you? That just encourages them. It's like whacking a hornets nest--they won't go away. And NO, you are not safe in UA or Worthington or Hilliard.

When OSU or your high school says we need more staff for IED (Inclusion, equity, diversity) classes and more reprograming of your kids' minds, JUST SAY NO! Pull them out. Don't pay ridiculous tuition and fees. Do not let the Controllers of BLM/ANTIFA turn your children's minds to mush. Your life matters, too. Learn from history. How do you think a few overseers were able to control 50 slaves in the fields of the plantation if not through fear and intimidation? How were the Nazis able to round up thousands of Jews and keep them compliant?

No country in the world has offered hundreds of nationalities and religions and ethnic groups the opportunity to live side by side under a Constitution that says they rule the government, not the other way around. Stand up and be proud.

This isn't about slavery in the 17th century. It isn't about microaggression or unconscious bias. This isn't about Police. Those are tools they use against you. Don't let them reprogram you.

Silence is compliance. Don’t be a coward.

Facts matter in the current racism debate, guest blogger Sonja

The mayor of Columbus, Ohio is lying to the citizens who elected him. We have a friend on the police force, and one CPD friend retired.  We heard about the stand down orders directly that is allowing the downtown to be smashed and looted, making it unsafe to drive there. He is a Democrat. Sonja posted the following on Facebook.
“Facts, facts, facts. They are our only defense to emotion, manipulation and systematic media and SJW misinformation and fraud. Mr. Scanlon is a St. Catherine and Bishop Hartley graduate and expert in police training and tactics.”
James J. Scanlon Columbus Division of Police – Retired
Columbus Ohio City Council Meeting June 29, 2020:
“Good Evening Council members. My name is James J. Scanlon. I am a retired Columbus Police officer. Between 1978 and 2011, I primarily worked night shifts, protecting the good citizens who live in our inner-city precincts. I loved being there and they loved having me there. Like thousands of other CPD Officers, I protected them against the criminal gangs, robbers and other predators. Now – criminals and their families didn’t like me being there. But, as cops, we are more concerned about what good and decent people think about us than the thugs that hurt and intimidate those good people.
Mayor Ginther and members of City Council have waged an on-going assault upon the fine men and women of the Columbus Division of Police. It is shameful how you and other city officials have demonized these officers and misinformed the public into believing they are a group of “rogue, racist cops”. All of you have relentlessly and falsely accused the Columbus Division of Police, and its officers, of being complicit in a culture of systematic racism. Due to my 42 year involvement with the Columbus Division of Police, I know that you are spreading falsehoods.
Mayor Ginther has stated that “countless black men and women have died at the hands of police officers”. That statement was both false and dangerously inflammatory. There have not been “countless” police-involved shooting deaths.
Here are some facts:
· There are 600,000 – 800,000 Columbus Police encounters with individuals per year.
· There were 7 black suspects fatally shot by CPD Officers in 2016
· 4 in 2017
· 5 in 2018
· 1 in 2019
In every single case, the suspects were armed and threatening.
Facts matter! Each of these incidents has been thoroughly investigated and presented to the ultimate “citizen review board” – a grand jury.
Mayor Ginther, you will be pleased to learn that, in those four years, if you were not armed and threatening, the odds of a black suspect being fatally shot by a Columbus Police Officer was exactly zero. You have every reason to be proud of the police officers you have been tasked to lead.
But, at last week’s City Council news conference, Council members falsely vilified CPD Officers for racist, systematic abuse and murder of African-American men and women. No facts or statistics were used to support their lame accusations. Instead, Council President pro-tem Brown went so far as to condemn a specific CPD police-involved shooting, citing a “skewed system that resulted in the death of Henry Green”.
Many of you have spread a great deal of misinformation concerning the Henry Green Case, leaving many Columbus citizens to believe that officers gunned down Mr. Green for no reason. In reality, Mr. Green was shot by police officers after he fired 6 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition at the officers from a distance of 14 feet or less. Those rounds came within inches of striking officers, lodging in the car door that one officer was behind and a headrest the other had been in front of seconds earlier. Mr. Green was carrying a stolen Glock .45 caliber handgun loaded with those 6 rounds. I believe these to be relevant facts in the case. It’s too bad the public never heard these facts from their City of Columbus elected officials. By the way, under the new “reforms”, how many rounds need to be fired at an officer before that officer may fire back?!
By not addressing specifics, Mayor Ginther and City Council members have purposely misled the public into believing Columbus Police Officers are routinely killing innocent black men. Their false narrative has greatly damaged the public’s opinion of this amazing agency and created the most dangerous situation I have ever witnessed in this city.
Facts matter! You should be ashamed of yourselves for misrepresenting the facts, misinforming the public and driving a wedge between the citizens of Columbus and their fine police department.”

Eggs, meat and dementia

Will researchers ever make up their minds about meat and eggs? This study says it protects us from dementia.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190806101530.htm

“The new study now shows that the risk of dementia was 28% lower in men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine, when compared to men with the lowest intake. Men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine also excelled in tests measuring their memory and linguistic abilities. These findings are significant, considering that more than 50 million people worldwide are suffering from a memory disorder that has led to dementia, and the number is expected to grow as the population ages. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, for which no cure currently exists. The new findings may, therefore, play a vital role in the prevention of dementia. Successful dementia prevention is a sum of many things and in this equation, even small individual factors can have a positive effect on the overall risk, possibly by preventing or delaying the disease onset.”

Needs more study . . .

Reeducation camps on college campus and in China for Uyghurs

The Uyghurs, alternately Uygurs, Uighurs or Uigurs, [pronounced Wee-gers] are a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group originating in Central and East Asia. They are Muslims. These days you hear about them being imprisoned in camps and reeducated by the Chinese [aka Communists]. I first heard of them at a Lakeside lecture over a decade ago, when the world began to find out about how they were being discriminated against and stripped of their unique culture.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-uighur-camps-swell-as-beijing-widens-the-dragnet-1534534894?

When I see what is happening in our schools and universities, I often think of that name. Wee-gers. The difference is, our children aren't going against their will. We're sending them and paying exorbitant fees to have a generation stripped of their religion and values.

The Obamacare battle during a pandemic

Yes, indeed, this might be just the right time to talk about Obamacare and what it denied and what it provided. We've just seen how the government can deny us medical care by claiming a greater need--for hospitals to have enough respirators and masks, you can't have your hip surgery or heart cath. We've experienced "access" staring at a screen on the smart phone and hearing a mumble from a cave. We've experienced denial to visit relatives on lockdown because of government directives run by bureaucrats. It's government health care at its most grim.

There are similarities to 2009 when 85% of us not already on a government plan lost the health care we liked and got a substitution because 15% of us wouldn't sign up for what was already available through Medicaid, or VA, or wouldn't pay a co-pay from their employer. Millions of Americans lost health care they liked, lost doctors who'd been treating them for years. There is already a cradle to grave health care system provided by our government--it is the BIA, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Can you image Pelosi accepting that for her grandchildren?

Now we've learned no matter how good our insurance is we can lose access to health care in a New York minute, (or an Ohio governor's minute). And you're so naïve to think the government couldn't do it again when Joe Biden wants you to go to jail for not having Obamacare?

Dressed for the farmer’s market

Skin is your largest organ, so I go covered. I wear a mask to protect me from your germs, breath and droplets. "As of right now, respiratory droplets are considered the main way the coronavirus is spreading, according to the CDC. The center's site states, "These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs."

The Farmer's Market has moved from "downtown" up to the old stone school building 7th and Walnut. Don't bring a bag--you can't use them. I got a lovely rhubarb pie, a quart of peaches and a tomato. Not as many vendors, but a good size crowd. Health challenged can go at 8:30 and otherwise opens to public at 9 a.m., Tuesday and Friday.

What is our culture, our society?

If this isn't a racist society or culture, what is it?

• A culture of excellence. A culture of achievement.
• A culture of do-overs.
• A culture of second or third chances.
• A culture of competition. A culture of love of neighbor.
• A culture that respects history with all its flaws.
• A culture of religious freedom or freedom to have no religion.
• A culture of generosity and love.
• A culture of families making life better for their kids.
• A culture of immigrants, refugees and old timers living and succeeding together.
• A culture with respect for education, the arts, hard work, amber waves of grain, and old glory waving.
• A culture of nationalism, patriotism, good old boys, and ladies night out.
• A culture of freedom of the press and freedom of speech (increasingly controlled by the fat cats of technology).

A culture where the people are ready to say, enough already.

News from the frontline in Columbus, Ohio

Here is information from last night from a friend on the front line downtown. Again, you are NOT seeing the truth in the news or from anyone in government. This has not been about George Floyd for a long time!  Bonnie (a retired Columbus police officer)

“I am typically a very patient, understanding person especially at work, but what I witnessed tonight in downtown Columbus was intolerable and they should all be ashamed of themselves. I am writing this post so you can all understand what is truly going on. These people are absolutely not peaceful. Tonight this group stole construction equipment and blocked the streets so cars could not pass. This group broke into businesses and stole property. This group physically blocked vehicles from traveling around downtown by stopping cars in the middle of the street. This group screams profanities constantly and threatens to kill officers and their families. I am so proud of the officers I work with. I nearly lost my temper on so many occasions tonight, and we have been dealing with this "group" for a month now. Things are not getting better. I promise you. These are paid agitators who could care less about equality and justice. They are rude, violent, and destructive. Please, pray for something to change soon. This has to stop. They are destroying the city.”

The assumption of rising violence against Blacks

Every article I read about BLM--left, right, middle, Christian, secular, black or white--begins with the obligatory statement about violence against Black Americans by whites. Nonsense.

Violence was at an all time high in the early 90s--over 25 years ago--and is half what it was then. And violence has decreased far more in the black community than white. The only systemic violence against Blacks is from the left, in the killing chambers of abortion clinics. Otherwise, Blacks outside the womb are far safer now than 25 years ago.

Then the next error in these articles, posts or memes, and this one usually from the Christians who vote for Democrats, or Christians who don't vote at all or Democrats who don't like Christians is that more government money or programs, in other words, doing more of what we've been doing for 60 years, will somehow work the next time. (Kind of like the socialism thing--we'll get it right the next time.) For some reason, usually lack of information from MSM (CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, NYT) which they slavishly watch or read, they don't know these programs have been bipartisan, supported by both parties, in fact, some of the most successful like EITC have been from Republicans. By ignoring our bipartisan failures, they get to demonize Republicans and demand everyone vote for Democrats--again.

A third error is white people who rend their garments about systemic racism can't even tell you what they personally are doing wrong even though they say they are part of the system. Or if they can think of something, they won't remedy it without demanding other people change.

The vast majority of violence visited on the black community is committed by black people. Not police. Not the schools. Not the government. And it’s the same for whites, Asians, lesbians, etc. although higher for blacks.  This not "whataboutism." Listen to the Chicago statistics for this past week-end. Where are the marches, riots and looting for these invisible victims?

Systemic racism charges

If your pastor or priest or rabbi solemnly intones the myth of "systemic racism" from the safe and sanitary virtual pulpit, please write or call him immediately and offer to be his/her confessor for all the racist acts and thoughts he/she personally has made in the last week, or month or year as part of the system.

The system which is

their community,

their congregation,

their church,

their theological school,

their alumni association,

their PTA,

their pension plan,

their fair housing group,

their gated community,

their social clubs,

their children and parents,

where they eat

where they shop or

where they vacation.

That's just a small start because in a myth that vague and all encompassing which moves on storm waves of fairy tales of microaggression and unconscious bias, everything is part of the system. That sets the bar so high, no one will ever be pure and it can be funded FOREVER by foundations, corporate guilt, taxes and reparations.

Yet it is so vague, the accuser can be blameless. She can post signs and make jokes about politicians or a party not to her liking. So demand some answers. Why would you, who doesn't believe the myth of systemic racism, have to listen to charges of criminality, hate crimes and sin without proof of participation and then be expected to drop money in the virtual collection plate (please click on the screen, and follow directions, etc.) ?

And ask your black friends--and I mean real friends, not the gardener you hire for the church lawn or the academic colleague working on a grant application--please ask them what in the USA or your denomination is holding them back--today, yesterday this past month

Ask them if they've been a victim of a violent or property crime and who was the offender.

Ask them if they were denied a promotion because of racism. Ask them if they were denied service in a store or restaurant. Ask them if they were turned away from medical care (other than during the pandemic).

If they can't think of anything, then please step away and work on your own issues. If they can, ask them what government program not already in place will improve their life. If they do have something to contribute, set about changing yourself.

Unacceptable

This is not acceptable. Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC) still doesn't have an opening date, and when it finally gets there (I guess we need more money and more staff?):

• The Traditional service will be held during the week with the day and time yet to be determined. A video recording of the service will be available on the following Sunday morning. Holding the service during the week allows us to:

o Make good use of our preaching and presiding staff.
o Record the service for online worshipers.
o Potentially increase the number of services (and thus allow for more worshipers) by adding services on additional days. This will keep us from having to turn over the sanctuary between worship hours and helps to minimize risk for all involved.

And it's all for the health of us old folks.

Our nearby neighbor, St. Andrew reopened in May. "On Tuesday, May 26, we will resume the celebration of public daily Masses at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. May 30/31 will mark the return to Sunday Masses with our NEW SCHEDULE: 4:30 p.m. (Saturday Vigil) and 7:30, 9:15 and 11 a.m. on Sundays. The sanctuary will reopen for prayer throughout the week beginning Tuesday, May 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m."

Saturday night in Lakeside

Last night in the park at Lakeside, Ohio, we enjoyed a Fleetwood Mac tribute group. They were as happy to see us as we were to see them. They hadn't had a gig since Valentine's Day. It's not my music, but it was a large crowd, socially distancing and wearing masks. We were all happy to be together, while safely apart. It baffles me that with all the talent, skill and college degrees we have on the staff of our churches, no one can come up with a plan that serves God and man.

It seems Christians don't have ushers who can pass out masks, or volunteers to wipe down benches and pews after use, or organizers who are as flexible as other non-profits, or soloists in place of community singing, or parking lots and parks.

We are facing enemies every bit as evil as those warned about in the Old Testament, yet we have a spirit of timidity and fear that I could never have imagined in my parents' generation, who by the time I was 5 years old had lived through WWI, the 1918 pandemic, the Great Depression and WWII, and increasingly outbreaks of polio. To my knowledge they never closed their little rural churches, some of which may not have had indoor plumbing let alone fancy high tech computers and Bible studies using Zoom.