Pack the court

Democrats can't win control with elections--people come up for reelection or retire or do something stupid and leave office. So it's necessary to 1) pack the court, 2) add 2 new states (Democrat of course), and 3) bring in as many illegal immigrants as possible to vote.

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the Supreme Court of the United States, after showing that they didn’t have the courage to do what they should have done on the Great Presidential Election Fraud of 2020, was PACKED by the same people, the Radical Left Democrats (who they are so afraid of!), that they so pathetically defended in not hearing the Election Fraud case. Now there is a very good chance they will be diluted (and moved throughout the court system so that they can see how the lower courts work), with many new Justices added to the Court, far more than has been reported. There is also a good chance that they will be term-limited. We had 19 states go before the Supreme Court who were, shockingly, not allowed to be heard. Believe it or not, the President of the United States was not allowed to be heard based on “no standing,” not based on the FACTS. The Court wouldn’t rule on the merits of the great Election Fraud, including the fact that local politicians and judges, not State Legislatures, made major changes to the Election—which is in total violation of the United States Constitution.
Our politically correct Supreme Court will get what they deserve—an unconstitutionally elected group of Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country. With leaders like Mitch McConnell, they are helpless to fight. He didn’t fight for the Presidency, and he won’t fight for the Court. If and when this happens, I hope the Justices remember the day they didn’t have courage to do what they should have done for America."

Why is Biden doing it?

The difference is clear. The two administrations have opposite views on how to handle illegal immigration, both short term and long term.

Trump: prevent border crossing without permission and visas and access to tax payer benefits and American jobs. Border security--wall/fence, technology, human patrol, paying other countries to control their borders.

Biden: open all borders for any nationality for easier crossing by job seekers, relatives, refugees, terrorists, drug cartels, human traffickers. Remove barriers and increase payments for sanctuary cities, college programs, covid relief

.
The question is why? Why did Trump believe nations have rights to secure their borders and why doesn't Biden? Where's the pay off? Which is expansionist? Which is a take-over of another country, its land and people? Is this the new colonialism?

National Sibling Day April 10

 

  

Bob and his siblings and grandfather in 1952.

The pandemic made a lot of people rich

The Pandemic has been VERY lucrative for some. I'm not surprised some want to keep that horse in the race. The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented 2,755--660 more than a year ago. Of those, a record high 493 were new to the list--roughly one every 17 hours, including 210 from China and Hong Kong.

My. Goodness. 210 of 493 from China and Hong Kong. Imagine that. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/

"Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest for the fourth year running, worth $177 billion, while Elon Musk rocketed into the number two spot with $151 billion, as Tesla and Amazon shares surged. Altogether these billionaires are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion in 2020. The U.S. still has the most, with 724, followed by China (including Hong Kong and Macao) with 698. We used stock prices and exchange rates from March 5 to calculate net worths."

The mass shooting in South Carolina

I watched the news yesterday morning expecting to hear something about Thursday's mass shooting in SC,  but it wasn't even mentioned. I think there was brief mention about the shooting in Texas. So I checked. I didn't even know there was a 6th victim. Noticed this victim in a USAToday article, race isn't mentioned, nor the name of the shooter, or his former profession. 

"Robert Shook of Cherryville was working at a rural home in York County, South Carolina, when a gunman, yielding 9mm and .45-caliber handguns, shot him and five other people.

Everyone at the home, including his work partner, James Lewis, died from their injuries, except for Shook, who continues to fight for his life following multiple surgeries at Atrium Health's Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. The gunman also took his own life."

Survivor of mass shooting from Cherryville still recovering (usatoday.com)

 Suspect in South Carolina mass shooting that killed 5 played in NFL (msn.com)

Some American households may have received $60-70,000 in pandemic relief

 Who would consider going back to work?  In some states the figure is as high as $100,000.

The unemployment insurance benefits paired existing state-level weekly aid with a federal payment ranging from $600/week under the CARES Act to $300 per week under the American Rescue Plan Act. The aid was also extended to workers who usually do not qualify for unemployment benefits, including gig economy workers and independent contractors. Unemployed workers could continue to claim unemployment insurance benefits past the usual 26-week window during the pandemic.

Take, for example, a married household with two young children living in Georgia with a single earner who made $60,000 in 2019. Imagine the single earner lost her job on April 1, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the family would have been eligible for $365 per week from the state of Georgia in unemployment benefits up to 26 weeks and $4,000 in Child Tax Credit, for a total of $13,490.

Read further: https://taxfoundation.org/total-covid-relief-unemployment-insurance/?

On the death of Prince Philip

We received the DVD set of Downton Abbey for Christmas and are now watching it a second time. We just finished (the 2nd time) the episode where the letter between the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Dudley Ward (his mistress for 16 years) was stolen by a card shark and recovered by Mr. Bates, the valet of Lord Grantham. A thief stole it from a thief who was going to use it as blackmail.  With the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, we are reminded that Elizabeth wouldn't be the Queen if the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) hadn't abdicated the throne for another lover, not Mrs. Dudley Ward, but a twice divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson.  So Elizabeth's father became the King.

Another race hoax--this one at Albion College

This doesn't really surprise me--the hoaxes, I mean. https://www.foxnews.com/us/racist-graffiti-michigan-albion-college-student?

The air we breathe is filled with Critical Race Theory, constant digging by academics to bury or revise American history, microaggressions, reeducation camps, sins of the past, lies about the Georgia election, and demands to re-segregate society. Big Tech is allowed/encouraged to squash any discussion. We subscribe to maybe 10 journals--from architecture to history, to preservation, to business and art--all seem to be competing to publish The Great American Wokeism, a Marxist inspired movement that has turned into a cult complete with evangelists, worship centers, priests, perp walks down the sawdust trail to accept the new religion, and media strong arming at every turn.

Our Road to Emmaus

In 2009 we visited the Holy Land on a tour with our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Columbus. St. Jerome called this kind of pilgrimage, the fifth gospel. And it is, indeed, as all the readings and stories you've heard for years come alive.

 
According to Fr. Sebastian White (editor of Magnificat, April 2021, p. 3-5) the one place we're not sure we saw is Emmaus, the place two disciples were heading when the risen Jesus joined them on the road. There are 6 contenders! Not to worry, the Bible is very clear even if modern explorers can't agree on the historical location. It's the road that represents "every place," -- "the road every Christian, every person takes. The risen Jesus makes himself our traveling companion as we go on our way, to rekindle the warmth of faith and hope in our hearts and to break the bread of eternal life." (Pope Benedict XVI)

Child murder statistics compared to Covid19

"American children 14 years and younger are more likely to be murdered than to die because of COVID-19, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/03/18/more-children-14-and-under-are-murdered-than-die-of-covid-19/?

That's not a pleasant topic, but their violent deaths also didn't close down the schools. And if you scroll through all the statistics (this article is loaded), it doesn't tell you that children under 5 are in danger of homicide, but it's their parents, not strangers or neighbors. Particularly their mothers and their boyfriends, and it's not guns either. Homicide has drastically gone down in all age groups the last 25 years, but has gone up in that one, and black children are way out of proportion to their population.

Although statistics for women who murder are far lower than men, for homicides involving young children the percentage is very high, and going up the last few decades. No one knows why, but I suspect it's abortion creating a disrespect for life and breaking the mother-child bond.

Collecting My Thoughts: Do black lives matter?

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Race and Ethnicity of Violent Crime Offenders and Arrestees, 2018

Wall Street Journal reports economic crisis is over

The economy is set to soar, but the Biden /Democrat hysteria choir is trying to tap it down so it can grab more green goodies at your expense.

"The latest evidence arrived Monday with the Institute for Supply Management’s news that its March survey for service businesses hit 63.7. That’s an all-time high, and it signifies rapid growth and optimism. The only problem is that many businesses say they can’t find enough workers or supplies to meet their order books.

That follows Friday’s blowout employment report for March, with a net total of 1.07 million new jobs including revisions from the previous two months. Wage gains were bigger than they looked at first glance, given that many returning workers were those in lower-wage services jobs hurt by the pandemic." Wall St. Journal

Cancel the egg rolls. Hire CBS to do a hit piece on Florida's governor. Bust open the border with more infected immigrants and ship them around the country. Keep the schools closed with teachers union (which funds 99.9% Democrat candidates) cooperation. Send Fauci to all the talk shows with even more confusing information.

Egg rolls cancelled because of Covid

I don't care much for "egg rolls" which are traditional at Easter, but cancelling them at the White House or locally in our town was a political statement, not a health statement. They are done outside, and the WH lawn is huge. The numbers could have been limited, there was plenty of space for distancing, and even children, who don't need masks, could have worn them. It was just another Biden /Democrat bureaucracy announcement that we are under his control and power, and we better not forget it.

 
We took our children ONCE as pre-schoolers to the local event in the early 70s, and swore never again. It was a mob of screaming, fighting, yelling suburban kids who one would have thought hadn't eaten in weeks. It terrified our little ones and we never went to another one.

 

We had our own Easter egg hunt at our house in 1973 with the Clarks. Phil and Rich used their cowboy hats as Easter baskets.

Use this form to apply for a ballot to vote by mail

Our household has received a hand delivered brochure with 2 absentee ballot applications. I could say it's rigged against a certain class of people. The elderly. And not for naught. We old folks, especially remembering the creaming we got for that school bond issue which was so outrageous many didn't bother to vote, might just vote down a recreation center as fancy as our neighbors in Dublin, Westerville and Worthington. This keeping up with the Jones on a pension budget is tough. I suspect the supporters do all they can to discourage the elderly from voting and not campaigning.

Back to voting. These applications certainly ask for a lot of information. Probably much more than Georgians need to know. This one has 8 parts, but #8 is not required. There is a bold warning that WHOEVER COMMITS ELECTION FALSIFICATION IS GUILTY OF A FELONY OF THE FIFTH DEGREE.

The first thing I noticed is that the print is so tiny (and I have a minimal prescription for bifocals and have had cataract surgery) I may need to look for a magnifying glass.

Second, there are at least 7-8 items one can use for voter ID and I can think of many elderly voters who might have a problem (not a current driver, don't know where their SS card is, have bills taken care of by someone else or the bank, or get confused about that exception that is listed which won't be accepted.

Third, the form to apply for a ballot to vote by mail asks the date of the election (do not write today's date), and that information is on the brochure, not on the application, which has been separated and possibly thrown away.

Fourth, the application to apply for a ballot asks if this is for a general election, a special election , a primary election, the name of the voter's political party, or an issues only ballot. Then outside that space to the left are instructions in teeny print that the voter must complete a separate application for each election.

Part 7 of the form to apply for a ballot to vote by mail needs a signed affirmation that the voter wants the form mailed to the address shown in part 4, not part 3. Pt. 7 contains another warning about legal penalty if the statements are not true.

The request (this form) must be received by the board of elections no later than noon on the Saturday before Election Day if by mail or by 2 pm the day before the election if in person. Who gets mail before noon around here? Ours sometimes arrives at 7 p.m. If I mess that up or forget I applied (not voted) and go to the polling place to vote in person, then I will have to vote a provisional ballot which cannot be counted until at least 11 days after Election Day.

I can recall "in the old days" we could request absentee if we were going to be out of town, or were ill or disabled, by calling, It wasn't a mass mailing (or distribution) and it was very simple.

Now where is that magnifying glass? I think I'll drive to the polls on that date I need to look up. It's easier.

Sara thought she was making herself sick, but it has a name--guest blogger Sara Gruber

"After being told for years that my ailments were anxiety, I became a disbeliever in my own body. I stopped believing in my ability to decipher if I was physically ill or not. I spent the past two decades convincing myself that anxiety was the cause of my dizziness, weakness, heart palpitations, tightness of chest…

And like so many people with anxiety, I believed that it was my fault. I believed that I had these physical feelings because I wasn’t mentally and emotionally strong enough. My confidence was replaced with a chaotic dialogue. “You’re dizzy because you need to calm down… You’ve never passed out in the grocery store before so stop being ridiculous. You’re not going to pass out today…”

I fought anxiety. I fought so hard! I took medications. I worked out. I meditated. I changed my diet. I read self-help books. I listened to podcasts. Yet, I was still sick and I was still scared.

Learning that I had dysautonomia was the first step to regaining the belief that I was interpreting my body correctly. It freed this resounding roar of, “I knew it! I knew there was something else that wasn’t right.” So many of my symptoms that were from dysautonomia were attributed to anxiety. All too often, anxiety has become a crutch diagnosis. It is the label many are left with when tests don’t find answers. It puts a halt to people’s journeys to find answers and it even belittles those who are suffering from anxiety by being a catch all.

Year after year, day after day—I thought I wasn’t smart enough, determined enough, strong enough… and maybe even that I wasn’t deserving enough…

Thinking I was too sensitive to be in the heat, then discovering, “Hey, I actually don’t sweat anymore.”
Believing I wasn’t strong enough to be in leadership roles. My heart would beat uncontrollably in meetings with an aggressive supervisor. Not mild palpitations, I’m talking pass-out-quality pounding. I found myself looking for every opportunity to get out just to calm my heart. I know now that the type of dysautonomia I have, Hyperadrenergic POTS (Hyper POTS) causes massive adrenaline dumps during times of stress.

Feeling ashamed because I was too scared to drive long distances. I often felt like I couldn’t breathe when I was driving. I’ve since been able to track that my heart rate often increases over 40 bpm in this position. It goes up because my blood is not circulating properly and my heart is trying to compensate by working harder.

Thinking I was ridiculous for being scared to go into grocery stores. The combination of standing, reaching for items, and fluorescent lights was dizzying. I remember mustering up all of my energy to push through when all I wanted to do was leave. I would look around at people who were 40 years older than me and believed that they looked so much healthier than I felt.

Did I ever share that I felt this way with anyone? Never! It was crazy talk.

Now, I absolutely know that I also have anxiety. I think it would be hard to live through this and not. All of these ailments inspire anxiety; they draw it out of me and then that anxiety exacerbates everything. It’s still hard to know where the line between dysautonomia and anxiety lies. Maybe that’s because that line doesn’t end, it blurs.

Even if I had been fighting anxiety without dysautonomia, I wish I could have seen the bravery in that. I wish that my internal dialogue had been loving instead of self-deprecating. No one with anxiety chooses it. I never chose it! It’s like living in a prison of fear—the least we can do for ourselves is have self-compassion as a cell mate.

So here’s to self-compassion!

I have anxiety. I have dysautonomia. I am stronger than I thought. I am braver than I knew. "

I thought I was making myself sick – Blessings of Chronic Illness

Anesthesia and memory loss

 I noticed this article in TheScientist Magazine today.  Anesthesia Impairs Memory in Mice | The Scientist Magazine® (the-scientist.com)  It is reporting on the original published work,  Anesthetics fragment hippocampal network activity, alter spine dynamics, and affect memory consolidation (plos.org)  For some time, I've been concerned about memory changes after anesthesia, but haven't been able to find anything about it except discussions of "brain fog" and short term memory loss that clears after a day or so. I recently cancelled an appointment for a colonoscopy, a procedure I consider important, because I was told that after 80 and even deeper sedation is used.  I had requested lighter or minimal because I never seem to fully recover and experience what I would call long term effects--like forever.  This research says the effects it might be otherwise: “The results challenge a very fundamental notion that I think the public—and many investigators even—assume. And that is, once the drugs have been eliminated from the body, the brain goes back to baseline state. And that’s not the case.”

New dishes for the lake house--again

   

I really didn't need new dishes for our lake home, but when I saw these (above), I knew they'd be perfect in the blue and white kitchen with pink touches.  They are Keltcraft (Noritake label made in Ireland), and so far, the most expensive I've had at the lake, $95 for about 50 pieces. As I recall, I originally had blue and white Currier and Ives dishes from the 1950s, free from my friend Adrienne which she was getting rid of when she remodeled her kitchen in the late 80s. Many years later a neighbor on Oak Avenue had a set of blue and white Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne put out for a yard sale.  They didn't sell, so she put a price of $10 on the set and that included the laundry basket they were in, and she enlisted her kids to carry them to our cottage. After a few years I gave the Currier and Ives to a friend who was moving and needed a set of dishes.  

Years before at another yard sale I bought some white china with delicate blue and pink flowers and platinum trim that were going for $25 due to a divorce. They had been a wedding gift and had all the serving pieces and even a tea pot.  I put those aside for "special" times. Then about 8 years ago I found a lovely set of white on white china, International Wakefield 364, about 7 place settings, for $5 at the Lakeside Heritage Society Labor Day sale, and I couldn't pass those up.  I put the Pfaltzgraff in a neighbor's sale and then had two sets of china--neither of which could be used in the microwave, so I had to pick up some pottery for cereal bowls and serving.  Then last summer I found a wonderful hand painted set about 70 years old, Mountain Ivy from Blue Ridge Southern Pottery. at the Lakeside archives sale store.  I love them. I think the set was $25, and they delivered them to the house.

  

My plan is to keep a few pieces of the blue and pink on white floral china for us to use at home, and donate the rest.  As I recall, I have either 10 or 12 place settings, more than we ever could use at the lake. Even if I keep 2 or 4 place settings, there is still a lot to donate.  And now Bob will be able to cook his oatmeal in a nice bowl that matches the plates. 

Every time I see CDC director Walensky's emotional news clip about Covid I am reminded of Biden's lies during the campaign about how he had a plan. (Deja vu. Obama had a secret plan in 2008 to get us out of a war, and kept us there 8 more years.) I remember how Biden and Pelosi criticized Trump for closing air traffic from China as racist and xenophobic. He and other Democrats ridiculed the idea of fast tracking a vaccine without years of red tape. He had no plan, and for the most part he is doing nothing except instilling more fear and asking for more of what we've been doing for a year.

 
His lies worked, and Democrats voted for a cognitively impaired head of a family crime ring with close to 50 years in government. While all his advisors worked behind the scenes to take advantage of this crisis, they busted the border wide open while busting the budget with more trillion dollar green deal give aways, and stealing our rights guaranteed us as Americans. No one advising Biden was doing anything about Covid because all scientists and researchers were already going full steam ahead.

 
Trump was a victim of his enemies in the media, Big Tech, and RINOs, but Biden is a victim of old age and feebleness--something none of us can control. We still don't know who's in charge, but I'm pretty sure it isn't Harris who hasn't had enough time to clear out her enemies in the party. (She only got a paltry 1% in the primaries--a good indication of the faith they have in her). A cabal of Obama cronies and their straw bosses is my guess. They believe they didn't think big enough with the 2008 financial crisis with just billions, so they've moved on to trillions. They've been controlling our education system for such a time as this, and Americans probably don't know the difference.

 
Only China of all the countries in the world has made out with the crisis it engineered.

Churches using government money to fulfill their promise to Christ

Christian relief groups, particularly churches like the Catholics and Baptists, are really in a bind. Christ commanded us to help the poor, imprisoned, hungry, etc. but NOT by taking grants from the government to do it. We Christians are cooperating with evil by providing humanitarian care for the caravans--many funded by traffickers and drug cartels. And it isn't just this administration, it really geared up under "thousand points of light" of GHW Bush, although it was common before that with building contracts to help clean up poverty and farm surplus for food pantries run by churches.

 
When Jesus comes back and asks how we followed Matthew 25, I fear he'll find the churches there with the goats, and not the sheep who know him. We're not to be siphoning off tax money and becoming dependent on the government.

Unfortunately, this invites anti-Catholic hostility from other Christians, while tying the Catholics even closer to poorly managed, dead end government practices.  Plus, many Christians who are critical of this, are ignorant of what their own denomination is doing with government money.

Dissenting Catholic Charities: Separating Church & Welfare State? - Capital Research Center

Catholic Church collects $1.6 billion in U.S. contracts, grants since 2012 - Washington Times

Churches Take Action to Help Children at the Border As Leaders Debate (churchleaders.com)

A year late, and trillions of dollars short

Even in the Biden administration and the diehard leftists in the main stream media, there is skepticism about the latest WHO report. 

That the virus may have escaped, or been released, from a lab in China has been a discussion at Newsmax and other conservative sources, especially Gordan Chang, China expert, for months. Jen Psaki, Biden's Spox said in a press conference that medical experts and the global community "all deserve greater transparency." She said the report lacks crucial information and provides a "partial, incomplete picture" of the virus’ origin. Well, duh. Where was Mr. Expert Biden a year ago? Well, he was criticizing President Trump as a racist and xenophobe.

Psaki says WHO report on coronavirus origin 'lacks transparency' | Fox News

Here's Gordon Chang on Fox last April, "And, by the way...there is a lot of evidence that suggests this comes from the lab. A January 24th article from The Lancet -- which is the authoritative British medical journal -- said that many of the initial coronavirus cases did not come from the wet market, which is China's theory," he stated. "Well, if they didn't come from the wet market, they had to have come from the lab."

Gordon G. Chang: Trump right to stop funding World Health Organization over its botched coronavirus response | Fox News

Gordon Chang: The World Health Organization Was Complicit with China in Spreading the Coronavirus :: Grabien - The Multimedia Marketplace

'It looks like Chinese Communist Party has bought the WHO' - Israel National News

The Trump hatred, which includes Google and Facebook blocking my posts,  has made this disease much worse in the U.S. by insulting and cancelling voices that wouldn't believe the China-WHO information.

Downton Abbey the third time

We received a gift boxed set of the British TV series Downton Abbey for Christmas and are watching it for the second time. We watched all the bonus shows after we finished the series and then the movie, and so went back to see what clues, music, fashion, etc. we had missed.   I had first seen it 10 years ago, but had forgotten most of it.  Now we just finished watching the 3rd season (2nd time) and Matthew Crawley dies in the last scene. It was a shock the first time, and still is.  If Daniel Stevens hadn't wanted out of his contract, you do wonder what direction the series would have taken.  His departure caused a huge uproar among the fans, but his career has gone well.

 There are a few things we’ve noticed and commented on. We think if the series were made today—2020 instead of 2010—they wouldn’t have begun the story with a homosexual as the bad guy. Thomas Barrow is a gossip, a coward during the war, and gets into the post war black market, even though he fails. He’s nasty and sneaky and no one likes him. He is redeemed somewhat for being so mean as the series progresses. But also, we noticed that except for the rape story involving Anna, most of the overt sexual aggression was from the women. Edith, Sybil and Mary, all go beyond proprieties to get their man—especially Edith is aggressive. Mary’s shame influences the family’s fortune for years. Then Rose is also quite the sex kitten. Old lady Grantham had almost run off with the Russian prince in the 19th century when she was young, and was prepared to give up her two children. Then there are 3 house maids who go after men socially above them, and the one gets pregnant and then becomes a prostitute after her baby is born. I don’t think I noticed that thread so much the first time I watched it in 2011. We’ll probably watch it again when we’re at the Lake house this summer.