Thursday, April 22, 2021

Good old Joe flogs a dead horse

Although I don't believe in the myth of systemic racism, I do believe the Democrats have been a leader in the problem. Now they see it as something they can't define, or eliminate, but which they can flog like a dead horse, hoping to spread the stench for political gain. Therefore, it was odd to hear Joe Biden condemning the whole country for being racist, right after the trial of a policeman in a Democrat run city who had contributed to the death of a black man on drugs resisting arrest, and who had received a fair trial and was found guilty on the 3 counts. Biden and Harris should have been celebrating the system, not demeaning it. Are they disappointed that the city didn't again go up in flames with more black men killed?
 
If ever someone in the White House was a representative of "the system," and the "deep state," and the "swamp," it's Joe Biden. Forty seven years, I've heard, and he's contributed to every racial disaster and downfall that government has been able to produce. He took home the pork that devastated black neighborhoods or hurt black businesses with the interstate system. He took money from teachers unions which kept black children perpetually behind. He rushed to ignore the needs of black neighborhoods by jumping on the feminist, gay and trans bandwagons as "civil rights" movements. He helped destroy the lives of untold millions of black children before they could see the light of day, with 34% of abortions which he supports being for black women. With special grants and loans, he got black youth to prepare for dead end jobs in government so the Democrats could have a power base subservient to them. He sold his soul (and son) to China and Ukraine, which will damage every man, woman and child in the country regardless of race, ethnicity or political party.

Yes, Joe, tell us more about what racists we all are because Chauvin got a fair trial which was guaranteed him by our laws which you've sworn to uphold.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Stool testing

 This is not a topic I usually write about--I know nothing about it.  But I've been following Lucy for some time--because I started a class on the microbiome.  It was so gross (in my opinion) I dropped out, but did learn a lot and still think it's an interesting topic.  Her specialty is the gut microbiome.

Episode 172: Stool Testing with Dr. Lucy Mailing - Phoenix Helix

Dr. Lucy Mailing is a research scientist specializing in gut health, the microbiome, and nutrition science. Her stool testing expertise comes from both her graduate school training and her clinical practice. In graduate school, her research focused on the impact of diet and exercise on the gut microbiome. She employed a wide variety of stool testing technologies in her research and understands the science deeply. In her clinical practice, she analyzes stool testing reports with the goal of maximizing her client’s health.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

FDA trafficking in aborted baby parts

"Last week, legal accountability group Judicial Watch dropped a bombshell: a nearly 600-page report proving the U.S. government has been buying and trafficking “fresh” aborted baby body parts. These body parts, purchased by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to “humanize” mice and test biologic drugs in scientific experiments, came from babies up to 24-weeks-old gestation, just weeks from being born." 

So let that sink in and then read the rest of the article.


"When an ABR employee reassured the FDA they were working with doctors who performed late-term abortions, he admitted some tissue was unusable from a procedure that injects a poison called digoxin into the baby, destroying its cells and tissues. Once the chemical has done its work, an intact, dead baby is delivered. This method makes fetal tissue specimens unusable in experiments; with digoxin off the table, the likelihood partial-birth abortions were used is sickeningly high."

The contracts between ABR and FDA which began in 2012 were stopped by the Trump administration out of concern for the legality. I suppose Biden will undo that Trump accomplishment too.

Monday, April 19, 2021

One Preacher’s Word to the Laity of North Georgia UMC:

I don't live in Georgia and I'm not a Methodist.  Our summer home is in a Methodist community and from time to time we do hear the ripples of concern about what's going on in that denomination. Rev. Lathem addresses the problems of many churches, businesses, families, academics and others. This is a timely message for all Christians. Some years ago our ELCA congregation and the synod went through the open sexuality issue for some of our clergy who had agreed at ordination to remain celibate which the synod was pushing.  Ours created with many others a new synod (NALC) for Canada, U.S. and Mexico, more conservative on many issues, including abortion. The transgender issue and gay marriage wasn't even being discussed, at least as far as members knew.  I'm sure insiders did.

Rev. Warren Lathem:

"Tonight [April 19] our North Georgia Bishop will address the laity of the Annual Conference. This presentation will be live streamed to those who pre-registered. I shared the link a while back and encouraged the laity to attend the meeting. If you did not pre-register, it will be made available at a later date, I am told.
 
I think it is important for the 400,000 or so laity of North Georgia United Methodism to hear and know what is this bishop’s agenda. Correctly understood, I believe the majority of Georgia Methodists will not be supportive.
 
However, the caveat is, “correctly understood.” Do I know what she will say? Of course not. However, I do know what she has been saying since coming to this Conference. I know much of what she has recently said to the clergy in a similar presentation. I know what she has recently published.
Further, I know much of her advocacy will be around the full inclusion of the LGBTQ+ in the ranks of the ordained clergy and the support for welcoming them “to the table.” This will show itself as the major presenting issue and will make it appear that anyone who does not support this agenda is unloving and unwelcoming. It will be clear that those of us who think of ourselves as Traditional are guilty of breaking Mr. Wesley’s rule of “Do no harm.” In the name of love she will, I suspect, embrace one while excluding the other at this big table.
 
There are a few problems with this, as far as I am concerned. First, it is the assumption that those of us who have voted for years to reject the ordination of practicing homosexuals and the ritual of same sex marriage actually hate the people impacted by our theological position.
 
Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of us have family members, fellow church members, dear friends and colleagues who self identify as those we supposedly hate. Yet we love them, welcoming them into our homes and lives and ministries. We simply reject these two aspects, same sex marriage in the church and ordination. We believe in their equal civil rights. And further, many of us have actively sought to minister with and to them.
 
The language which identifies us as “haters” and “bigots” (I do not think the Bishop will use those words) is painful to us as it completely mischaracterizes reality. Here I simply give one personal example.
 
In the 1980’s the AIDS Epidemic was raging exclusively (as far as we knew then) through the homosexual community. Often they were treated like modern day “lepers” by society, often by their own family and the church. The church I was serving was the first outside the Perimeter of Atlanta to begin a ministry with and to AIDS victims. We sought to love, embrace and serve those who had received a diagnosis of what was then a terminal and horrible disease. Yet, our theological orthodoxy caused others to label us haters toward the very ones God called us to love.
 
The second problem I have with the agenda she will, I expect, present is it will seem as if the only issue dividing the church is this issue. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
We are divided over our understanding of scripture and scriptural authority. We are divided over theological issues as critical as Christology, Original Sin, Atonement, Repentance, Justification, Salvation, Sanctification, the Trinity, Universalism and much more. These are deep, deep theological differences. While both “sides” will use much of the same language, we mean very different things. That will be apparent to orthodox believers who listen very carefully to what our bishop says.
 
This theological division is not new. It has been present in the UMC since we first formed this denomination in 1968. The divergent views of the revelation of truth have taken two tangents which have moved further and further apart across these over 50 years.
 
The third issue will be it will appear, I think, that those of us who do not support her theological and social and ecclesiological agenda are simply an uninformed and narrow few. We are a minor part of the church and if a split occurred only “20 to 30” churches in North Georgia would leave the UMC for a more Traditional orthodox Methodist/Wesleyan denomination.

The assumption is that the vast majority of Methodists in North Georgia will support her agenda. I have served almost 50 years in the UMC, almost all of it in North Georgia. I have preached in dozens and dozens of churches in this conference. I have consulted with numerous congregations. I have known hundreds of lay leaders and worked with them on Walks to a Emmaus, Boards and Committees on Ministry, numerous Conference Committees and Task Forces, have taught courses in dozens of churches, have served as a District Superintendent, a General and Jurisdictional delegate working closely with the lay delegates and have shared about missions with an unknown number of churches in this conference. My appraisal of the laity of North Georgia is they are by far more Orthodox than my clergy brothers and sisters and once they clearly understand the Bishop’s theology and agenda will discover they are far removed from her vision of the faith and the church.
 
The fourth issue is what appears to be a coordinated attempt to silence any alternative theological, doctrinal or ecclesiological opinion divergent from her own. Pastors have been told directly by her district superintendents they are not to speak to the current theological divide in the church. Some have been obviously punished in the appointment making because they have been outspoken in their churches and the greater church. Some of our most effective Evangelical pastors have been invited to leave the denomination by their pastoral supervisors.
 
This has resulted in many clergy under appointment to simply be afraid to speak. This is not anecdotal. Dozens have privately shared this concern with me. They clearly do not agree with the position of the Bishop, but are fearful to speak about this crisis in their own congregations. They have witnessed the treatment of some who dared speak and they feel it necessary to remain silent.
 
As a retired elder, I am not vulnerable to appointment retribution and I can and will speak. Many of them privately thank me for raising a voice of opposition to what is being propagated in North Georgia Methodism.
 
But this is about the laity of the conference, not the clergy. You have no fear of the appointive impact of voicing your thoughts on these matters. You control the purse strings of the local churches and the annual conference and in many ways, the General Church since you make up the largest or second largest conference in Methodism. Your voice needs to be heard. You do not have the platform of the Bishop. In fact, you probably can’t even get the names and contact information for your fellow local church lay leaders. This has been carefully controlled by the Conference. This was not the case in the past. You should ask what has changed.
 
Further, lay folks, your sense of justice and fair play will be manipulated to make it appear if you do not agree with this theological agenda you are unloving, even hateful. Do not fall for it. The laity of this Conference are among the most loving, gracious, and generous people I have ever known. You have stayed faithful while often you have been assigned ineffective pastors or pastors who held very divergent beliefs from your own. You have remained faithful as the growing rift between the local church and the Boards and Agencies of the church has continually widened. You have tolerated the often anemic and even heretical theology taught in many of our denominational seminaries and by some of your own pastors. You have watched as scores of your fellow Methodists, family and church members have simply walked away from your church to join another, more vital congregation. They rejected the chaos and theological drift of our denomination. You have stayed faithful while the conference has escalated closing churches and adjusted to rapidly shrinking resources, Yet you funded generously clergy salaries and pensions. You paid off our unfunded pension liability in spite of the current message. You have supported mission here and around the world. You have fed hungry people, removed debris from natural disasters, taught Sunday School, built Habitat Houses, sung in the choir, joined UMM and UMW. You have supported great ventures such as Camp Glisson, Mountain Top Boys Home, Murphy/Harpst Home, our denominational Colleges and Universities and Seminaries, our Methodist Hospitals and so much more.
 
Stay the course. Do not be confused. Like me, many of you are several generational descendants of your Methodist fore-mothers and fathers. Our faith, our doctrine has not changed. We are followers of Christ and children of the Wesleys. We know what we believe. And this current theological formulation is not it. Use your voice and your influence. Pray for your Bishop and your pastors and your fellow Methodists.
 
The time for amicable separation has come. It is time for leadership to act on the proposed Protocol for Separation in the UMC. Choose this day whom you will serve. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Corinthians 15:58.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Beck and Greenwald interview on government corruption, oligarchs and censorship

Glenn Greenwald is a rare breed these days: He does actual journalism says Glenn Beck. He explains things very well, like his description of Trump's appeal and Obama's mystique. He and Glenn cover so many topics: Woke corporations, Julian Assange, the #MeToo movement, Putin, Snowden, The Constitution, Big Tech censorship. Why does the Left call Greenwald right-wing but the Right calls him left-wing? For a journalist, that used to be a badge of honor. But as Greenwald points out, the journalism industry has become a Woke priesthood. So, if you want to learn about actual journalism, listen to this episode. It's totally worth getting through a couple of technical difficulties."  Video is about 1.5 hours, but worth every minute of your time.




Memorial Day in Israel, April 14


April 14 was memorial day in Israel, when fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism are publicly remembered. I watched on Israeli TV this morning an interview with the father of Malki Roth who was murdered in 2001 in a pizzeria bombing. She was an American citizen. The U.S. has international agreements about extradition of terrorists who kill Americans, but had not lived up to the contract. 14 people died, including 6 children, and 120 were injured. Another American woman, a pregnant tourist, was also killed.
 
Malki's father Arnold set the wheels in motion to have Ahlam Ahmad Tamimi—the Hamas terrorist who orchestrated the bombing--extradited to stand trial in the U.S. Tamimi was arrested and tried in Israel for her crime, receiving 16 life sentences, but was freed to Jordan in 2011 in a prisoner exchange and she now lives free and is considered a national hero. Through Mr. Roth's efforts she is now on the FBI most wanted list, and he is appealing to Joe Biden to bring her to justice. Jordan's excuse is it never ratified the 1995 treaty on extradition.


Video appeal for Joe Biden: https://youtu.be/9GclFQ15fkQ

Friday, April 16, 2021

Do police deliberately and disproportionately kill blacks?

As riots and protests about police killings continue, let's look at some murder statistics. I'm using 2017 FBI-UCR (Uniform Crime Report), because these reports roll in at various times. Let's look at the victims instead of the killers. They don't get the headlines, but their lives matter too. TLM. In 2017, there was a total of 15,129 homicide victims--6,579 were white, 7,851 were black, and 2,304 were Hispanic. Assailants are usually male and between the ages of 15-35 and are most often the same race as their victim, but VICTIMS can be any age and sex--women, children, elderly. Within the UCR reports, these homicides are further detailed, such as gang killing, babysitter and child, rape, etc. I won't address that except other reports show for under age 5 victims the most likely weapon of a murder victim is fists, not guns or knives and a relative is usually the killer, not a babysitter or stranger.

Even those who hate math can see blacks are murdered at a much higher number and rate than whites or Hispanics. Whites are 76.3%, and Hispanics 18.5% of the population. Blacks are 13.4% of the population, and bear the burden of violent crime (these murders often take place during other violent crime).
 
What's the solution from prominent Democrats and BLM geniuses? Defund the police, i.e., make things even less safe for blacks. Most police homicides involve a person with a criminal record. That includes George Floyd last May, Daunte Wright (Minnesota, accidentally shot) and Miles Jackson (Columbus, who attacked police in a hospital). All had warrants for arrest, and all resisted arrest. That's the usual situation when police kill someone, black, white, brown, male or female.

Just as an add on: here's the quote from ABC News about Columbus, which shows what matters in reporting. Race. The reporter noted in the first paragraph the race of the criminal. Then after a summary description: 
"Jackson died in the shooting at Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital in suburban Columbus. The races of all the officers have not been confirmed, although several appeared to be white. A message was left with police requesting that information." 
After that biased paragraph, ABC includes a lengthy blow by blow detail from the body cam of how the criminal behaved and pulled a gun on the police. Even a 10 year old could figure this out, but that night crowds showed up to attack the police station.



Thursday, April 15, 2021

Running for the exits

R.R. Reno reports: "As a sometime professor, I have many friends in academia. I can't count how many conversations, I've had recently in which my friends have confided their despair over the future of liberal education [that's liberal as in freedom of thought]. Those who are retired emphasize their good fortune. Those who are still teaching tell me they hope to make it to retirement, somehow, or are looking for the exits. As a young academic friend put it, "I'm exhausted by the lies--and by the cowardice." First Things, May 2021, p. 66.

Lies on the Left, cowardice on the Right. 

Today Glenn Beck interviewed Everett Piper (retired President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University), author of "Grow up." Piper says he can recommend only 3 colleges to Christian parents. Hillsdale in Michigan, College of the Ozarks in Missouri, and New St. Andrews in Idaho. In the end, civilization needs adults.

I'm not sure why Piper didn't recommend his own OKWU, except maybe modesty. He turned it around financially. https://www.wesleyan.org/okwus-piper-set-to-retire-in-2020

Excess deaths from Covid lockdowns

The media want us to focus on the deaths from the current virus--about 80% of them in people who were overweight or obese. But the excess mortality was greater among those in the 15 to 54 age range, not the elderly. And the cause wasn't the virus, but the lockdown. These victims weren't the laptop, snowflake types like journalists, scientists, and politicians, but the lower income and minority households. In actual numbers those grieving families are white people, but the media will make it a racism story (rate) rather than a lockdown story which they encouraged because fear brought them profit.

"The deadly impact of lockdowns will grow in future years, due to the lasting economic and educational consequences. The United States will experience more than 1 million excess deaths in the United States during the next two decades as a result of the massive “unemployment shock” last year, according to a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and Duke, who analyzed the effects of past recessions on mortality. Other researchers, noting how educational levels affect income and life expectancy, have projected that the “learning loss” from school closures will ultimately cost this generation of students more years of life than have been lost by all the victims of the coronavirus."
https://www.city-journal.org/death-and-lockdowns  

There was far more support for lockdowns among Democrat governors and mayors than Republicans. And much of it was about politics, not public health. Anything to ruin the economy and President Trump; anything to ramp up the charges of racism; anything to grab the brass ring of green. Hate from the Left has killed Americans and will destroy several generations.
And still no evidence that lockdowns have saved any lives.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Do you watch CNN? Stop now--you're being scammed

Getting the latest on Covid from CNN? Project Veritas has a video of a director saying they use it as a cash cow--pressure to report the most negative numbers so they can get more viewers and clicks. "Gangbusters for ratings." Shameful.


"Charlie Chester, a technical director for CNN, was captured on film by Project Veritas admitting that the cable news network hyped the COVID pandemic for ratings and explaining he believes "there is no such thing as unbiased news."

"Sad news back-to-back-to-back doesn't do really well, unless it affects [the viewer] directly," he explained. "No one ever says these things out loud but it is obvious.""

It's true, you know, more whites are shot by police than blacks, but no one riots

An unarmed white woman with no outstanding warrants was killed by a policeman. A black man wanted for choking and robbery of a woman resisted arrest and is accidentally shot. Which police incident is causing riots and property damage? The white female police officer in the 2nd case has resigned and is already facing 2nd degree manslaughter charges with no investigation. The other policeman is being protected by the Democrats to further their ridiculous "insurrection" story.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Will the real journalists show up?

The panicked press corps analyzed, fretted and lied about every word, tweet and hand gesture of Donald Trump, yet they simply can't be bothered to investigate Biden's health, relationships with Iran and China, and his crime syndicate family. Is there an Antifa group who are tired of burning down Portland interested in journalism schools?




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?

Sunday, April 11, 2021

National Sibling Day April 10

 

  

Bob and his siblings and grandfather in 1952.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

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.

Friday, April 09, 2021

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.