Some things don't make sense

Why are the Ls and Gs in LGBT+ supporting the Ts? Do they really believe there are no women, no men and they are interchangeable and that children should be sexually abused? If they aren't women, are they Lesbians? If they aren't men, why call them Gay? Seems awfully insecure.  If so many of the young girls decide they are boys, where are the partners for the aging Lesbians who decided  to stay women?

No Joke, Jimmy Kimmel

 No Joke by Mike Huckabee (his column of April 8, 2022

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene said she reported former comedian-turned-DNC mouthpiece Jimmy Kimmel to the Capitol Police for using his monologue to attack her for criticizing the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He called her “Klan mom” and said, “Wow, where is Will Smith when you need him?”

https://nypost.com/2022/04/07/marjorie-taylor-greene-reports-jimmy-kimmel-over-will-smith-joke/

Kimmel dismissed her complaint, saying it was a joke (I’m glad he pointed that out; it’s often hard to tell with his monologues.) But Greene said it’s no joke, and she’d already had some of his “fans” who were incited by him call her office and threaten violence against a Congress member.

This gets into a grey area of determining what’s protected free speech and what’s an illegal threat or incitement. I doubt anything will happen to Kimmel, not even second thoughts about how “amusing” it is to endorse violence against someone for holding a different political opinion (I’ll also note that he was suggesting a large man attack a woman, something that he may have no problem with, but I’m apparently one of the last people left who remembers what a “woman” is and that men aren’t supposed to hit them.)

This sort of openly expressed wish to physically assault or even murder anyone who holds non-“woke” political views has become a hallmark of the tolerant, diversity-loving left. I wish they had as much self-awareness as they do arrogance. If so, maybe they’d realize how dangerous and unfunny that is.

Also how hypocritical. Remember when they tried to blame the Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting on a Sarah Palin ad with a “crosshairs” logo in it that the shooter never even saw? Or how they continue to claim that Trump is directly responsible for any violence other people committed on January 6th, even after he told his supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically”? Yet they gleefully cheer on the idea of violence against anyone they disagree with, even though they know plenty of deranged leftists are listening, from the guy who shot up the office of the Family Research Council to the Bernie Bro who nearly murdered Rep. Steve Scalise.

I tell plenty of jokes about Democrats on my show, but whether you like them or not, it’s obvious that they’re jokes and never calls for violence. See if you can say the same thing about the left after reading through this list of very unfunny reminders of the consequences of this kind of violent rhetoric, compiled by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.

https://instapundit.com/514001/

Who's zoomin' who

The latest news about intelligence (spies) failure only confirms why there is constant misinformation on the internet, and conservatives/the right should NOT be punished for it. It's often the deep state who is to blame, no matter which party is in charge.

The latest is the fake DHS workers (from names appear to be Muslims, but who knows if that isn't fake) infiltrating the real (I think) Secret Service, even one who guarded Jill Biden. The real Secret Service was actually accepting gifts from the fake DHS.

Then we find out the WH has been lying about the chemical weapons in Russia story, so Biden could fool Putin, but instead just alarmed millions of Americans. And that was done with the complicity and perhaps knowledge of the media.

We know it was intelligence failures that warned President Bush of WMD, and when he acted on it, the Democrats blamed him and abandoned his leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq which they had voted for. But the intelligence failures were from the Clinton years.

We were finally told that yes, Obama's staff had been "spying" on Trump before his inauguration, but meanwhile Trump was blamed for being paranoid.

 
The NYT and WaPo have finally come out with the truth about Hunter Biden and his connections with Burisma (Ukraine) and CCP through his lap top. Even though they knew well ahead of the election they shut down the truth and ridiculed on the MSM any reports about the laptop.

 
After the dirty deed was done and the economy and personal lives destroyed the research finally appeared on what a failure the Covid lockdowns were in stopping the virus, and continue to be.

 
Even after we finally learn that yes, CDC was taking its "science" advice from the leftist teachers' unions, not actual research, the masking continues.

 
Even after we have ongoing warnings from Fauci (NIH and Satan) that Americans have to be more cautious, Biden lets millions of unvaccinated border jumpers cross the border and get on busses to your communities where your children are still masked for school and you need a mask to get on an airplane.

In the words of dear departed Aretha in 1985: "Who's zoomin' who" which has various meanings, the cleanest of which means who is checking out who, or who's going to score when both are playing around.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/08/white-house-secret-service-personnel-duped-by-fake-dhs-agents.html

https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Chronicles/tracey.pdf

https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/wmd/about.html

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351495-it-looks-like-obama-did-spy-on-trump-just-as-he-did-to-me/

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/psaki-dismisses-abbott-texas-plan-bus-illegal-immigrants-u-s-capitol-publicity-stunt

Recommended podcast--Honestly with Bari Weiss

I often repost a link to Bari Weiss' material. She's started a new source for information and opinion, Common Sense (on Substack), after resigning from New York Times. She's also started a podcast, Honestly. This one, an interview with a Big Tech whistleblower, David Sacks, is well worth your time. How they are controlling private companies and free speech with their threats and power policies and coercion. And we're about to be hit with the social credit system. Maybe you thought shutting down Alex Jones or Donald Trump was just fine, but they are coming after YOU. If you are shut out of the digital town square, you have no free speech or the right to assemble. They are acting as a cartel.

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/honestly-with-bari-weiss-1971579/episodes/how-big-tech-is-strangling-you-132356030

Reaping the whirlwind

Ohio is now considering a parental rights bill similar to Florida's. One of the best reasons for schools NOT to indoctrinate small children about sex--how, why, when, and who--is what the schools have done with ordinary, tried and true, historical meaning and traditional instruction on biology, i.e. how babies are made. It's called grooming. If you look at the statistics, when serious sex instruction took hold (with parental objection) in the 1960s and 70s, the teen pregnancy rate and subsequently the abortion rate, really took off. It did the opposite of what was intended. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the U.S. teen pregnancy rates rose. They remained steady through the 1980s, even as sexual activity among teens increased, due to improved contraceptive use among those teenagers who are sexually active. (Guttmacher, arm of Planned Parenthood statistics). When overall birthrates declined, unmarried teen pregnancies soared. The conservative and religious push to link marriage and sex was just too old fashioned for the age of easy contraception. Just wasn't "progressive," but Uncle Sam made a very bad step father for generations of Americans.

People have such faith in "education." Why, I don't know. All the bad political and financial policy ideas are sowed in academe and fertilized in Washington DC. We the people reap the whirlwind. Prove me wrong.

"They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it." Hosea 8:7

Succession--some things are just too terrifying to think about

 

Anniversary of my baptism--72 years ago

Baptism and catechism for converts to Christianity in the 4th century.

"The candidate for baptism is to present himself before God in true repentance and humility, making sincere confession of his sins, and in the knowledge that there is one God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who together with the Holy Spirit, is the rewarder of those who diligently seek. Him. At baptism the sins of the believer are remitted; he receives the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and symbolically he shares in the burial and Resurrection of the Lord."

That's a brief summary of 28 lectures given by Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, titled "Catechetical Lectures." Eighteen of the lectures are addressed to persons desiring baptism, and 5 are addressed to the newly baptized. Our own baptism and confirmation were not that challenging, but they do have a history, and God does the heavy lifting. This is from the 4th century.

 
It seems the candidate also had an exorcism to be cleaned of evil spirits and it involved some nakedness to symbolize Christ who was naked on the cross. The candidate also went into the pool 3 times as a symbol of Christ's death, burial and Resurrection. He was then anointed with oil as Christ's gift of grace and the soul was sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Then the new believer was ready for the Eucharist which is no longer bread and wine, but the real body and blood of Christ. That was topped off by commemoration of the patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, and martyrs and the Lord's Prayer with a benediction.

 
There is very little agreement among Christians on anything--certainly not baptism or communion. But most of us can find elements of our own baptism in this ancient description. I was baptized on Palm Sunday of 1950 (April 2), and still find elements in that service and the baptisms I see at our Lutheran church in the 21st century.

This information about Cyril's baptismal instructions is from p. 93-95 of Magill's Masterpieces of Christian Literature in Summary Form (1963).

Ketogenic and low carb diets and cognition in the elderly

This article is really complicated with lots of tabs to open so you can review the results of the research, so I'm just providing the abstract and the conclusions, however, from my limited knowledge of nutrition and chemistry, I'd say it's worth a try.

To Keto or Not to Keto? A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials Assessing the Effects of Ketogenic Therapy on Alzheimer Disease

Advances in Nutrition, Volume 11, Issue 6, November 2020, Pages 1583–1602, https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa073
Published: 29 June 2020

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a global health concern with the majority of pharmacotherapy choices consisting of symptomatic treatment. Recently, ketogenic therapies have been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), focusing on delaying disease progression and ameliorating cognitive function. The present systematic review aimed to aggregate the results of trials examining the effects of ketogenic therapy on patients with AD/mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, CENTRAL, clinicaltrials.gov, and gray literature for RCTs performed on adults, published in English until 1 April, 2019, assessing the effects of ketogenic therapy on MCI and/or AD compared against placebo, usual diet, or meals lacking ketogenic agents. Two researchers independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias with the Cochrane tool. A total of 10 RCTs were identified, fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Interventions were heterogeneous, acute or long term (45–180 d), including adherence to a ketogenic diet, intake of ready-to-consume drinks, medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) powder for drinks preparation, yoghurt enriched with MCTs, MCT capsules, and ketogenic formulas/meals. The use of ketoneurotherapeutics proved effective in improving general cognition using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive, in interventions of either duration. In addition, long-term ketogenic therapy improved episodic and secondary memory. Psychological health, executive ability, and attention were not improved. Increases in blood ketone concentrations were unanimous and correlated to the neurocognitive battery based on various tests. Cerebral ketone uptake and utilization were improved, as indicated by the global brain cerebral metabolic rate for ketones and [11C] acetoacetate. Ketone concentrations and cognitive performance differed between APOE ε4(+) and APOE ε4(−) participants, indicating a delayed response among the former and an improved response among the latter. Although research on the subject is still in the early stages and highly heterogeneous in terms of study design, interventions, and outcome measures, ketogenic therapy appears promising in improving both acute and long-term cognition among patients with AD/MCI.

Conclusions

Currently, there are no approved drugs to delay or halt the progress of cognitive decline in AD (124). Although faith in the therapeutic effects of the KD was initially attributed to Hippocrates (136), research on ketoneurotherapeutics for AD appears young. The results underline that, collectively, the efficacy of ketogenic therapy in MCI/AD appears promising, indicating that it is more than a symptomatic remedy (137). Nevertheless, research is still scattered and heterogeneous in terms of study design, intervention, participants, and outcomes of interest. Predefining a set of important outcomes for relevant RCTs would add weight to the evidence and aid toward the development of recommendations advocating for the usefulness of ketogenic therapy in AD. Thus, apart from reviewing the available RCTs assessing the efficacy of ketoneurotherapeutics on AD, the present study can also serve as a primer for the design of future clinical trials, to support public health translation and promote the KD as an evidence-based AD prescription remedy.

A second review: probably a lot of duplication.

Ketogenic Diet for the Treatment and Prevention of Dementia: A Review. 

Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology 2021, Vol. 34(1) 3-10  (excerpt) 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891988720901785

Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat and low carbohydrate-based diet. It is thought to simulate the metabolic effects of starvation by forcing the body away from its traditional fuel source, glucose, to primarily use fats. Fats are converted by the body to various ketone bodies (eg, acetoacetate, b-hydroxybutyrate, and acetone) used by the cells for fuel. This diet was originally described in the 1920s after the observation of the beneficial effects of starvation on seizure frequency in children with epilepsy.18 The keys to a ketogenic diet are to limit total caloric intake and, more importantly, carbohydrate intake. In this diet, total daily carbohydrate intake is typically limited to 10 to 50 grams or 5% to 10% of total caloric intake.19,21,22 It is important to note that a ketogenic diet differs from other low-carbohydrate diets. The level of carbohydrates in a ketogenic diet is drastically lower than that of most traditional “low-carbohydrate” diets used for weight loss. One form of the various ketogenic diet protocols uses large amounts of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) as part of the diet to help enhance ketone production.23 Shorter than traditional triglyceride chains, MCTs are transported more directly to the liver and enter without the assistance of carnitine, a metabolic compound responsible for the transport of fatty acid chains that are broken down for energy. The MCTs are more rapidly broken down into ketones and energy. Regardless of specific carbohydrate consumption levels, the essential goal of the ketogenic diet is the production of ketone bodies. The degree of ketone body production will vary by individual and diet factors. Some people using this diet will even test themselves for ketones using either blood or urine to ensure the adequacy of their regimen.

Basics of Low Carb

Low-Carb Eating — The Basics

Your food choices depend on a few things, including how healthy you are, how much you exercise and how much weight you have to lose.

Consider this meal plan as a general guideline, not something written in stone.

Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, high-fat dairy, fats, healthy oils and maybe even some tubers and non-gluten grains.

Don’t eat: Sugar, HFCS, wheat, seed oils, trans fats, “diet” and low-fat products and highly processed foods.

Foods to Avoid

You should avoid these six food groups and nutrients, in order of importance:

• Sugar: Soft drinks, fruit juices, agave, candy, ice cream and many other products that contain added sugar.
• Refined grains: Wheat, rice, barley and rye, as well as bread, cereal and pasta.
• Trans fats: Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.
• Diet and low-fat products: Many dairy products, cereals or crackers are fat-reduced, but contain added sugar.
• Highly processed foods: If it looks like it was made in a factory, don’t eat it.
• Starchy vegetables: It’s best to limit starchy vegetables in your diet if you’re following a very low-carb diet.

You must read ingredient lists even on foods labelled as health foods.

For more details, check out this article on 14 foods to avoid on a low-carb diet.

Low-Carb Food List — Foods to Eat

You should base your diet on these real, unprocessed, low-carb foods.

• Meat: Beef, lamb, pork, chicken and others; grass-fed is best.
• Fish: Salmon, trout, haddock and many others; wild-caught fish is best.
• Eggs: Omega-3-enriched or pastured eggs are best.
• Vegetables: Spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and many others.
• Fruits: Apples, oranges, pears, blueberries, strawberries.
• Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
• High-fat dairy: Cheese, butter, heavy cream, yogurt.
• Fats and oils: Coconut oil, butter, lard, olive oil and fish oil.

If you need to lose weight, be careful with cheese and nuts, as it’s easy to overeat on them. Don’t eat more than one piece of fruit per day.

Foods to Maybe Include

If you’re healthy, active and don’t need to lose weight, you can afford to eat a few more carbs.

• Tubers: Potatoes, sweet potatoes and some others.
• Unrefined grains: Brown rice, oats, quinoa and many others.
• Legumes: Lentils, black beans, pinto beans, etc. (if you can tolerate them).

What’s more, you can have the following in moderation, if you want:

• Dark chocolate: Choose organic brands with at least 70% of cocoa.
• Wine: Choose dry wines with no added sugar or carbs.

Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants and may provide health benefits if you eat it in moderation. However, be aware that both dark chocolate and alcohol will hinder your progress if you eat/drink too much.

Beverages

• Coffee
• Tea
• Water
• Sugar-free carbonated beverages, like sparkling water.

A Sample Low-Carb Menu for One Week

This is a sample menu for one week on a low-carb diet plan.

It provides less than 50 grams of total carbs per day. However, if you’re healthy and active you can eat slightly more carbs.

Monday

• Breakfast: Omelet with various vegetables, fried in butter or coconut oil.
• Lunch: Grass-fed yogurt with blueberries and a handful of almonds.
• Dinner: Bunless cheeseburger, served with vegetables and salsa sauce.

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Bacon and eggs.
• Lunch: Leftover burgers and veggies from the previous night.
• Dinner: Salmon with butter and vegetables.

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Eggs and vegetables, fried in butter or coconut oil.
• Lunch: Shrimp salad with some olive oil.
• Dinner: Grilled chicken with vegetables.

Thursday

• Breakfast: Omelet with various vegetables, fried in butter or coconut oil.
• Lunch: Smoothie with coconut milk, berries, almonds and protein powder.
• Dinner: Steak and veggies.

Friday

• Breakfast: Bacon and eggs.
• Lunch: Chicken salad with some olive oil.
• Dinner: Pork chops with vegetables.

Saturday

• Breakfast: Omelet with various veggies.
• Lunch: Grass-fed yogurt with berries, coconut flakes and a handful of walnuts.
• Dinner: Meatballs with vegetables.

Sunday

• Breakfast: Bacon and eggs.
• Lunch: Smoothie with coconut milk, a dash of heavy cream, chocolate-flavored protein powder and berries.
• Dinner: Grilled chicken wings with some raw spinach on the side.

Include plenty of low-carb vegetables in your diet. If your goal is to remain under 50 grams of carbs per day, there is room for plenty of veggies and one fruit per day.

If you want to see more examples of go-to meals, check out this article on 7 healthy low-carb meals in under 10 minutes.

Again, if you’re healthy, lean and active, you can add some tubers like potatoes and sweet potatoes, as well as some healthy grains like oats.

Healthy, Low-Carb Snacks

There is no health reason to eat more than three meals per day, but if you get hungry between meals, here are some healthy, easy-to-prepare, low-carb snacks that can fill you up:

• A piece of fruit
• Full-fat yogurt
• One or two hard-boiled eggs
• Baby carrots
• Leftovers from the previous night
• A handful of nuts
• Some cheese and meat

Eating at Restaurants

At most restaurants, it’s fairly easy to make your meals low-carb friendly.

1. Order a meat- or fish-based main dish.
2. Drink plain water instead of sugary soda or fruit juice.
3. Get extra vegetables instead of bread, potatoes or rice.

A Simple Low-Carb Shopping List

A good rule is to shop at the perimeter of the store, where the whole foods are more likely to be found.

Focusing on whole foods will make your diet a thousand times better than the standard Western diet.

Organic and grass-fed foods are also popular choices and often considered healthier, but they’re typically more expensive.

Try to choose the least processed option that still fits into your price range.

• Meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, bacon)
• Fish (fatty fish like salmon is best)
• Eggs (choose omega-3 enriched or pastured eggs if you can)
• Butter
• Coconut oil
• Lard
• Olive oil
• Cheese
• Heavy cream
• Sour cream
• Yogurt (full-fat, unsweetened)
• Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• Nuts
• Olives
• Fresh vegetables (greens, peppers, onions, etc.)
• Frozen vegetables (broccoli, carrots, various mixes)
• Condiments (sea salt, pepper, garlic, mustard, etc.)

Clear your pantry of all unhealthy temptations if you can, such as chips, candy, ice cream, sodas, juices, breads, cereals and baking ingredients like refined flour and sugar.

The Bottom Line

Low-carb diets restrict carbs, such as those found in sugary and processed foods, pasta and bread. They’re high in protein, fat and healthy vegetables.

Studies show that they can cause weight loss and improve health.

The above meal plan gives you the basics of healthy, low-carb eating.

If you need a comprehensive list of low-carb recipes that are both simple and delicious, check out this article on 101 healthy low-carb recipes that taste incredible.

Of course, you can also browse the Internet for even more low carb or paleo recipes.

From: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/low-carb-diet-meal-plan-and-menu#bottom-line

I'm a little teapot, short and stout

The second set of every day china that I purchased was a Franciscan set in 1969. Franciscan Cantata is from their Whitestone Line. It was produced from 1965 to 1972. It has a white background with olive colored leaves and blue and turquoise flowers. I just loved it. My most vivid memory about this pattern is I had set the table and was ready waiting for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law Jean and her two daughters Julie and Joan to arrive for a visit from Indianapolis. They had a terrible time finding our home on Abington Road because there is another Abington on the northeast side of Columbus, and ours was on the northwest side. They spent hours driving around the city looking for us. All I have left of the large set is a little tea pot, and I keep it on the counter next to the coffee pot. I looked at some china resale sites, and tea pots must be fairly rare, because I didn't see any. It must have been overlooked when I gave this set away (when or where I don't remember), so it is still with us.

 https://gmcb.com/franciscan_archive/index.php/library/franciscan-dinnerware-and-art-ware/

Franciscan Ware, or Franciscan Pottery as it was first named in 1934, was manufactured by Gladding-McBean and Company of Glendale, CA. Scores of different styles and patterns were produced. In 1962 Gladding McBean and Company merged with the Lock Joint Pipe Company and became Interpace. Franciscanware was produced in California until 1984 when the facility at Glendale was closed and all production moved to England. Johnson Brothers of England then produced some of the patterns in England (later some patterns/pieces were produced in Japan, China and Portugal). It is important to note that not all pieces carry a “Franciscan” mark. Unless you are familiar with a particular pattern, you may not recognize it as “Franciscan.” (Hill House Wares)

  

“I’m a Little Teapot” Lyrics (1939)
I’m a little teapot
Short and stout
Here is my handle
(one hand on hip)
Here is my spout
(other arm out straight)

When I get all steamed up
Hear me shout
“Tip me over
and pour me out!”
(lean over toward spout)

I’m a clever teapot,
Yes it’s true
Here let me show you
What I can do
I can change my handle
And my spout
(switch arm positions)
Just tip me over and pour me out!
(lean over toward spout)

Bless their hearts, they care. . .

Isn't it wonderful that leftist academics want to save us from "doom scrolling" when they are the ones who elected the current deadbeat in the White House, who thought Trump was terrible for talking to the president of Ukraine who is now fighting for his life, who refused to listen to the well researched information about Hunter Biden being on the payroll of the CCP and Ukrainian Oligarchs, who just loved working from home when little kids were being masked and forced to loose 2 years of schooling. It's just so sweet of them to be concerned about our foul mood now that Biden has been proven even to die hard greengoes that he's a disaster. Well, thanks for nothing! I tried to go to the original publication, but is was so littered with trans, BLM and covid articles, I had to stop doom scrolling.

https://www.llrx.com/2022/03/ukraine-doomscrolling-can-harm-your-cognition-as-well-as-your-mood-heres-what-to-do-about-it/

"Doomscrolling can promote feelings of anxiety and depression. For example, consider how sad and exhausted you may feel when watching a drama with tragic events and sad music in the background. In contrast, if you watch a funny film or romantic comedy with lively music, you may feel upbeat and energised. This is due to two psychological phenomena: “mood induction” (an intervention that can change our mood) and empathy.

Serotonin is an important brain chemical for regulating mood, and it can drop when we are chronically stressed or saddened by bad news for extended periods of time. Studies show that it is even possible to exacerbate the effects of reducing serotonin in healthy people through mood induction by playing sad music. Pharmacological treatments which increase serotonin are used to treat depression and anxiety.

Empathy is a good trait which helps us live successfully with others and promotes a flourishing society. However, excessive empathy, when viewing tragic world events on the news, may lead to ruminating on negative thoughts, which have an impact on our mental health and wellbeing. Constantly thinking negative thoughts can lead to depression or anxiety."

Catching up on crime

I was reading about the Yale director who stole $40 million in electronics equipment from her employer and spent it on lavish living. She's out on bond. Piker. That made me think of the trusted Dixon, IL employee who stole $54 million from the little town of Dixon, with a population of only 15,000. She was into horses, not computers. The largest heist of municipal funds in history. She was released from prison early last year after serving half her 20 year sentence. Made her case for early release on risk of Covid in prison. https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/rita-crundwell-stole-54-million-then-returned-to-the-scene-of-the-crime/

The architecture and ambiance of Ukraine

It seems American architects are boycotting doing work in Russia. That's probably a good idea, but does Russia really need them? I've seen a few videos of cities in Ukraine, both before and after the war, and it looks to me like it was a very beautiful country before the invasion, with lovely thoroughfares, graceful trees and parks, and grand public spaces.

One tourist site states (and it's their job to be over the top): "Ukraine is possibly one of the most overlooked countries in Europe. Although it might stay under the radar when it comes to Eastern European travel, this just makes visiting Ukraine even more of a hidden gem and a true travel treasure. From powerful architecture to sandy beaches and lush vegetation, Ukraine has it all."  https://expatexplore.com/blog/ukraine-best-places-to-visit/

This female tourist guide assures you it is quite safe to travel in Ukraine, but that was February 24, which I believe was the day of the invasion. She stressed the reasonable prices.  Still you can see the photos. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/best-places-to-visit-in-ukraine/ 

However, she does praise some Soviet era architecture, which I don't care for at all.

The U.S. public architecture is very ugly.  Even if it's barely 40 years, when it is torn down.  I shudder when I drive by or have to visit the "brutalism" style of our Ohio History Connection (the historical society) building which resembles either a square mushroom or a box without wheels.  It's even worse insides--a perpetual basement no matter where you stand.

How Big Tech stifles free speech and encourages evil

 

Progressives have to pay the rent, so they go woke not to go broke

Remember the pain of the liberal/progressive journalist. "You cannot pay rent if you offend people." They go along to get along. They don't believe the woke nonsense anymore than we do, but they have to pay the rent. Listen to Eve Barlow's tale.

"In the summer of 2020, George Floyd was killed by a white police officer, and Black Lives Matter protests erupted in cities all over the United States. I feel comfortable saying this now: I felt conflicted. I remember surrendering to the peer pressure to donate every single day, and to post receipts of those donations (like I was in trouble for something—oh yeah, being “white”). I remember my Instagram stories were just re-post after re-post of this, that and the other activist, of whom I had no background knowledge, but who I was told were the people to re-post. I’ve since unfollowed them all because all of them showed themselves to be antisemitic. 

I was performing. I was absolutely performing. And I am not ashamed to admit it. I was so scared. I was still a hired freelance journalist, and I knew the impact of staying silent. Freelance writing isn’t a joke. You cannot pay rent if you offend people. So I kept a foot in the world of music writing, and with my paychecks, I splurged on bailing out protestors via GoFundMe pages, or whatnot. At least, I think I did. Who knows?" (Eve Barlow, music journalist) "A ghost story," Common Sense with Bari Weiss.

Biden's responses--at least he didn't tweet

At least he didn't tweet while in Europe. He just terrified most of the world, however. His staff must wait by the minute for the next shoe to drop. Soon he'll be Imelda Marcos with 3,000 pairs of shoes.

The Museum of the Bible--a treasury of information and history

Today I've been listening to podcasts from The Museum of the Bible. https://www.museumofthebible.org/museum-of-the-bible-podcast   Great programs and panels. If you thought diversity and inclusion weren't possible, you need this channel. This is true diversity--of ideas, of history, of stories. Today I've listened to programs on the Mayflower Compact, the origins of the Armenian Bible and Christianity in the 400s, and the Jews in England in the 1100s. Fabulous stuff. Others I'll check out later are at least four presentations on the Haggadah, the Bible and the Qur'an, Shroud of Turin, and the Bible and War.

 Also, how do you teach middle school students about American history? USE PRIMARY SOURCES. Let them speak for themselves if you want to smash the lies of the 1619 project. Let President Lincoln remind you what he believed about slavery, and not "woke" ideologs from the NYT. A real treasure.

From the website: "On November 18, [2021] the museum will host a panel discussion on the 1620 Mayflower Compact — the shortest American political document of enduring significance. With these few words, however, the Pilgrims sowed the seeds of liberty and self-government that made their small New England settlement a cradle of American democracy. This event will explore the idea that these seventeenth-century Pilgrims were the true forerunners of America’s Founders and examine the Compact as a blueprint used to frame this nation's founding principles as embedded in the US Constitution."

"On October 21, 2021: Does the importance of the Bible extend beyond Jewish and Christian traditions? How has the Bible played a role in the origins and development of Islam? Join Museum of the Bible for a discussion about the relationship between the Bible and the Qur’an. Hear from Dr. Gabriel Reynolds – author of The Qur’an and the Bible and Allah: God in the Qur’an – on how the Qur’an is part of the larger story of the Bible’s impact on the world. The evening will include a panel of engaging respondents and an audience Q & A. This is both an in-person and virtual event."

What's going on with Pope Francis?

On March 12, Pope Francis went to the Jesuit Church of the Gesú in Rome for a Mass on the occasion of the 400^th anniversary of the canonizations of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. The pope preached at the Mass and concelebrated. He had earlier been scheduled to be the principal celebrant, but Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, for some reason, was the principal celebrant instead.
           
          Liturgical theology and law do not countenance that a bishop, let alone the diocesan bishop in his own diocese, concelebrate Mass with a priest as the principal celebrant (apart from a grave necessity, such as infirmity). This flows from the nature of the episcopal office: the bishop is the high priest in his diocese. He offers the sacrifice of the Mass for his people, while his priests, co-workers who serve the local Church under his authority, concelebrate with him.

 The Mass began with the usual entrance procession. Pope Francis was already seated in a chair near the altar. He wore no liturgical vestments, and thus gave no indication that he was either concelebrating or presiding. He preached without wearing the liturgical garments (mozetta, rochet, and stole) that are prescribed to be worn when the preacher is not the one celebrating the Mass. 

He concelebrated, extending his hand and saying the words of consecration, without wearing Mass vestments (alb, stole, and chasuble). This practice is strictly forbidden. In its 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, the Congregation for Divine Worship stated: “The abuse is reprobated whereby the sacred ministers celebrate Holy Mass or other rites without sacred vestments.”
 

More at The Catholic Thing, https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2022/03/22/papal-abuse-of-liturgical-law/

We Protestants are just happy when the pastor doesn't wear jeans with holes and athletic shoes.

Democrats' War against Women

I hate to use Aljazeera as a news source (owned by a Qatar magnate, but probably not as oppressive as Twitter, FB or Jeff Bezos' WaPo), but our own MSM don't report the news if it doesn't fit the theme of the day, which since October 2020 is "cover for Biden." Another example of the Democrats' WAR ON WOMEN.

"The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has announced that girls’ high schools will be closed, hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months. The backtracking by the Taliban means female students above the sixth grade will not be able to attend school." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/23/taliban-orders-girls-schools-shut-hours-after-reopening

When George Bush after consulting with both parties and allies and getting approval, took U.S. into Afghanistan after 9-11, he liberated more women in the 21st century than Lincoln did slaves in the 19th century according to the Atlantic--hardly a right wing Bush loving magazine. When Biden executed his disastrous, inhumane and dangerous exit last August, killing many civilians and U.S. soldiers, he had approval from no one, at least no one who now admits it.

Democrats are waging a WAR ON WOMEN, not just U.S. women, but Afghans and Uyghurs and the poor souls of many nations who try to break into our country at the border where Biden dangles all sorts of goodies which puts them and their children at great risk for sex slavery.

I also got a warning from Facebook because of a poster I put up about his shutting down Keystone and buying oil from Russia:

"Fact Check: Russian Oil Ban, Blocked Keystone XL Are NOT Only Causes of Gas Hikes | Lead Stories"

But I never said it was the ONLY cause of gas hikes. I also didn't say Hunter's lap top scandal was covered up by FB, or that I'm a trans-reporter pretending to be from a major news source, so I suppose that's another problem--I didn't tell the whole story of Biden's crimes.

By far the biggest reason for inflation and price hikes for oil is the scarcity--created by Biden's threats in 2020 that he would shut down the industry in favor of green technology. It's why we're buying from Russia and the middle east. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4917719/user-clip-biden-destroy-oil-industry  There are milions invested in every search for fossil fuel--and the lag time between "striking oil" refining it, and getting it to the gas station you pass on your way to work is about 2 years.  Good luck finding investors who didn't take Biden seriously.  It doesn't hurt them to sit back and wait for a sane president--they are rich--but it does hurt you at the pump.

The Hunter Biden Laptop and the efforts to cover it up

Hunter Biden's "laptop turned up in September 2020, and by October, there should have been an enormous story following up on the New York Post’s reporting. But outside of the conservative media, it was a nonstory. Now the Post says, “the story was censored by social media companies at the behest of the Democratic Party. Mainstream media outlets — including the (New York) Times — attacked or ignored the Post’s revelations.” The Biden campaign claimed the story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign — another instance of Trump supposedly colluding with the Russians. What is more, over 50 intelligence community adepts signed a letter claiming the Post story had “the classic earmarks of a Russian disinformation operation.” These intelligence community adepts really have it in for Trump. I wonder why? They are not supposed to be so partisan, are they?

Now The New York Times has published a story — 17 months after the Post published its story — that the Hunter Biden laptop exists and the evidence that the Post has published is true, without mentioning the Post by name. That is to say, the Times validated the Post’s story 16 months after the Big Guy won the presidency. The Times seems to be admitting to participating in a vast cover-up. Why would it? Does it think that its readers only know what appears in The New York Times? Apparently, the news is not news until the Times says it is. Nowhere in the Times’ long and tedious report of the Hunter Biden story is the Post mentioned, though the Times’ story is basically using the Post’s reportage.
I can think of no better example of The New York Times existing in a bubble than the Times’ treatment of this story. In fact, I can think of no better example of the American left — which I no longer call liberal — living in a bubble than its treatment of this story. America really is a divided country. There is the conservative part of America, and there is the left-wing part of America. " R. Emmett Tyrell https://patriotpost.us/opinion/87154-joes-little-big-guy-2022-03-24

According to this NYT article, the FBI has had the laptop since December 2019 so it had been covered up for a long time time before Rudy Giuliani got a copy of the it in 2020! The story explains how Giuliani got a copy of it. Huge government cover up! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html

The swamp creatures within the government definitely did not want Trump in the White House!