Monday, April 18, 2022
ABC isn't telling the truth about inflation
I love (not) what the MSM doesn't tell its consumers! ABC a few days ago was opining on various ways to save money to cope with inflation. They don't even mention Biden. Of course, anyone who is paying attention knows this is Biden's inflation, and we can't blame Putin as he does. He announced during the 2020 campaign that he planned to destroy the fossil fuel industry so he could cave to the goals of the Climate Change hoax pushed by the leftist of the Left in his party. Mr. Putin heard all that too and was rubbing his hands together with glee. More profit for Russia!
We all know how to save money so there's more for the gas tank. We Bruces both have extremely expensive prescriptions that warn no more than one drink a week. We used to order "house brand" Merlot when we went out on our Friday night date. So we can save $15 a week right there, just by following doctors' orders. Cha Ching. That's one tank of gas increase over last summer. Not the cost of the fill up, but the cost of the inflation. Thank you, Joe Biden, but you should accept responsibility for your failures. We have enough fuel in the U.S. to pull us out of this malaise, and to save the rest of the world from Putin's profit on the oil he can sell to buy weapons to invade Ukraine!
Stop being evil, Mr. Biden. Stop being a slave to the Climate Change worshipers and cult.
We all know how to save money so there's more for the gas tank. We Bruces both have extremely expensive prescriptions that warn no more than one drink a week. We used to order "house brand" Merlot when we went out on our Friday night date. So we can save $15 a week right there, just by following doctors' orders. Cha Ching. That's one tank of gas increase over last summer. Not the cost of the fill up, but the cost of the inflation. Thank you, Joe Biden, but you should accept responsibility for your failures. We have enough fuel in the U.S. to pull us out of this malaise, and to save the rest of the world from Putin's profit on the oil he can sell to buy weapons to invade Ukraine!
Stop being evil, Mr. Biden. Stop being a slave to the Climate Change worshipers and cult.
Why the Left fears Musk--who would be accountable for facts, truth, science if they lose that power?
[Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich] argued, Musk’s free-speech agenda would fulfill “the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue, and modern-day robber baron on earth.” This is because relaxation of controls over expression would allow the internet to be “dominated by the richest and most powerful people in the world, who wouldn’t be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science, or the common good.”
What Reich left unstated is to whom Musk and the like are accountable under the current censorious dispensation. The implicit answer is “experts” like himself, who have managed to claw back a certain amount of power over the internet in the past half-decade by prevailing upon major digital platforms to censor and ban. Reich is partly telling the truth when he states, “This is not about freedom. It’s about power.”
Musk’s promise to end Twitter’s heavy-handed speech regime directly threatens the power of Reich’s own class of educated professionals, which depends on being able to silence dissenters and suppress narratives that conflict with their own."
The hypocrisy and subterfuge of the Left never cease to amaze. We the masses must lose our right to speak, write, assemble and worship so that the demagogues in The Big Tech Alliance with the Democrats can stay in control. And this isn't about Trump or his supporters; Twitter controls the world.
What Reich left unstated is to whom Musk and the like are accountable under the current censorious dispensation. The implicit answer is “experts” like himself, who have managed to claw back a certain amount of power over the internet in the past half-decade by prevailing upon major digital platforms to censor and ban. Reich is partly telling the truth when he states, “This is not about freedom. It’s about power.”
Musk’s promise to end Twitter’s heavy-handed speech regime directly threatens the power of Reich’s own class of educated professionals, which depends on being able to silence dissenters and suppress narratives that conflict with their own."
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Easter sermon by St. John Chrysostom
I listened to this lovely Easter sermon by St. John Chrysostom, a 4th century Greek Father known for his eloquence, this morning on a podcast, then later saw it posted by a friend. Enjoy!
If any be a devout lover of God, let him partake with gladness from this fair and radiant feast.
If any be a faithful servant, let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If any have wearied himself with fasting, let him now enjoy his reward.
If any have laboured from the first hour, let him receive today his rightful due.
If any have come after the third, let him celebrate the feast with thankfulness.
If any have come after the sixth, let him not be in doubt, for he will suffer no loss.
If any have delayed until the ninth, let him not hesitate but draw near.
If any have arrived only at the eleventh, let him not be afraid because he comes so late.
For the Master is generous and accepts the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes at the eleventh hour in the same way as him who has laboured from the first.
He accepts the deed, and commends the intention.
Enter then, all of you, into the joy of our Lord. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who fasted and you who have not fasted, rejoice together.
The table is fully laden: let all enjoy it.
The calf is fatted: let none go away hungry.
Let none lament his poverty; for the universal Kingdom is revealed.
Let none bewail his transgressions; for the light of forgiveness has risen from the tomb.
Let none fear death; for death of the Saviour has set us free.
He has destroyed death by undergoing death. He has despoiled hell by descending into hell.
He vexed it even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he cried: Hell was filled with bitterness when it met Thee face to face below;
Hell is angered, for it was brought to nothing;
Hell is angered, for it was mocked;
Hell is angered, for it was overthrown;
Hell is angered, for it was put in chains.
Hell received a body, and encountered God. It received earth, and confronted heaven.
O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen! And you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is risen! And the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen! And the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen! And life is liberated!
Christ is risen! And the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ, having risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power, now and forever, and from all ages to all ages.
Amen!
If any be a devout lover of God, let him partake with gladness from this fair and radiant feast.
If any be a faithful servant, let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If any have wearied himself with fasting, let him now enjoy his reward.
If any have laboured from the first hour, let him receive today his rightful due.
If any have come after the third, let him celebrate the feast with thankfulness.
If any have come after the sixth, let him not be in doubt, for he will suffer no loss.
If any have delayed until the ninth, let him not hesitate but draw near.
If any have arrived only at the eleventh, let him not be afraid because he comes so late.
For the Master is generous and accepts the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes at the eleventh hour in the same way as him who has laboured from the first.
He accepts the deed, and commends the intention.
Enter then, all of you, into the joy of our Lord. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who fasted and you who have not fasted, rejoice together.
The table is fully laden: let all enjoy it.
The calf is fatted: let none go away hungry.
Let none lament his poverty; for the universal Kingdom is revealed.
Let none bewail his transgressions; for the light of forgiveness has risen from the tomb.
Let none fear death; for death of the Saviour has set us free.
He has destroyed death by undergoing death. He has despoiled hell by descending into hell.
He vexed it even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he cried: Hell was filled with bitterness when it met Thee face to face below;
Hell is angered, for it was brought to nothing;
Hell is angered, for it was mocked;
Hell is angered, for it was overthrown;
Hell is angered, for it was put in chains.
Hell received a body, and encountered God. It received earth, and confronted heaven.
O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen! And you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is risen! And the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen! And the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen! And life is liberated!
Christ is risen! And the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ, having risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power, now and forever, and from all ages to all ages.
Amen!
Friday, April 15, 2022
Down the rabbit hole on Good Friday
Good Friday morning I only read the hymn in my devotional magazine (Magnificat, v. 24, no.2) for Holy Week, for Good Friday. It was "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" I got no further in the April 15th entry. I remembered the first time I heard it. It was a hot summer day, in midsummer 1953 or 54. I was a teen helper in the kitchen at Camp Emmaus in northern Illinois during an older teen camp week. It was very exciting for me--previous jobs had been baby sitting and corn detasseling. I don't remember why the campers were using this hymn in the summer, but a guy about 5 years older than me sang it to me. I never forgot it. That was the first step into the rabbit hole.
Then I had to check out my hymn sources. Another rabbit hole. So I looked at the Brethren Hymnal (c. 1951) and "Were you There" was there. Exact same verse and wording as my magazine (unusual for hymns I've learned). Then I checked my Lutheran hymnals and the hymn was in the 1958 (red), the 1978 (green) and the 1982 (blue) versions. My only Methodist Hymnal (1964) I keep at our Lake house. From the evidence on my shelves I'm suggesting that this hymn began appearing in main line church hymnals around 1950. It's now a standard, but it had been sung for many years in black churches.
I always read the information at the top, bottom and sides of a hymn, about the author, composer, collection, notes for the musician, etc. and of course, there's no information on the author and it's referred to either as a Spiritual or Negro Spiritual.
From there I moved on to my favorite source, "Amazing grace; 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions,," by Kenneth W. Osbeck (1990). He wrote: "The Negro spirituals represent some of the finest of American folk music. These songs are usually a blending of an African heritage, harsh remembrances from former slavery experiences, and a very personal interpretation of biblical stories and truths. They especially employ biblical accounts that give hope for a better life--such as the prospects of heaven. They symbolize so well the attitudes, hopes and religious feeling of the black race in America."
Osbeck suggests: "Imagine yourself standing at the foot of the cross when Christ was tortured and crucified. Then place yourself outside the empty tomb when the angelic announcement "He is not here. . . ". Try to relive the emotional feelings that would have been yours. Allow this song to minister to you as you go through the day---. " For Good Friday, there's no better hymn to put you there.
Note: Although the phrase "down the rabbit hole" is from Alice in Wonderland (1865) over time it's come to mean getting sucked into an endless time search in reading or looking at the internet. I still use books, so it happens a lot.
Then I had to check out my hymn sources. Another rabbit hole. So I looked at the Brethren Hymnal (c. 1951) and "Were you There" was there. Exact same verse and wording as my magazine (unusual for hymns I've learned). Then I checked my Lutheran hymnals and the hymn was in the 1958 (red), the 1978 (green) and the 1982 (blue) versions. My only Methodist Hymnal (1964) I keep at our Lake house. From the evidence on my shelves I'm suggesting that this hymn began appearing in main line church hymnals around 1950. It's now a standard, but it had been sung for many years in black churches.
I always read the information at the top, bottom and sides of a hymn, about the author, composer, collection, notes for the musician, etc. and of course, there's no information on the author and it's referred to either as a Spiritual or Negro Spiritual.
From there I moved on to my favorite source, "Amazing grace; 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions,," by Kenneth W. Osbeck (1990). He wrote: "The Negro spirituals represent some of the finest of American folk music. These songs are usually a blending of an African heritage, harsh remembrances from former slavery experiences, and a very personal interpretation of biblical stories and truths. They especially employ biblical accounts that give hope for a better life--such as the prospects of heaven. They symbolize so well the attitudes, hopes and religious feeling of the black race in America."
Osbeck suggests: "Imagine yourself standing at the foot of the cross when Christ was tortured and crucified. Then place yourself outside the empty tomb when the angelic announcement "He is not here. . . ". Try to relive the emotional feelings that would have been yours. Allow this song to minister to you as you go through the day---. " For Good Friday, there's no better hymn to put you there.
Note: Although the phrase "down the rabbit hole" is from Alice in Wonderland (1865) over time it's come to mean getting sucked into an endless time search in reading or looking at the internet. I still use books, so it happens a lot.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
What did F.A. Hayek say about the Leftist agenda?
How should we conservatives think about race and critical theory, CRT; the misnamed gender affirmation or transgenderism; the climate change cult; abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy; free and open borders ; mandates that didn't reduce the toll of the pandemic and had never been tried before? F.A. Hayek had some thoughts.
" Incredible as some of these aberrations [spirit of totalitarianism] may appear, we must yet be on our guard not to dismiss them as mere accidental by-products which have nothing to do with the essential character of a planned or totalitarian system. They are not. THEY ARE A DIRECT RESULT OF THAT SAME DESIRE TO SEE EVERYTHING DIRECTED BY A "UNITARY CONCEPTION OF THE WHOLE," of the need to uphold at all costs the views in the service of which people are asked to make constant sacrifices, and of the general idea that the knowledge and beliefs of the people are an instrument to be used for a single purpose. Once science has to serve, not TRUTH, but the interests of a class, a community or a state, the sole task of argument and discussion is to vindicate and to spread still further the beliefs by which the whole life of the community is directed. As the Nazi minister of justice has explained, the question which every new scientific theory must ask itself is: "Do I serve National Socialism for the greatest benefit of all?"
The word TRUTH itself ceases to have its old meaning. . . it becomes something to be laid down by AUTHORITY, something which has to be believed in the interest of the unity of the organized effort and which may have to be altered as the exigencies of this organized effort require it. p. 178 "The Road to Serfdom; text and documents. F.A. Hayek, 1944, 2007. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo4138549.html
Sex is not gender
According to Institute of Medicine, “sex” is a biological construct dictated by the presence of sex chromosomes and in animals and humans the presence of functional reproductive organs. On the other hand, “gender” is a cultural concept referring to behaviors that might be directed by specific stimuli (visual, olfactory) or by psychosocial expectations that result from assigned or perceived sex and therefore can influence biological outcomes.
I'd translate this as "God made sex, and man (specifically left leaning, European males with PhDs working in the social sciences) made gender." By now, you know more about women than Justice elect Jackson. (She is married to a white physician and has two beautiful bi-racial daughters, at least that's apparent.)
In God's plan, each person has as many as 30-40 trillion cells, and each cell has a sex. Men and women should not be competing for the same drugs in disease, nor the same medals in athletics. The amount of oxygen transported to your body parts depends on your red blood cell count and men have many more than women. Diseases that affect the brain, the gut, the skin, the skeleton, etc. act very differently in men and women. Women will be the ones hurt most in my opinion because in the transagenda, they are made infertile, there's no data on the long term effects of the hormones, healthy body parts are amputated and drugs must be taken. Even if they trick the eye to ignore sexual dimorphism and keep their reproductive organs, they aren't men at the cellular level.
Unfortunately, "wokeism" has moved from the social sciences to the STEM, and now this article (2014) probably would not be published.
Males have a Y chromosome as well an an X and females have 2 X chromosomes. That doesn't mean "mistakes" don't happen. Some boys get an extra Y and grow very tall, but may have low muscle tone and widely spaced eyes. Some girls are born with XO--missing one X--and may have numerous developmental problems including no ovaries and heart defects. We don't judge all people based on the needs of just 2 examples of biological misfiring before birth. Before the last 2 decades we didn't encourage systemic body failures with "gender studies" and then ask the rest of the world to pretend things are normal.
That's what is happening in some school districts which want "gender" rather than "sex" taught to very small children in the early grades. Ohio House Bill 616 would ban both instruction and materials about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade in all public and most private schools. I heard on the Bruce Hooley Show (https://989theanswer.com/radioshow/bruce-hooley) that Hilliard students are planning a protest on April 14 (it's not a law, hasn't even been debated) with the administration's blessing, although it is a violation of the state law to do so without being charged with tardiness. To listen start with segment 1 around 20 min. in.
"Do you know the sex of your cells?"
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpcell.00281.2013
The ultimate cultural appropriation--transagenda.
"Trans ideology robs women of their history and takes male privilege to a whole new level—all in the name of women’s rights." Carl R. Trueman
I'd translate this as "God made sex, and man (specifically left leaning, European males with PhDs working in the social sciences) made gender." By now, you know more about women than Justice elect Jackson. (She is married to a white physician and has two beautiful bi-racial daughters, at least that's apparent.)
In God's plan, each person has as many as 30-40 trillion cells, and each cell has a sex. Men and women should not be competing for the same drugs in disease, nor the same medals in athletics. The amount of oxygen transported to your body parts depends on your red blood cell count and men have many more than women. Diseases that affect the brain, the gut, the skin, the skeleton, etc. act very differently in men and women. Women will be the ones hurt most in my opinion because in the transagenda, they are made infertile, there's no data on the long term effects of the hormones, healthy body parts are amputated and drugs must be taken. Even if they trick the eye to ignore sexual dimorphism and keep their reproductive organs, they aren't men at the cellular level.
Unfortunately, "wokeism" has moved from the social sciences to the STEM, and now this article (2014) probably would not be published.
That's what is happening in some school districts which want "gender" rather than "sex" taught to very small children in the early grades. Ohio House Bill 616 would ban both instruction and materials about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade in all public and most private schools. I heard on the Bruce Hooley Show (https://989theanswer.com/radioshow/bruce-hooley) that Hilliard students are planning a protest on April 14 (it's not a law, hasn't even been debated) with the administration's blessing, although it is a violation of the state law to do so without being charged with tardiness. To listen start with segment 1 around 20 min. in.
"Do you know the sex of your cells?"
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpcell.00281.2013
"Trans ideology robs women of their history and takes male privilege to a whole new level—all in the name of women’s rights." Carl R. Trueman
Palm Sunday entrance
Tuesday night in our Bible study (on Zoom) we were discussing the colt/donkey that Jesus road into Jerusalem as king, which fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. As our group is "older," we do get a little off track, and I mentioned that as a little child I knew about the cross on the donkey's back before I ever understood Palm Sunday because of "donkey basketball" which was popular entertainment in small towns. So I had seen donkeys and ridden one, plus I loved horses and donkeys are equines. Only one person had heard of donkey basketball (also grew up in a small town), and about half had never noticed the markings of a donkey (it fades as the animal ages, and Jesus rode a colt).
Bishop Barron's sermon for Palm Sunday (Luke 19:28-40) is on the passage "The Master has need of it" and he says every baptized person has a gift the Master has need of. Whether you are gifted with music, or art, or math, or hospitality, or financial acumen, or teaching, or a heart for the poor, or any other gift, he says, you are liberated to be of service to Christ and his people. That's an easy phrase to remember or memorize. So the next time you see a donkey, look for the sign of the cross. There is a legend that the donkey followed Jesus to the cross.
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Interview with Scott Atlas about the BA2 variant
"Since Russia invaded Ukraine, news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic magically disappeared among mainstream media outlets.
But in the last few days, fears surrounding the new BA.2 variant are coming back to certain cable news channels.
Statistics says the BA.2 variant is now responsible for more than 70% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, but Dr. Scott Atlas asserts the variant is nothing to be concerned about.
Study after study has come out proving Dr. Atlas’ to be correct about his outlook of the COVID-19 pandemic since it began in early 2020, but certain health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci have yet to give up, and are once again in the beginning stages of calling for more mask mandates.
Dr. Scott Atlas has always supported protecting the elderly and at-risk individuals, as everyone else has very little risk to the coronavirus, and that assessment is even more true with the BA.2 variant, which is weaker than the original." https://www.kusi.com/dr-scott-atlas-explains-why-the-ba-2-variant-is-nothing-to-be-worried-about/
Includes the video of the interview.
But in the last few days, fears surrounding the new BA.2 variant are coming back to certain cable news channels.
Statistics says the BA.2 variant is now responsible for more than 70% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, but Dr. Scott Atlas asserts the variant is nothing to be concerned about.
Study after study has come out proving Dr. Atlas’ to be correct about his outlook of the COVID-19 pandemic since it began in early 2020, but certain health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci have yet to give up, and are once again in the beginning stages of calling for more mask mandates.
Dr. Scott Atlas has always supported protecting the elderly and at-risk individuals, as everyone else has very little risk to the coronavirus, and that assessment is even more true with the BA.2 variant, which is weaker than the original." https://www.kusi.com/dr-scott-atlas-explains-why-the-ba-2-variant-is-nothing-to-be-worried-about/
Includes the video of the interview.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Critical theory, the importance of children
I just watched on TV one of those disgusting "lesson plans" to sexualize American children in kindergarten. I think it was for Ohio, but not sure. If you think this doesn't exist, you're dreaming. The school administrators and state boards of education are flat out lying to you. You can get rid of your Disney stock, but you may have to run for school board. There are many teachers left with good values who are sick about it, but they need their jobs, and unions certainly won't help them.
Critical theory has been in the college classes and faculty publications for over 40 years. Now with so much intersectionality where race and sex, or gender and ethnicity and sexual preference link arms (or other body parts), it is a massive political movement. The children are even more essential today to the cause than they were in the 19th century where this all began.
Carl R. Trueman in his book "The rise and triumph of the modern self," ch. 7, calls it the shotgun marriage between Freud and Marx with Erich Fromm performing the nuptials and many in the bridal party like Max Horkheimer, Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse, Friedrich Engels, Antonio Gramsci, Vladimir Lenin and other lesser know academics and behaviorists.
Karl Marx thought the working class would triumph over the middle class and replace capitalism with communism and all could be controlled by the state. Sigmund Freud always was about the individual and sex drive. "For Freud civilization was impossible except for a society that was prepared to repress the most fundamental of human instincts, the desire for sexual satisfaction via unhindered sexual activity." It was up to others mentioned above to bring the shotgun wedding to the current left wing ideology (Trueman has articles on the internet which you can check, and many are critical of his ideas). But you can see Freud's belief in sexual expression, especially in children, as front and center of this anti-family 21st century curriculum. To simplify, all the critical theory branches whether feminism, LGBTQxyz, or critical race theory are anti-western civilization, anti-patriarchy, and anti-family. You will get no points for "traditional values" or the traditional family as a societal good. That's hateful in their eyes. This messy cabal see the family as the vehicle to pass down wealth and property, and marriage as the oppression of women. Incidentally, these European and American scholars and "professionals" all had low opinions of women and some abandoned wives and children for mistresses and lovers.
As far back as 1936 Wilhelm Reich stressed the importance of childhood sexuality and sexual identity for the "struggle" to destroy capitalism and civilization. That's why their education can't be left up to their parents. All sexual taboos must be lifted. Sex is no longer considered a private activity -- it is social, public and political.
There's quite an uproar going on within the Christian "community" these days, and most of the crazies are in the seminaries and universities. But be advised, your church may be on the wrong side.
Critical theory has been in the college classes and faculty publications for over 40 years. Now with so much intersectionality where race and sex, or gender and ethnicity and sexual preference link arms (or other body parts), it is a massive political movement. The children are even more essential today to the cause than they were in the 19th century where this all began.
Carl R. Trueman in his book "The rise and triumph of the modern self," ch. 7, calls it the shotgun marriage between Freud and Marx with Erich Fromm performing the nuptials and many in the bridal party like Max Horkheimer, Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse, Friedrich Engels, Antonio Gramsci, Vladimir Lenin and other lesser know academics and behaviorists.
Karl Marx thought the working class would triumph over the middle class and replace capitalism with communism and all could be controlled by the state. Sigmund Freud always was about the individual and sex drive. "For Freud civilization was impossible except for a society that was prepared to repress the most fundamental of human instincts, the desire for sexual satisfaction via unhindered sexual activity." It was up to others mentioned above to bring the shotgun wedding to the current left wing ideology (Trueman has articles on the internet which you can check, and many are critical of his ideas). But you can see Freud's belief in sexual expression, especially in children, as front and center of this anti-family 21st century curriculum. To simplify, all the critical theory branches whether feminism, LGBTQxyz, or critical race theory are anti-western civilization, anti-patriarchy, and anti-family. You will get no points for "traditional values" or the traditional family as a societal good. That's hateful in their eyes. This messy cabal see the family as the vehicle to pass down wealth and property, and marriage as the oppression of women. Incidentally, these European and American scholars and "professionals" all had low opinions of women and some abandoned wives and children for mistresses and lovers.
As far back as 1936 Wilhelm Reich stressed the importance of childhood sexuality and sexual identity for the "struggle" to destroy capitalism and civilization. That's why their education can't be left up to their parents. All sexual taboos must be lifted. Sex is no longer considered a private activity -- it is social, public and political.
There's quite an uproar going on within the Christian "community" these days, and most of the crazies are in the seminaries and universities. But be advised, your church may be on the wrong side.
It's too bad we have such a weak resident in the White House
Someone else might have known how to get arms to President Zelenskyy so the Ukrainians could fight and farm.
From an investment newsletter: "
There is going to be a worldwide food crisis, but Wall St is just not recognizing it even though it has been very clearly forecast for weeks. There is no avoiding it. Fertilizer is simply not sufficiently available, or costs far too much, and Ukrainian and Russian wheat and corn and sunflower oil are not going to be available. Many less developed nations like Egypt and others in that region and southeast Asia are already having to spend subsidies they cannot afford. There are already some disturbances in Peru, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe that will grow to be riots as food prices climb and shortages become apparent. These countries do not have the ability to continue the subsides for as long as they will be required. Trouble ahead. Other commodities are also headed up. There is no avoiding higher inflation for the next couple of months.Russia, Ukraine and Ivan the Terrible
It's been 61 years since I graduated from College and I've forgotten most of my Russian language and history. However, today I've been listening to a fabulous podcast on "The Third Rome," which is a term for the history of Christianity through the eyes of Moscow, the Third Rome. Rome fell apart sometime after the 5th c. I think through corruption, mismanagement and invasions by barbarians, and Constantinople (the 2nd Rome) was taken over by the Muslims, so the Russian Christians see the Moscovy empire as the seat of Christianity (the 3d Rome) in the 16th century. I managed 5 miles on the exercycle learning about Ivan the Terrible and Muscovite Russia. Its name is “Paradise and Utopia,” and the speaker, Fr. John Strickland serves as priest at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in Poulsbo, Washington, and he is part of "Ancient Faith Ministries." I've only begun to explore the web site and its riches, but the podcast on Ivan reminded me so much of Vladimir Putin. He was a defender of the faith, yet was so bloodthirsty he killed his own son in a fit of rage, had his own priests and boyars (nobles) murdered. He was really paranoid, but believed he was saving the church. If you want to know the symbolic roots of Putin's craziness in attacking another Orthodox Christian nation, listen to this. It was recorded several years ago, before the current invasion, but somehow it all makes sense now. https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/paradiseutopia/the_third_rome_i_ivan_the_terrible_and_the_murder_of_saint_philip
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?
Saturday, April 09, 2022
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.
Friday, April 08, 2022
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.
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.
Thursday, April 07, 2022
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
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/honestly-with-bari-weiss-1971579/episodes/how-big-tech-is-strangling-you-132356030
Wednesday, April 06, 2022
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.
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
Saturday, April 02, 2022
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).
"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).
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