Biden has been harshly criticized for that language, accused of hyping an already grave situation between Putin and the Ukraine and of fanning the flames with unnecessarily incendiary rhetoric. Personally, I think Biden’s warnings are apt. I’ve been stating for months that the potential for a desperate Vladimir Putin to escalate to the level of using nuclear weapons is frighteningly real. A Putin whose army is defeated on the battlefield is an especially dangerous Putin who may well resort to something catastrophic, as we feared in October 1962."
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Tulsi Gabbard Show
Biden has been harshly criticized for that language, accused of hyping an already grave situation between Putin and the Ukraine and of fanning the flames with unnecessarily incendiary rhetoric. Personally, I think Biden’s warnings are apt. I’ve been stating for months that the potential for a desperate Vladimir Putin to escalate to the level of using nuclear weapons is frighteningly real. A Putin whose army is defeated on the battlefield is an especially dangerous Putin who may well resort to something catastrophic, as we feared in October 1962."
Submit or get fired
They are not the majority; they may be a very small voice. But they are in ALL professions, all of which have codes and standards about truth, service and integrity. That they are everywhere should tell you something. They've been verbally abused, had promotions denied, and lost friends and colleagues; their editors have reassigned them to the back page or their location to Po-dunk; they can't get published or their research doesn't appear in peer reviewed journals; they are dishonorably discharged, or lost access to Twitter, FB, YouTube or Google; they've requested reassignment to different medical rounds and been denied. They may also be the ones who won't change pronouns, who resist the CRT workshops and roll their eyes at more global demands to believe a new green religion.
If your employer fires or muffles those in your profession who refuse, and keep only those who bend the knee and submit, then what have you got? People who won't take risks, who won't ask questions, who won't point out the Emperor has no clothes. A submissive nation. No one needs to fire a shot to conquer that nation. We're already in chains.
Let's take a careful look at this statement, which can't be proven true or false since it hasn't been around long enough to be tested. mRNA was developed in the 90s; this therapy in 2020. Whether you're a Christian like me and believe that God has created us with what we need to treat or stop diseases (mRNA isn't a vaccine which introduces a small amount of the bacteria or virus to assist your body in developing a defense you already have) or you're another religion or not religious at all and believe you've evolved over a billion years from sludge, you know "it doesn't look like other proteins your body makes" sounds like it doesn't belong there. Your civil liberties shouldn't be violated and the first amendment and all our laws dealing with health and treatments shouldn't be tossed out if you object to this treatment.
Just about everything we were told in Spring 2020 about transmission and protection of the mRNA treatment have been proven false but there are still rules and mandates and people continue to be punished. Facts we already knew in 2020--children were at almost no risk and young adults had low risk--have been tossed out the window with no apology or explanation.
Monday, October 17, 2022
Now that we know, what should be done
- The vulnerable and most at risk for the disease weren't protected
- Those not at risk were forced to comply as though they were in danger of dying
- There were mass violations of civil liberties
- Unknown risks have been passed on to the next generation because pregnant and lactating women were included in the madness
- Young men in the prime of life have been forced through peer pressure, government edict, and threats of job loss to take heart risks with odds they would never consent to for a plane flight
- Laws involving elections were violated or made up on the spot
- Minor, unelected officials assumed great authority and power
- Small businesses were ruined; massive businesses got wealthier
- People skipped treatment for cancer and heart because government was protecting hospitals and not patients
- Safe alternative treatment options were forbidden--even their names could not be spoken
- Anxiety and mental health issues soared from both lack of care and the sufferers being terrified and sickened by media
- Lockdowns separated the dying from their families, their last comfort, or contributed to their early death
- Even when it was learned that the jabs didn't prevent getting the disease and didn't stop transmission to others, ridiculous rules stayed in place, controlled by teachers' unions, businesses, the White House, and CDC
- "Trust the science" became a joke and punch line with our elected officials bowing to the power and money, not laws or common sense or honoring the people who elected them
- One unelected man, an aging bureaucrat controlling two presidents and billions in grants to pharmaceutical companies, claimed to be the face of "Science" and if we distrusted him, we were traitors
- There should be town halls in every village, town, city, church, business, club and university to sort this out. Maybe financial reparations will never happen, but we deserve an explanation for the cowardliness of our so-called leaders who needed to step up and STOP THE INSANITY.
- For the friends and family who died, for the grandparents who didn't see their grandchildren for 2 years, for the jobs lost, the friendships destroyed, the trust stomped on we need to make sure it never happens again.
Time, ambition or will
Although I often say I'm rarely busy, I do have a dilemma right now because I can't get done what I'm planning in my head. It's taking up a lot of space there between my ears and probably melting brain cells--particularly during my morning quiet time when I could be reading the Bible, reading something for book club, or researching. I know the time is available--it would take about two-three days of intense research, writing or using the telephone (I hate that). Other than going to doctors' appointments, shopping for groceries and exercising at the gym (which is only about 2 miles away) I really am not a busy person. The ambition for doing anything at all is flagging, and since I've always been highly distractable I don't finish a lot of projects (I suspect if I'd ever been tested for ADHD I could have scored high enough for the school system to have upset my mother). So it's probably will. I just don't have the will (determination, strength of character, self-discipline, backbone, tenacity) to sit down and do it. Just do it. Isn't that a slogan?
- Prepare a well thought out argument about the wisdom of UALC's proposed capital campaign for remodeling both campuses. I know no one will listen--I've been through this a number of times since I was 11 years old. For this I've gone all the way back to 1951 when the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren (see below 1956, $321,000) began its campaign to "add a few classrooms" for $13,000 to its building on Seminary Avenue and I conclude (in my busy mind) with Covid lockdowns, inflation, use of space in our current huge buildings, needs of our mission partners, and our current bond issue to increase even more our real estate taxes (just had a huge bond issue 3 years ago).

- Research the seven books of the Bible (Septuagint) removed by Luther and now called "Apocrypha" by Protestants--Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I and II Maccabees - plus sections of Esther and Daniel. It's the Bible Christians used for 1500 years. Most of my personal library about the Bible is Reformed, Lutheran or Baptist, so it would take some effort to find balanced research. The public library is useless. Sometimes the internet is no help--either has too much or only the "approved" version.
- Find out why two words (without Christ) were added to the confession we use on Sunday. Even the 10 minutes I took to look at my old hymnals started me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how hymnals are revised and the copyright works.
- Many art discussions and shows. Raphael tapestries (yesterday) being the most recent, but find many others, particularly in Magnificat. I have 2 magazines subscription, New Criterion and First things that have wonderful articles, but they sit on the living table for a month before the new issue arrives, then they are moved to my office.
- Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
- My latest decorating mistake--new bedspreads for the guest room--didn't turn out well. Need to replace, and that means shopping and spending money.
- Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
- Practice math. I need to start talking to myself, something like "I'm good at math," or "I can do this," or "Time to work through a few math problems."
- Analyze the cost and advantage of new garage doors (most of the residents all ready have them, but since ours was less than 15 years old, we were exempt). It would replace one massive door with 2 smaller ones.
- Find out how to get an approved Covid test for an upcoming colonoscopy. I don't want to drive to the east side just because I'm part of a particular group and that's what COPC does.
- Plan for our upcoming art show which will be hung on November 11, but the room for the reception is Sunday November 27. Write my stories about the paintings, some of which go back to 1974, some using old photos, 1912, 1944, 1950, plus old Lakeside Rhein Center paintings in workshops.
- And my goodness. So many things to relearn on the current computer (labels, database creation, scanning photos, pdf, etc.) that I knew for the old computer. So many things on the smart phone which I've had since February.
- November book club. Will I read it?
- Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
- Do something, or at least think about the musty smell in all the books and papers in the basement--I mean the "lower level" or the "man cave" aka office. Had them all cleaned about 5 years ago. Should I call Janet again--I can't get on a ladder anymore and she's just a few years younger; need to research the right solution to safely wipe down shelves and books.
- And did I mention going through all the "archives" of our art collection? Two painters, plus all the paintings we've collected by other artists since the 1960s. We have frames, glass, acrylic, pieces of matt board, pieces of backing board, all standing up in a closet, or on shelves.
- Should I buy more food for emergency storage? Joe is talking Armageddon and nuclear war so we've got a crazy leader in Russia and a demented leader in the USA, and I don't even have extra batteries in the house, and I see a lot of pasta in my "emergency tornado" food box. How would we cook pasta if Putin dropped a bomb on NYC or DC? Remember in the 1950s when the basement of our school building was lined with huge bundles of dried (I assume) food stuffs. Must have been for the whole town. And we learned to duck under our school desks. Sure, that will solve the problem our government doesn't know how to fix.
- I'd better go do my hair. Washed it this morning.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
The new bivalent dose isn't catching on
Friday, October 14, 2022
Investing in your retirement and other boring topics
But early on I know I decided I didn't like certain stocks, and that some investments weren't worth the return because they were in violation of my core beliefs. I didn't know what it was called but I wouldn't invest in tobacco, alcohol, certain food, health and beauty products (animal testing), and viaticals (insurance plan cash out, like for people with AIDS). Eventually, because large corporations eat up smaller ones, if I liked a snack product it later would be owned by a tobacco company (R.J. Reynolds and Nabisco or Philip Morris and Kraft). And then that group would split or merge into an even larger blob. But still, for awhile I could feel smug and self-righteous--I was a Democrat then and that's what they do.
That's the principle when talking people into accepting ESG--environmental, social and governance investing. Most of us do want to be moral, upright and kind to the poor and patriotic. The rub is who gets to decide, and who is pushing this? At this point in our history, the left is moving from the locker room pep talk to a full court press. This is how a Republican study committee looks at ESG:
"A small handful of leftist bureaucrats and board members are behind ESG. Americans never voted for it, but ESG is still making the entire country poorer, more reliant on foreign oil, and less free. ESG is a cornerstone of Democrats’ Green New Deal agenda and one of the most serious long-term threats to energy independence and Americans’ pocketbooks. The Republican Study Committee will push to make combatting ESG a priority after 2022."
The Left’s ESG Movement Is Coming After All Americans (dailysignal.com)
What Is Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing? (investopedia.com)
And as far as retirement goals? Nothing has hurt us as badly as Biden's inflation and killer green economy, or helped us as much as Trump's Make America Great Again ambitious plan.
JP Morgan Chase cancels Ye
- He supports Trump;
- he appeared on the Tucker show;
- he had the audacity to say publicly white lives matter;
- he doesn't buy into the BLM nonsense;
- he speaks out for divorced fathers;
- he believes blacks don't have a place in the economy like other groups as long as they are on the dole;
- and he's a Christian.
JPMorgan Chase Terminates Relationship With Kanye West (businessinsider.com)
I watched the Tucker interview and was very impressed. I didn't know much about Ye (his new self-chosen name), in fact, didn't even know he was divorced.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
In Christ Alone, the controversy for almost a decade about a modern hymn
And how do you interpret this hymn? "In Christ alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.
After our wonderful Sunday dinner which was sort of like my mom's (over done beef roast because it had to go in the oven before we went to church) I googled it. WOW. All sorts of controversy and that very line kept it out of some hymnals, including a Presbyterian!
I don't think it fits the whole O.T. sacrificial system we've been following up to the Cross, and God does come off sounding kind of nasty and petty, punishing someone for what others did instead of Jesus voluntarily offering a sacrifice we (humankind since Adam and Eve) haven't been able to do. But I know from being at a gazillion Bible studies over the last 50 years, that is how many Protestant denominations see that.
So what does your church do? Just sing it lustily and don't pay attention to the words just the emotion? Revise that verse and violate copyright? Receive it and believe it?
Here's just one article I looked at it. I shook my head and thought, "This is why there are 35,000 Protestant/Bible based denominations." https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/did-jesus-die-to-satisfy-gods-wrath/
"Sydney Anglican blogger David Ould helpfully pointed out in the online debate that God’s wrath is not satisfied by severely punishing an unwilling child. Nor is the Father like a sadistic teacher.
“The solution to all this, the Scriptures teach, is that one dies in our place. The entire OT sacrificial system models this and then Jesus Himself comes and does it. He is no “abused child” and there is no “lashing out by God”, rather He chooses Himself to lay down His life (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). Those last two verses are stunning how they tell of the unity of purpose between Father and Son:
John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’” The Wrath against Wrath: “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” - Eternity News
Why does Biden want marijuana convicts out of federal prisons?
Biden lies to us about blacks and marijuana. The claim his writers/handlers are using is, “While studies show white and Black people use marijuana at similar rates, a Black person is more than three times as likely to be arrested for possession than a white person, according to a report from the ACLU that analyzed marijuana arrest data from 2010 to 2018.” That's bunk. ACLU definitely doesn't have the best interests of the black community at heart. Read any famous writer or observer of black/Negro life in the 20th century and you'll see marijuana is a huge factor in the destruction of families and businesses.
The renaming of military bases
"According to the commission’s report, Fort Benning will be named Fort Moore; Fort Polk will be renamed Fort Johnson; Fort Bragg will become Fort Liberty; Fort Gordon will become Fort Eisenhower; Fort Hood will become Fort Cavazos; Fort Lee will become Fort Gregg-Adams; Fort Pickett will become Fort Barfoot; Fort Rucker will be renamed to Fort Novosel." Fox News
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Flying taxis and Chinese education
What a shame. The Chinese still have slavery, and Dubai lives on the servanthood of low income workers imported from all over the Asian and African world who can't become citizens. In the U.S. where we have a global population representing hundreds of ethnicities and cultures and we have opportunity for all, Leftists rotting the core of the Democrat party strangle our citizens with critical theory, climate lies, and destruction of our foundation in Western Civilization which has given all freedom to achieve and grow.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Happy Anniversary Vatican II
Of all the changes I will just address the language. Latin was (and still is) the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, but Vatican II without changing any content did completely change understanding of the lay person by introducing the vernacular (native or heart language) into public worship.
Christians evangelizing after the Resurrection of Jesus originally spoke Greek--it was a "world" language. Jesus and his disciples didn't speak or read Hebrew, but spoke Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect and used a Greek version of the Scriptures (Septuagint), what we now call the Old Testament. That worked pretty good for a few centuries, but by then Latin was the language of influence, literature and business everyone used in the Roman kingdom. St. Jerome is known for his massive efforts to get the Holy Scriptures (both old and new) into the people's language--now called the Latin Vulgate. Pieces of scripture were always available in the native language, but that was for personal use, not public worship. And today, none of us whether we speak English, or German or Russian, would even recognize any of those translations from the Greek. That's how language is--always changing--and English has more words than any other western language. Because "the sun never set on the Union Jack" and the sailors took the King James Bible with them, English has more borrowed and foreign terms than any other language.
Now to today. The latest language squabble in the Church is that Pope Francis has decided to stop use of the Latin Mass, even though millions of devout Catholics think the documents of Vatican II never say NOT to use it, only that the vernacular is best used to encourage the faithful. They LOVE the Latin Mass. Latin is still used in all official documents concerning doctrine, worship, and law. So that change has made some Catholics really unhappy. And ironically, Francis' demands were issued in Latin. Pope Francis restricts celebration of traditional Latin Mass (catholiceducation.org)
We see constant changes in our language without a pope or church--this coming from Twitter, Tech, Academe, the prison population and particularly from Marxist based manipulation. Truth is now "my truth," and "racism" applies only to people of a large swath of Europe. "Community," "narrative," "gender," "transition," and even "Constitution" have been twisted and reconfigured to meet a political agenda.
Sunday, October 09, 2022
Attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life centers
One Lie at a Time
Becket had a successful career as a set designer in the Hollywood fashion world. He gave up that career and his flamboyant gay lifestyle when he became a Christian and went to seminary. He speaks at a lot of conferences and churches and has a podcast where he interviews many interesting people, some from the entertainment community (like Chynna Phillips).
Europe's winter energy supply endangered by Biden
"Andrew Crossland, an energy consultant who runs a website that tracks UK energy usage, told ITV News the UK has lost its energy diversity and energy independence because the country has closed almost all of its coal power plants, with the gap in provision mostly filled by imported gas." (Oct. 2021) Could the UK face blackouts this winter due to soaring energy prices? | ITV News
Saturday, October 08, 2022
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and SCOTUS
Really? A coach prays privately, after a game, on the field when lots of others were also milling around and expressing their like or dislike for the outcome, but because he prayed, he lost his job. That's not religious oppression? He'd been doing it for years, bothering no one, but some ONE supporting the opposing team complained to his employer. "The District disciplined Mr. Kennedy only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his students after three games in October 2015."
I'm not familiar with the legal terms, but as a life time church member I know "establishment" of a religion or church takes a lot more work and time than praying silently on a football field for a few minutes and absolutely no one could construe that as a government activity or coercion. Except a Democrat.
"Monday’s ruling, Sotomayor concluded, “weakens the backstop” that the establishment clause provided to protect religious freedom. “It elevates one individual’s interest in personal religious exercise,” she contended, “over society’s interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all.” (SCOTUS Blog, June 27, 2022)
Who is rich, and who pays the taxes in the USA?
"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans' tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.
Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent." (From Yahoo news via The Hill, Dec. 24, 2021)
Although any tax cut benefits the rich since they pay over 70% of the federal income tax and the lowest income receive wealth transfers and 50% don't pay any federal taxes. With the Trump administration tax cut the top 1% who pay over 40% of the taxes saw their average rates fall to 25.4% from 26.8%.
"Rich" is a relative term. But if you're talking income from salary and not "wealth" you need to be earning $350,000 to be comfortably rich in an expensive or coastal city. (That's virtually all of Congress and "think tank" CEOs in DC.) And if you do and you are a family of 4, contribute to a 401k, pay federal and state and local taxes, plus FICA and take a child credit, you're paying $92,160 (32%) in taxes. And you can see the upward creep in taxes at https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-income-do-you.../
Thursday, October 06, 2022
What's next after transgenderism?
The only rights group with any credibility and truly victims of injustice we generally call the "civil rights movement" of the 1950s-1960s and they were black citizens, or African Americans. This movement had been going on for decades and was lead primarily by blacks with political pushing by the Republicans. They worked for years to pass anti-lynching legislation (always stopped by Democrats) and civil rights legislation (were finally successful after years of Democratic blocking) when under Eisenhower the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed. Civil Rights Act of 1957 | Eisenhower Presidential Library (eisenhowerlibrary.gov)
With the 1970s came Feminism. Possibly it had a few victims, but it brought it's own problems. Marriages failed and children began their childhood in day care. It was mostly legislation about safety, employment and sports. It got a big shot in the butt with #MeToo.
After Feminism, the attention turned to homosexuality, discrimination, marriage, and AIDS. Or as it's loosely known, the gay culture, or Queer culture, an umbrella term they use, not me.
After the Defense of Marriage Act (1996-2015) failed and homosexuals had the legal right to marry and divorce, there was so much money left in the coffers by the big donors, they needed another cause to add to the movement now called Intersectionality which had by then become radically cultural Marxism.
And that's how Transgenderism rose to the top. With less than 1% of the population and being biologically impossible. The current group at the head of the banquet leaves women and minorities to eat table scraps. And it's destroyed the concept of safety from sexual assault and women's sports. We now in a very short time have "affirming surgery," "chest feeding," male athletes competing in women's sports, and chemical or surgical castration of young boys and men. Oh yes, and drag queens at story hours.
No one loves a victim like the Democrat party. Who's next? They are in the kitchen making the sausage. Will you join?
The Hutchins and Houck cases
Putin's war on Ukraine is our proxy war
"Obama told Medvedev it was important for incoming President Vladimir Putin to "give me space" on missile defense and other difficult issues and that after the 2012 presidential election he would have "more flexibility." (cns.news) No one tried to impeach him, but that message was far more dangerous and with a death toll far worse than anything Trump said to Zelensky on the phone, which he had every right to do and which was recorded live with no secrecy or whispers.
After Putin had that nod of approval from Obama, Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in Feb-March 2014 and sided with the Assad regime in Syria's civil war. It's been chaos in that region since.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden got involved with Burisma for $50,000 a month, with no evidence he knew anything except his paternity. They were too smart to hand him a check--it was laundered through New York-based capital management firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai. And our media were too dumb or too bought to ever follow up on the corruption of the Biden Crime Family.
We're now in a proxy war, killing Russians and paying Ukrainians to do it.
