The Ross Rant, Joel Ross

10/21/22:  The US economy was doing very well when Trump left office. We were energy independent, the stock market was still high, home prices were high, inflation was 1.4%, and consumers had a lot of money, and credit card use was very low. The Federal deficit was too high, but not completely out of control and unsustainable. We were still in Afghanistan holding off the terrorists and Taliban in most of the country, and the Iranians were struggling under serious sanctions. Russia was not threatening Ukraine and China was not obviously threatening Taiwan. Kim was quiescent. The US was still way ahead of the rest of the world in reducing carbon emissions and switching to gas and alternatives. In short, things in the world were OK as the pandemic was getting under control. Then Joe arrived with his band of social radicals and climate change crazies pulling the strings of the puppet. The decline of the US, and now the world, in under two years is a perfect example of how left-wing policies, and ESG, can destroy the world economy and peace in no time. How anyone can embarrass themselves and vote for Dems this election is beyond me. What is it they do not understand. The R’s will control the senate by 2-4 seats, and more governors. The wave is building again. The September inflation report was a killer for Dems. Bezos, Dimon, Bloomberg, Zandi, Interactive Brokers, and Summers all now say, the economy goes down more from here. Mortgage demand at 25 years low. The worst is yet to come. Get under the desk.

The 2020 election with Joe in the basement

I wonder how many Democrats would have voted for Joe if he'd campaigned on open borders, rising crime rates, a new war with Russia, higher taxes, destruction of the First Amendment, expanding the pandemic, destruction of our economy, raging inflation, a congressional investigation that exceeds the power of House Un-American Activities Commitee (HUAC) for disloyalty and subversive activities, shutting down desperately needed fuel for the rest of the world and killing the unborn up to full term?

I suppose that's why he stayed in the basement and didn't campaign in 2020. Although I did hear him say on one appearance he was running for the Senate. And another time he called a young woman a lying dog-faced pony soldier, and he sniffed a few little girls, so maybe he did say these things and loyal Democrats didn't care? I know a few, and they seem like normal, thinking, moral people . . . did they know, or did they hate Trump so much they voted for their hate?

Michigan governor silent about a white, elderly woman shot

An 84 year old woman has been shot in Michigan for being a "right wing nut," but Michigan's governor is only silent. But she's certain vocal about being a wing nut for abortion, saying "“Now is the time to use every tool in our toolbox to protect women and reproductive healthcare,” she tweeted after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, adding on another occasion, “Abortion is still legal in Michigan, and I’ll never stop fighting to keep it that way.” No wonder Richard Harvey who shot Joan Jacobson thought he'd help the governor out with her "tool box." That type of inflammatory language gets Republicans put in jail even if they weren't anywhere near a dust up or riot. Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Ms. VP Harris, Speaker Pelosi, California's Mad Maxine Waters and other Democrat high profile women spew political hate speech--not just hate for the unborn, but hate for those who are pro-life, pro-patriotism, pro-law and order, pro-border, pro-Trump, pro-sensible treatment for a pandemic, pro-fossil fuel, etc. 

Judge: Man Who Shot Elderly Pro-Life Woman Will Go To Trial (dailysignal.com)

What is your Red Sea?

Our Sunday sermon series has been on the Covenants of the Bible, and this past Sunday Pastor Steve Turnbull preached on the story of God's faithfulness to Moses, Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29. Then on Tuesday evening via Zoom our small group (Edie, Kevin, Jane, Dave, Donna, Howard, Betty and us) met on-line to discuss it. Edie who lives in Florida asked for a copy of a poem I read that was in the Cynthia Maus book, "The Old Testament and the Fine Arts." I was about to send a photocopy, but checked the internet. Annie Johnson Flint was a popular writer of Christian verse and hymns (born in NJ, d. 1932) and had many challenges. She was orphaned young and from a photo it appears she was in a wheel chair (arthritis). Her poem does sound a lot like Pastor Steve's sermon about our own Red Sea struggles. Scroll through the link and you'll read some touching thought. https://www.preceptaustin.org/annies_poems  Bob also liked it and shared with his men's group Wednesday, also on Zoom.

The Red Sea Place

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where, in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul, "Go on."

And His hand will lead you through - clear through -
Ere the watery walls roll down,
No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,
No mightiest sea can drown;
The tossing billows may rear their crests,
Their foam at your feet may break,
But over their bed you shall walk dry shod
In the path that your Lord will make.

In the morning watch, 'neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea
To a land that you have not known;
And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall be no more afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.

Diversity Equity Inclusion in higher education

"Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education involve a range of objectionable elements, such as giving preferential treatment to job candidates from particular race and gender groups and generating a massive administrative staff that encroaches on faculty autonomy and attempts to structure and surveil even informal campus interactions." City Journal, Oct. 18, 2022  DEI Statements: Empty Platitude, or Litmus Test? | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Diversity means division.
Equity is inequality
Inclusion is exclusion.

D.E.I. departments are establishing tribalism in our country not based on kinship or blood ties, but on color and sex. Look how tribalism is working out in Africa. There are major civil wars in two African countries, Ethiopia and South Sudan, both with majority Christian populations and most people killing each other are the same race (just like Europe for many centuries). There are 83 tribes in Ethiopia and over 60 in South Sudan. If you are a member of a small tribe, you'll never get ahead unless a relative comes into power, then it's easy street.

And further, the acronym should be D.I.E. because that is the wish of the bureaucrats in the universities who have sent their graduates out to poison corporations which now also have DIE departments.

Tulsi Gabbard Show

Tulsi Gabbard has left the Democrat party. But she's not a conservative and is not joining the Republicans. However, I've added her to my podcast list. 1) She talks about things both parties refuse to comment on, and 2) She has a beautiful voice, easy to listen to. So many women have voices that just set my teeth on edge regardless of what they have to say.

Today she's discussing the nuclear threat with our proxy war with Russia.  We've got a demented puppet in the White House and Russia has a crazy man in their house of power (is it still the Kremlin?). She's had recordings of both Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy.  She says both parties are war-mongers.

Here's another one talking about the nuclear danger, Paul Kengor. Averting Nuclear Armageddon—in October 1962 and Today (faithandfreedom.com)

"It is ironic and scary that 60 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world’s two superpowers to the brink of nuclear Armageddon, President Joe Biden warned of possible nuclear “Armageddon” this October 2022, and once again with Russia.

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."

This is followed by a review of the 1962 Cuban situation, since most have forgotten.

Submit or get fired

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

Whether you're a lawyer, doctor, rap artist, biologist, athlete, journalist, farmer, teacher or librarian, someone in your profession who believes the historical, moral and ethical standards of the past has tried to speak out or report to the chain of command or get published about a current medical procedure, now in its 4th iteration.

 
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.

This is from the University of Nebraska Medical Center: "The spike protein is unique to SARS-CoV-2 – it doesn't look like other proteins your body makes. So antibodies created against the spike protein won't harm your body, they will only target coronavirus."

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.

Now that we know, what should be done

Sometimes we can't know what we don't know. What happened from March 2020 through today (when I saw people still wearing masks inside their cars with several dirty masks on the dash) would have been unimaginable in western, democratic, free countries as recently as December 2019, but did happen. 

• 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?

1. 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).
2. 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. 
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
6. 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.
7. Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
8. 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."
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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. 
    
    
    
12. 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.
13. November book club. Will I read it?
14. Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
15. 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. 
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. I'd better go do my hair.  Washed it this morning.

The new bivalent dose isn't catching on

Remember how everyone was trying to get the first dose of the vaccine? We went out in blizzards and stood in lines in February 2021. 80% of Americans trusted the CDC, President Trump, Fauci, and our local governors to keep us well. Now only 5% have received the latest bivalent dose that's been available for a month. But when the Democrats who had bad mouthed its development in 2020 did a flip and started pushing it while destroying the careers of medical people who suggested treating the disease and confining only those most vulnerable, and demanding lockdowns and school children get it when they weren't in danger, distrust of any politicians hawking the wares of Big Pharma set in.

Investing in your retirement and other boring topics

I got a late start in preparing for retirement. I was in my mid-40s with a full time tenure track job at Ohio State University and a put and take savings account. When I read the pension forms that came with all the other forms I might as well have been reading Russian, Распишитесь, пожалуйста. I began reading the Wall St. Journal--which was delivered to the Veterinary Medicine Library. I was trying to figure out the difference between a stock and a bond, learning about long term gains, what is a mutual fund, figuring out defined benefit and tax deferred annuities. And I'd call my Dad or talk to my brother who was a stock broker. We still made horrible mistakes by anyone's gauge of naivete.

 
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."

In other words, we won't be able to make the choices and mistakes I made in the 1980s about what values and products I wanted to take care of me in my old age. However, if you google, bing, brave or duck-duck-go the term ESG, you'll find several pages of only the most wonderful, positive and downright religious sounding explanation. But if you start or own a company, you won't be able to invest, expand or even use a bank to pay your employees if you don't meet the government (or United Nation's) ESG goals for climate, equity, sustainability (never defined), science, gender, guns, abortion, etc.

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

I heard on the radio that Chase has "cancelled" Ye (Kanye West). They can say it's his anti-Semitic remarks, but we know what it's about.

• 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.

But Trump is the #1 reason, The same Trump who has a Jewish daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. And the same people hiding behind this story ridiculed and insulted the Kushners and tried to destroy her business. The same ilk is OK with Berkeley, on the left coast, having "Jewish Free Zones" on its campus. These same hypocrites on the Left are OK with slaves in China and OK with the published death threats from Muslims against Israel. If I knew how to cancel my Chase account, I'd do it. Maybe someone can send me the name of the guy to write to. I do a lot of that.

JPMorgan Chase Terminates Relationship With Kanye West (businessinsider.com)

Prominent bank abruptly cancels Kanye West, gives him just weeks to move accounts to another bank - TheBlaze

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.

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.

In our traditional service this Sunday (Oct. 9) we sang "In Christ Alone" which is a contemporary song, but I do like it and it fit the sermon theme, sort of. After the service I asked one of the pastors who's also a musician about the words in the second verse, “on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” Isn't that Calvin's interpretation, I asked. He assured me, it's in Lutheran theology. But it appears I'm not the only one asking.  Some people just don't sing that verse.

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/

And others: The Wrath of God Was Satisfied: Wondrous Love in the Awful Cross | Desiring God   The wrath of God satisfied? – Theology Everywhere   Wrath or Love? Calvin on Why Jesus Goes to the Cross | Reformedish (derekzrishmawy.com)   (PDF/Books) The Wrath Of God Satisfied Download FULL | Automation Journal (this one sounds really good, but I didn't download it) and from Augustine How Augustine Viewed the Cross | Billy Kangas (patheos.com)

And this one with a long quote from N.T. Wright, a prominent Anglican theologian: The Bible Guy | “The wrath of God was satisfied”? (steventuell.net)  Another N.T. Wright fan: 3a9f50ff-0846-417a-85a2-7623c472877f.pdf (calvin.edu)

But I did read a lot of viewpoints, and some fairly lengthy articles on copyright, and how hymns can form theology long into the future.  But this blogger from Australia fit my understanding best:

"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.

"Blacks comprise one-third of all treatment admissions nationally for marijuana abuse, though they represent only about 13 percent of the nation’s population. Among cannabis users, blacks have a nearly 70 percent higher rate of cannabis dependence than whites (16.82 percent v. 10.01 percent).

Cannabis is the illicit drug for which black drug abusers are most frequently treated (29 percent of all drug treatments), according to a 2013 U.S. Treatment Episode Data Set compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. By contrast, 12 percent of whites in drug treatment were there for cannabis abuse."

So do black lives matter to Biden? Doesn't look like it to me?

The renaming of military bases

Years ago Lakeside used to have a Civil War week. I remember attending a lecture on John Bell Hood and wondering why we had a military base named for a Confederate, and one who'd lost so many men. Then Victor Davis Hanson explained that today in his podcast. It turns out that after WWI Congress realized how poorly prepared the U.S. was. The Southern Democrats made a deal to get the appropriation. They would provide the land for the bases, which could revitalize their economy in the south, and they got naming rights. Now 100 years later Democrats who never noticed the Confederates before, are flipping on their agreement because of George Floyd guilt. They are really scrounging for wokeness in those disappeared names. Of course, not Patton or Westmoreland, they are too white. Isn't there anyone out there who served in the Gulf War who is a minority that has a good name for those streets, schools, and military forts?

"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

Flying taxis and Chinese education

This morning I saw a TV report of a flying taxi being demonstrated in Dubai, made by the Chinese. The minute I saw it I was pretty sure the Chinese schools aren't submerged in woke and are making mincemeat of our union controlled, big government schools tying our young people to the failures of the past with D.I.E., diversity, inclusion and equity.

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.

Happy Anniversary Vatican II

Today is the anniversary of the convening of Vatican II, October 11, 1962. 60th anniversaries don't get the hoop-la of 50th, but the document and changes (1962-1965) are still being analyzed, discussed and argued about. It was an attempt to put a 2,000 year old religion with 4,000 year old roots into the contemporary world. Maybe it was just the 60s and all we associate with those changes or maybe Pope John XXIII (who didn't live very long) really will go down in history as the man who made all Christians study more, speak differently and challenge authority about everything.

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. 

And yet so many intelligent, educated people can no longer define what a woman is! St. Jerome is rolling in the grave.

Attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life centers

There have been at least 73 attacks on pregnancy centers and pro-life offices, along with at least 83 attacks on Catholic churches, since the Supreme Court's decision was leaked to the public on May 2, according to CatholicVote, a Catholic political advocacy group.  Yet the FBI sent heavily armed federal agents to the home of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist, over allegedly shoving a Planned Parenthood worker following a verbal altercation. The local police had already investigated it and found nothing criminal. Imagine the hysteria of the media if 83 black churches had been attacked in a few months. Remember the non-story about black churches in the 1990s being burned, and it turned out it was just the media not doing their research. Well, they are certainly quiet about the problem the Left has with keeping babies alive long enough to be born.

Has The FBI Arrested Any Suspects In 150 Attacks On Pro-Life Groups And Churches? | The Daily Caller

One Lie at a Time

Today I listened to a Becket Cook show, "One lie at a time" that discussed the Norman Lear comedies of the 1970s-80s, like "One day at a time," "Maud," and "All in the family." He referred to Lear's sit-coms as promoting the Marxist plan to abolish the traditional family by demeaning the role of fathers, glamorizing or laughing at sexual promiscuity, promoting subjective truth and no boundaries values, and normalizing the secular humanist view. Certainly something to think about because the younger boomers and older gen-x were simmered in this cultural stew.   One Lie at a Time - The Becket Cook Show - Becket Cook (lifeaudio.com)

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

The UK had rolling blackouts before the Russia-Ukraine War because of "renewables." Can't imagine what England is in for this winter now that Joe has become the fossil fuel gatekeeper. The U.S. could've have been the energy savior of the world, but Joe Biden's handlers wanted something different. We could have also been a leader in "renewables" because solving these sort of money making problems with technology is what the U.S. capitalists are known for. But again, someone thought it better that young minds in college focus on old Democrat lies like skin color, Jim Crow and which bathroom and pronoun to use. The D.I.E. cabal chose the meme that achievement, ambition and competition are "white," and therefore bad for minority youth, condemning them to a life of servitude in debt to the government.

"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