Here's my take on the Qatar plane dust up

1. Democrats need an issue. Any issue. It's nowhere near what Biden accepted from Ukraine with Hunter's selling influence. We've even got him on tape. Now we've paid billions.

2. But put it in practical, easy to understand terms. Let's say your rich neighbor invites you to a back yard BBQ and says, casual clothes. But when you get there, the other neighbors knew the dress code and you didn't. The hostess takes pity on you and gives you something to wear from their closet, so you don't look like a loser.

Trump Administration To Be Gifted A Luxury Boeing 747-8 From The Qatari Royal Family

New outfits for Mothers' Day

On Mothers' Day we had a lovely worship service and Sunday School at a neighborhood school (UALC is being remodeled) and then went to The Avenue in Dublin, OH, for dinner. So much traffic! Not only was half the country calling their mothers, but the rest were on the road. Dinner was delightful. Then back home to open a present . . . it was a bit snug, so my son-in-law and I went shopping! I also had a Christmas gift card with me, and there were Spring sales, so I bought a summer dress, too. And here I am wearing the package ribbons.

ABCs of Corruption

Norma's ABCs of Democrat Corruption from January 20, 2023

I think I posted this, but can't find it, so here it is maybe again.

Abortion
Border
CIA censorship and collusion
Diversity Inclusion and Equity
Education, Department of
FBI
Green New Deal
Homeland Security, Department of
Interference, Election
Justice, Department of
Kerry, John
Laptop, Hunter Biden’s
Mail in Ballots
National Security Council, Biden’s
Open Society Foundation—George Soros’ grants
Perkins Coie
Questions, Biden answering
Russia, Russia, Russia
Surveillance
Transagenda
Ukraine—VP Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid
Vaccine mandates
Woke
Xi Jingping
YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter collusion with gov't
Zuckerberg

So many fish stories

There are so many fish stories in the Bible. This morning, I was looking for some details about the fish that figures in the miracles in the book of Tobit. I came across again the wisdom the father Tobit gives to his son Tobias as he sets out for the journey with the angel Raphael (although he doesn't know he's an angel). 

"Revere the Lord all your days, my son, and refuse to sin or to transgress his commandments. Live uprightly all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing; for those who act in accordance with truth will prosper in all their activities. To all those who practice righteousness give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have. So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity. For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness. Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High." Tobit 4:5-11 

Because Tobit, who is blind, thinks he is dying (there is a prayer about that), this advice to his son Tobias is followed by instructions on marriage, treatment of others and seeking advice. We readers know that his future daughter-in-law, Sarah, who is depressed and wants to die, is also praying. 

Great story.

The first American Pope, Leo XIV

Yesterday May 8 was a BIG day. UK and US celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE day (Victory in Europe) with a trade deal and the world has a new Pope, Leo XIV. Many are claiming victory, many on the fringes are rioting just because . . . and experts everywhere are left stunned and speechless. President Trump had been floating a tease about a "deal" but I think this unexpected appointment took some of the glitter off his big announcement. And this all happened on the day India and Pakistan conflict of many decades got much worse. India is now the country with the most population--over 1.4 billion.

I watched 2 interviews with his older brothers. Their shock was awesome. He will always be their "little brother." It seems from a small boy he'd wanted to be a priest. Since he's been in Peru for 40 years and is also a citizen there, I'm not sure how "American" he is by this time. Missing the 80s, 90s and the first quarter of the century means he's missed a lot of the chaos and disruption in our culture.

And also I found out 2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. This jubilee was announced by Pope John Paul II at the end of the 2000 Great Jubilee and is celebrated from Christmas Eve (24 December) 2024 to Epiphany (6 January) 2026, lasting a total of 379 days.
The theme for the 2025 Jubilee is "Pilgrims of Hope."


Leo XIV is the new Pope - Vatican News

Fact Sheet: U.S.-UK Reach Historic Trade Deal – The White House

India Pakistan War Breaking News 5 Pakistani Jets Down, Over 50 Drones Hit: What Happened On Thursday Night (May 8-9)? | Times Now

China is not the biggest threat

This is my personal opinion, but China is not our greatest enemy. Radical, fundamentalist Islam is. And although Islamists kill each other in the millions with no thought of even their own people, and they are not united in one country or one theology, they hate Jews and Christians as much as they hate other Muslims. We see it now on our "elite" campuses. Infiltration. We see it in our Congress. Virtue signaling. They have a love fest with the Communists, Socialists and Progressives among us. Bad news. Obama and Biden were the worst of our leadership in being sucked into their plans, ignoring their nuclear threats, but it starts in the universities. Obama seemed full of spite and Biden full of B.S.

Democrats are losing their party, but some are loyalists. They are going against everything they used to say they supported in their 20th century campaigns. Patriotism, working class, merit, hard work, family, Christian values. Of course they were soft even then, so environmentalism became global warming became climate change. The Civil Rights movement was stolen from blacks and became feminism, gay rights, and then trans anything even animals. Even Transtifa.

America --home of the brave victim?

 https://www.city-journal.org/article/small-business-administration-federal-contracts-race-discrimination-essays?

"The Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision ruled that racial preferences in university admissions are unconstitutional. Since that decision, universities have used applicants’ personal essays about discrimination as a backdoor way to continue racial favoritism."

How to turn the application process into a fiction writing class.

100 days, what we've learned about Democrats

It's been a hundred days and we've learned a lot about Democrats. They want

no borders
funding for foreign wars
gangs controlling our streets
schools run for labor unions not students
waste, fraud and grift
foreign funding and control of our universities
vandalism of property if they disagree with owner
hiring, training and firing based on race and ethnicity
mutilation of minor children
abortion up to and beyond birth
county and municipal judges to make federal decisions
private planes for their own oligarchs
citizens' rights and privileges for green card holders and illegals
21st century sex slavery and labor slavery
flow of disinformation from legacy media

add what I've forgotten

Church council meeting Sunday April 27

 After 9 am church service and Sunday School at Windermere school we drove across the river to have lunch with our Mill Run brothers and sisters and had a congregational meeting. Church Council | UALC

Pep talk on how long the remodeling is taking.  I think we only have the school two more Sundays. Elected new members and had Q & A. 

Where the money went--about 20% to missions. 620454_e830e5a3ebad4a179e53c71d7c5cc867.pdf

100 days, President Donald J. Trump

 The 100 days thing was started by FDR. The President who kept the country in a Depression for 7 more years until WWII bailed us out with massive infusions of blood and treasure. Now every president seems to run that race. But now I think it's more about the mid-terms.

Democrats have nothing to run on except their hatred and loathing of Donald Trump, so they've got the impeachment papers ready, and probably the knives, guns and poison too plus the plans to tweak their vote steal. But the lives he's saved in 100 days on the border issue is worth the pain of the tariffs and Lawfare (and he'd solve that too if the Dems would just not get hysterical).

 
This term I'm all about slavery, the big issue of the 19th century. The importing of labor and sex workers plus the trade in goods manufactured by people in developing countries working at slave wages means we're right back in it. The slave trade today is much larger than it was in the 18th century. Some estimate 50 million. Now it's supported by our politicians, our consumers and even some of our churches, just as in the 1850s. In other words, it's us.

 
Now it's not just labor for cotton and agricultural crops but for cheap baubles and bangles. For pharmaceuticals. For cars. Even for high fashion. Biden brought in millions of illegals--and our government approved it and we the people are both paying in the deaths from drug trafficking, but in our own moral depravity in the trafficking of slaves which are much more renewable than drugs.

This article underestimates the number in the USA and our own culpability, but it's a quick read. It's from Harvard which takes too much money from some of the corporations and the government which have led to the problems. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2018/06/27/the-intersection-of-human-trafficking-and-immigration/?

Megyn Kelly media

Although I have about 15 podcasts in my pod "library" there are just a few I try to catch each week--Megyn Kelly, All-In, and Dr. David Anders of EWTN. My second string is PBD, Tucker and Triggernometry. Then Joe Rogan and Zuby. Megyn Kelly is starting a new platform. I hope it doesn't spoil her brand. It's called MK Media. The programs, scheduled to launch in April and May, will be called Next Up with Mark Halperin, The Nerve with Maureen Callahan, and Spot On with Link Lauren. I'd never seen Mark until I began watching Newsmax where he was on a morning panel. He's OK, a little dry, but then we have enough of the footloose and shouters. The other two I don't know at all.

 
For me, of course, a podcast must be conservative, pro-life and a voice that doesn't hurt my ears. I've got to be honest--most women lose it in the voice department. Upspeak (uptalk), mumbling and vocal fry (low growl) will make me push another app or walk out of the room without my phone. Ladies: please don't try to sound like a wounded bear asking questions.

Settling in with a good movie

It was a quiet Sunday evening, I'd finished my book club reading for the month, I didn't want more politics, so I clicked on Spark TV and got a Candlelight Media film which are similar to Hallmark--romantic, family friendly and no bodice ripping or smash mouth kissing. It was a charming film about a travel blogger and a travel package marketer who meet by accident while on location on a beautiful pacific island. I got to see some great scenery, and we had visited the four places (if the islands were Hawaii) that are featured in the romance--Turkey (Cappadocia), Scotland, and Finland which included dog sleds and aurora borealis. 

So today I looked up the company. It's based in Utah, so I suspected the "team" are Morman/LDS, and from the surname (Brough), they all seem to be related. They also seem to own Spark TV. Here's a list of current or upcoming films: https://www.candlelightmedia.com/all-movies

I continued to poke around the internet and found a 10 year old blog of a novice screen writer who had an unpleasant experience with the Brough family and felt they saw their business as an LDS mission. I know nothing about legal contracts for screenwriters and found nothing evangelistic in the story line unless you think decency, honor and truth telling offensive.

Trailer for Passport to Love (2024), https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29270596/?

Thirteen minutes off

 We noticed out bedroom clock was 13 minutes fast. It has all sorts of buttons we've never used in its 20 years (although actually we don't know how old it is) like snooze and alarm.  We've never set the alarm.  However, we suspect the problem.  The cleaning ladies were here on Friday morning. and as they go through the house something is usually reset or unplugged or put back where we can't find it.  They also make little folded designs in the Kleenex and toilet paper.  I've tried resetting the clock and Bob did too to no avail.  I'll have to work on it after church, but for now it's 13 minutes fast and the minute button refuses to move. I still haven't found a clock to replace my office clock that died some months ago.

What's for lunch?

Our semi-homemade dinner, Saturday, April 26: Chicken alfredo (chicken was rotisserie from Kroger's and sauce was Ragu and the pasta was made by Barilla; fresh green beans, baked butternut squash; Romaine lettuce salad with sliced tomatoes, peas, olives, cukes, Betty's dressing; fresh pineapple with white grapes. So far so good. Cheryl's cookies, yummy; buttercream-frosted cutout cookie, wow, you should read the label on those! Red 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, blue 1, blue 1 Lake, blue 2, blue 2 Lake, Red 40, Red 40 Lake.

 
FYI: "Dyes are water-soluble colorants, whereas lakes are formed from the combination of water-soluble dyes and insoluble materials. While both are used for coloring food, dyes are more suitable for products with high water content, while lakes are more suitable for products with fat or oil."
Finding out what "Lake" is and what is the insoluble material is difficult. It's not a dye. Lakes are produced by coloring an aluminum salt (this is not elemental aluminum) substrate using FD&C dyes. They are oil-dispersible and can be mixed with oils and fats. Maybe you know what that means, but I don't. Must be a super duper secret recipe.

The FD&C Act has a provision for some substances within the definition of a food additive if they are GRAS for their intended uses. Such a provision does not apply to color additives. . . During fiscal year 2022, FDA certified batches representing a total of 28.1 million pounds of color additives, much of it for food uses.

What's on your plate?

Trump's really bad idea

Sometimes President Trump's former life as a Democrat seeps through. Give 'em money. And that idea he floated of a $5,000 gift from the federal government to new moms is one of those times. Let's ignore that it would cover 2 weeks of day care or that it's ripe for fraud. The low birth rate is also cultural, religious, social and biological. No cost estimate on that.

 
The sperm count for instance. It's dropping all over the world, not just the USA! That was reported even when I was working in a medical library, but then with some concern in 2017 and again in 2022, when a report cited in Smithsonian said the average sperm concentrations have dropped from 104 to 49 million per milliliter. Now you can still make babies, but the chances are reduced and it should be cause for alarm.

And how about children being taught the last 20-30 years from K-12 that their country is racist, homophobic and evil? Is that supposed to make them want to repopulate the earth? Will that make them proud to be a member of the human race? The feminist movement encouraged women to look down on motherhood. Women were to be valued for how much money they can earn and what they pay in taxes to the government.

And what about women? We've (as a group) have been pumped full of a collection of hormones since the early 1960s, and the early versions were so experimental that God only knows what they did to the delicate organs and systems that are needed to produce a healthy child. Who knows what was passed along to the following generations. Those of us who have been pregnant carry the cells of those children and they carry ours forever through fetal microchimerism when their cells pass through the placenta into our bodies and vice versa. Those fetal cells may even transfer to the next pregnancy or even from grandmother to grandchild. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8762399/ What about all those other foreign materials we had in our bodies--like birth control pills or rings, patches and injections--all created to stop procreation?

I think we'll be seeing new research on environmental toxins and their effect on fertility--things we ingest in our food and water--for both men and women.

It's not the money, it's the mind. Since the 70s we were brainwashed to think of people as a "bomb" to destroy the earth. More recently white, heterosexual males are discriminated against and made to apologize for being guys and thought of as an enemy, or whose masculinity is frail enough to be simply a thought or feeling to become whatever a trans-activist group decides. It's not good for the future or the nation. Any nation.

Representative Ayanna Pressley of the Squad

Big earrings and eyelashes congress person, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., didn't scream due process when Biden imported non-citizens to steal our voting rights, and who were also violent criminals, and she didn't warn you that you could be kidnapped and deported when Barack Obama became known as the deporter in chief.* What's up with the squad lady? She's the liar in chief, spreading fear and hatred to ignorant people.

* "Border apprehensions and removals increased in FY 2016 compared to the prior year, DHS reported. In FY 2016, DHS carried out 530,250 apprehensions and 344,354 removals, compared to 462,388 apprehensions and 333,341 removals a year earlier. Despite the increase, these numbers were far lower than the peak of enforcement operations at the beginning of the Obama years, after he inherited a robust enforcement regime from his predecessors. These numbers dipped as new enforcement priorities were put in place, before rebounding slightly at the end of the Obama presidency."

So even if playing loosey goosey with the numbers, the base of the Democrat party didn't cry "no due process" when Obama removed illegals.

Article: The Obama Record on Deportations: Deporte.. | migrationpolicy.org

Our funny Easter afternoon

We had a funny thing happen on Sunday after our Easter lunch. Our daughter had found a website for unclaimed funds in Ohio and found my name about 12 times. When I saw it was PNC bank I said I'd bought stock in a small savings and loan in our neighborhood in the 1970s, it had been sold several times, and finally was bought by PNC. The recession in 2008 happened and I started getting 10 cent dividend checks which I ignored. About 15 years ago I went to a branch of PNC and said I wanted to sell my stock, but I had to have something that verified I had owned the stock and they said they didn't have my address! Of course I'd been getting ten cent checks at my address. So, from these uncashed checks the state now owes me $2.94!  She filled out the paper work and sent it (probably took 30 minutes). Then she decided to check our deceased son Phil's name and she found one entry for Pay Pal for $10. When she filled out the claim, it was much more complicated because my husband is his beneficiary. We had to look up his SS number and the name, address, birthday and also the  marriage date and birthday of his former wife (required)! I don't keep that information lying around, so my daughter messaged his former wife. Meanwhile I found my genealogy book and I did have it, so we messaged her back saying forget the first message. Then she messaged us and we said Happy Easter! That probably took an hour. So, in a way, he was with us on Easter--the sort of humor Phil would love.

A blog is useful for checking things like this.  I found it in my blog for October 25, 2008.

"National City Corp., Ohio's biggest bank, acquired Buckeye Federal Savings and Loan of Columbus in 1991 which had a small branch in the Tremont Shopping Center close to our home. This week it agreed to be bought by PNC Financial Services Group for more than $5 billion. I had opened a savings account at Buckeye Federal because it was convenient (within walking distance). When depositors were allowed to buy stock, I did--maybe 10 shares. I think until it was bought by National City, I used my dividends to buy more stock. This was my first adventure into investing, and I know exactly where the money came from and the sad, sad story of where it has gone (subprime mortgages). My last dividend check was thirty-two cents, less than the stamp to mail it."

Scary Christian writer?

I was surprised to hear a Christian writer I respect say that Trump's first 100 days were the scariest he's experienced -- referring to tariffs and Doge (I think was his reasoning). 

Really?

 
Scarier than 9/11?

Scarier than Biden's bugout in Afghanistan?

Scarier than the enormous increase in medical costs and how we were lied to about Obamacare and Covid 19?

Scarier than 4 years of not knowing if the president could do anything more difficult than ordering his favorite ice cream?

 
Scarier than the U.S. being last place in first world countries in education despite 108% (inflation adjusted) increase in spending recently--despite we were first before the Dept. of Education was created?

 
Scarier than setting learning back 2 years for all the children in public schools and knowing they have to enter the work world and compete with China with that deficit?

 
Scarier than the huge violations of our rights during the Covid shutdown, including freedom of religion when churches were closed?

 
Scarier than mandatory vaccines and the growing increase in physical harm being revealed especially among the young?

Scarier than millions of illegals flooding our borders and at least 2 million getting social security cards so they can vote?

 
Scarier than Americans thinking USAID was about "aid" and not about agency for international development (aka foreign influence and control)?

Scarier than having Democrats create and use Lawfare to destroy the Republican candidate?

 
Scarier than knowing Democrats set Trump up for assassination because who else hated him that much and were terrified that he would uncover their crimes?

 
Scarier than what's been uncovered by Doge--payoffs to the media, grants frittering away American billions on foolish and dangerous political agendas harmful to our nation?

 
Scarier than a proxy war in Ukraine and a religious war in the Middle East?

Scarier than finding out how unfair the tariff system has been for at least 40 years and Donald Trump has been telling us that the whole time and no one listened?

Scarier than the ugly face of anti-Semitism that we see on Democrat controlled college campuses, especially the elite Ivy League 

Scarier than how the Democrat media yawned at the bombing of Jewish governor Josh Shapiro's home, but are excited about socialists AOC and Bernie fund raising? And how Democrats passed Josh Shapiro over for Tim Walz for vice president?

And I could go on, but that Christian writer needs to dig deeper. The only perfect guy with no faults rose from the dead.

Paschal lamb

Most of my adult life I've heard the word paschal at Easter, and I've read it and heard it and knew it was connected to Easter, but it didn't sound like Latin or Greek or German like many English words, so I decided to look it up this morning before we left for church (early service 8:15 at Windermere School because our building still isn't ready!).

"The word "paschal" comes from the Latin word "paschalis," which in turn comes from the Greek word "paskha," meaning "Passover." The Greek word "paskha" is derived from the Hebrew word "pesakh," which means "to pass over." "

That makes sense. It sounds like Passover and I know that word, so that will help. Still, it's a bit vague. Let's look at a different etymological entry.

paschal(adj.)

"of or pertaining to Passover or Easter," early 15c., from Old French paschal (12c.) and directly from Late Latin paschalis, from pascha "Passover, Easter," from Greek pascha "Passover," from Aramaic (Semitic) pasha "pass over," corresponding to Hebrew pesah, from pasah "he passed over" (see Passover). Pasche was an early Middle English term for "Easter" (see Easter), and the older Dutch form of the word, Paas, was retained in New York."

So now we're back to Aramaic and we've got some Dutch.  I do remember Paas being a brand name for the dye we had for coloring eggs. And a few more helpful tips from that website, etymonline.com to tie it all together and I hope I remember this next Easter. 

Passover

"annual Jewish feast instituted to commemorate the escape from Egypt, 1530, coined by Tyndale from verbal phrase pass over, to translate Hebrew ha-pesah "Passover," from pesah (see paschal), in reference to the Lord "passing over" the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he killed the first-born of the Egyptians (Exodus xii). By extension including the following seven days during which the Israelites were permitted to eat only unleavened bread.

Pasch

"Easter," also "Passover," early 12c., Pasche, Paske; see paschal. Now archaic. Pasch-egg "Easter egg" is from 1570s.

Etymology of "paschal" by etymonline

paschal etymology online, origin and meaning

I asked how long the Civil War in Sudan had been going on--two years

"On the morning of April 15, 2023, residents of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, faced the shock of fighting breaking out in their city, which rapidly spread to other parts of the country. Two years on, Sudan’s conflict, which pits the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and a multitude of armed groups and militias allied to these forces, has ravaged the country. The lives of tens of millions have been shattered, while tens of thousands of civilians have died."

  The Sudan Conflict, 2 Years On | Human Rights Watch

Sudan Two Years Later: One of the World’s Deadliest Conflicts Rages On | Amnesty International USA

Sudan's civil war has raged for two years, and the end is nowhere in sight  NBC

South Sudan: Why and when did it split from Sudan? - World History Edu