Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Racism and white privilege

Let's have a "conversation" about white privilege and racism on the Left. It's obvious that when suburban white teens are mowed down by a classmate, the left springs into action calling for more gun control. Their non-profits and think tanks even help organize the traumatized teens into a movement to march on DC (and btw, the President). Ironically, one of the organizations helping with this mobilization plan is Planned Parenthood, which has already facilitated the elimination of about 1/3 of those teens' generation and over 40% of black pregnancies! Another poke in the eye is the same organization which marched against Trump screaming for violence dressed like women's genitals was demanding more abortions.

The Left didn't organize any marches against guns during the Obama years when black teens were being killed in Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis or Detroit--maybe because those cities are all controlled by Democrats, or maybe because blacks are already pulling the D lever, so they are really looking for a fresh group of voters, and soon these kids will be 18 and voting. I'm calling out their racism and their white privilege as they all have security guards protecting their homes, businesses and government offices.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Timeline for the Parkland shooter

February 5, 2016 – The Broward County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous call reporting that the shooter had threatened on Instagram to shoot up the school.

He also posted picture of himself with guns and knives. The information was forwarded to the school deputy who didn’t follow up.

September 23, 2016 – A counselor reported to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office that the shooter had possibly attempted suicide attempt, was cutting himself, and had expressed interest in buying a gun. It was reported to his school who said they would conduct an assessment.

September 28, 2016 – Florida Department of Children and Families, who had formerly been alerted to posts on Snapchat of the shooter cutting his arms and saying he wanted to buy a gun, were called to the Cruz home to investigate a disturbance. They ruled that he was “at low risk of harming himself or others.”

September 24, 2017 – A YouTube user sent a tip to the FBI, via tips@fbi.gov, reporting that a commenter named “Nikolas Cruz,” wrote “I’m going to be a professional school shooter” on his YouTube channel. The FBI responded that they could not “positively identify” the person who posted this comment.

November 1, 2017 – A family member called the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report that the shooter had weapons and asked the police to come take them. The weapons were not collected by police.

November 30, 2017 – A caller from Massachusetts calls the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report that the shooter was collecting guns and knives and could be a “school shooter in the making.” No report was filed.

January 5, 2018 – Call to FBI tip line, a person close to the shooter reported that “has a desire to kill people” and could “conduct a school shooting.”

This tip was never passed on the local Florida FBI office.
Source: http://www.glennbeck.com/2018/02/27/glenn-breaks-down-the-parkland-shooting-timeline-this-was-a-massive-failure-of-the-system/?

Retired school security officer has protection

"Reporters who attempted to approach the West Palm Beach home of ex-Broward County Sheriff's Office Deputy Scot Peterson were reportedly met with resistance from at least six police officers who were standing guard outside." Fox News.

What if there had been 6 armed police officers protecting Parkland school kids?

To the mayor of Oakland. . .

8 U.S. Code § 1324 (a) (1) (A) (iii)
Any person who, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).
8 U.S. Code § 1324 (a) (1) (B) (ii)
A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

What are malacidins? Drugs from dirt

"Recently, NIH-funded researchers discovered a new class of antibiotics, called malacidins, by analyzing the DNA of the bacteria living in more than 2,000 soil samples, including many sent by citizen scientists living all across the United States [1]. While more work is needed before malacidins can be tried in humans, the compounds successfully killed several types of multidrug-resistant bacteria in laboratory tests. Most impressive was the ability of malacidins to wipe out methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin infections in rats. Often referred to as a “super bug,” MRSA threatens the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year [2]."

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2018/02/20/powerful-antibiotics-found-in-dirt/

http://www.drugsfromdirt.org/DrugsFromDirt/news/



Monday, February 26, 2018

When Melissa called the benefits office

The mother of my friend Melissa (I met her 13 years ago through blogging and now we're friends on Facebook) died recently. She. . .

"Called the benefits office to report my mother’s passing.

'Push 5 to report a death.

Please accept our condolences. I need to pass you on to...

Health and Wellness.' "

Shooter Nikolas Cruz himself asked for help

"Just weeks before the call to the FBI tipline, Mr. Cruz himself called 911 after a violent episode at the house where he was living. Punches had been thrown, household items broken, and he fled to a nearby park.

“I kind of got mad and I started punching walls and stuff,” Mr. Cruz told the dispatcher, his voice trembling during a 5½ minute call in late November, according to police records released this week. “The thing is I lost my mother a couple weeks ago, so like, I’m dealing with a bunch of [inaudible] right now.”"

Wall Street Journal report
https://www.redstate.com/slee/2018/02/26/parkland-failures-shooter-called-police/?

And more on the failures of the Boward County Sheriff's Department including the airport shooting in 2017.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fort-lauderdale-hollywood-airport-shooting/fl-airport-shooting-draft-reports-20170602-story.html

“Don’t do bad stuff,” Leviticus 19, God.

Leviticus 19

12

You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

13

You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not commit robbery. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your laborer.j

14

You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

15

You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.

16

You shall not go about spreading slander among your people; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

17

You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person.

18

Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Hello Fresh vs. Blue Apron vs. Home Chef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SW_545NjPQ

I don’t like her sing-songy voice (a problem with young people) and I don’t think you should stand in front of something that makes you look like you have antlers while filming, but the information is good.

She didn’t like Blue Apron, and thought Home Chef had more choices.  Just a report—doesn’t show any cooking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=9r7b2RThXbg

And this one was a TV show evaluation showing the end result for Home Chef.  Shows the  preparation with the taste test with costs. It was cheaper than going out and buying the ingredients. Six day delivery, 44 minutes to prepare.

And now add in Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kFHh9CWYk

Amazon got in on this fad a little late, but this clip features Amazon (only in Seattle at that time) comparing Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.  Amazon’s package was for 2—others for 4.  Amazon was better for speed and not so much chopping, but I thought they said Blue Apron had best flavor—probably more fresh since it required more prep. But all were rated good by the family panel. Prices were comparable, but with Amazon you had to be a member and if less than $40, you paid a delivery charge.

I know someone who has tried the Martha Stewart plan, and has been very happy with it. We eat a lot of left overs—I assume most plans would have a little something for lunch the next day since our portions are usually smaller.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Chatting about spelling on the treadmill

I took "How to teach English spelling" with me to the gym today and walked slowly enough on the treadmill so I could read the first chapter. Also chatted with the people on either side of me and asked them how they learned to read and spell--phonics or "look and say" (whole word) method. The man on my left (maybe 80s) grew up in North Dakota and said he'd learned phonics and cursive. The woman on my right was maybe 15 years younger than me, and had learned whole word, but admitted to being a poor reader all through school (private schools, plus finished college) until learning a method (which I'd never heard of) when she began teaching learning disabled kids. She observed that was a "burn out" career, and after 16 years moved to guidance counseling.

My parents moved to Forreston, IL when I was in first grade, so I had phonics and my older siblings learned whole word in Mt. Morris, IL. Phonics was going out, so I suppose Mt. Morris was more progressive. So that shift was already taking place in the 1940s and it's still debated today. Reading through a history of reading instruction shows the debate going back to the 1700s.

(Talking and walking definitely increases the heart rate, no argument there.)

Fulford, the author, says about 50% of English words are spelled the way they sound--are phonemic. The other 50% are weird, but there are rules we can learn. Since I don't know most of the rules, I've memorized them over the years or at least knew when it didn't look right and looked them up.

He has his opinions-- "English has too many silent letters" like debt, island and pneumonia and too many "old Germanic spellings" like cough, through and laugh that should have been abandoned many years ago. Texting is probably taking care of that.

Lori says she learned phonics and SRA, so I had to look that up.  A box of cards with reading selections arranged by color and difficulty.  She swear by it. http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/19/sra   Sue says,  “I learned phonics. It was reinforced with specific lessons on the “trick” words. I remember the spelling lessons where we wrote each word a few times. The words were reinforced by using them in the proper context in sentences. I love phonics.”

The author, in the first chapter, further notes, "Small children will print the words, but older students should write them in cursive. While the youngest children enjoy writing, the older students are not so enthusiastic. The main reason for this is that many of them cannot write. That is, they cannot write cursive. The print each letter slowly and individually in an ugly mixture of lower and uppercase letters. Cursive, sometimes called longhand or roundhand, was introduced during the 17th century to make it possible to write much faster than printing."

(John J. Fulford, How to teach English spelling, Astoria Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0-9963799-2-2)

Friday, February 23, 2018

Kalanga Bible ready to be issued

Today I was reading the Lutheran Bible Translator's Messenger newsletter. The Kalanga (Botswana) full Bible is just about ready--finalizing notes, glossary and undergoing final checks. Kalanga is spoken by about 500,000 people in southwestern Zimbabwe, 150,000 people in northeastern Botswana, and a smaller number in the diaspora. Dialects include: Lilima (Botswana), Nyai, and Kalanga of the Plumtree area. Having God's word in your own heart language is very important, but first someone had to tell them about Jesus. That's what Jesus told his disciples--they didn't have a Bible, and Jesus never mentioned it. You can witness even without putting a Bible in someone's hand or trying to translate into the language of your neighbor.

https://lbt.org/our-work/the-translation-process/

They still can’t accept the election results

Of all the names you hear in connection with the Parkland shooting--Trump bears no responsibility, in fact within the last few weeks he's been called Hitler and crazy, and now there are demands he become a dictator. Yet Democrats are trying one more thing to bring him down--brand him with this school shooting by organizing hate groups of children. GW Bush was President in 1999 (Columbine) and Obama in 2009 (Ft. Hood), 2012 (Sandy Hook), in 2015 (Dylann Roof killing members of a church group),  2016 (Pulse Nightclub), in 2016 (San Bernadino massacre). Those presidents sprinkled no fairy dust, made no federal changes in laws, nor did the left expect them to. And the left didn't organize a march to the White House when a man who slipped through all the laws and protections already in place, shot up a church recently. The only difference is the hatred for Trump. Just one more effort to undo the election of 2016.

http://bucksexton.com/liberal-disgrace-media-turning-gun-control-into-part-of-anti-trump-resistance/

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Violence on TV

I don't watch a lot of TV--my tolerance for violence and inane "journalists" is low. However, I can hear from the living room, reruns of “Law and Order” tonight, which begins every show with formulaic laughter/fun chatter then horror as the shooting starts or the body is discovered in the park, and for years our favorite series was “The Closer.” (I almost never watched “Major Crimes,” which was a spin off the “The Closer.”) Just those two shows exposed us to hundreds of violent deaths, crooked cops, greedy CEOs, philandering husbands and evil religious people. It's enough to make you look forward to the weight loss commercials. And if millions are spent on 3 minute commercials because they influence the public, then doesn't millions spent on 20 minutes of violence achieve the same influence?

Tolerating violence


Wednesday, February 21, 2018

How to teach English spelling, a review

I used to think that if you learned a few rules for the exceptions, and memorized a few words that made no sense at all, English spelling wasn't that outlandish. Then I received this book to review. The author has 52 rules and 151 lists. And by my count some of the rules have sub-rules, like rule 20 for the suffix pronounced SHUN: tion, sion, ssion, tian, cian, cion, shion, xion, sian and cean. Because my computer often corrects me, I think my spelling has become impaired. I may be looking for a teacher who will give this one a good home after I finish it.

Spelling  

John J. Fulford, How to teach English spelling, Astoria Press, 2018.  ISBN 978-09963799-2-2, 125 p. PB, $15.95

He also has a title, “The complete guide to English spelling rules” 2012.

Fulford has lived and worked in several countries and has spent his life researching and perfecting English spelling rules while he taught grades K-12 through college, adult ed and ESL.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Who spends more in lobbying, NRA or Planned Parenthood?

"NRA has contributed $4.2 million to current members of Congress since 1998. But Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest #abortion seller and recipient of half a BILLION dollars in taxpayer funding every year, spent $38 million on the 2016 election alone.” (DAILY CALLER)

Although I think these numbers are a bit squishy (NRA has spent more than that if you count ALL members of Congress since 1998, not just current) and Planned Parenthood has spent more if you count all the organizations and state campaigns (and it makes money selling fetal body parts). But even the left of the left HuffPo says $30 million in 2016 campaign to fight Trump. The end result, NRA spends a fraction on lobbying that PP does, and has never killed any one. Yet Planned Parenthood has killed millions and left broken, damaged women in its wake and launders our tax money to give to Democrats' campaigns.

Good-bye microbes

I’ve dropped the on-line class from Coursera, Gut Microbiome.  It was just sort of creepy, although very interesting.  I’d finished the first week’s video lectures and outside readings and assignment, and aced the first quiz.  I learned a lot even then, but thinking about 100 trillion microbes and all the medical problems they help and hinder was just not a peaceful way to live.

The What Ifs of the Florida school shooting

There are a lot of "what ifs" in the Plantland high school shooting. What if the shooter had been black--people would said he was responding to racism. Blame Trump. What if the shooter had been Muslim--people would have said he was responding to anti-Islamic hate. Blame Trump. What if he'd been LGBTQ--people would have said he was bullied. Blame Trump. What if there had been no "gun free zone" and the school guards had been armed and changing their route every day? Perhaps no shooting, or authorities could have been called before the fact. Tiny mention on news.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Settle in for a great movie, Door to Door

There's just nothing like being from a small town. Someone on Facebook asked: "Does anyone who lives or lived in Mt. Morris remember who the Fuller Brush Man was that came to town once a month?" I hadn't thought of him in years, but remember his coming to the house.

Do you remember the movie, Door to Door, starring William Macy? He was a Watkins salesman, not Fuller Brush, but really a great movie of persistence and love. I didn't remember his assistant was Kyra Sedgwick. http://www.thecityreview.com/door2door.html  If you need something to watch these long winter evenings, “that’s your ticket.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/us/bill-porter-an-exceptional-salesman-who-inspired-a-film-dies-at-81.html

Finger pointing

According to Washington Post: "The [FL social services] investigation [in Sept. 2016] detailed several unnerving behaviors from Cruz, including that he had cut his arms on Snapchat, had a Nazi symbol and a racial epithet on his backpack and intended to purchase a gun for unknown reasons, according to a Florida Department of Children and Families report obtained by The Washington Post. Ultimately, the investigation was closed in November 2016, just months before Cruz bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle that police say he would later use in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla."

The investigation, which disclosed a poor relationship with his mother, his girlfriend and other erratic behavior, was closed a year before his mother died. I believe I read somewhere she was 68--old enough to be his great grandmother and his father was deceased. He was never on welfare, or in foster care. He had been diagnosed with mental illness and was on medication for depression. His mental health deterioration appeared to worse after he was an adult, and that's when DCF services end.

Lots of finger pointing, state services, county services, FBI, NRA, DCF, the school, his mother, the Snead family who took him in when he was orphaned, "social" media which promotes anti-social, criminal behavior, the gun seller, and the lax Florida gun laws. I'm supposing any confidential records of his mental health will be leaked.

I think we all know the proposed march in March will be just one more anti-Trump vehicle for the left to express its rage that Trump is our President. There were so many laws broken or ignored both by the assailant and the government at 3 levels, it's hard to see how one more or 10 more could have prevented this or something like it.

The breaking point

“Poll reveals Americans are hitting their breaking point on the environment” screamed the headline from a librarian source, beSpacific. EEK! How awful!! A breaking point!

Of course, going to the source, Gallup poll, you see it is a 2% higher dissatisfaction than when George Bush was in office, (sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level) and the change from 2016 is among Democrats. Nothing has changed for Republicans' view of the environment in 18 years. The survey was to be about quality of the environment, and nothing has changed except Trump’s policies, which are to free business from Obama’s strangle hold executive order regulations.

Everything President Trump has done is being fought by Democrats in an organized resistance aided by our media, including what he has done for the economy (crumbs) and security (racist). And we all know he was responsible for the hurricanes and fires of 2017—which were reflected in the dissatisfaction poll. He’s that powerful!

The renewed campaign against President Trump

It’s interesting to see how the anti-Trump media spins the new Russia report. "See, it's not a hoax" they clap and jump up and down. All while knowing the witch hunt and hoax was always about the Russia, Russia, Russia scheme to claim Trump stole the election from Clinton. There is no evidence that even one vote was changed, or that Trump was anyway involved, or ANY American, and the report vindicates him completely.

The Obama administration knew about Russia's attempts and did nothing to protect our election system—except toss out a few sanctions and point fingers just in case their chosen candidate didn't win. Blame Trump, of course, for her lame campaign. That was known in 2014 long before the report and only as she fumbled did the O-team take notice. Meanwhile, the Democrats fought every measure to insure clean elections by stonewalling proven methods to protect us from our homegrown criminals who try to steal elections.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/14/obama-russia-election-interference-241547

Saturday, February 17, 2018

The report on the Russians and the election

Russians election

"With their paid, activist-trained protesters at virtually all Republican townhalls, the violence these resistance PACs foment on our university campuses, their Soros-funded protest marches, their almost venal pro-abortion litmus test, their blatant hypocrisy re: the firing of Comey, the media and the Democrats may think they are winning over all those ignorant Trump supporters. But they are not. They are demonstrating for all to see just how elitist they are, how dismissive they are of those of us who voted for him, and how disparaging they are of the US Constitution. They are confirming that they value illegal immigrants over citizens, Muslims over Christians, criminals over law-abiding persons. They support calculated gender confusion, speech codes, the tyranny of political correctness, and the construction of victim groups. All humans, with the exception of heterosexual white males, are victims of oppression of one kind or another. The left revels in pitting people against each other.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/05/the_mediademocratic_party_suicide_pact.html

Friday, February 16, 2018

Instead of fake news, we have truth decay

Defining Truth Decay

Heightened disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of data
There have always been differences of opinion within the American electorate. But disagreements about objective facts and topics for which data are reasonably definitive have become increasingly common. Examples include the benefits of vaccines and the safety of genetically modified foods.
The Blurred Line Between Opinion and Fact
Changes in media content and the media business model have contributed to the jumbling of fact, fiction, and opinion. Examples include journalistic content that fails to distinguish between opinion and fact, news programs that rely on commentary rather than factual reporting without clearly labelling them, and social media platforms that allow anyone to become a source of information.
Increased Volume and Influence of Opinion and Personal Experience Across the Communications Landscape
The growth in the volume of subjective content relative to factual information increases the likelihood that audiences will encounter speculation or downright falsehoods. That makes it more difficult to identify key pieces of factual information.
Diminished Trust in Formerly Respected Institutions as Sources of Factual Information
Polling data from across the country show a significant drop, and continuing decline, in public trust in such institutions as the government and the media. Amid confusion about what is fact and what is falsehood, where people should turn for objective, factual information also becomes unclear.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10002.html

Paula on blaming the NRA for Florida shootings


February 16th – The least surprising headline of the week comes from the Daily Caller: “Leftists Blame NRA For Florida School Shooting” And naturally they blame Trump too. Here are some possible reasons these leftists will never mention:

1) LA Daily News 2017: “Is this the most violent movie year in history?”

2) Reuters 2017: “Social media linked to feelings of isolation in real life”

3) CBS DC 2014: “Psychologist: YouTube Has Become Tutorial For Kids On How To Act Violent”

4) US News 2015: “Overprescribing and Underperforming” Subtitle: “Mental health care for youth in the U.S. relies too heavily on antipsychotics and too little on comprehensive treatment.”

5) Foundation for Economic Education 2018: “Fatherless Families Are Far Too Common.”

6) The Atlantic 2017: “America’s Empty-Church Problem.”

So who’s responsible for Nikolas Cruz? Not us says Hollywood, social media billionaires, YouTube, medical professionals or a pop culture that for decades has mocked traditional values. Simple-minded leftists love blaming imaginary villains to avoid blaming themselves! Paula Priesse

Thursday, February 15, 2018

The homework assignment #1

Based on what you already know about the human gut microbiota, what do you think are the most important factors influencing a person’s gut microbes? These factors can be anything from lifestyle factors to health status. List three factors and explain (in three sentences or fewer for each) why you think each might affect gut microbes.

The human body is like an ecosystem with many distinct habitats for microbes.  The mouth, nose, lungs, skin, vagina, and gut all have unique microbiota, with the gut being  the center of most of the microbial activity in the body and thus the research.  Three very early factors influence the gut microbiota of an individual over time.

First, in a newborn baby the microbiota are less distinct. As she grows her microbial communities begin to develop, the results depending on whether her birth was vaginal or c-section.  Obviously, from the beginning of time, the most common source of  human microbiota in a newborn was the birth canal of our mothers.  With surgical intervention the theory is that a child is exposed to the mother’s skin microbes instead of vaginal microbes, the genus lactobacillus, important for human health. C-section babies appear to have more diseases like asthma and allergies.

Second, after about 2.5 years, the baby’s gut microbial community should be like a healthy adult, but it has already been influenced by microbes on the parents’ skin, breast milk from her mother or formula from a cow or plant based, and choice of solid foods some of which may be processed.

Third, the child’s microbiota develop within a particular culture--perhaps Finland or Haiti--which includes both home environment and medical care. The home may expose her to animals, siblings, dust and dirt, exposure to rural or city air quality, travel, day care and the neighbor’s kids who will do their share of exchanging microbes.  If the child grows up in the U.S. or other developed nations she will receive  medical care which may include vaccines, antibiotics and nutritional supplements depending on the culture.  This can either assist or disrupt a healthy microbiota.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Finally, immigration is being debated by those charged with the job in the Constitution

Thanks to President Trump, Senators are debating immigration this week in a way the Senate was intended to function—with open debate and amendments and not by executive order. (WSJ paraphrase)

Obama said many times that he by law wasn't allowed to do what he did, but he did it. "Responding in October 2010 to demands that he implement immigration reforms unilaterally, Obama declared, "I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself." In March 2011, he said that with "respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case." In May 2011, he acknowledged that he couldn't "just bypass Congress and change the (immigration) law myself. ... That's not how a democracy works."

Yet in 2012, he did it anyway. He put DACA in place to provide pseudo-legal status to illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as minors, including as teenagers. He promised them that they wouldn't be deported and provided them with work authorizations and access to Social Security and other government benefits."

https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/daca-unconstitutional-obama-admitted

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

It has worked beautifully

The Russians realized in 2015-16 “that a disinformation campaign could raise the specter of collusion with either party, which would then weaken the presidency no matter which candidate won.”

The Democratic National Committee, through the research firm Fusion GPS, financed the efforts of British spy Christopher Steele to create a phony dossier on candidate Trump.

Then there is the Nunes memo, the Grassly-Graham letter, and strange  rulings of the FISA court and fingers seem to point at former President Obama’s administration.

https://www.hoover.org/research/steele-dossier-intrigue

Monday, February 12, 2018

BibleOpoly

We had lunch at our friends' home yesterday and then we divided into teams and played BibleOpoly. Lots of fun and laughter, as we paid rent, took offerings, went to purgatory/meditation, the abyss, passed Go, bought property in Tyre and Corinth, while we bought materials to build our churches.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bibleopoly-Board-Game/11035061

What do Democrats stand for?

Now the Democrats are going to fight infrastructure improvements just as they've stonewalled tax cuts, support for the military, and shot down the DACA solutions--just because they weren't their idea. The bumper sticker creators for the 2018 elections will have a lot of material.

"For too long, lawmakers have invested in infrastructure inefficiently, ignored critical needs, and allowed it to deteriorate. As a result, the United States has fallen further and further behind other countries," Trump's message read. "It is time to give Americans the working, modern infrastructure they deserve."

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/11/news/economy/trump-infrastructure-plan-details/index.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-trump-infrastucture-illinois-20180212-story.html

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/02/11/schumer-trump-infrastructure-plan/

Saturday, February 10, 2018

What if Rob Porter were a woman?

The latest hype in the media about a White House secretary reminds me of all the security clearance problems Bill Clinton had because he was using his wife's suggestions. I tried to check Google, but the algorithms are all set to show me only left leaning sources like Vox, WaPo, New York Times, etc. on Porter. Oh, the outrage. Now if Rob Porter (who denies the claims) were a female staff member who abused her ex-husbands, we'd never hear about it.

Most abused men don't report it--either police won't believe them, or they don't want to be exposed as a wimp, but it's not uncommon. Also abuse among LGBTQ is very high, but not discussed in the media. "The National Violence Against Women (NVAW) survey found that 21.5% of men and 35.4% of women reporting a history of cohabitation with a same-sex partner had experienced physical abuse in their lifetimes; the corresponding rates for men and women with a history of only opposite-sex cohabitation were 7.1% and 20.4%, respectively." Journal of General Internal Medicine, Aug. 2011.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2018/02/07/white-house-staff-secretary-rob-porter-resigns-after-allegations-of-spousal-abuse/

Thursday, February 08, 2018

Letter to my statistics professor

You are in Cape Town, and I’m in Columbus, Ohio.  Through the miracle of on-line learning and MOOC, I am in week 6 of your Coursera offering on Understanding Medical Research, in which you often stress the importance of statistics, choosing the right tests, and having access to the original data. I'm definitely a statistical outlier among your students--I'm 78 and retired in 2000, and have had no math since 1955. And although this class doesn't demand a heavy background in math, I even had to review fractions, percent, and square root!

So, in the Nov. 28, 2017 JAMA there is an article, "Adherence to Methodological Standards in Research Using the National Inpatient Sample," that caught my eye, and impressed upon me everything you've been teaching us. I was surprised to read that of 120 articles (the sample) of the 1082 (the population) published in a 2 year period using data from 35 million hospitalizations in the U.S., 85% did not adhere to 1 or more required practices of the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), and 62% did not adhere to 2 or more required practices. A total of 79 of the 120 in the sample (68.3%) did not account for sampling error, clustering, and stratification; 62 (54.4%) extrapolated non-specific secondary diagnoses to infer in-hospital events, and so forth.
So I began linking the people involved; not only did the researchers get it wrong, the peer reviewers missed the errors, as did the editors of the medical journals (some with a high impact factor). The articles with incorrect statistical information were used to get promotion and tenure at universities.  Possibly policies and regulations for hospitals may result from some of these published articles with careless statistics, or, a "medical journalist" will attempt to translate the results for a layman, and it will be reported in the media.

In the U.S. we have been subjected to a horribly expensive electronic medical records law which all physicians and hospitals had to incorporate (I think it began around 2010).  There was no evidence this would improve medical care, but it was apparently "needed" so researchers had more data to mine.  I still have to ask for my medical visits from Dr. A to Dr. B, two miles apart, to be faxed because these systems don't talk to each other. Now with all this data ready to be mined, someone will mess up the statistics!

So, Dr. Juan Klopper, you are definitely needed, and will never run out of things to talk about.

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

What a parent likes to hear, Thank You.

From Michael Smith:

"My youngest son is 29. He called me last night to thank his mother and me.

When I asked him why, he told me that he and a couple of work friends were talking about the Spacex Falcon Heavy launch test yesterday and he had to explain to one of the friends - a 25 year old college graduate - that the rocket was not electrically powered.

My son was aghast at how a person could go through 4 years of college, get a degree in accounting, hold down a job for nearly three years and still have absolutely no concept of basic physical science. His friend believed the rocket had Tesla batteries in it. How that could create thrust, she couldn't explain - but she was really happy it was environmentally safe. His friend was totally blown away when it was explained to her the rocket was not battery powered but burned a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene to create thrust.

When I asked him why he was thanking us, he said "Because you and mom would never have allowed me to be that stupid."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy  I don't usually cite Wikipedia, but this one looks pretty thorough, and I don't know enough about Falcon Heavy to even do the research.  But I do like it when kids say Thank You to their parents--even if they are almost 30.

Tuesday, February 06, 2018

We have had voter fraud for years

Democrats scoffed at the dead being registered to vote, or 35 people with addresses for an empty parking lot, or students voting both in the town of their college and their parents' town, or illegal immigrants lining up to vote because who will stop them but a racist, or God forbid, having ID to vote. Yet even with tons of evidence of home grown voter fraud, most of which is their own, they have a fantasy that Russian hackers can get into voting machines run by 50 states and change votes. They [Clinton campaign + Obama administration] can use the FBI to go after Carter Page who was paid to give speeches in Russia when the US and Russia relations were fine. Yet Democrats defend the Clintons who took millions from foreign influences, including the Russians. It looks like Democrats want to bring down the government.

Monday, February 05, 2018

The faith of millennials exceeds boomers

"Many so-called mainline denominations are collapsing — but these almost invariably are those that have tried to “keep up with the spirit of the age” rather than with the Holy Spirit. Quoting one sociologist: “When the so-called progressive churches question the historicity of Jesus, deny the reality of sin, support abortion, ordain clergy in same-sex relationships and perform their marriages, people desiring real Christianity head elsewhere.”" Fr. George Rutler https://www.lifezette.com/faithzette/young-people-religious-worship-far-happier/

What has become of Donna Brazile?

So what ever happened to Donna Brazile?  Is she in witness protection?  Still alive?  Her tell all article was a bombshell—remember?  Clintons don’t forgive. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774

"President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. . . left the party $24 million in debt—$15 million in bank debt and more than $8 million owed to vendors after the 2012 campaign—and had been paying that off very slowly."

"[Wasserman Shultz]  told us about the hacking only minutes before the Washington Post broke the news."
 
“Wait,” I said. “That victory fund was supposed to be for whoever was the nominee, and the state party races. You’re telling me that Hillary has been controlling it since before she got the nomination?”

"Right around the time of the convention, the leaked emails revealed Hillary’s campaign was grabbing money from the state parties for its own purposes, leaving the states with very little to support down-ballot races."

"I had to be frank with him [Bernie]. I did not trust the polls, I said. I told him I had visited states around the country and I found a lack of enthusiasm for her everywhere. I was concerned about the Obama coalition and about millennials."

Saturday, February 03, 2018

Summary of the Memo


Comey, FISA, Spying on Trump


Even the most loyal Clintonista and Democrat know these facts, even if they claim the memo helps Putin.

1. The FISA warrant was obtained using the dossier.
2. The dossier was "opposition research" paid for by the Clinton campaign.
3. The warrant was used to spy on Trump, a private citizen.

You can fret over the role of Comey, McCabe, Rosenstein, Ohr and his wife, or Stzrok and his lover, the various media who received leaks and reported them as fact, or President Obama all you want, and deny, deny, deny, but the facts which have been known for months will smack you in the face.

"We told you so! Mueller's toast. Nunes is a hero and Trump . . . well, he's a genius. What a grand day for liberty-loving patriots and a dour day for the fetid and olid Deep State. Bwahahahahaha!" Lionel Nation.  Yes, I had to look up "olid." He's a word master. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doOztgjJBdY

He began as a Trump critic, but has come around.

https://spectator.org/obamagate-confirmed/

Sonja Ness comments: "So priceless that Obama led the MSM in a cry of Trump is basically insane for claiming he was wiretapped a year ago...and all the sheep believed it, while the folks with their eyes wide open, were branded conspiracy theorists. All the hate we have seen in this last year is all based on a created, hate filled narrative bought and paid for by Hillary and Co...again, mind reeling. Go ahead and give it the old Google to refresh your memory on how Trump was absolutely ripped apart and had “baseless claims” for the wiretapping...I don't know about you all, but I am absolutely pissed, disgusted and angry at this absolute corruption, we the people have been lied to and not only that played like a fiddle by those in high places...let that sink in."

Friday, February 02, 2018

Name calling and pejoratives--convenient but not accurate

Not sure where the charges of racism against Trump come from. It's the classic middle school bullying technique. Your mom wears combat boots.  That’s not exactly right.  I do know. It's the leftists' favorite word to stop all discussion and they hate him so it is used constantly.

Islam is a religion trusted by millions of all ethnicities and races, yet when he tries to stop terrorism, he's a racist Nazi using dog whistle words. MS-13 preys on immigrant neighborhoods both for victims and members, yet the MSM talking heads call that a code word for his racism. They think the MS-13 gangs only exist in the mind of Fox News, probably because they don't live in those neighborhoods and have doormen and security guards. The "Hispanics" I see on TV or who are politicians are whiter than I am, and obviously have gotten to the top of their game through persistent "shadeism" in their or their parents' homeland.

We all know immigrants built this country because whether they arrived in 1600s from Europe, 2005 from Ghana or 15,000 BC across a land bridge from Asia covered by rising water when glaciers melted (global warming)--we all came from somewhere, including Trump's own mother. The left refuses to distinguish between the concept that some immigrants come to the U.S. legally and some don't. They use a very broad brush and only glorify those who broke the law. More votes that way.

Thursday, February 01, 2018

Crumbs for Deplorables begins today

Wouldn't that make a nice bumper sticker for mid-term elections?

The Treasury Department estimates that 90% of individual taxpayers will see an increase in their take-home pay according to USAToday.

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the new tax law a “scam” that “does violence to the vision of our Founders.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the day the tax bill passed “one of the darkest black-letter days in the long history of [the] Senate,” and said the bill was designed to stuff “money into the pockets of the wealthy and the biggest corporations.”

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 begins today decreasing taxes. One man on Facebook said his weekly paycheck was $185 more.  But that's just crumbs according to Fancy Nancy who is a millionaire.

Note to Maxine: Your president paved the way for Trump

If President Obama had done in 2009 what President Trump did in 2017, cut regulations and taxes, instead of dumping that ARRA money on his friends who got him elected, he too could have had a legacy. But it was never in his ideology or mind set to let the economy free. He took over 1/5 of the economy, spiked student loans, and was lukewarm on energy independence. Fracking, ironically, saved his butt.

https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/fracking-boom-masks-obamas-horrifying-economic-numbers

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-12-02/us-sees-historic-jump-in-health-cares-share-of-the-economy

Strangling regulations and total state control were all he had been taught by his socialist mentors, professors and fellow travelers, all he understood. He could have invited American companies to come home. But no. Punish, divide, and choke off initiative. Apologize and whine, beat down the people for the sins of others. Eventually the people ignored him and scrambled out of his regulation built ditch, little thanks to him. They knew in their hearts they were better than his vision for America.