Monday, November 30, 2020

The future of our country, musings and opinions

Evi Kokalari, an Albanian immigrant, writes: "When I immigrated to America, I had faith for the first time that my vote would actually count; that when I cast my ballot, I was taking part in a sacred and meaningful process. In light of what has transpired over the past few weeks, however, that faith has waned. What is unfurling in America today has been going on in Albania for decades, and I fear for the future of our democracy."

Evi, I feel much the same. In 2016 with Democrats and crazy pink hat ladies ranting about a "stolen election" I knew they just didn't understand the electoral college and what our founders intended. In 2020, I know it was stolen in the middle of the night with massive fraud, and we're no better than any of those other banana republics we've sneered at.

Combine the election fraud with the failure of our churches to stand up to the government, and I really feel we’re living in a remote jungle in a foreign land.

Don’t look for good information from educators, musings and opinions

"Education Week--Teacher" on-line features a story on "disinformation" and how teachers can combat it, but the company expert put a photo of President Trump, not an MSNBC or CNN anchor with the lead. Really? I read through it, and it equated some ridiculous minor conspiracy stories or right wing blogs (some of which I think are actually middle road) as evidence, and didn't mention that for four years, the main stream media which is how most Americans get their information has been non-stop, anti-Trump. Worthless piece of junk, yet this is what teachers in public schools are reading. And no, I won't give you the link. If you want disinformation, you don't need to go far. Look for the union label. But the author promotes "anti-racism" curricula, so there's a clue (things never get better they only get worse theme). That's like asking for a reading list on Jews from Hitler's Department of Education in the 1940s.

Enjoying summer's bounty

 For breakfast this morning I had 2 biscuits warmed up (left over from dinner a few days ago) with tart cherry jam.  My daughter has found a summer farmer's market on the east side whose produce she buys in bulk in the summer.  She bought gallons of tart Michigan sour cherries this summer and processed them into jam.  And we're now enjoying it.  She also bought baskets of cukes and using my Mother's recipe for bread and butter pickles and dill pickles, we've had some of that for holiday meals.  She also bought a lot of corn on the cob and wax beans and processed those for the freezer.  Bob hates corn, but the rest of us really enjoyed a taste of summer at Thanksgiving--tasted like we'd just walked into the field and pulled a few ears off the stalk. She sent some home with me after Saturday dinner, and I enjoyed it for Sunday breakfast. I'd often talked about how wonderful watermelon pickles are (the only produce I've ever canned, and that was 1957), so she found a recipe in my Mother's file box, and made them this past summer using tiny little flower shapes.  She also makes cherry pies with highly decorative crusts. The apple butter is scrumptious but perhaps fewer spices next time, she says.  She's considerably added to her costs by then packaging the jars and Fed-exing them to relatives. She often calls her cousin Amy for advice about mom's recipes if she thinks something doesn't sound right, so I know she got some, and her cousin Joan in Indiana who has been so helpful to us this past year.  I believe her sisters-in-law in Colorado and Kansas benefited from her generosity, and of course we did too. 

Thanksgiving dinner


Joe Biden’s firsts, Musings and Opinions

I'm looking forward to the time when panting news mavens don't announce "first woman" to do something for Joe Biden. First woman to be appointed secretary of. . . First woman of color to be advisor of . . . First woman of color who is trans who is appointed judge of . . . First woman who has had 5 abortions appointed ambassador to . . . First woman veteran who is native American and lesbian who heads the VA . . . This will go on the entire Biden administration while his own party says there is no difference between men and women and it's sexist and transphobic to even suggest God had a plan. Meanwhile, the media ignored all the women in the Trump administration in important roles.

Trump's staff was almost half female--greater than the figure for employed women in America.

Forty-eight percent of the overall White House staff are women: 216 to 234 men.

Three hundred fifteen are political appointees: 169 men, 146 women.

The staff of the president and first lady is 48% women: 181 women, 194 men.

The vice president has 26 female staffers and 40 men.

The vice president’s wife, Karen Pence, employs nine women, no men.

Half of the national security council staff are women.

But the media slobber over Joe Biden, who has been known to slobber over women.

Michelle Obama’s legacy, musings and opinions

Despite her belief that America is a racist country, Michelle Obama has been voted the most admired woman. That's gratitude for you. I remember that Lady Bird had her beautification project of public spaces, and Nancy Reagan was fighting drugs, and Laura Bush was pushing libraries and museums, and Hillary Clinton tried to take over health care (Hillary Care), and Rosalyn Carter worked on behalf of mental health and poor children, but I'm trying to remember what Mrs. Obama was known for that put her on the cover of so many fashion magazines. Was it obesity in children? Is her legacy all those school lunches that were thrown in the trash?

Sunday, November 29, 2020

The Small Christian Community (SCC) in India

This morning I watched a program on EWTN called, “Where God Weeps,” which focuses each week on a different part of the world where God is working to grow the church. Where God Weeps – A weekly catholic TV programm  I’m not sure when the program I watched today was recorded, but it was an interview of Sister Christin Joseph of India. 

She described traveling into the interior mountainous jungle to reach a group of Christians who had been attacked and dispossessed of their homes and churches in 2008, and also more recently. A Hindu politician had been assassinated, and the Christians were blamed, so their neighbors (all Hindus) had turned against them and stood by as the followers of that leader destroyed their homes. These people were already of the lowest caste, yet as Christians, there is no caste system for them.  Each one is equal.

She described terrible deprivation such as several thousand people using 10 toilets, and the horrible sanitation in the camp.  Also, her religious order/church had contributed a tent which was housing 23 families with hardly room to sit down. But she found her own faith strengthened by their faith and refusal to reject Christ as demanded by the Hindus.  They didn't ask her for anything like food or clothing, only that she go back and tell other Christians about the importance of taking care of their own neighborhood churches and to pray from them.  “Stand by us,” and “Pray for us,” is what she heard.

She then went on to describe for the host the SCC, Small Christian Community movement (now world wide having been started about 40 years ago).  These are house churches which care for the neighborhood and use a leadership style called “servant leaders.”  The foundational unit is called BEC, Basic Ecclesial Community, and that begins in the home.  I found a YouTube channel that Sr. Christin Joseph uses to do training sessions for the leaders of these small communities. It sounds very much like our UALC SALT groups, Sharing and Learning Together (or Serving and Living Together) Ours (10 people, 9 in the Columbus area and one in Florida) is currently meeting on Zoom, but from her videos listed here (both of which deal with being church in the time of Covid) her groups are meeting in person and using video material for instruction.

Here are two of her training videos.  The sound isn’t the best quality, and sometimes they are English with Hindi subtitles, and sometime Hindi with English subtitles. She finds YouTube film to use.

https://youtu.be/EdBTeVWKN_w  Life after the pandemic; the neighborhood church

https://youtu.be/lPbPCPVarjA  Church on the move.  What is a BEC? How do these communities work during the pandemic?

A few years ago, our SALT group used Rod Dreher’s "Benedict Option" on intentional communities for the post-modern church, and he has a new book "Live not by Lies" which addresses a culture that actually attacks the Christian.  Might be useful for understanding what the lowest caste in India is going through.

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Biden’s moves, musings and opinions

If Biden is president, his first gift to China will be some version of AOC's Green New Deal, which will lock down and hold back our economy and depress wages. This will give China a huge boost, since the rules don't apply to them. His second gift to China will be to weaken our military. His third gift to China will be to play blind to the religious persecution of Christians and Muslims, especially in Hong Kong. What's your vote for #4?

Catholic student jailed in Hong Kong for pro-democracy protest (catholicnewsagency.com)

Trump signed a law to punish China for its oppression of the Uighur Muslims. Uighurs say much more needs to be done. (msn.com)

China’s Military Provokes Its Neighbors, but the Message Is for the United States - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Save us from the experts, musings and opinions

Nicholas Christakis is making the rounds of talk shows, twitter, Facebook, academic papers, etc. and says our leaders (aka Trump) weren't taking the right actions to fight Covid19. Of course, he would have no book if everything had been done right. Yet, he admits, he knew nothing till the end of January (it's his field) then became alarmed when China confined/locked down Wuhan. Now he's saying the president didn't do enough. (Perhaps he has his time taken up by the Democrats three year campaign to undo the 2016 election?)  He acted on January 30 to close air traffic and began working with private industry to get supplies out. But being an academic, Christakis is a progressive--they are always smarter than the people who get elected, right? I guess he was listening to the main stream media that nothing was done. But these same critics, poo-poo Trump's accomplishments in getting a 16 year process reduce to 9 months for a vaccine and some governors have instilled fear about them.

Musings and opinions

A former in-law writes: “The Hunt Club tavern is still packing them in at its small location. I get pissed every time we go by it.”

Yes, it’s too bad when people can still go to bars, but not to church. However, this whole lockdown would have made more sense if it involved keeping people our age at home—we are the people with age, heart conditions, lung problems, obesity, diabetes, etc. If you were out and about, I hope there was a good reason, and that no one could have done that errand for you.

The good news is that although cases are on the increase, the fatalities are below 1%, which means that those getting Covid now are much better off with the newer treatments and more knowledge that those who got it in March and April. Our president has been successful and cut about 15 years off the approval schedule for a new drug that should be delivered to health care workers in early December. We will still have people who fear vaccines, but hopefully we’ll have more herd immunity besides that which we’ve developed through the spread of the disease. 95-99% success for a vaccine is unheard of. Let’s see if it works that well on the general public. Every media outlet will announce every side effect, or death with anxious faces and whispers, when they never paid attention to flu deaths, or shingles side effects, or falls among the elderly. They may even demand on Twitterverse that immunizations stop until NO ONE has any side effects, although if Biden takes office in January, those alarm bells will stop so the end of the pandemic can be attributed to him.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Alzheimer’s Disease Hot Spots

If you see this link as Wall Street Journal, there is a fire wall. You can read it at MSN. The WSJ article refers to several studies. One study co-author is Jeffrey Wing, assistant professor of epidemiology at OSU. Article is: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 1309-1316, 2020. If you see the words "equity," or "disparity," in titles or names of organizations, the focus will be race. Always good for fund raising. Wing's focus is rural areas, specifically Appalachia. I've read it--looks solid, but author admits needs much more investigation. I've tried to look at the UsAgainstAlzheimer organization (also mentioned in WSJ article), but a big splashy ad for Giving Tuesday covers everything up, so I can't tell you much about it except its focus is blacks and latinos.

Alzheimer's Research Looks at Hot Spots Across the U.S. (msn.com)

Ugly public architecture

If I could write as well as R.R. Reno*, I would have said this decades ago—I read a lot of architecture magazines.

Nearly 3/4 of Americans (72%) – including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings. At least Americans can agree on ugly. National Civic Art Society/Harris Survey Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Traditional Architecture for Federal Buildings — National Civic Art Society.

In the Dec. issue of First Things R.R. Reno comments: "Modern and postmodern architecture have no visual vocabulary for distinguishing civic from commercial life, which is why during the last 2 decades every attempt at grandeur has ended up looking like an airport terminal." . . . "Modern architecture of the International style can be elegant and pleasing. Its blank walls of glass are the perfect idiom for faceless modern corporations. Postmodern architecture can be ironic and clever, which is why our disenchanted elite like it so much. But these styles cannot speak a civic language, and this is why the public disfavors them and wishes our government would return to older ways of building."

I would disagree with Mr. Reno that it's only the last 2 decades. The most ugly architectural style for public buildings in my opinion is "brutalist," and it looks like it sounds. It's an assault on the eye, and must drive building managers crazy. In Columbus we have the Ohio History Center near the Fair Grounds, built in 1970, but it had become ubiquitous in the 1950s-1970. Very famous architects contributed to this horror. AIA gives them awards, probably because there's so much concrete in them, there's no way to get rid of them.

National Civic Art Society Op-Ed in the New York Post: Trump’s Right: Americans Deserve Nice Public Buildings — Even if Elites Sneer — National Civic Art Society

National Civic Art Society/Harris Survey Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Traditional Architecture for Federal Buildings — National Civic Art Society

Antiracist Hysteria by R. R. Reno | Articles | First Things  *Scroll to “While we’re at it.”

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thanksgiving--a felony or just a misdemeanor?

"States and regional health departments have created a patchwork of COVID-19 precautions and safety measures this holiday season. One challenge all of them face is enforcement. In Oregon, the governor is asking people to call the cops on their neighbors if they see people violating COVID-19-related restrictions like gathering sizes." (Denver Channel News)

Los Angeles to shut off water and power to houses hosting large parties or gatherings - CBS News

 

 Oddly enough, this 4 part series by Norman Rockwell was based on FDR's speech in January 1941. Rockwell did them for Saturday Evening Post in 1943. "Freedom from Want" isn't in the Constitution (as were the first two, speech and religion--although FDR said "worship" which is not correct). President Trump was well on his way to providing that with the lowest unemployment rate in history before the virus took down the economy with the assistance of over zealous governors who discovered power previously never known to them.

Purging and packing in 2005

We’ve been working at removing more clutter—professional papers, memorabilia from travel, old art supplies, frames, books I had given Phil over the years,  extra Christmas things rarely used, as well as destroying some musty, dusty boxes.  And back in 2005, we did even more.  I think these things just grow the more you toss out!

From December 2005 blog:

I think there is over $10,000 of drapes in the pile--however, used drapes have no value especially if they've been created for specific windows. And there are size 37 sport coats and suits, an almost new pair of black loafers that hurt my feet, bright fuchsia Capri pants size 8 with an even wilder top (what was I thinking?), winter sweaters, Hawaiian shirts, a 20 cup coffee maker, about 50 8-track tapes, pictures in frames, a double bedspread with matching pillow shams, twin bed skirts, two director's chairs, b & w TV, microwave, books, toys, a number of cookie tins nesting, notebooks and paper and pencils, portable typewriter, a tall chair for a drawing table, and other stuff I've already forgotten. Three 40 gallon trash bags of shredded documents went out with the trash pick-up this morning.

Thanksgiving Proclamation, George Washington, 1789

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Let us answer the call of George Washington to use this opportunity to render unto God our sincere and humble thanks.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Happy Birthday, Phil

 Today is Phil's 52nd birthday. We will always miss him. 

 

 
  

  

  

 

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Monday, November 23, 2020

Retelling a Christmas classic

T’was the year 2020, and all through the house
every creature was stirring, from Human to Mouse.
The stockings were tossed on the chimney, who cares,
It has been months since we entertained, would Saint Nick even dare?

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
as visions of rubber gloves danced in their heads.
and Mama in her gaiter and me and my mask,
had just settled our brains for a long cleaning task.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter.
I sprang from my mop to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash.
I peeked through the shutter, barely touching the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
gave me faith that someday we'd have somewhere to go.
When what do my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh, and eight spotless reindeer.


With a little old driver decked out in full gear,
I knew in a moment we'd have Christmas this year!
More safely than Hazmat the reindeer they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

Now Clorox! Now Pine-Sol! Now Lysol and Purex!
On Comet! On Purell! On Top Job and Germ-X!
Wipe the top of the porch! Then the top of the wall!
Now wipe away! Wipe away! Wipe away all!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they finished and then took a jump to the sky.
So up to the housetop the reindeer they flew.
With a sleigh full of masks, and Saint Nicholas too!

And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof,
the pawing of each little rubber gloved hoof.
As I pulled up my mask and was turning around,
Down the chimney a big bucket came with a bound!

It was covered in plastic from bottom to top,
and the contents were sterile, despite the long drop.
I missed seeing his eyes and his dimples so merry.
But this virus prevents that, these times are so scary.

I imagined his face and his little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like hand sanitizer jelly.
but I saw him outside though, as he stood near his sleigh,
and I laughed when I saw him, from six feet away..

With a wink of his eye and a wave of his hand,
I felt warm inside, Santa too understands.
And without a word I went right to my work.
I filled all our stockings, then turned with a jerk

And laying a finger aside of his mask,
The reindeer rose up, they had finished their task.
He waved to me then, to his team gave a shout,
and socially distancing, quickly flew out.

But I heard him proclaim as he drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, we will all be all right!

Carole L. Campbell
2020

Update:  Facebook put a warning label on this!  Maybe its lefty checkers object to "Merry Christmas."

Thanksgiving mandates—an opinion

"I think public health experts should not just listen, but HEAR what people are saying. Americans are saying that despite all the damage done by COVID-19, despite the rising cases and at-capacity ICUs around the country, their desire for human connection is so great, that they are willing to take the risk and have Thanksgiving. Americans are, in effect, expressing the longing and desperation of their soul."

"My worry is that the very nature of the modern media ecosystem is to promote messages that spark anger, shame, and fear. The original article hits these emotions. Doctors then tweet messages that amplify the 'shame on them' message and escalate tensions. The reward system of Twitter gives these actors positive feedback with likes and retweets."

Full piece at Medscape.com (need to register, but free) Op-Ed: Demanding Thanksgiving Abstinence Is Not Public Health | MedPage Today

How to pray for unity

I've heard Christians saying, "We need to pray God brings unity and restores our divided country." Should we be asking God to bring our Christian friends and neighbors to an understanding of the grisly truth about abortion and repent? It certainly causes division. Should we pray that Israel can continue on the peace path President Trump assisted with (Netanyahu met in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pompeo according to news reports)? I've heard Christians discounting this historic event for peace. Can we continue to pray for the protection of our border agents as they guard our borders and follow our laws? Will God provide answers? Should we continue to support our First Amendment Rights when Democrats attack them? And how about the illegal votes revealed in the last election? Do we just stop discussing it in the name of unity? Is it OK to ask God that Hunter Biden be brought to justice for what was revealed on his laptop? We'd do that for other criminals. And what about prison reform. Haven't Christians been asking and preparing for that, and then it's rejected because Trump made headway? And what about poverty? God has so much to say about that in the Bible, but how do we reconcile the differences between a good job and a government program? Should we give an elbow bump (no handshakes) to those who have been calling us racists for 4 years instead of asking for some facts or policies to back up the charges? Do we pray for survival of our jobs and economy if those we are praying with want a long, destructive lockdown?

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Praying for the president and the election

Today I was thinking about the millions and millions of people praying for President Trump and the nation. It's really amazing. Maybe 70 million. Maybe not since FDR and D-Day has a president brought so many to this awareness that our country can be destroyed, but this time, from within. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer - Word Foundations  Check out this website for more articles and prayer concerns about what happened on November 3-4.

Another prayer group is Intercessors for America, TRUMP TEAM HAS A LEGAL STRATEGY, WE HAVE A PRAYER STRATEGY | Intercessors for America (ifapray.org)

Many Democrats are Christians. I wonder how they are praying? "Dear Lord, please let this election be legal so we can kill more babies in the name of women's health." or "Heavenly Father, Guide our chosen one who is under a black cloud for his activities with his family in China with the CCP."

Crock Pot Chicken by Pat Miller

Mix:

1/2 cup of mayo

1/3 cup of Panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. of Italian seasoning

Spread:

The above mix all over pieces of chicken and place  in your crock pot.

Cook:

Low setting in crock pot  5-6 hours

Friday, November 20, 2020

Throwing out the 4th draft of a 25 year old never published paper

 I think I'm in my 5th day of packing and pitching--my professional files (if you think I write a lot now, it's nothing like the 1990s), valentines from 3rd grade, letters to my parents, fiction and poetry I wrote in the 1990s. I can only do about 2 hours a day. Sad and disturbing. It's unbelievable what I've forgotten, but when I re-read those files, I don't want to throw away what I didn't know was stored in musty boxes. I have no recollection of applying for an exchange program to attend a Negro college in the south in 1958, but I told my parents about in a letter home from Manchester College.  And the next month there was a letter to them filled with my plans to attend the University of Illinois to study Russian.   And then. In a folder I found a photocopy of a poem written by Billy Collins (Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003) and published in Harper's Magazine, October, 1994. It's called simply, "Forgetfulness." I checked the internet and found a YouTube of his own performance. The audience was laughing.  I wasn't--it's a very sad poem.  

 https://youtu.be/aj25B8JYumQ   https://poets.org/poem/forgetfulness


The Thanksgiving lockdown is so convenient

Sometimes we oldsters complain that "kids today" don't know American history as we learned it in the 50s and 60s. But we've learned in 2020 that our elected leaders don't know the history of the 80s and 90s or even the 21st century. A Thanksgiving lock down plays right into the hands of the far-left, cancel culture, kill the sense of national identity and destroy the family game plan. It's like a gift, wrapped with a big bow and delivered by Amazon.

The battle over Thanksgiving and its origins has been going on for at least 40 years. Nasty powerful white Europeans with guns and a foreign religion came and destroyed a benign, peaceful, close to nature indigenous culture. Just google it--the algorithms are all set to find that meme for you in the top 10 listings.

Thanksgiving is not technically a religious holiday, although all religious people understand WHO is getting the thanks. True, it's not called family day on the calendar, but families under any definition or "like family" gather to eat at a table of shared abundance, tell stories, play games and watch football. Marxists can strike their biggest blow--they are anti-religious and anti-family, particularly the nuclear family because those two support the "system" they wish to destroy.

You can read the works of Karl Marx, or Vladimir Lenin, or the mission statement of Black Lives Matter. It's all there.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

The Gettysburg Address as delivered by Eisenhower

I haven’t checked these figures but 87 years ago, I think it was, a number of individuals organized a governmental set-up here in this country, I believe it covered certain Eastern areas, with this idea they were following up based on a sort of national independence arrangement and the program that every indi­vidual is just as good as every other individual. Well, now, of course, we are dealing with this big difference of opinion, civil disturbance you might say, although I don’t like to appear to take sides or name any individuals, and the point is naturally to check up, by actual experience in the field, to see whether any governmental set-up with a basis like the one I was mentioning has any validity and find out whether that dedication by those early individuals will pay off in lasting values and things of that kind.

Well, here we are, at the scene where one of these disturbances between different sides got going. We want to pay our tribute to those loved ones, those departed individuals who made the supreme sacrifice here on the basis of their opinions about how this thing ought to be handled. And I would say this. It is absolutely in order to do this.

But if you look at the over-all picture of this, we can’t pay any tribute—we can’t sanctify this area, you might say—we can’t hallow according to whatever individual creeds or faiths or sort of religious outlooks are involved like I said about this particular area. It was those individuals themselves, including the enlisted men, very brave individuals, who have given this religious character to the area. The way I see it, the rest of the world will not remember any statements issued here but it will never forget how these men put their shoulders to the wheel and carried this idea down the fairway.

Now frankly, our job, the living individuals’ job here, is to pick up the burden and sink the putt they made these big efforts here for. It is our job to get on with the assignment—and from these deceased fine individuals to take extra inspiration, you could call it, for the same theories about the set-up for which they made such a big contribution. We have to make up our minds right here and now, as I see it, that they didn’t put out all that blood, perspiration and—well—that they didn’t just make a dry run here, and that all of us here, under God, that is, the God of our choice, shall beef up this idea about freedom and liberty and those kind of arrangements, and that government of all individuals, by all individuals and for the individuals, shall not pass out of the world-picture.

By Oliver Jensen, after too many press conferences

http://librarysystems.com/gettys.htm

Which party has wanted freedom for all Americans since before the Civil War?

Nearly 60 years ago, we had real bi-partisanship. 40% of the House Democrats VOTED AGAINST the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while 80% of Republicans SUPPORTED it. Republican support in the Senate was even higher. Similar trends occurred with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was supported by 82% of House Republicans and 94% of Senate Republicans. (From my blog, Feb. 15, 2012)

It was Everett Dirksen, Senate Minority leader from Illinois who lead the way and knew the history of freedom and equality for blacks, not Lyndon Baines Johnson who had a career of holding them back. Read his eloquent speech from 1964 which provides the history of the Act and the history of the acts. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/DirksenCivilRights.pdf

How many people who have graduated from high school since the mid-1960s know that it has always been the Republicans who fought for equal rights? That Democrats are the party of the KKK and Jim Crow, voter suppression, lynching, enticing the black father from his home with government programs, and aborting generations of black babies? Even today, the lies about President Trump being a racist are a cover for Democrats trying to regain power over black Americans.

Denmark’s mask study

Another mask study. Can you take it? Some couldn't and held up the publication of this study because it has the potential to block some power grabs by low level government officials, like heads of agencies and mayors.

A randomized, controlled trial done in Denmark and published in one of the top medical journals looked at the effectiveness of adding mask recommendations to other control measures. The randomized trial showed there was no difference in reducing the infection rate of SARS-CoV-2. https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817 Infection occurred in 1.8% of the participants who wore masks, and 2.1% of the participants in the control group who didn't wear masks. Surgical medically approved masks were used for the study, which almost none of us in the general public use in the U.S.A. Also, the participants had training in how to use the masks, which we don't have. Even so, it appears that less than 50% of the mask wearers used them correctly all the time.

At the time of the study a few months ago, Denmark had a much less restrictive procedure and a lower infection rate than the U.S. with masks worn outside a hospital setting being rare. Both the mask wearers and the control group in the study also used the other methods--frequent hand washing, social distancing, quarantines, and limiting visits to nursing homes. Yet their infection rate was the same.

This study is a real blow to those who believe masks will stop most of the spread, although I wouldn't expect it to change anything.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

How Big Tech manipulates our voting behavior

Robert Epstein is not some right wing kook.  In fact, he’s a Democrat, who voted for Hillary Clinton, but a computer expert.  He studies Google. Google has about 3 million pages of information about you (if you use g-mail, Chrome, Google). “Go vote” reminders from Google went only to liberals--that's voter manipulation. Epstein began his investigation around 2012 of search results on Google.  He figured you could manipulate vote decisions on Google by about 2-3%, but when he did the research, it was win margin of 48%. He redid it and got 63%.  And it’s invisible to people. Billions of people not knowing they’ve been manipulated. But it gets worse.  Watch the video.

https://youtu.be/wqtKQgTps_g

Google has about 3 million pages of information about you (if you use g-mail, Chrome, Google). Go vote reminder from Google went only to liberals--that's vote manipulation. Epstein began his investigation around 2012 of search results on Google.

Because he is the leading expert in this field, he's been warned and has had death threats. He was warned about an auto accident. He didn't die in an accident, but his wife did.

Google employees manipulated views on the Trump travel bans. . . reengineered our thinking without us being aware. Epstein has testified before Congress that Google could shift 15 million votes without anyone knowing just with transitory messages that can't be traced. Bing and Yahoo did not display the same bias as Google. However, Yahoo gets its information from Google, and Bing has a contract with Google, and Windows 10 was built on Google’s surveillance model. Watch this video!!

Mygoogleresearch.com is his website.

Albert Sabin letter in my file

I'm sure I've done this several times in the last 20 years (since I retired)--condensing and throwing away files, especially those related to work. Now I'm into personal things. Considering the news about the vaccines, it was interesting to find a copy of a letter I wrote in 1983 to Dr. Albert Sabin who developed the oral polio vaccine which was much easier for school children. (I had the Salk vaccine given at school).

"I will always be grateful that as a parent I didn't have to go through the worry my parents' generation suffered. In 1949, my cousin Jimmy died of polio and 3 weeks later my sister became ill with polio. Although she lived, now in middle age she is suffering many after affects of deterioration.

Thank you for your contribution to the health of the world."

I had seen a newspaper column by Bob Greene who reported that Dr. Sabin was paralyzed in a lot of pain and unable to walk and was confined to a hospital bed at the National Institutes of Health. Green thought letters from the public could cheer the 77 year old.

Maybe it worked, because he lived another decade. I read a NYT obituary for him today and was surprised to see many parallels to other viral diseases, and how he continued to work on this problem. He also worked on Sandfly fever, dengue fever, toxoplasmosis and encephalitis. He and Dr. Salk (credited for the polio vaccine injection with booster shots) had a rivalry.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0826.html

He denounced the Federal policy of vaccinating all adults against the Swine flu virus in 1976, which bore a strong chemical resemblance to the virus of 1918-1919. He spoke the truth as he saw it without diplomatic considerations and thus many government doors were closed to him even though he was a hero.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

More files for the trash

I'm throwing out files from 40-50 years ago. I was a Democrat then. I wrote to anyone who would listen/respond from Robert Lazarus to the chaplain at the Ohio Penitentiary, from the Principal of my kids' school to the public library director, from the Columbus Dispatch editor to our church's education director--about prison conditions, bank practices that hurt the poor, story hours that included racist or weak female story lines, the number of black clerks that Lazarus hired for Upper Arlington Kingsdale, fair housing practices and the morally squishy material from ELCA. I remember attending meetings to discuss the need for a local food warehouse that was going the "end" hunger, and a planning group for a community center for Upper Arlington. I was carrying posters at the state house about the ERA. I was beyond woke, but I was asking specific people and companies to change their policies. I wasn't asking the government to do it. I guess I should have organized some protests and thrown bricks through windows instead of writing letters. 

What if Joe Biden had worked as hard on these issues as I did? Maybe he might have made a difference in his 40-something years in "service."

Sierra Club’s Free Gift

Yesterday we got an appeal for funds from Sierra Club (went into the waste basket) which included a small note book with bookmarks, first aid checklist, and pocket calendar along with some to-do lists and marketing. Some of it was very preachy—“bring your own mug and dishware for food eaten at the office,” “carpool, bike or take transit to work” “use non-toxic cleaning products and brighten your work space with plants” “buy ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs and fixtures,” and “print on the back side of old documents for faxes, scrap paper of drafts.” The last one gave me a little chuckle since my grandmother was way ahead of her time and always saved letters and advertisements and used the back side for her carbon copies when writing business letters.  I used a lot of them in my research about farm families.

Being good to the environment is being good to ourselves, but when an article headline is “12 ways to halt climate change” that’s just ignorant and giving people “feel good” bad advice.  Climate change couldn’t be halted by any or all of these rules.

1.  Grow a garden. Organic.  Plant a tree. Think of the millions of people who might have space for a flower pot in a window in their city apartment building. There are many advantages to having fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, but saving the planet won’t be the result.

2. Speak truth to power. Demand clean energy like wind and solar from your energy supplier.  Really?  Does the writer believe there is no cost to the environment to produce solar panels or wind mills and store the energy for no-wind and sunless days? According to PBS which I consider a liberal source, we currently have about 17% in renewables, a fraction of that 100% activists were demanding a year ago. Nuclear power plants are closing and they were up to about 19% of the total.

3.  Stop using incandescent bulbs and use more efficient ones.  You’ll have to buy American to make any difference.

4. Look for Energy Star label in buying new appliances. Wash clothes in cold water; or dry on clothesline (many areas are regulated against this).

5. Insulate walls, attic, windows. New windows are making our home more comfortable and efficient, but it won’t save the world.

6. Lower your thermostat.

7. Power at the poll. Vote. 

8. Reduce, reuse, recycle.  This is a feel good, virtue signaling act. Asia and China are no longer taking our trash and we’re not building any recycling plants that I’m aware of because there’s no market—our labor is too high. And since Covid carry-outs, I’ve never seen so much trash on pick up day.

9. Plan trips and commute.  People have been doing this for 40 years.

10. Ready for 100.  Sierra club marketing plans for 100% renewable energy which I think the protestors last year demanded by 2030—less than a decade.  Remember, we’re at 17%.

11. Pep talk—change the world—but it’s about climate solutions and protecting the planet, not about HALT Climate Change.

12. Join Sierra Club.

The antidote for Sierra Club: read Michael Shellenbarger’s apology for being an alarmist about climate change. “ On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare.”  He has a book, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All and also articles, but the left really attacks him because he’s left the alarmist plantation.  https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Schellenberger-Apology.pdf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/?sh=311df21db1b8

Sidney Powell on Dominion

Sidney Powell: "I never say anything I can’t prove. Secondly the evidence is coming in so fast I can’t even process it all. Millions of Americans have written I would say by now. Definitely hundreds of thousands have stepped forward with their different experiences of voter fraud. But this is a massive election fraud, and I’m very concerned that it involved not only Dominion and the Smartmatic software, but the software was essentially used by other election machines also. It’s the software that was the problem. Even their own manual explains how votes can be wiped away. It’s like drag and drop Trump votes to a separate folder and then delete that folder. It is absolutely brazen how people bought the system and why they bought the system, in fact, every state that bought Dominion for sure should have a criminal investigation or at least a serious investigation of the officers in the states who bought the software. We’ve even got evidence of some kickbacks, essentially."

https://spectator.org/maria-bartiromo-sidney-powell-dominion/?

Monday, November 16, 2020

More boxes to go through

This afternoon I'm going through all our trip memorabilia--most of it in two large storage boxes in the furnace room. Alaska, Arizona (twice), Arkansas, Baltimore, Bartlesville, Boston, California (3 times) Canada (Vancouver), Chicago, Finland (many cities), Florida, Germany (many cities, river cruise), Greece, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (Columbus, Madison), Ireland, Israel, Italy (numerous cities), Kentucky, Michigan (Detroit, Boyne City, Bay View), Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Springfield--these were mostly architectural tours), Oregon, Philadelphia, Russia (St. Petersburg), San Antonio, Spain (Madrid, Murcia, Granada, Cordoba), Turkey, Washington DC (3 times). Post cards, maps, guides, newspapers, magazines, hundreds of receipts for restaurants, hotels, museums, art galleries, tours and airlines. Stacks of photos we couldn't use in the albums.

It all needs to go. But as I looked through the things, I couldn't help but think of the thousands of jobs related to tourism and travel, from the maps and brochures to the hotel staffs, the bus drivers, the cooks, waiters, cleaners, and tour guides. All out of work now.

  
Granada 2015

 
Alaska 2001

C.S. Lewis quote for our times

 This makes me think of the pro-abortion team of Biden-Harris and their threat of a national lockdown, and their entire method of governing, for that matter.



More silencing by tech firms

Now it is Mailchimp censoring Conservatives. Try to Substack.  https://substack.com/  A lot of journalists who have been silenced are starting their own newsletters.  If you use Mail Chimp, back up your e-mail list every day, or you might not get it back. I'd never heard of Substack until yesterday when Glenn Greenwald who'd lost his own publication for investigating the Biden Crime family (my term, not his) noted he was using it to get his information out. Then Dana mentioned it on her radio show today.  Substack operates a platform for creating paid and free subscription newsletters. The company makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter. Its publishing tools allow writers to publish to an email list and website simultaneously, and to accept and manage payments from subscribers.


Generation Z is conservative

Generation Z (born 1997 and after) is more conservative than the Millennials, and have had strong support for Trump.

  • A 2016 American study found that while only 18% of Millennials attended church, church attendance was 41% among Generation Z.
  • Polls found eight out of ten members of Gen Z considered themselves “fiscally conservative.”
  • In certain areas, Generation Z is more risk-averse than the Millennials. In 2013, 66% of teenagers had tried alcohol, down from 82% in 1991.

I heard a lovely young lady on The First TV News channel this afternoon. Quite informative. Also, if you're a conservative, you like this channel. Sunday it was featuring an expose of Black Lives Matter. The First is dedicated to free speech, bold opinions, and big ideas. Americans who are tired of being marginalized and are ready to speak up should check it out. https://pluto.tv/live-tv/the-first Hosts include Bill O'Reilly, Dana Loesch, Buck Sexton, Jesse Kelly, Mike Slater, and a many top contributors. The First currently offers eight hours of original programming daily and is part of the OTT (Over The Top) platform Pluto TV — a free internet-based streaming television site.

Madison Cawthorn, who recently won a congressional seat in North Carolina just turned 25, and is the youngest member of Congress in over 200 years.

Do churches know this? Are they bleeding young people? Maybe they should pay attention and stop trying to be so "woke."

Violence against pro-Trump supporters in DC

There was a huge rally for President Trump on Saturday.  I’ve seen the photos—it was definitely more than 10,000 which was reported by the Wall St. Journal.  Tens of thousands. They came from all over the country.  I know a few people who went, so I’ll ask them.  The reports were it was peaceful until after the rally when “counter-protestors”  Here’s how Buzzfeed (leftist online media) describes Antifa.  “Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is a decentralized movement that protests against the far-right, with some occasionally resorting to violence.”  Yes, tell that one to all the people in Minneapolis, Kenosha, Portland, etc. whose businesses and city buildings were burned, looted or destroyed in “occasional violence” during the summer of 2020.   Those silly Biden supporters who think now everything is going to calm down need to see some of the attacks on children and restaurant diners.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/lawmakers-condemn-violence-in-dc-call-on-trump-to-act_3579624.html

Saturday, November 14, 2020

3 minute neck exercise

https://youtu.be/K4dmZ5_n6uU

GARRISON KEILLOR ON "METHODISTS"

We make fun of Methodists for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed, and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese.

But nobody sings like them. If you were to ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Methodist-less place, to sing along on the chorus of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Methodists, they'd smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!

Many Methodists are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage.

It's natural for Methodists to sing in harmony. They are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment. By joining in harmony, they somehow promise that they will not forsake each other.

I do believe this: People, these Methodists, who love to sing in four-part harmony are the sort of people you can call up when you're in deep distress.

*If you're dying, they will comfort you.

*If you are lonely, they'll talk to you.

*And if you are hungry, they'll give you tuna salad.

*Methodists believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.

*Methodists like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

*Methodists believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even if they don't notify them that they are there.

*Methodists usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.

*Methodists believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

*Methodists think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.

*Methodists drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

*Methodists feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.

*Methodists are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at the church.

*Methodists still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna casserole adds too much color.

*Methodists believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, You know you are a Methodist when:

It's 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service.

You hear something funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can.

Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.

When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, "May the Force be with you," you respond, "and also with you."

And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye!

Friday, November 13, 2020

That explains a lot—church attendance restrictions, Pew survey

59% of Democrats who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons about supporting Black Lives Matter.  29% of Republicans who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons about supporting Black Lives Matter.  But did either group of Christians hear the truth about BLM, its mission statement, and its role in the destruction of liberty and property in Democrat run cities this past summer? Were they told that the three women who founded it are radical Marxist lesbians who don’t believe in private property or the nuclear family? 

Only 42% of Republicans who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons in support of abortion, and only 28% of Democrats hear a similar sermon. And yet, about 1/3 of the abortions in the U.S. are for black women.  Who is the smallest and weakest and most needy among us?  Certainly not the adults rioting and looting on behalf of the mission of BLM—American blacks are the top 5% in wealth of the global population of blacks, most of whom live in Africa.

The headlines in this Pew article are very misleading.  About 42% of Americans never attend church, so when the story about accepting the rules imposed on churches includes “Americans” one needs to read the entire article.  No, the majority of church goers were NOT OK with the restrictions, some of which were far more restrictive than other gatherings. 

Actual numbers are not given in the Pew study, however, even in a 2015 Caddell poll, 46% of Democrats never attended church and 24% of Republicans never attended. And when separated by ideology, only 18% of liberals said they regularly attend church and 62% said they never go. For conservatives, 41% regularly attend and 34% never go.

https://www.pewforum.org/2020/08/07/americans-oppose-religious-exemptions-from-coronavirus-related-restrictions/

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Purging again--old photos

 It was not my intention to look through old photos.  Old framed photos.  Old, dusty and moldy framed photos with glass that had to be washed.  I was collecting Christmas dishes to go to the resale shop and opened a box.  There they were.  

After I got the Christmas boxes moved we (Bob had to help me move things) also found two big storage boxes of memorabilia from trips; but that will be another blog.

In the middle of the night it came to me.  I'd remove all the portraits from the frames and donate the frames.  After a very long nap today that left me too groggy to tackle this job, I first found an album that had no photos in it, and the open slip was at the top of the pages so it would take large photos.  So I took it to the basement and began removing the photos from the frames, wiping and washing as I went. Things were going well until I came across a church directory photo of my parents, about 5 x 7 and somewhat faded, and a very unattractive hair style for my mom. When I turned it over to remove the backing I discovered it had been glued.  I had to get several tools to separate the backing from the wood frame, which had glued brown paper under it.  When I finally got that separated from the wood, I discovered that the photo had been nailed in!  Yes, 10 thin nails about 1/2 inch then pressed against the photo. In a thousand years, this 45 year old photo wasn't going anywhere. Obviously, this had been done by the directory company.  Without breaking the glass, there was no way to remove the photo. So, I've scanned it and will have to throw away the photo.  The frame is raised, so I couldn't close the lid of the scanner making the image fuzzy.  It's painful to throw away photos, and I still have boxes to go.  I've labeled it 1973, however, until I find the church directory, I won't know for sure.



Tuesday, November 10, 2020

What President Trump didn’t do, Mark Levin

"President Trump didn’t use the IRS and FBI against his political opponents like at least 4 of his predecessors.

He didn’t use the Oval Office to have sex with interns like at least 2 of his predecessors.

He didn’t lie to the American people about something as horrific as the Holocaust like 1 of his predecessors.

He didn’t lock up journalists or shutdown newspapers like at least 3 of his predecessors.

He didn’t round up 120,000 Japanese Americans and send them to internment camps like 1 of his predecessors.

He didn’t resegregate the military and civil service like 1 of his predecessors.

He didn’t try to expand and pack the Supreme Court like 1 of his predecessors.

He didn’t suspend habeas corpus like 1 of his predecessors.

He didn’t use his office to enrich himself like several of his predecessors.

And so on. Indeed, President Trump was a victim of abuse by the Obama administration in the worst scandal in our history, subjected to a bogus criminal investigation and impeachment, and hounded by a dishonest media from day one."

And I'll just add to Levin's comments that President Trump isn't guilty of participating in what leftists call "systemic racism" like all his predecessors including Obama-Biden--in fact, he openly supported the advancement of all minorities, especially economically. He also didn't try to take over 1/5 of the economy like his immediate predecessor and force Americans to buy a product or go to jail.

Conservative news, journalism, opinion, talk shows H–M

Sean Hannity, Fox News host opinion show, radio talk show   https://www.hannity.com

Victor Davis Hanson, columnist, professor, farmer http://www.victorhanson.com

Daniel Henninger, conservative commentator, deputy editorial page director of The Wall Street Journal, Fox News contributor. https://www.wsj.com/news/author/daniel-henninger

Hugh Hewitt, radio talk show host, attorney, academic  https://www.hughhewitt.com

Jim Hoft, conservative news,   https://www.thegatewaypundit.com

David Horowitz, conservative writer, founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's publication, FrontPage Magazine;

Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, commentator, https://www.mikehuckabee.com  newsletter  

Laura Ingraham, radio talk show host, book author, political commentator https://lauraingraham.com/

Andrew Klavan, conservative commentator, novelist   https://www.andrewklavan.com

Mark Levin, conservative commentator, radio, TV  https://www.marklevinshow.com/

Dana Loesch, talk radio host, television host. Big 2A fan https://danaloesch.com  https://www.youtube.com/user/thedanashow/featured

Rush Limbaugh, most famous radio talk show, conservative,   children’s book author, https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/

Heather MacDonald: political commentator, journalist City Journal, author War on Cops various videos as speaker for conservative groups
   
Michelle Malkin: political commentator, blogger, author 4 books, weekly syndicated column.

Michael Medved radio talk show, conservative, author of several books,  pop culture   http://www.michaelmedved.com/

Eric Metaxas, Christian, biographer, radio talk host  http://ericmetaxas.com 

Dennis Miller radio podcast, conservative commentator, humorist  https://tunein.com/radio/The-Dennis-Miller-Show-p123379/ 

Dick Morris pollster, commentator, author,   https://www.dickmorris.com

Charles Murray, author, lecturer political,  scientist, various sites as speaker,

Links A - G of conservative links  http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2020/11/conservative-news-journalism-opinion.html    


Contact the Supreme Court

“I am very concerned about how this election was handled especially on November 4 and later with mail in votes and found ballots all for Biden.  There has been a lot of fraud, and each charge needs to be investigated. Using Covid as an excuse for mail in should not be permission to cheat.   I am a supporter of President Trump and Vice President Pence.  Our election system has become a disgrace and embarrassment.”

https://www.supremecourt.gov/

Monday, November 09, 2020

Is the vaccine ready?

Good news on the vaccine—Pfizer --and the markets are responding. Although I wouldn't be surprised if some powerful Democrat CEO in the company didn't arrange for the news to come out after the election (yes, a conspiracy theory that is completely understandable). It's easier than digging up dead voters. Democrats don't care about life issues, so yes, even if they killed more people. This is Trump's legacy--cutting through the red tape and getting some reform in fusty musty departments buried in the muck of the deep swamp.

First priority will be medical staff. I've heard that the elderly are second, but I think it should be those people--gen-x and millennials--who are going back to work. Let's keep them healthy or Biden, if his crazy count wins, will lock us all in to die alone.

Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech on Monday said their experimental vaccine has proven more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study. Nigeria PM News

Saturday, November 07, 2020

Conservative news, journalism, opinion, talk shows A - G

America’s Voice News  24/7 digital entertainment and news network, focusing on Conservative family values.  https://americasvoice.news/

Sharyl Attkinsson: Investigative Journalist. "Full Measure." https://sharylattkisson.com/

Fred Barnes: executive editor of The Weekly Standard https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/fred-barnes

Glenn Beck: politics, author, producer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur https://www.glennbeck.com/

Bill Bennett: pundit, politician, political theorist, author http://thebillbennettshow.com/

Brent Bozell: Founder, President Media Research Center; columnist, TV commentator https://www.newsbusters.org/people-and-organizations/brent-bozell

Breitbart News https://www.breitbart.com/

Tammy Bruce: nationally syndicated radio host, author, and political commentator. Lesbian. https://tammybruce.com/

Tucker Carlson  Fox News Opinion show host,  conservative journalist, political commentator  https://www.foxnews.com/shows/tucker-carlson-tonight

Ann Coulter: Lawyer, author, columnist, frequent TV guest https://anncoulter.com/

Steven Crowder:  American-Canadian conservative political commentator, YouTube channel and podcast https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/

Dinesh D'Souza, Indian American conservative, speaker, author, film https://www.dineshdsouza.com/

Larry Elder, black conservative talk show host, https://larryelder.com/

Richard Fernandez, Filipino-Australian, conservative columnist, https://pjmedia.com/columnist/richard-fernandez/

John Fund, senior editor at The American Spectator, National Review, https://www.nationalreview.com/author/john-fund/

Mike Gallagher, conservative radio talk host, https://mikeonline.com/

Pamela Gellar: Commentator,  Activist Counter-jihad movement https://gellerreport.com/

Jonah Goldberg,  syndicated columnist, author, political analyst, and commentator. The founding editor of National Review Online  https://jonahgoldberg.com

Sebastian Gorka, British Hungarian immigrant, conservative talk show host,  https://www.sebgorka.com

Greg Gutfield,  Fox talker, comedian, author   https://ggutfeld.com/

How accurate are Covid PCR tests?

"So, even if the test has a very high specificity of 99%, when the virus stops being present at pandemic levels in the population and starts to decrease to more endemic levels, you quickly get to a point where most positive results are false positives, and where the disease seems to be much more prevalent than it really is.

As you can see, the less prevalent the disease is in reality, the more likely the test is to generate a false positive result, and the less useful the test is as a method for figuring out who actually has covid. And the less prevalent the disease is, the more prevalent it will seem to be in relation to reality. If decisions about covid continue to be made largely based on what PCR tests show, we might never be able to call off the pandemic!" https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/11/06/how-accurate-are-the-covid-tests/

Friday, November 06, 2020

President Trump earns minority vote

"I heard yesterday that all the new Republican congress people are women, minorities, or veterans. Damn those racist sexist Republicans." Anna Loska Meenan 

President Donald Trump got 26% of nonwhite voters, highest of any Republican presidential candidate in 60 years, while also doubling his support from voters in the LGBTQ community from 2016. He is breaking the strangle hold of victimhood lies and offerings of more government programs. He's opened the gates and let the prisoners of dependency free. Republicans had been the party of freedom for blacks and minorities until LBJ and the so-called "War on Poverty" and loading up the cities with black politicians he and future Democrats could control. No, it wasn't slavery, but neither was it freedom. Trump came along, pointed out the corruption and offered a path to real freedom. The summer riots showed he was winning that battle and had to be stopped.

Early Covid tests failure rate 33%

So how does the blame game work? If Trump was at fault for hospitals not being prepared, is it also his fault if CDC failed on the tests?

“On Feb. 6, a scientist in a small infectious disease lab on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus in Atlanta was putting a coronavirus test kit through its final paces. The lab designed and built the diagnostic test in record time, and the little vials that contained necessary reagents to identify the virus were boxed up and ready to go. But NPR has learned the results of that final quality control test suggested something troubling — it said the kit could fail 33% of the time.”  Read the story: https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/929078678/cdc-report-officials-knew-coronavirus-test-was-flawed-but-released-it-anyway

The fact that NPR would publish this failure of CDC and it’s been so critical of everything Trump indicates to me that this will be recorded as a Trump failure.

10 axioms about the voter count

We all know Joe Biden won the popular vote November 3, 2020, and there are axioms (self-evident truths) we can learn from this.

1. Trump will end up with over 70,000,000 votes. Seventy million. These are American citizens who have been insulted, demeaned, called every name in the book, had their homes vandalized, their careers ruined, losing friends and family, and yet remained loyal and convinced he was the best president in their life times. These are not citizens duped by foreign powers, these are not citizens bought by powerful PACs and backroom deals. These are not citizens represented by the rich and famous of Hollywood.

2. The citizens who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 have completely flipped the party labels. The blue collar and less well-educated are now the Republicans. Republicans now represent the little guy being ground down by the oligarchs and big money of the new age of technology. Trump is a wealthy man, but he can't hold up against the onslaught of the money that was pouring in to defeat the down ticket candidates in the South and Southwest.

3. Trump's presidency revealed how badly divided the country is--he didn't divide it--Obama made it worse, but it was a long time coming even before him. I was in academe until 2000, and all the seeds were sprouting. President Trump revealed the coalition of hate and bigotry from members of his own party, mega-wealthy entertainers, smug over rated athletes, Big-Tech CEOs and their overpaid, overeducated workers, narrow specialty medical and science researchers, cancel culture academics, and puffed up pastors.

4. President Trump turned out to be the strongest pro-life president and that issue like none other revealed the moral bankruptcy of both parties. Whereas the Democrats were more revealing about their open animosity for the unborn, their blood lust and glee for letting little ones die dismembered with no medical care, the Republicans really didn't put up much of a fight, leaving it to non-profits and Christian groups to charge the armed bunkers of the abortionists.

5. President Trump has burst open the bubble of what Democrats are about. They have been taken over by the far left, the worst element in our country. Defund the police. Teach hate about our history in schools. Shout down any opposing view. Drag people in to court for exercising their first and second amendment rights. Divide and conquer by creating victim groups rather than supporting wealth creation through work and investment. Make everything about sex and skin rather than empowering the working class to move up and out. Lock the doors on the low income with ever expanding government programs to hang on to their vote.

6. President Trump has embarrassed and shamed the Republicans in power by revealing he could accomplish many of the goals they set for years, yet never fought for. Democrats won the House in 2018 because Republicans retired, dropped out, or threw in the towel. They limped away and joined non-profits and think tanks waiting to return to power. He's exposed their naked inadequacies. He openly ridiculed them by doing what they could only whine about. Making us independent of the Middle East oil cartels, cutting funds for Planned Parenthood and at least attempting to stop the tax drain to "sanctuary cities," plugging the holes at the border for drug pushers and sex trafficking, negotiating better trade deals and forcing European "allies" to grow a pair and stand up to the EU.

7. Trump has awakened blacks to just how badly they've been used by Democrats. In the late 19th century up to the 1960s, the Republicans were the party working for the African Americans. Democrats were the party of the KKK and Jim Crow. Johnson stole that image in the 1960s and locked down the black vote with the "War on Poverty" and over the years black politicians have been rewarded with the keys to some of our largest cities. Trying to be "nice" and bi-partisan, the Republicans went along to get along. Trump comes along and looks at the trillions spent and minorities still struggling to latch on to the American dream. "What have you got to lose?" he asked blacks who were NOT in power. He was winning, too, with low unemployment, prison reform, asking for solutions rather than telling them. How embarrassing for both parties that an outsider with no political palm greasing could get things done just by asking the people who mattered to help him.

8. A 70 million vote for Trump further reveals the terrible divisions in the Christian church. We now see Evangelicals aligning with the Main Line Protestant denominations and the Catholics having more in common with the Fundamentalists, Pentecostals and Independents in the the fight to care of the weakest (the unborn and the elderly) and fighting to hold on to the meaning of a godly marriage and sexuality. Suburban Christians (both black and white) who had been quite comfortable in their chosen enclaves suddenly found themselves after the Memorial day riots accused of systemic racism and microaggression, embarrassed to fly the American flag and fearful of a Trump sign in their yards. Even if Trump had won with a clear majority of popular and electoral votes, only God will be able to restore health to his church.

9. 70,000,000 voters did not believe the constant barrage from Democrats, media, non-profits, and even their own churches that somehow a worldwide pandemic which originated in China was the fault of the American president. With hundreds of cultures, languages, demographic variables, conflicting science, and mixed messages from the White House Task Force, 70,000,000 still believe that the federal government doesn't have the Constitutional right to lock us in our homes, close our churches and libraries, destroy our businesses and live in fear. And that may be a problem for Joe Biden who has used this tragedy as an excuse to hide in his basement and has promised us nationwide mandates.

10. 70,000,000 citizens are not enough to hold back the tsunami of socialism/Communism that is sweeping over the country. And we have 75,000,000 willing to throw aside our freedoms and elect a man with close ties to Communist China.

Thursday, November 05, 2020

Fraud, miscounts, missing ballots appearing, election interference

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/we-are-witnessing-the-greatest-scandal-in-american-history-voter-fraud-everywhere/

We are witnessing the greatest scandal in American history. Voter fraud everywhere.

*Fairfax Virginia has switched 100,000 votes from Trump to Biden stating a “clerical error”

*Wisconsin suddenly discovers over 112k Biden ballots between 3:30 am and 4:30 am

*Wisconsin magically now has more votes than registered voters

*Nevada has decided they won’t have all vote counts in until Thursday

*Michigan has gained 138.339 ballots for Biden since they stopped counting last night. A whopping zero for Trump

*6 states Trump has sizable leads, all six states decided to stop counting ballots on election night (unheard of) and they all have blue strong holds

*Jack from Twitter deletes the current sitting president’s tweet on election night. Glaringly obvious election interference

*LeeJoe, who was running for district 16 Senate seat in Idaho and stated so on his account profile, gets his account deleted from Facebook not once but twice. Another example of a glaringly obvious election interference.

*North Carolina has 100% of precincts counted with Trump in the clear lead and it’s not being called.

Yeah something is rotten in the country of USA!!!

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Note: I’m not familiar with this site, but have heard some of these reports on the radio, so am going with this.  I’ll remove if it’s inaccurate.

Cultural differences and Covid cases

I was browsing an NIH study on Covid in Boston which reported that most people hospitalized with it would recover. Good news, right? Well, there's a racial disparity. Covid19 disproportionately affects people of color, and the researchers found a large number of their patients were Hispanic (30 percent) or Black (10 percent). Well, that didn't look very alarming to me, and I'm not a demographer. So I took a quick look at the population of Boston. Now, some ZIP codes are 60-70% minority, but overall, the population is 28.2% black and either 17.5 or 19.7% Hispanic depending on the source. If viruses cared about equity, there would be more blacks and fewer Hispanics in Boston with Covid.

Because "Hispanic" is a made up term, people in that demographic are not a racial group, but black or white or multiracial people who either speak Spanish, or whose parents did. So checking further, I did find an article that seems to indicate black Hispanics do more poorly than white Hispanics, and overall, Hispanics use more intensive care and support than other groups. When the data diving has finally used up all the grant money, I think researchers will find a cultural element to these infection numbers. We have been warned about keeping our distance from the beginning of this viral spread, and if you have any experience outside your own neighborhood, you know that personal space differs widely among cultures. People of Latin American and Southern European countries require less personal space according to research, and Asians are comfortable with more distance and will start backing up if you get too close. Europeans (including the majority of white Americans), Asian Indians and Native Americans prefer something in the middle. So think about how viruses spread. Close up and personal. Little tiny virus particles clinging to bits of droplets expelled when breathing, talking or singing.

Wednesday, November 04, 2020

The Second Stimulus bill to fight the virus

Have you looked at the 2nd stimulus bill?https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html... If the funds went to the people, we'd each get about $6,000 ($2 Trillion divided by the population), but it won't be distributed that way. There are too many pay backs to be made. A politician has to raise money, after all. I've traveled on Amtrak and $526,000,000 won't be enough to save it.

$100,000,000 to NASA, page 17

$200,000,000 for salaries and expenses at Federal Communications Commission, pg 43

$20,000,000,000 to the USPS, page 53

$300,000,000 to the Endowment for the Arts, page 77

$300,000,000 for the Endowment for the Humanities, page 77

$15,000,000 for Veterans Employment Training, page 84

$435,000,000 for mental health support, page 92

$30,000,000,000 for the Department of Education stabilization fund, page 110

$200,000,000 to Safe Schools Emergency Response to Violence Program, page 117

$300,000,000 to Public Broadcasting, page 125

$500,000,000 to Institute of Museums and Libraries Services, page 126

$210 million for Social Security assistance payments, page 127

$510 million for Social Security administrative costs, page 127

$25,000,000 for Cleaning supplies for the Capitol Building, page 136

$7,500,000 to the Smithsonian Institution, page 75

$35,000,000 to the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, page 76

$25,000,000 for additional salary for House of Representatives, page 134

$3,000,000,000 upgrade to the IT department at the VA

$315,000,000 for State Department Diplomatic Programs, page 146

$95,000,000 for the Agency of International Development, page 146

$300,000,000 for International Disaster Assistance, page 147

$300,000,000 for Migrant and Refugee Assistance pg 147

$90,000,000 for the Peace Corp pg 148

$13,000,000 to Howard University pg 121

9,000,000 Misc Senate Expenses pg 134

$100,000,000 to Essential Air carriers

$40,000,000,000 goes to the Take Responsibility to Workers and Families Act. This sounds like it’s direct payments for workers. Pg 164

$1,000,000,000 Airlines Recycle and Save Program pg 163

$25,000,000 to the FAA for administrative costs pg 165

$526,000,000 Grants to Amtrak

$13,000,000 to Howard University pg 121

$25,000,000,000 for Transit Infrastructure pg 169

$492,000,000 to National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) pg 167

$3,000,000 Maritime Administration pg 172

$5,000,000 Salaries and Expensive Office of the Inspector General pg 172

$2,500,000 Public and Indian Housing pg 175

$5,000,000 Community Planning and Development pg 175

$2,500,000 Office of Housing

$1,500,000,000 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Office of Public and Indian Housing, $1 million of which can be used as “additional administrative and other expenses”. pg 176

$720,000,000 to the public housing fund pg 177

$100,000,000 for Community Block Grants for Native Americans pg 183

$250,000,000 for Housing Block Grants for Tribes pg 182

$130,000,000 for AIDS Housing pg 185

$15,000,000,000 for the Community Development Fund pg 188

$5,000,000,000 in Homeless Assistance pg 193

$100,000,000,000 for Rental Assistance – pg 198

$7,000,000 to enforce the Fair Housing Act – pg 203

Paid Family Leave for Sickness is 2 paid work weeks pg 213

Emergency Family Leave now applies to all employers, not just companies over 500 employees pg 208

Guarantees paid leave to employees who have an in-law who gets sick pg 209

$1,000,000,000 for more Obamaphones

How Sweden did it. Dr. Sebastian Rushworth

"The Swedish Public Health authority has never admitted that the goal of their chosen strategy is to reach herd immunity. However, from an epidemiological stand point, all strategies depend on reaching herd immunity in one way or another. A vaccination based strategy also builds on getting to herd immunity, it just chooses a different way to reach it. At some point in the relatively near future, every country on Earth will have developed herd immunity to covid, either by letting the disease spread until that point is reached, or by vaccinating enough people to reach that point."

https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/10/31/a-history-of-the-swedish-covid-response/?

"I think it’s becoming pretty clear that SARS-CoV-2 is a seasonal virus, just like the four “common cold” coronaviruses. It would be strange if it wasn’t, considering how similar it is to them biologically. And I think that, just as with all other seasonal respiratory viruses, we saw a drop over the summer months, and we are now seeing an increase over the autumn. The pandemic stage of covid is now over, and we have entered the endemic stage."

Sounds like Dr. Rushworth is worth following. https://sebastianrushworth.com/

"I am not saying that covid is nothing, or that it doesn’t exist. I am saying that it is a virus with a marginal effect on longevity. And yet, public policy in most countries has been driven by doomsday scenarios based on completely unrealistic numbers. To put it simply, we’ve acted like we’re dealing with a global ebola outbreak, when covid is much more like the common cold."

https://sebastianrushworth.com/.../how-deadly-is-covid-19/?

Good article. Interesting information on how dangerous the common cold is for the elderly or people with other health problems. Colds are also caused by coronaviruses.