Well, I see the calendar says that it is April 14th. Who has their taxes done? Not I. I filed an extension for only the second time in my life. I just couldn’t tackle it with everything else going on. Oh, I sent them some money, but haven’t filed.
I hope we hear from Debra on how her husband is doing.
Our taxes are finished and paid. First quarter for next year is paid.
I meant to comment that the relative who had to shoot someone is still suffering from having to do so. These types of things are not something someone does and then just goes merrily on their way. I also think we don’t realize ‘the heat of the moment’ so many in law enforcement face.
In my mind one person’s sin has reverberated to affect many, many others. The one who first broke the law and had a warrant out is the one. Not that he should have died, but it was his refusal to do what was right, way back when, that has reverberated to hurt him and his loved ones, plus all those now stuck with destruction and chaos. And the devil laughs about it all. 😦
We have zero trust anymore. The people being stopped don’t trust the police and the police don’t trust the people they stop. The fear is huge. The one that really woke me up is the Second Lieutenant video. He knows to obey orders and was very polite but did not obey. He pulled over in a well lit place. Smart. The officers were clearly scared. He was clearly either concerned (as is my son from Africa) or acting a part. I don’t know him. But it pretty well sums it all up. Fear has taken over. God is not a God of fear.
More gorgeous flowers! ‘Tis the season. I wish I could work my energy up to do some planting — and even just to replace my hanging baskets — but I’m just kind of “blah” whenever I think about it. I even stopped at Lowe’s after church on Sunday (it’s on the way home) to get the new hanging flower, grabbed a cart, started wheeling it through the gardening area, when I thought, “well, if I buy these now, I’ll have to get them ready to hang in my porch baskets, do some watering …” and I just like that, I mentally ran out of steam just thinking about it. I put the cart back and went home.
I think I’ll go ahead and pay off my taxes this week, just to clear the decks even though we have another month. My tax guy says I can call them and they’ll pay what I owe the IRS w/my debit/credit card, which is an appealing way to go, so I don’t have to hassle with a check? Then I can pay their fee at the same time and be done with all of it.
I had to pick up dog meds late yesterday but it worked out since I started work so early (7:30) and so could cut the end of the day shorter.
Then it was riot time on the news.
Honestly, we are headed down a road that is so precarious right now, it feels far more unstable than even the 1970s did. Can you imagine when the Chauvin verdict comes down? Barring a 1st degree murder finding, nothing will be acceptable and it will all just blow up in Minneapolis — and everywhere else.
Kathaleena, I agree with your big-picture assessment.
My thought now is that the officer may have seriously believed the guy was going potentially for a weapon in the car and maybe already had her gun drawn on instinct, then ‘forgot’ that when it became a taser situation? I have no idea, but I hope she’s able to keep herself and her family safe through all of this, apparently there were protesters gathering at her house last night. I hope they’re gone or have some major protection in place.
And yes, roscuro makes the pertinent point. We are all responsible for our own actions in any situation. I’m guessing the officer herself is horrified by her own response and the result.
And what mumsee said also, regarding the high level of fear on both sides at this point, everyone expecting the worst from “the other.” Everything instantly escalates in that situation.
Mumsee, according to reports on that video they simultaneously asked that soldier to keep his hands up and get out of the car. He would have had to have super powers to do both at the same time, because I for one, could not undo my seatbelt and open my care while keeping my hands in the air. Now I know something about the Catch-22 that American officials think they are so clever over, because when they detained me, they told me that either I had to stop lying – because I was insisting I was not going to work in the US – or I would be banned from entry for life. Now, I wasn’t lying, but they had decided I was and thought their little ultimatum that would break me down. But I wasn’t lying, so all they did was put me into an impossible situation. They were all young, and seemed excited to have something they could throw their weight around over – cowboys pleased as punch over their authority to detain, interrogate, and threaten. Law enforcement officials should never take joy in their power and those who do are a threat. If I as a nurse gloried over how I held people’s lives in my hands, I would be a horrible menace to them. Yet in all these situations that are being published, you can see the adrenaline pumping up the officers, making them more aggressive in their approach – just look at the look on Chauvin’s face as he kneels on Floyd. Nurses who get an adrenaline high from emergency situations can end up being a menace to patients – a couple of years ago, a nurse in another province was found to have been lacing regular IV fluids with oxytocin on a labour and delivery floor, because she enjoyed the high of an emergency delivery. Beware the law enforcement officer who enjoys a dangerous situation, because they will create dangerous situations.
Michelle, vaccines also take some time to take effect. Someone who gets COVID within in a couple of weeks of their vaccine was not yet protected by the vaccine. Also, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only 69 percent effective in protecting against infection, its efficacy lies in protecting against serious illness. Personally, I think that the J&J vaccine should not have been approved because it is low efficacy rate isn’t going to increase the public’s trust in vaccines ( not to mention that it shares the same vector as the AstraZeneca, and now both are being investigated for links to rare blood clots), but the reasoning was that some protection is better than no protection in a crisis situation.
I started listening to this last night before turning out the lights, got through half of it and hope to finish it tonight, but an interesting conversation w/Albert Mohler: “In this edition of the popular podcast series “Thinking in Public,” Albert Mohler speaks with R. R. Reno (of First Things) about religion and politics in the rapidly secularizing American culture.” It’s about an hour long.
Michelle, also, the fear is not of human manufacture. I know that certain people like to claim media hype is driving fear of the virus, but media didn’t exist during the Black Death in Europe, and barely existed during the Spanish influenza. Yet panic existed. Dr. Paul Brand, who was a child in the Koli Mali hills of southern India during Spanish influenza wrote later “…it killed with such ferocity that it shattered any sense of community. Rather than nursing a sick member back to health, terrified neighbours and family fled to the woods.” Disease itself, when it kills fast enough, will drive human fear, drive it to the atrocities committed against Jews and others during the Black Death, drive it to deserting even family members in the case of Spanish influenza. In Brazil right now, the country is being ripped apart by both a varient that is deadly and has overwhelmed the healthcare system, and by a president who continues to insist that there is nothing to fear.
I’ve heard a story of a great+ grandmother widow who married a man who would not let a sick daughter in the house. She died. He was later run out of town. These posts brought that to mind. He was not my blood relative, but she was.
We saw news yesterday that indicated Atlanta City Police Officers are having to be responsible for cleaning their cars. The story indicated that people they put in their back seats could have all sorts of illnesses and bodily discharges. They say their cars are like offices and they should have that cost covered by their employer. Who would want to have to work under those conditions?
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The white Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, after appearing to mistake her handgun for her Taser will be charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday, a prosecutor said, following three nights of protests over the killing.
The charges against the officer, Kimberly A. Potter, come a day after she and the police chief both resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Hundreds of people have faced off with the police in Brooklyn Center each night since Mr. Wright’s death, and residents across the region are preparing for a verdict next week in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with murdering George Floyd.
Who else besides me thinks it’s curious the Mueller family (above with the bear and dogs) has cameras in several places inside and outside their house–yet leaves the door open so the bear, etc. can come and go?
I take your point, Roscuro, about fear–see The Decameron–but I also see fear being used as a weapon in modern days.
With a 24/7 news cycle always looking for the most drama, we’re now overwhelmed by catastrophic news we cannot well grasp before we’re besieged with the next horror.
How are we supposed to process all this, and sort out what is a real threat to me rather than a threat that won’t touch me?
(Remember how during 9-11 they asked the networks to stop running videotape of the plane crashes because too many children thought it was happening over and over again?)
Plain speaking about COVID from the beginning and not politicizing it as has been done in the US, would go a long way toward mitigating some of the fears people harbor–not to mention the distrust.
I’m fortunate to be married to Mr. COVID, the mother of MS. COVID and a friend of yours.
Otherwise, I’m sure I would be vulnerable–because as a researcher I’d go right down the rabbit hole, only to end up confused.
Michelle, while we can get American networks here, they are not the main source of news – or rather, they don’t have to be the main source. Our national broadcaster has done a decent job – I heard them interviewing an American physician on the reason for pausing the J&J vaccine and it was a low key interview, with the pertinent questions being asked. Yet, there are those among my relatives who say that even that kind of informational tone about COVID is fear mongering. Basically, any information that labels COVID a greater threat than seasonal flu is fear mongering to them. They just don’t like being told that something is out of the control of our modern science and technology. Here in Canada, we don’t suffer a huge amount of natural disasters. Tornadoes and hurricanes seldom cause destruction, earthquakes are rare, and there are no volcanoes. The most dangerous things nature threatens us with is cold, which we have long mastered, and forest fires, which occasionally cause a mass evacuation, but normally just burn through massive tracts of uninhabited forest. We tend to think, since we have mastered the far north, that nature is at our mercy and we should be kinder to it. So, when a microscopic disease shuts down the whole sparsely populated country, many are inclined to think it a overblown problem, and refuse to believe the reports that exhausted healthcare workers tell of overcrowded ICUs. They call it fear mongering, and whine that their rights are being taken away, warning of the Mark of the Beast, and a Great Reset, and a coming Communist regime (all at the same time). They are the ones who are fear mongering.
What drives me crazy about news reporting is when they report news without the context that would put the news in perspective.
For example, a few days before the CDC announcement about the pause on the J&J vaccine, one our our local news channels reported that delivery of J&J was going to drop by 80% in the coming week because of manufacturing problems. The way they reported it would have led many to think it would have a huge impact on scheduled vaccinations.
They did NOT say how much, or how little, of the total vaccine supply in the state was from J&J. With a little digging in other news sources I found out that the major vaccinaters in Michigan are still using mostly Moderna and Pfizer. Pharmacies are the major recipients of J&J. The counties and major health providers won’t be affected much.
That’s good that your main vaccinators aren’t affected. We were just gearing up to expand vaccination, when the promised supplies from Moderna didn’t arrive and the delivery date got pushed to the end of the month. This is not the first time vaccine delivery has been delayed, causing frustration. In a way, this situation has been created by prior complacency. We once had a vaccine development and manufacturing facility that was world class, but a prior (conservative) government sold it off,. Then the current government failed to help fund vaccine development last year – the vaccines (mRNA based) are currently in clinical trials finally, but they could have been at that point last year. There are numerous reasons that we are at the point we are right now, but it comes down to the national weakness of complacency. As I said, we are not accustomed to things not being well under control.
Chas has mentioned the line “I can’t feel at home in this world any more” often lately. I’ve often thought of that chorus lately too, especially since the November election. I’m trying to learn not to have my sense of well-being so tied to what I see in the country’s future.
In my college fellowship we sang that song a lot. One of the senior leaders when I was a freshman was from a small city in Tennessee. He had a deep bass voice and and endearing drawl. He taught us that when we sang that song the correct pronunciation of “can’t” was “cain’t” (rhyming with “ain’t”).
Local TV news is great for a lot of things — providing a lot of context isn’t one of them, partly due to time/”space” constraints. A sentence or 2 per story is about how they have to do it on some nights.
Thanx Kevin. That is one of the best renditions of that song that I’ve heard.
You folks don’t understand this. At least I hope not because you aren’t there yet.
But that song has a bittersweet meaning to me.
I am 90 years old now. Not as spry nor as alert as I once was a couple of years ago..
I have lost my better half (not kidding here.)
The world seems is passing me by.
I am one my son/dil, some grand kids top by and see as they go about important things in their life.
I am in relative good health for someone my age.
I have lots to be thankful for and I am.
But I know for a fact that I will soon pass to the other side.
I am convinced that I have a better home awaiting.
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
Kevin, I often think of Paul’s words: “For you are dead, and your life is his in Christ with God” (Colossians 3:3). It helps to remember that my life is not dependent on the government, or the healthcare system, or a bully manager, but only on God. I was observing to my mother how well our family has been carried all through this. I got my surgery just before everything had to be shut down again, both my father and I have had our first Pfizer vaccines (and even with one does, Pfizer provides good protection) and my mother is supposed to have her first vaccine tomorrow. While we are not wealthy, neither are we in need – the lockdowns have not deprived us of the necessities. That is due solely to the protection of the Lord, not any human agency.
Chas, I may have years to go or may leave tomorrow. But my toes are tapping! Ready to get on with Life! But until then, I will go about the business I am assigned, whatever it may be.
Our college fellowship had a sing for about half an hour at noon every Thursday by a pond next to the campus’s main library. Two or three people would bring guitars. We’d sing a mix of hymns, gospel songs, and 70’s Jesus music. “This World is Not My Home” was a favorite.
People walking by on the way to lunch from class or work might ignore us, look at us quizzically, roll their eyes, or sit down and join in. I miss those days sometimes.
I’ve listened to that about four (or more) times now Keven.
It’s a good rendition.
But while listening, I can’t help but wonder what Merle Travis would do with the guitar on that.
I think that we have started a new tradition. Give Chas his music for the day!!
Have you taken a walk yet, Chas.
Sun is just clearing away the fog here. About time to go to work.
That bear is my worst nightmare. I want to get a door with a large glass window in it for my back door to let in more light but… I can just imagine a bear breaking in.
I can’t figure out why the bear wasn’t helping himself to the food in the kitchen – that’s what a normal bear would do. Also, my ancient dog would go nuts like that even with his arthritis. He would just pay for it later.
I’ve had my first vaccination last week – AstraZeneca – had a fever and aches and queasiness for a couple of days. Doing fine now. The blood clot thing is a concern, however, if it’s that large of a concern for me, then I should never take a flight anywhere.
I had a short walk Jo, not all the way.
I see on TV where people were throwing bricks at the police.
When I was young, there was a saying, “never throw rocks at people carrying guns.”
Times have changed so that everyone is afraid of everyone.
Janice, the flame azaleas are lovely. My husband and I have been to the Smoky Mountains four times, including our honeymoon, but only once in the spring (May). When we went, the flame azaleas had bloomed early in the lower portion, and we didn’t get to the upper portion where they hadn’t bloomed yet. I kept looking for just one or two flowers of them, and found only one spent bloom. I hope someday we can go again in spring, but two or three weeks earlier.
Today marks ten years since my husband and I met in person for the first time after six weeks of talking by email and three of talking by phone, with 120,000 words by email and two or three hours a day by phone. We meant to go to the wildlife refuge yesterday but it was threatening rain, and we went this morning instead. Got some good sightings and some nice photos. Tomorrow morning I’m supposed to meet a friend to walk with her. I haven’t walked that trail for a couple of weeks, and I have a hunch there’s a whole lot more in bloom now.
Locally this is about the prettiest week of the whole year, the week that the dogwoods join in with all the other tree blossoms that are already in bloom, and almost all the blooming trees bloom at once. I personally like summer a little better than spring–I can’t wait for the prettier wildflowers and the butterflies and dragonflies, and the baby animals–but this particular week is spectacular and I look forward to it every year.
Have I mentioned that I have heard back from the Teamsters Pension Fund that yes, I am eligible for the pension? It will be about half of what Hubby would have gotten, but at least it is something to add to the Social Security that I am receiving. (Although now that I will have to get on a different health insurance plan, much of the extra will go to the premiums, deductibles, and saving for what won’t be covered. So it will still be a little more than SS, but not as much as it seemed at first. But a little more is better than no more.)
Also, Nightingale is in the process to refinance the house into both our names. She has requested a larger amount for the repairs and renovations that are desperately needed.
Can’t see the clip on my phone, but the discussion reminds me of when I was visiting friends in a part of Ontario further northwest. I had taken the bus there, and while on the highway, I saw a black bear on the side of the road, but during the visit, they spotted a black bear and cub in their backyard, which was quite small. They had a patio door to the backyard, which was closed, and when the bears saw us looking out, they retreated back into the forest.
Kare, you would be in the lower risk age group? It seems mostly younger women are at slightly increased risk of blood clots, though admittedly, the birth control pill and of course infection with COVID itself present far greater risks of getting clots. Second would like to get vaccinated, but since pregnancy is already a higher risk for blood clots, AstraZeneca wouldn’t be a good option for her.
I made the interesting discovery today that there is only one lab in all of Canada that can do the test to diagnose for the kind of clot associated with the vaccine. The test they do is the same test for a weird condition known as herparin-induced thromboCytopenia and thrombosis (HITT). I learned about HITT when I was in school, as we were trained to monitor platelets when patients were on heparin. Basically, heparin is a commonly used anti-coagulent (prevents blood clots) but if it accumulates in too high quantities in the body it can produce a paradoxical effect, where platelets start forming clots. The human body actually does that with a number of conditions – too much blood loss is one trigger, and sepsis is another, and COVID itself is yet another trigger – it starts to form random clots until it uses up all its platelets, and then hemorrhages. One of my cousins actually developed a clotting disorder after a bad bout of influenza in 2017 – that year I too got really sick with the flu and I remember thinking that influenza was increasing in severity and wondering if we were in for an epidemic soon – but my cousin just started bleeding from his eyes and they found out that he had developed a rare autoimmune reaction to influenza where his platelets were being destroyed by his immune system. The human body does weird things sometimes.
Good news Kizzie, and interest rates are still low. And I just filed a story on the Teamsters, they’re out picketing the ports on behalf of truck drivers, an effort that’s been ongoing for several years now.
Kim, I love those Sears homes, we have several of the original line in the LA area and even have a FB page filled with folks who are big fans of the houses. What a great idea that was, really.
I’m so tired of the boring architecture we see now — monochromatic boxes with little or no yard space. No charm, no originality.
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes
Little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
And the people in the houses all went to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
There’s a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
Pete Seeger
Roscuro, yes, they were vaccinating everyone 55+ at drive through clinics – very efficient. Now they’re vaccinating 52 to 54 year olds, but those will be getting Pfizer.
Wandering Views 
Pretty flowers there Janice.
good morning everyone.
Nothing happening around here, that’s good.
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Well, I see the calendar says that it is April 14th. Who has their taxes done? Not I. I filed an extension for only the second time in my life. I just couldn’t tackle it with everything else going on. Oh, I sent them some money, but haven’t filed.
I hope we hear from Debra on how her husband is doing.
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Good morning! The header is our Flame Azalea, a native plant for the state of Georgia. It is blooming early this year.
Kim, you knew that the tax deadline was extended by a month? But extending to Oct. gives you even more time to get it all together.
I have my ladies’ Bible study shortly. How fast these weeks are passing by.
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Our taxes are finished and paid. First quarter for next year is paid.
I meant to comment that the relative who had to shoot someone is still suffering from having to do so. These types of things are not something someone does and then just goes merrily on their way. I also think we don’t realize ‘the heat of the moment’ so many in law enforcement face.
In my mind one person’s sin has reverberated to affect many, many others. The one who first broke the law and had a warrant out is the one. Not that he should have died, but it was his refusal to do what was right, way back when, that has reverberated to hurt him and his loved ones, plus all those now stuck with destruction and chaos. And the devil laughs about it all. 😦
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If blame for successive events lies always on the person who started those events, does Adam bear guilt for the sins of all humanity?
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Amen Kathaleena.
We have zero trust anymore. The people being stopped don’t trust the police and the police don’t trust the people they stop. The fear is huge. The one that really woke me up is the Second Lieutenant video. He knows to obey orders and was very polite but did not obey. He pulled over in a well lit place. Smart. The officers were clearly scared. He was clearly either concerned (as is my son from Africa) or acting a part. I don’t know him. But it pretty well sums it all up. Fear has taken over. God is not a God of fear.
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More gorgeous flowers! ‘Tis the season. I wish I could work my energy up to do some planting — and even just to replace my hanging baskets — but I’m just kind of “blah” whenever I think about it. I even stopped at Lowe’s after church on Sunday (it’s on the way home) to get the new hanging flower, grabbed a cart, started wheeling it through the gardening area, when I thought, “well, if I buy these now, I’ll have to get them ready to hang in my porch baskets, do some watering …” and I just like that, I mentally ran out of steam just thinking about it. I put the cart back and went home.
I think I’ll go ahead and pay off my taxes this week, just to clear the decks even though we have another month. My tax guy says I can call them and they’ll pay what I owe the IRS w/my debit/credit card, which is an appealing way to go, so I don’t have to hassle with a check? Then I can pay their fee at the same time and be done with all of it.
I had to pick up dog meds late yesterday but it worked out since I started work so early (7:30) and so could cut the end of the day shorter.
Then it was riot time on the news.
Honestly, we are headed down a road that is so precarious right now, it feels far more unstable than even the 1970s did. Can you imagine when the Chauvin verdict comes down? Barring a 1st degree murder finding, nothing will be acceptable and it will all just blow up in Minneapolis — and everywhere else.
Kathaleena, I agree with your big-picture assessment.
My thought now is that the officer may have seriously believed the guy was going potentially for a weapon in the car and maybe already had her gun drawn on instinct, then ‘forgot’ that when it became a taser situation? I have no idea, but I hope she’s able to keep herself and her family safe through all of this, apparently there were protesters gathering at her house last night. I hope they’re gone or have some major protection in place.
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And yes, roscuro makes the pertinent point. We are all responsible for our own actions in any situation. I’m guessing the officer herself is horrified by her own response and the result.
And what mumsee said also, regarding the high level of fear on both sides at this point, everyone expecting the worst from “the other.” Everything instantly escalates in that situation.
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Mumsee, according to reports on that video they simultaneously asked that soldier to keep his hands up and get out of the car. He would have had to have super powers to do both at the same time, because I for one, could not undo my seatbelt and open my care while keeping my hands in the air. Now I know something about the Catch-22 that American officials think they are so clever over, because when they detained me, they told me that either I had to stop lying – because I was insisting I was not going to work in the US – or I would be banned from entry for life. Now, I wasn’t lying, but they had decided I was and thought their little ultimatum that would break me down. But I wasn’t lying, so all they did was put me into an impossible situation. They were all young, and seemed excited to have something they could throw their weight around over – cowboys pleased as punch over their authority to detain, interrogate, and threaten. Law enforcement officials should never take joy in their power and those who do are a threat. If I as a nurse gloried over how I held people’s lives in my hands, I would be a horrible menace to them. Yet in all these situations that are being published, you can see the adrenaline pumping up the officers, making them more aggressive in their approach – just look at the look on Chauvin’s face as he kneels on Floyd. Nurses who get an adrenaline high from emergency situations can end up being a menace to patients – a couple of years ago, a nurse in another province was found to have been lacing regular IV fluids with oxytocin on a labour and delivery floor, because she enjoyed the high of an emergency delivery. Beware the law enforcement officer who enjoys a dangerous situation, because they will create dangerous situations.
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We have sown fear for more than a year in our nation and the world. What really do we expect?
Today’s paper noted 39 people who had been vaccinated for COVID in our county have since come down with the illness.
Mr. COVID explained that the point of the vaccine is not to protect us from ever getting it, it’s to protect us from getting a serious case.
“Oh, that’s right,” even I said.
We live in a society/world without a living hope. Death IS the end of the world for most people on the planet and they’re afraid.
Who can blame them?
I read 2 Peter 2:15 yesterday for my class and I could hardly get through it–I might just as well have put up the media for a case study.
Here it is in EW, for those curious about added commentary to the horror: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/2-peter-2/
When the powers that be do what is right in their own eyes, despite what the Word of God says, what else can you expect?
Truly, it feels like we’re living in the days of Noah.
Fortunately, Jesus built a bigger ark.
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Amen, michelle.
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Michelle, vaccines also take some time to take effect. Someone who gets COVID within in a couple of weeks of their vaccine was not yet protected by the vaccine. Also, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only 69 percent effective in protecting against infection, its efficacy lies in protecting against serious illness. Personally, I think that the J&J vaccine should not have been approved because it is low efficacy rate isn’t going to increase the public’s trust in vaccines ( not to mention that it shares the same vector as the AstraZeneca, and now both are being investigated for links to rare blood clots), but the reasoning was that some protection is better than no protection in a crisis situation.
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Debra checked in on the prayer thread… ♥️
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Meanwhile, terriers have spunk. What happened when a young bear came to visit a home in Pasadena:
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I started listening to this last night before turning out the lights, got through half of it and hope to finish it tonight, but an interesting conversation w/Albert Mohler: “In this edition of the popular podcast series “Thinking in Public,” Albert Mohler speaks with R. R. Reno (of First Things) about religion and politics in the rapidly secularizing American culture.” It’s about an hour long.
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Michelle, also, the fear is not of human manufacture. I know that certain people like to claim media hype is driving fear of the virus, but media didn’t exist during the Black Death in Europe, and barely existed during the Spanish influenza. Yet panic existed. Dr. Paul Brand, who was a child in the Koli Mali hills of southern India during Spanish influenza wrote later “…it killed with such ferocity that it shattered any sense of community. Rather than nursing a sick member back to health, terrified neighbours and family fled to the woods.” Disease itself, when it kills fast enough, will drive human fear, drive it to the atrocities committed against Jews and others during the Black Death, drive it to deserting even family members in the case of Spanish influenza. In Brazil right now, the country is being ripped apart by both a varient that is deadly and has overwhelmed the healthcare system, and by a president who continues to insist that there is nothing to fear.
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I’ve heard a story of a great+ grandmother widow who married a man who would not let a sick daughter in the house. She died. He was later run out of town. These posts brought that to mind. He was not my blood relative, but she was.
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Bible study was short but good today. Now I need to post the requests.
The weather is absolutely lovely. I just heard a hawk sounding in distress. That noise they make is a perfect expression of impending calamity.
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We saw news yesterday that indicated Atlanta City Police Officers are having to be responsible for cleaning their cars. The story indicated that people they put in their back seats could have all sorts of illnesses and bodily discharges. They say their cars are like offices and they should have that cost covered by their employer. Who would want to have to work under those conditions?
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DJ, there is a story for you. The scoop on the back seats of patrol cars.
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BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The white Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, after appearing to mistake her handgun for her Taser will be charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday, a prosecutor said, following three nights of protests over the killing.
The charges against the officer, Kimberly A. Potter, come a day after she and the police chief both resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Hundreds of people have faced off with the police in Brooklyn Center each night since Mr. Wright’s death, and residents across the region are preparing for a verdict next week in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with murdering George Floyd.
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Who else besides me thinks it’s curious the Mueller family (above with the bear and dogs) has cameras in several places inside and outside their house–yet leaves the door open so the bear, etc. can come and go?
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I take your point, Roscuro, about fear–see The Decameron–but I also see fear being used as a weapon in modern days.
With a 24/7 news cycle always looking for the most drama, we’re now overwhelmed by catastrophic news we cannot well grasp before we’re besieged with the next horror.
How are we supposed to process all this, and sort out what is a real threat to me rather than a threat that won’t touch me?
(Remember how during 9-11 they asked the networks to stop running videotape of the plane crashes because too many children thought it was happening over and over again?)
Plain speaking about COVID from the beginning and not politicizing it as has been done in the US, would go a long way toward mitigating some of the fears people harbor–not to mention the distrust.
I’m fortunate to be married to Mr. COVID, the mother of MS. COVID and a friend of yours.
Otherwise, I’m sure I would be vulnerable–because as a researcher I’d go right down the rabbit hole, only to end up confused.
So, thanks. 🙂
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Michelle, while we can get American networks here, they are not the main source of news – or rather, they don’t have to be the main source. Our national broadcaster has done a decent job – I heard them interviewing an American physician on the reason for pausing the J&J vaccine and it was a low key interview, with the pertinent questions being asked. Yet, there are those among my relatives who say that even that kind of informational tone about COVID is fear mongering. Basically, any information that labels COVID a greater threat than seasonal flu is fear mongering to them. They just don’t like being told that something is out of the control of our modern science and technology. Here in Canada, we don’t suffer a huge amount of natural disasters. Tornadoes and hurricanes seldom cause destruction, earthquakes are rare, and there are no volcanoes. The most dangerous things nature threatens us with is cold, which we have long mastered, and forest fires, which occasionally cause a mass evacuation, but normally just burn through massive tracts of uninhabited forest. We tend to think, since we have mastered the far north, that nature is at our mercy and we should be kinder to it. So, when a microscopic disease shuts down the whole sparsely populated country, many are inclined to think it a overblown problem, and refuse to believe the reports that exhausted healthcare workers tell of overcrowded ICUs. They call it fear mongering, and whine that their rights are being taken away, warning of the Mark of the Beast, and a Great Reset, and a coming Communist regime (all at the same time). They are the ones who are fear mongering.
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Maybe: they have elderly dogs, we’re told (though they appear pretty spry in that video) — so, based on that …
One of my dogs now has a hard time navigating the pet door. So my back sliding door is often left standing open.
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DJ, maybe you can film a coyote visiting and Annie and Tess arguing over whose job it is to chase it out, while Cowboy asserts his masculinity on it?
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A lot of folk seem to have nest cameras around. The yard is probably fenced. The door open for the dogs to go in and out.
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What drives me crazy about news reporting is when they report news without the context that would put the news in perspective.
For example, a few days before the CDC announcement about the pause on the J&J vaccine, one our our local news channels reported that delivery of J&J was going to drop by 80% in the coming week because of manufacturing problems. The way they reported it would have led many to think it would have a huge impact on scheduled vaccinations.
They did NOT say how much, or how little, of the total vaccine supply in the state was from J&J. With a little digging in other news sources I found out that the major vaccinaters in Michigan are still using mostly Moderna and Pfizer. Pharmacies are the major recipients of J&J. The counties and major health providers won’t be affected much.
Just an example – I see this all the time.
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That’s good that your main vaccinators aren’t affected. We were just gearing up to expand vaccination, when the promised supplies from Moderna didn’t arrive and the delivery date got pushed to the end of the month. This is not the first time vaccine delivery has been delayed, causing frustration. In a way, this situation has been created by prior complacency. We once had a vaccine development and manufacturing facility that was world class, but a prior (conservative) government sold it off,. Then the current government failed to help fund vaccine development last year – the vaccines (mRNA based) are currently in clinical trials finally, but they could have been at that point last year. There are numerous reasons that we are at the point we are right now, but it comes down to the national weakness of complacency. As I said, we are not accustomed to things not being well under control.
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Chas has mentioned the line “I can’t feel at home in this world any more” often lately. I’ve often thought of that chorus lately too, especially since the November election. I’m trying to learn not to have my sense of well-being so tied to what I see in the country’s future.
In my college fellowship we sang that song a lot. One of the senior leaders when I was a freshman was from a small city in Tennessee. He had a deep bass voice and and endearing drawl. He taught us that when we sang that song the correct pronunciation of “can’t” was “cain’t” (rhyming with “ain’t”).
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Local TV news is great for a lot of things — providing a lot of context isn’t one of them, partly due to time/”space” constraints. A sentence or 2 per story is about how they have to do it on some nights.
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Thanks, Kevin. love me some banjo pickin.
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Thanx Kevin. That is one of the best renditions of that song that I’ve heard.
You folks don’t understand this. At least I hope not because you aren’t there yet.
But that song has a bittersweet meaning to me.
I am 90 years old now. Not as spry nor as alert as I once was a couple of years ago..
I have lost my better half (not kidding here.)
The world seems is passing me by.
I am one my son/dil, some grand kids top by and see as they go about important things in their life.
I am in relative good health for someone my age.
I have lots to be thankful for and I am.
But I know for a fact that I will soon pass to the other side.
I am convinced that I have a better home awaiting.
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
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Kevin, I often think of Paul’s words: “For you are dead, and your life is his in Christ with God” (Colossians 3:3). It helps to remember that my life is not dependent on the government, or the healthcare system, or a bully manager, but only on God. I was observing to my mother how well our family has been carried all through this. I got my surgery just before everything had to be shut down again, both my father and I have had our first Pfizer vaccines (and even with one does, Pfizer provides good protection) and my mother is supposed to have her first vaccine tomorrow. While we are not wealthy, neither are we in need – the lockdowns have not deprived us of the necessities. That is due solely to the protection of the Lord, not any human agency.
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Chas, I may have years to go or may leave tomorrow. But my toes are tapping! Ready to get on with Life! But until then, I will go about the business I am assigned, whatever it may be.
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Look DJ
https://theclose.com/sears-catalog-homes/?fbclid=IwAR2wa0r-Vl8QvsDnuxiwZk1cIwv9dbaj95aS7OAP5N_KczoY1sutinEEKVQ
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Loved that song, banjos, and harmonica, Kevin. Thanks!
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Our college fellowship had a sing for about half an hour at noon every Thursday by a pond next to the campus’s main library. Two or three people would bring guitars. We’d sing a mix of hymns, gospel songs, and 70’s Jesus music. “This World is Not My Home” was a favorite.
People walking by on the way to lunch from class or work might ignore us, look at us quizzically, roll their eyes, or sit down and join in. I miss those days sometimes.
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I’ve listened to that about four (or more) times now Keven.
It’s a good rendition.
But while listening, I can’t help but wonder what Merle Travis would do with the guitar on that.
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I think that we have started a new tradition. Give Chas his music for the day!!
Have you taken a walk yet, Chas.
Sun is just clearing away the fog here. About time to go to work.
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That bear is my worst nightmare. I want to get a door with a large glass window in it for my back door to let in more light but… I can just imagine a bear breaking in.
I can’t figure out why the bear wasn’t helping himself to the food in the kitchen – that’s what a normal bear would do. Also, my ancient dog would go nuts like that even with his arthritis. He would just pay for it later.
I’ve had my first vaccination last week – AstraZeneca – had a fever and aches and queasiness for a couple of days. Doing fine now. The blood clot thing is a concern, however, if it’s that large of a concern for me, then I should never take a flight anywhere.
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I had a short walk Jo, not all the way.
I see on TV where people were throwing bricks at the police.
When I was young, there was a saying, “never throw rocks at people carrying guns.”
Times have changed so that everyone is afraid of everyone.
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The bear was just coming for a short visit. Not seeing anyone, he left.
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Maybe the clip was edited, and they also said it was a juvenile bear. He doesn’t know how to open cabinets or refrigerators yet?
Leaving my back door open makes me worry most about coyotes, of course, but also skunks! Yikes. What a mess that would be.
Or raccoons.
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Janice, the flame azaleas are lovely. My husband and I have been to the Smoky Mountains four times, including our honeymoon, but only once in the spring (May). When we went, the flame azaleas had bloomed early in the lower portion, and we didn’t get to the upper portion where they hadn’t bloomed yet. I kept looking for just one or two flowers of them, and found only one spent bloom. I hope someday we can go again in spring, but two or three weeks earlier.
Today marks ten years since my husband and I met in person for the first time after six weeks of talking by email and three of talking by phone, with 120,000 words by email and two or three hours a day by phone. We meant to go to the wildlife refuge yesterday but it was threatening rain, and we went this morning instead. Got some good sightings and some nice photos. Tomorrow morning I’m supposed to meet a friend to walk with her. I haven’t walked that trail for a couple of weeks, and I have a hunch there’s a whole lot more in bloom now.
Locally this is about the prettiest week of the whole year, the week that the dogwoods join in with all the other tree blossoms that are already in bloom, and almost all the blooming trees bloom at once. I personally like summer a little better than spring–I can’t wait for the prettier wildflowers and the butterflies and dragonflies, and the baby animals–but this particular week is spectacular and I look forward to it every year.
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Have I mentioned that I have heard back from the Teamsters Pension Fund that yes, I am eligible for the pension? It will be about half of what Hubby would have gotten, but at least it is something to add to the Social Security that I am receiving. (Although now that I will have to get on a different health insurance plan, much of the extra will go to the premiums, deductibles, and saving for what won’t be covered. So it will still be a little more than SS, but not as much as it seemed at first. But a little more is better than no more.)
Also, Nightingale is in the process to refinance the house into both our names. She has requested a larger amount for the repairs and renovations that are desperately needed.
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Can’t see the clip on my phone, but the discussion reminds me of when I was visiting friends in a part of Ontario further northwest. I had taken the bus there, and while on the highway, I saw a black bear on the side of the road, but during the visit, they spotted a black bear and cub in their backyard, which was quite small. They had a patio door to the backyard, which was closed, and when the bears saw us looking out, they retreated back into the forest.
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Kare, you would be in the lower risk age group? It seems mostly younger women are at slightly increased risk of blood clots, though admittedly, the birth control pill and of course infection with COVID itself present far greater risks of getting clots. Second would like to get vaccinated, but since pregnancy is already a higher risk for blood clots, AstraZeneca wouldn’t be a good option for her.
I made the interesting discovery today that there is only one lab in all of Canada that can do the test to diagnose for the kind of clot associated with the vaccine. The test they do is the same test for a weird condition known as herparin-induced thromboCytopenia and thrombosis (HITT). I learned about HITT when I was in school, as we were trained to monitor platelets when patients were on heparin. Basically, heparin is a commonly used anti-coagulent (prevents blood clots) but if it accumulates in too high quantities in the body it can produce a paradoxical effect, where platelets start forming clots. The human body actually does that with a number of conditions – too much blood loss is one trigger, and sepsis is another, and COVID itself is yet another trigger – it starts to form random clots until it uses up all its platelets, and then hemorrhages. One of my cousins actually developed a clotting disorder after a bad bout of influenza in 2017 – that year I too got really sick with the flu and I remember thinking that influenza was increasing in severity and wondering if we were in for an epidemic soon – but my cousin just started bleeding from his eyes and they found out that he had developed a rare autoimmune reaction to influenza where his platelets were being destroyed by his immune system. The human body does weird things sometimes.
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Good news Kizzie, and interest rates are still low. And I just filed a story on the Teamsters, they’re out picketing the ports on behalf of truck drivers, an effort that’s been ongoing for several years now.
Kim, I love those Sears homes, we have several of the original line in the LA area and even have a FB page filled with folks who are big fans of the houses. What a great idea that was, really.
I’m so tired of the boring architecture we see now — monochromatic boxes with little or no yard space. No charm, no originality.
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And colors mostly in the black and gray range only
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I’m Pfizer
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Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes
Little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
And the people in the houses all went to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
There’s a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
Pete Seeger
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Roscuro, yes, they were vaccinating everyone 55+ at drive through clinics – very efficient. Now they’re vaccinating 52 to 54 year olds, but those will be getting Pfizer.
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oops, and Malvina Reynolds
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Mumsee, whenever I hear that song I think of a place just south of San Francisco where the hillside is covered with homes that look like little boxes.
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