Anti Americanism: We haz that

the USNavalInstitute blog has a long article about Germany's long tradition of hating America.

The building frustration within the American citizenry with subsidizing European defense has an even longer history – and the concern that this frustration in the modern context could lead to America leaving NATO also pre-dates the present administration. Heck, the Norwegian series Occupied is based on this premise and began in the previous administration.
Christian Hacke’s English translation in The National Interest of his original article in Die Welt brings up a lot of important issues that lie right below the surface, regardless of the author’s clunky dealings with his feelings about domestic American politics.

Yeah. sounds about right. They want the US to protect them while spitting the US in the eye on many levels. And don't blame Trumpie boy: They hated the US under Reagan and Jimmy Carter too...

and a review of the miniseries "occupied" is found here. (No I haven't seen it).

but a more probable and true to life scenerio might be China taking over Luzon. 

China laying claim to the Philippines was inevitable. It was beginning to look silly in the eyes of the world, mightily taking over only a part of Philippine waters, the Scarborough Shoal. That lagoon of rocks and sandbars is submerged during high tide. That a shoal, by definition, is uninhabitable shows up China’s historic claim to be farcical. Ancient Chinese may have been smart to invent gunpowder, but they couldn’t have built communities on a spit of rocks and sand 800 miles from Hong Kong, China’s nearest point. Luzon was only 120 more miles away. So China might as well take a step farther and claim the whole Philippines, to bolster its stake over Scarborough. By owning the Philippines, China need not spend millions of dollars exploring oil in the shoal. There’s proven gas at the Batasan. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2012/05/11/805543/what-philippines-belongs-china#bfxRxquaFCpx0sLs.99

and how about China taking over Siberia?  

what a strong USNavy means to the Philippines

For later listening:


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VICE article on why China is not pleased with this.

The bill received widespread bipartisan backing in Congress, amid a growing acknowledgment that the U.S. is facing an increased threat from Russia and China.

The bill is considered particularly tough on China, targeting several areas of concern for the Pentagon, including the increased Chinese military activity in the South China Sea, Beijing’s pursuit of cutting-edge U.S. technology and the spread of Communist Party propaganda at American institutions.

China’s commerce, defense and foreign ministries all issued statements slamming the bill’s proposals. The commerce ministry focused on a ban on Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE.

The U.S. government and government contractors will now largely be blocked from using the companies’ products in the future, though in non-critical systems some products will still be allowed. China’s foreign ministry pointed out that the act was passed despite Beijing’s strong objections, and it was dissatisfied with the “negative content related to China.”

This is big news, since essentially President Obama let China grab the shoals in the West Philippine sea, pressuring PresPnoy not to send our tiny military to oppose them when they started chasing out our fishermen and roping off the islets.

But now, the US is again showing it's willing to defend their allies here in SEAsia from Chinese aggression.

What will Duterte do? He is so cynical about the US (letting China grab the area and essentially making the Philippines without allies if the opposed the sealane grab). So Duterte has tried to make nice with China, but China, instead of helping, just stole more land, and the locals oppose his trying to make friendly with China.

so at the SONA he said we'd oppose China's continued aggression.
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related item: Long analysis of China at StrategyPage.
 this is the part about the West Philippine sea issue:

Chinese claims on Filipino territory are asserted relatively discreetly but relentlessly and many Filipinos are persuaded to submit rather than fight. At the same time, a growing number of prominent Filipinos have become more outspoken in their protests and warnings of the damage Chinese domination could inflict. This now includes the sometimes pro-China Filipino president.

This drew a public rebuke from China. At the same time China keeps offering economic deals that seem favorable, but in fact, give China more access to Filipino assets or territory in return for not much.

China is slowly asserting its possession over areas where it has built bases on seven artificial islands (by dredging up sand). China offers seemingly attractive joint exploration deals to look for oil, gas and other resources in offshore areas where, by international law, Filipinos should be in charge but where China acts like it is already a partner.

China offers small gifts (usually of military equipment) and promises of large investments (that often do not appear) and makes loud protests at anything it objects to; like Filipinos displaying banners saying; "Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China." Displaying such banners is legal in the Philippines but not in China.

This is the point for Filipinos that Chinese officials don’t quite comprehend.

here is the part that confirms what I've been saying about Obama letting them get away with it:

For nearly a decade, until 2017, the United States refused to pressure China to back off on its claims, even though a UN-backed tribunal ruled that China had violated international law and a treaty China itself had signed, but seizing Filipino maritime territory.

China ignored that ruling (“set it aside”) and continued to build new bases and coerce other nations to recognize these claims. Now the United States is challenging the Chinese claims but so far China is ignoring those challenges (American warships and aircraft passing through waters and airspace China insists is now part of China.)

Because of the more forceful attitude of the Americans (and British, Australians and others) Filipinos are unsure which is best; resist or submit. Either way, China is going to hurt the Philippines. If there is resistance China will seek to impose economic damage. If there is submission the Philippines loses valuable territory forever.

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Ironically, the only thing I read about this in the news was the MSM complaining that Trumpieboy didn't mention McCain's name when he signed the bill.

Sigh. And then they wonder why no one trusts the MSM.

Family news

Ruby is getting ready to fly back to her school in Canada.

There is a Chinese airliner stuck on one runway, so we are hoping the flights are back to normal by the time she leaves. Apparently it skidded off the runway into the mud and got stuck: everyone got out okay. But it's a mess trying to remove it properly.

Raining again today: Monsoon rain but danger of mild flooding too.

the puppies are eating and have reached the "cute" stage: one can't walk around the house without watching where you step. We had put them into the kitchen, but due to rain, we moved them back: we have concrete floors so cleanup is easy.

Aretha Franklin Rest in Peace

NYPost remembers when Ms Franklin stepped in to help a friend

Twenty years ago at Radio City Music Hall, the Queen of Soul turned into the Queen of Opera when she came to the rescue of the show as a last-minute substitute for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti on the Puccini aria “Nessun dorma.”

more songs here:

Just for nice

Trivia post of the day

-------------------and don't miss this cat trivia video:

CHicken post of the day

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headsup from DarkRoastedBlend

why docs burn out? Paperwork

Scidaily: Why docs burn out:

when big business and gov't bureaucracy took over medicine, it stressed efficiency, but what really happened is it made docs into robots to follow the flow charts.

the art of medicine morphed into the business model, where continuity of care (of people you know) morphed into the McDonald's idea of efficiency (as if every doc was a clone and didn't matter if you knew him or her). Then the bean counters decided you needed to document everything: so you spent your time filling out blanks (often of things not important) instead of actually talking to patients.

And then, the electronic records struck:

"When the subsidies ran out and the promises turned into extra cost, less time with patients, time at home finishing EHR records, unreadable and meaningless cloned patient notes, HIPAA-restricted access to outside records, and government penalties for not 'mining' patient data that cost money to input, doctors became overworked robots." Alexander stressed that doctors need to spend less time on their EHRs. "EHRs are not going away, but they don't need to be the focus of the patient's visit," he said. "Doctors should oppose EHRs that occupy valuable doctor-patient time and which use billing diagnoses rather than patient assessments. EHRs need to be portable. Computerized notes should be templated for meaningful patient care notes."

the dirty little secret: A lot of time it is the art of medicine that works: the teenager who comes in for a cold, and she is pregnant but afraid to tell mom. The elderly mother comes in for stomach pain and the real problem is her druggie son is stealing her social security check, or the younger mom whose husband is beating her up when he is drunk. The man who is suicidal and alcoholic, dragged in by his girlfriend but won't tell you his real problem (his blood pressure medicine is causing impotence).

And then there is the Colombo scenerio: after you evaluated the problem and the patient was going out the door, he/she turns around and says: Just one more thing..."  and you find the real reason for their visit.

they knew about the problem years ago

someone posted this CSPAN talk about the book Goodbye good Men.from 2002.

Controversial at the time, it gives some insight into what was going on in the church, although from what I understand, the Vatican stepped in and tried to stop the problem despite the opposition from the PC.



\

and the problem goes beyond "abuse": Bishop Wuerl was in charge of Pittsburgh when everyone in western PA knew about the gay priests openly cruising at Pittsburgh bars.

Don't tell me he didn't know about it.

As I said before: Pray for the priests who just try to do their job caring for people when the bishop is pushing the modern agendas over the old fashioned piety of the local Catholics.

I am waiting for someone to ban my blog on the grounds of homophobia: But the problem is the facade pretending promiscuity is okay.

it's the religious equivalent of Gresham's law:

stories behind the headlines

stories to read carefully later on my tablet.

StrategyPage on the trade war against China.

and a lot of details about China's war against the Philippines: thank Obama for letting them get away with stealing our fishing/oil rich areas.

oh yes: And they note China's threat to Siberia.
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Father Z writes about the corruption he has had to face

read the whole thing. No body wants to discuss the gay cliques protecting each other is the reason for the coverup. (*or the gay friendly psychiatric experts who influenced the way bishops reacted to these stories)

and no one wants to mention the priests who try to be faithful but face hostility due to this scandal. they are in our prayers.

The press stresses the Catholics are angry: Yes but remember: We knew what was going on for years, and personally I am thankful the problem finally got publicity.

The BBC reports the pope is on the side of the victims.
Whoopiedoo. But he still surrounds himself with gay bishops, and his gay friendly "Family" meeting in Ireland and his friendlyness with "reformers" who want to remake Catholicism into a non judgemental socialist NGO shows he is not serious.

"who am I to judge" has been interpreted as approval of gay behavior: so now our family's serial predator assures us: god made me this way and the sex with employees was consensual, so how dare you condemn me.

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Strategypage on the Rohingye refugee problem, and a summary of other stateless people around the world.

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how to snap spaghetti into only 2 pieces.


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Supporting PC crooks: So much for the poor

In an earlier post, I mentioned the Evangelical influence in elections, including that in Brazil.

So now, Lifesite posts that Pope Francis is backing the crooked ex president (who is also pro abortion), because... ????

August 16, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has recently met in Rome with some of the allies of the former Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva, who is now jailed for corruption. The Pontiff expressed his support for Lula da Silva, even allegedly comparing his imprisonment with the persecution of Jesus Christ. On 2 August, Pope Francis welcomed three allies of Lula da Silva, former Brazilian Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs Celso Amorim, former Argentine Minister Alberto Fernandez, and Chilean Minister Carlos Ominami. At that meeting, the Pope spoke with his guests about the situation of the former President of Brazil who ruled eight years from 2003 until 2011. The supportive delegation called attention to the plight of Lula, who is now imprisoned for his corruption which his supporters claim to be an unjust form of “lawfare.”

 he apparently gave lots of money for social welfare and rode in on an economic bubble, which later collapsed of course.

What went wrong with Brazil’s economy? The Lula model may bear some blame. But not because it is inherently flawed.

of course not. Socialism is never inherently flawed, until it bleeds profits and the economy collapses.

Rather, it is a model that, while relatively easy to implement when economic conditions are favorable, demands a level of political discipline hard to sustain when conditions sour. Like most governments, the Lula administration could not resist the temptation to spend freely in the boom years and not save for harder times. Not long after Rousseff took office, commodity prices dropped worldwide, and growth rates dipped sharply. Government revenues fell, though budgetary obligations and expenditures remained largely unchanged.

and like most demagogues, he was getting rich on the sly. how rich is he? Forbes suggests he is "close" to being a billionaire.

BBC article on his corruption issues.

ForeignPolicy on his corruption

And this article: he pretends to be a martyr of course and the bbc article states he was "caught up" in the scandal.

Right.

all of this reminds me of something I wrote about awhile back: That the bishops here were busy condemning Duterte for his "war on drugs", but then they met with our crooked ex president for a photo op. She is a friend of Bill, and got out of jail mainly due to George Clooney's wife (a major Hillary donor) who pushed her case to the UN Human rights court as political, not corruption.

Geopolitical implications of the "scandal"

The "scandal" is not an isolated problem, but related to the collapse of the strong Catholic ethic in the USA.

this has political implications: the happy SJW tell Catholics to listen to the Pope and condemn Trumpieboy but the Catholics, who once were a monolithic Democratic vote, are morphing into Republicans, and often, like VP Pence, morphing into evangelical Republicans.

OnePeterFive summarizes the problem here.

(this) is the same ring that has been sedulously working for decades to undermine the integrity of the doctrinal, moral, sacramental, liturgical Church. These men – McCarrick, McElroy, Wuerl, O’Malley, Mahony, Cupich, Tobin, Farrell, Lynch, Weakland, Paglia, Maradiaga, their lovable mouthpiece James Martin, Thomas Rosica, and far too many others, including ones who have passed on to their eternal fate, such as Lyons, Boland, Brom – are the same ones who have destabilized and adulterated catechesis, theology, liturgy, and most obviously the Church’s commitment to the unchanging moral law, as we saw in the Amoris Laetitia debacle and all that surrounded and succeeded it.

We must connect the dots and not pretend to be shocked when we see, for example, attempts under way to “re-interpret” Humanae Vitae through a false teaching on conscience, or to do away with clerical celibacy, or to introduce female deacons.

To treat the sins of this ring of conspirators as nothing more than a recrudescence of the sex scandals of the past would be to lose sight of their real enormity. These are not just men of bad moral character; they are apostates, and they are trying to remake the Church in the image of their own apostasy.

which is why Father Rosica's (now censored) statement about the Pope is the key to the problem.

 of course, he won't be called a hypocrite or the dictator pope, he will be called the "great reformer".

he stresses serving the poor, so he is a hero!

But he is not converting the poor or teaching them about Jesus. He is preaching to the rich SJW elite so these people feel good about themselves  (who see the poor as their pets).

and I say this as a doc who worked with the poor most of my life.

which is why 20 percent of Latin Americans are now Evangelicals.

The evangelical churches’ political agenda is centered on defense of family values – basically opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, divorce, euthanasia, and what they erroneously call “gender ideology.”  On these topics on certain occasions, there’s a striking convergence with the Catholic hierarchy, Social-Christians, and conservative parties.  The evangelicals do not usually take positions, however, on other issues in which the government has a strong role, such as the economy or international relations.

The evangelical phenomenon reflects a double dynamic:  the unstoppable surge in non-Catholic faithful poses an enormous challenge for the region’s deeply rooted bishops conferences, and the growing distrust for political leaders and parties has facilitated the emergence of new options, including evangelicals, with barely articulated platforms...

The evangelical vote, moreover, is highly desired by all candidates and at least indirectly influences campaigns.  Candidates in Colombia, Brazil, or Mexico, as in other Latin American countries, are making that increasingly obvious as elections approach.

so this has geopolitical significance.

Oh by the way: There are over a million refugees from Venezuela fleeing to nearby countries.

This is the Venezuela that was lauded by all those Hollywood types a couple years ago for being socialist. No one is connecting the dots here either.

HRW asks why the Pope didn't speak up about the problem? the bishops did, but the Pope didn't back the bishops in Venezuela..

And the article adds: Why didn't he speak up about the abuse of young men/boys in other Latin American countries, which involved the knowledge of some local bishops?

and it's not just Venezuela

and Brazil is having another election.

the corrupt ex president is in the lead, but there could be a Trumplike/Duterte style upset there too: and there is an evangelical link.

 and remember, the MSM is trying to destroy him by noting all those accusations of homophobia, but what is missing is the background of widespread sexual abuse of children in the slums.

and of course, if they guy gets in, he will be blamed for all those murders: last year there were 60 thousand plus murders, many by police, but don't expect anyone to notice this any more than the MSM in the USA noted all the murders here in the Philippines before Duterte got into office.

musical interlude of the day

No need for the bible? (Millstones are sooo out of date)

the guy who runs the "salt and light" network for the bishops explains the pope is beyond the bible and tradition. After a week, someone said WTF, so the passage was removed.

Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is “free from disordered attachments.” Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture

However, the internet is forever, so the article is posted HERE.

yes, even if one is an agnostic, from a practical standpoint, religious laws and legal traditions encode thousands of years of pragmatic experience.

and the Pope is not a dictator who can change God's law (he can change men's laws, i.e. minor stuff, but not God's laws).


and the scandals are just the tip of the iceburg on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Forget the "Pennsylvania" report (we lay folks already knew this stuff): the real bombshell is Richard Sipes letter can be found here.
those who were behind the report are still there, and unrepentant.

Best clueless comment? From the Altoona diocese spokesman:

Diocese Secretary for Communications, Tony DeGol, said the latest report is an opportunity for the voice of the victims to be heard...."Their stories need to be told. Many people have suffered greatly and people need to know about that suffering and most importantly the church and everyone else in society needs to learn from their suffering."

Everyone else needs to learn? WTF? So I am supposed to feel guilty that when the lay folks tried to get the bishop to pay attention to the abuse going on, we were ignored?

Steps taken since 2016 include a Diocesan Office of Children and Youth Protection, an independent oversight board, educational training programs and ongoing victim/survivor assistance.\

yup. Another oversight bureaucracy will do the trick.

No talk of sin or evil here, folks, just move along.

============
update Pennsylvania report here. 

before this hit, Kathleen Kane publicized the atrocities in the Altoona/Johnstown/State College area LINK report here.

Timeline HERE.

we layfolks knew what was going on back in the late 1990's.

2003 story shows that the local papers were reporting on the problem, so it's not exactly new. More HERE. and HERE.

and it says a lot that the DA who helped break the case was eventually convicted after leaking information to the press about another case, but the bishops remain free.

Family news

The streets in Manila are flooded, but we are okay. Just heavy monsoon rain and bad sewer drainage, plus some neighborhoods built under sea level.  link2.

Kuya is supposed to be delivering rice today there, but I am not sure he will be able to do this since many streets are flooded and it's due to rain again.

Part of the problem? bad sewer drainage, and lot of plastic bags and other garbage thrown into the drainage system tends to clog it.

Which is why our new covered drainage system replacing the open small ditches might help here. The problem? the last mayor's portion near us must have used substandard cement, since they collapsed from traffic or parked cars.

Or course, it's not the cars: It's the dump trucks and rice trucks which are detoured around us in the new one way traffic. They need to make the streets wider, but the stores and small sidewalks mean that is impossible unless one tears down houses and stores.

Ironically, the downtown now has a fence in the middle of the two lanes: two lanes only of traffic, and there is a parking area that they enforce. Before, the tricycles going in and out, and the double parked cars cause traffick problems, so making fewer lanes actually helped.

For the last week I have had hives, and my sleep cycle is off thanks to the medications I was taking. The hives are better now but essentially I am a week behind in the news, and guess what: Nothing has changed.

Oh well.

Ruby had her teeth done here by the dentist, who replaced all her plastic fillings with a new set. She also bought new glasses, and needed clothing, and will replace her OTC medicines which are cheaper here than in Canada. She returns to her school in two weeks or so.

We are hoping that the airline will let her travel alone at age 17: they are strict, but since she has been back and forth twice, she should be okay.
If not, one of us will have to get a ticket to travel with her again.

so how bad is the "scandal"?

So bad it has made Bishop Barron believe there might be a devil.

lots of smoke and mirrors out there pushing sociological/psychological memes.

lots of commentators—left, center, and right—have chimed in to say that the real cause of the McCarrick disaster is, take your pick, the ignoring of Humanae vitae, priestly celibacy, rampant homosexuality in the Church, the mistreatment of homosexuals, the sexual revolution, etc. Mind you, I’m not saying for a moment that these aren’t important considerations and that some of the suggestions might not have real merit.

but haven't the bishops been there before?

But I amsaying that launching into a consideration of these matters that we have been debating for decades and that will certainly not admit of an easy adjudication amounts right now to a distraction.

So what should be done? The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has no juridical or canonical authority to discipline bishops. And even if it tried to launch an investigation, it has, at the moment, very little credibility. Only the Pope has juridical and disciplinary powers in regard to bishops. Hence, I would suggest (as a lowly back-bencher auxiliary) that the bishops of the United States—all of us—petition the Holy Father to form a team, made up mostly of faithful lay Catholics skilled in forensic investigation, and to empower them to have access to all of the relevant documentation and financial records. 

Yeah. That'll do it. Ask the "who am I to judge" Pope to check out what's going on and kick tushes.


but of course, he will only point fingers to the sociological and psychological data to explain the problem, and etend the hand of mercy, when the real problem is chosing evil and getting away with it because you aren't supposed to point fingers.

hey, Jesus said don't judge, right? Just ignore that part about the millstone....

Philip Lawler, however, is sceptical: who would chose the laypeople? who could guarantee them access to the evidence? And who would give them the power to remove/correct etc?

after all, no one noticed these things for years, so why should one trust them now?

But Eccles is saved blog is on a roll:

God admits "I knew what McCarrick was up to"

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His latest installment:-


 Saturday, 11 August 2018

  Fr Rosica interviews Cardinal Wuerl

shifty-looking man (possibly Bill Clinton, possibly Cardinal Wuerl): Thank you, Fr Rosica, it's good to be back here, and I really appreciate the great work you do, Your Salt and Light empire is surely the saltiest and lightest media empire the world has ever seen, and you're looking great yourself too!... your work, day in, day out, insulting Catholics, is very valuable, and much appreciated by the USCCB...

We love you too, Cardinal, and we think the American bishops are doing a fine job! You haven't had a cardinal dragged off to prison for at least three days now! That shows that you're giving a great message of hope to all of us. Tell us more about the ground-breaking initiatives you are proposing.

 Wuerl: Why, you do ask some tough questions, Rosie! Yes, we are planning a brilliant new scheme whereby we get the bishops to be judged by an external and impartial group of, er, other bishops. Or perhaps by themselves. What can possibly go wrong?

StrategyTalk on the Arms business

lots of back stories about the world's various wars on StrategyTalk..

that part about Grand Fenwick, for those of you who don't know who Peter Sellers is, refers to this comedy.



The New Duke of Grand Fenwick Needs To Buy Arms - 8/8/2018 Austin and Jim give a tutorial on buying arms at the World Wide Arms Bazaar.
MP3 Download

Human Trafficking 101 - 7/10/2018 Jim and Austin discuss human trafficking around the world.
MP3 Download

China Takes Possession Of The South China Sea - 6/27/2018 Jim and Austin discuss wants China full control the South China Sea. 
MP3 Download

Nuclear Sit Rep - 6/11/2018 Jim talks about the current nuclear arsenals of the world.
MP3 Download

North Korea: Radiation And Food Trump All - 5/28/2018 Jim and Austin look at why North Korea needs a deal with the United States.
MP3 Download

Iran A Meddle Too Far - 4/2/2018 Jim Dunnigan and Austin by exam Irans continued meddling in the Middle East. Also, they look at some of the repercussions Iran is experiencing from meddling too much.
MP3 Download

Listen On YouTube

Ruskie Mercs In Syria - 3/11/2018 Jim and Austin discuss Russian mercenaries in Syria and other related items.
MP3 Download


Daniel Coats' Threat Assessment - 2/28/2018 Jim and Austin dig into Daniel Coats' recent worldwide threat assessment.
MP3 Download


Review Of 2017 - 2/12/2018 A Conversation Between Jim and Austin About 2017.
MP3 Download

Space force logo: Vote Now

public voting for which space force logo you prefer.

and no, I don't know where you are supposed to vote for these things.

But the designs seem a bit lame to me, especially compared to the Apollo patches:

or even the patch for the science lab on the ISS:

Rocket Racoon, call your office. Baby Groot is on line.

Hate Speech? we haz that

HA.

The underground artists of Hollywood strike again:

photo credit: Bryan White

(From the Hollywood reporter)

and gadfly alex jones has been banned by the tech companies.

He supports conspiracy theories, and encourages the paranoid and mentally ill in their delusions. But he isn't full of hate speech as far as I know.

The last time I listened to him was a couple years ago when he tried to crash Bilderberg or someone like that, but Kuya sometimes checks out the latest scandal on his site.

But a ban by all the tech companies seems over the top: There are apps and other ways to listen to him out there: his app is now number 3 on the apple store, and I believe some internet radio stations carry him too.

I believe he is also on short wave radio.

When we were in Africa, the local news was censored, so we used our short waves to listen to the BBC's Africa service to find out what was going on. It is also where I became a fan of Monte Python and the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.

but young folks all have smart phones (not me: too small for my fat fingers).

as for twitter bans: Two conservative anti Francis Catholic sites have had their twitter feed suspended. Presumably their anti pedophile bishop rants was interpreted as homophobia hate speech.

as if an ordinary ethical gay would think preying on young men under their care, using money donated for charity to live it up, and /or using it for hush money was okay. Sheeesh.

St Athanasius, call your office. The world is against you again.

OFW without papers

Most of the immigration kerfuffle seems to be about Europe or Trumpieboy.

But it is a worldwide problem, which is why I sometimes post links to stories on MigrantRights website.

you are poor, there are no decent jobs nearby, and you want money so your kids can attend school, you can have decent food, and maybe even a tv and cellphone. So usually one or two people in the extended family finds a job overseas, to send money back.

why? No jobs here, and when there are jobs, they don't pay as well.

so today's migrant story from the Manila Bulletin: 400 000 undocumented Filipinos are being threatened with deportation from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

statistics on "irregular" immigrants.

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an unrelated item: Israel has gifted the Phil RedCross a water purifier/ desalinization machine for emergencies.

Called GalMobile, the water system can purify up to 20,000 liters of seawater a day and 80,000 liters of brackish, muddy or contaminated river water and bring it to World Health Organization standard

Sneaking in under the radar

The Atlantic magazine has an article about how young men started watching Jordan Peterson before the establishment discovered the guy.

I don't always understand Peterson, and I don't always agree with his conclusions, but you know, listening makes  you think, and presents new ways of thinking about things.

His Freudian/Jungian approach to the bible, which echoes mythology, for example is not something that will push fundamentalist Christianity, but like Tolkien, he presents the bible as myth in it's original meaning: myth is a way that teaches the deeper truths that fiction or even non fiction cannot.

And he makes one think of the larger picture of the story: for example, when he reminds us that the trickster/chaos is also there for a reason: even if it is just to renew the world.

And Peterson makes it personal: Make your bed. (then go and change the world).

Back to Marcus Aurelius: stressing personal responsibility first.

So the one teaching young men to be responsible and ethical grownups is a pagan. How ironic.

Or is it? "Make your bed" sounds right out of Therese of Lisieux (start to serve God by doing the little things well).

Peterson came out of nowhere. Well, out of Canada, which is even less likely than nowhere, since they are light years ahead of the US when it comes to political correctness. And he got into teaching by posting first on internet discussion sites and then posting his college lectures on youtube: under the radar so to speak.

But isn't this what one should expect?

in the many myths, it is the younger son or less respected one who saves the world from chaos, but if you look closely, there is also a meaning behind the chaos, an alternative story that has to be understood

Forest fires in history

I lived in New Mexico when that state had several terrible fires, including the one that almost burnt the city of Los Alamos.

Luckily it spared us that time (a fire a few years earlier burnt a canyon nearby) but I was bemused to see signs: No smoking outdoors (they allowed smoking inside only).

So my sympathy is with those in the California fires.  Expect lots of finger pointing for blame, but short of stopping people from living in forested areas, there is not much you can do.

Burning off the underbrush helps (unlike eastern forests, the dead wood seems to sit there and doesn't rot for years, probably because it is dry). However, the Los Alamos fire was caused by a fire started to burn off the underbrush to stop a future fire: they miscalculated.

Our local Apache tribe had trained firefighters that would go out every year to fight fires. They would start training early in the year, and often would be called up for months. We didn't lose any firefighters when I was there; but they often came back with the worse case of fungus toes due to sweating feet inside their boots.

And some of our fighters were young women: but if you know Apache history, you don't mess with Apache women.

If you leave the forest burn, locals will complain, but this is how forests renew themselves: new trees and plants will come up. IF you stop the fires, then that means a hotter larger fire next time.

However, the largest fire in the west was in 1910: the Devil's Broom fire that included northern Idaho and surrounding states and killed 87 people.

the National Park Service site has a list of major recorded fires, mostly in the USA.

the worst fire on their list was the Peshtigo Wisconsin fire in 1871, which killed almost 1200 people. Few people heard about it, because it happened the same time as the great Chicago fire.

Wikipedia has a list of fires worldwide.

In many places, old dry grass is burnt off so that the new tender grass will sprout, or so farmers can plant crops more easily.  The farmers in Africa did this when they moved to a new field (after the older fields became exhausted) and the Native Americans also set fire to clear the grass. Ditto for Asia. But usually these fires are started when rain will limit the damage (at the start of the rainy season, when planting is done) and are more grass than forest fires.

Global warming will be blamed for all of this, and fingers pointed to Trumpieboy.

Yet the increase in global temperature has been going on for 100 years and Trumpie boy has only been in charge for 2.

And although the US refuses to bow and obey the NWO bosses who want to order people around, one tiny fact is that, unlike in Europe, the US carbon footprint has gone down in recent years, due to the use of natural gas from fracking.

yes, I support sustainable living. But the religion of global warming is to manipulate people into accepting a UN dictatorship that will tell you how to live for your own good (and maybe order you to die for the good of the world, although they usually hide that beneath fancy language).

Family news

Ruby and Joy should be getting home from Manila tonite, where Joy was attending an agribusiness conference and Ruby partying with her cousins.

I am fighting a case of hives. I'm not sure what caused it, but the antihistamines made me sleepy so I checked with Dr. Danny, and he advised a course of prednisone.

I haven't been keeping up on the news lately: Same old thing recycled.

The six puppies are getting out of their box and starting to wander, so they got moved outside the bathroom into the hall. The hall is cement so easy to clean, but one does have to watch one's step.

Chano is busy at the farm.

we have had the usual monsoon rains, so although it is not that hot, I am keeping the airconditioner on low, mainly to keep down the humidity in the room but also to filter the pollen/dirt.

China crackdown on Christians

From the UKMail:

Locals in Henan stated concerns of a move by the atheist ruling Community Party to control Christianity Residents were asked to replace posters of the cross and Jesus Christ with portraits of President Xi Jinping Experts say the government is waging the most severe systematic suppression of the religion since 1982 Chinese leaders have 'always been suspicious of the political threat' that Christianity poses to the regime

headsup Virtueonline 

Roman trivia

Roman horses didn't wear horseshoes: They wore hipposandals.

photo credit: Vindolanda

BBC story.  they were found near a fort for the Hadrian wall.

Wikipedia article.
originally, the horses wore leather wrappings or shoes.

The hipposandal, which appears in the Celtic-Roman area north of the Alps around the mid-1st century AD,[1] was the next step in the development of hoof protection, where the sole of the boot was made of metal. It included an oval-shaped cup of thick metal that enclosed and protected the hoof, complete with a fixation system. The device was fastened to the hoof by metallic clips and leather laces. ...

To further improve traction, the bottom of each hipposandal was grooved.

but what about the classic horseshoe?

There is speculation that the Gauls were the first to nail on metal horseshoes.[7] The nailed iron horseshoe first clearly appeared in the archaeological record in Europe in about the 5th century AD when a horseshoe, complete with nails, was found in the tomb of the Frankish King Childeric I at Tournai, Belgium.[8]

Factoids of the day

Bugs

the "bugs are good for you so eat them because we green types are promoting them for peons to eat instead of hamburgers" articles are popping up again.

Best Answer: from Dave Barry's blog.

WE'VE BEEN SEEING VARIATIONS OF THIS STORY FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS, AND THE ANSWER IS STILL NO

Would you consider replacing your favourite meat dish with insects, either for the taste, or for the health benefits? A U.S. researcher studying their effect on health advocates insects as a potentially nutritious and tasty snack.

Help yourselves, researchers.

-------------------

Well, survivalists ate grasshoppers like their grandparents did in the good old days.

but as this Wired article notes, even in Mexico, few of them are actually harvested and eaten.

here, they do eat crickets, but it is not an every day thing. and in Africa, they ate caterpillars and flying ants, but again usually as a snack to supplement their diet, not as an every day thing.

a survey in (the very poor country of) Laos gives you an idea of how little insects are eaten:

first the article cites that usual: look at the millions of people who eat insects, so you should too quote:

At least 2 billion people globally eat insects (over 1900 edible species) though this habit is regarded negatively by others. There is a limited amount of data on the perception and consumption of insects.

then they do a survey in a very poor rural country where presumably people don't have a lot of KFC's or Jolibees down the street, and you find the reality:

Results A total of 1059 adults (Sex ratio F/M: 1.2, 30 ethnic groups), and 256 vendors were enrolled. A total of 1025 (96.8%) lay people were currently insect consumers, 135 (13.0%) daily or weekly consumers, and 322 (31.1%) consumed several times per month. For the majority (575, 55.6%) the consumption was infrequent (less than a few times per year) and only 22 (2%) had never eaten insects.

and the trend is decreasing.

as for solving the malnutrition problem:

when people are hungry, they eat all sorts of things. That doesn't mean they will eat them if there is an alternative.

growing, collecting and distributing and then getting people to buy them, which means they have to be sold cheaply.

so since we moved here, Lolo ate crickets exactly once: and he had to request one of our farmers to get the crickets for our cook to eat, because it wasn't something usually sold in the Palenke.



in contrast, BBQ intestines, chicken feet, and Balut are sold all over the place.

Growing organs

//////////////////

for later reading: Growing lungs and transplanting them into pigs.

and they are working on growing livers.

bioengineered organ webpage has lots of articles.


Wesley Smith notes that the latest breakthru is growing lungs for pigs, and comments that it shows the need for animal experimentation.

Black history book of the day

Their Eyes were watching God was apparently based on the book written in 1937.

it is available (for free registration) at internet archives, along with a lot of the author's other works.

and at scribd.

and the audiobook is available on YOUTUBE:

the TV Movie is available on youtube, but most critics advise you that the book is much much better.

what got me started on this was that I was searching out American folklore and ran across this book at Scribd:Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-tales from the Gulf States By Zora Neale Hurston

a result from the WPA support of artists.

Cats in Space

===============

headsup Improbable research

and then there is HelloKitty in space:

Kittie therapy

Blame Instagram for making the feds suspicious

The case of Napoles and a lot of other congressmen here over plunder of development money has been perculating in the courts here for years. Wikipedia article on the priority development assistance fund scam.


Here is a 2014 article about it from business world.

a big case of stealing development money resulted in an arrest in 2013... so far so good... anyone convicted? Anyone?

how the scam worked (cash in the bathtub).

lots of criminal stuff going on there.

the good news?

the latest scam about stealing development money is now being persued in US courts, since much of the stolen money was placed into US real estate in California and money laundering was involved.

Rappler story here.

The United States Department of Justice announced on Wednesday, August 1, that a federal grand jury had indicted Janet Lim Napoles and members of her family for domestic and international money laundering and conspiracy for transferring to the US $20 million of her alleged earnings from the pork barrel scam.

oh but someone told them arrest was coming, so the daughter fled for parts unknown. 

and now for the hard part: Trying to get family members in the Philippines sent to the US to face charges.

but there is a catch 22: as long as mom is under indictment here in the Philippines, they won't extradite her elsewhere.

and she keeps promising to spill the beans on her associates here, but so far, nothing.

so how did the US get a headsup something might be fishy about the family's wealth?

Ironically, what tipped off the US authorities that something might be suspicious was the daughter's posting about gifts, parties, cars, etc. on the social media.

blame Instagram.

WWJD? Millstone anyone?

My take on the Pope denying any justification of the death penalty was a cynical ploy to change the subject at a time when the sexual sins of high ranking bishops was making headlines in the news.

But David Warren points out this is just the nest step in how to dismantle 2000 years of moral laws by fiat:

Beyond the creation of a precedent for altering Church teaching by papal fiat, it confirms the politicization of our doctrine. ... The very character of the Church is subverted by this. The question of salvation – the centrality of Jesus Christ, in other words – is replaced with very worldly, subsidiary questions of “who gets what.” Worse, in some ways, than being contradicted, Christ is progressively ignored.

Christ is ignored? what?

Christ would never approve of the death penalty, would he?

Except of course Jesus did recommend the death penalty for those who abuse children and cause them to lose their faith.

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6, KJV). 

and if you don't think Jesus was hinting at the secret sexual abuse of children by pseudo pious hypocrites who were copying what their gentile neighbors were doing, you should really read up on the sexual practices of the Roman world.

the Pope is completely clueless about the rage of Catholic parents at the coverups of the abuse crisis.

------------------
update:

EWTN discussion.

=========================

 update 2: even GetReligion wonders if it was a "Wag the Dog" distraction .

Admit it. Didn't the thought cross your mind that this zap the death penalty announcement from Rome might be a brilliant "Wag The Dog" move to give journalists a different story to argue about for a week or so, thus knocking former Cardinal "Uncle Ted" McCarrick off page one?

and right on cue, the gay lobby says hey, if the Pope can change doctrine about the death penalty by fiat, why not approve of our lifestyle? 

Just for nice

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/303712/

Nazis? Well, they have a point

I am at present reading a biography about how the Nazi ideology became popular among the elites of England.

How Nazi ideas and ideals that were infiltrating that country do resemble the movement behind Trumpie boy, so those who cry Nazi do have a point: there is a superficial resemblance.

what is not done is to put things into perspective.

So far no Krystalnacht destroying the local Starbucks.

we don't have concentration camps full of opposition leaders, and despite the war of words, there hasn't been a lot of pesky reporters killed so far.

And although human rights groups are worried that cut back in Obamacare might negatively affect the old and disable, it is actually the darlings of the elite who are busy killing the sick, elderly and mentally disabled (the elite's latest darling Baby Trudeau is making the Netherlands look conservative here).

so what about the shootings of newspaper people, politicians, and ordinary people who are dissed or attacked for their political views? 

That is one result of the constrant hysteria on the MSM against Trump (and the alternative hysteria on the internet by the usual conspiracy types).

there are a lot of crazies out there, and the toxic rhetoric just gives them an "okay" to act out on their aggression (in the way publicizing school shootings as if they were justified by bullying etc, inspires others to shoot up their schools).

the dirty little secret is that anyone can get hold of guns in the USA...(legally or illegally: The latest kerfuffle on printing guns is a minor issue: plastic guns have been illegal for years)...

but what's the crime of Trumpie boy? tweeting? (yet his tweets get through the propaganda against him so the ordinary folks read them and laugh but get to know his side of the story, whereas a more polite GWBush was politically destroyed by the toxic coverage pushed by his opponants).

The Russia russia RUSSIA conspiracy looks like hysteria at this point, because the main point is that wikileaks might not be russia, and because what harmed Hillary was the leaks about her conspiring to steal the nomination from Bernie, so the Bernie types stayed home, but the workers who were mad at being despised by the Democrats as deplorables did go to the polls.

or is there financial shenanigans that can be used against Trumpieboy? If so, I can think of a lot more politicians who were worse.

as Lolo used to say: They are all crooks.

as for "racism": yes, it is there, but most of us try to overcome our childhood training in racism to be fair to others from other ethnic/religious/racial groups.

But the hysteria is making a lot of us who are in multi racial/immigrant families cynical: because we ethnic minorities, asians and hispanics are being morphed into evil white people by those in charge so quickly that it makes my head spin.

Again I ask: why the anti Trump hysteria?

Because he told the rich anti American Europeans to pay for their own defense? Because he is insisting that tariffs be eliminated or we will put tariffs on others? Or just because he has orange hair?

or is it a war against the "normals"? Why does "inclusion" means to shame those who have moral standards and to promote dysfunctional behavior as being good?

it is indeed Heinlein's crazy years.

Trump is the result of these things, not the cause of them.

My worry: Will the deplorables start to attack back if there is a legal or physical attack against the president??

Which is why Q is so worrisome. They posit an evil elite manipulating the world, and Trumpie boy fighting them along with a small coterie of good guys.


-----------------

so be afraid of some nut conspiracy theories on the internet?

Yet the hysteria against Trumpieboy is so over the top, considering his fairly mainstream policies, one does suspect he is a danger to someone. Hmm...

I'd say that all these conspiracy theories of evil elite manipulators  running the world economy/governments was crazy, except that back in the early 1990s, I read Robert Reich's book the work of nations, that outlined what we see now; movement of jobs to poor countries, the monopolies by international business that ignore the average person, the destruction of the middle class and the rise of the international technocrats.

Examining the evidence before him, Reich concludes that his analogy of the boat is not valid for contemporary societies. A global economy, rather than discrete national economies, will dictate the economic future of civilization.

Those who will profit most from rapidly emerging new economies Reich identifies as the “symbolic analysts.” If they find themselves on a sinking ship (analogically, in an economically foundering nation), they are in a position to helicopter off their ship and land near the luxury top-deck suite of another ship that is not sinking but is steaming on a direct course to some desirable port.

Because the helicopter lacks space for every passenger on the sinking ship, only a handful, all symbolic analysts—and only the best of them—escape. The lower-level symbolic analysts, along with two other classes of passengers, those Reich identifies as “routine producers” and “in-person servers,” go under when the ship (national economy) plunges into the deep.

In his intimations, Reich sometimes sounds like a latter-day Charles Darwin, hinting darkly at natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Reich’s hierarchy demonstrates the rapid pace of change in the late twentieth century. The routine producers were secure from Adam Smith’s time until well into the middle of the twentieth century. As increased and advanced mechanization reduced the importance of routine producers (assembly line and semi-skilled factory workers), the importance of the service occupations increased significantly.

here is a more recent lecture by Reich about this economic monopoly.



the socialists want to smash "capitalism" while ignoring capitalism has pulled most of the world out of poverty.

What is needed is a destruction of the monopolies that run the world, so the average man will have an opportunity to flourish.

But of course, if the crazies of both parties push the US into a civil war, who will win?

China, of course.

(unless corruption there results in their own version of Q... luckily for them, Google and the internet is controlled by the Chinese government to keep dissenters from having a voice).

but that's another essay for another time.

Crime, drugs and bishops

One Peter Five writes:

Just as the latest round of homosexual network and sex abuse allegations in the Church are reaching a fever pitch, Pope Francis – who has been eerily quiet of late – dropped a nuclear theological bomb into our midst. 

 From Crux:

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the death penalty now is no longer admissible under any circumstances.

so how does the Pope handle the wrath of pious catholics?

by changing the subject.

update: related essay: Fiddling while Rome Burns.

Author mentions the up coming meeting on Families in Ireland, which has Catholic christians up in arms... and he will give a speech at an alternative meeting that is in effect protesting the "official" meeting.

ewtn News report on that alternative meeting.

but shouldn't the Vatican welcome all? Or is there an agenda that a lot of people worry about?


because guess who is in charge of the official meeting?

“Our Holy Father Pope Francis is encouraging families from all across the world to come to Ireland in 2018 to celebrate family life. And to reflect on the importance of family in our lives,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell says in the video. Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, as well as a Dublin native, Cardinal Farrell is one of the persons responsible for organizing the event.

heh. What could go wrong with an esteemed Cardinal in charge?

more here from an Italian site.

Much has already been written about the McCarrick case in recent days. But not much yet on the extent to which it may involve not only the protagonist of the affair, but also the churchmen most closely connected to him, they too the beneficiaries, thanks to him, of careers verging on the miraculous. One of these in particular prompts serious questions. It is Kevin J. Farrell, 71, made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016 and the prefect of the new dicastery for laity, family and life. 

no problem here, folks, just move along.

---------------------


Well, I am against the death penalty, and indeed we don't have it here in the Philippines.

Yet the Pope forgets the Catholic church is... catholic, i.e. all over the place and has been around for 2000 years.

the affluent world who can remove criminals into jails for prolonged periods to keep ordinary people safe. But in the past and future this might not be true.

You see, the reason for the death penalty was because historically  jail was not an option.

Ironically, there were alternatives (exile, paying weregeld, etc) or even release into the community, especially if the perpetrator's family could guarantee he would no longer be a danger to the community, but outsiders and criminals and gangs who terrorized people needed to be stopped somehow.

The alternative? think Robin Hood or Seven Samurai or Death Wish.

Vigilante justice is the result if the state doesn't use controlled violence to keep people safe. But the result is often a cycle of violence and payback. (Njal's saga relates how feuds destroyed many innocent people in medieval Iceland).

establishing rule of law is sometimes harmful to the poor, or maybe I should say easy for the rich to manipulate, but better than the alternative.

Even those cases where moderns point fingers have a reason.

Killing "witches"? well, some time it was because they committed crimes. This is true whether you are discussing the Sun King's Paris or rural Africa today.

Killing "gays"? no one probably cared about quiet relationships, but when the local boys were powerless against rich and powerful predators, some folks got mad: so justice maybe? even Dante put one of his beloved teachers in hell because he was a serial predator against young men sent to him as students.

hmm... maybe Cardinal M should study Dante.

Of course, Dante also put two popes in Hell for meddling into politics, but never mind: those were the good old days of immoral Popes who schtupped their mistresses, but remained Catholics (as opposed to today, where we have a moral Pope who wants to reform the church by making any type of schtupping okay).

they aren't just in the church, of course.
author and ex policeman Joseph Waumbaugh said

As a cop, I dealt with every kind of bum and criminal. They all have more integrity than some Hollywood people. 

A lot of the rage is against false mercy: and seeing the abuse as a psychiatric problem, not as a sin or a crime. This allowed people to game the system with fake repentance and who are given another chance to harm again by the naive.

When any allegations were made, priests were sent for a psychiatric evaluation and Bishop Adamec followed the recommendation of professionals in suspending or removing priests, the filing explained.
"It is unfortunate that the grand jury was apparently not provided a full and balanced set of facts based on all the materials and information that was available to it, including exculpatory information related to Bishop Adamec from the diocesan records that were obtained in August 2015," the filing concluded. "Those records contain clear information demonstrating that, contrary to the language of the report, Bishop Adamec's handling of sexual abuse allegations was anything by abysmal and that he most certainly placed a high priority on protecting the welfare of children."

yeah. And I remember Adamec writing in the diocesan newspaper (in the 1990s) that no abuse had been reported on his watch, yet I had a patient tell me that her husband was told to pressure a family not to report their son's molestation since it would destroy that nice priest.

and the sin has a ripple effect: I am convinced that the Penn State/Sandusky scandal happened because of the Altoona Diocese was gay friendly and pushed a non judgemental attitude in this matter: so when Sandusky was reported, the attitude was that they were just playing around, no harm done, just move along folks...


ironically, the bishops and the psychologists who were involved in the whitewash of these crimes are still free, but the DA who rooted out the corruption ended up going to jail: supposedly for releasing grand jury testimony against a corrupt politician in Philadelphia.

Which says a lot about the judicial system in Pennsylvania.

and don't forget the good priests who will suffer from this: often punished for not approving of sin by their superiors ("too rigid") and distrusted by laypeople who assume all are guilty, not just the few criminals in the church.

=======================
Here in the Philippines, our bishops are scoring browny points with the international elite for opposing the war on drugs. What they are NOT doing is fighting the drug cartels and the politicians who get rich off of bribes to look the other way. Why do I say this? Because if they did, they'd be dead like the 2 dozen or so Mexican priests and pastors killed in recent years for opposing these criminals.

openly naming crooked politicians/businessmen is the most common reason for killing reporters here in the Philippines.

In contrast,, although we have had a few priests here killed for opposing rich businesses who would grab land or destroy the environment or who defended the rights of the poor against local politicians, and priests killed by Moro terrorist gangs, but so far, none dead because they pointed fingers at corruption of the big shots involved in the drug cartels. Hmm...

===================

true conversion is the answer, not liberation theology.

GetReligionBlog has an article on the evangelical/Pentecostal churches in Central America who are fighting the gangs by converting them.

and the local protestant churches in our town are helping the mayor with drug rehabilitation, which is the unsung part of the drug war here. Traditionally the Catholic church is helping too...

When I worked in Oklahoma, we heard only one or two sermons mentioning drug/ alcohol use, but at least our church allowed AA to meet in their hall. However, addicts who wanted a church to help them in repentance and how to live an ethical life were better off going to the local Assembly of God, who had outreaches for addicts and other sinners. (I should note: On more traditional reservations, there were also tribal outreaches to encourage traditional healing ceremonies to help addicts turn their life around...which worked when the healer was truly a traditional healer).

here is an article on local rehab in the Philippines, which of course ignores the religion aspect of the problem.

the point is that unless you do both (threaten those who use/buy/sell drugs so they figure that changing their life is preferable to being dead, and then you have to offer them an alternative, which includes repentance and reintegration into the community) it won't work. And religion is part of rebuilding one's life.

_____________
speaking of rehabilitation:

President Trump just met with inner city pastors to discuss ways to reintegrate people from jail back into the community by giving them jobs, and encouraged the pastors to work with the returning prisoners to integrate them back into the community.

Hmm... how does that saying go? Only Nixon can go to China?

Philippine news

when China started to move into our fishing areas, chain off the lagoons and then dug up the seabed to make artificial islands, President Obama told President PNoy not to try to stop them, but to go to court.

Now they have weapons and airfields there

Family news

the electricity problem is fixed: the problem is the new wires that the city is fixing (putting higher with new concrete poles, replacing the many wires with more cables). The connection to the house was shorting out.

The electrician fixed it yesterday in the late afternoon, with supervision from the electric company, whose men were busy fixing other places. So we paid a certified electrician to fix the connection (i.e. paid for it ourselves).

Hopefully things are better now.

But I went to bed at 7 pm and am now up at 2 am. Oh well.

Luckily our fish didn't die when the fishpond pump was off for 18 hours; we have had fish die offs with typhoons in the past when we had prolonged brownouts.

Family News

The electricity went off at midnight (a short that set off the circuit breaker). We couldn't fix it so had to sleep without an airconditioner: The problem is more that the house is concrete/stone so holds the heat until early am. So not much sleep last night.

The Puppies are large enough to get out of the box, but their eyes are not open yet. Another week and I'll kick them out of the bathroom, but right now, I have to watch where I step when I go in there: Not just to avoid stepping on the puppies but they tend to leave droppings behind.

Ruby has a netflix account on her cellphone, so between her friends, Netflix, and K-Dramas she is not watching much tv.