The atheists and the believers, then, do both have the deep love for the creations now upon the earth? Are they both so prone to see a video of wild horses running in a pack and marvel at the beauty of it?
I suppose one could turn the question on its head. Are the atheists and believers both as prone to consider on dinosaurs and big bangs? Of course not.
The scripture may be but speaking of David of the Old Testament. It is said, though, that some scriptures have two meanings. The passage (Jeremiah 33:15) says, "In those days," which could be a reference to the future. Perhaps if the scripture were referring to David of the Old Testament, it would say, "In this day, and at this time," instead of, "In those days, and at that time."
The passage goes on to say, "will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land."
The father of modern-day Israel, as he is known as, was David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel. Jewish occupation of Israel "grew up" at that time. David Ben-Gurion was considered righteous.
Whether the passage was referring to Ben-Gurion, we may not know. Perhaps not. But, it is interesting, the same.
We should wonder if the Six Day War was not a miracle in our life time that showed the bare arm of the Lord in changing world history and protecting his chosen people. The war returned Jerusaleum to Israeli hands for the first time in nearly two thousand years,
The armed forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan rattled their sabres, threatening not just to attack Israel, but to wipe it entirely away. The three countries with their armies virtually surrounded Israel, making their victory all the more seemingly assured.
But, Israel prepared a pre-emptive attack, striking before the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian war machinery could even get started. The Israelis outmaneuvered the massively more equipped Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians.
Was ancient Old Testament scripture fulfilled? Wherein it says: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall in siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3)
So, he prophecy is in the Old Testament, documented. And, then in our day, it was fulfilled. What the Old Testament said would happen, happened. It is hard to argue against facts. This should stand to each of us as a witness there is a God.
Was I wrong? We need doctors to learn of the death of their patients. I wondered but what the patients no fall out of contact with their doctors, and pass away without the doctors even knowing about it. "There is a big void in our medical system. No accountability come time of death"
I was thinking much on anti-vaxxers, and how this information might benefit their argument. I wanted the truth told and if if came down on the side of the anti-vaxxers, then let it be.
Since then, I have heard of some studies. So, I may have been wrong in suggesting no such studies have been done.
There is a major weakness created by a stock market system. With more than one owner at the top, all the owners desire a comfortable profit. They do nothing to create the product. The don't advertise and market it. They don't make it better in any way. They just stand at the top and demand a profit. All of them. If there are fifty, that's 50 people expecting to make a profit off the product.
We would do well to consider throwing the stock market system out the window and consider other means of raising capital for the ventures.
What we need are people who report the death of their loved ones to their doctor. This isn't even being done. What we need are coroners who report the cause of death to the doctors.
There is a big void in our medical system. No accountability come time of death. The doctor works and fights to keep the patient alive, but then isn't even in the loop to find out if the patient died.
In China, alone, 29,700 people die each day.
And, at the Sandy Rehabilitation Center, today, just one death that I am aware of, Loa Davenport. Of all the thousands who die in the world each day, the meaning, the loss, the realness you do not feel until it is someone you know.
I visited with Loa Sunday. I anointed in advance of the blessing given by our branch president. Liver failure. Even as I wondered about my own possible death, there before me laid someone who was really dying -- dying in front of my very eyes. You see such a death upfront, and your heart stretches out to that soul. Then, you think of the thousands and thousands who die each day. You think of the pain each one suffers as their death approaches them. Though you don't know their stories like you know that of Loa Davenport, each one of them is a Loa Davenport
Bless them. Bless them one and all.
Yes, the U.S. is closer to civil war than most would like to believe. It is teetering on the verge of one.
How would the Trumpites go about it? Would they somehow pull of a repeat of Jan. 6? Would they take to the Capitol as lawmakers gather and allow in only those backing Trump? Would they fill the other seats with those who do back Trump?
Would they attack the state capitals? Using the same tactic -- seating the pro-Trumpers, disqualifying the non-Trumpers and replacing them with pro-Trumpers.
However they might do it, the threat is real.
A forthcoming book from Barbara F. Walter sets forth the premise that the U.S. is closer to a civil war than most would like to believe. There are among us, though, those who have long seen the danger.
The best of champions steel themselves against a bad performance. They know what they have done and believe they can do it again. Last-minute shots? They relish them. They do not crack under pressure.
They also act on instinct. They don't have time to calculate is someone will steel the ball. They react to the moment by finding a way to get the job done.
Magnus Carlsen perhaps faces greater opposition than any other world champion in the history of the game.
Computers. His opponents plug in the moves he makes and supply his opponents valuable wisdom in how the opponents should play against him. While it is true that the more recent world champions before him also suffered from such opposition, Magnus has faced it the worst. He has won the championship five straight times, but that long tenure means the opponents have had eight years (he won the title in 2013) to pour over his play.
In trying to reduce the effectiveness of their study against him, Magnus plays a wide range of openings, and looks to insert surprise moves.
It remains, though, that of all the world champions, none of the others have had their games so studied by the opposition.
The Covid vaccination: We need to know if there are harms from it. We have contract tracers. We need them also to trace the health of those months after they were vaccinated.
And, when people die, the coroner should look back at how long ago it was that they received the vaccination.
Someone pointed out to me that when I went into the hospital with heart failure eight months ago, it was just weeks after receiving the first Pfizer shot. It made me think.
One way or the other -- whether the vaccination can be harmful or not -- we should be studying to find out.
Sunny Side Santa was born on Christmas Day. They named him that because they knew he would one day become a Santa. And, being born on a tropical island, well, that's where the "Sunny Side" part comes in.
Never head of him? Well, I suspect you shortly will. He's in his teens now, and I'm thinking he might be ready to be the new Santa. Oh, he will never replace Santa Claus. Santa Claus is Santa Claus, and you can't replace him. He'll be coming down your chimney, same as usual.
But, Sunny Side Santa? He'll just knock on your door. You'll look behind him to see what he drove up in and, well, you'll see a flying saucer parked in your driveway, hoovering off the ground. No reindeer on the roof this time. Oh, and no red suit with all that white trim. This Santa will be dressed more like Peter Pan than anything else. How else would you expect someone from a tropical island to dress?
Now, whereas Santa Claus comes on the 25th, Sunny Side Santa will come on Christmas Eve, a step ahead of the other Santa. And, his presents will surprise you. All the boxes will be about six inches by six inches. They'll have nothing but a piece of paper inside.
What's written on those pieces of paper will be the surprise. Little notes. Little notes pointing our some of the blessings the Christ Child brought with him when he came to this earth. Maybe, one will say, "The gift of eternal life," and another "Families can be united forever." Some will just quote a scripture from the Gospels telling about something about his birth. Others will be scriptures portraying all the good he did while here -- healing the sick and such.
Christmas is really about the Savior, about all the gifts to mankind that unfolded as a result of his being born and coming to earth. Sunny Side Santa will show us what those gifts were. Be lucky, and hope he leaves a couple dozen of his little boxes with you. They'll be boxed in the finest of boxes with the finest of gift wrap, and the finest of bows and ribbons. The paper inside will be of the finest, glittering and pleasing to look at. These are gifts worthy of the finest wrappings.
Now, don't worry if Christmas isn't about Christ to you. Sunny Side Santa will skip your house, then. But, just remember you're going to miss out on seeing the flying saucer parked in front of your house. And, you'll miss out on seeing this Peter Pan-type person knocking on your door. And, you'll miss out on his waving his wand at you, sparkle and glitter a flying everywhere.
And, as his flying saucer leaves, he'll be leaning out, still waving his magic wand, yelling, "Merry Christmas to all. On all of you may good will and peace fall."
Perhaps Mark Meadows would best serve himself by pleading the Fifth. There may be more damaging communications than what he has released -- damaging to him.
If there are emails, text messages, or whatever that show both he and the president stirred up the rioters, or participated in the organization of them, or were in contact with the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, then, pleading the Fifth would be within his rights.
"These texts leave no doubt," Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said. "The White House knew exactly what was happening at the Capitol."
For a while, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was cooperating with investigators. During that spell, he turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack a PowerPoint setting forth ways to stage a coup.
Truth may not be heard when the listeners have already made up their minds. But, it should. The MAGA followers should sit back and realize the gravity of planning an attack on the Capitol in order to bring a coup.
Prosecute the smugglers responsible for the truck in Mexico loaded with immigrants, most believed to have been Guatemalans? Bring them up on murder charges, for the deaths of the 55 who lost their lives?
Perhaps so. I do wonder how much they were profiting, how much money they made off the immigrants.
Now, here's a trick: My understanding is that many of the survivors are in so-called "safe houses" -- ran by the smugglers, no less. What's up with that? You say you are in solidarity with the survivors, as a government, then instead of finding housing for them, you leave them in the hands of the smugglers?
There should be no such need for the smugglers. Cross them out of the equation and things are much better off. If you care about these immigrants crossing your land -- if you see they are in danger and you want to remove them from danger, -- YOU provide their transportation across your country. Call it what you will. Ask why the government should pay the bill. The answer is that when their are human crises in any part of the world, a bill is footed to help them. Often, the United States provides that assistance.
Not only should the Mexican government step up, but so should the U.S. They come seeking the American Dream. Let's help them. They come seeking an escape from the crime and poverty and such in their own countries. Let's help them. They come to join family members already in the U.S. Let's help them.
Of that truck crash in Chiapas, Mexico, that killed at least 53 and left many others injured.
If we were more compassionate to the immigrants, this would not need to happen. If we welcomed them to our country, saying, Yes, ours is the land of the free, of course you are welcome. Come to join your families. Come to live in the land of liberty. Come to the land of opportunity. Please come.
What if we provided them safe transportation across Mexico? These 53 people would be alive today. There is nothing wrong with their coming. And, nothing wrong with a hand of care being extended to get them here safely,
Do I have strength enough to write this? I am dying. Nor would it seem to be anything my readers would care to read. But, it is something I should record, along with the other miracles in my life.
A few years ago, I entered the freeway to, I suppose, go to work. A Coke advertisement came on the radio. Over the radio, I heard the words of the slogan at the very second I passed a billboard saying the very same words. I heard and read them in perfect unison.
. . . Or, just put your cake in an airtight container. Yesterday, I suggested a humidifier-type container. But, perhaps if the cake is kept airtight, no humidifier is necessary. Even an airtight container, though, has some air in it.
How about a wrap, closing so tight, no air is next to the loaf of bread, completely locking the bread in from air? This would be an invention, too. Your wrap would be form-fitting. If you had a loaf of bread, it would fit firmly around the loaf. If you had a crust-covered pie, the wrap would form-fit around the pie. Pies with toppings and cakes with icings might be more problematic, but perhaps the wrap might also also work on them.
The Proud Boys, along with other right-wing militia groups, have put together a "Kyle Rittenhouse Appreciation" rally for tomorrow here in Salt Lake City. Of course, it would be possible that those disappointed Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges could have prepared a counter protest.
Here's hoping they didn't. Here's hoping there will be no counter protest. America is divided enough.
But, that doesn't mean those disapproving of the acquittals shouldn't let their viewpoints be known. Without rancor, without tearing Rittenhouse down, they could flood the media with letters to the editor, simply saying they belief the acquittals were not justified. If they did have a protest, keep it well away from the one the Proud Boys are planning. And, keep it low-key, no speeches or signs calling Rittenhouse names or demeaning him.
This is America. We need to disagree without being disagreeable. We don't need to fan the flames of division and hatred towards each other.
Here's an invention you think they'd get around to making: A humidifier so your left-over cake doesn't dry up. You have a big enough container and it emits steam, keeping bread, pies, or whatever moist. Why hasn't someone come up with this?
While the Supreme Court readies a decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization, one wonders if the one-year anniversary of another event in the abortion debate isn't bigger than the High Court's upcoming ruling.
A baby named Richard Hutchinson was born 131 days premature. Another baby, Curtis Means, was born 132 days premature -- that means they were born just 21 weeks into the pregnancies. Both weighed just ounces and fitted into the palms of their mothers' hands.
Can a fetus survive if it born so early? Richard and Curtis prove it can. They were not only born way early, but did not die once they were born. They claimed their spot in the Guinness World Records, with Curtis holding the title by a day.
Richard and Curtis's cases not only add fire supporting Dobbs in the Dobbs vs. Jackson case, but are significant in their own right. Abortion activists have argued that a baby's humanity starts with the capability to survive outside the womb. Well, how about Richard and Curtis being born 131 and 132 days premature? This is evidence enough that a fetus so far removed from normal birth time is a person and a human and a living being. This leaves no question about it.
Christmas, then, again, with the world's different takes on what is and what it should be.
No person has so impacted the world, from our calendar to our most-read books. Christianity holds an answer to when the world began. It holds an answer to why we are here. And, has an answer to what comes when we die.
Islam, and Hinduism, also large and influencial in shaping humanity. But. do they have their Santa Clauses to counter the religious lines? Christianity is unique, in that.
Jesus Christ, the greatest and most influencial person ever born.
The convictions of Travis McMichael, and his dad, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, in the Ahmaud Arbery case, we should consider again the danger present when people have guns.
That is not to say we should not continue to let people to have guns. It is only to point out the danger of them having them. The owners often take justice into their own hands, determining who they think is worthy of death and administer death to them.
Money can buy a powerful team defense attorneys. Witness the expensive, high-powered team hired by Kyle Rittenhouse (it included one of O.J. Simpson's attorneys) and notice that Rittenhouse was acquitted.
What then of the remarkable job performed by the prosecutors in the Ahmaud Arbery case? As attorney after attorney recused themselves from the case, the case ended up in the lap of Linda Dunikoski, senior assistant district attorney in the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. Dunikoski did what she could to stop the composition of the jurors to have but one black member. But, when the jury was selected (with only one Black member), she realized the members were people who truly wanted justice. She, then, steered away from the race issue, reportedly not referring to the fact that it was a Black man being killed by White men until she did so in the closing arguments. She knew the defense attorneys would try to shift the blame to Arbery, arguing he deserved to be killed. She dealt with it, focusing on the fact he was simply a person running, and was shot for running -- no more.
She and the other two prosecutors won the case, the defendants being convicted. Who were the other two prosecutors also attorneys in the Cobb County District Attorney's Office? I do not know. I only say it is remarkable job she and and the other two prosecutors did in pulling off the convictions.
It was a case in which a team of very competent prosecutors pulled off convictions in a Deep South community where justice is perhaps unusual when Black persons are involved. Dunikoski and the other two prosecutors are to be commended.
I add my voice -- albeit perhaps one scarcely noticed -- to the clamor of those calling for Peng Shuai to be freed. Let Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, move to another country. That still might not guarantee her safety, I admit. But, the alternative is to become a vassal of the Chinese government.
I second the motion: "Wealthy people, of all races, seem to operate on a different justice scale than the normal, everyday citizens in the country. This doesn't seem right and should not be permitted." Thus writes Christopher Tremoglie in an opinion piece in the Washington Examiner.
Money should not be a factor in our justice system. If it is, we should clean up our system. And it is a factor, so we have an obligation to do something. It is our duty to do something. True patriotism demands that we do something, for a true patriot does not want his country to contain such injustice.
Kyle Rittenhouse won his court case due to his $2 million dollar team of lawyers -- a team that included an O.J. Simpson lawyer according to Washington Post opinion writer Paul Butler.
The thought that court decisions are being won or lost depending on how much money they give to lawyers should sicken our stomachs.
The Sandy City Council today certified the election of Monica Zoltanski as the first female mayor in the city's history -- she won by 21 votes. It was a victory not only for her, but for Ranked Choice Voting.
I was disappointed the council did not allow public comment. The meeting was over in five minutes.
And, though it was a victory for Ranked Choice Voting, I continue to have reservations. Suppose we had this scenario: Hardly anyone votes for Candidate D as their first choice on the first ballot, but a majority do make that candidate their second choice. Since the lowest vote getter is eliminated, Candidate D is eliminated. Is that fair? You kick out the candidate whom the majority of voters had as their second choice?
As they walked down the hallway, the one fell behind, and when that person did catch up, the other said, "Are you lollygagging or are you lost?" He then pointed out how clever the phrase was, and that he had coined it. Reaching the room they were headed, he reflected on how he had failed the moment, how he was too boastful.
A complete person would not be so boastful. The complete person is one who does not seek the approval of others. He or she does not seek for glory. They have learned the art of not judging others, while not being afraid of the judgements of others. They accept their faults. Nay -- they search out their faults, but while accepting them, they strive to correct them.
The complete person senses the gossiping against him or her. But, they do not respond in kind, but in being kind. They seek to love those who speak against them. They are normal enough to want acceptance, and normal enough to want prestige and to get credit for what they do. But, if it does not come, they will live without it.
And she disappears. She accuses a former top government official of sexually assaulting her, And she disappears. Whatever happened to Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis star?
The World Tennis Association, and several tennis stars, have spoken out, calling on the government to say where she is. Finally, a state-ran news agency has posted a video of her in a restaurant, but the question is whether the video was taken some time ago, before she disappeared.
Bless the people speaking out, crying for Peng Shuai. When something like this happens, it takes people crying out if anything is to be done. Peng Shuai's disappearance points to the lack of freedom in China. Freedom of speech is being denied. More importantly, we must wonder if she is still alive.
Worries that there are racists and gun-happy officers on our police force? That is something the cities have more power to fix than the federal government. It is a national issue, but the answers are local.
With municipal elections just having passed, this issue was largely overlooked. Nobody even considered it. Oh, they considered defunding, but not this. This is a matter of which officers should be hired and which should be fired. Do police departments even have policies in place that screen out racist cops? Do they monitor their officers for signals of racisms? Do they have mechanisms for kicking the racist officers off their squads?
Cities do the hiring and firing. It is they who must address this problem.
Big Pharma has spent almost $263 million lobbying Congress not to lower the price of prescription drugs. And, that's just the bill for this year so far.
The industry is employing three lobbyists for every Congressional member, if OpenSecrets is correct. OpenSecrets tracks campaign financing and lobbying.
Much of the money reaches the pockets of the legislators via campaign donations.
Clearly, the lobbying industry should be reined in.
Do we have any lids on how much they can spend? Do we have any caps on how much legislators can take in? If not, why not? If we can see this destroys us so, why do we let it happen? Members of Congress perhaps like the money. With it, they campaign for re-election at great advantage against their challengers. And, if Big Pharma sees a challenger who might win, they can step in and contribute to that campaign, hedging their bets.
So, Congress is not likely to do something unless the people rise up and demand it. Corruption protects itself. If something is to be changed, it will take pressure from the outside.
Have you ever seen a group carrying protest signs outside of a hospital? Have you ever read of such a thing? If the nation has anything more important to protest, I don't know what it is.
Let's do away with this government mandate requiring large companies to make their employees vaccinate. It's not that I don't think the vaccinations would be helpful. It's not that I think freedom is being lost. No, it's that I agree with the old biblical adage of agree with thine adversary quickly.
On this matter, we should listen to many of the people. Who knows if they are a majority, but they are a large segment. In a nation that tries to get along, just say, If you don't want it, we won't have it. Your voice counts.
If you have democracy, and it is the people who govern, the government will reflect not only the will of the people, but the morals of the people.
So, look at America. I will hesitate to comment. Some are against bringing many immigrants in, fearing they will take our welfare, and fearing there will be too many criminals among them. We have a nation focused on gun rights.
I think to look at it a different way. What if we were to take the beliefs of the nation, first, and then see how they translate into how we are governed? Are we a nation that believes in God? Are we a nation that practices the biblical adage of, Love thy neighbor as thyself? Are we a people that borrows money?
Are we a nation that goes to movies most every week? That wants to be entertained?
I do not know the answer to these questions, meaning I cannot say how our mores translate into our policies. Or, if I can see how some of them do, I hold my thoughts and do not express them.
Studies are always being done. This would be one of worth. A study that made the connections between the believes of the masses and the policies of the government.
Cities Must Save The World
It is the cities, you know, that must save the world
It is the cities, this time
If recycling is to work, it is the cities who must do it
This time
It isn't the federal government that picks up your trash
Most of the times, it's not
It's the cities, it's the cities
It's they who pick up your rot
So, save the world by recycling?
Save your breath if you think not
It's the cities who must save the world
They are all that we've got
Recycling. If it is going to work, it will be the cities that must make it work. It is they that collect the waste. Yet, despite that, as the nation passes election day for many of its municipalities, was the topic even near the top as an issue?
City elections might focus on whether high-density housing should be allowed, and on whether the fire and police departments should get more money. Recycling? It doesn't even pop up, at least not much.
China once was a major importer of waste used for recycling. Then, it came out with what is called its "National Sword" policy, which banned the import of much of the waste. Back in the states, recyclers were left without a market for much of their product. Lacking that income, they upped their prices to the cities.
Supply and demand, you know.
How should cities deal with it? Should they abandon private companies -- no longer granting franchises to them? Companies have to make money, but when the cities own the utilities, they don't.
The trip-up to that is that cities didn't turn a profit, they would have to charge their residents to make up the difference -- and most of them would howl and scream if the price of their garbage pick-up came close to doubling.
Some cities have pared back what they recycle: No more styrofoam, among other things.
So, if there are answers to these problems, who must provide them? The cities. If there are to be solutions, it is the cities who must find them.
Recycling. If it is going to work, it will be the cities that must make it work. It is they that collect the waste. Yet, despite that, as the nation passes election day for many of its municipalities, was the topic even near the top as an issue?
City elections might focus on whether high-density housing should be allowed, and on whether the fire and police departments should get more money. Recycling? It doesn't even pop up, at least not much.
China once was a major importer of waste used for recycling. Then, it came out with what is called its "National Sword" policy, which banned the import of much of the waste. Back in the states, recyclers were left without a market for much of their product. Lacking that income, they upped their prices to the cities.
Supply and demand, you know.
How should cities deal with it? Should they abandon private companies -- no longer granting franchises to them? Companies have to make money, but when the cities own the utilities, they don't.
The trip-up to that is that cities didn't turn a profit, they would have to charge their residents to make up the difference -- and most of them would howl and scream if the price of their garbage pick-up came close to doubling.
Some cities have pared back what they recycle: No more styrofoam, among other things.
So, if there are answers to these problems, who must provide them? The cities. If there are to be solutions, it is the cities who must find them.
Government by Political Party
Do We have it? Do We Want to Keep it?
One thinks of the Richard Daley, the long-serving mayor of Chicago. Now, Chicago had a "weak-mayor" system, which means the mayor is not traditionally all-powerful. But, as the de facto head of the Democratic Party, Daley ruled the city as powerfully as anyone can rule.
And, one thinks of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union was the government of the Soviet Union. Same thing.
Then, look at America, and what it has become. Look down the halls of our state capitals. Look at our national government, and how the government swings back and forth with the party in rule.
Parties are the government, in America. Do we want to keep it that way? Or do we change it?
Five days, then, since news broke that a Department of Justice investigation of the Davis School District showed the district 1.) failed to address widespread race harassment, 2.) disciplined Black students more severely than White students, and 3.) did not allow Black students to form student unions.
The district did respond, with a statement saying it "takes these findings very seriously. . . . They do not reflect the values of this community and the expectations of the district."
But, have we heard of what the district plans to do?
One thought would be to replace faculty members who have taken part in the discrimination. Another would be to teach the students not to be discriminatory. A third thought would be to let them form their student unions.
How, then, do you handle such a conference as the one that marched into Salt Lake City this past weekend -- if you are the media? Do you ignore it, declining to dignify it with your coverage?
Second question: What happened, that only a reported 1,000 attended, whereas organizers expected 10,000 at their WeCANAct Liberty Conference? I mean, this is Utah, home to some of the most faithful of America's right-wingers. How is it that a conference of such faithfuls would draw so few?
From what I am reading, the conference drew little attention from the local media -- even though it brought Michael Flynn to town, among other right-wing notables. I'm only finding one local media outlet that covered it -- the Salt Lake Tribune. Surely there were others, though. I must have put in the wrong search words in making my search of the Internet. I browse KSL and the Deseret News daily, though, and came across not a single story from them.
Hey, some of the national media were aware of the conference. They covered it. How is it there was so little local coverage? "Yuge Flop: Michael Flynn Headlines Sparsely Attended Pro-Trump, Anti-Vaxx Event," says a headline in Rolling Stone. "Right-Wing Pro-Trump Event Aiming for 10,000 Attendees Sees Less Than 1,000 on First Day," reads a headline in Newsweek.
Were some in the media not interested in giving a stage to a group that promotes what they believe is misinformation? My thought is, cover it. Michael Flynn is here. Frontline Doctor Simone Gold is here. How do you say that is not newsworthy?
I say this as a person who is a Never-Trumper. I say it as a person who believes that such things as the election being a fraud are frauds, themselves. A convention such as this does spread misinformation.
Journalism has had its loss. Too often, writers today fail to maintain neutrality. Open the paper today. "Conspiracy theory-fueled conference lands in Salt Lake," says the headline above the article.
Of course, those at the conference would not consider it to be a meeting for conspiracy theorists. So, why does the article say that? If the writer is to be impartial, he doesn't brand it that way. If he quotes someone saying the conference was for conspiracy theorists, that is different, but he should not be passing judgement on his own.
The event "offered up a large helping of misinformation about COVID-19, vaccines and the 2020 election" says the story. Is that impartial? Those at the conference do not believe it was misinformation. Should a straight news story be passing such judgement? Once again, if the reporter finds someone who calls it misinformation, let him quote that person's judgement. That is offering both sides and the story and covering both sides of the story is journalism.
We should consider, then, whether marijuana has helped prompt mass shooters to do their shooting.
Take Nikolas Cruz, who gunned gunned down 34 people (killing 17 of them and injuring another 17) at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Today Cruz issued a statement of apology in which he said, "I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana and doing all these drugs and causing racism and violence out in the street."
No, Cruz did not come right out and say marijuana led him to kill the 17 people, but why else would he even be mentioning it?
We know marijuana can affect your decision-making. It can affect how rational you are. It can bring you to do things you otherwise would not even consider. Certainly, then, it could have been a leading factor in Cruz's killing 17 people and injuring another 17.
Many believe there is no harm in marijuana, so Cruz's comments are very notable.
That's When I'm Coming Through
When everyone has given up on me
That's when I'm coming through
When dark of night is darkest
And I'm lost in all the ruckus
That's when I'm coming through
When hope is lost and gallows sure
When hits come so fast, they're all a blur
That's when I'm coming through
That's when I'm coming through
Count me out, count me down
Say I count for nothing
Count me for a fool
Count me due to have my roughing
But when your abuse is heaped the highest
That's when I'm coming through
When your ridicule reaches the ridiculous
And your scorn becomes a stench
When you've laughed at me your loudest
Thrown at me your last wrench
That's when I'm coming through
That's when I'm coming through
When you say I'm done and through
That's when I'm coming through
(Index: Poems)
"Come in like a rookie," the coach told the thirteen-year veteran. "Come in with the same determination, the same eagerness to learn. Bring the same fervor."
Ersiel Ilysiuak was a humble player. He wasn't against backing up in his career. He wasn't going to be hung up in the pride of saying, "Coach S, don't treat me like a rookie. I've been around. I'm good. In all the NBA, there isn't anyone better at taking a charge. Don't treat me like a rookie. I'm a proven player. I shoot the three as good as anyone."
No. Not at all. Instead of all that, Ersiel said no more than, "No problem, Coach S."
"No need to call me coach," Coach S replied. "S will do. Just call me S. We can be friends and call each other by our first names -- or nicknames. Oh, and when I say come in as a Rookie, spell that with a capital R -- Rookie. It's that important."
"Call me Turk, then, if we are doing nicknames" Ersiel said, "and I'll be your Rookie, then."
So, Turk joined the team and quickly found a spot -- on the bench. He didn't play much until 10 games in. When injuries set in, they gave him a chance to play. And, did he ever respond, scoring 20 points by halftime and leading the team with five rebounds, four steals, and three blocked shots.
But, come the second half, he found himself back on the bench, for whatever reason.
Turk didn't play much more for a number of games. And, when he did, his shot was off. His shooting percentage took a dive and his spot on the team was in jeopardy.
Long about the end of the season, that changed. Now, this is where the story veers from what you understood to have happened, so hold on.
"Remember, Turk, how I told you to come in as a Rookie," S asked, taking him aside.
"Of course, Coach, I haven't forgotten."
"Just S. I'm just S," Coach Schwinn Ryder replied. "Turk, when a Rookie is a Rookie, they are always ready. They sit at the end of the bench, but they are always ready to come in and play with a fervor and determination and belief in themselves -- at any moment, at any chance."
Turk hung his head.
"And, they don't hang their heads," the coach said. "They might wait and wait. They might pine. But, they are always ready. There's a difference between a rookie and being a Rookie with a capital "R." That first letter stands for Ready. Rookies with capital Rs are always ready. And, they always believe in themselves. Small "r" rookies get to where they no longer believe in themselves, but big case that "R" and it means you are raring and ready.
"Oh, and "R" means reachable, too. Rookies with the big case "R" are reachable, teachable. Big case Rookies are raring, ready, and reachable."
It would be playoff time before Turk had another chance to play. Then, in the seventh game of a series, another starter went down. S slid Turk into the starting spot. Turk tore up the game, going 14-for-22 from distance in route to a 50-point game.
From there, there was no looking back. He won his spot. He didn't always start, but he was always in the rotation, reaching stardom well past his prime. And, he earned another nickname.
"We'll call you Ghost," S told him after the NBA championship game. "That's what you've been. Seven different teams you've played for -- plus others overseas. Nobody saw you. Nobody saw what was coming. You came at us like a Ghost.
". . . all because you were willing to come at us like a Rookie."
One of the biggest misses in the way we set up our Democracy is that we elect everyone all at once. Everyone running for federal office, everyone running for state offices, and everyone running for county offices -- we vote on them all on the same day.
Have you ever heard of information overload? Do we really expect voters to sort through all the myriad of races and make educated decisions when we hit them with so much at once?
Democracy organized this way loses much of its meaning. If you go to the polls, but vote in a meaningless fashion -- not knowing anything about the candidates you are voting for -- that cheapens what democracy is all about.
No, everyone should not be elected on the same day. There is an element of chaos in this. Rather, each race should be given its own attention, its own stage, its own election day.
Elections every month, perhaps. One scenario is instead of Nov. 4 each year, the fourth day of each month.
Not this also: Now, we often (perhaps, usually) cast our ballots knowing no more about the candidates than what party they belong to. We say, Vote the person, not the party, but there is often no more to go on than that. This increases the political divide in our country. If voters had time to study the candidates, they would be less inclined to vote based on no more than which party the person belonged to.
Someone will shout that having elections every month is going to be too expensive, but democracy is worth this dime.
Democracy can be practiced more than just once a year. It will greatly benefit our nation if we were to split up our elections to more than just once or twice a year.
What Once Was A Flag That Flew Over All
The symbol of unity is being used to divide
We each suppose that the flag is clearly on our own side
We wave it at each other and in each other's face
We insist its on our side and argues our case
And if the other side tries to claim it, we say, Oh no, no, no
It's my flag, its my flag -- I won't share it, you know
What once was a flag that flew over all
Is now used to divide us, it's now used to brawl
(Index: Poems)
If you go to emergency, they cannot reject you for lack of insurance, or lack of money. Then, there is the Hippocratic Oath, one of the oldest binding documents in history. The doctors pledge to treat the patient to the best of their ability.
One wonders, then, if the pharmaceutical companies are breaking the rules when they charge $500 for such drugs as Eliquis and Entresto. If you cannot reject a patient for lack of insurance, nor for lack of money to pay for emergency services, how are you allowed to get away with charging $500 for a drug necessary to keep them alive? One situation is the same as the other: You turn someone away from emergency care due to lack of insurance or money, and you are breaking the law, and if you turn someone away from a life-saving drug for lack of insurance or money, you are also breaking the law.
And, the Hippocratic Oath, where you pledge to treat the patient to the best of your ability, and to provide whatever medical assistance you can, also requires you to make these drugs available to save their lives.
Too much of a good thing, they say, can bad. So, let's talk potassium. If you are a heart patient, your doctor -- realizing you aren't getting enough -- might prescribe it. It seems potassium is a chemical critical to nerve and muscle cells -- including those in the heart.
But -- listen to this -- you can get too much potassium. Hyperkalemia, they call it, and it's when your potassium level gets a little too high. Too much, and you can die.
When you are in the hospital, they can monitor your potassium levels. But, what of the heart patient once he is home? He can't monitor his own levels, as home health suppliers sell no such product.
Now -- reminder here -- potassium levels are critical to the life of a heart patient. One wonders if he should be getting his potassium checked weekly or maybe even more often. How much do potassium levels vary? If we junk up on potatoes on some days -- which are full of potassium -- are we endangering our lives?
Yes, we are: "Eating too much food that is high in potassium can cause hyperkalemia, especially in people with advanced kidney disease. Food such as melons, orange juice, and bananas are high in potassium." (Healthline.com)
Keep that Internet going. What it says will shake you some more. "It can be difficult to diagnose hyperkalemia. Often there are no symptoms." No symptoms, you say? That would seem to make monitoring it all the more important.
We have a rule: If your life is threatened by another person, you can kill them. No, correction: If you say your life was threatened, no one can question your right to kill them.
It has been two years this past month since Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow came up missing, believed to have been killed by their parent figures, Chad and Lori Daybell. Perhaps you have heard about the case, if you follow news much at all.
A string of other deaths are connected to the story, including the killing of Lori Daybell's fourth husband, Charles Vallow. (Chad is her fifth husband). Charles had been killed months earlier during a heated exchange between him, the Daybells, and Lori's brother Alex. Alex said he shot Charles in self-defense, as Charles had hit him with a baseball bat.
Police took Alex's statements and closed the case.
Months later, Alex died. So, even when they eventually got looking into the case again, Alex was not around to be charged.
The point is, if you allow someone off the hook just because they say they killed in self defense, you might be letting a murderer off the hook. We have laws that say if someone believes he or she was just defending themselves, they can legally kill the other person.
If we don't see the danger of this law, and change it, we leave on the books one of the most terrible of laws. Yes, allow a person to shoot the other if it is truly necessary. But, do not allow them to be their own judge and jury. Do not allow them to get off the hook just by saying they believed their well-being was threatened.
When I rise in the morning, usually I am not immediately hungry. Five minutes, a half an hour, or however much later -- but not long -- my appetite sets in.
Could it have something to do with when you get up moving around, your organs and muscles then need the nutrients to do their functions? Some organs and muscles are somewhat dormant during the night. A car parked and turned off in the garage needs no fuel. And, an idling car needs less than one running down the road.
Our bodies, perhaps, are the same.
Who knows the workings of the heart. No -- I mean the real heart, this time.
If a heart beats too fast, it doesn't get all the blood required to feed the organs. Now, here's what I wonder: If that is true, isn't it logical the organs might signal for more food? Might not your appetite increase? So, you start eating more food.
All because you've got a bad heart.
Then, of course, your doctor is likely to come along and tell you you need to lose a few pounds. Doc will explain that that extra weight means extra work for the heart. He'll explain that it's just like carrying a five-pound barbell around: Carrying a weight is harder than carrying no barbell at all.
True, no doubt. But, I wonder if the one reason weight might increase, is that the organs are not receiving enough nutrients, because the heart isn't pumping as efficiently. Of course this could be wrong. Still, it does make sense.
Speaking of the national monuments in this state, Utah's Congressional delegation points out the need to protect ancient ruins from raiders. Despite the problems we've had with graffiti and such, no congress member (from Utah or elsewhere) has stepped up to create a policing effort against such vandalism and looting. One helicopter in the sky would likely suffice.
It should be noted that some sites definitely deserve as much protection as possible. Moon House Ruin has been called, "literally a vast outdoor museum of Anasazi ruins and rock art." When you have a museum, you protect that which is in it. When you carve such sites out of the monument, and Biden puts them back in, that is a good thing.President Biden is expected to restore protections to Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Northeast Canyons, and Seamonts, all which have served under federal designations that provide such protections.
I wonder if in today's age, we can justify mineral extraction from such places. Do we need fossil coal and fossil oil in today's age? Or have fossil fuels become about as outdated as the fossils, themselves?
Plus, the extraction often comes on land sacred to the Native Americans. We took the whole of America away from the native Americans, leaving many of them cornered off on reservations. What once was theirs, is ours -- taken from them. Do we not at least owe them the respect that comes with being amenable to their request to not violate the lands?
One news story rivets the nation, then is forgotten. One group of people tears at our hearts with the dire straits they are in, then we move on to other concerns.
Would be great if we did not forget them, these Haitians. What becomes of them? What of those who were deported back to Haiti? Do we know how they ended up? When they arrived back in Haiti, did they end up back on the streets? Are any in such deep need that they are dying? Or, are charity organizations taking care of them?
Of course we should care. Of course we should wonder. Would be good of us to pray for them.
Sometimes, I wish there were just Gunsmoke's Doc Adams -- just a medic who looked up and down at his patients, scratched his jaw, and came to his own decision on what they needed.
Somehow, it seems maybe the old days did it better, in some ways. Back then, there wasn't so much training, with doctors being taught, "You do it this way." Learning all about medicine in medical school is obviously a plus -- a big plus -- but it does have this one disadvantage.
You are taught to follow the book. Not too much rubbing your chin and figuring it out, like Doc Adams used to do. Patients were individuals. Now-days, the book tells you what to do in each case, and you pull the closest fit out of your doctoring book and apply it. No room for saying, "I think we need to vary just a bit from the book, in your case."
Assembly line medicine, corporate medicine.
And, soon they are forgotten. Protesters in Cuba rose up against their oppressive government in July in the most significant revolt there in at least a decade. Now, silence. Would be wonderful to have news on what became of the movement.
Silence often silences justice, often silences freedom. Would that news outlets were more tenacious. Would that they did not abandon these stories so quickly. A free press has long been lauded as a protectorate of and bastion of liberty. Where, then, is the press? Is it protecting the Cubans? Or, has it rushed off to other stories, neglecting to follow the plight of the Cubans?
In a world of suffering, how soon they are forgotten.
News did come today about 16 refugees who sailed a make-shift raft to arrive at Key West -- the second such landing in two days. And, news came of almost a dozen baseball players defecting in Mexico. Neither of those stories made national news, though you could look them up with a a search on the Internet.
And, neither of those stories related whether the defections grew out of the July protesting. If anything, having these defectors provides opportunity for us to learn what became of the protesting. News personalities could ask them.
And, soon they are forgotten. The world was aghast as many of those who had helped the United States were left behind in Afghanistan. And, many were aghast at the Afghan nationals, who feared for their lives with the Taliban taking over, also being left behind.
Have we forgotten them? So soon? Where are the news stories telling us what is happening? Would that our level of care would pass. Would that we still cared, still were trying to save them.
Sailors seldom sail without a sea, of course
To them, it's land beneath their feet
They view the ground as unstable liquid
While the waters are concrete
They call the waves their mountains
That's all they want to climb
The challenges of sea life
To them, bring but peace of mind
Go ahead and bring them here to shore
And see just what they'll do
They'll be staring back out to sea
Before the day is thru
Now, if you sail the seas of life
You've got to change your thoughts
Find in those billowing waves your comfort
Think of them as what they're not
In the tossing of the seas of life
Find in them your home
In the waves that seem to swallow
Find but comfort in their foam
(Index: Poems)
Haiti -- nay, there is hardly a poorer nation in all the Americas. And, if we are to help them, we must do more than take in their immigrants. We must do more than send them a dash of foreign aide.
And, we can help them.
They suffer from lack of skilled employees. They suffer from lack of electricity. They suffer from lack of medical facilities.
Could we not provide scholarships, or help their universities supply the workforce that comes with upper education? Could we not go in and help them create an adequate electric system? Could we not open medical facilities in the places where they are lacking?
Haiti has a free-market economy, yet greater than 90 percent of its government's budget comes from Petrocaribe, which is a Venezuela-directed oil alliance. Let us not begrudge this too much, for we should want all countries to thrive -- including Venezuela. Still, we should be concerned that they are so reliant on a communist nation to pay their government bills. Tying them closer to us, in revenue sources, would be worthy. Perhaps, in becoming a supplier of electricity, we could help make that a tie to us.
When we see a nation in need, we should look for the needs, and step in and help.
(Index -- Climate change info)
A year and a half ago, kidnappings, car-jackings, robberies and armed crime in Haiti led the U.S. government to raise its travel advisory to Level 4 -- Do not travel here.
Haiti -- one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Three-quarters of the people live on $2.50 or less a day. Less than a quarter of the country has electricity. Less than half the country has clean drinking water. Only 8 percent of the rural areas have health care facilities. An estimate 30,000 children live in orphanages. That is a crisis amount and the care provided in the orphanages much deepens the crisis.
Some countries turn to tourism for help. Haiti tried that, and sex tourism became part of it. That led to an epidemic that began in the 1980s. Today, each year an estimate 5,000 babies are born infected with AIDS.
There was the 7.0 earthquake in 2010, with its 52 aftershocks, claiming somewhere between 92.000 and 230,000 lives. An estimate 250,000 homes and 30,000 commercial buildings came down or were severely damaged. Nearly 900,000 were displaced -- many left on the streets.
There was Hurricane Matthew in 2016 with flood waters up to 40 inches and storm surges of up to 10 feet. No less than 580 were killed and an estimate 35,000 left homeless.
There was Hurricane Laura in 2020.
Then, the 7.2 earthquake Aug. 14 -- the strongest earthquake to tear at the island in 179 years. An estimated 2,207 died. Others were left missing, and an estimated 12,000 were injured.
Haiti -- a nation savaged by poverty, crime, natural disasters, and political upheaval. If you live there, you pray for the day you won't, perhaps.
This is the country we sent them back to, when we round them up at our southern border and deport them directly back to their homes. The kindness of a free airline ticket is not exactly kindness. Talk of the devil's dominion and curse them right back into the depths of it.
The closing of the entry bridge at Del Rio had its adverse effect on the city. Workers who live in Mexico but work in Texas were locked out right along with all the migrants.
We should be concerned about them. We should be concerned about their livelihoods. These are not rich people. When they go without work for a couple few days, we have to imagine that makes it difficult for them to put food on the table. We should care. We should be concerned about them.
We should also be concerned about the employers on this side of the border. Lacking the workers who live in Mexico, how did they survive? Would be nice to have seen a story on this, but we don't give them much thought. We should. We should care about them.
President Trump's policy of deporting people due to Covid-19 concerns -- still being enforced by President Biden -- is hardly the best of policies, and one that does not help in the fight against Covid.
If you are concerned about Covid, vaccinate them. If you are not doing that, but rather just packing them on a plane and sending them back to their home countries while they still have Covid, you are only acerbating the Covid problem. And, if you are sending them packing home when they don't even have Covid, you are expelling them without cause.
I hope this is not too harsh a comment, but sometimes our leaders show no wisdom, at all.
Nine or ten long months ago, President Biden stopped Title 42 from applying to babies and children. Title 42, the Trump rule that allows people to be deported because of Covid-19 concerns, could -- supposedly -- no longer force the removal of children. Despite that, according to a news report, at least 22 babies and children were deported to Haiti back in February.
That's February, not now. But, we should be concerned. When you make a commitment not to jeopardize children, you should be very quick to explain when they are deported. Was it that the deportation officials were not aware of Biden's directive? What happened? It deserves an explanation.
There was a day when the Jehovah Witnesses were scorned and persecuted for not saluting the American flag. The U.S. Supreme Court even ruled in favor of forcing them to salute the flag. (A ruling that was later overturned.)
When we demand that people homogenize their beliefs, when we require them to think the same, to have the same opinions, and to salute the flag the same, we erase the very essence of freedom. The Jehovah Witnesses were not traitors. They loved America. They simply did not want to place country ahead of God, and did not want to bow down to an idol, which is how they viewed saluting a flag.
But, even if someone does not honor or love this country, and that becomes the reason they won't salute the flag, freedom says you don't require them to do so. Forcing someone to salute your flag is wrong. When we require someone to salute our flag, we take away the very freedom that that flag stands for.
And then they were gone.
As many as 15,000 migrants, mostly believed to be from Haiti, had been encamped under a bridge at Del Rio, Texas.
And, then they were gone.
The massive encampment in the Texas border town has been completely cleared out, according to news reports today. At least 2,000 were deported and 5,000 are still being processed, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. That leaves 8,000 who were either released to go places in the U.S. while awaiting processing or who agreed to go back into Mexico.
It might remind some of how the homeless are often dealt with in U.S cities. Put them on a bus and ship them to the next town. They are an embarrassment. Get rid of them anyway you can.
That is the sentiment.
What harm were these immigrants doing? Why not allow them to remain? Was it that there were not enough resources to feed them? We've got a nation of people who were hearing about them every night on the news. Could not money have been raised by a charity organization to support them?
I again ask, what harm were these people doing? Were they in some way an inconvenience to the U.S.? Aye, they were, to much of the media, Fox News included. Biden should be ashamed, was the essence of some news reports.
We should have let them stay. Allowing them to come on thru to their destinations in accordance with immigration law, to await hearings, was a good thing. And taking 5,000 in for processing was a good thing. But, putting them on planes back to Haiti and sending them packing back into Mexico were not the right moves.
I suppose it would be possible to put a transportation system on the Internet. Have computer-guided cars gliding through the city, coordinated by the Internet.
Don't do it, though. Consider the hacking. Consider Fancy Bear and whatever other foreign hackers are out there. No, we don't want then to be able to hack into our transportation system, our power grids, our voting systems . . .
Or our banking. One wonders if there is a way we could still allow banking to be done from home, thru some other means other than the Internet -- some hardwire system, perhaps
"Racial and ethnic minorities account for a third of the people shot at by Utah police over the past decade -- despite these groups making up just a quarter of the population."
So says a Salt Lake Tribune story filled online Sept. 20, 2021. The Tribune analysis was done with the help of the PBS series FRONTLINE.
The article says the conclusion is clear: Ethnic minorities are shot at at a disproportional rate compared to White people.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/09/20/new-data-utah-police/
Sometimes the best of humanity stands up.
Oh that humanity would stand up for the Haitians and others who are stranded at our border. Can we view what is happening and our hearts not cry out in pain for them?
Or, do we herd them like cattle? Do we get on our horses like cowboys, cracking our whips at them, and knocking them over as they try to wade across the river? Do we yell at them and demean them and tell them they need to go back where they came from? After their long and arduous journey to a country they revere and aspire to be part of -- a land of supposed hope -- how do we treat them this way? Do we immediately place them on airplanes and send them right back where they came from?
Who are the savages here -- us or them? Clearly it is us.
What if a few thousand of us were to go down there, to rescue them -- or to at least stand up to their oppressors and demand that they be treated right -- be treated humanely.
Is there no anguish in our souls when we view them in their dire straits? "Enough is enough," it seems someone would cry out. "You will not treat these people this way!"
These are people that need someone to stand up for them. No, most of us cannot just abandon our lives and go help them. But, think of how many people came from all across the country to protest at the Capitol Jan. 6. They believed their cause that serious.
Is there no one who sees the plight of the refugees as being that serious? Humanity is screaming. Will no one answer the call?
Winston Whipple
And the man that he was
Went to church
Because that's what a man of God does
He stayed for the night
And slept in the steeple
And woke to stare down
On all of the people
He jumped on the bell
As it swung back and forth
And yelled how God's people
Would come out of the north
And down in the streets
They laughed at the sight
But who really knows
But what Winston Whipple was right
(Index: Poems)
If someone breaks the law, bringing a weapon to the Capitol, they should be so charged. If you warned those coming to last Saturday's protest that you would come down on them hard if they violated Washington's gun laws, you should not be lax on this.
It will not go unnoticed that the man escaping charges is a federal officer, employed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We should expect integrity of our federal officers. We should expect them to obey the law. If they cannot keep the law themselves, why do we have them arresting others? There is an element of hypocrisy. Nor does it go unnoticed that you are excusing one of your own. That he is one of your officers should not excuse him from the law. He should not have special exemption and preferential treatment.
As news breaks of former world women's chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili suing the producers of "The Queen's Gambit" -- just days ahead of this weekend's Emmy's where "The Queen's Gambit" is expected to win more acclaim -- it is interesting to consider that there was another movie about women's chess that hardly drew a drip of news or attention in the U.S.
And, it came out at about the same time, Sept. 4, 2020, to Oct. 4, 2020, for "The Queen's Gambit" -- just a month and a half ahead of the better known film.
And, it featured this same Nona Gaprindashvili.
"Glory to the Queen" is a documentary of four women who ruled the world of women's chess. A trailer for the movie shows a woman saying, "It was like landing on Mars or Jupiter. . . . For 30 years these women carried the chess crown. That won't happen again in 5000 years, not even in a big country."
Nona Gaprindashvili is one of the four women who ruled women's chess from
"Glory to the Queen" is about Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze, and Nana Ioseliani. From the 1960s to the 1990s, they ruled, bringing the world championship to Georgia and the Soviet Union ten times.
So it was that from a small country -- Georgia to this day only has about 3.7 million people -- four chess players rose and were so powerful, that for 30 years, no one could beat them.
Of them, Nona Gaprindashvili is remembered as the greatest -- if not the greatest women's chess player of all time. The Georgians loved their chess stars, and flocked to see them.
"I'll never forget travelling home after becoming the world champion," she says, as the film shows her posing as a sculptor sculpts a bust of her. "Once we crossed the border into Georgia, the train stopped at every station." And, the film shows her exiting a train as a large basket of flowers is presented to her.
But, what is most significant about Nona, perhaps is that she was Beth Harmon before there was Beth Harmon. The Beth Harmon in the Queen's Gambit aspired to the world championship that had forever been owned only by men. The "Beth Harmon" in "Glory to the Queen" also aspired to win against the best the male competition the world could offer.
The real-life Beth Harmon set her goal to beat the men, just like the fictional version. And, just like the fictional version, she did. "Chess Miss Gaprindashvili Beats 7 Men in a Strong Tourney," says a headline found in the New York Times.
Indeed, Nona Gaprindashvili went where no woman player had ever gone, earning grandmaster status -- the first female grandmaster in history.
"The Queen's Gambit" became Netflix's biggest limited-scripted series ever. It won two Golden Globes this year and has garnered 18 nominations for tomorrow's Emmy Awards. Like "The Queen's Gambit," "Glory to the Queen" has also won its honors. A foreign film, it took home the audience prize at the Slobodna Zone movie festival in Belgrade earlier this year.
Hail both movies. And, hail both Beth Harmon and Nona Gaprindashvili. Both have cut against the world of sexism in the world of chess. Both Nona Gaprindashvili and "The Queen's Gambit" promoted chess and made it a bigger sport. Lawsuit or not, I am grateful for both.
And, what was the lawsuit about? In the movie, someone remarks that never has a woman done what Beth Harmon was doing. Oh, there had been Nona Gaprindashvili, but she never played males, he says.
But, she did, and like Beth Harmon, she won.
There is danger in the popular chant of our day. "Spare the rod and spoil the child," it says. Their argument is that their parents whipped them, and they turned out okay.
Oh, what are we teaching each other, as society? That lacing a child is normal? Beat the children, beat them!
I look at the society I live in -- we live in -- and see so many children scared for life by the anger of a parent. I read news stories of children who received an angry bop on the head and died. No, we should not be teaching each other to beat our children. It is one of the most pervasive mantras of our time. It is one of the most damaging. Nothing is so precious as a child
Spare the rod and instead correct with love. A whip across the back of a child scars more than their flesh. A child cannot escape his parents (unless the child runs away). Nowhere to run to, no where to hide? Face the storms of hell with no hope of refuge? A child can quickly turn to feeling this way. I am not satisfied with the argument that your parents beat you, and you turned out okay. There are too many children who didn't turn out "okay." This is about them, about the ones who were scared for life.
Instead of the rod, try the rein.
Comes the meme on Facebook: "Sorry but I have to disagree with people who are totally against spanking. them. I wasn't abused. I was DISCIPLINED. *Re-post if you got your butt smacked and survived. This is one reason kids to My parents spanked my behind. I don't hate them. I didn't have trust issues with them because of it. I didn't fear them. But sure respected them! I learned what my boundaries were and knew what would happen if I crossed them. I wasn't abused, I was DISCLIPLINED. *Re-post if you got your butt smacked and survived. This is one reason kids now a days have no respect for ANYONE!"
To which I replied: "I don't remember too much smacking from my parents. I imagine there must have been some, albeit I am not remembering it. Still, I and my sibs turned out okay. I'm not sure spanking is a must-do thing. I look to the scriptures, to see how the prophets raised their children. Did Lehi ever tag Laman and Lemuel?"
Then, remembering the adage, "Spare the rod and spoil the child," I further reply: "The three Proverbs on the topic are worthy of note. 13:24 'He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.' 23:13-14 'Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.' And, 29:15 'The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.' These scriptures link reproof with the 'beating.' Their point is that you need to correct and teach the child, or he will not grow up right. If some parents choose not to spank their children, I think those children can turn out okay. I would guess if we were to ask around, a lot of people -- fine people -- would say their parents didn't spank them a whole lot."
Would they toss the homeless out? Are the people camping on the streets of Salt Lake City on the verge of being evicted?
Evicted from the streets? Who would have ever thought: You get evicted when you have an apartment, a place to live, but evicted when you don't even have a home?
The cry against the homeless grows stronger, Listen to its voice: "You see drug abuse occurring. Needles on the street. Drug-crazed people staggering down the street," says John Gardiner, one of the business leaders who sees a need to remove the campers. Gardiner, being quoted in a Deseret News article, goes on, "Piles of garbage all over the place. Intoxicated people, and -- important to note -- violent people who threaten public safety."
"We cannot stand by and continue to watch our capital city deteriorate," chips in former U.S. Attorney John Huber, also quoted in the DesNews article. The "lawless feeling" has to end, he says.
One sits back and wonders. Crime is not good. Of course we are against it. But, must we kick the homeless out? And, if crime is the concern, do we blame it all on the homeless? Two key city leaders last week said they believe that overall, crime is down. Now, surely the homeless are a part of the crime. Certainly in breaking into buildings, and urinating in them, etc., they are the chief offenders.
Still, let us find a way to take care of them -- even if it means providing them no more than a place on the streets.
Make the homeless even more homeless? Swat them away like bothersome flies? I wonder if we could approach it differently.
Do not be too quick to blame Russia for this one. Other explanations might be more reasonable. If there were foul play, it may not have been the Russians.
It's been 18 months since 18-year-old Alexandra Vernigora and her 27-year-old boyfriend, Stanislav Bogdanovich were found dead on the floor of a Moscow apartment.
Chess players, both.
Bogdanovich was a star -- one of the better players on this planet. He had risen to be one of the top 10-rated blitz players in the world. In regular chess, he was also magnificent, his peak rating having reached a gaudy 2616. He had been called, "perhaps the most-talented player in the entire history of Odessa."
Dead on the floor of a Moscow apartment, along with his girlfriend, also an accomplished chess player.
Laughing gas. They say they died of laughing gas. Asphyxiation. A balloon with nitrous oxide was found at the site, and it is said they had plastic bags over their heads.
I will tell you the fuller story of their deaths. Days before, Bogdanovich had switched flags -- from Ukraine to Russia -- just before his death. With his new alliance, he had performed superbly in a tournament just days before. The tournament was March 1, the deaths March 5.
Now, there's a war going on between Ukraine and Russia. The two nations are not at all on friendly terms. Imagine the outrage of his fellow Ukrainians as they learned Bogdanovich was switching to the other side. Yes, there was a media frenzy. Political leaders entered the fray. The former Ukrainian minister of defense and a candidate in three of the last presidential elections, rebuked Bogdanovich. One national website listed him as an enemy of the state.
If you know of the public outcry against him, you know he and his girlfriend might, indeed, have committed suicide. Public distain can bring that.
And, if they were murdered, would it not have been the Ukrainians who did it?
Then, there is the matter that Bogdanovich's flat in Odessa had been robbed the year before -- about $30,000 lost, most of which he had won in tournaments. The criminals were never found, but should it not be considered that if someone had it out for him once, they might still have had it out for him later?
Smaller chance at that one, though. The robbery was in Odessa; the murder in Moscow.
So, what of the chance the Russians killed the two chess players? During the media brouhaha, Bogdanovich had indicated that in addition to wanting to be a peacemaker by playing for Russia, he needed the money. "I do whatever is better for business," he said. "Without donations, I could not play for any team."
That obviously didn't go over well with the Russians. An official spokesperson responded: "We never pay anyone to participate. To play for your flag is a matter of personal prestige, not money."
So, suicide, foul play -- which? We may never know. Time rolls on and such things are soon forgotten. They touch the news, but quickly are lost. It is said time heals all wounds. It should also be said time forgets them -- even when they should not be forgotten.
