Treatment-resistant Depression    

   A professor of psychiatry and science at the University of Pittsburgh has studied neuroimaging markers of suicide risk in young people. She studied under one of the world's foremost experts on treatment-resistant depression and suicidal behavior in teens. 

   Wishing to help a certain 12-year-old, she looked for clues in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). What was in the central nervous system?

   The young girl showed a low level of biopterin, a chemical the body uses to make several neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers. 

   With a replacement therapy regimen, over the next few months there was a gradual return of a chemical that is crucial to the production of serotonin, dopamine and more. After 10 weeks and adjustments to her medications, the girl was feeling "normal."  

   Three other teens underwent the same process. All three had similar metabolic disorders, and all three improved once their systems were "fed" a special form of what were essentially vitamins.

   This team expanded with a study of 33 patients with treatment-resistant depression. About two-thirds had a form of metabolic deficiency of the central nervous system. Once treated, the majority improved.

   A larger study is now underway, including possible genetic and environmental factors in these deficiencies. 

   PITT MAGAZINE reports this "effort is to understand some of the mechanics of depression and suicidal behavior. What clinicians and researchers now lump together under the umbrella of depression may be symptoms of many different diseases or disorders." 

   Note: Having overtaxed our central nervous system (OT-CNS) with all these big words, Monday and Tuesday, we're giving ourself a rest until after Labor Day. But, if a brainstorm arrives by the sea, we'll blog away, and alert you on Facebook. 
As always, we appreciate your interest.

       Jimmy 

Back From Blindness   

   There are different reasons for blindness.

   One type - corneal blindness - can be somewhat overcome with transplants. A newer method now under study may better help people around the globe. 

   The cornea is transparent - a window - that covers the iris and pupil. It helps the eye focus by bending light.

   A virus that causes lesions on the eye affects more than 50,000 Americans each year. More than 6 million around the world have corneal blindness. 

   Each year, more than 40,000 corneal transplants from deceased donors are performed in the U.S. About half fail within 10 years. U.S. eye banks sent more than 26,000 corneas overseas for transplants in 2016.

   After many years of study, research and trials, pioneered mostly at the University of Pittsburgh, there is hope for a technique that restores vision to eyes with damaged corneas. The "operation" takes only a few minutes. It is quicker, safer and more affordable.

   An alternative to transplants, stem cells are a building block of the body, and a component of regenerative medicine, as reported in PITT, the university news magazine. Stem cells can generate special cells that perform different jobs, like building bone, growing heart muscle, or forming the cornea. The body is less likely to reject them.

   Doctors can spread a gel with the patient's own stem cells and protein. Or, they can inject stem cells directly into the eye, and it works. Tests have resulted in healthy tissue. And scar tissue gradually disappears.

   More than 70 patients have been treated, with no reported complications and a high rate of vision improvement.

   Pitt's School of Dental Medicine even found that stem cells taken from wisdom teeth can regenerate cornea. Researchers hope to begin clinical trials within two years. 

Tomorrow: Treatment for depression

      Jimmy

The Proud, the Few, the Voters    

   Slightly more than a quarter of eligible American voters - 27.6 percent - cast ballots for the next president, Donald Trump, in 2016. 

   The losing candidate received 28.8 percent. But the Electoral College system, which enables all states to have an impact, favored Donald Trump.

   A much higher percentage of eligible voters - 40 percent - didn't bother. Elections have consequences for them and for all other Americans, but they didn't exercise their privilege. That both candidates had high unfavorable ratings may explain some of the non voters. 

   People educated and financially better off are more likely to vote. 

   An equal number of voters are in the age groups 18-29 and over-65. Twenty-seven percent of seniors voted, while only 13 percent of younger eligible voters turned out in 2016. 

   So, when they say, "Americans chose" someone to be their president, it sounds like we're united, which is far from the case. Every presidential election we can remember has been a close call, except for a Reagan landslide in 2004. 

   We're obligated in democracy to respect the person elected, and the system we have, even if we disagree in details. It's messy. The alternative is dictatorship without honest elections, or any elections. 

   Whether Republican or Democrat, the winner is going to maximize his (or her) power, for better or worse. That's just the way it is. 

   In prior years, voters cast ballots only on election day. We remember standing in long lines. Today, voting by mail and early-voting days make the process about as voter-friendly as it can get. 

Statistics from Pew Research Center study

      Jimmy

Genuine Truth-seeker Is Rare     

   "People tend to believe what they want to believe, and conviction precedes evidence.

   "Deceptive technology may increase gullibility, but it's more likely to increase skepticism. 

   "That makes God's Word even more precious. 
Our safeguard is not outlawing fakes, but holding fast to deep truth."    

Janie B. Cheaney 

WORLD magazine 

'Impeach Him,' They Yell       

   Americans clinging to hope that Robert Mueller's investigators yet may find an impeachable offense by our president - and use that as a springboard to replace our democratic/capitalist system - might consider the French Revolution. 

   "Revolutions seem fun at first - until they turn against their own," wrote Andree Seu Peterson in WORLD magazine some time ago. Such behavior is part of the human condition.

   Paul wrote to the Galatians, 4:18, It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good. And in 5:15, If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 

   Of course, resisters and their "useful idiots" (as the Soviets called their Western supporters, especially in the U.S.) aren't guided by the Bible, are they? Jeanine Pirro waded into the huge women's march following Donald Trump's inauguration, unable to find even one woman who knew exactly why she was marching, or was it they couldn't name a right is being denied to women? 

   Anyway, Peterson adds, when the purpose is not good, "Violence is its own intoxicant." She cites the riot in Acts 19: Now, some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most did not know why they had come together. v.32

   "Great was the disillusionment of naive supporters," Peterson writes, "when the (French) bloodbath ... swallowed up not only Royalists but even moderates and finally revolutionary architect Maximilien Robespierre himself." 

   Before his execution, a pro-revolutionary journalist wrote to his wife, "I have dreamed of a Republic such as all the world would have adored. I could never have believed that men could be so ferocious and so unjust."  

   Finally, Peterson quotes a poem by William Wordsworth, age 19 when the French Revolution began, implying that those for whom happiness must be found in "the very world ... or not at all" subject themselves to the ravage of swords. 

   Could a France-like event happen in today's America? Voters can send Trump back to his tower in 2020, if they wish; until then, let's stop devouring.

      Jimmy




   

Disinformation - the New Normal   

   Some of you know that my career wasn't dependent on my speaking, acting, bookkeeping or - heaven forbid - singing ability. 

   I taught myself to type. Then came journalism studies, and newspaper work followed by years in corporate communications (mostly writing). Even in the Army - I was considered less a threat to national security as a Remington Ranger than with an M-16. Note to young readers: Remington made typewriters. Ask your grandparents what typewriters were.

   It was an unlikely career for a lousy English student. 

   I earned my livelihood writing for several years before beginning to learn how to write with the reader in mind. And I'm still learning. See, I can't quit. 

   What we learned in J-school was - not how to write - but that reporters write without bias. State the facts. If an official or witness makes a statement, quote them without injecting personal views. Write the story. Don't be the story. 

   Opinions belong in opinion columns, on the editorial page. 

   We've lost that modifying way of journalism, if it ever really existed among most practitioners. 

   Does it even matter anymore, now that news consumption increasingly occurs over the internet? Or, through late-night "comedians?" If the public has trouble sorting truth from falsehood with professional outlets, what chance do we have when anyone with a computer can deliver information - as he or she chooses to shape it? 

   Researchers say, in 2016, governments and political parties deployed social media to manipulate the public in 28 countries. Russia is the worst perpetrator. 

   If so, disinformation is the new normal; democracies are suffering from anonymous, junk information and propaganda. 

       Jimmy



   

Cold War's Improbable End       

   President Reagan exploited the Soviet's vulnerabilities, with cooperation from Mikhail Gorbachev, who saw the writing on the (Berlin?) wall. The Cold War ended quietly during the third quarter of 1991. 

   George H.W. Bush, who succeeded Reagan in January 1989, wisely declined to crow about Soviet demise. History easily could have been different.  

   First, "experts" thought Reagan was too conservative to be elected. "Reagan Democrats" helped prove them wrong - the No. 1 issue being abortion. But for the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, Reagan might not have won in 1980, and the Cold War would have continued indefinitely. 

   Second, neither Jimmy Carter nor Walter Mondale, the Democrats that Reagan defeated, would have escalated the arms race. 
 

Source: Marvin Olasky, WORLD magazine

based on declassified documents.

The Fourth Age  

    For a man who has no faith in God, Byron Reese, author of The Fourth Age, has an amazing take on the human body's 60 different elements:

   "No known laws of physics can explain how those elements can be combined in such a way as to create an entity with consciousness." 

   Mind and life itself, he writes, "are themselves the most utterly inexplicable things we know of. They are the great mysteries, and may be forever beyond our control."    
...no evolution there, just mystery. 

Also provided by Marvin Olasky

   Beyond our control? - in one sense. God explains what physics can't.  

      Jimmy

Peril to Democracy     
   
   Having finished Liars, Leakers and Liberals, we've just begun The Russia Hoax by Gregg Jarrett. We pass along this section from his Preface:
   

~
   

   "The greatest peril to democracy today is not a foreign force, but the abuse of power from within. Those who operate under color of authority are prone to exploit it for political reasons and personal gain. In a government of laws, they too often fail to follow the law themselves. 

   "As Justice Brandeis put it, 'if the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.' 

   "The most celebrated form of governance known to the world is democracy. It is a system of, by and for the people. Because of this personal construct, democracy is susceptible to the same human frailties that afflict us all - greed, prejudice, hubris, intellectual dishonesty and moral weakness. 

   "Government, therefore, is only as sound and effective as the people who are empowered to run it at any given time. This is its fundamental imperfection.

   "Sometimes, driven by these flaws of the human condition, democracy can be trifled with by those who hold the reins of power. Despite carefully devised checks and balances, individual positions are nevertheless misused in ways unseen by the public. 

   "Systems are unduly influenced in defiance of both the law and conscience. Misdeeds are covered up."

So, You're a Mere Phantom     
    
   Me too.

   David speaks to God in Psalm 39, a continuation Psalm 38:

You have made my days a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro.

He bustles about, but only in vain;

he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

vs. 4-6

   Commentary: David realizes it is the Lord who is causing his suffering. 

God has given each of us only a short time on earth as a period of testing, 

to determine our faithfulness to him, while living in a corrupt generation.

But now, Lord, what do I look for? 

My hope is in you.

Save me from all my transgressions.

...for you are the one who has done this.

Remove your scourge from me;

I am overwhelmed by the blow of your hand.

You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;

...each man is but a breath.

vs. 7-11

   David prays that he may not die separated from God and his mercy.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for help;

be not deaf to my weeping.

For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger...

Look away from me, that I may rejoice again

before I depart and am no more.

vs. 12-13

California Corruption, Cronyism     

   Democrats have controlled both houses in California since 1970, except for two years. 

   Last year the state party resolved to "condemn corporations and lobbyists that finance political campaigns, as they perpetuate a culture of corruption and cronyism." (Hold that thought.) 

   More than 25 percent of the party's campaign contributions in 2016 came from utility, telecommunications and healthcare companies. Also contributing big were tribal gambling groups, oil companies and insurance companies.

   In March, the LA Times reported that the senate pro tempore accepted tickets to events and expensive dinners from Planned Parenthood. The assembly speaker got free tickets to the Grammy Awards, Dodgers baseball and USC Trojans games. 

   A senator enjoyed a free trip to Germany from a lobbyist. Another senator pleaded guilty to taking $150,000 in bribes from a healthcare fraud scheme and from an undercover FBI agent posing as a filmmaker. 

   Earlier last year, a senator was sentenced to five years in federal prison for bribery and racketeering charges, including an offer to smuggle weapons from the Philippines. His arrest was part of an investigation into an organized crime group, run by the senator's associate. 

   Republicans can be bought too. The LA Times noted that the assembly minority leader allowed a union to pay his greens fees at an exclusive course in Pebble Beach. 

   The newspaper also reported that a former minority leader took a $12,000-plus trip to England and Ireland, thanks to a foundation financed by Chevron, Tesoro and Shell.

   How about condemning politicians on the take, not just corporations and lobbyists?

      Jimmy

A Book For the Times     
Inside the White House     
        Donald Trump's nomination for the presidency shook up the political class, including establishment Republicans. His surprise election raised their temperature from 98.6F to boiling. Public demonstrations were immediate.

   As we see it, the most exasperated are those whose self worth depends on life in the center of power - the swamp - and others enriched by it. The latter would include some journalists, commentators, intelligence superstars, professors, actors and other special interests. 

   Nothing is off limits - death wishes, public shaming and other mean-spirited activities relative to the president and any supporters, including family. If people who didn't vote for Barack Obama acted this way...we can only imagine.

   Trump is an outsider, a man who gets things done, and he can't be bought. How dare he crash the party! (We still don't worship him.) 

   What's the real story? Jeanine Pirro, former prosecutor, DA and judge, has known the Trump family for decades.

   We especially recommend her book, Liars, Leakers and Liberals. Start with chapter 12, The Real Trump Presidency. After you digest that, go to the preceding chapters for a look at how corrupt the swamp can be.  

   When people riot, call for socialist control, call for anarchy, attempt a peaceful coup, wish for a recession, burn the flag, publicly wish for a bomb in the White House, suggest assassination, etc. - and no politicians in the opposition party rise up to object - America has a problem.

   How about the driver who purposely hit a car with a Trump bumper sticker?

   Pirro isn't a novelist. It takes a little work to follow the trail sometimes, but you may not learn what she knows anywhere else.

       Jimmy

Two Kinds of Fire        

   We feel for the Californians who have lost homes in forest fires. Whether ignited by lightning or a small spark, terror by fire is the same. People in harm's way must be be praying for rain.

   In the Bible, James speaks of a different fire.
 

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.

It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,

and is itself set on fire by hell.

James 3:6

   

   He continues, All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

  
Two Kinds of Wisdom   

   James calls bitter envy and selfish ambition sources of the tongue's fire. He notes that any of us may harbor such thoughts, but warns: ...such "wisdom" is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 

   Was he describing human ways throughout history? We say, yes. 

   But, he continues, the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; 
 then peace loving,    considerate,    submissive,    full of mercy and good fruit,       impartial and sincere. 

   Something to think about next time we see videos of raging forest fires.

      Jimmy

Last Word Beats Higher Law    

   Soon it begins. The game must be played. September 4, a Senate committee begins the process of advice and consent for Brett Kavanaugh - not that any senator doesn't already know how he or she will vote on his nomination to the high Court. 

   Democrats had opposition signs printed before the president announced his choice. In recent years, the party realized it could live with control of the White House and the Supreme Court. Getting five reliable votes in court is easier than electing and corralling a majority of 534 members of Congress. 

   Last year, Neil Gorsuch replaced the late Antonin Scalia, conservative for conservative. Power didn't shift. 

   Kavanaugh is more of a threat, nominated to replace a wild card - retired Anthony Kennedy. While breaking ties, Kennedy pleased both right and left in various cases. His written opinion on same-sex marriage was more philosophical than judicial. 

   Should a third seat come open while Trump is president and Republicans narrowly hold Congress, what will happen? Civil War II? Constitutional crisis over one justice? 

   It wasn't supposed to be this way. No person should have such influence over policy, writes Janie B. Cheaney, WORLD magazine. She notes, the Constitution was not clear in stating the purpose of the Supreme Court. Article III, Section 2 says its jurisdiction is "all Cases...arising under the Constitution..." What does that mean? 

   We wrote here a couple years ago about Chief Justice John Marshall, in Marbury v. Madison, when this one man asserted his meaning: the Court will determine whether laws passed by Congress or the states are constitutional. So, here we are.

   A great nation founded with belief in "higher law" now lives by the "last word," even if the word is split 5-4...even if there is nothing in the Constitution addressing the case before the Court. 

      Jimmy


   

Documentary     
After Auschwitz      

Auschwitz

   
   Of six million Jewish people murdered in Nazi 
concentration camps, one million died at Auschwitz, 
a network of three camps and 45 satellite camps. 

   A documentary follows six survivors, who tell how they tried to put their lives back together. Their liberation proved as uncertain and dangerous as their captivity. All six eventually came to America.

   Linda Sherman explained that Russian troops raped many young women who were left behind. 

   Rena Drexler said, "Polish people wouldn't let us (back) in our house. They were wearing our clothes." She and other survivors wandered city to city across Europe in search of food, jobs and missing family members. 

   Renee Firestone's train from New York City to Los Angeles brought flashbacks of being packed in a cattle car. She started a family, but had to explain to her daughter why she didn't have grandparents, as did her school friends.

   Erika Jacoby was amazed at abundance here, but racial segregation and the Kennedy assassination ended any fantasy about America.

   Eva Beckmann became discouraged by genocides in Sudan, Rwanda and Cambodia. "I don't think teaching about the Holocaust will make the slightest difference," she said, noting that abortion advocates deny the lesson of Auschwitz applies to them. 

WORLD magazine

   Still, most of the women spent years telling younger generations about the Holocaust. The 2017 documentary by the late Claude Lanzmann was a follow-up to his 1985 film, Shoah. 

   The end of World War II didn't end suffering for survivors, nor did it end hate and injustice around the world. Since then, Stalin, Mao and Hussein killed tens of millions. State-sponsored imprisonment and death continues in China, Iran, North Korea, Turkey and no doubt other countries. Dictators don't take opposition lightly. They don't tweet. 

      Jimmy

Escaping the Heat     

   Another Tampa, summer weekend was coming up - 90 degrees and humid. Where O' where could we go to escape the heat?

   We thought of cities that might be hot, but without humidity: Like Phoenix, 109 degrees; Tucson, 101 and Las Vegas, 107. Maybe that would work.

   We could go north: Duluth, 69 degrees; Seattle, 67, or Anchorage, 64. Perhaps that's too cool without time to get adjusted. Leadville, Colorado was expecting a high of 34. Forget-it-ville. 

   Let's consider low humidity places in the Middle East, we said. There is Baghdad, 108; Dubai, 105; Madrid, 104; Lisbon, 103, and Tehran, 101. But, long flights would defeat the purpose of a get-away weekend.

   Mexico City, even closer to the equator than Tampa, would have a high of only 75. We kept that in mind.

   We also considered the difference between day and night, to experience variety. Reno looked most promising, with a 37-degree swing between high and low. Also Helena, 36; Sacramento, 34; Casper and Spokane, each 31, and Billings, 30. No, we would have to take too many changes of clothes.

   Still undecided, with the weekend approaching, we came up with one more, crazy idea. Let's go to the moon. 

   So, we called our travel agent, but no spaceships were scheduled for the moon last weekend. It's just as well. In daytime, which lasts 13-1/2 hours, the temp reaches 253 degrees. During the long night it drops to minus 233 degrees, a 486-degree swing. 

   We would have to borrow astronaut suits, and miss JUSTICE Saturday night at 9 on Fox News. Worse yet, there is no view by the sea up there. 

   Dorothy was right. There's no place like home.

       Jimmy

Where There Is No Fear      

   Mrs. Donut will tell you that her husband often remarks, 

"There is no fear of God with (insert the names)." 

   See last Saturday's posted blog: A Fear That Conquers All.

   David knew three millenniums ago. Here it is, in Psalm 36:1 -
...concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: there is no fear of God. 

   And in verse 2: For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. 

   David didn't know the liars who are fouling our political discourse today, but he pegged them well: 

...they ceased to be wise...

...he commits himself to a sinful course...

...he does not reject what is wrong...

From our commentary: 
   Hatred of sin is a feature of God's character, and therefore is a mark of those indwelt with the Holy Spirit. 

   In Proverbs 6, God hates a lying tongue...hands that shed innocent blood (the unborn?)...a heart that devises wicked schemes...a false witness...a man who stirs up dissension. 

   Let those who love the Lord hate evil. Ps. 97:10.

   For with you (Lord) is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

             Ps. 36:9.

      Jimmy 

Allowable, Useful Acts    

     Last week in Tampa, a mother carried her screaming, autistic, non-verbal daughter into a river and let go. There were witnesses. When police found her near the scene, she was singing nursery rhymes. 

   In the police car, reportedly she said her 4-year-old was now "pure" and with her grandmother. As for other bizarre statements, her aunt said, "I just know she was not in her right mind." 

   While this single mother must be charged, we don't know her story. We do know the story of national evil solving the "problem" of people considered defective. 

   It began with medical decisions carried out by doctors and their assistants. "Mercy" killings were defended in 1920 by a professor of psychiatry. These acts were "not to be equated with other types of killing...but (is) an allowable, useful act," he wrote.

   From that foundation evolved the notion that defective people were subhuman. (Not Darwin's fittest?) The professor focused on "the tremendous economic burden such people cause society to bear." 

   The list of the unworthy grew to include entire groups - Jews and Gypsies for example. Physicians "weren't killing as much as curing," at a national level. 

   Finally, came the Holocaust, and medical experiments.

   Across the Pacific, Japan simply loaded people on boats and sank them. The Axis powers well deserved their defeat in World War II. 

   In today's America, people "cure" the "defective" unborn. In other cases, it's the mother who needs cured of emotional and financial complications. Stress is bad for mental health. 

   Abortion may be necessary, rarely. Mostly, it is allowable and useful. 

   After reading tens of thousands of Nazi documents, a scholar never saw the word "killing." Except once - in reference to killing dogs. 

Nazi history -  

Charles Horton, WORLD magazine

      Jimmy

Visiting the Stumpnocker     

   What? You never heard of a stumpnocker?

   Neither did we until Wednesday when Mrs. Donut's 
cousin chose a meeting place about midway between 
our homes. It had been a couple years since we've seen her and her husband, Jerry.   
  
   Ignoring well-known restaurant chains in Inverness, Florida, she picked the Stumpnocker. 
We found directions on the Internet. 

   A stumpnocker is a small fish, usually called a sun fish, or crappie. There are boats and a beer by the same name. Florida has a number of restaurants, like Stumpnocker on the Square, Stumpnocker by the River, etc. 

   With Mrs. Donut's sister and husband, we six entered this rustic looking restaurant for lunch. Inside were a couple alligator hides nailed to the wall, and other Florida things. Inside an old public phone booth was a Superman costume.

   Don't 'nock the name. Our food was delicious. Four of us ordered chicken pot pie, a nice surprise with a small salad. I may never again bother with a grocery-store pot pie.  

   While cousins reminisced and caught up on "relative" matters, Jerry, who grew up near Cleveland, and I recalled our youth passions for the Indians and Browns. We remembered ball players of the 1950s, and Jerry recalled going to old Municipal Stadium on bus trips arranged for kids. One could see a major league game for about $3, until players unionized and changed everything for the better, for themselves. Okay. 

   When I brought up football, I learned that Jerry too was in the stadium for the 1964 NFL championship (the super game before the Super Bowl), when the Browns beat the Colts, 27-0. I still have my ticket stub. Cost of admission: $10. 

   As we heard on All in the Family with Archie Bunker, "Those were the days." 

        Jimmy

Hiring for $uccess      

   Old stereotypes for hiring employees are...just old, says John Boitnott, a journalist and digital consultant. He thinks hiring employees might be the most important part of any business, and it's not easy. Here are his seven characteristics that today's strong employees share:

Ability to adapt. The best employees can swiftly adapt to changing realities. Learning new things is more important than existing knowledge.

Culture fit. A strong culture is where everyone collaborates and thrives. Creating this culture starts with the hiring process. The "fit" is just as important as intelligence or qualifications. 

(Google and the U.S. Government seem to do this well. JD)

Openness to new technology. Employees have to understand the role technology plays. Those who embrace new advances spur innovation and growth. 

Honesty. This is old, but still vital. Honest employees enhance relationships with colleagues and customers. Those willing to admit their shortcomings and protect company reputation are apt to succeed.

Able to take criticism. People who can take criticism in a constructive manner will improve, be easier to work with, and create less drama. No one is perfect. 

Passion. Those who are internally motivated simply do more. They have drive for what they are doing, the self-starters, not motivated by hours or pay. They spread the wealth around them. 

Action oriented. Top employees value actions over words. They test things and get moving. 

Our thoughts: Some of the above traits

could well apply to any endeavor, 

non-business committee, etc. 

       Jimmy

Religious Persecution by Nation

   The following countries are designated persecutors in matters of religion:

   Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

   Others in question: Central African Republic, Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam. Will the USA make the list some day?

Someone Thought of This    

   If women work the same jobs for less pay, why do companies hire men and pay them more?

   When Muslims leave their homes for non-Muslim countries, are they Islamophobic?

   If there is no biological gender, why march for women's rights? 

   How did Russia get the DNC to steal the primary election from Bernie Sanders?

   Democrats think super delegates are okay, but they have a problem with the Electoral College. 

   If you don't want the FBI involved in elections, don't nominate someone who is being investigated by the FBI. 

   And one more: If we don't have to stand for the national anthem, why do we have to stand when a judge enters the courtroom? 

       Jimmy

The Earth Is Round ...Information       
   
        In 1995 Jeff Bezos sold his first book on Amazon.com. He shipped it from his garage in Seattle.

   Amazon wasn't about books. It was about using customer data to offer personalized service. Once the company amassed a customer profile based on book preferences, it could use that information to sell customers most anything. 

        For six years critics watched Amazon fail to make a profit. It's strategy paid off beginning in 2001, and now Amazon is the No. 1 retailer. 

   Google, Apple and Facebook also ballooned on the power of information. A blogger in USA Today wrote, "Now your devices have turned into tools for governments and corporations to keep tabs on you." 

   For Christians, the concerns may be moral and political, writes Janie B. Cheaney in WORLD magazine. 

   A fired Google staffer filed a class-action suit against the company, calling out the "culture of group think." He notes required seminars in approved opinions, put downs of Caucasian males, denigration of Christians and Republicans, and harassment of any employee who dares express non-Google views. 

   Google, Facebook and Apple are imposing their ethics on the public, Cheaney writes. Apple has removed some Christian apps from its online store. YouTube (Google) has blocked certain videos. Facebook censors decide what gets published. (We think - not sure - our Bible-based blog didn't make the cut Saturday/Sunday. Cheaney says bloggers may be blacklisted.) 

   Editors can manipulate people who are not clear about what they think, she writes. "Know what you believe, and why. Know the truth, and it will keep you free."   

      Jimmy



     

   

A Fear That Conquers All      

   Fear of God is a good fear. 

   Those who don't fear him cause most of our other fears. Even "acts of God" -nature's bad boys - and disease, resulted from our rebellion in Eden. 

   In Psalms we learn that - 

The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. 

 Fear the Lord, you saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

   God's promises are conditional. We might assume He requires fear/reverence in part because, without consequences, our inclination is disobedience.

   In life, bad things happen to "good people." There are many troubles (Hebrews 11:36-40). God brings testing and allows persecution (Matthew 5:10). We go through many hardships (Acts 14:22). 

   Then, victory! The Lord delivers us, either by intervention here (Hebrews 11:33-35), or by victorious death and eternal life.  

   We don't minimize today's tragedies, hardships, sadness and pain. We keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus. With him, in the end, we win. Forever and ever.   

      Jimmy

Number One (worldly) Fear     

   Following up, all 80 of the fears listed in the survey are threats - real or imagined - to ourselves in one way or another. They vary in likelihood, in severity, and some fears apply only to certain lifestyles or habits. Some, like sharks, are totally avoidable.

   We agree with the 74.5 percent of Americans who say "corrupt government officials" is a fear. Here, we define "corrupt" as those who would have a "world state" replace our nation state, and "universal persons" replace U.S. citizens - the "common good." They're acting in plain sight every day. 

   This, we're told, is a bi-partisan cartel, the establishment dividing us "deplorables" into tribes (diversity), replacing democracy with central control:
     political parties
     media
     political professionals 
     pollsters 
     academics 
     bureaucrats 

< Hypocrites >

   We don't worship Donald Trump. But, friends, he is all that is standing between democracy and oligarchy. Look it up. 

   Originalist Supreme Court justices can slow the tide, but lesser players collectively don't have power enough to fend off the entrenched who are looking out for themselves. It's human nature. 

   If all 74.5 percent of Americans who fear government officials voted that way, democracy might be safe. But, we want these same "corrupt" officials to give us things, so we play into their hands. (For every dollar we give government, it keeps 70 cents for itself.)    

Tomorrow: The good fear 

Don't miss it

      Jimmy

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...?   

   The No. 1 fear among Americans, according to a 2017 survey 
by Chapman University...government officials.  
                                                    👿  
   Three quarters of Americans fear government officials. Half or more fear government, Trumpcare, pollution, and running out of money. On the list of 80 fears, those named by 30 to 48 percent include world events and threats, nature and various financial setbacks. About 48 percent fear climate change.

   Twenty-some percent fear harm to person or property, and other acts of nature and its creatures. Illegal immigration that we hear so much about concerns 20 percent. 

   Below 20 percent are Americans concerned about police brutality, whites losing majority status, large volcano eruption, people talking behind their backs, clowns! ghosts! and zombies! 

   The ranking does not correlate with the level of actual risk. For example, 25 percent fear sharks, which account for a handful of deaths per year throughout the world, while only 3.7 percent fear dogs, which kill 25,000 per year. Insects don't worry as many people (20 percent) as sharks, but mosquitoes kill 50,000 per year. 

   Twenty percent fear dying. There's a wonderful cure for that. READ THE BIBLE! 

   Yeh. Maybe some people see too many ghost & zombie movies.

   As for us...spare me the drunk driver. How about you?

        Jimmy