A Laughing Matter   
    
   We are living in a somber Spring, but a friend sent us welcome humor. This is different for Views By the Sea, but amid these "safer at home" days, we decided to share the fun. Some included illustrations.

   A cat reclines in a chair as if reading a newspaper, eyeglasses sitting on its nose: The difference between a cat and a comma - a cat has claws at the end of its paws; a comma is a pause at the end of a clause.

   A doctor tells his patient, a cat: "Bad news. It's curiosity." 

   A koala bear insists it is a bear. "I have all the koalifications." 

   Some people should use a glue stick rather than chap stick.

   A woman washing a large stack of dishes asks, "Remember when you were young and wanted to grow up so you could do anything and go wherever you wanted? How's that working out?"  

   A duckling sees a man-made look alike: "I can't believe you had plastic surgery." 

   The officer calls headquarters to report that an old lady shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped. "Have you arrested her?" "Not yet. The floor is still wet." 

   People are prisoners of their phones. That's why they're called cell phones.

   A painter finishes work on an office door: Psycho the rapist. The man behind him says, "It's all one word, George."

   How many boxes of Thin Mints do I have to eat before I start seeing results?

   Why did cows return to the marijuana field? The pot called the cattle back.  
   
   Boy: "Dad, in other countries you don't know who your wife is until you get married." Dad: "It's like that everywhere, son." 

That's All Folks! 

😃

O, For a Vaccine!                                              < 😕 >  

    While we wait for a fast-tracked vaccine to fight COVID-19, here are some incredible vaccines of recent times. 

   Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine. Smallpox killed about 80 percent of children who contacted the disease, and 60 percent of adults. In the 20th century alone, smallpox killed more than 300 million people until it was eradicated worldwide in 1979. 

   Polio vaccine may have saved 10 million people from paralysis just since 1988, and prevented 500,000 deaths. 

   A global vaccination campaign for measles beginning in 2000 prevented about 23 million deaths by 2018. 

   Vaccines go through a longer and tougher process than most other drugs. 

World Health Organization,

in a Los Angeles Times editorial. 

___________________________

  No go for us        

sports junkies       No baseball

       😟                     😕

__________________________________

 No March Madness             No Masters

      😟                                  😕

________________________________________

   No hockey                                  No Olympics

       😟                                             😕

________________________________________________________

  Hey! Where ya goin?                 It's called social distancing, bro

       😟                                                        😕

In China     
Ongoing Slavery     
 
   This December, China said its roughly 1 million, detained Uighurs had "graduated" from its "reeducation" camps. How nice.

   Later reports reveal a new phase of forced labor for these Muslim minorities. Some are said to be making Nike sneakers and Apple iPhones. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute claims the Chinese transferred at least 80,000 to factories in the supply chains of 83 global brands, including Apple, BMW, Nike, Google, Huawei, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagon.  

   With more than a billion people, China can't provide its own slave labor?

More Free Stuff, More Debt 
   When our economy was booming - you remember, a month ago - we had a $1 trillion budget deficit and $23 trillion in national debt. Now, with the economy bitten by the COVID-19 virus, we're spending another $2 trillion to sustain it. 
   
   Where's that money coming from? We all want this to work out because our lifestyle depends on it. 

   Politicians in both parties are unfamiliar with the word austerity because it doesn't produce votes. Sorry, kids and grandkids. We're all part of the problem. 

Sooner or Later     
   He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.  Job 5:12-13 

Interview Conclusion   
Basis of Courage      

George Friedman

    
Q. Why would reporters trust anything dictators say? 

   Most of us can't see what's going on, and modern journalists have little life experience. Reporters years ago grew up in the streets and understood nonsense. Military reporters had been in combat. 

   But most people out of journalism school these days never had a fistfight, never had to bluff themselves out of a tough spot. They lack empathy for what political leaders go through.

Q. I enjoy your skepticism and cynicism, but what hope do you have? 

   My hope is not that the Messiah will come and end all our pain. My hope is that the same pain experienced 2,000 years ago will continue, and we will endure. Human beings at ease become corrupt. When they must act, they become decent. They're forced to do the things they must do. (Consider today's response to COVID-19...Jimmy). 

   When you look back on your life and you see the things you overcame, you treasure them far more than the things you slid by. 

Q. There's  charm in (a job) if you see it as a worthwhile calling. Those who don't may become bitter and strike out at others. 

   Doing what you don't want to do is the foundation of courage. And over time you realize I was a man. My children needed to eat and I fed them. That's enormous. The adversities that we confront allow us to show courage. 

   What is this drama we're living through? It's not a Disney movie. We're struggling with life and watching some succumb to evil. 

Friedman Interview, Part 2 

Q. During a clash between India and Pakistan, two countries with nuclear weapons, your response was, "Something more for CNN to get hysterical about. It was a slow news day." 

   The media have declined extraordinarily. I used to go to The New York Times and gain from it some information. The Times, which used to have people who knew about intelligence, never explained how its source (for classified material) could know what happened unless he was breaking the law. 

Q. Do Times editors really care about truth? 

   They don't care. They have someone who's willing to say something that they repeat as truth, if it suits their agenda. 

Q. Any good news from the Middle East? 

   The Russians are double-crossing the Iranians by allowing the Israelis to fly through their airspace without notifying the Iranians. And the Turks are beginning to think about doing something against the Iranian-Syrian regime, which they don't like.

Q. Two years ago you said, "Vladimir Putin will be precisely where he is, bluffing a busted flush. His economy is a wreck." 

   The economy is still bad and getting worse. In Syria he won a great victory - for what end I don't know. Every time there is a crisis he flies to a discussion, so he'll be noticed. But he's bluffing. 

Q. Are the North Koreans bluffing?

   Look, you're North Korea and you're afraid of everybody. What do you do? 
You make absurd claims about your strength and your manliness.

Conclusion to follow.

Weak Countries; Big Bluffs    

George Friedman

    
   Marvin Olasky occasionally interviews George Friedman, chairman of Geopolitical Futures. His insights are so interesting we can't help but pass on a few, summarized. For example, a decade ago he said Libya was a mistake and that Syria would be crucial. He was right. 

Q. We hear China is strong and mighty. Is it? 

   The Chinese economy is staggeringly weak. 
Their banks - the first place you see problems - are in trouble. It isn't overtaking the United States, not even close. The "One Belt, One Road" project is not happening.

Q. Are big media seeing problems in the U.S., but not in the Chinese regime?

   It's a general tendency. During the Cold War, we vastly overrated Soviet military capability. By overrating, we over-matched and overawed the Russians.

Q. With China's rapid growth ended, is the Communist Party trying to cover up major social contractions by increasing pressure on dissidents? 

   Very much so. The system is failing. What does a regime do? Fix it - hard to do - or frighten people. With American economic pressure, the Hong Kong affair, and the regime's failure in the South China Sea, there must be unease about Xi Jinping.  

Q. Ten years ago you predicted that in Venezuela, "Hugo Chavez will lose power within the regime he created." Which did happen.

   Chavez, as a dreamer, was irrational, but he was already losing power because drug dealers and Cuban intelligence operatives were coming in. 
His successor, Nicolas Maduro, is a thug.

Q. Don't revolutions always go that way? 

   Yes, it takes a thug to impose the ideology. 

More of this WORLD magazine interview to follow.

Written 2058 years ago:   
  
   See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Colossians 2:8 

    Our Bible summarized commentary, written 30 years ago: 
   
     Most people live by philosophies, religions and traditions independently of God and his revelation. Secular humanism underlies secular education, government and general society, and most news and entertainment media.
   

General concepts:

     That everything consists of matter and energy formed by impersonal chance. Humans are alive by a chance process. Humanism rejects belief in a personal, infinite God, and denies his inspired revelation.

   That knowledge does not exist apart from human discovery, and human reason determines appropriate ethics, thus making humans the ultimate authority.

   That human behavior can be modified or improved through education, economic redistribution, modern psychology or human wisdom.

   That moral standards are not absolute but relative...what makes people happy or seems good for society.

   That human self-fulfillment, satisfaction and pleasure are the highest good in life. 

   Humanism began with Satan and is an expression of his lie that humans can be like God. Genesis 3:5 

   Humanists have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served created things rather than the Creator. Romans 1:25 

   The result is destructive influence we see throughout the world. 
   
   For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.  Colossians 2:9-10



 

We the People...Accomplices    
     
   Hope you saw our book summary yesterday. 

   The author concluded, "It is very easy to blame our public figures for the state of public corruption. But ultimately, the problem lies with us. We get the government we choose...the corruptions we tolerate. 

   "The progressive message continues to be 'hand us more power.' What they are asking us to do is ignore history - including their history - in how such power is actually exercised. We must ask ourselves, why trust someone with more power when you cannot trust the little they already have."

~ ~ ~

   Oh for similar investigations into every candidate for Congress, the White House and governorship. Never mind what they say. Are they honest? 

   It's seldom been easy for voters, unless we just look for an R or D.

   Little-known Abe Lincoln won election only because two Democrats split votes in a three-man race. Thank God - not voters - he was a great leader, strong to save the Union. Later, President U.S. Grant, of Civil War fame, not so much.  

   In our time, on North Hero Island in Lake Champlain, little did we know we drove past Sen. Bernie Sanders' second home, complete with 500 feet of shoreline. Keep your small dollars coming, young people. 

   Close call! In 2018 Mayor Andrew Gillum narrowly lost Florida's gubernatorial election to Ron DeSantis. Last week, police found Mr. Gillum in a Miami hotel with two other men, too inebriated to talk. They also found three bags of crystal meth. Gillum denied using meth. Sunday, he announced he will enter rehab for alcohol abuse. Florida's star Democrat has fallen.

   How close he came to governing our third largest state, with 21 million residents and 126 million visitors (in 2018). 

Answers to Trivia
   If a WWI insured soldier died, he bought the farm for his survivors. 
   Like Civil War iron-clad ships, an iron-clad contract can't be broken.

        Jimmy

"Vote for me and I'll take care of you."

                         

This message paid for by developers, lawyers, 

business leaders, party hacks and unions, whose

interests I will address - along with my own, my family

and friends - after you suckers put me in office.

   Peter Schweizer's book, PROFILES IN CORRUPTION, reveals the muck under the grass. Those seeking highest office have records, so it behooves us to look before we leap...into the voting booth. 

   Today, we're down to two Democrats for president, but beware, the others may reappear. We put a check mark ⬋ next to every mention of injustice, untruth, abuse of power, favoritism, phony LLCs. Here are the counts:

Kamala Harris - 43. As California AG, pressed charges against some; dropped cases against those who supported her.

Joe Biden - 90. The "king of sweetheart deals." Looks the other way when family members leverage his name to enrich. White House goal from the start. 

Cory Booker - 83. Steering taxpayer money to friends, he didn't do Newark any favors as mayor. Lied about camping all night in bad neighborhoods.  

Elizabeth Warren - 78. Known for progressive/socialist rhetoric. Less known for milking capitalist donors on her way to multi-millionaire status. 

Sherrod Brown - 33. Ohio senator...decades of pay to play.

Bernie Sanders - 106. Same methodology as Warren.

Amy Klobachar - 21. It's all about her.

Eric Garcetti - 25. Mayor of least livable city in top 20, Los Angeles. Abused zoning regulations. Wants to be president. 

   Our loser of losers: Bernie, the Wizard of Oz. Takes donations from high rollers, using two methods to cover it up. Worst lie: pretending to be an Independent.  

        Jimmy

   

Not All Disruptions Are Disasters     
     
   When our future works out exactly as planned, we don't learn anything beyond what we already knew and our prejudices.

   So writes Janie B. Cheaney in WORLD magazine. She quotes a woman who had an abortion at age 17, who said, "If I hadn't my life would have been ruined." Abortion already ruins at least one life. 

   We men don't understand a pregnant woman's fear of the unknown. 

   There are many disruptions in life, some from outside and some our own doing. The Bible includes many examples - like Joseph - of disrupted people for whom God meant it for good. 

   If the person or thing that upset your apple cart hadn't happened, maybe something else would have. The unexpected may be severe and life altering, but it also shapes and teaches. We know this personally. Better yet, consider Joni Eareckson Tada. 

   Jesus is most disruptive of all, Cheaney writes. We who receive him experience "creative destruction of the old man, so as to build something new."  

Trivia   
   During World War I, soldiers received $5,000 insurance policies, about the price of an average farm. If a soldier died, he _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _  _ _ _ _.

   And from Civil War era iron-clad ships, something so strong it can't be broken
is an _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _. 
    

Tomorrow: 

Profiles in Corruption summation.

Which politician is our designated "worst of the worst?" 

      Jimmy

   

What Are Our Interests?     
   
   Sometime next week we should be ready to summarize our view of the book, Profiles in Corruption. It's a (sickening?) look into eight powerful politicians, most of whom want even more power over you and me. There are 90 pages of "notes" - sources which base the author's information. 

   Meanwhile, we haven't forgotten the best information of all. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul writes, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.   

   There couldn't be a starker contrast between the world and the attitude Christ demonstrated. 

   In fact, the way our republic operates today - and we still prefer it - politicians who win high office without selfish ambition and vain conceit must be the exception. Profiles in Corruption demonstrates how it works. 

   Paul continues in verse 21, For everyone looks out for his own interests. Then he acknowledges that we do have self interests, but that we also should look out for the interests of others. 

   Others? We're certain he meant those in need, not those who can grease the wheels toward extraordinary wealth and power.

   If you are like me, you were born self-centered, wanting your bottle NOW! Some of us with good parenting and teaching gradually learn to care for those less fortunate or in temporary difficulty. 

   Politicians can say they care, but their habits behind the scenes reveal a focus on wealthy, well-connected folks who fund their campaigns. When it's a choice between the needy or favoritism toward donors who want favors, we don't have to guess. 

   The sin of pleasing others only to win their favor is not confined to the political class and its wealthy connections. God knows our thoughts. We hope He is willing to bless you today. 

      Jimmy



  

There Is a Blue Lining      

   We see the spread - not of the virus - but the precautions. Hardships occur even for those without infection; college-senior basketball players will miss their ultimate goals. 

   Wednesday the NCAA banned fans from the March Madness tournament. The next day it cancelled the games, period. What will college students do without on-campus drinking parties? Even spring break might be sprung!!!

   Stuck in Europe? Too bad. Want to partake of wine and holy water at church? 
Self-commune at home, we guess.

   Pro basketball and hockey games are suspended. Pro golf, too. Baseball spring practice is taking a short stop, and the season is delayed two weeks. A double no-play! 

   Our neighbor cannot visit her mother in a quarantined nursing home. 

   You might get a room on a cruise ship, if quiet stillness is your thing. You can vote, if you take your own pen into the booth. And stay clear of Wall Street; people may be jumping from above.

   Wow! Oil prices are way down! But what good is that if you can't go anywhere? Disneyland is quiet as a mouse. 

   If only Congress would quarantine itself for a few years.

   Friends, we know this is serious. Not as deadly as routine flu, traffic fatalities and homicides. But it's no joke.

   Here's what you CAN do: We publish Views By the Sea almost every day; we offer a healthy, blue lining. (Our official colors are blue and blue.) We put a filter on our outgoing cable; even if we contract COVID-19, we won't infect you and the world at large.  

   However, don't come here. Florida has banned large gatherings, so we locked the gate to our compound in the spirit of social distancing.   ...Cough   

            Jimmy

  I admit it.  

 I talk to myself. 

     

Remember when the family spent summers living in a tent by the lake? 

How could I forget? Those were great times. All play. No school. 

Well, do you know that you're a tent? 

Jimmy's Double Vision, No. 6         

What are you talking about? I'm a what?  

In Paul's words, you are my tent. When I, your spiritual heart, received Jesus, by grace he gave me the Holy Spirit as a deposit on eternal life. Far better than a tent, I have a "building from God" waiting for me.

Go ahead, humiliate me. 

Oh no, my tent. You're a miracle! God created you! But, you're mortal. You provide eyes and ears that I use to receive God's Word. And if I allow his Spirit to help, his Word comes alive and enriches my growth.

Sounds like you're pretty proud of yourself.

I have no reason for conceit or pride. Having experienced the presence of God, I have nothing to say for myself...that is, for you. Like Paul, I boast only in the cross. 

I still like myself, if you don't mind.  

You have worldly views. I'm a new creation. But, I still rely on you to function in this temporary world. 

Well, at least I'm not just a piece of canvas.

Based on 2 Corinthians 5

Never Too Old     
     
   Someone in a New Hampshire retirement home was suffering from Parkinson's disease. She was bent over at the waist.

   Her sister down South and a friend had been praying for her for years. 
On a recent Monday evening, while the church choir rehearsed the song Waymaker, one of the members received a word from the Lord. 

   The woman was healed.

   Her sister flew North to see for herself. She found her sitting upright and talking normally. Each day she became stronger. When asked when she knew she was healed, the woman said "about 8 o'clock Monday night." (We may be a little off on the exact time.)    

   That Saturday, the visiting sister by then at the airport, prayed once more, this time for salvation. Her cell phone rang. Her healed sister wanted to talk about eternal life.

   Not only was she healed, by the grace of God she received the gift of salvation. 
If other residents in the home need a witness, there she is.

   All the ladies in this story are senior citizens.

   God desires perseverance in prayer, and age is not a factor. 

         Jimmy

The Sub Closes In and...     
       
   When we left South Carolina for good, they were preparing to raise the sunken Confederate submarine, HL Hunley, named for the man who financed its construction. Thanks to Smithsonian magazine, now we know what they discovered.

   The USS Housatonic was part of a Union blockade of Charleston harbor. The sub was 40 feet long, with a captain and crew of seven, sitting in a row working a crank that turned the propeller. Wow! 

   A stationary cylinder filled with 135 pounds of black powder, way more than necessary, was eight feet below the surface, attached to the end of a long, sloping spar. That night in 1864, sailors on the Union ship spotted the slowly advancing enemy, but had no answer for a partially submerged sub. 

   Contact made, the blast shattered planks upward from the deck. The sub silently disappeared. 

   This article was written by scientist Rachel Lance, who determined to learn how the submariners died. After many tests, she concluded, most likely, they died instantly from the powerful shock wave. 

   Their bodies, more than skeletons even after all these decades, were sitting in their seats, as if sleeping. None had made any effort to escape. 

The Hunley 

   Human lungs and brains cannot withstand blast waves. It's the same force that took civilian lives in Dresden, Germany, folks otherwise unharmed in basements and bomb shelters.

   Only five Union sailors died on the ship. 

Ms. Lance concludes her story:

"The submarine drifted on the outgoing tide. With no one alive to operate the bilge pumps, eventually it started to sink. Water rushed in, bringing the boat to sand, but leaving an air space, inside of which stalactites would grow. The HL Hunley and its crew settled to a quiet grave 30 feet beneath the dark waves." 

      Jimmy

We Stand by It      
       
   We wrote yesterday's opinion a couple days ago, played with it as we always do, then published the last draft for you Thursday morning. 

   How does a retiree with no insider knowledge develop strong conclusions? Maybe...watching and reading for 30 years painted a picture. Never mind which politicians are in the news in any given period. 

   Okay. President Threat, i.e., Trump, is the exception.  

   Now this: On Wednesday evening - Thursday's Views already written - we began Peter Schweizer's new book, Profiles in Corruption. After only 35 pages we already felt confirmed and then some.

   Schweizer has written before about people in both parties. Here, his team over seven months investigated selected politicians who want(ed) us to give them even more power (and wealth) than they already have. 

   You've been watching most of them on TV this election year. 

   A couple thoughts: Unfortunately, voters can't truly, fully evaluate any presidential candidates by listening to their speeches or watching their debates. We only know what they allow us to know. Columnists and commentators may be biased in either direction. Hold at arms length. 

   Including Fox News, all news media, by covering only the "horse race," doesn't reveal what's going on in the stables. News people on daily beats don't have time or resources to investigate. Books they may publish are mostly written by professional writers.  

   Investigators like Schweizer expose the "swamp." It is not isolated. Tributaries begin in cities and states, each "river" winding its way to sea level where the most money and power lies. There is no continental divide. But not all rivers are the same. 

      Jimmy


   

   

Threat's Greatest Accomplishment   
    
   We would rather not waste time on politics. But as the late Charles Krauthammer said, "If we don't get the politics right, nothing else matters."

   So, here goes. President "Threat" likes to recite his many achievements - mostly through executive action - since wading into the Washington swamp in 2017. No one is perfect, but serving without pay is a start.  
   

   (We're not forgetting Threat's unpresidential, 

rascally way of demeaning his detractors.) 

   Today, we give him our first ever Victorious Views Award - not for good deeds, but for exposing the denizens of the swamp. Corruption hates light. 

   Threat calls, and they crawl out of hiding. Threat acts, and they bellow. 
Threat wins, and they whine before the cameras. 

   We know some by name: politicians who find fault with every word said or not said. And news media in unison echoing daily Democratic talking points. Notice how talking heads contort their faces to convince us they are really, really important and, lest you forget, the sky is falling. 

   There is FBI leadership and the State Department -  to name two - protecting their own as if they are stand-alone governments.

   If only this was politics as usual. It's not. It's the historically ferocious response from the denizens. Truth be dammed.      
  
   An outsider dared to do it his way, and the threatened swamp (not all of them donkeys) is hotly on defense, revealing its fear. 

   Conservative and moderate voters must understand. 

   Or else - when Donald Threat leaves office - those who would "govern" us for personal and family benefit will prevail and slink back into their nests. 
As with Hillary's 33,000 destroyed emails...we won't know the half of it. 

      Jimmy






   



  

  Little White Lies  

             

You sometimes overrule me. And I'm getting tired of it.  

Why do I upset you, my old self? 

Well, the Bible says no one is righteous, so what's the big deal about occasional anger and little white lies? I'm not into debauchery or witchcraft, but can I help it if I get jealous, or selfish, or envy someone?  

You follow the basic principles of the world. That doesn't cut it with our Holy God. We don't get to choose which sins are X rated and which ... well ... He doesn't wink. 

Sounds like Jesus expects perfection.

If someone died for you, would you disgrace his memory by trashing his name? Of course, humans fall short...sometimes without realizing it. When I your spiritual companion become aware, I confess and repent. That's what He wants. 

Jimmy's Double Vision, No. 5        

That sounds like a put down.               

Well, it humbles us, which He has every right to do. I can't use freedom from "the law" to indulge sinful nature. You and I are in conflict.

So, what can I get away with?

Old Jimmy, you can't help yourself. I can overrule you as I try to follow Christ. And if I allow the Holy Spirit to rule me, we will live by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That's a good thing for both of us.  

 Based on Galatians chapters 4 & 5 

   I Repent   

          

Yesterday, family and friends held a service

  for a local man I didn't know well.  

In the world's eyes, he was more accomplished.

  

Yesterday, I was down on him because to my

knowledge, he never received the grace of God.

It was almost as if he offended me.

I don't know what happened in the

few short hours between his good health and death.

But, if my information is correct...   

Yesterday, the Lord was grieved. In his heart was pain.

Genesis 6:6

In Psalm 30, David cried for mercy:

What gain is there in my silence, if I go down into the pit?

Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

Today, I repent of my arrogance.

It is the Lord who created the man for himself.

It is the Lord who was denied the praise He deserves.

It is the Lord whose faithfulness was not proclaimed.

It is the Lord who so loved the world that He gave us his Son.

Some tomorrow, his grief over rejection will turn to wrath...

seven bowls of wrath. Revelation 16. 

The flood - long before the cross - was only a hint.

       Jimmy