How It Works 

Critical Race Theory, 3 of 6

   Last year, the FBI was holding workshops on intersectionality theory. The Dept. of Homeland Security was telling white employees they were committing "microinequities" and had been "socialized into oppressor roles." The Treasury Dept. told staff members that "virtually all white people contribute to racism" and that they must convert "everyone in the federal government" to the ideology of "antiracism." 

   The Sandia National Laboratories, which designs America's nuclear arsenal, sent white male executives to a three-day reeducation camp, where they were told that "white male culture" was analogous to the "KKK" "white supremacists" and "mass killings." The executives were forced to renounce their "white male privilege" and write letters of apology to fictitious women and people of color. 

   In Cupertino, California, an elementary school forced first-graders to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities, and rank themselves according to their "power and privilege." In Springfield, Missouri, a middle school forced teachers to locate themselves on an "oppression matrix," based on the idea that straight, white, English-speaking, Christian males are members of the oppressor class and must atone for their privilege and "covert white supremacy." 

   In Philadelphia, an elementary school forced fifth-graders to celebrate "Black communism" and simulate a Black Power rally to free 1960s radical Angela Davis from prison. And in Seattle, the school district told white teachers that they are guilty of "spirit murder" against black children and must "bankrupt (their) privilege in acknowledgement of (their) thieved inheritance." 

   Christopher Rufo is just one investigative journalist, but he claims to have a database of more than 1,000 of these stories. He says critical race theory is becoming the operating ideology of our public institutions - from universities to bureaucracies to k-12 school systems. It has permeated the collective intelligence and decision-making process of American government, with no sign of slowing down, he told his audience at Hillsdale College. 

   When originally established, he said, government institutions were neutral, technocratic and oriented toward broadly-held perceptions of the public good. Today, they are being turned against the American people - from Washington to states, even red states, to county public health departments, small Midwestern school districts and more. This ideology will not stop until it has devoured all our our institutions. 

Monday: Futile Resistance 

Wednesday: Political Engagement

Friday: Courage

Harlem Hellfighters 

   Gen. John Pershing owed his reputation - in part - to the 369th Infantry Regiment, a unit he regarded as "inferior" and lacking in "civic and professional conscience." 

   It was this month, 1918, when the 369th became the first American unit to reach the front. In the Meuse-Argonne offensive, Germans unleashed gun fire at American trenches. Hot shrapnel from shells fell like rain. Enemy biplanes flew overhead. The ground shuddered from incoming artillery. 

   Two years earlier, Harlem civic leaders lobbied to let black men prove themselves as soldiers. During their training in South Carolina, they experienced real Jim Crow law and racial slurs, not today's political jargon. 

   When the U.S. entered WWI in 1917, these men, mostly from New York, became the 369th and were sent to France. They were forbidden from associating with white troops. Their duties included cooking and digging latrines. 

   In spring 1918, French and British armies were depleted. Col. Hayward, their white officer, urged Pershing to send the 369th, which he did while expecting nothing to come of it. It would be a month before other Americans reached the front. 

   Though lightly armed with French rifles, and outnumbered, they repelled the Germans. Their most significant triumph came during the last major offensive on September 30. They took out German machine gunners and American forces launched the attacks that ended the war. 

   France gave the entire unit the Croix de Guerre for bravery, possibly the first U.S. regiment to be so honored. They were the longest serving front-line combat unit in the war - 191 days in theater. The unit never surrendered a trench, earning the nickname "Hellfighters." 

   The men returned home to face bigotry and prejudice, despite a victory parade down Fifth Avenue. If today's activists were accusing whites then, they would have had a case. 

Smithsonian 

 

   

What It Is    

Critical Race Theory, 2 of 6, by Christopher Rufo 

   This is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s, built on identity-based Marxism. It has become the default ideology in our public institutions. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs and corporate human resources departments. Methods include public policy frameworks and school curricula.

   There are euphemisms to describe critical race theory, including "equity," "social justice," diversity and inclusion," and "culturally responsive teaching." 

   These theorists, masters of language construction, realize that "neo-Marxism" would be a hard sell. Equity on the other hand sounds non-threatening and is easily confused with the principle of equality. Indeed, equality is explicitly rejected by critical race theorists. To them, equality represents "mere nondiscrimination," and provides "camouflage" for white supremacy, patriarchy and oppression.  

   Equity, as defined and promoted by critical race theorists, is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.

   Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government. It would have the power to nullify, veto or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently "antiracist." 

   The practical result would be the overthrow of capitalism according to Kendi: "In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist." Identity is the means and Marxism is the end. 

   An equity-based form of government would mean the end not only of private property, but also individual rights, equality under the law, federalism and freedom of speech. These would be replaced by race-based redistribution of wealth, group-based rights, active discrimination and omnipotent bureaucratic authority. 

   Critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration of Independence and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution. 

Friday: How It Works

 

   

 Beauty on the Outside

   A quarter century had gone by – with five years in college and two in the Army - I’d had only had six months of full-time employment. Now back home, my newspaper gig resumed, it was time to start living.

   Months later Sports Illustrated hooked me with a full-page ad for a Triumph Spitfire. Not a classic Triumph, but it was a spiffy convertible, two seater, and I had to have it. A dealer sold me a bright red one for $2,500. 

                                                                        Growing Up #4   

   A couple years later, Don, an Army buddy then at a TV station in Toledo, ask me to consider working for him. Drafted like me, he was unenthused in our Army office, but he was a perfectionist in his career and knew my work ethic. I knew nothing about TV promotion. I had just spent a month producing an “industrial edition” on top of my regular six newspaper editions per week. I was exhausted, rewarded with a check for all of $100. Boo hoo.

   With tears in his eyes Dad handed me my baseball glove – “Don’t forget this” – and the bright red toy and I headed west. 

   It took 45 minutes to drive six city miles from apartment to work. One morning about halfway there, something wasn’t working. I drifted into a gas station. The fly wheel was shot, red paint or not.

   A year or so later, the engine wasn’t performing well under the hood. There were four cylinders. I could file the valves into compliance. Not! Humbled, I had just enough power to drive it to a repair shop.

   We have our best faces, all smiles, but unless there is true love and integrity “under the skin” something isn’t working well. More than outward spirituality, the (red) heart steers us along the path God has in mind for us.  

1 Samuel 16:7 – Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

 

Critical Race Theory 

1 of 6

From a Hillsdale College speech by Christopher F. Rufo, former Lincoln Fellow at Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. 

   Critical race theory is America's new institutional orthodoxy. Most Americans have never heard of it - and those who have, many don't understand it. We need to know what it is so we can know how to fight it. 

   Originally, the Marxist Left built its program on the theory of class conflict. The solution, according to Marx, was revolution: the workers would gain consciousness of their plight, seize the means of production, overthrow the capitalist class, and usher in a new socialist society. 

   A number of regimes underwent Marxist-style revolutions, and each ended in disaster. Socialist governments in the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Cuba and elsewhere racked up a body count of nearly 100 million of their own people. They are remembered for their gulags, show trials, executions and mass starvations. 

   By the mid-1960s, Marxist intellectuals in the West had begun to acknowledge these failures. Most Americans believed in the American dream - the idea that they could transcend their origins through education, hard work and good citizenship. 

   Rather than abandon their Leftist political project, Marxist scholars simply adapted their revolutionary theory to the social and racial unrest of the 1960s. They substituted race for class and sought to create a revolutionary coalition of the dispossessed. 

   The early proponents in the U.S. lost out to the civil rights movement, which sought the American promise of freedom and equality under the law. Americans preferred improving their country to that of overthrowing it. The vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., President Johnson's Great Society, and the restoration of law and order promised by President Nixon defined the American political consensus. 

   But the radical Left has proved resilient and enduring - which is where critical race theory comes in. 

Wednesday: What it is

Paying Attention

We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard 

so that we do not drift away. 

Hebrews 2:1

See to it that none of you has a sinful, 

unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 

Hebrews 3:12 

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword;

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; 

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

Hebrews 4:12  

 Coming Soon

Critical Race Theory

What it is and how to fight it.

   We know that our constitution, history and white men in general are under verbal attack. Sometimes right is wrong and wrong is right. Newsmakers say strange things.

   After reading the words of a speech delivered at Hillsdale College, we began to grasp "critical race theory." Then while watching the evening news on two different channels, we quickly identified the issues as part of this theory-in-action, even though no one mentioned "critical race theory" by name.    

   Christopher F. Rufo , journalist, film maker and conservative activist, was the Hillsdale speaker. He reviewed the atrocious history of Marxist nations, described critical race theory, how it works, futile resistance, political engagement and courage.

   It’s not good, friends - I say evil - and its tentacles stretch from Washington, D.C. to elementary schools around the nation.

   Our plan on Views is to summarize the speech - Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week, and the following week on the same days...six blogs in all. It’s that important.

   Marxists posing as defenders of minorities can be defeated, but only if honest, informed Americans understand the threat and stand up to it. 

   There was a revolution for the cause of freedom in 1776. There will be a counter revolution if we don't defeat these leftists in education, business and politics. 

          Jimmy   

 

Two Seconds to Live 

   I was passing on a hill.

   Thanksgiving Day, 1957. After a brief vacation from school, I headed back into Ohio to pick up a buddy and continue west for a friend’s wedding. I was one angry 18-year-old.

   Our team had a great season. I watched them clinch the Big Ten championship.

   Next, the Rose Bowl! Four of us including roommate Ed planned on driving to LA. Dad wouldn’t have it. Hey, this is why I went to college isn’t it? Or at least, this college! 

   Read my mind as I turned south from Ravenna on Rt. 62. I knew this road very well from family visits. There is a short stretch where the road dips, followed by a hill, another dip and another hill.

   Still fuming, I passed a pokey car while climbing the first hill. Yep. Climbing the same hill from the other direction was an unsuspecting driver about to meet a stupid teenager. Guessing that each of us was doing 45 mph, that adds up to 90 mph of trouble. There would be no Gretchen or Glenn, no Kyle, Callie, Liddy or baby William. 

   I slammed on the brakes with two seconds to live. The other car disappeared. I wound up off the road facing north. The other driver came back – he could have cussed me out royally – saying, “You’d better sit it out awhile.” Apparently, my face was ghost white.

   Sometimes I wonder if an angel saved my life and his that day. How could he get off the narrow road with a narrow berm that quickly? How did the driver I was passing escape?

   Young or old, we are not always aware. What we intend to do or say could wreck a relationship or our witness. We may harbor anger or unforgiveness or any number of unholy attitudes. When we least expect it - I looked and thought the coast was clear -  our enemy sneaks over the hill.  

    Not that I deserved it, but Dad came up with scarce money for me to ride the student train from drab Columbus to sunny Los Angeles for five days, 11 in all. The Rose Parade was far more entertaining than the game, and we visited the Grand Canyon on the way back.

Psalm 91:11 – For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.  

     Jimmy

 Good, Bad and Tragic

   We felt for a young woman with two small children, somehow making the trip from Central America to the U.S.-Mexican border, only to be turned away. What does she do now? 

   What a mess!

   No doubt there are desperate folks coming up from nearly unlivable regions. And while we process them, bad guys are slipping through the cracks.

   These are the drug dealers, human traffickers, gang members and who knows what else. People from 141 different countries, they say. We don’t know where immigrants get the money that enriches the cartels who help them cross the border.

   We hear of women being abused. And kids assigned to transport drugs, else family members back home will be eliminated. Some slip through and then die in the desert. 

   We’re told three presidents, including our incumbent, have contributed to the notion that America’s welcome mat is out – more or less. Compassion! People need jobs, education and food stamps. Others are lawless.  

   Dear Lord, what is going on?

   He knows. We don’t. There are desperate Christian families coming across. There are loving Americans taking them in. What else is a Christian to do?

   Some American “believers” are not so welcoming.

   It is right, intermingled with wrong. It is good, while enabling the bad.

   Is God taking care of his business while allowing America to mismanage its business?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. 

Proverbs 3:5

              Jimmy

 Peddle to the Metal

   Every boy remembers his first car. Our grandpa died before I was old enough to drive. My cousin Frank took possession of his 1930-something black Ford sedan. When he went off to Penn State, and I turned 16, the wheels were mine.  

                                                                                   Growing Up No. 2

   Not that I was allowed to go outside of town. I did violate the rule and took my buddy Jack to Conneaut Lake amusement park, 16 miles away. I remember driving my friends out to the ice cream joint about three miles from town. On the way back, they challenged me to let 'er rip. So, I floored the pedal and got the old boy to about 45 mph, and that was downhill. With 8 cylinders. 

   The valves badly needed attention. Dad was smart to nix the idea.

   What I could do was polish and wax the paint, which was solid on automobiles back then. Steel bumpers were another story. Coca-Cola and steel wool couldn’t erase the corrosion.

   This world is a corrosive environment, says a pastor whose hobby is boating and fishing. Just as automobiles and boats need to be cleaned and maintained, our life needs the daily care of God’s Word, prayer, confession and fellowship.

   If we neglect devotion time, we allow spiritual corrosion to overcome. It will fiercely resist cleansing. Are we too busy? Let’s take that to Him.   

Psalm 86:11. Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

              Jimmy 

 

 Woke Attacks!  

   First, to those who contribute to Black Lives Matter, one of the black cofounders of BLM just bought herself a $1.4 million house in a mostly white LA neighborhood, and other property, with your money? We've heard that way more than half of all contributions are going to the founders’ personal accounts. Is it?

 Now to our topic of the day: woke.

   The word “woke,” past tense of wake, has been around for several decades, meaning awake, awareness of social injustice and discrimination. Today its users say, we need to stay angry and stay woke. Fine.

   However, large numbers of people in colleges, politics and news media are using “woke” as a weapon. They decide who should have liberty and who should not. Some activists may strive to be the “wokest” of them all. 

   Last week we wrote how Major League Baseball, Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola supported moving the all-star game from Atlanta to Denver, due to alleged injustice in Georgia’s voting rules. Then we wrote to Delta’s CEO listing a half dozen reasons he is wrong, or inconsiderate of the views of many of his passengers.

   Dinesh D’Souza provided more insight on the internet. He says more than 100 American CEOs joined a zoom call with a Yale professor urging them to be “woke” and do the bidding of political activists, or else. D’Sousa claims participants included the Atlanta Falcons, Walmart, United and American airlines, Lincoln, Levi Strauss and Norwegian Cruise Lines.

   The CEOs were advised to oppose voting reform in any state, and reevaluate investments accordingly. Here’s the scary part. 

   D’Sousa says corporate CEOs on the whole select the board members who establish their pay and benefits. Norwegian’s boss doubled his income to $35 million last year while his business suffered an 80 percent drop in revenue and a $4 billion loss. All these CEOs combined totaled $13.7 million in raises last year, despite the pandemic.

   Coca-Cola’s sugary drinks, D’Souza says, cause 180,000 deaths/year, worldwide. The largest affected region is Central and South America, if that means anything.

   These and other examples paint CEOs in a bad light, and woke activists threaten - with help from woke news media - to turn employees and customers against them. Delta’s top man had no problem with Georgia’s revisions until a woke attack changed his mind. Worse, it is not justice the wokers are concerned about, but solidifying political power, in some measure, Marxist.

   The CEO’s cave to “get them off my back.” It’s getting wokier by the day; the big shots are woked, and now you are awoken to it.

       Jimmy

 Growing Up

   Dad was my mentor. He took the family to Sunday School and Church, and he introduced me to football.

   I was 4 or 5 when we went to a high school game. Then in 1945 we saw his high school team play in Canton, Ohio, where the NFL Hall of Fame now sits. There were twice as many fans there as were people in our hometown. The field was so muddy the uniforms all looked alike, and the final score was – no score.

   In 1948 we went to see the same teams play, but it was a sellout. He spoke with a school official, whom he knew; still no luck. It was like Christmas with no Santa Claus. 

   Finally, the man came up with one ticket, and told Dad if he put me on his lap, it was a go. Turns out, our seat was one of three that were amazingly empty. It was about the 35 yard line, and the right team won, not just the game but the state championship.

   Many games followed, in high school, college and a few pro battles.

   In my 30s, now supposedly an adult, my sports interest had cooled, but not gone. I had agreed to conduct Sunday afternoon services at a retirement home.

   One Sunday a game I wanted to see was on TV. Would I choose the game, or do my duty?

   Is our walk with Christ in danger because we are fixed on a competing habit or attitude or desire? The attraction might be a daily interest, or less frequent, and not even sinful.

   Now I realize - not one player knows or cares about me. But our Lord bled and died for me, and for you.

Galatians 5:1  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

     Jimmy

 A Woman's Historic Choice   

   Long, long ago, a couple and their two sons left their homeland during a famine and settled in another country. The sons married local girls and all was well for about 10 years.

   Then the father died and soon after, both sons also. What were the women to do? 

    The mother heard that food was once again available, and she prepared to walk back home. She told her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother's home, and "May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." 

    They wept, saying they wanted to go to Bethlehem with her. Naomi made a strong case for them to stay where they were. One finally agreed. The other, named Ruth, wouldn't have it. 

   She replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried."

   Now in Bethlehem, Ruth had to trail behind the harvesters, to "glean" what was overlooked, for her food. (rumor is, there were no restaurants or supermarkets in those days.)

   The story continues with Boaz, a relative of Naomi and a land owner, marrying Ruth who bore a son, named Obed. 

   Boaz became a redeemer in two ways. 1. He married Ruth and preserved the name of her deceased husband...young Obed being considered a son of Naomi's husband. 2. Boaz redeemed (bought) the family land that Naomi had sold and restored it also to her husband's line. 

   Jesus Christ redeems the believer in two ways. 1. Christ purchased us by his own blood and keeps us from perishing. 2. He includes us as redeemed in his eternal inheritance in the new heaven and earth. 

   John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Matthew 5:5; Revelation 21:1-7. 

   The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1 is the paternal line of Joseph, legal father of Jesus. The list includes "Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of King David." 

   Luke chapter 3 lists the males in Mary's line. Starting with Jesus the genealogy includes King David, Jesse, Obed and Boaz, and continues back to Adam. Jesus therefore did/does have both the legal and biological right to Messiahship. 

  

    

Who is James Golden?  

   The unknown man of the No. 1 radio talk program. Gateway to The Man. 

   We saw him on TV this week. We knew he was an African-American, a partner with the late Rush Limbaugh, who gave him the pseudonym "Bo Snerdley. 

   He was more than a call screener. Golden, a college grad, was producer and engineer for Limbaugh. He is also producer/executive with Premier Networks, the largest radio syndication in the U.S. Google shows his net worth at $18 million. 

   Interviewed on Newsmax, he made it plain that Limbaugh was not racist, as Democrats always charged. (Who haven't they called racist?) 

  "I never would work for a racist," he said. He called Limbaugh's detractors, "Jim Crow Democrats, then and now." It's common for some to call people names that they themselves deserve. 

   He voiced disgust with Delta, Coca-Cola and other businesses that reacted to Georgia's voter law, noting that they have just two "token" black members on their boards of directors. Golden also said that Colorado, New York, Delaware and some other states have stricter voter laws than Georgia. Numerous blacks and black-owned businesses lost out when Baseball yanked the all-star game from Georgia. 

   Speaking of which, we saw a cartoon in our weekly paper. A man is standing at a bar at the Masters, drink in one hand, the other hand casually in his pocket. He says to the bartender, "It was either the all-star game or the Masters." The bartender replies, "Well-played, Mr. Commissioner."   

Subscribe by email?

   If you subscribe to Views by email, scroll down and let me know. The geeks are making a change in July that will require us to reconnect you, or else you can search our site: jxdonut.blogspot.com.

Growing Up 

   Look for our new series, Growing Up, starting next week. You will learn about Jimmy Donut's stumbles along the way. But, there's always a lesson. And Tuesday - how CEOs become WOKE.  

            Jimmy

    

 

   

   

Soft Totalitarianism 

   Part 2

    If there is no sacred order, then the promise of the serpent in the Garden of Eden - "you will be like God" (Genesis 3:5) - is the foundation of the new culture. 

   Sociologist/author Rod Dreher said, "Without shared belief in and submission to a sacred order what you get is an 'anti-culture,' which is inherently unstable." He doubted that those raised in this culture would be willing to return to the old ways. He foresaw the future of religion as devolution into watery spirituality, which could accommodate anything. 

   In 2005 two sociologists of religion coined the phrase Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe the form that Christianity (and other faiths) had taken in contemporary America. They saw a general belief that God exists, and wants nothing more than for us to be nice and to be happy. 

   Today, the great sin is to oppose the freedom of others to find happiness as they wish. Note the sexual revolution and ethnic or gender identity politics, and the utopian focus of the radical left. Cultural revolutionaries have an ally in advanced capitalism - that nothing should exist outside of the market and its value according to human desires. 

   If true freedom is freedom of choice, as opposed to choosing virtue, then the door is open to reforming religion around subjective experience. Many conservative Christians, it is said, cannot explain victories of transgenderism. This phenomenon affirms psychology over biological reality, and is a logical culmination of a process that started long ago. 

   Christian resistance to the anti-culture has been fruitless, the article says. The spirit of the therapeutic has conquered the churches. Relatively few Christians are prepared to suffer for their faith, because society that formed them denies the purpose of suffering and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth.  

The lessons

   Dreher provided lessons for those who may face cultural and political harassment, gleaned from those who suffer totalitarianism elsewhere: 

* Stand firm but let bitterness stand down

* Avoid becoming hysterical 

* Value suffering but be merciful to those with less fortitude

* Practice hospitality and don't fear being seen as weird

* Speak up with the truth

* Don't worry about being prudently silent at times 

#

 Coming Soon, Soft Totalitarianism   

   Western Christians may soon experience what Jews have long been facing around the world. If governments impose secularism, we will need a manual for spiritual survival. 

   Sociologist Rod Dreher published in 2020, Live Not by Lies. Views will summarize a summary today and - the lessons - on Friday. 

   Soft totalitarianism, he writes, exploits modern man's preference for pleasure over principles. The public will not oppose the state, he says, because it will be satisfied by self-indulgent comforts. Social critic James Poulos calls this the "Pink Police State," as people surrender political rights for guaranteed personal pleasure. 

   The state will use surveillance technology, welcomed by consumers for lifestyle convenience and public health. Big Brother's Big Data already monitors our private life via apps, credit cards and smart devices. 

   Dreher says the cultural revolution that overtook the West defines the core of soft totalitarianism. In 1996 he wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic - "the death of God in the West has given birth to a new civilization devoted to liberating the individual." 

   "Religious Man," he said, who believed in transcendent principles that ordered life around communal purposes, had "given way to Psychological Man." The latter "believes there is no transcendent (beyond normal; other worldly) order and that life's purpose is to find one's own way. Man, no longer a pilgrim on a meaningful journey with others, is a tourist travelling according to his self-designed itinerary." 

More radical than communism 

   This revolution is more radical than the Bolsheviks in 1917. They may have been godless, but they believed in an order, in which individuals subordinated their desires to a higher cause. By the 1960s men were seeking a civilization without a binding transcendent order. Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was predicted that communism could not withstand the Western cultural revolution -one that set the individual free to pursue pleasure. 

Tomorrow: Part 2

Serious Humor   😛

   Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy graduated Magna Cum Laude from Vanderbilt. He has a law degree from Virginia, and a degree from Oxford in England. 

   About Gov. Cuomo lecturing us, he said, "It is like a frog calling you ugly." 

   Here are more of his quotes: 

"The election in Georgia will be the most important in history. You have nothing to worry about unless you are a taxpayer, parent, gun owner, cop, person of faith or an unborn baby."  

"Americans are thinking, there are some good members of Congress, but we can't figure out what they are good for." 

"Always follow your heart...but take your brain with you." 

"The short answer is 'no.' The long answer is 'hell no.'" 

"When the Portland mayor's IQ gets to 75, he oughta sell." 

"She has a billy goat brain and a mockingbird mouth." 

"You can get a goat to climb a tree, but you'd be better off hiring a squirrel." 

"This has been going on since Moby Dick was a minnow."

"Don't stand between a dog and a fire hydrant." 

"It appears that he might do the right thing, but only when supervised and cornered like a rat." 

"This is why aliens won't talk to us." 

"Chuck Schumer just moo's and follows Nancy Pelosi into the cow chute."

"She can strut sitting down." 

Provided by a friend

 From Prince to Homeless to Castle   

   When he was 18 months old, his father faced death threats and escaped with his wife and five children. 

   At age 10, the boy was living in a boarding school in Scotland. His older sisters had married, his mother was institutionalized, and his father moved to still another country with his mistress. 

   Looking back, the man said his childhood home was "wherever I happened to be." 

   Looks like a a life-long criminal in the making. 

   Not to be. While a cadet in the Royal Navy, he met a 13-year-old girl, a distant cousin, and began a long-distance courtship lasting through World War II. Before marrying Elizabeth in 1947, Philip renounced his Greek legacy and became naturalized in Britain. 

   His father was Prince Andrea of Greece. Philip was born Philippos Andreou in 1921, prince of Greece and Denmark. 

   In 1951, when his wife's ascendency to the throne became imminent, he resigned his naval commission, having risen to the rank of commander. 

   In 1997 Philip supported his grandsons, walking with Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12, during the funeral procession of their mother, Princess Diana. 

   Having a title with no job description - Duke of Edinburgh - Philip took the role of champion for more than 800 charities ranging from youth advocacy to the environment to technological advancements. 

   He died at 99 in the historic castle named "Windsor."   

 #

 Amazing Creation   

   A canary hatches eggs in 14 days. A barnyard hen in 21 days. Ducks and geese in 28 days. Mallards in 35 days. Parrots and the ostrich hatch in 42 days. Get it? 

   We saw these numbers a few years ago. They came around again, so we share them today.

   The four legs of an elephant bend forward in the same direction, enabling the huge animal to rise from the ground. No other quadruped is so designed. A horse rises first on its two front legs. A cow rises first with its two hind legs. 

   Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind. Each orange has an even number of segments. Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. 

   Stalks of wheat have an even number of grains. Every bunch of bananas has an even number on its lowest row.   

   The waves of the sea roll on shore 26 to the minute in all kinds of weather. We'll try to remember this, next trip to the beach.

   Flowers blossom at specified times during the day. Botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) said that if he had a conservatory with the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day by the flowers that were open and those that were closed.  

   Think God might be sending a message, especially to unbelieving scientists? 

   Our lives may be ordered by the Lord for his glory, if we trust him. He who made our incredible hearts and brains deserves our even, not odd, attention. 

       Jimmy

Equality Beyond Death?     

   Our leaders are on a roll...rolling back inequality by taxing the rich and devising ways to give reparations to descendants of slaves.

   Such is the ideal of Marxism - From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs. The principle: Free access to and distribution of goods, capital and services.  

   Equality has never been achieved, except in the form of mass poverty. Those who promise equal outcomes for all must remain excused from the masses so they can "govern." Look no farther than 90 miles south of Florida. 

   Our Creator directs those who have to help those who need, but his way is a test of godly love and character, not an edict of human government. Paul uses the word "equality" in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, but again - it's about individual willingness, and in those unpredictable days, rolls might be reversed. 

   "Neither heaven nor hell is a place of equals," writes Mike Huckabee in Rare, Medium and Done Well. 

   We will be judged by "the books" to be opened at the end of time. John wrote in Rev. 20:12-13 - among the final warnings, instructions and promises - "I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. ...and each person was judged according to what they had done."  

   No excuses. No defense attorneys.  

   Huckabee says, "Clearly, there are eternal rewards based on the manner in which we lived our lives on earth." More is expected from those who have, and faith leaders will be judged more strictly than those they lead. 

   Politicians and their comrades exercise power as voters permit, but each will be judged by God's law, not man's, as will you and me. This is not about heaven or hell. Destination occurs at death. Final judgment, after the Millennium, will be specific and assign our deserved eternity, in one realm or the other.  

        Jimmy 

 Where Is the Garden of Eden?  

   One can imagine it in Augusta, Georgia, home of the famous golf course and host of the annual Masters tournament, now underway. 

   We lived for about eight years just over the state line, with several opportunities to watch golfers on practice days. We saw Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer up close. Thanks to a friend, Mrs. Donut was able to attend one of the rounds...while I was at work, par for the course.   

   Most amazing was our first visit, walking from ordinary Augusta streets onto the grounds of Augusta National, which is hidden by trees. This is a hint of leaving fickle earth and arriving in glorious heaven. 

   We started from the first tee and covered all 18 fairways so as not to miss anything. On future visits we might sit by a glassy pond with hundreds of azaleas on the banks, and let the golfers come to us. Less tiring. 

   Wealthy members of the club hire excellent groundskeepers who attend to every blade of grass, every grain of white sand in the bunkers, and all trees and shrubs. They have underground pipes to fool mother nature with whatever heat is needed - or not - so the flowers blossom exactly on Masters week. They shut the course down for the summer, to pamper it.  

   It's not Eden. It's not there for average people. But we can admire Augusta for what it is. Golfers must be invited to play there. 

   We are invited to a more glorious realm, where everyone is victorious. We will see our Savior up close, and he will know our names.

        Jimmy

   

Facts Don't Matter   

   Major League Baseball - and its fans - had a discrimination problem for more than half a century. Dodgers' GM Branch Rickey and infielder Jackie Robinson - both Christians - combined to break down the door in 1947. It was not easy. 

   MLB, like all pro sports, is entertainment. It's not about faith or culture or heaven forbid - politics! It's business, and the businesses that feed off the sport. Pro athletes, men and women - have you seen female wrestlers? - are physically strong and mentally tough. 

   Facts - in sports, statistics and rules - matter.    

   So, MLB caved to political characters who can "win" without playing fair. And there's Delta and Coca-Cola. How do people smart enough to run great enterprises so easily lose perspective?

   We spent 2+ years in business administration, finally concluding we weren't getting a well rounded education. Keep that in mind when big companies or their tycoons make the news. 

   Delta's CEO called complaints about November elections "a lie." President Biden called Georgia's revised voting law "Jim Crow on steroids." Is it? The Washington Post, friend of Democrats, gave Biden's rant four Pinocchios, their worst rating. We seriously doubt he knows as much about Georgia's law as we do, which isn't a lot.    

   The bunch that humbled MLB and the others tried to influence this week's Masters in Augusta. So far as we know, none of the golfers caved. Of course, most all are white or Asian (so they must be racist). Tiger would have played too if he was able. 

   Gov. Kemp noted that "facts don't matter" in politics. If we're not going to be ruled, communist style, Republicans and independents - and someone like Sen. Manchin - need to get it together before next election. 

   Finally, the agents so concerned about black people took some $100 million in spending from Atlanta, 51 percent black, and gave it to Denver, 9 percent black. Stupid? No. They aren't primarily about black equality. They are about totalitarian government, the same prize sought by the devil, one tough minded spirit.    

       Jimmy

     

 Shall We Fly Delta?    

   Maybe we should get with the times and start cancelling people we disagree with. 

   In our extended family we have a Delta Airlines pilot and a retired Delta employee. We choose Delta, if they're flying where we're going. 

   We are related to five families living in the Atlanta area. So? 

   So, we are bummed that Delta joined Coca-Cola - both headquartered in Atlanta - supporting Major League Baseball's politically correct decision to move its all-star game from Atlanta to Denver. Not that we care about the game, or even if they play the game. We don't. 

   You may know that MLB objected to Georgia's recent legislation - expanding voter access in some districts, and shoring up security after November's concerns. Commissioner Rob Manfred referred to "restrictions to the ballot box." If he meant language that restricts voting to legally registered Georgians, what's the beef?   

   Georgia, which requires IDs for in-person voting, added voter ID for people  requesting and mailing ballots. We don't know if Manfred has a problem with his organization requiring IDs when fans pick up tickets at the stadium. Ha. 

   This is the MLB that made a deal with Tencent, a Communist-backed tech company in China, to stream 125 ball games. It's rumored there are no free elections in China. Ha. 

   As for Delta's "values" being scorned, Gov. Brian Kemp said, "At no point (during crafting of the law) did Delta oppose expanding early voting, or stronger voter ID, or drop boxes and language to help local election officials" do their jobs. 

   Delta CEO Ed Bastian joined Coca-Cola in saying "they worked for changes to the bill." Bastian said the "rationale was based on a lie - voter fraud." Well, courts wouldn't get involved, so it is what it is. 

   Kemp notes that he has to show his ID to fly Delta. And Coca-Cola requires shareholders to show IDs to attend its annual meeting. 

   Here's a clue. Liberal activists are boycotting Georgia companies that did not do anything to block changes to the law. Therefore, we say, MLB, Delta and Coca-Cola chose not to be boycotted, never mind the IDs, early voting and all the rest.

   Doesn't Delta know the green left is coming after the airlines at a time of their choosing? Does Mr. Bastian wonder if some of the 74 million voters who wanted centrist government might cancel Delta before the Democrats do it? 

   There are thousands of black individuals and many black businesses that will miss out on some $100 million in spending the game would have provided. Denver is celebrating like they won the World Series. And their voting rules are little different than Atlanta's.  

   Our second cousin in Cobb County, who earns his living by writing online articles, and interviews players at spring training every year, probably expected to work the weekend of the all-star game. 

   Maybe we'll write to Delta's CEO to say we will fly Southwest when and if we ever fly again. That will put the fear into him! 

       Jimmy

 

   

 In Case You Wondered 

   What any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress. So said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.  He was responding to a Florida congressman opposed to the Equality Act which would make it illegal to discriminate against homosexual and transgender individuals. 

   The congressman had quoted Rev. Tony Evans, who wrote in a Bible commentary: Whenever a nation's laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him and will inevitably bear the consequences. 

Not OK ... in his district

   Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said, You just can't say, 'Yeah, yeah, let everybody in,' because then we're affected down there at the border. 

   Cuellar, you may have seen on TV, released early pictures of kids in cages on the border, making it more difficult for his party to hide the "crisis." Apparently he doesn't appease pro-immigration groups.

   What do you think? Would he speak up if the trouble was occurring only in someone else's district? 

Methodists split 

   The United Methodist Church split over differences regarding same-sex unions and gay and lesbian clergy. The new, conservative alternative is called the Global Methodist Church. 

   We grew up a Methodist when our post-war town had something to offer everyone, and our church was always full. There was God and there were men and women and boys and girls. That's it. 

   Other churches were well attended also, including Catholic, but this kid thought Methodists were the Goldilocks choice - not too hot, not too cold. Just right. 

         Jimmy

 Who Was the First Missionary? 

   Hearing a report of the empty tomb, the disciple John ran to the place and looked in. He was not the first missionary.

   Peter, the more aggressive disciple, followed John and went into the tomb, seeing strips of linen cloth and the burial cloth. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. It wasn't Peter. 

   Then John had courage to enter, and some 45 years later wrote in what we call the book of John, that "He saw and believed." We can only assume what he believed. Still, it wasn't John. 

   Mary, from the town of Magdala on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, miles from Jerusalem, was devoted to Jesus but not a prominent person. She had seen the empty tomb first, and frantically reported to the disciples that someone had taken the body. 

   Highly upset, she followed Peter and John back to the tomb. After the men left, Mary wasn't going anywhere. Weeping, she bent over to look and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had laid. 

   They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"  

   What a question, she must have thought. These two individuals, never mind they are angels, are sitting where the body was suppose to be. And they want to know why she is crying? 

   "They have taken my Lord away and I don't know where they have put him," she answered, straight from her grieving heart. 

   Then she turned around with eyes blurred by tears and saw someone standing there. "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" 

   Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." Wow! Why didn't Peter and John think of this? 

   Jesus said to her, "Mary." "Go...and tell them..."  

   This little-known woman became the first missionary. 

   Through the ages, Jesus reveals his presence and love especially to those who are "the least." God's special people are the unknown who, like Mary, steadfastly love their Lord.

  

  

    

Meet Mama June 

Her Dream Came True! 

   About 6 years ago, my wife Marge and I mingled with a dozen or so people in a friendly, mobile home community in Bradenton. It was time for snowbirds to "fly" home. 

   These folks were lingering with their special friend, June, who was about to leave for good after decades of wintering in Florida. No one was in a rush to say their last goodbyes. 

   We brought her home with us for a week or so. We celebrated her birthday, March 30. Remember the date. On April Fool's day, June got me good. Then she flew home to Buffalo. 

God provides friends 

   In 1972 Marge was alone, far from home, a struggling social worker, but rich in faith. During a Tuesday night Bible study she met June and Barb. The Lord told her silently, These are your new friends.  

   A few coworkers and their husbands enlarged her circle. June and her husband Ralph - who had grown children of their own - took special interest. They attended church with her, and took Marge out for pizza. When Marge offered to pay, Ralph said, "Next time." Always "Next time." 

   Ralph looked after her car. June was at her side too many times to list here. 

   Years later, after two years in Bible school, Marge was employed praying for callers at the "prayer tower," Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. She needed surgery. June in Buffalo had no obligation to assist. She boarded a bus, needed a hospital herself in Cleveland, then caught another bus for Tulsa, where Marge had driven herself to the hospital. 

New adventures 

   June was not a worrier. She often said, "whatever." If she had a difficulty, she labeled it "my new adventure." Marge called her "Mama June." 

   My introduction to June and Ralph began in 1990, the year we married in Pittsburgh. They along with Barb and her husband Dave, whom I knew in high school - small world - were among our guests. Ralph had the honor of "father" giving away the bride. In six short weeks my office closed and I was jobless with no clue. 

   Six months later we moved to South Carolina, then retired in Florida. That made it easy to visit Mama June in Bradenton, where she worked at Mixon's Fruit Farm, a favorite stop for vacationers. After Ralph passed we brought June home for a week of R&R each spring. She "liked to go shopping" in Marge's closet. 

   We recall one of our devotions. After we closed our Bibles and prayed, June exclaimed, "This was sooooo wonderful!" Her spirit was more alive than mine. 

   She bought a computer and was determined to master it. June used it well enough to read Views by the Sea until her eyesight said enough.     

   Mama June wanted to stay in her own home. No senior living! Her son and daughter accommodated her wish. 

Next in line 

   This winter June told Marge on the phone she was "ready to go." "I'm next in line," she liked to say. She went to bed praying the Lord would take her in her sleep. And when he didn't, she was disappointed to wake up in the morning. 

   A few weeks ago, June told her daughter Jennifer and also Marge about a dream, or vision, of an angel, of being "there," and feeling such great love. She retold this to Jennifer, adding, "I'll never be the same." 

   You may be skeptical. We don't think this sounds like an hallucination. 

   March 30, her 98th birthday. Mama June was finally next in line. Early Wednesday morning she entered her long promised, new adventure. For all we know, she might be saying,

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.

Isaiah 61:10

   June has fruit from the tree of life that is nothing like Mixon's, and her garments are equally superior to what she found in Marge's closet.  

    💗

 April Fools!   

Friday: Meet Mama June      

   Who is being fooled today? 

   Maybe sports fans who never played the game, but know what's wrong with every player or team that displeases them. 

   Maybe commentators, journalists and others who think they know how to solve all government problems. Bloggers? 

   Could be those who aim to get ahead by disabling competitors. Tonya Harding? 

   Certainly, voters who consistently fall for politicians who fool them with falsehoods, inference and assertions. The "politics of personal destruction" continues because it works. Who needs debates? We the people are part of the problem.

   Yours truly formerly was guilty of wishing certain athletes might be sick or injured so that my team would get an edge. Boo! And we admit to thinking all would be well if my political party controlled all the levers of power - permanently. Boo! 

   What honor would the Yankees have if every opponent had more players on the injury list than on the field throughout the season? How talented would any team or athlete be if all competition was subpar, such that rigid training and conditioning were unnecessary? 

   What can we expect when most politicians win elections based not on character and integrity, but on smearing an opponent? 

   As for one party government...you can look now. The Dems are skilled combatants and play for keeps. We may know by November 2022 if their dream is fulfilled. 

   You Democrat voters, before you plan a parade, remember what God says, There is no one righteous, not even one (Psalm 14:3, 53:3, Romans 3:10). People without fear of God, or competition, are bound to serve themselves, not you. And you don't know who follows Biden, and who after that, and...

    If we must have politics to elect our leaders, there must be at least two competitive parties. 

       Jimmy