December 28, 2024

The Shrinkage of Mike Johnson

Timothy Birdnow

"You don't understand...there was shrinkage!"

George Costanza

Mike "Tiny" Johnson's favorability rating has dropped in the toilet among Republican voters after his latest antic with the budget, and this has prompted Thomas Massie to vow not to vote for the Woody Allen Speaker for another term.

In a Rasmussen poll sampling 1,454 people just 38 percent said they view him at least somewhat favorably — down from 44 percent who said the same in April. Only 14% view him "very favorably" and 36% view him unfavorably and 14% very unfavorably.

Frankly, I'm surprised his numbers are that high. But Mike goes on lots of Sunday talk shows and the like and he always talks a good game. He plays the champion of our values while voting with the Democrats - the worst sort of snake.

I cannot believe Mike Johnson is the best we can do (nor Kevin McCarthy, nor John Boehner, nor the last few Squeekers. Our last Speaker who wasn't useless was Newt Gingrich, and he was all over the map, leading to unforced errors.) The fact that he's the candidate everyone could accept in the House shows just how out-of-touch the political class is with Middle America and what we want. This election does not seem to have penetrated their thick skulls either. We have a lot of work to do to remove the RINO piglets who are snorting their way to the trough.

Just having an R behind a name is not enough anymore; we need people who are on our side, not their own and not on the side of the Ruling Class. The fact we are going to wind up with a Speaker like Johnson is proof that we have a lot of work to do. How can we restore a nation if we cannot even restore the Republican Party?

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Court Stops Biden from Selling Wall

Timothy Birdnow

Good.

Court Orders Biden Administration to Stop Selling Off Border Wall Materials

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December 27, 2024

Cuba Out of Sugar

Timothy Birdnow

The inevitable fruits of Communism.

Cuban Communists Fumble Economy So Badly That They Now Import Sugar... At $25 Per Pound

Their economy has been so wrecked they can't even produce enough sugar! I would add sugar is a staple in their diets which usually amount o little over a thosuand calories a day, generally less.

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Obamacare Inflated Costs

Timothy Birdnow

Healthcare costs are soaring since Barack Obama "fixed" them with his Affordable Care act.

ObamaCare & The Hyper-Inflation Of Healthcare Costs


FTA:

When it was conceived, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was hoped to improve healthcare access. At the time, roughly 20 million Americans were uninsured. The bill hoped to lower the rising cost of healthcare in the economy by providing a Government mandate.

However, as is always the case when "Big Government” steps in, the outcomes are generally worse, not better. Such should not be surprising. At a press conference on August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”


A decade after the launch of the Affordable Care Act, we can not look back at the results. In 2023, roughly 25 million Americans still lack healthcare coverage. The government continues expanding programs, like Medicaid, to insure more individuals at a hefty cost to taxpayers. While the uninsured population has fallen by 3 million since 2014, the question is whether the costs justify the results.

Unsurprisingly, as we discussed initially, the Affordable Care Act led to a hefty increase in healthcare costs. Although its goals were noble, several key provisions - including pre-existing conditions, reduced consumer choice, and government subsidies - strained the system financially.These problems, compounded with other structural challenges, are further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving insurers, taxpayers, and patients grappling with rising premiums and expenses.

We will examine these issues.


Read the entire article at Zerohedge.

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MAGA Takes Britain

Timothy Birdnow

Tthe Reform Party in Britain (Formerly UKIP), the party of Nigel Farange and true conservatives, is now larger than the Tory Party, Britain's so-called Conservatives.


‘Historic Moment’: Farage’s Reform Party is Now Larger Than the Centuries-Old UK Conservatives


FTA:

The most recent public figures for paid-up full members of the Conservative Party, certainly the oldest political party in the United Kingdom and possibly the oldest political party in the world, put it at 131,680 in November. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK — which he calls the youngest party in Britain — overtook that figure late Thursday morning following a Christmas Day surge in sign-ups.

At the time of publication the figure continued to rise and has made it to 132,200 members.

End

MAGA and sanity are sweeping the world. Too bad it took so long.

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Dems Plot Insurrection

Timothy Birdnow

Some Democrats are plotting an insurrection.

Yes, they are discussing disqualifying Donald Trump on the basis of Sec. 3 of the 14th amendment, the clause that prohibits anyone guilty of insurrection from holding the office of the Presidency.

Only one niggling little problem with this; he was never charged with insurrection, not in a court of law and not by Congress. (Oh, and he was acquitted of other charges made by the Democrats by the U.S. Senate too.) Not sure how you can use a charge of insurrection when there has never been a trial to determine this fact.

They will use a ruling from Colorado that was the basis for holding Trump off the ballot. This case did not address the insurrection issue, or find Trump guilty of anything,but put it in the notes to justify keeping him off the ballot there. This court was overruled.

If January 6 was an insurrection, where were the guns? The bombs? Why didn't the insurrectionists seize the police station? The television and radio stations? Mostly people just walked into the Capitol,wandered around and took pictures. Worst insurrection EVER! And Donald Trump has done huge projects all over the world and knows how to get stuff done. Does anybody really believe he would do so poor a job of an insurrection? Only one person died from violene and she was a protester murdered in cold blood.

And Trump is on record - we have the audio and video - asking for PEACEFUL protests. When they turned violent Trump asked them to go home. Also, we knowNancy Pelosi refused Trump's offer of the National Guard and now we know he actually called them out anyway but his underling disobeyed the order to stay politically viable after Trump was gone.

You cannot overturn an election without overwhelming evidence, evidence they do not have. We now know the J6 Committee was subnorning perjory and manipulating the facts.

I actually hope they try this; it will be the end of the Democratic Party if they do.

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Gaetz Accuser in Jail for Framing Another Person for Sexual Misconduct

Timothy Birdnow

The Gaetz report relied on very shaky witnesses, among tthem one particularly bad wittness, a person who had made the exact same accusattions against another person priviously.

From the article:

Among the witnesses the Ethics Committee relied on was Joel Greenberg.

Greenberg — a former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida — is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for lying about another politician having a sexual relationship with a minor.

Hemingway noted, "Greenberg also reportedly later attempted to frame his own attorney with pornographic images of children.”

A 2023 lawsuit shed further light on Greenberg’s behavior and two women who made claims against Gaetz. Greenberg alleged one of the women had sex with Gaetz while underage which her friend — the other women — corroborated.

However, it was Greenberg who had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl while he was married, using a website where young women meet older men. Greenberg claimed he did not know she was underage.

Greenberg reportedly "became insistent” Gaetz help him obtain a pardon. When he was denied, he "said he would seek vengeance on those who refused to help him during his time of need,” according to Hemingway.

Greenberg started pointing the finger at Gaetz and other Republicans, accusing them of similar crimes. In September, "Gaetz revealed a letter [to the Committee] from a jailhouse informant who shared a holding cell with Greenberg when Greenberg admitted ‘making stuff up about’ Gaetz as part of a plan to lighten what could have been as much as a 27-year sentence in federal prison,” Hemingway wrote.

The inmate was interviewed by federal agents, telling them the woman Greenberg had a relationship with while still a minor "would be willing to adopt Greenberg’s lie in hopes of a future financial benefit.”
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The DOJ found Greenberg so unreliable, they dropped the case.

End

This is why this report should never have gone public; it is full of uncorroborated accusations that do not pass the smell test. But the media will run with this because it attacks Donald Trump's credibility.

And this was clearly payback for Kevin McCarthy and Gaetz zealous role in removing him as Squeeker.

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Christmas Shopping -- Specialized

Dana Mathewson

I happened on this little tidbit yesterday and thought it was way too good not to share.

Bra Shopping: A religious experience.

David goes into Macy’s, to the lingerie department, and he says to the salesgirl, My wife has sent me in for a Jewish bra, size 34B, and she said that you’d know what I meant.”

The saleslady says, Boy, it’s been a long time since anybody’s asked me for a Jewish bra. They usually ask me for a Catholic bra or a Salvation Army bra or a Presbyterian bra.

He says, Well, what’s the difference?

She says, The Catholic bra supports the masses, the Salvation Army bra uplifts the downfallen, and the Presbyterian bra keeps them staunch and upright.

He goes, Well, then what’s a Jewish bra?

Oh, a Jewish bra makes mountains out of molehills.
*****
David then walks into another area of the store…”I need to buy my girlfriend some gloves, but I don’t know what size her hands are.”

The beautiful young employee presses her hands into his and says, "I’m a ‘small’. Does that help?”

"Oh yeah,” he says. "Your hands are the exact same size as hers.”

"Do you need anything else?” the young girl asks him.

"Now that you mention it, she also needs a bra and panties.”
*****
Bra Sizes:
Have you ever wondered why A, B, C, D, DD, E, F, G, and H are the letters used to define bra sizes but couldn’t figure out what the letters stood for? Well it’s time you became informed!

(A) Almost bumps….
(B) Barely there.
(C) Can’t Complain!
(D) Dang!
(DD) Double Dang!
(E) Enormous!
(F) Fake.
(G) Get a Reduction.
(H) Help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!!!

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December 26, 2024

Japanese P.M. Warned Clinton about China

Timothy Birdnow

Back in 1993 the Japanese Prime Minister warned Bill Clinton that China was not going to be seduced by western values and democratized.

Making China into a "counterbalance" to the United States was a core foreign policy of Clinton and his insane Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (halfbright) who famously bemoaned the fall of the Soviet Union for that very reason.

So they sought to make China the new "counterbalance" to America and now we have a monster breathing down our necks.

People who knew anything at that time knew it was a crazy idea. If nothing else we did not "defeat communism" as a quarter of the whole world still lived under it. China remains Communist, even if they have been living under the equivalent of Lenin's New Economic Policy (Lenin suspended socialism for a time in Russia after the Revolution so he could consolidate power. It worked and Russia's economy bloomed. Stalin ended it and murdered the "Kulaks" small independent farmers in Ukraine, as a part of his drive to reimpose the collective economy.)

I have said for thirty years America has paid and will continue to pay for electing Clinton. We cared more about our immediate economic well-being than in what was just or moral and put a scurrilous and corrupt man in power knowing full well who he was. But our 401K's were doing good so we went with him. We've paid for that ever since.

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You Can't Make an Omelet...

Timothy Birdnow

We've always known this is true but have not been allowed to say it.

San Fran’s 10-year experiment to prove blacks are ‘brilliant’ at math fails miserably…

Why black kids don't do as well on I.Q. tests or in math or verbal skills is another question, but the deficit is clearly there and it is a pipe-dream to say otherwise.

I believe it is purely cultural. Black folks are disadvanted since they have such a higher rate of single-parent families, but even when there are two parents they tend to have problems because they raise children very differently than do whites or Asians. One of the core principles held by black parents is "respect" which means they punish kids for independent actions when they are young. As a child you need to explore the world you live in and this is discouraged in black families as "acting up". Later in life the kids do this, but it's done in a sullen spirit of rebellion that leads to crime and disrupts their further academic growth.

Language skills tend to develop less as there is not a high priority placed on proper English is the black community. As a result young black kids struggle with their language development because they are told to "express themselves in their own words" but they don't HAVE their own words, or proper ones anyway. The end result is they struggle to think in a disciplined manner because we think with language and it must be taught to children.

Of course this is no doubt a purposeful policy by the Left, who seek to make people (all of us) incapable of thinking by controlling language. George Orwell spoke of this in his dystopian novel 1984 when he postulated Newspeak, which made it impossible for people to even think of anything not put there by the authorities.

The fact is black culture holds black people back, and as long as there is an unique, separate black culture (and most black folks seem to have little interest in "acting white") they will continue to fall behind. After all, the culture was born in a tribal civilization in Africa and slavery and Jim Crow did nothing to elevate it after they came to America. Their culture was rather a rational response to conditions. But now it's the thing enslaving them. You can take the slave out of the plantation but you must also take the plantation out of the slave.

America didn't do that and we are paying the price for it now.

Bear in mind I am in no way saying blacks are in any way inferior to whites or Asian or Hispanics; I am saying their culture is in a case of social retardation and is why they struggle in these areas. Changing the rules to accomodate this isn't the answer. Any fool should be able to see that as school busing was touted as the way to fix the problems in the black community and all it did was bring the problems of the black community to the general public. It did not elevate the blacks - it downgraded the whites. Our schools are terrible now when they were pretty good until we started integrating them.

That is a failure of a core belief. Christianity always said Man is inherently evil, that he will seek the lowest level if left to his own devices. We choose bad things when push comes to shove. But the Liberal movement was predicated on a denial of this and said Man is inherently good and only needs a reordering of the social environment to flourish. We've tried it now for a century and it has been found wanting.

That is not to say people are ALWAYS bad or evil, and that is the complaint I hear, especially from atheists, who reject Christian beliefs. Christianity doesn't say that either. People often have good INTENTIONS but are easily corrupted, seduced into bad behavior. The flesh is forever nagging at us "do this and you will happy". Of course, education is itself a rebellion against the sins of the flesh, as it is an arduous, sometimes painful, usually unpleasant exercise, compltely at odds with our natural inclinations. But it's how civilization is built. Barbarism is the fruits of maleducation.

Which is where we are now in our society, and the black community has had to bear the brunt of this failure. I blame white liberals who created the conditions and did so in no small part because they wanted to use the black community as a battering ram to break down the doors of our culture.

So instead of making studies on different tracks, and accepting that some kids do better than others at certain things, the liberals hold back the successful to allow those who were disadvantaged to catch up. That is the core of socialism, and it always leads to failure on almost every level. It is no kindness to pretend we are all equal.

The article states:

"Even years later, San Francisco Unified School District casts a shadow over attempts to quash long-standing disparities in math.

In 2014, the district pushed algebra to ninth grade from eighth grade, in an attempt to eliminate the tracking, or grouping, of students into lower and upper math paths. The district hoped that scrapping honors math classes and eighth grade algebra courses would reduce disparities in math learning.

For advocates, it struck at the very core of why only some students perform well in math.

When districts slot students into math classes based on ability they send conspicuous messages to those on the lower track that they are not smart enough, says Ho Nguyen, who was a K-12 math and computer science program administrator in San Francisco during the district’s detracking attempt. It’s not that it’s always intentional, he’s quick to add. But these hierarchies affect students’ belief systems and also tend to lower teachers’ expectations of students labeled worse at math, Nguyen says. Those attempting to reform this practice contend that all students are mathematically brilliant, he says."

I remember when they started this whole "self esteem" campaign in schools. I knew then it was a terrible idea because it was a FALSE self-esteem being given to children just for existing. They sttarted giving out participation trophies and making grades pass/fail and had grade inflation so everyone got an A. So they inflated the egos of mediocrities who now often reside in university faculties despite being total morons.

And we've seen the arrogance and conceit of young people grow ever more insufferable over the years as they are told they are not so much students who require the wisdom of their elders but that they are gods unto themselves and that their wisdom is based on their "purity of minds" aka not being cluttered "Imagine the future, unburdened by the past"? as the great mediocrity Kamala Harris put it. The young are smart and cool and whatever they think is to be accepted - what older folks think is corrupt and burdened by a sclerotic mind.

The Left always understood this which is why they pushed all this - and severed the normal link between parents and youngsters. In fact the sixties saw the rise of the youth culture, a bunch of spoiled brats who were flattered by leftists into believing their "youth and vitality" would fix the world. These were flatteries, lies told to trick the gullible youths (who may have been smart but lacked wisdom, something that comes with age). Sadly, these same youths are now the ones running things. They own academia. They own lower education. They run the government by and large. They run the big corporations. They run the news media and publishing houses and movies and television.

In the movie The Devil's Advocate Satan aka John Milton (Al Pacino) says vanity is his favorite sin. America was lost when American kids embraced their own vanity.

At any rate, if we do not define the problem our efforts to fix it will only continue to make things worse. The problem is black kids are not as good at math and science and language than are white or Asian kids on average and that stems from their culture and the way the dominant society promotes the balkanized America. We have essentially created our own barbarian culture to destroy us, just as Rome faced an influx of people who were not Romans. This was a conscious thing and part of the plan to ultimately create a new world order and international socialism.

In every war there must be casualties. The Progressive Left has been happy to allow the black community to take the heavy losses over the years. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

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Timothy Birdnow

You can't get a job in Michigan to save your life!

Whitmer’s Michigan: Unemployment grows for 8th straight month — double the national average

Tthis is what one party rule looks like. Until the '24 election broke their stranglehold the Democrats had trifecta control of the government in the state. (Oh, and one party rule sucks when the party is leftist; it's just bad when it is Republican sometimes.)

Here's a quote from the geniuses who brought this condition in the first place:

"Michigan’s unemployment rate increased this month, primarily due to a rise in the number of unemployed people,” Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, said in a statement"

Whoda thunk it! High unemployment numbers caused by people being out of work!

Next they'll be telling us our life expectancy is reduced by people getting sick!

Only a liberal could make such a ridiculous statement publicly. This shows they have no clue about how anything works.

The article gives the numbers:

State officials in November reported Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped two-tenths of a percentage point from September to come in at 4.7% for October, then later revised that figure to 4.6%.

MDTMB reports Michigan’s unemployment rate has since swelled to 4.8%, jumping another two-tenths of a percentage point as the national unemployment rate increased by 0.1% in November.

"The number of unemployed people in the state increased by 3.8 percent over the month, a gain of 1.5 percentage points larger than the national unemployment total increase (+2.3 percent),” according to the state. "Over the last year, the national jobless rate advanced by half a percentage point, while the statewide rate increased by 0.7 percentage points since November 2023.”

Since November 2023, Michigan’s labor force has lost about 10,000 participants, as the number of unemployed as swelled by 36,000, or 17.3%.

This since the Democrats have enjoyed control of both houses of the legislature and the governorship (and most of the courts).

Gee; what is the factor in common?

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How to Deliver a Pandemic

Timothy Birdnow

I was going to simply pass this story up, but then it occurred to me this might be an important issue to ponder.

Apparently a postwoman was smearing some sort of substance on the mailboxes of her customers for months before caught on camera and charged.

Imagine if this woman was (or is) trying to create a pandemic using a bioweapon. Smearing infected substances on everyone's mailboxes would be a dandy delivery system for such a bioweapon.

I doubt that's what's happening here but how do we know? The article does not say exactly what substance she was smearing on mailboxes.

If you wanted to make a biological attack on America placing agents in the post office and smearing infected material would be a good way to go about it. Either you wouldn't tell the agent what he or she was doing or you would prepare them with a vaccine in advance.

And of course this would work even bettter if it was our own government using it's own employees to generate a pandemic, something prophecied by many on the Left for the incoming Trump administration.

While I doubt this is what is happening here, we still are left with more questions than answers over this strange behavior by this mail carrier.

At this point I wouldn't put anything past our government.

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The Feast of Stephen

Timothy Birdnow

Happy Boxing Day! The day after Christmas is known as "Boxing Day" because hung over siblings get into fistfights, er, people boxed up their old stuff to give to the poor after receiving new things on Christmas.

Today also marks the Feast of Stephen (mentioned in the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslaus"). Stephen is called the "protomartyr" because he was the first Christian killed for his faith.

The Acts of the Apostles tells the story: more...

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Christmas is not Pagan

Zachary Uram

There is no evidence Christmas is pagan.
I'll start with the date.

Sol Invictus was not placed on 12/25 until 354 AD when the Philocalian Calendar records this but doesn't specify any festival with regards to sun worship. Prior to this, the Julio-Claudian fasti inscriptions say Sun festivals were on August 8th, 9th, 28th, and December 11th, and maybe October 19th. The Philocalian Calendar says Emperor Aurelian honored the sun with chariot races every 4 years Oct 19-22 (Steven Hijmans, "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas", Mouseion, Number 47/3 (2003), 277-298).

Saturnalia was never on 12/25. Macrobius says Saturnalia began 14 days before January, which comes out to December 17th (Saturnalia 1.10.1-23), using Roman Calendrical dates. He says it lasted for 3 days, but according to the Fasti inscriptions, it lasted to the 24th during the days of the Republic.

Yule was placed on 12/25 by King Haakon the Good in the 10th century AD to coincide with Christmas. This goes back to the early historian Snorri Sturluson, and his book "Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway." Snorri says before this, "Yule was celebrated on a midwinter night, and for the duration of three nights" (p. 106). He gives no specific dates, but St. Bede in "The reckoning of Time,” (Section 329) said Northmen calculated their seasons according to the cycles of the moon, so the date of Yule probably changed every year. Pliny the elder also says the Gallic tribes calculated their months according to the moon (nat. his. 16.95.250). Last, according to the Chronicler, Theitmar, the Danes sacrificed to pagan gods in January after the 6th (The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Book 1.17).

The Winter Solstice had no festive significance to ancient Romans. There were no celebrations planned for the date and they disagreed on when it was. The Julian Calendar does say 12/25, but Pliny the Elder says 12/26 (nat. his. 18.59.221), and Columella says 12/23 (De Re Rustica 9.14.12).

The date of 12/25 was selected by Christians because (according to early authors like Dionysus Exiguus & Hippolytus) they believed Jesus was conceived on the same day he died and they thought he died on March 25th, so just count forward nine months.

Christmas trees only go back to the 16th century in eastern Europe. The first mention of Christmas trees is in an Alsace ordinance in 1561. Almost no early pagans thought pine trees were sacred, let alone associated with 12/25. Germanic tribes believed the oak was sacred (Pliny, nat. his. 16.95). Maximus of Tyre said, "The Celts indeed worship Zeus, but they honor Him in the form of a lofty oak" (Dissertation VIII, section 8).
The most likely explanation is they morphed over from paradise trees. Adam and Eve's festival days is 12/24 and used to be honored with an Adam and Eve play. In Europe, in the dead of winter, not a lot of trees are available, so they would get a pine tree and decorate it with fruits and cakes. After the play, they could eat the treats on the tree and the practice probably just morphed into Christmas. We have no record of Christmas trees prior to this time. See "Christmas: A Candid History" by Bruce David Forbes, pp. 48-59; Encyclopedia of Christmas by Tanya Gulevich, pp. 165-171.
Santa Claus can only be traced back to Dutch immigrants in New York in the early 1800s. He came from the Dutch Sinterklaas, also known as St. Nicolas. His feast day was on 12/6 and was moved to 12/25 around this time to help make Christmas a family holiday. Newspapers promoted it and encouraged to give gifts on Christmas instead of New Years' like it traditionally was before this. Sinterklaas was rebranded from a catholic priest to look like a traditional dutchman from that time period, which included a big red suit (A dictionary of English Folklore, section: Santa). After this Santa was exported around the world and different countries added new spins. Stockings were also promoted around this time period and trace back to Clement C. Moor's "A Visit from St. Nicholas.” In 1927, in Finland, a radio broadcaster, Markus Rautio, morphed the old pagan deity, Joulupukki, into a Santa figure. Santa changed the Joulupukki figure, not the other way around.
Father Christmas, surprisingly, pre-dates Santa Claus. But he is not a pagan deity. Instead, he was a medieval personification of Christmas. Richard Smart of Plymtree is the first to write about him, referring to him as Sir Christmas, and his task is to announce the birth of Christ (Oxford Book of Carols, no. 21, 41-3).
Mistletoes do not go back to paganism. The first we hear of using mistletoe as Christmas decorations are in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection," (892, 980), and then William Coles mentions it is a decoration in "The Art of Simpling” (1600s). The tradition of kissing under it did not begin until the end of the 18th century in Britain. See "A dictionary of English Folklore," section: Mistletoe.

Yule Logs do not go back to paganism, despite the name. Yule is also an English word to mean "mid-winter period." The first mention of yule logs is in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection (number 784)" and he calls it a Christmas log. It wasn't called a yule log until Aubrey's "In the west-riding of Yorkshire on Christmas eve” (1686, p. 134).

St. Francis is credited for the first nativity scene in 1223 AD, Greccio. His followers then promoted the use of them during Christmas (Life of Saint Francis of Assisi - Saint Bonaventure. Chapter 10.7).

There is no evidence anything associated with Christmas goes past these sources I mentioned here, and therefore, there is no evidence Christmas is pagan.

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Noel

From the archives:

NOEL

by J. R. R. Tolkien

Grim was the world and grey last night:
The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light,
The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea,
And over the mountains’ teeth
It whistled bitter-cold and free,
As a sword leapt from its sheath.

The lord of snows upreared his head;
His mantle long and pale
Upon the bitter blast was spread
And hung o’er hill and dale.
The world was blind,
the boughs were bent,
All ways and paths were wild:
Then the veil of cloud apart was rent,
And here was born a Child.

The ancient dome of heaven sheer
Was pricked with distant light;
A star came shining white and clear
Alone above the night.
In the dale of dark in that hour of birth
One voice on a sudden sang:
Then all the bells in Heaven and Earth
Together at midnight rang.

Mary sang in this world below:
They heard her song arise
O’er mist and over mountain snow
To the walls of Paradise,
And the tongue of many bells was stirred
in Heaven’s towers to ring
When the voice of mortal maid was heard,
That was mother of Heaven’s King.

Glad is the world and fair this night
With stars about its head,
And the hall is filled with laughter and light,
And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring
With bells of Christendom,
And Gloria, Gloria we will sing
That God on earth is come.

Grim was the world and grey last night:
The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light,
The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea,
And over the mountains’ teeth
It whistled bitter-cold and free,
As a sword leapt from its sheath.

The lord of snows upreared his head;
His mantle long and pale
Upon the bitter blast was spread
And hung o’er hill and dale.
The world was blind,
the boughs were bent,
All ways and paths were wild:
Then the veil of cloud apart was rent,
And here was born a Child.

The ancient dome of heaven sheer
Was pricked with distant light;
A star came shining white and clear
Alone above the night.
In the dale of dark in that hour of birth
One voice on a sudden sang:
Then all the bells in Heaven and Earth
Together at midnight rang.

Mary sang in this world below:
They heard her song arise
O’er mist and over mountain snow
To the walls of Paradise,
And the tongue of many bells was stirred
in Heaven’s towers to ring
When the voice of mortal maid was heard,
That was mother of Heaven’s King.

Glad is the world and fair this night
With stars about its head,
And the hall is filled with laughter and light,
And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring
With bells of Christendom,
And Gloria, Gloria we will sing
That God on earth is come.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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December 25, 2024

Unto Us is Born

The Gospel according to Luke:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

The Gospel according to Matthew:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
The Visit of the Wise Men

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[d] and have come to worship him. 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him. 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:24 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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December 24, 2024

Tidings of Joy

Timothy Birdnow

The Word of the Lord:

1 "Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple”the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight”see, He is coming, says the LORD of Hosts.

2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap.

3 And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

4 Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me, says the LORD of Hosts

Malachi3: 1-5

1"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze, says the LORD of Hosts. "Not a root or branch will be left to them.

2"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. 3Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing, says the LORD of Hosts.

4"Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.

5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD. 6And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.

Malachi 3: 1-5

And there was silence from Heaven for four hundred years.

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A Christmas Dirge: Ebeneazer Stooge s in Congress

Timothy Birdnow

So why didn't the Biden Justice Department under consiglier Merrick Garland not bring any charges against Gaetz?

Gaetz 'has a real problem here,' former Ethics chairman says

Do notice they spoke with FORMER chair - Charles W. Dent - and not the current head of that body (Michael Guest). This is the same Congressman Dent who by his own admission voted for Kamala Harris in the last election. The same Charlie Dent who supported impeaching Trump and who claimed the GOP lost it's soul for supporting Trump. It was Dent who whispered to the media that Republicans were secretely disgusted by Trump and wanted him gone.

I put as much stock in Mr. Dent's views on this ethics report as I would on Nancy Pelosi's.

The chair of the Ethics Committee - Michael Guest - is on record disagreeing with the decision to take these allegations (which have not been adjudicated in any court of law) public.

Read the report and Guest's reply .

The House Ethics Committee has five Republicans and five Democrats serving on it. It was guaranteed all five Democrats would vote to release this - they take any and every opportunity to damage the GOP. Two Republicans joined the five Democrats to release the report, and given it was a secret vote we now do not know who they were, but I am fairly certain we can assume they were cut from the same cloth as Rep. Dent.

How much did Kevin McCarthy have to do with this vote? McCarthy clearly wanted revenge on Gaetz for forcing him out, and he still has many friends in Congress. I wish we knew who the Republicans on the Committee who voted for the release were so we could see the connections between them and McCarthy.

I did a Google search in an effort to find who actually did the legwork to produce the document with little result. Congressmen weren't out there beating the bushes for allegations, certainly; they needed private investigators, or used the FBI or other government investigatory services. Who actually brought the information to them?

I'm sorry but I smell a big fat rat with this whole thing. This reeks of revenge fiction.

Gaetz has suggested he might rejoin Congress long enough to burn the place down with all of the sexual antics and corruption in the hallowed halls of Congress. I hope he does. That should have happened long, long ago.

BTW one of the allegations is Gaetz paid for sex. Why? He was a powerful and well-known Congressman and no doubt women would happily share his bed. Underage girls all the more! He didn't need to spring for it. Did Bill Clinton ever need to pay for it, even when he was just a local politician in Litttle Rock? Did Ted Kennedy?

And the hypocrisy of accusing Gaetz of drug use! This from the Democrats who made legalizing narcotics one of their signature issues over the last few years!

Oh, and where did Gaetz get "tens of thousand of dollars" to pay for all this when Congressmen are so poor they have to push a raise through for themselves in a C.R.? Why didn't the IRS come after him?

This is a Christmas tale, sort of like something Dickens would write, only it is the decent guy being hounded by evil spirits.

Many  outlets are calling this report "required Christmas reading" - I would agree it fits with scary ghost tales told at Christmas, but it ain't Scrooge who is at fault.

Anyone believe for a moment this would have been released had Gaetz not just been nominated by Trump for Attorney General?

D.C. works like the mob; they look for anything they can take someone out with, then hold it pending need. Just like the John Grishom novel "The Firm". I wonder who ISN'T being blackmailed in Washington?

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Burnt Offerings

Timothy Birdnow

An important lawsuit is about to reach the U.S. Supreme Court over South Carolina defunding Planned Parenthood. The case - Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic - is over the question of whether states have a right to withhold taxpayer dollars from the abortion provider.

FTA:

The crux of the issue is whether states can exclude certain medical providers from receiving Medicaid funding or if the Medicaid Act’s "any-qualified-provider” provision explicitly grants individual beneficiaries the right to choose a specific provider. Currently, the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals are divided 5-2 with the majority in favor of funding Planned Parenthood by interpreting the Medicaid Act provides a right to choose a specific qualified provider. However, the Fifth and Eighth Circuits found that the Medicaid Act does not give beneficiaries a federal right to choose any qualified provider nor does it confer the right to sue states that exclude Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program.

In South Carolina, state law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. Kerrarose after Governor Henry McMaster signed an executive order in 2018 deeming abortion clinics unqualified to receive state Medicaid funding under the state law. According to the state’s SCOTUS petition, Gov. McMaster’s order stated that South Carolina "has a strong culture and longstanding tradition of protecting and defending the life and liberty of unborn children.” The order directed state health officials to "deem abortion clinics unqualified” to receive funding for abortion-related services. Shortly thereafter, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and one of its Medicaid clients challenged the executive order claiming it violated federal law under Medicaid’s "any qualified provider” language.

The Fourth Circuit became the fifth circuit court to side with Medicaid beneficiaries ruling that the federal Medicaid law creates "an individual right” to choose a provider, and ruled the law "bars states from excluding providers for reasons unrelated to professional competency.” The Appeals Court affirmed a lower court’s permanent injunction that keeps Planned Parenthood as a "qualified” medical provider in the state.

However, now that South Carolina has appealed to SCOTUS, it is not the first time the High Court has weighed in on this case. In June 2023, SCOTUS provided clear guidance for statutory interpretation when it ruled in Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County v. Tavelski, a non-abortion case dealing with similar issues. In that case, SCOTUS determined that statutes must "unambiguously confer individual federal rights” for them to be enforceable as such. Using this ruling, SCOTUS vacated the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in Kerr directing the Appeals Court to reconsider its decision. Yet, the Fourth Circuit did not alter its ruling and now SCOTUS will fully review the case at some point in the Spring with a ruling expected in late June 2025.

Contributing to the circuit court split, the Fifth Circuit ruled in 2020 that Texas and Louisiana can defund Planned Parenthood. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cited the reason for Texas defunding the abortion giant was the undercover investigation by Sandra Merritt and David Daleiden that produced videos of Planned Parenthood trafficking human baby body parts.

AG Paxton noted that Planned Parenthood is not a "qualified” provider under the Medicaid Act due to the practice of selling the body parts of aborted babies being "morally bankrupt and unlawful conduct.

I'd like to know how the idea that federal funds can be used by any private organization is somehow a right that is irrevocable came about in the first place. If the current government wants to pull funding they have every right. This isn't a contract issue; it's about a gift given by government, one which can be withdrawn if the taxpayers so decide.

Planned Parenthood is an evil organization and it has repeatedly broken state and federal laws, yet it continues to suckle at the mammoth mammary of government nonetheless.

If you can't cut a leech off, how can you cut off an actual government program?

I do not see abortion in the enumerated powers of the United states Constitution, nor any amendment added to protect the "right" to an abortion. Since SCOTUS ended Roe v. Wade and put it back into the states, why is the court system overruling state laws? Anybody.

Here is what I think of Planned Parenthood:

The Witches

by Timothy Birdnow

In dead of night the witches creep
like spiders in a bed.
In dread delight their riches reap
from young girls they`ve misled.

With lies their Devils Plot unfurls;
cajoling with forked tongue
the Witches try to trick young girls
into murdering their young.

They claw inside scared mothers womb
the unborn child their feast.
Denied the covers of the tomb
forelorn, defiled, deceased!

Stoke the furnace hot with coals!
The unborn won`t be missed!
Pour out the bowls of children`s souls
Hells` scornful Eucharist!

Then take the head; the blood runs red!
While wet with death, the Coven
they bake their bread of children dead
in Margaret Sanger`s oven!

And they devise to hide the cries
of the myriad tiny souls
whose blood decries the Witches lies
while their bodies rot in holes!

Young mothers used and then discarded
are tossed aside, confused
while at great cost and broken-hearted
they stand alone, accused.

To snuff out life before a breath
In a land where evil`s good
is Satan`s manna; the Bread of Death.
They`re called ``Planned Parenthood``.

And in the night they find delight
in Sin which brings forth Life,
then out of sight those wolves may bite
and murder with a knife.

In cursing God do all abet;
no supplication do they pray,
while with a nod and small regret
the Nation turns away.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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O Come All Ye Hateful!




Timothy Birdnow

Nothing says Christmas more than a good old hate hoax!

False flag: Horribly racist anti-black, pro-Trump messages on Tennessee campus turn out to be completely fabricated smear campaign

By Olivia Murray

more...

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