Protecting Myself

A pictorial depiction of my soul as I read and watch the daily news.  A 21st Century variation on Oscar Wilde's Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray: 

In my view, our republic has reached critical mass on so many fronts! One such front is that of higher education.  But one example of our higher education system having gone off the rails: University assignment has students record themselves accusing someone of racism or homophobia.  How bizarre is that?

Do not continue reading this blog post until you have thoroughly read the above link from Campus Reform! 

So how am I protecting myself — both my mental and physical health? See my recent comment at Politics Rewritten.  The complete content of my comment is below the fold.

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

First, a little bit about the song posted below:

[Songwriter Stuart] Hamblen was supposedly out on a hunting expedition when he and his fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across a hut in the mountains. Inside was the body of a man, and the man's dog was still there, guarding the building. This inspired Hamblen to write "This Ole House". The lyric picks up a standard Gospel theme of the "old house" – the mortal body – being left behind when the soul of the believer goes to "meet the saints."

Enjoy this toe tapper:

Personal story....

When I was two and a half years old, I fell in love with "This Ole House," especially that ragtime piano, in October 1954, when we were on vacation in West Virginia. Hurricane Hazel forced us to shelter in place at a diner with a juke box. The diner's owner finally set the tune to play over and over again while I danced next to the juke box.  

To this day, I still love "This Ole House" and ragtime piano.  And I still stand up and dance to this tune.  I never tire of "This Ole House.  And I still have the 78 rpm record — and the Victrola to play it on.  

Get It Off Your Chest!

Open Post: I really don't care how atrocious your spelling and grammer are, I just think this is funny. Hit it, "Weird Al"!!!

Sometimes, my wife, AOW, threatens to make me diagram sentences. ;) Warren

Presidential Lies

Silverfiddle Rant!

A great question arose out of last Friday's blog Post:

Which presidential lies have been the worst?

Starting with Day One of George Washington up to this Monday, 24 Jan of Joe Biden's presidency.

Joe's had some funny ones, like how he grew up in the black church, used to drive a semi, or got arrested multiple times fighting for civil rights in the US, and battling the South African Apartheid regime. 

El Donaldo's lies are epic, legion and even multi-dimensional.  Democrats are still in an indignant rage of his sharpie edit of a weather map...

Anyway, lay it on us.  In the history of the US presidency, what are the most egregious lies?  Tell us who, what, and why the lie you provide was so horrible.

Save Ukraine?

I hear the drums of war beating.

Washington politicians and news media on both sides of the aisle are urging the United States to protect Ukraine from Putin, and politicians and news media on both sides of the aisle are urging the United States to use restraint of varying degrees, even to the point of "Stay the hell out — no matter what Putin does!"

One web essay on the topic and worth reading (dated January 21, 2022): 5 things to know about why Russia might invade Ukraine – and why the US is involved. 

What is your view on this Russia-Ukraine matter?

Musical Interlude

In the 2021-2022 American Literature course I teach to homeschoolers, excerpts from James Russell Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis" have appeared in our literature textbook. Reading the first stanza in our textbook excerpt brought to mind this hymn from traditional Christian liturgy, set to a particularly haunting melody.  I remember singing this hymn in church — back in the days when churches had physical hymnals.

The words of the hymn speak to me in our present time. See if the words speak to you:

Additional information (worth your time):

The full poem "The Present Crisis" is HERE.  

A brief review of the poem is HERE.  

Also NOTE THE BACKGROUND of Russell's poem, originally written in protest to the Mexican American War (1846-1848), but used in subsequent generations for different purposes because of the timelessness of certain lines and phrases.

Get It Off Your Chest 1/21/22

Open Post.

Recommended Reading

*****
See Texas Synagogue Terrorist Came Out of UK Islamist No-Go Zone by Daniel Greenfield.

Excerpt:

...The hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform Temple in Texas, ended with Faisal Akram of Blackburn, another post-industrial English town where Muslims make up a third of the population and Pakistanis account for over 10 percent, dead, and his Jewish hostages set free.

[...] 

The town has produced no shortage of Jihadists, including the youngest terrorist in the UK, as well as a number of Jihadis who traveled to join ISIS, an associate of shoe bomber Richard Reid, and a terrorist who played a key role in an Al Qaeda plot that targeted New York and D.C.

Blackburn is one of the most segregated towns in the country and has been described as a “no-go zone”. The area that produced the Temple Terrorist has the highest Muslim population outside of London where some claim that flying the English flag has been effectively outlawed....

Read the entire essay HERE.  Sounds to me as if Blackburn is growing terrorists in its segregated garden. 

And one more thing....Why did our FBI almost immediately state that they were still looking for a motive in the January 15, 2021 attack on the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and, apparently deliberately in a knee-jerk reaction, avoid mentioning terrorism and the Anti-Semitic targeting of Jews worshiping in a synagogue on their Sabbath?  In part, because of THIS:

...Early in the Obama administration, it scrubbed all counterterror training materials that made any mention of Islamic texts and teachings, and severed ties with all the independent contractors (including me) who were teaching agents about the beliefs and goals of jihad terrorists. Islamic anti-Semitism is yet another forbidden area for today’s FBI; they can’t investigate anything that might appear to be “Islamophobic.” So Matt DeSarno is operating out of the willful ignorance the FBI chose as policy years ago. This time, the agency’s woke idiocy is actively misleading the American people about what happened in Colleyville.

"Wokeness," particularly at the government-policy level, is deadly denial.

Additional reading (a satiric essay by Tammy Swofford): The FBI Develops Symptoms of Stroke When Discussing the Attack on a Synagogue.

Train Robberies

Apparently, these robberies of slowed or stopped trains, has been ongoing for at least three months. The robberies have accelerated in the last 30 days, maybe longer.  Please watch:

Keep hearing of train burglaries in LA on the scanner so went to #LincolnHeights to see it all. And… there’s looted packages as far as the eye can see. Amazon packages, @UPS boxes, unused Covid tests, fishing lures, epi pens. Cargo containers left busted open on trains. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/JvNF4UVy2K

— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) January 13, 2022

Missing a package? Shipment delayed? Maybe your package is among the thousands we found discarded along the tracks. This is but one area thieves have targeted trains. We were told this area was just cleaned up 30 days ago so what you see is all within the last month. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/43002DPyZa

— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) January 13, 2022

Also see THIS REPORT, both video and written, by CBSLA (dated January 13, 2022). The written report concludes with this statement: [L]aw enforcement who work these tracks told CBSLA that they don’t see thieves shipping off any time soon. 

How far will our society's breakdown go before the American people say "ENOUGH!" and mean it?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Let's clear our minds with nearly four hours of Baroque Music:

Go HERE for an index to the above music.

[about music of the Baroque Period]

Get It Off Your Chest 1/14/22

Open Post.  

 How about a little Opra? 

Empty Shelves?

As I mentioned before, we're experiencing a disruption of supply lines here in Indiana. We're still waiting for delivery of the aforementioned recliner. Warren ordered and paid for that recliner in July!

On our last trip to the grocery store a few days ago, we noticed a few shortages. The one that most impacts me at this point: almost no ginger ale on the shelf. I drink a bit of ginger ale every evening to settle my stomach. Otherwise, there is no shortage personally impacting us.  Yet, anyway.  We did notice that the price of beef is through the roof. But that's another story....

In the Washington, D.C., area, however, shoppers are experiencing at least some significant disruptions in supply lines. See this short video. Five to six months before things get back to normal? Sheesh!

So, are you noticing empty shelves or other related disruption where you are?

Note: Warren and I have been a bit absent from the blogosphere because we both got sick with either a common cold or Omicron.  We're over the worst of it, but the fatigue factor remains major for me.  I'm napping a lot!  Taking down the Christmas tree has to wait.

Tucker Carlson: "It's time to notice the things that matter"

Worth your time and consideration:

Is there any way to put the brakes on these nation-crippling, republic-destroying trends?  Put the brakes on on-time, that is?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

You know the music of James Horner even if you don't recognize his name:

 

Please take a few moments to see the list of music scores by James Horner (1953-2015).

Get It Off Your Chest

  

Open Post.

One Root Cause...

...of the present crime wave — specifically, in San Francisco: 

 

Article: San Francisco father of murdered 6-year-old says DA's policies led to 'no accountability' .

Chesa Boudin, the district attorney of San Francisco, assumed office in January of 2020 and is serving a four year term. So, more years of his policies remain in effect.  "Elections have consequences," and all that.

By the way, Boudin's adoptive father is terrorist Bill Ayers, and his adoptive mother is terrorist Bernardine Dohrn.

Inconvenient Realities?

With a hat tip to Deplorable Bloggers Alliance....

How many minutes before this gets taken down? pic.twitter.com/vjFAxPxbLx

— Phil (@ForTheGreater13) December 28, 2021

Is the above, excerpted from Dr. Fauci's interview with Mark Zuckerberg on March 19, 2020, a fake video?  Or is the above information about the inconvenient realities of the COVID-19 vaccine?

Note: HERE is the full interview (38 minutes long).  Worth your time if you are interested in the topics of the safety, efficacy, and dangers of both the virus and the vaccines.

Additional information: Ventura County Nurses Blow the Whistle on Crisis in Local Health Care (dated October 21, 2021).

My take: it seems to me that it is impossible to make an informed decision about the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

Happy New Year! (With Addendum)

The calendar is a human construct, so there really isn't anything special about turning over the calendar to a new year. 

Nevertheless, there remains something special about the start of a new year.  

In that spirit, we here at Always On Watch wish you a happy and healthy new year.

May 2022 be kind to us all!

ADDENDUM (January 2, 2022) 

I'm hoping for a calmer personal year in 2022. 

In 2021, I decided to get most stressers over and done with: 

1. death of spouse after several weeks of heavy caregiving (we were married nearly 49 years), 

2. sale of family homestead, 

3. frenetic search for another house, 

4. wedding (not really a stresser but on most lists of stressers, so I'm including it), 

5. 700-mile move with Callie dog belted into the passenger seat of the U-Haul truck while I rode on a little square that the U-Haul people had the audacity to call a seat, 

6. the never-ending unpacking of mislabeled moving boxes (Atlas Movers did the full pack-out), 

7.the missing marriage certificates (finally received on December 24 from the circuit court level -- no word yet from Richmond).  

The above is a partial list!