Lightning Fall: a Definitive Novel about an EMP attack on America

EMP attack. We hear the words and kind of fuzzily think "oh the power will be out, better stock up on candles." At least, that was how I looked at it. Faraday cages. Tinfoil hats for our mobile phones. But it's not a laughing matter.

5 years ago, Bill Quick put out a warning in the form of his well-researched, scientifically accurate novel "Lightning Fall". (It's also an exciting adventure story, but we'll get to that part later.)

This past November, the US Military issued a report on the danger of EMP that in many ways paralleled the likely events Quick had identified in 2014: "Military warns EMP attack could wipe out America, 'democracy, world order' "

This week, our President Trump took action to protect us against EMP attack.

In his second National Emergency Executive Order, President Trump again puts our safety first, and established the first ever "comprehensive policy to improve resilience to EMPs".

Congress was first warned about the danger of a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack in 2008. Two presidents and five Congresses failed to act to shore up our local defenses against it. But finally, we have a President who does not play "kick the can".

We know we dodged a bullet when we elected Trump instead of Clinton 2.0. A read of Lightning Fall shows us we also dodged an atomic bomb - and how important is our President's action to protect us against just such a disaster.

As for me, if I had not read Quick's book, I might have glossed over this presidential EO without thinking. However, coincidentally, I finally read the book last month. As they used to say "my consciousness has been raised". I understand the danger now. I won't laugh at tin foil any more.

A good storyteller, and a perceptive cultural analyst, Bill Quick's novel can almost be used to blueprint our own preparations for the total disruption of communication and services. Lightning Fall takes snapshots of the consequences from every angle and puts them up for us to see how our particular location would look. Through his characters, who seem like people I already know, we get ideas to adapt to our own circumstances to insure our own survival, the survival of our families and our neighborhoods.

I don't know about you, but I will remember "how" info better when I have a context for it... a scenario creates a full picture of not only how, but of what and why, of when and who.  This is what I found in Lightning Fall.

Lightning Fall is a fast paced, exciting thriller with unpredictable turns that kept me turning pages until late at night, and a solid story peopled with characters who matter.  Quick's characters are ordinary people in different locations around the country, from Mississippi to San Francisco to the heartland to what seemed in 2013 the inevitable Hillary Clinton Whitehouse ("Millicent Carter"). Each faces different problems caused by the EMP attacks and has to handle those problems in different ways, whether prepared or not.

What a battle they face. There's a criminal element in every town, from cities to the smallest hamlet, and those are the first bad guys to take advantage when the lights go out. Threats can also come from unexpected sources: a bank manager who refuses to allow a mother to empty her safe deposit box in order to pay the mortgage, a neighbor alerting a gang member to supplies in the apartment below. But faithful allies are also not as far away as first believed, and the weak uncover strengths they had not needed before, in the nick of time.

A deeper crisis threatens the very foundation of our republic when the national government - unaffected by the EMP - sets a course to abandon the needy and take overtly political action that means the deaths of millions, in order to assure partisan victory in an upcoming election. The individuals in our story are facing not only immediate threats, but the prospect of being left to their own devices indefinitely.

Quick has given his individual characters some advantage: they've been "prepping", each in their own way, so they aren't completely in the lurch immediately. Instead, each faces dangers and threats they had failed to foresee, and has to rely on their wits, and the hand of Providence, to win out over those who would separate their soul from their body without a second thought.

Bill Quick is an astute observer of the culture and politics of our time, and Lightning Fall showcases those observations well. Ever imagine that Mexico's capital might be working behind the scenes to undermine local governments in California? Or that someone else might be pulling the eternally corrupt strings that animate Mexico's political class? Lightning Fall maps the course some of that leverage might take.

His grasp of what a Hillary Clinton presidency would have been like is chillingly authentic... and I suspect if Mrs Clinton or Bill ever read Quick's portrayal of their marriage, they might look around and wonder if he had been listening in, so credibly does he suggest how the fictional "Carters" relate to each other in the intimacy of their private marital relationship, right down to moments that are almost endearing (or would be if the consequences of their ambitions weren't so fatal to the rest of us).

Our heroes, most of them, survive in this story, and are looking forward with strength and hope at the end of the book, thanks to their remarkable American values: personal will and individual resources knitted together with neighbors in a fierce joint determination to procure survival not only for themselves and loved ones, but also for their place and their local civilization: to defend their homes and the ground on which they stand against whatever force evil might throw at them, and to be found standing when morning comes.

Get ready. Stock up on canned chili and fresh water. Buy and read "Lightning Fall: A Novel of Disaster" by Bill Quick.

Feminism is Doomed

The lynch mob against Nick Sandemann and the Covington High students was fostered and led, in great part, by toxic feminism. Just like every other thing the Left does, they accuse their prey of whatever they themselves are, or are doing, or are planning. We all know people who do that. The thief who puts herself in charge of the office entertainment fund, the philanderer who persistently accuses their spouse of having affairs. Feminism has gone so far into insanity that their unhinged shrieks make sane people reconsider the original, ancient definition of "hysteria".

 And Feminism is not long for this world, one way or the other.

Bill Quick, as he often does, gets to the true heart of the matter in "The Balance of Force Is…Unfavorable":

".... Feminism is an artifact of male chivalry, itself an artifact of western European civilization, just as the myth of Ghandi’s non-violence as being irresistible, flounders and falls in the face of the observation that Ghandi’s rebellion, had he tried to carry it out against Stalin, would have lasted precisely as long as it took Stalin to find and murder him – ie., about an hour. In other words, non-violence and feminism are both successful only so far, and for as long, as their opponents permit them to be. 

"All we need to do to estimate the real-world strength of feminism (of the feminazi variety) is to examine non-western, non-chivalrous cultures – say, the entire Islamic world. Try to imagine the cartoon I put at the head of this piece occurring in, oh, Saudi Arabia. It can’t happen, because of the dirty little secret that underlies all such physical feminism – it’s a lie. Beneath the thin veneer of a few hundred years of deliberate custom likes the ancient world of pure force, the force for which men are much better suited by their own genetic heritage than are women."

As Glenn Reynolds (who is quoted in the article) likes to say: "Go read the whole thing".

Book Review: "Life Unworthy" by Christopher Taylor

In the old days, when authors used agents and got publishing contracts, Christopher Taylor's books would have been published by Ace Books or Ballantine, and would have been in bookshops across the country. Today's publishing climate is both easier and harder for writers who aren't celebrities, and so Taylor is an independent author and "Life Unworthy" is a contract-worthy book available on Amazon for Kindle and in Trade Paperback. I bought the hard copy.

It's a good werewolf tale, keeping us on pins and needles all the way through, true to its genre, and a solid mystery story as well. But for those looking for more depth than monsters, "Life Unworthy" is rich historical fiction, replete with accurate detail that gives us a genuine sense of life-on-the-ground in 1943 Poland, occupied by the Nazis and terrorized by ancient curses.

Meticulous research includes many tiny details true to the era that might not be consciously appreciated by a casual reader. I love the way everyone smokes *everywhere*. Young people won't recognize that bit of "atmosphere" from a time when up to 80% of adults smoked and didn't die from it, but it is just one of the myriad ways Taylor paints us into a realistic picture. The ubiquitous cigarettes, the constant reference to "the Great War", are not essential to the story, but serve to rattle us into thinking a little deeper, immersing us into the time and place.

The psychic hold "the Great War" has on the soldiers in this novel is particularly effective, and has been seldom covered in war writing - whether fiction or fact, most WWII writing is colored by later knowledge that this was indeed "the second world war", whereas in the early years, it was still seen even by those in it as a more hopeful war: the Nazis were buoyed by recovering what they had lost in the catastrophic brutality of the Great War, Poland had not yet been betrayed, and so even the Poles and Gypsies in Life Unworthy desperately clung to belief that it would end with freedom.

Great characters are fleshed out well, and believable. It is crazy to see how almost likable some of the Nazis can be, and it jars when we realize the jobs they are doing, how much "routine" funnels them into the soul-killing deeds they do in response to orderly commands.

Almost an allegory, the werewolf's struggle to control the beast is an opposite, a mirror image of these Nazis' efforts to rationalize within themselves the evil they are promoting. This is a subtle juxtaposition all through the book that slowly dawns on the reader as we go.

Look carefully to catch the clues woven throughout the novel. They are difficult to spot, seamlessly inserted into the prose. And the whispered hints are even more difficult to unravel. I found myself stopping along the way to look up a reference, a location, to uncover more layers of the deep history. It's impossible to anticipate the ending, yet when it comes, the threads trace back to early hints, mentions, shadows, and you think, "Ah! So that is what that meant!"

A satisfying resolution that takes its own sweet time to unfold is one of the best things about Taylor's writing style. I am often annoyed by otherwise good writers who rush their endings - building to the climax then wrapping everything up in a quick couple of paragraphs, as though they suddenly realize they've reached their word limit. Taylor doesn't do that. He never leaves his readers in the lurch. He continues to follow the story for a bit to let us absorb what happened and neatly finish the final seams, so that it is complete and full.

All in all, "Life Unworthy" is a good story, a satisfying read, that doesn't waste our time. It's a book for adults, and will leave you thinking about the characters long after you've shelved the book in your permanent collection, to read again someday.

Yes, Virginia, Once Upon A Time, Real Men Played Football

Via Traces of Texas, on Facebook:

"Dandy" Don Meredith, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, talks to reporters in the locker room following the famous "Ice Bowl" game against the Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, back in 1967. The game-time temperature at Lambeau Field was about −15 °F (−26 °C), with an average wind chill around −48 °F (−44 °C). It remains one of the most famous games in NFL history." 

Yes, that is a cigarette he is smoking. And yes, that is real hair on his chest. 

SportsDay writes:

"[Bob] Lilly, A TCU graduate out of West Texas, unfamiliar with such brutal weather, suffered frostbitten fingers on his left hand in that game. His three mates on the defensive line that anchored Tom Landry's effective but quirky "Flex Defense" all suffered frostbite as well.  ...

"They might have worn gloves but Lilly recalled that old-school defensive coordinator Ernie  Stautner admonished that such a luxury was for "sissies" and he couldn't have such coddled players on his squad. ...

"While players cautiously tried to navigate a sheet of ice underfoot, an announced assembly of 50,861 fans exhaled from behind faces covered by woolen masks, emitting enough carbon dioxide to remind of London fog.

"Please, Ryan said under his breath, let those of his cameras that refused to die in the cold, continue to work. The crew's remarkable work in those conditions provides the only known extended video from the game. "

"Once the game began, referee Norm Schachter and his officiating crew abandoned their whistles, which froze to their lips soon after kickoff. Instead, they relied on voices and hand signals to control the game. An elderly fan in the stands suffered hypothermia and died. Alicia Landry, wife of the Cowboys coach, is said to have missed the game's decisive play because her eyelashes were frozen shut. ..."

But Don Meredith had the final insight into why the Dallas Cowboys of Old played the way they played: not for the money, or their coaches, but for their fans:

"Meredith, of course, was on the plane that returned the Cowboys to Love Field in the wake of the Ice Bowl.

"I remember the pilot telling us he got word that there were a lot of people waiting for us," recalled Brandt. "We didn't know what to expect."

News reports estimated about 500 sympathetic fans were there to embrace their heroes in relatively balmly 32-degree weather.

"It was the first time Cowboys fans celebrated a loss," Meredith, who died in 2010, once told Michael. "It changed everything about the way we felt about our fans. It created a bond that would never be broken."

Go read the whole article: "Too Cold to Bleed: Why The Ice Bowl Still Resonates 50 Years Later".    

It's the stuff America ... and real football... is made of. 

Bill Quick: Donald Trump Harks Back to JFK's Mainstream America

At his Daily Pundit blog, Bill Quick writes:

"It’s interesting to compare Donald Trump to John F.  Kennedy.  Both JFK and PDT supported civil rights for black Americans, but not for illegal aliens.  JFK’s coalition looked a lot like PDTs does today, as JFK’s Democrat Party still catered to the needs and desires of working class and southern Americans – just as PDT does today.

"JFKs judicial appointments were more liberal that PDTs, because the litmus issue in those times was civil rights.  The Vietnam war arose as a national issue only after the mass drafts of the post JFK years began to bite.  Nor did the Boomers elect JFK.  In 1960, they were still in high school, and more than ten years away from getting the right to vote as 18 year-olds.

"It is popular among today’s pop “historians” to present the years of the 1960s and 1970s as the decades in which America as a whole finally took up the New Left’s philosophy en masse, but that is simply not the case.  The New Left, the hippies, the massive use of drugs, and all the rest of the cultural appurtenances of that time were always a practice of the minority.  More young men went off to serve in Vietnam than rioted in the streets for one cause or another.  With the possible exception of marijuana, drug use was never practiced by any significant majority of Americans (as is still the case). .... "

Do go read the whole post. It is quite heartening.

Boy Scouts Love President Trump's Speech at National Jamboree, Shout "We Love Trump!" and "USA! USA! USA!"

During President Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts, that huge crowd applauded constantly, chanted " We love Trump! We love Trump! We love Trump!" and "USA! USA! USA!", and they "boo'ed" when he mentioned "his opponent".

Here's a sample quote:

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  "Your lives will have meaning and purpose and joy. You will become leaders, and you will inspire others to achieve the dreams they once thought were totally impossible, things that you said could never, ever happen are already happening for you. And if you do these things -- and if you refuse to give in to doubt or to fear -- then you will help to make America great again. You will be proud of yourself, be proud of the uniform you wear, and be proud of the country you love." (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!  

And just in case the Fake News starts getting it wrong, there were only two times the audience boo'ed. One when he mentioned Hillary:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We won Florida.  We won South Carolina.  We won North Carolina.  We won Pennsylvania.  (Applause.)
We won and won.  So when they said, there is no way to victory, there is no way to 270.  I went to Maine four times because it’s one vote, and we won.  But we won -- one vote.  I went there because I kept hearing we're at 269.  But then Wisconsin came in.  Many, many years -- Michigan came in.
And we worked hard there.  My opponent didn't work hard there because she was told -- 

AUDIENCE:  Booo!

THE PRESIDENT:  "She was told she was going to win Michigan....."

and then when President Trump was telling the story of William Levitt, and teased them with a cliff-hanger:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: " I won’t go any more than that because you’re Boy Scouts, so I’m not going to tell you what he did."

AUDIENCE: Booo -- 

THE PRESIDENT: "Should I tell you? Should I tell you?"

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Final real news: The audience loved the speech and the President ALL THE WAY THROUGH:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So I have to tell you what we did, in all fairness, is an unbelievable tribute to you and all of the other millions and millions of people that came out and voted for Make America Great Again.  (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

The President ended his speech with a blessing:

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  "And I just want to end by saying very importantly:  God bless you.  God bless the Boy Scouts.  God bless the United States of America.
Go out.  Have a great time in life.  Compete and go out and show me that there is nobody -- nobody -- like a Boy Scout."

President Donald John Trump in Sobieski's Homeland

Our President Donald John Trump never mentioned John III Sobieski in the speeches he made while in Poland... but the memory of the "Savior of Christendom" is palpable throughout.

In his amazing speech To The People Of Poland, he spoke in detail about Poland's heroic and determined past: the Miracle of Vistula, "the Katyn forest massacre, the occupations, the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the destruction of [Warsaw], and the deaths of nearly one in five Polish people", Jerusalem Avenue. He named Casimir Pulaski  and Tadeusz Kościuszko (heroes of the American Revolution and of Polish Insurrection against Russia), and declared :" I am here today not just to visit an old ally, but to hold it up as an example for others who seek freedom and who wish to summon the courage and the will to defend our civilization. "

As his conclusive statement confirms, President Trump stood up in defiance of  Globalism and of invasive enemies of civilization. Malcolm Pollack described it well:

 "“Brilliance”! “Excellence”! Reverence! Traditions! Heritage! The defense of the West! Protecting our borders! Preserving our civilization!
"Strong stuff, and as far as the epicene political, academic, and media elites of the modern West are concerned, it might as well be the language of Mordor. Can you imagine Barack Obama saying such things? The words would have burnt his tongue."

President Trump reminded listeners of his historic peace-making trip to the Middle East in which he  engaged with the Muslim nations of the world to work themselves to bring peace to their own countries and to themselves drive out the militant islamists who are destroying every civilization within reach:

" We are confronted by another oppressive ideology -- one that seeks to export terrorism and extremism all around the globe.  America and Europe have suffered one terror attack after another.  We’re going to get it to stop.  (Applause.)
During a historic gathering in Saudi Arabia, I called on the leaders of more than 50 Muslim nations to join together to drive out this menace which threatens all of humanity.  We must stand united against these shared enemies to strip them of their territory and their funding, and their networks, and any form of ideological support that they may have.  While we will always welcome new citizens who share our values and love our people, our borders will always be closed to terrorism and extremism of any kind.   "

President Trump's choice of Poland in which to vocalize his stand for "The West" and civilization shows his understanding of history & of another time when islamists used war and terror to attack the West. It was Poland's King, John III Sobieski who drove back the Islamic Turks at the "Gates of Vienna" in 1683 when the Islamic Ottoman Empire had Europe under siege. The Pope called him the "Savior of Christendom", a constellation was named after him, and Sobieski has since been known as the "Savior of Vienna and Western European civilization".

And thus, some of the most powerful paragraphs of President Trump's speech are those in which this "new Cyrus" invokes our Father God within a country that has recently reaffirmed its identity as a Christian Nation:

"The Polish martyr, Bishop Michael Kozal, said it well:  “More horrifying than a defeat of arms is a collapse of the human spirit.”
"Through four decades of communist rule, Poland and the other captive nations of Europe endured a brutal campaign to demolish freedom, your faith, your laws, your history, your identity -- indeed the very essence of your culture and your humanity.  Yet, through it all, you never lost that spirit.  (Applause.)  Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken.  (Applause.)  

"And when the day came on June 2nd, 1979, and one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first mass with their Polish Pope, that day, every communist in Warsaw must have known that their oppressive system would soon come crashing down.  (Applause.)  They must have known it at the exact moment during Pope John Paul II’s sermon when a million Polish men, women, and children suddenly raised their voices in a single prayer.  A million Polish people did not ask for wealth.  They did not ask for privilege.  Instead, one million Poles sang three simple words:  “We Want God.”  (Applause.)

"In those words, the Polish people recalled the promise of a better future.  They found new courage to face down their oppressors, and they found the words to declare that Poland would be Poland once again.

"As I stand here today before this incredible crowd, this faithful nation, we can still hear those voices that echo through history.  Their message is as true today as ever.  The people of Poland, the people of America, and the people of Europe still cry out “We want God.”  (Applause.) 

"Together, with Pope John Paul II, the Poles reasserted their identity as a nation devoted to God.  And with that powerful declaration of who you are, you came to understand what to do and how to live.  You stood in solidarity against oppression, against a lawless secret police, against a cruel and wicked system that impoverished your cities and your souls.  And you won.  Poland prevailed.  Poland will always prevail. (Applause.)
"AUDIENCE:  Donald Trump!  Donald Trump!  Donald Trump!  "

Our God is moving in the world to accomplish His purposes. And Our Father God has given us a man to lead us.

Isaiah 45:

The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him,
to disarm[a] kings,
to open the doors before him
and the gates will not be shut:
2 “I will go before you
and level the uneven places;[b]
I will shatter the bronze doors
and cut the iron bars in two.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches from secret places,
so that you may know that I, Yahweh,
the God of Israel call you by your name.
4 I call you by your name,
because of Jacob My servant
and Israel My chosen one.
I give a name to you,
though you do not know Me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other;
there is no God but Me.
I will strengthen[c] you,
though you do not know Me,
6 so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
that there is no one but Me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness,
I make success and create disaster;
I, Yahweh, do all these things."

Our President Donald John Trump QOTD : Space Exploration

 "[S]pace exploration is not only essential to our character as a nation, but also our economy and our great nation’s security.  ...

"The human soul yearns for discovery.  By unlocking the mysteries of the universe, we unlock truths within ourselves.  That’s true.  Our journey into space will not only make us stronger and more prosperous, but will unite us behind grand ambitions and bring us all closer together.  ...

"... It is America’s destiny to be at the forefront of humanity’s eternal quest for knowledge and to be the leader amongst nations on our adventure into the great unknown. ..."


~ from Our President Donald John Trump's remarks on The National Space Council, June 30, 2017

Working Women All Through History: Blacksmiths, Silversmiths, Nail Makers

If you thought that "Kate the Blacksmith" was an anachronism in A Knight's Tale... she wasn't. (Well except for her dialect... and maybe her attitude...)  Despite the feminist mythology, women have engaged, openly and profitably, in almost every occupation in every era in the western, Christian world.

In the 14th Century Holkham Bible, this illustration shows a woman blacksmith forging a nail. Note the assumption in the caption, written by a modern author, that she is "the Blacksmith's wife".  Maybe she was and maybe she wasn't... what the factual record shows is a woman working at a forge with hammer and tongs.

In the brief article "Blacksmithing of the 18th Century", the author notes that the demand for nails was huge, and making them was a common sideline for people, including women - even those women who were not full-fledged master smiths.

The Bodleian Library blog has an interesting article about "Lizzie Bennett, Blacksmith":

" An account of blacksmithing work done in December 1708 by Eliz[abeth] Bennett at Blenheim ‘Castle’, her job included making 32 dozen holdfasts for the joiners (at 2 shillings a dozen), making new handles for three saws, mending a pump in the meadows, and making wedges and clouts (patches or plates) used in the stairs. But in addition to making items for a fixed price, she also charged for work by the pound weight. Twenty five pounds of iron works for a grindstone at 4 pence a pound earned her 8s 4d (100 pence total) and 31 pounds of wedges and clouts, also at 4 pence a pound, made her 10s 4d.The total for what would have been several days or weeks of highly skilled work? 4 pounds, 17 shillings, 2 pence. Not bad at all if you compare it to a female servant’s income at about that time – maidservant Sarah Sherin made £4 a year in 1717, while in the farming world, a female labourer called Goody Currell was paid 4 pence a day at an Oxfordshire farm in 1759, fifty years later."

An article from the Colonial Williamsburg journal:

"The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in London lists sixty-five "brethren" and two "sistren" in its 1434 charter."

"A 1770 publication called The Tradesman's True Guide or a Universal Directory for the Towns of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsal, Dudley and the manufacturing village in the neighborhood of Birmingham carries exhaustive lists of tradesmen and -women alphabetically by name and by trade. There are women listed in every trade from butcher to wire drawer."

"Only recently did a Colonial Williamsburg interpreter look closely at a nineteenth-century print that had been hanging on the wall at the Geddy House for years: a portion of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard Illustrated features a country blacksmith shop where four men are working, and in the right-hand corner, a woman hammers at an anvil rather inconspicuously. A 1505 Polish print is centered on a lovely woman at a spindle, but a careful inspection of the background shows a woman making a shoe on her knee."

The article notes the big error in modern & postmodern Feminist History: the idea that women "weren't allowed to work" doesn't hold up to scrutiny:

"What is more compelling is the lack of documentation that women were not allowed to work. Although religious practices and social norms might have restricted certain activities in some parts of the world, there were no laws prohibiting women from working a trade.

"Yet sometimes scholars and guests have a hard time accepting the notion that women did just that. Schumann says that "the greatest obstacle for the visitor is in accepting Rind as an eighteenth-century woman, and not a 'born-before-her-time' women's libber."

As I point out when demonstrating Letterpress Printing, an ordinary occupation of women since Gutenberg's time, women have always worked for pay - they had to make a living, then as now. This author agrees:
".... no matter what century it is, women have always done what is necessary to provide for themselves and their families."

Sign of the Times: Voice Of The Deplorables

This billboard was paid for by a businessman in Boerne, Texas! It reads "ABC News: I grew up with you. We are through. The Russians didn't elect Donald Trump. I did. Kyle Courtney "

At Accuracy In Media, Don Irvine reports:

 "[Kyle] Courtney released the following statement to News4 in San Antonio:
“ABC News was the only channel I watched as a child growing up in Texas but I think they have lost touch with America and forgotten the working man. They don’t represent our voice anymore. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was funded by the Clinton Foundation in close coordination with the media, and now we’re seeing them try to fix what they couldn’t fix during the election. They are doing everything they can, night after night, to create narratives and sway people’s direction to impeach Donald Trump. Our democracy is at stake when a major political party and the media are in bed together. I’m not asking anyone to boycott the Democratic party. I’m not in the brainwashing business, but the liberal media is.” "

Thank you, and God bless you, Mr. Courtney. Many millions of us share your thinking -and also proudly voted FOR Donald John Trump without apology or equivocation.




*Photo Credit: Wellstar Groundwater Technologies, Mr Courtney's company

UNICEF/WHO-Sponsored "Botched Vaccine Campaign For Measles Killed 15 Children"

Were the lives of fifteen little boys and girls who died unnecessarily "worth it" for the UN to push its goals of counting vaccines by the numbers, instead of by the person?

The UN/Feminists' continual push to vaccinate against low-fatality diseases without using proper facilities, personnel, and supplies in undeveloped or unstable areas that lack basic services or education, is misguided at best. And as NPR reports, has potentially deadly consequences.

In this case, a WHO/UNICEF program failed horribly, resulting in a Measles vaccine campaign where errors killed 5% of all who received the shots, and sickened 10% of recipients.

Malaka Gharib writes on June 2nd at NPR, in an article titled "A Botched Vaccine Campaign For Measles Killed 15 Children in South Sudan" :
"[Fifteen] children, all under age 5, died of severe sepsis and toxicity due to a botched vaccination campaign, according to a joint statement issued Thursday by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. ... In addition to the deaths, 32 children were sickened from the 300-person vaccination campaign in South Sudan. "
"...The vaccine had been left unrefrigerated. One syringe was reused over the course of four days.
"The campaign, which took place in early May in the rural town of Kapoeta, was part of an effort by the South Sudanese government to vaccinate 2 million children against measles. The vaccines were provided by UNICEF. The World Health Organization provided some training in how to administer the vaccines." .... "
"...Some reports are saying children as young as 12 years old were administering the vaccine.... "
 According to the CDC in 2015, "Worldwide, an estimated 20 million people get measles and 146,000 people, mostly children, die from the disease each year." That is less than 1/10th of 1%. Most sources cite a higher number of 3/10th of 1%: from 1 to 3 deaths per thousand of all those who fall ill. To give this some context, the mortality rate for measles is far below the Infant Mortality Rate for the United States of 6.9 deaths within 7 days of birth of each 1,000 babies born alive. The Infant Mortality Rate for South Sudan, from all causes, is more than 66 deaths per thousand.

Natural News reports:
"Measles continues to be a huge public health burden in South Sudan. In fact, United Nations (U.N.) data showed that nearly 3,000 people contracted the disease and 28 people died of the infection in 2016 alone. The data also found that 665 people have already been infected and at least one person died of measles so far this year."

With the Nachodokopele village tragedy, half as many people have been killed by UNICEF/WHO's bad planning for the vaccine in South Sudan as died of the disease itself last year.

But fear not! UNICEF/WHO will overcome, and will keep on treating poor children and their families as test subjects for their high "ideals".

From the statement issued by WHO/UNICEF on the deaths caused by their faulty anti-measles program:
"“Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF express our deep regret and sadness at the passing of the children. This tragic event could have been prevented by adhering to WHO immunization safety standards…Vaccination is one of the most basic and critical health needs in emergencies to protect populations from the risk of contracting deadly but preventable diseases. The risk of measles and other Vaccine Preventable Diseases in South Sudan remains extremely high because of the challenges being faced by the health system. The country has experienced significant measles outbreaks among unprotected population caused by a backlog of unvaccinated children in areas of insecurity,” a joint statement by the WHO and UNICEF read.

"The Ministry of Health has tapped a multi-agency administrative committee to assess the AEFI report and provide appropriate recommendations for further actions to improve immunization service delivery."

NPR interviewed William Moss, professor of epidemiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the head of epidemiology at the International Vaccine Access Center, and asked him "What went wrong?" Moss replied:
"South Sudan has been plagued by a civil war, conflict, famine and other outbreaks for three years. Measles vaccination campaigns are complex operations with logistical challenges — and this is a place with poor health infrastructure. That's not an excuse, but it provides some context in understanding how such a thing could have happened."

What did UNICEF hope to achieve by moving so aggressively, without strong ground support, in such a poor nation?

Infogalactic notes: "Measles vaccination programs are often used to deliver other child health interventions, as well, such as bed nets to protect against malaria, antiparasite medicine and vitamin A supplements, and so contribute to the reduction of child deaths from other causes. "

Obviously, in this case, these other interventions were not the objective.

Was this a pilot project to get indigenous people to administer the shots to their own communities? That is what it begins to sound like to me.

Why do the UN, WHO, and all sorts of NGOs think it is ok for them to experiment with people's lives in undeveloped countries of the world? Hmmmm?

Why do they think just handing an offhand apology makes it ok for them to continue on, with no added accountability, with their agendas even after they are responsible for such tragedy?

Remember these questions, the next time UNICEF sends those cute Christmas cards begging for our donations, and throw away their exploitive mailings.

Remember those fifteen little children from Nachodokopele village, and remember their parents, who deserve more than official "statements" or "expressions of deep regret" from elites who are living high while monetizing suffering as a fund-raising mechanism.

Those parents deserve to have their children treated with the same concern and care that would be used for children in the hometowns of UN officials and WHO doctors.

A Prayer For This Time, And For President Donald John Trump's "First Hundred Days" In Office

Father God, please protect the "new Cyrus" you have sent us, and guard Donald John Trump, his family, all who voted for him, and everyone who supports him, from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Psalm 83:
"O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
....
13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Cover their faces with shame, Lord,
so that they will seek your name.
17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth."

#DearMeryl

Dear Meryl,

A "Lifetime Achievement Award" means you don't matter any more.

Goodbye, and thanks for all the Heartburn,

The Deplorables

Hillary, Obama, & the Democrats Mistake Monty Python For A Real Playbook

Hillary, Democrats, Media, & Quislings started out by pretending that poor old Hillary "I fall down but someone props me up again" Clinton was a shoe-in, despite that she's crooked and looney to boot, and they kept pretending all the way up to the Electoral College vote:






Democrats and Media pretend that Hillary lost >90% of the Continental Land Mass "because Voter ID":






Democrats, People Famous-For-Being-Famous, the Weirder of the Mainstream Media, Quislings, and College Freshmen ran around yelling, to nobody in particular, "Not My President":







Democrats, Illegal Aliens, and Professional Rioters ran around committing arson, vandalism, and generally acting like they live in the Third World when they found out that Hillary made history by being one of two women nominees who couldn't get enough people to actually vote for them to win the election in 2016:








Then they tried pretending that Hillary and Jill lost because of "rigged voting", until recounts showed more votes for Trump, and ... hey why are there more votes than voters in these places Hillary won?








Having lost the Presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, a majority of Governorships and most State Legislatures (Dems hold Governor & Legislative majorities in only FIVE states) , some Democrats begin calling for "bipartisanship":







Next, Obama, Hillary, Democrats & Quislings pretend Russia did mean things, but President Trump & the Deplorables aren't fooled:





And finally, the ridiculousness reached levels of clinical instability, because they have to live with the knowledge that in the end, all those people the Elites and Progressives and Globalists and Democrats have been laughing at... are not so ordinary after all.

MAGA!!!!!!!!!

FBI Hate Crime Data Excludes Victims Targeted Because Of Their Religion In Terror Attacks

The FBI recently released its annual report on Hate Crime Statistics for 2015.  It appears fairly straightforward, and clarifies certain changes in definition. But some high-profile events are missing: mass attacks, including those designated as "Terror Attacks" seem to be omitted from the FBI's  Hate Crime database.

More on that in a minute. First, let's look at the misleading use of percentages to inflate some very tiny numbers. And at the mixing of data with opinion with rumor to create something that does not exist... I think the word for it this week is Fake News.

Fake News or "a filtered product to readers"

Pew Research Center has put out a small analysis that, in keeping with the globalists' anti-Trump narrative, purports to show a huge increase in "anti-Muslim assaults" under the headline:
"FBI Data shows Anti-Muslim assaults reach 9/11-era levels",  quotes a few stats of year-old data, shows a graph, cherry picks mentions of other religions, then throws in a bunch of  opinion polls - all of which is slanted to create the impression that anti-Muslim discrimination is far worse than that against any other religion. The article wraps up with a dire-sounding number of reports, admits those reports can't be confirmed (indeed, most have been proven hoaxes), and gets to the whole reason for the article with this phrase: "in the five days following the presidential election alone."

Here's some reality to keep in mind: that's only 91 cases over the entire USA covering an entire year, from a year or more ago - all occurred before the presidential election campaign got off the ground, and particularly,  occurred before the elite media's obsession with Muslim immigration began after the San Bernadino Massacre in December 2015.

There is no evidence at all, no statistics, no data, nothing but rumor to indicate any increase in crime against people for their Muslim faith in the year 2016.  But Pew put out this article in a way that creates the appearance that there are both an increase in criminal targeting, and evidence for it.

Why is Pew Research suddenly trafficking in rumor and nuanced innuendo?

325 Million people live in the US,  three million of them are Muslim,  and  of those, 257 Muslims reported being mistreated because of their religion last year. This includes what the FBI labels "intimidation", vandalism, theft: only 91 were physical assaults.

According to the FBI's database, almost as many Christians, 244, were criminally victimized for their faith, and Jews were targets a whopping 237% more often than Muslims: 731 Jewish people in the US were victims of hate crimes last year, with a population of approximately 6 million.

Meanwhile, the Southern Poverty Law Center is still reporting dozens of false reports (and Pew Research is still happily citing their unverifiable "anecdotes" in which people pretended they were targeted "by Trump voters" or by so-called "white" people, and later admitted they made it all up.
In at least one case, a Muslim woman was charged for the false police report she made - shouldn't this be listed as a "hate crime" as well?

Pew did not bother to report that the DOCUMENTED assaults on Trump supporters before and  after the election have included brutal beatings of people - including children, one only 11 years old in his elementary classroom - targeted by multiple assailants. Many of the hate crimes against Trump supporters have been actively reported as harmless fun  or even with deliberate blamed placed on the victim by pro-Democrat elite media.

According to the FBI: " 88.4 percent of agencies participating in the Hate Crime Statistics Program reported that no hate crimes occurred in their jurisdictions."

As some of the above articles show about bias against President Trump's supporters, "hate crimes" against people hated by the elite media and Globalists are likely to be under-reported. It is very difficult for Christian victims to get a "hate crime" designation for their suffering.  Often, where Christians are criminally targeted there is a tendency within law enforcement as well as elite media to ignore the perpetrator and blame the victim for holding or declaring unpopular beliefs or practices.

Confusion in recording anti-Christian "hate crimes" is also caused in part because the FBI statistics break anti-Christian bias down into denomination, so if the assailant didn't specifically "hate Catholics" or "Mormons", the crime is more likely to go unreported in anti-Christian "hate crime" statistics. The FBI does not itemize various Islamic sects or Jewish ones, despite the existence of multiple branches of these religions.

Generally, there's also a great disparity in calling a crime "hate related" that depends on who the perpetrator is. Many violent assaults committed by avowed Muslim perpetrators are never classified as "hate crimes" against Christians, Jews, White Americans, Gays, Women, Children, or other groups that radical Muslims  (& often the perpetrators themselves) specifically say should be targeted: ie, the Fort Hood Massacre was labeled "workplace violence" despite the murderer's multiple and continual statements that he wanted to kill non-muslims because of their religion which was not Islam.

The Final Straw: Hate Crimes that are designated "Terror" Events aren't included in Hate Crime stats.

Even worse, and most significantly, when a massacre is  classified as an Islamic "terror attack" it is apparently excluded from law enforcement Hate Crime databases, as reported to the FBI.

In example, four non-muslims were stabbed in a terror attack at UC Merced, California, in November 2015, when Muslim student Faisal Mohammad, carrying a photocopied ISIS flag in his pocket and smiling the whole time, slashed four people with a hunting knife in a classroom & hallways. CNN reported the FBI said Mohammad had visited ISIS & terrorist websites, and that his attack was "terror-inspired".

But still, both Merced and the University of California reported zero religion-motivated hate crimes for 2015, despite the FBI's confirmation.

The Garland, Texas terror attack at an art show in May 2015, which resulted in a heroic school security guard being shot in the ankle, and the deaths of the two  Islamic jihadists, is not listed in the FBI's "hate crime" database. It should be in there, and the guard should be numbered among the victims. There is a category for "Religious bias: anti-other (unspecified) religion that should be used for these crimes.

The December 2015 San Bernadino Massacre is not listed in FBI data as a "hate crime".  Despite the deaths of 14 people and the serious injury of 22 others at a Christian religion-connected event, and despite the clear targeting of the group because of their not-muslim religious status as "infidels", all 36 people, mostly Christian but also of other faiths, are missing from the totals of religious hate crime victims, and 6 people are missing from the totals of religious hate crime perpetrators.

However, so-called "anti-Muslim" "hate crimes" arising from the jihadist massacre of innocents are included:
"In the aftermath of the shooting, CAIR reported an escalation in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.S., including the throwing of a pig's head at a mosque in Philadelphia, the beating of a Queens shop owner, and incidents of death threats and vandalism.[287] A number of attacks and incidents of vandalism in southern California in the weeks following the attack were investigated as anti-Muslim hate crimes"

"On December 15, 2015, three senior White House officials‍—‌Valerie Jarrett, Cecilia Munoz, and Ben Rhodes‍—‌met with American Muslim and Sikh leaders to discuss the increase in violent attacks upon members of the American Muslim and Sikh community following the attack (Sikhs are not Muslims but have been occasionally targeted in anti-Islamic bias-motivated crimes)"

The White House officials did not meet with American non-Muslim leaders to discuss the increase in violent anti-Infidel attacks upon members of their communities following this or any other attack.

Edited to add: The nine innocent people shot to death by Dylann Roof in Charleston because of their race were also not reported as victims of a racial "hate crime" in the database.

These few events alone add another 41 victims that were targeted because of bias against their religion, and 11 who were killed, injured or terrorized because of their  race, but whose deaths and suffering are not counted worthy of being considered "hate crimes".

While the FBI explicitly cautions on every page against using this data for "Ranking", and notes that the information is provided by each of thousands of jurisdictions, it is up to each user to familiarize themselves with what is and is not contained in the database.  And by "user", I think we have to include readers of articles such as this one, and the ones written by Pew Research.

Bottom line?

Bias.

Bias.

Bias.

BIAS.

BIAS:  Dec 6 2016 UPDATE:  New  York Post reports the Southern Poverty Law Center falsified the results of a survey it used to push a FAKE NEWS "narrative" against President Trump and his supporters. In particular, the SPLC omitted 2,000 reports in which students were attacked or bullied at school for being "white", and the SPLC also claimed that saying "Build the Wall" was a "racist hate crime",when in fact it is neither "anti-immigrant" nor "racist", and in fact does not indicate any bias for or against anyone, but asimple willingness to abide by the rule of law.

BIAS: Dec 11 2016 UPDATE to add the Hoax Map image, and link to the source, Sondrakisten.com and article "Hate Mischief"

BIAS: Dec 15 2016 UPDATE:  Yasmin Seweid charged with filing a false police report and with obstructing governmental administration for her hoax in which she falsely told "the police that three white men screaming “Donald Trump!” attacked her on Dec. 1 on an uptown No. 6 train at East 23rd Street, DNAinfo.com reported. She told the police that the men had called her a terrorist and that when she tried to move to the other end of the subway car, one of them followed and tried to pull off her traditional head scarf. " She made up the whole thing. Nothing happened. 

The Alt-Righteous and the Waiting Time: A Christian Advent in the Year of Elections

This year in particular, we are in a curious holding pattern while we wait for President Trump's Inauguration. The Globalist Left is telling us daily about their plans to undo the legal election, trying to undermine our confidence, reacting like the abusers they are.   It is ESSENTIAL that we stand firm and be unyielding in our FAITH that God's purpose is unfolding toward His ends, whatever we may think we see or hear. In other words, don't let doubt enter in.  President Trump WON.  And as this great meme from The Last Refuge reminds us, Donald Trump stood up when the Lord God called. Can we do less than to stand firm?

 The entire force of all the media, Dems, & GOP that hated Trump before the election, now hate him and us even more, and are pulling out all stops to try to cause doubt and fear and to undermine our confidence in everyone on our side. They attempt to isolate each of us.

Remember: everything they say is a LIE. In their minds the election is not over - just like Gore's election was never over. Remember that and laugh at them every time they pedal their duplicitous mantra of fear and loathing.

President Trump WON. YOU won. God told us "Fear Not! The Lord Himself will fight for you. All you have to do is stand!" God did not raise up a new Cyrus to free his people to rebuild our land, in order to abandon us now.   Now, our work begins to accomplish the tasks God gives us.

Those tasks involve physical work, political work, social work, and spiritual work. During the "waiting time" that is Advent, we've  spiritual work to do to continue restoring our faith and the Christian faith in America.

Many of us fasted before and up to the election. Fasting, usually understood as going without food for a period of time or of forgoing particular foods for a period of time, is an old discipline that has been neglected in the modern Christian world. Not everyone is called to it, and a wise Christian woman once told me that we need God's help to fast, so not to worry if I weren't able to.  Here's a good article with the basics of fasting to get started (not endorsing the website, just this article). And here is an outline of guidelines for an Orthodox Advent fast.  From the latter, the Antiochan Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, comes also this advice:

• *Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.

• *We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God’s gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.

• *We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.

• *Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.

For me, at 21 days it was the longest fast I have ever undertaken, and I was able to do it without telling anyone but Paul.  I allowed myself to drink anything I wanted, including milk and broth, and I had one small meal every second or third day (that is what enabled me to avoid telling others about my fast. I scheduled meals within gatherings) .  While not as rigid as some may have done. it helped me remain focused on the value of my quiet relationship with God in effecting His work.  For the three days leading up to the election, I did not eat, finally enjoying a meal only after the polls had closed on the West Coast. I have not yet come to see whether or how I should fast for Advent - and for the preservation of President Donald Trump's election and full inauguration.

The themes of King Cyrus continue to crop up. Today, a passage on the particular kind of fasting that our Father God approves of, starts by reminding us we as individuals must look after our own, and ends with a strong statement about rebuilding the ruins and restoring the walls. It also adds a pointed reminded about keeping the Sabbath - the day of rest every week:

6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.

“If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; 10 if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. 11 And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.

12 Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”

The Reward for Keeping the Sabbath:

13 The Lord says, “If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day, 14 then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

                                                                                         Isaiah 58: 6-14 (Good News Version)

This does NOT mean we are supposed to "be nice". Nice does not equal Good.  We remove oppression when we speak the truth, even when it is not politically correct. We free the oppressed when we stand up against persecuting people for speaking out against Progressive and Globalist distortion. The forced "migration" is unjust to all concerned, criminal governments pushing people out of their homes and sending them into indentured servitude. We help the homeless, needy, and poor in our own communities, not by allowing Open Borders to push people from other lands out of their original homes to fulfill evil Elitist agendas of increasing "migrants" and "remittances" and "majority minority voters". We remove oppression when we build and maintain good boundaries and strong borders. When we allow people to earn a living in their own land, trading with their own neighbors.

Our pastor suggested before the election: What if the prayer and supplication of our little cowboy church really could affect the outcome of the election and could make a difference for all eternity?  What if my private actions and worship really do make a singular difference?

Whether or not we fast for Advent, or perhaps give something up, it can only help our cause to refocus our minds on taking a good look at ourselves and listen for the words God is speaking to us as direction for the coming months.  A new course of study, a simple daily meditation, some new discipline to focus our minds and our will toward whatever unknown we will be called to very soon.

As expectant families do, we pray for the safety and easy birth of our new government led by President Trump. We pray for the washing of that government, scrubbing it clean of corruption and guile, restoring to all positions mighty men and women of honor who will conduct their affairs in Godly ways.

We also pray for guidance and focus for our own roles in rebuilding our ruined cities, in reconstructing our walls, in looking after our own families and the *individuals* we see right in front of us, in our own towns in our own states, instead of continuing to follow the globalists orders to ignore our American family's pleas and look over their familiar heads toward more exotic or interesting strangers over the far horizon.  There are many who are called to serve those in foreign lands, and we pray for bold new proclamation of the Living Gospel to be the central purpose of their work, not some watered down globalist project that forbids the mention of Jesus' Name in the doing.

The work of Christians in this time is to be done, as it was of old, with Jesus Christ paramount. For as CS Lewis noted, " Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’ The Gospel is something completely different. In fact, it is directly opposed to the world."

Instead, the only true Commandment and single imperative that Jesus Christ gave us after his resurrection is to preach the Gospel to every creature :

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:19