Surreptitious Saturday

We enjoyed another family "Thanksmas" yesterday. Well, except for Nebraska losing to Iowa, which Nathan, Craig, Derek & I watched. At least Nebraska kept it close, but you know what they say:  "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, & presidential debates.

Last evening we enjoyed our traditional feast:  Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, Lois' world famous stuffing, crescent rolls, sweet potato casserole (yuck), cranberries (double yuck), green bean casserole, corn w/cream cheese. After we opened presents, we enjoyed Rachel's pumpkin-pecan pie.
[Brianna ate the left over green bean casserole for breakfast this morning. Did I mention that she's 15?]

After dinner we took family pictures. Laura directed traffic. Then we opened presents. Everyone seemed satisfied & grateful. Bentley (6) & Calvin (3 1/2) got a little impatient & wanted to start playing with their presents.

It's a little after noon today. Sarah & the dogs are taking naps. The rest of the crew is playing at the YMCA. After several days of yucky weather, the sun is out. It was a really wet snow (We got 6.5" on TUE.), & yesterday it rained, & temps are above freezing, so it's a sloppy mess outside. The kids were hoping to go sledding, but I think it will be too slushy.

As always, we are very thankful & grateful for family. We all get along so well. Bentley & Calvin get along especially well--another thing to be thankful & grateful for. Happy (a little late) Thanksgiving!

A Prayer for Thanksgiving Day

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good & His mercy endures forever. Lord God, heavenly Father, You have created me & endowed me with all that I am or have as a pure gift of Your "fatherly, divine goodness & mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me." You sustain me from day to day with the gifts of daily bread in the food that I eat, the family that surrounds me, the friends I enjoy, the country where I live, & countless other benefits that I constantly receive from your open hand. On this Day of Thanksgiving, cause me to gratefully remember the good gifts that You shower upon me. Deepen in me the knowledge of Your goodness, & awaken my heart to praise You for all of Your gifts, especially the forgiveness of sins that You have purchased & won for me & the whole world in the atoning death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep me mindful of Your mercies every day, & grant that I may thank, praise, serve, & obey You not only with my lips but also with a life dedicated to the service of my neighbor. To You, O Lord, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be all honor & gory, praise & thanksgiving, now & forever. Amen. --Lutheran Book of Prayer

Whimsical Wednesday

We had a blizzard yesterday & woke up to what looks like 5-7" of snow. Lois took Bentley, our 6-year-old grandson, sledding yesterday. We're watching him again today, & I foresee another sledding expedition. Craig & Sarah & the girls should make it this evening. Hopefully they'll be here in time for church tonight. Nathan & Laura & Calvin won't make it today, due to a blizzard in the Twin Cities. Hopefully they'll make it tomorrow.

What' on the agenda today? Besides watching Bentley, we'll finish putting up Christmas decorations, except for the tree ornaments, which the kids will help with. (We do our family Christmas on Friday night.) Lois got some grocery shopping done yesterday; the rest will be done today.

We'll do our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night, too. Our menu will be the same as every year. Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, cranberries (which I don't like), sweet potatoes (which I really don't like), black olives, pumpkin-pecan pie, & apple pie. My New Year's resolution to lose 10 lbs. this year will be sorely tested.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

I readily imagine the Good Shepherd delights in the task of caring for his flock. He goes willingly to search for the one that has gone astray. He gently offers his arms and guidance through valleys and beside still waters. He calls us by name and smiles at recognition of his voice. --Jill Carattini, Slice of Infinity

WHIMSY

"STUDY:  Americans growing tired of traditional Thanksgiving meals, open to alternative" --Drudge Report, 11/26

"Millennials in panic as outraged boomers threaten to withhold participation trophies" --Babylon Bee, 11/26

"New ultrasound technology can detect up to 50 genders" --ditto

"Mars Inc. vowed to make its chocolate green & failed . . . 'Anytime someone bites on a chocolate bar in the U.S., a tree is being cut down,' said Eric Agnero, an environmental activist in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coat. 'If we continue like that, in two, three, four years there will be no more forests." --Omaha World Herald, 11/10

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . FLORIDA

"Iguanas taking over FL--& state not sure what do do" --Drudge, 11/26  I can neither confirm nor deny reports that Florimaniacs are being encouraged to consider iguana for non-traditional Thanksgiving meal.

"Student offer teacher $15, citing her low pay. A FL 3rd grader surprised his teacher with $15 & a note saying teachers aren't paid enough" --Omaha World Herald, 11/11

"Dog goes on joyride after bumping car into motion. FL authorities say they responded to a rogue vehicle spinning in reverse around a suburban cul-de-sac with a longe occupant inside:  a black Labrador" --ditto, 11/24

. . . CALIFORNIA

"Californians brace for deadly 50-degree cold front" --Babylon Bee, 11/26

THANKSGIVING

For those of us who spend far too much time following the news these days, it is easy to feel that everything is falling apart. Regardless of your political ideology, there is no doubt that this country is politically divided and facing serious challenges. To make matters worse, we are entering an election season. Politicians will be trying their best to convince us that we are one vote away from choosing between Nazi Germany and Venezuela.

Yet, as we gather with friends and family this Thanksgiving, it is worth remembering that, beyond the headlines, things are actually pretty darn good. As both individuals and a country, we really have more than enough to be thankful for . . . Politics are not our life. The people we love, our faith, our families, the things we do that bring our lives joy and meaning — these things are far more important than politics. As George Will has pointed out: There are 357 million Americans; 350 million of them did not watch cable news or listen to talk radio yesterday.

So, as we begin to carve our turkey — which costs 4 percent less than last year — let’s tune out the politicians and their doom and gloom. It is a wonderful time to be alive. We really have so much to be thankful for. --Michael Tanner, NRO 11/27

POLITICS & UNITY

But politics in a republic is almost never about unity. Rather, politics is the art of negotiating differences. Democracy is about disagreement, not agreement. When politicians say: “The time for debate is over” or “Let’s put politics aside,” they’re really saying “shut up” to those who disagree. --Jonah Goldberg, ditto

Celebrating the Saints, Part II

"Repeatedly, the Lord declares that He remembers His people, His saints. His remembering is not a mental recalling of something He has forgotten, but a deliberate exercise of His love, whereby He keeps & carries out His promises, fulfills His covenant & saves His people from sin & death. And as He remembers them, He reveals & gives Himself to them by speaking His Word to them & by naming them & blessing them with His own holy name." --Richard Stuckwisch, The Lutheran Witness, Oct. 2019

Saturday + Celebrities + Christmas + Thankfulness + Happiness

SATURDAY

Lois plans to paint the guest bathroom upstairs today. I'm planning to sort through a plethora of papers & sort through pictures. We printed pictures from our trip to Glacier this summer, & we finally printed pictures from our trip to the Tetons & Yellowstone several years ago. The kids & grandkids will be here for Thanksgiving. We'll put up Christmas decorations on Wednesday. We'll hold back on the ornaments so the grandkids can help decorate the tree. We'll do Christmas on Friday or Saturday night, depending on Rachel's work schedule. We'll also do Thanksgiving dinner, depending on Rachel's work schedule.

THE COMMERCIALISM OF CHRISTMAS

At least the commercialism of Christmas carries within it news of “joy” and “goodwill to men.” And in a time of great change, it offers us stodgy, solid traditions. In a dark mood, it blares in with a message of light. The Victorian-era residue on Christmas points us away from our meritocratic striving and our ceaseless pursuits of distinction. It reminds us to do charitable works, and to share our blessings with the poor, the less fortunate. It points east, with the giddy rumor of some great outburst of hope and a promise of peace. So let it come. Break out the jazzy crooner Christmas albums. Deck the halls, find a new recipe for Chestnut soup. Let the women put on those cheesy rom-coms. And let a little of the joy come early. I think we need it.--Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review Online, 11/23

CELEBRITIES

Celebrity testimony is an age-old political stunt on Capitol Hill. If you want the press at your hearing, you lunge at the chance to have a star athlete, or a famous singer or actor, bring some zing to your issue. Democrats do this better because they have a lot more friends in Hollywood and they're always more willing to push the envelope with silliness. When you want to push your agenda on agriculture to the left and you need attention, you get Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek to testify. Their credentials? They all starred in movies about agriculture. --Brent Bozell, Townhall, 11/22

GIVE THANKS

The death of a friend and the ongoing battle against cancer in my own family make me very thankful for very many things. Most of all, I am thankful for a very real God I can call upon in times of stress, worry and trouble. He gives me no escape, but then, He could not escape 
the cross. But I am thankful and comforted by the thought that He will walk beside me. --Erick Erickson, ditto

HAPPINESS

"You will never be happy if your happiness depends on getting solely what you want. Change the focus. Get a new center. Will what God wills, and your joy no man shall take from you." Be not afraid, in other words . . .Think not that you could do more good if you were well, or that you could be more kind if you had more money, or that you could exercise more power for good if you had another position! What matters is not what we are, or what we are doing, but whether we are doing God's will." --Kathryn Lopez, Townhall, 11/23

Free-for-All Friday

TEMP CHALLENGE

Ratings based on wunderground.com at 7:33a (CST)

• Norfolk, NE, 15 degrees
• Ventura, IA, 19
• Eagan, MN, 21
• TIE, Beatrice, NE, Lincoln, NE, 23
• BALMIEST LECKBANDS, Garrison, IA, 24

FREE FOR ALL

• "Family drags uncle's corpse to insurance company to prove he's dead." --Drudge Report, 11/21

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . CALIFORNIA

• "San Fran Poop Problems Worsening" --Drudge, 11/22

BUREAUCRACY

But by nature, the huge federal bureaucracy counts on bigger government and more taxes to feed it. So naturally, the bureaucracy is usually more sympathetic to big-government progressives than to small-government conservatives. --Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online, 11/21

IMPEACHMENT

After three days of Adam Schiff’s impeachment inquiry, we are left with only the monotony. We know in advance all the questions, the subjective mood answers and bureaucratic mindset of the witnesses, the ensuing spin, and the congressional posturing. ditto

Republicans believe they’ve been living life under two sets of rules. Considering what previous administrations have gotten away with — and what many of the people now clamoring for impeachment helped them get away with — it’s difficult to blame them. --David Harsanyi, NRO, 11/22

RAISING CHILDREN

We’re supposed to watch what our children watch.  It’s up to us to impart our impressions, opinions, and lessons as we see fit.  We’re not supposed to leave child rearing to athletes, actors, singers, and presidents.  --Chris Stigall, Townhall, 11/21

ABORTION

Perhaps the most shocking facts that have come to light about the abortion industry are the reports of sales of baby body parts for money -- and the callousness of those involved in the abortion and dismemberment of fetuses whose body parts could be sold. --Laura Hollis, ditto

"I LOVE OUR COUNTRY"

I love the vastness of our country, the different topographies, the different weather patterns, communities and cultures. I love the freedom we have to travel between states, to speak our minds, to bear arms, to practice religion, to work whatever job we want in whatever location we want. I love the freedom to vote for our government and to protest when we disagree with those who are in power. I love that we are the most welcoming country in the world, that we stand up for human rights violations and that we desire to be the shining light upon the hill. --Jackie Gingrich Cushman, ditto

ISRAEL

As long as a religious motivation for wiping out Israel persists, there will be no peace, and no two-state solution. --Cal Thomas, ditto

Theological Thursday

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Christians believe in a God who entered into the ephemeral and the temporal in the person of Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus affirmed the teaching of his own Hebraic tradition when he encourages his listeners not to worry, but to trust the God who “arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace.” Life is short, Jesus acknowledges, but the God who cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field will care for us. So we do not have to cling onto our lives or the treasures of this earth. As one commentator notes, “Just prior to his teaching on worrying…Jesus warns his listeners against storing up ephemeral treasure on earth… A central theme of his ministry and enacted in his own life, is that the proper way to respond to the nature of reality is to give away one’s life rather than hold on to it, to open our hands and let things go rather than to close our fist around them.” --Margaret Manning Shull, Slice of Infinity

CELEBRATION OF ALL SAINTS, PART I

"The Lutheran Confessions strongly caution against the invocation of the saints (praying to them), because there is no Word of God commanding it & no promise of God attached to it. In addition, this practice easily leads to the false worship of the saints in place of Christ Jesus. But our confessions commend a threefold honor of the saints, which is rightly exercised to the glory of God & for the strengthening of faith & life in Christ. First, we give thanks to God for giving the saints to His church on earth as servants of His Word & of their neighbors. Second, we consider examples of the Lord's mercy toward the saints who have gone before us, who were called to repentance & received the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ. In them we see His mercy toward us, who are likewise saved by His grace. Last, we honor the saints by imitating their faithful example within their callings & stations in life." --D. Richard Stuckwisch, The Lutheran Witness, Oct. 2019

Capitalism + Government + Chick-fil-A + Climate + More

A CURE

Neither authoritarians nor the world's democracies seem to have found a cure for the maladies that afflict our world's unhappy citizens. --Patrick Buchanan, Drudge Report, 11/19

CAPITALISM

Capitalism is not a rival to the common good. Capitalism, meaning security in one’s own property and in the right to work and to trade, is the common good that governments exist to secure. --Kevin Williamson, National Review Online, 11/19

IS LIFE SACRED?

As a society, we need to answer one question: Is life sacred, or is it not? And if it is sacred, we need to do something about it. We need to stand up for these precious children and support politicians who are willing to stand for life. --James Gottry, Townhall, 11/19

IS GOVERNMENT THE SOLUTION?

If government is the solution, how much more money does it need to solve problems and why haven't those problems been solved by now? --Cal Thomas, Townhall, 11/19

RATIONAL THINKING

Lasting victories for conservatives and progressives aren’t measured in election returns; they’re measured in what voters expect politicians in both parties will do once elected. Moving those expectations rightward (or leftward for progressives) is far more important than getting Republicans (or Democrats) elected. But that requires rational thinking, which is in short supply these days. --Jonah Goldberg, NRO, 11/20

IMPEACHMENT

Each day that is wasted is another day that the new House majority did not, as it promised, address substantive issues. Since January 2018, it has not talked of infrastructure, recalibrated trade deals, budgetary compromises, drug prescription pricing, or anything else other than one iteration after another of attacking Trump. Certainly, if they really believed that Trump was an incompetent buffoon, the better strategy would have been to step aside, let him ruin the economy, and then run in 2020 against his incompetence. --Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, 11/20

CHICK-FIL-A

Chick-fil-A has continued to receive blowback -- and the blowback has widened, helped along by a hostile media. So Chick-fil-A decided to back down and announced publicly that it will no longer donate to traditional Christian charities such as The Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Paul Anderson Youth Home. Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos explained, "as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are." Well, now they're clear. They're chickens. --Ben Shapiro, Townhall, 11/20

CLIMATE

You can take a look at all the hurricanes around the planet. We can see them since 1970, because we've got global satellite coverage. We can measure their power... There is no significant increase whatsoever -- no relationship between hurricane activity and the surface temperature of the planet!" --John Stossel, Townhall, 11/20

Mental Health Monday

TELEVISION

Thanks to a plethora of streaming services, we find ourselves with more TV sources than we can keep up with. Here are the shows we're watching with my ratings next to them.

• NCIS:  *****
• NCIS New Orleans:  ****
• Blue Bloods:  *****
• Magnum PI:  ***
• FBI:  ****
• Seal Team:  ****
• Midsomer Murders:  ****
• Major Crimes:  ***1/2*

RIPPED FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES *

* Courtesy of The Babylon Bee (babylon bee.com)

• Trump requests impeachment trial by combat
• Historians claim first thing Adam & Eve did was exchange pronouns
• Supreme Court allows victims of heart disease, obesity to sue utensil manufacturer
• Scholars now believe Saul threw spear at David for playing Christmas music well before Thanksgiving

Lutherans Believe in Saints, Too

SAINTS

"Luther's new view regarded as saints all those whom, quite apart from their own reason & strength, the Holy Spirit had called by the Gospel, enlightened with His gifts, made holy & kept holy in God's sight. The Holy Spirit did this through the daily renewal of their newly bestowed existence as children of God in Baptism or by means of some other form, oral or written, of the promise of Christ's forgiveness. Saintliness was God's gift, according to Luther, the gift of the trust in Christ's love that emboldens & empowers living according to God's will in relation to Him & to His creatures. The Holy Spirit bestowed this gift as new birth (John 3:3-8), a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), & a new existence walking in Christ's footsteps (Rom. 6:3-13)."  --Robert Kolb, The Lutheran Witness Oct. 2019

Saints

Holy, Holy, Holy. That's how the seraphim heralded the enthroned Yahweh in Isaiah 6. Three-times holy. Fully & wholly other. High & lifted up. Enthroned as king. Worthy of praise. So, too, we sing before the Lord's Supper, where the Lord is present.

The sinner Isaiah cried out in woe, for he was unclean. God is holy. People are unclean.

Yet Paul calls the people in Ephesus "saints" (Eph. 1:1). Sinners as saints. Who can make such a claim, & who could bring about such a change?

In Isaiah 52-53, the servant of Yahweh is high & lifted up. The servant bears our iniquities & our sorrows. His stripes heal us. The holy one died a sinner's death, so that the unclean might be forgiven & given sainthood--holy in Him.

Baptized into Christ, we live as saints. And we thank God for the saints who surround us & precede us. The sinner-saints remind us that sin leads to woe, but God's love in Christ calls us to be His own people, to be forgiven, & in Him holy. --Kevin Armbrust, The Lutheran Witness, Oct. 2019

California vs Florida + English + Happiness + The Left + The Rich

WHATEVER

"Woman's eye bursts after using phone too much."  Drudge Report, 11/13

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . CALIFORNIA

"'Go back to California':  Wave of newcomers fuels backlash in Boise" --Drudge Report, 11/11

"San Francisco's new DA:  Public urination 'will not be prosecuted'" --Drudge, 11/13

. . . FLORIDA

"Florida sunshine & tax benefits beckon billionaires" --Drudge, 11/11

ENGLISH

Where a common language is present, it creates a cultural glue; where it isn’t, there are usually deep-seated divisions . . . In short, language occupies an outsized space in the cultural life of nations, and the role of English here in the United States is no different. --Rich Lowry, National Review Online 11/11

HAPPINESS

Jesus does want us to be happy—absolutely. But his call on our lives is much grander and nobler than that. As Jesus modeled, he wants us to respond with integrity to the failure of hedonism. He wants us to have tears for others. He wants those tears to unite us with a God who shed tears—a God of love and of justice. He wants following that God to lead us to the sacrificial love and service of others that alone brings not only pleasure but forgiveness, peace, purpose, and hope—the very fullness of life. --Vince Vitale, Slice of Infinity 

THE LEFT

But the Left treats all disagreement with its policy preferences as lawlessness. --Andrew McCarthy, National Review Online, 11/13

THE RICH

The danger of promising that the rich can pay for everything is multifaceted. First, it’s not true. Second, you don’t have to be a student of public choice theory to understand that the more Washington behaves as if it’s true, the more the wealthy will intervene in our politics. And third, the more citizens believe that a small group of undeserving wealthy people are denying them nice things, the uglier our politics will become. --Jonah Goldberg, ditto

Thwarted Again!

Once again I saw our temperature this morning & assumed that Norfolk would finish #1 in today's temp challenge. Alas, I was mistaken, much to the joy--I assume--of our Iowanian compatriots. Results based on wunderground at 8:10a.

#1, Garrison, Iowa, -2 (feels like -9)
#2, Norfolk, NE, 1
#3, Ventura, Iowa, 2
#4, Beatrice, NE, 6
#5, Eagan, MN, 7
#6, BALMIEST LECKBANDS, Lincoln, NE, 8

Mental Health Monday

STATE VOLLEYBALL + TEMP CHALLENGE + THOUGHT FOR TODAY + HUMOR

We had a pretty special weekend down in Lincoln, where we attended the State VB Championships. We watched all three of Lutheran High Northeast's matches. They won their first match, lost the 2nd, then won the 3rd, bringing home the Class C2 3rd place trophy. We watched Lincoln Lutheran's first 2 matches, which they won en route to the Class C1 trophy.

There were times of nostalgia. I served at Lincoln Lutheran from 1980-1993 & actually hired Sue Ziegler, the LL VB coach. (I hired her as a Spanish teacher.) I served at LHNE from 1997-2014 & also had a hand in hiring Kathy Gebhardt, the Eagles' VB coach.

There were also times of wistfulness. I miss being part of a Lutheran school community. I miss first hand experiences, like LHNE's two state VB championships. 

I do NOT miss Board meetings. I do NOT miss contentious conversations with Board members & school parents. I do NOT miss anything involving budgeting. I DO miss the opportunities God gave me to serve, & I am thankful for them.

DEPT. OF SHAMELESS JOKE-STEALING *
*courtesy of Reader's Digest, July/Aug 2019
"Why is it a penny for your thoughts but you have to put your two cents in? Somebody's making a penny.

TEMP CHALLENGE
We woke up to the sound of our neighbor shoveling snow. It looks like we got 1-2" . . . on Veterans Day! Then I saw our temperature & figured, as it turns out incorrectly, that we would win this morning's temp challenge. 2nd place isn't shabby. It's remarkable that we have a 4-way tie for 3rd place. Ratings as of 7:40a, courtesy of wunderground.

#1, Eagan, MN, 13 degrees
#2, Norfolk, NE, 14 degrees
#3, tie, Ventura, IA; Garrison, IA; Beatrice, NE; Lincoln, NE, 17 degrees

I hate to grumble(?), but I'm tired of winter . . . & it's not even winter yet!

GIFTS FROM GOD

Christianity is often thought of as a set of principles that people struggle to follow, working their way into God’s favor by offering tokens of self-denial and obedience. Even Christians who profess a far bigger story sometimes live as if this is the reality. But such a story looks at God as we might look at a gumball machine or a bank. If the prize we seek is God, we cannot earn our way to the thing we have our eye on—no matter how many tokens we might come up with. For the shiny quarters we proudly offer, belong, in fact, to God.

In the Christian imagination, every faculty we have—from our ability to think or move to our ability to praise or seek Father, Son, and Spirit—is given to us by a God who wants to be known. As the apostle Paul declared among the idols of Mars Hill, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”(1) We are embedded in God’s creation; we are creatures within God’s story enabled by the Spirit to see and know and love, to respond in gratitude to the God who reaches toward us first. --Jill Carattini, Slice of Infinity

Thoughts for Today

RESURRECTION

In this light of resurrection, the disciples had to go through a massive renewal of their thinking. Seeing the once-dead Jesus now standing before their eyes brought them to what was a radical new way of understanding the Messiah. Of course, this is in addition to the radical suspension of the well-understood laws of nature with which they also had to grapple. Despite the quick dismissal from modernity, no mind is so primitive so as to believe that all is usual when bodies rise from the dead.

These events remain similarly radical today. On the day that Jesus rose from the dead, he spoke of himself saying, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). As if resurrection was not hard enough to grasp, it is vastly difficult to see how there could be glory in suffering. Yet it is not hard to see that the death of Christ carries with it the force of something much more. The glory of the suffering Messiah lies in the magnitude of the love he showed on the cross. --Stuart McAllister, Slice of Infinity

PSALMS
"The Psalms are God's prayer book especially for us. Jesus had them memorized. They express the full range of human emotion--frustration, pain, faithlessness, but also happiness, joy & steadfastness. They tell us who God is & how He regards us. They have their own contexts, like prayers for royal events. But they console us now because they tell us that God acted in the past, even as He promises to act today & shall continue to act for the well-being of His saints into the future (Psalm 145). --Matthew Harrison, The Lutheran Witness, Aug. 2019

LECKBAND TEMP CHALLENGE

When I saw our temperature early this morning, I felt that Norfolk would easily win today's temp challenge. I was wrong. Ratings based on wunderground at 6:59a.

• 1st place, Garrison, IA, 9 degrees
• 2nd place tie, Norfolk, NE, Ventura, IA, 11 degrees
• 4th place, Eagan, MN, 14 degrees
• 5th place, Beatrice, NE, 15 degrees
• 6th place, Balmiest Leckbands, Lincoln, NE, 16 degrees

CRIMINAL MINDS

"Police say man brought fast food to escapees. A Louisiana man has been arrested after renting a motel room for 7 jail escapees & buying them sausage biscuits." --Omaha World Herald, 11/15

DEPT. OF SHAMELESS JOKE-STEALING

"My wife found out I was cheating on her after she found all the letters I was hiding...She got so mad & said she's never gonna play Scrabble with me ever again." --Reader's Digest, July/Aug 2019

SOCIALISM

Add up a lost generation of woke and broke college graduates, waves of impoverished immigrants without much knowledge of American economic traditions, wealthy advocates of boutique socialism, and asleep-at-the-wheel Republicans, and it becomes clear why historically destructive socialism is suddenly seen as cool.

Regrettably, sometimes the naïve and disaffected must relearn that their pie-in-the sky socialist medicine is far worse than the perceived malady of inequality.

And unfortunately, when socialists gain power, they don’t destroy just themselves. They usually take everyone else down with them as well. --Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online

Whatever Wednesday

The Answer...Hell...Leadership...California vs Nebraska...Bathrooms...Daylight Savings

THE ANSWER

The pretensions of the world are many, the seductions vast, and the attractions powerful. Yet in a world of invasive desires, intrusive demands, and restless indulgence another voice can be heard: “Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The answer is not in a product but in a living person. Which answer do you hold? --Stuart McAllister, Slice of Infinity

TRUST

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” The journey from youth to adulthood is surely filled with many crooked paths. Many get lost along the way. Yet, the promise of this ancient proverb is that God can and will make paths straight for those who find trust—trust that often is matured by struggle and the courage to trod down crooked paths of disappointment. --Margaret Manning Shull, ditto

THE REALITY OF HELL

To appreciate better the reality of Hell is to appreciate better the reality of Heaven. The more horrible we understand Hell to be, the more marvelous we understand Heaven to be. The more deeply we fathom what God wants to save us from, the more grateful we are that He desires to save us. --Paul Thigpen, National Review Online, 11/5

GREAT LEADERSHIP

The key to great leadership is to not overly regard yourself, to understand you don't know everything, realize that, like everyone else, you are flawed and can make bad judgments, and to surround yourself with people who think well enough of you to tell you the truth from their perspective, even when it disagrees with yours. As long as the objective is to help you succeed with your agenda, such advice can be valuable and even humbling, humility being one of humanity's better characteristics and a grace that appears in short supply in Washington. --Cal Thomas, Townhall 11/5

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . CALIFORNIA

"Dogs outnumber children in San Francisco" Drudge Report 11/5

. . . NEBRASKA

"A No. 1 ranking for Nebraska. In a ranking published last week by online lending firm LendingTree Nebraska tops the list of places that are safest for young children." Omaha World Herald, 11/4

DISPROPORTIONALITY

According to a study conducted by Bond University in Australia, sharks are nine times likelier to attack and kill men than they are women. Despite the fact that men are 50% of the population, and so are women, men are struck by lightning six times as often as women. Of those killed by lightning, 82% are men. One can only wonder what social justice warriors would do about these and many other disproportionalities. --Walter Williams, Townhall 11/6

GENDER-NEUTRAL BATHROOMS

There are three good reasons to be against gender-neutral bathrooms. 1) They are pointless. 2) They are wasteful. 3) They are sexist. --Madeleine Kearns, National Review Online 11/6

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

"STUDY:  Daylight savings time has long-term harmful effects on brain." Drudge Report 11/6

"Poll finds that most Americans dislike twice-a-year time flops" Norfolk Daily News, 11/2

Justice + Resolutions + Horsepower

JUSTICE

True justice in any society is one that is anchored on objective moral values, which do not change either on the basis of time or culture.(3) It is only after basing on such a foundation of an objective moral frame work that one can meaningfully judge between a right and a wrong action, or for that matter between justice and injustice. Ultimately, the objective moral frame work goes only to point to the existence of a moral law-giver, who is holy and righteous in his character. --Balajied Nongrum, Slice of Infinity

RESOLUTIONS CHECK

How am I doing with my New Year's resolutions? I'm glad . you asked.

• Not to read any partisan diatribes re:  the 2020 elections. I am not doing very well these days.
• Add to our list of National park visits & cross something off our bucket list. We visited Teddy Roosevelt & Glacier National Parks in September.
• Lose 10 lbs. I've lost 9 lbs as of 11/3/19.
• Treat Sammy with more patience. I'm doing rather well with this.
• Help put out all our Christmas decorations this year. We'll put out our Christmas decorations in advance of Thanksgiving, when the kids & grand-kids will join us for "Thanks-Mas."
• Work out at least 3X per week. I was doing fairly well until we got back from our National Parks visit.
• Continuing spending an hour or so in daily "quiet time." Yes.
• Write a devotion book for the 2019 Orphan Grain Train convention. Done.
• Receive a DNA report from Ancestry.com. Failed.

HORSEPOWER

"Horsepower, literally:  Show runs on manure. In a glimpse of the future, an entire sports event has been run on horse manure. The world's governing equestrian body on MON praised a climate-friendly scheme by a Finish equestrian event to generate all its electricity needs from horse manure, saying the initiative paves way in cutting reliance on fossil fuels in horse sports. --Norfolk Daily News, 10/28