Driving a Beater + More

DEATH

"In the grand and hopeful story of the Christian God, death is an integral part of it. A common word used to refer to the death of believers in the New Testament is “sleep.” Yet, when the Bible talks about the death of Jesus, it never uses that word. Jesus died so that we might “sleep” and wake up to a world where all is made well again. Death was our destiny until the resurrection of Jesus made it a door.

While pain and suffering are matters of serious concern that demand solidarity and sympathy, the redemptive work of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ brings hope out of surrender to this saving grace." Neil Vimalkumar Boniface, Slice of Infinity 

RACISM

"The defamation that police are institutionally racist because America is indelibly racist has opened a potentially unbridgeable chasm. It is abetted by two national character flaws. The first is our gravitation to political leaders capable only of making matters worse by their spitefulness and Manichean posturing.

"The second is our increasingly manifest conviction that we are not worth defending. We seem convinced that there is no positive case to be made for a society that idealizes liberty and the equal dignity of every person. For a society that does not pretend to be perfect, but that strives to be better. A society that confesses its sin and works toward redemption: spilling its blood to end slavery, fighting to end de jure racism, and rejecting racial discrimination as a socially acceptable attitude.

"If we do not believe we are worth preserving — humbled by our flaws, yes, but duly proud of our virtues and our historic accomplishments — we will not be preserved."  Andrew McCarthy, National Review Online

JUSTICE

"No justice, no peace. Can we have peace now?

"No: This quest for “justice” will not be sated by the conviction of Derek Chauvin, nor by police reform, nor by other targeted changes to the criminal-justice system. What we’re watching unfold both in our cities and in our culture is something more profound — a broadside against the country itself, its institutions, its self-image, and its history. If the iconoclasts were just concerned about the blight of honoring traitors who fought for the preservation of slavery, the vandals would have been satisfied by toppling the statues of the Confederates. But they went after Washington, and they want Lincoln next."  John Hirschauer, NRO

DRIVING A BEATER

"I adore beat-up, used-up cars. I’ve lusted after a dented Volvo 850, a rusty Toyota Camry. I cannot help it: There is something to be admired about these mangled machines. In fact, I think everyone who is able should own and operate a beater car. The benefits are near limitless. They are humbling, have merit whether you lean left or right, are eco-friendly, and encourage personal responsibility."  Luther Abel, NRO  My first car was a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

"One of my fears about these past months is that we have become more isolated from the big picture -- the opportunity to see things from a vantage point of more than what's on the news right now. There are lessons to be learned about who we are and who we are meant to be in some of the history that is being targeted by vandals. Even some of the statues the mobs are targeting oddly give me some confidence. Somewhere in our hearts, we know what we want and need. We're drawn to the good, even if we make a mess of it sometimes when we get there. We eradicate evil, one choice at a time, by love, not by expunging memory. We want to heal, not to live a lie." Kathryn Jean Lopez, Townhall

Free-for-All Friday

ROAD TRIP

After literally waiting months, Lois & I are leaving on a road trip tomorrow. We're heading to Eagan, MN, to visit our son Nathan, his wife Laura, & our grand-children Calvin (4 yrs old) & Clair (4months old). We last visited them in January, when we visited for Calvin's birthday & Claire's baptism. To say that we're looking forward to this trip would be an understatement.

TRUE PRAYER

"True prayer is an encounter with the Holy in which we realize not ony our creatureliness & guilt but also the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven through the atoning death of the divine Savor, Jesus Christ. In such an encounter, we are impelled not only to bow before God & seek His mercy but also to offer thanksgiving for grae that gos out to undeserving sinners."  Donald Bloesch, Men's Devotional Bible

TRENDING *

* Compliments of The Babylon Bee

• "Mastercard changes name to Equalitycard"
• "With statues gone, pigeons forced to poop on rioters

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

"File it under pizza toppings only offered in Florida. State inspectors found an 80-lb iguana stashed in the freezer at a local pizza joint."  Norfolk Daily News, 6/24

MT. RUSHMORE

"A majority of very liberal respondents agreed that Mount Rushmore should be destroyed. 80 percent of very liberal and 71 percent of liberal respondents agreed they’d like to see the national anthem changed. What we see overall is a stunning defection of liberal and very liberal Americans from symbolic attachments to the nation itself that promises to get worse."  Michael Brendan Doughterty, National Review Online

POLITICAL POTPOURRI

"How long can this nation survive when its main cultural and educational institutions preach a relentless, unchallenged stream of anti-Americanism to young people (and others) who lack the background to resist this toxicity? . . . I respectfully appeal to reasonable people on both sides of the political aisle to recognize what's happening to the greatest nation in history and oppose it before it's too late. These kinds of revolutions don't end well for anyone -- including the nihilists who engineer them." David Limbaugh, Townhall

ELECTION 2020

"Some polls now have Joe Biden running ahead of Donald Trump by 10 points and sweeping the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. This vindicates the strategy Biden's advisers have adopted:  Confine Joe to his basement, no press conferences. Trot him out to recite carefully scripted messages for the cameras. Then lead him back to his stall. This enables Biden to avoid the blazing questions that are dividing not only Democrats and Republicans but liberals and leftists. And most of these issues touch on the explosive subject of race."  Patrick Buchanan, Townhall

THE STRUGGLE

"The struggle for churches and Christians right now is wanting to tell those groaning and those yearning for justice that they should adopt Christianity. "Our system," we say, "is better, because we see no color. We see neither Jew nor Greek nor male nor female nor slave nor free." We treat our faith as an alternative morality. But it is hard to argue with a group of sinners that a system followed by other sinners is the better alternative.

"Instead, Christians need to argue Jesus. The souls of those marching in the street groan like creation itself because they are moving closer to a great revelation. That groan is not because of a moral system upended but because all the world can feel the return of the King approaching.

"Christians need to be preaching Jesus, not Christianity. We need to preach about the end and the return and the world made new. It is fantastical and supernatural and unbelievable for so many. But it is real and true and will give the hopeless hope. The world groans and cries out for justice. No protestor or rioter will get or give true justice. But if they will just listen again to that voice they heard as a child, they will hear the faint whisper that there is something and someone better coming."  Erick Ericson, Townhall

Theological Thursday

"The reason why it's futile burning the candle at both ends--rising early, staying up late--is that God, not our labors, is the source of our blessing . . . "  Charles Swindoll, Men's Devotional Bible

A PRAYER FOR GOVERNMENT *
* From The Lutheran Book of Prayer
"Lord God, as I pray for all who are in authority, I thank You especially for the form of government given us in our beloved country. Give me the grace with my fellow citizens to value the officers & the magistrates of our government as those sent by You. Instill in me that respect & honor that is due them. Lord, endow them with wisdom for their several duties, with a spirit of sacrifice for the common welfare, with mercy & justice, with uprightness & kindliness Correct the evils of selfishness, greed, a vain desire for honor, or abuse of power among us as well as in the other governments of the world. Grant that the true purposes of government may prevail, safeguarding peace & prosperity, so that we may live soberly & uprightly in Your sight & have opportunity to tell of You & Your kingdom. These petitions I direct to You because in Jesus I know You as my Father & Lord. Amen."

Whatever Wednesday

HEADACHE UPDATE

I haven't had a headache since Monday, when I had a doozy. This is encouraging. When I get into a headache cycle, I'm either wondering if a headache is coming on, feeling a headache coming on, having a headache, or recovering from a headache.

TRENDING

• "STUDY:  Women less likely to date men with cats" Drudge Report, 6/23
• "Navy SEALS to be replaced with social workers" Babylon Bee, 6/23
• "Cracker Jack changes name to more politically correct Caucasian Jack" Babylon Bee, 6/23
• "Democrats clarify that black lives will only matter until November" Babylon Fee, 6/23

STATUES, PART I

"We erect statues to remember, revere and honor those whom we memorialize. And what is the motivation of the people who tear them down and desecrate them? In a word, it is hate. A goodly slice of America's young hates this country's history and the men who made it. It hates the discoverers and explorers like Columbus, the conquistadores and colonists. It hates the Founding Fathers and the first 15 presidents, all of whom either had slaves or coexisted with the injustice of slavery. But hating history and denying history and tearing down the statues of the men who made that history does not change history."  Patrick Buchanan, Townhall 6/23

AMERICANS

"Americans? Nice people? Decent people? Not as the mobsters see things. You're evidently worthless if you're not out there in public places executing vengeance on deceased people and their bronze images, however sparse or biased your understanding of who these particular deceased persons actually were.

"And this spreads Justice and Peace and Brotherhood all around the public realm? And renders you some kind of public saint rather than just a garden-variety arsonist?"  William Murchison, Townhall 6/23

STATUES, PART II

"The movement to tear down statues or even just to deface them was misconceived in its earliest stages and has now, like most aspects of the self-flagellating fever over “systemic racism,” evolved from just concerns about offending African-American sensibilities into an assault on the entire body of achievement of Western civilization."  Conrad Black, NRO 6/24

THE APEX OF HUMANITY

"Perhaps we have truly reached the apex of humanity. Or perhaps we are living in a particularly arrogant and self-serving moment when dissociation from America's history and from other Americans substitutes for actual decency; when canceling others is the point, not a means to an end; when joining the woke mob isn't about building something better but merely signaling your own saintliness. Perhaps in reality, those who pull down statues of Washington and Jefferson have accomplished little other than feeling special at the expense of the most special country in human history, and at the expense of their fellow citizens."  Ben Shapiro, Townhall, 6/24

Violence...Jefferson...AOC...Mt. Rushmore...More

VIOLENCE

"The word violence has taken on pejorative connotations. We are nice people, and we do not like to think too much about violence. And perhaps it is the case that violence is a lamentable means even when it is used toward desirable ends. It wasn’t persuasion that freed the slaves, and it wasn’t the Emancipation Proclamation — it was men doing violence under the flag of the United States, led by General Ulysses S. Grant, a statue of whom was just pulled down by the cretins in San Francisco. (More than a third of San Francisco’s black population has been driven out of the city since 1990, and it wasn’t General Grant who did that.) It was not rhetoric that ended the Third Reich and stopped the Holocaust — it was violence. If you are lucky enough to live in a place in which you are secure in your person and your property (which is to say, not in Seattle), then you should know that it is not the milk of human kindness that keeps you so — it is violence and the threat of violence."  Kevin Williamson, National Review Online

JEFFERSON

"That Jefferson was deeply compromised by the slave system and yet rose above his own sectional and selfish interests to enunciate timeless principles should be considered an accomplishment, not a reason to relegate him to the ash heap. He always maintained that slavery was unjust and, early in his career, tried to abolish slavery in Virginia and prohibit the introduction of slavery in new western lands . . . The woke philistines who are targeting him are incapable of thought or discernment and want to jettison much of the country’s heritage. A historian once said, “If Jefferson was wrong, America is wrong.” Those who want to grind his memory to dust clearly accept both parts of that formulation — and indict not just Jefferson, but the America he helped define."  Rich Lowry, NRO 

AOC

"For my part, I’m sick and tired of AOC proclaiming herself to be the vanguard of some new politics that is about “holding our democracy accountable.” Her allies intimidate opponents, seek to remove statues of historical figures such as George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, and demand that critics be censored or even removed from their jobs. That approach is an attempt to completely evade accountability and merely replaces the boss-ism of the clubhouse with the bossiness of the politically correct mob."  John Fund, NRO

ELECTION 2020

"But to Trump’s rear, the powerful tailwinds of summer and autumn are rising. And they are considerable: the enfeebled candidacy of a cognitively impaired Joe Biden who at some point must emerge from his basement and remind the world he is inert; the contention over Joe Biden’s hard left-wing diversity VP selection that is de facto the Democratic presidential candidate; the looming indictments of John Durham; the steady recovery of the economy; the likely eventual waning of the virus; the loosening of the lockdowns, especially given the asymmetrical blue-state exemptions given to millions of protestors and rioters who never practiced social distancing as they looted stores, entered restaurants to harass customers, and crowded together to shout and spray; and, most important, the growing public pushback against the looting, burning, shooting, and rioting. All that is a powerful collection of favorable windy currents."  Victor Davis Hanson, NRO

COVID-19

"For the wealthy and those able to work from home, the pandemic has represented an inconvenience. Life has gone on, albeit challenged by new technologies and new routines. Their lives have not been upended by the outbreak.

"That has not been the case for those outside the work-from-home bubble. Service workers have been laid off en masse, while many essential workers have had little choice but to work even as their employers have awkwardly and inconsistently adapted workplaces to a pandemic environment. That the outbreak has hit working-class communities hardest is hardly a surprise."  Andrew Stuttaford, NRO

GRIEVANCES

"Irrespective of the nature of their grievance — or of the strength of the feeling undergirding it — violent mobs can’t make decisions on behalf of everyone else. If, as is occasionally the case, it is necessary for public monuments to be altered, updated, revisited, or removed, that work must be done within the democratic process and under the rule of law. Bad taste is not an excuse for anarchy."  The Editors, NRO

MT. RUSHMORE

"With Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt all under attack, three of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore are now repudiated by the left."  Patrick Buchanan, Townhall

Sunday Meditation

PRAYER

"Only so much about life can be understood by reason; so much falls far short of any reasonable explanation. Prayer then becomes the irrepressible cry of the heart at the times we most need it. For every person who feels that prayer has not "worked" for them and has therefore abandoned God, there is someone else for whom prayer remains a vital part of her life, sustaining her even when her prayers have gone unanswered, because her belief and trust is not only in the power of prayer but in the character and wisdom of God. God is the focus of such prayer, and that is what sustains such people and preserves their faith."  Ravi Zacharias, Slice of Infinity

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

"Biblical principles are like powerful flashlights that an light up even the darkest trial your children may experience."  Gary Smalley & John Trent, Men's Devotional Bible

"Around Easter, scholars & TV shows raise all sorts of theories about why Jesus' tomb was empty on Easter morning. They try to put the Christian faith, & especially the belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ on trial. Such skeptics charge that the resurrection is impossible, & so it is fiction, a figment of the disciples' imagination.

RESURRECTION

"In the face of these allegations, let us be perfectly clear:  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a figment of anybody's imagine. It is not a work of fiction. It is a fact. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a reality, an event that happened in history. When the Christian faith, including faith in the resurrection is attacked & challenged, Christians do not need to cower in a corner, quivering in fear that our faith was founded on a lie. Instead, Christians can defend the faith by pointing to the reality of the resurrection. Christians have history, reason & evidence on our side. The scholars & TV show hosts challenging the resurrection are working with unsupported theories & fanciful ideas. Christians stand on a defensible faith founded on fact."  Kirk Clayton, The Lutheran Witness, April 2020

HEADACHE UPDATE

Since I started taking a steroid earlier this week, results have been encouraging. I'm down to one headache per day. Cluster headaches come on very suddenly with no advance warning, like an aura. They usually start with a pressure behind my left eye, which quickly turns to throbbing pain. The pain is worse than a migraine. My left eye starts to water, & if it gets really bad, the teeth in the left side of my mouth begin to ache. If I use sumatriptan as soon as I suspect a headache is coming on, relief usually comes within 15 minutes. If I wait too long, the headache can last 1/2 hour or more, & I usually have to take additional medication.

A HYMN

Given the turmoil affecting our country, I find this hymn, "God Bless Our Native Land," to be appropriate.

"God bless our native land; Firm may she ever stand Through storm & night.
When the wild tempests rave, Ruler of wind & wave, Do Thou our country save
By Thy great might.

CRIMINAL MINDS

"Woman arrested after 'trying to neuter her dog at home with dental floss'" Drudge Report, 6/20

DACA

"Obama didn’t lie about all the small things, only about all the big ones. And after signing the executive directive on DACA, Obama claimed it was just “a temporary stopgap measure.”

"Should presidents be able to “bypass Congress” and “change the laws” using “a temporary stopgap measure,” and simply wait a few decades until his party has enough votes to pass it through the prescribed constitutional manner? Seems to me that undermines the entire purpose of having a Congress

"For years Democrats argued that Obama was impelled to act because Congress wouldn’t do its “job.” I’m sorry, but if you can’t elect enough people to pass your priorities, or you’re unable to find a compromise, that’s your problem. Congress is under no edict to pass liberal priorities. And Dreamers are not predestined for protection."  David Harsanyi, National Review Online, 6/19

THE SILENT MAJORITY

"Let's wake up and rededicate ourselves to preventing the destruction of America. Don't ever lose hope. My bet is the silent majority is bigger than ever and that we'll see that in November. Stay in the fight like your children's future depends on it -- because it does."  David Limbaugh, Townhall, 6/19

RACISM

"But racism is so interwoven with our history that there is simply no escaping it. If we have to confirm our opposition to racism and slavery by removing all figures associated with these evils, we can’t stop until the Washington and Jefferson memorials are taken down, or at least renamed. We can’t stop until most of the early presidents are removed from the currency, their statues stored away, and all of the places named after them renamed. How does it make sense to remove a statue of Columbus in Columbus, Ohio? Which of these honors is more visible and hence more offensive — a single hunk of stone or the very name of Ohio’s capital city? All of the places named after Columbus, from the capital of Ohio to the District of Columbia to the Ivy League university in Upper Manhattan, would also have to be renamed.

"There would be such a cacophony of sandblasting, removing, and rewriting from coast to coast that we’d all soon be overwhelmed by the scale of the project, at which point there would be a collective sense that this was all a folly. We’d all stop and realize that no matter how satisfying it may be to pretend it lies within our power to declare it’s Year One, none of these revisionist acts would be doing anything about the underlying fact, which is that there is a lot of racism in American history."  Kyle Smith, NRO, 6/20

ORPHANS

"Whatever one believes, we cannot afford to leave anyone feeling orphaned. Even people surrounded by family can feel alone and unloved. Don't we see the consequences of that lack of hope playing out on our streets, in our politics, even in so many homes? The solution lies in opening our hearts to others for the kind of healing that only otherworldly, sacrificial, merciful love makes possible. It's amazing when we see it unfold. It's only possible with gratitude. Leaving room in our lives to encounter God -- and being an instrument for others to make that same encounter -- sure doesn't hurt."  Kathryn Jean Lopez, Townhall, 6/20

Dogs...Lawyers...Re-opening Schools...Mistakes...Confederate Statues...More

DOGS

"FEDS:  Dogs should socially distance to avoid catching Covid-19" Drudge Report, 6/18

AMERICANS *

* Drudge Report, 6/19

• "Land of the worried:  83% of Americans 'very stressed' over nation's future"
• "More than third of Americans think civil war 'likely'"

PROTESTS

"No decent person can support George Floyd's mistreatment, or the mistreatment of anyone else, at the hands of police officers with the sworn duty to uphold the law. The Minneapolis authorities moved quickly, and Derek Chauvin was fired from the Minneapolis police department, placed under arrest and charged with second-degree murder and other charges. The three officers who were with him were also fired and charged two counts of aiding and abetting -- one for second-degree murder and one for second-degree manslaughter. Peaceful protest in any cause is as American as apple pie, but what we saw in the wake of George Floyd's murder is as despicable as anything recently seen in our nation. What makes it worse is the silence and seemly support in many quarters for anarchists who have highjacked the protests to promote their own ends. These are the white liberals and leftists groups like Antifa who could care less about the major problems that exist in black communities and made worse by the rioting and looting."  Walter Williams, Townhall 6/17

CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYERS

"And let’s not forget the “civil rights” lawyers. Some of them are legalized vultures who style themselves as modern-day Thurgood Marshalls, fighting for justice. But they seem to be interested exclusively in cases where there is a big payday for themselves, taking a hefty cut on settlements with city governments. And the playbook is simple: inflame public opinion, threaten to sue for an outlandish sum, and wait for timid city officials who fear riots and municipal bankruptcy to capitulate. Query: what’s 30 percent of $300 million? For these jackals, the answer is “social justice, for my bank account.”  Mark Nuckols, Townhall 6/17

RE-OPENING SCHOOLS

"Right now, though, with schools closed all across the country, our children cannot hold on to hope for the future. High school students in particular – those who are approaching their college years – need to believe there is hope for the future, and they must believe that learning and making good grades have rewards.

"The last place middle school students need to be is online, where they can take their middle school bullying tactics behind a screen, without seeing the pain they cause in the faces of those they hurt. And kindergarten and elementary school students cannot learn from Zoom. They need live interaction with their peers to help hold their attention and learn how properly to interact socially.

"It makes no difference how old you are. The simple fact is, if you’re a school-age child, you should be in school."  Jenny Beth Martin, Townhall 6/17

SQUALOR

"Where the Left goes, squalor follows. The scene in militia-occupied Seattle is entirely familiar, the same kind of theatrical filth that has been a part of American counterculture from Woodstock through Occupy Wall Street. These are the idiot children of the American ruling class, toy radicals and Champagne Bolsheviks playing Jacobin for a while until they go back to graduate school. The actual poor, oppressed masses of the world may sometimes live in squalor, but they do not generally live in squalor by choice. For Caitlyn from Georgetown, playing poor is the woke version of playing cowboys and Indians, but playing cowboys and Indians would make you a Very Bad Person, even if, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, you chose to be an Indian."  Kevin Williamson, NRO 6/18

MISTAKES OF THE PAST

"Learning about our history, the way it has evolved, and what it represents is important. It’s important to understand our mistakes of the past. Yet, all of those capitulating to the mob hoping to be spared, will still become future targets. The mob has already canceled those simply for daring to offer a dissenting opinion. If we don’t reign in the cancel culture now, we risk having nothing left."  Evan Berryhill, Townhall, 6/18

THE HUMAN RACE

"There is only one race -- the human race. We are one seamless coat of many colors, one "body" with many parts, each with an important function that contributes to the whole. We call ourselves the UNITED States of America for a reason. No other country exemplifies such unity. Though we have our disagreements and even sometimes divisions, our oneness is our greatest strength. There is no "pure" or "master" race. No race is superior to another. To hate someone because of the color of their skin is to hate one's self because we all share the same origin story, the same human DNA. This is all part of God's doing in His ultimate creative and most beautiful work - humanity. We are created in His image."  Cal Thomas, Townhall 6/18

CONFEDERATE STATUES

"Conservatives tend to think the same way. They reflexively oppose politically correct campaigns to destroy anything giving offense. They fear where the slippery slope of woke iconoclasm will lead — first it’s Jefferson Davis, ultimately George Washington. They value tradition and worry we are trashing part of our history. This impulse, though, is a mistake. Confederate statues and symbols deserve to be reevaluated, and often mothballed . . . 

"Secession was a traitorous act that threatened to destroy the American nation, to create a rump republic built on slavery, and to make impossible the subsequent rise of the United States to a world power. Its leaders don’t deserve to be given a place of honor in our landscape denied to worthier men. Confederate statues shouldn’t be vandalized, but they should go."  Rich Lowry, NRO 6/19

Theological Thursday

LIFE-GIVING POWER

"If God can really overcome death and raise someone to life, surely is God not also able to strengthen, heal, or provide for us in times of trouble? Furthermore, "if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you" (Romans 8:11). The question it seems then is whether we believe that this same life-giving power can be at work within us or whether we've resigned ourselves to "This is just the way it is."  Danielle DuRant, Slice of Infinity

ABSOLUTE LIMITS

"God isn't out to spoil our fun; He knows that life without limits results in anarchy & misery. It's only when we have absolute limits that we can be truly free to enjoy the best life has to offer."  Tom Landry, Men's Devotional Bible

DEATH

"Thank God our Easter hope sets us free from all fears of death. For believers, our death will simply be a falling asleep in anticipation of our awakening o the Lat Day. Indeed, the word 'cemetery' is a Greek word meaning 'a sleeping place.' Jesus is the 'firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep' (1 Cor. 15:20) . . . Our last enemy, death, has lost its sting. It no longer holds terrors for the believer. We now have the victory that overcomes the world--our faith (1 John 5:4). What an inspiration for all of us to follow Paul's example (1 Cor. 15:10) & 'be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain' (1 Cor. 15:58)".  Gregory Lockwood, The Lutheran Witness, April 2020

Headaches...Flushing Toilets...Social Distancing...Defunding Police...More

GETTING PERSONAL

I suffer from cluster headaches. If you google "cluster headaches," you'll a feel for what I endure. About six weeks ago my neurologist & I reduced my amytriptalene, a medicine used to control these headaches. I hadn't had a cluster headache in over two years.

Bad mistake. I almost immediately started getting headaches again. At first they were limited to one or two per day. More recently I have been getting as many as 3-4 every day. 

My neurologist has put me on verapamil to help control the headaches. And he put me on prednisone to break the current cycle. When I get a headache, the only thing that seems to work is sumpatriptan nose spray. Now I'm down to my last nose spray, which has me feeling very, very anxious. My neurologist wrote me another prescription for them, but it won't be filled until later today. Like I said, I'm feeling very, very anxious.

TRENDING

"STUDY:  Flushing toilets spreads coronavirus" Drudge Report, 6/17

DISCRIMINATION

"In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress took the unprecedented step of inserting federal anti-discrimination law into purely private employment decisions. It did so to address an urgent national crisis: the long shadow of state-backed racial discrimination. A mischievous opponent of the bill added “sex” to the list of forbidden bases for discrimination. Nobody at the time would have thought that the term “sex” meant “sexual orientation” or “gender identity at odds with biological sex,” yet the Supreme Court, in Bostock v. Clayton County, said that it now does.

"To begin with, this is an unhealthy way to make law in a democracy. The law is now read to mean something different in 2020 from what even the most liberal Justices would have said in 1964. Congress for years has been debating bills to amend the statute to cover these topics; the Court just did its work for it, and without any of the compromises or conscience protections that legislators typically debate. We understand what the Court’s liberal justices were up to, but a decent respect for democratic lawmaking should have cautioned Justice Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts against going down this path."  The Editors, National Review Online, 6/16

SOCIAL DISTANCING

"Many of the same officials who were most zealous in locking down their states and cities instantly made an exception for Black Lives Matter protests. Their rigidity became laxity in a blink of an eye. Their metric for reopening wasn’t the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines or any other public-health measure but the “wokeness” of the activity in question.

"Visiting the deathbed of a loved one with COVID-19? Absolutely not. Having a proper funeral? No way. Gathering more than about ten people at a graveside? No one should be allowed to put the public at risk in such a way.

"Bringing thousands of strangers to march together for hours in spontaneous, disorderly groups? Thank you for your commitment to positive change.

"Attending a church service? Well, maybe in a couple of months. 

"Holding a struggle session with religious trappings where people confess their racism and vow to work to defund the police? Please, let’s have more."  Rich Lowry, NRO, 6/16

"Either coronavirus is spread easily at outdoor events, and the marchers put their neighbors and themselves in great danger, or it is not, and most of the draconian rules dictating outdoor social distancing during the shutdowns — the closing of parks, funerals, weddings, summer camps, etc. — were unnecessary and probably unhealthy. Either elected officials have helped facilitate a second wave, or they have been enforcing useless diktats . . . Whether Black Lives Matter protests were precarious is yet to be seen. The astonishing hypocrisy and lawlessness of elected officials, on the other hand, make it clear that lockdowns are subjectively enforced by politicians whose devotion to science is predicated on circumstance."  David Harsanyi, NRO, 6/16

CHAZ

"Outlets and commentators across the political spectrum have tended to paint CHAZ as exactly what they want it to be. Many on the left have romanticized it, ignoring the ample evidence that undercuts their view. Many on the right continue today to associate CHAZ with the violence that created it days ago, when the danger it poses has clearly subsided somewhat since then. The reality isn’t as neat: CHAZ is at times a street fair and at other times a social-justice workshop, with an unhealthy dose of violence and intimidation mixed in."  Jason Rantz, NRO, 6/16

DEFUNDING POLICE

"NBA legend Charles Barkley slammed calls to “defund the police” as a measure that would disproportionately affect communities of color, saying police reform to “weed out the bad cops” is the better strategy after several cities announced budget cuts to their police departments.

"Speaking Monday on ESPN’s morning show, Get Up, Barkley argued that “we just need police reform, because we need police."  Tobias Hoonhout, NRO 6/17

TOTALITARIAN PURIFICATION

"This second model of governance is promoted by the political left today. In this view, diversity of viewpoint cannot be allowed; unity of viewpoint in all things is the predicate for all serious change. Once the group has been purified, change will require only the snap of a finger. No more gridlock; no more conversation. The collective can be activated quickly and powerfully. This second model of governance is totalitarian in nature, and it is toward that model we are now moving as a society. Politically, those who deny that the collective ought to have the power to override individual rights must be punished; culturally, they must be exiled. They must be deemed unworthy. To stand up for individual rights in this climate means to be labeled a defender of privilege. To deny the systemic evil of the United States means to betray your moral unworthiness.  

"The great irony is that the second model of unity -- the totalitarian purification rituals we watch before us -- will never achieve unity. It will achieve further division, as more and more people fall short of ideological purity, or refuse to bow before the ideological demands of the perpetual revolutionaries. We could agree to live with one another, as individuals under the broader rubric of rights. If we don't, we won't be living with one another at all."  Ben Shapiro, Townhall 6/17

Mental Health Monday

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"My Lord is no less active in my life today. He provides for my basic needs--food, shelter, clothing--by allowing me to serve Him through meaningful & fulfilling work. He has blessed me with rich personal relationships with my family & intimate friends. To guide me in facing the hassles of daily living, He has sent His Holy Spirit, & I find myself clinging to Him every day."  Don Wyrtzen, Men's Devotional Bible

CHRIST COMES NEAR

"The woundedness of humanity is serious: cries of injustice, the wounds of racism, despair and lament at cancers around us, the devastating marks of our own failings left shamefully upon others and ourselves. This cannot be bandaged as anything less than a mortal wound. But the threshold is now. Christ comes near. He weeps with us, ready to address the indications of our illness, imparting healing and kindness. In the coming of Christ, God offers a cure extending as far as the wound can ever fester." Jill Carattini, Slice of Infinity

Trending

"GALLUP:  American pride record low"  Drudge Report, 6/15 

CRIMINAL MINDS

• "A Florida man is facing felony charges after police said he let a 12-year-old girl drive his SUV & told her to speed because he wanted to be a 'cool father'--even though he is not her dad."  Norfolk Daily News, 6/11
• "Man in horse-drawn carriage kicked out of KFC drive-thru" Fox News Online, 6/15
• "Vietnam couple detained over killing pet dogs & cats for meat" Drudge, 6/15

CORONAVIRUS

"The lockdowns have prevented silent spread of the bug. We must have silent spread to make a deadly spread less likely. As Professor Levitt notes, “We must have as much infection as possible for as little death as possible.” Or, as Doctor Ben Carson observes, “It’s time we learned to live with this disease rather than letting it control us.” Dr. Ted Noel, Townhall 6/15

ANTIFA

"This fascism is upsetting, & I never noticed until quite recently how ubiquitous it was. I thought that I lived in the United States of America, where people were able to express their opinions without being forced into capitulation & silence. I thought that journalists were actually able to write about current events without themselves becoming part of the story. I believed that in this country, & the greater world, one evil (the killing of a civilian by a police officer) did not justify an equal or greater evil, the destruction of cities, reputations, livelihoods, futures & the structures of civil society. But clearly, I was dozing off as fascism, like carbon monoxide, colorless & invisible, infiltrated our world to the point that, like George Floyd we cannot breathe. And so that's why I'm a proud member of Antifa."  Christine Flowers, Norfolk Daily News, 6/13

RACISM

"Racists exist, but claiming that all whites share collective guilt for those racists is itself a form of racism. Few whites today are racist, and the vast majority have never been racists and don’t associate or support people who are. As Victor Frankl has said, “There are only two races, the decent and the indecent.” Amen! It’s time for the decent Americans of all races to join together to stand against racism of any kind. We must all do our part to contribute to the unfolding story of America’s challenge to live up to its promise of equal rights for all."  Terry Paulson, Townhall 6/15  
Growing up in my small hometown, I recall many instances of racism. I heard the n-word used frequently. This was ironic, because the community suffered at the hands of pro-slavery partisans during the Civil War, because they were anti-slavery.

JUSTICE

"one must deal with the ultimate questions of life—such as the origin, meaning, and the purpose of life. Furthermore, critically analyzing these questions, one would inevitably face the question of whether this world is designed by a creator, as the Bible describes it, or whether it is a world that is a result of an accident, as the naturalist would put it. If it is designed, then God is the reference point for all true justice. On the contrary, if it is merely an accident, then humanity becomes the ultimate reference point for all judgments. 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)

"Our only hope is to point our lamps toward the heavens where the just one not only reaches out to forgive, to restore, and to set us on a straight path, but who steps among us to show us the way."  Balajied Nongrum, Slice of Infinity

ENCOURAGEMENT

"Let me offer this final word of encouragement for those who are determined to slow the pace:  once you get out from under constant pressure, you'll wonder why you drove yourself so hard for all those years. There is a better way!  James Dobson, Men's Devotional Bible

CHRIST IS RISEN!

"Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.' These, our glad Easter responses, echo the angel: 'He has risen; He is not here' (Mark 16:6). Now everything is different, now we can be full of joy & hope, because, as St. Paul writes, 'Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.'" (1 Cor. 15:20) Gregory Lockwood, The Lutheran Witness, April 2020

Surreptitious Saturday

CRIMINAL MINDS

"Woman, man busted for brawling over one-way aisles at thrift store" Drudge Report 6/12

BACKLASH

"That backlash may come at the ballot box, or it may come in some other indirect form. Some people aren’t interested in direct confrontation in the streets. They may simply prefer to express their opposition in a way that these protesters expect it least — businesses moving out, reluctance to hire, reluctance to visit a neighborhood, effectively abandoning a community. Not every wall that is built is physical and visible. But one way or another, the reaction is coming."  Jim Geraghty, National Review Online 6/12

CHASM

"The yawning chasm between our bicoastal ruling class and the Americanists of the heartland has never been more starkly revealed."  Josh Hammer, Townhall 6/12

TELLING THE TRUTH

"First, we need our leaders to start telling the truth. And the truth is our system is not working for far too many Americans. A system that satisfies the needs of its people would not see such upheaval. The very wealthy and the large, international corporations are faring better than ever. Both these groups have benefitted from automation, trade and immigration, all of which bring societal benefits. The question we often ignore is what are the downsides that each brings as well, and what do we do about it?

"There is little doubt that income inequality has risen drastically in our country. Automation, trade and immigration have helped those at the top flourish while taking jobs away from many others. When you throw in skyrocketing health and education costs, the average American's take-home pay has not increased significantly in years."  Neil Patel, Townhall 6/12

GLOBAL DISORDER

"The conditions of global disorder and domestic unrest that America experienced during the final years of the Obama administration have recapitulated (and magnified) themselves in advance of November’s presidential election. The president faces three interlocking crises of public health, economics, and social instability. The emergence of a fourth crisis, involving national security and great-power conflict, has the potential to place incalculable strains on an already beleaguered system. An international flashpoint is not inevitable, but it has happened before in similar circumstances. The world always grows more dangerous when the superpower takes flight."  Matthew Continetti, NRO 6/13

CORONAVIRUS

"Something surprising is going on with the current coronavirus outbreak as well. As noted earlier this week, the May 23 Lake of the Ozarks crowded pool gathering did not, as far as local health authorities can tell, lead to a new outbreak. As of this morning, there is one confirmed case of one infected resident infecting another. Videos of the gathering showed lots of people, not wearing masks, standing close together — precisely the situation that epidemiologists worried about the most. And yet, it appears the virus didn’t spread much at that event."  Jim Geraghty, NRO 6/13

JUSTICE

"Until Christ returns, we will never see a perfectly just government on earth. Until then, we ought to pray and work for justice. We must pursue complete justice while maintaining a posture of humility, recognizing that we will never usher in utopia through our efforts.

"I’m thankful to live in a country that bases its laws on universal principles like: “all men are created equal.” I’m pained that this country has so often failed to fully reflect these principles, particularly with regard to black Americans. But I’m confident that America cannot do better than by striving to live up to the principles of law and order she espouses."  Joshua Arnold, Townhall 6/13