BALTIMORE, Maryland, Thursday, December 15, 2016 - The debate about global temperature change has heated up in recent days, as several courageous scientists have stepped up to the plate and put forth evidence of cooling on the Earth's surface, or, in one case, the imminent cooling of a crucial area of the this planet's land masses.
The London Daily Mail reported recently that "an intensive scientific study of both of Earth's poles has found that from 2009 to 2016 overall temperature has dropped in the southern polar region." This is an area that you and I call the Antarctica, or South Pole.
Meanwhile, a prominent climate scientist at Northumbria University in England has added impetus to the controversial prediction of other scientists that the Earth is facing a mini ice age in the very near future. Relying on the expectation of significantly reduced solar activity, Professor Valentina Zharkova said fluctuations in an 11-year cycle of solar activity which the sun goes through would be responsible for a dramatic freeze, the like of which has not been experienced on this planet since the 1600's.
"From 1645 to 1715, global temperatures dropped, due to low solar activity, so much that the planet experienced a 70-year ice age known as [the] Maunder Minimum, which saw the River Thames in London completely frozen," said Professor Zharkova. Since that time, the Thames River - which flows through the heart of London - has rarely, if ever, frozen so solidly.
Christopher Shuman, a University of Maryland, Baltimore County glaciologist working at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told the Daily Mail concerning the polar cooling, "Field data suggests that there’s been a modest cooling in the area over the 2009–2015 time period, and images collected during that time by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Terra and Aqua satellites show more persistent fast ice (sea ice that is attached to the shore) in the Larsen A and Larsen B embayments”
However, Mr Shuman warned that in some areas of the Antarctic, glaciers continued to melt at significant levels, despite the slight temperature drop.
The real debate about global temperature change is not whether change is happening. Most observers concede that change is perpetual. Instead, debate concerns the cause. The Ultra Far Left is determined to link economic activity in developed nations with global warming, while those opposed to the Ultra Left decry such conclusions as not being supported by science. The Left makes it seem like mankind's very survival depends on the radical scaling back of economic activity, even if it causes tremendous economic upheaval.
Moderate politicians are seeking to put economic activity on a robust schedule while doing their best to restrict resulting pollution. Donald Trump seems to be in this group. He is opposed to President Obama and the Left's determination to end coal mining in the USA. Trump has also vowed to avoid signing a UN-sponsored climate accord that Obama favors. Such an accord calls on the world's nations to jointly restrict economic activity while, at the same time, allowing third world nations to be exempted from the harshest measures. Many American leaders also fear that Russia and China will not keep their obligations under the accord. Both nations have severe pollution problems.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Leftists Attempt to Plunge USA Into Anarchy
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Thursday, December 15, 2016 - Enough of this ultra far left, anti-American, anti-democracy, downright evil messing with our elections! It's not funny or amusing. Trump won, fair and square, and by the laws and rules that all candidates agreed to be bound by going in.
This imbecilic attempt to pervert the election results by a collaborative group of Idiots, criminals, anarchists and others of a like mind is the saddest possible commentary on the ultra far left that I can imagine. I would love to know what this evil bunch is really afraid of. They insist Trump will fail, but I believe they are much more afraid of him succeeding. I believe he will succeed if given half a chance. For all of the far left catterwalling, the cabinet he has put in place includes people with a lot of common sense, and, even more importantly, people with an awful lot of success in their chosen careers. I believe Obama and company are scared to death these folk will come in like a house on fire and get the USA up and running in the right and successful direction.
To prevent this, the far left George Soros crowd is trying to drag the nation down in the squalid mud pit they are accustomed to. This includes messing with the Electoral College that is scheduled to put the final exclamation point on the autumn elections come Monday. The Soros-financed effort to short-circuit what is designed to be a mere formality is indicative of the rampant narcissism which pervades the every thought and action of Soros, Hillary Clinton and the like. Rumors and news reports indicate a veritable rogues gallery of fiends, thugs and hoods are roaming the countryside looking for any Electoral College Delegate they can pervert over to the dark side. And before some of you Clinton supporters start getting all indignant, just think if this kind of behavior becomes the norm in these United States. Suppose, just suppose, that after the 2012 Election, when Obama was voted back in for a second term despite a badly failed first term, that a garish clan of those who opposed the President started pressuring Electoral College Delegates to pull the plug on Obama, and coupled their efforts with reported bribes and other incentives, and just suppose these efforts were going on at the same time others who opposed Obama were trafficking news accounts of a supposed plot by the President to invoke martial law within days of his second swearing-in. And just imagine that these very shady news accounts were said to be corroborated by an FBI source who alleged that variojus military units were on heightened status for possible deployment within the USA?
You see, this is a vicious and completely destructive game, and one that Americans on all sides have to avoid playing. People on the left have to know how extremely difficult the last year's have been for a whole lot of their fellow citizens. Those citizens who opposed the controversial decisions Obama and Mrs. Hillary made stayed within the bounds of the law and when this election cycle rolled around, they went to the polls and elected a candidate with different ideas. That is the way it is done here, and if our nation is to survive, people like George Soros need to be kept on the political fringe where they belong. The alternative is pure anarchy.
This imbecilic attempt to pervert the election results by a collaborative group of Idiots, criminals, anarchists and others of a like mind is the saddest possible commentary on the ultra far left that I can imagine. I would love to know what this evil bunch is really afraid of. They insist Trump will fail, but I believe they are much more afraid of him succeeding. I believe he will succeed if given half a chance. For all of the far left catterwalling, the cabinet he has put in place includes people with a lot of common sense, and, even more importantly, people with an awful lot of success in their chosen careers. I believe Obama and company are scared to death these folk will come in like a house on fire and get the USA up and running in the right and successful direction.
To prevent this, the far left George Soros crowd is trying to drag the nation down in the squalid mud pit they are accustomed to. This includes messing with the Electoral College that is scheduled to put the final exclamation point on the autumn elections come Monday. The Soros-financed effort to short-circuit what is designed to be a mere formality is indicative of the rampant narcissism which pervades the every thought and action of Soros, Hillary Clinton and the like. Rumors and news reports indicate a veritable rogues gallery of fiends, thugs and hoods are roaming the countryside looking for any Electoral College Delegate they can pervert over to the dark side. And before some of you Clinton supporters start getting all indignant, just think if this kind of behavior becomes the norm in these United States. Suppose, just suppose, that after the 2012 Election, when Obama was voted back in for a second term despite a badly failed first term, that a garish clan of those who opposed the President started pressuring Electoral College Delegates to pull the plug on Obama, and coupled their efforts with reported bribes and other incentives, and just suppose these efforts were going on at the same time others who opposed Obama were trafficking news accounts of a supposed plot by the President to invoke martial law within days of his second swearing-in. And just imagine that these very shady news accounts were said to be corroborated by an FBI source who alleged that variojus military units were on heightened status for possible deployment within the USA?
You see, this is a vicious and completely destructive game, and one that Americans on all sides have to avoid playing. People on the left have to know how extremely difficult the last year's have been for a whole lot of their fellow citizens. Those citizens who opposed the controversial decisions Obama and Mrs. Hillary made stayed within the bounds of the law and when this election cycle rolled around, they went to the polls and elected a candidate with different ideas. That is the way it is done here, and if our nation is to survive, people like George Soros need to be kept on the political fringe where they belong. The alternative is pure anarchy.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Democrats Might Do Well to Study the Giants of Their Party: Kennedy and Humphrey
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Sunday, December 11, 2016 - Wouldn't it be nice if the Democratic Party started acting like a real American Political Party once again? Back in the proverbial day, a defeat such as the one just sustained by the Democrats would bring about a time of profound soul-searching. The losers would typically wonder what went wrong, why they had lost, what they had been doing wrong and what was a logical path to a bright new day. The people running the Democratic Party today - and in case you've been asleep at the switch for the last eight years, I'm speaking here of the Ultra Leftists who run today's Democratic apparatus - have absolutely no interest in such soul searching. Some of the nonsense spewing out of their mouths in the past few days is enough to make people who care about this nation just stand there and shake their heads.
Late in the past week, Hillary Clinton made remarks that insinuated that she has come to the conclusion that she lost this election because of the "fake news" that her campaign had to fight throughout the fall. In other words, Hillary and her functionaries were bastions of truth and justice while everyone else - she calls them the "basket of deplorables," - did nothing but flood the news cycle with one false narrative after another. Before you laugh - or gag! - you must know that she sounded entirely serious. She actually thinks she has figured out why she lost, and the reason has nothing to do with her penchant for bald face lying, back-stabbing reduced to nouveau art, and all other ends justify the means bruhaha that she and her functionaries dabble in day in and day out.
Mrs. Hillary, I know I am not the first person to reveal the truth, unvarnished, to you. Do you have any idea how often you lie? I believe that you do. Are you under the impression that the electorate is not on to your habits and propensities? Apparently, in your sorry existence, you think you get away with the lies and other low-brow nonsense you engage in. In case you don't know, most Americans know about the uranium sales to Vlad Putin, the lies you told about the Benghazi Massacre, the thugs you turned loose on Donald Trump's Political Rallies, the voter fraud your people engaged in with your okay, the thuggery you yourself engaged in against the dozens and dozens of women your husband preys on, and, well, do I really need to go on? Even if there really was a plot to splatter false news on your campaign - and you and I both know that there wasn't - it would pale, badly, when compared to the anti-American, pro-uber left "stuff" you and your gang let fly.
What's worse, we received news last week that Hillary and Friends are actually "keeping their options open" about the 2020 Presidential Race. That way, you might be able to sucker some international show boats into giving more money to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, or whatever you call it. You, Mrs. Clinton, and the Fascists you mix it up with, fully deserve each other.
Alas, Mrs. Clinton was not the only Uber Leftist who was out certifying that the folk who exist on the political fringe live in their own insulated, insular world, a world where reality rarely laps on the shore of their mental processes. President Obama, another Uber Leftist, is now concluding his last world tour. He told one world leader after another that, despite the Trump Win, most Americans really and truly do agree with his foreign and domestic policies. Even though American Voters just elected the only candidate to promise an impenetrable wall all the way across the country's southern border, they really do favor almost unlimited immigration. And even though they elected a man who openly and obviously circulated a list of 20 American Jurists from whom he would make his Supreme Court Appointments, and every single one of them are bonafide conservatives, Obama thinks he leaves with America heading in the right direction. (P.S., Mr. Obama, unless you are not telling us a whole lot about yourself, you are not a conservative in any sense of the word, and those 20 men and women are not going to work to keep the nation heading out to sea on an uber left ocean liner.)
And last but not least, Mr. Obama, the man who was just elected is not a friend of climate change fanaticism. After meeting cordially with at least two climate fanatics: Former Vice President Al Gore and Actor Leonardo DiCaprio; Mr. Trump appointed a man who doesn't buy into any part of the climate change "stuff," and has the credentials to do something about it. Here, I speak of Scott Pruitt, the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. David Malakoff of Science Magazine - and, you should know up front, he is no fan of Pruitt, surprise, surprise - reports on Pruitt's track record in his article on the Science web page (http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/trump-picks-prominent-climate-skeptic-epa-chief).
[As fate would have it, the 'skads' of folk who buy into human-caused global warming, and those who either don't believe it or don't know, had a real battle just this past week after a raft of news stories reported that Earth has actually cooled in the past year or so, and the typical collection of far left reporters immediately pushed back. The Daily Mail, in London, started this latest war when it reported on 11-26-2016 that El Nino (and not man-caused catalysts) drove the supposed global rise in temperatures from 2014 to 2016. When El Nino weakened, global temperatures plunged a full degree in about one year, the paper reported. See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3974846/Stunning-new-data-indicates-El-Nino-drove-record-highs-global-temperatures-suggesting-rise-not-man-emissions.html].
As I've let on many times, I am a life-long Democrat. I am also a life-long liberal. But I am not, and never have been, a leftist. I really dislike the politics of the uber left, which I judge as absolutely incompatible with Democracy and Capitalism. I love the way the United States was formed, defined and run, except for Slavery and other laws which limited the right of all Americans to vote and fully participate in America's Democracy. I do not believe we can condemn our founders for their shortcomings because they had to operate in the politics and realities of the day. Leaders like Jefferson and Washington knew that America would sooner or later have to rid itself of slavery, but they also knew that they would not be able to break away from Kingdoms that dominated their day if they tried to do everything at the same time. As it was, they were barely able to pull together enough 'revolutionaries' to break away from England in 1776. Had they insisted that slavery fall with the revolution, they would certainly have lost the support of the south at a time they simply could not afford it. The anti-slavery movement took hold in earnest only a few years after America was formed. In less than a century America had abolished the despicable institution, and thousands of Americans of all races lost their life in the civil war that made slavery a thing of the past in this country.
The uber left wants nothing to do with democracy or capitalism. The leaders of the movement say just enough politically correct "stuff" to keep their movement viable. You don't need to be a genius to see that their hearts are not into either of these American realities. Barack Obama often blasted the Constitution and signed enough Executive Orders to show his absolute contempt for legislative processes and American politics. Hillary would have been his clone times ten.
The Democrats I grew up admiring were John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. I cannot imagine that either of these American Giants would feel at home in today's Democratic Party. Then again, it was always the GOP that got real civil rights landmarks enacted. Sure, there are a lot of people who were Republicans who made my skin crawl. That's why I am a Democrat.
Late in the past week, Hillary Clinton made remarks that insinuated that she has come to the conclusion that she lost this election because of the "fake news" that her campaign had to fight throughout the fall. In other words, Hillary and her functionaries were bastions of truth and justice while everyone else - she calls them the "basket of deplorables," - did nothing but flood the news cycle with one false narrative after another. Before you laugh - or gag! - you must know that she sounded entirely serious. She actually thinks she has figured out why she lost, and the reason has nothing to do with her penchant for bald face lying, back-stabbing reduced to nouveau art, and all other ends justify the means bruhaha that she and her functionaries dabble in day in and day out.
Mrs. Hillary, I know I am not the first person to reveal the truth, unvarnished, to you. Do you have any idea how often you lie? I believe that you do. Are you under the impression that the electorate is not on to your habits and propensities? Apparently, in your sorry existence, you think you get away with the lies and other low-brow nonsense you engage in. In case you don't know, most Americans know about the uranium sales to Vlad Putin, the lies you told about the Benghazi Massacre, the thugs you turned loose on Donald Trump's Political Rallies, the voter fraud your people engaged in with your okay, the thuggery you yourself engaged in against the dozens and dozens of women your husband preys on, and, well, do I really need to go on? Even if there really was a plot to splatter false news on your campaign - and you and I both know that there wasn't - it would pale, badly, when compared to the anti-American, pro-uber left "stuff" you and your gang let fly.
What's worse, we received news last week that Hillary and Friends are actually "keeping their options open" about the 2020 Presidential Race. That way, you might be able to sucker some international show boats into giving more money to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, or whatever you call it. You, Mrs. Clinton, and the Fascists you mix it up with, fully deserve each other.
Alas, Mrs. Clinton was not the only Uber Leftist who was out certifying that the folk who exist on the political fringe live in their own insulated, insular world, a world where reality rarely laps on the shore of their mental processes. President Obama, another Uber Leftist, is now concluding his last world tour. He told one world leader after another that, despite the Trump Win, most Americans really and truly do agree with his foreign and domestic policies. Even though American Voters just elected the only candidate to promise an impenetrable wall all the way across the country's southern border, they really do favor almost unlimited immigration. And even though they elected a man who openly and obviously circulated a list of 20 American Jurists from whom he would make his Supreme Court Appointments, and every single one of them are bonafide conservatives, Obama thinks he leaves with America heading in the right direction. (P.S., Mr. Obama, unless you are not telling us a whole lot about yourself, you are not a conservative in any sense of the word, and those 20 men and women are not going to work to keep the nation heading out to sea on an uber left ocean liner.)
And last but not least, Mr. Obama, the man who was just elected is not a friend of climate change fanaticism. After meeting cordially with at least two climate fanatics: Former Vice President Al Gore and Actor Leonardo DiCaprio; Mr. Trump appointed a man who doesn't buy into any part of the climate change "stuff," and has the credentials to do something about it. Here, I speak of Scott Pruitt, the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. David Malakoff of Science Magazine - and, you should know up front, he is no fan of Pruitt, surprise, surprise - reports on Pruitt's track record in his article on the Science web page (http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/trump-picks-prominent-climate-skeptic-epa-chief).
[As fate would have it, the 'skads' of folk who buy into human-caused global warming, and those who either don't believe it or don't know, had a real battle just this past week after a raft of news stories reported that Earth has actually cooled in the past year or so, and the typical collection of far left reporters immediately pushed back. The Daily Mail, in London, started this latest war when it reported on 11-26-2016 that El Nino (and not man-caused catalysts) drove the supposed global rise in temperatures from 2014 to 2016. When El Nino weakened, global temperatures plunged a full degree in about one year, the paper reported. See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3974846/Stunning-new-data-indicates-El-Nino-drove-record-highs-global-temperatures-suggesting-rise-not-man-emissions.html].
As I've let on many times, I am a life-long Democrat. I am also a life-long liberal. But I am not, and never have been, a leftist. I really dislike the politics of the uber left, which I judge as absolutely incompatible with Democracy and Capitalism. I love the way the United States was formed, defined and run, except for Slavery and other laws which limited the right of all Americans to vote and fully participate in America's Democracy. I do not believe we can condemn our founders for their shortcomings because they had to operate in the politics and realities of the day. Leaders like Jefferson and Washington knew that America would sooner or later have to rid itself of slavery, but they also knew that they would not be able to break away from Kingdoms that dominated their day if they tried to do everything at the same time. As it was, they were barely able to pull together enough 'revolutionaries' to break away from England in 1776. Had they insisted that slavery fall with the revolution, they would certainly have lost the support of the south at a time they simply could not afford it. The anti-slavery movement took hold in earnest only a few years after America was formed. In less than a century America had abolished the despicable institution, and thousands of Americans of all races lost their life in the civil war that made slavery a thing of the past in this country.
The uber left wants nothing to do with democracy or capitalism. The leaders of the movement say just enough politically correct "stuff" to keep their movement viable. You don't need to be a genius to see that their hearts are not into either of these American realities. Barack Obama often blasted the Constitution and signed enough Executive Orders to show his absolute contempt for legislative processes and American politics. Hillary would have been his clone times ten.
The Democrats I grew up admiring were John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. I cannot imagine that either of these American Giants would feel at home in today's Democratic Party. Then again, it was always the GOP that got real civil rights landmarks enacted. Sure, there are a lot of people who were Republicans who made my skin crawl. That's why I am a Democrat.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Trump Widens Lead in Wisconsin Recount; Pennsylvania Judge Dismisses Stein's Court Action in That State
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Monday, December 5, 2016 - On a day when the recount of the vote in the Presidential Election, set now to take place in three states - all of which must have their results overturned for these recounts to have any meaning - actually started or continued in two of the states, while the count in the third state seemed ever more unlikely to ever take place. The recount in Wisconsin started late last week while the recount in Michigan started today. Preliminary results in Wisconsin show that the winner, Donald Trump, has actually widened his lead over his closest runner-up, Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, the candidate who filed for the recount saw her numbers go nowhere, a result expected by analysts, and she had to fend off serious questions about her motives during an appearance on Fox News.
Jill Stein, the Green Party Candidate who has filed for the three state recounts - Pennsylvania is the third state - rejected suggestions that her motive for filing the recount was merely to raise money and raise her personal profile amongst the electorate. She denied this and stated, without offering proof or specifics, that all money contributed to her recount fund will be placed in a segregated account that can only be used to pay for expenses associated with the recounts. Stein finished fourth in virtually every state.
A state judge in Pennsylvania passed a final order rejecting Stein's bid for a recount in that state. Stein concedes that she missed the deadline for filing for a recount in Pennsylvania. Her supporters say they will file an action in federal court seeking to force the state to recount despite the fact that she missed the filing deadline. She offered no specifics to Chris Wallace, the Fox News reporter asking the questions, as to what her theory will be in the federal action, but analysts gave it little chance for success. She did file the action in the court of a federal judge appointed to the bench President Barack Hussein Obama.
Over the weekend supporters of Hillary Clinton began to distance themselves from Stein's efforts, even though Stein denied that she was merely a functionary of the Clinton Campaign.
Jill Stein, the Green Party Candidate who has filed for the three state recounts - Pennsylvania is the third state - rejected suggestions that her motive for filing the recount was merely to raise money and raise her personal profile amongst the electorate. She denied this and stated, without offering proof or specifics, that all money contributed to her recount fund will be placed in a segregated account that can only be used to pay for expenses associated with the recounts. Stein finished fourth in virtually every state.
A state judge in Pennsylvania passed a final order rejecting Stein's bid for a recount in that state. Stein concedes that she missed the deadline for filing for a recount in Pennsylvania. Her supporters say they will file an action in federal court seeking to force the state to recount despite the fact that she missed the filing deadline. She offered no specifics to Chris Wallace, the Fox News reporter asking the questions, as to what her theory will be in the federal action, but analysts gave it little chance for success. She did file the action in the court of a federal judge appointed to the bench President Barack Hussein Obama.
Over the weekend supporters of Hillary Clinton began to distance themselves from Stein's efforts, even though Stein denied that she was merely a functionary of the Clinton Campaign.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Sports: Ravens Rout Dolphins; Maryland's Huge Comeback Stuns Oklahoma State
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Sunday, December 4, 2016 - Joe Flacco threw four touchdown passes - two to Dennis Pitta - as the Baltimore Ravens continued their hold on first place in the AFC North Division with a 38-6 rout of the Miami Dolphins, breaking the losers' six-game winning streak. The Ravens broke on top, 24-0, at halftime in front of over 70,000 fans in Baltimore. Flacco connected nine times with Tight End Pitta, two of which were for first half touchdowns. Running Back Terrence West also caught a first half TD pass and Justin Tucker kicked his 28th straight field goal of the season, a 55-yard boot on the last play of the first half. Tucker has not missed a FG this season, nor has he missed an extra point.
Flacco threw for 381 yards, just 8 yards under his career high. Pitta made nine catches, and Mike Wallace and Steve Smith, Sr. made six each as Flacco connected with ten different Raven receivers. Besides West and Pitta, Flacco also threw a 53-yard-touchdown pass to Bernard Perriman.
The only Miami score came after the Ravens fumbled at their own eight-yard-line in the fourth quarter. West also scored a rushing TD for the Ravens. The Ravens are now 7-5 and lead the AFC North over the Steelers, who have the same record, having beaten the Giants on Sunday, because they defeated the Steelers in head-to-head competition.
Saturday night in College Park, Oklahoma State raced to a 12-point lead over Maryland, only to lose when the Terps ran off 13 unanswered points and held off the Cowboys in a nick and tuck affair. Behind 16 points from Jawun Evans, 15 points from Jeffrey Carroll and 14 from Phil Forte, Oklahoma State took a 12 point lead with just over 12 minutes left before a crowd of over 17,000 in College Park. But Maryland, as it has most of the season in winning 8 of its 9 games, came battling back. Four Terrapin players were in double digits in scoring, led by Trimble with 13. Trimble's two free throws with 9.4 seconds left gave Maryland the lead that held up. Evans, the nation's leading scorer, was 9 under his average with his 16 points. His shot that went in after Trimble's heroics, came a second or so after the game ended, the officials said. Replays showed the call was correct, even though the actual buzzer never sounded.
Besides Trimble, Anthony Cowan and Damonte Dodd had 12 points each, and Jaylen Brantley added 11. The Terps host Howard at 9 pm on Wednesday night.
Flacco threw for 381 yards, just 8 yards under his career high. Pitta made nine catches, and Mike Wallace and Steve Smith, Sr. made six each as Flacco connected with ten different Raven receivers. Besides West and Pitta, Flacco also threw a 53-yard-touchdown pass to Bernard Perriman.
The only Miami score came after the Ravens fumbled at their own eight-yard-line in the fourth quarter. West also scored a rushing TD for the Ravens. The Ravens are now 7-5 and lead the AFC North over the Steelers, who have the same record, having beaten the Giants on Sunday, because they defeated the Steelers in head-to-head competition.
Saturday night in College Park, Oklahoma State raced to a 12-point lead over Maryland, only to lose when the Terps ran off 13 unanswered points and held off the Cowboys in a nick and tuck affair. Behind 16 points from Jawun Evans, 15 points from Jeffrey Carroll and 14 from Phil Forte, Oklahoma State took a 12 point lead with just over 12 minutes left before a crowd of over 17,000 in College Park. But Maryland, as it has most of the season in winning 8 of its 9 games, came battling back. Four Terrapin players were in double digits in scoring, led by Trimble with 13. Trimble's two free throws with 9.4 seconds left gave Maryland the lead that held up. Evans, the nation's leading scorer, was 9 under his average with his 16 points. His shot that went in after Trimble's heroics, came a second or so after the game ended, the officials said. Replays showed the call was correct, even though the actual buzzer never sounded.
Besides Trimble, Anthony Cowan and Damonte Dodd had 12 points each, and Jaylen Brantley added 11. The Terps host Howard at 9 pm on Wednesday night.
Quest for Eternal Peace is Perpetual, Even for Christians
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Sunday, December 4, 2016 - Mankind's perpetual - some would say incessant - quest for peace of the soul, or 'inner peace," is a topic that passes through and abounds in every single one of Earth's ages. One can almost hear the wisest of men remarking aloud that "I shall seek inner peace" as he or she makes their way through in an otherwise open field or along a lonely mountain ridge. Even the Bible depicts Christ alone in the desert, waging battle with Lucifer. "All of this would be yours," Satan says to Christ as the two gaze over the world spread before them.
Christ's rejoinder to Lucifer is, basically, "it already is." The rest of us need help when such evil is upon our shoulders or lurking in our blind spots. It seemed like all of the dramas by William Shakespeare returned in some manner or the other to the theme of inner peace. Tennyson, Baudelaire, or any of the great poets often touched on the subject. And yet despite all of the attention, the conundrum remains. There is no answer, there is no magic potion, there is no rejoinder to the Almighty. In fact, Christ seems to say for us not to worry, but to leave all of our problems, all of our sins, to him. Then we will be redeemed and saved. The Lord handles it for us.
When does mankind worry the most? On the eve of battle? The legendary American ballad, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" seems to confirm this. The lyrics:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die* to make men free*,[14]
While God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
While God is marching on.
*The word "die' in the last verse of the original by Julia Ward Howe is sometimes changed to "live" when sung in these present times.
In my mind, this song transfigures people. If the message reaches your heart, you cannot help but be changed, challenged, rejuvenated. There is no definition of inner peace, at least in a secular sense. When one feels in his heart and soul that the Lord is carrying him or her through their life, peace can be attained.
At least that is what I think.
Christ's rejoinder to Lucifer is, basically, "it already is." The rest of us need help when such evil is upon our shoulders or lurking in our blind spots. It seemed like all of the dramas by William Shakespeare returned in some manner or the other to the theme of inner peace. Tennyson, Baudelaire, or any of the great poets often touched on the subject. And yet despite all of the attention, the conundrum remains. There is no answer, there is no magic potion, there is no rejoinder to the Almighty. In fact, Christ seems to say for us not to worry, but to leave all of our problems, all of our sins, to him. Then we will be redeemed and saved. The Lord handles it for us.
When does mankind worry the most? On the eve of battle? The legendary American ballad, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" seems to confirm this. The lyrics:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die* to make men free*,[14]
While God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
While God is marching on.
*The word "die' in the last verse of the original by Julia Ward Howe is sometimes changed to "live" when sung in these present times.
In my mind, this song transfigures people. If the message reaches your heart, you cannot help but be changed, challenged, rejuvenated. There is no definition of inner peace, at least in a secular sense. When one feels in his heart and soul that the Lord is carrying him or her through their life, peace can be attained.
At least that is what I think.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Neither Major Party Has Good Ideas; Trump Will Have to Go It Alone; Pittsburgh Holds Off Maryland in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Wednesday, November 30, 2016 - On a night when Maryland suffered its first defeat of the college basketball season, incoming President Donald Trump met for a second time with Mitt Romney. The meeting was over dinner at a Manhattan restaurant that is one of the most posh in the world. The dinner party included only one other person, Reince Priebus, whom Trump has appointed as his White House Chief of Staff. Priebus is still the RNC Chairman. He is said to be the only major member of Trump's inner circle to support the appointment of Romney to the position of Secretary of State. Others in the Inner Circle are against Romney, at least for the State position, because of his caustic opposition to Trump's Presidential bid.
Appearing on Fox News last night, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said he opposed Romney for the Secretary of State position but would support whomever Trump picked.
Unless you live under some kind of information shell, you know that this nation is at a critical juncture in its 240+ years of existence. The two major political parties hardly resemble their statures during the years that each shown bright on the American scene.
The Democratic Party has been taken over by the Ultra Far Left. Its leaders demand fidelity, even to policies that jump over the legislative restraints previously enacted as if those restraints do not exist. I don't have a clear view of where these people want to take the nation, at least not as a whole. I know that the Ultra Leftist Party Leadership, led by Lame Duck Barack Obama, is doing all in its collective power to promote racial division in the nation, making personnel decisions based on race on a whim. I know that Democrats want to change the economy from one in which capitalism holds sway, where each person is free to think, free to communicate and free to act as they choose, provided they do not injure others on purpose or with reckless abandon, and where each citizen is at liberty to undertake whatever job or vocation they choose and free, as well, to make as much money as they want or are able to. Instead, the Far Left-led Democrats want a national economy where the government is all powerful, where private enterprise is discouraged, where stale socialistic endeavors tightly controlled by the powerful central government is the new norm. I know that the Democrats do not want the USA to lead the world in anything. I know the Democrats are not in favor of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; instead they wish to make the national motto something akin to collective effort for the collective good, individual liberty and individual thinking be damned. Also important to these Leftists is the idea, when it comes to paying workers, of minimum incomes paid out, nearly usurious national taxes paid in to supremely governments that look a whole lot like the governments that ran nations that were stuck behind the Iron Curtain. In the Democrats' thinking, individuals have virtually no role.
The mainline national GOP is primarily interested in keeping its shrinking slice of power, even to the point of working against the candidate nominated by the party's voters, because that candidate, Donald Trump, would upset the tired apple cart that is in Washington in these days. By contrast, the elected Republicans that are in charge in the various state governments - the GOP currently controls the governments of some 34 states - are a very vital dynamic group, leading their respective states, for the most part, in a manner that is just as the framers of the United States Constitution envisioned. Why there is a disconnect in the Republican Party between these state GOP governments and the RHINO clowns running around in Washington is a great mystery. I really believe that the national GOP is quite nervous about having control of both the legislative and executive branches of the national government. I wouldn't be at all stunned if Mitch McConnell, the Senate President, and Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, end up working with Congressional Democrats against President Trump on quite a few, if not most issues. There is a stunning amount of resentment against Trump in Washington, arising, it seems, out of the fact that Trump is a real outsider coming to Washington without any prior political experience.
Democrats in Congress were unable to work effectively with Jimmy Carter when he was President because he was viewed as an outsider with no political acumen. Trump, unschooled in the ways of Washington - a trait that is positive when it comes to morals and ethics but negative when it comes to getting along in the nation's capital - could face all of the problems faced by Carter, and then some.
And unlike George W. Bush, Trump won't be able to turn to the GOP for support. He could very easily be isolated politically and left to swim against the current for his entire tenure, whether it be four years or eight years. I hope he makes every effort to tap into the one recourse naturally open to him: taking his message directly to the people. He is schooled in public discourse, having starred in a prime-time television show for years. That could be his plan and his salvation.
Food for Thought: The French Revolution is often looked on by intellectuals as the catalyst of great leaps forward in all topics deemed enlightened and advanced. Yet, as the Oxford History of the French Revolution, Second Edition, by William Doyle, Oxford University Press, 2002, has noted, book production in France increased dramatically during the latter half of the eighteenth century until the start of that revolution in 1788/1789.
In his Pulitzer Prize Winning Book, Profiles in Courage, the late United States' President, John F. Kennedy, wrote that "...democracy means much more than popular government and majority rule, much more than a system of political techniques to flatter or deceive powerful blocs of voters. A democracy that has no...monuments of individual conscience in a sea of popular rule is not worthy to bear the name." Ibid, at page 223. The book was originally published in 1953, and the quote was taken from a paperback edition published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 2006.
Sports: Terp Rally, At Long Last, Comes Up Short, Maryland Falls to Pittsburgh, 73-59 - This time they fell too far behind against too good of a team. This time even their penchant for breathtaking comebacks was stretched too thin. This time, they lost.
A Pittsburgh team with a lot of upperclassmen and a very big line-up punched Maryland's basketball team smack dab in the gut Tuesday Night in College Park in a renewal of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Panthers, up by 21 points at halftime, 25 points with 15 minutes left to play, and still ahead by 22 points with 13 minutes to play, managed to hold off a gutty Maryland rally and beat the Terps on the losers' home court, 73-59.
Led by Freshman Daniel Huerter, Junior Melo Trimble and Red Shirt Sophmore Dion Wiley, Maryland went on a dramatic 22-9 run over a 9 and one-half minute stretch of the second half to pull within 8 points, at 63-55, with 3:35 left. Those 22 points included three 3-point shots by Huerter, two by Wiley and one by Trimble. But with the Pitt lead at 8, another three-point try by Wiley rimmed out; it could have cut the Panther lead to 5 and sent the already delirious Maryland crowd through the roof. Maryland again trimmed Pitt's lead to 8 with 1:40 left on two free throws by Anthony Cowan, but Damonte Dodd fouled out on Pitt's next trip down the floor and Michael Young put the Panther lead back into double digits with two free throws.
Trimble led Maryland with 13 points. Cowan had 11 points for the Terps and Michael Cekovsky added 10. Pitt was led by Young with 25 points and Jamel Artis with 22 points. Cekovsky played the most minutes so far for him this season, spending 20 minutes on the floor.
TV Analyst Jay Williams criticized Young for engaging Maryland Fans in a battle of insults, telling the Pitt Star that such nonsense will not benefit him in the long run. It was very good advice.
Appearing on Fox News last night, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said he opposed Romney for the Secretary of State position but would support whomever Trump picked.
Unless you live under some kind of information shell, you know that this nation is at a critical juncture in its 240+ years of existence. The two major political parties hardly resemble their statures during the years that each shown bright on the American scene.
The Democratic Party has been taken over by the Ultra Far Left. Its leaders demand fidelity, even to policies that jump over the legislative restraints previously enacted as if those restraints do not exist. I don't have a clear view of where these people want to take the nation, at least not as a whole. I know that the Ultra Leftist Party Leadership, led by Lame Duck Barack Obama, is doing all in its collective power to promote racial division in the nation, making personnel decisions based on race on a whim. I know that Democrats want to change the economy from one in which capitalism holds sway, where each person is free to think, free to communicate and free to act as they choose, provided they do not injure others on purpose or with reckless abandon, and where each citizen is at liberty to undertake whatever job or vocation they choose and free, as well, to make as much money as they want or are able to. Instead, the Far Left-led Democrats want a national economy where the government is all powerful, where private enterprise is discouraged, where stale socialistic endeavors tightly controlled by the powerful central government is the new norm. I know that the Democrats do not want the USA to lead the world in anything. I know the Democrats are not in favor of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; instead they wish to make the national motto something akin to collective effort for the collective good, individual liberty and individual thinking be damned. Also important to these Leftists is the idea, when it comes to paying workers, of minimum incomes paid out, nearly usurious national taxes paid in to supremely governments that look a whole lot like the governments that ran nations that were stuck behind the Iron Curtain. In the Democrats' thinking, individuals have virtually no role.
The mainline national GOP is primarily interested in keeping its shrinking slice of power, even to the point of working against the candidate nominated by the party's voters, because that candidate, Donald Trump, would upset the tired apple cart that is in Washington in these days. By contrast, the elected Republicans that are in charge in the various state governments - the GOP currently controls the governments of some 34 states - are a very vital dynamic group, leading their respective states, for the most part, in a manner that is just as the framers of the United States Constitution envisioned. Why there is a disconnect in the Republican Party between these state GOP governments and the RHINO clowns running around in Washington is a great mystery. I really believe that the national GOP is quite nervous about having control of both the legislative and executive branches of the national government. I wouldn't be at all stunned if Mitch McConnell, the Senate President, and Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, end up working with Congressional Democrats against President Trump on quite a few, if not most issues. There is a stunning amount of resentment against Trump in Washington, arising, it seems, out of the fact that Trump is a real outsider coming to Washington without any prior political experience.
Democrats in Congress were unable to work effectively with Jimmy Carter when he was President because he was viewed as an outsider with no political acumen. Trump, unschooled in the ways of Washington - a trait that is positive when it comes to morals and ethics but negative when it comes to getting along in the nation's capital - could face all of the problems faced by Carter, and then some.
And unlike George W. Bush, Trump won't be able to turn to the GOP for support. He could very easily be isolated politically and left to swim against the current for his entire tenure, whether it be four years or eight years. I hope he makes every effort to tap into the one recourse naturally open to him: taking his message directly to the people. He is schooled in public discourse, having starred in a prime-time television show for years. That could be his plan and his salvation.
Food for Thought: The French Revolution is often looked on by intellectuals as the catalyst of great leaps forward in all topics deemed enlightened and advanced. Yet, as the Oxford History of the French Revolution, Second Edition, by William Doyle, Oxford University Press, 2002, has noted, book production in France increased dramatically during the latter half of the eighteenth century until the start of that revolution in 1788/1789.
In his Pulitzer Prize Winning Book, Profiles in Courage, the late United States' President, John F. Kennedy, wrote that "...democracy means much more than popular government and majority rule, much more than a system of political techniques to flatter or deceive powerful blocs of voters. A democracy that has no...monuments of individual conscience in a sea of popular rule is not worthy to bear the name." Ibid, at page 223. The book was originally published in 1953, and the quote was taken from a paperback edition published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 2006.
Sports: Terp Rally, At Long Last, Comes Up Short, Maryland Falls to Pittsburgh, 73-59 - This time they fell too far behind against too good of a team. This time even their penchant for breathtaking comebacks was stretched too thin. This time, they lost.
A Pittsburgh team with a lot of upperclassmen and a very big line-up punched Maryland's basketball team smack dab in the gut Tuesday Night in College Park in a renewal of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Panthers, up by 21 points at halftime, 25 points with 15 minutes left to play, and still ahead by 22 points with 13 minutes to play, managed to hold off a gutty Maryland rally and beat the Terps on the losers' home court, 73-59.
Led by Freshman Daniel Huerter, Junior Melo Trimble and Red Shirt Sophmore Dion Wiley, Maryland went on a dramatic 22-9 run over a 9 and one-half minute stretch of the second half to pull within 8 points, at 63-55, with 3:35 left. Those 22 points included three 3-point shots by Huerter, two by Wiley and one by Trimble. But with the Pitt lead at 8, another three-point try by Wiley rimmed out; it could have cut the Panther lead to 5 and sent the already delirious Maryland crowd through the roof. Maryland again trimmed Pitt's lead to 8 with 1:40 left on two free throws by Anthony Cowan, but Damonte Dodd fouled out on Pitt's next trip down the floor and Michael Young put the Panther lead back into double digits with two free throws.
Trimble led Maryland with 13 points. Cowan had 11 points for the Terps and Michael Cekovsky added 10. Pitt was led by Young with 25 points and Jamel Artis with 22 points. Cekovsky played the most minutes so far for him this season, spending 20 minutes on the floor.
TV Analyst Jay Williams criticized Young for engaging Maryland Fans in a battle of insults, telling the Pitt Star that such nonsense will not benefit him in the long run. It was very good advice.
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