Film Friday - my top-rated movie couples in no particular order.
Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable
Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray
Katharine Hepburn & Humphrey Bogart
Elizabeth Taylor & Paul Newman
Myrna Loy & William Powell
Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy
Donna Reed & Jimmy Stewart
Jane Russell & Robert Mitchum
Ingrid Bergman & Cary Grant
Jean Arthur & Gary Cooper
In recent news, Microsoft (10,000) and Amazon (18,000) laid off thousands of employees.
There was a time going back to the1950's 1960's you landed a job at a well-established company; you were set until you were ready to retire. But in today's economic-driven environment, it is more prevalent that the bigger the company, the more chance you have of being laid off. And the much smaller business is the one to retire from. Having a job has always been a necessary part of making a living to pay the bills, but if you're in the job market looking for the perfect job. I'll have to say they do not exist. There will always be a boardroom of decision makers to decide about layoffs or the large, more profitable companies with specialized teams to seek and find another company to buy out. The big fish eats the smaller fish reality, it's a brutal business.
My generation has experienced excellent companies that care for 20-year employees; I believe future generations will only experience working for a place for about 5 years.
Job security has been redefined as working at most 10 years in one place. Sad as it may seem, it's the truth.
Photo - pixabay - geralt
God gives every single one of our freedoms. This freedom is the ultimate freedom, but it comes with consequences.
The freedom of free will.
Our will is what drives us in our ability to choose to act on what is good or bad. God could easily have made us always be inclined to do good and never evil. But he gave us the freedom of choice of good or evil. Just as He did with Adam and Eve. The choice of good strengthens our faith when confronting the evil we experience daily. But the choice of sin has the consequences of the judgment of God. It also has been given to us internally, deep into our souls; this freedom is within each of us, and no country or government and take that away from you.
Exercise your God-given right of free will. But be sure it is with deep thought because the wrong choice has consequences.
Photo - pixabay - geralt
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 film directed by Frank Capra. The main characters, Jimmy Stewart (Mr. Smith), Jean Arthur (Saunders), and Claude Rains (Sen. Joseph Paine), are the main characters.
It's one of my favorite movies. The story goes as Mr. Smith is elected as Senator and goes to Washington with a great sense of doing some good for a country he loves. He discovers early the deep corruption of the senior politicians who try to oust Mr. Smith because he is not going according to the rules of corruption within the political world. But he resists and continues to fight for the truth and the duties of his position. And with persistence, he prevails and becomes a model Senator.
Politics, especially at the higher levels in Washington DC, have a certain amount of corruption, and I'm sure there are a few "Mr. Smiths" in the office today, or at least I would like to believe. Politicians should represent the people who elect them, but that does not necessarily reflect everyone because some didn't vote for the elected. But the majority rules, and if you live in a district where your representatives do not reflect your values, you should move to another city or state. In America, we can elect those who best represent our values.
The FAA Flight System is down; what is up with that?
How could a powerful computer system go entirely down?
And according to the reports, it is the first time this has happened.
And with that said, they have had plenty of time to install redundancy systems, so if one fails, the other should kick in without delay.
This goes much deeper than what we are hearing. The disruption of flights today will take days to recover from and to return to normal operation. There should have been lessons learned Airlines from the breakdown of Southwest Airlines during Christmas. But again, how does this happen, and why wasn't it fixed?
Clearly a lot of unknowns. In the next few weeks, more reports will come about what really happened.
Photo: pixabay - JESHOOTS-com
Listening to the wisdom of older generations is a treasure we should not take for granted.
We have all experienced a relative who talks about the old days, the days when they were younger, the days of glory, some might say. And sometimes, these stories are repeated. But in a way, it's a good thing.
Throughout history, families have passed down their stories from generation to generation.
This sharing of stories even goes back to biblical times. The passing of the Word of God through oral tradition has given us today the foundation of Christianity, specifically the Bible. Also, the writing from the Saints has been passed down in the same way.
Take time to listen to those who have a story to tell, no matter how small or great, because this is who we are and what we do as the people of God to care and take the time out of our busy days to listen to an old-timer share their part of history.
Photo - pixabay - beauty_of_nature
The House is now under the political control of the Republicans. But it is undecided who will be the next speaker. So, at this point, I'm going to be critical of the conservatives. They have had plenty of time to debate this among themselves. I know politicians have always been about power and control, which goes for any political party.
But, come on! You would think after all the years of the Pelosi dynasty. The republicans could easily have someone in mind to clearly take control as Speaker of the House. I can see from most news reports that the agenda of what needs to be done is somewhat agreed on by most congressional republicans.
What is the big delay? The longer this goes on, the more division within the Republican Party will add to the democrats being critical of conservatives.
Photo: pixabay - TheDigitalArtist
What will the new year bring?
So many forecasters predicting what 2023 will bring to us.
But as I've said, they can say all they want, but no one knows. But some predictions are standard every year the financial markets, the weather, the Sun comes up and sets every evening, and the list goes on and on.
What will the first significant event be in 2023?
The year 2022 has come to an end.
Here are some of the most viewed posts for each month this year.
February: The Federal Drug Program
Photo: pixabay - geralt
The past severe cold weather brought many cardinals to my feeders; more in this picture could not capture them in the frame.
The world's infrastructure is weak. As we go through the winter months, the weakness begins to demonstrate how behind we are in electricity and water management.
The recent freezing weather has stressed our systems and sometimes caused a complete breakdown in the age when we can develop new technologies overnight.
Why can't we manage our utilities?
I am nowhere close to having any knowledge of this topic, but those in the industry could create a failsafe system, or is this done on purpose (putting on my tin-foil hat). It does not make any sense! Suppose one does not have a power backup system. In that case, one would live in the 1800s as a pioneer in the west, with no electricity, limited water supply, communications, and limited travel. This should not happen in the technology age.
Photo: pixabay - GDJ
Most would think days after Christmas would be the end of Christmas, but actually, it's just the beginning. Birthdays are generally celebrated the day of and the days after.
Does anyone really just stop celebrating the day after their birthday?
Then why should we stop the celebration of the Savior of the World and the Son of God?
Merry Christmas!!
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with Thee;
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary, etc.
V. And the Word was made Flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, etc.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
LET US PRAY
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
I remember my grandfather telling me the story of when he was at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The story goes it was Christmas eve, and the Germans and Americans were separated by a river. Fighting had taken place during the day, but as night came and midnight, the action stopped. It was Christmas. Both sides realized the peace of Christ, the peace of Christmas.
We should all find the time this week to stop and take a break from the holiday rush. Do not lose sight of what Christmas day brings, peace and joy to the world. A time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the hope of a New Year. Remember, when the stress gets too much, fighting forces can find the time for quiet and take the peace of Christ into their hearts.
Photo: pixabay - Angeleses
We wait for so many things in our lifetime; some are longer than others. We wait for the perfect job, waiting for the change in seasons, waiting for the line you are standing in to get shorter, and the list could go on and on.
But December brings us a particular waiting time. Waiting for a birth. The time of waiting for Christmas day. Sometimes the business market will push the limits on when this starts (Christmas in July), but the real wait begins at the beginning of Advent.
The anticipation of the Lord and celebration of His coming into the world as Fully God and Fully Human. Even as we celebrate this day year after year. It is a perfect time to renew ourselves. Just as Christ became new to the world, so can we become new within Christ and continue in the spiritual life. Advent is similar to Lent in preparation for the Resurrection.
We should primarily focus this week on the great day Jesus Christ came into our presence to dwell among us. This is the greatest gift we could receive for Christmas. No gift in a box wrapped in paper can be greater than the celebration of God becoming Man.
Photo: pixabay - anncapictures
Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI; and president of the Musk Foundation. With an estimated net worth of around $171 billion as of December 8, 2022,[4] Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes's real-time billionaires list.[5][6]
Elon, the mover, and shaker. He has created a movement to re-do the whole social media concept and truly make Twitter a free speech platform. Most of the criticism comes from the progressives, who are upset because he is letting the conservatives have a voice.
Why has it come to this?
I realize that hate speech will continually be monitored because the world is still dangerous. But the past CEO of Twitter suspended accounts based on their political views. This is also dangerous because when political thoughts are suppressed, and this continues to be the case for most news outlets. It will be a matter of time before our freedom of speech is completely gone. And something as simple as this blog could be banished.
Patriots - Voice your opinions, and do not take this excellent freedom for granted.
December this the month of Jesus Christ.
This month the world celebrates the birth of Jesus during the Christmas season throughout the entire month.
But December is Advent, and Christmas begins on December the 25th and ends 12 days on the Epiphany.
Christmas has become so commercialized with no emphasis on Christ or God. Happy holidays greeting has become the substitute phrase for Merry Christmas; this is just another way to try to remove Christ from our society.
Christians worldwide should take this month to proclaim the good news, spread the word of the Gospels, and educate those who do not know the world's Savior.
Merry Christmas
Photo: blende12 - pixabay
The conservatives have taken control of congress, lookout progressives, and the wave of investigations is coming. First on the agenda is securing the border. Who would have thought this to ever be an issue, but the last few years of a completely open border have created an invasion never seen in the United States. I can only hope that a republican congress can reverse or at least stop and ultimately close the southern US border. I'm not sure it can be done without the signature of Biden, but at least it should get the attention of the general public which has been somewhat censored. The media and the white house press have controlled the narrative and downplayed the real problem. I believe the progressive media outlets will at least cover the press releases from congress, critique the conservative opinions, and maybe change the minds of some liberals.
photo: pixabay