Year End 2022

The year 2022 has come to an end.

Here are some of the most viewed posts for each month this year.

January: What's Next?

February: The Federal Drug Program

March: The Oil Agenda

April: The Good News

May: Are You Convinced?

June: Reasonable Conclusion

July: Summer Eggs 2

August: My Opinion

September: The Border Crisis

October: The Mid Term

November: Priority Vote

December: The Wait

Photo: pixabay - geralt

Predictions

Predictions for 2023

It has yet to be determined what will transpire next year. Businesses use their budget forecast as a guild line to manage their finances.

Every year we all go through the thought process of what we want to happen in the new year, but ultimately there is no possible way of knowing. The outside influences in our lives always seem to change a well-thought-out plan. Now, making plans is fine, but long-term goals can always change.

A prime example of this was the year 2020. The outside influence of the virus changed the entire world and continued into the following year.

I know this is pessimistic but prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Hope for the best is more than just a pleasant thought; it is in true hope and graces from God that great things happen, and those well-thought-out plans are not entirely yours but the touch of God's hand in our everyday life. 

Going forward into 2023, hope and prayer are the real influences, as God is the ultimate predictor of the future.

Cardinals

 

The past severe cold weather brought many cardinals to my feeders; more in this picture could not capture them in the frame.

The Effects of Cold Weather

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

Merry Christmas

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!!

The Angelus Prayer

 

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.

A Time for Peace

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   

 

  

The Wait

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 in the News

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 Musk - Wikipedia

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

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 

Change is coming

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   

Heroes Don't Wear Capes

 

Mystery Movies

 Top Ten Mystery Films

10. Keeper of the Flame (1942)

9. Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929)

8. Harper (1966)

7. Citizen Kane (1941)

6. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

5. The Thin Man (1934)

4. And Then There Were None (1945)

3. Rear Window (1954)

2. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

1. Gaslight (1944)

Overflowing Politics

 The news is overflowing with politics.

• The midterm election results are still being counted.

• Donald Trump announces that he will run for president in 2024.

• Kevin McCarthy is elected by the GOP as the next Speaker of the House.

• Ron DeSantis overwhelmingly wins re-election as Governor of Florida. 

• Joe Biden goes to China.

• John Fetterman was surprisingly elected as Pennsylvania Senator.

I'm sure I will have some comments about one or more of the above headlines in the upcoming days. 

Still Counting

 As the votes are still being tallied. The anticipation of who will control the House and Senate is still unknown.

However, the outcome of the fight for freedom will continue.  The price of freedom is not easy. It's not something that everyone agrees to. Political opinions have always been a topic of discussion. It is the American way. But I'm deeply concerned if the House and Senate go democrat. Then the days of opinions of anything opposite the liberal viewpoint will be censored. And the only reason I say this is because this is a current practice of the Biden administration.

Priority Vote

The day before the most critical election in recent times. 

This post is specifically for the conservative citizens in the United States.

I realize that sometimes it's challenging to get to the polls because of the balance of time, family, and work. But this election day should take an absolute priority. If you have been current with the news over the last two years, you have clearly seen the agenda the progressives want to accomplish. And most of their legislation has been stopped by the Senate because of the conservative majority. I do not need to remind everyone how radical those laws, if passed, would be, a radical shift in American policies that could never be restored.

Tomorrow make your vote count and help restore America back to the Great country it is - Vote Republican.

Photo: amberzen - pixabay 

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, And sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from hence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. 

Retirement

For those of us who are spending a good bit of our life working, there will come a point when the daily grind of getting up and reaching the point of spending eight hours of your life trying to earn a few bucks to pay the bills will come to an end. I would think most people would eventually look forward to retirement. Because the days of pursuit and accomplishments will soon wain. The new days of retirement will settle into everyday life. How one looks at retirement will vary from person to person. I'm not at the point of retirement, but it's just around the corner. I believe retirement should be a time of adventure and discovery; for all the years someone works and wishes to have more vacation time, the retirement years are just the beginning. I will admit retirement will be difficult. It's a significant life event. And I do not want to work until I'm too old to adventure about, and I do not want to retire early; just not ready yet. Either way, it's something for me to look forward to another chapter in my life.

Photo - geralt - pixabay 

   

November

November is the month to honor Veterans. 

Most would think November is the month of Thanksgiving or the pre-Christmas month. But I see it as the month for veterans because, without the veterans, we would not have all those freedoms we experience throughout the year.  People take for granted and not really thinking about those who served in our military to protect our country's freedoms. My wife and I always make time for our local Veterans Day parade.  We had experienced times when just a few people came to the parade. It was a sad experience seeing World War II vets walking in the parade waving at the small gathering of groups of supporters on the sidewalk. These guys put their life on the line for us and were willing to take the possibility of dying for our country. The sidewalks should have overflowed with people waving back at them and expressing gratitude.  

Why has our country come to the point of going overboard, celebrating every ethnic and LGBTQ group throughout the year? And barely giving any notice to the US Veteran. The patriotism for our country and those who serve it has disappeared. And those of us who have served and known the sacrifices our military makes every hour of every day can't express how grateful we are to the heroes of the past and present. 

I hope more people will come to local Veterans Day celebrations this year. 

Thank a Veteran!

Photo: BrianPenny - pixabay

The Eve of All Saints Day

The vigil of this feast is popularly called "Hallowe'en" or "Halloween".

Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts during the year.

In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (379) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Calendar a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday after Easter. In the West Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).

Mershman, F. (1907). All Saints' Day. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 28, 2022 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315a.htm