Season 5

It's been fun--mostly--so far to watch seasons 1-4 of The Chosen. But it wasn't all miracles and good times when Jesus Christ walked the earth, and everyone knows it's going to get intense.

Season 5 will focus on Holy Week, the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus by the Roman Empire. Just a few days after crowds welcomed Him to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Jewish elite cooperated with Rome to have Him killed. And of course there's the infamous betrayal.

Episodes will open in theaters next March, with free streaming to follow.

A one-minute teaser was released this week.

 

from USA Today

Thanksgiving

Just in case your teachers never told you how Thanksgiving started in America, this re-post is a short summary of the story. Share it with someone who never heard it:

President Abraham Lincoln started a regular, recurrent, scheduled Thanksgiving holiday in America. It formalized the American tradition of observing a day to thank God for blessings, started in the earliest days.

Colonists sailed on "Mayflower" to the New World ("Plimoth") in December (December!) of 1620, and about half of them died that first winter (the rest were very, very uncomfortable).  

But the next summer was productive, and the remaining 40 pilgrims plus 90 Indians enjoyed a three-day autumn feast together.  Here's one of the first-person accounts of that feast, taken from a letter: 

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. . . [A]mongst our recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us . . their greatest king Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted . . . [B]y the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."  (from The Book of Thanksgiving by Paul Dickson)

If you have all the food and water and warmth you need today (some really don't), and more besides, be thankful!

Dinner cost 2024

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

That big 2022 spike in the cost of Thanksgiving dinner (yesterday's post) didn't continue, thankfully. Last year the cost declined a bit, and this year the cost declined a bit more. The Farm Bureau makes the point, however, that we're still paying more than we ever paid any time before 2022 (image).

 

How these average prices impact us has been figured out in a practical way by economist Gale Pooley. He compares average prices to average wages paid to workers at the time.

 

It's a good measure of what these prices actually mean to people at the time of the survey. He calls this measure of what it costs the "time price," meaning the amount of time an average worker would have to work to purchase this dinner.

Average wage in 1986 was $8.96 per hour, so a wage earner then paid for their 1986 dinner with about 3.2 hours of work. Today in 2024 the average wage is $30.48 per hour. So an average wage earner pays for that dinner today with about 1.9 hours of work.

In general terms, Americans are finding it more affordable to pay for that dinner than we did thirty-eight years ago. How did that happen? Innovation and improvement in agriculture, transport, manufacturing, all the businesses that touch our dinner in some way.

from Doomslayer

Dinner cost

American Farm Bureau surveys the cost of a typical Thanksgiving dinner prepared for ten guests every year. (Go here for the list of items; somehow they neglected green bean casserole.) Here is the history of that cost (image) since 2005:

These prices are not adjusted for inflation, so it's just the raw dollars' cost from each year's survey. You can see the inflation we all know has been happening since the pandemic started in 2020. Prices were almost flat from 2011 til 2020, a long time. The highest costs ever in the survey occurred two years ago.

But the survey was started long before 2005. When it began back in 1986, the raw cost of the dinner was $28.74. Since then the cost has risen to $58.08, a rise of 102% in 38 years.

What is the real impact on us? In tomorrow's post we'll see the way an economist has figured that out.

from Doomslayer

(cont'd tomorrow)

No turkey czar 2

Remember 2020? We were deep into the covid pandemic. Thanksgiving was different because we couldn't get together.

This re-post from four years ago is a good reminder that we easily obtain our holiday dinner turkey due to the "invisible hand" of the U.S. free market, not due to a bureaucratic Turkey Czar.

My niece invited the extended family to her apartment for Thanksgiving this year. She created a  Facebook event called "A Very 2020 Thanksgiving." Then she cancelled it because our governor's covid restrictions forbid multiple household gatherings. Yes, a very 2020 Thanksgiving.

My household had no turkey. But if you did, I think I know how you got it. You didn't order it special from a local shop or farm. You put it in your cart on a normal trip to the grocery store. You knew there would be plenty of reasonably priced turkeys for all who wanted one.

Thousands of people made that happen:

"Poultry farmers, of course, but also the feed distributors, and the truckers who brought it to the farm, not to mention the architect who designed the hatchery, the workmen who built it, and the technicians who keep it running. The bird had to be slaughtered and defeathered and inspected and transported and unloaded and wrapped and priced and displayed. The people who accomplished those tasks were supported in turn by armies of other people accomplishing other tasks — from refining the gasoline that fueled the trucks to manufacturing the plastic in which the meat was packaged."

There is no turkey czar with a master plan, issuing orders, forcing these workers to cooperate. But they do cooperate. They made thousands of smart decisions independently. Why? To create an income and take care of their loved ones. 

"Free human beings freely interact, and the result is an array of goods and services more immense than the human mind can comprehend. No dictator, no bureaucracy, no supercomputer plans it in advance." 

Adam Smith called it the "invisible hand" of the free marketplace.

from the Boston Globe

Old media 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Bezos wants to face reality, as he says, to "swallow" what he knows is a "bitter pill" to journalists, the fact that "Most people believe the media is biased." The only surprise to most of us in America is that it took so long for big corporate media to figure that out.

While their endorsements used to carry weight with American voters, now, he says, they carry no weight. Worst of all, they "create a perception of bias" (a true perception in my humble opinion.) "The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite."

Who does he think did influence voters in our election on November 5? 

"Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions."

"Misinformation" is what the left wing party calls news/opinion that doesn't come from them. The elite still are super confident that they are superior and deserve unquestioned status. 

from Washington Post

Old media

Legacy media has been around for many years and includes some well-known names such as Washington Post and New York Times along with television broadcast news programs. Owned by huge corporations and billionaires, they carry huge political influence . . or did.

Jeff Bezos (photo), founder of Amazon, bought the Washington Post for $250 million in 2013. This year he shocked its fans when he announced that the Post would not endorse a political candidate for president of the U.S., an end to its long tradition. 

 

Editors, writers and readers were angry that the newspaper would not take the side of the left wing party, as in the past. Two hundred thousand subscribers cancelled.

Why did he do it? The Post ran his explanation: "The Hard Truth: Americans Don't Trust the News Media."

In recent surveys, media and journalists are nearly at the bottom of the list of professions Americans trust, he says. "But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working."

(cont'd tomorrow)

"Just politics!"

Some people claimed during the campaign that the president-elect is "literally Hitler." The current president said that the man is a fascist and a threat to democracy. But last week he gave him happy congratulations and a "Welcome back" to the White House.

A radio host feels confused. "What happened to fascist?" Did he believe those accusations?

Back in 2006, journalist Leslie Stahl reminded the incoming Speaker of the House that she had said terrible things about the opposing party's candidates. She asked, "How will you be able to work with him after saying those things??"

Said the Speaker, "Oh that's just politics. I'm sure he understands."

Alarming, emotional, exaggerated attacks are not to be taken seriously. Even the politician who says these things often does not actually believe them, but just says them for effect. Any connection to genuine truth could be a coincidence.

As usual, you'll have to think for yourself.

Boeing's DEI died

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Boeing's new CEO knew he would have to solve problems when he took the job last August. 

What is the basic goal of the company? Right in the middle of their big troubles (yesterday's post), he focuses them on asking the most important question: "Does this help us build airplanes?" Because that is what they have to do really well.

So, the CEO cancelled their DEI program. According to one insider, "everyone who has had to build things knows that what really drives value is integrity, hard work, and technical expertise." DEI was a distraction, a dilution of focus. It divided their employees--it did not unify them.

"The best culture directly promotes values and results, not identity groups . . . Hiring on merit while truly caring for people, regardless of arbitrary one-dimensional identity- or affinity-group labels, is the way to go. After all, people do not want to be beneficiaries of bias any more than they want to be victims of it."

from City Journal

Boeing problems

Aerospace company Boeing is the largest in that sector, with a workforce of over 170,000. Their new CEO as of August has multiple problems to solve, including a huge backlog of of $500 billion. A two-month strike by machinists just ended this month.

Quality and safety failures have damaged its hundred-year reputation. Their spacecraft Starliner carried astronauts to the ISS for the first time last June, but NASA judged it unsafe to return those astronauts, so it came back to Earth empty.

Last January a panel broke away from a Boeing airplane at 16,000 feet shortly after the Alaska Airlines commercial flight took off. No one was seriously hurt, though the plane (photo) also lost a cushion from the seat immediately next to the blown-out section of fuselage😮

(cont'd tomorrow)

NYC hopes

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

New York's mayor has hope for positive change because of last week's election, like most American voters do. 

When he reached out to the current administration for help, he found only deaf ears--no help came for his city's immigration crisis. But now he's optimistic that his concerns will be heard and some of his ideas put into effect:

“I am willing to sit down with this administration like I tried to sit down with the previous administration in my 10 trips to Washington to say: we have a problem that is overrunning our cities.” 

 

Not in favor of mass deportation, he does hope for 1) federal money to help finance NYC's  support of immigrants, 2)  more secure border policies including background checks, and 3) sending some immigrants to less populated locations.

“When I talked about public safety in 2021, it was ignored. When I talked about migrants and asylum seekers in 2023, it was ignored.” He doesn't like being ignored. 

A similar story applies to the Teamsters Union who for many years were loyal supporters of the now-left-wing party. They feel ignored. But the union president found an open, responsive welcome when he wished to speak to the political party convention of our president-elect.

from Politico

NYC pays 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

Migrants being housed in New York City hotels (photo) may receive pre-paid credit cards to buy food and baby supplies, a pilot program begun last March funded by the city through a controversial no-bid contract with a finance company which profits in some way.

 

They say that it saves the city millions of dollars, compared to their former policy of giving boxed meals (which received some complaints about the quality). The cards must be re-loaded every week at a value of about $350, for a monthly dole of about $1400. Recipients promise to use the cards only for authorized purchases.

Mayor Adams is ending the program at this year's end, going back to boxed meals. About $3.4 million was the total cost of this program to the city.

from CBS

NYC pays 1

New York City supports foreign-born immigrants who came across U.S. borders without legal authority. For their convenience, "benefits for undocumented immigrants" are published here.

Over 70,000 immigrants have been temporarily put up in Manhattan at the former Roosevelt Hotel, now called "the New York City arrival center," by the city since 2021. "They have no idea what's going on, they were just given a bus ticket or plane ticket."

It's unsustainable for the city, according to the Migrant Affairs Commissioner in this local video report. Mayor Eric Adams has been to Washington D.C. ten times to plead for help in managing what he deems a crisis. He says they are out of room, out of money.

 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Criminals here

Venezuela (image) has released convicted criminals to work with intelligence officers to infiltrate the U.S. Their mission is to track down former officials or military from their own country and "neutralize" them. 

 

Why would their government order such a thing? They know that at least some of these individuals may soon come before American border control and could be in a position to reveal secrets. "[T]he Maduro regime may fear some Venezuelans may trade information to avoid removal" from the U.S.

How does Venezuela know this? Because of our election results. Our incoming president taking office in January promises to deport illegal immigrants.

The story is based on a leaked U.S. Customs and Border Control field report. Over half a million Venezuelan immigrants have come across our borders since early 2020.

from Breitbart

Veterans Day

Once a year America honors its military veterans (all who have served) with a national holiday on Veterans Day, November 11. 

This year's contest winner for 2024 Veterans Day Poster is Myisha Godette, herself a retired and disabled veteran from Queens, New York.

She says,  “Ultimately, I chose to symbolize the shared experience of service members—past, present, and future—with elements like the American Flag, military “dog tags,” and the enduring strength of Veterans, embodied by a solid, dark concrete background in my design.”

To every vet reading this: Thank you for your service.

from VA News

VMI reaction

Tuesday night, or rather very very early on Wednesday, it was clear who had won the election for president of the U.S.A. 

Cadets at Virginia Military Institute (photo) were informed by an announcement at 1:48 a.m. in their barracks. They made a strong response to the news. You can see and hear it on X.

Europe's POV

Apparently, some Europeans are "shocked" by the outcome of our presidential election on Tuesday. So a Brit, Konstantin Kisin, wants to explain to them how that outcome is consistent with who we are. 

Why should this British citizen have special knowledge of the American character that the rest of Europe doesn't have? He doesn't say. 

But maybe it could help us to hear how we look to him from across the pond. He has ten points to make about Americans:

1.  We want to be the best 
2.  We don't like the idea of managed decline 
3.  Inflation has driven prices sky high
4.  We don't resent success but are inspired by it
5.  We love immigrants who come legally
6.  We reject DEI because it is racist
7.   We know jihad when we see it
8.  Being very practical, we care about what works, not what sounds good
9.  We reject the negativity of wokeness
10.  We know that the price of freedom is self reliance, and we pay it gladly
    

from a post on X and his website

National motto

 Re-post

We have a national motto, "In God We Trust." It's on our money, but it will come as a surprise to some that it's official.

photo

It was made so in 1956. Since then, it was challenged unsuccessfully in court three times. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that the phrase "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."

Public schools in at least 11 states are required to display the national motto. A law passed last week in Louisiana clarifies that it must be at least 11" by 14," it must be the center of the display, the font must be easy to read . . and patriotic customs must be taught.

According to the founder of Liberty Counsel,  "The Declaration of Independence declares that our rights come from God, not government. Acknowledging this undeniable heritage is not only constitutional, it’s imperative to sustaining a collective memory of how our nation came to be."

Yes, students have a right to know where our American values came from, what got us started.

from Liberty Counsel

"Garbage"

Today is election day in the U.S.A. I've heard that some of you in the rest of the world are praying for America. Thank you. We need prayer.

Last week the current president made a big political error. He called me--and half of the country--garbage because we don't support his political party. Big mistake, huge mistake. Our sheep-like legacy media immediately saw the problem and rushed to say he didn't mean it 😄

Almost nobody buys their lame spin, so memes abound. Here's a photo of some of us lined up to vote:

He let it burn

Back in the summer of 2020, vicious thugs took a distressing cultural moment (the death of George Floyd) as an opportunity to riot, loot, and burn (photo) a big section of the city of Minneapolis. They actually burned down the Third Precinct Police station.

Lawless mobs of hundreds brought destruction to city streets, on live television, right at the height of the pandemic. Gatherings had been condemned by our governor, including church services, but he allowed this particular gathering to go on for days. His wife famously says she kept the windows open so she could smell the burning tires.

America's left wing political party chose this man to run for vice president of the USA and many are voting for him today. What an utter disaster.

Speak life

Today is "All Saints Day," a holiday celebrated in the Middle Ages. The night before it was called "All Hallow's Eve" when it was thought that spirits from Purgatory would come back from the dead and roam the town. Families stayed home that evening, ate pancakes and cider, and prayed.

Our own Halloween comes roughly from that tradition. Its theme is still related to death today.

Here is an artist of the spoken word, reciting his poem about the roots of Halloween. He contrasts it to the Bible's message of life.

"The armies of darkness while doing their worst can never extinguish this dazzling sunburst. The triumph is not with the forces of night. It dawned with the One who said, "I am the light!"