Ancient 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Natural disaster or economic collapse may motivate large groups to emigrate out of their homeland. But what drove hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians to leave was something else. 

Civil war broke out in 2011 and everything changed. The previous tolerant Muslim regime fell last December and militant factions (including ISIS) are in power.

"In village after village . . Christians were kidnapped, tortured, sometimes ransomed, and often executed. Monasteries were turned into battle stations. Churches were bombed. In Maaloula, jihadists entered homes and demanded that families convert to Islam or die. Some were killed in their doorways for refusing. 

"ISIS went further, targeting Assyrian villages in the northeast, executing men, enslaving women, and erasing churches that had stood since the fifth century."

While millions of refugees (photo) fled the country, it also became "a targeted campaign of cultural and religious cleansing," and the rest of the world let it happen according to this Middle Eastern writer.

from "The Vanishing Light"

Ancient 1

"The Christian golden age of Syria has ended . . . And it will not return."

Did you know that the nation of Syria had a Christian golden age? Me neither. Christian culture in this place has 2,000 years of history, but today we Westerners know almost nothing about it. 

Paul the Apostle was confronted by Jesus on the way to Damascus (the country's capital today). That means it goes way, way back. As one of the "original heartlands of Christianity," there were bishops, theologians, martyrs, and three actual popes.

About 300,000 Christian Syrians (photo) are still there, compared to over 1.5 million at one time. Their presence "was not a minor thread in the nation’s tapestry, but was woven into every aspect of culture, language, and national identity" along with other threads including Islam.

But most are gone now. "The Christian families that once ran shops in Aleppo, taught in schools in Homs, and prayed in the ancient basilicas of Damascus are now rebuilding their lives in Berlin, Detroit, and Melbourne."

from "The Vanishing Light"

(cont'd tomorrow) 

Test flight #9

Starship test flight #9 finally got off the ground (after some delays in FAA approval) yesterday.

After the first stage booster separated to leave Ship (second stage) in space, its engines shut down and then did a "boost back burn" to turn and come back to the launch site. A landing burn to slow it down would have been next, but control was lost. It was the first re-use of a Super Heavy booster, and some vital data was gained before its end in the Gulf.

Ship's engines ignited at separation and burned for a couple of minutes to propel Ship toward orbit. Then they stopped at SECO (ship engine cutoff). The SpaceX narrators seemed very relieved at the achievement of this important milestone.

One of the goals of this flight was to push Starship to its limits. One hundred heat shield tiles were intentionally removed over critical areas in order to see what would happen during re-entry. Unfortunately it didn't make it to re-entry.

So both stages eventually failed, but vital data was gathered.

Quits Harvard

Harvard University has lost its credibility among American taxpayers. As the federal government removes billions of dollars of public funding, they counter with the claim that they can do whatever they want to do under the umbrella of free speech and academic freedom. 

Yes, they have free speech but we don't have to pay them billions for misleading students and breaking civil rights law. 

 

A psychiatrist who taught in their medical school felt compelled to break away a year ago. He explained his understandable reasons:

"I stopped teaching at Harvard last year [2024] primarily because of its anti-truth-seeking culture, radical left-wing bias, racial and gender discrimination, and prevailing anti-intellectualism . .  Harvard has strayed from its foundational mission of unbiased truth-seeking . . ."

He doesn't hold back: "Harvard remains in denial of its own radicalism. It sneers and looks down on most of America and on American values like color-blind equality, meritocracy, free speech, hard work, and individual responsibility." 

from "Harvard Insider Blows Whistle: This Place is Totally Corrupted"

Memorial Day 2025

Re-post from 2015,  just "in case you thought it was National BBQ Day"

Memorial Day is set aside to honor and remember those who gave their lives in the service of their country. "[T]ime and time again brave men and women have been willing to fight for the freedoms we all too often take for granted.

To be more specific, let's honor those 1335 Americans who were killed in Ramadi, Anbar Province, Iraq, in 2004-2007. Some people are acutely aware of the sacrifice - like family of the fallen - since Ramadi was overtaken by ISIS this month.

While the U.S. State Department thinks it was a major blow to the fight against ISIS, Gen. Dempsey remarked that Ramadi was not that important. The mom of the first Navy Seal to die there put a personal face on it in her letter:

“You, sir, owe an apology to the families whose loved ones’ blood was shed in Ramadi. Ramadi matters to us and is very symbolic to us. You need to apologize to our troops whose bodies were blown to pieces from IEDs and bullet holes leaving parts and pieces behind. Ramadi matters to them. "

Brain≠Mind 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you literally are your brain, like some say, what hope would there be for a child born with only half of a brain? A brain surgeon in the video below told her parents that there was little hope for her. But twenty years later, she is a vibrant young woman, functioning normally.

The neurosurgeon was at that time a materialist, like so many. It's not that he made a conscious choice, but that worldview dominates in our culture and you just pick it up from school and media. Over his professional experience of doing 7,000 surgeries, he changed his mind.

He believes we have souls or immaterial minds, and they use the brain. As Neil DeGrasse Tyson says, mapping of the brain shows that the brain does control movement, sensory perception, emotion, and memory. But no part of the brain has been shown to control abstract thought (like doing math or understanding history) or the free will.

Brain≠Mind

If someone denies the existence of God and everything supernatural, if he claims nothing exists but the natural world or universe, that is an atheist or materialist. Of course, that person must also believe that human beings have no immaterial soul.

One believer in this worldview is the well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He ably articulates the materialist opinion against a soul: "What I do know is, everything you are derives from electro-chemical synapses running in your brain." He also gives evidence for that view.

So, you're just your material, physical brain (image) which is located in your skull. He thinks that is everything you are including thoughts, feelings, decisions, etc.

Christians hold a different view, taken from the Bible. God Almighty created the natural universe but exists outside of it, and created human beings with a likeness to himself, whose soul or spirit  will live beyond the life of their physical, material bodies. 

Here's a good question: is there scientific evidence for the Chistian view? Yes.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Gen Z & church

Polling in America has told us for decades that the number of people claiming no religious affiliation (the "nones") is rising. But that's leveled off. Bible sales are increasing and Christian entertainment has grown.

Generation Z (born 1997-2012) is a significant part of this trend. They generally seem to be curious about Christianity and are looking for hope.

 

It's especially interesting that young men lead the trend. Gen Z men go to church more than Gen Z women. 

Similarly, the Bible Society in partnership with a research team in Britain says:

"We found that the Church is in a period of rapid growth, driven by young adults and in particular young men . . . [Y]oung adults are more spiritually engaged than any other living generation, with Bible reading and belief in God on the rise."

from USA Today

Hopeful AI 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So this author says AI will soon be smarter than us humans. That is still debated among the experts--but if true, then he's right that we will certainly have to lean on and develop the best parts of our human nature. 

Smartness has never been the only good thing about humans. It's good to know information and understand it, but as people created in the image of God, there's more.

• Having true friends and being one, having genuine relationships with other people, will never really be replaced by AI (though it can be faked).
• Creative thinking will never be replaced by AI, creative in the sense of creating new organizations, businesses, families, ideas (though some white-collar jobs will be replaced).
• Taking responsibility to build your own character virtues will never be replaced. Your experience of life will still be directly affected by your honesty, generosity, discipline, compassion, etc.

Materialists who believe nothing exists but physical reality may have to re-think their assumptions. Transcendent qualities like love and honor arise from outside the material world. 

These things arise from the immaterial spirit of a person (see Friday's post).

 

from The Free Press

Hopeful AI 1

So many experts in technology sound alarm bells about the danger of artificial intelligence (AI) to the future of humanity. Without a doubt, there are dangerous possibilities.

Other opinions, though, are out there. Naturally, CEO's of companies leading the way in AI are optimistic and enthusiastic. That would include Sam Altman and Larry Ellison. 

Altman's OpenAI has a vision for a beneficial role of AI in our future. They see AI elevating all humanity, functioning for our benefit. An AI user and an AI developer say, "This technology can usher in an age of flourishing the likes of which we have never seen."

 

But they also tell us to prepare for some disorientation as well, because "AI will change what it is to be human." They are certain that AI will exceed human intelligence by 2030 . . a mere five years away. So that means: we won't have intelligence supremacy anymore.

What should we do to prepare? More of what we are best at doing. We have value way beyond mere intelligence (see tomorrow's post).

 from The Free Press

(My image is Grok-generated)

(cont'd tomorrow)

EU immigration

Immigration (or shall we say invasion) is a monster-sized issue for Europe. Vast numbers have been allowed to overwhelm native populations in Germany, the UK, Ireland, and more. Mainstream political parties like AfD (labeled "far right") tap into very serious concerns.

Only days before the US vice president's address, Munich suffered another attack by an immigrant. The man, who was to have been deported back in 2020, sped up his car and drove into a crowd, injuring at least 30 people. It happened "just after a series of deadly attacks in Germany, all allegedly involving immigrants."

Though the chancellor says the man must be punished and deported, whether that will really happen remains to be seen.

You probably remember immigrant rape gang stories from the UK. Prime Minister Starmer seemed not to care. But maybe he feels a certain political pressure from the "far right" to start limiting the invasion:

Europe≠USA 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Vice President J. D. Vance's  address to the Munich Security Conference about "our shared values" is worth taking a closer look.

It starts out with a foundational principle of democracy. Including himself among the audience members who have a position in government, he says "Now it's time for all of us (who have been fortunate enough to be given political power by our respective peoples) to use it wisely to improve their lives."

America's Declaration of Independence states the principle: government gets its just (fair and right) powers from the consent of the citizens who are governed. 

Then VP Vance tells them that Americans are shocked when they hear that the Romanian election was "annulled," that Germany was also threatened with the same thing if things don't go "correctly." He reminds them that tyrannical forces in Europe once "censored dissidents, closed churches, cancelled elections" . . and they were not the good guys.

Europe≠USA 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It has been our impression that the people of Europe, like we Americans, believe in democracy. That includes the principles of free speech, free and fair elections, the people themselves voting for representatives who will support their wishes. 

But do they really share our values? Our vice president spoke in Munich two months ago on that very question. There's evidence that they don't. 

An election was just held in Germany. During the political campaign leading up to it, one of the parties, Alternative for Germany (AfD), was "shut out of governing coalitions" and "denied committee chairmanships in the national parliament in Berlin that its numbers would otherwise entitle it to." Media "kept AfD officials off the airwaves."

"While other political leaders, including far leftists, are regularly quoted in the press and interviewed, AfD are rarely heard or seen on broadcasts or given space in publications." Why? Because, according to leftist power-holders, they are "far right." 

But the tide may be turning. AfD won more seats in the government a week ago. AfD is not an extremist group, though it's convenient for the establishment to call them names.

from City Journal

(cont'd tomorrow)

Europe≠USA 1

"Extremist," "far right,"--terms meant to scare the public--are used by the left both in the USA and in Europe. 

In France, the second biggest political party (RN) and its leader Marine Le Pen are labeled "far right" in every headline listed on the first page of a google search I did. But can that be accurate when so many citizens vote for it?

In Germany, the first or second biggest political party (AfD) has been labeled an "extremist" organization. The federal parliament may ban it from future elections. But it represents nearly half of the German voters (photo).

 

Changing the meaning of words is one way to manipulate the perceptions of the public. Legacy media still has some credibility with some people, and the left uses it to scare and confuse.

You may have heard the terms "literal nazi" and "far right" used by the left in our presidential campaign last year, but they didn't entirely work. The right American political party won that election and became the current administration.

from "Killing Democracy to Save It"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Starship V3

How can we make it better? That's a central question which SpaceX addresses to its Raptor engines, but it doesn't stop there. Innovation keeps coming with regard to the "ship" spacecraft which is the top half of the integrated "Starship." 

Version 2 is currently being used for test flights, but V3 is coming (see this video from one of the many avid SpaceX watchers to learn the details) and it's full of upgrades. 

It's bigger, to accommodate both more fuel capacity and bigger payload. Elon's X post shows Starship 3 in comparison to Falcon 1, the first rocket they produced (still in use). 

Vast improvement was made in the relative cost to put payload into orbit: 400x better. (Click on the image to see the small print.)

NPR & PBS 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Public radio/TV must be non-partisan to qualify for government funds. So the question is, are we sure that the Corp. for Public Broadcasting (NPR & PBS) is biased in favor of the left? The NPR head testified before Congress on this question (photo).

 

You may remember that a veteran of NPR (25 years) became a whistleblower, even though he leaned left himself. In his article for The Free Press, he details several major stories in which NPR intentionally took the side of the progressive left without giving the opposing views any consideration.

Research shows that far more interviews and guests are from the left. In a four-month period, the non-left political party was referred to as "far right" or "hard right" extremists. No such terms were applied to the progressive left.

As one journalist used to say, "There's no such thing as neutrality in journalism. There's only transparency." 

NPR & PBS should transparently admit they are not neutral. They can continue their progressive leftist slant, but should give up demanding that taxpayers foot the bill.

 from "NPR and PBS Dug Their Own Graves"

NPR & PBS

News reporting and broadcasting should be "fair and balanced" in America, and that's what we look for. But of course there are journalists who think their own opinions are right and refuse to give coverage to other views. 

It's allowed in America, where we have protected free speech. But the other half of Americans, who see things differently, certainly should not be forced to pay for the broadcasting of opinions they believe to be wrong. That wouldn't be fair.

Those other Americans have been in this position for decades. Complaints that government-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (NPR and PBS) is biased go back to the 1960's. But moves to cut public funding were always de-railed by appealing to kids' programing like Big Bird and Mr. Rogers.

Times change. Under the current president, government funding -- provided by taxpayers -- may really end. CPB is shocked. They are suing.

(cont'd tomorrow)

25 in 2025

SpaceX started testing the integrated Starship (the ship mounted on the giant booster) two years ago, April of 2023. Test flight #8 took place two months ago, so that's eight test flights in two years.

Things are going to get a lot busier. SpaceX asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to launch 25 test flights this year, and FAA just issued its approval.

Starbase, the SpaceX launch site, will soon officially be a city: Starbase, TX.

DOGE discovers 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

Embedded and hidden corruption discovered by the DOGE team continues from yesterday's video of their staff meeting.

At the "U.S. Institute of Peace" they found a contract (for unknown services) with an ex-Taliban for $130k, and found loaded firearms as well. 

 

Their chief accountant had deleted over a terabyte of accounting records, financial data which the team was able to recover. Since hiding or destroying records is illegal, this coverup was referred to the DOJ and FBI.

The agency had received $55 million/year from congress. Any unspent funds were swept into a private bank account having no congressional oversight, which funded events and private jets.

Asked whether DOGE would be ongoing, Elon answered: "If we drop the ball, fraud and waste will come roaring back." But by ending contracts and fraudulent practices now, it will be harder to get it going again in the future.

DOGE discovers

DOGE leader Elon Musk gets some staff together once a week at 10 p.m. They each answer the question, "what did you get done this week?" A media guy got to sit in on one of these meetings and discovered more absurdities that our taxes have been paying for:

• Investigation found that a $4 billion covid fund was used to rent stadiums for parties, with no explanation. Correction: now any drawdown must be identified as to purpose and receipts must be uploaded.
• Alpaca farming in Peru
• Marketing of peas in Guatamala
• GAO also found that only 10-15% of the money for these causes was actually getting to the stated destination. 
• So it's possible that "no one got a sex change in Guatemala" (a worthless expense discovered months ago)
• Grants may go to a cause that sounds good theoretically, like "save the baby pandas," but no evidence is forthcoming that any panda was actually saved. 

New media 4

Follow up to post, post, post

Legacy ("old") media has lost the trust of many Americans, demonstrated by declining subscribers and declining influence. Some are trying to face that fact, to "right the ship," and to regain trust. Surging in the gap is "new media," including podcasts and X and independent videos/reports. 

For example, there were hundreds of authentic videos (like yesterday's) published on X of real conditions last fall after Hurricane Helene created chaos in western North Carolina.  They challenged some misleading legacy media reports in newspapers and on TV.

We learned not to trust "old" media's version of reality. Now there's an alternative that seems more trustworthy. As Konstantin Kisin says, "what could go wrong?"

Hopefully, new media will prove more reliable. But it will still be produced by flawed human beings, like the "old."

Mountain home 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Bat Cave NC and Chimney Rock NC, where Amish volunteers from Pennsylvania are working, are in Hickory Nut Gorge. The flooded river scoured out landscape and buildings resulting from  Hurricane Helene last fall. 

One young man says (yesterday's video), "It fills my heart with joy watching people get their life back again." 

Someone commented: "Absolutely incredible. While career politicians hold press conferences and fundraisers, the Amish are out here swinging hammers, rebuilding a town brick by brick, no spotlight, no selfies, just service. God bless the Amish, the backbone of real America, showing us what it means to love thy neighbor."

Drone footage clearly shows the scar: