Sunday Talk Show Recap

Preview: New COVID-19 variants spread in US; Redditors shake Wall Street with Gamestop stock

Recap: COVID-19 relief dominates

Clips on Twitter

Global internet: only one location at a time

I did a little reading about Starlink today, and I found one fact about using it rather strange. While one might think this would mean access to the internet from anywhere in the world (within certain latitudes), that's apparently not the case.

Extending employer rules to everyone in Virginia

The Virginia House passed HB 1864 today. (Update: HB 1864 sent to Governor)

According to this legislation, for “a person employing one or more domestic workers” such as “babysitters, cooks, waiters, butlers, valets, maids, housekeepers, nannies, nurses, janitors, laundresses, caretakers, handymen, gardeners, home health aides, personal care aides,” “It is an unlawful employment practice” to “Fail or refuse to hire, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to such individual's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, status as a veteran, or national origin.”

A defeat for women

It's abortion day at the White House.

The bad news is the United States is expanding its funding of those who openly shed innocent blood all around the world, including at home.

This policy change has become an early action of every incoming administration since President Reagan initiated the Mexico City Policy in 1984. This rebuilds the high places.

Censure

I've not been following the sage of the Virginia Senate and its censure resolution recently, but I did watch the end today. First, I watched it almost end yesterday.

The Virginia Senate nearly acted on the resolution yesterday until a tearful defiance was declared to be in the context of a relative having had open-heart surgery yesterday. One senator had compassion to defer for a day, only to have that followed up later that evening with a series of attacks from said senator on social media. So much for needing time to focus on family. Perhaps those were posts by staff, but even so, that confirms a lack of discretion and control.

Truth is not by vote

The new administration emanating from the White House is projecting this aura of truth-telling, and further, as if this is distinct from the last administration. A breath of fresh air to many, supposedly.

There's a big problem with this idea. The clarity with which the lies are being told has increased. It's no longer a fight between the White House and the press over what constitutes the facts that should be put forward. There is uniform agreement between those two that children in the womb are not people, and therefore there's nothing wrong with killing them.

I disagree. It is wrong. It's always been wrong. And just because they are willing accomplices in sending forth these lies to the nation and the world with one voice does not make it true.

The latest official information on U.S. federal funding of abortion organizations

If you're looking for a baseline on where America is with abortion at the end of the Trump Administration and the beginning of the Biden Administration, the GAO recently published a report detailing, among other things, how $1.8 billion went to abortion organizations over three years.

The data is from FY 2016 through 2018. As government data goes, that's current.

Sunday Talk Show Recap

Preview: All eyes on Biden administration to tackle coronavirus

Recap: Biden agenda, Trump impeachment trial

Clips on Twitter

Two functions of Section 230

Section 230 does two things:

1️⃣ It allows companies to host third party content without being held responsible.

2️⃣ It allows companies to remove third party content without being held responsible.

1️⃣ is what has made social media possible.

2️⃣ is what conservatives don't like.

Two noteworthy lines from Senator Schumer's first speech as Senate Majority Leader

Upon the Democrats taking over the majority of the Senate on Wednesday, Senator Schumer gave his “maiden speech” as the body's new majority leader. I especially note two comments he made.

The first is from his welcome to the three new Senators that gave them the majority. He recognized Senator Warnock of Georgia, “born while Georgia was represented in this Chamber by two staunch segregationists, is now the first African-American Senator Georgia has ever elected.”

12 for 45

It may, perhaps, be one of the oddest of all places to find a concise list of one's crowning accomplishments, but during House debate eight days ago, one paragraph lists top executive accomplishments of the last four years:

Politics and the fact that they want to cancel the President—the President who • cut taxes, the President who • reduced regulations, the President who, prior to COVID, • had the greatest economy, • lowest unemployment in 50 years, the President who • got us out of the Iran deal, • put the Embassy in Jerusalem, • brought hostages home from North Korea, • put three great Justices on the Supreme Court, • gave us a new NAFTA agreement, • the Abraham Accords, • the COVID vaccine, and who • built the wall.

Praying for the wisdom of Solomon

At the inauguration today, the invocation asked God to give President Biden the “wisdom of Solomon.” Actually, it was the wisdom of God.

The foremost display of that wisdom is instructive:

Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 

Turning the page

As the nation turns the page on administrations tomorrow, there is a news headline from last week that sits right on the line which demonstrates the stark difference in how the two administrations see the world.

Teen charged with killing infant daughter in woods

We rightly mourn and recognize this behavior as wrong.

We also note how close they were to half the nation having no problem with this kind of behavior.

Three major life choices

46 years ago today, Linda Gail Hansen married Thomas Edward Christensen at the North Side Gospel Center, 3859 N Central Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60634 at 4:00 P.M. Central Time.

This is the message they included in their program:

We are both very glad you are able to share with us this very important and special occasion in our lives. In every person's life come three major choices: ETERNAL DESTINY, LIFE-WORK, and LIFE-PARTNER.

Each of these decisions answers a major question:

• With whom shall I share eternity?
• With whom shall I share my message and purpose for living?
• With whom shall I share my heart?

Sunday Talk Show Recap

Preview: Washington prepares for an inauguration and impeachment; coronavirus surges across the US

Recap: Capital locked down ahead of Biden's inauguration

Clips on Twitter

Cultural Resiliency

How are we doing, America?

Apparently some think that a good way to answer that question is by asking, “What scares you most about the coming year?”

Things people fear:

• DC becoming a state
• Puerto Rico becoming a state
• Undocumented people becoming voters
• Becoming a Communist country
• America turning into Venezuela
• Packing the Court

Frank Luntz summarized:

• “They're afraid.”
• “They're petrified.”
• “They're nervous that the country won't be the same America that they remember.”
• “They're nervous that the social and the cultural aspects of the country are changing.”

When liberals hear such resistance to social and cultural change, they conclude conservatives are racists who “don't like black and brown people.” This is not correct.

America is changing in multiple ways, and there is a lot of nuance to how those changes work out. Changes in the racial composition of this country are not the same as changes in its ideological composition.

COVID-19 Vaccine Web site: 'you have no reasonable expectation of privacy'

The CDC's Vaccine Administration Management System requires this consent to begin registering for the vaccine:

Security Alert - This warning banner provides privacy and security notices consistent with applicable federal laws, directives, and other federal guidance for accessing this Government system, which includes all devices/storage media attached to this system. This system is provided for Government-authorized use only. Unauthorized or improper use of this system is prohibited and may result in disciplinary action and/or civil and criminal penalties. At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, record, and audit your system usage and/or intercept, search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this system. Therefore, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Any communication or data transiting or stored on this system may be disclosed or used for any lawful Government purpose.

(emphasis added)

Tech lanes

There's a limit to how much complexity a system can handle, especially when going outside one's longtime area of expertise.

Microsoft has long been a software company. It may be software that deals directly with hardware, but it's still primarily been about software.

The Surface line of products is an example of Microsoft venturing beyond software into hardware.

Who takes care of you?

While speaking on the House floor today, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was wearing a mask with writing on one side that said, “I take care of you,” and on the other side, “You take care of me.”

If this sounds like God's instructions to “love one another,” that's not a mistake. This is an intentional re-appropriation of instructions given to the individual and instead taken by the government.

More theater in the name of security

In the wake of the Capitol being overrun last week, “the most visible safety measure yet put in place” by House Acting Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy P. Blodgett is to put metal detectors in place at the entrances to the House floor.

For all other entrance screenings, such as at office buildings, Members of Congress have been not been required to pass through those screenings. (Interestingly, the late Sen. Tom Coburn would go through them.)

How would this have changed the incident last week?

3 Vaccine History Periods

I can identify 3 periods of vaccine use that are all very different from one another.

First, there was the kind where they discovered how to ward off debilitating diseases like polio. I'm old enough to remember an elderly man I knew as a child who was wheelchair-bound because he caught polio before he could be vaccinated against its paralyzing effects.

Sunday Talk Show Recap

Preview: Riots roil Washington

Recap: Capitol siege, Trump future dominate

Clips on Twitter

Permanent suspension of an audience

Dismissing the President of the United States from Twitter was not just about the man. Twitter didn't just care about Donald Trump or what he posted. Twitter specifically wanted to sever the connection he had with his followers that it provided.

This is evident in its explanation of how Twitter gave “close review” to his Tweets and “the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter.” The President could have written almost anything and be found in violation of that standard.

Twitter has a history of extending their reach of influence beyond their own platform.

The source of moral authority

There is only one source of moral authority: God Himself.

Just as the Scriptures say that God is alone wise, and for Whom it is impossible to lie, so He is the sole source of determining that which is right and good.

He has revealed His will and His law in His Word.

The only authority man has ever had is that which has come from God. He removes kings and raises up kings.

China's fake numbers are cracking

For months, China has reported exceedingly low numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths. For being the world's most populous nation, this is simply not credible. However, due to China's heavy media and political investments in the United States, questions about these numbers have been largely absent.

That changed today.

China is going back under lockdown.

After reporting 100 new cases, they put 11 million people under lockdown. If that ratio sounds a bit off, there's a reason for that.

Hard-Interrupted

I was watching Congress today when the Senate was suddenly interrupted. Later, the House was interrupted, too. As of this writing, both are officially still in recess. The long day they had planned is still pending and potentially in its early stages.

I had a cable guy coming today. What I had believed was an installation option turned out not to be the case, and he left before I felt reconciled to my more limited options.

Hard interruptions are no fun. They're disorienting.

How the Senate works until the Georgia runoff elections results are clear

Short version: Republicans maintain the majority unless Democrats win both Georgia Senate seats. They currently have 51 Senators. That number could increase by one, stay the same, or decrease by one.

“The quirk that affects the initial Senate majority, though, is that Loeffler [is] a senator to start the new Congress, while Perdue“ is not.

Long version: AP explainer

What Georgians needs to know about what's already happening in Congress this year

If you had nothing to go on other than what's already happening in the U.S. House of Representatives this year, you'd think Democrats had just taken over the majority and had a huge electoral majority to enact sweeping change, starting with its own institution. You'd never guess they've already had the majority, nor that they lost seats only weeks ago in the last election.

The Rules package they've put forward and been voting on this week include a consolidation of power and an acceleration of implementing a far-left agenda. This is before they've really begun introduce and pass radical legislation.

If the Senate goes to the Democrats, that puts Democrats in full control of the top two branches of the federal government. The last time that happened was in 2008 and by early 2010 we had the Affordable Care Act and all of its infringement on religious and personal liberty.

Would single payer be next? Taxpayer-funded abortion?

Would Democrats consolidate power in the Senate, too? In the Supreme Court?

We don't want another 2010 nor what could be worse. A Republican-controlled Senate would keep a check on the Biden Administration and the House from having free reign to enact their agenda to “change America.”

Sunday Talk Show Recap

Preview: Georgia runoffs; coronavirus vaccine roll out

Recap: Health officials push back

Clips on Twitter

The fundamental problem with single payer

One doesn't have to look any further than the name to learn what the problem with a single payer health care system is.

Only one payer is allowed.

A “right” to health care in practice ends up meaning the government pays for health care, and doesn't allow anyone else to pay for health care. Only two countries in the world have a single payer system, North Korea and Canada. The Canadian system is not comprehensive, and is increasingly less exclusively publicly funded. The only true example of single payer in the world is Communist North Korea.

Nonetheless, many are convinced a single payer would work out just fine, but let's say, for the sake of argument, that in a system serving millions of people, there may be times when some people are not satisfied with the services they receive through this system.

If those people find a different health care provider they want to pay to provide them or their family members care—a good thing to do—they are not allowed to do that. That would make them another payer and the government would no longer be the single payer.

Sharing the hope, not the assumption

Normally I love a new year. The pressure of the holiday season is passed, the deck is cleared for a fresh start.

In some ways both of those things remain true, and in other ways, not. The pandemic adds to both. There's lots of uncertainty. There's a lot of opportunity to trust the Lord.