Sharman Burson Ramsey's Blog, page 7

Joel and Sharman A LOVE STORY AND TALE OF SAL...

 Joel and Sharman  A LOVE STORY AND TALE OF SALVATION

 

SHARMAN AND JOE, NOVEMBER 8, 1969

TIME PASSES AND CLAIMS US ALL
Serious things going on at our house. Something called life and death. I told you all about Joe's 3 surgeries for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, including a bout with pseudomonas and staph that nearly killed him in 2018. Then came the Hurricane that we dealt with. 2019 brought the necessity of another hip replacement for me. That was when we decided it was time to return to Dothan, my sister, Dr. Sylvia Rushing (cardiologist), our Dothan daughter Brooke, and the hospitals and doctors here. In October we closed on our new home in Grove Park across 84 from Flowers Hospital and just down the highway from my sister. Brooke, husband Mike, and daughters were building a house and sold their old one bringing them to live in our upstairs with 3 bedrooms, a bonus room/living room, and only one bathroom. They have been with us for 8 months. 

During that time Joe has experienced a precipitous decline. We first had Home health care. and then, I had to go into the hospital for ischemic colitis for several days triggering an even further decline for Joe. During that time, our children, Cecily, Drew and Brooke were told by the nurses that they recommended Hospice. We are blessed with such wonderful help. After further decline we have decided to "allow the natural process" as my sister calls it, with only palliative care for Joe who seems to already be living in another world. 

I called his brothers a couple of months ago when Joe was more lucid and they all came to visit. For a long time, Joe recited "My name is Joel Wardlaw Ramsey, My brothers are Phillip Hart Ramsey, Edward Lawrence Ramsey, and William Allen Ramsey." They told jokes and I took videos of them interacting as they always had. I called again and told them of his precipitous decline in just the 2 month space of time. When Ed, Linda, Bill, Joyce, Elizabeth came this time they were shocked at the difference. 

"Where are Dick, Doug and Jan, he asks about his Mosley Cousins with whom he was so close.""Already in Heaven" I answer. "It's time to play ball. Where is my ball and glove? Who will call the Signals?"" It's time for me to go home. My Mother and Daddy will be looking for me." "Where's Tommy?" ((Spann, his best friend in childhood and forever. "Who am I? I ask. He thinks. "Princes Grace". He responded. But most of the time he knows me or asks, "Are you Sharman?" 

He wakes up and says "It is time for us to go." Where Joe? "It is time to go home." I know this house is new. I guess sometimes he thinks we are in a motel and need to get up to go home. Or maybe he is thinking of Heaven and those loved ones already there.

I am so grateful that God saw fit to save my Joe on August 2, 2020 when he woke up and said, "I need to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." We were then able to go to Dr. Wayne Hannah's Sunday School class at First Baptist. He stood up and made his profession of faith to all assembled. Soon after, he woke up during the night and told me, "I need to be baptized." Go to sleep, Joe. I'll call the preacher tomorrow." He settled for awhile and then turned over telling me, "I need to be immersed. I need to be baptized." "OK, then get out of bed and go get into the bathtub. He did. I baptized him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Go forth," I told him. "You are forgiven and are now alive in Christ." That will be the epitaph on both his and my stones. "Forgiven and Alive in Christ."

This is a hard time. But that gift of the knowledge of his Salvation was the greatest gift he has ever given me. November 8th was our 51st anniversary. We've been together for a long time. But Heaven's call seems imminent. And we will have Eternity together before the throne of God with all those loved ones who have gone on before us. 

Your prayers are appreciated. We both cherish our friends. God is good. We are so blessed. His mercy is everlasting.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Friday morning was like others since the hospice nurse told us three (or four) days prior that that horrible sound that he was drowning and gasping for breath meant that he was not long for this world. Cecily and Brooke sat vigil (along with Malissa, our sitter) taking turns going upstairs for a brief rest. I remained as close as possible napping on my bed next to his. Earlier he had told me that he wanted to die next to me in bed. That is where I remained either snuggled next to him in the hospital bed or right next to him in my bed pulled tightly to his. Cecily had just gone upstairs. I was awakened suddenly from my sleep --to silence. I leapt up and crawled over to --and caught his last whispered breath. I told him for the 10 millionth time how very much I loved him but to go on to heaven where his mother and daddy waited. Take that beam of light in Jesus' arms to those already in heaven where I would meet him again in the twinkling of an eye. 

A couple of weeks earlier he had started singing "I've grown accustomed to your face, you almost make the day begin, I'd been extremely independent and content before we met, surely I could always be that way again and yet, I've grown accustomed to your face, accustomed to your smile, accustomed to your face." When he could not speak I would see his mouth framing those words. I sang to him. 

And then it was over. The hospice nurse and I cleaned him and dressed him. Hospice came and took all the supplies they had provided. The hospital bed he hated calling it in lucid moments "the baby bed." "Get me out of here," he would say when lucid. "This is the living dead." 

And yes, that is what Alzheimers is. 

"I told him, I cannot hold you, my darling, you will fall." After my hospital confinement it was not long before he could not hold himself up on his feet, or maneuvered into the wheel chair, and would have to be in the hospice hospital bed pulled tight up next to mine. For awhile he could roll from that bed onto my bed where I would hold onto him so he would not roll out. But the time came when he could no longer roll onto the bed. And had to stay in that hospital bed. Though he ate very little, one night he asked, "What's for breakfast?" "What do you want?" I asked. "Banana pudding." So at 4 AM the next morning I made banana pudding. The first day he really enjoyed all of it. Days passed and all he could eat was a taste One day all he wanted was apple jelly. Just apple jelly. So, I gave him apple jelly-- with no toast by then though I would have gladly fixed it.

I questioned myself. What more could I have done? I had gotten CAT scans, blood tests, XRAYs and doctors offered no options. Would a facility offer better care? They could lift him out of bed into a wheelchair. But, at Extendicare they only let you see your loved one 15 minutes a day--and that is if they can get into a wheelchair which by then Joe could not. The others were about the same. 

I had promised to be with him. I promised I would be beside him in bed when he died, if possible. 

When I was in the hospital a month ago with Cecily taking care of me and antibiotics flowing into my veins so I could get well enough to come home, Brooke cared for Joe. Drew and Brittany were there also helping with the immense job. They found him in a fetal position in front of the locked front door where he had tried desperately to get out and go find me. He slipped out the back door to "go walk Gigi" and escaped out the back gate. Brooke and Mike followed him down the street where he walked then but gave out. Mike went and got the car while Brooke held him. 

"I can take care of Sharman. Let me go. Why does Cecily get to stay with her." With Covid he could not even come to the hospital. On the few times he could not remember my name he called me "Princess Beautiful." Who couldn't adore a man like that?

When I entered the front door, I didn't think he would ever let go. "Don't ever leave me again. I love you so much!" The decline was precipitous from that moment. I could not get him into the wheelchair he had become dead weight. While I was gone, the Home Health specialists who had been coming recommended Hospice. All of the nurses were a blessing. Alzheimers had been his greatest fear. "I will kill myself first," he used to say. But, praise God, he found Jesus (or Jesus found him) on August 2, when he rolled over from a sound sleep and told me, "I need to make my public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." He was able to make that public profession in our Sunday School class that Sunday. He called it his "road to Damascus" experience. 

That salvation was confirmed a day later when he once again rolled over from a deep sleep to say, "I need to be Baptized." "Okay, I'lll call the preacher tomorrow, I said." He went back to sleep and then rolled over again and said, No, I need to be Immersed. I need to be baptized." "Okay, get out of bed and get into the bathtub." And I baptized him. I called the preacher the next day and he confirmed that family members can baptize their loved ones.

His conversion then took the form of apologies to those he might have hurt in someway or the other. Always followed with I love you. A healing occurred that only God in his infinite wisdom foresaw all those years I prayed. God told me in earlier years "It is your job to love him; it is my job to lead him." He took the burden of placing the right book, the right show, etc. away from me. Not my problem. That wasn't my job. My job was to love him.

Friends all over prayed for him without ceasing. God instructed me when I was so angry ,"Let me love him through you." Ever feel like the love isn't there? Well it returned when I followed God's instructions. "What would you do if you loved him?" "Give him a kiss at the door and fix his favorite supper." Then do it," God said.

I don't think a woman could have loved a man any more than I loved my Joe. 

And now he is gone. I feel like a zombie walking through the motions, with daughters Brooke and Cecily taking me by the hand and saying, this is what we must do now. Sister Sylvia did perhaps the best thing anyone could do. My cardiologist sister redecorated my bedroom, moving the bed from the position where it was with the hospital bed right next to it. We found a different carpet in the garage still there from our move. She cleaned out the bathroom leaving it sparkling and with a total new look, all the old medicine gone and a fresh, different bedspread on the bed. It is perfectly beautiful and done with her loving hands. (Fortunately my helpers, Jeannie Jacobs and her daughter Jodie were there at the perfect time.)

Friends have delivered food and love. Those far away have called. My church and Sunday school class step in to feed us. 

But, yesterday, Sunday, I woke up thinking of how Joe enjoyed going to Sunday School. So I dressed and texted Brooke (who was able to close and move from the 2nd floor upstairs where she had been for 8 months awaiting the completion of the beautiful home she was able to gain possession of on the exact day her daddy died into her beautiful new home) that I was going to Sunday School. And they wrapped me in their love. In my text I told Brooke I was going to church and would sit where Joe's mother and father always sat on the right side of First Baptist sanctuary and if anyone wanted to join me, I would love for them to come. Megan, my ten year old granddaughter met me at 10:15 and sat with me. 

The songs of the choir washed over me healing my soul. Megan's precious little body cuddled and warmed the chill from me. She held my hands that felt like ice in her tiny ones. She whispered her love for me over and over. Her precious presence helped more than that dear little one could ever know.

Many friends came to greet me. I was home in my church and that decision to put one foot in front of the other and go to church was very definitely the right one. 

I meant to take Megan by herself to Zacks for lunch, but they were full. So we went to the KFC on the circle and got lunch for everyone, taking it back to Brooke's new home. We enjoyed that so much, looks like that may become a new tradition. KFC for Sunday lunch.

Life goes on. Every kindness is a building block toward a new future. God is good. His mercy is everlasting. 

My Joe is in Heaven. With my heart. He is no longer wracked with pain or the ignominy of decline that Alzheimers brings. 

But he told me, you have to stay and take care of the babies. And so I will until God in his timing calls me home as well. One foot in front of the other, blessed with my wonderful family and dear, dear friends.

 

 

https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/3XGYSD5XXP52FDR7 

Obituary for Joel Wardlaw RamseyJoel Wardlaw Ramsey, beloved husband of 51 years to Sharman Jean Burson Ramsey, went home to be with the Lord on November 20, 2020., the anniversary of his father’s death. He was at home surrounded by his family. Born on May 3, 1947 to Joseph Robert Ramsey and Hilda Pearl Hawkins Ramsey, he was the fourth of their five sons. He was the grandson of Richard Hawthorne Ramsey and Cora Dowling Ramsey and Walter Jerome Hawkins and Alice Lindsey Hawkins. Joel attended Dothan City Schools graduating from Dothan High School in 1965. He then attended The Citadel and the University of Alabama where he was a member of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, also his father’s fraternity and that of his son, Drew. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Alabama in 1969. In 1972, he earned his law degree at the University of Alabama where he was a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. He served in the United States Army Reserve and returned to Dothan to practice law with his father and Wade Baxley in the firm of Ramsey and Baxley that later became Ramsey, Baxley and McDougle. He retired in 2013 to become “of Counsel” with partners Charles McDougle and Hamp Baxley. He then settled in Panama City, Florida. He served as President of the Houston County Bar Association (1984-85). He was a member of the Alabama State Bar and Alabama Defense Lawyers Association. Her served on the Haven Board of Directors the Girls Club Board of Directors, and as Boy Scout leader, He enjoyed playing tennis at Azalea Swim and Tennis Club. Joel was an avid military historian with the War Between the States being his specialty. He held multiple offices in the William C. Oates (an ancillary relative) Camp of the SCV. He was an avid war-gamer. He returned to Dothan in 2019 where he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Dothan and the Dr. Wayne Hannah Sunday School Class. In Panama City, he enjoyed all the activities at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club where he was the club historian. His coffee group in Panama City, consisting of Gary Harrington, Gerry Clemons, John Robert Middlemas, Jim Moody, Rayford Lloyd, John Mallory and Joe Tannehill gave him great pleasure. He is survived by his loving wife, Sharman Jean Burson Ramsey, his children, Cecily Cathryn Ramsey, Andrew (Drew) Allen Ramsey (Brittany) and Bethany Brooke Ramsey Evans (Mike). He is also survived by his grandchildren, Lily Clare Butterworth, George Montgomery Ramsey, Samuel Robert Ramsey, Megan Lindsey Evans and Molly Katherine Evans; his brothers, Phillip Hart Ramsey, Edward Lawrence (Linda) Ramsey, and William Allen Ramsey (Joyce), close cousin, Catherine Ford Fancher, cousins Richard, Joy Ramsey Daggart and Jon Ramsey; niece, Elizabeth Hawkins Ramsey, and nephew Matthew Edward Ramsey and dear lifelong friends, Charles Thomas Spann (since fifth grade) and Robert Grimes (college roommate) . He is preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Hilda Ramsey, an older brother, Joseph Robert Ramsey, Jr., and his dear cousins, Jimmy, Clark, Dick and Doug Moseley and Jan Moseley Bentley, children of his favorite aunt, Janis Hawkins Moseley; uncle Jerome Hawkins, cousins Linda Hawkins Woodruff and David Hawkins, uncle Richard Heywood Ramsey, cousin Sonny Ramsey, aunts Cassie Ramsey and Frances Ramsey Ford. Reverend Brad Williams, Senior Pastor at The Chapel, Gainesville, Florida, longtime friend of the family, will conduct a service for immediate family only (due to Covid) at Glover Funeral Home at 10 AM on Monday, November 30. The family would like to thank Covenant Hospice, Melissa Cole and Kelly Wilson for their loving care. Joel’s favorite charity was the Salvation Army.

Joe's favorite verse:  

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and wha does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Our WOKE World and Prophetic George Orwell's 1984

Our WOKE World and Prophetic George Orwell's 1984www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph...

Woke A word currently used to describe " consciousness " and being aware of the truth behind things "the man" doesn't want you to know i.e. classism, racism, and any other social injustices. The term comes from a genuine place but is becoming overused. People mainly use it to sound like deep thinkers when they are really just following a trend. 

I have been re-reading George Orwell's 1984 (published in 1949) and find it almost prophetic. For example:
1. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat though the words were stilled distinguishable. The instrument (the tele screen, it was called) could be dimmed but there was no way of turning it off completely. 
(Watch the movie SNOWDEN and learn of how televisions not only broadcasts in but broadcasts out as well).


2. Only the THOUGHT POLICE mattered. p. 2
3. WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH p. 4
4. It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and the losers out of unorthodoxy. p. 10


Goldstein was depicted as the greatest enemy of Big Brother. 
He abused Big Brother, denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the Revolution had been betrayed.
5. TWO MINUTES HATE (Today's major media Nightly news?) p. 13Before the Hate had preceded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room.


p. 14 Within thirty seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in wit a sledge hammer seemed to flow through the whole group like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.

p. 16. It was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.
6. The sacred principles of Ingsoc, Newspeak, doublethink, the mutability of the past p. 27Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death. (Ingsoc is English Socialism)


7. p. 34. If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened--that surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death. .... "Who controls the past", ran the Party slogan, "controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." ...Reality control they called it; in Newspeak, "doublethink."
8. p. 35. His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself--that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word "doublethink" involved in the use of doublethink.
8. Winston's job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with later ones. ...p. 40 Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news or any expression of opinion which conflicted with the needs of the moment ever be allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and rein scribed exactly as often as was necessary.
for example: Biden actually criticized the travel ban implemented against China early on to slow the virus arrival to U.S. shores as “xenophobic.”“This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia,” Biden said at an Iowa campaign stop leading up to the first-in-the-nation contest.But he rewrites history ...
Does the Major Media correct him or continue the lie? 
9. p. 50. "How's the dictionary getting on?" said Winston, raising his voice to overcome the noise.""Slowly," said Syme. "I'm on the adjectives. It's fascinating." He had brightened up immediately at the mention of Newspeak. ...The Eleventh Edition is the definitive edition." he said. "We're getting the language into its final shape--the shape it's going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we've finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all again. You think, I dare say that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We're destroying words--scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the language down to the bone....It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. ...Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?" In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed exactly one word with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.
...Every year fewer and fewer words and the range of consciousness always a little smaller.
...How could you have a slogan like 'freedom is slavery' when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole concept of thought will be different. Inf act there will be no thought as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking,not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.
One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, some will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. "----------------------------------This is what I saw in WHOLE LANGUAGE where a rolodex of sight words were doled out by the fifth grade and in middle school the children could not sound out unfamiliar words. Or read books with those unfamiliar words. And by so limiting their ability to read those liberation pedagogists had limited their ability to think of anything except the doled out words they were allotted.
10. All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous demonstrations where workers marched out of the factories and offices and parted through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big Brother for the new, happy life which his wise leadership had bestowed upon us. ________________Does this sound to you a lot like the Mayor of Seattle calling riots "mostly peaceful" predicting "A summer of Love".
p. 62. "That's a first-rate training they give them in the Spies nowadays--better than in my day even. What d-you think the latest thing they've served them out with? Ear trumpets for listening through keyholes.

11. p. 70. Until they be one conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.
------------------------------Hillary Clinton: “Attempting to define reality is a core feature of authoritarianism. This is what the Soviets did when they erased political dissidents from historical photos,” declared Clinton in What Happened. “This is what happens in George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, when a torturer holds up four fingers and delivers electric shocks until his prisoner sees five fingers as ordered.”“The goal is to make you question logic and reason and to sow mistrust toward exactly the people we need to rely on: our leaders, the press, experts who seek to guide public policy based on evidence, ourselves,” she continued, seemingly misinterpreting Orwell’s message. ----------------------------Doublespeak? I ask.What about the mistrust the Left sows about the Police? Homeland Security? Our President. What is their purpose?

12. p. 80. "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. (COMMON CORE MATH) ...For after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external. world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable--what then? ...Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted all else follows."
12. p. 154. "Who cares?" she said impatiently. "It's always one bloody war after another, and one knows the news is all lies anyway."
Sometimes he talked to her of the Records Department and the impudent forgeries that he committed there. Such things did not appear to horrify her. She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truths."
p. 153. "Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished.
...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right. "

A Commentary on Education in Dothan with a Lifetime Perspectiv

A Commentary on Education in Dothan with a Lifetime Perspective
by Sharman Burson Ramsey

I graduated from Dothan City Schools during the Golden Age of Education (or so said Nell Brown, one of Dothan’s premier teachers). At that time it meant something to have attended Dothan City Schools. Then, according to Lois Baker, another of Dothan’s stellar teachers, with the close of the sixties we acquired a new batch of administrators who advocated the new and improved methods taught in the colleges of education. I graduated from the University of Alabama about that time and know personally what she was talking about. I also graduated thinking that what I was taught was “research based” and the best of current knowledge.
I was wrong. The older traditional teachers had it right.
In the meantime Dothan threw away money on buildings with pods that had to be divided up because of the noise and confusion.  Then came the 90s and Goals 2000. The community was “Delphied” into acceptance of Whole Language /Progressive Education.

What is the Delphi technique?
 The gist of it is that the technique is used to reach a predetermined conclusion. In other words,to manipulate the group. It has evidently become popular within politics to give the impression that public input is actually having an impact on decisions when in reality, the decision has been made already, and the group is being guided, unknowingly, toward that end."
That does sound unethical, and to be sure maybe we should look at the definition of 'ethical'. I think we all know and understand what is and isn't ethical behavior. It's doing the right thing for the right reasons. However, the actual definition of the word places it in the context of the standards of the profession. 
There is an old axiom that the only difference between motivation and manipulation is intent, and I think that is the issue here. There are ethical ways to employ the Delphi Technique and there are unethical ways to use it to manipulate data and people.
Consider the difference between motivation and manipulation. But, of course, the ends justify the means.
The first time I remember its use was when Auburn’s Dean Kunkel came to Dothan to speak at Northview in support of Goals 2000. I cornered him there and asked for research supporting the effectiveness of Whole Language. He said and I quote, “I can’t give you any. It’s current wisdom.”

Obviously not good enough or we would not still be battling continuing illiteracy in our schools.

It was the early 90s. Goals 2000 won. Drill and kill--what the “current wisdom” labeled Phonics --lost. Except in sports where coaches always knew that drill developed skill. That matters because winning teams on sports fields brought money into the coffers of the schools. Unlike Reading and Math. Failure there brings in more money.

Those who sold Kentucky its education reform also sold Alabama its “reform” plan incorporating the Progressive methodology that dominated the colleges of education. Dothan City Schools paid a consultant to rewrite their Bylaws.  SEQUENTIAL  (skill upon skill) learning was replaced by THEMATIC (take a whole and break it into parts) learning. GROUP LEARNING and PEER TUTORING made the teacher the GUIDE ON THE SIDE as students became “independent," “”hands on” learners recreating the wheel rather than “standing on the shoulders of giants,” being taught what others had already discovered. 
Psychologically the group became Alpha. Blooms Taxonomy taught that children should be taken to the point of moral development where they “challenge the fixed beliefs of their parents.”  They were successful. 
The Dare program taught young children where drugs were sold and how people used them. Marijuana and alcohol, gateway drugs, became more prevalent. New Age Techniques such as role-playing opened doors that should have remained shut. 
Conflict Resolution also brought New Age techniques into the classroom encouraging children to mentally withdraw into their happy place.  Words of non violence conflicted with the images the Southern Poverty Law Center thought necessary for small children see in the films that came with the curriculum our administration thought necessary. Topics like Bullying and Death Education guided by untrained teachers in the classroom led some children to commit acts they would not otherwise commit due to the depression of those topics and the images they evoked. Cognitive dissonance.

Education did not improve. Then came another drive to “fix” our schools that wound up with the Chamber of Commerce “Delphi-ing” the community into accepting Common Core. Bill Gates orf“Pirates of Silcon Valley” fame sold the community on  "21st-century skills” generally referring to certain core “competencies” such as “collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world.”

"The idea that the richest man in the U.S. can purchase and --working closely with the U.S.Department of Education--impose new and untested academic standards on the nation's public schools is a national scandal,” wrote one skeptic. 
The funding of the NGA (National Governor's Association) and CCSSO (Councilof Chief State School Officers) suggests where their accountability lies. Since 2007, NGA and CCSSO have accepted approximately $100 million from the Gates Foundation alone to advance the standards and the connected data-collection and assessments. These organizations do not answer to the people, they answer to an enormously powerful funder with a definite agenda. NGA and CCCSO also get substantial funding from the federal government for CCSSO, about half its operating funds). The Gates foundation spread money across the political spectrum to entities including various teachers organizations, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association and business organizations such as the Chambers of Commerce. Money flowed to policy groups on the Left and the Right funding research to scholars who supported the idea of common standards.   
Surely sales opportunities/filthy lucre would have nothing to do with Gates in partnership with UNESCO. Microsoft joined Pearson, the world's largest educational publisher to load Pearson's Common Core classroom materials on Microsoft's tablet, the Surface. That product allows Microsoft to compete for school district spending with Apple, whose iPad is the dominant tablet in classrooms. 
And how about the sales of that data on your child collected through those computers? 
What proof did they have of Common Core improving education? Other than as in the Alinsky Rules for Radicals No. 11, “If you push a negative hard enough it will push through and become a positive.” 
"Skills based" learning rather than “knowledge based” ranks right up there with one of those negatives pushed hard enough to convince the public it was a positive. And they succeeded. 
You must believe that “21st century learners” “balk at rote learning and memorizing…” Throw away direct instruction, phonics in reading instruction, memorizing math facts … and allow the political activists like defrocked priest, guru of Whole Language and Harvard saint, Paolo Freire to revolutionize Math and Reading with his “liberation pedagogy.” Planned Parenthood develops the Sex Education curriculum integrated into curriculum on every grade level. 
And now Dothan’s newest Superintendent has “innovated” the system to do away with the old Dothan High School to bring all Dothan Middle Schoolers under one roof at the old Dothan High School building calling it Dothan Preparatory School. An elite sounding name for recycled Progressive concepts. And Northview is now Dothan High School …with a different mascot.

During the late nineties Dothan Director of Instruction Susan Lockwood got the Board to back the “four period day.” They paid for teachers to fly to Frederick, Maryland to “see” a school that had used that method for a couple of months and then come home enthused enough for the system to print glossy brochures and a video on the “method” …and then send our own teachers out to sell the method. Lockwood used AP Geometry and Algebra students in our system as guinea pigs for her dissertation. Their scores on the Advanced Placement Test showed they scored poorly and eventually the method (which gave Band and Sports students 1/4th of their school year to their extracurricular “subject”) was replaced. ONLY TO RETURN WITH THIS NEW SUPERINTENDENT. 
Since our child would be affected when this “innovation” was first proposed, we got the principal of the Frederick, Maryland high school to cite to us a study on block scheduling. We called Dr. David Bateson, author of a study on Block Scheduling of over 20 years, who was then on vacation on an island off the coast of British Columbia. He sent us his study. His conclusions? "The four period day is detrimental to academic achievement."
 Lockwood saw scores drop six points for minority students from 42 to 36.White student's scores dropped 2 points. Although Lockwood drew the conclusion that this was not statistically significant thereby enabling her to recommend block scheduling. Yet, before long, Block Scheduling was dropped. 
By the way, Lockwood, then became Dr. Lockwood with a PH.D. (She used our daughter as a guinea pig for her dissertation WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION and went on to become superintendent of Eufaula City Schools in Alabama.

They say we are no longer Common Core schools. Yet, the laptops still utilize Pearson curriculum and the same Progressive methods. Point being there has been no improvement on the curriculum of our schools. It is still based on “current wisdom” (Progressive Education) as Dean Kunkel explained thirty years ago. Only now it is on steroids as a consequence of Common Core. The current Superintendent appears to be a Master of that philosophy.

So be it…as long as the community understands what their tax dollars support. Though it appears to some of us that the chairs on this Titanic continue to be rearranged for the benefit of administrators making points with their fellow educrats, getting degrees, promotions, and recognition from their colleagues. Not for the benefit of our children.
We took a wrong turn in the late 60s and have only gone further off course. Now, we must rethink our schools as a consequence of Covid 19. Does a crowded single high school and middle school make sense? Should those abandoned schools be reopened to alleviate crowding? In the process, how about actually revolutionizing the schools by using methods proven to actually educate children in the manner expected by the public that funds those schools. Like those traditional methods used in private schools.

Be prepared--the demand for more money to use another gimmick to “fix” education will be coming soon. Fortunately, the private school my grandchildren attend does not buy into that foolishness. They use Orton-Gillingham for Phonics/Reading and Saxon Math. But through our taxes, we are all forced to support the “current wisdom” and sad individual and societal consequences of Progressive Education. 

Vile and Nasty Feminist v Church Lady

Diane Sullivan Reeves Joel Ramsey Vile and vulgar are the new moral standards for the Party of Family values, the 21st century Republican Party, got it!1Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 20h Joel Ramsey Diane Sullivan Reeves Ms. Reevea you seem to be consumed by your hatred. I feel sorry for you. But I do have better things to do than communicate with a hater like you.Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 20h Sharman Burson Ramsey Diane Sullivan Reeves I wonder if you heard the language at the Woman's March. "Pussy" hats? Goodness gracious. The filth and the hate that came out of those women's mouths made me ashamed they called themselves women! Vile and vulgar is home cooking with the current Democrat party.Edit or delete thisLike · Reply · 18h · Edited Diane Sullivan Reeves Sharman Burson Ramsey In case you missed it, the Pink Pussy hats were a mockery of you morally self-righteous church women who knowingly elected an admitted sexual predator as President of the United States. We are not the ones who wrap ourselves in the mantle of Christian values while knowingly electing a man who brags about grabbing women by their vaginas. If you like, I will happily post a verbatim transcript from the Access Hollywood recording, that was released just days before the 2016 election, of Trump’s bragging about his ability to force himself on women. Let me know and I will gladly post the verbatim transcript for you. Of course, your husband should be handy with the smelling salts when your demure church-lady persona is so insulted.1Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 18h Sharman Burson Ramsey Oh, so you consider yourself in line with the pink pussy brigade of shameful females presuming to speak for all women. "Demure church-lady" has nothing to do with it. Common sense does. You tell me where you were when Clinton was raping women, molesting supporters and employees and abusing a young intern and Hillary was defending him. When the Left's hero Teddy Kennedy killed a woman and got off scott free and JFK brought Mafia girlfriends into the White House. Amazing, isn't it that that tape "appeared" days before the 2018 election. His policies now resonate even louder now that we find out that our Antibiotics are made in China and his China ban on air flights saved lives. I wonder that the pink pussy brigade has the nerve to claim any moral high ground when they support late term abortion and killing babies! Not giving women the opportunity for an ultrasound to make them aware of the consequences of their "choice." That locker room talk does not compare to the actions of some of the Left's heroes. Seeing those women with their vile, hateful speech turns my stomach. And if you want to call me a "church lady" I will proudly bear that label along with "Deplorable." 

You have no sense of morality or shame and I find THAT deplorable. You reek of your own self-righteousness. What irony that you call others "self-righteous" because your self is the only one who sees any "righteousness" in your proclaimed morality.Edit or delete thisLike · Reply · 14h · Edited Diane Sullivan Reeves Sharman Burson Ramsey First, don't you DARE preach at me about shameful women, especially from one who knowing elected a porn-star screwing sexual predator who brags about grabbing women by their vagina just because he has recently become anti-abortion.Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 12h · Edited Diane Sullivan Reeves First, I would NEVER presume to speak for you. I am a fierce FEMINIST who is the absolute equal of men, and I am a VERY Proud Member of the Shameful Women Pink Pussy Brigade because I stand with the absolute right of women to not be sexually assaulted or abused by powerful men - or any man. Unlike YOU, I refuse to grovel at the feet of a vile, vulgar man. I DO NOT tolerate rapists or abusers of women and girls.Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 11h · Edited Diane Sullivan Reeves Sharman Burson Ramsey And, Bill Clinton got IMPEACHED. In NO WAY did I approve of what he did. When it was proven, I was disgusted by Bill Clinton's behavior. He lost my support and respect as a result.Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 11h · Edited Diane Sullivan Reeves Sharman Burson Ramsey One last thing. I've noticed that you Trump Little Church Lady-groupies, when you can't rationally justify your support of Trump while at the same time declare yourselves to be morally superior, you always deflect away from his grotesque and vile behavior by dragging Bill Clinton into the discussion. That's just sad and pathetic.Hide or report thisLike · Reply · 10h · Edited Sharman Burson Ramsey No. I just point out the hypocrisy of the Left and their determination to support Feminists who grovel at the baby killers feet and justifying it as the right of a woman to choose. They should at least get the blood money when Planned Parenthood sells their baby's body parts. Just think what could have been "harvested" when Susan Smith sent her two sons to their watery grave in South Carolina. That was her choice. And her body was denied the boyfriend she wanted. 
Feminists have led the way with their agenda to my three granddaughters probably being drafted should that come along again in the name of equity and equality. Women have participated in their supposedly righteous cause in empowering men, not women, and changing the laws so that the protections women once enjoyed have been replaced with mindless opposition. 
Put on your stupid pink pussy hat and realize it meant nothing. No Church lady was offended. Just disgusted.Edit or delete thisLike · Reply · 6m · Edited

Leftism Full Fledged Religion

 Leftism is not only a full-fledged religion – but also the world’s most dangerous.Highlights of “THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST RELIGION” include:“The great rebellion: How the strange religion of leftism has made converts of millions of Americans” by David Kupelian“‘Progressives treat politics as their religion’” by U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, who says the left’s holy mission is “to use the coercive power of the state to remake man and society in their own image”“'Not afraid of burning in hell': Ron Reagan atheist ad airs in Dem debate” by Joe Kovacs, in which Rush Limbaugh explains: 'It may be one of the most perfect ad placements in the history of advertising!'“Today's abortion culture imitates ancient child sacrifice to Moloch” by Jerry Newcombe, who notes that God said through Moses, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live”“Chelsea Clinton celebrates modern-day child sacrifice” by David Kupelian, on how the ancient pagan “sacrifice of the child was to assure a blessing of prosperity for the family”“Leftism as a secular religion” by Dennis Prager, on how the progressives’ alternative gospel serves as “a secular meaning-giver to supplant Christianity”“‘Anti-racism’ is a false religion. Just ask the victims of Muslim rape gangs in Britain” by John Zmirak“Absurd 'abortion is moral' claim makes America like godless China” by Laura Hollis, on how Planned Parenthood's recent “lies of breathtaking scope” rival those of the world’s abortion capital“Guess what religion inspired the ‘sexual freedom’ movement” by David Kupelian“The rise of global green religion: How the radical environmental movement has subverted America” by Henry Lamb“Abortion extremism: The left's secular sacrament” by David Limbaugh, on how “pro-choice” forces are finally daring to reveal their true intentions“The left-right divide is about reality itself” by Dennis Prager, highlighting how half of Americans cannot distinguish truth from falsehood“Survey confirms previous research: Left-wingers more prone to mental illness” by David Kupelian“'Christian' agnosticism and trendy nihilism” by Hanne Nabintu Herland, on the real reason some church leaders have recently rejected their faith“Why so many Gen Zers are atheists” by Dr. Michael Brown, who exhorts church leaders: “Don't cheapen the message; deepen the message.”As Whistleblower Editor David Kupelian comments: “Contrary to the Christian's trust in God for divine help in this life and eternal joy in the next, those on the socialist left are totally obsessed with creating paradise right now, here on earth. But since their values and morality are so far removed from reality – in fact, they continually violate the Ten Commandments – the ‘heaven on earth’ they create always ends up looking a lot more like hell.

Does the Biblical Story of the Tower of Babel have Relevance with Globalism and the Corona Virus?

97% of antibiotics are made in China; “supply chain Armageddon” will see U.S. pharmacy supplies wiped outhttps://pandemic.news/2020-02-18-97-p...


Does the Tower of Babel have any relevance to today's world
Genesis 11:1-9 New International Version (NIV)The Tower of Babel11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there.3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lordconfused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.________________________________________________________________________________God intended that there be independent, self-sufficient nations. Is the New World Order attempting to "make a name" for themselves? Perhaps globalism was a Global Tower of Power that would reach to the heavens? One thing we have learned from the Corona virus is that concentration of too much power in one country endangers everyone. We need to bring our manufacturing back to our country so that when hard times come we have the resources to protect, provide for and defend ourselves. China has already threatened in the past to withhold exports of raw materials both for pharmaceuticals and vitamins to the U.S. as punishment for the trade war. Now, it appears that Beijing might not even have to do this as the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) is doing it for the communist regime.“If we are dependent on China for thousands of ingredients and raw materials to make our medicine, China could use this dependence as a weapon against us,” warns a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report, citing the testimony of national health care authority and Hastings Center Senior Advisor Rosemary Gibson. https://pandemic.news/2020-02-18-97-p... many countries of this world have different languages and different cultures and maybe that is a good thing. Allowing ourselves to become too dependent on other nations and building toward a one world government (a Tower of Babel) is dangerous to us all. Let's hope this coronavirus has opened our eyes to the globalist threat to us all. 

Letter from a military surgeon on the TIMELINE OF THE CORONA VIRUS: A MANMADE VIRUS?

Corona virus, is it time to panic? (11 Feb Edit)

Let me say at the outset, I’m not an infectious disease expert, but I was a military Surgeon for ten years, and after getting out of the military served on the D.C. Congressional Committee NRAC which evaluated technology for the US Navy and Marine Corps. That exposed me to senior Defense insiders, and sources in the military that gave me insight into Chemical and Biological threat assessment and our response plans etc.  Over the subsequent years, I have made it my mission to follow the bioweapons issues, and  have given talks on Smallpox and other bioweapons at national medical and science meetings.  
Begin with the proposition that you cannot trust the WHO, CDC, US or Chinese Governments, or the Gates Foundation to be completely honest with the public.  Prove me wrong.  In fact, my new rule for life is, if the CDC tells you it’s a big deal, it isn’t.  Think, “the worst flu season on record” panic year, after year, after year. In this Corona virus situation, since the experts initially said no big deal, I determined it WAS a big deal.  
Secondly, you cannot trust the government agencies to give you the information you need in the time you actually need it.  Recently, the WHO says it is racist to close borders to Chinese and that borders should remain open worldwide.   They are more worried about seeming to be discriminatory than to stop a potential pandemic.  Also, we have been conditioned to disbelieve any connecting of dots as a “conspiracy theory” no matter how much information is in support of the matter.  The problem is many highly educated people can’t believe things they’ve never heard before—even if there is sound evidence.  We have a very hard time believing that anyone would release a bioweapon.   And, we are completely hamstrung by normalcy bias, i.e “It hasn’t happened in my lifetime so it can’t be happening now”.  It doesn’t help that we have become desensitized to the CDC hype exaggerating the flu, SARS and other diseases that have turned out not to be the “great pandemic”. Recently, Iowa State Epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Pedati said, “Anytime you see the emergent of a new virus that can affect people that’s going to be a concern for public health.  Right now, the risk here in Iowa remains low.” That statement is either outright lying or totally misinformed—and it is hard to believe the latter.  We have never seen anything like this in our lifetime.  As Pedati is saying this, a federal quarantine facility is 10 miles from my office, and exposed people are being flown into Omaha.  14 other Federal Quarantine Centers are being stood up around the US. From reports and videos by Chinese in Wuhan, armed soldiers are dragging people to quarantine.  People are being sealed into their homes.  No food is arriving.   This is not being treated like a flu outbreak.  This is being treated like the plague.  
Sep 2000 , The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) written by US defense insiders said this:  “… advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.” (Emphasis mine)
On  June 13, 2012 ,  a 60-year-old Saudi man was admitted to a private hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with a 7-day history of fever, cough, expectoration, and shortness of breath. He had no history of cardiopulmonary or renal disease, was receiving no long-term medications, and did not smoke. Egyptian virologist Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki isolated and identified a previously unknown coronavirus from his lungs.  This Coronavirus sample was acquired directly from the source by Scientific Director Dr. Frank Plummer of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg.  The Canadian lab grew stocks of the virus and scientists worked to see which animal species could be infected with the new virus. 
While this was going on, in  2015 , the Pirbright Institute, who counts Bill Gates as a major funder, patented a new corona virus created through genetic recombinant technology.  The patent number is 10, 130, 701.  I read the patent—and personally, I am not comforted.   The patented virus is a mutant design, in which a major portion of the Corona gene coding for “replicase” is altered.  They cannot precisely specify the alteration in the genome because it can vary in the process. This is clear from the patent which says over and over, “The variant replicase gene may encode a protein which comprises the amino acid mutation Pro to Leu at position” (pick a number) of SEQ ID NO: (pick a number).  In other words, multiple outcomes are possible.  
They further specify recombining Corona virus with a portion of the Vaccinia virus.  Vaccinia is the “Cowpox” that we use as a vaccine to prevent “Smallpox”—the world’s most deadly disease.  Genetically the two viruses have much in common—they are same family, subfamily and genus,—just different species.   Like a Pitbull and a Chihuahua…a few different genes make a big different animal.  So, they mix Vaccinia and Corona viruses with an imprecisely altered enzyme for replication—what could possibly go wrong?  Of course, they tested it for safety—on chickens.  Because, how could you possibly do human testing on such a thing?  “Mr. Jones, you are perfectly well but we’d like you to volunteer for testing a new recombinant
2017  CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness) was founded in Davos by the governments of Norway and India and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the World Economic Forum. “CEPI’s mission is to stimulate and accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks.”
In  March 2019 , mysteriously, a shipment of exceptionally virulent viruses from Canada’s NML ended up in China. The event caused a major scandal with Bio-warfare experts questioning why Canada was sending lethal viruses to China. Scientists from NML said the highly lethal viruses were a potential bio-weapon.Following an investigation, the incident was traced to Chinese agents working at NML in Winnipeg. Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, who was suspected of involvement also collaborated in 2018 with three scientists from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Maryland, studying post-exposure immunotherapy for two Ebola viruses and Marburg virus in monkeys; a study supported by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency.Four months later in  July 2019 , Qiu and other  Chinese virologists were forcibly dispatched from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML). They were not arrested or charged with a crime.  (In US it is illegal to have foreign nationals in level 4 biocontainment facilities/ labs). July 2019   A public publication underscores the potential for rapid deployment of Inovio's DNA vaccines. Impressively, INO-4700 was advanced into the clinic within nine months of vaccine candidate selection -- the first MERS vaccine in humans. Inovio is planning a Phase 2 MERS vaccine trial to be conducted in areas of the world where outbreaks have occurred, (i.e. China, emphasis mine.)
July 2019  Scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conduct the second phase of human clinical trials for an HIV vaccine in hospitals in Beijing and Hangzhou with a total of 160 participants.
Then on   October, 18, 2019 , the Gates Foundation and others held a disease crisis simulation—“Event 201”.  From their website:  “The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The exercise illustrated areas where public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences.” They modelled a new “novel” Corona virus.  In their scenario, 65 Million people died in 18 mo.  Of course, as part of the conference scenario the participants blame internet “disinformation” for deaths, backlash against medical personnel, and prolongation of the pandemic. And predictably, recommendations were made to shut down part or all of the internet to prevent “divisiveness that threatens governments and authentic sources”. “Social media companies are doing all they can to limit false information.” (Because, you know, keeping the general public from sharing knowledge and ideas is always in the public interest.)
December 30, 2019 , Dr. Li Wenliang reports seven people who were working at the Wuhan seafood market had contracted a SARS like illness (which later proved to be the novel Corona Virus). Wuhan is a city 20 km from China’s premier Level 4 bioweapons research and development facility built in 2017.  Li was  subsequently arrested by the Chinese police and forced to retract his statement.  Subsequently the disease broke out filling the hospital and the city of Wuhan was Quarantined and placed under martial law.  
23 January 2020  CEPI awarded Inovio Pharmaceuticals a grant of $9 million to develop a vaccine against the recently emerged strain of coronavirus (2019-nCoV). This initial CEPI funding will support Inovio's preclinical and clinical development through Phase 1 human testing of INO-4800, its new coronavirus vaccine matched to the outbreak strain. 
30 January, 2020 , Indian researchers (Prashant Pradhan et al. ) report on spike proteins that were from HIV type gene sequence.  They concluded the nCor-19 Corona virus was in fact a manmade product.  Shortly thereafter they are asked to withdraw the paper even though they used open source data that could be confirmed.  Internet site ZeroHedge, which reported on the study, was de-platformed by Twitter and other media. 
By  1 February  2020 , as the disease was in full force, the  “201” website now published a disclaimer saying twice, we didn’t predict this virus, really we didn’t predict this virus!, they ended with: “Although our tabletop exercise included a mock novel coronavirus, the inputs we used for modeling the potential impact of that fictional virus are not similar to nCoV-2019.” 
Around  3 February, 2020 ,  James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, founder of the Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge and author of 57 peer-reviewed publications, found within this Corona virus a peculiar sequence called “pShuttle-SN” which is a gene splicing tool, thereby substantiating the Indian researchers conclusion that the origin of the virus is in a lab.
On  4 February, 2020 , Dr. Frank Plummer the infectious disease researcher, who first brought the Corona virus back to the Canadian lab from Saudi Arabia, dropped dead unexpectedly while participating in a conference in Kenya.  The cause of death is at this time unknown.
Sadly, on  6 February 2020,  the hero of Wuhan,  34 year old Dr. Li Wenliang, who first reported the virus and was persecuted by the Chinese government for doing so, died of the disease, after being credited with saving many lives.
09 February 2020 .  Chinese officials finally admit to a 17% death rate.   The Lancet  reported 83% of those exposed become infected. That high rate requires well over 70% of people in self quarantine/containment to stop the contagion. The official death rate reported recently by Lancet is 15%.  This is in line with the Chinese internet site Tencent’s (?accidental) release of data :  154,023 infected/ 24589 dead= minimum death rate of 16%. This also correlates to what the Chinese are telling us in other ways—that 82% of the cases are Mild, but among Serious and Critical categories (18%)--the recovery rate is 1-6%. (Again basic math = death rate around  15%).  Uncofirmed but reports from those in China are noting a 5 times greater infection rate for Chinese males.  Speculation  is made that this may be a genotype targeted bioweapon.  
11 Feb, 2020 , we learn that five British skiers became infected with Corona at a French resort from a man who had recently been to Singapore.  In spite of this knowledge, the man went on to travel to Switzerland and Britain, exposing several plan loads of people and people in two other countries.  Contact tracing and quarantine are underway.




Opinion:
I cannot help seeing in this timeline a Shakespearean Tragedy with multiple players—patsies, perpetrators, and victims. The Chinese, with CDC help, have sequenced the nCoV-19 virus and it was not a known variant in the GenBank.  But neither the CDC, nor the Chinese say whether it was compared to the variant Corona virus made by Pirbright.  And has that variant even been reported to the GenBank?    I agree with the researchers above that this is not a natural occurrence.  I raised the BS flag about the snake theory right away—since they were hibernating at the time this broke out, and the answer was too quick and too glib.  So when snakes failed, then they reported it was bats.  And now as that comes under question by a lot of real scientists, the new theory is the Pangolin.  Really, what is a Pangolin?  As soon as the Indian researchers were hushed, and the Chinese obfuscation became obvious,  I became suspicious.  The timeline reeks of coordination, or stage management, or at least inside knowledge.Unless you really think this is a wild virus, there are three possibilities: 1) This is an accidental lab release from the Chinese who were creating a bioweapon or a vaccine.  2) This is a vaccine trial gone wrong, with a test vaccine that ended up being deadly. (This would be the best thing for the world because that means those secondarily infected probably are not dying from disease—just those given the bad vaccine.) 3) This is a bioweapon that was intentionally released.  Not to be Debbie downer, but I favor the last, because, I don’t believe in serial coincidences.  This happened at the perfect time for a bioweapons release—the biggest travel time, of the biggest holiday, of the biggest country in the world.  What’s the chance? 
But in that case who is the culprit?  The options can get ugly but it is unlikely to be the Chinese against themselves.  Having said that, the Chinese one child policy has left them with approximately 35  million  unwed men of warrior age.  For the Chinese government--who are facing increasing discontent—that poses a threat to the regime.  And for the potential military enemies of the Chinese, having so many millions of single men around to take up arms is not ideal.  And then there was the PNAC or  Policy for a new American Century, written by Defense Department / “Beltway” insiders who consider genotype specific bioweapons a potentially “politically useful tool.  I make it a habit never to underestimate the psychopathology of our so called “leaders”.

In terms of disease control, we have no treatment and no clear prevention—we know human to human transmission has occurred outside of China.  We believe this is one of the most contagious viruses of its kind and that it may be contracted even wearing a standard mask. Chinese researchers on site reported a transmission rate of 3.6—i.e. an infected person spreads to an average of 3.6 other people.  The Lancet  just reported 83% of those exposed become infected. That high rate requires well over 70% of people in self quarantine/containment to stop the contagion. The official death rate reported recently by Lancet is 15%.  The Chinese have finally reported a death rate of 17%. This is in line with the Chinese internet site Tencent’s (?accidental) release of data :  154,023 infected/ 24589 dead= minimum death rate of 16%. This also correlates to what the Chinese are telling us in other ways—that 82% of the cases are Mild, but among Serious and Critical categories (18%)--the recovery rate is 1-6%. (Again basic math = death rate around  15%).  To put this all in historical perspective, the statistics so far of this man-made Corona virus is much worse than the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, which killed about 100 Million people worldwide, including whole families in small places like my area of Harrison County, Iowa.   
Although this is the largest quarantine effort in the history of mankind, and was instituted relatively early by the Chinese, the Wuhan mayor reported that at least 5 million Chinese left the city prior to the ring being locked down. Eleven Chinese cities are now in quarantine. And we are now getting spread to all the Asian countries where planes from Wuhan landed after leaving the airport with asymptomatic people. The incubation/ prodrome rate is unfortunately long—at least 24 days and possibly more. We have seen negative “tests” for the virus in travelers who then, 4 days later, came down with the disease.  These facts makes quarantine problematic. In Ashland, Nebraska,—my nearest quarantine site which is set up on a National Guard base, they are planning on 14 days isolation.  That’s wishful thinking. As I write this, Rebecca Katz, the chief of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at George Washington University, admitted we have lost containment so “all we can do is mitigate”.
I believe Taiwan and Korea can contain this mess, but now as it spreads into South America, and from there to Mexico, I do not believe the Mexicans can mount an effective public health effort. If it breaks out there, we will have a huge massive push to our Southern Border, and we can guarantee pandemic in America unless we close the borders.  Even worse, it doesn’t matter whether this was designed to be a bioweapon or whether it was accidentally or purposefully released.  Because, this outbreak is probably only the first wave.   Consider this:  Any terrorist or bad actor nation who wants a bioweapon, no longer needs any investment in advanced labs and technology.   They can simply send people to China to get infected, harvest the virus for growth in vats, then release Corona against their enemy (probably us) without warning.  No screening can prevent that from happening in the future.  Such a weapon could be dropped into Las Vegas, a New York subway, or Milwaukee. 
So what can we do?  Communities should stress self-reliance and preparedness.  Governments are notorious for withholding information, and no modern government can really solve this.  Do not depend on government.  There are food shortages in Wuhan where citizens are being left to starve by their government to save other cities.   Don’t think it can’t happen anywhere given the right circumstances.  One thing that did help save lives in the Pandemic of 1918 was self isolation of communities such as Egegik, Alaska,  (which lost no one) Fletcher, Vermont,  Gunnison, Colorado, and  institutions such as Princeton University in New Jersey, Bryn Mawr College, the Western Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind in Pittsburgh, and the Trudeau Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Saranac Lake, New York.  These places were unscathed because they “shut themselves down” isolating the healthy away from the sick.  Our borders need to be secure like we used to do it—with medical screening, and militarily, but communities can institute some form of isolation.  
Hospitals will be the first places to collapse if this spreads in America at the rate of the Chinese experience.  Currently the Chinese hospitals are filled with doctors and nurses that treated the first wave of patients and now are themselves victims.  If we can believe the messages being sneaked out to the West, there are wards where anyone with “pneumonic” presentation are simply stashed to die.  The course seems to be bimodal.  83% with mild illness get well and walk away.  But the 17% with any serious illness are generally dying.  (99% rate among moderate to serious disease).  One of the reported findings is a death rate for Chinese males five times Chinese women or anyone else. So far, although a case is reported in one black African male, no deaths have occurred outside China except for one Chinese male. This raises the valid question of a genotype directed bioweapon.
If this was targeted at Chinese males, and we or some other country are in any way to blame, we can anticipate escalation and retaliation.  Too often we only consider Nuclear devices as Weapons of Mass Destruction, but in reality WMD includes biologic and chemical weapons as well.  And as a cost effective anti-personnel weapon, a biologic costs pennies to kill what would cost thousands of dollars in nuclear armament.  But retaliation in kind would potentially include a nuclear response.

Even without further event, the economic chaos and loss of productivity in China will be felt around the world.  Specifically, the Chinese produce roughly 90% of our medical and pharmaceutical supplies.  This is likely to cause significant hospital shortages in the US, and will be a critical factor if we too are faced with pandemic casualties.
As individuals the ultimate answer is to take your health seriously—be in the best shape you can be in.  Eat correctly, exercise, take supplements.  We should be preparing to shelter in place which means zero contact with others—for one to three months perhaps.  This means store food and water for family for a prolonged period.  Ultimately this is about your immune system.  If this becomes endemic we will all have to become naturally immune--because it is not just going to go around once.  If you only have one choice of supplement, take Vitamin D.  I take 10,000 iu a day.  No one (not on dialysis) has ever had overdosed at that level and the longest-lived people in the world are estimated to get 30,000 iu a day from the sun.  (In northern latitudes we simply cannot get enough from the sun—everyone is low. ) Vitamin D is critical in fighting off virus attacks and a Japanese study showed D levels to be more effective than vaccination in preventing flu.  Colloidal Silver gargle and nasal spray make sense.  DOD funded researched showed Nano-silver to be effective against Ebola, SARS, and other bad viruses.  Linus Pauling was a brilliant guy, and although mainstream medicine didn’t agree (which, when it comes to new ideas generally means nothing) I keep Liposomal Vitamin C around and take 1000 mg/ day.  When I get exposed or experience the first trace of any illness I bolus myself with 5-10 grams (you can’t do that unless your C is liposomal or you will get diarrhea.) Boosting Iodine levels with the Japanese dose of 12.mg a day makes sense with or without contagion. Importantly, do not use chemical means to lower a temperature.  The use of Aspirin in the 1918 Pandemic may have significantly aggravated the death rate by causing bleeding into the lungs.  In studies in India years ago, Anti-inflammatories (such as Advil, Naprosyn, and Diclofenac etc.) caused increased morbidity and mortality in Polio and Tuberculosis patients.  If your temperature goes over 103 and you are miserable, use the tepid water sponge bath method of our grandmothers. N-95 masks don’t prevent you from spreading virus as well as they protect the wearer from getting the virus.  Regular masks are worthless. Stock up on disposable exam gloves and have Clorox at home. Optimize your lung health.  For now, minimize public transport.  If disease breaks out closer and closer to your area you will need to reassess your public contact. And prepare for huge economic waves.  Keep cash at home for emergency use. If this is not specific to Chinese males, and it is not a Vaccine gone awry, this may not be stoppable.  In that case, as a nation, we will need to choose between an economic nightmare/ self quarantine and work stoppage,  or accept a massive death rate if we do not take this seriously and keep going to the mall. This really does take a village, preparation, and prayer.
Lee Merritt, MD
See also: https://civilianintelligencenetwork.c...
https://civilianintelligencenetwork.c...

SECULAR HUMANISM IS THE ESTABLISHED RELIGION OF PUBLIC SC...

SECULAR HUMANISM IS THE ESTABLISHED RELIGION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A Debate among Facebook Friends



TORCASO V WATKINS 367 U.S. 488 (1961) declares secular humanism to be a religion.


2014: A federal judge in Oregon ruled that secular humanism is a religion. 
The following conversation followed the announcement that the Trump Administration is taking 3 steps to Boost Religious Freedom. 




My friend, with whom I shared this discussion then stated boldly, "We will not allow Americans to be bullied by fascist Christians. Pray whenever and wherever you want. But don't you waste one second of public school kids' education time with your nonsense."

 I have many questions here. 

1. Who is the "We" he refers to who will not allow Americans?
2. Are Christians not Americans? Why must they be held captive to the beliefs of the Secular Humanists amongst us? 
3. "Fascist"??????
Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition
Fascism definition is - a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Why does it look to me as if this post by my friend who says "We will not allow Americans does not include me? Because he labels me as a fascist Christian. 

Yet, all I am asking for is the privilege of getting my child educational opportunities out from under the statist rule of the Secular Humanists. 

He approves: 



Mike Stone What’s wrong with LGBTQ history? They have one, don’t they? Maybe studying their history will teach your kids tolerance.


And so you see the conclusions of those who argue that public money should only go to public schools are actually advocating secular humanism although they will not acknowledge that they are actually advocating an established religion.

What is their argument?

Mike Stone The wall of separation between church and state requires a bright-line rule: No public money to any but public schools.

Sharman Burson Ramsey No. It does not. Public schools were not in existence when the Constitution was written. That did not come to be until the Northwest Ordinance. The Constitution only says there will be no establishment of religion. Yet there has been establishment of Secular Humanism as the religion of public schools. As a consequence violence has Increased and morality declined. You are only advocating for your own religion. Money should follow the child whose parents should have the freedom to choose the school with the curriculum they approve so long as it does not encourage violence.

Mike Stone Sharman Burson Ramsey Public schools should be publicly funded. Parochial schools should be funded by their churches and parishioners. Period. And all churches should be taxed.

Sharman Burson Ramsey You are advocating a monopoly proselytizing YOUR religion! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins

Mike Stone Sharman Burson Ramsey No, I’m not. I’m advocating public education consistent with the First Amendment.

Sharman Burson Ramsey Freedom of speech and religion have been stifled while secular humanism is promoted in public schools. You approve because that agenda is your agenda. Of course you approve. Those of us who disagree must spend our children’s college money getting our children a good MORAL basic education. Yet not only do some people think we should support failed public schools but should pay their exorbitant college loans to universities that only teach contempt for those who pay the bills and sacrifice themselves paying for their own children’s early education rather than sacrificing them to the whims of the liberal agenda.

My friend makes exceptions for other religions


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34k5g...

Listen to this Muslim feminist leader address the Fairfax County, Virginia Board of Education. It is alright for Muslim leaders to enter into the arena of the "public" schools. Just not Christians?



Yet, this is also to be taught in Public Schools. 

What is the consequence of all of this politicization of the classroom? 




Today's students and professors 'Know Hardly Anything about Anything at All'. And that is why Christian parents flee the public schools. Secular Humanism has resulted in a know nothing society vulnerable to shape shifting according to the whims of the ruling elite. 

Common Core led the way for ONE CURRICULUM THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY for all children. Secular Humanism won the day.


As a consequence, U. S. Student Test Scores Plummet again in Year 4 of Common Core.

San Diego State University Normalizes Pedophilia as a "Sexual Orientation". That is great for future teachers to think of their students. 


Planned Parenthood designed the sex-ed curriculum that through the concept of "integrated curriculum" would find a place in every subject. Planned Parenthood is also making a lot of money selling baby body parts.






Body parts buyers were 'Scalping the Babies,' Planned Parenthood Trial Reveals.



Leaders like Dr. Jordan Peterson says the government should get out of sex education altogether. 
Years ago with the establishment of the United Nations, Julian Huxley, the Director-General of UNESCO stated "It (UNESCO) can stress the ultimate need for world political unity and familiarize all peoples with the implications of the transfer of full sovereignty from separate nations to a world organization. 
 UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Notice EDUCATION. Their goal is world equity with the World Core Curriculum and we are their dupes. 

Dr. Jordan Peterson says the government should bet out of Sex Education altogether. Christian parents agree, but must flee public schools to do so!

 Common Core,  the public school monopoly, is based on the UN World Core Curriculum. The goal of this curriculum is to undermine patriotism and nationalism in favor of a one world government.



Should I consider the "my dear" a bit condescending?

And with this attitude toward our country and its people (his fellow Americans) he defends the public schools. Apparently it reflects my friend's belief system. It does not reflect mine. But who am I to object. Not someone who counts, it would appear.


But then, my friend teaches Constitutional Law.

But, what do I see?



The first Common Core Graduates are the worst prepared for college in 15 years and yet my friend would have our children chained to those failing schools. Poor children are slaves to those failing schools in that mindset. 





Just how many parts of the First Amendment are violated with Secular Humanism dominating our public schools? 

And... considering Tim Tebow's call for Christians to Stand Up for Christian Values ... What will we do about it? 


I do enjoy the give and take on Facebook. I have much respect for my friend. My friend, Mike Stone, is a brilliant, gifted man. This is from his firm's website: 

Sharman Burson Ramsey


Sharman Burson Ramsey is a novelist. Ramsey's first novel, Swimming with Serpents, set against the backdrop of the Creek Indian War, was published in September 2012 by Mercer University Press. The sequel, In Pursuit, set during the First Seminole War, was released in September of 2013. It was followed by On to Angola followed. Then came the cozy mysteries in the Mint Julep Trilogy.  She has a MSE from Troy University in Dothan and a BSE from the University of Alabama. With roots growing deep in the Deep South and her love of all things Southern the website Southern-style evolved.

Ramsey has taught 7th through 12th grades in public and private schools and writing classes in community outreach programs, as well as having served as an adjunct history professor at Troy and Gulf Coast. She has also co-hosted an area radio talk show on politics and education. She is a Christian mother of three and grandmother of five. 

Amazing Symbolism in the Lion King of the Democrat "Impeachment/Coup" carried out against Our President

The Lion King and the Democrat's Impeachment

Identify the Hyenas. They are those obedient, slavering, bullying pawns of Scar's hatred. They carry out Scar's commands. Scar is the resentful, jealous, hate-filled competitor of the Lion King, the true ruler. 
Scar's plan is to eliminate his brother/competition. At any cost. 
When it is found that Simba did not die with Scar's first attempt (Mueller Report). Scar concocts a lie to convince Simba that he is the cause of his father's death (Impeachment). Simba retreats.

And with Scar's success, the land goes arid. His subjects suffer. All prosperity nurtured by the true ruler disappears.

It does not take much imagination to see the symbolism of this movie displayed in the current political situation. Hillary Clinton is Scar, behind the curtains pulling the strings sending Nancy Pelosi (Shenzi) forth to guide the Hyenas. 

Should this impeachment succeed thus will go our country. All prosperity achieved by the duly elected president of our country will disappear. The new rulers will threaten their subjects into obedience with dictatorial power. The rule of law "innocent until proven guilty" already defunct with Democrats will replace the legal system of our country. 
What an excellent picture of this "Impeachment" (coup) of our president and the potential consequences should they succeed. 

I wonder where the Republicans are hiding. We have a...

I wonder where the Republicans are hiding. We have a situation where the entire country wants to know where this ridiculous RUSSIA investigation came from. What about those troll farms? What about CrowdStrike? All in the Ukraine? 
When the duly elected president talks to a Ukrainian leader and asks for assistance on a presumed secure phone so that those in his administration delegated to do this search might perform their legal duties, the Democrats in UNISON cry foul. The Republicans sit back with their napkins in their laps and their pinkies raised talking about good manners, fairness and open-mindedness and the Democrats well-trained in the Alinsky method attack with guerrilla warfare. 

THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE and the Democrats know this. They know we are in a battle for the heart and soul of America. The Republicans still play at politics like the Brits in the Revolution with Marquess of Queensbury Rules. Where is the outrage over the spy in the White House? Over a traitor (a suspected John Brennan trained, CIA operative) plotting another attack in the coup. This "whistleblower" relies upon a self-described investigative journalism organization bankrolled massively by billionaire activist George Soros. And alarm bells don't go off?Biden relates: "They said, ‘You have no authority. You’re not the president—the president said’ … I said, 'Call him.' I said, 'I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars.' And so, Biden implicates Obama who is now complicit in this pay for play scheme. 

But Biden is now doomed to the trash heap of history because of his own arrogant braggadocio. They think they have Trump on the ropes for digging up dirt on a "political opponent", Hillary wants the same protections. The media permits them to frame the argument -- once again. As a candidate, digging up truth as to her involvement in the infamous Steele dossier, etc., the coup on a duly elected president, will be considered investigating an opponent in the presidential election. So the Republicans run for the hills.Paul Ryan now sits on the Fox Board and will try to make Fox into another Joe Scarborough show. Neil Cavuto and Shepherd Smith lead the way. The President and a mere handful of Republicans take them on. If the Democrats win, we will be left with pitchforks and torches to defend ourselves against the onslaught of the Democrat attack on speech, borders, the rule of law, the concept of innocent until proven guilty, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms and national sovereignty.