Spiritual Healing

The Historic Clifton Mill is located at 75 Water St., Clifton, OH 45316…visit  their website. .. This Ohio Christmas light display is in the running for best in the nation video.

How do we restore ourselves, heal our spirit and revitalize the earth too?

Spiritual self healing – Bing
Healing the spiritual self – Bing
Healing the spiritual body – Bing
Healing the spiritual heart – Bing
Healing collective spiritual reset.
Healing the spirit LifeNet – Bing video
Glow spiritual healing and wellness,

What is true healing, anyway, and can it be affected?
By Lama Surya Das, Contributor

Three key numbers that explain America’s labor shortage.
The American middle class used to signify economic security.
That’s now quickly becoming a luxury only the wealthiest can afford.

Last week someone told me that in his eighty-odd years he had never seen such pervasive levels of fear and anger. This observation gave me pause to wonder: how do we restore ourselves, heal our spirit and revitalize the earth too?

What is true healing, anyway, and can it be affected?

Healing the Spirit When we are unwell, it’s mostly due to imbalances.
Clogging our lives and limiting our innate capacity for joy and well-being. These internal imbalances and energy blockages often express themselves as disturbing emotions–anger, frustration, anxiety and alienation, to name a few, and also manifest through the physical body as ulcers and allergies, migraines, back pain and other forms of dis-ease great and small.
The root cause of these and other imbalances of mind-body-spirit are very much in line with the Buddhist notion that our own obscurations and illusions cause all of our afflictions and suffering, of all kinds– at the outer, inner and at the subtlest levels as well.
Conflicting emotions and delusion results in unwholesome acts which bring us low, mentally, physically, energetically, spiritually and physically. In fact, longevity as well as vitality is also negatively impacted by these karmic imbalances.

The following Five Secrets illustrate how we can bring our body, speech, energy and heart-mind into harmony with awareness-wisdom, the vital wholeness of genuine well-being and ethical reality. Don’t tell anyone: these are just for you.

AN ESSENTIAL DAILY GUIDE TO ACHIEVING THE GOOD LIFE
let’s consider our connection: Is it really broken or wounded?

5 Secrets for Healing the Spirit!!!
This is the first secret, which requires you to question and clarify this for yourself. What is it that can be hurt, wounded, or injured? Only the impermanent construct of the separate, bubble-like individual self can be subject to loss and suffering. Pain is inevitable in life, suffering is more optional; it depends more on what you make of things than on what happens around and to you. Introspect deeply and continuously, and see if you can’t, recognize the unbreakable and untouchable original nature of beingness that exists within, beyond false endurance or even resilience. To know this is to bring the mind into balance by dissolving the numberless distracting doubts, questions, and superficial anxieties that usually affect it. You heal and restore the spirit whenever, wherever, and however you contact your adamantine original goodness, thus achieving inner peace and contentment.

The second secret to healing spirit — asking for help — echoes in all the timeless world traditions. One example is found in the Bible’s shortest prayer from Moses, who, when his elderly wife was very ill, prayed simply: “Lord, please heal her.” We ourselves could learn a lot from the simplicity and humility, honesty, vulnerability and earnestness in the old master’s sincere prayer. Even if you’re not a particularly Higher Power-oriented or prayerful person; who among us hasn’t instinctively turned our thoughts upward amidst a dire crisis, perhaps when a child was involved?
Asking for help is a good thing to do, when needed, even if it’s just to human sources. No one can do it all alone.
Recent research by Drs. Larry Dossey, Herbert Benson, and Richard Davidson among others reveals that prayer, mental resolve, mindfulness cultivation and altruism can all help make a significant difference in healing as well as raising our happiness quotient. Even the placebo effect can work in our favor! Finding words to ask for help is a way we can heal the spirit and find peace. This is not just simple faith healing; it includes intentional mental cultivation through repeated practice, including powerful and profound, contemplative techniques and spiritual exercises such as meditation, chanting, creative visualization, yoga, breath & energy work, and the like.

The third secret to healing the spirit recognizes that the Holy Spirit or inner light can be understood as the Breath–the universal language that opens every tongue and every ear to every language. It is no accident that the word breath in many ancient languages also refers to spirit: “Ruach” in Hebrew; “prana”
in Sanskrit; “pneuma” in Greek; “spiritus” in Latin. No wonder that to be with breath is to be in the spirit and heal the spirit. God and Buddha are closer to us than our own breath, our own heartbeat.
The practice of being fully with one’s breath is to get embodied and in the present moment. In this way, there’s no pushing away from what is unwanted in your body, there’s no rejection of where you’re at. Let yourself find a natural rhythm of breath. Imagine the in-breath bringing with it infinite healing capacities, letting it fill all the cells of the body with purity and well-being.
Let go of all expectations as you do this, just letting yourself be present with each breath. Breathe, relax, focus, center and smile.

The fourth secret for healing the spirit is to try to take advantage of
The Pearl Principle: no inner irritation, no pearl gets produced.
Crisis implies opportunity and can be a great catalyst for meaningful reflection and transformative change. In truth, there are not unequivocally good or bad things or experiences, only the wanted and the unwanted; everything is subjective. Rather than instinctively pushing pain and woundedness away, as usual, we can choose to transmute them into helpful healing gifts we embrace and eventually share, like turning broken heartedness into heart-opening experience.
Thus, increasing our empathy, compassion and sensitivity to those who likewise suffer.
A former addict becomes the best drug counselor; the cancer survivor who told me he’d never have found himself and his true vocation without the disease he received (he was thirty when I met him). Turning the leaden base metal of suffering and angst into the golden treasure of generous service, finding one’s purpose and deep connection with others are important tools. Each time you utilize the Pearl Principle, you heal your spirit and touch the spirit of others like a Medicinal Midas.

The fifth key to healing ourselves is not what happens to us as much as reshaping and reframing the story we tell ourselves about it. Woundedness, like victimhood, is mostly a narrative or story we tell ourselves; how much we suffer from our pains and difficulties depends very much on our attitude towards it, our frame of reference. When you get locked into the impermanent yet powerful I-centered view of how you are a victim and place your attention too much upon what others are thinking, saying and doing, you will suffer emotionally. Loving kindness — wishing well for others — and heartfelt empathy compassion are great protections from the pernicious disease and restlessness of anger, fear, resentment, jealousy and bitterness. We can’t truly heal the spirit unless we find ways to make love of ourselves complete and unconditional. Love is a total attention that can deepen and become the fullness of loving presence, in which we’ve embraced, forgiven, and accepted ourselves completely. Here is true healing, not far from what theists call divine love.

Why are we so often afraid to genuinely embrace and totally accept ourselves?
This is where inner healing begins and radiates outward. These Five Secrets reveal that the mind is mightier than the sword. Here we’re not just talking about your personal egocentric mind and intellect, but deeper consciousness and spiritual awareness.
This soulful vehicle can be a vessel for ultimate healing as well as relative lifestyle improvements when we can learn how to step out of our own way and let our higher selves and true connection to the All come into play. Whether you are using prayer, breath practice, self-inquiry, the Pearl Principle, relational mindfulness with a partner, or crafting a new narrative story, you can recognize that there are many ways and skillful means to achieving peace and harmony. Most importantly, trust yourself to find the appropriate path to healing the imbalances in your life, and let’s undertake together this necessary journey — so uplifting both now and later.

No matter what, an oppressed spirit can and will rise again given the right support and guidance from Source who help show the way to heal all wounds and get the energy flowing again. Hate and resentment is a breeding ground
for disease. Anger is the fuel for the fire that burns oneself, and close-minded ignorance hides the truth that saves. Let’s strive to learn how to free the spirit, set a new course and intention for our life, let go and surrender, and learn simple daily ways to renew the self, re-ignite your passionate inner fire and fan it into flame, and soar on high.

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Healing the Wounded Spirit: God’s Remedy for Persistent Hurts.

The Broken Condition Described.


Jesus has come to heal the inside as well as the outside!
In my walk with the Lord since childhood and being in full time vocational ministry for over 45 years, I found that one of the most common needs among believers and non-believers alike, is the need for inner healing.  I have needed Jesus to heal my wounded spirit and heal my broken heart in different seasons of my life. I am sure that you can relate.
Scripture uses the terms heart and spirit often interchangeably.  One thing for sure, we each need to tend to the condition of our heart because out of it flows the issues of life.  Let’s get healed up on the inside now so that we will not blow up later when pressures of life increase. So go on a journey with me into this sensitive and greatly needed subject of Healing the Wounded Spirit.

Primary Scriptures to Consider:
Proverbs 18:14 “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?”
Proverbs 15:13 “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.”
Proverbs 14:10 “The heart knows its own bitterness and a stranger does not share its joy.”
Hurt, Wounded, Rejected
In the realm of your emotions, you may feel stepped on, overlooked, crushed, bruised, and your life has gone out of you. Quote from John Wimber of the Vineyard Movement!

guy-depressed

“While sickness of the spirit is caused by what we do.
Sickness of the emotions is generally caused by what is done to us.
It grows out of the hurts done to us by other persons or some experience we have been exposed to in the past. These hurts affect us in the present, in the form of bad memories and weak or wounded emotions. This in turn leads us into various forms of sin, depression, a sense of worthlessness and inferiority, unreasoning fears and anxieties, psychosomatic illnesses, etc. Included in this are the present-day effects of the sins of the parents in the bloodline of a person. Thus, healing of past hurts touches the emotions, the memories, and the person’s bloodline.”

Quote from John and Paula Sandford of the Elijah House.
“Christian healing comes then not by making a broken thing good enough to work, but by delivering us from the power of that broken thing so that it can
no longer rule us, and by teaching us to trust His righteousness to shine in and through that very thing.  Those who are healing by restoring the self-image are causing people to trust in something repaired in the flesh, a practice reshaped in their old carnal nature, doomed sooner or later to failure. Whereas the Lord heals by leaving the broken part right in place, overcoming it by its nature. Our trust as Christians can only always be solely in His righteousness in us, as us, for us!”

Experts Tend to Agree on Certain Things:
People have problems that sometimes remain untouched by conversion, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Bible study, and personal prayer and devotional life.
Hidden in the recesses of the subconscious mind are hurts and wounds that are surrounded by feelings that still adversely affect people in the present.
The focus of healing of past hurts is to release those hurtful memories in such
a way that they no longer have a negative effect on a person’s present or future experience.

This is primarily done through the act of forgiveness.

From Luke 4:18
Receiving and Releasing Forgiveness
,Jesus came to “heal the brokenhearted and set at liberty those who are bruised.” You must acknowledge that Jesus took your pain and carried your sorrows. “See Me,” says the Lord, Turn on the Search Light of God’s Spirit.
Jesus called the Holy Spirit the finger of God.
Let the Lord specifically point out the bitterness, hurts, wounds, and rejections.
Don’t conjure things up. Let Him who sees and knows all, bring hurts to your remembrance. Pray something like: “Father, in Jesus’ name, by the power of the Holy Spirit, please place into my mind the names of people from my life (from childhood to the present) that I need to forgive.”

Forgive, Forgive, Forgive

“Father, in Jesus’ name I forgive ______.”

The Effects of Unforgiveness (Matthew 18).


The servant asked for an extension of time, but the master had mercy and forgave the whole debt. That servant did not understand, but instead left the master and began to extract from fellow a servant the debts he owed in order
to pay back the debt he thought he still owed. The master became aware of the servant’s behavior and put him in prison to be tormented.

The result of unforgiveness is, in essence, torment.

Choose Forgiveness

What Is Involved in Forgiving Someone?
Forgiveness is a decision based on an act of the will.

It involves: Recognizing that I’ve been totally forgiven.

Releasing the person who wounded me from the debt they owe me for the offense. “Lord, I forgive (name of person) for (specifics).
Accepting the person who wounded me as they are and releasing them from the responsibility of having to meet my needs. I take authority over the enemy, and in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of His resurrection life, I take back the ground I have allowed Satan to gain in my life because of my attitude with (name). I now choose to give this ground back to my Lord Jesus Christ.”

Exercising Authority in Jesus’ Name.

Breaking the Power of Inherited Family Spiritual Conditions.

“On numerous occasions, we have found people who are the victims of their parents’ sin and excesses. We have encountered families that have had a history of alcoholism, sexual perversion, child molestation, and other types of social and emotional abuse. After breaking the power of inherited family and spiritual conditions, we have seen these social behaviors altered, and in a large majority of cases, entirely eliminated. This is true when we are able to minister to the victim as well as the perpetrator of the abuse. I might add it is almost always in conjunction with other types of therapy.”

(For reference, see Numbers 14:18; Exodus 20:3-5; 34:7; Jeremiah 32:18; Lamentations 5:7; Leviticus 26:39-40; Nehemiah 9:2, 16; Deuteronomy 5:9; 2 Chronicles 29:3-9.)

The Place of Personal Repentance:
You must turn from any anger or bitterness toward the person who has wounded you and receive forgiveness from God (John 20:23).
You must recognize your own responsibility and choice in responding and reacting to the hurt by choosing any self-image that is non-biblical and destructive. By repenting from the sin of faulty self-perception, you will open the way for a new image to be formed according to God’s Word (Romans 12:1-2).

You must forgive yourself. Pray a simple prayer such as:
“Dear Lord, you have forgiven me and forgotten my sin. I am not higher than You. Therefore, I choose to forgive and release myself and to forget my sin.
With Your blood, wash away my guilt and shame and even the remembrance of my sin, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” You must forgive and release God Himself.
Pray a simple prayer such as: “God, I know that You are holy and cannot sin.
You do all things well. My attitude toward You has been one of questioning and bitterness. This is sin. I repent of it. Wash it out of me with Your blood.
I realize evil comes from Satan, not from You. Forgive me for blaming You for any of the works of the enemy. I can and do trust you with my life. I trust that You will cause all things to work together for good in my life. Thank you for your abounding love and mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Wisdom Reminders

You Are a Product of Your Decisions.

The power of a free will and free choice is a great gift from God! “Choose this day whom you will serve.” What happens to you in life is not as important as how you respond to your circumstances. Victims blame others. Victors take personal responsibility for their decisions and reactions and get back to winning in life! You cannot change your past, but you can change its impact on your present and future. Renew Your Mind!
You must renew your mind on a regular basis through worship,
Bible study, meditation, and praying in the Spirit (Romans 12:1-2).

Walk Together

Walk with Caring Members of the Body of Christ.
It is important to walk with other committed members of the body of Christ to experience ongoing growth. This will help in bringing continued healing to past hurts and restore your faith, hope and love. Love steps out on a limb and is vulnerable.

Major on Your New Nature in Christ.
To keep a healthy, biblical balance (and avoid a negative and introverted attitude caused by an overemphasis on inner healing) focus on your new nature in Christ. The Biblical depiction of your new nature will always give you a truer, more real and trustworthy evaluation that’s provided by your own weaknesses, fears, anger, memories, etc.—not to mention the accuser of the brethren! (Refer to Romans 8:1-2; 28:35; Eph. 4:20-24; Revelation 12:11; Galatians 2:20).

Praise the Lord!
Restore the gate of praise. Give an offering of thanksgiving. Jesus has healed your broken heart!

Prayer of Blessing and Thanksgiving.
“Father God, thank You for sending Jesus to heal the broken hearted and set at liberty those who are bruised. I am so grateful for the power of the blood of Jesus to forgive and cleanse me. Thank You for the gift of free choice and that every day can be the first day of a new life. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Thank You for all Your amazing benefits!
Yes, I will praise Your holy name from this time forth and forever more!
Amen and Amen.”

In the Compassion of Jesus!
“Offer up every joy,


Be awake at all moments to the news
That is always arriving
Out of silence.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke
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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — COVID-19 Data: Neighborhood Profiles – NYC Health

Biden’s COVID Christmas disaster concludes craptastic year for the president.
7 On Your Side Investigates has been tracking the areas with the most COVID-19 cases for nearly two years. The data usually takes us to places like Corona, Queens, and the Bronx. But for the first time, we’re seeing surges not in the outer boroughs, but in Manhattan. “This new variant is just ripping through Manhattan,” said Councilmember Keith Powers, who is a member of the Health Committee and represents some of the hardest-hit areas. 

More 7 On Your Side Investigates | NYC transitioning homeless from hotels to traditional shelters.

Search: COVID positivity rates by neighborhood:
The current zip codes with the highest infection rates tend to be younger,
more affluent areas of Manhattan, along with Brooklyn and Long Island City. Search this interactive map to find the positivity rate in each New York City neighborhood. While portions of Staten Island and Breezy Point have double-digit positivity, it’s Lower Manhattan, the areas in dark purple, with the highest rates — from the West Village with 16%, to Greenwich with 15%, to Murray Hill with a 14% positivity rate as of Thursday afternoon.

They’re areas with some of the highest vaccination rates.
“I think there are a lot of breakthrough cases that are happening, of course, they’re not all breakthroughs, some people are unvaccinated,” Powers said. “These are young areas where people are congregating together at bars or holiday parties or just getting together, and so it’s not a surprise that It would move so fast through these areas.” They’re also people who are living in areas with access to more COVID-19 testing sites. 
“This reflects a combination of actual activity of COVID 19, particularly of omicron, as well as the fact that there are more people seeking and getting to test in those places,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said. The city’s working this week to expand capacity and testing sites into more neighborhoods. They also started handing out tests people can take
from home.

The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, by Lyle Rossiter, Jr., M.D. The official website of The Liberal Mind:
The Psychological Causes of Political Madness. Please take a few minutes to read about a book that will change forever the way you look at politics.

Why do people hold liberal-left positions? (Liberal and left were once very different, but not anymore.)

This question has plagued me because I have long believed that most people, liberal or conservative, mean well. Very few people wake up in the morning planning to harm society. Yet, many liberal positions — I emphasize liberal positions rather than liberals because most people who call themselves liberal do not hold most contemporary liberal positions — have been wreaking havoc on America and the world.
How, then, can decent and often very smart people hold liberal positions?
There are many reasons, but the two greatest may be naivete and narcissism. Each alone causes problems, but when combined in the same person, they are particularly destructive.
At the heart of liberalism is the naive belief that people are basically good.
As a result of this belief, liberals rarely blame people for the evil they do.
Instead, they blame economics, parents, capitalism, racism, and anything
else that can let the individual off the hook.

A second naive liberal belief is that because people are basically good, talking with people who do evil is always better than fighting, let alone killing, them. “Negotiate with Saddam,” “Negotiate with the Soviets,” “War never solves anything,” “Think peace,” “Visualize peace” — the liberal mind is filled with naive cliches about how to deal with evil.
Indeed, the very use of the word “evil” greatly disturbs liberals. It shakes up their child-like views of the world, that everybody is at heart a decent person who is either misunderstood or led to do unfortunate things by outside forces.
“Child-like” is operative. The further left you go, the less you like growing up. That is one reason so many professors are on the left. Never leaving school from kindergarten through adulthood enables one to avoid becoming a mature adult. It is no wonder a liberal professor has recently argued that children should have the vote. He knows in his heart that he is not really an adult, so why should he and not a chronological child be allowed to vote?
The second major source of modern liberalism is narcissism, the unhealthy preoccupation with oneself and one’s feelings. We live in the Age of Narcissism. As a result of unprecedented affluence and luxury, preoccupation with one’s psychological state, and a hedonistic culture, much of the West, America included, has become almost entirely feelings directed.

That is one reason “feelings” and “compassion” are two of the most often
used liberal terms. “Character” is no longer a liberal word because it implies self-restraint. “Good and evil” are not liberal words either as they imply a moral standard beyond one’s feelings. In assessing what position to take on moral or social questions, the liberal asks him or herself, “How do I feel about it?” or “How do I show the most compassion?” not “What is right?” or “What
is wrong?” For the liberal, right and wrong are dismissed as unknowable, and every person chooses his or her own morality.
A good example of liberal narcissism is the liberal position on abortion.
For the liberal, the worth of a human fetus, whether it is allowed to live or to
be extinguished, is entirely based on the feelings of the mother. If the mother wants to give birth, the fetus is of incomparable worth; if the mother doesn’t, the fetus has the value of a decayed tooth.
There are not many antidotes to this lethal combination of naivete and narcissism. Both are very comfortable states compared to growing up and confronting evil, compared to making one’s feelings subservient to a higher standard. And comfortable people don’t like to be made uncomfortable.
Hence the liberal attempt to either erase the Judeo-Christian code or at
least remove its influence from public life.
Nothing could provide a better example of contemporary liberalism than
the liberal battle to remove the Ten Commandments from all public places. Liberals want suggestions, not commandments. BOMBSHELL!!! Dr. Zelenko Exposes Medical Tyranny Plan to Enslave Humanity Ahead of Depopulation (rumble.com)

If you truly want to learn how liberals think:
Watch PBS NewsHour | Season 2021 | December 22, 2021 | full episode | PBS

This is from 1980


The L.A. Times below is 2016
How Donald Trump really won the White House



In Florida, as you would expect, the panhandle, bordering Alabama and Georgia (Tallahassee and Jacksonville, for example), are where you’re going
to hear country music blaring and see confederate flags waving. As you move down state, it becomes more liberal so, for example, Tampa and Orlando and even Palm Beach skew blue. Miami is an interesting mix.
There’s a large Hispanic community that traditionally has voted red because Republicans oppose Castro so that appeals to the older generation. But Cuba
is not that relevant to the younger folks so it’s something of a wash, and the Miami area skews bluer in elections by far.
Considering that Florida has 4.8 million registered Dems and only 4.6 registered Reps, it’s confounding to the Dems that we keep getting governors who should be in jail. (Scott, who this idiotic state has now voted into the Senate, was an absolute criminal when he ran Columbia/HCA and oversaw
the largest Medicare fraud in history. From the Sun Sentinel, 10/2/18: “In its settlement with the government, the company admitted to 14 felonies related to fraudulent billing and practices. Most happened under Scott’s leadership.” But Florida made him governor twice, and now Senator. Politics is tribal, no matter how bad your candidate is.
But the state also has 3.6 million unregistered or “other party” voters, so getting out the vote and convincing enough independents to vote is where it’s at. Also, overcoming rampant Republican voter suppression (reducing hours and polling places, reducing acceptable ID, making it harder to get ID, not to mention overturning the will of the people and making it harder for felons to get their voting rights back after serving their time, etc.), and gerrymandering. Republicans can’t win on their policies – not enough people support white supremacy and turning America into The Handmaid’s Tale, as sound policy. So, they have to cheat.

Since 1995 when W. Bush took office as governor from Democrat Ann Richards, Texas has been conservative red. All, ALL of the statewide offices are in republican hands. The Lege is so red it could pass an ultra-conservative bill in both houses, the senate and the house, without any democrats voting for it. That’s called a supermajority. Nevertheless, Texas follows the national pattern of big cities, blue, rural, red.
Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso are all liberal and my hometown of Fort Worth, consistently the reddest of the big counties, Tarrant, went for Beto O’Rourke last November in his defeat to Ted Cruz. But the current Mayor “a good friend of Dirty mouthed Donnie” just won re-election earlier this month (May 2019.) The south border is also blue and that’s not illegal voting, that’s the citizens of Brownsville up to the streets of Laredo.
The rest, mostly rural Texas, is red.

Still liberals get outvoted. There are 25 million Texans, 13 million are red, 12 million are blue. Liberals have no say in how our statewide government is run. However, the conservatives wouldn’t have a clue on how to run a big city, In Massachusetts, the more conservative areas tend to be the richer towns, and the towns south of Boston where all the people settled after moving out of South Boston when the city desegregated the school system.
There seems to be a correlation between that racist migration and their politics, and you’d like to believe it’s coincidence, but probably not. While in Louisiana Except for New Orleans, and Orleans Parish, Louisiana is a Conservative state. In the 2016 Presidential election, Louisiana’s electoral votes went to Trump, while New Orleans & Orleans Parish support the Democratic Party candidate. Other metropolitan areas like Shreveport, Baton Rouge and those with large black populations, voted Democrat, but the suburbs and the country areas are overwhelmingly Republican.

The simple answer is if you live in the city you tend to be more progressive
and socialist, because most things involve your neighbor and government is
an integral part of your daily life. The Government runs sewer, water, trash, parks, cops etc. etc. etc., in the rural areas we have septic and a well.
I don’t/can’t even see my neighbor from my house, I never see a cop or govt person and don’t want to. I don’t need or want government interference/Help.
So, I vote for people who at least say they want to downsize the government.
Cities are progressive and rural areas are conservative in general. Most states that is true. TRUMP Had 88 million Twitter Followers | Biden has 16.2 million (Many Bots & Trolls.)

People didn’t vote for Trump because of race.
It is a different thought on life either government help/intrusion or freedom from that. In Washington state we call the area of Liberal overlords live in Pugetopolis (the area surrounding Puget Sound) – essentially the hard-core leftist/progressive areas of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia for the core cities and primarily King, Pierce and Thurston counties with the rest of the state being the actual productive portions (agriculture/logging/fishing/manufacturing) and very conservative. We are the exact example of why a pure democracy would be the death knell of the country. 
The high-density population of those 3 counties is enough to override the rest of the state so the powers in Olympia can rape the rest of the state and spend taxpayer dollars on foolish and corrupt programs that only seem to benefit the Democratic elite. The history of Seattle is one of political corruption almost from its inception and that has been the model for state government ever since. The last time the rest of the state rallied, and we tried to elect a Republican governor, we were subjected to multiple “recounts” of ballots until enough
“Lost or misplaced” ballots had been “found” to overturn the election and put the incumbent Democrat back in place… even though the voter turnout in some counties exceeded the number of registered voters… and then the Democrat State Attorney General declined to investigate for voter fraud…

Once again, the cautionary tale to all those who truly don’t understand the genius of the Electoral College – lose that and the country goes the way of Washington state… forever….

Also. The Denver Metro area, Boulder, and Aspen have been traditionally liberal. The Front Range north of Denver has become more liberal.
South central part of the state, south of Pueblo, has been more solidly liberal
in recent years. Central mountains are now purple, used to be solid red.
The eastern plains solid red as is the western part of the state boarding Utah. There are a couple of counties in the southwest that have become more liberal in the last few years. Colorado Springs, home of the state’s religious right is solid red of course as are the counties immediately northwest and south.
Larger cities tend toward liberalism, smaller towns and rural areas conservatism.
The more you are exposed to others, the more liberal you tend to become
as you realize we all worry about our jobs, our kids, whether the country
(or world) is going in the right direction.

What parts of your state are most conservative and liberal? – Quora
red and blue political map of Colorado:
Map: Colorado Voter Party Affiliation by County
Doug Schwartz – Quora

FENTANYL OVERDOSES SURPASS COVID AS NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF DEATH IN AMERICA. By Joshua Perry December 23, 2021

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, according to an analysis covering overdose cases in America.
Families Against Fentanyl, the research organization, revealed that the drug has claimed more lives since 2020 than Covid-19, suicide, and car accidents.
In 2020, the nation recorded 37,208 fentanyl deaths and 41,587 in 2021 between the studied age ranges, according to the organization.

Fentanyl is not a pure drug made of monolithic ingredients. In fact, the narcotic is often laced in a mixture of cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, Xanax, oxycontin, and marijuana.
One person dies from fentanyl overdose every 8.57 minutes, contributing to
a 64 percent responsibility rate for total drug fatalities. Fentanyl is primarily produced in China, transported in large quantities to Mexico, and then smuggled across our southern border.

While Joe Biden has done nothing to curtail the deadly substance, the state of Texas has taken matters into its own hands. In effort to combat the infiltration, the Texas National Guard and Texas Dept. of Public Safety are cracking down on drug runners. In November, Texas authorities intercepted enough fentanyl to “kill everyone in Texas, California, and New York,” tweeted Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas.

Illegal Immigrants are taking advantage of U.S. and the Biden administration’s open border policy, the Mexican cartels have been incentivized without fear of consequence for bringing the drugs into the United States. More than 11,000 pounds of fentanyl has been seized by Customs and Border Protection, making the fentanyl the number one trafficked drug of 2021. Without any help from the Oval Office to mitigate the flood of death producing substances pouring across the border, Texas has begun adding to the border wall that was constructed under President Trump.

In December, Gov. Abbott held a press conference to celebrate the new border wall construction in Rio Grande City, Texas. “Texas is taking what truly is unprecedented action by any state ever,” said Abbot. Fentanyl’s destruction across the country adds only more justification for why we need strict border policies, and proves that every town, no matter the location, is a border town.

12 States with the Highest Taxes in America.
Americans’ state and local taxes vary, sometimes significantly, depending on where they live.
WalletHub, the personal finance website, sought to find out how aggressively states tax their citizens by measuring the proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes to arrive at an overall tax burden for each state.

Researchers compared the 50 states across the three tax types of state tax burdens — property taxes, individual income taxes, and sales and excise taxes — as a share of total personal income in the state.
They found that the highest and lowest state tax burdens differ by more than seven percentage points.

WalletHub released the results Wednesday along with a list of facts about this year’s tax landscape.

WITH 11 of these 12 states with the biggest tax burdens being LIBERAL STATES.

1. New York
Total tax burden: 12.79%
Property tax burden: 4.4%
Individual income tax burden: 4.96%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.43%

2. Hawaii
Total tax burden: 12.19%
Property tax burden: 2.45%
Individual income tax burden: 3.09%
Total sales and excise tax: 6.65%

3. Vermont
Total tax burden: 10.75%
Property tax burden: 5.04%
Individual income tax burden: 2.41%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.3%

4. Maine
Total tax burden: 10.5%
Property tax burden: 4.6%
Individual income tax burden: 2.45%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.45%

5. Connecticut
Total tax burden: 10.44%
Property tax burden: 4.06%
Individual income tax burden: 3.56%
Total sales and excise tax: 2.82%

6. Minnesota
Total tax burden: 9.99%
Property tax burden: 2.86%
Individual income tax burden: 3.68%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.45%

7. New Jersey
Total tax burden: 9.98%
Property tax burden: 4.94%
Individual income tax burden: 2.47%
Total sales and excise tax: 2.57%

8. Rhode Island
Total tax burden: 9.69%
Property tax burden: 4.44%
Individual income tax burden: 2.29%
Total sales and excise tax: 2.96%

9. Illinois
Total tax burden: 9.52%
Property tax burden: 4%
Individual income tax burden: 2.11%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.41%

10. California
Total tax burden: 9.48%
Property tax burden: 2.64%
Individual income tax burden: 3.78%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.06%

11. Kansas
Total tax burden: 9.36%
Property tax burden: 3.12%
Individual income tax burden: 2.28%
Total sales and excise tax: 3.96%

12. Maryland
Total tax burden: 9.32%
Property tax burden: 2.67%
Individual income tax burden: 3.89%
Total sales and excise tax: 2.76%

Is it safe to eat at restaurants amid Omicron surges?
Here’s what the experts say (msn.com)

Podcast: Larry Summers Predicts the Economic Future,
and It Doesn’t Look Good – Bloomberg

LIBERALS HAVE THIS TURNED AROUND IN THEIR HEADS!!!
Virus Expert Warns These Six States Will Have Next Surge (msn.com)
Joe Biden’s Winter of Discontent—Failed Bills, Terrible Polls & Omicron
Why Biden Is Winning Big, Even with A Bad Hand | AMSNBC.com
These Are the 25 Richest Families in the U.S. (moneywise.com)
Biden Won Big Despite Slim Majorities in Congress – The Atlantic
Why Biden Is Winning Big, Even with A Bad Hand – YouTube
Is everyone going to get COVID-19 at some point? (msn.com)
Dr. Fauci Just Said “Stay Away” From Here Now (msn.com)
The Most Magnificent Train Rides in America (msn.com) 
America’s Heartland tv show dairy farms – Bing video
Growing a Greener World – The Spark in Sparta
Sparta Georgia Mushrooms – Bing video
 What makes a liberal democracy?
 What makes a liberal arts college?
What makes a liberal…liberal? 
What makes a liberal mind? 
What makes a liberal tick?

If Your Soul is in the Right Place, You’re Giving Back!!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Simple and Complex Facts About Carbohydrates

By Barbara Quinn-Intermill – Monterey Herald

Are carbohydrates good or bad? This is a trick question.
That’s because there are many types of carbs, and they all have
differing effects on our health.
So, what is a carbohydrate? Many clients think “bread” when I ask this question. They are often surprised that fruit and milk also contain natural carbohydrates. Vegetables are also a source of carbs, both in the form of natural starches as well as dietary fiber.
Carbohydrates can be simple or complex. They can be in the form of sugar, starch or fiber. And their fibers can be soluble or insoluble.
I was drawn, then, to a review on this topic by medical experts that recently appeared in the journal Atherosclerosis. Besides that, carbohydrates are the cleanest, most efficient fuel for our brains, muscles and nerves, here are some other truths about this group of foods.

• Carbs such as whole grains and dietary fiber are good for keeping blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight in healthy ranges.
• More refined carbs such as sugar and low fiber snacks have the opposite
effect on our health when we overindulge. We therefore need to eat smaller
amounts of sugar cookies and candy canes. Darn.
• More healthful carbs supply dietary fiber — a type of carb that the body does not digest (so no calories!) and has other benefits. Foods that contain dietary fiber include whole fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes. High consumers of high-fiber foods show consistently lower incidents of heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer, to name a few.

Quinn on Nutrition: Tips for Finding the Best Breakfast – Good Health Medicine

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Thoughts on doughnuts (msn.com)

Some dietary fibers called “probiotics” are fermented by good bacteria in our guts. Is this good? You bet.
Beneficial effects of this process include better blood sugar control, reduced appetite to keep us from overindulging on Christmas cookies and protection from disease-producing inflammation.
Does a high-carb diet make you fat? That’s still up for debate and again, the type of carbs we eat makes a difference. Studies do show, however, that, given unlimited access to sugary foods or sweetened beverages, many of us will put on extra pounds. What does this mean in the real world?

Check your plate. Each meal deserves a serving or two of vegetables, fruit or legume. Slice tomatoes or add salsa to your morning eggs. Open that bag of baby carrots to crunch along with your sandwich.
Add a festive dose of green/red/orange veggies to your meat and potatoes. Nibble on nuts or popcorn at the next party. Along with celebratory sips of eggnog and champagne, enjoy a myriad of flavors of sugar-free waters. Bake candy cane cookies with your grandkids without feeling obligated to eat a dozen. And savor every bite of this holiday season!

Peppermint 101
I like traditions. So, I admit being somewhat bothered when I hear Christmas carols on the radio before my turkey dinner is digested. And why do they call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” when I’m still giving thanks for leftovers?
That said, I do love the holiday season. And as soon as the turkey soup is made and we’ve gobbled up the last of the dressing and cranberry sauce, I’m ready to transition from everything orange and pumpkin to all things red, green … and peppermint.

Why peppermint? Some say we started our Christmas obsession with this flavor in 1670, when a choirmaster handed out a peppermint-flavored treat to children who participated in a living Nativity scene. Peppermint candy canes came a couple of centuries later.
Besides getting us in the holiday spirit, are there any health benefits to consuming peppermint? According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (www.nccih.nih.gov), peppermint is a cross between two types of herbs — spearmint and water mint. Health properties have been attributed to its leaves and oil that is extracted from the leaves and flowering parts of the plant.

Like many herbal products, however, research on peppermint’s medicinal effects is scant. A few small studies suggest peppermint oil capsules may help relieve tummy pain and possibly some symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Caution though: These capsules were specially coated so they would not break down until they reached the small intestines. Straight peppermint oil, say researchers, is likely to make digestive issues worse.
Peppermint tea has historically been used to treat indigestion and menstrual cramps. Its leaves also give us a healthful dose of antioxidant substances that may protect us from certain diseases and premature aging. And one of the oils extracted from peppermint leaves is menthol, which may help relieve cold and allergy symptoms like stuffy noses and sore throats.

Peppermint is not for everyone, however. People with acid reflux disease
(Aka GERD) need to avoid peppermint, as it can worsen symptoms. Organ transplant patients who take a medication called cyclosporine should stay
clear of peppermint.
And if you’re prone to kidney stones or have severe allergies, be cautious with peppermint products. As much I love the peppermint flavors of this season,
I need to remember that many are attached to foods with extra sugar and fat. Peppermint ice cream, anyone?

Let’s not be Scrooges, though.
Add a little peppermint to your life this season and remember the simple rule of moderation.
Quinn on Nutrition: Holiday nourishment | Nutrition | ArcaMax Publishing

On Nutrition: Fructose: The simple sugar with a bad reputation – Everett Daily Herald News (newsmemory.com)

“Fructose is a simple sugar with a bad reputation,” says registered dietitian Carrie Dennett, MPH, in a recent review of this sometimes-confusing topic.

Here are some facts:
Fructose is a component of table sugar (aka sucrose). In fact, the sugar we use in most sweetened foods — including those labeled “pure cane sugar” — is half fructose and half glucose. Fructose is also the main sugar that occurs naturally in fruit. And it is especially concentrated in agave syrup and honey — which contain even more fructose than high fructose corn syrup.
Fructose is used in the body somewhat differently than other sugars which some say is a plus and others say is a minus. For example, it does not increase blood sugars as readily as other sugars which is good news for people with diabetes. However, because (unlike other sugars) fructose is broken down in the liver, some consider it to be a bigger detriment to our health.
Scientific research is all over the map as far as the health effects of fructose. Several studies over the past few years have reported that replacing regular sugar (which is half fructose) with pure fructose resulted in lower blood sugars in people with diabetes. On the other hand, a more recent analysis found that consuming too much fructose from sugar-sweetened beverages increases one’s risk for metabolic syndrome, a condition that can lead to diabetes and heart disease. On yet another hand, researchers report that eating whole fruit or drinking not more than 8 ounces of 100 percent fruit juice a day may actually protect against this same metabolic syndrome. 

Sooooo … Here is some advice. “While fructose in moderation appears to be fine for most people, there are two groups who do need to shun this particular sweetener,” says Dennett. Some people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can have unpleasant digestive disturbances after they eat foods high in fructose (honey, agave syrup and many types of fruit). Another rare group of people are born with a genetic intolerance to fructose. These folks must completely avoid all fructose — including that contained in regular table sugar — to prevent liver damage. Dennett concludes that we need not fear fructose nor demonize high fructose corn syrup while embracing “pure cane sugar” (which is 50% fructose). At the same time, we don’t need to put a health halo on “natural” sweeteners like honey and agave which both contain more fructose than high fructose corn syrup.
Bottom line: We can eat small amounts of sweetened foods and still be healthy. Excessive amounts of any added sugar are not good for us, however. Experts say we need to reduce or limit all added sugars, including fructose. Most of us could do a better job at that. 

 More on fructose and sodium – Monterey Herald – swift headline
[PDF] Quinn on Nutrition: An apple a day?
https://medicalxpress.com/pdf553511869.pdf
Quinn on Nutrition: An apple a day? (newstribune.com)

Hi Barb, being a retired home economics teacher, I always enjoy reading your column.
I have always peeled the skin off of apples due to my concern about the chemicals used to spray the apples. Should I be concerned about this
or am I overly cautious?
You might be overly cautious and miss out on some great health benefits.
As I mentioned in a previous column, most of the healthful ingredients in fresh apples including dietary fiber and antioxidant compounds reside in or close to the skin of an apple.
According to experts who recently attended the “Facts, Not Fear” farm tour in the apple-producing region of the Pacific Northwest, all apples —those grown both organically and conventionally — are safe to eat with the peels. That’s because improved farming methods over the past decades have greatly reduced the use of many pesticides.

According to the pesticide calculator at Alliance for Food and Farming (safefruitsandveggies.com), a woman could eat 850 apples in one day with
no effect of pesticide residue on her health, even if the apple had the highest pesticide residue ever recorded on apples by the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA).
Again, just make sure you wash your hands with soap and water and your apples with plain water before crunching into this good-for-you food.

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Is dietary fiber really that important?

On Nutrition: Is dietary fiber really all that important? | HeraldNet.com

On another topic: I tend to go bonkers for anything pumpkin this time of year. So I was intrigued to receive a sample of a plant-based, vegan and pumpkin version of marshmallows. This product is also non-GMO, certified Kosher, has no artificial flavors or colors, no corn syrup, no gelatin, no gluten, and free of the common protein allergen’s wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, peanuts, and tree nuts.

Which made me wonder … What IS in vegan marshmallows?
I took a look at the label: tapioca syrup, cane sugar, filtered water, tapioca starch, carrageenan (a seaweed extract), soy protein, natural flavors and annatto (a food coloring from the seeds of the achiote tree).
Typical marshmallows are made with four basic ingredients, say food scientists — sugar, corn syrup and gelatin plus some air. Some makers add natural and artificial flavors and color plus tetrasodium pyrophosphate (TSPP) , a food additive used in other products such as meat substitutes and toothpaste.

It’s the gelatin that makes most marshmallows not vegan i.e., free of animal products. Gelatin is made with the protein collagen, an animal by-product.
Interesting, there’s not much difference nutritionally between vegan and regular varieties of marshmallows.
They both are primarily sugar (about 6 teaspoons) and contain 100 calories per serving of 18 miniature marshmallows.
What do I think? Marshmallows are not really a healthy food but strict vegans who love marshmallows may enjoy this special variety. (It does cost twice as much as regular marshmallows.) I think my grandkids would love either type in their hot chocolate.

How a healthy diet may help us get through the pandemic.
I’m seeing more reports about how nutrition may help us fight against covid-19. No one is saying we can totally avoid the disease or cure it if we eat right. But the case for improving our diets to get through this pandemic is certainly strong.
Our immune system, after all, is made from the components we find in food. And like a well-tuned football team, a strong immune system needs the right balance of individual nutrients working together. Those include protein plus vitamins (such as A, C, E, B6 and B12) and minerals such as iron and zinc.
And we get these substances when we eat a balanced diet that includes foods such as eggs, meat, fish, poultry, soy, a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and dairy foods. Without a doubt, say experts, the foods we choose to eat (or not eat) have a profound effect on our immune system and susceptibility to disease.

Here are some ideas: Take a look at your plate. Does it contain
a good source of protein? Is there a variety of green, red, orange and yellow (M&Ms don’t count) fruits and vegetables? Does it include whole grains?
If not, a lack of key nutrients may lower your resiliency to infectious disease.
Don’t put too many men on the field. Supplements can help if our diets lack certain nutrients, but don’t overdo it. Zinc, for example, is needed to enhance our immune system and is found primarily in oysters, shellfish, meat, pork, poultry, beans and fortified cereals. Excessively high doses of zinc supplements, however, can actually reduce the body’s ability to fight disease.
Eat your veggies and other plant-based foods. Last year, before vaccines were available and before the highly contagious delta variant had raised its ugly head, researchers in the United States and Britain conducted a phone survey on people who had tested positive to covid-19. People who reported eating more plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and vegetable oils) had a slightly lower (9%) risk of developing covid-19 than the folks with lower intakes. And among the people who did contract covid-19, those who ate more plant-based foods had a 41% lower risk for developing severe symptoms.
Get your omega-3s. Also known as fish oils, these fats (DHA and EPA) fight against chronic inflammation. Some studies suggest the presence of omega-3s in our blood may help lessen the severity of covid-19. Besides fatty fish — like salmon, sardines, tuna and mackerel, other forms of these good fats are found in flaxseed, walnuts and in some fortified foods.
Consider vitamin D. A deficiency of this vitamin can increase our risk for getting an infectious disease, say researchers. Until we know more, it’s a good idea to make sure we get the recommended daily dose of 400 to 800 IU vitamin D a day.
Deal with stress. Yes, this does have to do with nutrition. Fear and distress can trigger hormones that drive us to the comfort of foods that feed us little more than sugar, fat and extra calories. Stress busters include exercise, prayer and meditation.

And don’t skimp on sleep! Sleep fortifies the body’s immune function.
Now more than ever, say experts, we need to make healthful food a top priority to reduce our susceptibility and lingering complications from covid-19. Let’s do that.

Reader Kari B from Lincoln, Nebraska, writes:
“Would you be able to review Vitamin K2 sometime in your nutrition column? I was researching bone health online and came upon an article that discusses how important this vitamin is in bone health. It states that Vitamin K2 is part of the bone health package that includes magnesium, calcium, weight-bearing exercise, minimizing inflammation in the body, and having a healthy gut (microbiome). It appears that some docs might take the easy way out and only tell their patients to take calcium supplements, possibly along with Vitamin D. If you could shed some light on this, it could be very helpful to know how much Vitamin K2 to ingest each day. Thank you for any consideration!
Hi, Kari, Happy to comment on this interesting topic! Vitamin K is the term given to a family of compounds that are similar but somewhat different. Thus, Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and several types of Vitamin K2 (menaquinones) are collectively called “Vitamin K.” You might also read about MK-4, MK-7 or MK-9 which are various forms of Vitamin K2.

And that’s all the chemistry we need for now.
Vitamin K has historically been known as the “coagulation vitamin” because
of its important role in helping our blood to clot. In fact, a classic symptom of a Vitamin K deficiency is abnormal bleeding.
More recently, Vitamin K has been studied for its role in bone health. Both Vitamin K1 and K2 are involved in processes that help build bone strength,
but it appears that vitamin K2 is the most protective in this particular job. A deficiency of the K2 form of Vitamin K has been linked to osteoporosis (fragile bones) as well as calcium deposits in the arteries (commonly called hardening of the arteries).
The current recommendation for an adequate intake of Vitamin K for people
19 years of age and older is 90 micrograms (mcg) for women and 120 mcg for men.

This includes both forms … K1 and K2.
Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Fortifying weak bones – Articles for a Healthy Lifestyle (herhealthonly.com)

Because of its emerging role in bone and heart health, some researchers now believe Vitamin K needs its own recommended daily requirement. And whether or not to take a supplement of K2 is not yet clear.
In 2020, a randomized controlled study (the best kind) tested various doses of Vitamin K2 on 311 older men and postmenopausal women. After one year, they found that the most effective dose to reduce bone loss in the femoral neck (hip) for postmenopausal women was 90 micrograms (mcg) a day, with or without additional calcium or Vitamin D3. Interestingly, no change in bone health was found in the men of this study.
For now, the best recommendation is to include food sources of vitamin K1 and K2 in our diets. And those sources differ. Vitamin K1 is more abundant in leafy greens such as broccoli and spinach. Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods (especially natto, fermented soybeans), cheese, egg yolk and meats (especially liver).
Why animal foods? Experts say animals have a unique ability to synthesize Vitamin K2 from the Vitamin K1 they obtain from grass.

[PDF]HEALTH MATTERS | HEARING, VISION AND BACK TO …
pageturnpro2.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/...
Barbara Quinn-Intermill Tom Leyde Sales Team Mike O’Bleness Rachel Martinez Alyson Stockton Danielle Landaker Advertising Services Manager Lorraine Roque To contact Health Matters, please email: mh.healthmatters@gmail.com Health Matters is a monthly magazine
[PDF]HEALTH MATTERS | DIABETES & HEART HEALTH FEBRUARY …
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Barbara Quinn-Intermill Tom Leyde Sales Team Mike O’Bleness Rachel Martinez Alyson Stockton Danielle Landaker Advertising Services Manager Lorraine Roque To contact Health Matters, please email: mh.healthmatters@gmail.com Health Matters is a monthly magazine
Best Box Cereal For Diabetics – 07/2021
https://bestproductlists.com/review/best-box-cereal-for-diabetics

Barbara Quinn-Intermill is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator and the author of “Quinn-Essential Nutrition.” Herald Net.

Read more › … Best Cereal Brands for Diabetics – 08/2021
https://bestproductlists.com/review/best-cereal-brands-for-diabetics

See the source image
Thanks for writing!

Barbara Quinn-Intermill is a registered dietitian nutritionist and diabetes care specialist affiliated with the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Email her at barbara@quinessentialnutrition.com. 

She is the author of “Quinn-Essential Nutrition:
The Uncomplicated Science of Eating.”


Articles (thorn communications.org)
Quinn on Vitamin: What’s true about cows and world warming | Way of life (homeandfitnessnews.com)

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: What’s true about cows and global warming – Monterey Herald

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Intermittent fasting, fad or fact? – Monterey Herald Health

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Dehydration or heat stroke? – Monterey Herald Health
Quinn on Nutrition: Supplements for high blood pressure (newstribune.com) 

A primer on the health advantages of eating whole grains | HeraldNet.com

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: The perfect brew – Santa Cruz Sentinel

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: What about lectins? – Monterey Herald

Best Cereal Brands for Diabetics – 12/2021 (bestproductlists.com)

Beetroot Diet and Wellness Added benefits – Biondi Santi Spa

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Good for your heart (msn.com)

Barbara Quinn, On Nutrition: Food from the fair (msn.com)

New Year, new ideas – Monterey Herald – Fit Fast Today

Enjoy fair food without tipping the Ferris wheel | Food

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Omicron Variant Research

The News is Fake, but the War is Real.

W.H.O. Director Says Covid Boosters Being ‘Used to Kill Children’ FREUDIAN SLIP AT 2:39mark, listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgoeIdti-A  … YOU DECIDE… My opinion is the vaccine compounds the problem.

🗣️ Children 5 and older now have a coronavirus vaccine.
But many parents of younger kids are still anxiously waiting.

Dr. Fauci Says This Is How the Pandemic Will End Now.
As we head into 2022, the U.S. will be entering its third year of COVID.
Many virus experts had previously said they expected the new year would bring about the end of the pandemic, as they predicted Delta would be the last wave and hit its peak around Thanksgiving. But that same week, a new variant of the virus was detected. Omicron has spread so quickly, it’s now the dominant variant in the U.S., accounting for more than 73 percent of infections in the country, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So what do virus experts expect to happen now that the Omicron variant is causing cases to surge once more? Read on to find out the latest prediction from top White House COVID adviser Anthony Fauci, MD.

This Makes You “Most Likely” to Die of COVID, Say Experts!
Death panels in Obamacare page 428 – Bing

RELATED: 70 Percent of Hospitalized Omicron Patients Have This in Common. 

Dr. Fauci says people in the U.S. will likely have to learn to live with COVID. A true end to the COVID pandemic might no longer be in the cards, at least in the traditional sense. During a Dec. 21 interview with CBS Mornings, Fauci discussed the future of the pandemic amid the fast-spreading Omicron variant. According to the infectious disease expert, people in the U.S. will “likely” have to learn to live with the coronavirus, much like they already do with the common cold and flu.
But Fauci said this doesn’t mean that the pandemic will continue to be as much of a problem as it is now. Eventually, the U.S. will reach a point where the level of infection is low, and the virus won’t dominate everyday life. “We hope we get there soon,” he said.

Fauci also warns that unvaccinated people still need to get vaccinated. Unvaccinated people can’t just wait out the virus, however,
Fauci said that it’s “critical” for those not yet vaccinated in the U.S. to get their shots in order to help curb the spread of the virus. Only a little more than 61%  of the eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated as of Dec. 22, 2021.
According to the latest data from the CDC. But in order to get to a level where COVID is no longer dominating the country, Fauci said that this number must go up.
“We first have to get to the 50 million or so people who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not vaccinated,” he explained. “If you want to keep the level of spread as low as possible, which will get us back to that level of normality, you have to get those people vaccinated.” 

He said Omicron doesn’t affect vaccinated and unvaccinated people the same. Omicron has created a rise of breakthrough cases,
which can be attributed to its “really spectacular capability of spreading from person to person,” Fauci said. With more breakthrough cases, some people might be questioning the need to get vaccinated. But these infections should not discourage people in the U.S. from getting their first shots or a booster dose, according to Fauci.
“They shouldn’t throw up their hands and say, ‘Well, if you can get infected even if you’re vaccinated, why get vaccinated?'” he said. “There is a very big difference between a vaccinated and unvaccinated person when they get infected with regard to the consequences of that infection.”

According to Fauci, both vaccinated and boosted people are significantly less likely to experience severe illness, even if they get infected with the Omicron variant. “The likelihood of a vaccinated and boosted person getting seriously
ill from the infection is very, very low. It’s the unvaccinated people who are the most vulnerable not only to getting infected, but to getting a serious outcome,” he explained.

RELATED: Dr. Fauci Warns Vaccinated People Not to Do This as Omicron Spreads.
Omicron variant helps fuel surge to record number of COVID-19 infections in Ohio since pandemic began
After hitting daily COVID-19 case record, Ohio lays out more details on helping hospitals
Hospitals delay elective surgeries with COVID on the rise again
‘So many patients die.’ A look inside a COVID unit where beds are full, staff is exhausted
Gov. DeWine sends 1,050 National Guard members to ease Ohio hospital staffing shortages.

The number of patients with COVID in Ohio hospitals are down 10% in Northwest Ohio in the last week, data from the Ohio Hospital Association shows.
It comes as several new studies indicate the omicron variant may be less likely to result in hospitalizations, through it also spreads faster than Delta and other variants and can better evade vaccines.
Health officials maintain that getting vaccinated is the most effective way to protect yourself and others against the virus and recommend vaccinated people get a booster dose as well

Here is the latest on the coronavirus pandemic in Ohio.
This list will be updated after 2 p.m. each day.
Ohio reports Up – to -Date new COVID-19 cases!!
Ohio sets pandemic record for cases in 24 hours for second straight day’

If You Have Omicron, This Is When You’ll Begin to Feel Symptoms
Even though it only emerged a month ago, the Omicron variant has drastically altered the pandemic’s trajectory. Data is also beginning to paint a clearer picture of how the latest version of the virus is different, including being more transmissible than Delta and evading the defenses provided by currently available vaccines. But similar to previous variants, Omicron also appears to differ in what symptoms it causes and how soon they tend to develop after infection. Read on to see how the latest viral offshoot’s timeline could change the way we handle COVID-19. 
Preliminary research shows that symptoms from infection with Omicron usually develop within three days.
Part of what has made COVID-19 such a difficult virus to tackle is its cycle within the people it affects. Infamously, some remain completely asymptomatic while still being contagious, unknowingly spreading the virus without realizing it. In those that show signs of illness, previous variants such as Alpha and Delta typically take five or four days before those infected have symptoms, respectively.
But according to Dr. Ryan Noach, CEO of South Africa’s largest private health insurer, Discovery Health, anecdotal evidence suggests that Omicron may have an even shorter window, with symptoms from the variant typically showing up three days after exposure, 
The Washington Post reports. 

A shorter incubation period could make Omicron harder to stop than previous variants.
While the difference of one day between exposure and the appearance of symptoms may not feel like a huge change, some experts warn that it could have major consequences. They explain that a shorter incubation period likely means someone infected with the Omicron would also become contagious faster than before. This can make it easier for the virus to spread while also making it “much, much, much harder to control,” Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Atlantic.
The shortened window also means that a quick turnaround on checking
for the virus could be more essential than ever. “If Omicron has a shorter incubation period, that’s going to wreak havoc on how we test for it and deal with it,” Dr. Omai Garner, PhD, a clinical microbiologist in the UCLA Health system, told The Atlantic. 

It may be difficult to detect the virus before symptoms develop using testing.
Unfortunately, even the existing tests we’ll rely upon to get ahead of Omicron may be more difficult to use than before. A shorter incubation period also means that low levels of a virus in the body can quickly jump, making a negative test received in the morning irrelevant by the evening. This means that the positive test results many used within one-to-three-day windows previously would no longer be feasible and make the grace period awarded
by a negative test result quite short-lived, Dr. Melissa Miller, PhD, a clinical microbiologist at the University of North Carolina, told The Atlantic. 

Omicron may have tell-tale symptoms that are slightly different from other variants.
For now, experts recommend testing before any indoor gatherings, if you’ve been exposed to someone who’s infected, or if you become sick. But what kind of symptoms should you be looking for as signs of an infection with Omicron?
Preliminary data from a South African study conducted by Discovery Health analyzed more than 211,000 patients who tested positive for COVID—including roughly 78,000 who were confirmed to have been infected with the Omicron variant—and found that having a scratchy throat as opposed to a sore throat was among the most commonly reported symptoms, Noach explained during
a news briefing.

He added that nasal congestion, a dry cough, and muscle pain or aches
in the lower back were also regularly reported as early signs of the variant, 
The Washington Post reports.
But as Omicron continues to surge in new areas around the globe,
doctors are getting more information about the variant and its symptoms.
In London, where officials confirmed the viral offshoot became the dominant variant on Dec. 14, experts said there were reports of certain similar symptoms in patients.

“Things like fever, cough & loss of smell are now in the minority of symptoms we are seeing,” Tim Spector, MB, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London who runs Zoe, the world’s largest COVID symptom study, told BBC Radio 4’s Today on Dec. 15. “Most people don’t have classic symptoms,” he said, adding that most were reporting similar signs to a common cold, including headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and sneezing.

image.png

The dizzying speed of omicron’s spread has left Americans questioning
much of what they know about Covid-19, especially on the cusp of holiday travel. “This is hitting us at a very inopportune time,” said Dr. Katherine Poehling, an infectious disease specialist and vaccinologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina.

RELATED: For full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic

Though much remains unknown about omicron, experts are beginning
to understand more about the variant and how it affects people who are vaccinated, unvaccinated or who have had a previous Covid infection.
For example, people who are exposed to omicron appear to get sick faster
and may have symptoms that are different than those of other variants. 

What are the symptoms of omicron?
Early evidence suggests that for most people, at least for those who are up to date on their Covid vaccines, omicron appears to result in mild illness that can resemble the common cold, another form of the coronavirus. Poehling, who is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which helps guide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decisions on vaccines, said there appear to be prominent symptoms from omicron:

– Cough
– Fatigue or tiredness
– Congestion and runny nose

Unlike in previous variants, the loss of taste and smell seems to be uncommon, she said. But Poehling and other experts say those symptoms are based on early reports of omicron cases, not scientific studies. “Anecdotal reports represent just one person,” said Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of health policy and management at the City University of New York School of Public Health. “We have to take them with a grain of salt.”

What’s more, they may only reflect certain segments of the population: young and otherwise healthy, as well as those who are fully vaccinated. “It is clear that if you’re vaccinated, particularly if you’ve had a booster, omicron tends to produce milder infections,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
“What we haven’t seen yet is a substantial body of information about what omicrons will do in unvaccinated people,” he added. Indeed, at least one person who was not vaccinated is reported to have died of omicron. Officials in Houston announced Monday that the unvaccinated man in his 50s succumbed to the virus. There is also emerging evidence that omicron tends not to burrow deep into the lungs as much as previous variants. 

A study, which was posted online by the University of Hong Kong and not
yet peer-reviewed, found that while omicron is less severe in the lungs, it can replicate faster higher up in the respiratory tract. In this way, omicron may act more like bronchitis than pneumonia, said Dr. Hugh Cassiere, director of critical care services for Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at the North Shore University Hospital, on Long Island, New York.
“Usually patients with acute bronchitis tend not to be short of breath. They tend to cough and produce sputum,” he said. “Patients with pneumonia tend to be short of breath and feel more fatigued than bronchitis in general.” Still, it’s virtually impossible for people to rely on symptoms to self-diagnose an illness. In addition to omicron, the delta variant continues to circulate, along with increasing cases of the flu. For these reasons, doctors urge people who have any cold symptoms or flu-like symptoms to get tested. 

How long is omicron’s incubation period?
According to early data, the time it takes for an infected person to develop symptoms after an exposure may be shorter for omicron than for previous variants — from a full week down to as little as three days or fewer.
While much more research is needed, it makes scientific sense that a highly contagious virus like the omicron variant would have a shorter incubation period. Its goal, after all, is to infect as many people as possible, as quickly
as possible.
“That’s why the spread is occurring at a much faster pace,” said Dr. Anita Gupta, an anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She added that it’s possible the incubation period could
be shorter or longer depending on a number of variables, including age, underlying health problems and vaccination status.
“There is no hard and fast rule here.” 

When should I get tested for Covid?
Given the potential for a shorter incubation period, Vanderbilt’s Schaffner advised that anyone who has been in contact with an infected individual get tested about 72 hours following the exposure. “If you’ve been exposed and now, you’re asking yourself, ‘When should I get tested?’ 
I think you would best wait at least three days to see if you’ve turned positive,” he said. For the millions of people without any known Covid exposure, but who are getting together with friends and family over the Christmas holiday, Schaffner said, it would be prudent to get a rapid test the day of the gathering. Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, agreed.
“By all means, go the extra step, go the extra mile to get tested” to alleviate any concerns about gatherings, he said on NBC’s “TODAY” show Tuesday.
“But if you don’t have the availability of the test and you are fully vaccinated and boosted, you should feel comfortable having a holiday meal or gathering with family members who are also vaccinated and boosted,” Fauci said. 

Could omicron lead to long Covid?
Though much remains unknown about omicron, experts say the variant could lead to long Covid, even with a mild case. Patients with long-term symptoms can experience crushing fatigue, irregular heart rhythms and other issues months after their initial Covid infection. This occurred during the first wave of the pandemic and has continued to lead to long Covid issues through the delta wave. “We should assume that this variant can do the same thing that previous variants have until proven otherwise,” Lee, of CUNY, said. Previous research, however, suggests that vaccination can greatly reduce the risk for long Covid. 

How worried should I be about omicron?
Cases of omicron are doubling about every two days. In the past week, the percentage of omicron cases in the United States rose from 13 percent to 73 percent. “The major question for everyone right now isn’t whether omicron is going to hit their area. It will,” said Dr. Michael Saag, an infectious disease expert and associate dean for global health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “The question,” he said, “is how much disease will it cause?”
Experts continue to urge people to get vaccinated and get a booster shot to reduce the risk for severe illness. As of Tuesday, about 61 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated. Just under 30 percent had the booster shot. “This is going to hit us hard,” Poehling, of Wake Forest Baptist, said. But she added that the sheer speed of omicron’s spread could mean that the variant will run its course quickly. “If you look at South Africa, they seem to be doing much better now. I don’t anticipate this as long lasting.”

4 charts show the current state of the Covid pandemic heading into 2022.

Dr. Fauci Says This is Why to Worry About COVID Now (msn.com)
Joe Biden Coughing During Speech Raises Questions, Concerns (msn.com)  image.png   image.png

Health officials warn of no room in hospitals, staff shortages as new COVID-19 record set (msn.com)

Biden’s new COVID response is not what the American people hoped for. We need leadership. (msn.com)

With omicron, many vaccinated Americans will at some point test positive.

Here’s what to do. By Derek Hawkins, Lindsey Bever 
With the omicron variant spreading rapidly, the United States is all but certain to see a sharp rise in breakthrough coronavirus infections among vaccinated people. These cases were relatively rare in the pre-omicron days, but the new variant has shown an ability to slip past the body’s first line of immune defenses. That means many Americans who have gotten the shots will at some point test positive.
Coronavirus vaccines act like a shield against disease, not an impenetrable barrier, and they offer protection against the omicron variant. Health authorities say booster shots of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are the best defense against serious illness, providing robust protection against severe disease. Your likelihood of developing a breakthrough infection is lowest if you’ve gotten the additional shot. The initial two-shot vaccine regimen still offers protection, but it’s not as effective against the omicron variant without boosters.

RELATED: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus 

What should I do if I test positive for the coronavirus?
While some breakthrough cases are asymptomatic, experts say most tend to bring mild to moderate symptoms. A cough, a sore throat, muscle aches and a low fever are common, but keep in mind that breakthrough symptoms don’t always resemble the version of covid-19 unvaccinated people get. Some patients report headaches, nasal congestion and sneezing — signs of illness more typically associated with colds or allergies.
When you’re feeling sick, or when you think, you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus, the most important thing you can do from the get-go is to get tested. Laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction tests, or PCR tests, are most accurate, but at-home tests do a good job detecting symptomatic cases, too.
“Even if you think it’s just allergies, it would be best for you to go ahead and get a covid test and make sure you don’t have it before you go to work or school or church, because those symptoms can be very mild,” said S. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist hospital.

A positive test, whether done at home, in a doctor’s office or at a testing center, should be taken seriously, said Rob Murphy, an infectious-disease expert at Northwestern University.
Whether you have symptoms or not, you should first contact your health-care provider to determine the next steps. If you tested positive with a rapid test at home, a doctor may order a lab-based test for confirmation. Depending on your medical history, the doctor may recommend at-home care or clinical treatment.
You should also contact family members, friends, colleagues and anyone else you’ve had close contact with and tell them you have the coronavirus.
From there, follow the isolation recommendations from health officials (more on that below).
At-home coronavirus tests: When to take them, how to get them and more  

How long should I isolate or quarantine with a breakthrough infection?
If you don’t have any symptoms but have tested positive for the coronavirus, you should isolate yourself from others for 10 full days, beginning the day after you took the test. If you develop symptoms during that time, you must start the clock over, according to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you are symptomatic, start the 10-day period after first developing symptoms, the CDC said.
There’s no doubt it can be tough for some people to isolate, particularly when there are multiple people under one roof. Murphy recommended using a separate bedroom and bathroom if possible and sanitizing high-touch surfaces if you have to share. He also advised wearing a mask and encouraging others in the house to do the same, staying at least six feet from other people and pets and, when weather permits, opening windows for ventilation.
The CDC also recommends avoiding sharing personal items such as dishes, utensils and towels.
While isolation is for people who have been infected, quarantine is for those who have been only exposed and possibly infected. People who have come into close contact with an infected person may need to quarantine. The CDC defines close contact as being within six feet for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.

COVID: UCSF Expert On Breakthrough Infections, Holiday Gatherings.
Those who have not been fully vaccinated should quarantine for a full 14 days after their last exposure to the person with the coronavirus, according to the CDC. Those who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine unless they develop symptoms, but they should get tested five to seven days after exposure and wear a mask indoors in public places for two weeks after exposure or until receiving a negative test result, the CDC said.
 
If others in my household are sick, too, can we be together?
Yes, assuming everyone in the household has contracted the virus, there’s no longer a need to separate from them, experts said. 

How can I treat breakthrough covid-19 at home? 

What supplies should I have on hand?
Many people with breakthrough infections may not need any special care. There’s a good chance your symptoms will clear in a few days. But if you are uncomfortable, some at-home and over-the-counter remedies might help take the edge off.
Dr. Sterling N. Ransone, a family physician in Deltaville, Va., and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, recommends getting a thermometer and a pulse oximeter, the fingertip device that measures oxygen in your blood. These can help you send valuable information to your doctor if your symptoms worsen. “If they can get me those kinds of numbers, I can give them much better advice on what we can do,” Ransone said.
Acetaminophen can help relieve aches and pains, and cold medications with expectorant can loosen up chest congestion. But it’s important to note that these will alleviate symptoms only temporarily — they will not get rid of the virus faster. Consult your doctor before taking them, follow the dosage recommendations on the label, and make sure they don’t interfere with any other medications you might be taking.

Electrolyte fluids such as Gatorade and Pedialyte can ease symptoms and prevent you from becoming dehydrated. It is good to have a few of these in your fridge.
It is also worth keeping extra masks handy. N95s, KN95s and surgical masks are now easy to order online.
Putting together a kit with these items can save you a trip to the store if you do end up getting sick. “We have everything ready, so if we were to start feeling ill, we could go home and we’ve already preplanned,” Ransone said. “We don’t risk exposing our friends and neighbors.”
Masks and covid-19: Explaining the latest guidance 

How long will I be contagious?
You are considered contagious during the entire 10-day isolation period. Although it’s unlikely, if symptoms such as a cough or fever persist past that point you may still be contagious, said Murphy, executive director of Northwestern’s Robert J. Havey MD Institute for Global Health.
“With these breakthroughs, the whole clinical course is so mild that many of them pretty much recover in a day or two and they’re just waiting to get out of isolation,” he said.
Murphy said it may take a while for a loss of taste and smell to return, but that does not mean you can still spread the virus. 

Do I need to test negative before rejoining the community?
No. Once you hit the 10-day mark, you should be fine to commingle again,
as long as your symptoms are improving, and you’ve gone 24 hours without
a fever without using fever-reducing medication. You may still test positive
after this point, but health officials say you are not contagious. 


Should I ask my doctor about coronavirus therapies?
Yes. If you are vaccinated, you’re probably going to bounce back from a case of covid-19 without medical intervention. But it can’t hurt to ask, especially if you have any conditions that put you at higher risk for severe illness.
That said, our armory of tools for combating covid-19 is changing.
The omicron variant has hobbled the use of monoclonal antibodies, laboratory-made molecules that excelled against the other variants. Only one monoclonal antibody treatment,  Sotrovimab, is expected to work against the omicron variant, and it’s not easy to get.
Other new treatments will become available soon. Federal regulators Wednesday authorized an antiviral drug from Pfizer that appears to reduce
the risk of severe illness in high-risk patients when it is administered in the first few days of symptoms. Merck has developed a similar drug that has not yet been authorized.
Overall, experts emphasize that vaccines and booster shots are still the best defense. “If you’re counting on monoclonals instead of getting vaccinated,”
said Long, of Houston Methodist, “it’s time to get vaccinated so your body can go and make its own, more effective antibodies.” 

What should I do if my symptoms become more serious?
If your symptoms get noticeably worse after a few days, call your doctor.
You may need clinical treatment. Trouble breathing is an immediate cause for concern, said Ransone, the family physician. “If they cough so much, they can’t catch their breath, or they’re so short-winded they can’t get a whole sentence out, that’s something that needs to be evaluated in person,” he said. Other signs of an infection becoming more severe include a temperature moving above 102 degrees, confusion and blue coloration in the face.
If you feel seriously ill and you can’t reach your doctor quickly, head to the nearest emergency room, experts said. Ask a friend or family member to drive you, if possible, but note that everyone in the vehicle should be wearing a mask. If nobody is available, don’t take public transportation, which could expose more people — just call 911.
“If you need medical care, you shouldn’t delay,” said Amesh Adalja of
the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Call an ambulance.”

This was the U.S. life expectancy the year you were born – Bing
As the U.S. mourns more than 833,000 dead from the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC recently announced another sobering milestone: Life expectancy at birth has dropped to 77 years, a decline from 78.8 in 2019. Though a little shy of two years might not seem like a lot, it marks the steepest drop since World War II. Wondering what life expectancy was the year you were born and how it’s changed since? Here are the numbers going back to 1940.

Related: Can You Guess the Minimum Wage the Year You Were Born?

New Data on Omicron Variant Prompt Cautious Optimism – Bing

WATCH: Dr. Anthony Fauci Demands Fox News FIRE Jesse Watters ‘On the Spot’ for ‘Kill Shot’ Metaphor (msn.com)

COVID-19 List Tracker for Players & NFL Policies | Sharp Football (sharpfootballanalysis.com)

COVID Live – Coronavirus Statistics – Worldometer (worldometers.info)
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The Birth of Jesus

Was Jesus actually born in September?

The time of year that Jesus was born is a matter of some debate, but the exact timing of Jesus’ birth is nothing to be dogmatic about, given the Bible’s lack of detail on the subject. Of course, the traditional date of celebrating Jesus’ birth is December 25, but the Bible nowhere points to His being born in mid-winter. One alternative theory is that Jesus was born sometime in September.
Those who propose that Jesus was born in September make their case using the following points: first, at the time of Jesus’ birth, there were shepherds
in the fields watching their flocks (Luke 2:8). According to some sources, shepherds were not normally in the fields during December, due to the cold and wet conditions in Judea during that time of year.
Therefore, Luke’s account suggests that Jesus may have been born in late summer or early fall (i.e., in September). The problem with this argument is that the average low temperature in Bethlehem in December is in the low-to-mid-forties—the same as Jacksonville, Florida.
Second, the idea of a September birth of Jesus includes a consideration of 
the census affecting Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:1–4). Some argue that Roman censuses would not have been taken in winter, as cold temperatures and poor road conditions would have made participation in a census difficult. However, others point out that Roman officials were not all that concerned with the burdens they placed on the citizenry. It was either obey Caesar or else;
ease and convenience did not factor into the law-making process.

Third, and most significant, the theory that Jesus was born in September depends on the timing of John the Baptist’s birth. These biblical facts lay the groundwork: John’s father, a priest named Zechariah, was taking his turn to serve in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, would conceive a son (Luke 1:8–13).
After Zechariah returned home, his wife conceived, just as the angel had
said (Luke 1:23–24). Gabriel then visited Mary to announce the miraculous conception of Jesus, and this visit came in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Luke 1:26, 36). Another important detail: Zechariah
“Belonged to the priestly division of Abijah” (Luke 1:5).
Using the above information, the calculations are made thus: the priests in the Abijah division served from June 13—19. Assuming that Elizabeth conceived shortly after Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, her sixth month—the month that Gabriel visits Mary—would be December or January. Assuming that Mary conceived shortly after Gabriel’s announcement to her, Jesus would have been born nine months later, i.e., August or September.

There is still one problem with using those calculations to arrive at a September birth of Jesus. We just aren’t sure exactly when the Abijah division of priests served. The priestly divisions were created by David and instituted during Solomon’s reign (1 Chronicles 24:7–18), through the Babylonian exile  required a “reset” of the divisions and their rotation (Ezra 2). Zechariah’s division could have served in mid-June, but other sources calculate Abijah’s course to have ended on October 9 of that same year.

An October conception of John would place Jesus’ birth in December or January. In the final analysis, no one knows in what month Jesus was born.
It could have been December. It could have been September or some other month. Usually, supporters of the September date are reacting against the
fact some ancient pagan holidays were celebrated in late December. But it should be noted that the Christian observance of December 25 has nothing to do with paganism today. If anything, Christian practice has “redeemed” the date from paganism and given it a new meaning full of praise to our Savior.

This chronology assumes the “wise men” arrived sometime after Jesus
was dedicated at the temple. Here are some thoughts to meditate on.

JESUS’ BIRTH AND EVENTS AFTERWARD:
Jesus is born Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7
Shepherds in the field KJV

Luke 2:8-20
Jesus circumcised
Luke 2:21
Jesus dedicated
Luke 2:22-38
Magi arrive and worship Jesus
Matt. 2:1-12
Jesus’ parents flee
Matt. 2:13-18
Herod dies
Matt. 2:19-20
(Returned to Nazareth)
Parents return to Nazareth
Matt. 2:21-23; Luke 2:39

BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED
   What Does the Bible Say About Christmas?
The history of six popular Christmas customs may surprise you.

The Bible’s answer.
 The Bible does not give a specific date for the birth of Jesus Christ, as these reference works show:
 “The true birth date of Christ is unknown.”—New Catholic Encyclopedia.
 “The exact date of Christ’s birth is not known.”—Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.
 While the Bible does not directly answer the question, ‘When was Jesus born?’ It does describe two events surrounding his birth that led many to conclude that he was not born on December 25.

Not in winter.
 The registration. Shortly before Jesus was born, Caesar Augustus issued
a decree ordering “all the inhabited earth to be registered.” Everyone had to register in “his own city,” which might have required a journey of a week or more. (Luke 2:1-3) That order—probably made to support taxation and military conscription—would have been unpopular at any time of year, but it is unlikely that Augustus would have provoked his subjects further by forcing many of them to make long trips during the cold winter.

 The sheep. Shepherds were “living out of doors and keeping watches
in the night over their flocks.” (Luke 2:8) The book Daily Life in the Time of Jesus notes that flocks lived in the open air from “the week before the Passover [late March]” through mid-November. It then adds: “They passed the winter under cover; and from this alone it may be seen that the traditional date for Christmas, in the winter, is unlikely to be right, since the Gospel says that the shepherds were in the fields.”

In early autumn.
 We can estimate when Jesus was born by counting backward from his death on Passover, Nisan 14 in the spring of the year 33 C.E. (John 19:14-16) Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his three-and-a-half-year ministry,
so he was born in the early fall of 2 B.C.E.—Luke 3:23.

Why is Christmas on December 25th?
 Since there is no evidence that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred on
December 25, why is Christmas celebrated on this date? The Encyclopædia Britannica says that church leaders probably chose it “to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun,’” at the time of the winter solstice. According to The Encyclopedia Americana, many scholars believe that this was done “in order to make Christianity more meaningful to pagan converts.”

The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,[a] 
Is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestine?
The grotto it contains holds a prominent religious significance to Christians 
of various denominations as the birthplace of Jesus. The grotto is the oldest
site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity, and the basilica
is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.
The church was originally commissioned by Constantine the Great a short time after his mother Helena‘s visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 325–326, on the site that was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Jesus.[3][4] That original basilica was likely built between 330 and 333, being already mentioned in 333, and was dedicated on 31 May 339.[3][4] It was destroyed by fire during the Samaritan revolts of the sixth century, possibly in 529, and a new basilica was built a number of years later by Byzantine Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), who added a porch or narthex, and replaced the octagonal sanctuary with a cruciform transept complete with three apses, but largely preserved the original character of the building, with an atrium and a basilica consisting of a nave with four side aisles.[3][4]

The Church of the Nativity, while remaining basically unchanged since
the Justinianis reconstruction, has seen numerous repairs and additions, especially from the Crusader period, such as two bell towers (now gone),
wall mosaics and paintings (partially preserved).[5] Over the centuries, the surrounding compound has been expanded, and today it covers approximately 12,000 square meters, comprising three different monasteries: one Greek Orthodox, one Armenian Apostolic, and one Roman Catholic,[6] of which the first two contain bell towers built during the modern era.[5]
The silver star marking the spot where Christ was born, inscribed in Latin, was stolen in October 1847 by Greek monks who wished to remove this Catholic item.[3] Some assert that this was a contributing factor in the Crimean War against the Russian Empire.[7] Others assert that the war grew out of the wider European situation.[8]
Since 2012, the Church of the Nativity is a World Heritage Site and was the first to be listed by UNESCO under ‘Palestine’.[9][10]
A 250-year-old understanding among religious communities, the Status Quo, applies to the site.[11][12]

Church and A Manger.
First, Jesus was born in a stable (Luke 2:7) but the “wise men” visited Jesus in a house. (Matthew 2:11) This implies that time elapsed between His birth and the visit of the “wise men.” This means the “wise men” did not find Jesus in a stable or a feeding-trough. The shepherds did, (Luke 2:7, 16) however. Also, Matthew 2:11 describes Jesus as a child. The Greek word for “child” means that Jesus could have been an infant or a toddler. Consequently, the “wise men” did not arrive near the time of Jesus’ birth but much later.

Travel Time.
In order to determine when Jesus was born, the first chronology assumes that Joseph took his family to Egypt immediately after the “wise men” left and then returned to Jerusalem for the dedication of Jesus at the temple. This means that Herod would have had to die within two to three weeks after the Magi left, since Jesus was dedicated back in Jerusalem forty days after his birth.
We need to ask if the 40 days after the Magi’s visit is enough time for the family to make a 150-mile trip from Bethlehem to Egypt and then back to Jerusalem? We need to remember that Joseph’s wife had just recently given birth and she would have needed some time to heal before the trip. We also need to remember that Jesus was circumcised eight days after birth.
Did they circumcise Him during the trip?
A person in good health can normally travel about 10 miles a day on foot. This means a one-way trip would have taken them about 15 days to complete to the eastern edge of Egypt if she fed and cared for the child while riding on a donkey or camel. This means a minimum of 30 days were required for a round trip.
If we now allow for additional time for Mary to heal and time to stop caring for the child, only a few days, if any, are left before they would have had to return to Israel. Would God send this couple to Egypt only to turn around and come back immediately? This chronology is difficult to accept due to the rapid travel required.

Other Considerations.
If the magi arrived several, or even as many as twenty-four months later, then Jesus could have been dedicated in Jerusalem before the magi arrived. With this chronology there is adequate time for the family to leave Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, and then return to Nazareth even years after Herod’s death. This seems to be a better chronology. It is also the one accepted by most biblical scholars.

Conclusion:
The Way We Think About the Messiah is Very Problematic
By Candida Moss
The arrival of a newborn is always an occasion for celebration and joy. A child’s first Christmas, however, is also an opportunity for family members to project their hopes and unfulfilled dreams onto the next generation. That Harvard onesie or baseball bat under the tree, are not-so-subtle hints about the life you want for your child. Just as people heap expectations on new arrivals today, baby Jesus had a lot to live up to. For Christians, Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one of God, a descendent of King David, and the one who would save the world. That’s a lot for any of us to shoulder, but especially an infant. These messianic expectations are particularly prominent during the Christmas season popping up everywhere from beloved Carols to children’s Christmas books.

But what does it mean to call Jesus the Messiah?
And did Jesus live up to society’s expectations?

Even if you think of Christmas as more about the tree, Santa, and present
than anointing or kingship, the imagery and language of a royal messiah ripples through the Christmas story. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi (sorry, there aren’t Three Kings in the Gospels) come to see the one “born King of the Jews.” The angels proclaim the arrival of “Christ the Lord” to the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke. The word “Christ,” which to modern readers seems like a family name, just means “anointed one” and is the Greek version of the Hebrew word “Mashiah” or “anointed.” It’s from the Hebrew that we get the English word “Messiah.” The twin themes of royal lineage and messiahship are found everywhere in the Nativity story.
For Jews who lived at the turn of the Common Era, the Messiah (or messiahs in some instances) was very much on their minds. At the time the holy land was occupied and controlled by the Roman Empire, and people wrestled with the economic and political ramifications of foreign occupation. As a result, Jews spoke about a coming anointed one, a Messiah, who was spoken of in scripture and who would liberate them from their oppressors and usher in a new era of independence and flourishing. Matthew Novenson, Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh, and author of two books on Messianism, told the Daily Beast that the Messiah was “a kind of mythology, that had a solid foundation in scriptural sources, that was useful for making religious sense of Judea’s complicated political situation in the early Roman Empire.”

There was considerable diversity of thought, however, about what the Messiah would be like. Some claimed that he would be, like King David, a monarch who would lead a successful military rebellion. Others emphasized his prophetic or priestly credentials. Others still, like the inhabitants of Qumran who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, seemed to have thought that there would be two messiahs. This model reproduces the organizational structure of ancient Israel, when the people were led by both a King and a High Priest. These messiahs, Novenson told me, “Were often associated with certain ancient scriptural heroes, in particular Aaron the high priest and King David.”

 We can see the same tendency among followers of Jesus:

“Our sources about Jesus mostly associate him with King David, either saying that he was a descendant of David, or that he did things like David did, or both.” There was no set script here. The messiah was a mythological construct that was constantly being redescribed and reinterpreted. There were other early Christians, Novenson noted, who tried to distance Jesus from David, just as there were ancient Jews who did not appear to care about the idea of a messiah at all. The infancy stories about Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, however, are preoccupied with messianism because stories about ancient kings and heroes were, generally speaking, fascinated by childhood stories. 

Just as every Marvel superhero has his or her “origin story” so too biographies of political leaders, generals, and revolutionaries were interested in where the great man came from, who raised him, and what kinds of auspicious events accompanied his birth. In this context the appearance of a star was not unusual. Dr. Robyn Walsh, an associate professor at the University of Miami, told me that “from the biblical Abraham and Moses, to Alexander the Great and the Roman emperor Augustus, the birth of great leaders, heroes, and founders of cities were often marked by celestial events.”
Broadly speaking, she said, ancient artwork and propaganda used stars to symbolize the transition of political power or “birth” of a new order. 
Birth stories, quasi-miraculous events, and narratives about influential figures go hand in hand. Of course, as every practicing Christian knows, Jesus was no Alexander the Great or Augustus. He didn’t overthrow the Romans or lead a successful rebellion. As a result, later generations of Christians (including our own) reinterpreted the references to messiahship in the Gospels as spiritual kingship, rather than literal earthly rule.
This simple fact led to the development of a particularly problematic explanation that is found in modern scholarship, religious writings, and on popular websites: the idea that the Christian messiah wasn’t political, he was spiritual.

A study guide for high school students, produced by the BBC, for example, hints at this idea. It suggests that the term Messiah may not be helpful because it might “confusing[ly]” to evoke ideas of earthly monarchy.
It would be “misleading,” it seems, to think of the messiah as a political earthly figure. Out of this crucial distinction have grown other antisemitic sentiments and ideas: namely, that Jews couldn’t understand their own scriptures. Jews of Jesus’s day, the argument goes, may have been anticipating a political messiah, but they were fundamentally wrong. The Christian website gotquestions.org, for example, connects this supposed misunderstanding about the Messiah to an even more troublesome idea: the Jewish rejection of Jesus. 
The website reads, “The Jews rejected Jesus because He failed, in their eyes, to do what they expected their Messiah to do—destroy evil and all their enemies and establish an eternal kingdom with Israel as the preeminent nation in the world. The prophecies in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 describe a suffering Messiah who would be persecuted and killed, but the Jews chose to focus instead on those prophecies that discuss His glorious victories, not His crucifixion.” 
(At risk of being a pedant, although they are important passages for Christians, we should note that neither Isaiah 53 nor Psalm 22 refer to a crucified messiah. It thus seems unfair to imply that Jewish interpreters were overlooking something. You have to have a suffering messiah to read these texts this way.)
The bigger problem here is the idea that Jews rejected Jesus: Jesus himself and all his first followers were Jews. Historically, the idea that Jews rejected Jesus has been linked to the dangerous and erroneous idea that “the Jews” were responsible for killing the messiah. Some Christians go even further and assert that Jewish messianism is not just wrong or mistaken, it is actually demonic.
In his work on messianism, Novenson argues that these explanations aren’t just tragically cruel and antisemitic, they are also grounded in some profound historical errors.
 When Christians claim that Jesus was a spiritual messiah they do so because they “take for granted the messiahship of Jesus and say whatever they need to say to maintain that axiom.” It’s precisely because Jesus suffered and because Christians believe he was the messiah that Christians argue for a spiritual messiah who suffers. In truth, says Novenson “Christian messianic texts are not categorically different from Jewish messianic texts.”  They do describe Jesus as a political figure. Novenson told me that, “The idea of Jesus as a political, not just spiritual, messiah appears in a number of Gospel sayings
and stories (e.g., Matt 10:34: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”).

But above all in the widespread early Christian idea of the future coming (or parousia) of Jesus to execute judgment and rule over the nations.”
In other words, early Christians do anticipate that Jesus will behave as a political messiah, just not yet.
The sharpest example of this, Novenson said, is the book of Revelation in which Jesus returns and a New Jerusalem descends onto the earth. There are all kinds of things to worry about in this vision of the Second Coming—Revelation describes genocide and the widespread destruction of non-believers in ways that should be ethically concerning for devout Christians—but the point here is that the Jesus of end of days is as political a messiah as they come. 

As Wil Gafney, author of the recently published Womens’ Lectionary for
the Whole Church and Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity, has written, this is the problem with romanticizing monarchy and Christly kingship. David, who we name-check throughout our Christmas celebrations was a warlord and a thug.
Kingship, says Gafney, “comes with so much baggage.” If we want to augment the messiahship of Jesus it should be for this reason. What the broad view of Christian messianic expectation means, Novenson writes in his book Grammar of Messianism, is that Christianity did not change the definition of messiah,
It just chooses from among the available ancient Jewish definitions,
then added its own details to the developing tradition. It’s one thread in a tapestry of ancient interpretative traditions about the meaning of scripture and the identity of the messiah. “We can see a very similar thing,” said Novenson, “happening in texts about other Jewish messiahs like Judah Maccabee, Bar Kokhba, or Rabbi Judah the Patriarch.” The point of all of this is that the celebration of the birth of the Messiah does not need to invoke inaccurate or antisemitic ideas about Christianity’s superiority to and difference from Judaism. Christianity is not uniquely special. On the contrary, our Nativity story is fully embedded in the theopolitical thought of first century Judaism.

We do not know for sure when Jesus was born,
 but the early church fathers say that he was born in December/January.
They were closer in time with better information than we have today.
My Guess Christmas on December 25 was meant to be a celebration
of Life Begins at Conception and When Jesus Was Conceived into Life!!!
 You may be interested in a study about the birth of Jesus at this site.
 Church in Bethlehem where Jesus was born – Bing video

Retracing The Steps of The Crusades to The Holy Land | Timeline

Holy Land: Israel and Palestine Today – Rick Steves Travel Talks

Suggested Links:
Searching For God
Was Jesus born on December 25?

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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger: Lee Strobel: 9780310340591 – Christianbook.com

The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger By: Lee Strobel – Bing video

A Charlie Brown Christmas – What Christmas is All About – Bing video

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The Littlest of Christmas Gifts Have a Whole New Meaning to LIFE!!!

Tiger and Charlie Woods shoot 10-under 62 | Round 1 | PNC Championship | 2021

Tiger and Charlie Woods shoot 15-under 57 | Round 2 | PNC Championship | 2021

PGA TOUR – YouTube

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A Winter of Death

‘A winter of death’: Biden’s hardcore message to the unvaccinated sparks anger online.

Societal Collapse USA – Bing  

News briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Team, Dec. 17, 2021. On Thursday, President Joe Biden made a stark prediction. “For the unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death. For themselves, their family and the hospital they’ll soon overwhelm,” he said. The next day, Jeff Zients, who heads the COVID-19 response team, repeated this comment at a press briefing.

Brace yourself for “a winter of severe illness and death” is apparently the White House’s message to people who have chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID. Most people hate it. They feel it’s callous and cruel. “Not everyone is unvaccinated by choice, and immunocompromised and chronically ill people exist,” tweeted @alanasaltz. “Thanks for the victim-blaming, as always.
Maybe actually do something to help us instead?”
Critics of the statement also don’t believe it will convince people to get vaccinated. “If you wanted to make half the country hate the administration and resist its edicts and advice, it would be hard to come up with a better strategy than this,” tweeted @johnddavidson. To date, nearly three out of four Americans have reportedly received at least one dose of the vaccine. Roughly 60% are fully vaccinated. Republicans are less likely to be vaccinated than Democrats.
Experts have said that upwards of 80% or more must be vaccinated to achieve what’s known as herd immunity—though the omicron variant has caused an uptick in breakthrough cases among the vaccinated. Research has also shown that vaccinated people are unlikely to experience severe illness or die from the virus if they contract it.
Republicans had particular ire for the administration’s messaging.
“Going into the year of the midterm elections, the Biden White House has settled on its slogan. ‘A winter of severe illness and death,’” mocked Tim Murtaugh, former President Donald Trump’s communications director. 

“Sounds like a winner.”
Numerous conservatives opined that the messaging invokes former President Jimmy Carter’s 1979 speech about the energy crisis. In what would be dubbed the “malaise speech,” Carter infamously implored Americans to view the energy crisis through a lens of morality, rather than as simply an issue of supply and demand. Others argued that Biden is just being honest and that there’s no need to sugarcoat it.
Biden’s Chief of Staff Ronald Klain pushed back against critics who felt “a winter of severe illness and death” was overly harsh. “The truth is the truth,” Klain tweeted. As with so much else in today’s political climate, the “winter of severe illness and death” line sparked significant debate. Biden concluded his dire warning to the unvaccinated on a more positive note. “There’s good news; if you’re vaccinated and you have your booster shot, you’re protected from severe illness and death,” he said.

The post ‘A winter of death’: Biden’s hardcore message to the unvaccinated sparks anger online appeared first on The Daily Dot.

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At least 48 passengers and crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas.

Royal Cruise line: the world’s largest cruise ship — have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been quarantined, the company said Monday. Of the 48 people who tested positive during the sailing, 98% were fully vaccinated. That’s not surprising, since the overall vaccination rate among the nearly 6,100 passengers and crew was already at 95%, according to Royal Caribbean, CBS News reported.

All travelers over the age of 12 had to be fully vaccinated and produce a negative test result before the voyage, according to the company. Cruise companies tightened their COVID-19 protocols this summer — requiring pre-cruise tests for everyone, not just unvaccinated passengers — when the Delta variant was surging, the Washington Post reported. Four of the 48 people who tested positive were close contacts of six passengers who disembarked earlier in the voyage, the cruise line said.

RELATED: Up to 40% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, analysis finds

The huge ship, which boasts a nightclub, theater and more than 30 restaurants and bars, left Miami on Dec. 11 for a seven-day trip and made a handful of stops, including the Caribbean islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas, the Post said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was aware of the Symphony of the Seas outbreak and was working with Royal Caribbean to “gather more information about the cases and possible exposures.” Officials said specimens would be taken for genetic sequencing, the Post reported.
The CDC reported last month that cruise companies had reported 1,359 cases — many involving fully vaccinated crew or passengers — on ships sailing from the United States between June 26 and Oct. 21. During that time, there were 49 hospitalizations and 38 medical evacuations due to COVID-19 or COVID-like illnesses, with one person dying after testing positive during a cruise.

RELATED: U.S. Coast Guard returns from Mexico after search for woman overboard on Carnival cruise

“The resumption of passenger voyages in the U.S. has led to the introduction and sustained transmission of COVID-19 among cruise ships, despite high vaccination rates among both crew and passengers,” the agency said in its report. Royal Caribbean said that those who tested positive on the Symphony of the Seas cruise were immediately isolated to prevent the spread of infection. 
The cruise line said they were either asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms, the Post reported. Earlier this month, there were at least 17 passengers and crew members with COVID-19 on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship that docked in New Orleans, and the Louisiana Department of Health said at least one of the infected crew members was suspected to have the Omicron variant, CBS News reported.

48 test positive for Covid on world’s biggest cruise ship

Andy Rose and Francesca Street, CNN • Updated 20th December 2021
(CNN) — Despite stringent measures supposed to keep ocean cruises Covid-free, operator Royal Caribbean says at least 48 people on board one of its ships that docked in Miami at the weekend have tested positive for the virus. 
The Symphony of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, was carrying more than 6,000 passengers and crew on a week-long journey around the Caribbean when a guest tested positive, prompting wider contact tracing, according to Royal Caribbean.
Cruise ships had been touted as the one of the “safest” vacations available  backs in summer 2021 when the cruise industry restarted in the US with new Covid protocols, following an extensive pandemic shutdown. 
The Symphony of the Seas was carrying 6,091 passengers and crew members. In a statement, Royal Caribbean said that a guest tested positive during the voyage, and subsequent cases were detected following contact tracing.

RELATED:  Royal Caribbean announces nine-month world cruise | CNN Travel
It said 95% on board were fully vaccinated. Of the people who’ve since tested positive, 98% were fully vaccinated. 

The total number of cases amounted to 0.78% of the on-board population.
It’s not yet known whether the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus, currently spreading rapidly around the world, was responsible for the cases detected. Royal Caribbean rules dictate that all travelers on board a ship aged 12 and above must be fully vaccinated, and test negative before departure. The cruise line says it “strongly recommends” guests receive a booster dose prior to sailing, but this is not currently mandated.

Crew members are also required to be fully vaccinated and tested “at least once a week.”

Unvaccinated children on board Symphony of the Seas were required to show a negative PCR, and also test negative at the terminal pre-departure.

‘Mild symptoms’
Royal Caribbean says it also implements additional health and safety measures, such as enhanced cleaning. On US-based cruises, masks are now required to be worn in indoor public areas — this policy was recently updated to extend mask-wearing requirements for fully vaccinated passengers. “Each person quickly went into quarantine,” reads a Royal Caribbean statement on the Symphony of the Seas outbreak.
 “Everyone who tested positive was asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health.” Symphony of the Seas departed from Miami, Florida on December 11, stopping at Caribbean ports St. Maarten and St. Thomas, as well as Royal Caribbean’s private island, called CocoCay. The cruise line says in its statement that it disembarked six positive cases earlier in the cruise, while the other positive travelers disembarked on December 18, when the voyage came to an end.

The cruise line added that Symphony of the Seas’ future voyages weren’t impacted.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry body that represents the world’s major cruise lines, said in a statement provided to CNN Travel that it was “monitoring developments related to the Omicron variant and remaining closely engaged with local and national authorities in the places where cruises sail.” CLIA said that on board protocols like testing, vaccination and mask-wearing “were designed with variants in mind.”
The association added that its member cruise lines will continue to take a “proactive approach” to responding to the pandemic as it develops.
Earlier in December, a spate of positive Covid cases were reported on board Norwegian Cruise Line Ship Breakaway, which was traveling out of New Orleans.

White House: Winter of Severe Illness and Death for Unvaccinated
by Lyndia Mischke
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
Top infectious disease officials expect a surge of COVID-19 cases after the holidays and say Omicron will soon take over as the dominant strain in the United States.
The best way to stay protected is by getting vaccinated and boosted, they say. “For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death — for yourselves, families, and the hospitals who may soon overwhelm,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said at a news briefing Friday. “We need the American people to do their part.”  
The Omicron variant has been detected in at least 39 states and 75 countries, according to CDC Director Rochelle “conflict of interest” Walensky, MD.
The strain is more transmissible than the already highly infectious Delta variant, and although there was early evidence that it caused more mild disease, she said that is likely because many of those infected have been vaccinated and boosted. “Although Delta continues to circulate widely in the United States, Omicron is increasing rapidly and we expect it to become the dominant strain in the United States, as it has in other countries, in the coming weeks,” Walensky said.

The U.S. is averaging close to 1,300 deaths from COVID-19 each day. New cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are higher now than in the previous winter — before vaccines were so widely available. The New York Times reported Friday that new infections in Connecticut and Maine have grown 150% in the past 2 weeks, and Ohio and Indiana are seeing hospitalization rates nearing the worst of last winter’s surge.
Dueling reports released this week gave cause for relief and concern about Omicron. A study from South Africa released Tuesday shows lower hospitalizations during the first 3 weeks of the Omicron wave than during earlier waves from other variants. That’s the good news. The concerning news is out of the United Kingdom, where Imperial College London reported Friday that the risk of re-infection with COVID-19 from Omicron is more than 5 times as high and that cases of Omicron-based COVID-19 are doubling every 2 days.
What’s more, the study “finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. However, hospitalization data remains very limited at this time,” researchers said. “We have no evidence that the virus itself is milder,”
Eric Topol, MD, executive vice president of Scripps Research and editor-in-chief of Medscape, WebMD’s sister site for healthcare professionals, told PBS NewsHour. “Until we have that, we have to assume that people who don’t have any protection are highly vulnerable to getting very ill.”

The White House COVID-19 team continues to urge parents and guardians to get their children vaccinated, especially in anticipation of a post-holiday spike. Walensky said the CDC’s vaccine advisory board met Thursday to continue the safety discussion about COVID-19 vaccinations in children. So far, 20 million children under 17 and 5 million under 11 have received their shots. 
“Looking specifically at vaccine safety data from over 50,000 children 5-11 years old, we found no evidence of serious safety concerns,” Walensky said.  
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, MD, highlighted the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted to avoid serious disease from Delta and Omicron. “We’re in a situation where we are now facing a very important Delta surge and we are looking over our shoulder at an oncoming Omicron surge,” he said.

“The optimum protection is fully vaccinated plus a boost.”
RELATED — Ten aboard Norwegian Cruise Line ship test positive for COVID-19

For More information Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on COVID variants.
SOURCES: CBS News Washington Post. Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Sources: 
COVID Cases Spike as Questions Remain About Omicron’s Threat (webmd.com)

Coronavirus: How does COVID-19 attack the human body? | UK News | Sky News

Imperial College London: “Modelling suggests rapid spread of Omicron in England but same severity as Delta.” – Bing

Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses | Imperial News | Imperial College London

Doctors and Nurses Are ‘Living in a Constant Crisis’ as Covid Fills Hospitals and Omicron Looms (worldnewsera.com)

Here’s How Much Exercise Works Best For Controlling Your Blood Pressure

Lactoferrin, diphenhydramine combination found to inhibit covid replication by 99% – NaturalNews.com

COVID Propaganda Roundup: The War on Christmas | Zero Hedge
Dan Bongino Reveals Recent Bout with Covid: ‘I Was Afraid …
I Didn’t Want to Die’

On his syndicated radio program Monday, host Dan Bongino said he got the coronavirus about a month-and-a-half ago and that he “was afraid” and “didn’t want to die.”

Listen to  ♫ The Dan Bongino Show | He’s a former Secret Service Agent, former NYPD officer, and New York Times best-selling author.
Join Dan Bongino each weekday as he tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican rhetoric. (iheart.com)

During The Dan Bongino Show, he said:
I’m done with this thing, like, with the pandemic. I’m going to be smart about it. I’m not stupid. I’m going to stay away from sick people. If I get sick, I’ll stay home. But, you know, I’m done with it like I’m done, I’m not going to just wait to die. I’m going to choose to embrace my life to smile a little bit and live and if I get coronavirus, which I did. I wound up getting it about a month-and-a-half ago … one month ago maybe. I’m sorry, I lose track of time. You know what, folks, it was 24-36 hours of bad news. I didn’t feel really good.

But I’m thinking to myself as this happened and now that I’ve got through it. I’m like, you know, was it really worth two years of fear? I mean, listen, I was afraid I didn’t want to get it. I had asthma I had you know, but I had this cancer thing. I don’t like that, you know, address too much, but I was afraid. I’m not going to tell you I wasn’t afraid. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.

I was afraid. I didn’t want to catch Corona. I didn’t want to die. I’ve got kids. And I thought, alright, even if there’s a one percent chance, like, that was a chance, you know, and I was a little bit afraid and then I got it. sucked for 24, 36 hours and then I was better and I’m like was that really worth two years,
I mean, of my life to worry about, really? Was it worth two years? I mean, it’s a risk-reward calculus.

Bongino, who is vaccinated, expressed that while Covid-19 is severe
diagnosis for the elderly and those with certain conditions, it should not stop life’s precious moments.
Clearly, it’s a dangerous disease for people called morbidity and people who
are older, but if you’re young and relatively healthy at least like I was even with some Covid morbidities. It wasn’t worth it. You should enjoy yourself. Don’t just wait to die. Live your life. There’s no refund, folks. There’s no do-overs. There’s no nothing. This is the only one you’ve got. Every day lost without another memory built in that your kids are going to remember a day you can never get back.

You’re never going to get back is no go.
There’s no cashback policy, there’s no, like, points for the credit card. That’s it. When the days are over it’s over. You know, I saw a movie with my daughters this weekend, watching her enjoy it. It was just watching her face and how she got lost for a while in the movie and just, you know, I can see how much he was loving it. You have no idea how rewarding those experiences are. I mean, think of all those experiences that were gone. We spend it, you know, a year a year plus, with the lockdowns on all this nonsense.

Thankfully, I live in Florida. We got a governor who said, naw, pandemic’s over. Coronavirus isn’t over. Variants aren’t over. Pandemic’s over. The pandemic now is a state of mind. The virus isn’t. I assure you it is very real.
But you are living in this pandemic I’m going to lock myself down, wait to die. That’s a state of mind. It’s the Christmas season, enjoy yourselves. Be smart. Enjoy your family and build some memories. They stay with you for a long time. Build some memories.

Dan Bongino Reveals Recent Bout with Covid:
‘I Was Afraid … I Didn’t Want to Die “ first appeared on Mediaite.

On December 14th, 2021, Nature Medicine released a study based on a
broad population data set analyzed by researchers at Oxford University. Of the 38,615,491 vaccinated individuals included in our study, 385,508 (1.0%) were admitted to hospital with or died from cardiac arrhythmia at any time in the study period (either before or after vaccination);

OXFORD STUDY SHOCKER: 1 in 100 Vaccinated Individuals Were Admitted to Hospital or Died with Arrhythmia During Study Period (thegatewaypundit.com)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0
“Our findings are relevant to the public, clinicians and policy makers.
First, there was an increase in the risk of myocarditis within a week of receiving the first dose of both adenovirus and mRNA vaccines, and a higher increased risk after the second dose of both mRNA vaccines. In contrast, we found no evidence of an increase in the risk of pericarditis or cardiac arrhythmias following vaccination, except in the 1–28 days following a second dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine.
Second, in the same population, there was a greater risk of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia following SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Third, the increased risk of myocarditis after vaccination was higher in
persons aged under 40 years. We estimated extra myocarditis events to be between 1 and 10 per million persons in the month following vaccination, which was substantially lower than the 40 extra events per million persons observed following SARS-CoV-2 infection. “
….
RESIST—your life very literally depends on it – YouTube
“In summary, this population-based study quantifies for the first time the risk of several rare cardiac adverse events associated with three COVID-19 vaccines as well as SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 in adults was associated with a small increase in the risk of myocarditis within a week of receiving the first dose of both adenovirus and mRNA vaccines, and after the second dose of both mRNA vaccines. By contrast, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a substantial increase in the risk of hospitalization or death from myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia. “

The Queen guitarist, 74, Brian May battling ‘horrible’ Covid-19 (msn.com)
COVID Live – Coronavirus Statistics – Worldometer (worldometers.info)
Coronavirus United States – live map tracker from Microsoft Bing

Zarathustra Seminar – Bing video

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Tiger’s Return to PNC

Tiger Woods and his son Charlie finish 2nd at PNC Championship

The 10 best photos of Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods
from a special Sunday at the PNC Championship (msn.com)

second lease on life quotes – Bing

second lease on life meaning – Bing video

a second lease on life – Bing

Tiger Woods, in Red and in Contention with His Son,
Reminded Us What We’d Missed (msn.com)

Tiger Woods Returns to Golf During Championship with Son Charlie
Charlie Woods is a spitting image of his father on the golf course.
2021 PNC Championship: Here’s the complete field for Tiger Woods’ return
Phil Mickelson judges Tiger Woods return in the most Phil way possible.
PGA TOUR on Twitter: “Driver off the deck in the middle of the woods.
Phil cannot be tamed. https://t.co/jOAplDzfFu” / Twitter
Exclusive: Tiger Woods discusses golf future in first in-depth interview since car accident | Golf News and Tour Information | GolfDigest.com

10 Things we learned about Tiger Woods
in his latest return at PNC. By Rex Hoggard

ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods’ competitive future may still be uncertain,
but his first tournament in a year did offer a glimpse into where he might be headed. Here’s 10 things we learned about Woods at the PNC Championship:

1. FATHER FIRST. It’s easy to imagine Tiger the dad regularly dispensing all manner of golf knowledge to young Charlie along with regular swing tips to keep things moving in the right direction, but that doesn’t appear to be the case based on his response to a question about coaching Charlie.
“I’m his father. I’m not his coach,” he said. “If he wants to learn about the game of golf, he’ll ask. I’m there as a sounding board. But my job is to be a parent and make sure that his priorities are right, and school comes first, and then if he wants to play a sport, so be it.”

Tiger Woods’ Daughter Sam Alexis Woods Goes Chic at PNC Championship.

2. NOT THAT LIMITED. There were two immediate concerns for Woods as it applies to his competitive future: his endurance and his swing speed. The latter appeared to be a smoke screen considering there was at least one occasion when he outdrove Justin Thomas and there appeared to be plenty of pop in his swing.
The former is also curious. While it was clear he’s still struggling to walk following the February car crash that required multiple surgeries on his right leg, the news that he was putting a new driver in play and was tinkering with a new 3-wood suggests that he might be physically limited but not that limited.
Matt Kuchar, after playing alongside Woods on Sunday, told reporters that he felt like Woods’ swing and game, albeit in a cart, were PGA Tour-ready. Woods, though, quickly dismissed that. “I totally disagree,” Woods said. “I’m not at that level. I can’t compete again these guys right now, no. It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete at these guys and be at a high level.”

3. LEGACY MAKER. Whether Woods still has the ability to set the competitive narrative remains to be seen and will be dictated by how his surgically repaired leg recovers. But two warm days in Central Florida proved Woods still has plenty of history to write.
Specifically, Team Woods will be a part of the PNC Championship for years,
if not decades, to come. They came up two shots short in their second turn in the event, but Woods and Co. made it interesting with 11 birdies in their last
12 holes. By the time Team Tiger is finished, they might have to rename those champions’ belts.

Highlights: Tiger, Charlie Woods best shots Sunday at PNC Championship
Tiger and Charlie Woods Give Great Golf Performance. And So Much More.

4. STILL CLUTCH. With a few exceptions, it wasn’t the same swing that’s produced 82 PGA Tour titles. But on and around the greens, Tiger’s short game was vintage. The plan was to rely on Charlie Woods off the tee and allow Tiger to do Tiger stuff around the greens, and that plan largely worked, like at the first hole on Sunday when he charged in a 10-footer or at the 12th when he rolled in a 15-footer, both followed by a knowing nod.

5. NOSTALGIA. Historically, Woods hasn’t spent much time considering his place in the game, but that’s changed as he nears his 46th birthday later this month and an uncertain competitive future.
He’s still content leaving his own past alone for the moment, but his willingness to examine the game through a more nostalgic lens suggests an evolving outlook. An example of this came on Saturday when he was asked about Lee Trevino.
“The shots that he played and how he did it, hardpan in Texas, and it transferred to pretty much everywhere around the world, people would just sit there and listen,” Woods said. “You guys know, you walk the range, and you know guys who know how to hit a golf ball. Lee was that guy.”

  Tiger’s clutch approach shot sets up birdie at No. 7 | Golf Channel
Twilight 9 podcast: After watching the PNC Championship,
do you think Tiger Woods will win on the PGA Tour again?

6. BRING ON THE BANTER. Whether or not Woods got his competition fix from the two-day team event is up for debate, but what was obvious is how much he relished being among his fellow Tour players.
There was the knowing glance he gave Justin Thomas on Saturday following a particularly well-played 4-iron at the par-5 third hole and a light jab at Bubba Watson during Friday’s pro-am. “You going to cut it [his tee shot] or are you going to cut it?” Woods laughed.

He even had some chatter with Charlie.
“Charlie was out there telling me a couple times yesterday and today,
‘Don’t hit that shot, you know what that does,’ ” Woods recalled. “I said, ‘Just worry about your own game.’ His game isn’t ready for primetime, but his trash-talk game is still in midseason form.

7. HE STILL MOVES THE NEEDLE. A year removed from his last competitive round, Woods said he had no idea what to expect at the PNC Championship. He was, of course, talking about his own game. As far as what to expect from the fans, it was very much familiar territory.
Tournament officials limited ticket sales, but the gallery that followed Woods had a Tiger feel to it – and even some of his fellow competitors took advantage of the opportunity. LPGA World No. 1 Nelly Korda went into full fan mode on Saturday when she asked Woods for an autograph and posed for a picture with him. “Ah, so cool! Dream come true,” she said, smiling.

NELLY KORDA GOLF SWING 2021 – IRON & DRIVER – SLOW MOTION.

8. TALK THE TALK. Most of Woods’ comments since he emerged from
his post-crash recovery has been about his legacy and keeping things in perspective, but there was a flash of the old Tiger who is still very much
a golf geek when he explained his tee shot at the 17th hole on Day 1.
“I smoked a 7-iron at 17. I didn’t believe I could get it there, but it was one
of my old shots, so to be able to turn that thing down and hit that thing and squeeze it out there like that that was nice, even though it wasn’t pin-high,
but just the shot, the feel and the shape is what I was seeing,” he explained.
The old feels.

PNC Championship 2021 Leaderboard | Golf Channel
9. A CLEAR VISION. While his competitive future remains uncertain, there was one thing Woods was certain about: He will never use a golf cart at a PGA Tour event. Woods spent the week zipping around the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in a golf cart and acknowledged he wouldn’t have been able to play the event if he’d had to walk.
When asked if he would ever consider requesting to use a cart in an official Tour event, however, there was no ambiguity.
“No. I wouldn’t, no. No. Absolutely not. Not for a PGA Tour event, no.
That’s just not who I am,” he said. “That’s not how I’ve always been,
and if I can’t play at that level, I can’t play at that level.”

Woods duo’s birdie blitz falls short at PNC Championship (msn.com)
10. AND FINALLY, NO BLUEPRINT. Despite Trevino’s assertion that he knows when Woods will play again, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Although there were plenty of highlights at the Ritz-Carlton to keep the notion of a comeback alive, it was clear that not even Tiger knows when – or if – that will happen. “I’m not going to play a full schedule ever again.
I’m going to have to pick-and-choose what events, and even then, my body might not cooperate with that,” he said Sunday. “I don’t know how many events I’m going to be playing in.” Save the wild speculation for next year. This tournament was about Woods spending time with his son, nothing more and nothing less.

Tiger and His Son Finish in Second Place at The PNC Championship – Newsfeed (tigerwoods.com)

‘I’ll Never Doubt Tiger Again:’ Todd Lewis Shares Thoughts on
Tiger Woods’ Return at PNC Championship (msn.com)

Image

Tiger Woods Can Handle This Father-Son Exhibition,
but Future Return to PGA Tour Remains Uncertain.

Tiger Woods and his son couldn’t have asked for a better weekend together.

Golf world reacts to successful return of Tiger Woods, stellar play of son Charlie Woods in PNC Championship (msn.com)

Tiger Woods, son Charlie’ fall just short in special week at PNC (msn.com)
John Daly: Tiger Woods Is ‘Probably Gonna Beat Jack Nicklaus’s Record’
Tiger Woods takes first step toward his biggest comeback yet (msn.com)

Highlights | Round 2 | PNC Championship | 2021 – Bing video

Charlie’s First Eagle from last year: Tiger and Charlie Woods’
team highlights from PNC Championship | 2020 – Bing video

Tiger Woods Adorably Twins With Son Charlie
as He Returns to Golf After His Car Crash (msn.com)
Inside the Mind of World #1 Golfer Jon Rahm
3 Days After Winning the 2021 US Open | The JUMP 2021
Phil Mickelson on Feherty Full Interview – Bing video
John Daly – “Tee the Ball Up” by DJ Steve Porter – YouTube
My Life – John Daly | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
(2013) John Daly on Feherty Full Interview – Bing video
John Daly music – Bing video
Hit It Hard – YouTube
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Tiger’s Comeback

Reliving Tiger Woods’ 16-year-old pro debut at Riviera | Golf Channel

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Ten times he has teed it up at Riviera, including his very first start in a PGA TOUR event as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992.

Ten times he has gone home empty.
For Tiger Woods, that’s the most starts he has made on a single course on the PGA TOUR without a win. It’s an odd footnote in a career that includes 79 TOUR wins – and made even more perplexing given his Southern California roots and affinity for this historic layout. “I love the golf course, I love the layout, it fits my eye – and I play awful. It’s very simple,” Woods said Tuesday while prepping for this week’s Genesis Open.

“It’s just one of those weird things.”
To be fair, Tiger’s definition of “awful” is different from how the rest of us might perceive it. His track record certainly is not bad – a tie for second in 1999 and six other top-20 finishes in those 10 starts at The Riv. (Incidentally, his best finish in this event came in 1998 when he lost in a playoff to Billy Mayfair at Valencia Country Club.)  The only times he’s missed the cut at Riviera was his two amateur starts in 1992-93. 
He also had to withdraw after 36 holes in his last appearance in 2006 because of the flu. Prior to that 2006 start, he told the media that he would “be seriously upset if I went my whole career and never won this tournament. It’s one of the oldest events on our TOUR, it’s played every year on one of our best courses. It always attracts a strong field.

“These are exactly the tournaments you want to win.”
And yet it took him 12 years to return to The Riv. It’s a tight course that generally favors shot-makers – it is, after all, one of Hogan’s Alleys, along with Colonial in Fort Worth, a course that Woods has not played since 1997. But Woods insisted Tuesday that his prolonged absence had nothing to do with the layout. “This is a whole new game – everything’s bigger now,” he said. “The bunkers are deeper; they seem to be bigger. The greens have gotten more pin locations than I remember. 
“I forgot how much tug there is down towards the ocean,” Woods said. “A couple putts I hit just in a practice round here, I misread probably about three or four of them. I forgot how much it tugs. So those are some of the things I’ve got to remember about this event and this golf course.” And even Tiger admits his measure of success is not solely based on winning, at least not right now. 

Tiger crashed on his way to Riviera Golf Course –
Tiger Woods suffers multiple leg injuries in single-car crash.
Woods is in hospital after a horrific car crash yesterday,
Tiger Woods Injury Updates Surgeons Explain,

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The golf legend was cut from the wreckage of his car and hauled out of the windscreen by firefighters. Woods’ injuries are not as serious as those sustained by Hogan – but they are serious enough.

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Sportscaster Jim Gray reacts to Tiger Woods’ hospitalization after serious car crash.

After he was cut from the wreckage of his car and hauled out of the windscreen by firefighters, the 15-time Major champion underwent what was described on his Twitter feed as a ‘long surgical procedure on his lower right leg and ankle’. The most serious problem facing his surgeon, Dr Anish Mahajan was the fact that the fractures to his right leg were comminuted – which means the bones were broken in more than two pieces.
Dr Anish commented: “Comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia. “Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins.”

That sounds ominous, especially as golfers place so much strain on their ankles through impact – and Woods has already had to overcome five back operations, the same number of knee ops, and a torn Achilles tendon. His latest operation – to remove a disc fragment from the area of the spine where he had two discs fused together in make-or-break surgery – was carried out just a few weeks ago.

Tiger Woods shows off his golf swing in a video following February car crash.
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David Facey 8:02 ET, Feb 24, 2021, Updated: 14:08 ET, Feb 24, 2021.

IRON WILL Incredible story of Ben Hogan who cheated death in car crash similar to Tiger Woods before going on to win six majors
GOLF LOVERS will be hoping Tiger Woods can add to his ‘Iron Man’ status, and match the incredible recovery achieved by one of his boyhood idols, Ben Hogan.
Hogan the 15-time Major champion underwent surgery on his lower right leg and ankle Credit: The Mega Agency
But he came back from a shattered pelvis, busted ribs, a broken collarbone and near-fatal blood clots to win six more Majors, taking his total to nine.
Ben Hogan – Wikipedia Hogan was almost killed when his car was hit head-on by a Greyhounds bus in February 1949.

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Tiger Woods will be hoping to take inspiration from his hero Ben Hogan (above) on his road to recovery. He came back from a shattered pelvis, busted ribs, a broken collarbone and near-fatal blood clots. Hogan went on to win six more Majors to take his tally to nine after his accident.

Ben Hogan’s recovery from his horrific 1949 car crash offers perspective into Tiger Woods’ future. By Dave Shedloski – Feb 26, 2021

(Original Caption) Golf champion Ben Hogan is lifted from a train which brought him to his hometown to recuperate from a near fatal auto accident. He was hospitalized in early February. All the while when Tiger Woods returned to the Masters in 2018 after a two-year absence because of chronic back problems, expectations for him still were remarkably high to the point that he had to interject in his pre-tournament interview, “I have four rounds to play, so let’s just slow down a bit.”  
Tiger wasn’t biting. He could smell the hyperbole from the podium. Plus, he knows his golf history. So his response was definitive and dutifully respectful to a man who returned from a near-fatal automobile accident to win six of his nine career major championships, including the triple crown in 1953. He knows the story of Ben Hogan.

“I think that one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport is the gentleman who won here, Mr. Hogan,” Woods said. “I mean, he got hit by a bus and came back and won major championships. The pain he had to endure, the things he had to do just to play, the wrapping of the legs, all the hot tubs and just … how hard it was for him to walk, period. … That’s one of the greatest comebacks there is, and it happens to be in our sport.”
Woods understood that he hadn’t walked in Hogan’s shoes. But now, sadly, scarily, he faces a comeback equally daunting—or perhaps even more so—after suffering severe leg injuries in a one-car accident Tuesday in California. That Woods survived the horrific crash is something of a miracle, but then, the same could be said for Hogan.

MORE: Doctors offer insight into what’s next for Tiger Woods
It happened in the early morning hours of Feb. 2, 1949, Groundhog Day. On a fog-shrouded, ice-covered road 37 miles west of Van Horn, Texas, a Greyhound bus collided head-on with a recently purchased black Cadillac sedan carrying the sinewy Texan and his wife, Valerie. The couple was returning home to Fort Worth from Phoenix, where Hogan had lost a playoff to fellow Texan Jimmy Demaret. Indisputably, he was the top player in the game, having already won twice in January after a 10-win season in 1948 that included the money title and Vardon Trophy. In all, he had collected 37 titles since the end of World War II.
Because he had just begun to cross a small bridge on Highway 80, Hogan had no room to avert the oncoming 20,000-pound bus, which had just passed a truck and was still occupying the eastbound lane. Driving an estimated 25 mph because of the fog and ice, Hogan jerked the car as far to the right as he could and then dove across the body of his wife as the bus barreled down on them at close to 50 mph. That gesture of gallantry turned out to be a lifesaving move for both of them.

Valerie, who was protected by her husband from being ejected through the front windshield, sustained minor injuries. But Ben, the reigning U.S. Open and PGA champion, was hurt severely. He suffered a broken left ankle, contusions to his left leg, a broken collarbone, a cracked rib, a double fracture of the pelvis, a head abrasion and internal injuries. Even so, he escaped certain death, as the engine of his car had pushed into the steering column, which in turn was propelled through the driver’s seat.
It took an hour to extricate Hogan from the wreckage and 90 minutes before an ambulance arrived. In the confusion, no one had immediately called for assistance. “Ben couldn’t understand why no one was coming to help us,” Valerie said later. He complained most about the pain in his mangled left leg.

Initially, doctors weren’t certain Hogan would survive, and if he did, they couldn’t be sure he’d ever walk again. Returning to top-tier competitive golf seemed like an impossibility for the 1948 “Golfer of the Year,” the first man since Gene Sarazen in 1922 to win the national open and PGA Championship in the same year.
© Provided by Golf Digest Ben Hogan’s recovery from his horrific 1949 car crash offers perspective into Tiger Woods’ future
Ben Hogan spent 59 days in an El Paso hospital after the accident before returning to his home, surviving a scare a month into his recovery when a blood clot traveled to his lung.

MORE: Tiger Woods’ car crash adds cruel twist to unreal saga
He spent 59 days in an El Paso hospital, but a month into his stay,
Hogan took a turn for the worse when blood clots began to form in his left leg and one broke off and invaded his right lung. Despite his doctors’ best efforts, more clots formed, and Hogan’s condition became grave.
A specialist from Tulane University in New Orleans, Dr. Alton Ochsner, was brought in, and he didn’t waste time. During a two-hour procedure, the vascular surgeon tied off the vena cava, the main vein that delivers blood from the lower extremities to the heart. Because of that, Hogan would endure severe pain and circulatory problems in his legs the rest of his life. He wrapped them in ace bandages every day, and he soaked them in hot water and Epsom salt after every round. Just as Tiger had said.
Though he didn’t have the benefit of the medical advances available today to Woods, Hogan was only 36 years old at the time, physically fit and without a history of injuries. Woods is 45, only months removed from his fifth back surgery and has undergone numerous surgeries on his right knee, the leg most severely damaged in the rollover crash.
Hogan arrived home on April 1, and as ambulance attendants carried him to the front door of his home, Valerie said, “I want you to see the redbuds in the yard. See them?”
“I see them. They’re wonderful,” he replied, smiling. “It’s great to be back.”

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Ben Hogan stood next to his car that was totaled in his horrific 1949 accident: In May, Hogan was back on a golf course, but only as a spectator at Dallas Athletic Club, where he watched Byron Nelson and other friends in the Texas PGA. He told reporters he was able to walk about three holes and feared that of all the injuries, his broken collarbone was the most worrisome. 
“It wasn’t broken in a place where it can grow back easily,” he said. “I wonder if it will ever permit me to swing a golf club right again.” He improved well enough in the succeeding months to fulfill his duties as U.S. Ryder Cup captain at Ganton Golf Club in England in September and caused a minor kerfuffle by his decision to ensure his team was sufficiently fed by bringing with them nearly a ton of beef, ham and bacon.

The Americans rallied in singles for a 7-5 victory.
© Provided by Golf Digest 517403838
Hogan was well enough to fulfill his duties as 1949 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, leading his team to victory at Ganton Golf Club in England.

MORE: Revisiting Tiger Woods’ injuries through the years
It wasn’t until Saturday, Dec. 10 that Hogan was able to play his first 18 holes, touring Colonial Country Club with head pro Raymond Gafford. He did not reveal a score, but said only, “I didn’t hit them very well.” Which made the events one month later truly astonishing? Returning to competitive golf at the Los Angeles Open at friendly Riviera Golf Course, where he had won the U.S. Open (and where, coincidentally, Woods now hosts a PGA Tour event that ended two days before his accident), Hogan somehow played well enough to take the lead thanks to a final-round 69. 
But Sam Snead birdied his final two holes for a five-under 66 to tie Hogan at four-under 280.
His legs aching and weak, Hogan rued the thought of an 18-hole playoff, but he got a reprieve when heavy rains, which already had pushed the tournament into Tuesday, forced further postponement of the playoff by a week, to the following Wednesday. It didn’t matter. Snead emerged with the victory, shooting 72 to Hogan’s 76 and ruining a fairytale ending. But Hogan would go on to author a more incredible story a few months later by defeating Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio in an 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open at Merion.
© Provided by Golf Digest514967340
Sixteen months after the accident, Hogan held off Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio in a three-way 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open, the first of six more majors he’d claim during the remainder of his career.

MORE: The untold stories of Tiger Woods
The “mechanical man,” as he was known in the press, was just 16 months removed from the accident, and he would add five more majors: two Masters, two more U.S. Open titles and the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie that completed his triple-crown season. He arrived home to a ticker-tape parade.
Because of his chronic leg problems, Hogan competed only sporadically after the accident. Thus, only 11 of his 64 career titles came after 1949, the last, fittingly, at the 1959 Colonial National Invitation in Fort Worth. Though still a phenomenal player, Hogan lamented that his game “was not as good as before. I was better in 1948 and 1949 than I ever was.”
A postscript: The driver of the greyhound bus that struck the Hogan car was a man named Alvin H. Logan, who stood trial in Van Horn for aggravated assault for his role in the accident. Logan, 27, insisted that Hogan had crossed the median and was skidding sideways towards the bus preceding the collision. Investigators, however, determined that the bus was almost fully on the left side of the road at the moment of head-on impact. At the time of the trial, in mid-June, Logan already had left the Greyhound Bus Company following his involvement in another accident that resulted in one fatality. Logan was found guilty of the aggravated assault charge. He paid a fine of $25.

What Is Hogan’s Alley in Golf?
Ben Hogan obviously did walk again and that became one of the biggest parts of his rehab process. He slowly began resuming golf activities in the ensuing months and made his glorious return to the PGA Tour in January 1950 at the Los Angeles Open at famed Riviera Country Club. And, magically, he nearly won the tournament but lost to fellow legend Sam Snead in a playoff. But there was certainly more magic to come.
Five months later, just 16 months after the accident that nearly killed him, Ben Hogan won the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia and hit one of the most famous shots in golf history en route to victory. Tied for the lead on the 72nd hole, Hogan hit a 1-iron into the green at the difficult 18th, which produced one of the most iconic photographs in sports history, and two-putted his way into an 18-hole playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio.

Hogan was the only player to shoot under par in the playoff, firing a 1-under 69 to win by four over Mangrum and six over Fazio to secure his second U.S. Open and fourth major championship. 

Ben Hogan Was Told He Might Never Walk Again Following a Near-Fatal Car Accident and Won the U.S. Open 16 Months Later (sportscasting.com)

And there was still even more magic to come.
He went on to win 10 more times on the PGA Tour, including five additional major championships
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Ben Hogan at the 1950 U.S. Open – Bing

The famous U.S. Open win at Merion was Ben Hogan’s only victory of the 1950 PGA Tour season but it certainly wasn’t the final victory of his career. In 1951, he won The Masters for the first time and won a second consecutive U.S. Open, also winning the World Championship of Golf. The following year, he earned his third win at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, the same course that honors him to this day with a statue just outside the clubhouse.
Then, of course, there was that magical 1953 season in which he became the first (and still the only) player to win The Masters, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship in the same calendar year. His victory at The Open, which was actually the only time he played the tournament in his entire career, made him just the second player in history — Gene Sarazen was the first — to win the career Grand Slam.

Since then, only Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods have joined the highly exclusive club. Hogan won two other PGA Tour events in 1953 and one last one in 1959, naturally at Colonial. His 64 wins are good for fourth on the PGA Tour’s all-time victory list and his nine major championships also rank fourth (tied with Player). After nearly losing his life at age 36, Ben Hogan lived to be 84 years old before passing away on July 25, 1997. Valerie passed two years later.

Tiger Woods Returns to Competitive Golf with
His Son By His Side Since Horrific Car Accident (msn.com)

Tiger Woods has played down expectations ahead of his return
to competitive golf this weekend. 2021-2022 PGA TOUR Schedule.pdf
Woods is partnering 12-year-old son Charlie at the PNC Championship, 10 months on from a life-threatening car accident that left the 15-time major winner needing surgery on multiple leg injuries. Team Woods tee off on Saturday afternoon alongside Justin Thomas and his dad Mike in the first round of the 36-hole scramble event, which sees professional golfers’ team up with a family member in Orlando.
Having practiced with Woods, Mike Thomas had said it was “crazy how good he’s hitting it and (how) far he’s hitting it”, but the 45-year-old warned spectators to not expect much from him. I’m just starting to get back into trying to play again, so I don’t quite have the endurance that I would like to have,” he said ahead of his first competitive round of golf since 2020. “I’ve still got the hands, I’ve still the feel. Unfortunately, sometimes the feel doesn’t really match up with the speed or the shot that I’m seeing. 

The ball is not quite flying as far as I’d like, or I’m used to. “(My swing is) just not as powerful. I just don’t have the speed. I can’t generate the speed (I’m) used to, and you know, the body is not what it used to be. “Obviously it’s been a little banged up this year, and slowly but surely I’ll get to where the speed will start coming back up, and I can start hitting the shots that I know that I see that just aren’t quite coming off.”
Tiger last played competitively December 20 in last year’s PNC Championship. This year’s event takes place this Friday, December 17 through Sunday, December 19 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida. This is the 24th edition of the event which was formerly known as the PNC Father-Son Challenge through 2019. 

Tiger’s recovery from the crash has been “incredible,” a PEOPLE insider shared in the current issue. “Early on after the accident he was just so incredibly focused on physical therapy. Nothing was easy for him. He was in pain. He felt weak. He just never complained or gave up.”

RELATED: Tiger Woods’ ‘Positive Attitude and Dedication’ Helped ‘Remarkable’ Recovery After Crash: Source

Throughout it all, his children — Charlie, and daughter Sam, 14, with ex Elin Nordegren — have “been a huge motivation for him,” according to the insider.
Overall, his recovery has “exceeded expectations” and Woods is “very pleased” to play with Charlie, another golf source shared previously. “He has worked long and hard to recover and has done well because of his positive attitude and dedication,” added the source. Read the original article on People

 How many days since Tigers accidents?  238 days 
Tiger Woods will make his highly anticipated competitive return to golf this weekend pairing up with his 12-year-old son Charlie. Woods, who sustained major injuries to his right leg in a February car accident near Los Angeles, has not competed since last year’s edition of the PNC Championship (December 2020) where Team Woods placed seventh.

Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods will tee off at 12:18 pm ET in Saturday’s first round of the 2021 PNC Championship. Check out Golf Channel for the latest news and updates surrounding the tournament. See below for additional information on how to watch/live stream the 2021 PNC Championship.

RELATED: Could Tiger be unveiling a new TaylorMade driver at PNC Championship?
How to watch the 2021 PNC Championship: Tiger Woods’ tee time, live stream, TV Channel (msn.com)

Tiger Woods Twins w/ Son, 12, In First Golf Tournament Since Crash – YouTube
This year’s field features 20 teams in the field for the ninth consecutive year—an increase from 18 teams in 2012. 

2021 PNC Championship field
Bubba Watson & Wayne Ball |David Duval & Brady Duval | Gary Player & Jordan Player
Henrik Stenson & Karl Stenson | Jim Furyk & Tanner Furyk| John Daly & Little John Daly
Justin Thomas & Mike Thomas | Lee Trevino & Daniel Trevino | Mark O’Meara & Shaun O’Meara
Matt Kuchar & Cameron Kuchar | Nelly Korda & Petr Korda | Nick Faldo & Matthew Faldo
Nick Price & Greg Price | Padraig Harrington & Paddy Harrington | Rich Beem & Michael Beem
Stewart Cink & Reagan Cink | Tom Lehman & Sean Lehman | Tom Watson & Michael Watson
Tiger Woods & Charlie Woods | Vijay Singh & Qass Singh
The 2021 PNC Championship will be played at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Grande Lakes, Dec. 16-19.

Golf fans react to Henrik Stenson’s 11-year-old son’s INCREDIBLE SWING | Golf Magic
Two years after accident, Oregon coach Casey Martin has right leg amputated | Golf Channel

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/us/tiger-woods-car-accident-what-we-know-intl-spt/index.
Lee Trevino chats up Tiger and Charlie Woods, shares most feared shot.
A Closer Look at How Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods’ Golf Swings Are Different

Charlie Woods looks just like dad Tiger in sinking birdie putt (msn.com)
Look: Video Of Charlie Woods’ Incredible Putt Is Going Viral (msn.com)

Tiger Returns to Pro-Am, Cameras Come with Him, Power Off Tee Does Not
Tigers and Charlies Similar Mannerisms – Bing video
Casey Martin golfer – Bing

WATCH: Nelly Korda Meets Tiger Woods for First Time in Most Relatable Video Of 2021 (msn.com)

Watch: Nelly Korda turns into the ultimate fan girl in asking Tiger Woods for a photo (msn.com)

Nelly Korda gets her photo with Tiger Woods as Tiger praises Nelly

Golf World Reacts to Major Tiger Woods Development (msn.com)

Tiger Woods returns, flashing moments of his old form and grimaces of his new reality

Tiger Woods Can Handle This Father-Son Exhibition, but Future Return to PGA Tour Remains Uncertain (msn.com)

Tiger Woods and son Charlie at the PNC Championship (msn.com)

When will Tiger Woods play on again? Lee Trevino says he knows

Tiger Woods is enjoying everything at the PNC Championship

PNC Championship 2020 Leaderboard | Golf Channel

Tiger Speaks After Saturday – Bing

Like Father, Like Son

Tiger Woods, son Charlie fall just short of John Daly, John Daly II in PNC Championship

Photo: Awesome Moment Between Tiger, Charlie Woods Going Viral (thespun.com)

Tiger Woods’ 12-year-old son Charlie steals the show at PNC Championship.

Sports World Reacts To Charlie Woods’ Sunday Performance (msn.com)

Tigers Charlies Highlights at the 2021 PNC Championship – Bing

How much each team won at the 2021 PNC Championship.

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A lithium-rich extinct Super volcano

Plans To Dig the Biggest Lithium Mine in the US Face Mounting Opposition. By  Cayte Bosler – Bing November 7, 2021

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Nevada—Deep below the tangled roots of the old-growth sagebrush of Thacker Pass, in an extinct super-volcano, lies one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a key element for the transition to clean energy. But above ground, a cluster of tents has risen in the Northern Nevada desert where, for eight months, environmental and tribal activists are protesting plans to mine it for “green” technologies.

Resistance to Lithium Americas’ plans to dig an element critical to the energy transition at Nevada’s Thacker Pass shows that “clean” energy could face the same challenges as fossil fuels. 
“We are not leaving until this project is canceled,” said Max Wilbert, of the Protect Thacker Pass campaign. “If need be, this will come down to direct action. We mean to put ourselves in between the machines and this place.” Plans to dig for the element known as “white gold” have encountered a surge of resistance from tribes, ranchers, residents and activists who say they believe the repercussions of the mine will outweigh the lithium’s contributions to the nation’s transition to less-polluting energy sources than fossil fuels.

The opponents view lithium extraction as the latest gold rush, and fear
that the desperation to abate the climate crisis is driving a race into avoidable environmental degradation. The flawed assumption behind the “clean energy transition,” they argue, is that it can maintain levels of consumption that are inherently unsustainable. “We want people to understand that ‘clean energy’
is not clean,” Wilbert said. “We’re here because our allegiance is to the land.
It’s not for cars. It’s not a high-energy, modern lifestyle. It’s to this place.”

Proponents of the mine maintain its potential to address climate change and develop a rich domestic economy around a resource that is currently produced almost entirely outside the United States justify its environmental consequences and potential burden on local communities. Most mainstream environmental organizations and activists, while recognizing the significant environmental burdens from mining for elements required for the energy transition, see them as necessary to wean the world off of the fossil fuels that are driving global warming.

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Lithium is essential for batteries to power electric vehicles (EVs) and to store energy produced by renewable but intermittent sources like wind and solar. But getting it can have environmental impacts that draw similar pushbacks to those associated with the extraction of fossil fuels—a conundrum that is taking center stage as the mining of minerals critical to new energy technologies comes to the U.S. in a major way for the first time.

“The tension between the local environmental and social impacts of mining and the demand for critical minerals is a worldwide problem, not just a challenge in the USA,” said Elizabeth Moses, Environmental Rights and Justice Associate with the Center for Equitable Development at the World Resources Institute.

Troubles around the Thacker Pass mine echo global conflicts over mineral extraction for renewable energy that are almost certain to grow with the world’s transition to clean energy and its rapid electrification of the transportation sector in particular. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a cobalt rush has brought human rights violations, child labor and dangerously tunnel-riddled neighborhoods. In Chile, lithium mining is stressing the water Indigenous peoples and native wildlife depend on in the Atacama desert. And in the once-pristine Arctic surrounding Norilsk, Russia, nickel production has turned rivers red, killed vast forests and darkened skies with the worst sulfur dioxide pollution in the world.

Some energy transition critics see these as harbingers of a new wave of green-energy driven ecocide—wanton, widespread destruction of the environment. Legal scholars and environmental activists are currently campaigning for the International Criminal Court in the Hague to take up ecocide as the fifth crime it would prosecute, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
At the Thacker Pass camp, activists who call themselves “radical environmentalists” hope that addressing these challenges will press nations to choose to drastically reduce car and electricity use to meet their climate goals rather than develop mineral reserves to sustain lifestyles that require more energy. 

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Will Falk at Protect Thacker Pass base camp. Credit: Max Wilbert

Controversial Development in a Contested Landscape.
In January 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the Thacker Pass Lithium Project, granting Lithium Americas, a multinational company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and its subsidiary, Lithium Nevada, the exclusive rights to mine there. Soon afterward, Will Falk, an environmental lawyer representing local tribes, and Max Wilbert, an organizer, set up an encampment at the site of the proposed mine.

The activists are allied with the local Paiute-Shoshone tribes, ranchers and concerned residents. Hundreds of supporters gather at the protest camp for events such as native-led “prayer runs” through towns and rural landscapes to finish at the pass.

Despite its name, and the fact that it is also developing a lithium mine in Argentina, Lithium Americas’ majority stakeholder is China’s Ganfeng Lithium, the world’s largest producer of the element.

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Max Wilbert, an author and activist protesting the proposed lithium mine,
near the protest camp at Thacker Pass, Nevada on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Credit: Spenser Heaps.

The proposed project spans 17,933 acres that would hold an open-pit mine and a sulfuric acid plant to process lithium from the raw ore. The mine is expected to have a lifespan of at least 46 years. The mine operations at Thacker Pass will emit 152,713 tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to the emissions of a small city, according to its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). It is expected to consume 1.7 billion gallons of water each year—500,000 gallons of water for each ton of lithium—in an arid region that is experiencing worsening droughts.
According to Bloomberg NEF, global demand for lithium chemicals will reach nearly 700,000 tons a year by 2025. Thacker Pass is expected to produce 60,000 tons a year. 
Lithium Americas claims they have established Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards to meet the world’s increasing demand for sustainability in business, but they do not specify their measures or methodologies for them. A representative for the company commented by email that “Thacker Pass is designed to meet or exceed all state and federal requirements during construction, operation, and reclamation,” and will meet limitations on air and water pollution, which were assessed in the FEIS required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Opponents engaged in ongoing litigation against the project claim the FEIS was rushed and failed to meet obligations specified under NEPA.

“Places like Thacker Pass are what gets sacrificed to create that so-called clean energy,” Wilbert said. “It is easy to say the sacrifice is justifiable if you do not live here.” Wilbert rejects claims that such trade-offs are necessary for the greater good.
“I look at this as the paradox of green growth,” said Chris Berry, an independent energy analyst who is on the Lithium Americas board. “There is no free lunch. To do this, I half-jokingly say that everyone is going to be unhappy. We have to get over the NIMBY mindset.”
Moses, at the World Resources Institute in Washington, sees the roots of such opposition as more complex. “Historically mining communities have lacked access to information or been denied a voice in policy decisions despite having the legal right to engage in most countries,” she said. “Overall, we need better transparency and accountability across the entire supply chain to ensure that mining communities aren’t asked to bear the brunt of the transition to the net-zero carbon economy. These communities need our support, including targeted tools and strategies that ensure they can protect their environment, cultural traditions and livelihoods.” 

Newfound Enthusiasm for EVs, But Some Question Their Benefits
Whatever processes are required, the demand for lithium is most likely immutable. “Lithium mining is going to happen somewhere [in the U.S.],” said Ian Lange, associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines who served as Senior Economic Advisor to the Trump Administration. “If not Thacker Pass, it’ll be another place.” 
In President Biden’s February 2021 Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains, the administration vowed to bring back more manufacturing and mining to the United States as part of its effort to develop lithium-ion batteries. The order said the administration would work to identify domestic sites where “critical” minerals could be mined and Congress to increase funding for the U.S. Geological Survey to map such resources. Currently, the majority of the world’s lithium is mined in Australia and South America, and more than 97 percent of it is refined in China.
 
President Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes $174 billion to promote electric vehicles and EV charging stations. In March, The U.S. Department of Energy announced policy actions to scale up a domestic manufacturing supply chain for advanced battery materials and technologies including a commitment of 24.5 million toward research and development of new private-public partnerships that “will focus on linking raw materials processing with supply chains and cell manufacturing, aiming to reduce battery costs,” said Michael Berube, deputy assistant secretary for sustainable transportation in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in a recent webinar.
In August, President Biden announced plans to sign a non-binding Executive Order calling for electric vehicles to make up 40-50 percent of new auto sales in the United States by 2030, and he has called the government’s investment in EVs a “race for the future.”
In addition to creating jobs, the investment is part of the administration’s efforts to combat climate change. By 2030, the administration is committed to reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent from 2005 levels. Transportation contributes almost 30 percent of those—the largest direct source among all U.S. sectors—with cars and light-duty trucks responsible for 59 percent of vehicle emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.

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Thacker Pass in Northern Nevada sits on one of the largest known lithium resources in the world. Credit: Max Wilbert
 
It is also on frontlines in an energy battle: Is it worth sacrificing this rare sagebrush habitat in order to make batteries for electric vehicles?

But despite the reduction in emissions that the widespread adoption of EVs would bring, the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice at the University of San Diego, an organization of concerned scientists who monitor harms to communities from mining, opposes the electrification of transportation. Their analysis shows that in order to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide at 450 ppm by 2050—parts of gas per million parts of air—industrialized countries’ greenhouse gas emissions would have to decrease by 80 percent. Electric cars, the center’s researchers concluded, would achieve just 6 percent of that target, leading them to argue that driving electric vehicles is not a radical enough behavioral change to significantly slow climate change.
Exactly how much CO2 electric cars save compared to combustion cars is calculated based on the amount of CO2 emitted when electricity is produced or fuel is burned, as well as the emissions of the resource extraction for batteries. A Department of Energy-funded a life cycle analysis (LCA) by the Argonne National Laboratory looking at this scope with both types of vehicles found electric vehicles must travel approximately 13,500 miles before they become “cleaner” than a comparable vehicle burning fossil fuels.

A similar study was done by the nonprofit European Federation for Transport and Environment and concluded that “electric cars in Europe emit, on average, three times less CO2 than equivalent petrol/diesel cars.” Differences in life cycle assessment for electric cars result from the varying ways electricity is generated for the power grids that the vehicles plug into in different countries, as well as where the vehicles’ batteries are sourced. 
Globally, fewer than 1 percent of passenger cars on the road today are electric, but analysts at IHS Markit project that by 2035, they may make up a quarter of all new sales and 13 percent of vehicles on the road as gasoline cars are phased out. 

Unusual Hazards Lead to Legal Actions. 
There is a litany of concerns about the plans to build a lithium mine at Thacker Pass, with the various groups opposing it highlighting different issues. For many locals, the biggest concern is Lithium Americas’ plans to build a plant at the mine site that will convert molten sulfur into sulfuric acid, which is used to leech the lithium from the raw ore. 
Every day the operation would burn hundreds of tons of sulfur trucked in from as far away as the Alberta oil sands. Residents are concerned about the possibility of accidents and spills along the narrow highway between Winnemucca and Thacker Pass, which would be traveled by an estimated 75 tractor-trailers a day. Spills of molten sulfur in places like Florida and Washington state have seeped into the ground and permeated the air, while sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide worsen asthma and contribute to particulate matter linked to heart and lung disease. 

Daranda Hinckey, secretary of People of Red Mountain, poses for a photo at Peehee Mu’huh, or Thacker Pass, Nevada, on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Hinckey has rallied fellow tribe members around opposition to the proposed lithium mine, citing her people’s sacred ties to the land. Credit: Spenser Heaps
Daranda Hinckey, secretary of People of Red Mountain,
poses for a photo at Peehee Mu’huh, or Thacker Pass, Nevada, 

On Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Hinckey has rallied fellow tribe members around opposition to the proposed lithium mine, citing her people’s sacred ties to the land. Credit: Spenser Heaps
Locals voiced their fears about emissions from the sulfuric acid plant in public meetings held by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, but Jeff Kinder, chief engineer in the Bureau of Air Pollution Control at NDEP, said he believes state standards will provide adequate protection to nearby residents.
“The company will be required to do continuous emission monitoring,” he said. 
Many locals like Jennifer Cantley, an organizer with Mom’s Clean Air Force, a Nevada group that works with politicians to safeguard against pollution, said she believes any contaminated air from the plant is too much. “It scares me how quickly they did this,” she said. “This is my home. This will affect my family. I can’t let up.”
“The enormous piles of waste that would be dumped from the use of sulfur makes the fact that they call this a ‘green project’ really bizarre,” rancher Edward Bartell said. The most hazardous waste from the sulfur plant would be transported to Clean Harbors, a disposal facility located in Reno, according to the FEIS. The tailings from the mining waste—about 353 million tons—would be placed in a permanent lined storage facility on-site, according to the FEIS.

But the sulfur is just one of Bartell’s problems with the mine.
In early February 2021, Bartell, who owns 50,000 acres of property adjacent to Thacker Pass, sued the BLM alleging the mine violates the Endangered Species Act and NEPA. His complaint, filed in Nevada’s U.S. District Court, alleges that the mine could reduce streamflow enough to endanger Lahontan cutthroat trout, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as a threatened species—and the BLM failed to consult the USFWS about that possibility, the complaint says.
“There’s been an enormous concern with protecting cutthroat trout, with the BLM not allowing cattle to graze near the stream,” Bartell said of rules he had to follow to safeguard the fish. He said when the mine was proposed, the BLM reclassified the stream as “ephemeral,” meaning it doesn’t flow all the time, which allowed it and its fish to receive different protections than they had previously. The baseline data recorded in the FEIS did not accurately portray how the stream flows, he said, complaining that there are no long-term gauges to monitor it. 

A view looking toward Kings River Valley, Nevada over grids of exploratory wells in the area Lithium Americas plans to mine. Credit: Chris Boyer/Kestrel Aerial Services
A view of Kings River Valley, Nevada over grids of exploratory wells in the area Lithium Americas plans to mine.  Credit: Chris Boyer/Kestrel Aerial Services.

His lawsuit claims that approval of the Thacker Pass Mine was “based on a Final Environmental Impact Statement that was inaccurate, incomplete and contained misrepresented data.” It cites an Environmental Protection Agency letter to the BLM from January 2021 that criticized the BLM’s failure to analyze impacts on water quality and ensure that mine operations didn’t violate water quality standards. According to the BLM’s FEIS, Lithium Americas plans to pump 1.7 million gallons of water from the aquifer each year, which could leave less water to support the grasslands Bartell’s cattle graze. 
The lawsuit also cites EPA predictions that toxic water with high levels of uranium, mercury, arsenic and more than a dozen other contaminants could seep into groundwater from the tailings and other mine waste.

According to the EPA letter, “…the plans are not developed with an adequate level of detail to assess whether or how groundwater quality downgradient from the pit would be effectively mitigated.”
The sulfur compounds could degrade water quality both underground and, in the air, said Dr. Alexander More, a professor of environmental health at Long Island University. “As the EPA pointed out, the list of expected toxic water pollutants is clearly no one’s favorite recipe,” more said. “These are all major components of acid rain. In a drought region, the groundwater risks being polluted by toxic metals, while whatever little rain the area may receive will be polluted by acid emissions, which will impact farming and drinking water, not to mention the wildlife and plants. And the projected greenhouse gas emissions are no joke either.” 

Sacred Space and Critical Habitat
Bartell’s lawsuit is not the only one attempting to stop the mine. In late February 2021, four regional environmental nonprofits—the Western Watersheds Project, Great Basin Resource Watch, Basin and Range Watch and Wildlands Defense—filed suit against the Department of the Interior, BLM and Ester McCullough, district manager for the BLM’s Winnemucca office. The lawsuit claims that the project does not comply with the Resource Management Plan in Thacker Pass for greater sage grouse—a ground-dwelling bird on the verge of being listed as threatened whose populations have fallen into decline in areas with other types of energy development. 
The greater sage grouse is just one of the species that will be impacted by the mine, said Terry Crawforth, former director for the Nevada Wildlife Department. From his porch in the Kings River Valley, he gestures toward inactive “sleeper” mines in the Montana Mountains that are still considered toxic after their operators failed to clean them up.

“When ducks fly over and touch down, they are dead the next morning,” he said. He fears more of the same from Lithium Americas. “The way the mine is designed right now, it will destroy the local culture, especially if they suck up all the water and pollute it.”
Crawforth helped organize residents from Orovada and Kings River Valley into the Thacker Pass Concerned Citizens. He has arranged several meetings between them and Lithium Americas, largely over safety measures for traffic and the local school, in a process facilitated by Collaborative Decision Resources Associates, a mediation firm for “contentious” land projects. 
“Of course, if we thought there was a chance to halt the mine, we would try,” Crawforth said. But “it is inevitable,” he said, and negotiating to reduce the harms of the project is their only available recourse now.

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“We’ve been here for over 100 days, and we’re not leaving until this project is canceled,” said Max Wilbert, one of the Protect Thacker Pass campaign leaders. Credit: Max Wilbert.

This area is “the last large sagebrush piece left for animals in Thacker Pass,”
he explained. According to Great Basin Resource Watch, it is an important linkup of wildlife habitats in the Double H Mountains and the Montana Mountains. The mine would degrade nearly 5,000 acres of pronghorn antelope winter range and 427 acres of their summer range, as well as sever two critical pronghorn migration corridors, according to the FEIS. It contains essential Greater sage-grouse habitat, golden eagle nests and it is the last known place where the Kings River pyrg, a rare spring snail, endures. “They will remove the habitat and with it many critters,”  Crawforth said.
Lithium Americas has responded to concerns about the mine’s impacts on wildlife with plans that include “advanced revegetation technologies” developed with the Greater Sagebrush Restoration Fund at the University of Nevada Reno and possible mitigations such as retrofitting utility poles to make them less likely to kill birds, and to reduce the productivity of a pair of golden eagles that nest in the area. 
 
Rulings in both lawsuits are expected in January 2022 by U.S. District Court Judge Miranda Du in Nevada. On Sept. 3, the judge denied a preliminary injunction requested by area tribes to halt archeological digging by a Lithium Nevada contractor to remove cultural artifacts that would be disturbed by the mine, following a BLM-approved plan. The tribes’ lawsuit alleged that the agency violated the National Historic Preservation Act in permitting the mine near a site where there is evidence of the massacre of at least three Paiutes by federal troops in 1865. Will Falk, the lead attorney in the case and a founder of Protect Thacker Pass, said the BLM did not attempt “good faith” consultations with those who hold the site sacred, and “handpicked” a few tribes that were suffering from the coronavirus pandemic knowing they’d struggle to respond.

Will Falk poses for a photo near the protest camp at Thacker Pass, Nevada on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Falk is the lead attorney for Indigenous groups suing the Bureau of Land Management over the proposed lithium mine and has been camping at the protest camp on-and-off since January. Credit: Spenser Heaps

Will Falk near the protest camp at Thacker Pass, Nevada on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. 
Falk is the lead attorney for Indigenous groups suing the Bureau of Land Management over the proposed lithium mine and has been camping at the protest camp on-and-off since January. Credit: Spenser Heaps  
“For Native Americans, this is a government-sanctioned way to loot our artifacts,” said Michon Eben, Cultural Resource Specialist for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. “The treatment plan is based on discriminatory language and is in direct disrespect to our history.” Tribal members are usually brought to the actual sites and digs to counsel on the whereabouts of artifacts and burial grounds and to help ease the overall disturbance, she said. 

“We did not hear about this mine until it was too late and none of our tribal members have been asked to advise at the time of digging,” Eben said. “What they are calling adequate consultation is the fact that the BLM sent three letters to three different tribes.” Eben noted there are at least 15 tribes that attach spiritual significance to Thacker Pass.
The Protect Thacker Pass campaign and People of the Red Mountain are calling on Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American cabinet secretary, to intervene. 
Alexi Zawadzki, president of North American operations for Lithium Americas, responded to the ruling in a statement: “Respecting the interests of Native American tribes is extremely important to us, which is why we have engaged with the Fort McDermitt Tribe since 2017…And, we’re just getting started. We are committed to working alongside anyone in the community.” 

A Rushed Process or a Race to Riches
With Lithium Americas promising cooperation, Kinder, at NDEP’s Bureau of Air Pollution Control, said that officials are used to working with mining executives. “We always have new industries coming,” he said, “And there are many regulations we have to get up to speed on, but this permitting process doesn’t feel that different from our normal course of business.”
But the environmental review process took less than a year to complete due, in part, to a Trump-era revision to the National Environmental Policy Act that put a 12-month cap on permitting reviews. According to research done by Cambridge University, the average Environmental Impact Statement is put together over the course of 3.4 years. The final leasing permit was issued in the last days of the Trump Administration.
The EIS process was also conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, which limited community meetings. Many locals said they didn’t learn about the proposed mine until the public commenting period had ended.

Most supporters of the project reside in Winnemucca, a city of about 7,500 people about an hour’s drive from Thacker Pass. Mining has long been a dominant employer there, and locals know the new project means jobs. The company predicts it will bring approximately 1,000 construction jobs to the region for two years and employ an operational staff of about 300. 
RV parks and temporary housing units line the edges of the small city.
These “man camps” fill up and empty out with the booms and busts of local mines. 
People of the Red Mountain, a group at the Fort McDermitt Reservation opposing the mine, said  in a press release: “This will lead to an increase in hard drugs, violence, rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking. The connection between man camps and missing and murdered indigenous women is well-established.”

County Commissioner Dave Mendiola sees lithium mining and clean-energy technology as a means to diversify the economy but sympathizes with opponents’ concerns. 
“I guess you can chain yourself to the fence like some of the protesters might do and I don’t blame them for that,” Mendiola said, “but in the end, as a company, if they’ve followed all the rules, you’re probably not going to stop it. What we can do as a county is monitor it and come up with ways to address problems now.”
Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Allen, a sixth-generation Nevadan, said he’s seen bar fights and drug crimes rise with the opening of mines and plans to increase patrols to deal with the potential influx of hundreds of lithium miners. But, he added, “there is no doubt in my mind we can call a meeting, and the company will hear what the community is saying.” 
At one of the community meetings held by the company in Orovada in April, Tim Crowley, the vice president of government and community relations for Lithium Americas’ Nevada division and the former head of the Nevada Mining Association, addressed the attendees. “Our goal is to be a good neighbor,” Crowley said. “We’re confident that there will be more development beyond the 46 years, so we will be here for a very long time. The only way to be a good neighbor is to listen to you and accommodate wherever we can.”

Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation is the nearest tribal community to the proposed mine, about 26 miles away. Representatives from Lithium Nevada approached the tribal council there in 2020—while the community was struggling with Covid—to initiate the “engagement agreement,” a process typically undertaken by mining companies operating on or near tribal lands. Maxine Redstar, then the tribal chairperson, said she hoped the mine would provide well-paid work for some of the roughly 340 people on the reservation.
“More than 40 members of the Fort McDermitt tribe have expressed interest in high-wage jobs that Thacker Pass will bring,” wrote Lithium Americas’ Zawadzki at the time.
But last March, the tribal council withdrew from the community engagement agreement with Lithium Nevada after being presented with a petition opposing the mine signed by the majority of the reservation members, according to Myron Smart, a reservation member and spiritual leader for the community. 
“The agreement with the company was signed by the council behind closed doors,” said a Fort McDermitt reservation member who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation. “Everything related to the mine was hushed up. The decisions of the council do not reflect the beliefs of the community.” The council did not return requests for comment.
People gather for a ceremony at Sentinel Rock, at Thacker Pass, Nevada on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. People of Red Mountain and other Indigenous groups gathered for the ceremonial remembrance of a massacre of Paiute people near the spot on Sept. 12, 1865. Credit: Spenser Heaps
People gather for a ceremony at Sentinel Rock, at Thacker Pass, Nevada on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. 

People of Red Mountain and other Indigenous groups gathered for the ceremonial remembrance of a massacre of Paiute people near the spot-on Sept. 12, 1865. Credit: Spenser Heaps. 
“We’ve always welcomed input from our neighbors, and in return, we strive to communicate regularly and openly about our progress at Thacker Pass,” Zawadzki wrote in response to the judge’s ruling allowing excavation of cultural sites to proceed. “It’s this neighborly approach to doing things right that will lead to cultural preservation, good jobs and exciting economic opportunity.”

For some tribal leaders, those promises ring hollow.
“Offering well-paying jobs at a lithium mine is like the coal miners in Virginia who had to breathe coal dust,” said Reno-Sparks Indian Colony Chairman Arlan D. Melendez. “If that’s the only job to feed your family, you’re going to take it even if it means sickness or a shorter lifespan. The greater situation of failing reservation economies has never been addressed other than with undesirable jobs that harm our health.”
With the failure of the tribes’ lawsuit, and uncertainty about those that will be decided in January, the coalition of tribal members, ranchers and environmentalists gathering at the Thacker Pass encampment expect protests against the lithium mine to escalate, and the backlash against the energy transition it would feed to grow.
“Electric cars simply cause a different sort of harm: instead of the Gulf Oil Spill, we have the bulldozing of an increasingly rare desert habitat,” wrote Wilbert, the Protect Thacker Pass organizer and author. “To save the planet, we have to stop destroying it. A wound is a wound is a wound.”
CNN’s Rene Marsh travels to Nevada, home to a lithium-rich extinct Super volcano, to see how the rush to procure critical minerals in the United States is pitting environmental advocates against each other.  Lithium mining in Nevada has pitted some environmentalists against each other.

MSN    NV SUPER VOLCANO MAY HOLD LARGE LITHIUM DEPOSIT | CNN | wfmz.com

Does Nature Have Rights? A Burgeoning Legal Movement Says Rivers, Forests and Wildlife Have Standing, Too – Inside Climate News

Is it Time for the World Court to Weigh in on Climate Change? – Inside Climate News

Drastic ecological changes in Africa could affect the entire planet. Here’s why. 

Unknown group of humans lived on Faroe Islands before Vikings (msn.com)
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GOD’s Connection

Nathalie Charles poses for a portrait outside the Princeton University Chapel in Princeton, N.J. 

On Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Charles left her Baptist church at the age of 15 because as a queer woman of Haitian descent, she felt unwelcome in her congregation, with its conservative views on immigration, gender and sexuality. The 18-year-old freshman at Princeton has since identified as atheist, and then agnostic, before embracing a spiritual but not religious life. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

What’s your religion? In US, a common reply now is “None” (yahoo.com)

What’s your religion? In US, a common reply now is “None”
When Americans are asked by pollsters about their religious identity, the fastest-growing major group consists of those who don’t affiliate with any organized religion, By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU
and DAVID CRARY Associated Press. December 14, 2021, 12:35 PM

Nathalie Charles, even in her mid-teens, felt unwelcome in her Baptist congregation, with its conservative views on immigration, gender and sexuality. So, she left.
“I just don’t feel like that gelled with my view of what God is and what God can be,” said Charles, an 18-year-old of Haitian descent who identifies as queer and is now a freshman at Princeton University.
“It wasn’t a very loving or nurturing environment for someone’s faith.”
After leaving her New Jersey church three years ago, she identified as atheist, then agnostic, before embracing a spiritual but not religious life. In her dorm, she blends rituals at an altar, chanting Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu mantras and paying homage to her ancestors as she meditates and prays.
The path taken by Charles places her among the religiously unaffiliated — the fastest-growing group in surveys asking Americans about their religious identity. They describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”
According to a survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, this group — commonly known as the “nones” — now constitutes 29% of American adults. That’s up from 23% in 2016 and 19% in 2011.
“If the unaffiliated were a religion, they’d be the largest religious group in the United States,” said Elizabeth Drescher, an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University who wrote a book about the spiritual lives of the nones.
The religiously unaffiliated were once concentrated in urban, coastal areas,
but now live across the U.S., representing a diversity of ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, Drescher said.

Even in their personal philosophies, America’s nones vary widely, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. For example, 30% say they feel some connection to God or a higher power, and 19% say religion has some importance to them even though they have no religious affiliation.
About 12% describe themselves as religious and spiritual and 28% as spiritual but not religious. More than half describe themselves as neither.
Nearly 60% of the nones say religion was at least somewhat important to their families when they were growing up, according to the AP-NORC poll. It found that 30% of nones meditate and 26% pray privately at least a few times a month, while smaller numbers consult periodically with a religious or spiritual leader.
“There are people who do actually practice, either in a particular faith tradition that we would recognize, or in multiple faith traditions,” Drescher said. “They’re not interested in either membership in those communities formally or in identifying as someone from that religion.”

Over recent years, the prevalence of the nones in the U.S. has been roughly comparable to Western Europe — but overall, Americans remain more religious, with higher rates of daily prayer and belief in God as described in the Bible. According to a 2018 Pew survey, about two-thirds of U.S. Christians prayed daily, compared to 6% in Britain and 9% in Germany
The growth of the nones in the U.S. has come largely at the expense of the Protestant population in the U.S., according to the new Pew survey.
It said 40% of U.S. adults are Protestants now, down from 50% a decade ago. Among the former Protestants is Shianda Simmons, 36, of Lakeland, Florida, who began identifying as an atheist in 2013.
She grew up as a Baptist and attended church regularly; she says she left mainly because of the church’s unequal treatment of women. Not everyone in her family knows she has forsaken religion, and some who do know struggle to accept it, Simmons said. “There are certain people I can’t tell that I am atheist,” she said. “It has made me draw away from my family.”

Similarly, at the beauty store she owns, she feels she must keep her atheism “under wraps” from clients, for fear they’d go elsewhere. Like Simmons, Mandisa Thomas is a Black atheist — an identity that can be challenging in the many African American communities where churches are a powerful force. Thomas sang in a church choir in her childhood but was not raised Christian.
“Within the Black community, we face ostracism,” said Thomas, who lives near Atlanta and founded Black Nonbelievers, a support group, in 2011. “There is this idea that somehow you are rejecting your blackness when you reject religion, that atheism is something that white people do.”
Another advocate for the nones is Kevin Bolling, who grew up in a military family and served as a Roman Catholic altar boy. In college, he began to question the church’s role, and grew dismayed about its position on sexuality after he came out as gay. He’s now executive director of the Secular Student Alliance, which has more than 200 branches in colleges and schools nationwide. 

The chapters, he said, serve as havens for secular students or those questioning their faith. “I think this generation can be the first generation to be majority non-religious versus majority religious,” he said. Being Catholic also was a big part of Ashley Taylor’s upbringing — she became an altar server at 9. Now 30, she identifies as religiously unaffiliated.
“It just means finding meaning and maybe even spirituality without practicing a religion …. pulling from whatever makes sense to me or whatever fits with my values,” she said. Her faith gave her strength when she had cancer at 11, she said, but she also feels that growing up Catholic negatively affected her emotional and sexual development and delayed her coming out as queer.
Eventually, Taylor discovered Sunday Assembly, which provided her with a congregation-like community but in a secular way, offering activities such as singing, book clubs and trivia nights. She’s now board president at Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh. “They’re not trying to tell you what’s true,” said Taylor. “There’s always a spirit of curiosity and questioning and openness.”

For some nones, such as 70-year-old Zayne Marston of Shelburne, Massachusetts, their spiritual journey keeps evolving over decades. Growing up near Boston, Marston attended a Congregational church with his family – he remembers Bible study, church-sponsored dances, the itchiness of his flannel trousers while attending Sunday services.
Through high school and college, he “drifted away” from Christian beliefs and in his 30s began a serious, long-lasting journey into spirituality while in rehab to curb his alcoholism. “Spirituality is a soul-based journey into the heart, surrendering one’s ego to a higher will.” he said. “We’re looking for our own answers, beyond the programming we received growing up.”

His path has been rough at times – the death of his wife from a fast-moving cancer, financial troubles leading to the loss of his house – but he says his spiritual practice has replaced his anxieties with a “gentle joy” and a desire to help others. He previously worked as a landscape designer and real estate appraiser, and now runs a school teaching qigong, a practice that evolved from China combining slow, relaxed movement with breathing exercises and meditation.
“As a kid, I used to think of God up on a throne, with a white beard, passing judgment, but that has totally changed,” Marston said. “My higher power is the universe… It’s always there for me, if I can get out of my ego’s way.” The AP-NORC poll of 1,083 adults was conducted Oct. 21-25 using a sample drawn designed to be representative of the U.S. population. 
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Pew survey was conducted among 3,937 respondents from May 29 to Aug. 25. It’s margin of error for the full sample of respondents is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

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What is Your Ancient Religion?
Since the dawn of civilization, man has worshiped deities and followed mystical traditions. Take our fun quiz to discover the ancient faith you might have followed in a past life! What is Your Ancient Religion? – Quiz – Quizony.com

(4) What are your thoughts regarding religion? – Quora

Related Questions

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What is your religion?

Christian – Catholic 24% Christian – Protestant 22% Christian – Other 22% Jewish 2% Muslim 1% Hindu 1% Buddhist 1% Other 10% Unaffiliated 17%.. Based upon 5,951,706 responses. Snapshot of real-time results. Learn More

On Feb. 23, 2021, Tiger Woods was involved in a single-car crash in the Los Angeles area, where he suffered multiple injuries, including several to his right leg. Since then, reports of his progress have been limited to other Woods’ tweets, updates from fellow – pros and the occasional fan photo.

Tiger Woods suffers multiple leg injuries in single-car crash in Southern California (msn.com)

►Tiger Woods in 2021: Watch: Tiger Woods delighted by video comparing son Charlie’s golf mannerisms to his own

►Tiger Woods in 2021: Tiger Woods returns with a little help from his son

►Tiger Woods’ Car Wreck: Maps, updates, and location of crash site

► Excitement building ahead of Tiger Woods’ return this weekend (msn.com)

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