Fourth of July with an Eye on the Horizon

“Good riddance!” That’s what I said leaving the Progressive pothole that is Illinois. I moved to a “less restrictive state” per a co-worker who lives in Indiana. “Enough Already!” of the growing idiocracy with its pagan overlords.

Cook County and Chicago are going to hell under DEI Progressives – the intersectional Lori Lightfoot and Soros-sponsored AG Kim Foxx.

The governor, the multidimensional J.B. “Jelly Belly” Pritzker, put Illinois at the bottom of the economic barrel. Per the Illinois Policy Institute website:

In a new report on America’s 50 governors, Gov. J.B Pritzker was ranked 47th because of the harm he’s done to the state economy. Voters saved him from a lower rank by rejecting his ‘fair tax.’ . . .

The American Legislative Exchange Council’s rankings are in the 2021 report on Economic Freedom: Grading America’s 50 Governors. The report ranked Pritzker overall at No. 47 – fourth from the bottom – by using a combination of Pritzker’s policies and the state’s economic performance under his leadership to form a list of 12 criteria. . ..

Economic performance was mainly held back by Illinoisans moving out of the state. Illinois lost population during 2021 in 81 of 102 counties.

2022 is where I come in . . ., I mean, where I go out! I rejected Jelly Belly’s progressive income tax. I rejected his progressive ways. And, I rejected his tyrannical, unscientific, and unconstitutional COVID mandates.

“All of this was in the pursuit of one goal and one goal only — saving as many lives as possible,” the empathetic poser said of his pandemic restrictions.

One opinion piece comments that [Pritzker] shut down businesses, churches, schools and everything nonessential, except abortion clinics, liquor stores and marijuana shops.

Do the politicians ever consider that losing one’s job may lead to despair, which may possibly lead to suicide? Kids not going to school and seeing their friends may lead to depression.

The left, always worried about abortion being illegal one day, kept the clinics open. I wonder why the governor and health department don’t tell us how many children died from abortion the way they touted the deaths of COVID.

Chicago’s mayor Lori Lightfoot fined churches for defying Jelly Belly’s stay-at-home orders. (The heathen delight in exercising their will on others And, the heathen rage . . . ‘F*** Clarence Thomas!’: Chicago mayor unleashes tirade against SCOTUS justice at Pride Parade | Daily Mail Online)

It took churches going to court to put a stop the ‘empathetic’ Jelly Belly’s draconian ways with Illinois churches:

It is a stunning victory for Elim Romananican Chuch, Pastor Cristian Ionescu, and Logos Baptist Ministries. These two Churches have been fighting alone on behalf of all churches in the state. They’ve been staying steadfast and have endured resistance and harassment from the local and state government. They’ve been given fines, had their church parking blocked by police, had their building surrounded by No ‘Parking’ signs, were publicly excoriated by governmental officials, and most recently were declared a ‘public nuisance‘ by the city and threatened to be locked out of their building, and even having it destroyed.

But hours after the two Romanian churches filed an emergency injunction pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the governor backed down and failed to offer a response to the appeal, instead releasing new “
guidelines” for churches. 

Governor J.B Pritzker, the draconian Governor who has been imposing unconstitutional restrictions on churches in the state by forbidding them from opening, has folded his hand and removed all restrictions on churches that had been previously implemented.

The churches in my area didn’t join in the court fight. They just went along to get along.  One church used Romans 13 as the cover for its cowardice. I stopped attending that church because of that attitude.

(The Romans 13 passage is not Paul’s treatise of the church and state. Rather, it is a directive to the Christians in Rome to not be involved in riots and get thrown out of Rome because of them.)

The church submitted believing that submission to a governing authority was required per scripture. Yet, no church should obey these unconstitutional and irrational mandates and especially when a priest preaches that faith in God and not fear is the mandate for a Christian. Bending the knee to the mandates was a show of cowardice and lack of discernment for the sake of going along to get along.

Senators Durbin and Duckworth and representative Lauren Underwood -Democrats all- support the opposite of what is good and right and just. They support Progressive Leftist narratives that do not represent me one iota let alone the kingdom of God. I’ve written to each over time about policy directions they were taking. And that is how I know about their Leftist stance– from their responses. They echo what one would hear on MSNBC and CNN, and even Fox News, these days.

Progressives, like the Illinois snakes, beguile and charm their naïve voters with talk of saving lives, of saving the planet, of absolving you of responsibility by paying off your student loan and of hating people who disagree with them. They will even convince their disciples to hate their own country for the sake of their self-serving vision. They are a destructive bunch who believe that their ends justify their ad hoc social justice means.

They break the rules and cheat. They bully all the educational, medical, entertainment, and all other institutions into oppressing all of us normal people. They rig speech, social media, apps, search browsers, the internet, the work place, the schools, the universities, the movies, tv, the media, the magazines, Hollywood, and the “medical experts” against people like you and me. People are terrified to openly say what they think and dissent because they know that the democrat mob will come after them. And though these snakes talk about saving our democracy, they want nothing to do with democracy. They want their way. They want total control.

 They work the agenda of the 45 Goals of Communism, including . . .

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural and healthy.”

Enter Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She has a “long record” of letting child porn offenders “off the hook” during sentencing.

Durbin pushed through the Supreme Court nomination of this pagan DEI choice. She enters the court with a progressive zeitgeist that keeps her from defining what a woman is or when life begins.

Like Chicago’s Lori Lightfoot, local rep. Lauren Underwood is a token DEI Democrat. She repeats what she is told to repeat on the Democrat plantation.

In March 2020 the so-called COVID “pandemic” became the means for social engineering across the globe and in Illinois. “Public health and “hospital capacity” were given as the reasons to shut down society and rework it. Irrational anti-human COVID mandates – lockdowns, masks, social distancing – were imposed, not in the service of Mankind, but in the service of the state. As a result, life was subverted to such a degree that state media became the voice of an idol telling us how to serve the state, telling us how one should live and move and have their being:

Wear the mask. Don’t question it.
Lock down the church. Don’t question it.
Take the experimental DNA-altering aborted fetal tissue vaccine. Don’t question it.
Accept the election results despite the rampant irregularities. Don’t question it.
Support Congress sending $40 billion to Ukraine. Don’t question it.
Hand over your guns. Don’t question it.
Attack, demonize, and destroy anyone who questions it.

It should be obvious by now that the state wants to re-birth each us to be its offspring. Hence the manipulative talk of paying off student debt and the constant pandemic and climate change fear porn and the gushing DEI/Pride propaganda. Hence the alienation and atomization process of the mandates. You must be separated from the past, from your tradition, from your family, from your property, and from your identity. You are to receive everything from the state as its offspring.

The impetus to move out of Illinois had been growing in me for several years. My workplace is located in Chicago so I stayed. The final straw came during the 2+ years of idiotic and destructive COVID edicts imposed by J.B. “Jelly Belly” Pritzker. My company played along with the mandates, and so it was that started working from home. I continue to work from home in my new home state.

Why move to Indiana? For one thing, Indiana is a less taxing state (marginal tax rate of 3.23%) than Illinois (marginal tax rate 4.95%). Qualified Hoosiers may get a refund if Indiana has enough budget surplus at the end of the fiscal year.

In Ill Annoy, the Illinois Policy Institute notes . . .

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has added more than $5.24 billion in new or higher taxes and fees since taking office. Despite all that new revenue, the nation’s highest taxed state remains a fiscal mess unable to balance a budget for 21 years.

Illinois has the second highest property tax rate behind New Jersey.

Indiana, a “less restricted state”, is # 6 behind New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and South Dakota according to the overall freedom ranking. It remains to be seen if Indiana will remain less restricted and free or if it will become another Progressive pothole like Illinois. It concerns me that Indiana’s Gov. Holcomb attended the WEF in Davos.

Before my departure, I wrote to the three reps mentioned above: “I am an American. I refuse to be a slave to the Democrat party and to the state and to the World Economic Forum. I refuse to be controlled opposition. I am leaving Illinois for good.”

This message, I have no doubt, fell on deaf ears just like Democrat James Carville’s words to Democrats during an election: “It’s the economy stupid!” The Biden regime is not hard of hearing. It just ignores humanity for the sake of a draconian green agenda. You can’t help noting the destruction the regime is wreaking on the U.S. economy.

While you take in the Fourth, keep watch on the horizon. Look for the pagan hordes coming for your children. See the ghost in the machine coming with AI transplants into your body. See the amassing army of barbarians – globalists – who are bringing about a worldwide famine and chaos in their self-aggrandizing pursuit to “save the planet” and to make you conform to their pagan ways. They are coming for your property and your person.

Consent of the governed” is a phrase found in the United States Declaration of Independence. J.B. Pritzker and a host of other democrats disregarded the consent of the governed with the mandates. They disregarded democracy when they stole the election. These are intent on making people their dependent offspring.

Being the offspring of God, I do not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. (Acts 17:28-29) The state is not a divine being, though it acts like one. The globalist state would have you make sacrifices to its image: “you will own nothing and be happy! -Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

So, I say to Illinois Democrats and globalists “July 4th is about liberty stupid!” To the rest I say, “Keep your eyes on the horizon.”

****

God selects those who will do battle for him. In the account recorded in Judges chapter 7, God works with Gideon to select soldiers to do battle against the Midianites.

Starting with 32,000 soldiers,10,000 remain after the “fearful and trembling” are sent packing. Still not the right amount and quality of soldiers. The final number of soldiers, chosen by a water test, is 300. God chose the alert soldiers, ones who drank and kept an eye on the horizon and the enemy. The self-indulgent water drinkers were told to go home. A good explanation of all this is here: Gideon’s Doglike Lappers (israelbiblicalstudies.com)

So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths,[c] you shall put to the other side.” The number of those who lapped was three hundred, but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred who lapped I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.”

****

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Steve Bannon with Archbishop Viganò. A Fundamental Interview, Absolutely Must Read. : STILUM CURIAE (marcotosatti.com)

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Informed Dissent:

This 4 min video should be mandatory viewing for all parents considering vaccinating their kids (substack.com)

MSN quietly deleted a story revealing that severe COVID-19 is rarely found in the unvaccinated – NaturalNews.com

Thousands Of Kids Injured, Disabled By COVID Jab | NaturalHealth365

Immune Imprinting, Comirnaty and Omicron (part 1) (substack.com)

The FDA’s proposed “Future Framework” is the worst idea in the history of public health (substack.com)

Testimony and Remarks, Pandemic Response (substack.com)

SHF’s oral public comment at FDA’s meeting on COVID shot strain replacement | Stand for Health Freedom

Marxism: “You Will Own NOTHING and Be Happy” (substack.com)

Failed and Murderous Biden regime Policies:

The Infiltration – Alberto Rivera Explains Jesuit Control in the USA & Communism 1976 (bitchute.com)

Half Life

From the beginning, Peter had the determination of three boys his age. Out of earshot, some called him “stubborn” and “bull headed”. Others called him “a little terror”. And others, teachers mostly, said he needed medication just to be around. His parents, a minister and his wife, called their gift from God “Mr. Resolute”.

When little Peter decided something, he would plead endlessly with “Now!” He wouldn’t take “No” or “Not now” for an answer. The first of five children, Peter often wore his parents down with the strength of his will. And though Peter could badger them non-stop, Peter kept on himself even more to complete a task.

When focused on an activity – his parents came up with problem solving activities – Peter found it hard to give it up or move away until he accomplished the objective. His parents saw potential in Peter’s persistent ways – he could become a high achiever who followed his passions.

So, they chastened and channeled the stubborn streak. With sternness and loving care, Peter’s parents applied the proverb The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

They responded to Peter’s repeated demands with “I hear you. Can you come up with a solution?” When Peter became frustrated, they urged him on saying “You can do hard things” and “Sometimes we make mistakes, and that is how we learn.” When Peter worked through his frustration and completed a hard task, they recognized the effort with “How’d you do that?” and “You have what it takes. You have grit.”

The only time his parents saw five-year-old Peter temper his assertiveness was when folks from the church watched Peter on a date night. Peter played doctor with their daughter who was two years older than Peter. Her self-assuredness captured Peter’s attention. “This is what a doctor would do” she would tell Peter.

One Sunday, years later, Peter’s father preached a sermon titled Making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Peter decided to make a decision to follow Jesus that day. Almost immediately impure thoughts and desires became glaringly obvious at this new intersection. There were two directions he faced: towards Laurie, a high school junior, who had been flirting with him non-stop and who was “easy” according to his friends and toward Jesus who wasn’t defined as “easy”.

The summer before his freshmen year, the high school’s track coach saw the tall gaunt Peter running along a road. The coach pulled his car up, opened the window and talked with Peter as he ran. He said that Peter should give cross-country a try and then drove off.

Peter joined the team and began running 5K races. What Peter soon realized was that the long-distance running – the regular practices and the meets – were a means to direct the fire within him. His daily pattern of run-eat-school-run-eat-study- sleep kept him burning the fuel that would otherwise consume him. He told himself that the only lines he would cross were the starting line and the finish line of a race worthy to run.

During high school Peter mastered his school work and was selected to become a member of the National Honor Society. And during those four years he had several part-time jobs and summer jobs that kept him focused.

After high school graduation, Peter looked for ways to channel his stick-to-itiveness. His minister father suggested that his never-back-down attitude would serve him in the army. Peter could sign up and get up to full college tuition, as well as money for housing and books through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The minister knew that Peter’s resolve and wisdom would be tested in the army. Would he hold up, his mother feared. She prayed that Peter would return sound in mind and body. On his eighteenth birthday Peter entered the army. He went through rigorous training and learned to obey orders.

Then one day, three years later, the staff sergeant told his squad “Vaccine – get ‘er done!” Peter didn’t submit to the order. Though he was twenty-one and felt indestructible, his gut – or was it the Holy Spirit? – told him to stay away. The sacred space and spiritual fortitude which steeled him would not be gutted by an experimental vaccine.

His parents had raised him on reason and revelation. The mandated vaccine didn’t fall into either category. Wasn’t he training to go into battle to defend and secure freedom and democracy? “Uncle Jab wants you,” is the vacant stare that came down from the top.

Like many soldiers, Peter submitted a religious exemption. Aborted fetal cells, used in the production of the vaccine, precluded taking the vaccine. Others submitted medical exemptions. All of the vaccine detractors, talking amongst themselves, became aware of the mounting adverse effects and casualties caused by the vaccine.

But the military hierarchy ignored medical and religious exemptions. The military demanded unquestioning obedience to the COVID vaccine and to the new Critical race Theory and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs. Those programs never included religious convictions, as Peter witnessed firsthand.

Some in his squad were saying “The army has become a clown show” and “The army cares more about superficiality than substance, culture than character”. The army discharged Peter and over 3000 other soldiers for not taking the unholy clot shot.

When he returned home, Peter’s father said “You were right to reject the military on those terms. You signed up to serve your country and see the world. Now go see the heartland on your own terms.”

*****

From the beginning, Lena had a knack for nurturing. She played veterinarian with her dog and neighborhood pets. She played house and doctor with the young boy living next door. During high school she helped care for her grandmother who suffered from dementia and spent a couple of hours each weekend at a hospital.

Her Swedish parents, both medical professionals, were hospitable people. They encouraged Lena to interact with their many guests – medical staff of Doctors Without Borders. Lena kept a diary of who she met and what was talked about. They each encouraged her to go into medicine. She made an entry after talking to one nurse:

You can’t buy time. Choose wisely.

After high school Lena set out on a course in nursing. When she stepped into those shoes, she took an oath to practice and uphold the standards of her profession faithfully. Nursing was a perfect match for Lena’s desire to provide care for others.

Six years into working as an ICU nurse, though, Lena left her job at a hospital in Indiana. She told her parents that “policies were being rolled out at the hospital that would ultimately initiate the segregation of its staff on who was vaccinated versus who was unvaccinated.

I was uncomfortable with that and unwilling to cooperate with that kind of treatment. I had seen this treatment play out on my patients as well where doctors and some nurses that I worked with were bullying and harassing my patients for making a medical decision on their own. They were treating people like dementia patients – like they were unable to think for themselves.

Hospitals began mandating vaccinations. I knew I wouldn’t take the COVID vaccine. I pushed back because hospitals have an absolute commitment to follow the data. Ignoring natural immunity in a vaccine discussion is just criminal. 

Over a hundred of us resigned from the hospital due to the vaccine requirement. We can’t tell the patients what risks or adverse effects could occur with the vaccine. It’s criminal. This kind of health care is against everything I stand for. Dementia patients are running the public health programs.”

****

Peter turned on the radio.

All in for the Win, Illinois. Getting vaccinated protects you from catching or spreading COVID-19 — and it’s our best shot at beating this pandemic and getting back to living our full lives. And now, getting the vaccine gives you a shot at winning up to $1 million. As an Illinois resident, if you’ve been vaccinated or are about to get vaccinated, you’re automatically entered in for a chance at part of our $10 million vaccine sweepstakes. Let’s go all in for the win Illinois.

Peter turned the radio dial.

. . . I tried a laxative that is both fast and effective . . .

Peter turned the radio dial.

What’s Your Warrior? Travel, Career Opportunities, Education. . . find your inner warrior . . . Army . . .”

“Yeah, I found my inner warrior. I’ll travel and educate myself.” Peter turned the radio dial.

In 2019 Illinois Democrats elected a fat-cat governor to represent their lottery dreams and Chicago Democrats elected a Woke NFT – a bug-eyed gay black female to represent the law and order of intersectionality.

In 2020 and 2021, the obese governor locked down and masked any opposition to his mandates. State licensing was the gun to the head.

In 2022, “well-meaning” Democrat state representatives decided a medical apartheid in Illinois was necessary. So, they created a vaccine registry and a quarantine town. The southern Illinois quarantine town is called New COVID.

While unvaccinated illegal aliens cross the southern border by the thousands, Illinois citizens are being herded into New COVID because of their vax resistance and claim of natural immunity.

As mRNA COVID vaccines fenagle the operating system of Americans, so illegal immigrants fenagle America’s operating system. Both experiments disregard the integrity of the host’s system . . .

Peter turned off the radio. He had reached the US 65 Whitesville exit. He took the exit and after two right turns he reached the fulfillment center. From the cab he called the traffic manager’s office to let them know he had arrived. He was told to wait in line. Ten trucks were ahead of him.

With the rig idling, Peter walked over to the dock door and went in. The bathroom and the vending machines were to the right. Truckers were coming in and out. Peter headed into the vending machine room and dropped some coins for some black brew. He sat down and waited for his phone to ring.

Outside the vending room, forklifts zipped back and forth with pallets. The drivers were loading and unloading the trailers. Peter had seen this a thousand times before. What he hadn’t seen before was a blonde pony-tailed-hard-hat wearing woman with a yellow and blue plaid shirt zipping by on a forklift. When the yellow and blue plaid spun by again, Peter was able to catch a glimpse of the driver’s kind smiling eyes.

****

After leaving the ICU nursing position, Lena found work at a distribution center in Whitestown, Indiana. She had a student loan to repay. And though for the moment it didn’t look promising, Lena hoped that when the courts ended the COVID mandate madness, she would be back nursing again. She put her resume online. In the meantime, Lena earned eighteen bucks an hour over a 36-hour pay period. She loaded and unloaded semi-trailers.

It was during one shift that she caught a glimpse of a tall scrawny guy with steel-blue eyes. He was talking on the phone in the vending room. On her return trip past the vending room, he was gone.

A trailer backed into bay 7. Before reaching the bay’s bumpers, the driver jumped out of the cab and opened the trailer doors. The driver then backed the truck up to the bumpers up and set the brake. Lena pulled the loading dock release chain and the loading dock came up and unfolded. Then she put her weight on it to have it come down on the bed of the trailer. It came down with a loud “clunk”.

A trucker driver came through the dock door and was heading over to Bay 7. Lena, driving up in a forklift, noticed him walking and looking at his watch. She pulled the forklift up next to him and told him “I’ll get ‘er done!” Peter raised his eyes and said “Yes, ma’am. You will. I am five hours behind schedule.”

Peter handed her the shipment receipt. “I’m Bill . . . Bill Lading.”

Lena laughed. If you’re “Bill Lading, I’m Kari Awai. Go have some coffee and I’ll get this done fer you.”

Peter watched her unload the first pallet. She maneuvered the forklift in, picked the load, and then backed out across the diamond plate. Then she headed off to some aisle in the warehouse. The blonde ponytail, the sky-blue eyes, the pixie smile – What maneuvers do I have? Peter asked himself as he headed back to the vending room. “I’m not much to look at. I’m so skinny I don’t even have a shadow.”

In the vending room Peter called his next stop to tell them that he was behind schedule. There weren’t enough people to unload trucks, he told them. “I’ll be there sometime after eight-o’clock.”

Forty-five minuets later, Lena came into the vending room. She handed Peter the signed bill of lading and a tin foil-wrapped package.

“What’s this”, Peter asked.

“It’s your bill, Bill, and some banana bread I made last night.”

“Well, that just dills my pickle”

“You from the south?”

“No ma’am. I just end up talking to southerners at the truck stops.”

“I see. Should I go on pretending your name is Bill Lading? My name is Lena.”

“No ma’am. Name’s Peter. And thanks for the banana bread. I need something beside this varnish remover I’ve been drinking.” Peter pushed aside the paper cup of vending machine coffee.

“Are you back this way again?” Lena raised her eyebrows.

“Yes ma’am. I’ll be here next Tuesday. I drive a circuit: Whitestown to Edwardsville, Illinois to Nashville and then back here. How about you? You work on Tuesday’s?”

“I do. My circuit is this warehouse 36 hours a week.”

“Well ma’am. I hope our paths cross again. I look forward to that. I gotta get back on the road.” Peter tipped his hat. “Miss Lena, thanks for unloading and loading me up. You are the bee’s knees.”

“See you, Peter. Safe travels” Lena responded and then watched him walk out to his rig.

****

Week after week Peter and Lena crossed paths at the warehouse. Their conversations, though constrained by work, offered more and more insight into each other’s life.  From the beginning there seemed to be a purpose for their relationship. Then, one Tuesday, Peter didn’t show up.

Then another week went by and then another. Six weeks passed and no Peter. Though nothing had been formalized between them, the loss of a friend had Lena beside herself.”

Week seven and Peter’s rig appeared in the driveway. Lena met him at the dock door.

“What happened to you?” Lena asked wide-eyed.

“I was put in COVID jail. I drove into Illinois a few weeks ago. The State police stopped me at a weigh station at Marshall. They said I wasn’t in the vaccine registry. So, they hauled me off to the quarantine townNew COVID. That’s where I have been this whole time. I had heard about New COVID on the radio but I thought that was all just talk – nothing like that could happen in the U.S. But I was wrong.”

“Jeepers. Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I had COVID a long while back. I have immunity. But that wasn’t good enough for those COVID crusaders. What is not OK is my route. I asked to change my route. I will not go back into Illinois. I will not download their COVID tracking app. I will not deliver to any Blue state. Enough is enough. I will only drive through free states. I dunno what will happen. I may not have a job soon.”

Listen, I came straight here from New COVID to see you. I have nothing to unload. When your shift is done, do you want have dinner in town? We can talk.”

“OK, Peter. Let’s have dinner and talk. I clock out at 4:30. Leave your rig in the back lot and I’ll drive us over to the café in town.”

“Sounds good, Lena. Right now, I’m gonna head over to Love’s Travel Stop across the way and see if I can find me a clean shirt.”

****

At the Most Café, Peter and Lena each ordered a bowl of soup and a half sandwich. Lena started the conversation by asking Peter what got him into trucking. Peter was ready to talk.

“After being discharged from the service for not getting vaxxed, I was depressed. I had enlisted ready to give my life for my country. After giving up almost two years of my life to the Army, the first skirmish I got into was over the experimental vaccine. I didn’t enlist to be experimented on.

“Lena, I gave almost two years of my life to the Army and you need at least two years of active duty to qualify for the education benefits. The whole situation made me angry and depressed.

“I came home, went into my bedroom, and shut the door. My father knocked on the door after I hadn’t come out for a while. I think I told you my dad’s a minster.”

Lena nodded. Peter asked the waitress for more water and then continued.

“My dad knew that I was miserable. He must have figured out that I was dealing with my depression and anger by looking at stuff online. My room was dark except for the computer screen. Anyway, he came in and told me that I had to get my act together. “You can handle the hard stuff”, he said. Then he told me that a friend was out front asking for me.

“That was Rick, a high school buddy of mine. He told me about trucking. He helped me get my CDL and I began long hauling. So, instead of seeing the world with the Army, I began seeing the countryside. My father gave me his blessing and a flip phone to use if I was in trouble. He told me “Best stay away from those porn shops along the highway exits. You weren’t compromised by the unholy vaccine. Don’t become compromised with pornography.”

“Lena, Wow! Just wow! I never said that to anyone before. I . . . wow! . . . I talk about this stuff because . . . well, you . . . you are not like anyone I know. I feel safe with you. “

Lena grabbed Peter’s hand. “I love it that you are being so open with me, Peter. Please go on.”

Peter took a bite of his sandwich and put it down.

“The commanding officers wanted us grunts to compromise our bodies with an experimental unholy vaccine. They wanted to compromise our reason by telling us that being white is being racist and the country we serve is racist.

“The base was made to watch a video portraying American history as racist since 1619. I am a de facto white supremacist per a Critical Race Theory video. It’s crazy! I was bunking with a black guy. I am best buddies with him and with Jose the Hispanic guy in the next bunk.  

“You know, I enlisted voluntarily. I didn’t enlist to become a showcase for an unholy vaccine. I didn’t enlist to give up my mind and soul – my inner warriors. I volunteered my time in return for an education. I didn’t sign up to be converted from alpha male into a check-your-privilege-soyboy-beta-bot . . . there’s another word for that on the base.

“I enlisted into the army and not a culture club. With the Army’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program we’d end up equally dead — but safely ‘vaxxed’. No wonder recruitment and retention are down.

“So, here I am – driving a rig, making good money and saving to go to school. How about you, Lena?” Peter gulped down some water.

“Well, I’m driving a forklift,” Lena began, “because I left an ICU nursing position. I worked so hard last year. I mean, I was there through thick and thin when we had no help… it was horrible. The people that put forth the rules and kicked one-hundred and twenty of us to the curb, they weren’t there. They weren’t even in the building to be seen for months. They were staying at home while we were doing all the work.

“Before the mandates had been rolled out, the hospital wasn’t forcing us to take the vaccine or be fired, but they were rolling out policies that gave different treatment to vaccinated people versus unvaccinated people. I couldn’t believe it. I was there to treat patients, not just the chosen patients. When did healthcare become choosing winners and losers? The Nursing Code of Ethics that I’m supposed to adhere to includes a patient’s autonomy and right to self- determination.

“The hospital then rolled out a mandatory vaccination program with products marked for “emergency use”. We were told to treat the EUA product as fully authorized.

“I chose to forego the emergency use authorization vaccine because I possessed natural immunity after contracting the coronavirus. “I had COVID last summer, I don’t need that vaccine,” I told the hospital but natural immunity was not an option at all. I was escorted out the door by security.

“I’m driving a forklift because I have a school loan to repay. I won’t take that experimental vaccine, I won’t abide medical apartheid, and I won’t take government money to make the loan go away.

“So, here I am – driving a forklift, making OK money and sending my resume out.”

“Wow,” Peter wiped his mouth, “This world has gone mad. I’ve got friends in Illinois who have a gun to their head. Three of them had their business license taken away for violating Covid emergency public health mandates that seem to come out of someone’s ass – Oops, sorry for the language.”

“Peter, I work around truckers all day,” Lena replied.

“It’s getting late. I guess we better head out.” Peter paid the check and left a tip.

Lena drove Peter over to his rig, where he’d spend the night. Before getting out he asked Lena for her phone number. She gave it to him and a kiss on the cheek. Peter’s smile bunched his bushy mustache.

“You know, us truckers have to hurry up and wait. We have to get to our destination on time and then wait to be unloaded. When I saw you that first time on your forklift waiting became a lovely day. That day went down in my log book and tonight will too. I’ll be calling you Lena. Count on it.”

Peter got out and Lena drove home.

The next morning, Peter bought some jumpy juice at Love’s and headed to Tennessee. He was looking to buy a truck route that would keep him out of COVID jail and for a place to settle down.

****

Five months passed. The evening phone conversations between Lena and Peter turned toward the future. They talked of children and adopting. They talked logistics.

Peter told Lena that he’d gotten a route that kept him in Tennessee. “I’m living in a townhome not far from a hospital and the truck’s terminal,” her told her. He also mentioned that he was going to school on the weekend taking EMT classes. He invited Lena down to take a look.

Using a one-week vacation, Lena came down to Tennessee with her mother Alma. Lena wanted her parent’s blessing on marriage to Peter. Lena also wanted to get back to nursing.

Lena submitted her resume to a clinic outside Nashville. The clinic assisted women and couples facing unexpected pregnancies, offering them life- affirming, free, and confidential medical services including pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. The OB/GYN who ran the clinic hired Lena. She was told that she could start in six weeks to allow for the move to Tennessee. Lena broke the news to her mother and to Peter. That same day and with Alma’s blessing, Peter proposed to Lena. The trio went out to celebrate.

A month later Peter left Chattanooga, drove north to Nashville, and parked his rig. He then drove his car north to Carmel Indiana for the six-o’clock wedding rehearsal. Peter, his eyes burning from driving his rig from Chattanooga to Nashville and then up north through constant sleet in southern Indiana, closed his eyes for a moment.  

Peter’s father received a call at seven-thirty. Peter hit an overpass and died on the scene.

©Jennifer Ann Johnson, Kingdom Venturers, 2022, All Rights Reserved

****

(While a student at Moody Bible Institute, I had a close friend named Denny. Denny had a Culbertson Hall roommate named Steve. The three of us were in the concert band. During out-of-state concert tours we spent a lot of time together.

Steve was the nicest guy in the world. You could tell that he loved Jesus. He liked working with kids during his PCW assignments.

During a winter break Steve left Chicago and drove back to Kansas for his wedding.

We learned later that Steve, back in Kansas, drove to his wedding rehearsal in blinding snow. High winds whipped the snow across the open highway. The family said that after the long drive from Chicago, Steve may have closed his eyes for a second. He hit an overpass and died that night on a Kansas road.)

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“Episode_1611 We discuss the Olympics, Soros, the military, and take a deep dive with Dr. Robert Malone.”.

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Informed Dissent:

Dissident Covid Report #3: Why are Myocarditis Rates Surging in Europe? (substack.com)

The US Public Health Response has been a Colossal Failure (substack.com)

“Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”

Judge blocks schools from enforcing Pritzker’s mask, vaccine mandates, refers to policies as ‘type of evil’ | Illinois | thecentersquare.com

Hospital Director in Israel Says 80% of Serious COVID-19 Cases Had Received at Least Three Shots of COVID Vaccines (VIDEO) (thegatewaypundit.com)

CDC Makes Major Admission About Rushed Vaccine Timeline and Heart Inflammation (townhall.com)

Tragic: 6-Year-Old Child Develops Myocarditis Two Days After Receiving COVID-19

Devastating Presentation “Exposing Military Corruption During COVID-19” Sent to Members of Congress (thegatewaypundit.com)

EU Investigates Reports of Menstrual Disorders Following Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccinations — As We First Reported Last Year (thegatewaypundit.com)

Steve Kirsch Blockbuster — Embalmer Richard Hirschman finds ‘novel, bizarre clotting’ in 65% of deaths… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

O Canada:

Must See Video: Justin Trudeau Gets Outed by His Own Brother Kyle as Pawn of New World Order Taking Orders from Bilderberg and the Council on Foreign Relations (thegatewaypundit.com)

Judge orders Ottawa police to return all fuel they seized from Truckers… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski Arrested Again at His Home by Armed Police on Alleged “Mischief” Offense (thegatewaypundit.com)

Mask Not What Your Country Can Do for You:

‘Free’ and contaminated: Look what happened to Biden’s taxpayer-funded N95 shipment (substack.com)

Democrats are Obsessed with power and control (as of 4-7-2022):

As of February 1st, only nine states, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, require residents to wear masks indoors regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated.

Some states are removing mask mandates. Illinois is removing masks but not from children. Gov. Pritzker wants to please the teacher’s union for their support in the upcoming election. It was never about science.

Illinois High School Students Told to Put on Masks or Leave — So They Walked Out (VIDEO) (thegatewaypundit.com)

Taking It to the Streets:

SCOTTSDALE SCHOOL BOARD | YOU’VE BEEN SERVED – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

How is this NOT Evil?

“This Is Us” Actress Milana Vayntrub Calls Killing Her Baby in an Abortion a “Beautiful” Experience – LifeNews.com

SUNY Professor advocates for sex between children and adults… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

School Tells Kids to Stop Sending Valentines Featuring White or ‘Gender Normative’ People. (thenationalpulse.com)

Book banning in Texas schools: Titles are pulled off library shelves in record numbers (msn.com)

Illinois HB4244 Mandatory Vaccine Registry is Now in Subcommittee – Lawmaker Proposes HB4640 to Quarantine Exposed to Infectious Disease (thegatewaypundit.com)

Disney teaches kids about Microaggression… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Exclusive: Dr. Li-Meng Yan Reveals CCP Plans to Spread Hemorrhagic Fever Bioweapon Via Olympics, and She Shares the Cure (substack.com)

A direct attack on the First Amendment – You are a Domestic Terrorist if You Question the State:

If you have an opinion and/or fact that counters the government narrative about the election fraud and COVID-19 you are now considered a domestic terrorist. Who determines what is “unsubstantiated”, a “conspiracy theory” or a “misleading narrative”?

DHS: Here is a list of top COVID misinformation spreaders you should investigate ASAP (substack.com)

Illinois Expressway shootings:

Illinois Reported Expressway Shootings (arcgis.com)

The Left – Democrats, Progressives and the like – destroy everything they touch. Soon, “the end of days”:

“Year Zero” – Thread by @pmarca on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

COVID Relief Spending Your hard-earned money:

Is This How Walmart Works?

1) They contact city/county governments of potential store sites to make nearby localities compete with one another by offering Walmart free infrastructure (roads, sewage, drainage) and tax rebates (typical store gets $10M in tax rebates for their first few years)

2) They build a store using their national contractors, depriving most of the local tradesmen of any of the work to build the store

3) They offer wages above the prevailing market wage to lure employees away from other employers (don’t worry, these go back down later.)

4) They scout locally owned competitors for pricing, and undercut them

5) Let’s say that your town happened to have a Carhartt factory, Walmart Corporate starts demanding lower and lower wholesale prices. Because Walmart represents 50% of Carhartt’s sales, they can’t afford to say no. So they start making cheaper products. Then they start manufacturing overseas. Soon the plant closes. You’re still paying the same price for a Carhartt jacket, but now it’s poorly made, and your neighbor Jim, who worked at the plant, is out of a job.

6) Your local mom & pop retailer, having lost some of their employees and still having to pay normal Carhartt wholesale prices, can’t compete with Walmart. They go out of business. So now your neighbor Barbara is out of a job.

7) Your town is now devastated, with no manufacturing and no retail other than Walmart. As employees are treated poorly and quit, new employees, having nowhere else to turn, are forced to accept lower wages and part-time positions. They are forced to rely on welfare to feed their kids. Every year, everyone gets a little bit poorer as Walmart’s corporate profits & stock price go up, and the last bits of wealth are extracted from your town and sent to Chinese manufacturers and Wall Street Shareholders. Many people now leave your town to look for better opportunities, splitting up families. Young adults go off to the big city and lose touch with their roots. Others turn to drugs out of despair, fueling an overdose epidemic. All the while, they have no choice but to shop at Walmart, due to a lack of options or due to the financial blight that the Walmart itself has brought to them and their family.

Now repeat this story 3,000 times across the country. So no, I don’t care if people shoplift from Walmart. Walmart made the calculation that the cost of security plus the risk of a lawsuit wasn’t worth stopping shoplifters when they can just let them take whatever they want and charge you, the consumer, for it.

Walmart sold out Americans for profit.

“Mask Wearers of the World, Unite!”

“In everyone there is some willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life. This is much more than a simple conflict between two identities. It is something far worse: it is a challenge to the very notion of identity itself.” ― Václav Havel

This past year-and-a half, did you “merge with the anonymous crowd” and “flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life”? Did you follow the flotilla of Pied pipers mesmerizing you with “the science”?

Did you socially distance, put on a mask, and have your business and office and church shut down? Did you believe that the PCR tests are accurate (Guess why there are so few cases of the flu reported)? Did you submit your body to be a lab experiment for the mRNA vaccines?

Did you go along with “the science” to get along? Did you go along with “the anonymous crowd” because, per the head mocker of the Biden regime, “if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,”.

Do you now equate the loss of freedom and choice as a loss of your identity as a human? Or, are you still wanting “to flow comfortably along with it (the loss of your identity) down the river of pseudo-life”? Are you OK with diktats and lacking individual will? Are you OK supporting the automatism of a totalitarian system?

Now, you may say to me “it was out of fear of COVID that I persuaded myself to follow the mandates”, or, “It was out of fear of giving someone COVID that I submitted to the mandates’, or, “it was out of fear of litigation that I shut down my business, my church.”

Or, was it out of fear of thinking for yourself, acting individually, and rebuffing the diktats coming down from the bio-medical regime through the state media?

*****

The alignment of the power – globalists, oligarchs, techno-utopians, politicians, the media, the Pope, and the forces of evil – against the powerless has been the impetus for my dissenting posts over the past year and-a half. I have opposed the schizophrenic CDC guidelines. I have opposed authoritarian mandates. I have opposed tyranny – including medical tyranny. I have opposed the lies being fed us. I have opposed the sowing of fear. And, I will oppose the Great Reset mandates – from the powerful to the powerless – coming our way.

What is coming our way is a thousand times more tyrannical than what we’ve seen the past year. The “river of pseudo-life” will flow with blood. If my words have seemed harsh, critical and uncompassionate, if it appears that I am calling out people for their past behavior, then please understand. This post is meant to be a wakeup call. It is meant to shake you out of a COVID-induced paralysis to face the growing nightmare.

*****

As a nation, we didn’t start out stupefied and powerless. But over time we gave in to soft tyranny (Tocqueville). Out of fear, we have exchanged our freedom (and our identity) for false security.

Last century, for example, we accepted the New Deal and the tyranny of centralized planning – the welfare state and overreaching government. Wasn’t New Deal tyranny acceptance based on (economic) fear? Wasn’t New Deal tyranny acceptance also a “well-meaning” acceptance by the people?

Today, fearful and well-meaning people, have become OK with the hard-core tyranny of censorship. Those behind the Great Reset love these people. Behind the fascia of Build Back Better is (1984’s) Room 101:  Besmirch Bludgeon Begone.

As we have seen, much of the country has fallen prostrate before mandates and “guidelines” out of fear of a so-called “public-health crisis”. Yet, COVID19 is a variation of the common cold and has a recovery rate of over 99.8 % for most people. Early outpatient treatment is recommended.

The American Journal of Medicine now (Jan. 2021) now (finally!) recommends Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc for the treatment of Covid 19 outpatients. Had this been the protocol used in Jan. 2020, many lives could have been saved. But the powerful – Anthony Fauci, the CDC, Francis Collins and the NIH, Bill Gates, and big pharma – had other plans for the American people.

There has also been fear of litigation if not abiding by the mandates and “guidelines”. Behind all the fear is the fear of disobeying the powerful alignment that stands against the powerless.

To assuage fears, there are those who have chosen to “merge with the anonymous crowd” and have chosen to live the (COVIDian) lies given them. They have chosen “to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life”.

The COVIDian lies include the following:

Mask wearing is effective to stop the spread of COVID; not wearing a mask puts yourself and others at risk; children must wear a mask to school.

A group of physicians from Germany, Poland and Austria, concluded that the wearing of nose and mouth coverings by children leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels in both inhaled and exhaled air while wearing a mask.

“We suggest that decision-makers weigh the hard evidence produced by these experimental measurements accordingly, which suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.”

Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial | Pediatrics | JAMA Pediatrics | JAMA Network)

Social distancing works to stop the spread of COVID; shutting down businesses and churches stops the spread of COVID.

(Idiotic. Distance yourself from the CDC.)

You need the vaccine to protect you from COVID. It is safe and effective.

You need the vaccine to protect yourself even if you have acquired immunity.

(The CDC and Big Pharma won’t talk about acquired immunity. They have a vaccine to sell.)

You need the vaccine to protect yourself. Other protocols don’t work.

(UK Researchers: Cheap Cholesterol Drug Reduces Covid-19 Infection by 70% (thegatewaypundit.com))

(Here’s the most effective protocol — Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin and Zinc — for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. | SOTN: Alternative News, Analysis & Commentary (stateofthenation.co))

You need the CDC to tell you how to think about COVID.

You need Vitamins C and D, the mineral Zinc, exercise, sunshine and a good CDC-free doctor.

Do you realize that you now spend every waking hour thinking about what government wants and how it effects your freedom?

Coronavirus Likely Originated in A Chinese Lab…But The Real Villains Are Right Here In America – Revolver

*****

December, 1989. Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. On New Year’s Day, 1990, he gave his first “state-of-the-nation” address to the country on national television.

“New Year’s Address to the Nation,’ January 1, 1990

“For forty years on this day, you heard, from my predecessors, variations on the same theme: how our country was flourishing, how many millions of tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspective were unfolding before us.

I assume do did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.

Our country is not flourishing. . .. 

But all this is not the main problem. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we got used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only for ourselves. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, and forgiveness lost their depth and dimensions. . .. The previous regime . . . reduced man to a force of production and nature to a tool of production. . .. It reduced gifted an autonomous people to nuts and bolts in some monstrously huge, noisy, and stinking machine, whose real purpose was not clear to anyone. . ..

As I have observed the growing fascism under the alignment of the powerful with the Biden regime and its invocation of dystopia and dehumanization akin to what Havel described in his address, the title of Václav Havel’s 1978 essay, The Power of the Powerless, intrigued me.  

The essay, among others found in The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe, explain the features of Soviet-type totalitarian systems of power as compared to the West (A comparison soon to be invalid if people continue “to flow comfortably along . . . down the river of pseudo-life).

Havel’s description of “the post-totalitarian system” he is witness to is shockingly similar to current state of affairs in the U.S.:

“The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his or her ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.”

Havel’s “post-totalitarian state” of 70’s Communist Eastern Europe was totalitarian but radically different from the totalitarian dictatorships of Hitler and Mao. Havel’s biographer, John Keane, described Havel’s “post-totalitarian state” this way:

Within the system, every individual is trapped within a dense network of the state’s governing instruments. . .themselves legitimated by a flexible but comprehensive ideology, a “secularized religion”. . . .it is therefore necessary to see, argued Havel, that power relations. . .are best described as a labyrinth of influence, repression, fear and self-censorship which swallows up everyone within it, at the very least by rendering them silent, stultified and marked by some undesirable prejudices of the powerful.

Keane’s description brings us back to the epigram of this post. The “willingness to merge” statement is from The Power of the Powerless. It follows from the shop-keeper example and questions Havel poses:

The manager of a fruit-and-vegetable shop places in his window, among the onions and carrots, the slogan: “Workers of the world, unite!” Why does he do it? What is he trying to communicate to the world?  Is he genuinely enthusiastic about the idea of unity among the workers of the world? Is his enthusiasm so great that he feels an irrepressible impulse to acquaint the public with his ideals? Has he really given much thought to how such a unification might occur and what it could mean?

What if the shopkeeper takes down his sign (takes off his mask) and begins to speak up?

Havel explores the potential of the “powerless” with an examination of the nature of power. Havel speaks of a profound crisis of human identity brought about by “living within a lie.” He speaks of political import: the individual’s moral choice for truth and in the creation of an independent life – a sphere of truth – for society even as every individual is trapped within a dense network of the state’s governing instruments. (I would add: The center of power is not the center of truth.)

(This essay has much to consider at this moment in time. It is available for download below.)

“If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth. This is why it must be suppressed more severely than anything else.”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless

*****

“In an era when metaphysical and existential certainties are in a state of crisis, when people are being uprooted and alienated and are losing their sense of what this world means, this ideology inevitably has a certain hypnotic charm. To wandering humankind it offers an immediately available home: all one has to do is accept it, and suddenly everything becomes clear once more, life takes on new meaning, and all mysteries, unanswered questions, anxiety, and loneliness vanish. Of course, one pays dearly for this low-rent home: the price is abdication of one’ s own reason, conscience, and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority. The principle involved here is that the center of power is identical with the center of truth.”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe

“Truth must be integrated with love; morality is not whole without it. Love is the greatest strength of the powerless. Unity founded on love will never be coercion; power guided by love will never be violence. Love is all-powerful and will even overcome hatred. And only love can do this!”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe

*****

This week I received the following message from my Illinois state representative:

Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker issued a statewide mask mandate for K-12 students. In doing so, he superseded the decisions being made at the local level, and silenced the voices of students, parents, educators and administrators. 

This authoritarian mandate is the latest attack on truth and humanity. As most people now know, masks are ineffective against the spread of COVID. Worse, as detailed above, masks are dangerous for children to wear. Do not send your children to school in masks. Masks are physically and emotionally harmful for children to wear. Defy the lie.

*****

Other lies we are told to accept:

Critical Race Theory (CRT)

America is a racist country.

If you are white you are racist.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. ((DEI) is meaningless virtue signaling of Woke ‘virtues.’ Consider that Chicago elected a DEI intersectional black-gay-woman as mayor. Chicago is referred to nationally by the shooting and killings that take place in its city limits. Chicago’s mayor Lightfoot, in her DEI capacity, absolves herself of any responsibility by saying “All roads lead to COVID.” Others like her say, “All roads lead to climate change.”

DEI is a tyrannical imposition on people and business and, for the most part, is racist in its application.)

The hugely priced Infrastructure Bill is about physical infrastructure. (The bill contains massive amounts of tax-payer money for social engineering. Its passage will place America’s children and grandchildren under a huge burden of debt, devalue the dollar and will expose America to its number one enemy – China.) Also, are you OK with having your mileage taxed?

*****

*****

The infrastructure bill imposes massive transportation penalties on Americans.
The Infrastructure Bill is a 2700 Page Disaster
France is flooded with people fighting for freedom, and Lindell calls out Kemp

*****

Mass Psychosis:

Mask Psychosis:

Mask Psychosis: NYT Confirms The Liberal Mask Cult Is Here to Stay – Revolver

“Corona Unmasked” by Sucharit Bhakdi and Karina Reiss | Algora Blog

Informed Dissent:

Israeli scientist says COVID-19 could be treated for under $1/day – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

Covid-19 natural immunity compared to vaccine-induced immunity: The definitive summary | Sharyl Attkisson

Despite Deadly Results the FDA will Fast Track Pfizer COVID Vaccine Approval by Early Sept. — Will Allow States and Businesses to Begin their Forced Vaccinations (thegatewaypundit.com)

If They Want to See A COVID “Passport” – Show them This! – Granite Grok

Health Canada adds Bell’s Palsy warning to Pfizer labels, but says vaccine is safe – National | Globalnews.ca

Michael Mitchell: 65-year-old “Braveheart” actor receives both Sinovac injections, then third Pfizer “booster” shot, dead six days later – The COVID Blog

Back-to-school plans in DC, Maryland and Virginia: Where masks are required | WTOP

WOW: Moderna Calls for 3rd Shot of Vaccine to Protect Against New Strains — On Same Day Company Posts $4 Billion 2nd Quarter Profit on Vaccine (thegatewaypundit.com)

Fully vaccinated people who get a Covid-19 breakthrough infection can transmit the virus, CDC chief says – CNN

The Smoking Jab: Fauci and the NIH Knew Covid-19 “Vaccines” Could Lead to Antibody-Dependent Enhancement ~ (ghionjournal.com)

Here’s the most effective protocol — Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin and Zinc — for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. | SOTN: Alternative News, Analysis & Commentary (stateofthenation.co)

UK Researchers: Cheap Cholesterol Drug Reduces Covid-19 Infection by 70% (thegatewaypundit.com)

Dr. Ryan Cole — What the Vaccine spike protein does to the body… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

*****

Ask Yourself …

Ask yourself …

Did the media just elect Geritol-ad Joe Biden as president-elect of their sock puppet theater?

Does the media care whether your one vote is disenfranchised by two illegal/invalid votes?

Did illegal votes pour in just like illegal aliens poured in at the behest of Democrats?

Are you buying the narrative that by not conceding to the main stream media/Democrats and by demanding a thorough investigation into alleged election corruption you are delegitimizing Democracy?

Was the NYT headline of Nov. 11, 2020 American Democracy DEMANDS every legal vote to be counted and the rest tossed? Or, was it Election Officials Nationwide Find no Fraud?

Should we just get on with our lives and assume that what the NYT and the media tells us (“Nothing to see here.”) is “good enough for me”?

During the takeover of a country by the forces of a dictatorship, does the media ‘cooperate’ with the power they are in cahoots with?

Do you believe that the media has your best interest at heart?

Are you aware that the media and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.,) pose the greatest threats to democracy?

Are you OK with and feel secure in Groupthink?

Are you Ok with the shadow government of Democrats/media operating to take down President Trump the last four years?

Is the Democrat/Progressive party the party of Bolshevism?

Are you OK with submitting your income, your rights, yourself and your country to Bernie Sanders, BLM and the Socialist spice girls (Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar)?

Are you OK with the intolerance of the Democrats/Progressives/media and their desire to cancel you (your thoughts, your words, your religion) out?

Are you OK with being reduced to the lowest common denominator of life because socialism/Marxism says it must be so for equality?

Are you OK with Biden rescinding, through executive order, the immigration policies put in place to protect the country?

Have you heard of any terrorist attack on U.S. soil during the last four years?

Have you heard of the U.S. starting wars the last four years?

Are you OK with Biden placing America – its resources, its tax revenue and its people – at the behest of the self-serving token Paris Accord (a Tower of Babel) while the American private sector, the last four years, has produced alternative green energy sources and has made America energy independent?

What really matters: numbers of cases and positivity OR deaths directly and solely related to COVID-19?

Are you OK with a state government that shuts down your business and your livelihood as it plays God seeking to control a virus?

Will state government shut down communities and businesses for climate change and racism and “gun control” calling each a “public health crisis?

Who is the “public” in “public health”?

Is the “greater good” proffered by the state as the reason for its coercive and overbearing control of your life really the greater good?

Do you agree with a member of Biden’s new coronavirus task force and lockdown enthusiast, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, that life is not worth living past 75?

Who should have the say about your health: the state or you?

Do you believe the state is the answer to healthcare and not yourself?

Are we to obey all laws?

Am I ready for civil disobedience?

Are you OK with increased cases of depression, drug use, suicides, and child and spousal abuse that the lockdowns have produced?

Are you ready to disobey all state orders that hinder human flourishing, that are antisocial and inhuman and, that produce the negative effects as mentioned above?

Should we obey stay-at home advisories and orders? And, why?

Should we “cancel Thanksgiving” as Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot has strongly advised?

Who should be quarantined?

Who should not be quarantined?

Should you be quarantined?

Who should not be forced to stay at home and to cancel Thanksgiving?

When Democrats propose policies do you challenge them and ask economist Thomas Sowell’s questions: “Compared to what?” and “At what cost?” and “What hard evidence do you have?”

Are you able to challenge them or are you cut off because you are not making them look good and they don’t have the answers to your questions?

Do Progressives care more about their vision than about humans they want to impose their vision on?

Are you able to think for yourself or do you need the state/media to tell you what to think?

Do you operate out of a sense of fear that has been relentlessly generated by the media and the state?

Should casinos operate with greater freedom and flexibility than houses of worship?

Should Illinois restauranteurs defy state mandates that drive them out of business and create massive unemployment?

 Should parents of school-age children in Illinois rally and protest to reopen schools?

Are the U.S. (and world) public health officials joined at the hip with China?

Are the U.S. public health policies driven by China, as are Hollywood and pro-sports?

Will compulsory vaccines, contact tracing and vaccine cards become the means to separate who’s in and who’s out of the New Globalist World Order in the coming days?

Are you OK with abuse of power and a Stalinist type enemies list and another Great Purge?

Do you rant and rave, calling America “racist” and society “systemically racist”, because you grew up in a single parent home without a father and never learned how to succeed in the world?

Are you OK with the individual being crushed, worn down, and reduced to powder in the mortar and pestle of the totalitarian Progressive Left?

Are you concerned about and afraid of firearms because the TV has relentlessly told you that you should be concerned about and afraid of firearms, as it has with Covid-19 and climate change and healthcare and a host of other socialist initiatives to get you feeding from the same trough?

Ask yourself: Am I still in America?

Juxtaposed! News ™ Lightfoot and Barrett

Intersectionality Wins the Day

“For years, they’ve said Chicago ain’t ready for reform. Well, get ready, because reform is here,” announced Chicago’s first openly gay and African-American female mayor Lori Lightfoot during her inaugural address. Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election, becoming mayor-elect of Chicago. on May 20, 2019.

Lori Lightfoot Mayor of

The mayoral election results confirmed that the threefer intersectionality of Lightfoot (black, female, lesbian) trumped the twofer intersectionality of Toni Preckwinkle (black, female) and that identity politics matters to Chicago Democrats. The election results confirmed that “change” was just one more label away.

“I campaigned on change. You voted for change. And I plan to deliver change to our government.”

In her latest attempt to “deliver change” and show Chicago that “reform is here”, Mayor Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, a former president of the Chicago Police Board and former chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force, is taking steps to deal with the city’s crime and the coronavirus. “Change” is just a ticket and a mask away.

Mayor Lightfoot has proposed an intersectional two-fer to handle Chicago’s violent offenders and its budget crises:  a city budget that includes speed-camera ticketing of drivers going over six MPH over the speed limit. If enacted, cars that speed away from drive-by shootings will be ticketed and the city will gain revenue. Reform is here. But, what about the city and state’s Covid-19 initiative?

Defeating Covid-19 and enforcing what some are calling “a culture of safetyism” are behind Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s latest mandate outlining new rules for restaurants, bars and social gatherings in multiple counties including Chicago’s Cook County. The rules included a decision to close indoor dining. The Governor, throwing the full weight of his office behind the new mandate, said Wednesday that he would send the Illinois State Police to the regions where restaurants and bars were defying his orders.

Mayor Lightfoot and Gov. Pritzker

In the shadow of Gov. Pritzker, Mayor Lightfoot, on Oct. 1, 2020, offered her own tour de force – subjecting the Coronavirus to a triple threat of her intersectional power in super hero fashion. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, donned “Rona Destroyer” costumes for a pre-Halloween press conference.

Lightfoot as Rona Destroyer

On May 20, 2019, Lori Lightfoot was awarded Chicago’s four stars. Elections have consequences. So, watch out Covid-19.

Intersectionality at the Crossroad

On Tuesday Oct. 27th, 2020, following a private ceremony in the Supreme Court’s East Conference Room, Judge Amy Coney Barrett officially became Justice Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the Judicial Oath to Barrett, as husband Jesse held the family Bible. Justice Barrett – wife, mother of seven, adoptive parent, lawyer, circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and, academic – became the ninth member of the Supreme Court.

Justice Barrett sworn in

Justice Barrett’s nomination was supported by every law clerk she had worked with and by all of her 49 faculty colleagues at Notre Dame Law school. The American Bar Assoc. Standing Committee gave her a “Well Qualified” rating. Colleagues and close associates lauded her as “Whip smart” “Brilliant writer and thinker” “Intellectual giant”.

Justice Barrett’s family

Justice Barrett revealed her legal aptitude and intellectual prowess during the senate committee’s questioning. Without notes, Judge Barrett answered each question with aplomb. And, unlike her activist predecessor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barrett made it clear during the confirmation hearings that she would abide by the Constitution and not substitute her own views in rulings.

“A judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”

Yet, the recounting of Barrett’s positive recommendations and stellar qualifications and her adroit answers fell on some deaf ears. The Democratic senators wanted to be heard instead.

During Barrett’s confirmation hearing the Democratic senators decried the timing of the nomination to their GOP colleagues on the committee. They also repeatedly questioned Barrett hoping that she would reveal a bias against the policies and laws they favor. They pleaded with her to recuse herself from cases where they desired favorable rulings, including a probable election case. The Democratic senators then brought in “expert witnesses” to echo their concerns and to provoke an activist sympathy in Judge Barrett. The witnesses gave pro-emotive accounts of abortion and the Affordable Care Act. One of the witnesses spoke of the “real-world harm of ending the ACA”.

The media, along with the Democratic Senators speaking outside the hearing, presented Barrett’s intersectionality – her faith and the law – as a problem. As a Catholic, conservative and Constitution Originalist, Justice Barret is seen as a triple threat to LGBT rights, abortion rights and healthcare rights held sacred by Progressives. Social media echoed the main stream media’s negative take.

After Justice Barrett was sworn in, the Girl Scouts of America congratulated her on their Twitter and Facebook pages. But the posts were quickly deleted after social media erupted and began spewing vitriol against “the 5th woman appointed to the Supreme Court since its inception in 1789.” 

Replying to the deletion, actress Amber Tamblyn tweeted “@girlscouts thank you for deleting the tweet. Be on our side – the side of girls who grow up to become women who fight for other women and girls and not the opposite.”

I Approve This Message

In my last post I mentioned that I voted early. There are issues of national and local importance on the ballot. I couldn’t wait to cast my votes. Here’s why.

God help us if the incoherent and rambling Joe Biden wins the presidency. I am not alone in my concern of a Joe Biden presidency:

“… no 77-year-old white man from Delaware has the right, authority or rationale to question my blackness or the blackness of millions of Americans exercising our God-given right to be free and exercise our constitutionally granted power to vote for whomever we want, even if they are Republican.”

Joe Biden questions my blackness one moment, defends racist 1994 crime bill the next

“The black vote will be the swing vote this year. And right now, it’s looking like it’s Joe Biden’s for the taking. This is despite Biden’s history, which is riddled with policies that have historically and devastatingly disenfranchised African Americans.”

How Trump – not Biden – has helped black lives matter

Biden has stated that as president he would enforce a national mask mandate. He also stated that he would raise taxes. Behind these statements is the predictable and reprehensible Democrat platform of controlling people and raising taxes. For Democrats, individual liberties are an impediment to building the progressive welfare state. Biden has his own impediments.

I don’t see Biden finishing the four-year term. He may resign for health reasons or because of his son Hunter and his dealings with foreign nations or because his synapses may completely stop firing. The extreme far-left ComaLol Harris would then become president. Our country will not survive the moral narcissism and value-meanderings of such politicians.

My vote was not based on rhetoric but on record: 47 years of swamp building vs. 47 months of retooling America; the economic stagnation of the Obama/Biden years and the stunning economic boon of the last four.

I voted on the macro-issue of the presidency and the nation’s well-being. I voted against the authoritarian Democrats and their everything-goes-anything-goes Progressive agenda. I voted to continue the good that started with the 2016 election – economic rebound, historic low unemployment, judges who abide by the Constitution, Black Americans being respected and not talked down to and, the peace efforts in North Korea and the Middle East.

On the micro level, I voted against the local Progressive Democratic candidates who promote socialism in the form of healthcare and are in bed with Mike Madigan “the man behind the fiscal fiasco in Illinois”. What is happening in Illinois should be a stark warning to Americans of what will happen if Democrats are elected on a macro level. Elections have consequences.

Also on the ballot was the proposed amendment to the Illinois constitution. The amendment would change the state’s tax structure by removing the current flat rate provisions and changing it to allow a progressive income tax.

There is a TV commercial running constantly In Illinois. It promotes the amendment as a “Fair Tax”. The Orwellian Newspeak “Fair Tax” ad should be warning enough that what it is being sold is deceitful: the rich will be taxed more and that most Illinoisans will have lower taxes as a result. But, once a graduated tax is in place, Illinois pols – Democrats – will undoubtedly move the tax brackets down to collect revenue. People are leaving Illinois in droves now. The rich will leave when their taxes go up. They will take their business and jobs elsewhere. Soon, I will retire and move to Tennessee. Who pays the bills then? Whoever is left in Illinois.

The amendment is being touted as a means to fix Illinois’ disastrous fiscal mess. The Democrats in charge refuse to amend the constitution to fix the pension crisis. They want taxpayers to fix the problem they created and refuse to remedy. Will you receive an annual pension of over $100k? I won’t. I struggle to finance my own retirement after taxes.

More than 19,000 Illinois government retirees receive pensions over $100K

Do you pay Federal income tax? 75.5 million people in calendar year 2020 did not. Is any of this fair?

(There is a glaring omission to what is pushed as “social justice” today: When a person provides for him or herself and for their family and also helps their neighbor, they take the burden off of society and government for their financial and emotional well-being and the well-being of others. This is a socially just use of one’s income.)

I voted “NO” on the proposed amendment. Reasons for my “NO” vote are included in the links below:

Key Reasons the Income Tax Hike Amendment is Bad for Illinois.

[Chicago Tribune] Closing Arguments, Part One: Why voters should reject the Pritzker Tax

[Chicago Tribune] Editorial: Closing Arguments, Part Two: If you support the ‘Pritzker Tax,’ this one’s for you

[Chicago Tribune] Closing Arguments, Part Three: Drs. Pritzker and Madigan, your patient is seriously ill. The ‘fair tax’ is no cure.

God help us to defeat the Hideous Strength of Progressivism that deigns to recreate man in its own image and will do so by any means necessary.

Tales from the Lockdown Crypt

 

DuPage County, Illinois:

“Coroner Richard Jorgensen issued a warning Thursday that the number of suicides in the county between Jan. 1 and June 30 rose from 44 in 2019 to 54 in 2020, a 23% increase.

…This year overdose deaths are 52% higher than the same time last year, with the majority occurring after the COVID-19 measures were implemented in the state.”

DuPage coroner reports 23% Increase in suicides in the first six months of 2020, suggest link to isolation during pandemic

 

Cook, Lake and DuPage Counties, Illinois:

“The fallout of what happened with the quarantine is going to be pretty bad … for people’s mental health and people’s livelihoods, and that is not a good recipe.”

Why the pandemic is leading to more opioid overdoses

 

Above are just two local headlines. One can extrapolate the local effects of the COVID-19 mitigation to a national scenario.

At the beginning of the lockdown the messaging coming down from our overlords was that hospitals and medical resources would be overwhelmed if we didn’t obey the stay-at-home orders. Yet, we who are locked down (those at risk and the healthy) were not told that we would be overwhelmed. That was not in their consideration. As indicated above, there has been an increase of depression, anxiety and substance abuse leading to overdoses and death. Who would have thought that imposing social isolation, mask muzzling, loss of employment, loss of one’s business, etc. would have had such a devastating effect on humans? Our nanny overlords did not.

If it bleeds it leads. I have no doubt that the 24/7 news coverage of cases and deaths related to COVID-19 (Tales from the Crypt) exacerbates mental health problems, especially for those with pre-existing mental health problems. That coverage and the constant PSAs telling us to wear masks and stay home has got almost everyone spooked.

The line for early voting yesterday morning was outside the door, down the sidewalk and down another sidewalk. Some sixty people, standing apart in the UV light of the hot sun, were wearing a mask. I did not. I did wear one inside the county building to cast my vote. I didn’t want create a scene.

(There is no medical science behind wearing a mask outdoors. Yet, medical-scientism demands, like its counterpart climate-scientism, mindless herd-submission to its specious dogma.)

Personally, I am infinitely more concerned about the effects of the lockdown on humans than about the effects of COVID-19.  More and more COVID-19 cases are reported. So what? More and more people are being tested. People get it and build immunity to it. Deaths are reported but are the deaths only caused by COVID-19 or by pre-existing conditions and COVID-19? We are not told.

We all know that those with pre-existing conditions -respiratory illness, compromised immune systems, the elderly and, the obese, like Illinois’ governor J.B. Pritzker – should be quarantined. The rest of us should be set free. The lockdown should have ended two weeks after it was started.

Along with the excuse given for the lockdown: “to keep from overloading the hospital and the essential workers” (“workers”, a term used by Marxist sympathizers), was the “flatten the curve” excuse. The conditions for ending the lockdown were mutating. It mutated again with “we’ll wait for a vaccine”. We don’t need to wait for a vaccine to end the restrictions. The only vaccine I want is one which inoculates me against contracting bureaucrats into my life.

People need to get back to their livelihoods. Restrictions need to be lifted off of businesses and churches. No one should be deprived of a right to earn a living and to be fruitful. Kids need to be in school *(God protect them from the Progressive/Marxist/BLM indoctrination virus.) The paranoia imposed on us from the media and the overlords must stop. End the lockdown now! We are a free people who know how to protect ourselves and others. We’ve made it this far. Stop the spread of fear. Flatten the rhetoric.

It is not good for man to be alone. The COVID-19 mandates and our inability to cope with isolation creates a public mental health crisis. Mitigate this.

We need to protect the vulnerable – that is all of us – from the exasperating fear foisted on us by the “If it bleeds it leads” media and the tyranny of isolation imposed by the overlords who continue to de-humanize the population with their mandates.

 

*The Moral Case for Reopening Schools – Without Masks

Added 10-15-20:

“I am a left-leaning New York City public defender who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries and Hillary Clinton in the general election. I have never voted for a Republican candidate. I chose my career because I wanted to help those most defenseless in our society: indigent people accused and convicted of crimes and facing the awesome power of the state. 

Until I saw the catastrophic effects that the lockdowns were having on the very people I sought to help…”

Lockdowners Speak with Privilege, and Contempt for the Poor and the Working Class.

In a radio interview discussing her article, Ms. Younes, a lifelong Democrat, said she is voting for Trump based on the COVID-19 restrictions the Biden/Harris ticket would impose if elected.

The Great Barrington Declaration

“As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.”

Added 1-26-2021:

Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen

A Post as Lovely as a Tree?

Morton Arboretum 9-5-2015 SP29

Trees

By Joyce Kilmer

 

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

 

~~~

Good. I’ve brought you back in time to grade school and to poem recitals mumbled and fumbled on a small wooden stage festooned with branches, hot klieg lights, coaching teachers and anxious whispering parents ready to breastfeed sweet flowing praise into their little sapling.

Snap! Now, follow me to…

The Morton Arboretum.

Saturday, in beastly 90 degree Northern Illinois late summer heat, I decided to trek once more through my childhood and teenage and adulthood forest. I call it “my forest” because I like to think of it as “my Illinois” before “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

They took all the trees

And put them in a tree museum

Then they charged the people

A dollar and a half just to see ’em

-From Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi

 

Start the music: As I walked through the “most ancient of conditions” those formative memories of my youth, Joni’s song resounded in some distant glen, somewhere within the silent swish of stately trees and near the stealing bases Blue jays and close to the ever-present droning life support system of the Illinois Toll Way.

A “tree museum”? Now I have to rest from my labors and ponder: after all the recitals and all of the seasons of my life, does my life’s mustard tree end up in the same place as it has for these trees-in a tree museum?

One good thing: it is clear to me that when I die I am recycled. You know, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. But this parking lot to parking lot stuff has got to stop. A bittersweet experience, this “tree museum” business is, on Labor Day weekend.

Encompassing the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois is industry and business of mankind’s doing. I expect that. I just didn’t want all that.

I want Illinois, Northern Illinois back. I want “The Prairie State” back.

So, I came. I saw trees and tall grass. I smelled musty earth and cedar mulch and the decay of rotten wood. I sweated profusely to feel alive once more within the epiphany of nature.

 

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique

And a swinging hot spot

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Till it’s gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

They took all the trees

And put them in a tree museum

And they charged all the people

A dollar and a half to see ’em

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Till it’s gone

They paved paradise

And they put up a parking lot

Hold on to your charm bracelets! Without further ado, here is a portion of my photographic record of The Trek (looking for Ents, basically, to resolve the pavement problem).

Here’s what a photographer might say: “These photos were taken during hazy midday. I prefer morning or late afternoon lighting because the contrast is more interesting and diffuse.”

As you will see, I’m no Ansel Adams or Elliot Porter but I am a visual learner. So…

… sweat glands and all I focused my attention on flora, glen and meadow, Ash, Maples, Oaks and, well, you go there. And, besides, interior forest pictures are well lit during midday. That’ll be my excuse. (Please forward all complaints about out-of-control pavement to your congressman.) Let’s WordPress on. (No parking lots were abused in this filming.)

The Morton Arboretum Visitor's Center

The Morton Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center

The Morton Arboretum's Visistor Center w/restaurant facing Meadow lake

The Morton Arboretum’s Visistor Center w/restaurant facing Meadow lake

A view across Meadow Lake towards the Visitor's Center

A view across Meadow Lake towards the Visitor’s Center

Interior Forest 31

Interior Forest #1

This little fellow wouldn't gie me his name. He had a mouthful of acorn.

This little fellow wouldn’t give me his name. He had a mouthful of acorn.

Woodland Trail #1

Woodland Trail #1

Acorn on the lookout for squirrels.

Acorn on the lookout for squirrels.

Berries du jour

Berries du jour

Trail #2

Trail #2

Open prairie meadow

Open prairie meadow

Meadow

Meadow

Meadow flora

Meadow flora

Illinois-Wilderness at Your Doorstep

Illinois-Wilderness at Your Doorstep

Woodland Interior #1

Woodland Interior #1

Woodland Interior #2

Woodland Interior #2

Avant garde tree

Avant garde tree

Woodland Interior #3

Woodland Interior #3

Spot the Spider?

Spot the Spider?

Mushrooms a la dead tree

Mushrooms a la dead tree

Forest glen

Forest glen #1

Forest glen 32

Forest glen #2

Morton Arboretum brochure

Morton Arboretum brochure

Fall fashion?

Fall fashion?

Forest flora

Forest flora

Wetlands

Wetlands

Homage to Eliot Porter

Homage to Eliot Porter

"No Running" Bugs have "The Right of Way"

“No Running”
Bugs have “The Right of Way”

"if a tree falls in the forest..."

“If a tree falls in the forest…”

Japanese tree? How multicultivating!

Japanese tree? How multicultivating!

Stonehenge Green?

Stonehenge Green?

Jesus: "I am the True Vine and you are the branches."

Jesus: “I am the True Vine and you are the branches.”

Tanyosho Pine-Japanese Red Fir

Tanyosho Pine-Japanese Red Fir

"A Walk In Paradise Garden"

“A Walk In Paradise Garden”

In case you missed plastic during this montage here is a Lego Bird scuplture by Sean Kenney

In case you missed plastic during this montage here is a Lego Bird scuplture by Sean Kenney.

More plastic...

More plastic…

~~~