Half-pint

Entertainment 5 Minutes

Today is the real Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthday! She was born February 7, 1867 and died February 10, 1957 and PBS.ORG had an interesting article on her.

From: PBS.ORG:

When the Ingalls family first began traversing the grassy frontier of America in their covered wagon — bouncing from Kansas to the Dakotas and Wisconsin and back, they had no idea that their stories would go on to become the stuff of folklore — woven in the very fabric of the modern American imagination, and forever memorialized in a series of books for children.

The author of these stories, Laura Ingalls Wilder, based the bestselling “Little House” series on her childhood and the simple joys and upheavals of the pioneer life alongside her family: Pa, Ma, her sisters and Jack the dog. But despite the author’s insistence that the books were purely biographical, the truth behind the stories was much more complex. The details and dealings of the characters did not always match up with reality. To help understand who the real Laura Ingalls Wilder was, we’ve compiled these sometimes lesser-known facts about the real life of this pioneering author.

1 She found publishing success later in life.

Wilder was in her 40s when she first began writing for small farming publications in the rural town of Mansfield, Missouri where she and her husband, Almanzo, lived at the time. She didn’t begin writing her first novel, “Pioneer Girl,” until she was in her 60s, with the help and encouragement of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who was already a successful author. With the Great Depression in full swing, however, the novel, which documented the harsh realities of life on the frontier, was not met with enthusiasm by publishers, who one by one rejected the novel. But Rose never gave up, and set about adapting her mother’s novel into stories for children – stories which would eventually form the basis of the “Little House” series. The first book in that series, “Little House in the Big Woods,” was published in 1932 when Wilder was 65.

2 Her first book was published 84 years after she wrote it.

Wilder’s very first novel may have been turned down numerous times when it was first presented to publishers in 1931, but the original manuscript of “Pioneer Girl” was preserved and posthumously published in 2014 — some 84 years after it was written. The annotated autobiography for adult audiences quickly climbed to the top of bestseller lists around the country, following the successes of Wilder’s other novels that were all sprung from this very first memoir.

3 She refused to say “obey” in her wedding vows.

In the last book of the series, “These Happy Golden Years,” Laura recounted the time she told Almanzo (known affectionately to her as Manly) that she would not utter the word “obey” when it came time to say their wedding vows. “I cannot make a promise that I will not keep,” she told Almanzo, and “even if I tried, I do not think I could obey anybody against my better judgement.” He simply replied: “I’d never expect you to.”

“Almanzo was perfectly competent and a strong, hard worker. But he was willing to defer to his wife,” said biographer William Anderson. “They had a unique partnership in their marriage before most marriages were organized in that fashion. Before Almanzo made any purchases or changes on the farm, they consulted together. And if he would do something rash without asking her, she made it known that she really didn’t care for that.

4 The couple faced many hardships early on that traumatized their only child.

The couple also fell on many hard times over the course of their long marriage — some of which were documented in the book, “The First Four Years.” The family survived natural disasters, crop failures, the loss of a son, severe cases of diphtheria that left Almanzo with limited use of his legs, and a house fire that burned everything they owned. When they eventually settled in Mansfield, the pair struggled to make ends meet, with each having to take on second and third jobs. Laura raised chickens and took in boarders while her husband worked in the apple orchard and delivered kerosene. Their daughter Rose also chipped in by picking and selling huckleberries.

Rose later wrote about the trauma of her upbringing in a 1926 article for Cosmopolitan, saying: “No one knew what went on in my mind. Because I loved my parents, I would not let them suspect that I was suffering. I concealed from them how much I felt their poverty, their struggles and disappointments. These filled my life, magnified like horrors in a dream.”

5 She was distantly related to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

They were fifth cousins, one time removed, to be exact. But Laura Ingalls Wilder couldn’t stand FDR and was extremely critical of him and his efforts to push forward the “New Deal” — a series of reforms, projects, and programs designed to help Americans recover financially from the Great Depression.

“Politically, she’s writing at a time when FDR is in the White House and is apparently never leaving, and she doesn’t like him very much at all,” said Sarah Miller, author of “Caroline: Little House Revisited.”

“Laura thought that everybody was starting to whine in response to the New Deal. She just couldn’t stand it. It made her sick,” said Christine Woodside, author of “Libertarians on the Prairie.”

6 She found an unlikely audience in Japan.

The sixth book in the “Little House” series became the first book that was approved for translation and publication in Japan during the American occupation at the end of World War II. General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), granted permission for “The Long Winter” to be published under the title “Nagai Fuyu” in 1949. The books recounting tales of pioneer life — of hardships and rugged individualism and finding joy in simplicity — really resonated with audiences in Japan where they quickly gained widespread popularity.

7 Her name was removed from a children’s literature award in 2018.

While the “Little House” books remain in print and are still popular today, the series has also received its fair share of criticism because of its racist and dehumanizing portrayals of Native and Black Americans — a reflection of attitudes shared among many white settlers during the time the books were written. Some of the more egregious lines in the books were later amended by publishers, but certain racist images and statements remain in newer printed versions. The controversy caused the American Library Association to rename its Laura Ingalls Wilder Lifetime Achievement Award to “The Children’s Literature Legacy Award” in 2018, and has prompted scholars and authors to call for the books to be taught to children within the proper context.

8 The “Little House” books became a global phenomenon that launched a thousand spin offs.

The “Little House” series has become so iconic over the years that it has prompted several spin-off novels, various musicals, radio plays, a Japanese anime series, parades, fashion shows, festivals, and recreations, including the annual Wilder Pageant. Reruns of the iconic “Little House on the Prairie” TV show that first appeared on screens in the US in the ’70s and ’80s are still aired in over 30 countries today. In December 2020, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content announced a one-hour dramatic reboot of that TV series. The books were so beloved that the Wilder even had a historic highway that runs across Minnesota and South Dakota and a crater on Venus named after her.

SOURCE: PBS.ORG

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98 thoughts on “Half-pint”

  1. Morning All
    the wind woke me at 1:30 this morning–howling like a banshee and hasn’t stopped since. i did fall back to sleep for a few hours after that but I am still tired. i will probably fall asleep in my chair by the fire later.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. a plane flying over Alaska has disappeared
    FTA
    A Bering Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan with 10 people on board, including nine passengers and one pilot, has disappeared from radar screens while flying over western Alaska.

    The aircraft was en route from Unalakleet to Nome when contact was lost around 4 p.m. local time.

    The flight departed Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., and communication was lost less than an hour later.

    “On February 6, 2025, at 4:00pm, AST was contacted by AKRCC in reference to an overdue aircraft,” the Alaska Department of Public Safety said on its website.

    The announcement continued, “It was reported that a Bering Air Caravan had gone missing while en route from Unalakleet to Nome, with 9 passengers and 1 pilot on board. SAR crews are working to get to the last known coordinates.”

    Robert Kiyosaki Makes Crazy Predictions About Gold and Silver Prices

    Authorities are working to determine the plane’s last known coordinates.

    Due to hazardous winter weather and limited visibility, aerial search efforts have been constrained.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/developing-massive-search-underway-after-us-aircraft-carrying/

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Timothy Kashin

    @TJKashin

    Arrested, USDA Inspector Phyllis Fong, a 22-year Deep State operative, is one of the key players behind the artificial inflation of poultry and egg prices in the U.S. She ordered the culling of MILLIONS of healthy birds, using the FAKE excuse of “mutating bird flu.” But here’s the TRUTH: There was NO pandemic. Fong personally ordered mass bird exterminations in 2024, targeting farms in Colorado, Ohio, Arizona, Louisiana, and Nebraska. One case in Louisiana set the stage: a man (who DID NOT WORK on a poultry farm) was allegedly diagnosed with H5N1 after “finding dead birds” in his yard. The CDC then INVENTED a panic story, claiming 66 people were infected. Sources say that number is ENTIRELY FABRICATED. Before the media even blasted this FAKE OUTBREAK, Fong and Biden’s corrupt FDA sent teams of inspectors in full hazmat suits to Nebraska, ordering the instant killing of 600,000 birds. The farm owner—who recently tested his flock and found ZERO SIGNS of bird flu—REFUSED. But it didn’t matter. Fong had already signed off on the order, threatening him with $4 BILLION in fines and PRISON TIME if he didn’t comply. She thought she was untouchable. When Trump began cleansing the Deep State in January, she REFUSED TO LEAVE, publicly claiming Trump had “no authority” over “federal watchdogs.” The next day, KARMA STRUCK. Security FORCED HER OUT, delivering her straight to JAG investigators. Now you know why the price of eggs have shot thru the roof.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Oldersoul

    Oldersoul

    February 7, 2025 7:42 am

    Another wayward D on Nicole’s 2028 scalp list …

    Fetterman toys with the ideal of being a strong American Man, but he is a lazy slob who can’t get to the gym in spite of wearing gym clothes all day long. I do not expect someone who can’t manage to dress themself to make good decisions, let alone those as important as the health…

    — Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) February 7, 2025

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Freedom Ring
    Freedom Ring
    February 7, 2025 8:57 am

    I recall biden saying people would need F-15s and nuclear weapons to take on the govt.
    Apparently all you really need is 4 nerds with big balls.

    Like

  18. Hmmm….ok, Trump beats Biden in the category of oldest when elected but only by 159 days!

    “Trump’s Youth Revolution Column: How America’s oldest president became a Gen Z icon”

    Free Beacon, Matthew Continetti, February 7, 2025

    (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

    EXCERPT: “News alert: Washington Post journalists are panicked that some DOGE employees previously worked at Elon Musk’s private-sector companies and “are in their early 20s.”

    The horror. Outrage over Musk’s whiz kids reveals another progressive double standard: Young activists are praised when they are on the Left and denounced when they join the Right. The Post, moreover, is blind to the real story. Trump may be the oldest man elected president, but he leads a youth movement that will shape politics for decades to come.

    Trump shattered the cliché that Republicans are the party of seniors and Democrats the party of young people. And he’s staffing his administration with men and women who will form the next GOP governing class. The Beltway is only beginning to grasp the implications. Young people not only define the cultural landscape. They carry the political categories they learn in their 20s for the rest of their lives.

    Such is the power of youth that even losing candidates who win over young people have lasting influence. The young people who worked on George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, were the liberal future.

    Ron Paul’s collegiate supporters in 2008 and 2012 previewed the anti-Establishment, anti-war GOP. And Bernie Sanders’s bros and girls in 2016 and 2020 pointed toward the Democrats’ coming lurch to the Left.

    When a youth-driven campaign wins power, the consequences are profound. Think JFK accepting the torch passed to a new generation of Americans. Or Reaganauts forging the doctrines that guided the GOP for 40 years…..”

    https://freebeacon.com/columns/trumps-youth-revolution/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Ha! Love the last paragraph: “The Democrats lecture and scold. Trump offers opportunity through disruption. The GOP’s baby-faced bulldozers are just getting started, and they won’t be denied.”

      Liked by 1 person

  20. Absolute, total lunatics!!!!

    “Not Kidding: Michigan State Rep Says She Sterilized Herself To Protest Trump -‘So anyway, who else is excited for the new Lady Gaga album?'”

    Matthew Xiao, February 6, 2025

    Laurie Pohutsky (X screenshot)

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A Democratic Michigan state representative told protesters Wednesday that she underwent voluntary sterilization to avoid becoming pregnant during President Donald Trump’s second term, a left-wing media outlet reported.

    “Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America,” Rep. Laurie Pohutsky told anti-Trump protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Michigan Capitol, according to a piece published by the Michigan Advance. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate.”

    Trump has maintained that abortion policy should be left to state legislatures, such as the Michigan House of Representatives. Pohutsky is a member of the Michigan House and served for two years as speaker pro tempore.

    Pohutsky insisted that her surgery was important, telling protesters, “If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.”

    Pohutsky, who has promoted herself as the first openly bisexual member of the Michigan House, on Thursday took to X to claim that “many men” are not happy with her decision.

    “Oh my… it would seem that many men with profile photos of other people have read the news and are not very happy with me today,” the state representative wrote. “So anyway, who else is excited for the new Lady Gaga album?”

    Commenters seemed similarly excited, with one writing, “The gene pool breathes a sigh of relief.”

    The Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of center-left webpages that claims to focus on local issues. While the network may appear grassroots, donors include the Rockefeller family and foreign billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. It was launched with the backing of a group called the Hopewell Fund, which was in turn managed by left-wing dark-money behemoth Arabella Advisors.”

    Liked by 1 person

  22. https://www.axios.com/2025/02/05/trump-gaza-plan-reaction-israel-middle-east

    “Bibi’s Second-Chance Meeting With Trump” – https://archive.ph/uFr84#selection-739.1-779.122

    Our Take: Barak Ravid is not just Trump’s go-to Israeli journalist, but he’s also former Israeli Military Intelligence.

    Very few people on Trump’s team knew in advance that he would go so far as to pronounce the U.S. would “own” the war-scarred enclave — a highly interventionist endeavor for a long-time critic of U.S. nation-building around the world.

    Trump’s displacement plan was praised by members of the Israeli far-right as a “green light” for full Israeli occupation of Gaza and the building of settlements. A source close to Trump said that’s not his intention.

    The Saudis were also upset about Trump’s claim at the top of his meeting with Netanyahu that the kingdom won’t condition normalization of relations with Israel on Palestinian statehood.“

    The Saudi crown prince doesn’t want to be seen as being part of what Trump is talking about,” the U.S. source said.

    “He is a disruptor. He wanted to challenge the discourse,” a source close to Trump said.

    Not everything was rosy in the relationship. Trump kept most of his bitterness about Netanyahu private for years, especially because his public bromance with Bibi was good politics.

    “A lot of time has passed and their relations have improved, but Trump still does not like Bibi, does not trust Bibi,” a U.S. source close to Trump told [Ravid].“

    Nothing is as it seems. This is still an active psywar battlefield, and President Trump has dispensed a thick fog of war, as he flies around like a ninja, laying plans and preparing his next moves, as others are caught flat-footed and awe-struck, dumbfounded by what they are witnessing.

    Ravid also posted this video on X from the 2016 Republican Primary, which is an incredible clip, given the current news cycle.

    (Video of Trump bashing Rubio during a debate)

    Rubio will travel to Saudi Arabia next, as MBS is summoning the UN for an emergency meeting to thwart efforts to displace the Palestinians. Next week, King Abdullah of Jordan will visit the White House, and Egyptian President Sisi will come the following week. I fully expect Trump’s position to evolve, significantly, after those meetings.

    Meanwhile, it is looking like Netanyahu may have just torpedoed the hostage ceasefire deal, after he changed the terms, demanding that Hamas leadership leave Gaza forever (Hamas has already rejected it). I suspect he has been emboldened by Trump’s rhetoric — and perhaps that was the point.

    If Netanyahu screws up this hostage deal, after everything he’s been given, Trump will be free and clear to drop the hammer on Bibi.

    – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

    The gold-plated pager BiBi gave to Trump:

      Liked by 1 person

    2. BTW- True story

      FYI: The Republicans did not agree to delay the vote on Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI Director. Instead, the Democrats used a procedural rule within the Senate Judiciary Committee to force a one-week delay. This delay was not a result of Republican agreement, but rather a strategic move by the Democrats utilizing existing committee regulations.

      Liked by 1 person

    6. OurLastStand

      OurLastStand

      February 7, 2025 10:08 am

      “BREAKING: Musk Says His DOGE Team Uncovered $100 BILLION in Medicare and Medicaid Waste After Gaining Access to the System

      In a bombshell revelation that could shake the foundations of American healthcare, Elon Musk, leading the charge under President Trump’s newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has uncovered what he describes as a staggering “$100B of taxpayer money” wasted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).”

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/breaking-musk-exposes-shocking-100-billion-waste-medicare/

      Liked by 1 person

    7. EXCERPT: “A doctor tells her sick patient, “I’ve got good news and bad news. You have an aggressive form of cancer, but I think with surgery we can make you better.” Stunning news, but thank God. There’s hope. There’s a way forward. Instead of being relieved, though, the patient furiously denies the diagnosis and screams at the doctor, “How dare you tell me I have cancer! I don’t have cancer! You’re the one who’s sick.” 

      That’s basically what we’re hearing from the left, the Pravda Press, and a Democrat Party doubling down on insanity as the Department of Government Efficiency (the DOGE) begins detailing the diseases sickening the body politic and devouring taxpayer dollars.

      Oh, these guys are mad. Like frothing at the mouth, rabies mad. Jussie Smollett gaslighting fraudulent righteous indignation mad — because President Donald Trump and a billionaire businessman they used to crush on are exposing the big government scam the American taxpayer has long been forced to fund. Corrupt Bargainers

      Badly defeated and desperately trying to crawl out of the political wilderness, Democrats are choosing to die on the government-waste-is-good political hill after holding a four-year orgy of waste. They are great at projection. You’ve got to give them that. 

      “What we are witnessing here is the biggest heist in American history,” deranged Sen. Chris Van Hollen said at a protest Wednesday near the U.S. Capitol. The Maryland Democrat made the rounds this week at a series of D.C. protests and press conferences in support of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, the poster-child for galling waste, fraud, and abuse in government. 

      Van Hollen and posse got together for Wednesday’s made-for-corporate media political temper tantrum, decrying Trump’s move to dismantle the corrupt foreign aid dispenser, one of the swampiest agencies in the fetid swamp. 

      He described Elon Musk leading the Department of Government Efficiency as “the most corrupt bargain we’ve ever seen in American history.” Apparently, the senator is unfamiliar with the Biden family’s body of work. 

      “Elon Musk gives $250 million to elect Donald Trump, and Donald Trump turns over the keys to United States government to Elon Musk and his billionaire friends and his cronies,” Van Hollen said at the cringy protest with some of the most stereotypical, mask-wearing Marxists this side of a Columbia University Hamas pep rally.

      Photo: Montgomery Community Media/YouTube

      “Are we going to let that stand? Hell no, we are not going to let that stand,” he told the leftist demonstrators, who looked like they were promised lunch. “We have to fight this in the courts, we have to fight this in the Congress, we have to fight this in the streets. We need to fight this all over America.”

      This is what the Democrats want to fight for? This is their line in the sand?  Boy, they love to lose. But, then again, this is the same party recently led by Kamala Harris, who reportedly sought advice about her political future from Hillary Clinton. That’s a recipe for success. ‘This Level of Insanity’

      Let’s talk about the “biggest heist in American history.” Thanks to President Trump, DOGE, and some other government trackers, we’re seeing just how badly the uniparty has screwed we the people — we the taxpayer…..”

      “….“The AP issues a stylebook that journalists have widely adopted for standards in style, formatting, and word choice. According to InfluenceWatch, the stylebook shifted in 2013 — just before The AP’s federal funding began to trend upward — to favor left-wing terminology. The problem has worsened in recent years,” Logan wrote. 

      Interesting. Will the accomplice media die without public subsidies? The “resistance movement” gravy train is drying up.  

      We’re getting a much better look at the cancer killing this republic. The DOGE is proving to be a pretty powerful MRI. Sunlight indeed is the best disinfectant. Sit back and watch the swamp rats scurry from the light.”

      https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/07/doge-is-deadly-to-the-swamp-and-a-ray-of-light-for-the-american-taxpayer/

      Liked by 1 person

    8. “Oh SNAP! Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars Blown On Free Food Fraud — The good people of the United States don’t want anyone to starve, but people who are starving don’t trade away their food credit. SNAP needs an audit.”

      The Federalist, By: Beth Brelje, February 07, 2025

      a stack of fruits and vegetables.

      ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A small Philadelphia corner grocery store is the scene of yet another example of squandered taxpayer money. In this case, “nearly $2 million” in food benefits meant for the hungry went to one person.

      Store owner Jenny Espinal Tejada, 34, was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison. She must pay more than $1.8 million in restitution and forfeit “the proceeds of her offenses, for defrauding the U.S. government,” according to a press release from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Attorney’s Office. Espinal Tejada “pleaded guilty in October to one count of wire fraud and one count of defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (SNAP).

      Here is how she did it, according to the attorney’s office:

      “Espinal Tejada admitted that she used her small corner grocery store in Philadelphia to redeem SNAP benefits, even though she knew the store had not been approved to participate in SNAP as a merchant,” the press release reads.

      According to the attorney’s office, Espinal Tejada “gained access to the program by misappropriating” identification numbers that “had been assigned” to stores participating in SNAP legitimately. She used these misappropriated numbers “to work around the rules of SNAP” and “abused the program by trading benefits for cash in her store.”

      It is illegal to buy or sell SNAP benefits or to exchange them for anything other than eligible food items.

      “Espinal Tejada sought to profit illicitly from the SNAP program, diverting nearly $2 million of the USDA’s money,” U.S. Attorney Romero said in the statement. “On behalf of the folks who rely on these resources every day — and the taxpayers who fund the programs — we and our partners will continue to prosecute abuses like this and ensure that those who commit them are held appropriately accountable.”

      This was nearly $2 million at just one store. Investigators should keep looking because we know SNAP fraud is rampant.

      In Buffalo, New York this week, a woman named Carmella Miller was sentenced to five years of probation, 200 hours of community service, and ordered to pay back more than $6,000 in restitution after being convicted of grand larceny and welfare fraud. Investigators said she hid information about her income and fraudulently collected SNAP. As a local NBC affiliate reported, officials said that for “nearly four years,” Miller “collected a total of $6,406 in public assistance benefits that she was not entitled to receive.”

      In Minnesota, a Shakopee woman was charged with theft for “fraudulently collect[ing] more than $60,000 in public benefits while incarcerated,” according to a local Fox affiliate. This included $2,619 in SNAP, as well as “General Assistance … in the form of cash benefits and Medical Assistance.”  

      A report from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute describes another sort of SNAP fraud: “organized card-skimming schemes,” in which a SNAP cardholder swipes to pay for their food, and the magnetic stripe is skimmed for data.  

      “In December 2022, Congress directed states to replace most stolen SNAP with federal funds,” according to a December release from the Institute. “Since then, the Massachusetts SNAP agency, the Department of Transitional Assistance …, has issued approximately $10 million federal dollars to replace stolen SNAP for about 21,000 households.”

      When someone steals your wallet, no one gives you replacement cash. But under former President Joe Biden, starting in 2022, SNAP recipients were able to fill out a form and get replacement dollars on their card — as if there is a never-ending stash of cash somewhere. According to the USDA, “[c]ongressional authority to replace stolen benefits expired on Dec. 20, 2024.”

      As my colleague Tristan Justice recently reported, SNAP has also been nutritionally misused. A recent report from the Foundation for Government Accountability noted — citing the latest USDA data from 2016 — that America spent “nearly twice as much on sweetened beverages than fruit with candy, sugary drinks, and desserts exceeding purchases of fruits and vegetables by more than $400 million.”

      Between SNAP, free school breakfast and lunch, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, senior food assistance, food banks, emergency food assistance, soup kitchens, church potlucks, and the kindness of neighbors, no one should go hungry in America.”

      Like

    9. “Well, well, well — would you look at that? Turns out Daily Wire journalist, and author of Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham was right all along. Who could have guessed? (Hint: anyone with a functioning brain)

      These so-called “Christian leaders” weren’t just drifting woke left out of the goodness of their progressive little hearts. Nope, they were literally on the payroll.

      “The revelations about taxpayer dollars going to Russell Moore’s Christianity Today Magazine and St. Louis’s Revoice Conference (not to mention other recipients) suggests that America does have a real Christian Nationalism problem, and it’s on the political Left.”

      https://x.com/ZGroff/status/1887314629530960166

      Case in point: Christianity Today cashed in a casual $1.8 million in USAID federal grants in 2023 — right before the election. Totally normal. Nothing to see here…..”

      https://notthebee.com/takes/christianity-today-received-18m-in-usaid-grants-in-2023

      Like

    10. Oh FFS!!!! SMDH

      “NEW – Lego can be “anti-LGBT” because the bricks have “male or female parts” that are made to “mate” with each other, says Science Museum in London — Telegraph”

      https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1887480014062457077

      “Reminds me of this KLM Dutch Airlines self-own ad.”

      https://x.com/GScottSays/status/1887488237876265042

      https://notthebee.com/article/science-museum-in-britain-informs-visitors-that-lego-bricks-can-be-anti-lgbtq-and-youll-never-believe-their-reasoning

      Liked by 1 person

    11. NotTheBee: “It’s just such a shame that there was no way — no way at all — that anybody could have ever anticipated this:

      Sex offender who identifies as transgender exposes himself to kids again at Va. school

      A male sex offender who announced last year in court documents that he now identifies as transgender is accused of using the girl’s locker room.

      https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-arlington-county-public-schools-aps-washington-liberty-high-school-sex-offender-richard-kenneth-transgender-exposes-himself-girls-locker-room-prosecution-fairfax

      A [Virginia] male sex offender who announced last year in court documents that he now identifies as transgender is accused of using the girl’s locker room at Washington Liberty-High School and exposing his genitals.

      You’re telling me that a pervert claimed to be transgender, used that claim to gain access to private women’s spaces, and then did more perverted stuff??

      I was told this never happened! Oh, but it happened. And public school transgender policy is partially to blame. As news reports detail, convicted sex offender Richard Cox “has a lengthy criminal record and has a history of exposing his genitals to children in public places.” And while he presumably wasn’t legally allowed to be at the school given his status as a sex offender, he was still able to gain access to the girls’ rooms under the explicit policy of the school system:

      Arlington Public School’s policy allows people to choose which locker rooms and bathrooms they want to use based on their gender identity, not biological sex, which is what allowed 58-year-old Richard Cox to use the girl’s locker room multiple times at Washington Liberty High School.

      Shocker: A policy that allows men to gain access to intimate women’s spaces was exploited by a predatory male who wanted to harm young girls. We’re told repeatedly that this never happens. We’re told that we need to respect the feelings and beliefs of grown men who claim to be women. We’re told the safety and mental health of little girls must take a back seat to the desires of grown men to playact as women. And this is what happens.

      But folks, it is much worse than even that. Though Cox was arrested in late October over the sex offenses, it turns out that the school system had been aware he was using the girls’ rooms as far back as early September. And though they had heard from alarmed community members about the incidents — including an instance of Cox standing in front of a doorway exposing himself to women and girls — this is the only thing they did to counteract it👇

      ‘In September, I hosted open office hours here in this building, and I heard from a member of the community who had concerns and shared their experience,’ said [Arlington School Board Chair Mary Kadera]. ‘Prompt action was taken based on the community member’s feedback. We installed signage that reminds all pool patrons to be considerate of others, privacy, cover intimate body areas when using shared spaces, close shower curtains, and follow all locker room etiquette guidance at this time.’

      So a male predator is openly preying on women and girls at a public school facility, and the school’s response is to put up signs. Lest it seem like this was just limited to one school — bad enough as it is! — let it be known that Cox exposed himself at multiple public facilities last year:

      Arlington police say Cox is also facing charges for exposing himself in the women’s locker room at Wakefield High School in Arlington in October and in November.

      And Arlington police say Cox is being charged after visiting Arlington County’s Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center where he allegedly exposed his genitals in a women’s locker room in December.

      This is the logical, completely-anticipated end result of transgender madness: A grown male sex offender using “gender identity” to gain access to women’s spaces and abuse the women and girls in them. Multiple community members, meanwhile, are demanding that school officials actually protect women and girls:

      ‘I’m here to ask you to restrict women’s locker rooms to women and girls.’

      ‘Efforts to protect the safety of students and community covering intimate body areas is not practical or sufficient.’

      ‘The only appropriate response to a report of an adult acting that way in the presence of children is to contact law enforcement and let them do their jobs. The appropriate response does not include allowing the conduct to continue happening for a period of months.’

      ‘Why was signage and guidance the first response to the commission of sex crimes at our pools? How many times was a registered sex offender allowed to victimize pool patrons by exposing themselves in a locker room? Why did it take so long to identify the perpetrator as a registered sex offender and involve the police?’

      Congratulations, transgender activists. You helped make this happen!”

      Liked by 1 person

    12. EXCERPT: “On Thursday, the Trump administration seized a Dassault Falcon 200 business jet that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and members of his government had been using to fly around Latin America. The plane was parked in the Dominican Republic when American agents affixed a seizure warrant to the aircraft, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Justice Department signed off on it:

      The Trump administration on Thursday seized a second plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government that is currently in the Dominican Republic.

      U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio watched as American officials affixed the seizure warrant to the plane during a visit to Santo Domingo, the last stop of his five-nation tour of Latin America.

      Carrying out the seizure required that Rubio sign off on a waiver to a freeze that President Donald Trump imposed on foreign aid to pay more than $230,000 in storage and maintenance fees, according to a State Department document obtained by The Associated Press. It also required approval by the U.S. Department of Justice.

      This isn’t the first time the United States has temporarily set El Presidente Maduro afoot.

      The U.S. seized another of Maduro’s planes from the Dominican Republic in September 2024.

      At the time, the U.S. Justice Department said Maduro associates in late 2022 and early 2023 used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane — a Dassault Falcon 900EX valued at $13 million — from a company in Florida.

      Why was this new action taken on Thursday? It seems that turning the Venezuelan dictator into a temporary pedestrian was done, as Maduro’s use of it to jet around the world is a violation of U.S. sanctions. The AP story, linked above, reported:….”

      https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/02/06/nicolas-maduro-pedestrian-america-seizes-velezuelan-presidents-personal-airplane-n2185304

      Liked by 1 person

    15. Eureka! Success!!! I fixed the problem of not being able to get to my contact list/phone #’s saved in my old phone. I desperately did NOT want to take it to VZW again. Since it wouldn’t take a charge at all, I decided to order a new battery and it worked!!! Yeah!!! Now I’ve got them ALL written down! BIG lesson learned!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. good for you!
        I learned my lesson today too! we pay for the motorcycle insurance in Feb/March and they send the 2 valid ins cards at the same time. every Aug I ask hubby where we put the second and every year we scramble to remember…lol
        THIS year? i wrote where we put the second on the bill receipt that i file.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Yeah, I get 2 copies, too. One goes in the truck w/the registration & the other goes in the file w/the paperwork….at least when I get around to doing the filing….until then, it’s in the pile on my kitchen counter! LOL

          Liked by 1 person

        2. I just got finished entering ALL the numbers in my new phone but I’m also going to get a SIM card and transfer them to that. Then if I change phones again, I can just pull the SIM card and put it in the new phone.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. I always knew about SIM cards – the Egyptians all brought their cards with them, then bought cheap burner phones to use while they were here. When they got ready to leave, they pulled the cards again and tossed the burners. But I just never thought a lot about it because I NEVER changed phones! LOL – another lesson learned! Sucks that I always have to learn the hard way!

              Liked by 1 person

    16. Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Friday directed the executive branch departments and agencies to review all funding to non-government organizations (NGOs).

      “The United States Government has provided significant taxpayer dollars to Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), many of which are engaged in actions that actively undermine the security, prosperity, and safety of the American people,” he said. “It is the policy of my Administration to stop funding NGOs that undermine the national interest.”

      NGOs often receive government funding and are largely regarded as a vehicle for left-wing social causes. The move comes as the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) scrutinizes USAID and its funding of left-wing social projects and other NGOs.”

      Liked by 1 person

    17. “Department of Labor houses BLS.. I fully admit I was skeptical about DOGE being able to impact the budget. Government data has been a disaster the last 4 years, this could pull back the veil on the biden economy.”

      https://x.com/FrogNews/status/1887456174213374435

      “I’m more interested to what the Doge guys find when they start looking at the BLS data. They’ll be able to figure out if it is accurate or if it has been managed.”

      https://x.com/MDerscher/status/1887465219909144850

      EXCERPT: “….What do these hardworking number crunchers have to be scared of otherwise if they were doing their jobs correctly?

      This is pretty weak tea from the union complaint.

      …In a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) asked U.S. District Judge John Bates to block what they called DOGE’s imminent plan to access the Labor Department’s information systems.

      The union said that would potentially give Musk access to non-public information from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) probes into his SpaceX, Tesla, and his tunneling company, The Boring Company, as well as investigations into his competitors.

      …If DOGE representatives gain access to OSHA’s databases, they could potentially give Musk information about people who filed complaints against Tesla and its competitors that would not normally be available to the public, the AFL-CIO’s lawsuit said.

      And as much as everyone sounds like parrots squawking ‘ELON! ELON! ELON!’ it might not do them a lick of good legally, as it is the DOGE team, not Musk, doing the house cleaning. According to this fellow below, the entire DOGE department was set up very carefully to be within all the legal parameters from the beginning to prevent challenges based on its legality….”

      https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/02/06/doge-is-coming-for-the-bureau-of-labor-statistics-knees-are-already-knockin-n3799568

      Liked by 1 person

    18. “This is the doxxer at the WSJ who doxxed the DOGE team member and got him fired. She worked at Business Insider who have a history of doxxing people and she was funded by USAID. It looks like she was hired solely to go after the DOGE team.”

      “Also worked as a USAID contractor, how did she get access to tweets from a deleted X account? We know USAID is just an offshoot of the CIA. This needs to be investigated.”

      https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/02/07/wsj-doxxer-who-doxxed-doge-member-is-a-former-usaid-employee-thread-n2407989

      Liked by 1 person

    20. Troublemaker10

      Troublemaker10

      February 7, 2025 1:18 pm

      George
      @BehizyTweets

      BREAKING: The Prime Minister of Japan just informed President Trump that major Japanese car companies are opening factories in the United States.

      Thousands of jobs are coming. Detroit will be Motor City again.

      Video linked…

      BREAKING: The Prime Minister of Japan just informed President Trump that major Japanese car companies are opening factories in the United States.

      Thousands of jobs are coming. Detroit will be Motor City again. pic.twitter.com/cl48yEPVUa

      — George (@BehizyTweets) February 7, 2025

      Liked by 1 person

    21. Troublemaker10

      February 7, 2025 1:07 pm

      “GAZA: Trump tells the world the US will take over Gaza and rebuild it. Two days later Egypt and Jordan commit to rebuild Gaza on their own. The Art of the Deal”…

      GAZA: Trump tells the world the US will take over Gaza and rebuild it. Two days later Egypt and Jordan commit to rebuild Gaza on their own. The Art of the Deal… https://t.co/27OtigXGEm

      — @amuse (@amuse) February 7, 2025

      Liked by 1 person

    22. i was doing some sewing and watching the chickadees at the feeder. BAM–FOUR of them flew into each other and they kind of hit the door window. I ran to the window and there are 4 of them sitting on the deck just staring out at the yard. i took a couple of pix to show my mom but they were sitting there for at least 5 minutes–not moving–just stunned!

      Liked by 1 person

    25. “….This raises the question: do astronauts masturbate or have sex in zero-gravity? NASA has not issued any strict guidelines around ‘alone time’, although commanders have stated that they do not allow sexual intercourse on the ISS. 

      Now, two scientists have revealed what would happen if an astronaut ejaculated in space. Sex historian, Dr. Esme Louise James, and AI expert, Dr. Matt Agnew, turned to the concept of conservation of momentum to understand what would happen if a ‘man’s rocket blasted off in space’. 

      According to the pair’s calculations, ejaculation would propel the astronaut backwards at a speed of around two metres/hour. 

      This could throw a spanner in the works for astronauts hoping to get frisky on future missions to Mars…..”

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14371953/Scientists-reveal-happen-astronaut-ejaculated-space.html

      Liked by 2 people

    28. EXCERPT: “…..This is a huge deal. For years, this has been a staging area for the cartels. They send a boatload of illegal aliens to San Diego beaches like Carlsbad and Oceanside; they crash the boats, then scatter onto land and enter the interior.

      The Coast Guard was on the case soon after the January 20 inauguration, apprehending 16 illegal immigrants who were attempting to invade.

      The Coast Guard intercepted a boat with 16 illegal aliens on board about 15 miles off the coast of Mission Bay in California on Sunday morning.

      The Coast Guard said in a press release that at about 12 a.m., cutter Active notified Joint Harbor Operations Center of a 25-foot panga-style vessel with about 15-20 people on board, about a mile south of their position.

      A panga boat is a narrow, high-bowed type of vessel often used by drug and human smugglers. The cutter Active and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations boat crew launched boarding teams to assess the situation.

      During the investigation, the Coast Guard boarding team discovered 16 immigrants aboard the panga.

      As the Center Square reported, this particular unit of the Coast Guard is also working on repatriating illegals back to larger detention facilities or back to their home countries.

      Led by the Eleventh Coast Guard District in California, crews are coordinating multiple flight units to support deportation efforts. This includes transporting those already processed for removal to designated locations in Texas and California to picked up by military flights and transported to their country of origin.

      Coast Guard crew in the 11th District based out of San Diego also continue to interdict foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico via the Pacific Ocean.

      And those home countries are not just Mexico or South American countries. Everyone interdicted at sea was turned over to Border Patrol to be processed for removal.

      The problem is On Jan. 29, Coast Guard crew interdicted a panga with 14 Mexican nationals 20 miles off the coast of Point Loma. The day before, they interdicted 21 foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador in roughly the same area.

      A few days before that, they interdicted 26 foreign nationals from multiple countries, including Mexico, China and Vietnam, roughly one mile off shore from Oceanside Harbor.

      A few days before that, they interdicted 15 foreign nationals on a 25-foot panga-style vessel roughly 25 miles off Point Loma. The vessel collided with a Coast Guard cutter after drifting erratically. Those on board who were apprehended were from China, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Ecuador, Vietnam and El Salvador….”

      https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2025/02/07/after-ag-pam-bondi-cuts-federal-funding-to-san-diego-coast-guard-and-military-target-carlsbad-beach-n2185326

      Liked by 1 person

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