Archive for January 9, 2024

Five Jonathan and Jesus Thoughts Under the Fedora: Realty and Success, Previews of Coming attractions, Never Heard of Them, The Great Convention, and the Gilded Cage were celebs die

Posted: January 9, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, entertainment
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Yesterday I talked about the mini-series Jonathan and Jesus today I watched it. Several takeaways from Part 1.

I mentioned in yesterday’s piece that Roumie has credits dating back with 2003. He commented that Harold Ramis told him it takes 20 years to be an overnight sensation and at the time he said that wasn’t going to be him. Reality just is.

I was not familiar with Dallas Jenkins previous short from 2013 Once we were slaves (retitled the two thieves) about St. Dismas on the Cross. Jonathan played Jesus in that short and Jenkins thought it be best film portrayal of Christ in film.

And this was five years before the Chosen.

That’s mysterious ways all over.

One of the things that happens in the 1st episode is that Roumie gets to meet the head of one of his favorite bands: “The Killers’ who are apparently one of the biggest rock bands of the 21st century and have been around for 20 years.

I had never heard of them until that moment.

Boy I’m old.

While in Italy they walk along actual Roman Roads dating back to the time of Christ and before.

Those Roman Roads were the internet of their times. They connected people throughout the empire in a way that was not possible previously because it made travel, trade and communication easier.

Those Roman Roads are one of the greatest single inventions in the history of mankind and it was across those roads that Christianity marched through the empire, at a time of general peace which made it possible.

Just a coincidence I’m sure.

If I had to choose the best moment of part one it was the visit with Alice Cooper who while I heard had converted to Christianity didn’t know that his family had been very Christian and that he came back to the faith late in life. He also talked about how he was told that putting his Christianity into his work would end his career, but of course it did not.

His description of what the price of incredible fame is the single best I’ve ever heard:

Fame is really dangerous, I mean, look what it did to Elvis. Here is a good example. If you take anybody and put him in the biggest mansion on the planet and say: ”You can have anything you want, you can have all the woman, you can have all the drugs, you can have food, you can have anything you want, but you can’t leave the mansion.” that person will find a way to kill themselves because they’ve lost the basic freedom be just to live.  Elvis couldn’t go to the movies. Elvis couldn’t play pool, Elvis couldn’t go out for a drive. He was a prisoner of his own fame. He was that big. Michael Jackson. Everybody that achieved that type of fame died early, because it’s so unnatural.

Of course the most important and true thing he said was: ”It’s your relationship with Christ that is the most important thing no matter what situation you’re in.”

He gets it.

COVID:  Déjà vu all over again

Posted: January 9, 2024 by chrisharper in Uncategorized

By Christopher Harper

As the 2024 election campaign begins in earnest this month, I am troubled that the rustlings of another COVID coup may be starting.

Just up the road from my home in Muncy, the vast University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recently required that masks be worn in all of its facilities throughout the state. UPMC employs 92,000 people and operates 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds and 800 clinical locations, including outpatient sites and doctors’ offices.

At the same time, the media have picked up their reporting on COVID-19 and other winter diseases, leaving me with the uneasy feeling that various forces will turn the 2024 election by mail into a reality.

Remember all the changes in election laws in 2020 to make voting easier by mail, including extended voting periods and ballot collections by friends and family?

Most of those “democratic” laws remain in effect, making it much easier for Democrats to win. In 2020, 43% of all voters did so by mail versus 23% in 2016.

The laws also allowed for what has become known as “ballot harvesting,” or allowing someone other than the actual voter to submit ballots.
As America First notes in an analysis of current election laws, “Ballot harvesting is a ripe opportunity for individuals and organizations to cheat in elections. Allowing ballot harvesting is a mistake. States should prioritize transparency and accountability by banning the practice.”
Here are a few of the alarming facts uncovered in the America First analysis:
· Nine states allow a family member to submit a ballot instead of a voter, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
· Thirty-one states allow the voter to choose someone to submit the ballot in his or her place, although some states have set limits on who can collect the ballots or how many they are allowed to collect.
· Thirteen states say nothing about ballot collection, which allows unfettered ballot harvesting.

It’s essential to remove the changes made in 2020 to reestablish the integrity of elections.

At the state level, America First suggests that people support policies that:
· Eliminate drop boxes for mail-in ballots.
· Prohibit a person from returning more than two mail-in ballots and limit who can return a ballot to a familial relationship.
· Eliminate mass mailing of unsolicited mail-in ballots.
· Require an affidavit for mail-in ballot applications that affirms the voter cannot vote on Election Day and affirms eligibility under defined state law.
· Require a witness signature for mail-in ballots.
· Reform the mail-in ballot process by requiring the matching driver’s license number or last four digits of a social security number on absentee applications and inside the envelope of a returned ballot.

Implementing these measures is crucial to prevent another COVID coup, particularly as organizations and the media start taking control of the message.