Once Upon A Time, A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away there was a new federation born out of controversy over the right of a  people to determine their own destiny. .

The Britainburg Empire was only one of several large Empires that were close to each other on one side of the Galaxy. The Frankenvile Empire and the Spainentine Empire were only a few light years from Britainburg and each other and it seems that they were almost constantly in conflict. But, the Britainburg Empire basically ruled space. Their fleets were numerous and strong. Their armies were the best in the sector and a had beaten the other two great Empires several times in engagements. They all had colony worlds that they ruled over with Britainburg being the largest and most extensive colonial power.

On the other side of the Galaxy thousands of light years away, there were a cluster of worlds with stars that had very lush and habitable planets that had only been discovered by the core worlds a few hundred years before. This whole group of worlds would be called the Ameers. These worlds were rich in natural resources and were inhabited only with a primitive peoples that offered little serious resistance to the acquisition by the three great empires and their advanced technology. They carved up the newly discovered worlds and proceeded to exploit the natural resources of these worlds for their own benefit, shoving the native peoples aside when it was inconvenient. 

Thirteen of these colony worlds were really close to each other, only a few light years apart, and from the beginning were controlled and colonized by people primarily from Empire of Britainburg. They spoke the same language and still believed that they were citizens of their mother world and should enjoy the same privileges that any Britainburg citizen enjoyed.

But, the Empire ruled them from the other side of the galaxy and had little or no sense of the conditions that faced those who they ruled. They levied restrictions on the people of the young worlds and exacted taxes on them without any consultation. Britainburg had just fought a war with Frankenville along with some of the natives in that world, involving the control of these thirteen colony worlds and expected the colonies to help pay for the war so the mother empire levied a tax on them. Among other things that had happened, it was another example of taxation imposed on the colony worlds without any say so by the colonists. A growing resentment toward the mother world began to grow and finally escalated into a desire for complete independence. A war for independence broke out as a result.

 These people rebelled against the Empire and at a terrific cost in blood from the patriots that fought in that revolt and against all odds, they won their independence.

At the end of the war of independence the thirteen worlds knew that they had a hard time being successful if each continued alone. They needed to form some kind of a stronger alliance with each other in order to survive. After all, they had acted together to gain their independence. They knew that the world was a dangerous place and unless they united somehow they might not survive. They had previously came together and formed a weaker alliance but it was not working. A convention of the thirteen worlds were convened to see if they could hammer out an agreement for a new, stronger, federation of some kind.

Having just been though a terrible experience with a big and powerful empire, they understood quite well the evils that big governments, with it's almost unlimited powers, could exert on the common citizen. They decided that they should form a new federation that would represent the various worlds and their people. They decided on a Republic and they wrote a Constitution that clearly limited the power of that Republic so that it could not arise and become tyrannical. The smaller worlds rightly feared that the big industrial worlds would ending up dominating the new federation, crushing any needs that they had in order to further their own agenda. The interests of the smaller worlds would not even be considered. A compromise was reached. They would form two houses of parliament, one, called Commons, representing the people of the individual districts in the various worlds and with it's numbers apportioned as such, the other, Piers, representing each unique world with two of representatives from each world.  It was decided that the leader of the federation, The Chairman, would serve for a period of 6 years and they would be elected by delegates from the various worlds numbering exactly the sum of the number of members of Commons plus the two members of Piers that each state had. Using this method the small, less populated worlds, would not be crushed by the big, populous worlds. The small worlds would have an equal say in the government of the federation in the house of Piers and their voices would have significance in the election of the Chairman of the United Federation of Planets. 

In that Constitution they enunciated rights that the citizen would have to deter the new United Federation of Planets from grabbing for power over the common people.  So the agreement among them, written into the document, was the provision that any power that was not specifically awarded to the Federation and written into the agreed upon Constitution, would be retained by the individual worlds. It was also agreed that the rights of the people delineated in the Constitution were to be retained over the entire new federation and the independent states could not impinge upon those rights. These rights included the right to speak openly, that the Federation would not impose a state religion, that the press shall be free and that the citizens can gather in assembly and to seek redress from the government. They feared government tyranny and for other reasons made a provision that the citizen's right to own and bear arms should not be infringed.  

The new Constitution contained a lot of compromises that would later be changed by a process of amendments. But, each of the worlds had unique sets of positions that they would not compromise on. They felt that that their very existence depended on maintaining certain conditions in  their society, as it had been before the war for independence. Either those conditions would be allowed to continue or there would be no new Federation. 

They had a Constitution and a model for a working federation. The question arose of where to place the  Capitol of this new Republic. The delegates to the convention were well read men and women who knew history and were well aware of what would happen to the population of such a capitol. As the Federation grew, and they were sure it would, the capitol city would become a town almost completely populated by bureaucrats and civil servants feeding at the public trough. They knew that the citizens of that city would demand and be able to influence policy through elected members of commons and two Piers of the congress. They could not allow such a insular society to dominate a particular state and bring it's skewed politics into the main stream. They knew what such a city would become. They decided that the Capitol of the new Federation of Plants would be set up apart from the other worlds and would managed directly by the congress and the Federal government. It would not have a voting representation in the congress. It turned out that the star system of Maryburg had a unique situation. It had two planets in the Goldy Locks zone, one of which was a water planet with only a land mass big enough for a large city. It also had a lot of marshland. Maryburg would cede this planet to the Federation of Planets as it was of little use to them. So the new capitol of the United Federation of Planets was established and was named Washtown, after the great general that led the army that won the revolutionary war.

The new Federation prospered, folding in more worlds until it encompassed vast a region of space of over 48 worlds. It had its economic ups and downs but it always recovered stronger than before. One administration after another respected the written constitution and did not infringe on the rights of the people to conduct their affairs as they saw fit, within limits. This spawned a new breed of independent thinkers who proceeded to revolutionize the world with new thoughts and new inventions. Because the central government did not interfere, whole new industries were founded that were the envy of the galaxy. New forms of manufacturing were developed that brought the cost of products down so much that every average citizen could afford to obtain them. The freedom to develop, to build and to market their products, spawned a growth in wealth like the world had never seen. 

Time brought great leaps in technology. The discovery of new portals and the ability to create new ones caused the time to travel among the Federation worlds, and even the whole galaxy,  from a matter of days or even weeks and months, to just a few hours. Communications improved to such an extent that on one side of galaxy could talk to another in real time.

Because each citizen could speak his mind without retribution, new ideas flourished in politics.  Some these ideas that resulted in changes to the Constitution to address problems due to the compromises that were necessary in the beginning. This new Federation fought some major and minor wars, some justified and some not so much, but assumed to be in the Federations best interest. It emerged as the dominate power in the galaxy. And, it never lost it's core beliefs, that individual initiative and the rights of each person was important to the whole. We were not a collective, we were a federation of free peoples. 

Due to happenstance of geography and space peculiarities a few of the star systems were blessed with portals through space connecting to a large number of other systems, not enjoyed by most of the worlds who had only limited portals to each other. That let them become the hub of trading activity and as a result they bathed in vast wealth and attracted large numbers of people to work in those fields. Another side effect is that they would become the centers of finance for the whole Federation. Commerce and money flowed through their hands. Their interests became more and more at odds with those in the middle of Ameer cluster. This would cause great friction later.

Then, along the way, because of some events, the Federation decided that it had to step in and "help" the people because the economy had taken a down turn and things weren't going to well at the moment. The Federation had been in these kinds of troubles before and the basic system of free enterprise pulled it right out.  But, the die was cast. Every glitch in the road would trigger a Federal response. The people started looking for a safety net to cushion almost any bad event that happened in the economy . The people began to ask the Federation for more and more help for everything. The idea of "Free" began to permeate the thinking of many citizens. Free medical care, free education all the way through university, free food for any one under a certain level of income, free help with mortgages if the burden became too great and on it went. The idea of individual initiative was dying on the vine, as the central Federation supplied the citizens with circus, games and bread. Some citizens were starting to spend their entire lives living off the Federation with no incentive to provide for themselves or to contribute to society. Vast bureaucracies grew to regulate everything. Political parties began to fight more and more. The Federal central government continued to grow as more and more demands were made.

One political party, The Blues,  heavily financed by the huge mega corporations, the entertainment industry and backed by academia,  promised more bread and games for the people and slowly rose to power. The other major party, The Reds, were trying to maintain the hold on individual initiative and freedom of actions at it's core. The Reds were heavily supported by the population outside the big cities. As a consequence they held sway in all the worlds except the few where the big populations were centered. The emerging party began to use tactics to silence any dissent. They branded any one who disagreed with them as traitors and treasonous. They shouted down any voice that tried to speak in opposition to their ideas. No one of the Red party were invited to speak at a public university and they were shouted down if they tried to speak if a  private college invited them. The Blues began to dominate the education system which was run by idealists with almost a total lack of knowledge or experience in the real world. They turned out a bunch of young people indoctrinated into the idea that working as a collective was the right way to go and that society had an obligation to not only take care of everyone with more bread and games, but to invite more immigrants into the Federation to enjoy the bread and games that were provided.

They then made moves, such as admitting Washtown and it's biased votes as states, which put them firmly in control of the government and began to slowly but surely to outlaw any other political party or idea except theirs and to squash any dissenting ideas. They formed a working alliance with big media conglomerates so they were able to censor any idea from getting widespread distribution that might upset the work they were about. They began to shut down any news media that didn't agree with their point of view. The colleges and universities began to turn out more and more graduates who thought as they do and who would become the future bureaucrats and politicians that would run the country. 

At the same time the taxpaying labor force was drying up. The Federation was so successful economically that the demand for higher wages among the workers resulted in increased cost for products. Then the owners and managers found that they could export the manufacturing of their products to systems outside of the Federation and even with transportation costs, offer their product cheaper to the consumer at a lower cost. The Federations work force was consequently reduced. In addition, the manufacturing of products still made within the Federation was being more and more automated causing an even greater reduction in the work force and it's corresponding tax base. This resulted in a government with huge expenses trying to make everything free and a shrinking work force to pay the taxes. Taxes had to raised to pay for all of this. But there was not enough money to pay for all the perks that were being handed out by the Federation.

In order to placate their supporters they borrowed more and more money from the public treasury until the debt became the biggest drain on the taxpayers of the federation. All the games and bread for the masses, which was now a large part of the total population, had to be reduced in order to service the public debt. Printing money in vast amounts let to unsustainable inflation. 

They reduced the military to a skeleton crew despite of the rise of two other dictatorial empires that were a direct threat to the Federation, The Chen and The Russes. The Chen especially had a huge military force and was dedicated to spreading their brand over the entire galaxy.  

Riots in the streets became common as the masses objected to cutbacks on their free stuff as they considered it their right. In order to control the riots the federation became more and more a police state. The politicians decided that the experienced people who were now in office should be retained to deal with the unrest and instability that was rocking the Federation. Individual initiative was squashed to make sure no one excelled in a superior way and that everyone was equal. 

The Federation finally became a one party system with all opposition declared illegal and subject to arrest. All the freedoms promised in the Constitution were washed aside. Assembly to address the government for redress were illegal, all weapons were confiscated and owning one was forbidden, all media had to toe the party line and speaking openly in opposition to government policy was a criminal act. The United Federations of Planets was now a total dictatorship. 

Reminder; this is a fairy tale and any resemblance to any persons or events, past or present, is purely coincidental. 

 

The death of the Republic

If the dems are successful in holding their total caucus together and pass HR 01, the Republic as we know it will be dead. We will become a one party country. The opposition, i.e. the Republican Party will virtually cease to exist. 

The Biden administration has literately opened the borders for a flood of illegals to enter the country. They look upon them as Democratic voters, and history shows that they are right, at least for a few generations. HR01 would allow anyone showing up to vote would be allowed, and no check on citizenship or legality would be allowed. So all those Mexicans and Central Americans crossing the border would become instant voters. And don't think for a moment that the Dems will not take advantage of that fact. HR01 would flood the country with ballots, with every person in the country getting one. As a lot of people will not vote anyway there is a bunch of ballots, measuring in the millions that is ripe for ballot harvesting. In addition signatures will not be checked or subject to verification on mail in ballots and unsigned ballots will be counted. If you can't see an open road to fraud in this bill you must have blinders on.

HR01 has already passed the house. If the Senate passes it Biden will certainly sign it. At that point the "loyal opposition" to the Dems will cease to have any meaningful voice in the affairs of government. We will become a one party nation. All one has to do is look at history to see what that means.  

A Country Divided

 Is the current conflict gripping the news media really the worst situation that has confronted the country? To hear the media's talking heads you would think so. But, all it takes is a little search back into history to realize that this country has almost been in a constant state of conflict and divided loyalties since it's beginning. About the only time we have been close to a totally unified nation in thought is during times of great conflict with a foreign power, i.e. WWII.

Just contemplate the beginning of the country. The Revolutionary War was not fought because we had acrimonious relations between those who wanted to remain loyal to the British crown, the  Tories, and those that wanted American independence. The country was deeply divided and were killing each other over that issue.

It wasn't long after the Revolution that the British incensed the President, Madison, so much that he was moved to ask the congress to declare war against them. But, the country was deeply divided over that decision. It became known in America as the War of 1812.

From Wikipedia: I don't mind plagiarizing. 

Opposition to the War of 1812 was widespread in the United States, especially in New England. Many New Englanders opposed the conflict on political, economic, and religious grounds. When the Embargo Act of 1807 failed to remedy the situation with the United Kingdom, with Britain refusing to rescind the Orders in Council (1807) and the French continuing their decrees, certain Democratic-Republicans known as war hawks felt compelled to persuade the United States government to declare war on the British. A number of contemporaries called it, "The second war for independence." Henry Clay and John Calhoun pushed a declaration of war through Congress, stressing the need to uphold American honor and independence. Speaking of the impact of the depressed cotton trade upon his fellow Southerners, Calhoun told Congress that:

They see, in the low price of their produce, the hand of foreign injustice; they know well without the market to the continent, the deep and steady current of supply will glut that of Great Britain; they are not prepared for the colonial state to which again that Power [Great Britain] is endeavoring to reduce us. The manly spirit of that section of our country will not submit to be regulated by any foreign Power. 

Vehement protests against "Mr. Madison's War" erupted in those parts of the country where the opposition party, the Federalists, held sway, especially in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The governors of these two states, along with Rhode Island, refused to place their state militias under federal control for duty outside the territory of their respective states. In the ensuing 1812 and 1813 United States House of Representatives elections, some members of Congress who voted for the war paid the price. Eight sitting New England congressmen were rejected by the voters, and several others saw the writing on the wall and declined to seek re-election. There was a complete turnover of the New Hampshire delegation.

The conflict over the question of slavery, a continual conflict until the Civil War settled it, and it's expansion was never more evident than the sentiments surrounding the Mexican-American War.

Again, a plagiarism from Wikipedia: 

Opposition to the war

Abraham      Lincoln in his late 30s as a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives, when he opposed the Mexican–American War.

Ex-slave and prominent anti-slavery advocate Frederick Douglass opposed the Mexican–American War.

Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail for not paying poll taxes to support the war and later wrote Civil Disobedience.

In the United States, increasingly divided by sectional rivalry, the war was a partisan issue and an essential element in the origins of the American Civil War. Most Whigs in the North and South opposed it; most Democrats supported it. Southern Democrats, animated by a popular belief in Manifest Destiny, supported it in hope of adding slave-owning territory to the South and avoiding being outnumbered by the faster-growing North. John L. O'Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, coined this phrase in its context, stating that it must be "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."

Now we come to the greatest conflict that happened on American soil since the Revolution. The American war between the states, otherwise known as the Civil War. The conflict of opinions about two major issues drove the people to kill each other by the hundreds of thousands. One was overriding the issue of slavery and the other one of the sovereignty of the individual states and their right to succeed from the union. The conclusion of that war is well known and it's aftermath existed in large measure until the civil rights movement in the 50's and even beyond.

Following the Civil War the southern states enacted a whole series of laws and other restrictions to prevent blacks from participating in the political process or even to gain a little prosperity. If you think that the black population enjoyed that status you haven't been aware of history. From the end of the Civil War for the next hundred years the arguments over the rights of non-white citizens was continually a source of conflict. Lynchings, rapes, murder and beatings were common to the southern blacks during this time, largely out of the sight of middle class white Americans.

Then came the Great War. The War To End All
Wars. Otherwise known as World War One. 

There was significant opposition to that war among the American people, especially in the beginning. The Hearst news syndicate pushed for the war with every means at their disposal and was instrumental in turning a great number of people's minds. However, there was still opposition to the war after our entry into it. Draconian measures were instituted to silence that opposition.

Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These included Eugene Debs in the United States and Bertrand Russell in Britain. In the US, the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed "disloyal". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors, and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic.

Of course that war had major consequences in much of the world. The only major country Monarchy left standing after that war was that of Britain. Germany, Austria and Russia all fell to the consequences of that war. 

Leading up to World War II the mood of the country was clearly antiwar. There were rallies and marches to support that desire. Lindbergh was an outspoken antiwar advocate. Of course all that came to an end with Pearl Harbor. That brought the country together like no time in history. One goal, to win that war. 

Now comes the rise of of what has been tagged the radical left. This group calls themselves liberals, but they are far from classic liberalism. To the classic liberal the foundation of free speech, exercise of one's religion, and a free unbiased press are bedrocks of their belief system. The classical liberal would defend the right enunciated by Hamilton who said "I might not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it". 

On the contrary they have infiltrated our schools, especially our universities, and have preached the virtue of socialism and determined that anyone not getting on board is to be silenced. They have taken that mandate to heart. While socialists are invited to speak on campus, conservatives are shouted down if they try to speak, but mostly they aren't invited.

The political landscape in Washington ever since the end of World War II has been decidedly globalist. We have negotiated trade agreements with foreign nations much to our detriment. We almost single handed built China into a global super power and an unrelenting enemy. We have exported our technology to them and imported their goods in huge amounts. Almost every thing you use, wear or come in contact with is made in China. We firmly believed that all that was important was trade and importing goods at the best possible price. In the process we have run up a huge trade deficit with China. While American companies are not allowed to build in China without controlling interest being Chinese, they can and do build and buy American real estate at will. In addition the subject of the environment has become central to the thinking of the left wing. Oil was to be phased out, coal mines and factories closed, all in the name of the environment.  As result we exported vast number of American jobs overseas and created what has become known as the rust belt in the USA. We abandoned the core citizen that built this country, the blue collar working class. We closed the coal mines and prevented the country from drilling for oil or even harvesting the oil that we knew was there. We allowed immigrants to cross the border and fill the low paying jobs that at one time would have been filled as the entry jobs for young citizens. Of course with the flood of immigrants across our borders came criminals, drugs and other bad things. 

Then along came Trump. He tapped into the frustration of the forgotten masses and vowed to bring the jobs back to America. He vowed to close the borders to illegals, bring manufacturing back to the country, open the oil fields and coal mines and strengthen our military. He preached America first. He vowed to renegotiate trade agreements that favored foreign counties and make the members of NATO pay the share of expenses that the agreement said they should. NATO was almost completely funded by the USA. The only problem was that Trump has an abrasive personality and rubs a lot of  people the wrong way, especially the elite in Washington. 

Of course what Trump was preaching was heresy to the left. He was a real danger to everything they had invested in. The high tech companies of Silicon Valley, the big retailers, academia and of course the Hollywood crowd lined up against him. So, they went after him in a big way. He was elected as President and that just ramped up the opposition to him and his programs.

He then presided over one of the greatest economic booms in the history of our country. He got tax cuts and took a machete to regulations that were hampering industrial growth. Unemployment fell to all time lows, especially among blacks and other minorities. The stock market was at 19000 when he took office and now it has surpassed 30000 just four years later. 

The left dominates the media and the civil service in Washington, including the Justice Department. That is not surprising considering that they have unionized and negotiated fat salary, benefits and retirement packages for themselves. They don't want that to end. They like the power they have in Washington.

 The top FBI and DPJ officials made it their priority to get rid of him starting during the campaign and following through into his Presidency. They went after him with trumped up charges and allegations with no evidence in support. A document generated by the Clinton campaign was used as a pretext to get a FISA warrant for phone tapping and other surveillance against Trump and his associates. A special commission was formed and spent millions of dollars and over a year of time trying to find some crime in the election that Trump had committed. They found none. The Democrat run house went so far as to pass articles of impeachment, based on nothing more than they didn't like him. He underwent 4 years of opposition from almost all the media including the NY Times, CNN, MSNBC and all the social media platforms. The state of NY opened it's own investigation hoping to find something to charge him with. They went after his income tax records hoping to find fraud or something to get him with. 

During this time several actual and perceived incidents happened concerning police exerting excessive force against blacks including murder. Some were legitimate, some were not. Trump was a strong backer of law enforcement and did not immediately jump on the band wagon and condemn the whole police force for the actions of a few. He fought back against the defund the police movement that started to rise. A rift between the police and the black and liberal community widened to new heights.  

Ant-police and Anti Trump protests sprung up in cities that were run by Democrats that turned violent. Stores were burned and looted. Police were attacked and even killed. The Democratic Mayors of these large cities did nothing about it. Declaring that this was all Trump's fault. The mainstream media downplayed the violence and pronounced that the protests were peaceful and that any violence was the fault of the police or Trump or both. And, the protests were justified, even the small amount of violence because Trump and the police were such a bad guys.

His millions of supporters saw what was going on. They aren't stupid. Trump lashed out at the news media and the Democrat Mayors and Governors because of their bias. He sent federal officers in to prevent damage to federal property and was severely criticized by the media for creating a police state. So a divide started in the country. On one side were the Globalist left dominated Democrats and even a few Republicans and on the other side the blue collar Populist Trump supporters. 

Trump attacked the press calling them fake news organizations, which really wasn't very smart, whether true of not. That made the media even more determined to get rid of him. He had a bad habit of not letting anything pass that he perceived as an insult. He lashed out on Twitter and in person. He wasn't bashful about hurling insults at any body who displeased him. He dominated the news cycle, especially those of cable news. He also was not always as fully truthful as he might have been, that led to the charges of lying by the media, who fact checked every statement he made and made much of any exaggeration or misstatement. 

The hostility between Trump, his supporters and the anti-Trump folks became bitter. Trump supporters were hounded out of their jobs, harassed on the streets and attacked by the supporters of the left. Little of this was reported on CNN or the NY Times, so the general public knew little about. All this in spite of the fact that Trump supporters constitute about one half of the country. But, the main stream media and many members of congress called his supporters racists, ignorant and uneducated, even traitors and treasonous, and they should listen to their betters, i.e. the intellectuals about how to think. After all the halls of academia are filled with the brightest minds in the world. Of course those bright boys never held a real job, never had to build a thing, never ran a business and had no experience out in the real world. Academia is the most isolated group you can imagine.

From the beginning of the election cycle 2020 Trump said that the Democrat machine will try to steal the election. Given his history with the Dems and Washington who can blame him for thinking that. During the counting of the votes after the election there were numerous instances of ballot manipulation and other verifiable suspicious events. Mysterious ballots showing up, Republican monitors not allowed in the room while Democrats were. Dead people voting, no signature verification, counting unsigned ballots and on and on the process went. But, nothing happened that would stand the test of the legal system. Although suspicious things were clearly happening, there was no legal proof of fraud. So the courts threw the cases out and Dems rejoiced. They alleged that it is proven that there was no fraud. 

Trump, I think, really lost his mind at this point. He saw that the election results were not going to be reversed in spite of spending huge amount of money on lawyers and challenges in the courts. Cases he was never going to win. He started to make statements that are construed by the media and the Dems to be inflammatory and resulted in a raid on the capitol to halt the certification by congress of the election of Biden as President. Trump was mad. He was certain that the election had been stolen and he reacted like he always did when opposed. He lashed out. He could have played it cool and thought about 2024. But, now he has given the Democratic controlled congress an excuse to impeach him once again. If the impeachment stands in the Senate, a good chance it might, then he would be barred from ever running for office again. That doesn't mean he will retire quietly to his golf course and real estate. He will continue to have a large following, so it isn't clear what role he will play in the future.   

Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and the other social media have all taken steps to silence any voice from the right. Where this is going it isn't clear. Perhaps the courts or congress will step in and do something. We'll see. 

Yes we have deeply divided country. 

 

The immediate future for the Biden Presidency.

We have a new President. Trump can kick and scream all he wants, and he has  reasons to do so, but he has lost this election. He can look in the mirror and see the reason. One friendly analyst opined that he lost the election because of his poor performance in the first debate. He obviously didn't come prepared for a debate and Joe Biden did. He proved himself to be a poor debater. Any high school student on the debate team would have done better. I think it was more than that. The Biden campaign was able to pin a lot of the fault for the deaths and spread of the corona virus on him. They charged him repeatedly with poor handling of it. And, it seemed to stick. He was not able to shake that image. His continual public denial of the seriousness of the virus got him into trouble and kept him there, even though he knew it was serious and is on record as knowing it.

That there is voter fraud is a given. I'm sure there has never been a election where that didn't happen. There were political machines in the big cities in the not to distant past, especially New York and Chicago that are legendary. They were all Democratic machines, designed to make sure that not only did the party prevail, but to make sure the right person was the candidate. FDR was associated with Tammini Hall in his early career and JFK probably owes his election to the Chicago mafia. Almost all the big cities on the east and west coast are controlled by Democrats. They set up the polling places, decide the rules for the election and end up being in charge of the counting. It has been alleged, by a guest on Fox, that 160,000 ballots showed up mysteriously one night when everybody in the counting room has gone home. It was up to the representative for the Democratic Secretary of State whether they would be counted. Of course they don't see anything wrong that 100% of the ballots are for Biden. There is no way to trace any thing like that after the ballots are separated from the envelops. After all the ballots themselves are anonymous. Proving fraud is darn near impossible. And, they see nothing wrong with banning Republican Party observers into the hall where the votes are being counted, in spite of the law that allowed for that. 

 So what does the near term future look like for President Biden and the Democratic Party?

First of all Biden will come into office with top people in the government not trying to get him removed before he is even sworn in. He will not face a large hostile civil service. There will be no calls for impeachment. He will not face top officials in the FBI doing everything they can to find criminal activities concerning him and his top people. They will not try to trap his people in a lie so they can prosecute for perjury. He will not be at war with the media. They love him. He will get favorable press for everything he does and doesn't do. In short he will enter a very friendly environment to start his term as opposed to the situation Trump found himself in.

Maybe the division within his own party might very well be his biggest problem. The house seems to be dominated by the far left and they are on a straight line to a socialist  agenda. All kinds of ideas are spouting from their mouths. De-fund the police to the point of eliminating them altogether, open the borders and let anyone in, forgive all student loans, provide a free public education all the way through university, institute strict environmental laws including the total elimination of fossil fuels and free medical care for every one, even illegals, among others.  How they are going to pay for all of that is not addressed. Somehow taxing the rich seems to be the pat answer for some. But, they are not the whole party, just the most vocal.

On the plus side, Biden is deemed a negotiator. He seems to be well liked by people on both sides of the isle. He is well versed in the politics of Washington, having been involved in it for most of his life. He will probably be successful in getting some of his agenda through, in spite of the left leaning House and a Republican Senate.

He is not likely to say things off the cuff that will get him in trouble. He's been around too long to make the dumb statements that Trump was so prone to make. The openness to the President that the press enjoyed under Trump is something he will not do. Trumps hourly tweets kept the media busy and gave lots of things for them to discuss. The press will get what the Biden team wants them to get, when they want them to get it, and it will be carefully vetted and scripted. They will have to work to find something to write about. Most of the press will just publish the press releases. If they follow Obama's lead there will be very few press conferences and only carefully staged interviews with friendly moderators.

A split government might be the best thing for Biden. It will give him the excuse he needs to fight off the left wing of his party who are going to be ferocious in the pursuit of getting their agenda into law. If he gets a Democratic Senate due to the run off races in Georgia, then the left will pressure him unmercifully. Woe if something happens to Biden and Harris becomes President. Then you will see a real war between parties.

A byproduct of his election is his ability to put people in key positions to stop any investigation in the mess involving his son. The Senate will have to be careful as not to confirm some one who has an agenda to open up that can of worms surrounding the allegations against Trump that have been going on for 4 years by the Dems. There are people who would love to do that.

At this time it looks like the Republicans will still control the Senate. That will put a stopper on a lot of the left wing fancies. Joe's promise of a large increase in taxes will not fly. Of course he can propose them and then blame the Republicans when they don't get passed. After all, according to him, he will only tax the rich and the greedy corporations.

The Senate will also put a stop to extreme left wing appointments to the cabinet and the Judiciary. 

The Majority leader of the Senate will set the Republican agenda for the next four years. With a Republican President he took a back seat. Now the Majority Leader will step up as the top Republican in the government. The Senate has a lot of power. More so than the house. Treaties, cabinet and judicial appointments run through the Senate. 

Biden actually comes in at a good time for him. A vaccine for the virus is on the way and will be probably available to the public sometime in the first or second quarter of next year. When that happens, that will unleash the economy and there will be a dramatic upturn. In addition, medication for those infected are being developed with a lot of success. Restaurants, sporting events, bars and all kinds of businesses will open and start doing business again. It will take a few years to fully recover, but it will happen on Biden's watch.  And, just as God made little green apples the Democrats will take credit for the recovery. The only thing that will stop it, is for the left wing to get their agenda through and kill the recovery or, Biden repeals all the regulatory reductions that Trump put into place or both.

The one thing that will likely be on the table and successfully negotiated will be the subject of medical coverage. I think that the Republicans would be more than willing to come to a agreement with Biden on medical coverage if the he can get the Democratic house to go along. Which is questionable. They want government controlled universal health care. Can Biden control the Speaker.

The Dems will have to do some really stupid things to not have a good chance at their party winning another term in as President. They can be riding the wave of the benefits put in by Trump that resulted in a world class economy, a face up to China, Russia and Iran, bringing jobs back home, making America an oil exporting nation instead of buyer and negotiating more favorable trade deals for the United States among other things. All Biden has to do is, do nothing. But, if the Dems are stupid enough to select one of the radical left as their candidate in 2024 then all bets are off.

Although the second term will likely not be Biden. His age will probably limit him to one term. The favorite candidate for the office for the next election is always the current VP. Of course four years is a long time and other Dems may very well rise to the forefront. Who the Republicans choose is up for grabs. The betting would be for a woman, but I'm not so sure that either Harris or whoever the Republicans pick is a lock. Many a candidate has come out of the woodwork before. We'll see.

   

Trump vs Biden

 I watched the Presidential debates almost all the way through. It was really hard to do. But, here are a few observations I have on that debate.

First, it is clear to me that Biden came prepared for that debate and the  President didn't. I think Trump believed his own hype and thought he could crush Biden by over powering him and making him mad. He thought that he could cause Biden to commit a couple of major mistakes. But, Biden didn't play along. He came in prepared with rehearsed sound bits that would could be played on CNN and the other media to his favor. No matter what the question, he had a small speech ready for airing, largely ignoring the question if it didn't suit him, and there were quite a few of those. Once, when asked a question he didn't want to answer, he launched into a speech on everybody should get out and vote. A sound bit that will play well in the media.

Trump didn't win a single undecided voters approval by his tactics. I have no doubt about that. He acted the part of a bully, constantly interrupting Biden. He was playing to his base, but I don't think that will get him elected. It was clear that even Fox news, generally friendlier to the President than the general media, was critical of his tactics. Of course, CNN, MSNBC and the larger media are having a field day.

It has been said that Trump is a great debater. That is far from the truth.  In fact he is a  poor debater, He had many opportunities to site his record on the economy, his strongest position, but wasted those opportunities by his usual personal attacks on Biden. The facts and figures were on his side, but he really didn't methodically go through the list. 

On the virus questions he had many opportunities to site exactly what he actually done and the times he did them and methodically compare that record with Biden's own pronouncements at the same time. When he closed down travel from China. When he ordered the production of masks and ventilators. The steps he has taken to speed the development of a vaccine and the corresponding steps to make sure a supply of vaccine is rapidly available when one or more of the ones under trial now are approved. He has really nothing to be ashamed of on the the things he did, but he didn't hammer that point home. Instead, he attacked Biden. 

In short, I think Biden actually won the debate, even though he didn't do all that well himself. Because of the bar being set so low by Trump himself, all Biden had to do was survive to win. I don't know whether a second debate will swing any voters at this stage. But, Trump had better be better prepared for it.  I don't think he will. He is of the belief that the way he did it in 2016 will work again. Maybe it will. We'll see.

The Legacy of the Coronavirus

      It is evident that the Coronavirus will have a long and devastating effect upon the future after the virus is long gone. 

    Massive government spending to mitigate the effects of the virus upon the people of the United States is leaving a public debt that will influence the tax policies as well as the budgets for years into the future. 
     The public debt before the virus hit was just over 20 trillion dollars and rising, which was bad. It was soaking up something like 7 percent of the budget just to pay the interest. We have just added over 2 trillion to that number in one fell swoop with more to come.  
  

 

The taxpayer and their children and children's children will be paying for this forever. 

      It will change the way we shop and it might well spell the doom of whole lot of brick and mortar retailers, if they do not adapt rapidly and successfully to the realities of the new dynamics. In any event it will cost thousands of jobs in retail that will never return.  Sears, which already on life support, is likely not going to be able survive.  Several other big name stores are questionable. The virus has caused a really rapid change toward online buying, a trend that was happening anyway, but it has just accelerated the process.  

In spite of the government actions, a lot of small businesses will not survive. While the government handouts continue to pay wages of employees of small business, it can't do anything about the actual decline in business.

     The entertainment industry is not only suffering big time now, but will likely be effected for some time into the future. Movie houses are closed as well as sporting events not being held. I have heard talk of playing the beginning of the baseball season in Arizona to empty stadiums, depending on television coverage for revenue, I suppose. I don't know how that would work. It could be that they will end up copying what has happened to boxing. The games may be pay per view. The high salaries of the players as well as all the expenses associated with a major league baseball team have to be paid if they play.

     It is possible the the major studios will have to follow that same format. First run movies will be streamed to the individual homes for a fee. Again I have no idea if that is workable, in an economic sense, considering the cost of a big screen epoch. Of course HBO produced the Game of Thrones, which must have really expensive to produce, for viewing by it's membership. There is no way of knowing if the series would have paid for itself if it had been offered as a pay per view.  HBO did it to enhance their image and attract new customers. As televisions become larger and hopefully the sound systems become better, the move to big screen TV away from movie theaters may be the wave of the future. It probably was going in that direction anyway. The virus just accelerated the process.In fact it already been done with one major release and is apparently very successful.

     Airlines are in real trouble with no one flying.  As a result of that and with the expansion of electronic conferencing, the move away from traveling for business may well be accelerated. It is a lot cheaper and companies may well decide having people in the same room for face to face conferencing isn't all that important. 

     Grocery stores are hurting because so many of their customers are not leaving the house. The alternative is to have the groceries delivered. That is already happening. But, it is expensive. The common way for the delivery companies to make money is for them to charge more for an article  than they have to pay to the grocer. For instance, a case of cokes at Costco costs about $12.40 and the delivery service, Instacart, charges the customer about $14.50. 

     

The effect of the Coronavirus

       The effect of the Coronavirus

     As the Corona virus spreads and results in the disruption of the supply chain from China, it has becoming alarmingly clear just how dependent on that country the world economy has become. 
     That is very true for the United States.  The shutdown of the manufacture and shipping of the materials that we import from China threatens to impact the manufacturing of this country to a major extent. The wall street gurus recognized this and the results are shown in the decline the the stock market. 
     It turns out the almost every essential thing you buy has a part or all of it manufactured in China. They are into every thing. 
     Cars can't be built because critical parts are manufactured in China. 
    If your television isn't outright made in China, critical parts of it is
     Look around you. Almost everything you see was made wholly of partly in China. Your appliances, the clothes on your back, your lap top or desk top computer, that IPhone (Smart Phone) that you can't live without and everything else are all linked into the China pipeline one way or another.  
    The pharmaceutical products marketed at your local drug store all seem to have all or part of their ingredients manufactured in China. When you go to he drug store to fill your prescription, you will be out of luck. They can't make that medicine you need.
    And, the most disturbing thing is, that critical parts of most of the equipment built for the military is manufactured in China. That includes our most advanced weapon systems.  There is no source for these parts in the United States. If the China pipeline is shut down the military would take a significant blow.  
     You know very well why and how we got into this mess. We kept looking for cheaper prices as consumers and it was cheaper to invest billions and trillions of dollars in to manufacturing facilities in China than to build in the United States. We exported jobs to China as well as technology and was the principle driver behind China's rise into world power in such a short time. In return that blender you bought costs less as does those blue jeans you love so much. Building cost less because steel imported from China costs less than American produced steel. And the story goes on.
     To make matters worse we gave China sweetheart trade deals that levied little of no import taxes on products brought into the United States and at the same time as China levied large and restrictive taxes and restrictions on American products. China can own outright property in the United States without any additional restrictions or costs than those born by the American citizen, but an American can not wholly own property or manufacturing in China. They must have a Chinese party who owns the controlling interest in the facility.
    The outbreak of the Coronavirus and it's potential impact on the supply chain from China has just high lighted the dependence on the stuff we import from that country. Of course, we have a large trade imbalance with China that has been going on for years. With no end in sight. 
    President Trump has tried his best to address some of the these problems, using the only tool he has. A raising of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.  Of course the dems screamed bloody murder about that. They always yelled that these problems should be solved through diplomacy. But, several administrations have tried that approach, to no avail.  It seems that no matter what Trump does, the dems are going to scream about it, just because he did it. 
     And, the beat goes on. 
     Sooner of later, the virus will be brought under control and normal shipping and manufacturing in China will return to normal, and everything will go on as before. Nothing will change, and we will be facing the reality that China has emerged as the worlds dominate power. Militarily and economically.
      

The American Stone Age man

     I find it curious that in the whole western hemisphere no single genius arose and developed some breakthrough technology that would start the movement out of the stone age, which was the level of development that Columbus and the European followers found when they landed on the Americas shores in the early 16th century.
     This in spite of the fact that the Western Hemisphere was rich in natural resources, far richer than Europe. Iron, Copper, Coal, Oil, abundant timber and other metals were all here and easily exploited, if one of the indigenous natives had discovered a way to extract the metal from the earth. They had been able to fashion the soft metal, Gold, which did not require much in the way of technology, but no one ever made the leap from the soft metal to copper and then to iron.
     Fertile land was abundant in north America, but the natives, especially those that lived in what is now the USA and Canada,  remained primarily a Hunter/Gatherer society, except, perhaps,  the cliff dwelling people.  They knew how to plant corn and grow some crops but, they never transitioned that knowledge into an agricultural economic civilization. Because of that they had never developed the concept of owning land.
    They never developed the wheel and thus they never had any reason to develop roads. But, they participated in extensive trading over vast distances, all done by foot over trails.
     The early inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere were not stupid as can be attested to the clever ways that they adopted to the land they lived on. 
    At least three great civilizations rose up in this hemisphere, the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas. Usually when a lot of people are brought together, ideas begin to flourish, resulting in some new concept. But, that never happened. All these empires came and went without producing any breakthrough technology that might have changed the history of the Americas.
      Why did that happen? Perhaps some scholars doing research for a doctoral thesis has come to some conclusions, but, for me it is just curious.

My brief histoy of Jesus as Told in the Gospels Part 4 John

     Who was John, the supposed author of the fourth book of the Gospels? John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament,  Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome or Joanna. His brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and that he was the only one to die of natural causes. 
     Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John and five other books of the New Testament — the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation, although that is highly disputed.  The writing style is significantly different. But, it serves the church's ends to pin Revelations on one of the disciples and John happened to have the right name.  
      The Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, (Matthew, Mark and Luke) which were likely written decades earlier. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. This topic was in great debate for centuries following the death of Jesus. It is very important, as it flavors all the writing in the Gospel of John. John probably knew and undoubtedly read and approved of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
     Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had been attributed to the Apostle John. However, most modern critical scholars have their doubts. Some scholars place the Gospel of John somewhere between AD 65 and 85; John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 50–55 and then a final edition by 65 due to narrative similarities with Paul. Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was composed in two or three stages. Most contemporary scholars consider that the Gospel was not written until the latter third of the first century AD, and with an earliest possible date of AD 75. Other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade of the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century (i.e. 90 - 100), is applicable.
        The gospel of John is primarily a continuous sermon, just moving from one place to another, with a collection of the saying, prophesies and parables which is akin to that of Matthew. There is a different flavor to the writings of John. It is concentrated on the spiritual Jesus and not so much on Jesus as a man. Jesus's travels seemed to be for the sole purpose of getting him into a situation where he can preach another sermon. That doesn't make for an interesting history. In fact makes little real attempt to relate Jesus's history. He is much more concerned with establishing his divinity. 
    (John 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God". And so John begins.  He, like Mark, did not tackle the birth of Jesus or his early life in his story.
     Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized. As he was leaving on the morrow John was standing with two of his own disciples (John1;36-40) "and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi(which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abideth thou? He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: it was about the tenth hour. One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother".
    Then Jesus collected Peter, Phillip and Nathanael as the first apostles. After that Jesus roamed around preaching.
     At one point Jesus attended a wedding where he turned water into wine. The marriage was in Cana of Galilee and Jesus's mother was there. At one point his mother told Jesus that they had run out of wine. Jesus's answer was a bit strange. (John 2:4) "And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." 
    Mary then told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told them to fill six water pots with water to the brim and take them to the ruler of the feast. As every who has heard the story knows, the water pots were now filled with wine. This was the first of his signs.
    After that he went to Capernaum with his mother, his brethren and his disciples and stayed for many days. 
    Passover was coming up so Jesus and his gang went to Jerusalem. When he got there he went into the temple and you know the story of what happened. Bedlam broke loose as Jesus got really violent (John 2:15) "and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money and overthrew their tables;". This is a story that is told in all the Gospels, but each seems to have it set at a different time. 
    Now John made a strange observation. (John 2:23-25) "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast, many believed on this name, beholding his signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he know all men, and because he needed not that any on should bear witness concerning man; for he himself know what was in man."
    Here John establish that Jesus existed before he was born of Mary. John 3:16-17) "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life, For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him". 
    Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee, where he had done the water into wine trick. A nobleman approached Jesus and said his son was sick at Capernaum and he asked Jesus to come to his home and heal his son who was near death. (John 4:48-50) "Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; the son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way." 
  Guess what? When the man was on his way, his servants met him and told him his son lived. He asked them at what hour his son started to mend and they answered that it was the seventh hour yesterday when his fever broke. That, of course, was the time that Jesus had told him that his son will live. This, according to John was the second sign that Jesus did.
    Jesus went back into Jerusalem to celebrate passover. There he performed another miraculous healing upon a man that been infirm for thirty eight years. But, this got Jesus in trouble again because this happened on the sabbath, which was against the law. (John 5:16-18) "And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God." Again John, more than any of the other Gospels, sets up  the Jews as a whole, as the enemy of Jesus. The earlier Gospels pointed to the Pharisees and the high priests more. John was clearly on a mission to distance the new religion from the Jews and embrace the gentiles.  
    Jesus then went to the sea of Tiberias with a great mob following him, a lot imploring that he heal them of sickness. He went up to a mountain with his disciples. Passover was nearing. Jesus then turned to Philip and asked how are they to buy bread for the mob so they may eat. Philip answered that two hundred shillings worth of bread is not enough to feed this multitude. Then Andrew told Jesus that a lad had five barley loaves and two fishes, but that isn't enough for this crowd.  Jesus told them to sit down, and they did. About five thousand it says. You know the story from here. He fed the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and 2 fishes, with twelve baskets of broken pieces left over. 
    When the evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, but Jesus didn't come with them. A great storm arose and they were terrified. Then they saw Jesus walking on the water and coming to the boat. As soon as Jesus stepped into the boat they were on the land where they were going. 
    At the end of chapter 6 John introduces the idea of a future betrayal. In a discussion with his twelve disciples, (John 6:70) "Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"    
    John made a point of including Mary, his mother in the women that were following Jesus at this point. Something the other Gospels didn't do.   
    John is clearly writing for the Gentile audience. He blames the Jews for the hatred for Jesus and his crucifixion. Where Matthew and Mark put the blame on the Pharisees, the scribes and the high priests, John starts to lay the blame on the Jews directly.  An example is: (John 7:1) "And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him".
    Jesus frequently emphasized that his teaching was not his, but the one who sent him. (John 7:28-29) "Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me" 
    Jesus was preaching in the temple, stirring up his following with his usual lesson that he was sent by God. Many in the multitude believed in him and that wasn't taken well by the Pharisees and the priests. (John 7:30) "They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him because his hour was not yet come."   
    At one time the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery.  They said that Moses decreed that the woman be stoned, what would Jesus say to that?  (John 8:6-7) "And this they said, trying him, that they might have wherefore to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. But when the continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."  Everybody knows the story from here. No stone was cast.
    Jesus saw a man blind from birth. The disciples asked what sin he or his parents had committed to cause him to be blind. (John 9:3) "Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."  Jesus spate on the ground and made clay which he put on the mans eyes. He told the man to go wash the clay off in the pool of Siloam and guess what? He could see again. But, Jesus was in trouble again, because he did this on the sabbath. 
    There were doubters who went to the parents of the man asked who cured him. They denied that they knew who opened his eyes, ask him, they said. They said that because they feared the Jews.  The Jews believed that the man was blind because of some sin. The Jews cast the man out of the synagogue.  
    The story of Lazarus of Bethany is told in Chapter 11. This was the village of Mary (not his mother) and her sister Martha. Mary's brother Lazarus was sick. Jesus loved Martha and her sister. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed for two days where he was and then he said that they should go to Judaea where Lazarus was. The disciples didn't like that idea and they warned Jesus that the Jews "were but now seeking to stone thee" if you go there. 
    Then Jesus said that our friend Lazarus has fallen to sleep and he should go to wake him. His disciples noted that if Lazarus had fallen asleep, he will recover. But, Jesus said that he will not awaken from this sleep, for he is dead.
    So Jesus went to Lazarus's tomb where he had lain for four days. He told Martha to remove the stone that covered the tomb. Then he told Lazarus to come forth, and he did. Of course everyone was dumbfounded and worshipful. Who wouldn't be, they just saw a man raised from the dead.
    Six days before passover they went to where Lazarus was and ate supper with him. It was noted that Mary, Martha's sister, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The common people came, not to see Jesus but to see Lazarus, a man who had been raised from the dead. 
    The chief priests didn't like that much. That made many of the common people believe in Jesus and they figured to put Lazarus to death along with Jesus. 
     Jesus entered Jerusalem on an ass. How he got that ass isn't detailed in John, it's just there. The Last Supper for John, like everything else in this book, is a long sermon. He does make note of the future betrayal of Peter and Judas, but that is not given a lot of weight. 
    Now the story takes on familiar grounds. Jesus took his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden. At that point in the story Judas acted to betray Jesus. (John 18:3-5) "Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore,knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth, and saith unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus saith unto them, I am he, And Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them."
    They seized him and bound him and then (John 18:13) "and led him to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year".  
    At this point in the story is where Peter started his denial of Jesus. After some questions, Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the high priest. The high priest then sent on to Pilate. Pilate told them to take him and judge him according to their own laws. The Jews then noted that Jewish law didn't allow executions.
    Pilate said again, he saw no crime in him, but he saw a way out of this mess. (John 18:39-40) "But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? They cried out therefore again saying. Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber".
    Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him. (Whatever that means). Note: I don't think a Roman governor would stoop to actually applying a whip to anyone.  The soldiers crowned him with a thorns and arrayed him in a purple garment. But, Pilate again said that he would return him to the Jews because he saw no crime in him.  But, the chief priests and officers cried out that they wanted him crucified. It says that Pilate was afraid after hearing them. Note: That isn't likely that a Roman governor would be afraid of any Jewish mob.  
     After some more questioning, Pilate wanted to release him again. Then the Jews played their trump card. (John 19:12) "Upon this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Caesars friend: every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar."  Now Pilate gave in and ordered the crucifixion. Damned clever these Jews.
    John, unlike the other Gospels, has Jesus bearing the cross to the crucifixion himself. No Simon in his tale.  There they crucified him with two others. No atonement for one of the others in John's tale. That was strictly a Luke invention. They wrote JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS  on the cross.
     The scene on the cross is pretty consistent among the Gospels, few deviations. John, like the other Gospels makes a point of the women standing by the cross. Mary his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. A little different group. Now we have three Mary's that are featured in the story.
    Jesus said that he was thirsty. (John 19:29-30) "There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit."  
    Now John changes the story some. (John 19:31) "The Jews therefore,, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of the sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." Note there are three bodies.
    So the soldiers broke the legs of two of the executed, but when they came to Jesus they saw he was dead and didn't break his legs. But, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and it says that there came out blood and water. That is interesting as a dead body is not likely to bleed, especially if the body is vertical. The blood will pool at the lower extremities. This leads to the conjecture that Jesus wasn't really dead.
    Joseph of Arimathaea asked Pilate if he could take the body of Jesus and Pilate said yes. Then Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds and he took the body of Jesus, bound it in linen cloth with spices.
    John 19:41-42) "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid. There then because of the Jews' Preparation (for the tomb was nigh at hand) they laid Jesus."  Every one of the Gospels seems to have a different take on the exactly where Jesus was entombed. 
    On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone was rolled away. She then ran to Peter and "the other disciple whom Jesus loved" and told them that somebody had taken Jesus's body. 
    Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. The other disciple got there first and noted that the linen cloths were just laying, but he did not enter. Peter arrived and went into the tomb. Jesus was missing. 
    (John 20:9-10) "For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own home."  This really strange because he had been telling them this for some time. 
    Now John really deviates from the other Gospels. Mary Magdalene was standing outside the tomb weeping. She stooped and looked into the tomb. What she saw was two angels in white just sitting there, one at the head and the other at the feet of where Jesus had lain. They asked why she was weeping. She answered that they had taken away her lord and she didn't know where they had him. Then she tuned back and there was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener and asked him where they had taken Jesus. Then (John 20:16) "Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher."  
    Of course Mary was thrilled because she now recognized Jesus, but he told her not to touch him, for he has not yet ascended, but to go to his brethren and tell them "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." (John20:17).
    So Mary took off and told the disciples what she had seen and what he had said to her. That evening, with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, Jesus came into their midst. He showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were impressed. But. Thomas wasn't there.
    Now comes the kicker. (John 20:21-23) "Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."  So here it is, the one sentence in the gospels that propelled the Catholic Church, and it's priesthood, into great power and wealth. The church assumed the authority to not only forgive sin, but to cast a soul into everlasting hell. It was taken as a given, that the authority given to the disciples extended to those that were ordained by them subsequently. A position they held for over a thousand years, until Martin Luther posted some things on the door. They can thank John alone for this authority, because  Mathew, Mark nor Luke gave them that power, at least as far as I have found. 
    After eight days the scene was basically repeated, except Thomas was there. Thomas apparently was a doubter (Doubting Thomas). Jesus told Thomas to exam his hands and his side so that he would believe. Thomas was convinced. Then Jesus said that because he had seen him he believed, but blessed are they that did not see him and yet believed. John noted that there were many other signs that Jesus did that are not written in the Gospel. 
    Peter, Thomas and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and John) and two other of his disciples were together. Peter said that they should go fishing, and they did that night. 
    They fished through the night and morning was breaking they saw a man standing on the beach. The man was Jesus, but they didn't know him. Jesus asked if the had anything to eat and they told him that they didn't. Fishing hadn't been good. Jesus then told them to cast their nets into the sea again. They did and hauled out a multitude of fish. The disciple, who Jesus loved, said to Peter that the man is the Lord. Peter heard that it was the Lord, he "girt" (put on) his coat and cast himself into the sea. (Don't know why, but that is what it says). Another interesting thing that keeps coming up in John, is the reference to the disciple that Jesus loved. Never identified. There is conjecture that Mary Magdalene is the one Jesus loved. One must admit that Mary Magdalene plays a big part in the story of Jesus. However, it seems clear that the disciple mentioned in this Gospel was John.
    The other disciples rowed the little boat ashore dragging a net full of fish. When the got to land, they saw a fire of coals with fish cooking and bread.
     Jesus told them to bring the fish and they did, a hundred and fifty three. Wow! Thirty of forty years later the number is still remembered.
    Jesus then turned to Peter and asked him three times if he loved him more than the others. All three times Peter said yes he did. Jesus then said to Peter that he should "Feed my Lambs", "Tend My sheep", and "Feed my sheep" after each answer. 
     John closes with (John 20-25) "Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; who also leaned back on this breast at the supper, and said, Lord who is he that betrayeth thee? Peter therefore seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto to him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, that the disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if the should be written ever one, I suppose that even the world it self would not contain the books that should be written". This is kind of a strange question. Every one of the disciples knew that Judas betrayed Jesus.
    So Ends John.
     And, so ends my own journey into the life of Jesus as told in the Gospels. I thought it was an interesting trip and I am sorry if it offended any reader when I pointed out the discrepancies and related events in the first four books of the New Testament.             
    Whether one believes that the Gospels actually relate a true story of a man called Jesus, and how much is nothing but the imagination of the writer, is up to the individual.  But, no matter what your personal beliefs, it is clear that this one man had a profound impact on the world. His teachings are the basis for the major religion of Christianity, no matter how much those teachings have been bent and corrupted by men seeking power and riches. I doubt seriously that Jesus would recognize the church which bears his name today. But, that's a story for another time. 
     I will close this on that note. Thanks for reading the four papers and comments are welcome.