What, this again?

 Just letting you all know that, unless my sour mood improves drastically in the morning, we'll catch up the M10 next week. Between a down mood, a week of being on my own at work, a new pharmacy site that was designed by idiots, a tablet that is just itching to be snapped in two, and a keyboard that is thinking about going the same direction... well, let's just say that anything that would be therapeutic right now might put me in jail.  So hang in there, and when my composure comes back from vacation, we'll try again later.

Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by plank Part VI

 

I wanted to get you up a map of what MAY BE the Sodom-Gomorrah situation a while before we get there, so you can have a handle on the area involved- but I don't want to get there just yet.  My story of Abram has rolled into Genesis 13, but the building of Abraham has rolled to- ME.

You see, I have seen much of my life in Abram's journey.  Starting in the "Ur of the Chaldees" of not really knowing Jesus, to being called but stuck in the family/friends/circumstances of Haran; then to just enough obedience for God to show me where I SHOULD be, but moving with the worldly into Egypt.  In Egypt, I gathered great treasure (my children), but wasn't where I belonged.  Finally, my son, my ten-year-old "Pharaoh", chastised me for the way I was living, and I made it back to a still incomplete obedience in "Bethel" (So if you look at the upper left of the inset, you can find Bethel and stick a "You Are Here" there for me).  

And this is the point we find Abram.  Chapter 13 of Genesis gives us 4 important parts of the Abram story.  The first one, you may remember from last time:

Gen 13:2  Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 

Gen 13:3  And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 

Gen 13:4  to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD. 

So you see that little dotted loop south of Bethel, and Bethel is in one corner of it and Ai was in the other.  And this was where he was AT THE BEGINNING, when God told him, "This is it."  This was, I believe, an act of repentance by Abram for Egypt, and he 'called upon the name of the Lord.'  He had had enough of listening to himself, and was ready to obey- just like me when little KC asked me basically whether I had a "church life" and a "real life".  Part of that obedience, it seems, became what to do with the rest of his "family baggage"- Lot.  They had huge herds by now- and what with competing with the "Canaanites"- descendants of Noah's son Ham through his son Canaan- and the "Perizzites", who seem to be an unrelated group, perhaps from Japheth's descendants-, it was a bit crowded.  Abram, for all intents Lot's father, could have ordered him back to Haran, back into the Negev, anywhere.  After all, God had already told Abram all the land would be his.  But Abram had learned a thing or two about humility, and putting others above himself.  And so...

Gen 13:8  Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 

Gen 13:9  Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 

Now if you look again at the map, the layout wasn't quite what it is now.  Lot looked at the well watered Jordan Valley, "In the direction of Zoar."  It looks to me that "the Jordan Valley" included much of what would soon be under the salt waters of the Dead Sea, but at this point (maybe) the Jordan still came out the other side and watered the area where the Cities of the Plain- Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoar, Admah, and Zeboiim- lay.  Zoar was at the southern end of this valley, and on the far side of the Dead Sea from where Abram was.

Gen 13:12  Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 

Gen 13:13  Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD. 

This was kind of a teaser- we would get back to this story in a while.  The important things to glean here were 1) Abram was moving in a direction that the Lord wanted- and 2) Lot, without Abram's newfound discernment, and going from the example that the "Old Abram" gave him in Egypt, had no qualms dwelling among  people less righteous than himself -as Peter tells us in his 2nd letter:

2Pe 2:7  ...and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 

2Pe 2:8  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)...

The third important happening was that, now that he and God were back on "speaking terms", God had something more to tell him:

 Gen 13:14  The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 

Gen 13:15  for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 

Gen 13:16  I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 

Gen 13:17  Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

Note here, that the point, "after Lot had separated from him", is stressed.  God was not going to further elucidate his plan with the "family baggage" still there.  Bethel, in the north of what would one day be called Judea, was going to be the 'center' of the land God was going to give him.  Note also, that how a man in his 80's by now, and a woman in her 70's, were going to make "Offspring as the dust of the earth" wasn't yet discussed.  As Abram's obedience increased, so too the knowledge and wisdom God would give him.  In addition to building Abraham's character, He was also building his understanding.

Which is why I say, "I am here".  But just as He is not done with me, He's not done with Abram.  And there was one more move to this section of the story...

Gen 13:18  So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. 

Hebron, about halfway between Bethel and Zoar, was a town of some note.  In Numbers, we get these tidbits about Hebron:  

Num 13:22  They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 

And this is not as meaningless as it looks.  That Zoan, built seven years afterwards, was the major provincial capital, Tanis, in Egypt some 600 years later- which attests to how ancient Hebron was.  In fact, some rabbinical tales say that Ham built this for his son Canaan, and then built Zoan in Egypt for his son Mizraim (the ancestor of Egypt).  And that Anak- he was the father of the Giants.  So while Lot dwelt in the bosom of Sodom, Abram lived in the shadow of giants...

Martin World News

 

So last night I tried to do an "Around the World", but my news plane lost power and went splat somewhere near the Bay of Bengal; tonight, I'll try the more traditional "news" post, as always looking for the best fits to my snarky sensahuma.  Let's start...

FoxNews: When is 'being cute' actually racist?

Headline: Hegseth, Britt accuse Air Force of 'malicious' pause as it reinstates training on Tuskegee Airmen

In case you don't know it, the last few years has populated the US Military with leaders more interested in being woke than being useful.  In other words, not big fans of President Trump.  So when he demanded all services to 86 DEI policies, the smarta$$ leadership group at the air force decide to be cute- removing training films on the legendary Tuskegee Airmen (a black unit during the days of segregation) and the WASPs (the Women's Air Service) because, "Well, Trump doesn't want DEI, so everything must be all white".  Thinking that they could score some cheap publicity points by doing something completely stupid and blaming it on Trump, it backfired miserably; the new SecDef reversed the decision, the leadership gave a, "sorry, we misunderstood, wink-wink", and personally, I can't wait to see which hands get slapped for this.

CNN: Kind of the point

Headline: Denmark boosts Arctic defense spending by $2 billion after Trump’s Greenland interest

Denmark fell for this one.  Who would you rather have up north guarding the north from Russians and Chinese?  Americans, whom you have to pay for, or Danes, who you don't?  There's another $2 Billion Trump has saved us already!

BBC World: It's not the belching I'm worried about

Headline: Backlash in Kenya over livestock vaccines and belching cows

In order to pass export laws, Kenya is giving out free vaccines for Foot-in-mouth disease and PPR (sheep or goat plague), hoping to get the total of livestock vaccinated up from 10% to 85% in the next three years.  A noble goal except- is that what the vaccine is REALLY for?  Many people believe that the shots are a plan- suggested on video by Bill Gates- to decrease the animals' methane emissions.  And according to government officials, some villages are willing to kill you if you try it.

Caleb Karuga, a former journalist and now an influential farmer, posted on X that he would resist the jabs, saying no-one will vaccinate his livestock just "because Bill Gates said so".

Ledama Olekina, an opposition senator and prominent Maasai pastoralist, wrote on X: "There [are] millions of cows in Europe and America and none of them are being vaccinated for farting … mine will not be vaccinated."

I don't know if Bill really is trying to make a fartless cow, but he better not come towards me with a needle... no matter WHAT Laurie says.

RT (Russia)- Even they think you Brits are sumasshedshiy

Headline:  Do not use terms like ‘black sheep’ and ‘blacklist’ – guide for UK police

Because, of course, anything with 'black' attached to it is racist in the current ultra-woke climate in the UK.  Other terms, and why they are to be avoided:

-replacing “pregnant woman” with “pregnant person” to be more inclusive of transgender and non-binary individuals.

-advises against the term “faith,” which it describes as “Christian-centric...” 

- also discourages assumptions about older individuals being “grumpy” or associating menopausal symptoms with women in their 50s. The term “mature adult” is also flagged for potentially suggesting that younger people are immature.

I apologize to anyone who doesn't think this is stupid... but....

Xinhua- Participation trophy, dictator-edition

Headline: Xi congratulates Lukashenko (of Belarus) on reelection as Belarusian president

Because nothing says, "Great job!", like one guy who can't help but getting elected telling another guy who can't help but get elected, 'Wow, you got elected!' 

The Japan News- Speaks for itself

Two headlines- you be the judge...

1) Don’t Let AI ‘Rip off’ Artists, Beatles Star McCartney Warns UK Government

2) 2 Beatles Songs from ’90s to Be Remixed with AI for Clearer Vocals by John Lennon, Says George Harrison’s Son

And, finally...

DW (Germany)- the headline is the joke

This time I have to tell the story first.  The story reports the annual blooming of the Corpse Flower- a big, ugly bloom that smells like it's name.  Every year, somebody has to do a story on this ultra-aromatic event, so I understand that you really have to work on a good hook to spark interest.  And someone at DW looked up the meaning of its scientific name, and built it into their headline:

Australians flock to smelly opening of 'misshaped penis'

In the article: Its species name, Amorphophallus titanum, meanwhile, means "titanic misshaped penis" in Ancient Greek.

Somehow, I chuckle at the thought of Hercules using this to insult Ares...

...like right after that blow...

Icy pictures

 I'd love to tell you we have a wide variety of colorful pictures to share this week.  

Of course, I can't.

Thursday I was so far ahead I got off early, and as it was the first day in a while that even a "poop walk" risked frostbite, we took advantage...

As you can see, Misty was more than ready!

And it was snowing a bit...

The gravel trails through the woods were nothing but ice.  Amazingly, I only came close to falling once, and Misty is good at slowing down when necessary (if not any other time...)

The trail to the river was well-kept, but as usual the weather turned in SoCal (south of California Road)...

Even the waterfall was froze solid

Remember that fuzzy orange ball that was in someone's yard a couple of weeks ago?  It's now about 2/10ths of a mile away in the canal...

Friday was "Return to the North Pole", but Saturday was at least decent again...

That doggie was pretty

This is me having no luck catching Misty eating snow

People are just sick enough of the cold to get out with us

Even discers

River is ice

Mushroom ridge, from the Big Hill

Another slab, this one off of South Canal- WTH is going on?

Hah!  Caught you that time!

If it's so "Famosa", how come I never heard of it?

Screeching at us the whole way

And Sunday was mainly exercise, little scenic:

Afternoon take-off

Woods is still the Ice Challenge

"At least in the sun, it's warmer..."

M10 show week #150

 

2021-2025

Elvis:  YEAH!  Celebrate C'MON!

Actually, I've made about as big of a deal of it as you're going to get, bucko! But it is an exciting time, as we go to 1974 this week, where 8 songs moved at least 10 spots for a change!  Also, with 2 more debuts, we've turned over half the M10 in 2 weeks!  AND, a top 3 battle tight enough I had to play them again to make a decision!

But no party? No Bubbly?

"No bubbly?  What kind of party is this?"

I dunno, Howell, but I'm thinkin' our boys on the cheap...

Well, you would be too, had you only worked 28 hours this week, and for another thing, there's plenty of Pepsi Zero in the kitchen if you want bubbles...

T:  CHEAP?  How dare you say that word in front of a Howell...

ANYway, let me play the first clip before this gets out of hand!  Debuting at #10, new stuff from the Heavy Heavy...

T:  Good grief, a band named after the Captain...

**************************************************

Skipper:  Howell, you're just lucky that was a good song...

Well, thankfully someone approves!  So our target year is 1974, and... oh crap!  I forgot to write down our #1s...

E: Here let bubbly ol' me get this!  Here in the US of A, it was the Reverend Al- Wilson, that is, with Show And Tell, which got a 57 in Australia and a 7 in Canada... In Canada, it wuz Terry Jacks an' Seasons In The Sun, which wuz an across-the-board chart topper... an' in Australia, it wuz good ol' Suzi Quatro with 48 Crash, a rockin' ditty that got a 56 here and a 91 in Canada. Shoulda done better here...

It might have if she had played Leather Tuscadero on Happy days at this point, but that was 3-4 years yet in the future.  Now as I mentioned, there was 8 10-notch movers this week, and I;ll give you 6 of them, as we had a 5th place tie...

T5- Diana Ross moves up 15 to #35 with Last Time I Saw Him, a song I do NOT remember, but hit 9 here, 8 in Canada, and 18 in Australia.

T5- The O'Jays and Put Your Hands Together, another I didn't know.  Landing at #25, it would hit 10 here and 47 in Canbada, and shared the usual fate of Motown songs in Australia...

E:  AWOL, eh?

Yep. 4- a 16- spot leap for Kool and the Gang and Jungle Boogie (which at least I know), landing at 21.  It peaked at 4 here, 29 in Canada... and again, AWOL in Australia.

3- In a similar vein, Eddie Kendricks and Boogie Down.  Missing both our sister charts, it landed at 34 this week, up 17, on it's way to #1 Billboard/#2 Cashbox.

D'ya know that one at least?

Know is a strong term... I have heard it, though.

2- An 18-notch leap to 24 for the Rolling Stones and one my favorites of theirs- Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker).  15 on BB and 10 on CB, it was 5 in Canada and squeaks in at 100 in Australia.

And the big move- 20 spots to #40- goes to...

...yes, the ageless and tasteless Cher with Dark Lady.  Buddy, you got that second debut?

Yeah, Chris found this the other day playin' Dora The Musical Explorer with Laurie.  From 2005, this is Ryan Adams and the Cardinals at #9...

**********************************************

So, 150 shows, give'r take.  What do ya see the future being?

Honestly, that's in the Lord's hands.  As long as I keep finding songs that bring out the spirit of praise in me- as most songs do- there'll be a place for the M10.  As long as I keep stumbling into bits, there'll be a place for you...

Hey, now... 

And as long as the fun's still there, we'll keep doing it, even when the auditorium is empty and the ol' time machine is...

So here's to the promise of another 150 shows...

Hang on, I need ta get another Pepsi...

You do that, and I'll give the rest of the M10 we almost forgot!

8- Down 3 for Linkin Park's Cut The Bridge.

7- Tom Petty up one with Never Be You.

6- 3 spot climb for the Linda Lindas and Nothing Would Change.

5- And up one for Hana Vu and Care.

4- Down 2 in week #7 for Junior Senior and Move Your Feet.

3- Out of the top spot for the Cowsills and She Said To Me.

2- Up 2 for Geowulf and Stay Baby.

And the new #1....

courtesy Getty Images

...Japanese Breakfast and Kokomo IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by Plank part V

 

Gen 12:11  When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 

Gen 12:12  and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 

Gen 12:13  Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 

Gen 12:14  When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 

Gen 12:15  And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 

Gen 12:16  And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 

Gen 12:17  But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 

Gen 12:18  So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 

Gen 12:19  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 

Gen 12:20  And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. 

For once I printed our whole text because, I realize now that there was more than just Abram's lack of trust going on here.  Abram brought a bushel-basket of sins to Egypt with him, and I want to tease them out to where we can see where we do the same.

Of course, it started with not trusting God - either in the land God told him to stop in, or in a land of different culture.  But it's more than that.  The fact that this would happen again with Abimelech many years later points out something I hadn't seen before.  Abram was prejudiced against cultures not his own.  He was fine with the Amorites, Babylonians, and the other peoples of similar culture in Mesopotamia, but when it came to vastly different cultures- like Egypt, and later, the Canaanites of Gerar- he was fearful, and distrusted them and their customs.  So much so, Sarai became his 'protection'- he would tell them the half-truth that she was his sister (since they had the same father, but her mom was apparently a Hittite); that way, these strangers wouldn't kill him for his one prized possession.

You can heap onto that, then, a lack of respect for Sarai- she was a possession he might be killed for.  Realizing that HIS is a different culture than mine, still it doesn't seem to me- here or later on- Abram shows her a lot of love- love that would become evident early in the stories of both Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel.

Here's a third behind the scenes failing of Abram- Lot, his nephew, was still with him, and he was setting such a wonderful example for him about his women- the fruit of which will come up in the Sodom and Gomorrah story upcoming.  You don't do stupid stuff in a vacuum- and Lot was watching.

One of the things I did to prepare for this study was ask, "So how long did an Egyptian courtship last?" wondering just how long they were in Egypt.  While I didn't exactly get an answer on that, I did learn some important facts.  There was a divide on marriage rules in Egypt between the rulers and everyone else- the common people had a big taboo against incest, while the rulers could follow the 'example of the gods' and marry whomever, as long as it wasn't an adulterous marriage.  There was no actual ceremony- you were married as soon as you set up housekeeping together.  Divorce was just as simple.

So now, go back to verses 15-16.  Pharaoh was very very good to Abram because this was part of the ritual- the groom prospective would lavish the father ( or in this case, brother) of the bride-to-be with gifts, sort of a dowry.  And then the father/brother would give her to the groom.  And Pharaoh was very giving.  We see after Abram got the bum's rush from Egypt:  

Gen 13:1  So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. 

Gen 13:2  Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 

And since a rich man would likely not have fled the famine to Egypt in the first place, we can figure Pharaoh's courting of Sarai provided most of this riches.  So here's the next thing- Abram got comfortable with the process.  Abram kept soaking up the gifts Pharaoh gave him, knowing darn well they were essentially ill-gotten under false pretenses, and Pharaoh kept waiting for Abram to say, "Okay, she's all yours".  And while God left him keep these gifts- God has a tradition of letting his people plunder Egypt- He wasn't real pleased about what was going on.  At least, I would assume so; but God has different ways of seeing faithful vs pagan than we do.  So despite Abram's mistrust, his prejudice, his poor example, his disrespect for Sarai and manipulation of Pharaoh- when the boom came down in verse 17, it came down on Pharaoh and Egypt.  Why?

For an answer to that, we have to look ahead at situation #2 with Abimelech:

Gen 20:7  (God said to Abimelech) Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 

Abram had a special protection from God.  God wasn't finished building him, let alone the people that would come from him.  And he was going to make mistakes, that God in His mercy was going to forgive.  Because, despite Abram's faults...

Rom 4:3  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 

Like us when we accept Christ as Savior, Abram's sins were/were being/ will be forgiven by God.  And so, we assume that, as Abram (and for various reasons, probably Sarai as well) didn't tell Pharaoh the truth, God must have given a similar revelation to Pharaoh.  And he was aghast, and more than just the plagues.  Had he married another man's wife, he would have broken the one cardinal rule of Egyptian marriage, and his soul's journey into the Afterlife would have been in jeopardy.  He believed he would literally have went to hell over this, and Abram was only too glad to send him there as he piled up his "gifts".  Thus he ordered his men to "kindly show him the door", and off they went back to face God in the land they were promised.

But they took some baggage with them, on top of the gifts and the hard (and hardly learned) lessons.  They took Sarai's growing disrespect for Abram; they took Lot's future character failings; and they took an Egyptian slave girl, Hagar, whom Satan would use to turn everything upside down.

Around the world

 

So as a new adjunct to Martin World News, I present you with Around The World, where we will start at a random country and mention their big news- because you can get all the Inauguration news on your regular news sites!  Stop #1:

Vanuatu, which is having a "Western North Carolina" moment of its own.  Over a month since a 7.3 earthquake hit the capital of Port Villa, the central business district is still abandoned- since most of the buildings have been declared unsafe.  "The Recovery Operations Centre (ROC) yesterday  (January 16th our time) confirmed that they approved the work that will be carried out by New Zealand, Australia, and Japan engineers.  200+ businesses in 90+ buildings, along with hundreds of employees, are out of luck.

Trying to make moves of around 3,000 miles, we land next in:

Indonesia, where newly-elected President Prabowo Subianto is doing something no US President has matched since 2001- he has an 81% approval rating.  One reason why-

The so called “Nutritious Meals Program” is recognised as a flagship initiative of the newly elected President Prabowo Subianto which has been prioritized among the eight most important priorities for the current government. The program aims to fight against malnutrition and promote healthy eating via the delivery of high-quality school meals prepared with locally sourced ingredients, with a special attention to nutrition education, and food waste reduction activities. On its opening day, the program has served over 500,000 meals.

The program is meant to reach out to nearly 60 million schoolkids.  Among those other 8 goals is 8% annual economic growth.  Next up, as I try to maintain the same direction:  

Pakistan, where the big news concerns textbooks in the province of Punjab, which will for the first time contain stories of prominent women in the history of Pakistan.  Which, you might think given Pakistan's Muslim majority, would be controversial.  But apparently the controversy to THEM was that when a Punjabi politician announced it on social media, they ONLY mentioned a pair of Punjabi women- at which a journalist questioned why it was ONLY these two and not several others as well.  So the particular news site I went to did a fact check and found that the books would include- in addition to the two who got pictures in the book- at least 12 other women.  Tempest in a teapot time there.

Next on our journey...

Germany, where their ambassador to the US, Andreas Michaelis, was embarrassed by a leaked cable in which he was quoted:

Michaelis voiced serious concern about the future of US democracy, writing, "Fundamental democratic principles, along with checks and balances, will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, and Big Tech will gain co-governing authority."

At this point the German foreign office has been silent other than saying that the US "is one of our most important allies".  But with their envoy quoted with such bon-mots as:

 ...Trump's policy "of maximum disruption, the breaking up of the established political order and bureaucratic structures as well as his plans for revenge ultimately mean a redefinition of the constitutional order..." 

I have few doubts that Ambassador Michelis will soon be seeing his credentials "revenged".

Meanwhile, we move on to...

Ghana, where I found that something that's all the rage in South Africa is hot there too- illegal mining.  An illegal (according to the government) group of 60 such cut through a security fence and engaged troops of Operation Halt II with "locally manufactured rifles, pump-action guns, gas cylinders, knives, heavy duty bolt cutters, axes, and machetes".  7 (or perhaps 8) of the invaders were killed.  A lot quicker solution than in South Africa, where the plan is, 'Let them go down the mine, then block them in until they are dead, starved out and arrested, or flooded out'.

We hop our next plane to:

Brazil, here the news gave President Lula a 'check-up'-

President Lula (PT) reached the halfway mark of his term having fulfilled 28% of the 103 promises he made during the 2022 electoral campaign, as cataloged by Folha. In 2023, this number was 20%.

Additionally, 29% of the promises are in progress, 25% have started but are advancing slowly, and 17% are stalled (the total doesn’t reach 100% due to rounding).

For context, Politifact currently lists the Biden scoreboard on 99 promises: 33% fulfilled (+5), 32% "compromised", 34% broken (Wondering if this included the "Not issuing pardons" promise he made to Jake Tapper and shattered beyond all recognition today), with 0s for "stalled" and "in the works".  I guess just under a third is all you can expect from leftist politicians.  And most of them, we really don't want anyway.  Moving on...

As we are now close enough to the Pacific, we have to suspend the 3,000 mile limit and jump 7.888 miles to...

Tonga, just 1,200 miles from our starting point.  So Tonga is dealing with a two-headed monster in the area of roads and traffic.  I guess that you have to declare how many vehicles you have, and then you also have to register them as well.  Problem #1:  There are almost 18,000 vehicles declared, but only about 3,300 registered.  An officer from the department of roads and traffic, said, "One possible explanation for this discrepancy could be the presence of unregistered vehicles..."

Ya think?

The second problem is that the roads are "broken".  So much so, every taxi is averaging one replaced (second hand) tire a month, and are refusing to make fares in the worst areas.  In a burst of typical Government action...

Matangi Tonga (the news site) asked officials at the Ministry of Infrastructure on 6 January 2025, for an interview about the state of the main roads in Nuku’alofa.

The CEO of MOI, Mr, Lopeti Heimuli required our questions to be sent in prior to the interview, which was then set for 7 January. However, on the day of the interview, the CEO sent us to the Director of the Department of Roads and Traffic, Mr Tevita Lavemai, who declined the opportunity to talk about the roads.

So, how is it in your world?

You call this a picture post?

 Well, I wouldn't, but it's all I got.  Between arctic blasts, work, and a mid-week case of having ZERO energy, all we got out for was Friday afternoon...

The remnants of our last snow

At this point, I was thinking how young Roald Amundsen didn't get started this way...

The gouge in the snow at dead center is doggie taking a bite of snow, repeated about every ten feet or so

This is me being too slow and groggy to take the picture before the squirrel moved on to the next tree

One lone disc golfer...

Tracks on the frozen creek at the bridge

Overlooking the Ravine

Some idiot took the time and energy to turn the "stay off the ice" sign the wrong way.

Snowplow gouged the yellow stripes off California Rd and deposited the fragments some 10 yards or so down the road

I'm guessing that funny set of tracks there (at the footbridge) came from the heron...

About as we reached the Swamp- about a mile and 3/4ths in- I started really dragging.  I copped a sit on one of the canal markers with about a half-mile to go before home.  And I got dizzy every time I looked up at a treetop, so I really wasn't in the best of shape for this.  But with Saturday being 'rain all day' and today being 'steadily falling temperatures into the ridiculous again', it was our only chance, and I am a good doggie Daddy.