Monday, February 6, 2023
I spent the day in the medical center. One of the members of my family had an eye operation. I am happy to report that all went well.
In the evening was Timbuktu Learning Center. This is the sixth week, practice Self Mastery, taken from my book 52 Weeks for the Mastery of Life. This week I will be dealing with Week 6, we should master our behavior. It requires discipline and practice to be in charge of yourself. My Scripture reading was Romans 8:35-59.
Monday is also Current events night, our discussion focused on the balloon that China had put in the air. The balloon crossed over at least two strategic states. Most Americans were infuriated, there were calls for President Biden to “shoot it down”. I had questions about the intent of China sending a balloon across America at this time. It had been said that they had launched at least three balloons during the Trump years. I say at this time because there was a thawing of relationships in fact meetings had been arranged for China’s leaders to meet American leaders.
We were informed that China and America have conversion interests economic, social, and technology. So the question becomes, why would China deliberately send a spying balloon if in fact, that’s what it was at this time. So, I began to think of various reasons: 1. It is not a spy balloon, but as China said it’s a weather gathering balloon, which is hard to believe. 2. Internal developments in China between the military and the administration. Whether it was innocently the military who sent the balloon without informing their government or it was deliberately done for some tension. So these are questions I pondered, but in any event the meeting was postponed and even then that says that the two countries want to meet, but not at this time. I am old enough to remember in 1960, that President Eisenhower and Kushjef the Russian leader had scheduled a meeting and a spy plane flew over Russia by Gary Powers, an American pilot, he was captured. When this happened, Kushjef immediately postponed the meeting with Eisenhower.
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
In the morning we went back for a post checkup, everything is working as it should be. We are profoundly grateful. I did not return in time for the Englewood Council meeting.
*An interesting note was that Secretary of Defense General Austin, reached out to the counterparts in China about a meeting, but was rejected. China was still angry at how the U.S. treated the balloon. You would think it would be the other way around, that China would be eager to re-establish talks of a meeting.
State of the Union Address
President Biden delivered his 2nd State of the Union before Congress. There were two points in his speech that are worth noting, one was that he identified with the parents whose children/loved ones have been killed by the police. In his speech he identified with Black parents, he said, paraphrasing, white parents do not have to train, teach their loved ones should they encounter or have words with the police.
The second significant point, the President mentioned that the Republicans wanted to cut social security and medicaid. This evoked years of heckling and cries you’re a liar. Observers believe that the President deliberately made the statement to get the Republicans on record that they will not cut out social security and medicaid. His statement and the Republicans reaction for the next several days was top news. The leading Republican, in fact, the majority of Republicans came out to say they would not cut Social Security and that the statement made by the President was from a pamphlet by a lone Republican who had said, the above items were in the sunset.
All of the Republicans had to go on record saying they would not cut Social Security and Medicaid.
We held our nightly session in the Timbuktu Learning Center at 7 PM, where we briefly discussed the recent earthquake in Syria.