Facts of the day

Special fact of the day: Kentaji Brown Jackson makes judicial history.       

During the 2020 presidential primary, Joe Biden made a promise (at a debate in February 2020) to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court if he had the opportunity. He has delivered on that promise. On Thursday April 7, 2022, Senators of the United States voted 53-47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jackson will be the first Black woman ever to sit in this Court.[i] She obviously is well schooled in law. I disagree with her judicial philosophy, which appears to be mainly of the “living Constitution” school where one creates things like the right to abortion that is not dealt with in the Constitution.

Mad fact of the day: the first black woman judge and defining women.

Ketanji Brown Jackson sidestepped a question from Senator Marsha Blackburn about defining what is a woman, with her now infamous “I’m not a biologist” comment.[ii] Despite this, Ketanji Brown Jackson knows that she is a woman. President Joe Biden knows that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a woman. 100 senators know that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a woman. The public who voted for Biden because of this promise knows that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a woman. Yes, even the radical left who pretend they cannot define what a woman is knows that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a woman.

Despite their deafening dissimulation on the definition of a woman, even transgender allies and “trans” women and really know what a woman is. When a man claims he is a woman trapped in a man’s body, what does he usually do? He takes female hormones. He has his male genitalia removed and replaced with simulated female genitalia. He gets augmentation mammoplasty, as well as other surgeries such as facial feminization, chondrolaryngoplasty (to reduce the Adam’s apple), and voice feminization surgery. He wears feminine clothing and changes his name from one that sounds masculine to one that sounds feminine. Bruce Jenner becomes Caitlyn Jenner. Richard Levine becomes Rachel Levine. They say that they do not know what a woman is, yet know how to try to appear like other women. Everybody pretends they are women while calling them “trans” women, a tacit admission that they really are not women.

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”

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[i] Both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the the United States have a voice in the composition of the U. S. Supreme Court. The President nominates a person to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The Senate, by a simple majority, votes to confirm the nominee.
[ii] Senator Marsha Blackburn: “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?” Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson: “No. I can’t. Not in this context. I’m not a biologist.”

News today

All 12 boys and soccer coach rescued from Thai cave

After more than two weeks trapped inside a cave complex in northern Thailand, all 12 boys and their soccer coach have finally been rescued.

The last four members of the youth soccer team and their coach were pulled out of the cave on Tuesday afternoon, the third day of a huge international operation to save them.

President Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court

Age was an important factor in making Trump’s Supreme Court list; Kavanaugh is 53 years old, which would guarantee a measure of longevity on the court, if he is approved by Congress.

A Common Man

"...God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty." I Cor. 1:27b

Whoever heard of Shamgar? He's only mentioned in two verses of the Bible. 

"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." Judges 3:31

Shamgar may seem a "nobody". Yet his heroic deed has a message for the rest of us "nobodies".

The Philistines oppressed Israel. Shamgar stood with God. He must have been a farmer, a common fellow. His instrument was a ox goad -- a sharp stick used to prod oxen. This common man with his simple tool killed 600 of the oppressors and delivered Israel from servitude. He took what he had and used it in God's work.

I inspect myself and find no great gift or skills. I'm not well-known or wealthy. I'm not highly educated or particularly eloquent. I'm a common man. Shamgar encourages me. May he encourage you. He came from the common ranks. Shamgar was common, but what he did was not. He used what he had for God. We can do that. He won a great victory -- an impossible one. "With men it is impossible, but with God all things all possible."

We are weak; the enemy is strong. When we are weak, then we are strong. We are weak; God is strongest. If all we have is our "ox goad," it is enough. Let us give ourselves to God and trust Him to get the job done. Lord, help us remember that all the heroes and heroines of the Bible are men and women of like passion as we.

Jair - a Judge in Israel

"He had thirty sons." - Judges 10:3-5 - If the listing is chronological, Jair's judgeship followed that of Tola, and the nation continued to enjoy the blessings of God and the subsequent peace and quietness resulting from Gideon's decisive defeat of the powerful Midianites. It also suggests that the people had not resorted to their former idolatrous practices, otherwise they would not have been enjoying the blessings of God. Jair "had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys." Horses were ill suited to Israel's mountainous terrain, and little used before the days of King Solomon. Anciently, the horse was used in war. God would warned that Israel's king "shall not multiply horses for himself" (Deut 17:16). Israel was to trust God for victory, not horses. Each of Jair's sons had a town named for him, which collectively were called, "Havoth Jair," towns of Jair. All of this suggests that Jair was a man of wealth, and had attained the status of a prince. He probably had several wives, and it was a common practice for a ruler to give his sons towns, or make them judges over the towns. As with Tola, little more is known of Jair. His greatness was not attained in some spectacular military exploit. He rose from obscurity, and wisely followed the godly example of Gideon and Tola who judged Israel before him. He sought no personal notoriety. He served God and Israel in quietness and humility for twenty-two years. At the time Israel was enjoying one of the longest periods of peace in its history. The years that Gideon, Tola, and Jair served Israel total eighty-five years. The tranquility was marred only by the localized three year reign of terror by Abimelech. To rule in times of peace and prosperity may require greater wisdom and patience than in time of war. During peace and material prosperity, the people tend to be more critical of leaders. In time of national danger, they are more united, and have one important goal: defense of the nation. They do not have time to enjoy the luxury to "pick" the leader apart.

Interestingly, the Greek form of Jair is the New Testament Jairus. (Mark 5:22.)

-- by O. H. Griffith, 01/28/03