• Fighting Apollo Creed
• Fighting apathy towards the $36 trillion national debt.

“This is bizarre!”

January 20, 2025

The national debt at 11 am (Central Standard Time)…  $36.375 trillion.

January 20, 2025

1 Peter 5:7  Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

January 6

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD J. TRUMP

4 Felony counts for conspiring to overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential election results

“The pages contain so many charges, and those charges are so detailed, that we risk becoming numb to their monumental importance, particularly those of us who lack formal legal training.

Hence, this book.

Typically, the layperson is happy to leave legal briefs to the lawyers and scientific studies to the scientists.  But there are some matters of such import that we must read and form our own opinions about them.”  –from The Trump Indictments:  The 91 Criminal Counts Against The Former President Of The United States.  Edited and Introduced by Ali Velshi.

Spielberg’s 1987 War Against Movies

SPIELBERG vs MOVIES… IN 1987

“I think we’ve partially lost something that we now have to reclaim.  I think it’s time to renew our romance with the word.” –Steven Spielberg, speaking to Hollywood in 1987.

Opening & closing shots from Spielberg’s 1987 film Empire Of The Sun..

• Opening shot of caskets…floating in the water.
• Closing shot of a case containing things important to a 12 year-old …floating in the water.

Spielberg’s Other Wars

SPIELBERG vs TELEVISION

• Quickly becoming Hollywood’s new king with three blockbusters in 1975, 1977, and 1981.
• June 1982.  Will churches ever phone home? 
• Numerous movie similarities between 1982 and 1993.

SPIELBERG vs A FAITHLESS TEENAGER

• After his 1987 war against movies and what’s important to a 12 year-old, he directs a blockbuster sequel released in theaters during the summer before a 14 year-old’s freshman year in high school.
• A blockbuster sequel, whose last 40 minutes would be viewed multiple times via VCR by a faithless teenager.

John Williams (1989) & the faith of a 14 year-old…or the lack thereof.

• • • • • • • • A clueless teenager and the last 40 minutes of 1989’s Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
              • A faithless teenager and the tragedy of 1989’s Born On The Fourth Of July.  (Or to put it another way, Murphy’s Law and a faithless teenager. Or even Murphy’s Law and a faithless anybody, for that matter.)

SPIELBERG vs APATHY ABOUT HISTORY…IN 1998.

• I guess one could argue Spielberg’s 1998 movie was about luck.
• But I would argue instead that it was more of a war movie.  But maybe that’s just me. 

YOUNG SPIELBERG vs RECENT SPIELBERG

Spielberg:  1974-1998

• Director of Raiders Of The Lost Ark  (2 Samuel 6:11-12)
• Director of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (John 19:19-22)
• Director of Schindler’s List   “Everybody remembers him.   He did something extraordinary.  He did something no one else did.  He came here with nothing. A suitcase.  And built a bankrupt company into a major manufactory.  And left with a steamer trunk.  Two steamer trunks full of money.  All the riches of the world… …There’s no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing.  In every business I tried, I could see now, it wasn’t me that failed.  Something was missing.  Even if I had known what it was, there was nothing I could have done about it because you can’t create this thing, and it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.”

Spielberg: Since 1998

“That, however, leaves out of the conversation the matter of luck, of which I have had a good share… …So, yes, luck… …So I hope this book turns out to be part of my good luck.”  –Steven Spielberg, as quoted in the introduction of a very recent book  (Romans 1:19-21)

SIGNS, LUCK, COINCIDENCES, & 9/11

“What kind of person are you?  Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles?  Or do you believe that people just get lucky?  Or look at the question this way:  is it possible that there are no coincidences?” –from the very first film to begin production after 9/11 

January 1, 2025

ANNIVERSARIES FOR THE NEW YEAR

• 10th Anniversary:  A Supreme Court decision that would result in the worst political train wreck in American history, which made the train wreck in 1993’s The Fugitive look like a minor fender-bender. / The Star Wars world, both filmmakers and fans, walking into a cosmic joke.  (Entertainment Weekly.  June 3/10, 2011.  pg 16) 
• 25th Anniversary:  “Are you not entertained?” / Plenty of key events for an ungrateful & faithless imbecile.  Many close encounters with God for that faithless imbecile. / “…To reject the possibility that God could love us.” / Turbulence for Tom Hanks, before years of isolation.
• 50th Anniversary:  Not exactly 27 anymore. / America loses its first war. / Hollywood’s first summer blockbuster, also the first of three box-office hits that would put Spielberg on top of Hollywood. (The timing of which is very relevant to television…and to big tech and the media, apparently.  They can’t seem to handle this one too well.  Nor can Spielberg.)
• 75th Anniversary:  America makes a deadly miscalculation in a foreign war during the earliest years of television.
• 100th Anniversary:  First publication of a future bestseller in Germany.  “Except for the Bible, no other book sold as well during the Nazi Regime, when few family households felt secure without a copy on the table.” –William Shirer

Plenty: a full or more than adequate amount or supply

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER….A President who knew how to concede

“The people of the United States have made their choice and, of course, I accept that decision.” 

                                                                                                    –President Jimmy Carter.  Nov 1980.    …Of course

He wasn’t a great president, but he did a lot of good and helped serve others after his one-term presidency.  Redemption from his cursed and inept presidency.  As a person with a positive outlook on things, President Carter’s life after 1981 gives me hope for any living ex-president with a very low rating for how he led.  It may be just a glimmer of hope.  Outside hope.  But hope nonetheless.

DECEMBER 24, 2024

• American society designating four days of the year to Jesus.  Including Good Friday and Christmas Eve.
• One day for those who gave their lives in America’s wars on Memorial Day.
• One day for fathers on Father’s Day.
• One day for mothers on Mother’s Day.
• One day for those who labor on Labor Day.
• One day for veterans on Veterans Day.
• One day for Martin Luther King, Jr.
• One day for atheists on April Fool’s Day.

To any historian giving high marks to a president who would designate an entire month to celebrating the enemies of Christianity:  no, I don’t think so.  Those historians have no merit in my book.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE…PAYING DOWN THE $36 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT

• TV owners
• Multi-millionaires
• Billionaires
• Multi-billionaires

PERPETRATORS OF THE NATIONAL DEBT PROBLEM DURING THE PAST 15 YEARS

• Myself during my early years of rereading Og Mandino’s words…but failing to make the Bible reading priority #1
• Folks who have occupied the White House
• Other folks in Washington, D.C.
• Education administrators, officials, and leaders who disagree with William Bennett’s book Strength For Your Future
• TV owners
• Voices on TV who debate about raising taxes on the rich without ever once mentioning the national debt.
• Voices on TV who distract us with things far less important than the national debt.

THE TIMING OF THE NATIONAL DEBT’S MILESTONE IN 1981

• The creation of The Department Of Education in 1980.
• Tax cuts for the top 1% in 1981.
• Ignoring the obvious about ditching the TV in 1982. (…as Time’s 1982 Machine Of The Year moves in.)

It took over 200 years for America’s national debt to reach $1 trillion in 1981.  Since then…