De-Nazify who, now?

Russian forces in Africa are named, apparently, the "Afrika Korps".   OK, the article uses the letter "c" instead of "k",  but...don't you think they could name it something less reminiscent of the German fight for North Africa during World War Two?  I guess after another (illegal under Russian law) paramilitary group was named the very German name "Wagner" (composer beloved by Hitler for anti-semitic themes, BTW), it does make sense.  Plus, with Russia's support of, and partnership with, Iran, it's clear that just as Stalin and Hitler were buddies, Putin values his affinity with Herr Schicklgruber, too.

To be fair, however, the Russian Afrika Korps does differ from the original German Afrika Korps in a very important regard; Generalfeldmarshall Rommel did not get his butt kicked by a group of nomadic Tuareg herdsmen.  For the sake of the world, thank God that today's Nazis in Russia are incompetent.

Thoughts on the red card scandal

Regarding the red card issued to U.S. World Cup team member Folarin Balogun, there are a bunch of thoughts that come to mind.  First of all, as the incident was one where Balogun's opponent from Bosnia-Herzegovina could have ended up seriously injured, it is heartening to see at least one sports governing body taking seriously the possibility of team members getting injured.  Yes, WNBA, I'm talking to you.  (and NFL, and NHL, and,...I've felt for a long time that intentional fouls that injure another player ought to be punished far more harshly than they typically are)

That noted, the usual line between yellow card and red card is intent, so ordinarily, Balogun's foul would have been a yellow card, as is attested by several accounts I've read, so we have the possibility that there was already some political move in issuing and extending the red card.  Then we have Trump's call to attempt to get it reversed, which suggests a political move in the other direction.

And finally, there is the reality that at FIFA, bribery and skullduggery have been obvious for decades, so in my view, it's hard to get too worked up that Trump played that game.  Perhaps we need to remember that at the end of the day, it's a game, and at its best, it can be a great opportunity to pass lessons in character on to both athletes and spectators.  Hopefully FIFA gets their hands around their own problems in this soon.

On that note, congratulations to the Belgian squad for their 4-1 thumping of the U.S. team, and I'll be cheering you on as you face Spain. With waffles, sour beer, and fries.

Prayers are in line for Bryan Johnson

In this case, it's the biohacker trying to beat death, not the AC/DC frontman, and his current issue is that he's been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune illness. Apparently his stomach is "eating itself" with autoimmune gastritis.  

(side note; since my sources indicate the lead singer of AC/DC is an atheist, please be encouraged to pray for him, too)

Now, of course, there is some irony in the case of the world's preeminent biohacker coming down with an incurable disease, just as critics of Nathan Pritikin were prone to crowing about his case of leukemia (and tragic suicide).  Those of us who remember the Scriptures note that it is appointed for man once to die, and then to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).  We can remind ourselves that while we can improve our odds for avoiding certain maladies by avoiding smoking, making prudent dietary choices, and making sure we move, in the end, absent the rapture, we all end up dying.

But that said, it's also worth noting that Johnson's self-experiment is in many ways welcome for all of us.  I myself try some things that are not proven with a double blind study, but nonetheless I hope will improve my odds for having more good years as I advance out of my fifties in a few years--fish oil, aspirin instead of acetominophen, exercise regimes, and the like.  The one significant criticism I have is that with the array of supplements and therapies he does--over 100 if my sources are correct--that he's going to have trouble differentiating the effects of one versus the other, especially since his sample size is himself-- a classic "n= 1" case where you have no meaningful standard deviation for the purpose of comparisons.

And it is therefore my hope and prayer that people who have been blessed financially like Mr. Johnson will start to do some of the studies that a pharmaceutical company likely will not, the ones where the therapy is inexpensive and unpatentable, and as often as not, the results are subtle and not spectacular.  It's horrendously expensive and financially unrewarding to do this, but if he's really motivated to help people delay their purchase from the Batesville Casket Company, that would be a great approach.

And again, prayers for him.  What he's going through cannot be fun, though it may drive him to the Gospel.