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God's 4-H Club

Most Americans have heard of 4-H (Head, Heart, Hands, and Health), which is a youth development program administered under the auspices of both the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I recall they had a 4-H club in the high school I attended in my home town in Central Illinois, which, like 4-H clubs all over America, provided educational opportunities for young people aged 8–18 related to agriculture, healthy living, science and technology, and civic engagement.

Well, that sounds terrific...especially in a highly agricultural area like Central Illinois. But my oh-so-cool friends and I had absolutely zero interest in what seemed to us like a total snoozer—a boring club full of nerdy farm girls.

» Continue reading the article for JUN '26...

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Separation Anxiety

I've been teaching English in Taiwan since 1992, and in my early years here I worked for a woman who operated a branch of a chain of language schools where I taught children's classes in addition to adult conversation classes. She also ran a private kindergarten where I was regularly pressed into service teaching children between the ages of three and six.

One rite of passage I witnessed regularly occurred when a very young child was left at the kindergarten by his or her mother for the first time. Many children, although they may have been a bit timid or anxious initially, got through it in fine fashion. By lunchtime they would be running around and playing with the other kids, and seemed none the worse for the experience.

For others, however, it was a very different story. Some children would be so traumatized by their perceived abandonment that they would scream and wail for hours on end at volumes belying their diminutive size, impervious to any attempts by teachers or other children to interact with or comfort them in any way. In some cases, this continued until mom returned at day's end to pick the child up, only to continue unabated the next day. I remember one little girl who screamed all day for two solid weeks—I think she finally just wore herself out.

Sooner or later, the kid finally begins to realize that (a) crying accomplishes nothing, (b) the people at the kindergarten are nice, (c) there are some cool toys to play with and some fun activities to be part of, and (d) that yes, mom really will come back.

I suppose it's a natural part of growing up.

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6/16/2026 — From the "One Piece of Furniture" Department...

Let the celebrations begin! President Trump has announced an agreement to end the war with Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz—a deal that is slated to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

But it seems not everybody is celebrating.

In spite of all the hoopla, some are questioning various aspects of the deal—which at this point is officially an MOU, or a "memorandum of understanding" that basically says there will be a ceasefire that will initiate a 60-day period of negotiations concerning the details of the agreement.

One of the major points of this entire war with Iran has been the elimination of the nuclear threat they pose. But it is clear that the nuclear issue has not actually been resolved. Details of how Iran will deal with the nuclear issue "will be addressed" during the upcoming talks, according to sources.

Admittedly, it's not easy to tell how good this deal actually is (or will actually be after the coming 60 days of negotiations). But there are already rumblings coming from many corners. As Joel Rosenberg recently wrote: "Deal of the Century or Deal with the Devil?" To hear some liberal media sources tell it, you'd think Iran won this war and is now leading the U.S. around by the nose, making pinky swears with Trump about their nuclear program in order to get billions of dollars' worth of assets unfrozen. In other words:

They talk as if Trump just made a deal that
would make Barack Obama plumb proud.

It's hard to overlook the irony of the fact that Trump has openly stated in the past that in any negotiation, the worst mistake one can make is to appear desperate. But you don't have to be a Nobel Prize winner to figure out that Trump is, uhm, shall we say "exceedingly anxious" to come away with a "win" by getting the Strait of Hormuz open in order to bring down gas prices before the midterms and shore up his sputtering approval ratings.

Another problem is Israel. Israel continues to respond to attacks on Israeli soil from Iran's proxy Hezbollah, and Trump is scared that such retaliation by Israel—no matter how warranted such retaliation may be—will upset the proverbial apple cart. As a result, Trump has been twisting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's arm to get him to refrain from responding to such attacks (which is what any nation would do under any circumstances). But the simple truth is that's his job...and Netanyahu has made it clear to Trump that he will do what he must do, deal or no deal.

Speaking of Iran's proxy Hezbollah, take a gander at this recent news.

So it would appear that one savory side dish Satan may have simmering on the back burner is a great way to cause a significant split between the Trump administration and Israel. I've written about this before, but I have long been convinced the attack of Gog-Magog will never occur with Trump in office. The reason is that Ezekiel 38:13 makes it clear that the United States (absolutely one of the "young lions thereof") will do nothing but spout empty rhetoric when the Gog-Magog coalition descends upon Israel, and I've always been convinced that Trump is just too pro-Israel to ever do such a thing.

But with the midterms in question and his approval ratings taking a hit—and then along comes Israel, ready to attack Iran's proxy Hezbollah in self-defense and possibly screwing up the Deal of the Century...

Who knows? And for their part, Israel may reach the point where they grow weary of having what they see as a narcissistic control freak in the White House who expects them to roll over and let their nation be attacked by terrorists with no response in order to protect his high-sounding political wheeling and dealing with the most insanely evil regime on the planet.

The point is that a broken relationship between the U.S. and Israel is one key piece of furniture that I believe must be positioned on stage before the curtain comes up on Gog-Magog, and what we see happening now between Trump and Netanyahu may be a prophetic harbinger of just such a break.

Even if such a break occurs later under different circumstances.

Or under a U.S. president who isn't quite as ostensibly pro-Israel.

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From the
Meme Team:

News flash for
the liberal left:

You can hide
and watch.

(See Ezekiel 38–39
for more details.)

Why?

And I will bless them
that bless you, and
curse him that curses
you: and in you shall
all families of the
earth be blessed.
(Gen. 12:3 AKJV)

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