I have known people (thankfully, very few though) who, have a temperament that you can “pull their string” and they start acting silly.
Perfectly normal, but something sets them off.
Trump’s problem is that he lets his mouth run ahead of his brain.
Ricky, I’ve told you before, I’ll tell you again.
It isn’t that we like Trump. We like him better than the alternative.
Put The Donald up against Hillary again and it’s Trump.
I just hope the court nominees get through before the Senate changes.
I think the Clintons are finally being kicked out. None of this chaos would be happening if they had just gone away peacefully.
But it’s not in their DNA, like thinking before speaking isn’t in Trump’s.
Chas, I understand your position perfectly. You aren’t in the Trump Cult. However, the Trump Cult is large. That is how he won the Republican nomination.
Trump is a symptom of our cultural and political chaos that has been building for some time. The other side has it’s own symptoms to deal with. Politics as usual is gone. The landscape is shifting and new lines will be redrawn eventually (complete with new political leaders, such as they are), but I’m not sure what any of it is going to look like anymore.
Also from the state of denial, Satan is the author of confusion. Last night the Twitter trend was #churchtoo, which was horrifying, if not surprising, to read.
If you tear down all the structures of idol worship, even the ones that need to destroyed, many, many people will be unsettled and distressed.
Fortunately, believers know in the world we will have tribulation, so the destruction of a rotten house is valid. The hard part is getting the broken pieces dealt with before even more are hurt.
The remnant, remember, is only 10%. (Though now I’m wondering how I know that.)
And speaking of the sad state of our culture, a reporter (a “Baby Boomer,” which is relevant to what I’m posting below) at one of our sister papers wrote a story this week about “How soon is ‘too’ soon to put up Christmas decorations.” We’re seeing more and more of the Christmas lights going up during the week before Thanksgiving in recent years, maybe especially this year, though.
Here’s a sweet note he received from a reader (we’ve all received similar ones over recent years):
____________________________________________
Dear ******,
Obviously you are of the millennium generation and don’t know anything about the holiday season because your parents never taught you anything. So I will try to clarify a couple of subjects with you.:
1. For 98% of the people the holiday period starts during the week of Thanksgiving and ends during the week after the New Year and most people are usually enjoy everything that goes along with it, including, parties, family gatherings, and of coarse putting up Christmas decorations which includes Christmas lights.
2. For the other 2%, which obviously includes you, they sit around on their lazy *** and pay for someone to hang their lights or they wait for someone to install their Christmas decorations/Lights for them so they now have something to complain about.
So take a tip from one of the 98%, try sharing joy during the holiday season and pull your head out of your ***. Because there is plenty of misery and hate in this world and which certainly doesn’t need any contributions from a miserable toxic idiot like you.
________________________________________________
Sheesh. Now there’s some peace and good will for you. Toxic, indeed.
Pastor: Moore dated ‘younger ladies’ for their ‘purity’
____________________________________________
A pastor this week defended GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore for pursuing “younger ladies,” following accusations that Moore harassed and assaulted teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
Pastor Flip Benham, who appeared alongside other anti-abortion advocates at a press conference with Moore last week, suggested Monday on an Alabama radio show that there was nothing wrong with dating younger women, saying that Moore never did so without their parents’ permission.
“The lady that he’s married to now, Ms. Kayla, is a younger woman. He did that because there is something about a purity of a young woman, there is something that is good, that’s true, that’s straight and he looked for that,” Benham told radio hosts Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg in an interview first highlighted by the liberal media watchdog Right Wing Watch. …
___________________________________________________
The post-Thanksgiving weekend was always considered the “go” mark for outdoor decorations where I am. But I have seen some houses all decked out this week already on my drives home from work.
We have a house across the street that gets to the decorations early, and they’ve been up at least a week. I doubt we’ll do anything this year–the one who cared the most is no longer living with us, and some years we have kept them up way too long when we get tons of snow and find it difficult to take stuff to our detached garage if there is too much snow. So I’d rather have the break from decorating this year, my first break since we married six years ago. (It’s the only time in my adult life I’ve decorated six years in a row, and I never had–nor do I like–an artificial tree before we married. So this year is finally “yay, no one in the house to care about putting up the artificial tree, and I can leave it down!”)
Michelle (or anyone else who knows) – Could you explain what “#churchtoo” means? “Church, too. . .” what?
DJ – Was that in the comment section where others could respond? If so, I’d guess that many would point out that a large percentage (well over only 2%) still believe in waiting until the weekend after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations.
The kind of attitude expressed in that “note” is so unnecessary, so rude, not to mention clueless, but there is a lot of that kind of attitude out there, on all types of subjects.
In my Facebook “memories”, I came across something I’d written last year or the year before, about the “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” debate. (I urged a gracious attitude.) One of my Facebook friends (a staunch uber-conservative), commented, “I say ‘Merry Christmas’ loudly, & I don’t care who it offends!” I just sighed & didn’t reply.
Howard Blum reports that before the election, the CIA told the Mossad that Putin had leverage on Trump, and that any intelligence the Israelis passed on to Trump might be shared with the Russians who would then pass the information to the Syrians. The warning proved prescient.
The purity defense is fairly alarming. It comes from an era where a woman’s sexual purity was a matter of family honour. Societies based on family honour are more violent and tend treat women as objects to be venerated or despised.
DJ is correct. #churchtoo describes terrible things that have happened to women in the church, usually when they were under 30. A few gay men have chimed in, but mostly it’s heartbreak after heartbreak.
I keep thinking, “doesn’t anyone know that verse about it would be better to tie a millstone around your neck and jump into the sea?”
I’ve been reviewing them on Twitter this evening and last night as well. Sobering and so very, very sad.
Not unexpected, particularly given some of the things Roscuro has said. None of what I’ve read has been my experience, but I’m so very sorry for those who have had it happen to them.
While some of the #churchtoo posts offer a platform to rail against the church and Christianity (it’s attracted many of the ‘usual suspects’), some, sadly, seem to be heartfelt and likely(?) true.
It also reveals the need for something not often practiced anymore — honest and fair church discipline, the lack of which too often appears to be a wink at the offenders.
“the church i was born into fell apart when the pastor ran off w his secretary. the church i went to next fired the pastor 20 yrs later for child porn.”
“At a friend’s youth group, in response to a talk on purity and modesty, l went with tears in my eyes to a female volunteer. l shared that l had been raped and felt shame about not being pure. She responded by asking if l had repented of my role in what happened. #churchtoo”
” … me? I was made to sign a purity contract at age 11. And witnessed a man confess from the pulpit having sex w/a child. Praised for his bravery. No further action.”
“I was 13 and the pastor’s daughter. A prominent church member molested me and I reported him to the church. The church covered it up, fired my father, and made the church member an elder. #ChurchToo”
“I was raped when I was 9 by a member of my church. The pastor, and my parents, told me I needed to forgive him, as that is what Jesus would do. They made me hug my rapist and tell him I forgave him.
#churchtoo”
Remember Reg? (I think she started out as something like PsalmSinger.) What turned her off the church was that her abusive husband was believed over her, & she was kicked out of their church. After the divorce, no one from the church (I suppose she meant a new church?) helped them out at all, although they were struggling in poverty. (I may have the story a bit wrong, but that’s how I remember it.)
Unfortunately, she chose to become exceedingly bitter about the “institutional church”, & about pastors in general (believing that they’re in it for the money). We were Facebook friends for a while, but she eventually unfriended & blocked me for my offering defenses of church & pastors on her anti-church, anti-pastor posts.
Well, I just saw a comment of hers on one of Kim’s Facebook posts, so I guess she at least unblocked me. I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened to be on Kim’s post about the pastor who says Roy Moore liked teen girls for their purity.
Wandering Views 
In an Idiocracy, this could be the top-rated show on TV.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/361487-trump-calls-ball-ungrateful-fool
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I have known people (thankfully, very few though) who, have a temperament that you can “pull their string” and they start acting silly.
Perfectly normal, but something sets them off.
Trump’s problem is that he lets his mouth run ahead of his brain.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Chas, The strangest thing to me is that Trump’s cult likes the Crazy Trump, and he understands that.
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Ricky, I’ve told you before, I’ll tell you again.
It isn’t that we like Trump. We like him better than the alternative.
Put The Donald up against Hillary again and it’s Trump.
I just hope the court nominees get through before the Senate changes.
I think the Clintons are finally being kicked out. None of this chaos would be happening if they had just gone away peacefully.
But it’s not in their DNA, like thinking before speaking isn’t in Trump’s.
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Chas, I understand your position perfectly. You aren’t in the Trump Cult. However, the Trump Cult is large. That is how he won the Republican nomination.
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Trump is a symptom of our cultural and political chaos that has been building for some time. The other side has it’s own symptoms to deal with. Politics as usual is gone. The landscape is shifting and new lines will be redrawn eventually (complete with new political leaders, such as they are), but I’m not sure what any of it is going to look like anymore.
Signing off again from the State of Denial.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Also from the state of denial, Satan is the author of confusion. Last night the Twitter trend was #churchtoo, which was horrifying, if not surprising, to read.
If you tear down all the structures of idol worship, even the ones that need to destroyed, many, many people will be unsettled and distressed.
Fortunately, believers know in the world we will have tribulation, so the destruction of a rotten house is valid. The hard part is getting the broken pieces dealt with before even more are hurt.
The remnant, remember, is only 10%. (Though now I’m wondering how I know that.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
And speaking of the sad state of our culture, a reporter (a “Baby Boomer,” which is relevant to what I’m posting below) at one of our sister papers wrote a story this week about “How soon is ‘too’ soon to put up Christmas decorations.” We’re seeing more and more of the Christmas lights going up during the week before Thanksgiving in recent years, maybe especially this year, though.
Here’s a sweet note he received from a reader (we’ve all received similar ones over recent years):
____________________________________________
Dear ******,
Obviously you are of the millennium generation and don’t know anything about the holiday season because your parents never taught you anything. So I will try to clarify a couple of subjects with you.:
1. For 98% of the people the holiday period starts during the week of Thanksgiving and ends during the week after the New Year and most people are usually enjoy everything that goes along with it, including, parties, family gatherings, and of coarse putting up Christmas decorations which includes Christmas lights.
2. For the other 2%, which obviously includes you, they sit around on their lazy *** and pay for someone to hang their lights or they wait for someone to install their Christmas decorations/Lights for them so they now have something to complain about.
So take a tip from one of the 98%, try sharing joy during the holiday season and pull your head out of your ***. Because there is plenty of misery and hate in this world and which certainly doesn’t need any contributions from a miserable toxic idiot like you.
________________________________________________
Sheesh. Now there’s some peace and good will for you. Toxic, indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yikes.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/361468-alabama-pastor-moore-dated-teen-girls-for-their-purity
Pastor: Moore dated ‘younger ladies’ for their ‘purity’
____________________________________________
A pastor this week defended GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore for pursuing “younger ladies,” following accusations that Moore harassed and assaulted teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
Pastor Flip Benham, who appeared alongside other anti-abortion advocates at a press conference with Moore last week, suggested Monday on an Alabama radio show that there was nothing wrong with dating younger women, saying that Moore never did so without their parents’ permission.
“The lady that he’s married to now, Ms. Kayla, is a younger woman. He did that because there is something about a purity of a young woman, there is something that is good, that’s true, that’s straight and he looked for that,” Benham told radio hosts Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg in an interview first highlighted by the liberal media watchdog Right Wing Watch. …
___________________________________________________
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@4:35 That’s an original defense, especially in these days. :–/
@8:32 I see Ricky is still living in the fond dreams of yesteryear. Can’t say I blame him. :–)
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Oh, and I absolutely refuse to put up one single Christmas decoration before December. I’m waiting for Advent. :–)
LikeLiked by 1 person
The post-Thanksgiving weekend was always considered the “go” mark for outdoor decorations where I am. But I have seen some houses all decked out this week already on my drives home from work.
LikeLike
We have a house across the street that gets to the decorations early, and they’ve been up at least a week. I doubt we’ll do anything this year–the one who cared the most is no longer living with us, and some years we have kept them up way too long when we get tons of snow and find it difficult to take stuff to our detached garage if there is too much snow. So I’d rather have the break from decorating this year, my first break since we married six years ago. (It’s the only time in my adult life I’ve decorated six years in a row, and I never had–nor do I like–an artificial tree before we married. So this year is finally “yay, no one in the house to care about putting up the artificial tree, and I can leave it down!”)
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Re 4:35, I suppose if he dated teen girls for their purity, he must have been exceedingly pure himself?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Michelle (or anyone else who knows) – Could you explain what “#churchtoo” means? “Church, too. . .” what?
DJ – Was that in the comment section where others could respond? If so, I’d guess that many would point out that a large percentage (well over only 2%) still believe in waiting until the weekend after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations.
The kind of attitude expressed in that “note” is so unnecessary, so rude, not to mention clueless, but there is a lot of that kind of attitude out there, on all types of subjects.
In my Facebook “memories”, I came across something I’d written last year or the year before, about the “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” debate. (I urged a gracious attitude.) One of my Facebook friends (a staunch uber-conservative), commented, “I say ‘Merry Christmas’ loudly, & I don’t care who it offends!” I just sighed & didn’t reply.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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Howard Blum reports that before the election, the CIA told the Mossad that Putin had leverage on Trump, and that any intelligence the Israelis passed on to Trump might be shared with the Russians who would then pass the information to the Syrians. The warning proved prescient.
https://twitter.com/schreckreports/status/933492995902537730
Some might call it treason. I prefer to regard it as idiocy.
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Thought Ricky would like this; https://www.theglobeandmail.com///sports/basketball/lavar-ball-is-doing-the-world-a-favour-by-giving-trump-someone-to-fixate-on/article37054556/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globefb
The purity defense is fairly alarming. It comes from an era where a woman’s sexual purity was a matter of family honour. Societies based on family honour are more violent and tend treat women as objects to be venerated or despised.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kizzie, I think it was a personal email to him, but he shared it on FB today. Yes, rude-rude-rude.
Everyone’s so angry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HRW, I don’t how this gets much more embarrassing for Americans. I suspect many who travel to Europe or Asia are pretending to be Canadians.
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Looks like #churchtoo are posts by or about those who have suffered sexual abuse at church — a takeoff on the #metoo hashtag
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DJ is correct. #churchtoo describes terrible things that have happened to women in the church, usually when they were under 30. A few gay men have chimed in, but mostly it’s heartbreak after heartbreak.
I keep thinking, “doesn’t anyone know that verse about it would be better to tie a millstone around your neck and jump into the sea?”
I’ve been reviewing them on Twitter this evening and last night as well. Sobering and so very, very sad.
Not unexpected, particularly given some of the things Roscuro has said. None of what I’ve read has been my experience, but I’m so very sorry for those who have had it happen to them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
While some of the #churchtoo posts offer a platform to rail against the church and Christianity (it’s attracted many of the ‘usual suspects’), some, sadly, seem to be heartfelt and likely(?) true.
It also reveals the need for something not often practiced anymore — honest and fair church discipline, the lack of which too often appears to be a wink at the offenders.
“the church i was born into fell apart when the pastor ran off w his secretary. the church i went to next fired the pastor 20 yrs later for child porn.”
“At a friend’s youth group, in response to a talk on purity and modesty, l went with tears in my eyes to a female volunteer. l shared that l had been raped and felt shame about not being pure. She responded by asking if l had repented of my role in what happened. #churchtoo”
” … me? I was made to sign a purity contract at age 11. And witnessed a man confess from the pulpit having sex w/a child. Praised for his bravery. No further action.”
“I was 13 and the pastor’s daughter. A prominent church member molested me and I reported him to the church. The church covered it up, fired my father, and made the church member an elder. #ChurchToo”
“I was raped when I was 9 by a member of my church. The pastor, and my parents, told me I needed to forgive him, as that is what Jesus would do. They made me hug my rapist and tell him I forgave him.
#churchtoo”
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is indeed heartbreaking.
Remember Reg? (I think she started out as something like PsalmSinger.) What turned her off the church was that her abusive husband was believed over her, & she was kicked out of their church. After the divorce, no one from the church (I suppose she meant a new church?) helped them out at all, although they were struggling in poverty. (I may have the story a bit wrong, but that’s how I remember it.)
Unfortunately, she chose to become exceedingly bitter about the “institutional church”, & about pastors in general (believing that they’re in it for the money). We were Facebook friends for a while, but she eventually unfriended & blocked me for my offering defenses of church & pastors on her anti-church, anti-pastor posts.
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Well, I just saw a comment of hers on one of Kim’s Facebook posts, so I guess she at least unblocked me. I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened to be on Kim’s post about the pastor who says Roy Moore liked teen girls for their purity.
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