57 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 2-5-20”

  1. Good morning! That is an interesting header, and one that will surely give Linda discomfort.

    Art surprised me last night when he said he knew I’d want to watch the State of the Union address. He listened while on his computer. And I got to watch the whole address. IMHO, he did a good job and had great people whom he highlighted with their personal stories. The House Dems all looked like clones dressed in white, the same color used for Mother’s Day corsages if a person’s mother has passed. Somehow fitting with Nancy Pelosi dictating any expression that the other clones were to exhibit. This could be turned into an episode of The Walking Dead. It was a fascinating cultural moment for our nation.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Jo,

    As requested, the first post on the news thread has the entire speech, and a link to the transcript. Enjoy. 🙂

    If anyone else missed it, you really should check it out. It was probably his best yet, and not once did he bring up impeachment. He was too busy highlighting good policies and average Americans and their accomplishments. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  4. This is my church activities day. I have Bible study group, WMU (Women’s Missions group), and a Concert of Prayer this evening. We are not having choir practice today.

    I am thankful for all the wonderful things I get to participate in at church. It is the upside of having the poor vision. Otherwise I would be at the office and fully engaged with numbers and people, the telephone and appointment book, and being the office mascot as in the gopher. I miss that, too. It is fun to be in the family reunion business where once a year you get to catch up with everyone.

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  6. Chas,

    Cheryl got a new macro lense for really detailed, in close, small object shots. Pretty nice.

    That is a closeup of one of the flowers from yesterday’s pic, which is posted below the header.

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  11. That shot isn’t as crisp and sharp as I would like–zoomed out all the way, or nearly all the way, the depth of field on that thing is so tiny that touching the shutter takes it out of focus. It needs a tripod for fully zoomed shots. But that was a handheld shot, a close-up of what you can see is a really tiny flower part, and I was pretty amazed I could get that. I really wished I had it when I was photographing snowflakes on the car–I’d already ordered it by then, but it hadn’t arrived. But I really got it for the tiny beauties of summer, little tiny insects and flowers almost too small to see. But I will need to have trips that I take the tripod, because flowers are already really hard to photograph. (There’s usually enough of a breeze they don’t quite hold still.) And tiny insects are all but impossible. (They don’t hold still.) So I’ll need my flower clamp and a tripod, and with those, that toy should get an occasional amazing shot.

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  12. Holes.

    The heater has been on for about 30 minutes, I’m trying to take the 55-degree edge off. Someone said we may get rain next week. Hallelujah.

    I have a school board election story I can work on today, maybe something else. But I also have a mammogram scheduled at 12:30 (check in for paperwork at noon), so that’ll take me away from work for a couple hours midday.

    Yesterday’s story was on how coronavirus and the new travel restrictions are forcing cargo ships (a little over half of them that call here are from China) and their crews to be quizzed and checked by the Coast Guard before they are allowed into port.

    Chas, there was a lot of drama at the speech last night, especially when Nancy Pelosi, dressed in white, stood at the end an ripped up her copy of the speech for the cameras. So there.

    Trump is usually pretty disciplined when he gives a speech like that and last night was no different. I’m sure he’s already sending out tweets this morning.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Below is a link to an article I shared on Facebook. It compares what was said about the rich who obeyed Jesus and those who didn’t, making the point that being rich was not a sin in itself, but that the rich do have a responsibility to use their wealth generously.

    I tagged YA in the comments, saying she may be interested in it. She has contempt (bordering on hatred) for the rich, and has often brought up the verse about how it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven, saying that it “resonates” with her. She seems to think that Jesus was totally against the rich.

    She replied that she would not be interested in it, being from “that source” (The Gospel Coalition) and from “that perspective”. I explained a little bit about the article, particularly that it does not glorify the rich. Then I asked how she would know its perspective unless she reads it, adding that I often read articles from a different theological view to expand my understanding of other views, and also to challenge my own.

    Still hoping she will read it, and that the Holy Spirit will speak to her heart, not just about “the rich”, but about her own sin and need for salvation.

    https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/luke-evangelist-rich/

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  15. We got about 6 inches of snow last night and it got down to -4. It’s about 8 right now and I am home because school is cancelled. I got to participate in my first clinical experience on med/surf yesterday.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. I put one year old back to bed. He got up too early and is too tired to participate. Two month old is not up yet. Her mom left three hours ago for work.
    Husband took eighteen to her job. She works two hours a week in a grocery store, dusting a shelf.
    We were supposed to get five to ten inches of snow but it did not happen.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Cold here but supposed to get warmer today.
    I have Bible Study Fellowship and the little grands are coming to that and then staying for lunch. I am working on Bible studies, taxes, and house stuff. When they come I put it all away.
    Yesterday I paid the rest of my property taxes and got a ballot. They had already sent everything to PNG so I changed my address and then signed up for an email ballot for next time.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. It was -8 this morning when we awakened..it now is 8 above! 27 degrees here we come!
    Interesting reading about last evening’s Presidential address and the ill behavior of some in response! 😳

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  20. I did not watch the State of the Union.
    I do have a question about the Iowa Caucus. Who did not see that disaster a mile away? It was turned into a 3 Ring Circus with all of the media and their cameras in everyone’s face. Also how on earth did they think they would manage a caucus when they were allowing it to happen in Scotland, South Florida and Arizona? That is definitely something that needs to be changed.

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  21. It was a new app misfire, apparently. They decided to improve the vote tally process this year. 🙂 The 3-ring circus has been going on for many years and they’ve survived it before.

    I also think this year’s election will be so fraught with suspicion and intensity that the entire vote-counting process will be slow, cumbersome and fought over pretty much at every turn. It’ll be a very long year.

    I missed Pence’s reaction to the speech ripping, all eyes, I think, were just glued on Nancy & her tantrum. Amazing.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Ah, this was the reaction, it was from today (From The Hill):

    ~ Vice President Pence on Wednesday took aim at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after she ripped up a copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech following his address Tuesday evening.

    In an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” the vice president said he “wasn’t sure if she was ripping up the speech or ripping up the Constitution” when he saw Pelosi’s gesture.

    “I didn’t see her do it; I found out just a few moments later. And I thought it was a new low,” he added. ~

    Liked by 3 people

  23. I’m seeing some Rush-bashing going on (“Karma!”) on FB this morning; it’s so sad when people dip that low, especially on a public forum.

    You don’t have to agree with someone politically — or even like them much at all — to show some compassion and grace in a time of their own personal distress, the kind of distress that is all too common to man, to all of us, when our time comes.

    Harsh.

    Liked by 3 people

  24. It’s amazing how people forget that those in the political spotlight (like Rush) are still human and deserving of compassion.

    I’ll never forget the day Reagan was shot. I told a co-worker he had been shot, and she said, “Really? I hope he’s dead.” Mind you, this was an otherwise very nice lady, a Christian missionary on furlough. I couldn’t believe she said that. And that was before the kind of polarization we have today.

    Liked by 3 people

  26. We’re in for a nasty election year, I’m afraid.

    And it’s coming back to me now how tiresome FB and social media all becomes during election years. Some people just can’t muzzle themselves, they become obsessed.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. I think that when Reagan was first elected a lot of people in missions were afraid of what damage he would do on the world stage, perhaps alienating the rest of the world against the US and making missionary work more difficult.

    About that same time a young lady, a good friend but not romantically, told me that she could not marry anyone who (like me) had voted for Reagan. A few years later, after Reagan had proved he was not going to blow up the world, she said I had been on the right side after all.

    By then the lady who had hoped Reagan was dead was back on the mission field and I never found out if she also had changed her tune.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Reagan was very hated and feared.

    By the same token, we all survived the Obama years, as grim as they seemed at times.

    Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, WBush, they all were reviled and thought, by some, to be the very end of the nation as we know it.

    Life goes on, presidents and governments and Nancy Pelosi’s come and go (not that it’s inconsequential or that they can’t do some damage along the way). But as Christians, may we always remember that all are made in the image of God — all are fallen (yes, even us!) — and we’re called to love our neighbor and love and pray for our enemies.

    It’s hard and I fail at that a lot. Elections become so emotional it’s very difficult to step away and remember that bigger picture.

    Liked by 3 people

  31. Good postings from you all today.

    Even though I watched all the SOTU address, I had looked away at the end and did not see Nancy P. tear up the speech. It was a childish thing to do. The Michigan lady who gave the Dems thoughts about the SOTU seemed like a genuinely nice person, but her talk was lame. I liked her in general more than Stacey Abrams who gave that speech last year.

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Sorry, Kim. I have been looking for days now for paperwork I need along those lines. It is no fun except that if you have some good audio to listen to the search is bearable.

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  34. I cannot imagine why the results are still not known in Iowa, since we are told there is a paper trail. I was part of such caucuses many times and all was done by paper. It never, ever took so long. Very strange, IMO.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. Kathaleena, ever been to the cash register where the clerk could not figure out the change without the help of the register?

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  36. Oh, taxes. And property taxes.

    It’s that time of year I always dread.

    Former colleague & work girlfriend back in the day before she left journalism is outraged by the award given to Rush and is posting on FB about it in very strong terms (he’s a “racist, sexist, homophobe”).

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  37. Mumsee, it comes from the technology. Everyone has a phone or register or something to do their calculations for them.
    I couldn’t tell you my phone number without looking it up.’
    You don’t dial a person’s number anymore, you push a button.

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Chas is right, you don’t ‘learn’ what you don’t have to learn. There’s only so much room in the brain 🙂

    But I definitely remembered learning how to make change from an old cash register when I worked at Sears during college.

    Liked by 2 people

  43. DJ, do you know if your friend has ever actually listened to Rush?

    He’s an entertainer and I think his arrogance (“with talent on loan from God”, “with half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair”) is at least in part feigned for entertainment value. And he certainly isn’t always nice to the other side. Occasionally he irritates me.

    But I’ve never heard him say anything that a reasonable person could call sexist, racist, or homophobic. I suppose if you’re determined to see him that way, though, you can always find something he said to twist to support that viewpoint.

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  44. She says she has — she harkens back to the ‘slut’ incident, her mom — who also was a strong liberal (they were from KC, MO), was particularly incensed by that and friend ran a photo of her mom (who recently passed away) at a sporting event wearing a turtleneck w/”slut” on the collar in protest as it happened around that time.

    I’m not a listener of Rush so am not familiar first-hand with him, although I suspect as an AM partisan talk show host he’s crossed lines from time to time.

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  45. I heard that Speaker Pelosi could go to prison for her stunt, since she is, by law, supposed to accept the speech. Anyone know if that’s true?

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  46. Someone named Charlie Kirk tweeted that she could go to prison based on it being illegal to destroy “government documents”. I haven’t seen anything yet about the law requiring her to “accept” the speech.

    I’m sure she has other copies, and the stunt was doubtless for show.

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  47. Peter, it doesn’t matter.
    Republicans will do what the Democrats were too dumb to do.
    Leave it alone.
    Hatred can cause you to dumb things.
    Impeachment was stupid when it started.
    I think I said so back then.

    Liked by 1 person

  48. 18 U.S. Code § 2071. Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally
    (a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

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  49. Kevin, in response to that, my husband said what would be interesting would be if Trump granted her a pardon–and if she refused to accept it, then prosecute her. 🙂 I don’t think that would actually be a smart political move . . . but removal from her office, even by means of impeachment, would not be improper. She did the equivalent of a little child tearing up her homework because the teacher punished her for something. It was not the act of a mature, responsible adult entrusted with government responsibility.

    I’ll tell you, being on Flickr does give me a view at a different side of things than in my everyday world. Both of these were a week or two ago. One woman who is in some groups with me posted a photo of a bunch of Buddhist idols and says she has been talking to these “gods” everyday because she is in distress. For several hours I deliberated posting to her, and finally did. I said it saddened me that she was praying to these metal objects made by human beings that couldn’t hear her, when she could pray instead to the God who created her, and that I had been praying to that God on her behalf, and was sorry she was in distress. She thanked me and said something like she finds all kinds of religious belief helpful, that her country’s political condition leaves her in distress. (She lives in California, but Flickr has people from all over the world, so she might not assume I am in her same country. I can only assume it’s Trump who was causing her such distress she was talking to metal objects.)

    Second, a woman posted on Flickr that since the election of “45,” she has lost a great deal of her joy, and that she thinks that shows in her photos. I was like “What? Really, your ‘joy’ is determined by who is president?! Why would anyone hate an elected official that much, an elected official who has not destroyed his country or its people? Why on earth would you let a president have that much power over you? That’s madness!” But I’m not in any groups with her, and I stay away from public discussions of politics, so I rolled my eyes but I didn’t say anything to her.

    Liked by 5 people

  50. I’m with Chas, let it go — the stunt by itself is heaping ridicule upon ridicule upon her already.

    I also heard that since it was a “copy” it wouldn’t apply?

    Cheryl, it’s amazing how many distressed people there are who just cannot stop posting, over and over again, about Trump. I’m sure many of us were displeased in ’08 when Obama won, but I don’t remember it affecting my everyday life or moods, exactly.

    I’ve seen numerous posts (from otherwise sane people online) about Trump’s mistaking Kansas for Missouri after the Super Bowl, not shaking Pelosi’s hand, having the nerve to single out Rush for any kind of award … Not just one post per person, but several from some individuals over the past 2 days. And I’m sure I’ve missed others. It is almost like an obsession.

    I suppose they’re still convinced he’s a Hitler or some kind of dictator in disguise and the question for them is “what would you do if you were around when Hitler was gaining power?”

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  51. I also saw long threads on Twitter last night by those who are convinced Trump is suffering from dementia — I mean a whole lot of tweets from people honing in on this idea, suggesting he has a year at most left before they’ll have to pull him from stage.

    I’m no expert on the subject, but I suspect a lot of this is frankly “wishful” thinking (coupled with some meanness) by opponents.

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  52. My dad has been a staunch Republican for nearly ninety years. He despises President Trump. He was disgusted with Kavanaugh’s emotional outburst at the hearing. I am interested what he thinks of the Democrat behavior though I suspect he will excuse it somehow.

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  56. California is considering a law that would allow people to have 3 photos taken — so they could pick their favorite — for their drivers’ licenses.

    From one of our local radio journalists on twitter:

    ~ I must admit I have a bias on this one. As someone whose most recent license came out looking like a serial killer who just had a chemical peel, I would very much appreciate a chance to take more than one photo next time. ~

    Like

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