The last comments from yesterday reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend recently. She was talking about how blessed we are to have so and so living. She was scheduled to be aborted, but the mother was talked out of doing it. The woman who did that took this baby and is raising her as her own. She is now in her early sixties and had stage 4 cancer at one point (before taking this child). The child is in a parochial school (at great sacrifice of this single mom) and loves the Lord. This child (around 9 now) is only one that I know was scheduled to be killed because she was inconvenient. I know several and there are hundreds out there giving testimony that such human beings are, indeed, human and worthy of life.
No one should die because they are in the wrong place, had a parent sin (rape, incest) or are unable to ‘earn’ the right to life by being able to work. Surely, we can find better solutions should we really be lovers of others. I fall short myself, but it is one thing to know we fall short and another to think we are somehow doing the loving, right thing by eliminating them.
We can’t all take these children, but we can be a support to those who do. We can speak out for them. We have the power, sometimes. to vote to help them in various ways.
Hey, the news thread looks a bit more civil than it has been looking for the last few months, a bit more honest give and take and explaining misunderstandings and poor choices of words.
BTW, I suspect it hasn’t been said on here (and I rarely read on here, though I’ve gone through the last several days just now), but 6 Arrows did apologize for her attack on Kizzie of a few weeks back. If she hadn’t said she wasn’t coming back, I suspect she would have apologized publicly, as the attack was public, but she did apologize. She had been pretty stressed and was tired, and people can say things they don’t mean under such circumstances, but of course it’s always better when they can admit it later, as she did.
The principle of “By their fruits you will know them” can be applied to politicians as well. Their deeds and what they do, for good or bad, will demonstrate where their priorities lie. The difference between the 2 sides is clear and distinct here. Vote accordingly.
– energy independence, we surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia in crude oil production for the time ever
– 1.4% inflation
– 2.6% mortgage interest rates
– Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch
– signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences
– Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking
– The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers
– Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land
– Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean
– President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans
– passed criminal justice reform
– passed tax cuts which saved middle America 4500 per family
– cut regulations
– increased HBCU funding by over 14%
-Under Donald Trump’s administration by 2019 new single-family home purchases were up 32%
– the poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration
– Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors
– through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts- lowest border crossings in decades
I could go on and on but I think you get the gist.”
““I will sign an executive order banning any federal employee from colluding to limit speech, and we will fire every federal bureaucrat who is engaged in domestic censorship under the Harris regime,” Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.”
About the abortion issue, I don’t think it’s inappropriate for states to make abortion laws that reflect their citizens’ views generally speaking. But I would say that a national abortion law is not appropriate at this time. Some Republicans are trying to make that a national issue, but I’m not persuaded to vote for someone on that basis. I we’re better served if it remains a state issue. Hearts and minds are changed incrementally usually.
Still not a lot of campaign signs out around here, which is interesting.
Friend has Trump lawn signs but said she’s careful to bring them in after dark. I saw a Harris-Walz sign on a balcony railing (but just facing an alley) when picking someone up today.
But that’s it. I think the polls are so crazy-close — and emotions running so high — that folks are not anxious to become targets by posting signs or bumper stickers this year.
As for criticism, I learned from being in a Christian writer’s critique group that a person is free to accept criticism and act on it by changing what one has written or reject it and move on, no further comment needed. You can’t stop someone from thinking what they have thought by saying that your feelings got hurt. You might change their mind by saying, “I hear what you are saying, but this is why I think differently.
When I wrote about feeling voting for one side leads to greater protections for children, no one said why they feel voting in the opposite direction is better for the children’s future. There could be good reasons I have not seen or understood.
My neighbors finally removed the Biden/Harris sign. They did not put up another sign. I will look to see if there are any new signs this morning as we drive through the neighborhood going to church.
This has always been a Democratic stronghold, so it is amazing to see all the signs for Republicans, including Trump. I dislike those that use a four-letter word on them. Those are rare, but I have seen several. I also see a lot of signs for Democrats. Sometimes one house has for one side and next door has for the other side. That is how it should be. It is a sign of deterioration that anyone should be afraid to express their honest opinion for a candidate. Unfortunately, a whole lot of young people are being led to reject the first amendment, even the whole constitution. Our system acknowledges that God is who we derive our rights from. It will not be pretty when we have a whole nation thinking humans will give them those rights.
“From the website of Penzeys Spices, the store Vice President Harris just visited in Pittsburgh this afternoon:
About Republicans
“Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.”
penzeys.com/shop/about-rep…
VP Harris while visiting the store:“It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward.””
We saw only five political signs along the way to church. All for Harris. We used to see probably a hundred BLM signs throughout the neighborhood and many other Democrat signs. Still so few. I think everyone here is afraid. Dems could be afraid if Trump wins then they don’t want to be known Dems. Vice-versa for the other side. I can’t imagine that many here have switched sides and are now secret Republicans. Maybe the Dems just don’t waste money here on signs when they know this area is a given.
Janice (re: 8:20) – There is a difference between critiquing a position and criticizing those who hold that position. It is the latter that is the problem at times.
As for that stance by Penzey’s Spices: Wow. That guy was over-the-top in what he wrote. A business taking a political stand is one thing, but slamming those on the other side like that is unwise, to say the very least.
Critiquing a position may lead to some feeling like they are being criticized. In saying what I said, I was directing it more to me personally that if I chose to commit to anything less than what I see as best for future generations then I would be self-serving and giving into the defeat I have already felt for the past season, and I would be in the category of poor me, I got stuck in this awful situation and can’t do anything. If I do something then it might be wrong and I don’t want to be blamed for making a bad choice. I dig a hole in the sand and put my head in. Maybe I will come out later and see how things are going. That is how I’d feel. But obviously, others don’t feel that way. I am not personally criticizing you. Something is making it seem that way to you. Don’t own it. It’s not about you. Dj didn’t feel that way or at least did not say she did. She made a short comment saying she felt uncomfortable. Don’t we all?
Janice, I don’t think anyone on here (except potentially HRW) will ever say that voting for the Democrats is better for children’s future, because I’m pretty sure no one on here thinks it is. Some on here do think we have no good presidential candidates, and that’s a different matter. One can abstain from voting and still think that one side is even worse than the other. If I had to choose between voting for two pro-abortion candidates, or two people who were extremely dishonest and otherwise immoral, I’d probably sit out the election, but I wouldn’t necessarily think that both were equally bad, just that neither one deserved my vote.
If I were a manager at a company and advertising to fill a specific position, and none of the candidates I interviewed came even close to the requirements for the job, it’s feasible to say that for now I’m not going to hire anyone. Obviously in this instance, if we don’t “vote to hire,” others will still do so, but that’s a different matter.
I believe the comment from yesterday said we were “checking out” and some other things, kind of taking the easy way out, which really isn’t accurate.
I left the comments alone but political alienation is rather widespread this year, I heard that something like 1/3 of the Republican Party now has left the party (which does not bode well for the party’s future, but they’ll have to figure that one out once some of the 2024 dust settles).
So telling people to basically snap out of it, make a choice, don’t shirk your responsibility implies we aren’t thinking very carefully or seriously about this — or, worse, we’re so uncaring that we’re willing to throw the nation to the dogs. But that isn’t accurate (or fair) at all (so in that sense the comments looked and felt more personally directed).
I’m trying not to further enflame anyone here.
But I was heartened by Cheryl’s comment earlier that the thread seems to be leaning more toward more fruitful and serious discussion with more participants. I’ve experienced moments of the same glimpses of encouragement here recently and hope it can continue.
Repeating myself here, but political alienation is not an easy territory to inhabit.
But it is a serious (not at all an unserious) position we find ourselves in amid this current political environment.
We continue to pray for the nation and for this election, however it turns out. And I join with M (I believe, on one of the other threads) to recognize that Aslan is on the move (always) and we do now know what will come out of all of this.
Doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, but we know who is in control.
Wandering Views 
The last comments from yesterday reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend recently. She was talking about how blessed we are to have so and so living. She was scheduled to be aborted, but the mother was talked out of doing it. The woman who did that took this baby and is raising her as her own. She is now in her early sixties and had stage 4 cancer at one point (before taking this child). The child is in a parochial school (at great sacrifice of this single mom) and loves the Lord. This child (around 9 now) is only one that I know was scheduled to be killed because she was inconvenient. I know several and there are hundreds out there giving testimony that such human beings are, indeed, human and worthy of life.
No one should die because they are in the wrong place, had a parent sin (rape, incest) or are unable to ‘earn’ the right to life by being able to work. Surely, we can find better solutions should we really be lovers of others. I fall short myself, but it is one thing to know we fall short and another to think we are somehow doing the loving, right thing by eliminating them.
We can’t all take these children, but we can be a support to those who do. We can speak out for them. We have the power, sometimes. to vote to help them in various ways.
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I had a Methodist pastor in the past who spoke one Sunday saying his mother was told by doctors to abort him. It was a very moving testimony.
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Re: Debra’s mention last night of “critiquing each others’ political ideas”.
Yes, debating over ideas is fine. But critiquing/criticizing individuals who hold a particular idea is not the same thing.
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Good point, Kizzie.
I added a couple comments to yesterday’s thread, responding to Ty, Debra and Aj on specific points.
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There must be an election coming up – lol
And it’s also the week of the debate. Tuesday night?
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This came to mind kind of randomly this morning:
~ “…With malice toward none, with charity for all…” Lincoln’s second inaugural address continues to inspire and evoke. ~
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Hey, the news thread looks a bit more civil than it has been looking for the last few months, a bit more honest give and take and explaining misunderstandings and poor choices of words.
BTW, I suspect it hasn’t been said on here (and I rarely read on here, though I’ve gone through the last several days just now), but 6 Arrows did apologize for her attack on Kizzie of a few weeks back. If she hadn’t said she wasn’t coming back, I suspect she would have apologized publicly, as the attack was public, but she did apologize. She had been pretty stressed and was tired, and people can say things they don’t mean under such circumstances, but of course it’s always better when they can admit it later, as she did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The principle of “By their fruits you will know them” can be applied to politicians as well. Their deeds and what they do, for good or bad, will demonstrate where their priorities lie. The difference between the 2 sides is clear and distinct here. Vote accordingly.
https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1832511015206187297?t=AleeDOSEh2c_PiAVU-an3g&s=19
“I’ll tell you what he did for us:
– no new wars
– energy independence, we surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia in crude oil production for the time ever
– 1.4% inflation
– 2.6% mortgage interest rates
– Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch
– signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences
– Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking
– The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers
– Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land
– Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean
– President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans
– passed criminal justice reform
– passed tax cuts which saved middle America 4500 per family
– cut regulations
– increased HBCU funding by over 14%
-Under Donald Trump’s administration by 2019 new single-family home purchases were up 32%
– the poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration
– Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors
– through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts- lowest border crossings in decades
I could go on and on but I think you get the gist.”
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This.
https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1832493499503026399?t=z2pTXLVuGUitUSL0NAywaw&s=19
““I will sign an executive order banning any federal employee from colluding to limit speech, and we will fire every federal bureaucrat who is engaged in domestic censorship under the Harris regime,” Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.”
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I didn’t read 6’s posts as an attack, and thought they were well written.
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About the abortion issue, I don’t think it’s inappropriate for states to make abortion laws that reflect their citizens’ views generally speaking. But I would say that a national abortion law is not appropriate at this time. Some Republicans are trying to make that a national issue, but I’m not persuaded to vote for someone on that basis. I we’re better served if it remains a state issue. Hearts and minds are changed incrementally usually.
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I agree that a national abortion ban is not going to happen soon, if at all. That is not my preference, just what is.
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Still not a lot of campaign signs out around here, which is interesting.
Friend has Trump lawn signs but said she’s careful to bring them in after dark. I saw a Harris-Walz sign on a balcony railing (but just facing an alley) when picking someone up today.
But that’s it. I think the polls are so crazy-close — and emotions running so high — that folks are not anxious to become targets by posting signs or bumper stickers this year.
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You will still see an occasional faded Bernie Sanders bumper sticker, though 🙂
Hey, this is LA.
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I’ve seen some of those, dj. And yesterday I saw my first Trump Vance yard sign. I’m not including the few Trump flags or banners.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alan-dershowitz-leaves-democratic-party-cites-dnc-i-disgusted?utm_campaign=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio
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As for criticism, I learned from being in a Christian writer’s critique group that a person is free to accept criticism and act on it by changing what one has written or reject it and move on, no further comment needed. You can’t stop someone from thinking what they have thought by saying that your feelings got hurt. You might change their mind by saying, “I hear what you are saying, but this is why I think differently.
When I wrote about feeling voting for one side leads to greater protections for children, no one said why they feel voting in the opposite direction is better for the children’s future. There could be good reasons I have not seen or understood.
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My neighbors finally removed the Biden/Harris sign. They did not put up another sign. I will look to see if there are any new signs this morning as we drive through the neighborhood going to church.
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This has always been a Democratic stronghold, so it is amazing to see all the signs for Republicans, including Trump. I dislike those that use a four-letter word on them. Those are rare, but I have seen several. I also see a lot of signs for Democrats. Sometimes one house has for one side and next door has for the other side. That is how it should be. It is a sign of deterioration that anyone should be afraid to express their honest opinion for a candidate. Unfortunately, a whole lot of young people are being led to reject the first amendment, even the whole constitution. Our system acknowledges that God is who we derive our rights from. It will not be pretty when we have a whole nation thinking humans will give them those rights.
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I have seen one sign in a yard in town. That yard always has political signs. Harris.
mumsee
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Ummm….
https://x.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1832531329822683233?t=npJvJF0wYWbR25ASeU2bfw&s=19
“From the website of Penzeys Spices, the store Vice President Harris just visited in Pittsburgh this afternoon:
About Republicans
“Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.”
penzeys.com/shop/about-rep…
VP Harris while visiting the store:“It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward.””
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We saw only five political signs along the way to church. All for Harris. We used to see probably a hundred BLM signs throughout the neighborhood and many other Democrat signs. Still so few. I think everyone here is afraid. Dems could be afraid if Trump wins then they don’t want to be known Dems. Vice-versa for the other side. I can’t imagine that many here have switched sides and are now secret Republicans. Maybe the Dems just don’t waste money here on signs when they know this area is a given.
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That is horrible about Penzey’s. A sure road to business failure as I view it. Target lost my business a long time ago.
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From their website:
https://www.penzeys.com/shop/about-republicans/
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Janice (re: 8:20) – There is a difference between critiquing a position and criticizing those who hold that position. It is the latter that is the problem at times.
As for that stance by Penzey’s Spices: Wow. That guy was over-the-top in what he wrote. A business taking a political stand is one thing, but slamming those on the other side like that is unwise, to say the very least.
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Critiquing a position may lead to some feeling like they are being criticized. In saying what I said, I was directing it more to me personally that if I chose to commit to anything less than what I see as best for future generations then I would be self-serving and giving into the defeat I have already felt for the past season, and I would be in the category of poor me, I got stuck in this awful situation and can’t do anything. If I do something then it might be wrong and I don’t want to be blamed for making a bad choice. I dig a hole in the sand and put my head in. Maybe I will come out later and see how things are going. That is how I’d feel. But obviously, others don’t feel that way. I am not personally criticizing you. Something is making it seem that way to you. Don’t own it. It’s not about you. Dj didn’t feel that way or at least did not say she did. She made a short comment saying she felt uncomfortable. Don’t we all?
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Janice – I thought your comment above about critiquing was a general comment, not still related to yesterday’s discussion, so that is how I replied.
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Janice, I don’t think anyone on here (except potentially HRW) will ever say that voting for the Democrats is better for children’s future, because I’m pretty sure no one on here thinks it is. Some on here do think we have no good presidential candidates, and that’s a different matter. One can abstain from voting and still think that one side is even worse than the other. If I had to choose between voting for two pro-abortion candidates, or two people who were extremely dishonest and otherwise immoral, I’d probably sit out the election, but I wouldn’t necessarily think that both were equally bad, just that neither one deserved my vote.
If I were a manager at a company and advertising to fill a specific position, and none of the candidates I interviewed came even close to the requirements for the job, it’s feasible to say that for now I’m not going to hire anyone. Obviously in this instance, if we don’t “vote to hire,” others will still do so, but that’s a different matter.
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I believe the comment from yesterday said we were “checking out” and some other things, kind of taking the easy way out, which really isn’t accurate.
I left the comments alone but political alienation is rather widespread this year, I heard that something like 1/3 of the Republican Party now has left the party (which does not bode well for the party’s future, but they’ll have to figure that one out once some of the 2024 dust settles).
So telling people to basically snap out of it, make a choice, don’t shirk your responsibility implies we aren’t thinking very carefully or seriously about this — or, worse, we’re so uncaring that we’re willing to throw the nation to the dogs. But that isn’t accurate (or fair) at all (so in that sense the comments looked and felt more personally directed).
I’m trying not to further enflame anyone here.
But I was heartened by Cheryl’s comment earlier that the thread seems to be leaning more toward more fruitful and serious discussion with more participants. I’ve experienced moments of the same glimpses of encouragement here recently and hope it can continue.
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Repeating myself here, but political alienation is not an easy territory to inhabit.
But it is a serious (not at all an unserious) position we find ourselves in amid this current political environment.
We continue to pray for the nation and for this election, however it turns out. And I join with M (I believe, on one of the other threads) to recognize that Aslan is on the move (always) and we do now know what will come out of all of this.
Doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, but we know who is in control.
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*correction, we do NOT know what will come out of all of this*
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Correction to “we do now know what will come out of all of this.”
Should read we do NOT know …
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sorry, things don’t always show up quickly on this newer Word platform!
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I find parts of this thread to be very repetitive.
mumsee
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mumsee 🙂
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https://www.facebook.com/share/v/oaALAjsSgxqAVtKb/?mibextid=D5vuiz
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