64 thoughts on “News/Politics 1-27-25

  1. Time to clean them out. Send in ICE and the US Marshals.

    https://x.com/SarahisCensored/status/1883683687461425564?t=GqxJ_wgNZ6RLwNAaOYYZ-A&s=19

    “Many have asked me about colony ridge after my post about it. Colony Ridge is 40 miles north of Houston and nearly the size of Washington DC.

    The developer, Trey Harris, gave illegals direct home loans so they don’t need social security numbers. It is now a cartel hub and full of gang members. 75,000+ illegals are estimated to live in Colony Ridge.

    Clean. It. Out.”

    Liked by 3 people

  2. I noticed that CNN and several other publications left their story of Colombian tariffs unchanged until this morning. An agreement was reached last night when I posted about it. Breitbart posted the agreement last night as it was happening. The point is, I was actually confused about what was happening and wondered if Breitbart was telling the truth because the mainstream sources were not reporting it. I should have known better.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Imagine my shock….🙄

    https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1883895676410433776?t=nbs-RvwIv1qxvYuo76ZN0w&s=19

    “The IG report finds that 90% of IRS audits under Biden’s weaponized IRS went after people making less than 400,000 per year.

    Remember when they told you it was to get billionaires. They lied. They always lie. Most billionaires are Democrats.

    Trump says he will be rethinking what to do with these additional 88,000 agents.”

    ——

    Give them a choice, get reassigned to ICE, or be jobless.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. A church helping illegals break the law, all while raking in taxpayer dollars for the scam. Because you know, that’s clearly what Jesus would do.

    https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1883897624652300294?t=fuGKjG2dzLylj-d5OzlzCg&s=19

    “Our tax dollars shouldn’t be funding this and this woman should be investigated.”

    —-

    “Catholic Charities shocking video instructing Illegals on how to avoid ICE. You tax dollars fund this sh*t. They receive millions in Government grants.”

    Liked by 3 people

  5. “ABC ran a full scale propaganda campaign about the raids that took place in Chicago over the weekend. The people who were arrested this weekend are part of a targeted enforcement operation. That means that all of them are criminals. They are gang, bangers, murderers, r*pists, drug dealers, and cartel members.

    They run these sob stories because dangerous criminals are being taken out of communities. Here’s a piece of truth that people are not going to like, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less true. I am sorry for families that lose their loved ones. I am sorry that their loved ones are criminals and lead a life that brings nothing but pain and death and destruction upon everybody around them. Those are called consequences.

    If you rob a bank or kill a person, you will go to prison no matter how hard your children are crying. So maybe think about that before you do things like that.”

    https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1883891766807666967?t=1tTWtMSdhLBy1uzC6Osx_Q&s=19

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Blame Democrats and the Chamber of Commerce beholden Republicans. They built this.

    https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1883681663332598238?t=zYpy-4kkNt4Q1Nn4XfQ8vQ&s=19

    “Mexico Flags everywhere protesting ICE immigration raids and deportations

    They all chant in Spanish “We are not going anywhere”

    How have we allowed illegals to become to emboldened that they’ll literally chant that the’ll keep breaking our laws to police officers”

    Liked by 2 people

  7. This is one example of why Democrats are losing and just seem to be so un-serious. After all their false claims that inflation is under control and practically non-existent they are now blaming inflation not on themselves, but on Trump. Elizabeth Warren wants to know why Trump has not lowered the price of food yet. :eyeroll:

    After four years of gaslighting the American people that inflation was transitory or non-existent, and just days after assuming office, the Democrat Party is blaming inflation on President Donald Trump.

    “Democrats slam Trump for not making good on promise to ‘immediately’ lower food prices,” reads the headline from far-left NBC News.

    Some 20 Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Not Cherokee), sent Trump a letter on his sixth day in office attacking him over inflation:

    Trump made inflation and the cost of food a hallmark of his run for a second presidential term, displaying everything from a teeny box of Tic Tacs at a rally in North Carolina to entire tables full of groceries outside his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to express his commitment to lowering voters’ grocery bills.

    But the scores of executive orders Trump has signed since Inauguration Day only briefly touch on food, Warren, D-Mass., said in the letter, which was co-written by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and signed by a total of 20 Democrats

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/01/27/nolte-democrats-finally-acknowledge-inflation-and-already-blame-trump/

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Saw this in a reader’s letter somewhere last night. Not that this issue is of the greatest importance, but I did find it interesting.

    ~ “As a former Alaska resident, the Denali name change really irks me. No one in Alaska calls it McKinley. What does McKinley have to do with Alaska anyway? Obama’s executive order was just recognizing what locals call it as official. I don’t even understand Trump’s motivation.” ~

    From Wikipedia:

    ~ ‘In 1896, a gold prospector named it McKinley as political support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who became president the following year. The United States formally recognized the name Mount McKinley after President Wilson signed the Mount McKinley National Park Act of February 26, 1917. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson declared the north and south peaks of the mountain the “Churchill Peaks”, in honor of British statesman Winston Churchill. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali in 1975, which was how it was called locally. However, a request in 1975 from the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board on Geographic Names to do the same at the federal level was blocked by Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, whose district included McKinley’s home town of Canton.

    On August 30, 2015, just ahead of a presidential visit to Alaska, the Barack Obama administration announced the name Denali would be restored in line with the Alaska Geographic Board’s designation. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel issued the order changing the name to Denali on August 28, 2015, effective immediately. Jewell said the change had been “a long time coming”. ” ~

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Ooops. Looks like the Colombian president might be in trouble over his feud with Trump.

    Politicians across the political spectrum in Colombia panned far-left President Gustavo Petro’s short-lived “trade war” with President Donald Trump and are calling for his impeachment and urging Congress to investigate his actions.

    Petro prompted a brief diplomatic crisis on Sunday following his abrupt refusal to accept a U.S. deportation flight of Colombian migrants under grounds that the United States treats “Colombian migrants as criminals.”

    President Trump responded to Petro’s actions by announcing he would impose a series of sanctions and tariffs on Colombia. Petro responded to Trump by delivering one of his characteristically long, incoherent Twitter rants, which have become a common occurrence under his administration.

    Hours later, the Colombian government announced that it had “agreed to all” of President Trump’s terms and that the impasse with the United States had been “overcome.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2025/01/27/colombian-leaders-demand-impeachment-embarrassed-by-socialist-presidents-trump-feud/

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Paying off their brownshirted foot soldiers.

    https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1883896082062852500?t=Yk0SaBTCFgQGt8-mZDZr8A&s=19

    “In the final days of Biden’s DOJ, it agreed to settle a lawsuit & pay 2020 BLM-Antifa riot arrestees who sued the government. This is in addition to the local city government agreeing to a large payout to other riot arrestees. Who pays Antifa? Taxpayers do.”

    ——

    They burned looted, assaulted and destroye, so they get no charges and million dollar payoffs.

    Jan6ers rotted in squalid conditions for years for simply being present on Jan6.

    This is BS.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. Yes kids, it was always this easy, but it requires a will to do so. Weak men lead weakly, they do nothing. Strong men have the will to act, even when it upsets those who fear strong men and actual acts of leadership.

    https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1883886129491148979?t=IcVikeAkE9t7MPjWEoe_-A&s=19

    “BREAKING: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirms EVERYTHING needed to secure the Southern border will be provided:

    “Whatever is needed will be provided. We will protect the territorial integrity of the United States at the directives of the Commander in Chief. ””

    Liked by 3 people

  12. Root out the Biden plants….

    That’s acceptable, right?

    Or does it remind you that Hitler liked plants too, and offends your delicate sensibilities?

    https://x.com/benshapiro/status/1883865745664381164?t=dZLqGXYZoNo3w3JGXONksw&s=19

    “Just to recap how insane this was, @PeteHegseth banned DEI in the military. So deep staters in the military immediately moved to ban teaching of the Tuskegee Airmen in order to discredit him. So he reversed it. THIS IS WHY HE IS THE NEW SECDEF — to clear out these people.”

    —–

    This. All day long. They’re outing themselves, so out them out of the military for insubordination.

    https://x.com/elcope1/status/1883915200128221410?t=NXlGh1Dp-H3gcaf6BbIaKw&s=19

    “This was purposefully done by leftist “resist” AF GO’s to generate salacious ragebait headlines so pearls could be clutched and “can you even imagine” be shrieked self righteously. They knew what they were doing and must be held accountable in their attempt to subvert the CiC’s orders.

    Liked by 3 people

  13. And like vermin, those plants are the invasive, prolific, constantly reproducing type, and have become an infestation in our govt.

    Much like vermin. But nicer semantics for the feint of heart.

    Unless, as I mentioned, Hitler did like plants…..

    Liked by 1 person

  14. With my best Grinch snear/smile…

    Be afraid. Be very afraid…. 🫣

    The Primaries are coming. 🥺

    Holding reps accountable for their votes, what a concept! 🙄

    https://x.com/SteveLovesAmmo/status/1883890066403070101?t=YHOuyNZqarqCOoc3QC7EMw&s=19

    “This is a movement that will change Conservatism forever. 🚨

    Are you tired of RINOS in office like Crenshaw, Cornyn, Collins, Murkowski, McConnell etc.?

    We are too.

    A new organization set to be launched, called the RINO Removal Project will hold politicians accountable or they WILL be removed from office.”

    https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2025/01/27/with-maga-in-charge-new-rino-removal-project-targets-sellout-republicans-n2651177#google_vignette

    Liked by 1 person

  15. See this is the type of stuff that gets people wanting to out RINOs like Crenshaw.

    https://x.com/merissahansen17/status/1883891541703590061?t=mnihs-yDBpHaBKU22mDRmw&s=19

    “It is fascinating how @DanCrenshawTX is the head of the Cartel task force, living right next to Liberty County, and has not once uttered a word about Colony Ridge on the news.

    Colony Ridge is purported to have over 50k illegals living in the development which is the size of Manhattan?”

    —-

    “Now that the adults are back in charge @RealTomHoman this is Colony Ridge, it’s the size of Manhattan and has become a haven for illegals and trafficking.

    Congressman @RepBrianBabin office informed me back in 2020 the administration was going to move forward with raids.

    Please move forward with cleaning up this mess that Governor @GregAbbott_TX has ignored for years.”

    https://x.com/merissahansen17/status/1881769336580546739?t=3y-n1rEFDjzNwnEOuMGNlA&s=19

    The Chamber of Commerce is strong in this one. 🫡

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Why some of us will always like checks and balances. 🙂

    “…what a Mass of Corruption human Nature has been in general, since the Fall of Adam [Genesis 3]…” From the diary of John Adams, December 31, 1772.

    • dj

    Liked by 2 people

  17. I have a feeling Congress might not be interested in standing in the way of the military fighting terrorism at the border. That could be why the senate confirmed Noem so quickly. She’s already sworn in. Better lock up the stray dogs and goats around the border, things may get testy soon.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. AJ – I don’t know about the two or three others who also urged against referring to human beings as “vermin,” but I was not too faint of heart nor are my sensibilities too delicate to look into the matter a little more.

    Here is a copy of an article from 1933 entitled “Vermin,” about Germany being urged to get rid of “Jewish vermin”.

    https://www.jta.org/archive/nazi-leader-would-rid-germany-of-jewish-vermin

    I also came across quotes from Himmler and Hitler referring to Jews as vermin.

    For many people, hearing that word used to describe other people (fellow image-bearers) has a Nazi connotation to it. It is best to avoid it.

    Or you can double-down and use it all the more. Your choice.

    Like

  19. Ironically, since you brought up Godwin’s Law, the man who made up that “law” says that it does not apply to Trump’s use of certain words or phrases. (In this piece, he also explains how people have taken his “law” further than intended.) Agree with him or not, this is what he has to say. . .

    ‘ ‘Trump Knows What He’s Doing’: The Creator of Godwin’s Law Says the Hitler Comparison Is Apt

    ~ Trump made almost identical comments in an interview with the far-right website The National Pulse in November, around the same time Trump also called his political opponents “vermin” — all rhetoric that Hitler used to disparage Jews.

    “You could say the ‘vermin’ remark or the ‘poisoning the blood’ remark, maybe one of them would be a coincidence,” Godwin said. “But both of them pretty much make it clear that there’s something thematic going on, and I can’t believe it’s accidental.” ~

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/19/godwins-law-trump-hitler-00132427

    Like

  20. Trump’s ‘mandate’?

    Mandates come in all sizes, this one was fairly narrow (check those numbers).

    Trump has an opportunity, but over-reach won’t be his friend.

    • dj

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Well not that Godwin has a bias or anything…

    “Will Trump succeed in being crowned ‘dictator for a day’? I hope not,” Godwin added. “But I choose to take Trump’s increasingly heedless transgressiveness—and, yes, I really do think he knows what he’s doing—as a positive development in one sense: More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be.”

    Some people have lost their ever loving minds over a leftist propagandized alarmist charge against this President. Never mind all the garbage inflicted upon this nation over the last four years. This administration is trying to clean up this garbage. Pied Piper of Hamelin ridding the city of rats. Now where’s that silver flute!?????

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Just saying don’t lose your critical thinking abilities when it comes to any politician, even one you “love.”

    We can support someone but still remember that we, the people, are “their” boss, ultimately. Be critical, don’t get into a situation where you agree with absolutely everything they say or do (even when your conscience tells you otherwise).

    Guard your own integrity.

    • dj

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Critical thinking skills doing ok thanks for the concern.

    The assumption that those supporting this administration “love” the politician is a bit of an overreach… which is just the trigger most opposers like to use….like we are brainwashed fools.

    That’s ok though…it is just interesting to watch the finger wagging….

    Liked by 3 people

  24. I’m just saying (not wagging!) that we’re all prone to get pretty excited about politics when “our guy” wins. I’ve been there (though not in a number of years).

    I think especially when we’re young (I’m not) it’s easy to be enthralled with the idea that a political we like winning will save the nation, save the world, do great things. It’s exciting, but doesn’t usually pan out (because of what we know of the world and the fallenness of people, of course, which includes our national leaders).

    We’ll see how these 4 years go, but I confess I’m skeptical it will be *wonderful* beyond words. It’ll be a lot of ups and downs, some improvements, some disappointments and failures. The American people are pretty good about weighing in on these folks when they have a chance to see what they do, not what they say.

    Jury’s out. I just like to caution against over-excited expectations. 🙂

    • dj

    Like

  25. Trump only has 4 years (maybe 2, realistically, if midterms upset the balance of power in congress); how this all goes will very likely determine how the country feels about the next 2 major contenders in 2028. Not a long time away.

    • dj

    Like

  26. Well then all y’all who need encouragement not to loose your integrity and sanity, please hold onto them. I would have thought full grown mature Christians don’t need to be lectured continually on the basics, but perhaps I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong before and will be again if life continues. :–)

    Liked by 3 people

  27. This is good news for military personnel who were discharged because they refused the covid vax. They have been reinstated with rank restored and back pay. Nice.

    “President Trump reinstated members of the military who were dismissed because they refused to receive the COVID vaccine in an executive order late Monday.

    Why it matters: The order reverses the dismissals by the Biden administration, restoring thousands of service members to their previous rank and providing them with back pay and benefits.

    Catch up quick: More than 8,000 service members were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated under a 2021 memorandum.

    The military’s vaccine mandate was rescinded in early 2023 after it was lifted in an annual defense spending bill. …”

    https://www.axios.com/2025/01/28/trump-covid-vaccine-mandate-resinstate-back-pay

    Liked by 3 people

  28. Over a dozen lawyers in the Justice Department that prosecuted President Trump have been fired.
    Probably just a well, since they couldn’t be trusted to pursue the President’s priorities.

    WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday fired more than a dozen Justice Department lawyers who brought two criminal cases against him, an official said, as the Republican moves swiftly to exert greater control over the department.
    The officials were fired after Acting Attorney General James McHenry, a Trump appointee, concluded they “could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President,” a Justice Department official said.

    McHenry cited Trump’s power as chief executive under the U.S. Constitution to justify the firings, according to a copy of the termination letter seen by Reuters.
    The lawyers worked with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the two federal prosecutions of Trump that the department dropped after his November election. Smith resigned from the department earlier this month.

    News of the firings came the same day that Ed Martin, the top federal prosecutor in Washington and a Trump appointee, opened an internal review into the use of a felony obstruction charge in prosecutions of people accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a source familiar with the matter.

    https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-appointed-prosecutor-opens-internal-review-justice-depts-jan-6-cases-wsj-2025-01-27/

    Liked by 1 person

  29. The UN may not accept it, but everyone who looks at Google maps will see the Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico. Well, actually users in other countries will see both names. It’s a strange world.

    “Google said on Monday that it will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” in Google Maps once it is updated in the U.S. Geographic Names System.

    Google Maps will also change the name of Denali in Alaska to “Mount McKinley.”

    “We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps. We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the company said in an X post.

    But users in other countries will see both names displayed on the map in line with a long standing practice, the company said.”

    https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5109912-google-maps-to-rename-gulf-of-mexico-to-gulf-of-america/

    Liked by 1 person

  30. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

    All of us at times need reminders of the basics of the Christian life. That’s why we are told to be iron sharpening iron. That’s why one hears stories of pastors who have been Christians for decades falling into adultery–because they forget how vulnerable we all are to sin, and forget that our righteousness is found in Christ, not in our own strength or wisdom.

    Liked by 3 people

  31. I agree, Cheryl, but if every time my pastor is around a woman he needs to be reminded not to commit adultery, I would not want him to be my pastor. There does come a time when you are around others that you know they have heard you and it does not pay to keep nagging. There are times to overlook an offense, too, and treat others with patience. I pray we all have the wisdom to know how to engage so that we really do learn from one another and uplift one another.

    Liked by 4 people

  32. I agree with you both. There have been times in life that I needed to be reminded by someone close who could see my direction was not the best choice—and I did not have it. Consequences do bite. There is that. But I don’t think that’s what this is. Just my 2 cents on that.

    Liked by 3 people

  33. Since this is yesterday’s thread and off topic anyway, I would like to ask something that’s been floating around in my mind for a few months. From some of these very conversations, it occurred to me that it seems like the weakest person controls the conversation. Is that what Paul means when he says to submit yourself to each other? Or to not do something if it offends your brother? I just seems kind of manipulative to me.

    On the way to work, sometimes I listen to a Christian radio show called something like ‘Intentional Living’ or something like that. They talk alot about relationships—marriage in particular. Submitting yourself to each other, etc. And then a couple of weeks ago, the host casually made the comment that the weakest person controls the relationship. And about a week ago he said it again. It was startling to me because it’s exactly what I had been thinking. But I don’t know. It still seems like that idea lends itself to manipulation. What is your take? Anyone….

    Liked by 2 people

  34. Most of us here have walked with the Lord for decades. We know well the scripture of iron sharpening iron. I do believe most of us desire a teachable spirit carried out in grace.
    When some swing their sword as though it is the sharper against one who doesn’t fall in line with their ideology it becomes manipulation.
    There are some who like to high five the one with views quite opposite of our Christian faith while stomping on others here. So be it but as for me I will stand my conviction.

    Liked by 4 people

  35. Debra – I’m not sure if this is what was meant by that, but if a spouse begins to lack commitment to the marriage, that spouse is then the one who controls the relationship. The spouse who is more committed is at the mercy of the less committed spouse. It is a sad situation.

    Re: “Or to not do something if it offends your brother?”

    When it finally got through my thick skull that pointing out to AJ something that is or may be offensive, or disagreeing with a point, merely causes him to double down on it and use it even more, and that some here are more offended by the former than the latter, I determined to just let things go.

    The only reason I (along with two or three others) commented about the use of the word “vermin” was because HRW brought it up, and due to its use by Hitler and the Nazis, it is more offensive than the usual insults used here. It didn’t seem right for only the unbeliever among us to refer to that, and not believers make their voices heard on it also. However, at this point, I wish I had stayed out of it.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. Kizzie, I can see how that might work in a marriage gone bad. But my sense was that the comment was made just as a matter of practicality for relationships in general and that’s how I’m looking at it. One reason it struck a cord with me was my personal background. When I was younger, up to my young adulthood when my children were at home, I was very shy and sensitive. I blushed easily and cried easily. The crying I could and did control in public, but the blushing was uncontrollable.

    One day I read a statement in a book—I don’t remember the book or the author, but I’ll never forget the words. It said ‘excessive sensitivity is a form of manipulation’. I was appalled and embarrassed. As soon as I saw my condition and behavior as manipulation, it became my mission to repair those parts of my personality. It was not quick or easy. It took many long years. I stumbled and made mistakes more serious than I am prepared to talk about publicly. I don’t doubt that my sensitivity was manipulative, albeit entirely unintentional. Eventually I became reasonably normal in those areas.

    Anyway, that’s where I’m coming from with the question.

    Liked by 2 people

  37. NJ – re: “When some swing their sword as though it is the sharper against one who doesn’t fall in line with their ideology. . .”

    I doubt that you are referring to the way a small few of us are treated when we disagree with the approved political stance of this blog (IOW, don’t fall in line with the approved ideology), but that is what happens to us. I/we have had our intelligence questioned, told that because we don’t agree with a certain stance that we lack compassion about a given dire situation and the people involved, referred to with insulting descriptors, etc.

    It is very likely that in the heat of some of these discussions, I have not commented as carefully as I should have, and so for whatever offenses I have committed, I am truly sorry.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Kizzie to be honest that isn’t totally true for me. There are some who seem to wield their swords often here and if comes across very authoritative to me. I am in my 70’s and truly do not need nor welcome that sort of admonishment when it comes from a sense of superiority. I haven’t always seen this coming from a point of grace and caring rather “you are an idiot”. But perhaps that’s just me….

    Debra I ponder the thought of sensitivity being manipulative. I rarely can oray aloud without crying. My daughter is the same. The director at Hospice was the same way and I saw it as feeling deeply. I had read this in an article and it somehow resonated with me:

    Sensitive people may cry more easily because they tend to process emotions deeply, experiencing a heightened response to stimuli like situations or words, leading to stronger feelings of sadness, empathy, or frustration which can manifest as tears; this is often associated with being a “highly sensitive person” (HSP) where their nervous system is more receptive to external factors. 

    Liked by 3 people

  39. NJ, I also still cry very easily in worship or prayer. If it goes deep, the tears usually come but it is now mostly confined to worship and prayer rather than hurt feelings. I have been the only wet face during the singing of solemn hymns, but it doesn’t bother me now. At least I don’t boo hoo out loud, and I try to wipe my face without being noticed. It’s one reason I gave up mascara. :–)

    Liked by 1 person

  40. Debra, re the weakest person controlling the conversation, I hadn’t heard that particular assessment. I have heard that the person who cares less about the relationship can sometimes have more power in it (e.g., if one spouse doesn’t believe in divorce and the other doesn’t care if the relationship ends, the spouse who doesn’t believe in divorce is likely to try harder to make it work). I don’t know how the “weakest person” applies here, however. I don’t know that anyone on here is particularly “weak,” and I also don’t see how it’s relevant in this situation. We aren’t saying, “You have offended me, boo-hoo,” but “What you have said is not against me personally, but it is wrong.” Obviously it takes a bit of courage to say that, rather than weakness.

    But I also don’t understand comments about swinging swords and so forth. Applied in this particular situation, surely the one swinging a sword is the one being aggressive (AJ’s insults against people with whom he disagrees)?

    My personal tendency is always to try to understand “the other side,” and to try to help others do so as well. If I’m going to volunteer in a crisis pregnancy center, for instance, I want to read some stories of women who have faced challenging pregnancies, so that I can interact with them with some level of understanding. When I lived in the inner city, I read a whole lot of books written by black authors, and I ended up doing a devotional at work about racial issues (which took me way out of my comfort zone; it isn’t a subject white people are expected to talk about much). In my “real life,” hurting people often end up coming to me–I think they feel seen and heard.

    Basically I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people bullying others, and sometimes that means saying something, even if it’s unpopular. I have a fairly thick skin as the kid who wore seriously out-of-style clothes, had few social skills, and who got picked on relentlessly. If I could “handle it” as a child, I can handle it as an adult. Do I like it, no, but as long as I have done the right thing, I can handle it if other people don’t like it. I try to avoid engaging with people who prefer not to hear from me, but there are times that speaking up is the right thing to do, if there seems any chance at all of being heard.

    Liked by 2 people

  41. Cheryl, you seem to have handled the unfortunate aspects of your childhood and past admirably. I mostly resorted to withdrawal rather than actually engaging things until much later in life, which has it’s own consequences.

    Do you think the statement this person made is flawed (that the weaker person controls the relationship)? Is that consistent with Paul’s teaching? Or perhaps I am misunderstanding, and it’s merely a description of relationships and how they actually work but shouldn’t? Not to put you on the spot if you’d rather not speculate. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile and will probably continue to do so .

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  42. Oh and I should say it’s not personal at this time in my life . There are no troubled relationships I’m focusing on particularly. The reason I applied it to the blog conversation is because it seemed tangentially relevant. And the question keeps presenting itself so I think it must be important for me somehow.

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  43. Well, Debra, I’m not exactly sure what it means that the weaker person controls the relationship or who on the blog would even be the “weaker” person. (Weaker in what way? As a widow in a somewhat fragile home situation, Kizzie is “weak.” Yet I think she is healthier emotionally than some other people on here. So what criteria are we using?)

    The metaphor of the church as a body makes mention of the weaker parts of the body; they are important. Biblically, we are to “honor” the weaker person in some ways. Men aren’t supposed to use their superior strength to bulldoze women or children, for example. Christians are to care for widows and orphans. New believers can be vulnerable, and we are not to put them into positions of leadership too early.

    So yes, a person can manipulate by feigning weakness. But also the strong can hold back their strength and not run over the weak in our midst. Nobody should “control” the relationship at all, but I think that relationships are probably more likely to be controlled by people who have some level of strength (whether that is physical strength, political power, finances, relational know-how, or something else).

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  44. Oh, vulnerable is a good word . Perhaps that is the way Paul is using the term weak when he speaks of eating meat or abstaining from meat in the presence of weaker brethren. Respecting each other’s conscience perhaps . That is something to mull over. Thanks Cheryl.

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  45. And the blog is really only a small part of what I was thinking of. .and may even be a poor example . It will come to me eventually. At some point I may be able to articulate it better as this is an ongoing question for me. Thanks everyone for your patience and input .

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