Friday, October 14, 2022

What's in the News?


 An indication of the current state of our country is mainly portrayed in the news headlines.  

Here is a short list of some of the news headlines for October 14, 2022.

  • January 6, hearings
  • Trump - Mar-a-logo documents
  • Raleigh Shooting
  • Potential Nuclear Attack
  • Ukraine/Zelensky
  • Inflation
  • Climate Change
  • The Border
  • November Elections
I can see how someone would not follow the news; nothing good here. 

What does this say about us as a country? How did we get to this, or how did we allow this to happen?


Photo: geralt - pixabay

Friday, September 30, 2022

Media Game Plan


The Biden Administration is playing a game with us. And the game is how many ways they can manipulate us into believing that this is the most successful presidency in the history of the United States.

A few weeks ago, gas prices started to come down, and within a few days, during the White House press conference, they mentioned how the economy is improving. This lasted for a while until no one complained about the gas price. But now the price of gas is going back up. They had the game plan to manipulate the press to convince the public that everything was okay. Distraction is the primary goal of the game.  Once the white house gets a negative spin on the news outlets, the game plan goes into effect. If you haven't noticed this yet, just watch any progressive news, and you will see how quickly the White House responds to take out anything negative every time. 

Another example from this week,

"But the POTUS' latest flub is even more cringeworthy than when Biden said the first lady's husband had tested positive for coronavirus this past March, when in fact it was second gentleman Douglas Emhoff who was sick. Because in this instance, the 79-year-old called out a recently deceased member of Congress during a hunger conference, seemingly unaware of her high-profile accident (via AOL).

"Jackie are you here? Where's Jackie?" Biden wondered aloud while thanking the meeting organizers, including Jackie Walorski, who tragically passed away in a headline-making car crash over the summer (via Reuters).

Later, his press secretary waved away the cringe-inducing moment."

             From: Melissa Willets - The List


Be aware of the media game plan because the goal is to convince you all is well and that this is the best president in the history of the United States.


Photo: Yomare - Pixabay



Friday, September 23, 2022

The Practice of Christianity


Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest religion, with about 2.8 billion followers, representing one-third of the global population.[1][2] Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the people in 157 countries and territories,[3] and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament.[4]

 The four largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church (1.3 billion/50.1%), Protestantism (920 million/36.7%), the Eastern Orthodox Church (230 million), and the Oriental Orthodox churches (62 million) (Orthodox churches combined at 11.9%),[13][14] though thousands of smaller church communities exist despite efforts toward unity (ecumenism).[15] Despite a decline in adherence in the West, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the region, with about 70% of that population identifying as Christian.[16] Christianity is growing in Africa and Asia, the world's most populous continents.[17] Christians remain persecuted in some regions of the world, especially in the Middle East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia.[18][19

Christianity. (2022, September 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity

I went with a generic and very plain and simple definition from Wikipedia. 

Christians cannot be ignored. They should have a significant voice in politics and in society. But there is a movement worldwide to silence the 2.8 billion people that believe in Jesus Christ. In the United States, those who believe in the separation of church and state believe the meaning of this term is to keep religion out of the government, but the opposite is the true definition. It's to keep the government out of religion.  Which gives us the right to preach, worship, and pray on public property.  Sometimes this works out well, and other times is meant with resistance. In the United States, we have the freedom of religion and should consistently demonstrate in public whenever possible.

Here is an example of faith in practice on public property:

The Men’s Rosary Rally, started and organized by Jeff Coleman, a regular attendee of St. Marth Catholic Church in Ashland City, meets the first Saturday of every month at 1 p.m. at the Legislative Plaza.

Jeff Coleman - the organizer, says: 
“It’s to get people to renew their vows, if you will, renew their faith, and renew their trust in the Lord. It didn’t seem like we had it. It seemed like it was being lost,” he said. “With all the things going on (in society), it seemed like the Catholic faith was being lost to the secular world and everybody forgot about the spiritual world, and I wanted to bring the spirituality back, and I wanted to bring men back to say, ‘Hey, stand up and be a man. You’re the head of the house; you’re the head of everything. You need to stand up and be proud that you’re a guy and not let the secular world attack you.’”

Read the full story here.

Men’s Rosary Rally meets monthly at Legislative Plaza - Tennessee Register

This is how we practice our freedom of religion, and the government cannot take that away. 

       

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

The Border Crisis

 


The United States border is out of control. If this were an invading army, we would be under the rule of the conquering country. But, instead of a military invasion, the government will slowly collapse under the crippling effects of 2 million people worldwide, including criminals, gang members, and terrorists. Our infrastructure is not capable of handling this many people. 


The Biden administration has attributed the mass exodus from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to the policies of their leftist regimes and the dire economic circumstances faced by many people there.

"Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border," CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement Monday.

           CBS News


So, the main reason for the exodus to the United States is the most left policies; what then is the Biden administration? The answer is the progressive leftist policies of the current president of the United States have approved an open border for all to escape to. I do not believe anything will be done to alleviate this problem. They (the democrats) will make some statements about securing the border in the coming weeks to put on a good show just before the elections in November to make it sound like they are addressing the issue. But ultimately, nothing will happen. And we will soon become a country like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.


  

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Railway Unions


Today, the railway unions agreed not to strike. 

Here are my thoughts on this whole situation. 

The unions in America have too much power. The threat of the railway strike sent a panic way across America. If this had happened, it would have shut down the country's supply chain, crippling businesses and Americans, causing panic buying in the stores, similar to the pandemic.

"A potential strike could lead to $2 billion a day in lost economic output, according to the Association of American Railroads, which lobbies on behalf of railway companies. Rail is critical to the entire goods side of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, retail, and warehousing. Freight railroads are responsible for transporting 40% of the nation's long-haul freight -- and a work stoppage could endanger those shipments."  (ABC News)

 And that amount of power is dangerous.  It's not like the early days of the unions when workers struggled to get fair pay. Nowadays, it's not an issue. Union workers get a good salary and benefits. But the demand from the unions to get any amount they deem a fair wage will almost always be passed down to the American people with a cost increase in products. So, ultimately, it's not the company that will increase the salary; it's the American people. 


Photo:  code83 - pixabay 

 

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

The Media Blitz

 


There will be a media blitz of political campaign attacks in the next couple of months. Progressives and Conservatives have been gathering news clips for the past months and taking sound bites from politicians up for election.

This will hit us hard with political commercials before November 8th. I believe most ads will be aimed at independents and those undecided. Because the Democrats and Republicans have already decided on their candidate. Ultimately, the ones elected will result from the marketing manager strategy who developed the ads. Sadly, we must rely on what we see and hear in campaign ads. I know we could all do some deep research into each candidate. 

But there is some truth in our gut instincts. Most of this is based on our past experiences and the political life of the candidate.  November the 8th is a critical date that could change our government drastically. Both parties are far apart and have no room for compromise. 

In my conservative view, the progressives will say or do anything possible to convince the undecided voters to come to their side. And I'm not entirely confident that the election process will be fair. I refuse to believe that Biden received more votes than any president in the history of the United States. There is no way this actually happens. The 2020 election was fraudulent, fixed, stolen, compromised, and rigged. Biden is not the elected president of the United States, but that is just my opinion. And I believe they (the democrats) will do exactly what it takes to repeat another fraudulent election day to keep their destructive policies so they can continue to destroy the US Constitution and the Rule of Law and to take all our freedoms to live under a Socialist government.

God help us all! 

Make America Great Again! 



Photo: chayka1270 - pixabay

  

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Remembering

 


Remembering September 11, 2001



Photo - WikiImages - Pixabay


Saturday, September 10, 2022

September

There is a lot to blog about this month. Here are just a few thoughts:

September is the month of change, at least from my perspective. It's the month of my birthday. It's the change to the fall season. It's also a historical month, the terrorist attacks on September 11th. And especially this year, the mid-term elections will be in full swing to convince voters to vote progressive or conservative on November election day.  And on a short note, the death of Queen Elizabeth will take over most of the news in the coming weeks.


Thursday, September 8, 2022

The Rule of Law


In recent news, the term the rule of law has been a hot topic. The Rule of Law, in short, is the agreement of society to agree to the terms of the established laws. If we disagree with these terms, then chaos would consume society. But, due to all the recent crime events, the community has begun to ignore the established rules. I recently saw a local news report on the response time for the police to non-emergency calls. It averaged six hours. I greatly respect law enforcement, but they are few in number and cannot respond in seconds. The responsibility falls on us as individuals for our protection against criminals.  

Criminals will always be in action no matter where you live, and depending on the situation, we cannot count on the authorities to come to save us. Individuals must take responsibility for their own personal security. There will come a time and possibility soon when the rule of law will collapse. 

Personal security - the time is now.


Also, here is an interesting article on the rule of law

What is the rule of law (americanbar.org) 



Photo: geralt - pixabay

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Labor Day


The weekend was the last day of summer and the beginning of fall. People celebrated Labor Day to recognize the efforts of all of us who work every day to bring a paycheck home. I typically take the extra day off to work around the house, preparing things for winter.

It's nice to have an extra day off, but I do not get the whole celebration of Labor Day because I will always make a point to say "Thank you" to all I have interacted with in business.  


Photo: Alexas_Fotos - pixabay 

Friday, September 2, 2022

The Divided Country

 

The picture demonstrates the anger in the Democrat Party about the Republicans or the MAGA Republicans, as Biden said in last night's speech.

His speech clearly divided the country; if there was any chance of uniting us, this definitely ended all means of us coming together. I realize there have always been differences, but this goes way beyond anything I have seen in my lifetime.  He spoke last night about the MAGA Republicans, about 75,000,000 people, and how they were against the Rule of Law and the US Constitution. I think the main issue that is so disturbing is the spin he put on everything he said, and the sad part is that the media will expand on his speech and spread even more lies. The MAGA Republicans are the true patriots, believers in the values to which this country was born. The Republicans are not a threat to America.

The real threat to America is Joe Biden and the Democrat Party.


Make America Great Again





Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The Time is Now

In the social media world, there is a lot of talk about preparing for the months ahead. Most of this is about the supply chain breakdown and, from there, the collapse of our basic infrastructure. And most of these opinions are based on facts.

The public media, broadcast news, and newspaper opinions have to some extent, mentioned this breakdown.  But as we all know, it will go unnoticed if it's not the day's top story.

Here are my thoughts, taking all factors and personal observations into consideration.

1. The supply chain is breaking down. The car lots in my area are almost empty. The cars in the lot are parked close to the road to make it appear full, but it's not.

2. I have noticed empty sections in the grocery store, which is different from the shortages during the pandemic. These are all food items.

3. The public response to shortages that affect them directly will cause panic buying.  We saw this during the pandemic, and people will react the same way now. 


2020 


4. The mid-term elections are in a few months, and politics will be a significant component in this breakdown.

  


I will typically observe any situation and evaluate all the information to come to a reasonable conclusion. With all that said, I predict we will be in a supply chain collapse by mid-October.  We are close to the tipping point as events are slowly becoming a reality, and this time will be worse than the supply issues of 2020.

Start preparing now! 




  


Monday, August 29, 2022

We Must Take Back Our Country


Have the citizens of the United States become complacent about decisions made by the federal government on their behalf?

Why does it seem that our elected officials are implementing their own opinions about laws that govern the people who put them in office?

I realize some decisions are made on our behalf because it is a matter of ongoing day-to-day business that all political parties can agree on.

Lately, laws like the Inflation Reduction Act are being introduced and passed without any voice. 

Highlighted below are the points that have nothing to do with inflation or reduction.  This is where politicians will insert their personal opinion on how the federal government should spend our money.

From Wikipedia:

 Background


The Build Back Better Plan was a legislative framework proposed by United States President Joe Biden between 2020 and 2021. Generally viewed as ambitious in size and scope, it sought to make the largest nationwide public investments in social, infrastructural, and environmental programs since the 1930s Great Depression-fighting policies of the New Deal.[7]


The plan was divided into three parts: one of them, The American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 relief spending bill, was signed into law in March 2021.[8] The other two parts were reworked into different bills over the course of extensive negotiations within and among Congressional entities. The American Jobs Plan (AJP) was a proposal to address long-neglected infrastructure needs and reduce America's contributions to climate change's destructive effects;[9] the American Families Plan (AFP) was a proposal to fund a variety of social policy initiatives, some of which (e.g. paid family leave) had never before been enacted nationally in the U.S.[10]


The Build Back Better Act was a bill introduced in the 117th Congress to fulfill aspects of the Build Back Better Plan. It was spun off from the American Jobs Plan, alongside the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as a $3.5 trillion Democratic reconciliation package that included provisions related to climate change and social policy. Following negotiations, the price was lowered to approximately $2.2 trillion. The bill was passed 220–213 by the House of Representatives on November 19, 2021.


In December 2021, amidst of negotiations and parliamentary procedures, Senator Joe Manchin publicly pulled his support from the bill for not matching his envisioned cost of about $1.75 trillion[citation needed], then subsequently retracted support for his own compromise legislation. This effectively killed the bill as it needs 50 senators to pass via reconciliation, and all 50 Republican senators opposed it. Continued negotiations between Manchin and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer over the course of months eventually resulted in the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.[11]


The sudden deal on the Inflation Reduction Act, which was negotiated in secret and announced on July 27, 2022, was widely regarded as a 'shocker' as Democrats had voiced that there was little hope for a revival of many of their priorities in addition to Manchin himself being rather pessimistic on the prospect in public.[12]


As the revised bill made its way through the chambers of Congress, the new reality of Biden unexpectedly having a clear path to enacting substantial portions of his domestic agenda into law led to a wide reevaluation of the success of the Biden presidency thus far and is expected to give the President and his party a boost while campaigning for the upcoming 2022 Midterm elections.[13][14][15]

This is just one example of what goes on behind closed doors that directly affect us as taxpayers.

We must take back our country!


Photo: Prettysleepy - Pixabay

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Top Ten Western Movies

 Here is a list of my top 10 Western movies:

10. The Shootist (1976)

9. Shane (1953)

8. Seraphim Falls (2006)

7. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

6. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

5. The Man from Laramie (1953)

4. High Noon (1952)

3. El Dorado (1966)

2. Rio Bravo (1959)

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)



Thursday, August 18, 2022

To Preach

 


What is preaching?

This can go in many different directions.  One can say they will "get on their soapbox" or preach about how bad the game was last night: even preaching about procedures at work. Some will even say they will rant about something.

All of this is correct; we all do this from time to time. But what is preaching from God's perspective?

This can be in a few forms, and I will elaborate more in an upcoming post.  Here is a short list:

  • Speaking the Word
  • In your everyday action
  • Good knowledge of God's plan
  • Knowledge of your faith
  • Setting an example of a Christian
  • Exposing the Devil for the liar he is to deceive the world
Preaching aims to get the Good News to people who have never heard of God or someone who is in despair that there is hope in God and saying the right words at the right time.  


Photo: Pixabay FotoRieth

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Retreat Weekend

 

This past weekend I went on a retreat to the Bethany Retreat House.  This is usually a yearly event, but due to the virus, this was the first time in a little over three years. I am a Lay Dominican formally known as Third Order Dominican. More on this in a later post.

The retreat is my vacation for the year. It's a silent retreat meaning no talking except while eating. The basic structure of the weekend is a Catholic Priest will have several sermons at various times along with long hours of silence, prayer, and reflection on the theme of the weekend. I would highly suggest if you ever have an opportunity to go on retreat, it will revive your soul and open you to God.


Here are a few pictures  


Small Pond




Hiking Trail




Stations of the Cross




The Great Room




The Chapel







Evening on the last day



Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The Last Summer Eggs




I took a bit of a risk taking this photo. I knew it was getting close to them fledging.





And I was correct, within a few days they were gone.