Trump Does The Unthinkable!

I am going to be out of it this weekend, as I am working for the US Census as long as no one shuts down our ACO (Area Census Office) because of Covid-19.  I have been very disappointed in the laissez-faire attitude of some of the office staff towards those of us in the “high-risk” age group.  However, my manager and leaders at the office are stepping up to protect us, even offering to deliver supplies so that I will not have to visit the office.

But all we need is one case from someone not wearing a mask to infect the numerous people in the office and – whammo – the whole staff could be shut down.  So I really hope that our managers take the concern of some of us who want to work there to heart.  I really enjoy the job, but it is not worth dying for.  This weekend I have the honor of assisting with training some of the 350 Enumerators that will work our area of the country, and my co-trainer agrees that we will firmly enforce the mask policy as cases of Covid-19 are significantly increasing in our area.

That said, this is the weekend blog that will get me back on schedule, but it is also a guest blog from Liz Crokin.  Trump is certainly not a saint or in any risk of being confused with one, but everyone has good and bad in them.  The question is which will rule our hearts, and only Father really knows what is in the spirit of a man or woman.

These incidences are anecdotal, but they are telling that without a conservative investigating, most media will never tell you about these positive events.

TRUMP DOES THE UNTHINKABLE. by Liz Crokin
Orange Man Bad. Sorry, what?

As an entertainment journalist, I’ve had the opportunity to cover Trump for over a decade, and in all my years covering him I’ve never heard anything negative about the man until he announced he was running for president. Keep in mind, I got paid a lot of money to dig up dirt on celebrities like Trump for a living, so a scandalous story on the famous billionaire could’ve potentially sold a lot of magazines and would’ve been a huge feather in my cap.

Instead, I found that he doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs, he’s a hardworking businessman. On top of that, he’s one of the most generous celebrities in the world with a heart filled with more gold than his $100 million New York penthouse.

Since the media has failed so miserably at reporting about Trump, I decided to put together some of the acts of kindness he’s committed over three decades which have gone virtually unnoticed or fallen on deaf ears.

In 1986, Trump prevented the foreclosure of Annabell Hill’s family farm after her husband committed suicide. Trump personally phoned down to the auction to stop the sale of her home and offered the widow money. Trump decided to take action after he saw Hill’s pleas for help in news reports.

In 1988, a commercial airline refused to fly Andrew Ten, a sick Orthodox Jewish child with a rare illness, across the country to get medical care because he had to travel with an elaborate life-support system. His grief-stricken parents contacted Trump for help and he didn’t hesitate to send his own plane to take the child from Los Angeles to New York so he could get his treatment.

In 1991, 200 Marines who served in Operation Desert Storm spent time at Camp Lejune in North Carolina before they were scheduled to return home to their families. However, the Marines were told that a mistake had been made and an aircraft would not be able to take them home on their scheduled departure date. When Trump got wind of this, he sent his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami to safely return the Gulf War Marines to their loved ones.

In 1995, a motorist stopped to help Trump after the limo he was traveling in got a flat tire. Trump asked the Good Samaritan how he could repay him for his help. All the man asked for was a bouquet of flowers for his wife. A few weeks later Trump sent the flowers with a note that read: We’ve paid off your mortgage.

In 1996, Trump filed a lawsuit against the city of Palm Beach, Florida, accusing the town of discriminating against his Mar-a-Lago resort club because it allowed Jews and blacks. Abraham Foxman, who as the Anti-Defamation League Director at the time, said Trump put the light on Palm Beach not on the beauty and the glitter, but on its seamier side of discrimination. Foxman also noted that Trump’s charge had a trickle-down effect because other clubs followed his lead and began admitting Jews and blacks.

In 2000, Maury Povich featured a little girl named Megan who struggled with Brittle Bone Disease on his show and Trump happened to be watching. Trump said the little girl’s story and positive attitude touched his heart. So he contacted Maury and gifted the little girl and her family with a very generous check.

In 2008, after Jennifer Hudson’s family members were tragically murdered in Chicago , Trump put the Oscar-winning actress and her family up at his Windy City hotel for free. In addition to that, Trump’s security took extra measures to ensure Hudson and her family members were safe during such a difficult time.

In 2013, New York bus driver Darnell Barton spotted a woman close to the edge of a bridge staring at the traffic below as he drove by. He stopped the bus, got out and put his arm around the woman and saved her life by convincing her to not jump. When Trump heard about this story, he sent the hero bus driver a check simply because he believed his good deed deserved to be rewarded.

In 2014, Trump gave $25,000 to Sgt. Andrew Tamoressi after he spent seven months in a Mexican jail for accidentally crossing the US-Mexico border. President Barack Obama couldn’t even be bothered to make one phone call to assist with the United States Marine’s release. However, Trump opened his pocketbook to help this serviceman get back on his feet.

In 2016, Melissa Consin Young attended a Trump rally and tearfully thanked Trump for changing her life. She said she proudly stood on stage with Trump as Miss Wisconsin USA in 2005. However, years later she found herself struggling with an incurable illness and during her darkest days, she explained that she received a handwritten letter from Trump telling her she’s the bravest woman, I know. She said the opportunities that she got from Trump and his organizations ultimately provided her Mexican-American son with a full-ride to college.

Lynne Patton, a black female executive for the Trump Organization, released a statement in 2016 defending her boss against accusations that he’s a racist and a bigot. She tearfully revealed how she’s struggled with substance abuse and addiction for years. Instead of kicking her to the curb, she said the Trump Organization and his entire family loyally stood by her through immensely difficult times.

Donald Trump’s kindness knows no bounds and his generosity has and continues to touch the lives of people from every sex, race, and religion. When Trump sees someone in need, he wants to help.

Two decades ago, Oprah asked Trump in a TV interview if he’d ever run for president. He said: “If it got so bad; I would never want to rule it out totally because I really am tired of seeing what’s happening with this country.'”

That day has come. Trump sees that America is in need and he wants to help. How unthinkable! On the other hand, have you ever heard of Hillary or Obama ever doing such things with their own resources?

Now that’s really unthinkable! Might be worth passing on!!!

 

 

Intermezzo: Turn Left for Joe Biden

The previous blog was a “retweet” of a conservative blogger to present a “right view” of Joe Biden.  To balance that, I am offering a guest blog from Joe Biden’s own words and support articles I could find for him. 

Most of the current articles are about who he will choose as vice-president because not even his supporters expect him to live through a full term under the pressure of being president.  Just look at any president at the start of his first term and how he has aged in four years of leading the world’s largest business, economy, and political system.  It is not a pretty progression, and Joe’s biggest problem is that he already looks like he’s been there eight years (at least he was close under Obama).  And this is the assessment from the Chicago SunTimes that gives him a 21% chance of surviving his first term!

As most of my readers are right-leaning conservatives, I strongly advise you to educate yourselves about the man who may succeed Trump (and his vp pick once it is made). Unless there is a strong undercurrent of people who will not admit for whom they will vote in November it is possible we could be looking at a traditional “progressive” politician with significant connections and pressures from left-leaning socialists and marxists leading our nation after December 31, 2020.
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https://www.vote411.org/joe-biden
Candidate responses to our questions: JOE BIDEN
What policies do you support to improve and secure elections and voting in our country?

I’ve fought for voting rights since I first got involved in politics, helping to secure several extensions of the Voting Rights Act. But in 2013, the Supreme Court ripped the heart out of those voter protections. As president, I’ll enact legislation to restore the full force of the Voting Rights Act, and my Justice Department will challenge every one of the new Jim Crow laws that are now curtailing people’s right to vote. I’ll also boost state funding for secure voting with a paper record, and for better information-sharing. I’ll fight for automatic and same-day voter registration. And I’ll make sure that any country or group that seeks to interfere in our elections faces real and serious consequences.

Please explain where you see opportunities for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground on the very serious issues facing our country.

The next president will inherit a divided nation and a world in disarray. They’ll need to hit the ground running to fix Trump’s mess, restore our global standing, and bring people together to get things done. Our next president will need to be a president for ALL Americans. I refuse to accept that we can’t work together to solve tough problems. It’s what democracy is all about. We can rebuild the middle class with historic investments in infrastructure, tackle prescription drug companies’ profiteering, build on Obamacare with a public option – and so much more. I know how to find common ground without compromising my values.

What, if any, steps will you take to reform current immigration policies?

We’re a nation that values immigrants – it’s how we’ve constantly been able to renew our democracy. As president, I’ll reverse Trump’s assault on our values on day one, ending his cruel asylum policies, especially his Migrant Protection Protocols, family separation, and public charge rule. I’ll address the root causes pushing people to flee Central America. I’ll act immediately to protect Dreamers and their families. Then, I’ll invest real political capital to finally deliver legislative immigration reform to modernize our system, giving nearly 11 million undocumented people a path to citizenship, updating our visa system to sharpen our economic competitive edge, and preserving family unification and diversity as cornerstones of our system.

Please explain the policies, if any, you support to address gun violence in America.

Gun violence is a public health epidemic. We need courage to stand up to the NRA and fix our broken gun laws. I’ve beaten it before – twice. As president, I’ll do it again. I’ll ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and require background checks for all gun sales. I’ll fight for red-flag laws and close the Charleston and boyfriend loopholes, to get guns out of dangerous hands. I’ll invest in smart gun technology and new strategies to reduce daily gun violence in cities. I’ll work to heal trauma that outlasts shootings, starting by doubling the number of school mental health professionals. And I’ll address the deadly nexus of gun violence and domestic violence, starting by signing into law the Violence Against Women Act of 2019.

What, if any, actions would you work towards in your first 100 days to address the threats facing the US due to climate change?

Climate change is our most urgent threat. Beating Trump won’t end it, but it’s key to all progress. In 1986, I introduced one of the first climate bills; PolitiFact says I’m a “climate change pioneer.” Now, I’ve outlined a bold plan to match today’s crisis – putting us on a path to a 100% clean-energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050. On day one, I’ll rejoin the Paris Accord, restore American leadership, and push the world to do more. I’ll invest $1.7 trillion in clean energy research and development, and in transforming our infrastructure – from electric vehicle charging stations to high-speed rail – reducing emissions and withstanding the impacts of a changing climate, and creating 10 million good-paying jobs, that can be union jobs.

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The most thorough exposition of a pro-left view of Joe Biden comes from USA Today.

2020 Election: If Republicans care about America, they should vote for Joe Biden.
Another four years of Donald Trump would be a disaster for America and the world. They would also be a disaster, and likely fatal, for the Republican Party.
by Stuart Stevens:

I’ve worked in five Republican presidential campaigns. Four won the nomination and two won the White House. It’s a presidential election summer but I am trying to do everything I can to help elect a Democrat: Joe Biden.

Another four years of Donald Trump would be a disaster for America and the world. They would also be a disaster, and likely fatal, for the Republican Party. The reality is that President Trump is a symptom, not the source, of the disease that is ravaging the Republican Party. Only by confronting that sickness can there be a possibility of a cure.

The Republican Party has lost its way

In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower got 36% of the African American vote. In 1964, that number fell to 6% for Barry Goldwater. One could have argued that once the Civil Rights bill, which Goldwater opposed, became law, many of those former Republican African Americans would return to the party. But it never happened, and Republicans have never come to grips with the reasons.

For decades, Republicans told themselves that African Americans would be drawn back to the party if only Republicans understood how to communicate with Black voters.

This launched a cottage industry of Black Republican consultants hired by the RNC to help white Republican candidates and campaigns deliver their message to non-white voters. “If you talk about ‘good’ jobs not just jobs, African Americans will hear you,” was a standard of these lessons.

It was all nonsense. African Americans heard Republicans clearly; they just didn’t like what they were hearing. The party that revered Ronald Reagan’s line, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help,’” never realized that to many African Americans and lower income whites, the federal government was the last best hope for a better life.

After the 2012 election, Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus commissioned a so-called “autopsy” to analyze the reasons the party had only won the popular vote once since 1988. The need to reach out to non-white voters, to appeal to younger voters and women was presented not just as a political necessity but a moral mandate for a governing party.

Joe Biden: We must urgently root out systemic racism, from policing to housing to opportunity

All of that was thrown aside a few years later when the party embraced the white grievance candidacy of Donald Trump. Trump didn’t bend the party to his will, he gave the party an excuse to quit pretending it really cared about anything but power.

Biden is right choice for Republicans

I’ve helped elect Republican governors or senators in over half the country, and I have given up any hope that there is some line Trump can cross to make more than a few Republicans in Congress stand for the principles they all swore to believe. The only way to save the Republican Party is to crush Trump and Trumpism and rebuild. It’s why I say, when I am asked what to do about the party I worked in for so long, “Burn it to the ground and start over.”

That starts with electing Joe Biden. Most importantly, Biden is a decent man with a seriousness of purpose that is totally lacking in the Trump administration. The alternative is four more years of a Republican Party that endorsed Roy Moore and stands silently by as Attorney General Bill Barr shreds the rule of law.

It is possible the party can squeeze out enough white voters and suppress enough non-white voters to eke out a victory for Trump.  But it is impossible for that party to grow and prosper beyond November 3rd.

Today in America over half of those 15 and under are non-white. There is good reason to believe that when they turn 18 they’ll register as Democrats. That is a stage four cancer warning for the Republican Party.  Had George Wallace won the Democratic nomination and been embraced by the Democratic establishment, what would that have meant for the future of the party?  So it is with Republicans and Trump. We have a president and vice president who refuse to say the words “black lives matter” and seem more determined to defend Confederate statues than the Constitution.

A change of course: Six ways to make sure Joe Biden wins and Donald Trump loses in the November election

I spent years working to defeat Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama. In those battles, I passionately believed Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney would make better presidents, but I never feared for the country if a Democrat won. That’s how a civil society must function. But today I do desperately fear for the country if Trump wins, again. History tells us that once hate is unleashed and legitimized by a major political party, it is difficult to stop. History will judge each of us on what we did to defend America in this tenuous moment.

America or Donald Trump? That’s how this Republican sees the November choice. I say to my Republican friends: I know what side I’m on, do you?
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The best endorsement I found for Joe Biden comes from overseas, the American School in London specifically, so I just include the link to this short article for those interested:
https://standard.asl.org/14349/opinions/joe-biden-is-the-best-choice-for-president/

The Right View: Joe Biden Pre-election and Mail-in Ballot Myths

A quick search online will expose Tony Perkins as a controversial figure.  However, my views tend to coincide with Mr. Perkins, his controversies arising from principled stances on what he believes.  So I will use his two blogs of July 21 2020 for this guest blog.  However, keep in mind that as Christ-followers we must find the perspective of Randy Alcorn, writing in Heaven (the book, not the address 😉 ): “Christians should be involved in the political process, and we can do much good, but we should never forget that the only government that will succeed in global reform is Christ’s government.”   And some of the links, like the ones to CNN, Fox News or the Washington Post, are particularly interesting.

A Veep of Faith?
July 21, 2020

By Tony Perkins

Based on his comments, Joe Biden’s never had much use for evangelicals. As far as he’s concerned, they’re “virulent people,” the “dregs of society.” But those “dregs” also vote. And Joe’s hoping they’ll forget what he’s said and the policies he pushes long enough to support him.

It’s an ambitious strategy, trying to win over a group of people you’ve spent the last several years insulting. And yet, Biden’s campaign is leaving no election stone unturned, including, it turns out, the president’s staunchest base. In an interesting announcement from the former vice president’s camp, Biden confirmed he’s hired former Republican Josh Dickson to oversee his “faith engagement.” The liberal media, which, like Biden, usually has nothing but disgust for orthodox Christians, rushed to applaud the move, suddenly finding some use for the religion it usually maligns.

The press’s flattery wasn’t lost on everyday people like Patty McMurray, who couldn’t believe the same CNN that routinely mocks Christians was rushing to “prop up Joe Biden as some sort of deeply religious man.” Then again, they probably don’t see his faith as a threat, since it never seems to translate to policy. Deputy Political Director John McCarthy admitted that evangelicals “might disagree on a particular issue” (or 20), but insisted that “for faith and values voters,” Biden’s “spiritual authenticity is the quality they’re looking for.”

As Scripture points out, who can know a man’s heart? Maybe Joe Biden, a self-identified Catholic, is personally spiritual. But “authentic?” Surely, no one who’s followed his four-decade career could conclude that Biden shares Christians’ values where it matters: in the public arena. And yet even Dickson himself tried to sell the former vice president as the real deal because he “love[s] our neighbor” and “care[s] for the poor and vulnerable.” But what does he consider children in the womb, if not vulnerable? This is man running on a vision, not only of abortion-on-demand, but abortion right up until — and perhaps after — birth. To cap it off, for those Americans who do have a biblical or moral objection to abortion, he says they should still have to pay for them with their tax dollars. How does he square “authentic” faith with those radical positions?

The reality is, FRC’s David Closson points out, that “while Joe Biden is touting his faith and courting evangelicals, his policies remain odious to anyone whose view of the world has been shaped and formed by Scripture.” Last year, the one-time defender of the Hyde amendment traded his 40 years of integrity for the support of groups like Planned Parenthood. From there, he swore to appoint only rabid abortion activists to the bench and bulldoze every state pro-life law. He told nuns they’d have to fund birth control, churches they’d have to cover abortions, and U.S. taxpayers that overseas abortion would be our newest export. Someone please explain how this is a candidate that can connect with Christians “through a shared worldview?”

And that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of his radical LGBT advocacy. Biden, who brags that he forced Barack Obama’s hand on same-sex marriage, is so outside the mainstream that his first act as president would be to gut religious liberty — destroying Christian schools, Catholic hospitals, and nonprofit charities from food banks to homeless shelters. We’re talking about a piece of legislation, the Equality Act, that hunts down and punishes the same evangelicals whose vote he claims to want! One that also ends women’s sports, girls’ and boys’ bathrooms, Christian counseling, privacy laws, conscience protections, millennia of biology, medical ethics, parents’ rights. If you can imagine a man in every girls’ shower and a drag queen in every library, that’s Joe Biden’s priority. “This is our soul, da** it,” he said. “This is who we have to be…”

Now, there are some who will say that Joe Biden is a more acceptable choice to Christians because he’s less brash and confrontational than Donald Trump. But if a kinder, gentler Biden was what Americans were expecting on the campaign trail, a gentlemanly statesman is not what they got. Biden’s tirades in local town halls have been the stuff of internet legend, as he berates, profanes, and shouts his way through the heartland. If Biden is supposed to be the angel to Trump’s devil, no one told him. As for his personal conduct, there are at least eight women who would question that he’s more suitable choice for the office than the current occupant.

“Obviously,” Michael Brown said on “Washington Watch,” “people have to vote their conscience, and they have to do what they feel is right before God for their own lives. But the big question is, what are we actually voting for?” Evangelicals don’t support Donald Trump because he’ll hold up a Bible — they support Trump because his policies are based on what’s inside. No administration in history has done more for Christians in America and around the world than this president. And I’ll be the first to admit that, four years ago, I didn’t think that was possible. No one is rationalizing or excusing Trump’s failings. But consider what he’s accomplished for the unborn, religious liberty, Israel, persecuted minorities, the military, our economy, the family. He’s had a backbone of steel to push back against LGBT extremism, political correctness, America’s enemies, and the world’s tyrants.

This isn’t blind allegiance on the part of evangelicals. This is reasoned support for a political leader who has made and kept his campaign promises. As for Joe Biden, it’s going to take a lot of outreach for Democrats to prove that he’s even mildly sincere on the evangelical issues that matter. So far, as his record shows, the only way faith has been a “central part of [Biden’s] persona” is his willingness to attack it.

Unsigned, Unsealed, and Undelivered: The Perils of Mail-in Ballots
July 21, 2020

By Tony Perkins

It’s a “myth,” USA Today insists. “Rare,” writes NPR. Either way, the New York Times argues, “it doesn’t affect elections.” That’s interesting, the Heritage Foundation points out. Because they’ve counted more than 1,285 cases of this rare myth of voter fraud that doesn’t affect elections in the last four years — and they’re convinced: that’s not all of them.

Cheaters have prospered — and they’ll continue to prosper — voters worry, if the Left’s campaign for universal mail-in balloting succeeds. According to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, a plurality of Americans worry that the Democrats’ idea makes the election “vulnerable to significant levels of fraud.” A majority of them — 60 percent — want to vote in person this November, the latest sign that George Soros’s plan to steal the election isn’t fair or popular.

With more than 70 lawsuits underway in states across the country, Democrats seem intent on forcing their way to a different system. But, as Hans von Spakovsky pointed out with Sarah Perry on “Washington Watch” last month, that won’t score them any political points. This isn’t a partisan issue anywhere except DNC headquarters. By and large, every American wants some form of election integrity, and this system — which we already know from this year’s primaries and local elections — is ripe for abuse.

“If you talk to liberal activists and liberal leaders of the Democratic Party, they’re all against voter I.D. If you actually look at the polling, you find that everyday folks — no matter whether they’re Republican, Democrat, Independent, no matter whether they’re white, black, Asian, Hispanic — a majority of them say voter I.D. [makes sense]. So their constituents don’t agree with the views of their leadership.” The same goes for voter fraud, he said. In the polling he did for his book with John Fund, “we found that African-Americans were more concerned about voter fraud in communities than other voters.”

And why shouldn’t they be? Democrats are talking about a system with no witnesses, no voter ID, no certainty that their vote would even be delivered. If Americans thought 28 million missing votes over the last four elections were bad, imagine no accountability or supervision whatsoever! True the Vote Founder Catherine Engelbrecht prays it doesn’t come to that. “This is engineered chaos,” she warns. “We need to see it for what it is. This is not an effort to make sure that those who’ve been affected by the pandemic are going to be able to cast their ballot in a secure and well-defined process. It’s anything but that.” It doesn’t matter if you’re dead, incarcerated, illegal, or unregistered, Catherine points out. Every active or inactive voter would get a ballot. “Then you throw in all the dysfunction that is the U.S. Postal Service … and it begs the question, why are we doing this if not but for intentional manipulation to a certain end,” Engelbrecht said.

As FRC’s Ken Blackwell has argued, we can’t let anyone exploit this crisis to take away the integrity of our elections. “This pandemic may seem like it’s changed everything, but it has not changed the rules of our constitutional republic. Let’s keep it that way.”

Trump or Biden: 100 Days and Counting

After November 3, a few days less than 100 days from now, we will have elected the President of the USA . . . well, sorta.  To hear the two major candidates talk about it, questions surrounding mail-in ballots, voter disenfranchisement and current conjoined crises of Covid-19 and rampant racism on our roadways could cloud the conclusion well into December or even 2021!

Biden, himself, and his camp question whether Trump will accept the election results and leave office. ?Really?  That borders on the absurdity of rumors during Obama’s second term that he was going to figure out a way to stay in office.  But while those rumors started and stayed with a right-wing fringe, this is coming from the presumptive candidate.

Trump’s main problem is Joe’s safe and normal feel after four years of dumb impeachment attempts, and Trump’s less that intelligent reactions to everything from his first chief strategist (Remember Steve Bannon?) to firing officials via tweets.  He has sometimes been his own worst enemy.  When Pelosi tore up her copy of the State of the Union speech on national tv and looked like an idiot, instead of taking higher ground and ignoring it, he fed the frustration by inflating her infantile behavior to attacking Tuskagee Airmen and the little boy survivor who was in the stands (born at 21 weeks of gestation), something no thinking person would equate.

One wishes just once we would have to choose between the greater of two goods instead of the lesser of two evils.  But in a democracy of sinful people this will always be our choice.   Like C.S.Lewis, “I believe in democracy not because I believe every man is so noble and wise, he should have a say in his governance. I believe in democracy because no man can be trusted with absolute power.”

So as we go into the last 100 days before the election consider why you would choose to vote for either candidate.  These are just a handful of representative views espoused by the candidates as reported in various news outlets from CNN,Fox, Politico, Axios, Just Facts, and others.  There are a LOT of news sites reporting these ideas.

I encourage you to pray diligently for all our elected officials (1 Timothy 2:1-4), even the ones for whom you did not vote (See April 18, 2020)  And pray for our country that God will use America as He has in the past as a beacon to the world: a beacon of freedom of religion, freedom of thought, and freedom of expression, “one nation under God.”  Read what each of the candidates says, not necessarily listen just to the opposing camp’s quotes out of context or out of date, nor only what the candidate says about himself.  Kind of cynical, but I suspect they will all lie to get elected, and say whatever they think will pay off with votes.

Joe Biden —-

• Joe Biden, though nominally Roman Catholic, believes abortion should be available to a woman up to the moment of birth, that this is a medical procedure decision that should be left up to her.
• Expand Obamacare (ACA) coverage moving in small steps to reach “Medicare for All.”
• He believes that the LBGTQ agenda should be fully endorsed, even assigning a steering committee to his campaign staff to specifically address issues of importance to this group.
• He supports to a significant degree The Green New Deal, banning fossil fuels by 2050.
• End leases for off-shore gas and oil drilling and support nuclear tech as a means to reduce climate change.
• Pay farmers from our taxes to adopt climate-friendly practices.
• Tax carbon emissions in accord with recommendations by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• He wants to abolish the death penalty completely regardless of the crime or victims.
• He wants to eliminate private prisons that relieve the state systems of some its overload.
• He will push for a national minimum wage of $15 per hour.
• He believes there is significant value in reparations to minorities for things like slave ownership by ancestors and oppression by cities and states.
• He is opposed to for-profit charter schools.
• He wants the taxpayer to provide two years of college education for any high school graduate.
• He wants to expand debt-relief programs for college-accumulated debt for students.
• He wants to boost pay for pre-college teachers across the board.
• Spending on political campaigns should be limited he says.
• He supports universal background checks for gun ownership of any kind and favors forming a national gun registry.
• He would leave criminal penalties for illegal entry into the US in place, but phase them out over his term.
• Tax corporations and the wealthy to pay for transportation to pay for “green” transportation such as electric vehicles, trans-continental high-speed rails, and focus on supplying these benefits to lower socioeconomic groups.
• Void past marijuana convictions and provide states with a bankroll to implement preventions of drug abuse rather than imprison users, allowing states to determine criminality in marijuana possession.
• He supports mail-in voting to protect citizen’s health.
• Israel should accept UN and international guidelines for establishing a two-state solution with a group that is calling for Israel’s annihilation.

Donald Trump —-

• Donald Trump opposes abortion except in the most extreme situations such as when a woman’s life is at risk.
• Though misogynistic and crass, he claims to support traditional marriage.
• He supports hate crimes against lesbians and homosexuals as we tolerate diversity, but opposes special “rights” for homosexuality such as marriage. Established by the Supreme Court, he accepts gay marriage but objects to equal benefits as traditional married couples.
• He supports Medicare and Social Security but opposes Obamacare (ACA) and expansion of government intrusion into the health care field. He wants to see Obamacare repealed.
• He wants to get bureaucracy out of innovators’ way and allow research into all areas of energy production.
• He believes the background checks for firearm ownership are currently adequate but a national age restriction should prevent anyone under 21 from owning a gun.
• Education should be determined at local and state levels moving up a bureaucratic chain instead of down.
• Infrastructure funding should be channeled to road, bridges, schools, etc, “legitimate government functions,” not special interests such as identity endorsements.
• He wants to see the tax code simplified and try to reduce taxes across all income groups.
• He wants defensible borders with deportation of anyone entering illegally.
• Maintain the death penalty to recognize damage to victims and families.
• He opposes legalization of marijuana but believes this is mainly a state issue.
• He wants to create Opportunity Scholarships to provide education for children trapped in failing schools. Education should be a right of every child.
• He reject ideology of globalism but embraces a doctrine of patriotism.
• He believes Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
• He opposes mail-in voting as too risky for fraud.
• He fulfilled the Jerusalem Embassy Act enacted by Congress in 1995 and moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital. Every president from Bill Clinton on promised during his campaign to do so.  Trump did it.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Psalm 122:6

Remember, too, that while the President does wield significant power, Congress and the Courts are co-equal branches of our government and they are chafing under the continual amassing of authority to the Executive Branch.  There may be significant push-back on any of these designs of the candidate once he is elected.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

 

 

In Wrath Remember Mercy

Sometimes I go through valleys that seem very deep.  Not philosophically, but deep with depression and wondering where is The God Who Is Here.  Is He here?  Does He notice what is going on in the world?  Does He realize my dear friend and neighbor has been getting more and more decrepit from his MS?  Does He see the pain of the protesters and the greed and hatred of others?  Does He understand the hardship of a world struggling with a pandemic while racial riots rock cities all around the globe?

Like Habakkuk I sit back and wonder as I noted in a recent blog: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not hear?  Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?  Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.  So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.  For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:2-4)

Then I read Father’s answer that He gave the prophet, and like our Old Testament forebear I am somewhat perturbed by His reply.  He’s going to bring something terrible against the evil-doers . . . by way of others who are even worse!  My wisest friend once asked me shortly after the election of 2016, “Do you think Trump could be part of God’s judgment on America?”

And whether he or Obama was the first run of this performance, are the current health and racial trials the second part of Father’s response?  “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13)

So Habakkuk stands and waits for God to answer to this second question, which The God Who Is Here resoundingly answers in chapter 2:
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own — for how long? . . .
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! . . .
“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! . . .
“Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink . . .in order to gaze at their nakedness! . . .
“The violence . . . will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.“

Such is His fury that the prophet, who at first was demanding God do something about the evil he could see, stands and prays, “In wrath remember mercy!” (Habakkuk 3:2), and finally admits his fear: “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.” (Habakkuk 3:16)

And so in the quiet time of my depression I ask the protesters, the anti-protesters, the mask-wearers, the mask-avoiders, on whatever side of the political, social or cultural aisles you may be: Please, in wrath, remember mercy.

And I pray with the prophet to the God Who Is Here, Father, please, in Your wrath, remember mercy.

Intermezzo: Condoleeza Rice for President? 😉

Somewhat tongue-in-cheek as the former Secretary of State acknowledges at the end of this CBS interview that she is not currently interested in the political arena.  However, her demeanor, her unifying words and gracious acknowledgement of individual responsibilities to make a difference in our society raises my esteem for her, and raises the question of who I would like to vote for in 2020.  She would definitely be at the top of my list as a woman of color who speaks with wisdom, compassion and forward-looking vision.

“I would ask the president to first and foremost speak in the language of unity, the language of empathy . . . I’ve heard the president talk about the resilience of Americans. I’d love to hear more of that.
“Twitter and tweeting are not great ways for complex thoughts, for complex messages.  When the president speaks, it needs to be from a place of thoughtfulness, from a place of having really honed the message so that it reaches all Americans.
“And by the way, not just the president.  I would love to hear this from our leaders in Congress on both sides of the aisle.  I would love to hear from mayors and from governors and from others.  Leaders at this particular point need to do everything that they can to overcome, not intensify our divisions.”

The interview with its transcription at the link here is worth your 13 minutes to hear.
https://news.yahoo.com/face-nation-condoleezza-rice-dr-162643202.html

Further, take a look at the excellent movie, Just Mercy, based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson’s search for justice for death row inmates in Alabama.

This movie does not condone those who are guilty of crimes, but addresses the reality that Ms. Rice spoke of growing up in Alabama during the era of Jim Crow:  “But I will tell you, as somebody who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, Jim Crow Alabama, when if a black man was shot by a policeman, it wouldn’t have even been a footnote in the newspaper.”

These are complicated problems and require more than a Tweet or photo-op to resolve.  We need more leaders like Condoleeza Rice with desire to unify, heal and advance conservativism in American politics.

So, Condoleeza Rice for President?  We can dream. 🙂

Why I Will Vote in the 2020 Election

The idea that we cannot legislate morality is untrue.  ALL legislation IS morality; it is only a question of whose moral compass will guide the laws we enact.  As a Christ-follower I am distressed that we have so little to choose from in the coming 2020 election: each of the candidates coming to the fore have shown clear evidence of immorality, lying or being significantly deceived by socialism.  So we who follow Jesus are faced with the same confusion the Israelites faced when they were deported to Babylon (see Daniel 1): how do we obey The God Who Is There when under a leader who does not believe in Him?

The answer is simple: as soon as the parties publish their 2020 platforms look at that of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and determine which one will support Judeo-Christian ethics and morals more closely.  This will be easy to do online once they are published.  It is difficult to imagine that they will be much different from the 2016 platforms, based on voting records (below) such as the one recorded on February 25, 2020.

We cannot seem to vote a man or woman into office that will adhere to Biblical norms to which Jesus calls His followers, but we should vote into offices the Senators, Congresspeople, and President/Vice-President who will most closely align with these principles.  Wouldn’t it be nice one year if we could choose between the “better of two goods” instead of always “the lesser of two evils?”  But this is our fallen world until Jesus returns.

Check out the link below for the vote on Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
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The vote to proceed with a bill to protect aborted children who are born alive died in the Senate along a party line vote with the exceptions of Senators Casey (D) of Pennsylvania, Jones (D) from Alabama and Manchin (D) from W. Virginia voting with the Republican majority “to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”  Every Republican voted FOR the measure.

Vote Summary
Question: On the Cloture Motion
Vote Number: 58
Vote Date: February 25, 2020, 04:06 PM
Required for Majority: 3/5 (60 votes to pass)
Vote Result: Cloture Motion Rejected
Measure Number: S. 311 Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Measure Title: A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.

Vote Counts:
YEAs: 56
NAYs: 41
Not Voting: 3
(Senators Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren, all Democrats who previously voted against this measure.)

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00058

 

 

 

 

 

What in the World is God? Part 6 – In the Image of God: Personhood

“Humans explaining the nature of God is like an ant trying to explain who dropped the sugar.” Trish O’Connor

Attributes of God can be enumerated in many ways and different lists come from scholars of various stripes.  Some of the lists, such as mine, are pretty basic and others include almost any activity of God.  My view leans toward looking at His essential nature rather than the way He interacts with us; e.g. mercy or mercifulness is included in many lists as one of His attributes where I consider it more an expression of His attributes of holiness and love, discussed in last week’s blog, June 25, 2018.

Besides this, there are likely attributes, that is, essential characteristics that are inherent in being God, that we will not nor cannot understand at our level of development and may never fully grasp even in the eons of eternity.  Remember always, He IS God, the Uncreated, and we are merely His creatures, created for His pleasure and glory (Revelation 4:11).

Consider Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”  So a clue to understanding what we are able to about God is found in looking at humankind and considering what we “look like.”  Clearly, as we have shown from Scripture (see June 17, 2018), God is a Spirit so this reference does not refer to hands or feet or body shape.  Yet He is not an impersonal spirit as some would construe, but He is a Person, with personality and intention to know and love and guide us.  Personhood is often overlooked as one of His attributes, and though He goes far beyond mere personality, our understanding of Him begins there.

We, too, are spirits as much as we are physical bodies.  A human is not one or the other, but as created in God’s image, our bodies carry in them the image of God in our spirits.  Our spirits consist mainly of mind, emotion and volition, and this gives us our reference for understanding that God is intelligent, emotional and willful.  As He is the designer and Creator of all that exists, we recognize that when we pray we are addressing a mind that encompasses the entire universe down to the detail of quarks and DNA and more.  Thus His omniscience is more than simply an awareness of existence, but a personal knowledge of each individual in His creation.

When we think of who we know, our minds can easily grasp the dozen or so close friends of our inner circles.  If we expand our view, we can think of hundreds of people we know by name and to whom we would say “Hello” in passing.  Further out, we can grasp the identities of perhaps a couple thousand people in an auditorium, but we cannot “know” them all.  Beyond this, the individuals become “lost in a sea of faces,” unidentifiable and unknowable to our small minds.  Yet, He knows each one, from the formation of the embryo in its mother’s womb to the old man resting down into his coffin (Psalm 139:13).

Very importantly, He feels.  Even before He came down into His creation in the form of Jesus, the God-Man, He felt the pains and longings of His people and wanted to develop a relationship with every man and woman. (Psalm 67; Ezekiel 18:23).  When God came to walk with Adam and Eve after they had disobeyed His simple command, He asked, “Where are you?”  When Adam identified his location, God then asked, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:8-11)  He was not lacking in knowledge, but rather giving opportunity for Adam and Eve to confess and turn from their disobedience, because He loved them and knew the only way to build the relationship was to be open and communicate.

He still desires that relationship that is more than just a formality.  He takes no joy in our subservient obedience to duty or regulation.  In fact, most of Jesus’ conflicts were with those who followed all the rules!  He feels love for His creation, both man and beast, both living creatures and the environment.

His emotions also extend to anger, disgust, grief and sorrow, but also to joy, delight, anticipation, calmness, and pity.  His experience of these emotions is something we can barely begin to understand, but each of these is mentioned at various times throughout Scripture.  We who are created in His image bear this emotional stamp and feel as well, although our emotions are often warped somewhat by the sin in our lives or in the world.

Most importantly, He is volitional.  He makes a decision and acts on it!  When the Bible says He never changes (James 1:17) it is referring to His character, not His activity.  At some point in time past, He said within the Trinity, “Let us make man in our image,” and He acted on it.  Adam and Eve, faced with a choice of trusting their Creator or the tempter who questioned His simple command, made their choice and acted on it.

Every day, you are faced with a myriad of decisions from what time to get out of bed to how to respond to others’ treatment of you.  Sometimes you must cooperate in decisions to act by voting, sometimes you must act alone, but you and I act!  We are volitional, willful, and express something of the attribute of God when we make decisions.  Again, many of our decisions are warped by sin, but it remains a reflection of His divine Spirit in us, that we are made in His image.

So when you consider What in the World is God, look for His interactions with you!  You matter to Him as much as Jesus, His own son does!  His holiness and love, expressing through His omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence, offering guidance to us to let His Spirit lead us in our thoughts, emotions and wills, brings us into communion with The God Who Is There.

Keep in mind that my short list, May 27, 2018, June 4, 2018, June 10, 2018, June 17, 2018, June 25, 2018, barely begins to dust the snow off the top of this iceberg.  “He is great and greatly to be praised.” (Psalm 145)

 

 

 

 

 

In a couple of weeks, July 22, 2018, we will again look at how God loves us.