The Doll Sweet Journal.: Crazy Times Scrapbook, June 2024

Well, June was the lead-up to the craziness that has happened so far in July. I knew this was going to be a hot summer in more ways than one, and things are certainly heating up, and they're sure to get even hotter. (Is that enough heat for you? 🔥😅)

I truly believe that we're living in crazy times that are leading up to difficult and significant changes and situations that will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Millennium. I think these wonderful events are going to take place within the decade, and probably sooner. We have prophecies from scriptures and from prophets that things are going to get hard, and the reason I've done these Crazy Times posts since 2020 was to document that. It's been a slippery slope that's leading up to something unimaginably glorious—especially if you're on the right side of it. That's why I find hope in the tragic and infuriating events of our day. They're leading up to something so much bigger and better than life as we currently know it.

Even if I weren't religious, I think I'd be smart enough to recognize that life is changing rapidly in the U.S. and in the world and that it has been for a while. Casting faith and religion aside (just in this paragraph!), it feels like monumental things and changes could happen in the not-too-distant future.

I have to say that so much of what I've thought has come true, and I've felt vindicated by that, especially when my ideas seemed "out there." What were once "conspiracy theories" have become "conspiracy facts" (Biden's age-related issues being covered up, the true origins of Covid, the potential dangers of the vaccines, "Russiagate" and Trump, the Hunter Biden laptop and all that it entailed, etc.) I could tell five years ago that Biden wasn't up for the job of president due to his age (and his corruption, but more due to his age). More recently, I had a feeling that Trump AND Biden would be targeted for assassination, and so far an attempt has been made on one of them. I hope and pray that it doesn't happen again, and that they will both be safe. I worry that if Biden doesn't drop out of the race, someone's going to try to take him out. The election this fall is going to be like no other in our history. If it even happens. I wouldn't be surprised if another pandemic gets unloosed to prevent it, or a war directly involving the U.S. breaks out, or something terrible like that. I hope I'm wrong.

Lastly, I believe divine intervention prevented Trump from being killed on Saturday. If you look at the coverage and the emerging facts about what happened, including about the gunman and the ineptitude (or worse) of the Secret Service, it's a miracle that he survived and only had his ear grazed. Apparently, he hardly ever turns his head at rallies (instead he turns his whole body), but he happened to turn his head at just the right moment, and that's what saved his life. Otherwise, the bullet would have got him right in the head. I know that at least half the country thinks he's horrible, but I believe that Trump might be our last chance before things really go south. Yes, he has his faults, but so did King David, who committed adultery and murder—the two biggest sins—and the Lord still used him.

America, the shining light on the hill that keeps dimming through its stupid and wicked choices, is in deep trouble, and has largely done it to itself. And I say that as an optimistic realist who loves her country deeply.

Anyway! Enough of that. I'll opine more next month about J.D. Vance (who I like) and the state of the race and whatever other crazy things have happened between now and then. This is what caught my eye in June.

The Constitution and Party Politics

This was a good interview with an expert on the Constitution, Yuval Levin. You want to talk about inspired things--the Constitution was definitely an inspired document.

"The framers...understood that the U.S. was far too large...disparate...and centrifugal to be governed by a parliamentary system." It was time for the world to experience something else, and look at the difference it's made across the world in the last few hundred years.

This was from a different interview with a Harvard professor. I thought his definitions of progressives and liberals were interesting.

And the good old Republicans (of which I am one)...

And the good old days. There was healthy debate like this at Penn when I was there 25 years ago, although it was probably less robust than it was in the 80s. I'm sure it's much less robust these days, but hopefully not in every class or everywhere.

The National Debt

It's one of the things that will probably do it.

This is another thing that America has brought on itself. I blame the government for much of this, especially when run by recent Democrats. (Not Clinton—he did well with the economy.)

Pride Month
(or as I prefer to call it, "Beware of pride" month. And no, that is not homophobic, nor am I homophobic.)

This is where I believe so many people get lost with LGBTQ issues and some of the other social issues of our day:

This is so true. I love my gay friends and family, but it doesn't mean I support or believe everything that they believe. And they love me, even though they don't believe everything that I believe. We unconditionally love each other and get along well, while we don't unconditionally accept everything about each other. And we get along fine. This is the way to live with people who are different from you for matters beyond just sexuality.

It's a tricky issue in the Church. The right balance needs to be found in how it is handled with sensitivity to those affected, but the pure doctrine of Christ should never be muddied by the ways of the world.

This was a comment I liked (literally) on a YouTube channel I follow.

Miscellaneous

I agree with Peggy Noonan on this one. I've been annoyed with how people are attacking the Alitos. I think Justice Alito is an extremely intelligent, fair, and good person. A friend of mine from college clerked for him on the Supreme Court and I've heard stories about how genuine he is. He doesn't control what his wife does, although she should be careful in what she does politically since her husband is, after all, a Supreme Court justice. But the unwarranted attacks need to stop.

The Debate (oh the debate!)

He wasn't and isn't.

Most of the voters and Biden's compatriots on Capitol Hill do not think he's up to the task. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear can see (and hear) that he isn't. As I'm writing this, Adam Schiff has just called for Biden to drop out of the race.

✔

Trump did well in the debate. He could have done better in some ways—like answering all of the questions directly and being totally truthful—but overall he was good and was much better controlled and measured than he sometimes is. I liked the debate format (mics being turned off, no audience) and I thought the CNN moderators did a good job and that they were surprisingly fair. Even I, who has seen for years how Biden has been declining, was a little surprised by how poorly he did. I felt bad for him. He shouldn't be out there doing this anymore. At this point, it feels like elder abuse.