I was so busy in September with work and life that I didn't have as much time for the news. Back in the old (pre-divorce) days, I used to read The Wall Street Journal every day, and now I only get the weekend edition due to time and money, although I still have access to it online. I've started listening to YouTube and podcasts (I'm finally (kind of) figuring out how to incorporate them into my life more), and I enjoy listening to Sirius satellite radio in the car. These are great ways to get news and opinions, but they don't translate well to taking pictures that I can put on my blog and into my picture files for reference! Alas, it is the nature of this increasingly wired and tech-driven world in which we live. The written word seems to be disappearing more and more. But I do still read two different newspapers each week, and I take screenshots of noteworthy things in the news when I have the time.
I also read a lot of things through email and through my nonprofit job, which is directly involved with politics and government. Ironically (some of you would say providentially 😄), many of the viewpoints there are different from mine, which is good for me—I'm not living in an echo chamber, and it's helpful to see the other side of things, which helps me to be more balanced in my approach to politics. But I still hold strongly to my traditional and conservative viewpoints, with a little moderation here and there depending on the issue.
This is all my long way of saying that the Crazy Times post is a little short again this month! Yes, I know, dry your eyes. 😆
I totally agree with this, especially with Will Parker's comment. I just read an op-ed today by a member of my organization that directly contradicted this and said that character is basically king and drives so much of everything else. While I see where the author is coming from (and I even have a book about Ronald Reagan called When Character Was King), I can't agree with that anymore when everything is weighed on balance. Besides, though he is certainly flawed in many ways, I think Trump has better character than he's given credit for. I don't think he's as bad as his detractors say he is. And they think people like me are nuts for thinking that. And we think they're nuts for thinking Kamala's character is any better.
This explains a lot!
I fall into the "voracious reader" category. 📚
From a "Crazy Times" perspective, I think America would be in better shape if, among many other things, its citizens read more books instead of so much watching of Netflix, perusing social media, poisoning their minds with pornography, and so on.
This was illuminating, true, and pretty scary.
"Settler colonialism": an influential academic concept that understands certain countries as inherently and permanently illegitimate because of the way they were founded. In other words, Israel and the U.S. 🙄
It greatly bothers me how the history of our country is being criticized left and right (well, only left...get it? 😜). There is so much more to history and human behavior than "they were there first; they should have been left alone! Their rights were violated!" I get that, but only to a certain extent. That's not how human behavior works in this fallen world, and it's delusional to think otherwise. It doesn't excuse bad behavior, but it helps explain it. That's not how civilizations rise and fall, that's not how discoveries and progress are made, that's not how human nature works, and it's totally unrealistic to hold people and groups in history to that narrow and idealistic viewpoint.
Also, there is inherent hypocrisy with this issue when it comes to open borders and illegal immigration. Though of course, those who feel this way don't believe we belong here in the first place, so illegal immigration may be more justified in their minds. You can see where their logic comes from, and how it seems fair and justified (or "equitable") to them, but in reality, it's totally warped.
"Settler colonialism...is less interested in the truth of the past than in constructing an alternative future."
I like Allie Beth Stuckey, and I agree with a lot of what she says. I just bought
a new book by her.
Here's one of the problems with illegal mass immigration. And this especially bothers me because it's not that far from where John is serving his mission.
Those people should never have gotten into the U.S. in the first place. The immigration system desperately needs to be overhauled. Wake up, Department of Defense! (They're the ones who are supposed to be in charge of it.) Trump was making some good progress on this, and Biden/Harris have undone all of it. And now look what the influx of all these people is doing in our cities and towns and to our already-depleted budgets. Just another reason that I hope Trump wins in two weeks, and then hopefully immigration will be reformed to be safe, sane, and with good legal pathways to citizenship.
We'll see what happens! 😬🤞🙏
