My New Facebook Policy

In the past week or so, I’ve seen erroneous links on both liberal and conservative friends’ FB pages. Whenever I (or anybody else) tries to show factcheck or snopes, it is usually met with a thanks from the liberal... or being ignored or worse doubling-down by the conservative.  This is probably because the liberal knows I am usually liberal in spirit and am just trying to make a friendly clarification; and the conservative is reacting as if I am his/her enemy.

I’ve become disheartened and discouraged by these events, because I don’t want to be my friend’s enemy. A common response to the snopes correction article is “Snopes is run by liberals.”  Does that mean that liberals are never correct? Every news source out there is going to be viewed as liberal or conservative, and some like Fox”News” and MSNBC make no secret of their slant...  But as a former journalist, I try to view things from a neutral standpoint, and through a lens that I believe a Christ would want me to.

People always assume that “reasonable people think like me” and so that’s why they post stuff. They don’t think that, “Hey, some of my friends are liberal/conservative so they may find this offensive.”  Every now and then, I start feeling like a lone voice with FB church friends.  There is one other church friend who posts with a liberal slant, so I start feeling discouraged and wonder why I bother sometimes.  But every now and then when I feel low, God sends a church friend who thanks me for posting!  So I DO know that there are church people who understand me and I am encouraged again.

I’ve given some thought and have decided that, although I will still post my “liberal” views on my page, I will no longer post factchecks to other peoples’ pages.  It is never appreciated and often resented.  Proverbs 26:4 says, “Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.”  And who knows?  Could be I’m the fool anyway.  But for now, I will heed my friend’s advice to  “Keep being you my friend. We need more of you out there.”

Brain Dump

I haven’t written consistently in a while because I’ve been doing training/certification for work, and studying for that.  All my screen free time has been spent mostly just responding to FB posts or sending texts out on behalf of ACLU’s People Power (https://peoplepower.org/). Now that the test/certification is in the rear view mirror, I want to take a little time to do a brain dump.

North Korea

I knew that two unstable leaders meeting probably wasn’t gonna happen, yet still you had people bragging about how Trump was gonna make everything all better.  So they released some American prisoners... and what does our “leader” do?  He praises them as if they didn’t take them prisoners in the first place.  There are no shortcuts for real peace.  And honestly, what did North Korea have to gain by giving up their nuclear program that they’d been working so hard on?  It’s like their only bargaining chip.

American Embassy in Jerusalem

Bad move - it makes it look like we’re siding with Israel when we should be striving for peace in the region.  This has put the two-state peace resolution at risk.  As my friend, the Reverend Dr. Larry Jay, told me (and I agree): “When it comes to Jerusalem, I really don't think God cares whether it's Israel's or it's Palestine's.  Theologically, the temple was destroyed, thus making Jerusalem's spiritual significance void as God's Spirit technically withdrew from a building made of hands to a building found in the hearts of people.  Thus, I don't think it's important and that it's all politics.  Conservative Christians may state that the Bible says Jerusalem belongs to Israel.  But the Bible ultimate says that God does not live in a temple made of stones but in a temple made of flesh.  Ultimately, I believe it is none of our America Christian business.  There are more important issues our world is facing and starting a war over land should not be one of them.”

NFL’s Handling of Protests

It’s no secret that I believe in the right to peacefully protest, and I do believe that there are systemic racial injustices - particularly in the harassment, abuse and incarceration of Blacks.  Kneeling is a form of silent expression/protest that doesn’t disrupt the football game.  Would people also complain if people kneeled in prayer during the anthem?  The same people that moan about this also moan about how some kids don’t get to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school.  How about the kids (who want to) get to say the Pledge and players who want to kneel get to kneel?  Like Steve Kerr said, this is just “fake patriotism/nationalism” that people have latched onto.  Real patriotism is wanting America to truly be all that our ideals claim to be - fair and just.

DACA and the Wall

I heard some moderate Republicans came up with an Immigration package which included DACA... and of course 45 had a tantrum and said he only wanted packages which fund his wall.  What. a. baby.  The wall is costly, inefficient and unnecessary.  The Great Wall of China was built centuries ago and is better than any of the current designs of Trump’s wall... and guess what - it didn’t work.  We have the technical know-how to use drones and other methods to secure the borders.  We don’t need to build a costly wall.

Planned Parenthood and Taxes

When I was in my 20s, my cousin worked for PP and I went there for my birth control.  Yup, I was having pre-marital sex and I didn’t want to get pregnant.  There were many people in there getting care that they couldn’t afford elsewhere.  For all my pro-life friends, the Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding for abortion services, so you don’t have to worry about that.  I want everybody to have their babies, but I know that girls/women who want an abortion will have that abortion whether it’s legal or not... and I’d rather they do it in safe/sanitary conditions than in a “back alley with a coat hanger.”  If they want to have their babies, all the better!  But if they DO have their babies, all you pro-lifers out there should not complain about “welfare queens” or providing social services to young parents/families.  Life doesn’t end at the womb - real pro-lifers understand this. I believe the best way to prevent abortions is to 1) provide birth control, 2) provide aid so women can have babies even if they’re poor and/or single.  It’s too easy to just say, “I hate abortions.”  And I believe that Republicans latched on to this as a lazy way to gain voters.  After all, who doesn’t like babies?  Why, those evil Democrats of course!  But when it comes to taking care of those babies, some of those Republicans are the first ones to complain about paying taxes to help them.  They’d rather cut taxes for the wealthy and large corporations so that the corporation shareholders can gain even more wealth.

Stormy Daniels

I find it ironic and karmic justice that a porn star is sticking it to Trump.  I don’t believe she deserves a lot of praise, but I do find it amusing.  For somebody who bragged about “grabbing them by the pussy,” he deserves this kick to the crotch.

Melanie/Melania

Again, what.a.dummy.  How he tweets the wrong name is beyond me.  That’s not true - he’s just impulsive and didn’t check his auto correct.  Like all other first ladies, I pretty much leave them alone especially since I liked many of them more than I liked their husbands... especially in the case of Laura Bush and now Melania (it doesn’t take much for me to like someone more than I like Trump).  I like Michelle and Barack about equally.

Why is everyone so mean to Trump?

I have to laugh when people post this (or something similar to this) on Facebook.  Many of them claim no other President was treated as poorly until poor Trump.  They forget all the effigies of hanging/lynched Obama, etc.  Heck, they’re still complaining about Obama as if he hired spies to infiltrate Trump’s campaign.  No, People, they were investigating Russian Interference.  Can’t help it if several of his associates were involved.  So much for draining the swamp.  They are the swamp.  

Mattis and Mueller

I pray for all leaders every day, but especially these two.  I pray that God grants them wisdom and humility -  Mattis so that he can keep the World safe and Mueller for this investigation.  Mueller has already “secured guilty pleas from Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort’s business partner Rick Gates, former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, Dutch attorney Alex van Derek Zwaan, and Richard Pinedo, all of which became cooperating witnesses to the prole.” (thank you Wikipedia).  He’s also indicted 13 Russian citizens and 3 Russian entities.  So no, Trump, this is not a “witch hunt.”  A witch hunt is when there are no findings like when Hillary Clinton was investigated again two weeks before Election Day with no new findings.  You should be thanking and kissing Comey’s behind for opening that investigation back up right then.  I made several calls to Democrats in purple areas to “get out the vote;” and I heard from many that they were not going to vote because they weren’t sure of Clinton due to the investigation.

DNC

I’ve been getting mailers from the DNC and other Democratic organizations, seemingly wanting me to fill out a survey to find out what’s important to Democratic voters... but they always end with a request for donations.  We give a little monthly to the DNC and ACLU, so I don’t fill out the surveys or send more donations.  I filled out a couple in the beginning but it’s getting tiresome.  I’m not sure what the plan is because you have moderate Democrats in the Rust Belt who voted for both Obama and Trump... and you have the progressive Democrats who are Bernie fans.  How do you find common ground between the two demographics that “make the difference”?  But one good piece of news is that there are many women who are running for office.  It’s time for women (on both sides of the aisle) to have more say in government.

School Shootings

I don’t know what the answer is... but neither do the NRA folks.  I’m one to throw everything at the problem, especially since it impacts the nation’s children.  Ban bump stocks, limit how many/what kind of guns a family can have, provide more mental health professionals at schools, provide more security at schools, etc.  These are all options that we can try, but the NRA folks only say “Guns aren’t the problem, people are.”  Non-religious people say, “Prayers and thoughts aren’t making the problem go away.”  Both are right to some extent.  Yes, people are a problem but we don’t have to give them access to weaponry fit for a militia... and while God hears our prayers, maybe He wants us to put down our toys/weapons for the sake of His children.  Several other countries have common sense gun legislation and don’t have the issues we have.

USA is a Christian Nation

I believe that’s a myth.  First, we are supposed to have freedom of religion - not just Christianity.  Second, there are many American Evangelical Christians who are not portraying the true love that I believe God calls for.  Many of these Evangelical Christians elected Trump and are okay with his crooked business practices, grabbing women by the pussy, cheating on multiple wives, turning away refugees, talking about all immigrants as if they’re all MS13, calling football players SOB’s, calling Neo-Nazis “fine people,” etc.  For all my non-Christian friends, I want to tell you that these people are not living the way Jesus asked us to.   Would I like us to be a Christian nation?  Sure, but I rely on Him to extend His love to people - and I’m not using these avid Trump followers as an example of how we’re supposed to be.

Well, I just got a bunch of stuff of my chest and there’s probably more to be said... but my dogs wanna play, the Warriors are gonna play soon, and I have my priorities ;).  GO WARRIORS!