![]() Satan of all people is making a comeback. His name has been in the news for upping the murder rate in Opp a city of over 600 from 2 to 5. To quote the police department THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE WE HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM GOD AND EMBRACED SATAN. WE MAY HAVE NOT MEANT TO DO SO BUT, WE HAVE. IT IS TIME TO ASK FOR GOD’S HELP TO STOP THIS. In Midway, Arkansas a flame burst forth out of the ground. The immediate suspicion was Satan. In Salt Lake City a man was taken into custody after he rammed a school bus with his pickup truck and forced another driver to take him to the Latter Day Saints’ temple in American Fork — because “Satan” was “chasing him.” Even the military is not immune to Satan. Captain Sonny Hernandez, the Air Force Reserve chaplain whose September 12 article on barbwire.com publicly proclaimed that Christians in the military who support the constitutional rights of service members to practice other religions “serve Satan.” Then of course news from the Vatican cites Pope Francis is blaming the devil for undermining the Roman Catholic Church. He asked people Sunday at St. Peter’s Square to pray daily to Michael the archangel to “counter the attacks from the devil who wants to divide the Church.” All of this makes sense as the strong men of the world make an effort to reclaim their rightful power. Putin, Trump, Kim Jung-Un, and others. These are leaders who are destroying world peace and some are killing their own people. They are responsible for crossing borders and closing borders. They care not for international or moral law in their quest for power. So when we see so much evil presented by these men it is no wonder that the personification of evil is making a comeback. The rise of Satan is not good though. It means the strongmen are feeling comfortable doing their horrific misdeeds in public. The social norm guardrails are down. Trump can separate children from parents at the border. Putin can openly plan the invasion of Ukraine. Kim Jung-Un can continue his nuclear stockpiling in plain sight. Satan for other leaders becomes the scapegoat for all the abuse they perform. It is not a paternalistic institution that abuses the children in the Catholic Church or women in the halls of power. It is, could it be ‘Satan’ says the church lady from Saturday Night Live. It is not racism that leaves Puerto Rico in ruins after a hurricane, it is islands are hard to get to. Or maybe we should say as Flip Wilson said on Laugh In ‘The Devil made me Do It.’ The normalization of all the isms are upon us and we are not racists, sexists, homophobes. And do not play those cards when you try to challenge us. Then what is causing our horrible deeds and attitudes? Why of course it is not us but the Lucifer. So Lucifer welcome back my old friend but for the world’s sake I hope you are not planning to stay too long but will be traveling somewhere else soon.
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![]() Can one pursue happiness without good healthcare, housing, access to food, education and adequate income? The Declaration of Independence said that at least three things were our inalienable rights as humans life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness is not guaranteed but it is implied the government should not keep you from them and assist them as necessary. We live in the wealthiest country in the world and yet have some of the fewest services for these things. We are the wealthiest country but we rate number 18 in the world in happiness. We know from studies the necessary things we need for happiness. The first is a secure income that provides for what our needs for the what are consider needs in the modern society. The second is the ability to have a few things that are wants and not needs. With these two things in hand what else we may obtain it will not make us any happier. There is a limit to what happiness money and things can bring. So Americans that insist they need to cling to more and more money and this is what the social contract of our country demands are wrong. More and more does not help in the pursuit of happiness. Some of course will say it impinges on my Liberty to be taxed to help others. Again studies disagree with this. One of the things that help with feeling good is giving to the community and helping others. Now there may be some aberrant to this but not only scientific studies but all the major religions say this is the way to live a fulfilled life. For some reason instead of being proud and happy with what we can give to help the welfare of our country through taxes we are angry. Some say the government is too big and I do not want to give it more money to grow. Of course this is a one-sided coin argument. How big should the government be. The right answer would have to be something like this: the right government size is the size that allows the government to protect its citizens and provide for the common welfare. Even if you disagree with this definition this is more correct than bluntly saying, “government is too big” Ultimately government should be the people’s creation and they decide how big and what services the government provides. But if one thought what programs should the government provide to help people in their pursuit of happiness. Would the programs be education, parks, arts, aid to insure a secure old age, help during extreme sickness, food security, and unemployment to name a few? It is peculiar that all these programs are the ones targeted by the government is too big crowd. Yet all these programs help in securing happiness among our citizens. And contrary to some on the far-right others having these benefits does not affect your liberty. Unless you wish to have the liberty to be cold-hearted. Liberty here is primarily about not being put in prison, free speech, class mobility, travel mobility and the right to representation of your views in the decision-making bodies of your government. If liberty about taxes was meant it was not from taxes but that famous phrase no taxation without representation. So it is time we change our views about taxation from what a horrible thing taxes are but instead are we obtaining the services from our government that help us in the pursuit of happiness, liberty, and life. And as our government provides this we should be happy and acknowledge our satisfaction with words of appreciation. I am proud of our park services that preserve the lands and allows us to have a place to experience and explore nature. I am glad to contribute so that our elders can live their lives without poverty and appropriate healthcare. The list could go on to appreciate libraries, bridges, roads and our military and police. So let us form a government that makes happiness more accessible to all and not a few who have had good fortune, connections, and health. This would be how we continue the dream of creating a more perfect union. ![]() Some people fight unfair. The things they say and do can eat at you. Especially if you are someone who tries to play fair. Who listens to criticism and evaluates themselves in an ongoing endeavor to become a better person. So you value their words and take them literally to heart. But if you attack them similarly because of lack of introspection it does not bother them so much. Which is of course an indication they are small people. And although it may seem easy to defeat small thinking people it is actually hard. The problem with arguing with surface thinkers is they only believe facts they think bolsters their arguments. Therefore, it does not matter how many studies or journal articles if it does not agree with there ideas it is fake news. So what happens is you can only use facts that prove their point. Another problem with non-critical thinkers is as long as they do it and believe it is the right thing they are good people. It is I love myself and I know myself and I could never do wrong philosophy. They say racist things or do racist deeds but they believe they are good people so you are twisting their words or worse playing the race card. And they have the full deck of fifty-two cards for you to play. Class, religious, homophobic, misogynists cards are in their deck to excuse them of problematic behavior. They especially come in handy of when they feel you have a good argument. The low effort thinkers can justify anything if it helps them win. The ultimate objective is not truth or right it is to win the argument. Forget the concept may the best person win. So they can make up stats, stories, or lies about you. It is all okay as it nears them to their goal of winning. The uneducated masses never look at the big picture. They will justify the end of food stamps because they know of one person who is a food stamp cheat. Because of .9% of cheats they must punish the other 99.1%. You may be arguing climate change but they look at global warming and find stats to disagree with warming but neglect to see the climate change around the world. They will argue that Obama had a corrupt government and name an incident and two and say that it is the same as Trump’s numerous cabinet member’s corruption as if they were equivalent. The far right Republican is a believer in half truths. The Civil War was over state’s rights and so they will go off on how the Feds intruding on the economic rights of the South. They will never admit that the economic rights was the right to own slaves. Or they will argue that small government is the best. All the time promoting large build-ups in the military or the need to monitor women’s vaginas. So if all of this is true, then what do we do? Do not make your goal to win. Instead encourage them to read, think, or do something out of their normal patterns that might make them journey out of a unmovable stance to a step forward. |
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