“How do you respond when an anti-vaxxer dies of COVID?”
How do you respond when an anti-vaxxer dies of COVID?
The problem is that even a mild case of schadenfreude is the opposite of a “Christian value.” Jesus asked us to pray for our enemies, not celebrate their misfortunes. He wanted us to care for the sick...
The same way you should respond with a pro-vaxxer dies of COVID:
With compassion.
I wish the complete article wasn’t behind a paywall. We can all use Martin’s words…you should check out Hot Air’s snippet at the link above.
The image is from a gem of a book I found at Tri-Lakes Consignment in Palmer Lake, Colorado (The Story of the Christmas Guest as Retold by Helen Steiner Rice).
If you are a Christian, this may have extra special meaning to you. However, it is a reminder to everyone to not postpone helping others. The need is now, not when we can conveniently fit it in our schedules.
Often, it takes very little to make someone’s life better. A caring ear, a smiling face, a willing hand.
May God bless you all as we head into the work week…
My second favorite JJ Heller song. You’ll be blessed by her voice and the message if you take time to listen:
Happy Sunday everybody!
P.S. The song is a favorite, in part, because it reminds me of this poem by John Donne:
Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov’d fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Limiting Yourself to 7% of the Potential Candidates ...
Now as I've noted, I don't quite see matters this way. First, I think that race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and the like are legitimate factors in high-level government appointments even though they aren't for everyday public employment or education. I don't think Presidents should feel limited to "objective," non-identity-based factors in making such appointments.
Personally, I think that given two otherwise equal candidates, diversity adds value and is reasonable to consider. However, straight up saying you will only choose <enter your intersectional group here> is bigotry.
In the end, I am 100% with Eugene Volokh here:
And more importantly, to the extent I’m right (or to the extent President Biden is right), no-one can have any confidence about that unless rival views can be freely aired, both at the outset and in response to disagreements such as this one. If people are fired from law schools for expressing either side (or for an ill-chosen word in a Tweet expressing either side), then we can’t have that confidence. The view that dominates will dominate because of fear and suppression, not because people have actually seen the best arguments on both sides. And I don’t want that even for the view that I happen to think is correct.
Update: Some additional articles I’ve seen since originally posting this: Read More
I am of two minds with this, “You have to choose, Joe Rogan or me” that Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Logrin (and more?) are doing with Spotify.
First, I abhor people trying to get other people deplatformed. (I abhor the action, not the people.)
However, I respect individuals willing to personally sacrifice for their beliefs. I don’t know who owns whose catalogues, but I am going to assume that it’s not in Young’s, Mitchell’s, or Logrin’s best monetary interest to reduce the reach of their music.
At a minimum, I think the three are misguided, and probably lean on the side that what they are doing wrong, but I don’t think that the answer is to attack them back, try to get others to stop listening to their music (itself a form of deplatforming), etc.
And I hope that Joe Rogan tries to get them on his program to discuss their differences of opinion (and that they accept).
In the end, we are all trying to navigate difficult waters in a fog, and we are all guaranteed to hit some rocks here-and-there. That should lead to compassion, not judgment.
I miss this man: his music, his wisdom, and his heart for others…
"Lord,it seems the big and serious things that are happening so fast these days tend to take up so much of our attention and energy. Lord, help us to remember the little things are important too, a smile,a hug, a kind word and a prayer for someone who is hurting.- Charlie Daniels pic.twitter.com/reO39rbcM4
Did the original Hippocratic Oath specifically say a doctor would not do abortions? (“…and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”)
All I can say is to choose the station you will be listening to wisely if you cannot reach the radio and furry family members are going to snuggle on your lap.
And don’t get me started about using the bathroom first…
P.S. However, you can turn up your iPad Pro and take a recommendation from The Oak Ridge Boys:
Politicians, police officers, and soldier take an oath to uphold the Constitution.
Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to stay true to certain ethics (e.g. “do no harm”).
Christians, at baptism, implicitly take an oath to follow Jesus as Lord.
How are we doing?
Cursed with human nature, I believe we all fail to varying degrees. However, if we essential promote the opposite of that we took an oath to, what does that say about us?
At best, just hypocrites. In reality, probably charlatans, liars, and…maybe…evil.
Jesus’ words ring truer and truer:
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37, NIV).
We were a hike from home, and wanted to grab lunch before returning. From the moment we walked in, we knew we made the right decision choosing Rosie’s Diner.
Awesome food, atmosphere, and prices! Not to mention, our server, Mimi, was the icing on the cake.
It’s far away from where we live, but we’ll be back
Although tenuous “impact to others” has been been abused by those who…actually…want to control others (including you), we do have responsibilities to others. With that in mind:
Sarah Palin dined at multiple New York restaurants despite positive Covid test
Palin, who is unvaccinated, was spotted at multiple city restaurants in violation of state and CDC health guidance
Assuming it is true, and believing that (probably) the majority of what NYC is forcing on folks around COVID-19 is bogus, this is wrong.
You should be allowed to decide your own risk.
Your friends, aware of your condition, should be able to decide their own risk.
But, when the risk is not of the tenuous type that is abused, you should not be deciding others’ risk. If accurate, Palin decided eating out was worth risking the health of the staff and patrons of the restaurants.
I tried to find the “other side of the story,” but I could not locate anything indicating Palin has responded; just this:
Sarah Palin dodges questions outside NY restaurant after positive Covid test
Former Alaska governor filmed leaving Elio’s on Wednesday night
And, since it is behind a “you have to create an account to read it”-wall, I don’t know if “dodges” is legit.
If you have COVID-19, stay away from other people. Yes, we would not necessarily have done that with the common cold or the flu, but…let’s be honest…that is a reasonable request, isn’t it?
Final note: I am very disappointed in Palin, and her behavior hurts “her side” (and the side of us who believe much of the reaction to the pandemic is overblown, immoral, etc.) However, the “punishment must fit the crime.” She shouldn’t be treated like she just committed murder.
‘Fight Club’ Author Approves Of China’s Censored Movie Ending, Says ‘This Is Super Wonderful!’ | The Daily Wire
“The first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club.” But apparently, the first rule in communist China is that the cops always win. At least that’s the message being sent in the edited version of the cult classic 1999 film “Fight Club” starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Viewers beg…
Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit (Exodus 23:2-3, NIV).
I don’t condone swearing, but I respect people who are willing to fight the narrative (at their own risk). “We the People” by Kid Rock does just that:
Oh, we gotta keep fightin’ for the right to be free
And every human being doesn’t have to agree
We all bleed red
Brother, listen to me
It’s time for love and unity
Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.
And it begins with;
Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market, according to the latest numbers from MRC Data, a music-analytics firm. Those who make a living from new music—especially that endangered species known as the working musician—should look at these figures with fear and trembling. But the news gets worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. All the growth in the market is coming from old songs.
Could it be…err…that the old songs…err…are better?
Or, at least, are more interesting?
In fairness, it’s more complicated than that, as Ted Gioia’s well-worth-the-read article discusses, but I think it’s a big factor. There is lots of great music out there, but the top of the charts today don’t compare to those of the 60s, 70s, or 80s.
I suspect the second major factor aligns with this:
As record labels lose interest in new music, emerging performers desperately search for other ways to get exposure. They hope to place their self-produced tracks on a curated streaming playlist, or license their songs for use in advertising or the closing credits of a TV show. Those options might generate some royalty income, but they do little to build name recognition. You might hear a cool song on a TV commercial, but do you even know the name of the artist? You love your workout playlist at the health club, but how many song titles and band names do you remember? You stream a Spotify new-music playlist in the background while you work, but did you bother to learn who’s singing the songs?
It is too easy to listen to too much music. When I was growing up, which was before the FCC ruined radio by allowing even small markets to be saturated, you didn’t have a zillion songs available at your fingertips.
You listened to the local station(s), spent hours replaying your limited set of albums (becoming one with the liner notes), and listened with your friends.
I love Spotify, but with most of what I imbibe from its awesome curated lists, I have no clue who the artist is, let alone the song and album names. Hardly ever do I take the time to figure out who that great tune is by.
Maybe modern music is getting killed by too much choice. Give me a menu with too many items, and maybe I settle on a familiar favorite.
Please check out the article and let me know what you think.
P.S. And check out this video about Gioia’s piece by Rick Beato:
As an overall summary statement of its present state, I agree with “it is a pandemic of bureaucracy”:
The Pandemic of the Bureaucracy: Finally liberals are waking up! One correction, @bariweiss : two years ago SOMEONE WAS pointing to scientific studies showing the utter uselessness of cloth masks: Rand Paul. And he was censored by YouTube and condemned by Fauci for it. https://t.co/Vjv3Wt57cw
As Clay Travis’ embedded tweet notes, “The most impressive thing about Bari Weiss on last night’s Bill Maher is the wild applause after she finishes here.” It is liberal audience. They realize the corona virus totalitarian emperors have no clothes and are more willing to acknowledge it.
The video above is worth a watch, and his thread from Yossi Gestetner is worth a read:
COVID-19 deaths since @JoeBiden’s first full day in office is 450,013. That’s a daily average of 1,229.
The 438,594 COVID deaths under Trump averaged 1,405 a day but that was pre-vaccines.
Mind-boggling that failed policies continue to be pushed and that Fauci isn’t yet fired.
In all this, I am reminded that politicians used to use “it’s for the children” as an excuse for whatever thing they wanted to do, even if the connection to children was as thin as a thread (or essentially non-existent).
I guess the kids no longer matter. We are damaging our children horrendously with our pandemic reaction…along with other untold devastation.
And “science” is an excuse. We aren’t following it.
** The author disclaims copyright to this source code. In place of
** a legal notice, here is a blessing:
**
** May you do good and not evil.
** May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
** May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
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