I now own a 9.62 % Series-I treasury and a 6.89 % Series-I treasury. In addition CD ladders pay about 4.5% and are insured. So my un-invested cash tends to sit in CD ladders while I wait for the pits of a recession to engulf the world.
Testing
Shared with Your friends
ABC News mentioned new scientific evidence tonight that Noah’s flood happened. Its been dated at 5000 BC. It was a melting of the ice caps that swelled the Mediterranean and when it broke through it flooded the Black Sea and covered a great deal of Asia Minor. It flooded almost all the ancient world of humans. The old coastline is about 400 feet below the surface.
This cookie is to die for.
“The difference between you and a pear is you think you are important and the pear does not.”
— Dennis Prager.
He gets this from current events about a movement of people wanting to bequeath their bodies to nourish the earth.
Dennis says, (paraphrasing):
If humans are not made in the image of God then they are no different than fruit. They are just compost.
It comes down to whether you are merely physical. If humans are merely physical then they can be compost. They are compost. Any difference is just imaginary.
I would add this is the philosophy of atheism. Dennis calls it the nihilism of the secular western world. What I would call the secular western fundamentalist religion. It really is the logical conclusion of reductionism.
To the atheist your real meaning, in any ultimate sense, is you will become fertilizer and will help plants grow. Anything you do before that is … well, you are just having a nice fantasy.
Atheists will tell us they have moral codes and build moral societies. They have been saying that for years. What they cannot tell us is WHY. Who could possibly even care about the moral code of a pear? Or fof fertilizer? It is not logical. Not even rational. But they insist the theist’s interest in the transcendental is irrational. Surely they base this on a metaphysical assumption. They will tell you that the flaw in theism is that it is based on metaphysical assumptions. But will deny their own world view is based on a metaphysical assumption.
One atheist recently called me a nutcase for even asking the question. Instead of answering the question they just name-call. One can only assume that is because they cannot give reasons. Their philosophy is vacuous. If they could give reasons then everyone could consider the reasons.
Meanwhile, everywhere one encounters such people they scream that theists are believing in imaginary things. And they truly believe that too!
I think the atheist needs to explain why he is meta-physics free. Otherwise, why is he believable?
Isn’t everybody driven to be better?
Melissa Fleming, the UN’s under secretary general for global communications, said she was “deeply disturbed” by reports that journalists were being “arbitrarily” suspended from Twitter.
“Media freedom is not a toy,” she said. “A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation.”
Earlier on Friday, EU commissioner Vera Jourova threatened Twitter with sanctions under Europe’s new Digital Services Act which she said requires “the respect of media freedom and fundament rights”.
“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she added.
Banning Trump and conservatives … NOT a threat to democracy.
Banning DOXers … threat to democracy.
Lefties say private companies can ban whomever they want to … unless its Musk … then it is a political crime.
Some people, says Winter, only tend to do what they’re interested in – “what lights up our brains” – which causes them to de-prioritise other urgent tasks.
“ADHD traits can be really badly misinterpreted,” says Shelford. “If I struggle with timeliness, you’re going to think I don’t care about my job. If I forget something, you might just conclude I’m dumb.”
I am a neurodivergent person. I have INTP and HSP characteristics. When writing code I often write code for a solid 4 hours without looking up or even getting a drink. That’s called “concentrating” or “thinking” and what I cannot stand is an “agile” office environment where I am interrupted every 5 minutes. It takes 20 minutes for a brain to start “concentrating”. In today’s corporate offices they won’t let you do that. They think you need to “interact” to be productive, not “think.” So most employers actually paid me $$$ to not give them my brain power.
I cannot tolerate dances, loud music, parties, or crowds. After 15 minutes my brain just switches off. And I am bored and disconnected and lonely in a crowd. It is very disturbing.
This is a standard HSP characteristic.
Are we using our wealth for our vanity or for God’s glory?
Vanity
I wrote this on a facebook thread to an ex-army person. They were discussing the subject of cussing.
To me that goes under the doctrine of experiential sanctification.
“I once had a manager who had been in command of, now that I think of it, it was anti-aircraft batteries (was originally thinking field artillery). He was deployed in Kosovo. One day his colonel called him in and said “I am field promoting you 2nd Lt, what school do you want to go to?” Instead of telling the colonel “I actually work for a living so i cannot be an officer”, he actually said “Armor.” So, he became a tank commander. I learned a lot about armored vehicles from him. As a captain he was running a tank platoon with 4 M1 Abrams and some strykers and support vehicles. After that he became a software manager and hired me to develop the human interface for an embedded controller for chemical processing used in hospitals and in industrial washing machines. He was one of only two people field promoted to officer since 1970. What’s weird was my very next project actually was on armor. I designed the crew station instrumentation for the ground combat vehicle.
Anyway, I just discovered my best friend retired as a Lt Col, and was a battalion commander, but the last six years has been … a pastor! So, it just goes to show the army does not always totally ruin a person, in spite of rumors to the contrary. Chuck Swindoll told me he had once been a colonel. Gasp!”
Wow, Unbelievable!
Secret Government Twitter Portal? Really?
Main Category: Just Life
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
A quote from James in the Bible. The Bible is actually talking about controlling your own speech, not the speech of others.
About this wisdom and good deeds thing spoke of in the bible. Having proper boundaries is a good thing. Not having them, and letting others violate your boundaries in order to “just get along” actually harms them. You need to be able to speak the truth and tell others when they violate your boundaries. And when they are being inappropriate. Otherwise you are not promoting goodness, you are promoting confusion and dysfunction.
Shame driven families are families where boundaries are not allowed, and truth is not allowed, and secrets are kept and shame is brushed under the rug. This isn’t a good life, rather it is a miserable life that leads to despair.
From the book of James in the Bible.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Shadow Banning and Democracy are Incompatible.
Shadow Banning and Democracy are Opposites.
Shadow Banning Harms Democracy.
For example, if ordinary citizens cannot run for school board and be noticed because of the opposing political views of a publisher this violates equal time principles. It really is a matter of making an entire group of citizens invisible to the public. You cannot have a democracy under those circumstances.
It gets worse when one party in power tells the media what ideas can be suppressed or which class or type of citizens to suppress. There are constitutionally protected class of citizens.
Religious belief is one of those classes.
So, is social media a public service? Or not? Is it in the public square or do people pay to access it? (i.e., is it a private club or private service?).
Ted Lieu said “everyone can pay to advertise their message on social media.” Untrue!!! Can Donald Trump? Trump campaign? Trump supporters? Ted Lieu AFAIK has not answered such questions.
There used to be FCC regulations about media based on air waves, and equal time. Is the radio to you cell phone a regulated “air wave”? Licensed space, licensed by the government, to the telco provider? Should it be?
There was legislation about whether carriers could charge extra for premium service to those willing to pay. Under that scheme those who do not pay get minimum or no service and have diminished rights.
An article on Forbes about “Digital Equal Access” says:
This digital equal time rule puts the ability to respond to disinformation campaigns in the hands of the party with the greatest interest in timely, persuasive and effective corrections. With this rule in place, the original audience would receive countervailing information, without requiring social media companies or government agencies to act as truth police.
The social media companies involved know who received the original candidate’s targeted message. All they need to do is replicate this audience for the opposing candidate’s response, avoiding the need to share the identities or contact information of the targeted audience and thereby protecting their privacy.
Above quote is from Mark McCarthy, an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture & Technology Program, a non-resident senior fellow in the
Institute for Technology Law and Policy at Georgetown Law, and a non-resident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, Previously, I was Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the Software & Information Industry Association
My view: (to promote democracy)
The solution is MORE SPEECH, not less. And no arbitration by the broadcaster.
“Marriage is between a man and a woman” – Joe Biden on CSpan.
Looks like a Nice Place.
The environmental movement says “No” to mining lithium here. But listen to him repeat the “drumbeat” on lithium battery powered cars. Yes, that is the common drumbeat.
But when you have environmentalists join conservatives in opposing lithium, what will the outcome
really be? I don’t know. But things are not what they seem.
Elsewhere
I personally know someone who stopped a wind farm development by the state of Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Half the counties in Iowa have moratoria on wind farms. The reason? Bird kills are opposed by environmentalists.
Things are not as they seem.
Were Diamond and Silk unfair to Ted Lieu?
Just wondering.