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Of my side porch.

Not according to G-d Himself. D&C 104:17 For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare

Nor do you need to prove it, unless you want to impose that belief on someone else. Want to call your boyfriend "she" and pretend he's having a period? I mean, you do you. Want to pass legislation to normalize that sort of belief? Yeah, no. That's a no-go. You want to pass such a law, you must convince most of the rest of us that you're not just spouting worthless (or much worse than worthless) nonsense. On a strictly societal level, no one cares about either your tender feelings or your preferred perversions. Believe what you will. But don't impose your stupidities on the rest of us. That's the social contract that we maniacal, starry-eyed theists live under, and you get to join us there.

I'm beginning to be of the opinion that at least some of what we've come to call dog whistles is far right Republicans trying to troll the left. Political discourse is turning uglier by the day, and I'll confess that I sometimes get swept up in the hysteria. Having said that, I don't know how else to interpret what I saw last night. If it wasn't the world's loudest dogwhistle, then it was the world's most tonedeaf troll job, and the fact that I wasn't the one who started this thread tells me it worked exactly as intended. It was just barely ambiguous enough to create deniability. Is that the sort of behavior that you want to see at the highest levels of government? Say what you want about Kamala (and I'll probably agree with most of it, tbh), but we wouldn't be sitting here debating Roman vs Nazi salutes on day 1 of a Harris presidency. I know I've been talking a lot lately about the looming threat of a class war. That Luigi fellow scared a lot of very powerful people, and energized a lot of very desperate people. A lot of what we're seeing makes sense in that context. That's why I came here to give my 2 cents on the "Roman" salute, but I'm ultimately more concerned with some of the EOs Trump already repealed. Seriously, look at the list, there's some head-scratchers in there, like EO 14087. Blanket-repealing your predecessor's policies is a bad policy, no matter who's doing it. And while it's fun to make fun of Elon, we're hyperfocused on protecting ourselves, our immigrant neighbors, and our trans friends from a Trump presidency as much as possible. And the harsh reality we're facing is that we can no longer rely on the Democratic Party to be the means to keep him in check. That scares me, and it should scare conservatives more than pronouns do. The two-party system's biggest flaw is that one party can't afford to be weak. That's why I'm glad to live in a purple state instead of a solid blue one. Checks and balances. I don't think either major party cares about that on a national level anymore. I'm trying to wait 10 more days to swear off Democrats for good, but they aren't making it easy. Why? It makes more sense to lean into it when you know you can't be reelected.

When it comes to radical gender theory, and pronouns, and the TQIA+2Setc end of the rainbow, and all that, I think the civilized world gave y'all a good 4 years to make your case. I don't think you did. I never heard any serious interaction on the concept of the social contagion aspect of things. Much less any serious response. Nor did you folks ever meaningfully interact with data indicating the vast majority of kids with gender dysphoria or body dysmorphia self-resolve to their bio sex by the time they're 19 or 20. Nor was there ever any serious interaction with the numbers of predators taking advantage of changing bathroom policies to gain access to women's spaces. Nor was there ever even a single decent answer to the question "what is a woman". Zero interaction with evidence pointing to the percentage of genderfluid people just being neurodiverse folks going with the peer pressure. You've failed to make your case. It's a good goal to try to make things so every human, even the fringe or minority or ill or different, get compassion and understanding in their cultures. "Love thy neighbor" applies to everyone. But no, we're not gonna let you mainstream your varioius radical redesigns of things. Not because we're evil. Not because we're stuck in our ways. Not because we're protective of our privilege. But because you've simply failed to convince us. Ya know, me too. Maybe weekly. Idle time on discord servers where creative types feed my thirst for eclectic memes. My diverse TikTok algorithm. A few arguing buddies here, a small handful of real life acquaintances there. Some of my kid's friends. I've got a soft spot in my heart for furries, after meeting a few of them and discovering we shared exactly the same sense of humor, and ability to hold down a cloaked conversation about stuff right in front of their clueless family members who thought it was just a haloween costume. I've hung with a gay guy who is doing his best to just live life as a disciple of the Lord. I've hugged a guy in the impossible situation of staying the dad in his Catholic family complete with young kids, or giving up the fight against reality and just taking the meds that would give him his breasts and let him be who he really is. You come to your conclusions, and I come to mine. But the notion that the only reason me and mine think the way we do, is because we're ignorant of how things are, isn't true.

8 years, and the left hasn't learned a single dang thing. Everyone remember how the "OK" sign was an alt-right or white nationalist dogwhistle? Dustbin of history, that one. @Phoenix_person, you folks need to get some new material. Identity politics and seeing fascist dogwhistles everywhere didn't get you anywhere in 2016, and it won't get you anywhere now. After he got shot in the head and raised his fist in defiance and yelled "fight fight fight", it really wasn't calling endless hoardes of camo-wearing beer-gut-having ar-15 totin' boogaloos to implement their plans either. For pete's sake. I know y'all are scared, but y'all are also smarter than that. At least be more imaginative. Another way of looking at it: If Trump et. al. was gonna go all dictator on us, he would have done it 8 years ago. There is literally no valid reason why he would lie in wait for a first term, to spring his nefarious plot on us in his 2nd. That's not how it works.

It was weird, but I think @Carborendum got it right. Anything else is the left trying to go histrionic over something...anything...

It wasn't a Nazi salute. It was a Roman salute. It means exactly what he said just afterward. "My heart goes out to you." If people weren't on edge to look for any misstep and just accept it for what it was, then there would be no controversy.

Just happened:

My understanding is that "DOGE" is not an actual government agency and that Musk is basically an advisor to the President, lacking any actual governmental authority. If that "advice" includes instructions on implementation, I can see how having both men might be problematic. In any case, I trust Musk's instincts and suspect that Ramaswamy's input and ideas can be provided at a distance. I still don't think that DOGE will amount to anything, though the fact that Musk is willing to put his name on the effort does suggest there is more than just hot air behind it.

Yup. It seems to me that this is the Republican party teeing up the presidency after Vance. (The current governor is term limited and the Lt. Governor is being appointed to the Senate to fill Vance's seat. While Vivek has experience in business and finance, he doesn't have much experience in politics. This is a way for him to get some experience and then make another bid for the White house. OR... it could be that he and Musk really didn't get along.

https://downloads.newyorker.com/projects/2024/cartoons-and-puzzles-2024/brume-the-supper-soiree.pdf

I do not understand this kind of thinking. Perhaps it may be possible some day but not with current science and technology. One can no more make a woman by altering a man than it is possible to make a human by altering (carving) a tree. We can fiddle with some attributes and change appearances, but the basic genetics will remain. We can pretend anything we want but it does not make it so. By the very definition of reality verses pretense – what we pretend is nothing more than fantasy – reality is beyond pretense. Some may think that they can pretend reality – I believe that kind of thinking is the very definition of mental instability and incompetency. The Traveler

Now the left is going crazy because Trump didn't place his hand on the Bible during the inauguration. People are making some baseless claims" He's the Anti-Christ/Devil. No oath, not really the President. No oath, he can't be impeached. Uhmmm... Since when did the left start caring about the Bible?

In that vein... I tend to believe that those who are baptized for the dead will find salvation based on the same criteria as those who are baptized in this life. It isn't about being sinless -- none of us are. It is about being humble enough to constantly be open to learning the truth. It is about being humble enough to continue repenting based on the new truths we learn. It is about humbling ourselves enough to allow the Atonement to heal us from sin. ... and being determined enough to continue these things through all eternity.

If the Russian novel has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that men (and women) will often seek after misery and ensconce themselves therein, comfortably nestled in its lap.

Men who forcibly rape their daughers have always existed, and the world has kept spinning. Attempts at genocide have always existed, and the world has kept spinning. Condemnation of fornicators (defined as those who engage in illegitimate sexual relations) has always existed, and the world has kept spinning. Vivisecting innocent animals for the fun of watching them suffer to death has always existed, and the world has kept spinning. Hatred of those stinking bleeding-heart liberal fools has always existed, and the world has kept spinning. People who act like antisocial jerks have always existed, and the world has kept spinning. Somehow, your case just isn't very strong. Or else I don't understand what your case is, which I grant is a distinct possibility.

Sure there was. You just didn't like our answer. Help me out. What was your answer?

I see what you did there.

I did my dad's temple work. I have no clue where he is right now, or if he'll avail himself of the doors I've helped open for him with my earthly ordinances on his behalf. I can see it going either way. He might say "Oh, well that's obviously what I should have been doing this whole time", and bend his knee. Or he might be trying to organize the afterlife version of a poker game, guffawing loudly at jokes about what those holy shiny white clothes wearin' visitor wimmin have beneath them robes. My poor mortal tools of judgment tell me he was overall a good man. We'll see. But yeah, I really have no clue if he's in paradise or spirit prison right now. For whatever reason, whenever I voice this notion around folks in a temple situation, they usually stumble all over themselves to express all the ways they're certain dad'll seek exaltation. I don't get it. No matter his choice, I'm at peace.

Well, 4. Dude also figured that without people becoming devout and willing to make themselves the expression of their God's will, all their efforts were doomed to fail.

Fun fact: Cracklin' Rose is a song about a man and a bottle of cheap wine.

Not yet. I think they have until tomorrow to turn in a photo of the final product.

Clearly they should have made a snowdog.

It's been cold in eastern Washington, but no snow yet this season. I'm a tad disappointed. Ah, well. We still have February.

Science (scientific data) clearly indicates that preferences (including sexual preferences) are learned or acquired (not innate). The scientific understanding (definition) of intelligence is the ability to learn and alter projected outcomes. One could say that many species become extinct because of their inability to adapt to changing circumstances. I am some what dumfounded that as much as modern society has taught us and as intelligent as we think we are about evolution and survival of the fittest that there is a growing number of individuals hell bent on ending their own genetic intelligence by refusing to pass their genetics on to a next generation to accommodate their momentary pleasure. The essence of personal genetic suicide. I am also puzzled by those that so disdain the genetics of those committing genetic suicide that they feel inclined to encourage them. But then, perhaps it is best to eliminate certain such intelligence from the gene pool? The Traveler

I have reason to believe that it is not unlikely for a person to die and not realize that they have passed on. As we begin to navigate our next estate, we will learn through the experience what has happened to us. I am quite sure that our next estate is not so different from our current mortal estate that we will immediately realize much of anything. I believe it is possible that we will recognize others that have preceded us in death that will help in the transition and will explain many helpful things. I am also of the impression that Jesus, as a resurrected glorified being, is not a resident of our next spiritual existence. The Traveler

Either way, we'll find out in four years.

Jacob 7:26 ...our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream... We lived before we were born. When we die we in essence wake back up to our previous life. It is a reality we will be far more familiar with than right now. Like waking up from a very real seeming dream.

Right now the DOGE X account seems to be posting information describing the problem. "In FY2024, U.S. Congress provided $516 billion to programs whose authorizations previously expired under federal law. Nearly $320 billion of that $516 billion expired more a decade ago." "Federal government agencies are using, on average, just 12% of the space in their DC headquarters. The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 people, averaged 456 workers each day (6% occupancy)." "The Department of Education spent over $1 Billion promoting DEI in America’s schools -$489,883,797 for race-based hiring -$343,337,286 for DEI programming -$169,301,221 for DEI mental health initiatives Source: https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted/" "Federal regulations cost Americans $1.9 trillion each year. If this regulatory cost was a country, it alone would be the 12th largest economy in the world. Sources: https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/10K_Commandments.pdf… https://worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/" Etc.

Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Jeff standing there next to (almost next to) Elon? And is that Mark under Trump's arm? Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

I think you meant: https://comicskingdom.com/curtis/2025-01-19 The question is, in essence: What is the nature of our consciousness and perception, especially our proprioception (used in a generalized way)? This may seem spitballing or eighth-grade level philosophy to some, but I don't think so. We Latter-day Saints believe that we lived as conscious individuals before our mortal birth (and not merely in our fetal state). Yet we have no good idea about or even solid models for what that "pre-existence" may have looked like. Honestly, it may well have looked very much like our mortal life today. I suspect it bore more resemblance to our mortal experience than we realize. I also suspect that "it", our premortal experience, was experience in separable and perhaps discrete phases, such that our mortal life might possibly be considered as another phase in that process. As for the actual question posed, I suspect that each "phase" of our eternal lives is well-marked, and we are not left with any questions about whether we are here or there. But that's my own philosophy, so who knows? Maybe some people die and it takes them hours or years to figure it out.

It's literally what he asked me for. Sent an image of the strip as reference.

Whether they get along otherwise or not, two alphas in charge of the same organization never made sense to me. I am kinda sad to see Ramaswamy gone, though - he has a lot of good ideas. Hopefully they don't need him to run with them.

Despite the unreliability of CBS News, this appears to be widely circulated and known. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vivek-ramaswamy-expected-to-depart-doge/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/19/ramaswamys-future-at-doge-is-in-doubt-as-he-prepares-to-announce-bid-for-ohio-governor-00199173 Funny how the news outlets see this as some sort of omen that the whole DOGE concept is in danger.

Fixed it for you.

During and after my mission, I enthusiastically read every Ensign I could get my hands on. By the time I was 40 or so, I had a complete collection of Ensigns going back to January 1971, the first issue. (I got rid of almost all of them about three years ago, when my wife insisted/begged that I do so. I kept the January 1971 edition, because it had a "flexidisc", a recording of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as it was then called. One of these days, I will get my hands on a phonograph, carefully remove the flexidisc from the magazine, and play it.) Sadly, I rarely read the Ensign or (now) the Liahona. I might be tempted to say that I don't have time for that, but the fact is that I don't make time for it. My loss.

It’s a slippery slope. Just look at my state. The lovely Patrick’s Point State Park is now named Sue-meg State Park. A light house in Trinidad CA had to be moved because it was placed on sacred ground. I can’t count how many casinos have been built on sacred ground… I own the land my house is built upon and you cannot convince me that I should give it back. Washington Commanders… Removing statues of confederate heroes. We have gone overboard. It’s OK to be proud of America. Warts and all. I’m not about to leave the LDS church because some mistakes were made in the past.

The Book of Job is the oldest text in the canon. It even predates Genesis. Job is an allegory and was written as a temple txt. Let me outline it this way: -Job lived in a near paradisiacal state. He had everything he could want. -Satan came into his world and caused heart ache and evil. -His integrity was tested by three friends to see if he would retain his love and loyalty for God. -special blessing were pronounced upon him for his righteousness - Finally he was rewarded to a higher level than before when he fell into his world of pain. Does that sound familiar? Incidentally it’s one of my favorite books in the Bible.

Oh I'm sure the cabinet and power players in the Dem party are running the show and probably have been for quite some time.

Dude! I thought I was cultured... I've listened to Neil diamond for (I'm guessing) over 40 years. I've never heard that song before. I have now.

The leaning snowman of Dalmation.

Has it escaped your attention that they have an Asian father?

That's a four-ball snowman. Your children are overachievers.

They built a northern Italian snowman.

Nazi!!!

That's just cold.