The Folk Prophet

Of course it does.

*cough* socialist! *cough*

I've been asked to play guitar to accompany our ward choir singing This Little Light of Mine on Easter Sunday. My my, how times have changed.

Well, here's my perspective, fwiw: Yes, the flurry of obvious stuff is going to tame most likely. Yes, there's going to be blockers. A ton. But that doesn't mean the momentum is dying. The Supreme Court is conservative and (more importantly) constitutionally based. Trump and his team openly state they expected law suits and expect things will work out in court, many things going to the Supreme court. And almost everything being done is constitutional, and will likely, ultimately, be held up as so. Running these issues through the courts is part of the play, and a big part of the intended and expected momentum. Not sure what this means. Who's not involved? And how does that slow the momentum? How is it that those who voted for Trump being less involved than they were a week, a month, a few months ago destroying momentum? And what evidence is there that Trump supporters and voters are not involved any more or less than they have ever been? This isn't a change. Any congressional changes were always going to be a fight. No loss of momentum. It simply is what it is. But... there's also the real potential that because of these blockers, the congressional powers may well swing even further right in the next elections when people see and are pleased with what Trump has successfully done, and so forth. On that point, we'll see, for sure. Maybe the opposite will happen, particularly if the left is successful in convincing people how evil Trump's moves are (something they've generally failed at so far, but...the power of the media shouldn't be underestimated). Every single one of Trump's appointees for his cabinet has gone through (with the exception of the early drop out of Matt Gaetz). The momentum for change is still there and is SIGNIFICANT. DOGE is a tool to discovery, and that will continue but..... The changes that will be (and have been) implemented by Trump and his cabinet is the real momentum. Just because the impactful change moments all happen in a flurry doesn't mean the momentum created from those changes is dying. That's like saying because the D&C isn't getting new revelations added the way it was in Joseph Smiths time that the momentum of the church has died. The revelations given to Joseph in the establishment of the church created the momentum...and the stone continues to roll downhill, growing in power and strength. *Note: for those thinking I'm comparing Trump and his cabinet to the church in a "worshipful" way, that's not the point of the comparison at all, in any way. it's just a point of how momentum is established. Any example of something being established in a flurry and then setting the tone for the future momentum could easily be used. Say, for example....Amazon Prime's free 2 day shipping implementation. Or Google's free search engine approach. Or Apple's simple interface design. Etc. Changes set momentum. And then juggernauts are created. So I guess you could say, perhaps, that the "changes" being successfully made to the executive branch are slowing (though time will tell on that), but the momentum is set, and for the immediate future...I think the momentum is set pretty well. The view that a week ago or so the momentum was CRAZY and just a few days later it's dying though.... ? Seems odd. Of course there's a bunch of resistance. That's going to be the case. But there was a week ago too. And it's always been expected. Evil didn't die. (Note: I'm not saying all Trump resistance is evil, just to be clear. But a lot of the resistance to a lot of things does seem to be rooted in evil.) But the wins Trump has already.... I don't see momentum dying. Win after win after win...and I expect that will continue. And, yes...there will be some Trump losses. But when there are, to respond (like the left keeps doing) with, "It's the end for Trump! Finally, we've got him!" (which is a more extreme way of saying the momentum is dying, but kind of the same sort of response), just doesn't ring that true to me. The battle is not the war. Battles will be lost. But most battles seem to be either won or still being fought, with indications they'll be won by Trump and team. When, legitimately, more battles are being lost than won, well...okay then...then we can say the war is turning. But right now...nope. Don't see it. (To be fair, I think, ultimately, the left is going to take the reigns again. I just hope that the reprieve from that is moderately lengthy. (My fear is that it'll be a very short reprieve)). Anyhow, that's my take on it. You're right though. We'll see. Not trying to debate the points, btw. Just sharing my perspective, as it currently stands.

I don't think this is a valid perspective on the situation.

Really? So "The Morning Breaks" in the hymn book should have been hymn number 0?

Always a useful argument for those to whom it is not very evident. Holy made up factoid, Batman! Even IF some of us thought you or others were morally wrong to not support Trump...how is that hatred on our part, but you believing we're morally wrong to support Trump isn't hatred on your part? How is it that you believe your posting in a condemnatory way isn't driving people away from Christ in the same way you're claiming other condemnatory posts are doing? Are you really that blind to the hypocrisy of your posts in that regard? Are you really unaware how offensive what you're saying is...as you claim how offensive what others say is? I've made the same choice and participate MUCH less than I used to. But I pretty much blame myself for the terrible spirit of contention that I caused. Sure...others in the forum are culpable too. It's populated with mortals after all -- fallen beings, who all sin, falter, and fail right along side me. I'm moderately aware, however, that my farts stink. I guess yours smell like vanilla beans -- or lavender -- or sugar cookies -- or pumpkin spice.

I think your missing the point of the jab. Nice or not, he's saying absolutely horrible things of those who like Trump here. Claiming they worship Trump instead of Christ? That a downright despicable accusation and an extremely underhanded attack. And yet, I agree with you. I don't think he despises anyone. Which is why I made the jab. Because it should be obvious to anyone not afflicted by derangement that those who like Trump here do not despise anyone either.

He says as he despises all those who like Trump.

Sadly, politicking is often less contentious.

I've had similar thoughts often.... and yet.... I actually never learn said valuable lessons. Because...dang it...I deserve a nice car!

I have a distinct memory of singing: "Don't hide it under a basket...a basket...a basket...", while holding up a finger and cupping the other hand over said finger every time we sang "basket", in primary as a little kid. Was some version of this song in an old-timey children's song book? Must have been. Or we had a rogue song leader. I looked it up and the lyrics are typically showing as "Hide it under a bushel? No!" So apparently our song leader was rogue any way you cut it.

I might add... it depends on the subject a bit too...and a bit who's being advised. My dad saying, "I think you ought to get a reasonable car instead of that thing," wouldn't be an issue. I'd take the advice if I agreed and ignore it if I didn't. But when my father-in-law gives my wife unsolicited parenting advice it comes across to her as him telling her she's a bad mother. And it's not good.

Well, it's more than just that. It's also (among other things) that even if the parent can teach things, it can damage relationships, which damages the parent's ability to continue to teach....and... moreover, Parents can be wrong.

In my opinion, this should be the general rule with adult children -- the exception being if they are mooching off you somehow (still living at home, etc.), but even then...it's a judgement call. But otherwise....butt out unless asked.

Technically, only for 7.57% of it.

I'd like to add that I spent 80% of my life with no gospel app and somehow managed to learn the gospel and the scriptures pretty well, prepare talks, Bible bash, and/or etc. And I walked uphill both to and from school. (I really did!) That being said... the search engine on the church site is terrible too. But there's no question things are improving there and in the app.

I wonder if, some day, people will react to Jordan Peterson the same way. Some guy made millions telling people to make their bed. Maybe I can get rich writing a book. The One Rule of Highly Successful People Rule #1: Grow up

Yep. And insecurities driving those emotions. Inside I'm still a 12-year-old kid who doesn't understand much about much.

Yep. But...man...that caller ID threw me. It's funny how some little thing like that can make some logic just kind of disappear because you're down the rabbit hole. I felt really ashamed and stupid after the experience (I'm over it now). Because, you know...I'm actually a moderately smart guy.

We put our car up for sale on KSL last month. Holy....crap! I've sold vehicles that way before. It was fine. A few dirtbags who low balled you. But overall...fine. And not that long ago. Like...I dunno...4 or 5 years back. But now.... all I got was scams and ridiculous low-balls. It was....shocking. It's gotten SO bad. The latest scam, apparently (of which I got 20 or more) is they show interest, even offer to come see it tomorrow to test drive, suggest they're willing to pay a good price, etc... but then they say they need a car report. Then they send you a link to pay for one (that's a reasonable price)...and I think (I didn't fall for any) you actually even get a report....but they and the money disappear then. It's numbers game scam. They hit every new car that goes up for sale. Fortunately on that one I had heard of the scam. And, moreover, I won't run a car report when selling a car. They're useless. If someone's buying a car and wants to validate it, take it to a mechanic. I told one of the early scammers that (not knowing it was a scam yet for sure), and he said..."I understand. Unfortunately my mechanic is out of town and I wanted to purchase before he comes back...." I not only literally laughed out loud but replied with a "Hahahahahahah!" My mechanic is out of town? That was funny. Edit: I had another one, when I said no to the car report (once again, early before I learned to start ignoring the obvious scripts they're using), that I was making her uncomfortable with my lack of trust. It wasn't a laugh out loud funny. But still.

I only lost money one time. It was pretty early in the ebay world...and I sold an expensive camera lens for $1800. The person then told me they were on vacation and that's why they needed/wanted it, and asked if I could ship it to them in Europe. Sure! That's good customer service, right? A day after I shipped it Ebay notified me that the $1800 that had been paid to me had been pulled back out of my bank account because it had been a fraud transaction, and because I hadn't followed Ebay's rules (only ship to the address on the account), I was liable. I tried to stop the shipment...but it was already out of the country. Gone. That was early on though, like I said. I've wizened up a lot. And yet....

So...another path down a scammer's scammy scam...much further than I wish I'd gone. Another, you ask? Why yes. Another. I don't remember if I've shared this before, so forgive me if so. Maybe months ago I had a phone call come through and the caller ID says, "Utah County Sherriff's office". So I answered it and.... Well...before I complete the story...it wasn't the Sherriff's office, and there were MANY signs that it wasn't. But.... the caller ID sold me. And once sold.... So the guy introduces himself as officer something or what-have-you and then tells me they've been trying to reach me because I have a warrant out for missing jury duty. He texts me the warrant...which was for a ridiculous amount (I can't remember, but something like $40,000), and then tells me I need to pay a refundable deposit on it or they would have to come and physically arrest me. And it can't be a credit card (of course). It's 10%...so $4000. But it's refundable after I get it resolved...it's just to keep me from getting physically arrested. And it has to be paid in person at the Sherriff's office. And he has to stay on the phone with me while I drive to the Sherriff's office (or, once again, they'll immediately come for my physical arrest.) I'll interject here... I was shaking scared. This guy was GOOD. And, like I said... the caller ID. So onward with the story. I get in my car and drive, but... I have to stop at the bank for the money (no problem he says...). About every 2 minutes he pipes up wanting a status report. Where are you now? Etc. How far out are you? Etc. So I get the money from the bank...and then he says the quickest way to clear the warrant is to pay the deposit at a "bonding" machine... which...the closest one too me looks like it's at the Smiths.... So I drive to the Smith's parking lot. Okay, in the meantime my wife is frantically texting me..."This doesn't feel right." But I wouldn't hear it. I was scared. They were going to arrest me. Etc. But then.... she finally texts me. "My dad called the city offices. The Sherriff dept. doesn't handle jury duty warrants." I still wasn't convinced. He had explicitly said it was a Federal trial and so-forth. So the city wouldn't know.... or something like that I'd convinced myself of... but....the crack appeared and, finally, I got a wee bit suspicious. So I (sitting in the Smith's parking lot), looked up 2 things on the internet. 1. The sherriff's office number, and 2. Bonding machine at Smiths. As I was doing this the guy pipes in "What's going on?" To which I reply, "I'm contacting the Sherriff's office to verify." He almost yells back, "This IS the Sherriff's office." And I hung up on him. Now...I would like to say that when I hung up on him I didn't have the feelings of dread and fear that I'd just assured my arrest and etc.... but I did. Regardless, I called the Sherriff's office and... yep... turns out that's who my father-in-law had called too. And they don't do that. There was no warrant for my arrest. Etc. Then I looked up the bonding machines and.... they're for buying bitcoin. Bitcoin!!! Are you freaking kidding me? Now...I would like to think that I'm smart enough that if I'd actually gone into Smiths to pay the "bond" and seen that it was bitcoin I would have known and been done with it, at the very least, by that point. But.... I went WAY further down the path of belief than I should have. First of all....they wouldn't call. They'd knock. Second. $40,000? For missing jury duty? (It might have been more. I can't remember. It was ridiculous.) Can't use a credit card? Have to stay on the phone and check in every minute. Threats of physical arrest. Giving me an "easier" way out by going to Smiths? That, of course, is weighed against the STINKING caller ID that said Utah County Sherriff's Dept. or something, Fear of being arrested, convincing acting (it wasn't some guy with an Indian accent or the like), and...the fact that they were sending me to the Sherriff's office (they introduced the idea of paying at a "bonding" machine later). It's embarrassing. But that's the story. (Once again, if I've shared it before, I apologize). So...today: I bought an Echo Show 21 for my wife. (That I did mention in another thread.) It was having some issues with bluetooth disconnecting in certain circumstances that seemed software related. Well...just contacting Amazon tech support is... well... let's say not easy (or my A.D.D. means it is easy but I can't figure it out). But they had a link for "asking the community" in the forums, which I've seen, at other times, is often answered by an Amazon associate. So I posted my question there: Shortly thereafter, I got a message as follows: Amazon Chat Support Agent 771 Please click "Chat Now" to connect with Amazon customer Support. Click Here So I (thoughtlessly, because... you know...expectations were set...Amazon associates reply and help here...which is just what happened....) clicked. And...sure enough...chat window. Legit looking. How can I help you today? So I explain my problem. They confirm my identity with my phone and email associated with my account (whoops), and then ask for my serial number for the device. I say it's attached to a mount and the SN is covered. Do I need to unmount it? No... are you at your computer? Okay...I'm sending you a link. And... a link comes through the chat that's an .exe file. I literally replied, "No way, no how am I clicking on that." And then said the same to the guy. He told me...something...but I said "no...I'm not clicking on a link that give access to my computer. Why do you need access to my computer anyhow?" Now I would have been on the verge of hanging up...but he says, casually, "No biggie. It's just on the same network and allows us to troubleshoot. But we don't need it." Okay...so he's not pushing it...so maybe it was legit (I'm still not clicking on that thing!). And I told him I didn't even know if I was speaking with Amazon. I noted (at that point) that the url of the chat window wasn't even Amazon, but was a google address. He said it was just the tool being used (in retrospect...yeah...right. Amazon is using google? Give me a break...but in the moment... I let it go enough to stay on the call.) So he has me remove the mount and get him my serial number (in retrospect... whoops)... and then has me reset the device. And.... he doesn't seem very familiar with it... I have to explain what buttons it has.... but... you know...that's not uncommon. He's just some guy in India (this one had an Indian accent) who they hired on the cheap an run him through scripts.... so I'm still not hanging up. But he has me reset the device (turn it off and back on again) and then try again. Which...of course didn't fix it. I'd tried that already. So he says that he'll need to escalate the issue to the development team and someone would call me back. Which someone won't, I now realize. Dang it! It wasn't until after the fact that I concluded it was a scam. I mean like 2 seconds after the call. As soon as the stress (minor stress, but stress still) of being on the call left... duh. I was being scammed. I only gave out my phone, email, and serial number of the machine. Which ticks me off...but.... you know...plenty of scam emails and phone calls come through. I'm pretty good at ignoring them (unless the caller ID says it's the Sherriff...apparently... But lesson learned on that. Here's the deal. I DON'T ANSWER MY PHONE. EVER! Leave a message! (which...to be fair...that's what happened with the "Sherriff". They left a message, but the caller ID...and the message that sounded like the Sherriff's office.... I called them back. Argh.) I digress. But I don't trust my Show 21 now. I don't know how compromised someone having the SN makes it. But there's a possibility that it means they could hack it. So it's being returned. The summary. Apparently I'm a sucker. Let your con-men friends know. They can easily find my number and email because I keep giving them out to other con-men.

My point is that it won't be forgotten and over by 2027. And it leaves out the terrible social contagion and the effects of that.

If only things were this simple.