The Folk Prophet

Shooting a .45 1911 feels akin to shooting a 9mm glock as far as kick goes. Not too bad. It's the weight of the gun that keeps the kick down. My 9mm 1911 isn't as chill as I anticipated though. The kick on it feels similar to my other 9mm guns. Probably is slightly less, but not so much so that I was like "wow" or something. And, FWIW, I paid like $250 for my 9mm 1911. Granted, it was on sale at the time. But you can pick up a Rock Island Armory 1911 for sub $500 pretty easily. Yeah, it's not going to be as high quality as the "nice" ones. But they're rated pretty well for a low priced 1911.

For some reason I got into the idea of western wear lately. Got myself some overly long jeans to wear with my boots (I already had a few pair of cowboy boots...but it was more for...I dunno... well, not full on western...), a few western shirts, and a couple of cowboy hats. But here's the thing. Cowboy hats are expensive! Real ones, at least. The "cheap" one I got was on sale for $120 (normally $150), and the nicer one I got I dropped $250 on (also on sale, normally $350). And they're both lower quality hats, in the relative scheme of things. A high-end hat can run up to $3000!! Yowsa! But then, as I tend to do, I went even crazier on the thought, and decided I'd learn to make my own hat!! You see... a 100% beaver felt (which is the high end hat side of things), one can pick up for $200 or so. That's not really why I wanted to make hats. But... it's nice to know that if I get good at it, I could theoretically create a hat that would cost $1000+ for under $250. Shrug. Anyhow... so I got myself a hat block off Etsy ($125), and a hat "blank" or "capeline" in wool (the cheapest material) for about $35, and.... here's what I have so far: Here's the block: The blocking of the felt: Post blocking: And completed hatband (which I tooled myself): I sanded the hat too (a process that's meant to be a part of the process per my learning efforts), but that's made it all splotchy. Don't know if I've ruined it or not. Gotta try a few things to see. Next I have to sew in a sweatband, then shape the thing into a cowboy hat shape of some sort. Lest one thinks I'm only into the cowboy hat thing, I can use the same block to make Indiana Jones style fedoras! So... you know.

I went to the range once and rented about 10 different handguns in different calibers. That started my life-long (haha.... meaning the past like 10 years) love of 1911s. But... here's the one thing I learned for myself. A .45 glock is not for me. Because.... yeah. Hurt my stinking wrist! The lightweight gun with a .45 kicked like a mule. The same caliber in the 1911 was great! I own a 1911, but in 9mm. That's mostly because all my other guns are 9mm and so... you know. I'm more into the idea of .45 for a 1911. Because... you know... America! But...I digress. The overall point was simply to say that I understand.

I keep glaring at my daughter when she does that....and it's not helping! The little apostate!

I tend to respond the same way when people are critical of "Utah Mormons". But.... honestly.... we're meant to be living by a higher standard. Funny though that I'm judgmental against BYU students, but defensive of Utah Mormons. I guess I take the latter personally.

Well, here's my take: (I had actually already googled and found it because you were slow. :D) They're both idiots. The professor is clearly not all there imo. (Someone mentioned he might have some issues). I'm not sure he realized what he was tearing up, or meant it as a "screw the Proclamation to the Family" way as much as a "screw you kid" way. And the kid is everything that's wrong with BYU. Stinking self-righteous holier-than-thou little butthead.

I only know anecdotally from my ward or the like. I think Romney would win again pretty easily. I don't think, despite what I wish, that's the reason he's retiring.

Who's likely to be about the same as Romney on the Trump support side of things.

Question -- in your view: If Romney didn't retire but ran again for the Senate in Utah...would he win?

I think it differs in that trying to legalize gambling through terms like free agency is dishonest. They don't believe in free agency. They believe in money. I don't think anti-Trump Latter-day Saints are dishonest. They believe what they say. The fact that the site is one of the most self-righteous things I've ever seen.... well.... self-righteousness does, at least, take a semblance of righteousness to be. Self-righteousness is particularly annoying when it's also based in things that are false. (Granted, the true/false of it is my opinion in some cases.) Every point they make on their site is, in my opinion, partially, or completely, false.

I'm not sure political reality has anything to do with politics.

Unfortunately, not true. Because one of them is Mitt Romney. Who can (along with 2 other anti-Trump Repubs in the Senate) do more than just raise a fuss, but actually bring the vote against him to 50.

This very, very anti-Trump stance is not uncommon among Latter-day saints (relatively speaking, depending on what one means by "common"). My wife has an uncle who sees things this way. There's a website called the Moroni Project that's about the same p.o.v. It's not unsurprising that a BYU professor sees things that way. I guess the thing I find strange is that they aren't flipping the same way over Kamala, Clinton (both of them), Obama, and Biden. All of them are just as "evil" as the next.

Source?

Yep. And I, for one, am well pleased with the potential here. I don't actually disagree that the Tariffs will cause economic harm. They will. I believe the other, more important economic things that Trump is likely to enact will more than offset that. Drilling and de-regulating will make a lot more difference to the economic strength than the cost of goods from China. And it, honestly, isn't a "we'll see" issue to me. It's a long term security issue. It's worth the pain. It's no different than the philosophy on the left that getting rid of oil and gas systems, while painful, is good for us long term. (A point with which I don't fully disagree.) Some pain is worth it. Some things are worth higher costs. Some things are worth dying for. China is out of control. They have to be reigned in. Even at the cost of goods rising. Tariffs do cause some pain to the US. They cause more pain to the countries being tariffed. And they're a whole heck of a lot better way to curb other country's bad behavior than bombing them or the like. Or, alternatively, as the Dems seemed to choose, letting them just run amok. Maybe there are other, better ways. But the pre-pandemic economy under Trump before belies your point a bit. Sure, there were some pains because of the Tariffs. But the economy was great. The same is true of what I hope Musk does to the government agencies under Trump. Will it be painful for the economy and other things if the government's alphabet agencies are gutted? Yes. But, in my opinion, nothing would be better for the country in the long term.

Worth it!

Yeah. Conservatives have more sway in independent media, which is growing. And traditional media, where liberals have more, is dying. That much seems to be the case.

A joke's not funny if it doesn't make women mad at you. I mean that's literally how I gauge if what I said was funny or not. If my mother-in-law gasps in shock then it was a good joke!

@LDSGator, lest you think I'm bias only one way... one of my friends pointed out how 2012, 2016, and 2024 all showed similar vote numbers for Dems, but in 2020 they got something like 10+ million more votes. My friend sited this as evidence that 2020 was fraudulent. That's no proof at all though. Ridiculous, "this is proof!" claims on either side are ridiculous.

Two thoughts: 1. There was no Kamala Harris's son's laptop story to suppress...and even if there had been...Elon Musk pretty well changed the game on that side of things. 2. There was no pandemic. Hence, no justifiable excuse to illegally change rules in swing states. I mean there are certainly other reasons. But...yeah...I thought for sure they'd do it again. And I'm a bit surprised they didn't. But the fact that they didn't doesn't mean they didn't try. But even if they didn't try (maybe they were overly confident in Kamala or something), that doesn't mean they didn't before. But there was a LOT of flack from 2020. A lot. That being said, I expect there was an awful lot of cheating. Kamala was just that bad of a candidate. My opinion. Could be wrong.

FWIW, I don't think this is really true. This election only shows one thing. The economy needs to be strong or the swing-voting middle will vote for the other person. It doesn't really speak to conservative strength or liberal weakness. I mean, yes...the democrats made some bad moves this time around. (Kamala? Really?) And that certainly played into this election. I have no doubt that the liberal media influence will affect next election however. The economy will likely improve. The border will be secured. Wars in the world will probably diminish. But squishes in the middle don't tend to look at good things in their decision paradigm. The liberal media will keep at it with the "kids in cages" and other similar negative press commentary, ramped up, perhaps, even more than in Trump's first go round. And....I wouldn't be surprised if in 2026 the house or Senate swing back the other way, and wouldn't be surprised if the 2028 presidential vote swings back. The simple fact is that the nation is still divided pretty evenly. The squishy middle swings back and forth and changes who's in power every now and then. And the fact that the people saw through the liberal media's crap this time around is because it was directly in front of them. The media says there was no recession, the economy was strong, and inflation wasn't that bad. But people were living a different reality and so didn't buy it. But when the media starts telling them (with pictures) that Trump's throwing kids in cages and whipping immigrants from horseback and etc., etc., they won't have the direct experience to believe otherwise.... and they're the squishy middle for a reason. So they'll probably swing back the other way. None of that means it's fair that the mainstream media, Hollywood, higher (and lower) education, and other institutions are all run by the left, or that conservatives have no right to complain about that fact. Or that conservatives holding political power means they hold cultural power. (Not saying they don't hold any cultural power...but that power is clearly more leftist.) Mainstream media is diminishing. Yes. But it's not dead. Honestly, I wish you were right. But I don't think things are as straight-forward as you suggest here. That's how I see it. Could be wrong.

It's a bit surreal that he actually won. I mean... in some ways...totally unsurprising. In other ways, very surprising.

@Just_A_Guy Hey, look what a little research will do: "If ordinances for the deceased are completed out of sequence, they do not need to be performed again. They become effective when the prerequisite ordinances are completed." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/28?lang=eng

I dunno. Maybe I'm wrong on the nulled and has to be redone side of things. But either way, I think, the comment from @laronius would imply that they are still applied as if in the correct order. I think there's going to be an awful lot of cases in an awful lot of things where we, as mortals, messed something up but God will accept it as if we didn't mess it up. But that's not really the question at hand I think, which is more whether the order of the ordinance path matters, and specifically whether baptism must come first. It's been shown that there are cases where baptism has come after other things. So that can happen. This much is certain. I am no expert on the matter. Just a loud mouthed know-it-all who injects his view as if factual by habit.

I think there may be some things you aren't aware of that I've been able to learn from some temple presidencies, etc., and various other sources. Mostly I cant talk about it because it directly deals with sacred temple things. I have no doubt circumstances change. Obviously. I'm not saying nothing changes. But I think the order is pretty darned important. It's called the covenant path for a reason. But I could be wrong. Like I said, "I think..." and "per my best understanding". Shrug. Doesn't really matter. I can say this much with absolute certainty. The order matters currently. Very much. If we find out someone did their endowment without having done initiatory the endowment is nulled and has to be redone.