Midwest LDS

...or so says "American Dad", on discovering that the USA will be conquered by Canada 100 years in the future.
But are they? Canada has given us:
Ice Truckers Christopher Plummer Martin Short Bryan Adams (well admittedly the only Brian Adams song I can think of is the Robin Hood one, but that was OK) Michael Bubble Shania Twain Murdoch Pamela Anderson Rush (this on its own would be enough!) Eugene Levy Michael J. Fox Celene Dion Captain Kirk Anne Murrey ("~~Snowbird spread your wings and fly away") Dan Ackroyd James Cameron John Candy Mike Myers Leslie Nielson Fay Wray Matthew Perry Barenaked Ladies (I know nothing about them but their name sends me into stitches) Monty Hall (of the "Monty Hall Problem" - solved by Marylyn vos Savant, who was subsequently pilloried by professional statisticians for being an idiot, before she was eventually proven right.) Rick Moranis Jim Carrey (I find him hilarious, though my wife can't stand him)

Canada's air force also invades the US yearly.  My work is on the migratory path for Canadian geese.   Twice a year, there are 500 nasty poopy suspicious sketchy-looking big ol' flappy bois.  We use them to tell the weather - if it's nice, we see the geese.  If it's cold and snowing, no geese.
Canadians are known for their easy going niceness.  But I know the truth - Canada is full of hate, they just keep it all in their geese.

Umm . . . because all races were created by, and are loved by, God.
Don’t mainline Christians believe similarly?  Why does such a question even need to be asked?

My, how quickly the Trumplings have gone from “you must overlook Trump’s flaws, because Judges” to “%#$@€ RINO judges!”

I think so; but ideally it would have originated with the Pennsylvania state legislature.  

I believe there were a number of amici, but the Texas filing itself was a lawsuit—the state of Texas was the petitioner.  And yes, anyone can file an amicus brief explaining why SCOTUS should find for the petitioner or the respondent; and my understanding is that the Court will accept the brief so long as it complies with their briefing rules (marginal space, font size, citations in the correct format and so on).  But the petitioner himself has to have standing if he wants to win the case; and lack of standing is grounds for a court to refuse to even grant a hearing.
 
I thought Texas’s standing argument was intriguing (not a slam dunk, but worth a shot); but apparently not a single SCOTUS justice agreed.  So, that shows what I know . . .  

Aaaaaand . . That’s the ball game, folks.

I think we need to be careful. I've been following this thread for a bit, and I've been thinking about things brought up by both sides. But I think we've (speaking generally) strayed from earnest political discussion into vicious attacks that serve no one and foster the spirit of contention. I don't say this from a holier than thou viewpoint, I've made this same mistake before myself, nor am I a mod so take or leave my opinion as you please. But we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and many of us are active members of his church. We should do better than this.

I have to say I hated the trilogy of new Star Wars movies with The Rise of Skywalker movie being one of the biggest disappointments I have ever watched.  But The Mandalorian has been surprising to me.  I like it a lot.  It is a much more simple story, the writing and plot line is very good in my opinion and they stay with the older Star Wars legacy.
I was beginning to wonder if the Star Wars billion dollar industry was flushed down the toilet with The Rise of Skywalker movie but I think The Mandalorian is breathing new life into Star Wars in my opinion.

What can I say than:  He is a great loss to the community of great economists.

Taking a walk on the beach.
S - Starfish

The plot thickens!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9001495/Now-mysterious-Arthur-C-Clarke-style-monolith-appears-ROMANIA-vanished-Utah.html

I think that a lot of the problems here come from various participants trying to persuade others of the rightness of their own views while trying to convince others of the wrongness of the others' views. I don't come here to debate, I come here to ask questions and get answers. The answers may or may not be right, but they generally inform my thinking about a particular question I have in mind, and for that I'm thankful. If you look back through the history of my posts, you will rarely see me attempting to argue a particular point or trying to persuade or dissuade someone. That is not why I am here. I'm here to gather thoughts, information, ideas and perspectives.  I feel no need to bring others around to my view point or encouraging them to change their mind, I'm happy for people to have their own opinions rather than having mine. It's my own little philosophy that there are very, very few things that can be known for certain, and the only things that can be known for certain are those things that are revealed by the Spirit. Such truths are generally not found through hammering things out in arguements on a discussion board. It seems to me that there are very few matters that are discussed here in absolute terms, and that most of the matters discussed are where to draw the line between two opposing positions, rather than whether or not one or both of those positions should exist at all. When trying to draw the line between two positions, I think that one person's opinion is as good as anyone else's, and if someone ends up in an incorrect position, that is between them and God. I'm also of the view that when you get right down to it, many people's opinions are derived from their feelings rather than the facts. It seems to be an emotional, subjective decision on how much weight to put on particular fact, and which facts to rely on and which to discard, and emotions are not readily amenable or responsive to logical discussion. 

When it comes to rebuking we need to remember the direction and instruction the Lord has given us in D&C 121..
Verse 43 is the detailed instructions
How many times do we truly meet the first requirement??  From my own experience I have to say probably not nearly as much as I do it... Then there is the second follow up requirement... How often do we do that?  Again from my own experience not nearly as much as I should.   Thus for me the standard the Lord set for a righteous rebuke... well I find myself coming up short more often then not... to meet the standard the Lord has set.
 
As for mods not doing anything... We are human... we make mistakes... we have our own biases and blindness-es.  That is why we ask people to report posts/posters that they think are breaking the rules and tell us why.  It is the easiest and quickest way to have all the mods become aware of something (including issues with a moderator)  As for the mods doing something... Sometimes nothing is the action, many times we work behind the scenes and you never know what we did, other times are actions are clear.  But simple fact is that someone is going to think the moderators made the wrong choice... Either we do not act enough... or we acted too much..   There is no win for us in these situations. Just doing what we think is the best for the forums as a whole.  

I joined this forum eleven years ago. I left for a long period of time because the toxicity  here became unbearable. There were people insulting others to make a point, being very unkind and condescending (and to an extend, one can argue that it continues to happen in the political discussion board if you don't agree with the status quo). Back then, I didn't see posters being warned when displaying this kind of uncivil behavior and it became a very toxic and negative environment so many people left. 
Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with politics or Church doctrine. I think it has to do with personality, understanding and self-control. Once we fully understand the art of debating, there is no need to become hostile, cruel or defensive but instead we will be working on offering stronger arguments in a civil manner making always the focus the message rather than the messenger. And most importantly, be humble enough to accept 'touché' moments throughout our discussions. 
This is why throughout the years, I enjoyed debating with JAG in this forum.  Both of us think alike in quite a few things and yet very different in other aspects, including some aspects of Church history. But when I engage him in a debate, he has always been so respectful and yet firm in his views. I make fun of him for being overly conservative and he makes fun of my "progressive" ways. And this is how I believe, brothers and sisters in the Gospel, should be towards one another. Now, I am not putting myself as an example of anything...the good Lord knows I'm not... but I just wanted to illustrate the point that in my view, it isn't really about politics or religion. It is about who we are and trying to remember that even behind a keyboard, we are all still brothers and sisters. 
 

I think I'm going to try something on a facebook group that I help to admin.  I'm going to put out an invitation for people to come join us.

My honest thoughts.
I joined about 2 years ago because I enjoyed the conversations and felt there were some great insights... today I feel like all insights have been exhausted. Conversations seem to be rehashes of old and few are posting gospel questions anymore. politics have a negative effect, but it’s the lack of honest and thoughtful gospel questions. That is/was the life blood of this forum.

Do we want to lose more people?     

I started the #GiveThanks thread.  That's a start.
When I did so, I stopped talking about politics.  It has helped me personally.
As I recall, the "ban" on political speech was because of the non-profit status of the forums as part of the More Good Foundation.  Then either the law changed or some other criteria changed which allowed it.  So, the ban was lifted.
May I suggest along with JAG: Just because we CAN do a thing doesn't mean we MUST do a thing.  I'm going to do my best to stay out of political topics moving forward.

A couple of thoughts through the eyes of having been a moderator for many years on a different, totally unrelated forum:
This issue is definitely not unique to Thirdhour. Forums in general are experiencing this dwindling regardless of how well they are run. Other social media platforms are simply gobbling up users. Mega tech giants with huge budgets are aggressively competing for the same user's attention. Unfortunately, the forums of yesteryear may never return despite anyone's best efforts. 
Sidenote: I would suspect that if we did a survey we would find that most users here today are age 40+. This tends to be the demographic of most forum formatted sites.
Users, on the other forum, would try to make this claim as well, "the moderators said such and such...".
I see the moderators as 'users' of the site with opinions,  just like the rest of us. In addition to being a user and with almost zero fanfare or appreciation, they volunteer their time and energy into making the site better. There are many users who want to relegate moderators down to mere rule enforcement and limit their opinions to zero, unless of course it favors their own.
I've been here for 5 years now and have never seen anything from a moderator that I would call toxic. They have always been polite and professional while either giving their opinions or reminding me personally of the site rules.
I'll admit, this past year has been particularly hard and I personally have taken a way more serious tone myself.
With covid, elections, job insecurities, etc. it has simply been a more serious time in life. As serious topics on the forum arise, serious and passionate opinions flow. When those passionate opinions collide with equally passionate opposing opinions, there is the potential for less harmony. I've both dished it out and received it. I can do better on my end.
I'll agree with JAG:
 

As much as I enjoy talking politics—that’s been behind most of the major bannings / withdrawals that I’m aware of over the last year. Maybe we need to reconsider bringing back the ban on political discussion?

It's been sad over the last few years to see the forums dwindle to almost nothing.  I realize that we lost a lot of people each time we changed software.
Lately I've gotten numerous requests from members to delete their accounts.  Many are stating it's due to the toxic nature of the forums.  With a big part of the problem being the moderators adding to it.  Not my words.  Words of those asking for their accounts to be deleted.  
For me, the forums aren't fun anymore.  We used to really have a lot of fun.  We could joke and laugh, we played games.  It was such a different world than it is now.  Everything is so serious now.  
What can we do to make it better?  How can we draw more people into the forums that will participate in a civil manner?   How can we make it fun again?
This won't be a thread to attack the moderators or other members.  If we want the forums to continue we need to do something to show there is a need for it.
 

Happy retirement! 🤗
Maybe you'll find a nice quiet country parish and live in a quaint parsonage with roses round the door, and preach sermons to sweet old ladies who'll invite you to tea and feed you their delicious cakes. 😁
My own retirement is still a decade away, but I'm already dreading the thought of it. But of course I'm not a prison chaplain!

It's Thanksgiving Day, so I figured I'd announce that, yes I am thankful for the nearly 23 years the LORD has allowed me to serve as a prison chaplain. Alas, mandatory retirement is fast approaching, and I prayerfully put in to do so at the end of this year. Next steps likely include my continuing as a volunteer pastor and transitioning to my first love--teaching. It's not yet certain how that will look, but I am convinced that what lies ahead will be even better than that which is passing. Oh … and no, I'm not retiring from here. Mercy has its limits.