Carborendum

That's fair. But then you can't credit Obama for the DOW booming up during that same period. You can't have it both ways.

This makes no sense. There's no such thing as paying double interest on the mortgage. That's not a thing. They're doing something else. And if it were possible, it would make more sense to pay that on the off years. Maybe you're mixing up words... Instead of "double interest" you meant something else? Perhaps, double-payments?

If the Church is offering that as an option for payment, then it sounds like that is your license to use that method. Nothing wrong with it. And it is similar to what we do in the US. The analog in the US tax system more beneficial for wealthy people, but even lower class get a benefit. ***(Note: I'm simplifying it for communication purposes.) If I make $10,000, I would normally get taxed on $10,000. But we also have deductions. I'm assuming you have something similar. If I spend $500 on a computer for my business, then I can deduct that as an expense. So, I will only be taxed on $9,500. Charitable donations are also deductible. So, if I pay $1,000 of tithing, I get taxed on $9,000 instead of $10,000. If I'm in the 10% tax bracket, then that saves me $100 in taxes. It's even better for wealthy people. The highest bracket is 37%. So, I'd get $370 reduction on tax requirement for that $1,000 tithing payment. That's even better than reducing the tithing by 20%. But you get to do it even when you're poor. Poor people in America usually don't have to pay taxes at all (depending on how poor you are). But, unfortunately, many poor people don't know how to do tax returns, so they end up paying taxes that they don't need to pay. Sad. So, really, it is the same thing. The difference is that we apply to the government to get our taxes back from them. The Church doesn't apply for it.

Unless I'm mistaken, there is a comma or some other delineator missing from this sentence above. Please verify: So, if the charity (in this case, the Church) has the *option* of applying to the government to get a 25% bonus from government coffers. i.e. 25% of what they received from donors is the amount the Church can receive from the government as a completely separate transaction. The one problem I see is that it could be possible for some people to not pay enough taxes to the government to cover this additional 25%. And it would be awfully tempting to say, "as long as the Church gets the money, who cares where it's from?" Well, tithing isn't really about "The Church getting the money." It is about our willingness to sacrifice, whether it is the widow's mite or the rich man's yacht, are we willing to sacrifice? Yes, it is the Lord's law of finance. But it's also more than that. Another question: In this system, how do individuals know whether the Church actually applies for this additional amount? If the tithe-payer expects it, but the Church never gets it, then both goals are not fulfilled. The Church doesn't get it. And we do not sacrifice.

So, I had a small win that I will celebrate. That young lady we had staying with us for about 6 months... It seemed that she never really cared to take any of my advice. And for the most part, she still doesn't. However... She called me to ask a question. It was a type of question that you'd ask your dad or your big brother. And she called me. I gave her an answer and she felt a lot better. She even thanked me. I don't know if she's ever thanked me for anything before. She didn't call her dad. She didn't call her stepdad. She didn't call any of her friends or my wife or kids. She called me. It kinda felt good that she would trust me for something like this.

Oh, the cooks.. I thought you said, "Too bad the waffles are unbreakable."

Yes, I think I remember that now. No, we had a majority. But there were just enough RINOs who kept us from passing a lot of legislation. So, the House was the only means of preventing Democrats from passing without Republican buy-in. But a LOT of it was bi-partisan during that era (for one term). Then Dems got control of the House. As I recall, there was a vote to tax Social Security benefits. It was a tie in the senate. And Gore cast the deciding vote to allow taxation of Soc Sec benefits. I don't really know what he'll do as far as deficit spending. It could go either way. It seemed like he wasn't "terrible" until he signed the COVID omnibus package. I've always been against his COVID policies. I thought he was doing so well, too. But whatever.

Allow me to fill in the blanks. Yes, the app (as an app to schedule appointments) was launched under the Trump admin. It was specifically to help immigrants gain exemptions to restrictions due to COVID protocols at the time. Those who were otherwise perfectly legal to gain entry (be it for permanent residency or temporary travel) and had a significant need to travel were considered. At the time, that was all it was supposed to be used for -- to schedule appointments to see if they could be exempted from certain aspects of COVID-based denial of entry. But plans change, and an app can be modified to do something it was never intended to do. NOTE: OFO = US Customs and Border Protection. Yes, really. Under Biden-Harris, the app was expanded to make it a one-click legal status (figuratively). The Remain in Mexico policy was known as MPP. "International non-governmental organizations"... like coyotes and human traffickers? Yes, it happened. A lot.

Could be. What I was led to believe at the time was that Clinton actually followed conservative fiscal policy. And because he was a beloved Democrat, Congress didn't oppose his fiscal policies. So, we got to see what would happen economically during a fiscally conservative administration. I was too busy professionally and trying to raise a young family that I didn't keep up with the details of all of this. So, I have nothing to verify that with. But that was what was being said during the Clinton years.

The gematria for "David" =14. Matthew was trying to emphasize Jesus' Davidic lineage as a message that He qualified to be the Messiah.

For those who have not been keeping up on gossip... The production of The Chosen has been interrupted because many fans didn't like the line: Apparently, the evangelicals decided that because it sounded so much like a verse in the BoM, this was clear evidence that those darn Mormons are running this operation. And they ain't gonna ruin our Jesus. Here's the verse they are referring to. To me, this is clear evidence that most of our critics don't really read too well. They just want that sound bite that can condemn. Don't worry about the overall message. Heck, here, they've even failed to understand the single phrase correctly. Nowhere in the Book of Mormon does it say that "Jesus is the Law of Moses." Instead, we read: It clearly states that He fulfilled the law. He is here to replace the law with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We no longer look to all the legalistic observances of the Law of Moses. We look to Jesus Christ, our savior. But somehow that has been overlooked. They've decided that this was the influence for the statement in the show (which clearly is at odds with the BoM). All because sectarians couldn't keep their Mormon Phobia (TM) sufficiently in check to allow us to facilitate the production of a story about Jesus, this may mean the end of the show. They've even come so far as to "accuse" Dallas Jenkins of converting to Mormonism. The offiicial story is that Angel Studios and The Chosen had a disagreement about the commercial end of things: how are we going to make enough money to keep producing the show and still turn a reasonable profit? So, a breach of contract was cited as the reason to end things. However, it seems awfully suspicious to many people that this comes at a time that coincides with this dust up over the single line. The same practices have been happening for the past four seasons. And no one brought it up before? Unfortunately, that means that the series may not become completed. The Chosen, LLC is parting ways with Angel Studios. Without Angel, The Chosen will have trouble with production, promotion, and distribution. I wish no ill will here. I hope they can find a reasonable replacement for all that Angel Studios had to offer. Maybe it will be better, who knows? I'd hate to see this series die because of such a completely unfounded over-reaction.

Democrats grow anxious as Election Day nears | CNN Politics

By this chart, it looks like Reagan did well for the first term, but poorly for the second. Clinton was awesome (considering this one criterion) Both Bushes were fairly flat. Obama sucked worst than COVID. That's pretty bad. But he eventually flattened out. Trump was not bad until COVID. Biden is unremarkable regardless of the fact that we've crossed the threshold of no return.

From your link: On the one hand -- Whew! Thank heaven for that. On the other hand -- What on earth was Mayorkas thinking! What kind of bonehead says that?

Any ideas why the bolded was omitted in the BoM? We see the change for the "Be ye therefore perfect" as understandable because Jesus was now resurrected. He became complete and whole. But is the kingdom already come? I could understand that it is now Jesus' kingdom. But that wouldn't mean that the phrase should be omitted? Or does it? Is there something going on here? And why would we not ask for our daily bread as it was in Jerusalem? Was it somehow different for the Nephites?

There was some sort of dust up about the government wanting to keep Starlink out of the area even after Musk said he wanted to send them. But then they said that they already had them there even though Musk was not aware of any units active in that area???

In our reading for last week, we noticed something about the Lord's prayer. I wondered about a couple of things here. If we compare the Lord's prayer in Matthew, we notice a few lines missing between v 10 and 11. Why? *********************** The other point of interest is verse 12. It is the same as Matthew. Yet the JST renders it differently. This is interesting. The Syriac translation renders it as The BoM renders it the same as the Greek. But Joseph wanted to render it the way that the Syrians did. ........................ Even more interesting is that the Old Syriac version of the Bible wasn't even discovered until after Joseph's death. Then it was translated in 1858. The first English translation of the Peshitta was in 1851. By those dates, Joseph never had access to an English version of those records.

I'm sure he can make an impact. But he isn't really as rich as his net worth would indicate. Other billionaires have billions sitting in a bank account or other easily liquifiable assets. Others invest in mutual funds or other stocks as minor shareholders, or they have additional holdings like real estate, etc. And that is where their wealth is stored. Musk only has stock in his companies that he owns. He can't easily sell them without risking a takeover. So, it's not so easily convertible. He had to take out a loan by leveraging his Tesla stock in order to buy Twitter. I would be really interested in finding out how much he has on hand that can easily become liquid. It may be a few billion. But the way he lives, how much he gives to charity, I wonder if he even has $1B in cash anywhere. He certainly could. But I haven't been able to find anything on that anywhere. He even said that he got rid of all his assets (including his house*) except his company so that no one could attack him for his wealth. *He's a homeless billionaire. Who would do that?

Biden announced shortly after that he had been speaking to DeSantis at the time. DeSantis didn't even know Harris was trying to get a hold of him. I believe the DeSantis team said something like:

So, the news I'm reading doesn't look good for Kamala. It's still close. But the trending of the polls is not good. And the interviews we've seen on both sides indicates that she's not really gaining any grass roots. Further, the billionaire donors to Kamala's campaign are wondering if their money is actually going to buy anything if she loses. A large minority of said donors may be pulling funding of her campaign soon. Things could turn around. But after the performance and all going on with FEMA, I'm not sure what it would take to turn things around for her. Still... even if Trump wins, I worry that there will be riots in the streets. People have been motivated to assassination because of the rhetoric. (No, I'm not directly blaming politicians. But they aren't completely blameless.) And many on social media are decrying the fact that they guy missed rather than saying "we have no place for violence in the democratic process." BLM riots were part-and-parcel of the liberal political scheme that plagued Trump's presidency. They still think that Jan 6th was much worse than it was. And what's fit for the goose... So, yeah. I worry. I definitely hope I'm wrong about that.

Yeah, me neither. But it makes me wonder if we might like it better with the tune from Ancient Israel. At the same time, I was just going over the tune in my head and realized that there are parts where it is really good. Notice: "I'll raise my voice in praise and joy. In grand amens my tongue employ." The music really captures that part. And I recall the MoTab version being even more grandiose there. . . Hmm. I think I really liked the MoTab version. Errr... the Tabernacle Choir On Temple Square version. This just made me realize that playing a song on the piano is very different than singing it. I get different sensations from it depending on the medium. Yes, the piano would be very repetitive. But the joy as a singer is triggered by different criteria. At least, it does to me.

Nelson said something like: (sorry if I got it wrong. The exact quote is not yet up on the Church website.) Combine that with: Time to go over the Conference talks a bit more than we have in the past.

Sounds good. Have you read the Spanish version? I like the lyrics a bit better. But yes, it is pretty profound in English as well. I have thought about this for a bit and realized that it is not a song of modern day. It is a psalm. Look at the pattern. It follows the flow of a psalm. While the psalms have many great messages, I don't know of many that have been made into beloved hymns. There's "The Lord is my Shepherd." I like the lyrics. I like the music. But I never really thought the two went together well. I have a guess/theory. I believe that the ancient Jews had a very different type of music than we do today. And the Psalms has patterns in Hebrew that went well with their music. But in our culture for the past several hundred years utilizes a very different music theory than they did back then. So, my guess is that I Believe in Christ would have worked well with a different music basis than what we're used to hearing. I don't know if I've ever heard that. I'll have to check it out when I get home. One of my favorites! Well, who doesn't like that one?! I'm not particularly moved by the lyrics. But I like singing them. Same for High on the Mountain Top. The base part is really fun to sing. For that song, I'm glad I don't often sing tenor. Interesting. This one seems to check all the boxes. And as I think about it, I really like it. But it has never been a memorable one for me. I mean, I remember the lyrics. But when I think of "my favorite hymns" this doesn't ever come to mind. I just really like the tune. Both the tenor and bass parts are pretty cool to sing. I don't find the subject matter to be all that inspiring.

Always comes the argument about "faith v. works." The argument always ignores "faith which results in works." Sectarians often claim that we "depend too much" on our works rather than faith in Christ. There is some truth to that notion. If our desire to repent is "to avoid hellfire" is that really faith? Instead, we repent because we realize that Christ has given us a path. And that path gives us hope. And with that hope, comes motivation to do better and be better. Are we really following the Lord when we have a notion that "I'm supposed to be a good person?" I'd say it's a baby-step in the right direction. But the more noble motivation is that when we truly understand what the Savior's Atonement really is, we will want to make use of that Atonement through faith which motivates works.

We are now officially at a number where Pres. Nelson has announced over 50% of all temples (active, constructed, or announced).