This is yet another example of a change from the Obama years. We're no longer going to give things away. Even foreign aid has been cut to some countries because they never support us in U.N. votes. Finally, America first!
Trump and the Republicans just passed an amazing new Bill that basically states if we provide aid, then we'll get trade. For example, if Greece were to experience a natural disaster and we provide $20 million in aid, then they need to work with the U.S. to open trade. Meaning if they were getting certain products from Italy, that they would need to change their sourcing to the U.S. Why not if we're the ones who helped them? It makes perfect sense.
This is yet another example of a change from the Obama years. We're no longer going to give things away. Even foreign aid has been cut to some countries because they never support us in U.N. votes. Finally, America first! Passenger pigeons were once the most numerous birds in North America and possibly on Earth. The elegant birds had a slate-blue head, gray back, and a wine-red breast. The eye was scarlet with a short, slender black bill. Long-tailed, graceful, and fast, these pigeons could reach flight speeds of 60 to 70 mph. But they were not fast enough to escape annihilation.
Early settlers recorded massive flocks a mile wide and up to 300 miles long. These clouds of birds were so dense they darkened the sky for days as the immense flock passed overhead, one tier above the other. They were so thickly packed that a single shot from a shotgun could bring down 30 or 40 birds. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from three to five billion birds. Then began probably the most severe example of mass wildlife slaughter in history. The young chicks were regarded as a great delicacy, and the adults were killed for their feathers as well as their meat. Commercial hunters harvested tens of thousands of individuals daily, shipping them by boxcar-loads to markets in the East. In 1855, about 300,000 pigeons a year were being sent to New York restaurants. During 1874, Michigan sent over 3,000,000 birds east. – Amazing Facts If you've flown on a plane you've heard a flight attendant say that if the oxygen masks drop that you must first put yours on before trying to help anyone else.
This is a good message for our lives as well. It's easy to get caught up into helping everyone else in the family when you're a parent but the fact is, to be able to help our families for the long haul, we must take care of ourselves (physically and mentally), first. I saw a video of an interview with Bernie Sanders back in 2008 and one that occurred recently. Neither then, nor now, will he say who's rich. Just come up with a figure. Tell people exactly who will be paying more in taxes because they're ripping off the little guys. Let us know what the tax brackets are to pay for the programs that will blow our budget up four times (according to the CBO and other research companies).
I can't believe he's getting away with never providing specifics. He's pumping up a bunch of dreamers without them having a clue how government or economics work. They've become delusional. They protest. I'll say it again, I'm so glad I'm at the back half of my life's journey, because it's going to get ugly. They say (whoever they are), that opposites attract. I wish this were the case more often because some marriages would stay more intact if there was a little better balance when it comes to relationships. When people are in love they truly are blinded in many ways (we've all been through it), and don't think everything through when it comes to getting married.
In balance I mean if someone is more of a spend-thrift, it's better for them to marry someone who is more frugal. If someone isn't very organized they'd be better off with a partner who is. If someone isn't good with managing money, they need someone who is. If someone isn't that mechanically inclined (like fixing things or putting things together), they're generally better off with someone who is. If someone doesn't have a stable work history, they need someone who does. No marriage is perfect and all kinds of different types work, but having balance in attributes and skills makes things work more effectively than not. This isn't the lovey-dovey stuff that people in love like to think about but it's the real world. Of course, trying to talk common sense into someone who's in love is like pulling teeth but it's worth a shot. Typical Democrat double-standards. 1) They believe the woman who is accusing Judge Kavanaugh but not only didn't believe the women who came forward about President Clinton, they and the media went on a vicious attack of these innocent women. I say innocent because Clinton lost the court battles against them. 2) Although they say they want true transparency regarding the Russian collusion allegations, they don't want anything released regarding why it was being investigated in the first place. They are now up in arms regarding Trump declassifying the emails, texts, and transcripts. Why? Because they know the FISA warrant was generated because Clinton plus her supporters at the FBI, and the DNC, underhandedly and in my opinion, illegally, put the wheels in motion for Trump's campaign and Administration to be investigated. Not only this, but proof that leaks to the media were done by Hillary supporters working for the FBI.
I could go on and on about how many times Democrats have deployed double-standards, but I'll leave it at this so that you don't have to read pages and pages of a single post. The bottom line is that they're a slippery bunch. One thing I love about writing fiction is that although you might have a general plot in mind, you must take the reader through twists and turns to get there, and you do it through the characters. Characters develop over time; a writer doesn't typically know the direction of each one. Throughout it, you give each character one choice at a time and it leads to an outcome. Then you do it again and again to where each finally reaches its end in the story.
It's basically like real life. We have a general plot (an idea of what our life will become), but the real story lies and develops based on the individual choices we make. Make your life a great story! Hong Kong was formerly a colony of the British Empire. China owned the territory and since Britain didn't want to go to war with China but needed the seaport, a deal was made in 1898 that Britain could lease Hong Kong from them for 99 years. The entire territory was returned to China when this lease expired in 1997.
As a special administrative region, Hong Kong's system of government is separate from that in mainland China. As of now, Hong Kong is more amazing than New York City and has the highest average household income in the world and a population of over seven million. The fact is, even China knew to keep its communists/socialists' paws off this amazing territory and let it run off capitalism. “You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic; true power is restraint. If words control you that means everyone else can control you; breathe and allow things to pass.” - Warren Buffet
I believe in God, so I must believe in Satan. I believe in heaven, so I must believe in hell. I believe in angels, so I must believe in demons. It's all about logic; basically, you can't have one without the other. We have dark and light. Hot and cold. Wet and dry. High and low. Soft and hard. Etcetera. Light exists because there's dark. Hot exist because there's cold. It's a balance.
It's easy to think of the good stuff and there are a lot of spiritual people who believe in God, but they don't believe in Satan. They don't understand why a loving God would create such a place let alone send people there, but this is a topic for another day. Believing there's a heaven is kind of like the proverbial carrot; it's motivating towards living a good, spiritual life. Believing there's a hell is like the proverbial stick; it does in fact lead some people to living a good life and positively impacting those around them (shining their light). It's a motivation of fear (not good), but it is motivating nevertheless. The bottom line, because of how things are naturally structured in life, I believe there's a heaven and a hell and that both can motivate us to have a good relationship with God. As we go out and evangelize (spread the good news in whatever way we can such as demonstrating the love that Jesus talked about), let's not forget how important it is to help others personally, professionally, and more importantly, spiritually, because their existence depends on it. Thanks! |
Author: John Mann |