Sunday, July 17, 2016

Empty Nester - Not Quite









My daughter told me the other day about some birds, a mommy and a daddy, that have set up house on one of her security cameras. Last year the birds, a couple of barn swallows that mate for life, built a nest and have gone ahead to parent families - three sets so far. Usually three eggs are hatched each set. The parents feed the babies until they are older and stronger, both working equally to take care of them. The babies practice flapping their wings in preparation for flight, and when the time comes for them to leave the nest, the parents encourage them and watch them leave. Some birds have fallen from the nest before they could fly and died, being eaten by ants. Others have flown off to be caught and eaten by cats. Always the parents mourn the loss of their young for an entire day with a racket of noise, and then they get back to the work of taking care of life. About half of the birds have flown off to live productive lives, to mate, and to again parent broods. When it is time for the birds to leave, the parents stop feeding them, thus, forcing their young to fly out of the nest, find food for themselves, and basically take care of themselves. The most recent brood was found with one dead that had fallen out of the nest before it knew how to fly, a second that flew out and lived, and a third that refused to leave. Because the third was not being fed by its parents or willing to find food for itself, it died. The parents mourned the loss of that bird as well. They are still trying to get the dead bird out of the nest so they can begin a fourth family.





The Bird that Died to Stay
   or
    The Bird that Wouldn't Leave

The Beauty of the Government of the United States and its effects on the present election


We had a Sunday School lesson the other day about governments. The teacher wrote on the board several types of governments: monarchy, democracy, and theocracy. With those terms we chronicled the government types through biblical and Book of Mormon times. Most governments were theocracies with prophet leaders or monarchies with kings. A couple times there was a kritarchy, which is rule by judges, during the time of Judges in the Bible and Book of Mormon. The teacher decided that a monarchy with a king is the best form of government because Christ will establish His kingdom on earth, and He will be king. I had not before considered a monarchy to be the ideal form of government, but I could see how he came up with that idea. Most monarchies today are useless vehicles for propaganda, or they turn the country toward tyranny. Finding a king that is righteous is difficult; finding a king that stays righteous seems impossible. The Book of Mormon warned of wicked kings in Mosiah 29 when the people were encouraged to appoint righteous men as judges. The reason the monarchy will work when Christ comes for the second time is that He will be righteous.

According to the book "The 5000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen, which I read a few years ago, the Founding Fathers of our country knew the benefits of each type of government. The also knew the disadvantages. For example, the strength of a monarchy is its ability to immediately without debate decide an issue by the one person in charge, the king or queen, while a disadvantage is its tendency for that king to turn into a tyrant. The strength of a theocracy is to be led by principles based on the religion of the people. A disadvantage would be that the religion may not be agreeable to everyone. The strength of a democracy is that every person would have a say. A disadvantage could be that not everyone would care or choose wisely. The strength of an oligarchy, leadership by an elite few, is the furthering of invention and ideas, while the disadvantage could be disregarding the poor.

Without the hope of a righteous leader such as Christ, the Founding Fathers put together a constitution with all governments in mind, an idea that I found very interesting. They hoped to tap into the benefits of each one while creating checks and balances to temper the disadvantages. The Executive branch mimics the benefit of a monarchy. The Legislative branch with its two Congresses mimics the oligarchy of the Senate and the democracy of the House.

When one branch of the government is not checked, the negative aspects of the government it mimics become more prominent. We have seen a lot of overreach of branches of government during the reign of Obama, particularly from the executive branch. He has passed many laws or mandates without following constitutional procedure, and therefore, the monarchy, which his position represents, has been looking a little tyrannical.

Another facet of the constitution and government of the United States is the position of federalism. Besides the national center of our government in Washington, D.C., we have an important states presence. In other words, every state has power and rights. Federal by definition means "of or constituting a form of government in which sovereign power is divided between a central authority and a number of constituent political units." That the national government is gaining power over the federal states, overturning laws passed by the states, and meddling in responsibilities that belong to the states, shows more overreach and disregard for the processes of the constitution.

In 2008 we voted in Obama and a Democratic Congress, who gave us Obamacare, a program that put the financial state of the nation in jeopardy. In 2010 we voted in a Republican House. In 2012 we voted to keep Obama and the Republican House, and we voted in a Republican Senate as well as a majority of Republican governors. 2014 brought more and stronger representation in both Congresses by Republicans. At this present time, still no one can stop Obama's tyranny or get any responsible legislation passed despite all the Republican presence in his disfavor. Therefore, all the work the voters had done to secure more "reasonable" thinking in Washington, DC, has not been of any benefit. What was going on in Washington, DC? When Trump began running for President of the U.S. and began gaining support, I marveled. Upon consideration, I wondered if it was that the people wanted someone who wasn't already part of the political scene. After all that had been done to improve Washington, the next move, therefore, should be to get someone in as president who does not know or play into the system. If this was their thinking, I could see their point as well as the madness of it all. That someone has been thought to be in the person of Trump. However, when he met with Paul Ryan to come to some kind of consensus of thought for the benefit of the establishment, I was disappointed for all the people who were looking to Trump to change what is happening in Washington. The people were wanting something different, and now he was being drawn into the "game."

No, I have not yet become a supporter of Trump. However, I have wondered at the events that have accompanied his rise to popularity. I listen to his simplistic, broad view rhetoric, and I understand how he is attracting supporters, but I have trouble believing him now and ignoring what he has said and done for many years before this point. Nor can I see Trump "patiently" following constitutional law. There are many things that I would like to see changed immediately, but constant executive orders cannot be the means. I also expect his antics to overthrow his chances. Yes, I agree with many of the things Trump is preaching; after all, they are broad view talking points. I cannot in any way get behind Hillary Clinton in anything she says.

Our country faces an important crossroads. Will we go in the direction it is being coerced, or will we find a way to turn back toward the constitution, upon which our government is based and which our Heavenly Father endorsed in D&C 101?

That was 2016 when I wrote that.  Now six years later much has happened.  During the months leading up to the 2016 election in November I resolved to vote for Trump.  Every time I listened to him the Holy Ghost said to me that what he was saying was good.  Where I was ambivalent was whether he would actually do what he was saying.  I guess that's the qualm about every candidate.  So, as history shows, Trump won.  My sons and I were sitting on my bed watching the election results come in; we sat in disbelief. The media and the polls had reported that Hillary would be winning.  We had intended to watch Trump lose, and when he won, we wondered how.  

The next day I felt lighter, that we weren't going to be under the rule of the corrupt Hillary Clinton. I also felt like I had better keep it quiet that I voted for Trump because riots and protests began immediately. The citizenry feared reprisal for voting for Trump.  He met with Obama to effectuate a smooth transition, met with the transition team, learning all that he needed to know, including classified information. On January 20, he was inaugurated.  He put his hand on a Bible and swore to uphold the constitution and protect us from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  

His speech seemed to be calling out groups who were undermining America, which some news media felt was not appropriate for an inauguration address.  Years later I realized that he was stating what his focus was going to be.  He said, among other things, "Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.

"For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

"What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again."

He said many other things, which can be read  here  or listened to  here  .

At the time of this inauguration I was teaching one of my United States Music and Culture classes at SLCC.  I made my class listen to this speech.  I didn't pay attention to any of what he said because I was looking at the reactions of the students in my class, and they didn't seem to care one way or another.  After that speech we watched as Trump changed the course of history. He stopped terrorists from the Middle East from entering our country by putting a travel ban in place.  Many families were not allowed to leave or enter America to see their families, but terrorism ended. The porous border situation was fixed because Trump made Mexico stop them, thus stopping immigrants from entering the US. We gained oil independence. He gave the military renewed respect. He adjusted the tariffs to do business with other nations. He got rid of the penalty for not having health insurance. There were many other things he fixed.  By the time of his re-election and actually much before, I was convinced he was trying to do some good things.  

All the while the politicians in Washington, D.C. and media were trying to stop what he was doing.  They started impeachment proceedings because it was alleged that he worked with Russia to get himself elected. For years we heard about Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. Finally, that was put to bed.  Then, it became a phone call he made to Ukraine about Biden's involvement there, and impeachment proceedings began on that.  He was found not guilty by February 2020, and all allegations were dropped.  

That's when the pandemic happened.  News of a killer virus from China put fear in the hearts of everyone.  Italy was hit hard.  Then, New York was hit and they took steps to make everyone safe.  Eventually, it arrived in Summit County and Salt Lake County.  Finally, on March 13, everything in Utah was shut down.  Governor Gary Herbert mandated that all non-essential employees be quarantined so that the virus would be stopped, so that no one would be around anyone who had it.  We were forced to wear masks and social distance, which meant to stay six feet away from people.  Businesses adapted to the mandates by sticking signs on the floors, indicating which direction a person could walk and where to stand.  Trump was on TV every night with health officials helping us through it.  He gave everyone a stimulus to compensate for loss of income.  The quarantine was supposed to last two weeks, but it didn't.  It lasted months, and in some states years. 

I was fearful. At Sorenson I tried to not touch anything.  When I returned home I stripped in the garage. At home I cleaned my piano keys and knobs and handles religiously from entering piano students.  Finally, Sorenson let me work from home, and I was happy to be safe from danger.  In Utah the medical board ordered $800,000 of hydroxychloroquine to give to the infected.  However, Governor Herbert had them send it back because it wasn't safe to use and wasn't effective in stopping the spread of the infection.  That's when I started questioning things.  What?  This virus is unknown to us, and without even trying anything we know what does and doesn't work?  We should have been able to throw anything and everything at this "unknown" germ.  Groups started rising up to protest the mandates.

States were preparing for the 2020 presidential election and began pushing for mail-in voting so that no one had to come in contact with anyone.  November 3 came, election day, Trump had a majority of votes, but six states held back their final results.  (Since all 50 states were using mail-in voting as the main way to vote, all 50 states should not have had results until days later.)  I watched as the majority vote changed to Biden.  Trump called for recounts, and the news stopped reporting, so I began looking other places for information.  I turned to FaceBook, MeWe, and others, including Twitter, which allowed me to read but not post, and there was a certain poster, recommended by someone else, that I began to follow.  He had interesting information.  One thing in particular was a video about a woman who had worked for Merck but quit because of their unethical practices.  She began speaking out about the company, their vaccines and medicines, and began receiving death threats.  Interestingly enough, she was found dead a week before the vaccine rolled out in early December.  

Since I hadn't had a vaccine since 1961, I knew I would be abstaining.  Nor did I find it necessary to continually get tested. Some people were doing it weekly.  I was like, "Sorry, I'm not participating in this pandemic." Never have I ever had a flu-like sickness and needed to go to the doctor about it.  I have just treated myself at home with natural remedies. Why should this be any different?  Hospitals and doctors, for that matter, were telling people that if they had symptoms to stay home. I marveled at how the medical industry was turning the sick away.

That person I had been following disappeared.  So, I found Telegram, and the group I had joined, UCA, also began posting on Telegram.  I also found Epoch Times.  They weren't posting about the election until about January of 2021, so I found many other sources, American Media Periscope, and many others. Also, The Gateway Pundit, was excellent.  

Concerning the election, I watched numerous videos of election officials turning poll watchers away, and generally, treating them like chattel. Yes, some were corralled into a fenced area. I watched a video of Ruby Freeman and her daughter and others in the Georgia-Atlanta precinct take buckets of ballots out from under a desk, after all other workers and watchers were forced to leave, and run them and rerun them multiple times through tabulators. I saw a video of polling numbers in Pennsylvania that changed several thousands of votes from Trump to Biden and another that changed the votes by 666. I watched every Senate hearing, run by Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, on the alleged fraudulent election of 2020.  Poll watchers, voters, statisticians, election specialists testified of personal experiences and inconsistencies. I especially was impressed by Doug Mastriano, a member of the Senate in Pennsylvania, who personally organized the event and who was somewhat emotional about the situation. Georgia was a mess from beginning to end:  Brian Kemp, Brad Raffensperger.  Here are some of the hearings:

Pennsylvania

Georgia

Arizona

Michigan

Wisconsin 

Absolute Proof 

2000 Mules 

As December 14 approached, I thought surely something would be done.  Surely everyone can see the fraud.  December 14 came and went, the day the electors would certify their state elections, and they elected Biden. The LDS church congratulated Joe Biden as the new president-elect.  It was disconcerting.  Surely they were aware of the evidence.  People on Facebook commented their aggravation; eventually someone mentioned that it was just protocol for the church to do so. 

January 6 approached, and everyone thought it would be the day when everything would be put right.  Trump had his "Stop the Steal" rally, and then encouraged everyone to walk peacefully over to the Capitol building to protest there.  However, people were not peaceful. I watched videos of people being allowed into the Capitol by the Capitol Police; also, videos of people smashing in windows, videos of a woman by the name of Ashli Babbitt who was shot. Those videos of Ashli Babbitt were taken by Jayden X, aka John Sullivan, an Antifa member who had protested in Utah and Salt Lake counties. He was wearing a MAGA hat, but I knew he was not a Trump supporter. I knew this because UCA, the group I was a member of, had kept him in their sights.  I knew what he looked like.  He videotaped the shooting, and in his voice you could hear his shock. I'm sure he had been hired to attend the event, videotape a group of people entering the Senate floor and various other things.  He just hadn't been told that someone would be shot. I saw her being shot. I saw her body involuntarily contort in shock.  I saw the police and security officers helping her, but they had no idea what to do for her.  I realized they were not real police, probably Antifa dressed up as police.  I read that John Sullivan had been arrested and released that day. 

Since then more information came out about what happened that day.  Three other people died, and others were hurt.  Also, since that day, several people who attended the event have been in jail, now going on two years. Some never even walked into the Capitol. Antifa protesters who created millions of dollars of damage the summer before have hardly spent any time in jail, most on a catch and release basis.  Antifa  

Here are a couple of videos about January 6, 2021.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-real-story-of-jan-6-documentary_4596670.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-real-story-of-january-6-2_4632943.html?

Since January 6 didn't bring the desired results, we all watched as January 20, Inauguration Day, approached.  How was this all going to shake out?  (Brazil had an election on October 30, 2022, which was fraudulent as well. I began following a Telegram thread that contained information about Patriots who were protesting and hoping to overturn those results prior to the January 1, 2023, Inauguration. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and as the day approached and I read the comments of the Brazilian people, I realized the same thing was going to happen there. I felt like I was reliving the events of the 2020 US election.)

Life has gone on, and many think that life eventually returned to normal, but everything changed for me.  In the time that I had been searching for information about the election, I came across a lot of other information.  I learned how deeply the world has succumbed to wickedness.