The Evangelical Universalist Forum

How To Live Under An Unqualified President by John Piper

Practices Christian Living
#365

“Work” and “purpose” are intimately connected: Researchers at the University of Michigan, for example, found that welfare payments make one unhappier than a modest income honestly earned and used to provide for one’s family. “It drains too much of the life from life,” said Charles Murray in a speech in 2009. “And that statement applies as much to the lives of janitors – even more to the lives of janitors – as it does to the lives of CEOs.” Self-reliance – “work” – is intimately connected to human dignity – “purpose.”

So what does every initiative of the Obama era have in common? Obamacare, Obamaphones, Social Security disability expansion, 50 million people on food stamps. The assumption is that mass, multigenerational dependency is now a permanent feature of life. A coastal elite will devise ever-smarter and slicker trinkets, and pretty much everyone else will be either a member of the dependency class or the vast bureaucracy that ministers to them. And, if you’re wondering why every Big Government program assumes you’re a feeble child, that’s because a citizenry without “work and purpose” is ultimately incompatible with liberty. The elites think a smart society will be wealthy enough to relieve the masses from the need to work. In reality, it would be neofeudal, but with fatter, sicker peasants. It wouldn’t just be “economic inequality,” but a far more profound kind, and seething with resentments.

One wouldn’t expect the governing class to be as farsighted as visionaries like Bezos. But it’s hard to be visionary if you’re pointing in the wrong direction. Which is why the signature achievement of Obama’s “hope and change” combines 1940s British public health theories with 1970s Soviet supermarket delivery systems. But don’t worry: Maybe one day soon, your needle-exchange clinic will be able to deliver by drone. Look out below. - Mark Steyn

Some other viewpoints (yes, yes, everything can be argued - these are opinions of the writers. or facts they have gotten from public sources.)

frontpagemag.com/fpm/219640/ … greenfield

frontpagemag.com/point/16298 … greenfield

frontpagemag.com/point/21498 … greenfield

frontpagemag.com/point/21296 … greenfield

#367

Steve, I am in 100% agreement that if the government can help people get livelihoods, it should. I think most Democrats are too. Obama and Democrats in congress supported these policies.

mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA231WJ20140304
usnews.com/news/articles/20 … e-programs
theguardian.com/us-news/201 … r-training

You provided some good links Qaz and i admit i didn’t know Obama even made any attempt for job training programs. I think if this was important to him he had the bully pulpit to really push it and to my knowledge, he never pushed hard.

#368

It might pay to look deeper into that issue.
frontpagemag.com/search/site/obama%20jobs

#370

Speaking of job training. All my Zombie friends have trouble, getting both jobs and job training. Speak of prejudice. :cry: :angry:

#371

Speaking of job training. All my Zombie friends have trouble, getting both jobs and job training. Speak of prejudice. :cry: :angry:

I would think employers would look favorably on hiring Zombies considering how much they can save on medical insurance benefits!

#373

Zombies leave SUCH a mess, and the hygiene?? - don’t even ask. We have a family of Z’s in the neighborhood and they are a disgrace, I tell ya, a dis-grace!! :smiling_imp: :unamused:

#374

Trump fights effort to improve the welfare of farm animals yubanet.com/opinions/wayne-pace … m-animals/

I looked at the bottom of this article & it took 3 seconds to see where it’s coming from which is the left which for me possibly impacts it’s credibility. Maybe it’s true but i wouldn’t just take it at face value.

#375

Zombies leave SUCH a mess, and the hygiene?? - don’t even ask. We have a family of Z’s in the neighborhood and they are a disgrace, I tell ya, a dis-grace!! :smiling_imp: :unamused:

I won’t tolerate Zombies being de-humanized like this as if they don’t have rights too!! I propose a new holiday called Z-Day!! :smiling_imp:

#377

Well, I knew one big company, that used to hire Zombies. But the personnel; department, was forced to put up this sign.

It’s discrimination, I tell you. The ACLU should do something about this. :exclamation: :astonished:

P.S. Just note how eager zombies, are to get to work. It’s a credit to the Zombie population. :exclamation: :smiley:

#378

Steve, what in particular do you question the veracity of? The news articles are right here
washingtonpost.com/news/ani … 52e4533f3f
bna.com/organic-livestock-r … 014450724/

We are just coming to this from different places. I get Wash Post tweets as well as CNN and the NY Times and half their info about the Trump admin is literally fabricated but the average Dem voter has no idea about this. The media is manipulating people’s views to the left without the audience having any idea it’s happening. To give one example i just saw my doctor and i asked him “why do you think Trump fired Comey?” He answered because of Russia, of course! I replied “did you know Comey and Clapper & the NSA head testified that there was no evidence of collusion?” He had no idea because info like that doesn’t fit the agenda of the Wash Post, NY Times, CNN etc etc. They manipulate news and they hate capitalism IMHO so i would use these articles as a starting point to look for more info, but not as fact.

1 Like
#380

Well, if qaz will not accept right-leaning news sources as factual, and Steve will not accept left-leaning news sources as factual, THEN we are exactly at the spot the far left wants us - WHERE IT IS THE NARRATIVE THAT MAKES THE TRUTH, NOT THE FACTS.
Sorry for the all caps there - but that IS the state of affairs. Personally, there is no doubt in my mind that the Left (not the good liberals that are still there) has successfully deconstructed the truth of things and substituted, with the help of NYT etc, a narrative that is made up of mainly lies and character assassinations, twisted the truth (I have hundreds of examples, but then - anyone can choose not to believe them) and is laying a fabric of distortion over the perceptions of the country.

A tidbit from Bill Vallicella:
These three chimeras [the Palestinian faux “narrative,” the environmental craze, and the Obama myth] generally manifest the morbid sense of victimhood and hatred of the modern West that is the most contemptible and dangerous feature of our contemporary world. Israel is a tiny outpost of enlightened modernity that the world wants to see snuffed out and replaced by medieval barbarism and tribal fanaticism; the global warming hoaxers want to roll back technological progress to a condition like that well before the industrial revolution, even before the rise of agrarian societies; and Barack Obama is the first president of the United States who actually despises—and has stated overtly his desire to “fundamentally transform”—the founding principles and way of life of the freest and most dynamic society ever known.

What sustains these programs of dissolution is not truth but a semblance of truth rooted in fantasy, misrepresentation, invention, and dinning repetition. Serious critique and sincere skepticism are dismissed as mere conspiracy, as disrupting the recitals we have come dotingly to believe in. Myth is received as reality and “narrative” euchres objective analysis and the pursuit of fact. In our fable-ready time, the real story is the story itself. This is where we are today. Where we will be tomorrow does not inspire confidence.

1 Like
#382

Well,we are talking about liberal and conservative media - in the US. What criteria do folks use…to determine if news media has liberal or conservative bias…when news from the BBC (i.e. England), France, Germany, China, etc, are talking about President Trump and his administration :question: :unamused:

#383

Steve, I’m afraid if we can’t agree on what are facts, we can’t have dialogue any more fruitfully than people who don’t agree with the rules of logic.

I have stated that leftist publications like the Wash Post, NY Times,CNN,MSNBC etc have an intense agenda and can’t be trusted so i agree with your conclusion.

#384

Well,we are talking about liberal and conservative media - in the US. What criteria do folks use…to determine if news media has liberal or conservative bias…when news from the BBC (i.e. England), France, Germany, China, etc, are talking about President Trump and his administration :question: :unamused:

What’s more important, promoting an agenda or trying to extract the truth. Here is the latest snippet from the leftist press. “Comey was fired right after he asked the DOJ for additional resources for the Trump/Russia investigation” They got this from the famous “unnamed sources” and ran with it immediately. Sounds exciting, sounds plausible and certainly will get ratings, but it’s untrue! The acting FBI Director who is a Dem testified that the investigation had enough funds and that the method that the FBI gets funding is not a method that directs funds to individual cases.

#386

It’s one thing to accuse a news org of bias. It’s entirely another to a priori dismiss a news story that doesn’t fit your narrative as potential libel. Steve, sticking your fingers in your ears and accusing people of libel when they report something inconsistent with your ideology is insanity.

Libel is only in play if i said something untruthful but i do believe leftist publications fabricate stories on a regular basis to get ratings and advertising dollars. I’ve watched MSNBC & CNN for years and although i disagreed with their viewpoint they were watchable and i felt it was important to get a diversified viewpoint. I think they have gone off the cliff since Trump’s election and that’s my opinion as i see it. You can think what you wish but i suggest we agree to disagree and move on.

#387

Did everyone catch this BBC story?

Massive ransomware infection hits computers in 99 countries

Let me quote an interesting tidbit, from the BBC article:

Well, I’m a nerd and geek. But I take security very seriously. Especially after someone hacked one of my credit cards. And I’m a person who:

Sheds all documents
Will not use a public WiFi, unless I use a VPN
Etc.

And to guard against the credit card threat, I

Worked with the credit card company
Filed a local police report
Joined Life Lock

Now on my system:

I work behind a router
I have OpenDNS set, on the router
Use Norton Security Suite for Windows
Keep the operating systems, firmware and applications, up to date
Guard my searches with Avast Security and McAfee site adviser plug-ins
Use Sophos mobile security, on my phone and Android devices
Only get downloads from either File Hippo or Google Play
Force HTTPS connections, with the HTTPS Everywhere plug-in
Do monthly laptop scans, with Malwarebytes, Sophos Virus removal tool and Norton Security suite
Practice smart computing

Sure, I can get hacked. I just try to make it much harder, for folks to do so :exclamation:

#388

Your e-loins are e-girded!

#390

Here’s an interesting article, Steve, for you and Dave to read. Any commentary or rebuttal?

A Grain Of Saul: ‘The Media’ Does Not Have A Liberal Bias, And I Can Prove It

#391

The fact of media bias is, for those that watch both sides of ‘civil war’ - so obvious as to almost not need comment. The hostility to Trump has caused a Trump Derangement Syndrome, it almost approaches mental illness. I’ve listened to hatred being spewed from The View to CNN. The British, the EU, haven’t a clue - and who would trust them anyway with the spectacle of stupidity they have shown in the recent years??

Anyway, here’s the former head of NBC;

foxbusiness.com/politics/201 … where.html

Or a survey:
frontpagemag.com/point/19379 … greenfield

Or a bunch of examples of bias in the media:
frontpagemag.com/tag/media-bias

Got lots more.

The Dems are now the party of hate.

#392

Well, anyone can point, to a bunch of articles. I can find articles to prove that aliens exist, the earth is flat, etc. And some are quite impressive, to boot (i.e. like the YouTube video I’m including). :laughing:

But let me comment. I don’t like US media. It’s a mixture of “news” and “show business”

Mostly, I get my news from:

WFMT, a Chicago classical music station
The BBC, which is from England
Sometimes from a PBS station, broadcasting news from France, Germany or China

I do turn on CBS, ABC or NBC, for a half hour each day. Just to see what they have to say.

But I realize, there is a bit of “show business” thrown in.