Ronald Reagan used that quote with the Secretary General.
Mikhail Gorbachev responded, "You repeat that at every meeting".
Reagan answered, "I like it".
Gorbachev quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
Who do you trust?
Start with someone trustworthy who has a high regard for truth and a keen sense of details and nuance.
If you find someone like that, watch them carefully.
If you cannot find that person, watch the one you can find even more carefully.
Regarding Regard for Truth
We must be vigilant.
We must be skeptical.
We must be somewhat stoic.
We must take issues in isolation from arbitrary groupings.
Attacking the honesty and character of our opponents is useless in these times. A plurality (NOTICE – I did NOT say "majority") of people have declared by vote or by words or by action, that it does not matter. They place greater weight on issues, outcomes, and validation of their own ideas – in reverse order of importance.
So, on this Wednesday in America , the The Politics of Compassion requires that we hammer away at those these, one by one, argument by argument, rational discussion by rational discussion, news item by news item. We must do the hard work of democracy to drive the decisions of a republic,
We cannot give our elected leaders a moment's rest. We cannot give them slack on issues. We cannot fail to resist where resistance is necessary, and we should support even scoundrels when they do what is right.
If no one else holds truth in high regard, people who do so, must continue to do so.
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Lying with Partial Truth
One way to lie without actually and blatantly lying is to over-generalize, ignore nuance, and marginalize details. It has been emerging as standard practice and is escalating.
The big problem is that many people choose to rely upon its practitioners as primary sources and form opinions and policies based on partial truths which, in balance, equate to major falsehoods.
Do not take any one sentence or paragraph that I, or anyone else says or quotes, as the whole balanced truth. Use it as a prompt to get more details. Avoid all shallow thinking. Be suspicious o slogans and derogatory names for public people or groups of people.
Dig!
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Biden's Pardon's Corrected or Prevented Injustices.
Trumps merely rewarded his allies.
That is merely, my humble opinion.
In the opening footage, a pardoned insurrectionist who was part of a corporate attack on Congress, police, and democracy is threatening to go home and do it locally to those he deems to be nefarious characters.
I do not come from a tradition that denies people communion or permits their participation.
My line of Baptists echoes the scriptural admonition.
"Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup." – I Corinthians 11:28
This act of self examination is vital to the perso
nal encounter that each member has in the context of community as they gather as the Body of Christ.
That is what makes the eucharist or Lord's Supper, a communion of the saints.
I have no dog in many of the public square races.
Said and Recorded:
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” the president proposed while suggesting he would like states to take over FEMA's responsibilities individually." – POTUS
When Mr. Holman uses the phrase, "problems within the Catholic Church," is he glassing over the reality that the Pope is the pastor of many of the people that his boss is deporting – some to danger? I would think that the welfare of one's parishioners is a matter of Papal concern.
A Cowardly Flight from Fair, Equitable Diversity and Inclusion
Now is an opportunity to observe just how much courage and integrity American business has or lacks in the face of fairness, equity, and justice in the arena of diversity and inclusion.
Do not neglect to follow the money in mass deportations. Note the word, "charter." Also, be aware that many facilities are owned and operated by private companies. Who will be profiting from these cruel mass deportations?
Sure, Leave the Outrage to Us, But Keep Telling Us the Truth.
That is fine as far as it goes and as long as it does not go any farther than that. If the press is intimidated into silence or becomes an arm of the state, we have bigger problems than "snarkiness."
Pastor Tom's Community 
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