Biden’s More Popular Than You Think
Stick with me on this. (and full disclosure, I didn’t vote for Biden and most likely won’t again).
Biden’s policies and accomplishments are far more popular than he is. I’m going to include an image here so you can see it. But some highlights:
Biden has:
Increased oil and gas drilling (yes, you read that right. INCREASED)
More oil is being produced than any country in HISTORY
50% more drilling permits than under Trump
(I’m from oil country, so i constantly hear how bad Biden is for oil, but umm…yeah)
Reduced the federal deficit
Deployed more border agents
Limited Medicare costs.
All of these are very popular, yet people aren’t aware Biden is the one doing it (or his administration I suppose). But people are MORE aware of Biden’s less popular policies (canceling some student debt, for example).
Opinion note: I find this interesting because I was told repeatedly during the Trump years that “I don’t like him, but his policies are great.” (I don’t really believe that, but I’ll accept it for the sake of argument.) But if that’s the case, I’ll assume people will just judge Biden on the policies too? 
Or will we keep talking about how he’s a whopping 3 years older than Trump?
(My point here is that News media (especially a certain network) thrives on controversy, and to do that they have to create a fight, and to do that, they have to focus on the negative. But if one were to just weigh policies…)
June 6th marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day
Just a thought on this. In my little world, conservatives are generally very proud of D-Day. It’s seen as one of the great days in US History. And yet, in the last few years (oh, let’s say since 2016), conservatives have shifted positions to be isolationist. That is, conservatives have shifted from saying “The US has a place of leadership in the world,” to “we need to just focus on ourselves.”
I find this shift fascinating. The isolationist vs interactive debate has been going on for as long as America’s been a country. How much do we have to be involved in the rest of the world?
In my own opinion, conservatives loved being involved when Reagan was President – it was our duty to make the world safe for democracy. But when Obama said we need to work with other nations because we were all so much more connected, suddenly it was a bad thing.
If you can set aside the parties for a minute, I think it’s worth thinking about. What is our responsibility towards the rest of the world? Do we help in places like Syria or Ukraine? Or just say you’re on your own? Is it even possible to do that in an age of the Internet and global supply chains?
Opinion note: I think the Net changed the world too much to go back to “just us.” I think technology, transportation, and so forth have made us all too interconnected to just focus on our own shores. Good or bad, i think we’re a global society now, and we’ll have to struggle with how that looks.
United Methodist Church Loses a Million Members in One Day
The United Methodist Church is a global denomination, with roughly ten million members worldwide. The Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Branch voted this week to leave the denomination, opening the door for more African churches to leave. The decision comes one month after a vote to allow same-sex marriages and clergy within the denomination.
About ¼ of United Methodist churches have left the denomination in the US alone in recent years, most citing a leftward drift in policy. They are joining a new denomination called the Global Methodist Church, a denomination that reaffirms the denominations traditional stance on social issues.
Opinion Note: I’ve said before I think denominations will continue to split over this (and other) issues. There’s just not a real compromise solution that I see. Either you believe that same-sex unions are valid, or you don’t. Churches will continue to struggle to find where they stand. (when i was teaching about ⅓ of the churches in my town allowed gay clergy. I believe it’s ½ now, but I might be mistaken).
Twitter to Start Officially Allowing Porn
(Yes I know it’s X. That’s lame. We all know it. It’s twitter.)
Elon Musk announced this week that Twitter will start allowing “consensually produced and distributed adult nudity…[and] sexual behavior.” I find it ironic because Musk originally said he was buying twitter to “get rid of the porn bots.” I guess if you can’t beat em…
The decision has led many Christian leaders on twitter to ponder leaving the site. Beth Moore, Bart Barber, and many others have publicly stated their opposition and plans to reconsider use of the site.
Opinion Note: In my opinion, Musk has managed to tank one of the most popular brands in the world in a matter of a couple years. It’s just astounding. Is this the nail in the coffin? Oh, I’m sure Twitter will still be around for a while, but I know a lot of the people I follow have already shifted to Threads or other sites. I think this will just accelerate that.
China Lands Second Mission on Dark Side of the Moon
I share this partly for the musicians out there, but also to note that China is the only nation to land a craft on the “opposite” side of the moon, and this is their second successful foray.
There is a growing space race (SPACE FOOOOORRCE) as nations look to exploit, i mean explore, space for minerals and possible colonization efforts. As a sci-fi fan, I harbor a deep dream of space exploration (and yes, I believe it’s Biblical too), but we’ll see. The costs seem pretty astronomical to me (hee hee).
Biden Issue Executive Order regarding Border Asylum Claims
This is a little complicated, so bear with me.
When people think of illegal immigration, they tend to think of people sneaking across the border in the dead of night, fording the Rio Grande and hiding from Border Patrol.
But ⅔ (62%) of illegal immigration is visa overstays. That is, people come on a legal visa, and then don’t leave when that visa is expired. Moreover, people who do come across the border without a visa are no longer trying to avoid Border agents. In the last 15 years, more immigrants have LOOKED to find Border agents, and then asked for asylum.
Asylum is the idea that if you are fleeing from persecution or violence, you can ask for safety within the US. It grew in attention after German Jews were turned away from the US in World War II (“Not our problem. Stay in your own country and fight.” Generally people have criticized this policy in later years.)
It has been the policy of the US that people claiming asylum can come in to the country and wait, while their case is being decided. However, the system is overwhelmed by the number of people claiming asylum, and the backlog increased dramatically.
So, Biden issued an executive order changing the policy, saying that people seeking asylum need to wait OUTSIDE the US until their claim is processed. This was tried under Trump and was overturned by the courts. The ACLU sued the Trump administration for trying the same thing, and they are suing the Biden administration
Opinion note: I opposed this under Trump, and I oppose it now. I’m not against having hearings regarding asylum claims, but I think the solution is more funding for processing claims, not more funding to keep people out. In other words, i think the goal should be more efficiency, not more barriers.
North Korea Send Trash Filled Balloons over South Korea
Tensions are rising on the Korean peninsula after the US and South Korea held the first bombing drills in 7 years. The drills are in response to North Korea sending hundreds of balloons filled with garbage into South Korea.
It seems kind of funny that North Korea is dropping dirty diapers on its neighbor, but the truth is it’s a silent threat that the next time they might be dropping something more serious (biological weapons, for example).
Why would North Korea do this? According to their leadership, they are doing it to help Trump.
I was actually surprised, but apparently they officially declared they want to ramp up tensions to cause a problem in the US election, and hopefully get Trump elected president again, because his policies help North Korea so much.
My friends, I think we should be concerned when North Korean and Russia want to help a particular person become president. Yes, countries will interfere in elections of other countries for their own benefit, that’s normal. But ask yourself who is supporting which candidate, and consider the consequences.
Final Note:
The Oklahoma Sooners just won the Women’s Softball World Series. That’s awesome. But this is their 4th in a row – that’s right, a 4-Peat.
That’s somewhat impressive.