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  • Carnivore Month is Over

    I shared early last month that we were joining the carnivore diet for a month. I claimed myself to be stoked, and I was. Eating meat is great. I was however, shocked to find myself a couple of weeks into it and thinking, man, I need to eat a lettuce leaf or something. Whew!

    My wife maintained a more animal based diet than I did. I moved to something that would probably fit the ketovore description on this site more than anything. I’m also not incredibly strict. I was blessed by God not to have a tendency to be addicted to carbs so I might take a bite of a cake or eat one French fry every now and then. However, I do tend overall to have a way of eating that is low-carb and heavy on animal-based foods.

    Why is this important? My doctor chided me for my cholesterol numbers in the first part of this past December. Apparently 294 is considered to be high. However, I am not going to take statins. Given that the majority of your brain is cholesterol, that they are linked with increased chance of diabetes, higher risks of stroke, as well as muscle/joint pain… I ain’t doing it.

    In fact, in a recent study available on the NIH Public Access site, researchers showed that in the elderly, the best memory function was observed in those with the highest levels of cholesterol. Low cholesterol is associated with an increased risk for depression and even death.

    Dr. David Perlmutter

    I already knew that my weight of 264 pounds on that early December morning was too high. I told him I was just going to lose some weight and that number would come down. Our conversation made me think his experience with 50+ year old males has seen this statement of intent not hold true  too many times. Something about, “we’ll see if you can make lifestyle changes…”

    My response? “Bet!” I’m thinking I kind of committed myself. 😂

    So, again not being too strict works for me. I don’t weigh daily. Maybe just a few times a week. I weighed two days ago and weight was down to 238. Burger patties, steaks, eggs, cheese, bacon, lots of bacon, milk, ham, sausage, and an occasional salad seem to be working. I’ll give another update next month.

    As always, stay safe, stay healthy, and God bless.

  • Carnivore!

    We decided to join in with Carnivore Month. I am pretty stoked about it. I always have and expect I always will, love meat. Strict carnivore keeps me from giving it all the various flavors meat can be turned into, but I may not stay “strict” for very long. But, I will stay as close to strict as I can. I am just goind to HAVE to include some herbs and spices once in a while. I think chicken, pork, and fish need a little more than salt. Not on steak, steak never really needs anything more than salt, pepper, and maybe some butter.

    I mean, this needs nothing.

    YUM!

    If you want more information about the diet, this story about Dr. Shawn Baker is a good red.

    I will post at least a couple of times about it and how it’s going.

    Stay safe, stay healthy, and God bless.

  • NOT John 17:20-21

    “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. Except for those who will begin to refer to themselves as Asian Americans, set them aside and have them opposed to unity with other believers.”

  • The Twitter Files

    The Twitter Files

    Have you heard about the #TwitterFiles? What exactly are the #TwitterFiles and should you be concerned about them? The Twitter Files are a series of news threads that appear on Twitter based on internal documents released by Elon Musk after he bought Twitter. Sometimes, Twitter threads are, or can be, confusing to follow if you’re not familiar with the interface. However, the @Threadreaderapp will take a Twitter thread and “unroll” it into an article of sorts that allows for much easier reading.

    I decided to unroll #TwitterFiles threads into articles and share a brief summary of each and link to them here. I would encourage you to read them if you have not.

    Before going forward, it’s important to note that while it tended to be conservative voices that were muted, suppressed or suspended, that is only due to the left leaning nature of Twitter leadership, not because conservatives didn’t try the same thing. It wasn’t just the Biden campaign asking for Twitter to silence people, it occurred under the Biden administration and the Trump Administration.

    These files involve a lot of reading but document the U.S. Government working to shut down free speech of American citizens that didn’t conform their thinking to the acceptable narrative.

    Twitter Files – Volume 1

    This thread offers insight into how Twitter was used to censor speech at the request of the Biden campaign. One of the emails is a list of tweets with the words “More to review from the Biden team.” The response? “Handled.”

    Twitter Files – Volume 2

    This thread gives the story on how accounts were targeted for daring to have thoughts and views that didn’t align with the official narrative. Conservative accounts were blacklisted from search results and trends, and some set to “Do Not Amplify.” The 28th tweet in this thread?

    This makes me tend to think that there will be a large, cohesive article somewhere in the future.

    Twitter Files – Volume 3

    In this thread, we start to see that they are working with the FBI and DHS. These agencies as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were their partners in detecting/addressing “misinformation” on Twitter. Indeed, one of Twitter’s highest staff (Yoel Roth, the head of Trust and Safety) had weekly meetings with them AND the Director of National Intelligence about the elections.

    Twitter Files – Volume 4

    Michael Shellenber talks in this thread about the permanent silencing of Donald Trump while he was a sitting President. The thread covers that Twitter had resisted call to silence him for years but finally gave in after setting aside their own policy and making rules that applied just to Trump.

    This thread also includes information that it wasn’t just Twitter having weekly meetings with the feds. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft (among others) were also participants in these meetings.

    Twitter Files – Volume 5

    More coverage of the move to ban Trump permanently from Twitter. This one includes discussions showing Twitter’s staff in conflict with some saying there were clearly no violations and one (apparently from China) pointing out the damage this could cause to public discourse. Those concerns were dismissed. What I find interesting here is the ability to completely disregard reality some of the people seem to possess.

    Twitter Files – Volume 6

    Here we have Taibbi again. His reporting again focuses on how close Twitter and the FBI operate together. One internal communication even claims the FBI has okayed sharing classified information with Twitter. Another appears to be the FBI wanting to know why no action was taking on an account they requested action on. Alleges at least 80 agents were assigned to combat wrongthink misinformation on social media.

    Twitter Files – Volume 7

    This is, in my opinion, probably the most blatant example of how our federal government bureaucrats are compromised. The Hunter Biden laptop story is the subject of this thread and it shows the feds actively working to discredit a story they know to be true. Yes, your government was working to prevent you from knowing the truth about how a presidential candidate was corrupted and beholden to foreign interests.

    Twitter Files – Volume 8

    U.S. Central Command telling someone at Twitter about it’s “hard to do web ops when you can’t Tweet!” They then go on to ask about getting a list of their psyop accounts verified. Twitter the propaganda machine.

    Twitter File – Volume 9

    Even the CIA was involved in the meetings with Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and other tech giants. The FBI’s team assigned to mitigate foreign influence reported domestics accounts, not foreign. Twitter staff even found it odd that the FBI had assigned agents to go looking for Twitter policy violations to get accounts suspended.

    Twitter Files – Volume 10

    Twitter, at the specific request of the White House, labelled factual information as misinformation and suppressed Americans speech. Also, see a more in depth article covering the story by the author here.

    Twitter Files – Volume 11

    Man, Twitter (and other big tech) taking directions and working with the FBI, CIA, NSA, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff’s Office, Department of State Global Engagement Center (GEC), the list goes on. There was hesitancy to involve the GEC as they were viewed as maybe being conservative and they shouldn’t be in on the fun.

  • Shortest Blogpost Ever?

    I remember my grandfather telling me, years ago, that some people understand nothing but violence and that is the only way to deal with them.

  • Timothy Keller! You Knock That Off Right Now!

    Tim Keller started folks Sunday with a misquote, quotation marks and all, of scripture on this fine, brisk November morning.

    Jesus was not asked that question in that passage. What kind of teacher will quote scripture incorrectly and what would be the purpose? Translation versions found at biblehub.

  • That Doesn’t Hurt You

    I watched a Doug Wilson video reaction to a conversation between Matt Walsh and Joe Rogan the other day. It was a discussion about gay marriage and I noticed that they were talking past each other and Rogan’s repeated use of the same question or variations of it as an attack on Walsh’s position. They were talking past each other because Walsh was talking about marriage (the institution) and Rogan was talking about individual relationships. The question Rogan kept asking was, “How does that affect/hurt you?”

    That just struck me as a really sloppy question and terrible reasoning. I’ve noticed it several times online and it’s been (so far) from people taking a left-leaning position. Is this the standard? They don’t really mean it anyway. How can you know this? Apply it to multiple situations.

    You can use somewhat benign hypotheticals or obviously ridiculous ones. If you’re talking to someone who supports extensive welfare programs, though not on it themselves, ask them if they support ending it, after all, it won’t hurt them. Why should we lock up people who are murderers? If they choose to kill someone, but it isn’t the person you’re talking to, they should oppose homicide laws, because you know, it doesn’t hurt them. They obviously haven’t been murdered.

    As Western Culture continues to splinter apart, people will attempt to cajole, con, or bully others into adopting, or at least accepting, their opposing worldview. Think well and pay attention.

    Stay safe and stay healthy!

  • Maybe It’s the Ferguson Blood…

    But I love listening to this and get fired up by it.

  • Am I a Christian Nationalist?

    Christian Nationalism is all the (cause of) rage at the moment. I have to admit that from my view it seems (as in, it appears probable) that many use the term as a synonym for normal, run-of-the-mill Christianity. Some things I read on it make me think, “Yeps, I guess I’m a Christian Nationalist” while other things I read make me think, “If that’s Christian Nationalism, I’m definitely not one. I don’t know anyone who favors conversions at gunpoint.” So, in light of the fact that there is no agreed upon definition I offer the following.

    1. If thinking a nation and it’s people are best served when the government operates with principles and values that align with those laid out in scripture makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I suppose I am.

    2. If voting for candidates and policies that are more aligned with Christian values over and against those that oppose same values makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I am guilty again, and gladly so.

    3. If thinking that as far as your vote determines the direction of the nation, that voting for candidates dedicated to murder and perversion aligns one, and makes one complicit, with wickedness then, once again, I am a Christian Nationalist.

    4. If the ideal form of government forces conversion to Christianity (which it couldn’t really anyway) is what one means, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    5. If Christian Nationalism means non-believers are treated like second-class citizens then I cannot be counted among the Christian Nationalists.

    6. If Christian Nationalism includes an idea that the Church and Government are the same institution, or melded together in some form where one holds official power over the other, then I have to say I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    7. If Christian Nationalism involves thinking in terms of race (melanin count) for value of body, soul, or ideas, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    The problem I see increasingly is the attacking of items 1-3 and then when called on it, the same people stating they only meant for those that hold positions 4-6. This is a form of argument I first heard of listening to a James Lindsay video. This is why the more I read, the more apparent it becomes that for the vast majority, “Christian Nationalism” is only used to make their attacks on traditional Christianity more palatable.

    I’ll be updating this post as time goes on and this idea develops more.

    May 10, 2023 UPDATE. There isn’t really anything I’ve seen to change my mind on what I’ve written. It’s only been reinforced.

  • Do Not Disturb, the Best Setting for Your Mobile Device

    It’s been five days now since I set my phone to “Do Not Disturb.” I can only get notifications from immediate family members. It’s been amazing! I took some time off of work and wanted peace and quiet. I have been checking my notifications a couple of times a day, when I want to, instead of having a constant battle for my attention.

    I’m likely to leave that setting that way. It occurs to me that none of us have any right to demand or expect 24-hours access into each others lives and that is essentially what notifications are. Obviously, that doesn’t mean our families shouldn’t be able to get in touch with us quickly in today’s state of technology.

    Breaking free of the digital chains that unknowingly bound me is a great experience. While it may make me a little harder to get in touch with, or make me seem more aloof than I already appear to be, that’s going to be quite alright. Peace of mind and being focused on what is actually important has far more value than knowing the latest location a Russian bomb was dropped at the exact same time as everyone else.

    I also know the value of being able to respond quickly to customers or potential customers. I know that this plays a vital role in gorwing a business. But is “growing a business” what is most valuable to you? Many people I know work hard to provide for their family. What a shame to let the means become the end at neglect of those around us, and possibly our own spiritual and physical health.

    Just a few thoughts from a man enjoying God’s great outdoors with most of his family. God bless you all!