Trump and the Ten Commandments

Now that Louisiana-a state full of evangelical Trump supporters- has voted to put the Ten Commandments in school rooms, I wondered how Trump behavior stacked up against those dictums from'God'...I found this assessment online, and Know that number 2 also has been violated since the writer posted it; remember a few years ago when Mr.Trump sold those ridiculous trading cards of himself? The hypocrisy would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. 1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. - - The almighty dollar, or himself - probably violated. 2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. - - He doesn't carve, or order up statues to my knowledge? - probably ok. 3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain - - cussing, twitter, meetings with Pelosi - violated. 4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy - - generally avoids church, works weekends - violated. 5) Honour thy father and thy mother - - no obvious data - probably ok. 6) Thou shalt not murder - - Iranian general - violated. 7) Thou shalt not commit adultery - - 3 wives, assorted escorts - violated. 8) Thou shalt not steal - - business history, contractors shorted, bankruptcies - violated. 9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour - - endless lies, against everyone - violated. 10) Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's house, wife, slaves, animals, anything else) - - assorted houses, wives, and anything else - violated. Now that the 'supreme court' has ruled immunity for presidents, miltary personnel must ask themselves- "Am I obligated to follow an immoral or illegal command?" from the commander in chief? And not that anyone will be convinced or swayed by humilty and reason and Jesus' true message of compassion, the book 'The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory-American Evangekicals in an Age of Extremmism' by Tim Alberta-a pastors son and longtime observer of Christian behavior- details the fall from grace of the modern evangelical church...Followers genuinely believe the country is going to hell, or, at least Democrats are, and this book offers information from an insiders view of how and why that is happening...

Cash...& perceived wealth

I am not anti-computers nor am I anti-credit cards; both have been very convenient to use for shopping, communication and research. I am also aware of the eventual obsolescence of cash as more transactions are performed digitally. However, I am from a generation when cash was dominant, and I have seen instances when processors at store registers have delayed the transaction due to whatever glitch was slowing them at that moment. About an hour ago I happened to buy something at the counter in the MacDonalds in Warren-something I rarely do-and the bill was $6.34, so I gave the clerk a five dollar bill, a one dollar bill and 35 cents. After working the register the clerk realized something did not seem correct when it told him the change was two dollars and some change, but he was not sure how to correct it. After he summoned a manager, I explained the situation and she thanked me for clarifying it. She too was uncertain exactly what had transpired...Using cash in this instance became as inefficient as a malfunctioning processor, but I hesitate to blame the clerk because he has grown up in a society weaning itself from physical money and likely has not had much experience nor education in its use. The current cost to produce a penny is 3.07 cents-mostly from the cost of the metal- which makes their use totally irrational.A nickel costs about 11.54 cents to produce, so that does not make sense either. A dime costs about 5 cents to produce and a quarter or half dollar also cost less than their value to make. A dollar bill costs 7.5 cents. So it seems that rounding prices up or down to the nearest dime would make sense if physical money stays in circulation. I suppose that when my generation dies the elimination of cash will be less controversial, although considering the security risks associated with digital transactions, maybe not... -Yesterday a retired couple we know-'professional' by trade -commented to their son that he would need "over a million dollars" to retire comfortably, so they advised him not to stop at that amount. Beth wisely remarked that it "depends on ones lifestyle", and we later wondered how people of wealth could become so disconnected from the realities of how most people in the world really live. "According to the 2023 Global Wealth Report, the average wealth per adult in 2022 was $84,718, which is a 3.6% decrease from 2021. The report also states that the wealth share of the global top 1% fell to 44.5% in 2022, and that wealth is concentrated in wealthier regions such as North America and Europe." "According to the World Bank, 712 million people were living in extreme poverty in 2022, which is a 23 million increase from 2019. The extreme poverty line is defined as less than $2.15 per day." So most people on this planet exist on far less than the priveleged few, and many of the latter deny the systematic historical reasons for why wealth has become concentrated in so few people. The covid pandemic exposed the truly necessary people in the world-those doing actual work at the lowest wages-but only by necessity have their wages begun to rise to liveable levels. Why not pay the people growing the food and stocking the shelves and installing the roofs and furnaces and doing all the other dirty, necessary jobs a fair wage rather than overpay lawyers and CEOs and actors and athletes and all the other superfluous people who could not exist without the former? Because money is power and people do all they can to hold onto power. The argument by some wealthy, educated people that Anyone can stock a shelf or pick a strawberry does not mean they themselves want to do it. So the wealth is hoarded by the few and they hold charities to assuage thier guilt rather than live on less. This retired couple and some wealthy people are not bad people; they are typical, church going citizens well liked in their community, but among the womans concerns yesterday was that her new, larger cell phone did not fit in her purse; there is something disturbing about a society where its citizens fret over such trivial problems- and where money can be put to better uses.