66%

It would be funny if the KKK staged protests in Georgia over the new heart-beat law. Supposedly, 2/3 of abortions are performed on black women, which probably makes the KKK pro-choice given only 28% of abortions involved white women.

Would Alyssa Milano march with Nazis?

9 showed up for KKK rally?

I saw a few anti-hate posts on FB relating to Dayton. Evidently it was in response to a KKK rally.  The city of Dayton spent $650,000 towards the rally, though 9 showed. Seems like a lot of money for so few. Part of me wonders if the whole matter was a ruse to create a means to take funds.

when does life begin?

I have a complicated view on abortion.
My parents actually went to have my brother aborted but there was a line so they went to get lunch during which my dad talked my mom into marrying him. I heard this story for the first time while eating at the bar they choose for that lunch while my parents were visiting me at college. My brother never knew until then as well.
Three of my cousins were adopted. My aunt couldn't have kids. Two of my cousins aren't the brightest but they all have college degrees.
Before I was married, I was fully intent on marrying my wife. There was a moment when she thought she was possibly pregnant though she was on a form of birth control. I didn't think she was pregnant, but the idea was there. She wasn't ready for a child, so I would have supported her decision. Obviously she wasn't pregnant, but rather she felt weird due to the birth control affecting her. Regardless, I was willing to turn a blind eye to my feelings of pro-life.
I've been reading a lot of angst about the heart-beat bills passed in Ohio and such. Everyone seems fixated on an 11 year old in Ohio who was "raped" by a 26 year old. I use the quotes because it seems she willfully ran away to be with the guy. Not to take away from her being raped but to put context that abortion my not have been her first inclination...
My older daughter turned 11 today. If I had found out she was with a 26 year old... I would be inclined to end his heart-beat. Regardless, back when she was a heart-beat in her mom's belly, ultrasounds were sketchy and suggested she may have Down's. We met with a genetic counselor and he tried to scare us. We would have loved our daughter regardless, so we shrugged at their suggesting to terminating her heart beat.
The argument in favor of abortion is the reproductive rights of a woman are being infringed upon.
Not sure how many abortions are of planned pregnancies, but there's surely a reason for the pregnancy occurring in the first place.  I imagine alcohol may be to blame for a good number of unplanned pregnancies. Given that an intoxicated person may lack the ability to give consent, so technically, those pregnancies would be due to rape, right? Wasn't rape almost always an exception in the past? The problem then lies in that fact that the guy probably does not consider himself a rapist and the woman probably blames herself for being drunk.  The woman shouldn't be forced to have a guy's baby just because he didn't use protection, nor should she need his permission to abort his unwanted seed. Unless there's a notarized letter stating the unprotected sexual encounter was consensual, then the DNA from the aborted fetus should be ample evidence of a rape. The guy could be guilty of rape and murder thus locked up indefinitely to never cause another unplanned pregnancy again.
The threat of being charged with rape and murder should deter a guy from suggesting the pull-out method in lieu of a trusty condom.
If a woman is worried she'd be forced to charge he BF with rape... pregnency testing could be made free, and done before a heart-beat is detected.

I've never tried the "pull-out" method, I am a Trojan Man. I have yet to have an unplanned pregnancy thanks to Trojan. I think back to when we used the other means of birth control, and I find myself with more peace of mind.

cynical Christian meme

Being the descendant of a Presbyterian Minister, I had a certain worldview ingrained into my upbringing.

As a kid, I took everything for granted. I had a simple life. I was ignorant of my place in the world. My parents were teachers. They never struck me as role models for they were rather miserable about being teachers. Frankly, they didn't do much aside from sleep and teach, since we couldn't afford to do stuff.

Did credit cards exist?

I remember how  novel it was to go out to eat with my Great-Aunt Isabel(sp?). My Auntie Bell would always take us kids out for a meal in a one-on-one situation, and she would whip out her American Express Card and the waiter would come to the table with a device which would make a receipt for her via carbon copy.
My Auntie Bell was a teacher long before I knew her. She was 9 years older than my grandma, who was also a teacher. They were stern women who could be kind. Their father was the Presbyterian Minister. 
Not sure where I am going with my thoughts, but I can safely say I find myself hesitant to calling myself a Christian for I don't practice nor have I forced my children to go to church. I lean Christian, but I'm probably agnostic given the abuses done in the name of church throughout the centuries.
I am a registered Republican in the same sense. I personally identify most closely Libertarian, but given their lacking strength as a viable party, I lean Republican.
I have nothing against people helping people, but I do have a problem with robbing Peter to pay Paul. I like the premise of the Fair Tax. In theory, it would make Trade spats dumb, but how do we do away with 1040 and such?
I'm not following the China thing, aside from seeing farmers are getting hurt. We have starving people or at least people lacking "food security," why not take care of them before worrying about exporting to the tariff bastards?
I could go on about other matters such as the "heart-beat" bills or the crisis at the border. There's got to be a compromise that will make everyone unhappy, right?
What is the argument for the "heart-beat" bill? Well, a separate heart-beat suggests a separate life. I personally feel as much for we were pregnant back in the day, we were horrified when our baby didn't have a heart beat. I imagine a good number of people who have miscarriages feel the way I do,but I also find the prospect of abortion unsettling. If a heart beat can be discernible after 6 weeks of conception, then the window to legally terminate the pregnancy is narrow.  There's always the caveats of rape and incest being excluded, which makes the uproar about solely being woman's reproductive health interesting. Unless they're carrying JESUS, these women didn't get pregnant without someone else being culpable. Maybe the method of birth control failed, or maybe some one was too drunk to consent. The latter would be considered RAPE. Woman should be able to say she was raped without having to name or identify the rapist. The DNA from the aborted fetus would be on file and can be used to prosecute its father.
Also, pregnancy tests can be given monthly to those at risk of becoming pregnant to avoid having to go the rape claim route.

I'm a week ahead of a national conversation?

Back in April, I noticed Howard Schultz news was absent, so what did I see the last few days?

• Howard Schultz Has Slowed Down His Pre-Campaign Press Tour
• GROUND TO A HALT :Howard Schultz Has Largely Stopped His Presidential Prep Work
• The Silence of the Lattés: Whatever happened to Howard Schultz?  

Scott Adams says making accurate predictions is a good way of having a viable realty-filter in a 2 movies on the same screen world. Noticing a dog not barking before others isn't exactly predicting, but it's interesting when the others in the world react as I do beyond fringe bubbles of the political spectrum. Given the interest as an afterthought candidate in MAY of 2019... Howard Schultz probably is a viable candidate everyone should fear potentially going forward with a campaign.