A Blog of politically "incorrect" opinion and commentary on culture, politics and spirituality by a woman who challenges the traditional feminist ideals with bold curiosity and refreshing insight.
What do you call a lover of beer? I can’t find it in any online search…So I’ll be the first to introduce a new term. Brew Shrew! How about that?
Beer isn’t for everyone, but the beer connoisseur could tell you otherwise 🙂
Craft beer is so much easier to find these days. Whether it’s an urban hub or the back roads on the way to the city, beer tasting rooms and tap houses are plentiful.
Oh, the diversity of it all 🙂
So who needs a corporate larger anymore? Ditch them all I say!! It’s time to get back to basics and make the local brewmaster your one stop shop for suds and buds. NO, not those kinds of Buds…YOUR BUDDIES. The ones who know your name and are always glad you came.
After all, you’re a Brew Shrew and you wouldn’t want it any other way. Cheers!
Relax! The economy is fine, the border is secure, Social Security is solvent and crime is down…So say the Democrats in charge. Okay, okay. It’s not just the Democrats. FINALLY WE CAN UNDERSTAND IT’S THE DEEP STATE! Yes, that is correct.
When only a few of our representatives care to check on the functions of our government systems, then we all have a deep seated issue. For too long the federal bureaucracy has been allowed to grow without constraints. Why has this happened? Laziness perhaps, but more likely it’s covetousness. Coveting is an ungodly desire for something that belongs to another. It can lead to greed, stealing, jealousy, envy—even murder. God wants us to be grateful for those things we have and to work for what we desire, rejoicing with others in what they possess. Our federal DEEP STATE is committing a sin against each citizen of this nation by rejoicing in what the DEEP STATE possesses in stead of rejoicing in what each individual has worked for.
Greed can be seen in the rising federal debt. Stealing has occurred with inflation. Jealousy is apparent when our leadership taxes our wealth. Envy leads to this taxation. Murder is then the intentional destruction of our liberties in order for the DEEP STATE to survive.
The big cover-up is insidious. Corporate media conspires with DEEP STATE actors to manipulate outcomes so that it seems to those watching from the outside that “nothing can be done” to change course. Meanwhile, courageous voices are cancelled to help perpetuate the manipulation. Heaven help us!
He was simply a messenger…
It’s not enough for you and I to throw up our hands in defeat or to ignore the coming consequences. We must find and follow the canceled voices. We must become the voice of reason and defend liberty. It is 1776 once again! We the people are the messenger and we will not be silent.
Do you remember Mad Libs? I used to love these one page “stories” in which you fill in the blanks and the story would become sillier with the more interesting noun, pronoun or adjective you would think of…This is how I imagine our world today 🙂
The thing is, back when I was in grade school and Mad Libs were popular, my education was on par with filling out those blanks. For instance, a sentence was a sentence. It had a beginning, middle and end with punctuation and most of all meaning. These days I’m finding that most anyone graduating past the year 2000 or so is forgetting about this grammatically correct way of communicating. I’m not suggesting that my writing skills are perfect, however I’m seeing that the real world is behaving more like a “Mad Lib” every day.
Our mad world today.
For instance, let’s consider pronouns. A pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a noun, typically replacing one’s name or a thing as referenced in a sentence. The pronoun sometimes is “gendered” which simply means that it identifies with the name of the individual. This last point is important! Why? Because “gender” is grounded in language. Gender is real and necessary. “Language activists” believe that a pronoun is a descriptor which an individual wishes to be referred to in order to indicate their gender identity. No! Gender identity is a personal construct of the imagination. Believing that someone can wish their pronoun into being is a fetish of narcissistic magnitude and goes against language norms. Either an individual has a proper name or they don’t…The pronoun identifies the name.
“Hello. My name is __________ (fill in the blank). I am happy to meet you! We should get together sometime soon to get to know each other better.“
“I just met a new friend named _________ (fill in the blank). He/She (Correct pronoun needed here depending upon the name) is a very kind person.“
The two sentences above are grammatically correct depending upon the inserted name and corresponding pronoun. My name is Bette and it is a female name and therefore uses a female pronoun which would be “She” in the second sentence. If I am emailing someone I have never met before who is named Pat, Chris or Jamie then I might have a problem, but I don’t need their pronoun in order to converse with them directly. I would hope by the time we get to know each other that the he/she or him/her aspect would be known. If Pat, Chris or Jamie have the least bit of self awareness then they would grant me the respect of learning who they are by not getting upset over a pronoun. An email that closes with “Sincerely, Pat he/him” is fine, but only because Pat realizes that he is a man and might be mistaken for a she/her….But this is typically insignificant because people should always be granted the benefit of doubt! I can’t tell you how many times people get my name wrong, even those who have known me for years type Betty. I could never judge them harshly for this oversight because I understand that my name is different. This is the Christian way to behave. Otherwise your behavior is judgmental, egotistical and borders on tyrannical.
Now there are newly created pronouns attempting to be used in the English Language. Here are the examples: xe/xem/xyr, ze/hir/hirs, and ey/em/eir. What are these? Fetishes of a clown world of course. Go ahead and use one as your legal name, but don’t mess with the fundamentals of our English language.*
*My opinion on this subject is my right to express according to the Constitution which governs our country.
DEI, also known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, is being forced on our institutions with policies written by the political left. Is this moral and just or is this tyranny in action? I believe it is the latter.
It’s laid out in our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence, natural rights and unalienable rights are given by our Creator, God. What could be more God given than diversity? Human biology, thought and ability to create according to individual abilities are not given by a man, woman or governing authority. However these intrinsic rights can and have been removed by thugs and tyrants in leadership positions.
It is thuggery to demand of another person to change their gender beliefs, religious practices and vocation in order to fit a “manufactured” goal. It is tyranny for a State or person in a government role to force a goal or policy that is not in alignment with our Constitution. We solved this decades ago when we implemented the Constitutional laws and systems that enabled our country to flourish. AND we continually perfect the systems by using Constitutional principles and practices. Only by implementing our God given diversity (aka differences) in ways that use civil debate can we change minds, hearts, laws toward a more perfect union…and I don’t mean labor union!
Equity is not equality. Equity is how something is distributed. Equality is fairness of treatment or opportunity. Because God made individuals diverse as stated in the prior paragraph, equality is His eyes means that He gave each of us life and the opportunity to grow in mind, body (this includes talent) and spirit. He could never have distributed these things to us all with equity therefore equity is a man made term. For humans to impose equity, some people benefit and others suffer regardless of one’s abilities…Only the outcome is important. Isn’t this a forced outcome? Of course it is! Thus more thuggery and tyranny. Equality under the law is a Constitutional right and because it is in our Constitution it cannot be taken away from people.
Unless you vote for the wrong party lol
Finally, inclusion is a deceptive term. God does not use deception to convey His inclusive Love for all of us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could include a person (no matter their ability, beliefs or behavior) in any aspect of society? Think about it…In order to be inclusive in most cases one would need to “discriminate” in order to build that inclusive community. Yet isn’t discrimination wrong or is this only for some people? Our Constitution allows us freedom of association. It doesn’t dictate with whom or for what cause…It’s simply natural to have an affinity for like-minded people as in a political party, religious denomination, alumni, etc. Being inclusive is nice and can make sense in some applications. However we must get real and understand that authentic relationships matter. Unless these relationships are toxic, criminal and against the law then people must be allowed to have their groups without political coercion.
I can still recall a conversation at a leadership workshop in my Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church where my co-facilitator and I were next to present on our agenda the UU understanding of inclusion. One participant related that our group quote, did not need to cover this topic because all UUs already know the meaning of inclusivity in our faith and this topic is a waste of time, end quote. The group skipped this topic and ended the discussion. This was 2011! As of 2015 the denomination hopped on the bandwagon of Trump related “resistance” effectively excluding those of us in the congregation with conservative values such as preserving our country’s borders, reforming the tax system to help employ more people and increase wages, and restraining federal spending ALL OF WHICH ARE NOT RELIGIOUS OF COURSE. But THE LEFT LEANING MAJORITY IN MY FAITH MADE OPEN BORDERS MORAL, ALL CORPORATIONS EVIL, AND FEDERAL SOCIAL SPENDING A VIRTUE. I no longer feel included in this religious community since all the sermons now preach the liberal political ideology. And don’t even get me going about my “whiteness” at church! I’ve expressed my concerns repeatedly only to affirm that inclusion here is nothing but a man made deception and has nothing to do with God’s Love.
Imposing DEI practices on people, groups, companies and organizations is inauthentic and goes against God’s will. He made us diverse, equal in His eyes, and included in His community of Love. Truth!
Do you enjoy exercising? I don’t lol…But I do it anyway. I always feel better afterwards too. For me it doesn’t take much to keep fit and maintain a healthy weight. Three mornings a week, a combination of stretching, light weights and simple cardio along with limiting sugar, dairy, carb and alcohol consumption seem to be ideal for me. Consistency and moderation are key.
I’ve typically been disciplined in my approach to most everything in my life, but that’s mostly because I have learned through experience what works for me and what doesn’t. Self awareness has helped. Role models which include family members have also helped. The aging process definitely humbled me as well.
Sometimes there are limits to what my body can do. However when I put my mind into any activity, I can definitely surprise myself with improvements. This proves that the human mind has considerable sway over the mind/body connection.
So what is COURAGE? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines courage as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. The word strength is critical here because use of strength indicates that the mind (mental) and/or soul (moral) has to step up to confront a perceived danger, fear, or difficulty. But strength is a relative term…You must be tested consistently in order to build strength. We know that our reaction to a first test is usually not the same as our reaction to a second test of the same provocation, and as a matter of course the second test could prove a worse result than the first. This is why I say that courage is a muscle.
Courage to expose the truth
A consistent exposure to danger, fear, or difficulty tests your courage muscle. You begin to understand how your ability to overcome the danger, fear or difficulty can be used to improve an outcome just like consistent exercise improves muscle strength. Courage and fear are human characteristics which is why we have an innate “fight or flight” response. But of course fighting is more difficult than fleeing. The leaders among us know this. Which leaders are playing to our fears rather than informing us to help improve our strengths? Which leaders are constantly out in front of an issue to secure our freedoms as opposed to leaders that continually get behind an issue to curb our freedoms?
Right to defend your life and property
Your individual ability to safely provide for your needs in a lawful manner is the American way and is very courageous. Globalists want to control your ability to meet your needs and replace it with their ability to give you what they think you need which is why they will make you fear something like the climate changing. Only you can strengthen your courage muscle…Do it now and tell the globalists off! Keep America free now and forever.
What does evil mean to you? When you perceive evil what are your next motivations? Is it possible to root out evil? If so, what then?
Evil is essentially the opposite of good. One requires the other in order to exist and have meaning. For instance, if human kind were able to transform our existence on earth to always be good, would human kind have rooted out all evil?OF COURSE NOT! There would always be an example of evil in order to define what is good. Otherwise good is simply that which IS.
As I read social media threads in response to political posts it is obvious to me that liberal contributors to these threads are more hostile to the conservative or moderate contributors. Why is this? Doesn’t it stand to reason that provoking anger from the opposition could lead to more hostility? Isn’t hostility a form of evil? Isn’t provoking someone evil? If one person provokes another, isn’t the natural human reaction to fight back? Therefore isn’t fighting back an evil action?
I hope you can see where I’m going with this…
If tomorrow we all agreed that those who govern us are doing good work to run the country and the world, then we would probably also all agree that our lives are equal and fair. Total and complete agreement requires no decent. Isn’t no decent a good thing? But that’s not the world that humans live in. Remember that God had to expel Adam and Eve from Eden because they didn’t obey His order. Even if you don’t believe in God or what is written in the Bible, Eden is a perfect example of a utopian system that could not really exist. Unless humanity removes the reality of our free will, our existence is always good vs evil, one vs the other, yes vs no, right vs wrong.
We must not allow ourselves to label any political party in the USA as evil or good. Political parties exist to organize as a platform of ideas that represent the free thought and beliefs of some people. When there is more than one political party then there are many ideas. When there is free debate and questioning of the ideas then the best ideas generally win, but only if a free press reports on the ideas in a bipartisan manner. It is not a crime to have an idea or belief.
Politicized evil is rooted in controlled messaging whether this narrative is put out by the press, social media platforms, partisan politicians or woke churches. We know that large sums of money often accompany the controlled messaging in some way. The only way to root out politicized evil is by uncovering the truth which can only be arrived at by questioning the narrative. When questions are shut down, ignored, diverted or dismissed then there is immaturity and complicity to the evil.
It takes courage and maturity to fight back and question the narrative…This is good for our Republic! I care about other’s ideas and beliefs which is why I will always ask questions about their ideas and beliefs. I would expect the same in return. And just like that, evil is neutralized 😉
2023 is a year to lean back. All through 2022 I heard the term from main stream media (MSM) and progressive leaders to “lean in”.
What does it mean to lean into something?
From Wiktionary…To embrace; to experience fully or respond to wholeheartedly. quotations ▼ To take on or embrace something difficult or unpleasant, usually through determination or perseverance; to find a way to benefit from, or alleviate the harm of, risk, uncertainty and difficult situations. quotations ▼
As you can see, the term is meant to encourage a person to use their energy, skills and knowledge to turn a bad situation to better. But today’s MSM and progressives abuse the term by politicizing it. For example; they use politics (aka “equity “) to encourage social/cultural change because the “old way” of doing things to “alleviate harm of risk and difficulty” they believe only benefits the already “privileged”. Leaning in allows a progressive mindset to disrupt the old way and force a new way that changes familiar systems to better benefit “marginalized groups”. Trouble comes however when this change enforces “re-education” tactics that are tyrannical in practice. Leaning in removes questioning and debate both of which are cornerstone principles of a free society/culture.
Leaning back preserves questioning and debate. Conservatives know this to be true which is why our Constitution is full of checks and balances to limit the possibility of tyranny. Liberals used to believe these same principles as the foundation of States rights, but their quest for power has blindsided them. By relying on the progressive agenda for Democrat political power, liberals have lost sight of their own strength of being part of the power balance which is shared by individuals of different beliefs and backgrounds.
Conservatives in the 118th House of Representatives got it right! They leaned back on formerly accepted methods of congressional rules to force the Speaker into being more mindful of The People’s Business. No longer can this one person in a position of power force an action through Congress without proper time allowances and debate. “But,” you say, “the process will slow down work for The People!” Of course it will! Not all bills, laws or use of taxpayer funds are deemed appropriate by every elected representative. Each representative has a perspective and a voice which is guided by their constituents, not by the elite swamp of Washington D.C. or the political party in the majority. This is true for State legislators too.
History of shore erosion.
As a former city councilor I was privileged to see this perspective, and in all honesty I can tell you that help for the individual in a community begins with this relationship especially if a person has not been able to build a strong family or faith community foundation. The Federal Government will never have your best interests at heart because it is much too big a swamp of ulterior motives to see your specific needs and all too often mismanages the bureaucracy. For example; when my city had a serious problem with many homes, streets and shoreline destroyed and lost due to shore erosion that the Federal Government admitted to starting by building a poorly implemented Army Corps of Engineers project, it took decades for our representatives in D.C. to have our voice heard. Wouldn’t you know that funding wasn’t in the huge infrastructure bill, better known as the climate change bill (of which this project would have certainly qualified)…Our swamp Republican Senate representative was later swayed to vote for the huge omnibus spending bill in December because the swamp elites who put the bill together added our erosion project funding to it! We shall see if the project ever really starts. How many other projects were funded in this way? Meanwhile some of our citizens struggle with inflation because of these poorly designed spending bills. Who wins? Think about it…
So lean back this 2023. All we need is right there for us if we would only question and debate the merits of a bill, policy or anything for that matter. Risk, uncertainty and difficult situations are learning opportunities that should lead to growth and mentorship, not ignorance and dependency.
We all must bear some burden. What is your burden? Is the weight so heavy that your soul is unable to lift your spirit thereby causing literal physical or emotional pain? It’s okay…a baby told us so.
At Christmas time the daylight increases and metaphysical relief is revealed to us, but we must be present to accept the gift. Three wise kings may have had their physical gifts to give, yet only one King could give the Gift of most value. And so it was revealed!
Jesus needed to live a pretty full life before even he understood the meaning of this Gift. His Jewish brethren were responsible for teaching Jesus many truths about human nature as revealed by God through previous decades and centuries. These truths are the basis for spiritual enlightenment which is why religion must always have its place in our physical world. Why would humans ever remove God from our common understanding? Jesus knew the answer to this riddle, and the government of his time definitely didn’t want the answer known.
Truth: history repeats itself! “This Day” is like “That Day” in ancient times when the Roman king wanted no other king but himself. Today we understand that kings, like governments, wholeheartedly enjoy their “privilege” of giving and removing rights for those they “rule”. However, natural rights are God given which means that no human, no matter their perceived “privilege“, can give or remove them. Jesus didn’t die because the Roman king made it so…He died to show us all that our human suffering is limited to the physical world. God has more for us when we understand our metaphysical nature. AND more importantly, Jesus was born to be the ultimate example of a human life lived in the physical world with the liberty of an individual possessing divine worth that is separate from kings or governments and the happiness as expressed by one’s God given talents.
Let there be no doubt about it, Jesus is the reason for Christmas. His Gift is our Blessing. Let’s fulfill this promise by continuing to live humbly in God’s grace. On This Day He shall lift all darkness!
Identifying with a group or a cause can be a fulfilling experience in some ways. You understand that you are not alone with your thoughts and your emotions. Identifying with other people about an issue can even motivate you to act…These emotionally motivated activists are plentiful in our current politicized culture.
When emotions outweigh rational thinking you can be sure that disaster will follow. The social emotional learning (SEL) tools that are being introduced at K through 12 schools are experimental and require that teachers take on a psychologist persona. SEL helps a child identify into a system of compliance that favors groups over individuals.
From kappanonline.org: “Although SEL has been conceptualized in various ways, it can broadly be understood as the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to manage their emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (Weissberg & Cascarino, 2013). More specifically, Roger Weissberg and colleagues (2015) have identified a set of five core clusters of social and emotional competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.”
Sounds nice doesn’t it? However we must understand what their term “broadly” actually means. In the case of SEL I believe the term applies to a broad form of behavior compliance…Individualism is sacrificed for the collective. This spells disaster for our Constitutional Republic. Universities are creating activist teachers who in turn use SEL to reinforce measures of control on vulnerable students.
Many school teachers have given up on their traditional core clusters of reading, writing, math, history and the scientific method. During the pandemic the latest NAEP test results (2019 through 2021) show disappointing drops in academic performance for 4th and 8th grades across the nation. This is not just because of a pandemic! Teachers were failing their students even before then…No Child Left Behind became Common Core which then became Critical Race Theory. SEL is simply the tool now devised to grow student activists who will champion for a government collective. The World Economic forum makes this clear: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/what-is-collective-governance/
The ideology of collectivism is slavery. This was wrong in Roman times and it was wrong before the Emancipation.
If you use discrimination in an effort to remove discrimination you achieve nothing meaningful. The new abolitionist is one who maintains a firm action of inclusivity based on the character and merit of the individual. Absolutely no group of people can be thought of as monolithic because the new abolitionist creates space for the individual to learn and thrive objectively rather than subjectively.
The new abolitionist has the emotional maturity to position differing opinions as opportunities for deeper understanding. Parents know this. Sadly the teachers unions have identified teachers as the activist group to develop a society of like minded collectivist slaves.
The new abolitionist is faithful to Godly principles and knows that humankind’s imperfections and ego can harm this faithfulness. Idolatry has no place in a heart that serves God.
Our children are too precious to condemn their lives to government control. Yet this is where we are headed. Enough is enough!
As we mere mortals reach for the stars and the moons and the galaxies, we must first ground ourselves in Truth for it is this Truth that paved our way to the stars, moons and galaxies.
God’s creation is an orderly approach to what then become the creations of men and women. Notice that there is nothing humankind can create that isn’t from an existing element which only God could create. In nature, only elements up to atomic number 94 exist; to go further, it is necessary to synthesise new elements in the laboratory. All synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates: the half-lives of their longest-lived isotopes range from microseconds to millions of years.* Scientific methods are human made. We should not consider ourselves as God because only His creations, including you and me, are infinite.
Alternatively, the human mind is much more than a creation of God. Human kind can use the mind to imagine and act out a multitude of scenarios. The mind is chaotic and requires proper guidance. But who’s guidance? I believe it must be guidance by God. Hence the formation of the Torah, the Bible and other religious books and systems. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ means ‘at the beginning of everything, there was the entity we know as God, who embodied, and created, the rational principle on which everything is founded’. Divinely inspired Truth is the fundamental basis of human thought which lead to the natural rights ensconced in the U.S. Constitution. This is what makes us a free people in America.
Beware the man made “systems” that remove God’s meaning and purpose. Secular is non religious yet was never meant to be non God. Religion is a man made system for being with and relating to God as science is a man made system for being with and organizing God’s creation on earth. Likewise government is a man made system for organizing a community of humans. Humans are a creation of God which He saw as good. However humans have the capability of committing acts both good and bad which is why God also created boundaries by handing down The Word through prophets and articles like the 10 Commandments. This is where secularists and atheists always get stuck…The “separation” of church and state is not a clause in the Constitution. Instead the Constitution guarantees no establishment of one religion for the state or states https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/885/establishment-clause-separation-of-church-and-state … Belief in God and the individual’s practice of religion was sacrosanct.
Fix reason in her place…
We have taken this freedom for granted. We can witness this in the human chaos that is all around us. The frailty of the human spirit is reflected in the blatant rejection (“revolution”) of the boundaries of scientific methods, man’s laws and the constitutional limits all of which have been traditionalized in our secular world. This rejection has conditioned many people to believe in human made false gods such as climate change, critical race theory and party politics…Modern day golden idols shining as stars and moons and galaxies for those who worship them and attempt to control others through them. Man’s misuse of the military industrial complex is an unfortunate outcome of this Godless control.
Ground yourself by getting real with God. Place importance in objective truths. If your faith in God is weak then you are vulnerable to the evils, the false gods, the golden idols of our material world. You don’t need to follow a church or a preacher, but you do need to educate yourself with The Word by following a kind and humble path with similar seekers. God is Love, Light and the Way.
The Shrew 