Funny Pie Charts Ben Shapiro Memes

Today's read is from columnist Kurt Schlicter. Here's an excerpt:

Time for some real talk. There are a lot of Republicans with doubts about President Trump running again in 2024, and you hear it often when conservatives gather together. They worry that him going Grover Cleveland could spoil a sure thing, but that's not necessarily so. Whether you love Donald Trump, or whether you doubt him – if you hate him, shut up and go back to the Bulwark offices with the other losers – you need to look hard at the facts. We're not progressives who let our feelz control us, and we must ruthlessly assess our own potential courses of action when it comes to replacing that desiccated old pervert masquerading as our president. We must look at his downside, but also his upside – and he has one. The fact is that Donald Trump 2024 has a reasonable chance to beat anyone the Democrats launch at him.

There's more. Read the entire column here.

Brittany Caple and her 3-year-old son, Abraham, cool off in the pool Monday, June 20, 2022, at Palmer Park in Janesville, Wis. Photo: Wisconsin Public Radio

Yes, it's been hot. Ungodly hot. Not exactly a news bulletin. Mid-July came a month early. Some I know are bitching.

How are they bitching? That somehow the two days of oppression this week equate to 14 months of bone-chilling winter.

AccuWeather.com has an incredibly bold website. It predicts the weather until daily and month until 2050.

Here's what it says about WX where I live in Franklin, WI, God's Country, USA.

1) After today, there will be no 90 degrees in Franklin the rest of the month.

2) There will be no 90 degrees in Franklin the entire month of July.

3) There will be no 90 degrees in Franklin the entire month of August.

4) September? Not to worry.

Take a look.

I did say bold. Today's highly paid forecasters can't tell me what will happen tomorrow. Unless it's bad. They they're 160% right. But we're told heat waves where I live end Wednesday.

I love the climate change wackos. On one hand we're lectured temps will soar and soar. Not according to the AccuWeather predictions.

FWIW.

Relax. Find AC. Dress inappropriately. 🙂

FACT: Summer ends in a blink. Winter is interminable.

Politically speaking, who knows Rebecca better than Scott Walker?

Who better than a concerned mother, who sent her  kids to public schools in Wisconsin, to lead the fight to take back our schools? Who better than a defender of law enforcement and the 2nd Amendment to lead the fight to clean up our streets? Who better than a conservative woman and cancer survivor to champion the right to life? Who better than a proven leader to protect the integrity of each and every vote? Who better than someone who works hard to make ends meet to balance the state budget? Who better than a jobs ambassador to get Wisconsin back to work?

Read Walker's entire column in the Washington Times.

Tonight, the Franklin Common Council may finally vote on a proposed code of conduct for elected officials and board and commission members. The possible vote comes after discussions on the subject have taken almost a year.

What a colossal waste of time on an issue literally no one in Franklin cares about. I'm not surprised. After all, this is the same council years ago spent two consecutive months trying to decide when to hold Trick or Treat.

Why must we spend months concocting a written document for electeds to use as a guide on how to treat one another, to remind them to listen to residents when they speak at public meetings, to take into consideration they might be nervous standing at a microphone, etc., etc., etc. Aren't we adults capable of exhibiting common sense?

I've blogged in the past about Franklin alderman John Nelson ripping me at a council meeting for my written criticisms of him in the past. Nelson should have taken the appropriate response by reacting specifically to my points that he questioned or disagreed with. He did not. Instead he resorted to childish, petty name-calling.

So a few weeks later I made a rare appearance at a council meeting and during the citizen comment period I drilled Nelson from pillar to post. After I left he repeated the name-calling and played a ridiculous game of feigning ignorance, claiming he never directly identified me. How stupid does he think people are? Nelson and everyone else knew exactly who he was referring to.

I'd have an ounce or two of respect for the guy if he had any professionalism, common courtesy, or class, and apologized.

If.

Since it appears imminent a code of conduct will be adopted I'm pleased to see the following provision will be included.

ELECTED OFFICIALS AND COMMISSION/BOARD/COMMITTEE MEMBERS CONDUCT TOWARDS THE PUBLIC

Members are expected to treat citizens with care and respect.

All Council/Commission/Board/Committee Members are to respect and appreciate the public's participation, input, and opinions.

No signs of partiality, prejudice, or disrespect are to be evident on the part of individual Council/Commission/Board/Committee Members toward an individual participating in a public forum.

Ironically (big time) Nelson, who may indeed vote tonight to approve the proposed code of conduct, has already violated the above.  Nelson is a perfect example of Franklin's lack of leadership. Now that Dan Mayer is no longer an alderman (During his time Mayer brutally interrupted a volunteer parks commissioner at a public meeting as he was speaking) Nelson has elevated his status on the list of Franklin's worst common council members.

I'm also pleased that the new code will include a process where a citizen can file a formal complaint against an elected official for failing to comply. Hmm. That deserves further study.

HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING

Heat index values of 100 to 107 expected in portions of east central, south central and southeast Wisconsin. Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur.

Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.

Meanwhile…

THIS WEEKLY BLOG POSTED EVERY MONDAY PROMOTES A CULTURE OF LIFE

Don't miss our heartwarming closing story every week!

Bracing for Roe's fall, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's sets June 25 as last day for abortions.

Pro-Choice Movement's Acceptance of Violence Unacceptable.

There Is One Pro-Women Camp In American Politics, And It's The Right.

The New Abortion Rhetoric: Out of Touch With Nearly Every American.

Multiple-Abortion Survivor Says God Helped Her Forgive Birth Parents Who Did Everything to Abort Her
BY Louise Chambers, THE EPOCH TIMES

Calling her birth mother's womb "the scariest place in the world," a woman who survived multiple abortion attempts has chosen forgiveness, with the help of her adoptive parents who taught her how to offer mercy through surrender to God.

Dawn Milberger, 55, lives in the Central Texas Hill Country with her husband of 21 years. She knew she was an adopted child but didn't find out that she was also an abortion survivor until she was 18. Milberger told The Epoch Times that she embraced forgiveness after realizing that the resentment-laden path of unforgiveness only leads to more bitterness, rendering the resentful useless by the Creator.

"He can't build on us if we have unforgiveness on us. Unforgiveness cannot be in the same realm, in the same room, and in the same throne room with our Creator. What I have learned over the years is that peace, trust, and forgiveness are all interlinked," she said.

"It's not every day that you hear that somebody tried to end your life for seven months when you're at your most vulnerable. But it's not new to the one true God. It's not new to our Creator. He knew the whole time. This is about His mercy in His desire to forgive us, and how we walk that out here on this earth."

Milberger has been speaking publicly about abortion survival, forgiveness, and the beauty of adoption for almost three decades. She said that often people are shocked to know that there is even something like "abortion attempt survivor."

"When you tell them that you're an abortion attempt survivor, 9 times out of 10 the reaction is, 'I didn't know that was a thing!'" she said "Usually my response is, 'Well, you can't say that anymore, you're aware of our existence now, and there's tens of thousands of us around the world.' We are determined and labeled as failed abortions. So it's kind of shocking to people. It puts a different reality on people."

'Real Mama'

Milberger's adoptive mother assured her that she was her "real mama." Her parents, with their wisdom rooted in faith, nurtured age-appropriate talks to help her understand that she was adopted. "My mother said, 'You are mine and daddy's baby doll. Somebody gave you to us, and you are ours now,'" Dawn recalled her mother telling her at the tender age of 5.

"I've always known I was adopted," she said. "I have an older brother who's adopted as well. It was never kept a secret, because you don't keep anything good a secret. My mom and my dad made it a point to always put a positive spin on it, to let us know the old adage, 'You are chosen.'"

Her parents always encouraged their children to pray for their birth mothers, whose "sacrificial relinquishment" of them had made their family possible. "We were just speaking nothing but positively for them, of them, and about them. And that encouragement helped mold respect and honor for our birth parents," Milberger said.

"My mom always said, 'Some women are mommies, some women are vessels, some women are both, and some women are neither.' My birth mother and my brother's birth mother were vessels called by the one true God to get us here to this earth; our mom was called to take us the rest of the way."

'I Did Everything I Knew to Try to End Your Life'

When Milberger turned 18, she told her adoptive parents that she wanted to find her birth parents. With their support, she contacted her adoption agency, which arranged a reunion in February of 1986.

Her birth parents told her that the pregnancy had been "evidence" of their poor choices. "They kept telling [me], 'We couldn't shame our families. You were a judgment of our decisions in secret. You were evidence of our sin. You were evidence of our choices, and you couldn't exist,'" she recalled.

One of Milberger's birth mother's first statements was to ask for forgiveness. Her birth mother told her: "I tried to get rid of you … I didn't want to be pregnant. I didn't want to look pregnant. I didn't want to lose my job. I didn't want to shame my family. I did everything I knew to try to end your life."

Milberger's birth mother had enlisted the help of a friend, a nurse, who stole medication from her doctor's office and administered injections in an attempt to abort the unborn baby. They didn't work, so the woman resorted to cruder attempts.

"My birth father, who was in the room, stepped up and said, 'I need to ask for your forgiveness, too. I used her stomach as a punching bag to make you drop. I would give her rough piggyback rides, and I pressed and pushed and did everything I knew to do without hurting her to end your life,'" she recalled.

Compassion and Forgiveness

With her adoptive parents' "powerful love and wisdom," Milberger learned to navigate the painful revelations. Recalling the hurt and "prideful anger" churning up in her heart, the then-teenager questioned her mom, asking why she had to suffer because of her birth parents' decisions.

"My precious mom saw the path of anger that I was going down. She pulled that finger and she goes, 'Stop right there. I love you too much to let you go down this road,'" Milberger said.

A crucial lesson for Milberger came from her mother's next words: "I'm hurt, but I'm not angry." Her mother told her that, on the day of the reunion, she sat there listening to "two people looking for mercy," who ran the risk of facing rejection from Milberger by sharing how they had tried to abort her.

"She was teaching me the difference," Milberger recalled. "She said, 'Does this not show you how far away from the Lord they were at that time in their lives? Does that not break your heart? What are you going to do with that?'

"When she redirected my thinking, [saying], 'You've got two people looking for mercy, you better be very careful how you respond to that,' this overwhelming sense of compassion came over me for them. I was immediately redirected from prideful anger in my pain to compassion for these two people who spent all this time trying to kill me. So it was a huge lesson in forgiveness and mercy."

Milberger says her testimony today is less about herself and more about the power of God, both in keeping her alive and in teaching her mercy.

"It's not dismissing the pain that it caused—I choose to release that pain to the one true God. And He and I will handle it, but I won't hold it against [my birth parents]. So it has been a tremendous journey of learning to forgive, and then teaching forgiveness by testimony," she said.

The Power of Faith

Milberger has always felt that God has always been protecting her, throughout her life. At 6 months old, her grandmother found her blue in respiratory distress; she almost bled to death twice from two botched tonsillectomies; and she has been hit by drunk drivers three times in a two-year span.

"I was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled, and died; I left my body and watched the sexual assault of a serial rapist and murderer, then when he let go of my throat, I reentered my body. I sent him a forgiveness letter in jail," she said. "Then I was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and given two years to live."

Milberger has received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) since 1993 to boost her immune system, but does not resent her misfortunes; her parents were adamant that she not adopt a victim's mentality, and the more she got to know God, the easier it was to forgive.

"I may have been victimized at one time, but I am not a victim. I'm a victor," she said. "Forgiveness is not a feeling, it's a process.

"You can't have the peace of God until you have peace with God."

The Virtuous Parents

Raised with "good southern wisdom" by adoptive parents who were older than those of her peers, Milberger credits her mom and dad's life experiences for informing her strength as an adult; her father, in particular.

Milberger's father lost his mother to a sudden stroke in her sleep when he was 9, and his father five years later, a tragedy that sent him to live at Father Flannigan's Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska, until graduating high school. After serving in the Korean War, he graduated from the University of Alabama and landed a job in Houston, where he met his future wife at a church singles' meet.

They married six months later, but when they came to start a family, they couldn't conceive. "One of their doctors mentioned adoption," said Milberger. "It was an 'aha' moment for Daddy; he knew what his calling was."

Through the University of Houston, Milberger's father also opened up their family home to students with nowhere to go during the holidays. Of the people that stayed, Milberger said, "We are connected forever because of the hospitality that my dad showed."

Milberger's mother developed Alzheimer's and passed away on Feb. 6, 2010. Her father passed away on Oct. 10, 2019, from lung cancer. They were married 50 years.

Now, their legacy lives on through Milberger's testimony.

"I started sharing in my local church where I grew up," she explained. "There were other kids in my youth group who were adopted, and my youth pastor came and asked me if I could speak to them, help redirect them with the direction I was given by my adoptive parents; with their guiding, I was able to guide my peers with the same words."

Today, Milberger's testimony includes her incredible pre-birth story.

Milberger and her husband do not have children of their own, but share passions for gardening, cooking, travel, and each other. They also rescue and rehabilitate "unadoptable" dogs from shelters, and Milberger has founded Gotcha Ministries of Central Texas. She has placed her trust in God to rectify the traumas of her past and asks others to do the same.

"You won't find true peace until you trust God," she said. "He will make wrongs right. You've got to learn to forgive, and not forget but move forward with the new information that it's already okay. Let Him take care of the justice."

AND FINALLY, LOVIN' LIFE…

Thanks for reading!

Previously on This Just In…

The update: From Dr. Joseph Mercola, the founder of Mercola.com. An osteopathic physician, best-selling author, and recipient of multiple awards in the field of natural health.

97.8 Percent of Mass Shootings Are Linked to This

While many have bought into the simplistic idea that availability of firearms is the cause of mass shootings, a number of experts have pointed out a more uncomfortable truth, which is that mass shootings are far more likely the result of how we've been mistreating mental illness, depression and behavioral problems.

• Gun control legislation has shown that law-abiding Americans who own guns are not the problem, because the more gun control laws that have been passed, the more mass shootings have occurred
• 97.8 percent of mass shootings occur in "gun-free zones," as the perpetrators know legally armed citizens won't be there to stop them
• Depression per se rarely results in violence. Only after antidepressants became commonplace did mass shootings really take off, and many mass shooters have been shown to be on antidepressants
• Antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are well-known for their ability to cause suicidal and homicidal ideation and violence

An article written by Molly Carter, initially published on ammo.com at an unknown date and subsequently republished by The Libertarian Institute in May 2019, and psychreg.org in late January 2021, noted:

"According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a mass murder occurs when at least four people are murdered, not including the shooter … during a single incident …

Seemingly every time a mass shooting occurs … the anti-gun media and politicians have a knee-jerk response — they blame the tragedy solely on the tool used, namely firearms, and focus all of their proposed 'solutions' on more laws, ignoring that the murderer already broke numerous laws when they committed their atrocity.

Facts matter when addressing such an emotionally charged topic, and more gun control legislation has shown that law-abiding Americans who own guns are NOT the problem. Consider the following: The more gun control laws that are passed, the more mass murders have occurred.

Whether or not this is correlation or causation is debatable. What is not debatable is that this sick phenomenon of mass murderers targeting 'gun-free zones,' where they know civilian carry isn't available to law-abiding Americans, is happening.

According to the Crime Prevention Research Center97.8 percent of public shootings occur in 'gun-free zones' – and 'gun-free zones' are the epitome of the core philosophical tenet of gun control, that laws are all the defense one needs against violence …

This debate leads them away from the elephant in the room and one of the real issues behind mass shootings — mental health and prescription drugs.

Ignoring what's going on in the heads of these psychopaths not only allows mass shootings to continue, it leads to misguided gun control laws that violate the Second Amendment and negate the rights of law-abiding U.S. citizens.

As Jeff Snyder put it in The Washington Times: 'But to ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and liberties as the lawless will allow.'"

The Elephant in the Room: Antidepressants

Thoughts, emotions and a variety of environmental factors play into the manifestation of violence, but mental illness by itself cannot account for the massive rise in mass murder — unless you include antidepressants in the equation. Yet even when mental health does enter the mass shooter discussion, the issue of antidepressants, specifically, is rarely mentioned.

The fact is, depression per se rarely results in violence. Only after antidepressants became commonplace did mass shootings take off, and many mass shooters have been shown to be on antidepressants.

Prozac, released in 1987, was the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) to be approved for depression and anxiety. Only two years earlier, direct-to-consumer advertising had been legalized. In the mid-1990s, the Food and Drug Administration loosened regulations, direct-to-consumer ads for SSRIs exploded and, with it, prescriptions for SSRIs.

In 1989, just two years after Prozac came to market, Joseph Wesbecker shot 20 of his coworkers, killing nine. He had been on Prozac for one month, and the survivors of the drug-induced attack sued Eli Lilly, the maker of Prozac. Since then, antidepressant use and mass shootings have both risen, more or less in tandem.

In the two decades between 1988 and 2008, antidepressant use in the U.S. rose by 400 percent, and by 2010, 11 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12 were on an antidepressant prescription.

In 1982, pre-Prozac, there was one mass shooting in the U.S. In 1984, there were two incidents and in 1986 — the year Prozac was released — there was one. One to three mass shootings per year remained the norm up until 1999, when it jumped to five.

How can we possibly ignore the connection between rampant use of drugs known to directly cause violent behavior and the rise in mass shootings?

Another jump took place in 2012, when there were seven mass shootings. And while the annual count has gone up and down from year to year, there's been a clear trend of an increased number of mass shootings post-2012. Over time, mass shootings have also gotten larger, with more people getting injured or killed per incident.

How can we possibly ignore the connection between rampant use of drugs known to directly cause violent behavior and the rise in mass shootings? Suicidal ideation, violence and homicidal ideation are all known side effects of these drugs. Sometimes, the drugs disrupt brain function so dramatically the perpetrator can't even remember what they did.

For example, in 2001, a 16-year-old high schooler was prescribed Effexor, starting off at 40 milligrams and moving up to 300 mg over the course of three weeks. On the first day of taking a 300-mg dose, the boy woke up with a headache, decided to skip school and went back to bed.

Some time later, he got up, took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage at gunpoint. He later claimed he had no recollection of anything that happened after he went back to bed that morning.

The Risks Are Clear

The risks of psychiatric disturbances are so clear, ever since mid-October 2004, all antidepressants in the U.S. must include a black box warning that the drug can cause suicidal thoughts and behaviors, especially in those younger than 25, and that:

"Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility (aggressiveness), impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric."

SSRIs can also cause emotional blunting and detachment, such that patients report "not feeling" or "not caring" about anything or anyone, as well as psychosis and hallucinations. All of these side effects can contribute to someone acting out an unthinkable violent crime.

In one review of 484 drugs in the FDA's database, 31 were found to account for 78.8 percent of all cases of violence against others, and 11 of those drugs were antidepressants.

The researchers concluded that violence against others was a "genuine and serious adverse drug event" and that of the drugs analyzed, SSRI antidepressants and the smoking cessation medication, varenicline (Chantix), had the strongest associations. The top-five most dangerous SSRIs were:

• Fluoxetine (Prozac), which increased aggressive behavior 10.9 times
• Paroxetine (Paxil), which increased violent behavior 10.3 times
• Fluvoxamine (Luvox), which increased violent behavior 8.4 times
• Venlafaxine (Effexor), which increased violent behavior 8.3 times
• Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), which increased violent behavior 7.9 times

Depression Is Vastly Overdiagnosed

In her article, Carter also reviewed the clinical determinants for a diagnosis of clinical depression warranting medication. To qualify, you must experience five or more of the following symptoms, most of the day, every day, for two weeks or more, and the symptoms must be severe enough to interfere with normal everyday functioning.

• Sadness
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling helpless
• Feeling guilty
• Fatigue
• Loss of interest in hobbies
• Restlessness
• Abnormal sleep patterns, whether sleeping too much or not enough
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Anxiety
•  Feeling worthless
• Feeling 'empty'
• Irritable
• Lack of energy
•  Slow talking and moving
• Trouble concentrating
• Abnormal weight changes, either eating too much or having no appetite

The reality is that a majority of patients who receive a depression diagnosis and subsequent prescription for an antidepressant do not, in fact, qualify. In one study, only 38.4 percent actually met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria, and among older adults, that ratio was even lower. Only 14.3 percent of those aged 65 and older met the diagnostic criteria. According to the authors:

"Participants who did not meet the 12-month MDE criteria reported less distress and impairment in role functioning and used fewer services. A majority of both groups, however, were prescribed and used psychiatric medications.

Conclusion: Depression overdiagnosis and overtreatment is common in community settings in the USA. There is a need for improved targeting of diagnosis and treatments of depression and other mental disorders in these settings."

What Role Might War Games Play?

Aside from antidepressants, another factor that gets ignored is the influence of shooting simulations, i.e., violent video games. How does the military train soldiers for war? Through simulations. With the proliferation of video games involving indiscriminate violence, should we really be surprised when this "training" is then put into practice?

As reported by World Bank Blogs, young men who experience violence "often struggle to reintegrate peacefully into their communities" when hostilities end. While American youth typically have little experience with real-world war, simulated war games do occupy much of their time and may over time color their everyday perceptions of life. As noted by Centrical, some of the top benefits of simulations training include:

1. Allowing you to practice genuine real-life scenarios and responses
2. Repetition of content, which boosts knowledge retention
3. Personalization and diversification, so you can learn from your mistakes and evaluate your performance, thereby achieving a deeper level of learning

In short, violent mass shooter games are the perfect training platform for future mass shooters. Whereas a teenager without such exposure might not be very successful at carrying out a mass shooting due to inexperience with weapons and tactics, one who has spent many hours, years even, training in simulations could have knowledge akin to that of military personnel.

Add antidepressant side effects such as emotional blunting and loss of impulse control, and you have a perfect prescription for a mass casualty event.

On top of that, we, as a nation, also demonstrate the "righteousness" of war by engaging in them without end.When was the last time the U.S. was not at war someplace? It's been ongoing for decades.

Even now, the United States insists on inserting itself into the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, and diplomacy isn't the chosen conflict resolution tool. Sending weapons to Ukraine and calling for more violence against Russians are. Sen. Lindsey Graham has even called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Showing just how serious such a suggestion is, the White House had to publicly disavow it, stating Graham's comment "is not the position of the U.S. government."

Graham, meanwhile, does not appear to understand how his nonchalant call for murder might actually incite murder. In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, he now wants to mobilize retired service members to enhance security at schools, and while that might be a good idea, how about also vowing never to call for the murder of political opponents? Don't politicians understand that this could translate into some kid thinking it's acceptable to murder THEIR perceived opponents?

As far as I can tell, mass shootings have far more to do with societal norms, dangerous medications, a lack of high-quality mental health services, and the normalization of violence through entertainment and in politics, than it does with gun laws per se.

There are likely many other factors as well, but these are clearly observable phenomena known to nurture violent behavior. I'm afraid Americans are in need of a far deeper and more introspective analysis of the problem than many are capable of at the moment. But those who can should try, and make an effort to affect much-needed change locally and in their own home.

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Source: https://thisjustinfromfranklinwi.com/

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