BYU valedictorian comes out as gay in speech

A BYU student came out as a member of the homosexual community in his speech.  I'm happy for him, and I'm happy that he's comfortable enough with his himself and his sexuality that he can announce this to the entire class. I'm glad that even at BYU people are coming to terms with the changing customs. Hopefully, his classmates cheered and applauded his courage-they should have, because what he did takes major backbone.

The only negative, and it's a small one, is that now the graduation will be about his sexuality rather than the accomplishments that everyone achieved. No, it's not a big negative, I said it's a small one, but I don't want everyones accomplishments lost in this discussion about his sexuality. It concerns me that people will misread what I'm saying. I'm not saying I don't support him, and like I said, the negative is very small but also needs to be addressed. Hopefully everyone in this class will be remembered for what they accomplish and his announcement, while positive, will be part of the larger picture.

Quarterbacks insensitive tweets. From 8th grade

You read that correctly. Because people who love to be offended have way too much time on their hands, they found things someone Tweeted about when this recently drafted QB was in 8th grade. Dead serious.

Things like this are why people distrust and dislike mainstream media. I can assure you that if I poked around in your dirty laundry, especially very old dirty laundry, I could find things you are ashamed of saying as well. Anyone judging or critiquing the kid now for what he did when he was in 8th grade needs to take a long, hard look at themselves.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 26:28

No, I'm not naive. There are groups and cliques present in all churches and the LDS church is no different. Sadly, wherever there are humans gathering, there will be factions and groups. Part of our fallen condition is to seek out people who we think are like us, and sometimes we are very superficial when we are doing so. However there are several passages in the Book of Mormon that caution us about splitting up our church. 

"Behold I say unto you, Nay, but all men are privileged the one like unto the other and none are forbidden." I love this passage. Not only does it equalize all of us in the eyes of God, but it should equalize all of us in the eyes of the church. From the prophet to the newest member in church, spiritually and in the view of the Almighty all of us are the same. 

Trump swings back to sanity

One of my many problems with the President is his support for the anti-vaccine crowd, who I view as the most dangerous people out there. Are you pro-life but against vaccines? Then guess what, you aren't really pro life because vaccines save lives too. Are you against guns and vaccines? Guess what, you aren't really for saving lives because vaccines....save lives.  In fact, on my Facebook I have ban rule. Anyone talking about about anti-vaccine garbage gets the immediate ax, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

However Trump seemed to go back into reality-suggesting that people get the measles shot. I can't say how much I support him. Thank God he's finally reached a point of sanity that many of his followers simply can't grasp. I don't care how anti-Trump you are-he's right about this, and I hope he opens his mind the scientific evidence that vaccines save lives.

Album of the weekend

High Spirits-You Are Here

I downloaded this album on a whim, partially because it was under ten dollars and partially because I read about them somewhere and wanted to check them out. This band is not thrash metal by any stretch, but it's clear they've been influenced by it. The songs are short but still have great guitar solos and a metal sound to them. To me it sounds different-but it's a positive kind of different, almost like a mix of punk and metal.

Others may not hear it, but the lead singer has a moody sound to his voice that I just love. A great compliment to a band is seeking out their music after listening to one of their albums. That's what I intend to do after I stop listening to this one.

Should we arm teachers?

I'm much more sympathetic to the pro gun side than I am to the anti gun side. For many reasons, I think a more armed society is a more polite society. Gun bans do absolutely nothing but make people sitting ducks, totally unable to defend themselves from an armed lunatic. If everyone was well trained and carried a firearm, crime would probably plummet and we'd be living in a much safer society.

But I'm not naive. I don't think the second amendment will protect you from a tyrannical government. Your 12 gauge shotgun won't do anything against an M2A2 Bradley tank. And arming random people without training them will cause extreme damage. You'll see people leaving loaded firearms in places where anyone can get them. You'll see overly paranoid people shooting first and asking questions later. You'll have people shooting at a bad guy and missing. You'll see people shooting at a bad guy and hitting a good guy. In other words, putting more guns in school without properly training teachers is a terrible idea. It takes more than five hours to make yourself fully prepared to defend yourself and others against an armed predator. .

Britney Spears mental health issues

It should be obvious but in case it's not, I'm not a fan of her music. I have nothing against her personally and think she is probably a good person. Is she washed up? Yes, but many of my favorite bands are way past the stage so I can't really say anything about it. What I can say something about is people making fun of her mental illness problems.

Look, I get it, we do live in an over sensitive society that loves to play the victim and claim moral superiority by talking about how offended we are over certain topics. I'm not offended by people making stupid jokes about her mental state, I just think they are crass and rude. If it even needs to be said, yes, you have every right to make jokes about any topic, and yes, I have every right to say that those jokes are tasteless and tacky.

Sense of humor is notoriously subjective and we all turn into snowflakes when someone hits a nerve. In theory anything can be made fun of, from me being adopted to her mental problems. But there is a huge difference between just pointing and laughing and making a funny joke.

Why I didn't buy the NES classic

I tend to hem and haw about spending money-I'm turning into my father with every passing year. When my wife offered to buy me the NES classic, I was at first excited, than upon looking at the console, I decided against it. Sure, 60$ isn't a lot of money and it wouldn't have bankrupted me, but it's not worth it in the end. 

Out of the 30 games that the system has, I only enjoy about half of of them. Out of those fifteen games, I already have them on various other consoles-from the Game Boy Advance to the Wii to the original NES. True, I already bought a SNES classic even though I have several of those games-but I seldom play the SNES classic. I just can't get into the games. 

I'm a huge retro gamer. I'm currently in the middle of Firepro Wrestling for the GBA. If you are interested in that, it's a huge, huge challenge but incredibly addicting once you pass the learning curve. So I'll always be into retro gaming, even if I don't but the retro consoles. 

Petition going around for a teacher to be fired.

The Pounce Generation might claim another victim. An online petition is going viral demanding that a teacher be fired for what she wrong on a 2nd grade math test. At first, what she wrote sounds a little snotty. That's it. Snotty. Hardly a "you are going to lose your job" type offense. For all we know the child was playing around and ignored their test, instead focusing on distractions.

I am increasingly disturbed by how stories go viral without us knowing all the details, and what is worse is that there is nothing we can do about it. As much as I love technology and look forward to the future with hope, this is a serious and frightening drawback to the world we live in today.

Happy Easter!

Should smoking on the beach be illegal?

My home state of Florida has a bill in session this term that would ban smoking cigarettes on the beach.  For the record, I don't smoke cigarettes anymore but I have in the past. I have no problem being around smokers and frankly, I think they are over bashed. Just because someone smokes doesn't mean they are weak or stupid. In fact, I hate it when villains are given cigarettes in movies just so that people know they are villains.

But this is a good law, and one I'd support, not that it matters what I think.

I think some beaches already ban smoking, and (I think, not sure about this) that you'll get a citation for smoking on the beach. It's highly annoying to walk around cigarette butts when you are barefoot enjoying the sand and the water. I'm no environmentalist (thought I am increasingly concerned about garbage in the ocean) but I'm sure that cigarette butts harm the environment and worse, harm the animals on the beach.

Like I've mentioned many times, I'm a libertarian. Smoke if you want, do cocaine if you want. Things that I find morally repulsive (like gambling) should be legal. But this shouldn't.

Good Friday

It's Good Friday, the day Christ died. No Album of the Weekend today. 

Isiah 53:5 

Pacquiao-Mayweather II

The amount of hype leading up to the first was a never before seen thing in boxing, a sport that relies on hyperbole and hype. The hype was extreme, over the top, and completely useless. The actual boxing match was incredibly boring and easily predictable. Most people who understand how boxing works knew that Floyd Mayweather was going to dominate the match, and then he dominated the match. No matter what a personally flawed man he is, Floyd is a great boxer. Manny is also among the greatest boxers in the world but he just didn't have what it takes to beat Floyd Mayweather.

The style of the fight lead to it being incredibly boring to watch. Mayweather has a defensive brilliance and he's not really a slugger. He also controls the style and pacing of the fight so people who were not big boxing fans can't really appreciate how good he is really is. Combine that with the 99$ price tag of the fight and countless casual fans were turned off from the sport instead of being brought back to it. 

So they are talking about a sequel to the fight. Promoters are writers delude themselves if they think it'll bring fans back to the game. If they  have the audacity to charge 99$ for it, that shows a level of insanity that only boxing promoters are capable of. The two men have gotten older. Manny did win his last fight but Floyd hasn't fought in awhile. Combine that with his age, and he might have a serious case of ring rust. 

Boxing is desperate for attention but trying to get it with this fight is too little, too late. 

Duke professor resigns over "English only" comments

A Duke professor has been fired because she made some politically incorrect comments. Her choice of words of a bit questionable but she has a point. I tend to fall on the center right on most issues, but English only is one of the few issues where I'm hard right wing. And you should be too.

Like it or not, English is the dominant language in aviation and business. Many, many companies have a requirement that you at the very least understand English and some demand that you speak it fluently. By not teaching English and sadly, not demanding that you learn it, you put young kids at a significant disadvantage. If you come to America you should speak English not only for the benefit of everyone else, but for your own benefit as well. In your own home, speak whatever language you want to. In fact, I grew up calling my maternal grandparents Memere and Pepere, a French name for Grandma/Grandpa.

But in public-English should be the universal language. Because it is.

Vinnie Vincent announces another comeback

"History repeats itself. The first time tragedy, the second time farce."-Karl Marx. Yes, we're serious. Vinnie announced another concert.  Sure, he canceled the two other come back shows, but now you can trust him. He's not like the others. He won't break your heart.

The man can't play guitar anymore. Youtube has videos showing him attempting to play, and it doesn't sound good. Before you say "Hey, you can't play guitar either" remember that I'm not charging people 200$ in tickets and probably over 500$ in hotels/travel fees to hear me play. I never claimed I could play the guitar.

I was at the Atlanta Kiss expo where he appeared for the first time in decades, so I'm a fan of his. However he's screwed us many times over the years, and it looks like nothing has changed. If you buy tickets to this, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Tiger Woods

No, I don't care about golf. At all. I care about redemption.

It's always amazed me how many people, Christian or not, view certain sins as "unforgivable." We all have our pet peeve sins. Some might be adultery, some might be lying, some might be jealousy, animal abuse,  envy, etc. Regardless, we like to think that sins we particularly hate are the worst sins out there and no one who commits them can ever be forgiven. Bring in Tiger Woods.

We all know what he did, and yes, it's wrong. And guess what? So is never forgiving him. Some people can't get over the scandal and think whatever happens to the poor man is "karma" in some way.  Again, I'm not saying that Tiger was innocent in the matter but it happened over a decade ago. It's time to let it go, move on, and celebrate what the man has accomplished since.

Congrats on your win Tiger.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 31:3

If we look at the history of the prophets from Adam to Noah to Thomas Monson to Russell Nelson, you'll see that they don't have a lot in common. In fact, if you look at believers from Adam to Noah to you and I-we don't have a lot in common either. I think that we tend to believe that God, acting through the Spirit, talks to us with huge insight and power. He can of course, but He can also talk to us like this scripture passage says-with "plainness and in our own understanding." 

What people fail to comprehend is that God speaks to us through our own mortal limitations. Someone who never graduated high school and never left the farm (not pejorative) might have the same spiritual insight as a cultured Ph.D-because God can speak to them with their own language. I've noticed and spoken about several passages in the book of Mormon that deal with equality, and this is one of them that often times goes unnoticed. 

High school student forced to remove Trump shirt

A high school student in NH was forced to remove a Trump t shirt she was wearing.  I have zero respect for public/private education for many reasons, not the least of which is their doubles standard. If you think she would have been asked to remove a Obama t-shirt in 2008, I want you to think twice about that. If you still think she'd be asked to remove a Obama t-shirt, you are delusional.

As a general rule, people on the left love when you people "speak truth to power" or "stick it to the man". I love that too, in fact, I've been trying to do it for years now. The girl who was forced to wear this should have told the principal to contact her lawyer, kept wearing the shirt, then gone to study hall.

Album of the Weekend

The Beatles-Abbey Road

Another 5 star album by perhaps the greatest band in human history (not my personal favorite but in my top three as well, after Megadeth and the Ramones) Abbey Road is in my view, the greatest Beatles album out there. One of those albums where if you don't like it, you are at the problem-not them.

What more can you say about The Beatles? To me it reminds me that God exists. God does not give the talent like these guys had to many mortals, and when you combine the four of them at the right time in the same place-well, it can't be just luck or serendipity in my view (though unlike many religious people I believe in luck and serendipity).

As I've mentioned before a major pet peeve of mine is when people only like music from "their era". Good music isn't regulated to a certain era, and you need to expand your mind if you only listen to what is current or from a certain era. Nothing wrong with having a favorite genre/era but expand your mind a bit.

And expand it with Abbey Road. "Here Comes the Sun" is a wonderful acoustic George Harrison song, laid back and a joy to listen to. Just thinking about that song makes me smile. "Oh Darling!" is a bluesy song that could have been created by a John Lee Hooker in the best blues bar in New Orleans. "Come Together" is one of the most covered songs in music history and you know why? It's an incredibly good song that everyone likes.

You owe it to yourself to listen to this album. If you don't like it-well that's not something I'd personally admit to anyone.

Chris Davis II

Last year the first basemen for the Orioles had a horrible year. I talked about his struggles in in a previous blog. This year, he is also off to a rough start, beginning the season y going 0-46, meaning he hasn't had a hit in 46 at bats. For a professional ballplayer to go through that is incredibly rare.

He's getting paid a huge amount of money. The Orioles signed him to a six year, 161 million dollar contract a few years ago. The size of his contract, combined with his struggles, makes it impossible to trade him or send him down to the minors unless he gives consent or is injured. Because he's getting paid so much it also makes it easier for fans to boo him. After all, the fans dislike hired guns, especially those who don't produce. Go ask Albert Pujols if he feels more appreciated and loved by the Cardinals or Angels fans.

I feel sorry for Chris Davis. Yes, he's getting paid huge amounts of money, but he doesn't want to struggle. He doesn't want to not produce. He's doing everything he did in the season where he hit over 40 home runs, it just isn't working for him. I hope he snaps out of it soon.

My thoughts on the death penalty

Oddly for a libertarian, I'm in favor of the death penalty. I think it should be used for the truly heinous crimes and no, I have no moral problem against it. The reality is we live in a society that has truly evil people and those evil people do things that are, well, evil. When you commit a crime that is so abhorrent that death seems to be the best punishment, it often is. The blunt truth is that some criminals do not deserve to live in our society.

I know what you are thinking. "Oh my God, he isn't a libertarian, he disagrees with an issue with them!" I've talked about it before how we all have pet peeve issues, and for libertarians the death penalty is certainly one of them. You can agree with the LP party on 99% of the issues but if you dare to think for yourself on this or that issue, your idealogical purity is called into question. It blows my mind that a party that supports individual rights demands lockstep conformity on all issues.

CBD oil

First off, I'm glad marijuana and CBD oil are legalized. In fact, I think we should go a step further and decriminalize several other drugs. Simply put, the war on drugs is a failure. The good news though is that most people seem to be understanding that. The movement to legalize marijuana and CBD oil has been extremely successful.

However I'm hesitant to believe that weed and CBD oil cure as many things as people say they do. In fact, whenever someone claims that a substance cures all sorts of diseases I don't believe it. The simple truth is that if it really does cure so many diseases, then everyone would use it. And no, a big conspiracy doesn't exist. Doctors and people who work at pharmaceutical companies also get cancer/ALS and their loved ones do as well. They want to cure diseases as much as we want them cured. CBD oil just isn't the way to do it.

Policy changes

The LDS church had a policy barring children of homosexuals from getting baptized. They apparently changed that.

Putting aside my personal views on the subject (I have zero problem with homosexuals getting married or baptizing their kids in the church) I'm gravely concerned that this issue will do the exact opposite of what they desire. The church wishes for less contentiousness when it comes to dialogue between the opposing sides. That's noble, but it won't happen. In fact, policy changes like this generally split the sides even more.

I remember a line from a great movie about Charles II. When parliament was nervous about the crown going to his brother, James II, Charles said "Nothing that begins in such division is likely to end well." My fear is that this will end badly for the church.

General Conference

Because of General Conference, I won't be posting a regular blog today or a Scripture Sunday blog tomorrow .

Album of the Weekend

Archer Nation-Beneath the Dream

I saw them in concert about two weeks ago. I wanted to wait to review the album to give it an objective listen. When you get home from a concert you are usually flooded with positive feelings and unable to be fair.

I've heard other people say that there is something wrong with the lead singers voice, and I will admit that it sounds slightly off the first time you hear it. After the second to third time around,  it fits in pretty well with the overall style of the album. It has a Megadeth feel to it-polticial lyrics and a sense of anger and aggression. I'm not comparing them to Megadeth, one of the greatest metal bands of all time, but I can see them developing to that level in the future. This is another great album from a great new metal band.

Believe women. Unless....

Democrats in the Virginia state house blocked a hearing that would allow victims of Justin Fairfax to testify.  You need to believe women one hundred percent of the time, so I'm curious as to why this was blocked. No, really, I'm curious. After all, if Fairfax was a republican I'm certain Virginia democrats would block the hearings and ignore their pleas. Right?

This is only partially about poltiics. It's about a much more problematic issue-we believe women totally-if the person they accuse has conflicting political ideas. If the person agrees with us, then the accusers are mostly just whores who are looking for attention.

AAF goes down for the count

Some of us saw it coming.

This is the end, beautiful friend for the AAF football league.  They never had a chance. Starting a new sports league is so insanely difficult that it's basically an impossibility. Think I'm kidding or using hyperbole? Go research the number of sports leagues, especially football leagues, that have crashed and burned. Take notes Vince McMahon-this will also happen to the XFL, but he's too stubborn it see it.

I feel sorry for the employees, players, coaches, and both fans.

Dio hologram

The legendary Ronnie James Did (may he forever rest in peace) passed away several years ago, and now you can see a concert of his-via hologram.  Many people have strong feelings one way or the there about this and while I haven't interviewed every single fan of his, I'd say the majority are against this. Sadly many people think it's just a money grab by his widow. Some also say that Dio himself would have hated it.

I respect that POV, I'm sympathetic to it, and I understand it. But I'm ambivalent about the hologram.

On one hand, no, it's not the same as seeing him in concert. I accept that. If it was Elvis, Buddy Holly,  Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dimebag Darell  Kurt Cobain or any other dead musician that did this I 100% agree that it would not be the same as seeing them preform live in concert. So yes, you do miss something in the translation from live person to hologram.

San Fransisco liberalism

Call it whatever you'd like, but this is a classic case of NIMBY* liberalism. A group of wealthy San Fransisco citizens are starting a GoFundMe account to keep a homeless shelter from their neighborhood.

Oh sure, the story could be read as "these noble, progressive, heroic and angelic citizens of the progressive haven San Fransisco are giving up their own money to help the needy." and there is a small degree of truth to that. There is also a level of delusion. The reality is that there is a certain part of population that loves to talk about everyone else giving and helping the homeless, but refuse to do so when they can see a homeless shelter from the backyard of their mansion.

*NIMBY means "Not in My Back Yard"