SPECIAL ME

American Flag Photo by Lisa Setrini-Espinosa

There are nine signs of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). If a mental health professional finds 5 of the 9 signs in a person then that person is diagnosed as having NPD. The nine signs spell out SPECIAL ME.

Sense of self-importance
Preoccupation with power, beauty, or success
Entitled
Can only be around people who are important or special
Interpersonally exploitative for their own gain
Arrogant
Lack empathy
Must be admired
Envious of others or believe that others are envious of them

After reading these 9 signs, I immediately thought of President Donald Trump. Now I am not a mental health professional and I am not certain that with a professional evaluation we can find 5 signs of NPD (or more), but I think President Trump has some of the signs, at least from what I have seen from his public persona.

What concerns me more than whether he has NPD or not is that he is authoritarian with his actions. Now I appreciate several things that President Trump has done but not always in the way he does it. I am a social conservative and a fiscal conservative. However, I believe he has issued several executive orders that are unconstitutional. They are still winding their way through the courts, so it is not certain which ones (if any) are unconstitutional. He is trying to expand the powers of the executive branch and that is upsetting the checks and balances in doing so. I understand that he wants to get stuff done and he can not guarantee Congress will do what he wants and the Judicial Branch is slow and methodical. But I believe the checks and balances of the three branches of government are what has made America great. It prevents one branch from grabbing too much power. The three branches have to work together. President Trump’s authoritarian actions threaten that. He also demands loyalty to him and his policies. This is not good for the country.

I believe that he feels that he personally must succeed and be a success, so his authoritarian tendencies and his loyalty requirements flow out of that need. I also believe that his continued focus on the 2020 presidential election is because he cannot believe he lost. He still claims there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election and I have yet to see any conclusive proof. His own Attorney General William Barr said there was no widespread fraud in the election. One of the biggest accusations of voting fraud was with the Dominion Voting machines. Right before the defamation trial was to start, Fox News settled the defamation lawsuit with Dominion for $787.5 million. No evidence appeared in the pre-trial discovery supporting the claim of fraud. Instead after the settlement, Fox News gave a statement that “certain claims about Dominion to be false”. And Mike Lindell who had made big claims about having proof of election fraud did not in his defamation trial offer any proof of election fraud. And yet today President Trump continues to claim fraud in the 2020 election.

He recently said in regard to Space Command moving from Colorado to Alabama, “The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections.” There is no proof that Colorado has crooked elections. They are very careful with their mail-in ballots. I think the elected Colorado Republicans would say that their elections were not crooked. It seems he still claims there is still widespread election fraud in the country. Without proof of widespread election fraud, I do not think these claims are good for the country.

And President Trump’s administration has gone after many of those who in the past have criticized or investigated Donald Trump. It looks like he is taking action against those who have opposed him. It seems to be personal for him. I am concerned about the precedents being set. These actions are not good for the country.

This post has been more opinionated and subjective than I would have liked, but I am concerned that President Trump has been too authoritarian and too focused on himself. I am concerned that President Trump is not presidential material, because of his narcissistic tendency.

I will end with one story to illustrate my point. The Trump administration has been working to bring peace to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. That is a good thing. They have produced a framework for peace and one key part of the deal is the creation of the “TRIPP corridor” or the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity”. It will be “a transport and trade route designed to connect Armenia and Azerbaijan more directly while integrating the South Caucasus into broader international shipping and energy networks.” The peace treaty is not a done deal yet and I hope that peace happens, but this does illustrate the narcissistic tendency of President Trump. There really is no need to name the corridor after President Trump, except for his ego.

And some advice for you, Mr. President, look to Jesus and not to yourself. Jesus has been very good to me. I am a broken sinful person, who is loved and forgiven by God because of all Jesus has done. Receive that love of God! Do not reject it!

USA Debt

Do you know that the American federal government spends more money paying the interest on the federal debt than it spends on defense? Did you know that last fiscal year over a quarter of federal spending was with borrowed money? We have a debt problem, and Congress seems unable to even come close to balancing the budget. Every day we spend $2.6 Billion on interest. That is more than $30,000 per second for just interest. It has been 24 years since the federal government has had a surplus.

In the last 24 years the federal debt has greatly increased, from $5.8 Trillion to $36.7 Trillion (or now 122% of the GDP). There are several factors for the increase. The obvious cause is not enough revenue coming in for the spending, and experts blame that on the aging population and the rising cost of healthcare. I believe some other factors are the two tax cuts (G.W. Bush and Trump), the Great Recession, and the Pandemic. And I believe Congress has not had the will power to address the deficit, and that is due to we the people wanting lower taxes and still wanting all the benefits.

Ever since I have been able to vote, I have been concerned with the federal government’s debt. And I have been saying we need to raise taxes and cut spending. It is an unpopular idea, however the Trump administration is actually raising taxes (tariffs) and cutting spending (DOGE). Tariffs are an indirect taxation on us, though the Trump administration does not characterize it that way. Unfortunately, by making the former Trump tax cut permanent, the Trump administration is also cutting taxes. When I said raise taxes and cut spending, I did not have in mind the way the Trump administration is doing it.

I would have taken more time to cut spending, much like how the Clinton administration did it. The Clinton administration over a five year time period cut more than 250,000 federal jobs, consolidated more than 800 agencies, and eliminated over 100 programs. It was much less disruptive than the chainsaw approach of DOGE. And I would also have let the former Trump tax cut expire, or at least let it expire on those making more than a million dollars, and thus bring in more revenue. And I would use tariffs sparingly. Note, I believe that making the former Trump tax cut permanent undermines what they are doing and may cancel out the tariffs tax increase. Yes, cutting taxes does improve the economy and could bring in more tax revenue, but results over the last 50 years show that the net result of cutting taxes is to increase the deficit.

Congress needs to make some hard decisions. They do not need to balance the budget right away, though that would be a good thing to do. They do need to significantly reduce the deficit. The deficit for fiscal year 2024 was $1.83 Trillion. The federal government spent $6.75 Trillion and collected $4.92 Trillion in revenue. That meant that the government spent 27% more money than it received. Over a quarter of federal spending was with borrowed money! This is shocking! Yes, this will make those interest payments even higher. How long can we keep doing this?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, fiscal year 2025 is estimated to have a deficit of $1.9 Trillion and in fiscal year 2035 the deficit estimate is $2.7 Trillion. We are still digging ourselves into a much deeper fiscal hole. This is not good. We need to prioritize reducing the deficit and work towards balancing the budget. We need to raise taxes and cut spending, and we need to do it in a way that is less disruptive than the current methods.

Unnatural Act

Forgiveness is an unnatural act. It is unfair, but I believe it is the best way to promote reconciliation and to stop any on-going retribution. Too often both sides want justice and feel they are totally in the right. They do not want reconciliation. They want revenge and justice for themselves. They need and humbly look at their own actions. For in a broken relationship both sides are usually to be at fault in some way.

We find ourselves there many times. Too many times we wait for the person to come to us to apologize and ask for forgiveness, and we find that they have been waiting for us to come to them. There are too many sons who drive past their mom’s house everyday for years and refuse to stop because of some old grudge. Both are too proud to admit they may have a part in the wrong, and are waiting for the other to apologize. We may not be in that bad of a situation, but is there some broken relationship that needs your grace and forgiveness?

It is not just people and their relationships that are missing some grace. Nations and people groups also seek vengeance under the guise of justice. Many centuries have gone by and the Croats, Serbs, and their Muslim neighbors are still fighting. And the same is true for the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Recently, Israel responded to Iran’s missile attacks, which was a response to Israel’s attack which was a response to …. You get the idea. How many people must die before there can be peace? Can grace and forgiveness play a role?

As Christians, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). Of first importance is the restoration of our relationship with God, but reconciliation with one another and with nations are also a part of the mission to heal our brokenness. God has forgiven us so very much and how can we not out of gratitude forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35)? And how can we not share the good news of God’s love and forgiveness for us?

This unnatural act of grace and forgiveness is also needed after this contentious election. Too many unkind words and outright lies were said. How can we reconcile with each other and unite for the good of the nation? Let us Christians create a gracious atmosphere where the animosities can be put aside in order to allow us to work together.

Note forgiveness is not the same as a pardon. A forgiven person can still pay the consequences of their actions. I think of the relatives of those killed in a Bible Study in Charleston, SC in 2015 who offered forgiveness. Pardon was not offered and the murderer was tried for the 9 deaths. Forgiveness releases the forgiver from the need for vengeance. That is an important and necessary part of healing.

Forgiveness is an unnatural act in our broken world, instead we want justice for ourselves and what we often mean by justice is vengeance. God has called us to think differently. He has empowered us to be about the ministry of reconciliation. Let us step out and graciously work to reconcile people to God and to each other.

Liar! Liar!

“Liar! Liar! Pants of fire!” People have always lied, but it seems to me today, lying is reaching epidemic proportions. Lying is not good for the liar, for their friends, and for society. Lying deceives. Lying is destructive. Lying hides the truth. Lying hides reality. Lying is not good for anyone, and yet today lying is commonplace. This is due in part to our Postmodern culture where everything is relative and you need to critically tear apart or deconstruct the truth to point out the perceived bias (while ignoring your own personal bias). Thus the truth gets twisted or discarded and outright falsehoods are promoted as fact. Why do we so easily discard the truth and believe the lies?

In the past five years, I have learned of two new words, misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation is the unintentional sharing of falsehoods, or it also can be sharing a truth that has been taken out of context in order to make it fit a certain narrative. Political opponents will point out statements that their opponents did say, but by taking the statements out of context they make the statements sound bad. With our social media accounts, we will pass on these falsehoods because we want those statements to be true when they are really lies. We need to be aware of the spin that is sometimes put on the facts and also be willing to verify the lies that we come across. Remember every effective lie has a kernel of truth. Now disinformation is an outright lie. The purpose of disinformation is to promote division, mistrust, and hate. Much of the disinformation are stories and pictures that come from foreign sources, like Russia, China, and Iran. Their purpose is to weaken America by sowing division, mistrust, and hatred. We need to be aware of disinformation so we are not misinformed and pass on these lies. We need to promote truth and avoid these lies, even if we do not like what the truth says.

Lying deceives. One can deceive oneself. You may come to believe the falsehood. You use the lie to boost your own self esteem or to boost your own power and fortunes, but reality is lying undermines your own self-worth and your personal integrity. Lying deceives others and lying can put relationships in jeopardy. Can you trust a liar? And lies can deceive entire societies to promote bad behaviors and wrongful actions. We need to be careful and promote only the truth.

God considers lying to be an abomination (Proverbs 12:22). God speaks against lying in the Ten Commandments: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). There are many more scriptures warning about lying. Here are a few more: Psalm 101:7, Proverbs 12:19, Proverbs 19:9, and Colossians 3:9-10.

How do we handle lying? First we need to look at ourselves. Am I a liar? Do I deceive myself? We need to first recognise who we are. We are broken. We are sinners. The Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). We are not perfect (Matthew 5:48). We are not good enough, but there is good news. “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God will forgive. We need not deceive ourselves. God knows and still loves us (John 3:16). Do not lie to yourself. Live life with integrity. You need to face reality and truth head on.

God calls us to put away falsehoods and lies and speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15,25). It is good for our relationships to speak truthfully to one another. It builds trust in your relationships, and it gives you integrity. It is good for the community too. If we can count on one another, our communities can thrive. Let us speak truth in love, and avoid promoting any lies.

In this political season, lies, falsehoods, and ridicule are everywhere. The purpose of the ridicule, lies, and falsehoods is to destroy their political opponents, but it also undermines our society. There is less trust in our society today because of these lies. Let us rise above the fray, and be kind, gracious, and truthful in all we say and do. Do not promote lies! Stand for the truth! By doing so I believe we can strengthen society.

This was inspired in part by Don Overcash’s editorial “The Power and Value of Truth” (Subscription is needed) and in part by “How to Avoid Misinformation and Disinformation Online”.

Political Parties

Will political parties become a thing of the past? America has effectively a two party system, but major party membership is on the decline. The number of independents or unaffiliated voters in the USA is rising. Right now if the independents would be a party, they would be the largest political party in the USA at 43%. The younger generations distrust institutions and systems these days. With regard to politics, I really can not blame them. My observations are that the national parties, Republican and Democrat, seem to be increasingly out of touch with reality, and in Colorado the Republican party appears to be falling apart due to infighting. Many times, the parties seem more concerned with political maneuvering than with promoting the good of the country. Full disclosure, I am an independent, who never felt comfortable enough with either party to choose one.

Colorado Springs, a former Republican stronghold and once known as the Vatican of the West or the Evangelical Vatican because of the large number of evangelical organizations in the area, just elected an independent, Yemi Mobolade, as mayor. They elected an independent and not a Republican, not a Democrat, and not a third party candidate. Mobolade belongs to no party. He does not like political parties. A big part of his campaign was that he was non-partisan and was above party politics.

America effectively has a two party political system. The political system in America, which has been codified into many laws, assumes only two parties. This is unlike other countries which have multiparty systems. In the past, I believe, third parties pointed to changes that the two major parties needed to address, and the major parties adjusted their platforms accordingly. Today the right wing of the Republican party and the left wing of the Democratic party act somewhat like third parties pushing each party to adopt more extreme policies. Unfortunately this movement away from the center has widened the partisan divide and I believe has left a large number of Americans in the center without a good choice of who to vote for. I believe this will allow independents like Mobolade and third party candidates win some elections.

Will independents belonging to no party take over? My thinking is that there are too many organizational advantages to being part of a party for that to happen. But is the two party system in America collapsing? Will a new party be formed to replace one of the two major parties, or will America become multiparty? I do not know, but I believe we are in a period of transition. Something new is on the horizon. (Or will something like rank choice voting bring more choice and satisfy the electorate?) Right now, I think that politically things are a mess in America.

In the last two presidential elections, I voted for a third party candidate for president. People say I threw my vote away. The fact is Colorado is no longer a swing state and its electoral votes will go to the Democratic candidate. That is pretty much a given. Since I do not like the candidates for either major party, I will make a statement and vote for a candidate whose platform best fits for what I stand for. Right now, I plan to vote for presidential candidate Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party. I do not consider that I am throwing my vote away, instead I am making a statement. The two major parties need to listen and learn.

This post was inspired by “Americans Are Leaving Both Parties. This Colorado City Shows Why.” by David Siders.

Nazis

Gail and I along with another couple recently visited Germany. There were two main themes of the trip. We went to see where the Reformation started with Luther. We saw a lot of Luther sites and learned a lot of medieval history. The other main theme was the history of the Nazis and World War II (WW2). I will focus on the Nazis. (See Gail’s blog post for more information on the Reformation and Luther.)

The Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) was not founded by Adolf Hitler, but Hitler quickly rose to power in the party because he was a good speaker. In February 1920, a 25 point program was adopted by the Nazi Party. Though the 25 points were never fully implemented and some points were ignored, it provided a foundation for Nazism along with Mein Kampf (1925), an autobiographical manifesto by Hitler. The 25 points included the anti-capitalist, nationalist-imperialist, and anti-Semitic sentiments of the time.

In the throes of the Great Depression and in the midst of tremendous hyperinflation along with required reparations payments to the World War I allies, the German government was in disarray and was not functional. After the 1932 elections, in January 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor because no party was able to form a majority coalition and the Nazi Party had the most seats in the German parliament. In February 1933 the parliament building burned down and emergency powers were given to Hitler, and Hitler quickly seized power and became a dictator.

Also in March 1933, the Dachau Concentration Camp was opened and it was first filled with Hitler’s political opponents. I found it interesting how much planning, lies, and deception the Nazis did. There was not enough jail space for all of Hitler’s political opponents so it was fortunate that there were these new concentration camps for them. The camps were promoted as a place where these people could work and be reeducated. The truth is in the Dachau camp the inmates were abused, tortured, and worked to death. And just outside the camp proper was a gas chamber and crematorium to kill the lesser inmates. Brutal treatment and terror tactics were the norm. The SS commanders of the camp did not want to deal with the inmates. The inmates were in their opinion a lower form of human life in varying degrees, so within given boundaries the inmates ran the camp. It surprised me how well that worked. There were no uprisings. I think the inmates were in survival mode and thinking only of themselves. I think it was the self-centered selfish nature of humankind that allowed this evil to continue.

There were several WW2 points I took away from this trip.

The Germans today do not want this to happen again and have these documentation centers set up not only for us tourists but to teach the next generation about the dark side of their history. That is very commendable.
The Nazis were planners. This evil was not something that just happened. It was planned.
The false philosophical beliefs (e.g. Aryan superiority) were taught to children and believed by many.
Lies and deception were common tools of the Nazis.
And human nature is not good. Evil exists in the human heart. You can see instances of similar evils since WW2. This was not a one time thing.

This sounds quite depressing, but the other big theme from the trip was the Reformation and Martin Luther. God’s mercy and grace is there for us. We may not be good, but God showed his love for us in sending Jesus to pay the price we could not pay. We can be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good. There is hope for this life and hope for eternal life with our loving God.

I have one last WW2 fact from the trip. When you see the old buildings in the center of these German cities you need to realize that almost all of these buildings are reconstructions of the original buildings. This is because the allies heavily bombed the German cities. It took decades to rebuild these buildings. There were only a few of the old buildings that were left mostly untouched. Those untouched buildings were used as landmarks (e.g. the Cologne Cathedral) to guide the allied bombers on their bombing raids.

Divisions

America is very divided politically. I believe this is different from the cultural divisions of worldviews. A version of the Christian worldview used to be the dominant worldview in America. Today, prevalent in America, there are several variations of the critical theory worldview (with expressive individualism mixed in). And today both political liberals and conservatives use the critical theory framework to promote their agendas.

Critical theory states that there are unfair oppressive structures in society, and thus there are people being oppressed or in other words victims. Critical theory states these various forms of oppression are what is wrong in the world and its goal is to liberate us from the oppression. Some of the more common variations of critical theory are critical race theory, feminism, queer theory, and postcolonialism. You can especially see critical theory in action with the agendas found in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Movement. This has been part of a big push by the political liberals.

But the political conservatives use the same critical theory framework. The oppressive structures are instead the mainstream media, the deep state government, and other concerns, like voting. So the conservatives see different structures that are oppressing America and making us victims of the current power structures. Donald Trump is big in promoting the oppressive nature of these so-called liberal power structures, and in this current election cycle with his legal troubles he is especially promoting the idea that he is the victim and that he is taking the “attacks” for us. I believe this critical theory framework is one of the main reasons he has been able to resonate with so many voters because critical theory is already embedded in today’s culture.

“Wait, wait”, you say, “there is some truth in what they say”. Yes, there is some truth found in both the liberal and conservative statements. But note that every good lie has a kernel of truth. I believe the framework of critical theory twists the truth and makes it divisive. It ends up being less than the whole truth.

You need to be aware that critical theory’s way of thinking in terms of oppression is the dominant way of thinking in today’s culture. You still need to acknowledge the truth found in the twisted statements, but only the truth. You especially need to avoid using the critical theory framework. It is divisive. It is not an us versus them (the enemy and the oppressor) situation. There is really only one enemy. His name is Satan.

The Christian asks how I can help and make the situation better. The Christian realizes that it is not an us versus them situation, because we are all sinners in need of a Savior. We need to, as much as possible, work together and not be divisive. We are to be generous, kind, and gracious in our speech. We do not lie, but we speak the truth in love. We do everything from an attitude of love, wanting the best for the other person. The Christian Faith is about reconciliation and forgiveness, first with God, but also with our fellow human beings. Critical theory is about justice and fairness, whereas Christianity has justice with mercy. Relationships cannot be restored with only justice. Mercy and forgiveness is needed to end the divisions and restore healthy relationships.

I believe the political dysfunction in Congress and throughout American politics is due in part to critical theory thinking. Avoid it!

Clashing Worldviews

Recently Loveland had two events held on the same night supporting school board candidates. One event was distinctly Christian and the other event was not. (Subscription is required to read more about the events.) Comparing the two worldviews expressed at the two events showed that there is a wide gulf between the two sets of candidates. Both groups are concerned for the students, but because of different ways of viewing the world they have different ways of addressing the problems of educating the students. In Colorado, the new worldview has become dominant in public education, and I believe that is true in most of the country. The Colorado legislature has passed laws requiring that this viewpoint be taught in the public schools. In reference to schools, the new worldview is all in favor of supporting and affirming the LGBTQ+ ideas in schools, like being able to choose and change one’s own gender and selecting personal pronouns. The traditional Christian worldview does not support those actions.

One of the candidates with the new worldview said “I cannot understand how anyone thinks that way” in reference to the traditional Christian worldview, and I totally get that because I have a hard time understanding the rationale behind the new worldview. I think I know what they believe and why, but to me the new worldview does not make rational sense. I believe the LGBTQ+ ideas (and this new worldview in general) are harmful for the children and are causing all sorts of problems and confusion. I believe the facts bear that out.

So what is this new worldview? First and foremost the individual is the authority. The individual determines pretty much everything. And there is no problem with that because the individual is considered to be naturally good. The individual looks inside oneself to find their authentic identity. It is almost always expressed sexually. Problems come because of oppressive societal structures. People can be broken into two groups: the oppressed and the oppressors. (One can be both an oppressor and one of the oppressed, e.g. a white woman.) LGBTQ+ and other minority groups are oppressed. Society and culture needs to change so that society can become harmonious, and every life, no matter how different, can be celebrated. Governments and schools are needed to guide and change society in order to get rid of those societal structures that prevent all of us from reaching this utopia. That is also why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) officers in companies are needed to help bring about this change and help dismantle the oppressive structures in the companies. Parents can be seen as a barrier to the child expressing their authentic self, that is their chosen gender. This is why in Colorado (and in many states) once a student turns 12 years old parents do not have to be notified about “reproductive rights” choices or gender decisions. The individual rights and thus the welfare of the child needs to be protected from the parents’ old fashioned views. It really bothers me that parental rights have been dismissed, because who knows the child better than the parents. And is it good for an immature child or teen to make some major life changing decisions without some helpful parental input?

Let us look at the Christian worldview. God created the world. He has the authority. We do not. He has primarily revealed himself in the Bible. We are his creatures. He made us, male and female. We disobeyed him and became selfish self-centered people. Problems exist in the world because each and every one of us is a selfish self-centered person. There may be societal structures that are oppressive but the core problem is us. There are oppressors and oppressed people, but that is because we all are broken sinful people. Out of love, God sent Jesus into the world. He lived a perfect life and then took upon himself the punishment we deserved so that we might have a full life. Our true identity can only be found in Jesus. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can live lives of service to do good and to help end all oppression. We see everyone as equal fellow creatures, created in the image of God. We recognize that God designed the family and the family is the basic building block of society, not the individual. The parents have the duty and right to raise their children. Throughout the ages, Christians have instituted change for the good. Christians have improved and continue to improve society. One day, when Jesus returns, all the brokenness and selfish sin will be wiped away and we will have that harmonious utopia we have dreamed about.

Because of these two different worldviews, there are different goals to educating children. The new worldview wants to enable children to find their authentic selves and help them change the world full of good people for the better. The secularized Christian worldview (secularized because the schools are public) wants to protect the children as they grow and learn, and to enable children to live, thrive, and do good in a broken world. If people are broken, selfish, and self-centered then the secularized Christian worldview has the educational goal that would best serve the students. If people are naturally good then this new worldview educational goal can be an option. I believe every one of us is a broken selfish person. If so,this means that the new worldview educational goal is flawed and it will cause harm to the children. I find the Christian worldview to be the best way to view life. This means that the secularized Christian worldview educational goal is the best option for our children in public schools. (I believe private Christian schools can offer an even better option, but they are expensive since there are no tax dollars to support them. Check out Immanuel’s school.)

Fake News

Newspaper Boxes (photo by David Resseguie)

There is money to be made with fake news. You set up a website and make up stories with headlines that catch eyeballs and watch the advertising dollars flow in. These fake stories spread mainly on social media (faster than real news) and the social media giants also rake in the advertising dollars. Election time is approaching and these fake news stories seem to ramp up right before elections. Remember back in 2016 when there was a news story that the Pope endorsed Donald Trump. That was fake news. It did not happen, but that fake news spread like wildfire on social media.

The problem is us. We like news that confirms our biases and shocking news is what draws us in. It is not just a few outlier websites with extreme news. Though better, mainstream news will tailor their news to their audience. In the mainstream news there has tended to be a liberal bias, so Fox News got its start to deliver the news with a more conservative slant. However, Fox News got into big trouble after the 2020 election. Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for continuing to spread falsehoods about their voting systems throwing the election even after they knew the stories were false. Fox News was concerned that they would lose a large percentage of their audience if they stopped reporting the fake news. So right before going to trial, Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million and acknowledged that “certain claims about Dominion to be false”. I think that was a large price to pay to try to keep their audience.

So you need to ask yourself where do I get my news? Who do I trust to keep me informed? Is it social media posts? Is it blogs? Is it the websites of various organizations? Is it cable news interview shows? Is it radio talk shows? Is it cable news? Is it mainstream broadcast TV news? Is it newspapers? I put these questions in a rough order from what I consider to be in general untrustworthy to trustworthy? However, even a trustworthy news source can show a slant or end up getting the facts wrong. I consider it less likely for a newspaper to get the facts wrong than a social media post. There is still the issue of slant. The reporter has their own bias that they may or may not be aware of. They decide what the important facts are that will go into the story. And the editor must decide which news to publish. What news do they feel is newsworthy, and what news will their audience like? Those are decisions that can put a personal bias into the news.

You have your own personal biases and that can create some blind spots. Do you believe news because you want it to be true, and not because it is true? Fake news preys on people’s desire for the facts to align with their wishes. You need to be aware of your own biases, and you need to verify the truth of the stories, especially the ones that seem too outrageous to be true. Remember Pizzagate. On December 4, 2016, a guy entered a pizza joint armed with an AR-15 style rifle looking to rescue children from Satanic ritual abuse and a child sex ring. He had a blind spot and he acted on fake news. Fortunately no one was hurt, but he spent some time in jail because of the fake news.

So who do we trust to deliver the news that is truthful and where do we find the most unbiased news? There is a lot of distrust today. But I find that professional journalists have standards that most of them hold too, and there is enough competition that they will correct each other’s false statements. It is in their interest to get the facts right. They are more trustworthy than a talk radio show host. If the content of the article or video is sensational and/or the content is getting you emotional then I would guess that there is a strong bias in the content with possible false statements.

What are your news sources? Is there a strong bias? Are they accurately reporting the facts? There is a company that scores news organizations on their bias and their reliability/accuracy. You can check it out and see where your news sources fall. I like AP News and Reuters, because they are in the business of selling news stories to news organizations. Their audience is broad so their bias is small and they tend to be quite accurate in their reporting.

This post was inspired by the book “Beyond Fake News” by Justin P. McBrayer.

Adolescent Gender-Affirming Care

Right now you can make comments on the “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance” proposed rule by the Education Department until 09/12/2022. (There is not much time left to comment.) It sounds not so bad from the title until you realize that “Sex” includes the LGBTQ+ protections with an expanded definition of harassment. For parents, it may not be possible for them to take part in their child’s transgender decisions if they disapprove of the child’s chosen gender identity. My comment addresses the dangers of “gender-affirming care” and I now realize does not directly address the issues of discrimination in Title IX, but I was rushed to post it before the deadline and to let you have the opportunity to post too. Here is my comment.

Docket ID: ED-2021-OCR-0166

I am concerned with these Title IX rule revisions. I have many concerns about the rule revisions but my biggest concern is transgender adolescents getting gender-affirming medical care, that is using puberty blockers and then cross-sex hormones and finally surgery. It is dangerous and does not address their psychological issues that often accompany their desire to change gender.

The FDA has recently added a warning to the “puberty blockers”, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which may cause brain swelling and vision loss in some children. Sweden and Finland have reversed course and now ban the puberty blockers and hormone treatment in almost all cases of youth transgenderism. Why? They say the evidence is lacking and as a result of their study they now assert that the risks of hormonal treatment outweigh the benefits for most transgender youth. Their first treatment now is to deal with the psychological issues that these youth are facing. There tend to be other issues besides gender dysphoria (transgenderism). And in the vast majority of cases adolescent gender dysphoria resolves itself during puberty without any medical treatment. We should follow the example of Sweden and Finland and not go down the hormone treatment route. These treatments can cause irreversible damage to the youth, including permanent sterilization. Parents need to and must play a role in this too, because in most cases they know their child better than most, so do not allow schools to hide the treatment from the parents.

I believe these rules will create more problems than they solve. This can be seen in the UK where they shut down the largest gender-affirming care facility in the country and have removed gender-affirming care from the “affirmative care” model. And they are now facing lawsuits from 1000 families. Sweden, Finland, and the UK all have reconsidered gender-affirming medical care for adolescents. America should not make the same mistake and should not allow gender-affirming medical care for adolescents. The science is not there. The risks of the treatment outweigh the benefits.

That is my comment to the Federal Register. You can make a comment too before 09/12/2022. Some more information is available. (Be sure to include ‘Docket ID: ED-2021-OCR-0166’.)

Puberty is a time of big change. It is not only a time of physical change but it is also a time where the youth becomes more independent. I once heard that the teenage years are like “having a car with the brakes on backorder”. Looking back at my life, puberty was a time of uncertainty. Parental involvement is needed to provide stability for a teenager. The teenager should not be making life changing irreversible decisions about one’s gender.

If you are thinking that the idea of choosing your gender is crazy, you are not alone but this is where the emerging culture has taken us. Biologically we are binary, male and female, and yet the idea that you can look inside yourself and find the real sexual you is popular. Reality is in love God made you. He did not make any mistakes in choosing your sex. Because of this broken world and our sinful nature, you may feel out of place but know that God has your best interests at heart. You are loved and he is there for you. Let Jesus be your Lord and Savior. Turn to him and let him lead.