Toxic Smoke, Historic Wildfires In Tennessee Are the Worst In A Century

UT PROFESSOR PREDICTED THIS FIRE FOR YEARS TRUMP'S TAX PROPOSALS SEEN LEADING TO SURGE IN CHARITABLE GIVING  
 I FEEL VERY BAD FOR EVERYONE IN EAST AND MIDDLE  TENNESSEE , WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA AND NORTH GEORGIA  who are affected by these horrific wildfires and the toxic, pervasive smoke and blue haze lingering and spreading over the entire southeast United States.  It's been an epic drought since mid-summer after 6 years of almost non-stop rain. 

We got  rain Monday and more predicted for the weekend, but who knows if it will be enough to begin to heal the parched, burning land and break the back of this drought for the ages.

I'm certainly no stranger to evacuating and running from forest fires over the years since my own home in  the Buffalo Valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming was threatened and had to be evacuated several times in the great Yellowstone mega-fires of 1988.  Just didn't see these Tennessee fires coming with the same  ferocity.  Nature's way of cleaning out and thinning its house.

Meanwhile,  I've had to leave the area and travel to a location with cleaner air and a little more humidity after weeks of shortness of breath from smoke inhalation. I hope to return to Tennessee next week if conditions allow and pray for all those who are struggling with losing loved ones,  property and dealing with respiratory and other health-related problems.  I hope and pray to God this terrible drought  will end soon.

President-Elect Donald Trump As You've Never Seen Him

FROM 2011, Via Maggie's Farm with thanks.

My kinda guy.

Monday, Is It Safe To Come Back to the Computer?

UPDATE: TN U.S. SENATOR BOB CORKER TO MEET TRUMP TUESDAY IN NYC

 WITH A RECOUNT (DEADLINE PASSES IN PA) AND MASS MAYHEM OVERTAKING US, I'd like to start the week on a lighter note. This video is very clever and fun... Meanwhile, late to the party but nonetheless of utmost importance: History will never absolve Castro. Nor should it. He was a brutal, sadistic dictator, who impoverished the people of Cuba for decades, as he lived lavishly and hypocritically in every way imaginable.....

The trend towards anti-establishment, populist nationalism continues as Fillon is now favored to be the next president of France. More. There's no way Hillary would fit into this new world shaping up. She is so  old, tired news. But clearly,  she has no intention of going quietly into the night.  Okay, so she'll go kicking and screaming. Still, she'll go.

Timeless Thanksgiving Messages Then and Now--- Lincoln And Trump

WISHING YOU A SAFE, BLESSED DAY OF GRATITUDE!

President Abraham Lincoln issued the following proclamation on Oct. 20, 1864, setting aside the last Thursday in November as "a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God."

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

IT HAS PLEASED ALMIGHTY GOD to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of October, A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State
SOURCE

THEN TODAY HERE'S TRUMP leapfrogging the MSM and delivering Thanksgiving message on YouTube:


       

James, the Brother of Our Lord, Writes On How Christians Should Live AFTER Being Saved By Grace

WE ARE SAVED ONLY BY GRACE---JESUS' FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS---BUT AFTER SALVATION HAS COME,  OUR LIVES SHOULD REFLECT THIS BY OUR GOOD WORKS AND RIGHT LIVING---ALL FOR AND TO THE GLORY OF GOD!

JAMES 4 

SUBMIT YOURSELVES TO THE LORD 

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[b]? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

 ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

VP-Elect Mike Pence Becomes a Captive Audience at 'Hamilton' Friday Night And Ups His Favorability Rating to 99%

UPDATE: PENCE BRUSHES OFF 'HAMILTON' FLAP
KRUISER: What really happened (at Hamilton last night) was a display of intolerance in the name of tolerance, which is pretty much all the left does these days. The audience was booing Pence, the fans on social media were cheering the boos, and the media told a story about it that barely flirted with the truth. This was the formula they thought would propel them to victory in the election, and they seem to be completely unaware that it didn't work. While they're giggling and applauding the cast's rude treatment of Pence, he will still become the second most powerful man in the country thanks to the Electoral College that was Alexander Hamilton's idea in the first place.  Now that's something worth cheering. 

PENCE, A CLASS ACT
 

THE BROADWAY CAST OF HAMILTON LAST NIGHT EXERCISED ITS FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO BE INAPPROPRIATELY BOORISH AND RUDE as it went off-script after the performance to lecture the vice-president-elect in the audience about what scared y-cats they all are as a result of the presidential election of Donald Trump.  Talk about unprofessional and uncalled for.

As Stephen Kruiser writing at PJMedia this morning tells it, Pence---a class act---just made himself the early 2024 presidential front-runner:

If you are keeping running tally of how many lessons the Democrats and progressives have learned since the election the number still stands at zero.

After spectacularly failing at winning an election via the cool celebrity route, our friends on the left still seem a bit confused about the weight that the words of the performing classes have for the people of America.

Evidently everyone involved in the wildly successful Broadway musical "Hamilton" was on board with Hillary Clinton's premature coronation.  Hillary, below, at another performance:

 It certainly seems safe to say that this cast can be counted among the angst-ridden since November 8. So it was no surprise that they were less than gracious when Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to see a performance on Friday night.

 "We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values."

 
During Friday night's curtain call at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, the Broadway cast addressed the presence of the vice president-elect, who was heavily booed by the audience upon entry.

"Vice president-elect, I see you walking out but I hope you will hear us," said Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr. He also told the audience, "There's nothing to boo here, we're all sharing a story of love."

"We welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical — we really do," he continued. "We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and work on behalf of all of us."

"We truly thank you for sharing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations," Dixon concluded to Pence.

OK, Mr.  Dixon, if you say so.  Meanwhile,  think I'll take a pass on attending the show now.

Sunday---Our Need for the Holy Spirit's Instruction In Bible Study and Worship

 
(ABOVE:  DROUGHT-STRICKEN MIDDLE TENNESSEE TURNS TO DUST AS WE PRAY FOR THE RAIN WE NOW SO DESPERATELY NEED)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE---WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ALL LIVE IN SPIRITUAL DROUGHT

IF WE REPEATEDLY READ THE BIBLE WITHOUT THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, it tends to reinforce our own prejudices and rock-hard doctrinal positions. We end up merely finding ammunition for what we already believe. We become so spiritually proud, so convinced of our own positions, that the Spirit is hindered in helping us grow in the things of God.

Go back to the 1850s in America when that horrible institution of slavery was being challenged and abolitionists raised their voices against slaveholders.  In the South, there were Bible-thumping preachers who twisted God's Holy Word to defend the wickedness of slavery.  Some actually held the enslavement of African-Americans was part of God's purpose for the earth!  With closed minds and bitter hearts, they used the Word of God for unholy purposes.  And their congregations shouted 'Amen!'  Those bigots weren't ungodly atheists; they were ministers and congregants with open Bibles before them.  Talk about spiritual deception!

The same thing had happened to the religious leaders of Jesus' day.  They (the Pharisees) held a prejudiced view of what the Messiah would be like and what he would do when he came.....Jesus didn't fit into their theology because their hard hearts were darkened-----even as they taught from the (Old Testament) Scripture.....They referenced God's Word without any spirit of revelation, brokeness or submission to God.  Without the help of the Holy Spirit to  understand the meaning of what we read, we're susceptible to reading our own biases into God's Holy Word.  No wonder our reading can become dry and boring. When we see only what we want to see in the Bible, it loses all power to transform us....

When we pick up the Bible and don't ask for the Spirit's help, it's like saying, 'God, do a new thing in me, but I'm not going to change anything I believe.'  That's an odd prayer, isn't it? No wonder we grow so little in our faith and see so few converted to Christ.  William Law, an eighteenth century English devotional writer, said, 'Thousands stand ready to split doctrinal hairs and instruct others in the fine meaning of Scripture words----but there are so few through whom the Holy Spirit can work to bring people to new birth in the kingdom of God.' 

Often we get our definitions for important things not by what the Spirit shows us in Scripture, but rather by what we saw growing in church....It is difficult for all of us to come to the Word of God and say, 'Holy Spirit, teach me, even if it goes against what I've been conditioned to believe.'  And yet we must! We will never understand God's purpose for the church and us individually unless we humble ourselves and pray, 'Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me!'

 ---Jim Cymbala,  Senior Pastor Brooklyn Tabernacle,  Spirit Rising

Elegant New First Lady Style Steals the Show

MELANIA TRUMP: QUEEN OF FASHION TROLLING  @ THE FEDERALIST MELANIA TRUMP MAKES THE UNTHINKABLE PANTS/JUMPSUIT A THING OF DAZZLING GLAMOUR WHICH DOUBLES AS EVENING WEAR as she joins her husband, Donald, as he makes his POTUS acceptance speech. It's a $4,000 Ralph Lauren white silk crepe---with one shoulder exposed, the other beautifully draped----which succeeds in asserting her movie-star, impeccable style. Melania's predecessor, Michelle Obama, also has a dazzling fashion flair and a hard act to follow. But Melania is more than up to the task.

Trump Blasts Towards Momentous Victory, Peso & DOW Crash, Cher Packs

HILLARY CLINTON: THE END OF AN ERA

 STUNNING, SIMPLY STUNNING. Ten celebs who plan to flee country.

This Bud Ad Says It All

ARTICLE

 ROGER L. SIMON ON ASSANGE, TRUE HERO OF 2016 ELECTION "Originally, I was more than skeptical of Assange and would have agreed with Marco Rubio that paying attention to such a man is dangerous for obvious reasons of privacy and national security, not to mention, as Rubio notes, the shoe could be on the Republican foot in another election. I no longer believe that. What Assange has shown us is that the situation is far worse than any of us imagined, that the power of global elites is so great that political parties are almost irrelevant. These elites endanger our republic and the world to such a degree that transparency is mandatory."

Sunday---Hacksaw Ridge Reveals the True Purpose of Our Precious Religious Liberty and How One Man Used It

 

TYLER O'NEIL AT PJMEDIA HAS WRITTEN A CHALLENGING,  SPOT-ON REVIEW of the newly released movie, Hacksaw Ridge, and makes the point that while we Americans pay lip service to the importance of religious freedom, we rarely use this freedom and take stands that might cost us comfort, pain, rejection and even death.  This movie tells the story of Desmond Doss a army medic in World War II who fights for the right to live out his faith,  then goes on to live it under the most harrowing, blood circumstances at Okinawa on Hacksaw Ridge.

I/We saw this movie last night and can say without reservation, it is the most violent, bloody movie I've ever seem.  Still it is a paragon of how a man or woman of principle, especially religious principle, is sometimes called to take a stand and let the chips fall where they may against the most horrific of extreme conditions.  

Still,  I highly recommend this movie as a historical reminder of how our country took stands against oppressive regimes and enemies and also for true inspiration as to how heroes are made and serve.  We live in a world of extreme comfotr, instant gratification, distraction and affluence today where few of us even know ourselves or God well enough to know  what we believe in or what we stand for.  This movie shows the way of a man of God and principle who follows His calling no matter what.  See this movie and prepare yourself for a momentous movie experience.  O'Neill writes:

Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge is easily one of the best films of the year (89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but it's not primarily due to cinematic effects. Perhaps better than any other, the movie portrays the vital struggle for religious freedom, and what a Christian must do with that hard-won victory.

Indeed, Hacksaw Ridge is really two movies — one about fighting for religious freedom, and another about the heroism of Christian faith in the face of hellish adversity. One about achieving the freedom to live out the faith, and one about how to honor that freedom. It tells the heroic tale of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who felt it his duty to serve in World War II, but who refused to take up arms.

Doss — played by Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spiderman, 2012) — calls himself a "conscientious cooperator" and explains that he wants to serve on the battlefield, but he has a problem with "carrying a gun and taking a human life." His solution? Become a battlefield medic.
From the beginning, Doss struggles to follow his conscience. He earnestly believes he must fight in the war, despite pressure from his father (and later his commanding officer) to stay home and let others fight for him. He also earnestly believes it is wrong to kill, and he refuses to even touch a rifle, no matter how much it costs him. As he tells his wife, "I don't know how I'm gonna live with myself if I don't stay true to what I believe."

His commanding officer does not take kindly to that idea. When Doss refuses to train with a rifle, the squad mocks him. In a disgusting moment, his fellow soldier drags him through the mud, saying, "I don't think this is a matter of religion. I think this is cowardice."

Live Like Sons and Daughters of the King

TGC

Final Arguments

UPDATE:  TRUMP'S AIDS TOOK AWAY HIS TWITTER ACCOUNT
DAVID STOCKMAN: NO MATTER WHO WINS, SELL EVERYTHING! I VOTED FOR TRUMP THIS WEEK. Not for one moment do I think he is the end-all, be-all, if he wins. Many voters will eventually be disappointed in a Trump administration with all the inherent federal gridlock that will follow. Still, I can vote for no one else but Donald Trump for all the aforementioned reasons over the past 6 months.

I have low to no expectations for a Trump victory which means I cannot be greatly disappointed. Our country has been and is on a slippery slope, now at warp speed. Having said all that, I'm excited that the race is coming to a close and the election is upon us. Time to move on to the next chapter and fasten our seat belts.

Dear Progressives: My Path From Left To Right

AT THE FEDERALIST: I'M A WOMAN VOTING FOR TRUMP AND IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE (ME TOO)

IF YOU DON'T READ ANOTHER THING TODAY, THIS WEEK, I RECOMMEND YOU TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS ENTIRE PIECE ON MOVING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND BACK TO SANE REALITY.

"Dear Progressives, You don’t have to believe what you know is false: that men and women are psychologically identical, that racial disparities are always caused by racism, that heterosexuality isn’t nature’s norm, that multiculturalism doesn’t increase inter-ethnic conflict, and on and on. Political Correctness is just a set of mandatory lies in the service of political power. It’s all bullshit; you don’t have to believe any of it. It’s OK to admit that you prefer people like yourself. That is normal human nature. It doesn’t make you x-phobic. It’s OK. It isn’t scary for long. You can join the truly reality-based community." HT: MAGGIES FARM

Game 7---Fantastic Finish, Cubs Win the World Series 8-7!!! First Time in 108 Years!!! The Curse Is Over

SHERMAN: IT WAS EXACTLY HOW THE CUBS HAD TO WIN THE WORLD SERIES

THE LATEST AT WSJ

A SENSATIONAL GAME,  SPECTACULAR FINISH, A BROKEN CURSE....  

I'm With Keith Koffler---The November Surprise/Exoneration of Hillary Is Coming

FOUR WAYS OBAMACARE IS A LEMON FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
UPDATE:  JUST IN CASE ANYONE THINKS PRINCE HARRY'S TASTE IN WOMEN HAS IMPROVED OR MATURED

KEITH @ WHITE HOUSE DOSSIER IS SURELY RIGHT ON THIS....HILLARY'S COME TOO FAR TO LET THE FBI SNATCH DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF HER ASSUMED VICTORY.  So the fix is  in to have Clinton given a preliminary clearance to land on the White House lawn. Will it be enough to save her from losing? No one knows, but her vast networks of operatives inside the Obama administration, will now move heaven and earth immediately to give her the presidency.

Keith feels it in his bones and writes on the October surprise part 2---the November surprise:

I can feel it. Like a dog who barks before an earthquake, I just know it’s coming. And just like that dog would, if it could, I hope I am wrong. But I believe The November Surprise will soon be upon us.
The Great Clinton Exoneration is on its way. One way or another, the Justice Department will announce in the next seven days that there’s no evidence of classified information on emails Hillary Clinton exchanged with her protégé Huma Abedin, and, everyone please ice up the champagne again for the Clinton coronation.

I don’t know how it will happen exactly. But it will happen. Because the Democrats will win this at any cost. Losing means allowing Trump, the crude usurper, to undo everything the magnificent Obama did. And the revelation that Clinton is under investigation yet again is a serious threat to her candidacy, and the Democrats know it.

Here’s one possible scenario for making the problem go away.

FBI investigators are currently racing through Huma Abedin’s emails trying to rule out that Hillary Clinton sent or received classified information to any of Abedin’s private, Anthony Weiner-supervised, email accounts. They are under enormous pressure by political appointees in the Justice Department to get the deed done before Election Day. The agents will do an honorable job, though, and it does not appear they can possibly complete the task in a thorough manner before Tuesday. To be done seriously, the job of divining which of thousands of emails may contain classified information takes time.

Time would seem to work against Hillary Clinton in this case. But time can also work for her.
The very fact that investigators cannot conclude by Tuesday that no classified information was exchanged between Abedin and Clinton also means they cannot conclude there was any. And so, presto, some kind of “preliminary finding” gets cooked up that the emails contained nothing more threatening than Yoga appointments, pantsuit sales, and Friday night gatherings of the Wellesley Alumni Scrabble Club....

READ THE REST.....