BecX

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@ZiaErica @OwenGregorian @ScottAdamsSays @MarcelaMarjean Great words and wonderful insight to a personal new year.

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@MarcelaMarjean @ZiaErica Happy birthday, Erica! You’re naturally hilarious and so super fun to listen to. You do a great job navigating the home team through all the things!
Today I’m going to a bridal shower and then a fundraiser dinner this tonight. All in honor of Erika‘s birthday!

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@DavidWilberBlog I’ve been a follower for a long time, and just now seeing this…mind blown…

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@MarcelaMarjean I did not vote for this…

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@ZiaErica @OwenGregorian @MarcelaMarjean @ScottAdamsSays @JoshuaLisec @joelpollak You always look and are fabulous, Erica!

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@goodsailor257 @ScottAdamsSays Watch today’s Scott Adam’s School. At the end they go into detail with that answer. (Yes!)

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@MarcelaMarjean Fake news reporting about fake news…

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@ZiaErica @OwenGregorian The Hometeam needs to do a live stage podcast together!

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@MarcelaMarjean Hallelujah! You work hard for your people!

[American Debunk @AmericanDebunk]

Something has felt off with Mamdani for a while. I just couldn’t name it.

A lot of people say he is just an actor and everything you see is just an act. I never bought into that. I always thought he came off as sincere, kind and genuinely charismatic.

That all changed with the Netanyahu arrest video. There was something dark in it. I wrote about it at the time. The post went viral because a lot of people felt the same thing and didn’t have the words for it.

That feeling never left me. Every time I see him now, it’s there.

And now we have the clip of him and AOC laughing while the names of the murdered were being read at the 9/11 memorial.

People are saying it’s inappropriate, disrespectful. True, but it’s more than that.

I want you to imagine yourself in that moment. If you loved this country—if you understood what that day was, what those names meant, what was taken from the people standing around you—you would not have been capable of smiling.

You wouldn’t have been able to laugh.

Your soul wouldn’t have let you.

That clip—this stillshot— is a window into who they are.

They do not love the America you love. They see America as the problem. And they are not trying to fix it. They are seeking revenge.

You’re starting to see this too, right?

I couldn’t name the feeling I had before, or why I had it. I just felt off.

But now I understand. And I’m sure you do too.

[Sterling Snow @sterlingmsnow]

I reread this every year.

I cry like a baby every year.

Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.

Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked.

Lisa: I understand. Can they see you?

Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake.

Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor.

Lisa: Are you okay?

Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again.

Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true?

Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan.

Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call.

Lisa: I promise.

Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy.

Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.)

Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol.

Todd: I understand. I’ll be back.

Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot.

Lisa: What are you going to do?

Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out.

Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@joelpollak Blessed Yom Teruah! Tonight I shall sound my shofar.

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@ZiaErica Erica, you did great work compiling this tribute. Marcela made me cry. It was all so very honoring and lovely.

[Josh Barzon @JoshuaBarzon]

Few phrases in American history are quoted more often than Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between Church and State.”

But Jefferson was not writing to atheists who wanted religion removed from society. He was writing to Baptists who feared government interference with their faith.

The phrase appeared in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. At the time, Connecticut’s Congregational churches occupied a privileged position within the state. Baptists and other dissenting Christians could worship, but their liberty was often treated as an exemption granted by government rather than an inherent right.

That deeply troubled them.

In their 1801 letter to Jefferson, the Baptists argued that religion was a matter between a person and God. Civil government possessed authority over harmful conduct, but not over religious belief.

They complained that their religious privileges were considered “favors granted,” rather than “inalienable rights.”

These were not secularists attempting to drive Christianity from public life. They were Christians seeking protection from a government-supported religious establishment.

Jefferson answered them with a statement of principle.

He wrote that religion was a matter lying “solely between Man & his God,” that a person owed no civil account for his faith or worship, and that the legitimate power of government extended to actions rather than opinions.

He then quoted the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

These two protections formed what Jefferson called “a wall of separation between Church & State.”

The purpose of that wall was not to make Americans irreligious. It was to prevent civil authorities from assuming power over religious belief and practice.

Jefferson’s surviving draft provides further context. He originally connected this principle to his refusal, as president, to proclaim national days of fasting and thanksgiving. The British monarch was the legal head of an established church. The American president was not.

This did not mean religious people could not influence public life. Churches and individual believers remained free to preach, pray, persuade, vote, and participate in politics.

The distinction was between religious influence and governmental religious authority.

“Separation of Church and State” did not mean separating religion from society, morality, politics, or public discussion. It described a boundary between two kinds of authority.

The church was not to possess the coercive power of the state. The state was not to establish worship, govern doctrine, or treat religious liberty as a privilege it could grant or withdraw.

Jefferson’s wall was a defense of liberty of conscience. Faith cannot be produced by legislation, compelled by force, or safely placed beneath the authority of civil rulers.

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@ZiaErica @JoshuaLisec Happy birthday, Joshua!

[L A R R Y @LarryOConnor]

Bishop Fulton Sheen, half a century ago:

"Just think, my dear ladies, of how many mentally disturbed women we are going to have in the United States in the next 10 or 15 years when the guilt of abortion begins to attack the mind and soul.". 🤯

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@MarcelaMarjean That’s exactly right, Marcela. Why should we not hold onto Jesus of Nazareth as if our life depended on it?

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@joelpollak @ScottAdamsSays Well done. I’m thankful for your hard work.

[BecX @rebmcmiller]

@anymanfitness @bennyjohnson …and you’ll still take her back tomorrow???

[MovieKingdom @kingdom4mo]

50 years ago they stood on the same stage for the first time and sang “Love Lifted Me.

Kenny was just starting his solo career.

Dolly was already Dolly. What began as a guest spot on her variety show turned into one of the most genuine friendships in country music.

They never needed to be a couple. They just made everything they touched feel a little lighter.

Both gone now.😭

But this clip still does exactly what the song promises.

Love lifted them. And it still lifts us.