The Practical Parson

 So this afternoon I was looking at the news, and an article being promoted by Yahoo popped up.  It purported that Donald Trump's concern with illegal immigrants working can be debunked because illegal immigrants are ONLY taking the lesser, more menial jobs that no one else wants to work; and further claims that seeking to prevent this from happening would cost the nation nearly one Trillion dollars.  Apart from the inflammatory words and terms used in the article, and the customary fluff about how the present administration wants Black and Hispanic citizens to have good, higher paying jobs; there is a diabolical undercurrent which no one seems to address, one which proves history is indeed repeating itself. I'm sure some of us will remember Nancy Pelosi's now famous line about Illegal immigrants working in the US- "Who's going to pick our crops?"  The truth is that the Democratic party in the United States has never gotten over losing the rights to slaves and

 This week, a new addition to the ever-increasing pantheon of liberal insanity emerged from the governor of Michigan.  In a video that was posted online, Gretchen Whitmer (Governor of Michigan) is speaking with a left-wing "influencer" and podcaster (whatever the hell that is) about.  The 2 women spoke about the Biden-Harris administration's CHIP act, which aims to invest in domestic microchip manufacturing, and also abortion; you know, the only true talking point that the American left  has been singing about during this election cycle.  The video concludes with Whitmer feeding a Dorito's chip to the influencer by placing it on her tongue while she kneels.  The camera then pulls back to show Whitmer standing and wearing a "Harris/ Wallz" ballcap.   While people are certainly free to discuss whatever topics they find fascinating or important, despite how distasteful or outright disgusting they may be; there is one thing one should try to shy away from, if on

 This past week, Hurricane Helene beat her way across the southeastern United States; causing death and destruction not seen here since 1916, a little over 100 years ago.  Cleanup and salvage works are already underway; and many citizens are still left stranded in areas without food, without electricity, and without aid of any form.  Almost a week after the storm hit, amid cries and outcry that the government was dragging its feet in response of sending aid to the region; the president of the United States arrived in North Carolina.  While such a visit should be seen as a means of assuring the public of the strength of our communities, the promise of building back, the assurance of assistance in an hour of need; our president decided to take this opportunity to lecture the citizens of my home state that this storm was caused by climate change and that we all need to acknowledge that fact.  I'm sorry, come again?   You are here in the elected capacity which these people chose you fo

 This evening after listening to some reports about illegal immigration to the United States, this question floated through my mind in the Julie Andrews sort of sing-song manner that some of you might have heard when you read the title of this post.  Whether the numbers are up or down at this point is completely immaterial, the truth is that over 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States over the past 3.5 years; and that number is only official encounters with Border Patrol, not including people who have entered undetected.  When one approaches members of the 2 prime political entities of the US and asks about immigration, you will usually get one of 2 manner of responses: 1. We need to scrap the immigration system as is and create something new where anyone can come in at any time for any reason.  2. We need to close all the borders and stop this here and now.    Perhaps unsurprisingly, these 2 mentalities spar furiously at the highest level of our government; thoug

 Yesterday a surprise hit piece from CNN (and subsequent media outlets) accused the Republican candidate for Governor here in North Carolina of making crude, sexual, and racist comments on pornography websites 10+ years ago.   It's hardly surprising that a hit piece would come out at about this time in campaign season, as it is the last day that candidates are able to drop out of the race and have their names removed from the ballot; and also the start of early voting here as well.  Needless to say, the crude, inflammatory and preschool grade level of 'research' that went into the report from CNN is indeed designed and intended to help sway the outcome of our gubernatorial election in favor of the Democrat candidate instead.  One hopes that CNN and their media assistants have registered their donation to Josh Stein's campaign after this story, because that is exactly what it is.  The basic accusation Robinson faces is that someone using his photo, claiming his email add

 This past Saturday, the Diocese of which I am part held its ordinations to the priesthood.  This year we had 3 goodly candidates for orders, all sincere men who have expressed clearly over their years of formation a desire to serve and build up the church of God.  The service was obliged to be held at St. Timothy's Episcopal church in Winston-Salem; due to the fact that none of our own chapels at present would be able to hold the number of people who attended the service. I and the entire diocese are eternally grateful to the rector and people of St. Timothy's for allowing us to use their smaller chapel (to the side of the main church).  Words cannot possibly express our gratitude for their friendship and mutual work over the years.   The smaller chapel at St. Timothy's is not as small as it may sound, it's actually a quite decently sized church, and was the original church that their congregation started in many decades ago.  As I myself stood in the nave of the churc