Use Your Words

How scared should we be regarding 2019-nCoV? While data wise it seems worse then the annual flu, is it so deadly that we need to be in panic mode?  Let's look at some facts about it and then decide

Anytime you try to have a conversation about race in America, one of two things instantly happen. Either people shut down afraid to say the wrong thing and being labeled a racist, or they go off on tangents not related to the topic at hand attempting to skirt around the uncomfortable topic at hand. On this week's episode of Use Your Words, we are attempting to talk about affirmative action in America. This can be an uncomfortable topic at times, but when you look at it objectively we can see that we are trading one form of racism for another in an attempt to be politically correct and rectify the racism of the past. read the rest at: https://www.useyourwords.cc/melanin-over-merit/

For the past several years, the concept of "do what feels right" and "live your truth" have become mainstream ideas.  These concepts at their very core are part of the post modernism movement which started in earnest in the 1980s and became all the more popular in the late 1990's/early 2000's.  What does this look like in the year 2020 now?  Why is it important for truth to be the truth and not a truth?

Rolanda Hollis proposed a bill in Alabama to force all men over 50 or with 3 or more children to "neutralize the abortion ban bill". What does this mean? How should we process this? What does it really mean, should it be something to be concerned about, and are these two laws similar? Check out the transcript of this video at our new website: https://www.useyourwords.cc At our new site, all news articles used for this opinion are provided as well. Please check it out and like, share, subscribe!

This week Aaron had the question of if you can be too transparent with other people - and what would the world look like if people were transparent all the time about what is going on.  We start off looking about how transparency can be used for selfish reasons (deflection, manipulation, etc) but can be very beneficial as well.   During the conversation we learn a few things about Josh - and at the end find out that he hasn't been truthful with us for most of the episode....

Aiight- I'm tired of it.  I'm tired of every time I go somewhere online or in person hearing about how I am oppressed - because I have a little more melanin in my skin then others.  I'm tired of turning my head and told how I am not equal to others because we had (and this is fact) a racism problem in the past in America.  Why should there be conferences where people with less melanin then me get together to flog themselves publicly to talk about how they need to be the ones to help me?  Why can I not be confident that all the conference invites, job promotions, achievements that I have - are because of my skill/ability and not because I am checking off a box on the company's/conference's/job's diversity quota.   Let my work stand on or die on it's own - NOT on the amount of melanin I do or do not have in my skin. This week I go over an article as an example of this problematic behavior.  That being said - the person who wrote it had good intentions.

Nothing says love like talking about Porn.  Actually - pretty much anything other then porn says love more - especially during valentine's week. This week Paul brought up the topic of Porn - specifically the stats on the usage of Porn in both Christian and non-Christian households.  After this Paul asks the question that Matt Walsh brought up last year - should we just go ahead and ban Porn?

Regardless if you like Trump or not - you have to admit he has had a good week.  Most of that is thanks to Nancy Pelosi as she shifted the talking points from items found within Trumps state of the union address to her actions after the speech had ended.  As Trump said in his campaign process - he just seems to keep on winning and we may actually be getting sick of his winning. Links: https://twitter.com/Drew_Hammill/status/1225839112218988546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdemocrats-demand-twitter-yank-edited-video-of-pelosi-ripping-state-of-the-union-speech-posted-by-trump https://www.foxnews.com/media/state-of-the-union-guest-jody-jones-reflects-on-his-brothers-honor-nancy-pelosi-message https://nypost.com/2020/02/05/nancy-pelosi-pre-ripped-pages-of-trumps-sotu-speech-video-shows/ https://www.kcra.com/article/some-iowa-caucus-results-to-be-released-this-evening/30759795# https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/speaker-pelosi-calls

Are we abusing our children for political gain?  That is the question this week that Paul bought to the table.  How young is too young to be politically active.  Would Josh or Aaron allow their kids to be on TV advocating for their issue of choice?

On January 31, 2020 history was made as Brexit finalized after many years.  That being said - in all honesty - Brexit is now just starting with the negotiations between the UK and the EU heating up.  What do they need to negotiate over?  What possibly coud be an issue between the two entities?  Lets go over a quick look into the future of Brexit. 50 ways to say goodbye:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSBFehvLJDc Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/January_2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Fisheries_Policy https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-02/brexit-battle-is-back-with-u-k-and-eu-starting-fight-over-trade https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/uk/brexit-day-poster-residents-gbr-intl-scli/index.html https://www.foxnews.com/world/brexit-parties-london-scotland-vigils-speak-english-flyer-norfolk-nigel-farage-trump-state-union https://www.vox.com/2020/1/31/21083573/brexit-news-boris-johnson-timeline-eu-uk https://ww

Josh wanted to talk about Micromanagement versus Macromanagement. The reason? Unknown. To help facilitate this Paul gave Josh control of the episode. Let's see how Josh did in directing everything - and support him as he steps into new territory on directing conversation and direction on an episode. What type of style of management do you prefer? Micro or macro? What is the difference? Is there a difference? Is there an issue of trust between the two?

This past weekend - people across the globe took part in a protest against 5g cell phone technology.  People afraid of new technology keep parroting the phrases that this is "untested" and "new" so we should be afraid of it.  They also make the claim that there is no standard for 5g yet (which is false - there is a standards body which sets in place what 5g means).  But are these arguments valid?  Are the things that are posted about valid arguments against 5g?  Insect apocalypse, increased cancer due to increased penetration,  killing of birds, heart tumors in rats, and more exposure to radiation then ever before.  Those are some of the things that are posted - but what is true, what is conjecture, and what is just good ol fake news? https://mdsafetech.org/5g-telecommunications-science/ https://www.rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/science/5g-phone-safety-health-russia.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article https://sp.ehs.cornell.edu/lab-research-sa

This week Paul brings up a question about Spiritual Boredom - and if it necessarily a bad thing or not.  Josh and Paul get into a conversation on Spiritual Boredom vs depression - and the differences on it.  Josh can't get the idea that we are ALL always bored.  What are your thoughts?  What is the difference between spiritual boredom and depression?  What do you do when you are in a boredom section?  What can you do to help others?  What does it look like?  How is it similar to new years resolutions and going to the gym?

2020 is starting out on a weird note - and watching Virginia shows that this is the case  On 1/20/2020 there will be a protest against the new gun control laws that the legislature is proposing in Virginia.  What makes this protest interesting is that the gun rights supporters will be joined by Antifa - not as counterprotesters but as protestors WITH them against the new gun control legislation.  If that wasn't weird enough - West Virginia is offering cities and counties in Virginia to join West Virginia to keep their second amendment rights.  And of course, you can't have a protest without celebrities coming in and doing what celebrities do.  In this case - David Hogg.   Links: https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1219006389928054790 https://www.vox.com/2020/1/17/21067627/virginia-lobby-day-gun-laws-extremism https://dcist.com/story/20/01/16/death-threats-will-force-virginia-lawmaker-to-a-safe-house-during-pro-gun-rally/ https://wset.com/news/local/falwell-said-he-would-support-civil-disobedience

Nothing says happy new year like a potential escalation in the middle east yet again.  After multiple events that ended with a drone strike of an Iran general, people have been getting scared about what is going to happen next.  Is the draft really going on?  Why did the selective services site go down?  Is WW3 really right around the corner?  Did Trump violate the constitution when he ordered the strike?  And of course - what have celebrities said regarding this?

Vaccinations have been the topic of controversy the past few years with people believing fake studies to show that vaccines have hurt their children.  While it is true that some vaccines are unable to be used by some people (people who have an immune system issue for example, or too young as another) for the most part they have been deemed safe with few reactions to them.  (There will always be someone who will react to something - nothing is 100% hypoallergenic unless you're talking about air or water for the most part - and even then people have developed issues with them!)   Recently the state of Washington put into law that anyone without documented proof of immunization by the start of the 2020 winter school semester cannot attend classes to prevent the spread of measles.  Measles is more than just an annoyance - and can prove to be fatal, and with the lack of immunizations, the number of cases in the United States has increased dramatically in the past two years.   Let's see what is happening out in

Who keeps new year's resolutions?  Well, we don't - but we do go over the list of what resolutions are popular (outside of the stereotypical lose weight, get fit).  We also list our favorite and least favorite episodes/segments from the year and Paul attempts to pull clips from them. Included in the clip list is a segment of a podcast that had to be scrapped in previous uploads due to better editing learned over the year. (It's still not the best but due to it being this short - it was acceptable)  We end the episode with our top two predictions for the year and at the end of 2020, we will see who is most correct on what happened this year.  So let's start 2020 in a relaxed fashion before things get too serious. Music provided under creative commons by: https://www.scottbuckley.com.au/library/a-new-year/

2020 is going to be an interesting year - we got elections going on in November, the Senate impeachment trial early in the year (if Pelosi ever hands over the articles of impeachment to the senate - but that is not for here right now), and Virginia becoming an interesting place to watch as 2020 starts up. If you have not been following along with what has been going out there - the quick and dirty of it is that Ralph Northam (the governor of Virginia) has been pushing for new gun control legislation - and with the flipping of the statehouse and senate from republican to democrat, he reintroduced this legislation - knowing that more than likely everything he wanted would get passed. Well, it passed and has created a lot of repercussions in the state. As of December 19th, there are 94 cities/counties that have passed local resolutions declaring themselves 2nd amendment sanctuaries. Those on the extreme side will say "these locations are not going to uphold the law" - but in honestly they are just being hyperbol

Merry Christmas to you and yours.     And if you don't celebrate Christmas then Bah Humbug to you as well!  (We don't want to leave anyone out from celebrating today!) On this episode, we are joined by Lieutenant Boldus once again as we reflect on various Christmas traditions for the family, talk about the gift that Aaron is giving himself this year, go through a list of British (in origin) Christmas/winter words, and just have a more relaxed time to celebrate Christmas.

In this episode, the guys talk about the escapades playing Pathfinder and what it means to play this game and be Christian at the same time.  We are joined by our game master for this conversation as well. The very far right side of the conservative Christian movement has decided games such as Dungeons and Dragons and other Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPG) for a while.  The argument they make is that these games are an introduction to occult, satanism, contain real spells, etc.  How true are these claims?  Can you guess how many people told a Wiccan apologist that RPGs were the reason they got interested in checking out Wiccan?  It might surprise you.