Having read nothing but the title ( and scanned a tiny bit)

Dogs are beautiful.

It certainly seems that some viewpoints infringed on liberty and the pursuit of happiness of the victims of the Orlando massacre.

Well, just got back from my garden and I see we're back to the same arguments.

Maybe it's easier to blame someone or something that to take a long, hard look at what's really wrong.

Amck2 said it very well:

There
is so much anger in our Country and I can't wrap my head around why
with real problems to be solved Americans are pitting themselves against
one another.

One thing I haven't included in my blog (stories about my dad's grandfather) is what my dad says all the time.

There's probably a reason we have two ears and one mouth. Maybe, because we should listen twice as much as we should speak.

They just ended up in the wrong thread. The other thread allows anger, and who isn't angry that this has happened AGAIN? People need time to work through their emotions instead of being told how to respond to this tragedy.

Lavender, how's that garden coming along? It's been years in the making. When did you add the fairytale gardens & design to your name?

Love one another.

Let's get back to the golden rule-treat each other the way you would like to be treated.

lavender, I really don't understand the why or wherefore of this thread...did you really expect it to be argument free?

I mean, we used to say "Mom and apple pie", but these days someone would point out that apple pie is high carbs and contains gluten, and who knows what pesticides are in those apples, and all that saturated fat in the crust....

Maybe we better just leave it at Mom.

Heck, Bumble, we've even had disagreements about dogs!

I know what we can agree upon without an arguments, the time of day and date of the month...beyond that, I think anyone could find some argument....HA! UGH!

I read until I couldn't stand to read anymore...I think until I got to the point that someone said that the idea of criminals getting guns was stupid. How is that stupid, it is the truth. Criminals WILL get guns, they will find a way. It isn't law biding citizens we need to worry about.

arkansas-girl...I don't think so. The time of day depends on where you are in the world! I remember asking someone to argue with me that 2+2=4 and he replied, it depends on what base it is. If it's binary it would be 100.

:)

Sorry, but there are other calendar systems with different days, months, and years .... And someone may want to use a 24 hour clock rather than a 12 hour clock... The only way we can agree on anything is if we choose to.

Oh, we can't agree about dogs: "Dogs are beautiful." I really hate dogs.

Eta: maybe "Babies are beautiful."

Which will never happen. Mans inhumanity to man. T'was ever thus, 'twill ever be.

IMO, practigal nailed it with,"The only way we can agree on anything is if we choose to." Yup.

It takes commitment and a lot of difficult work and compromise to agree with one other person, let alone more than one. The ability to suspend judgement and listen not only to what is being said, and what is not being said are key to any successful human conversations. It is absolutely essential, that all involved display incredible amounts of empathy and compassion. Heaven forbid that egos are involved also.

Eta: maybe "Babies are beautiful."

LOL! Not even that. I've seen a few that remind me of little aliens. ;-)

And I refuse to admire any more babies until I have a grandbaby of my own! ;-)

We have an election coming up.

But say no more ;-)

Elizabettes Z8-ish PNW

IMO, practigal nailed it with,"The only way we can agree on anything is if we choose to." Yup.

It takes commitment and a lot of difficult work and compromise to agree with one other person, let alone more than one.

*****

Expounding further, If I may, I think it also takes NOT doing something, namely reacting when we disagree.

So many times people react with "you're wrong!", instead of expressing their disagreement without being disagreeable.

There is going to be lots of reactions to this terror attack, and feeling to work through, so I agree that making good choices in terms of promoting fruitful conversation is very important.

We have an election coming up.

But say no more ;-)

Yep. I was just reading how many Republicans trust Hillary more than Trump to understand and respond to a crisis like this. There will be many secret Republican votes for Hillary.

Kelly Ward, the executive director of the House Democrats' campaign committee, who also spoke to reporters this morning, said that while Republicans traditionally have a national security advantage that dynamic will be flipped in the race between Clinton and Trump. "There’s a lot of trust in this country with Hillary Clinton on national security issues ... contrasted with Donald Trump and not only his lack of experience but his rhetoric and his demonstration of how he would deal with a national security tragedy."

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-13/donald-trump-fails-the-orlando-shooting-rorschach-test

There will be many secret Republican votes for Hillary.

******

And vice versa.

And vice versa that! :P

Both nominees receive classified security briefings and they're reluctant to give Trump his briefing because he's such a loose cannon. Fortunately, the President gets to decide how much he's told.

According to the liberal/conservative media outlets, many in the opposing constituency will be clandestinely voting for the other team. Both sides have the same story, swearing with many first-hand accounts of being told, on the sly, that people are going to vote for Hillary or Trump, against their party line.

So, perhaps all these cross voters will cancel each other out.

Trust Hillary Clinton with national security? Nope, not me. . . her email/server issues has me concerned about her handling of secure information. I'm looking into third party options.

Well, Texas is Texas is Texas. Republicans I know who swore they would never vote for Trump, ever, are now saying they would vote for Bin Laden before Clinton. I am not making that up or exaggerating. I told him it was a good thing Obama got Bin Laden, so he could not vote for him. He laughed in my face and said "It's a good thing you don't get paid to think if you believe that _______ should get credit for that, sweetheart".

I'm trying to stay hopeful that the rest of the country isn't as asinine but I'm feeling panicky. And I do get paid to think, actually.

Is it just me, or should asinine have two s's?

I'm trying to stay hopeful that the rest of the country isn't as asinine but I'm feeling panicky

*****

Oh, I'm getting twitchier and twitchier by the day!

Is it just me, or should asinine have two s's?

Let's see.

TRUMP

Nope. No s's ;)

Lavender, how's that garden coming along? It's been years in the making.
When did you add the fairytale gardens & design to your name?

CindyMac- The garden is coming along...and it has been years in the making! LOL We got deterred when my husband got sick, but it's looking much different now. We made it larger and hopefully, we'll get the arches up this week. The fence we hope to finish before really hot weather.

https://fairytalegardensdesign.com/

I added the rest of the name and to my Houzz account, when I started my blog. It's a fun thing for now, but I hope to branch out to more business links as we go on. Also, I finally got the wedding story on my dad's blog! I think that's it, for now. I'm going to see if we can write these up into a cohesive story and maybe put together a small book : )

https://hammockontheporchblog.wordpress.com/

Thank you all for the responses, but I think this post has run its course. I hope we realize that there are people out there, who want to unify rather than divide. Have a wonderful week and I wish you all the very best.

mimipadv, I'm flattered and of course you can add! Right arm, right arm!

[Interestingly to moi, you hit on what has become a serious problem for me personally--reacting instead of acting. It is proving complicated and not even remotely simple to find that person I was and factor in appropriate growth, etc. in order to sorta find my place in the scheme of things.

When the issues are as large and important as this topic and effect our entire Country, well, I think you all are very brave to keep slugging it out with such obvious determination and a notable lack of rancor.

PS--mimipadv, I would bet money that you can also subtract, divide and multiply beautifully as well! ;-) ]

Sorry, LL. I wanted to respond to mimipadv. Your family blog stories are so nice. My favorite is the one about the special trees. Thank you for sharing such heartwarming stories.

Millions of dollars have been spent undermining Clinton's reputation for the past eight years. Many people hate her but cannot say why. It is actually sad/amusing to ask people why the hate and watch them be unable to articulate a reason...

So Omar Mateen was reportedly so apalled by a demonstration of affection between men that he had to kill 50 people...am I the only one stunned at this irony?

One problem regarding gun laws is that the NRA has donated $3,782,803 to members of Congress who are currently in office, and that does not include the Senate. To be in politics always costs you something.

Here is the article from where I found this information. It is startling to me.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/nra-donations/

And most of them have an (R) after their name! Some democrats, but it looks like a republican party money machine.

Rep Ryan from my district and Sen Johnson are both on the list. So is Mitch McConnell. I didn't go through the whole list.

Millions of dollars have been spent undermining Clinton's reputation for the past eight years. Many people hate her but cannot say why. It is actually sad/amusing to ask people why the hate and watch them be unable to articulate a reason...

True. And I believe the reason they despise her so is because she's an extremely bright, articulate, capable, assertive woman who speaks her mind. A lot of people won't openly admit it, but that frightens them, so they allow their fear to manifest in vitriol.

I wouldn't say I'm Hillary's biggest fan, but given the choice we're going to have, she'll absolutely get my vote.

Yes, Idaclaire I believe you are correct.

It's funny how people that I know that are Republicans will believe that EVERYTHING is a conspiracy but yet they won't believe that all the dirt they claim to be digging up on Hillary is anything but the God's honest truth. They just believe what they WANT to hear.

Very funny to me too how many Democrats I know that are completely close minded and just believe what they WANT to hear. It sure goes both ways.

OR maybe it's just funny how PEOPLE in general only believe what it is that they want to believe and everything else is just BS and "don't you know what something is BS?" I have a friend that boasts how he would go through the Enquirer with his young daughter to teach her how to spot BS stories but yet he believe every crazy story that comes up. OH and "Obama RUNS Snopes...don't you know that"?! LOL!

I can tell you why I mistrust Hillary...because she and Bill present a good front but will play fast and loose underneath in their push for power. No doubt they have been far more scrutinized I think than any other presidential couple, and their enemies have been well financed for decades, but knowing that, they should toe the line even more carefully than most. But they don't. It's not the emails. It's how they handle the emails...it was just about my daughter's wedding...well, here are some of my emails but not all of them...well here are some more of them, but not all of them. Not open and straightforward.

I still remember from when Bill was in office, how they were debating whether or not to have another child based on how it read in the polls. The only authenticity seems to be their desire for power. However, I don't see this so far afield from the behavior of other politicians.

That being said, I have no problem voting for Hillary. She & Bill are total policy wonks and you need to be in there studying the minutiae of legislation and the potential consequences as you will be making decisions that effect the lives of millions. She is very bright and thoughtful and extremely hard working and her legal background will serve her well. When she was Sec'y of State, she really busted her hump doing the job and threw herself at it completely so she won't be vacationing her term away as W did. While it comes to doing it all for winning election and power, I think once she has the power, she will be very considered and thoughtful in her exercise of it. I believe she really wants to work to make the nation a better place.

Just the opposite of the other guy who has no experience, shoots from the hip in everything he does, is completely driven by ego and has no interest or desire in studying the minutiae of anything, and could care less about the nation and cares most about himself and his own self aggrandizement.

Well said Annie D.

I was at a dinner this weekend, and the man sitting next to me began talking politics. He stated he didn't like Hillary because of all the lesbian parties she had in the White House while Bill was president.

I am not kidding. Me: "Wha?...uhh... (long awkward pause)... well it should be an interesting election. How's your prime rib?"

Shaking my head. What else can we do??

I am not kidding. Me: "Wha?...uhh... (long awkward pause)... well it should be an interesting election. How's your prime rib?

******

Good segue!

Awkward!!

Goodness me, where the heck did that guy hear about some lesbian parties in the White House? I'd say "I've heard it all" but that wouldn't be true, I've heard crazier! Why the heck would he care if she was a lesbian or straight?

They just believe what they WANT to hear.

******

Let's face it- denial isn't just a river in Egypt, and it isn't partisan. It's an equal-opportunity condition.

I'd like to see every child get healthy food and not live in abuse. We need healthy kids because they are the future of our country.

Kitty- Thank you! That's the type of answer I was hoping for, when I posted this thread : )

I agree with that, Kittymoonbeam.

If we spent more time smiling at one another, and less time staring at a device, our one little spot would be ONE better place in the world.

I believe that we should bloom where we are planted. Blooms should make people smile.

Any woman who speaks out is labeled a lesbian as is any unmarried woman over 30. Effeminate men are labeled homosexual. The problem with these labels is that the victim cannot disprove them, no matter that they marry, have kids, etc.

Kittymoonbeam focuses on the physical environment. I also think we need to have a healthy discussion about the parent-child social political environment.

Any woman who speaks out is labeled a lesbian as is any unmarried woman over 30. Effeminate men are labeled homosexual. The problem with these labels is that the victim cannot disprove them, no matter that they marry, have kids, etc.

I believe with every ounce of my being that we have got to see those "labels" exactly the same as saying that someone has brown hair or green eyes. These negative associations need to stop. Now.

If I'm 50 and unmarried and someone calls me a lesbian? The appropriate response is not to try to disprove, but to just move along. It's no different than if someone looks at my blonde hair and says I'm a redhead. It's a misstatement of fact, but it's not offensive.