Posts

Why I am Voting for Kamala Harris

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With another election season winding down and the political climate as chaotic as ever, I would like to take a moment and share my two bits concerning the presidential race and who I am voting for and why. To be forthright, I want to declare my endorsement and support for Vice President Kamala Harris for the executive office. I admit that I had my reservations when she first took up the candidacy from President Biden. I voted for Joe Biden in 2020 because I saw that he had the experience and ability to work with the other side of the aisle to keep the gears in Washington moving, something that his predecessor failed to do on every level. Despite a trying term in office, I firmly believe that Biden was who we needed through it all and helped our country navigate the worst of the inevitable post pandemic recovery. Kamala Harris on the other hand was rarely in the spotlight, leans further left than Biden, and has not shown the same ability for negotiation with Republicans that the Preside...
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My Take on Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender

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                    After finishing the Netflix adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender last night, I wanted to take a moment and share some of my thoughts and feelings regarding this live action revamp of the 2005 Nickelodeon animated series. Many who know me know I am a huge A:TLA fan. The combination of martial arts, elemental magic, and Eastern philosophy as well as amazing storytelling and compelling characters created an immersive world that drew me in and never let go.            In 2010, M. Night Shyamalan came out with a cinematic adaptation of A:TLA which failed miserably on every level. The story was rushed, the bending was atrocious, the dialogue was choppy and awkward, and most of all, there was no immersion into the world like there was in the original show. Fast forward fifteen years and we have yet another adaptation, but this time a series comprising eight episodes about...
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The Afterlife Hypothesis

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                       Where do we go after we die? To many, this question is both simple and obvious. The belief of an immortal soul is a core teaching in all of the most popular religions in the world today. Among the Abrahamic religions, i.e. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, God judges the faith and or works of all who die and appoints them to either heaven or hell. While Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs all believe in the reincarnation of the soul, or energy, into another being. However, the growing number of atheists, agnostics and people unaffiliated with religion seem to take on a more nihilistic approach where existence begins at birth and ends in death, with no continuation of the consciousness in any known form. Despite identifying as an agnostic atheist myself, I do not subscribe to a state of definitive oblivion. Yet I also fully admit that there is no evidence outside of subjective, anecdotal experiences t...
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Blood of the Holy Land: My Take on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

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                    The recent attack and subsequent war between Hamas and Israel has taken over much of my thoughts as of late. The shocking devastation and sudden slaughter of more than a thousand and four hundred lives has been compared to the events of 9/11 by many major news outlets. Over the past month and a half, there have been over twelve thousand Palestinians slaughtered by the vengeful airstrikes and takeover by Israel, and thousands more are sure to pay the ultimate price before Hamas is defeated. As the work of death continues in Gaza, people outside the conflict seem to fall into one of two camps, those who support Israel and those who support Palestine. In the United States, there is an overwhelming support for Israel, while the Arab Palestinians are regarded with far less sympathy. Many have taken the tragedy of the October 7th attack and have utilized it to paint a broad stroke over what is truly a complex and ...
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Mormon Unorthodoxy

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The Ogden, Utah Temple             When I first had the idea of creating a blog my goal was to empty the clutter out of my head and put it down in written form. To that end, I would say that it has been a success. No, I haven’t made any money, garnered legions of followers, or even had many replies to my posts, but I have found a sense of catharsis in venting my thoughts and ideas to the world that I wouldn’t have attained otherwise. Most, if not all, of my posts would be deemed controversial to the majority of my friends and family, which tends to happen to someone who is a bit of an odd sheep among a conventional flock. Nonetheless, I find my little corner of cyberspace to be a breath of fresh air, and it is something I thoroughly enjoy, which is reason enough to continue this endeavor in chronicling the strange world of my mind. This next venture delves into an extremely sensitive, yet far over due, topic that I have been pondering over for many yea...
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