View from Here and Some Observations

Winter Storm Fern has dumped a lot of snow on us.  It's a foot and growing as I write this on Monday late morning.

Here's the view along our road as we came down into the Flat on Sunday at 1:00 pm after being in church in Hanover.  Snow had started just after noontime.

Later on Sunday I took this video.

Monday views, from my desk,

out the kitchen window,

from the slider,

the pile below is from the snow plowing. He may have done this twice already.

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Observations on what's happening.

1. At church our pastor shared what she'd learned from a fellow pastor in Maine. She said that to help children get to school they are given rides in the backs of cars hidden under blankets.  People purchasing groceries are warned not to deliver them to houses because ICE is tailing people with large shopping orders.  I'm not sure how the groceries are being delivered to those in need.

We received these large signs to hold up in church for a photo which our pastor sent to Maine pastors.

I've taped the sign to my front storm door for those passing by to see.

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2. Excerpts from Episcopal Bishop Rob's Reflection.  See entire HERE 

 We are now engaged in a horrible battle that is eternal, that has gone on for millennia. As soon as the Christian church became linked to the empire by Constantine in the year 325 or so, the church immediately became corrupt. And the message of Jesus's love, compassion, and commitment to the poor, the outcast, was immediately compromised. And we have lost that voice, and we are now, I believe, entering a time, a new era of martyrdom.

 I have told the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness. And I've asked them to get their affairs in order—to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.

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3. He was holding a phone.

As the New York Times reported:

Videos analyzed by The New York Times contradict the accounts of Homeland Security officials, who said that the man approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them. Footage of the encounter shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him.

Other video angles seem to show Pretti’s gun was taken before he was repeatedly shot dead. Eyewitnesses’ declarations confirmed the gruesome details and utter lack of provocation.

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A sheriff in Maine had harsh words about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the city of Portland.

Cellphone video shows ICE agents detain a corrections officer recruit in the middle of the street.

Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce confirmed it was one of his corrections recruits who was detained by ICE in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood on Wednesday evening.

“They all took off leaving his car with the windows down, the lights on, unsecured and unoccupied,” Joyce said. “They left it right on the side of the street. Folks, that’s bush league policing.”

The sheriff said the individual passed the rigorous application process to qualify as a Cumberland County corrections officer and was cleared to work in the U.S. until April 2029.

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Yesterday granddaughter #2 who is 9, asked about the We Stand With sign.  I told her what was happening in Maine and Minnesota with ICE arresting people with dark skins.  She wanted to know what's wrong with having a dark skin?  We agreed there was nothing wrong.  She asked can't the police stop ICE and I told her no because they are following the President's direction. She responded that it's time to do something about the President. (I won't be more specific than that.)

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One more.  A must visit to this blog "FInd Your Brave."