It’s hard for me to believe, but today marks the 3-year anniversary of my very first blog post. I thought you might find it interesting to hear why and how it all started.
For many years now, I have had my own domain, thewestberrys.com. I got it before dedicated e-mail providers like Gmail became dominant, and I got tired of having to change my e-mail address every time I changed ISPs. I’ve had @bellsouth.net, @comcast.net, @att.net, and @yahoo.com addresses, and eventually even a couple of Gmail addresses. So I got my own and settled on a couple of family mailboxes, primarily my personal one, doug@thewestberrys.com.
A domain has to be hosted, and that hosting comes with a website by the name of your registered domain. I went for several years not knowing exactly what I would do with thewestberrys.com, until…
…the early part of 2023. To say that the few years leading up to then were tumultuous would be a huge understatement! 2020 saw us with Covid in full force and a (now confirmed as true) stolen presidential election. That was followed by a (now documented) attempted overthrow of our government on January 6th, 2021, perpetrated by the Democrats who were trying to cover up the fact that they were the ones who rigged, stole, the election. We then suffered through 4 years of an Administration that was led by a cognitively impaired Joe Biden… a President that should never have been allowed to be anywhere near the White House. Add in ‘lawfare’ against, at the time, former President Trump, and the first months of 2023 were dark times for our country. And that was just the beginning! Man, did the campaign of 2024 get interesting and contentious, or what?
So what does all that have to do with me setting up my website and beginning to blog?
Almost all the thoughts and feelings of average people were being shared on social media platforms, primarily Facebook, and I was no exception. As you also know, Facebook is not the best vehicle to have discussions and/or debate issues and policies. My friends gradually started taking issue with my posts, and many just began to ignore all my posts, including the non-political ones. It was then I decided to begin to use the platform of my website to blog; a place away from social media where I could express myself in more lengthy form, and where folks who didn’t want to hear and read my thoughts wouldn’t have to actively avoid them; a place where those of you who did want to follow along could make that choice and do so by clicking over to this website.
I began setting up my website the first few months of 2023… creating a homepage, a site tagline, a couple of photo galleries, and an About Me page. And then…
It was May 19th, 2023 that the Durham Report came out about Joe Biden. It was so obviously damning to many of us, and I wanted to comment. That first post was titled simply, The Durham Report. And immediately on the heels of that post (the same day, actually) I put up my second post, My Christian Responsibilities: Disciplining or Judging. As you can see, not all my blog posts have been political in nature. Many have to do with church, my faith, photography, football, racism, woodworking, family, etc. Basically, things that interest me and that I like sharing with you, my friends.
I switched hosting companies in January of this year, and the 60 blog posts from the original site did not transfer; the only ones showing up here in the current blog index are the 15 that I have written this year. (For those of you counting at home, that makes this post #76.)
(While those blog posts didn’t transfer, I did keep a list of both the post titles and the content. I cannot repost all 60 of them due to obvious space limitations. However, below is an index of those older posts. If you see a title/topic that interests you, please don’t hesitate to comment and let me know, and I’ll be more than happy to e-mail you that/those post(s).)
I suppose another, not-so-obscure reason for this blogging adventure is that I’m also doing it for me. It has been cathartic in a way to ‘get some things off my chest’ and has allowed me to vent. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely write to persuade! I would love it if some of you have changed your minds because of my posts. It probably hasn’t happened, and probably never will, because my Democrat friends are not reading my words here on the website, either. Alas, I’m probably ‘preaching to the choir,’ but I’m going to keep on commenting and posting anyway; I’m trying to live up to the phrase that’s on the Homepage of this site:
“In all things, always seeking the Truth, believing the Truth, and promoting the Truth”
I have many people that I could thank, primarily, those of you who are here reading this, and who have followed along on this journey from the beginning. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t publicly thank Wanda Wolfe Grawet Glover for her encouragement and guidance. See, Wanda is a retired High School English and Literature teacher off of whom I bounced ideas, and who critiqued my writing, making sure it met my, our, high standards. Thank you, Wanda! (Have I ever told you that I’m a ‘grammar nerd’?) If you’ve ever been curious about why I capitalized Truth in my website motto above, let me know. That’s another story for another post! (Wanda had something to say about that, too.)
So, friends, another heartfelt thank you for being here. You are genuinely appreciated!
Previously… On My Original Website:
— Democrats, It’s Time YOU Change and Make This Stop!
— The Number 1 Reason Why Charlie Kirk Was Assassinated
— God, Help Us
— Retribution? Nope. Accountability? Yes. Truth? ALWAYS!
— Democrats, You Can STOP THIS
— I’m Ready Now… for a little Political Positivity
— Biden-Hur Interview Audio Release: Confirming the Greatest Scandal in American Political History
— Speaking the Truth Sometimes Means You’ll Have To Say, “I Told You So.”
— My Thoughts on The Stabbing of Austin Metcalf and Our Moral Depravity
— Gators : Noles — Democrats : Republicans
— We Can Learn From Disney’s Movie, Aladdin
— Democrats: YOU’VE BEEN EXPOSED
— The Contrast Couldn’t Be More Stark… Or Our Division Greater
— Democrats Are DANGEROUSLY Close To…
— Today, My Cup Overflows. Can Unity Be Achieved?
— Motive Matters… Most Of The Time
— Democrats, Do You Have No Shame?
— Our Society Is In A Dark, Dark Place
— Truth vs. The Politics of Personal Destruction
— Democrats, We Republicans Weren’t The Only Ones Lied To
— An Election Post-Mortem: What Happened and Where Do We Go From Here
— Bullying, Gaslighting, and a Divided Electorate
— November 5, 2024: A Referendum on Morality, Truth, and Our Representative Republic
— Absurdity Like I’ve NEVER Seen
— From You Democrats: Crickets
— In God I Trust. You?
— Hate Will Destroy
— Tomorrow’s Debate: I Don’t Really Care
— Christians, Abortion, and an Election
— Conspiracy Theory… or Fact?
— Economics Hocus Pocus
— Lies < Gaslighting < Propaganda < Psyop
— It’s About The Party. It’s Not About The Party. Which Is It?!
— Who Exactly Is The Harris/Walz Ticket?
— Truth… And The Horrendous Disaster That Is Ignoring It
— Is Our Democracy At Stake?
— You Democrats Obviously Have No Idea What You Look Like
— Is There ANYBODY Or ANYTHING That Will Change Your Mind?!
— We Are Witnessing the Merger of Faith and Politics
— Actualization… Acknowledgement… Acceptance: The Time Has Come
— What Now? What Are Our Options?
— It’s About Spirituality and Morality
— Democrats SHOULD be defeated… and SOUNDLY
— It’s An Anniversary!
— Nine Days… Three Funerals
— Dear Democrat Friends and Family
— Why So Much Hate?
— What Are YOU Experiencing?
— State of the Union Post Mortem
— Dear Democrats
— Let’s Review, Shall We?
— IT’S ABOUT POLICY, DANG IT!
— The Truth: A Dose of Reality for America
— What Do I Think About FSU Being Left Out of the Football Playoffs?
— Smoking Guns
— Israel and Hamas. Why Should I Be Interested?
— One More Time… The Democrats Think You Are Stupid
— Uprising? Insurrection? Civil War?
— Are We Losing Our College Bands?
— Now Where Do We Go?
— Pride in America: An Immigrant’s Perspective
— What Is It Going to Take?
— Just Too Much Truth
— No Longer Can We Ignore the Obvious
— Persuasion
— It’s a Spiritual Thing
— You Are Stupid!
— ANYBODY but…
— The Third Rail
— I Am Sickened… and I Am Angry!
— Facts, Truth, & Hindsight
— Racism Is Learned
— Division in the United Methodist Church
— My Christian Responsibilities: Disciplining or Judging
— The Durham Report
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