Hyatt shows some guts

While so much of Corporate America buckles and paves the way toward the end of freedom, every now and then one of the board rooms decides to show a couple.  In this case, the left's digital lynch mob tried to come for Hyatt for daring to host divergent points of view in the form of the conservative CPAC.  Hyatt said no way, we won't bow before the leftist Nazis of America.  They will allow people who aren't leftists to have a place in modern discourse.  When Hyatt says inclusive, it means inclusive, not what leftists mean when they say inclusive (which means grovel and obey the Leftist State or else).  For that, I salute them. 

Propaganda Lesson #3: How to create reality without saying it

So we watched the news this morning.  During one segment they aired a pre-produced report on the rise of violence against Asian Americans.  OK.  I'm not saying it isn't happening, but just off the top, here are a few things that leaped to mind as I watched the report:

1. No stats were given.  It was about a five or six minute long segment.  It was not a reporter on the street, but it contained interviews and was edited ahead of time.  Yet not once did they give me any stats or numbers to go by.  Are Asians experiencing this at higher rates than others?  What are the percentages?  What are the raw numbers?  Nothing.

2.  With one exception, everyone they interviewed was Indonesian or Indian.  Technically those are included in the broader geographic definition of Asia, that much is true.  But when most Americans on the street think "Asian", they think Chinese, Korean, Japanese.  They typically reserve Indian or Indonesian as a similar, but separate culture.  

3. #2 is important because without saying it, the story kept linking the violence to Covid.  Why?  It never said, but I'm not stupid.  I know what it was getting at.  Because we say Covid comes from China (and even more unsaid, because Trump kept pointing that out) we now have this racist backlash.  And yet, if what it was desperately not wanting to say is accurate about why there is this sudden anti-Asian wave (which suggests the numbers might not actually be there to say it, hence no numbers given), you'd think the victims would be more Chinese than Indonesian, wouldn't you?

4. Two clips were shown of Asians being assaulted.  One could have been an altercation that went bad.  One did look like a completely unprovoked, random attack.  One of the attackers was clearly black.  What does it all mean?  Again, don't know.  No stats, facts or numbers were provided.

These jumped out at me.  At the end of the report, I knew nothing other than there is this thing happening - trust us.  No reasoning was given, though it was said it *might* have to do with Covid.  That's all that was said.  And yet, when it was over, I knew there were some things I was supposed to conclude:

A. Of course it's happening.  We're a systemically racist nation after all.

B. Despite one of two clips being shown involving a black attacker, I had a feeling this was supposed to be part of the larger 'white racist privilege systemic racism' narrative of the Left.

C. Though never explicitly stated, I also felt I was supposed to blame Trump, or at least blame those suggesting China has anything to do with Covid. 

D. I was supposed to ignore the fact that an entire pre-produced news segment only offered interviews without any corroborating evidence, facts, numbers or data to support its claims. 

And that's how you do it.  I have no doubt many watching this concluded at least three of these.  The fact that the fourth thing that came to my mind was the only actual facts to come away with, I'd wager many will run with at least one or two of the first three.  Which was, I'll bet, the story's intention. 

Why we homeschool

In one easy lesson, courtesy of Donald McClarey at The American Catholic.

Wow.  It's as if the Left is literally saying 'how egregiously awful, evil and stupid can we be?'.  Of course if all good, white liberals screaming 'white privilege' quit their jobs and gave them to minorities, we'd be 2/3 toward fixing the problem.  Yet I get the impression that's not what they want.  

Instead, it's a weird 'White Liberals' Burden redux'.  That is, good white liberals are here to save the day by lowering the standards of minorities everywhere while attacking those other whites who simply aren't as righteous and holy as good, white liberals.  It's like everything evil over the last hundred years joined together and repackaged as one.  I wonder if minorities really buy it, or if they're just biding their time. 

UPDATE: 

From another sector of the Left's ethnic cleansing crusade:

Again, it was quite brilliant. Racism, they say, is about power. Probably true.  Yet after WWII, after Civil Rights, after pounding racism as the all defining sin that even Jesus can't forgive, how do you use racism to obtain power?  Easy.  You bring back racism and race hate against ... wait for it ... your own race!   

In the immortal words of that great philosopher Wile E. Coyote: Genius.  Pure genius.  And the genius if shown in how fast so many have embraced the racism, even within the hallowed halls of Christianity.  But then, after the last 2000 years, should we be surprised?   

Because of course Hasbro did

Boys and girls?  Sex and babies?  You go too far!  

It seems our goal is to create the stupidest generation in history.  So far, if that's the case, I'd say my money is on success.  Thanks Corporate America.  Couldn't have done it without you. 

Pretend they were black babies

 

Yep.  Apparently this was a thing last summer.  I missed it because the press was busy promoting peaceful protests so no doubt didn't have time to look at this kerfuffle.  The excuse from the clip's creator is that it aired on Adult Swim, the adult oriented time slot on Cartoon Network.  It wasn't shown during kiddie hour. 

I say imagine if the babies were black.  Or imagine if they were in some way portrayed as a designated minority group.  

Most edgy leftists have stones the size of neutrons when it comes to who they are willing to offend.  Let them go after a couple old ladies in a country church, and they act like they're as brave as Superman.  Suggest they go after Muslims, or BLM, or the LGBTQ movement, or China, and expect to see them do their Dr. Smith from Lost in Space impersonation. 

As for the content, I'm sure it speaks for itself.  A reminder that all the evils of a pagan world didn't suddenly vanish because we thought we had moved on from a pagan world.  In fact, you might say the modern Left is very conservative, just itching to go back to a pre-Christian paganism and all its glories. 

Know the difference between proclaiming the Faith and exploiting it

Case in point: M. Shea's long awaited piece on the death of Rush Limbaugh.  It was what I imagined, a chance to drag Rush through the mud, accept all accusations against Limbaugh at face value, use them to tar and feather the greater conservative movement, and then dangle the possibility that he might be saved despite his manifold evils as defined by the political Left.  A partisan political hit piece disguised as a reflection with only the thinnest veneer of religion spread about for good measure. 

Now I personally was not a huge Limbaugh fan.  Limbaugh was a phenomenal communicator, and often fun to listen to.  He also did some good things, and made some valid arguments in defense of conservatism.  Chief among my favorite contributions was him being one of the first on the national stage to pull the veil away from the media's already clear and obvious bias as early as the late 1980s.  His presence also put the lie to the Left's proud sermonizing about the importance of respecting other opinions and always championing free expression of ideas, no matter how offensive. 

Rush continued to make some good points here and there over the years.  But, IMHO, he also represented that conservative swing toward putting defense of Corporate Interests at the head of the class and the primary goal over and against any and all other goals and priorities. A tendency that is now swinging around and kicking conservatives in the tail end. 

Nonetheless, not being a fool and a partisan hack, I also knew when criticisms of Rush were valid, and when they were hit pieces by a biased propaganda ministry meant to tear him, like any other dissenters, down to size. Naturally Mark makes no such distinctions. Every attack and every criticism and accusation of Rush as racist, bigot, evil non-liberal man is taken as gospel truth. 

But here's the dangerous part.  In all of this, Mark frames it as 'there but by the grace of God go I.'  He basically says he, too, is the same type of sinner in need of repentance.  I often see that in writings by the faithful, especially of amateur status.  You drag someone through the mud, attack them with both barrels, and then make some vague 'but I, too, am a sinner in need of God's grace' to cover the tracks.  On the surface it seems fair enough, but it isn't.  It is just tossing a cloak of righteousness on a hit piece through appealing to a doctrinal technicality.

If Mark wanted to make his point, he could have written of Limbaugh, and if need be acknowledged what we all know, that Limbaugh was far from perfect and no doubt a sinner like us all.  Then Mark could have publically unpacked his owns sins - by name - and told us of his dire need for God's grace and forgiveness.  Or he could have kept his own sins vague and unnamed, while doing the same for Limbaugh.  Or, if he was unable to deal with Rush's death without doing what he did, he simply could have applied the Thumper rule.  

I know some will say Mark was very specific in the piece about repenting of his days as a conservative.  That's not what I mean.  I don't mean you can say 'Like Limbaugh, there was a time when I, too, was a vile sinner for not realizing the evils of conservatism and conservatives in America, but I'm much better now.'  That's nothing but rationalizing partisanship by acting as if it was only wrong because it was in line with the wrong partisanship. 

No, this is the type of attempted cleverness that does more harm to the Faith's witness than it does good. It also does no good for the individual in question, in this case Mark.  Mark has essentially mocked God by acting as if God isn't aware of what Mark has done and why he has done it. 

If someone dies and you feel the need to go on about his sins, but CYA by ending it with your own need for God's grace, consider the better way to do it.  Either name your own sins, or keep the sins of both general and unnamed.  Or perhaps don't bother dragging the individual's sins over his grave in the first place.  Don't use the Faith, or the teachings of the Church, to trash a dead person and then pull a clever didactical sleight of hand as if it covers up what you have clearly done.  The Gospel of Christ is many things, but a crucifix shaped bludgeon to use against those who run afoul of our political opinions is not one of them.  

Those who want to learn about the Faith and its teachings be warned.  Check your sources for the least acceptable standards.    

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  Galatians 6.7

UPDATE: I was made aware that Rebecca Bratten Weiss has penned a hit piece that makes Mark's piece look charitable by comparison.  No attempts to cover her loathing of Limbaugh and those even marginally right of center with any religious posturing.  It's a political attack post plain and simple.  Bonus fun goes to her last paragraph in which she tries to frame anyone who dares disagree with her pissing on those run afoul of her opinions as part of the problem.  An old trick and one that has never worked with me. 

It's worth noting that most Catholics (and in fact Christians) I've read have either ignored the news of Limbaugh's death, or have posted variations on 'he was good here, problems there, pax to his soul.'  I've seen none elevating Limbaugh to fourth person of the Holy Trinity.  So far these are the worst examples from the faith community.  But so far, at least from what I've seen, the exception to the rule. So there's always hope. 

Ten years is a long time

It was ten years ago this year that my Dad died.  Today is his birthday, and I'd rather focus on that.  

As dad's go, he wasn't bad in the least.  Neither he nor my Mom ever pretended to be the best parents.  They weren't.  And as I've gotten older, I've learned the here and there of their foibles.  For instance, my Dad was not particularly good at finances.  

Oh, we had enough money to get by on.  Being a railroad engineer paid surprisingly well.  It's just that, owing to his white privilege, he grew up on the dirt poor side of the Great Depression.  Because of that, when he had money, he did the logical thing: spend it.  As far as I know he never owned a credit card or took out loans.  He paid cash.  Which was fine in that there was no real debt around at the end of his life.  There was no real money in the bank either.  My Mom has gotten by largely because of the railroad's legendary (and convoluted) retirement system - the main reason he stayed on the job, per him.

It was fun having a Dad who worked on the railroad, I will say.  More than once I was able to climb up on those monstrous engines and see things from a different perspective.  It's something to go by and look down at semi-trucks when, as a motorist, they usually look so massive.  But it was a job to Dad.  Several of my friends had model train sets as kids.  Though he bought me a couple, he didn't do anything with them.  I asked why he, an engineer, wouldn't have some vast model railroad empire as a hobby.  He said when factory workers played with model factories and businessmen played with model offices in their spare time, then he would play with model trains.  To him, it was a job.  None of the coveralls and stereotypical engineer hats.  He wore polo shirts and sunglasses, being among the first to realize such old garb was not needed as the old age of steam passed  to the age of diesel (a transition he was more than happy about, having no nostalgia for the old steam engines). 

But that was Dad.  It was the work, and that was the best thing about it.  I won't say he was a workaholic.  But he always seemed happiest doing things.  Whether working on cars, working on the house, working in the yard, or just working, he was never one to sit idly.  Being of that WWII/Depression generation, there weren't many things he couldn't do.  His crowing achievement was building a house in the country, tearing it all but down to its foundations, and rebuilding it between his twelve hour shifts in a city over an hour away. 

In some ways, I saw that as symbolic of him.  Again, due to his white privilege, he grew up in an abusive home with a father who could have been good, but fell victim to the alcohol bug.  It was his abuse, in fact, that lead my Grandmother to an early grave, dying over a decade before my older sister was born.  Thus we never knew her, only of her.  In fact, her death left a mark on my Dad.  

She died while he was in the army, stationed most of the time at Fort Hood.  He had been out on maneuvers and, apparently, when out on maneuvers you are itching to get back home.  I guess they were all due to go on leave upon their return.  When his unit rolled into camp, he was met by an officer who offered to take his rifle and his gear.  He later said at that point his heart sank because that never, ever happened.  When he got to the company commander's officer, my Mom was there with a chaplain.  He knew then it was horrible news. 

I think that cast a certain pall over him over the years.  He was reluctant to just cut loose after that.  He was also careful to make the most of the moment.  Whether it was our plentiful Christmas hauls, or the house he built for us, or all the work, I think his goal was to make sure we had what he didn't, and that he would never have to say, "If only I'd...".  Because of that, and because of a nature that was generous almost to a fault, he was respected and liked by classmates, his coworkers, friends and family alike.  

Nonetheless, I also learned a lesson about what we work for.  When it came to improving houses, there were few who could rival Dad.  He was best friends with the local realtors who knew they would make extra on any house C.C. Griffey was selling.  And sell he did.  Despite not needing to, we moved constantly.  Four years in a house was a long stay for us.  I came to dread that moment I walked home from school only to see moving boxes once more in the living room.  There went another neighborhood filled with friends. 

And yet, when I have the chance to drive by the old town, I look at the houses in which we lived.  Some still look nice enough.  Others have fallen into disrepair.  Some are near slum level (for the money we had, we didn't live high on the hog, and the small homes we most often lived in belied the homes we could have had).  But as I look at them, it makes me think of all the hours, days, weeks and years of effort he put into making those houses into showcases worth well beyond what he paid.  It's nice. And a job well done.  But to what ultimate effect?

We did plenty as a family, had vacations, and sometimes he would break for a time and play around with us. But much of his time was spent building us the home and houses he never had.  Sometimes - sometimes, mind you - I wish he would have spent more on the leisure and the fun and less on the work and the sweat.   After all, in almost every case, it's the fun times and family times I remember most fondly.  That's probably why my room and basement (doubling as my library) have stacks of books, strewn papers, alongside piles of games and endless shelves of DVDs that we've watched with the kids over the years.  We keep the house as safe as we can, and as functional.  But my spare time is spent with them at church, at play, and just as family.  I wonder what extremes my sons have noticed in me that they'll work to offset once they have kids. 

Anyway, all that was off the top of my head as I think on this birthday and the ten years it's been since I was able to talk to him.  Speaking of the fun times I remember, it's strange the things we keep regarding loved ones over the years. 

So I heard a song while driving about the other day.  It was Close to You by The Carpenters.  I never hear that that I don't think of a special moment with my Dad.  The song had just been released, and was playing on our old stereo-record player console in our living room.  Everyone else was somewhere else in the house.  It was night, and I was by myself with the lights off, playing with some strange flashlight that had a clown head that made creepy clown faces on the walls.  I got it for Christmas and to this day don't know why.  Anyway, Dad came round the corner and sat down on the cedar chest next to me.  He pointed out the song on the radio, said he really liked that song, and figured we'd be hearing more from the group that recorded it.  He was right. 

So for Dad and all the memories of a father who worked to give us what he didn't have, here's the queen of mellow herself.  I have it on the best of authority that it was a favorite of yours.  Pax and Miss you Dad.

What does it profit a man to gain the world

We call this the humble surroundings of a brave servant leader

And forfeit his soul? 

I thought of that as I saw a story about my old classmate, Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Now Russ may be the luckiest fellow in the world since he always seems led by the Holy Spirit to be just where the latest ascending movement happens to be.

Born in a family aligned with Democrats, he embraced conservative Calvinism just as Al Mohler was kicking off the Calvinist Renaissance wtihin the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s.  What his own opinions were, I don't know, but he happily stood by as Mohler and the gang made strides to sever the SBC's ecumenical dialogue with such heretical sects as the Catholic Church. 

Later, when GW Bush was elected, Moore led the charge for conservatives around the world to unite, put aside differences, and win one for the Culture Wars.  Then, toward the end of Bush's disastrous presidency, as conservatism became fractured and a progressive tidal wave was brewing, Moore had a change of heart and realized 'culture war' was just stupid talk for silly, ignorant little  people.

When Obama won handily in 2008, Moore began his swing toward the center, openly disparaging more traditional believers and finding a place of prominence on the Obama White House guest list.  Then in 2016, Moore led the Evangelical Never-Trumper charge against Trump and his deplorable followers.  While doing this, he became quite the icon among a desperately not-Trump Catholic culture that embraced him and heard of, for the first time I was knew, his lifelong gushing admiration and love for the Catholic tradition. 

Of course Hillary lost, so we'll never know what may have happened to Moore as he followed his conscience during a Clinton Administration. But now that Biden is back, Moore has stepped forth and once more cheered the new administration for its work reaching out to the faithful.

It's worth noting that not all is well within Moore's SBC family.  A report by the SBC has found that Moore is increasingly alienated from the sizeable part of the SBC not in line with liberal Democrats.  He is also increasingly portrayed in ways not charitable by a manipulative press seeing him, no doubt, as quite the useful fool.   I know some from my old SBC days who believe he is not working from some deep desire to aid the denomination, but rather is embracing a clever throwing of his fellow Baptists under the bus to curry favor with the Leftist State.*

Whatever it is, I know he's either the most fortunate person in the world who always seems led in the right upward direction, or he's joining a growing number of other leaders who feel the battle is lost, the war is over, and it's time for the Left to learn who its friends are, and who its enemies are.  I saw this and pondered it just as I was pointed to a pertinent little scene from the wonderful film A Man for All Seasons: 

Given all we're seeing among our various Faith traditions' leadership, such a scene is worth watching again and again.  

*Contrary to the article's suggestion, it is not only Moore's opposition to Trump that is the problem.  It's his condescending attitude toward those in the denomination who don't share his approach  to compromise with the modern Left, as well as his willingness to embrace decidedly leftwing narratives and interpretations of those who fail to conform to leftwing ideologies and agendas.  Among other things.  Also, I could bring up a few problems with the heavily quoted David Gushee, a former mentor, but I'll leave that for another day. 

Rush Limbaugh has died

No doubt there will be much, and I mean much, written about him in the coming days.  I was never a real fan, though I didn't hate him.  I valued some of what he said, and more of what he revealed.  Nonetheless, I'm deeply saddened that he has died, and I feel an urgently needed voice in our time has been silenced.  It was in God's timing at the end of the day, and perhaps it signals the need for a new voice to rise.  

In any event, I'll remain in prayers for him and his family, and for all who will no doubt be touched by his passing.  RIP. 

Lucado blinks

Apparently Max Lucado, the popular Evangelical author and pastor, has dropped and given the Left twenty for being asked to speak at the Washington National Cathedral.  His unforgivable sin?  Failing to conform to the Left's dogmatic definitions of diversity when it comes to LGBTQ agendas.   That saddens me because when I first came into the Christian Faith, his book Six Hours One Friday helped me see Christ and the Gospel in ways our already secularized culture never allowed. 

Nonetheless, like so many church leaders in the public square who rely on accessibility to mass media and publishing, Lucado must find it tough to kick against the goads of tolerance as mandated by our leftist society.  He joins a growing list of church leaders and prominent figures from all Christian traditions - Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox - groveling for mercy and begging forgiveness for being hurtful and mean and hateful by teaching what God has revealed about human nature and human sexuality. 

I know it's difficult to put our fingers on just what is happening and why it's happening so quickly.   So many individuals we imagined were firm in the orthodox teachings of the historical Faith are caving like dead flies falling off a wall.  Why it's happening I can't say.  Do they just not believe it anymore?  Has doubt eroded their resolve?  Are they merely afraid of being marginalized by a brutally intolerant revolution?  

I don't know.  I just know almost every week I see a story where either a prominent Christian caves, buckles, compromises or outright rejects the Faith and walks away for good.  All I can guess is that something went horribly wrong in modern Christianity.  And by that, I mean Christianity over the last century or so.  I fear we are only beginning to see the smallest tip of the oncoming Great Apostasy iceberg. 

The things you find on the Internet

Not all is bad on the Internet, and sometimes that even extends to the world of Social Media.  Take for example this blog entry on James Maliszewski's blog of interesting things.  It's a blog for those who are interested in the world of sci-fi and fantasy, especially as those genres pertain to role-playing games. 

In this case, he muses on the artwork of the  board game Dark Tower.  I've posted about that game several times over the years.  For the longest time, it was the Holy Grail of my childhood nostalgia.  I used to regale the boys about it time and again.  And as I wrote here, once I got my hands on a complete copy for a surprisingly acceptable price (it kept within the realm of inflation if you figured it), I was happy to see the boys actually enjoyed it.

Now, I admit - and so have they - that its replayability factor is a bit limited.  One reason is that they know, and I know, that the old thing can only last so long.  Each time we turn it on we hold our breath.  That makes it something they don't just want to drag off the shelf and play ever day.  It is an original from going on half a century ago. 

But beyond that, it is primitive by today's standards.  As the boys say, the AI is essentially not AI.  There is no balancing factor.  Each game is basically seeing who will get plastered by dragons, plagues, brigands, and all manner of bad luck while seeing who else skips along with no adversity and makes it clean to the gates of the tower.   As funny as that can be, it has its limits in terms of taking time out of the day to watch it happen.  After all, as we know, our technologically advanced age has far less time than we did in those lazy, hazy days at the dawn of the computer revolution (you know, the revolution that was supposed to get computers to do it all for us so we'd have infinitely more time to kill).

Anyhoo, Mr. Maliszewski muses on the artwork for the game.  It never dawned on me that the artwork would be from anyone not in a cubical at some toy manufacturing company.  Turns out, it was an actual artist.  That might be why it was so evocative and its absence in the kickstarter reboot is so keenly felt.  The same, of course, for the digital sound effects, at least one of which would never pass the 21st Century censors.  

But it art goes to show the level of production that went into the product.  My boys call it creative inflation.  The idea that, while things are certainly more complex, more impressive in terms of output, and sometimes more enjoyable (not insta-kill due to lack of AI), there is something missing in today's product lines.  Somehow, if you consider creativity in terms of inflation like you consider box office receipts when comparing Gone With the Wind to The Avengers, you end up the same way.  The latest may be more on so many levels, but if you think of the newness and limits of almost 45 years ago, and think of the production and output compared with everything we have today (including 40 years of learning) is it really that much better?

I think they're onto something.  In fact, without me pointing it out to them, I pointed it out here.   So with all that, take it away Orson (Milton Bradley demonstrating its quality investment by having none other than the great Orson Welles throw out the sales pitch):

A perfect demonstration of leftist Catholicism

Is shown in this leftist hit piece written by Rebecca Bratten Weiss. Like most on the Left, to not be leftist is to be Nazi.  Nary a sin associated with anything to the left of center is mentioned.  It's basically a piece that solidifies the Left's belief that salvation and sanctification are possibly only through submission to the dogmas and doctrines of the Leftist State.  After all, does the relationship to Christ among those who aren't Leftists even matter?  Indeed, can one even be cleansed by Christ if one refuses to step into the arena of Leftist same-think or, worse, supports Donald Trump?  You'd think not to hear leftists Catholics speak. 

The amazing thing I notice among leftist Catholics is how their throwing Catholicism, Catholics, Christians, anyone white, and men under the bus (and always ignoring the non-persons that are not white, not male conservatives) is how it does nothing for their non-Catholic readers but reinforce their non-Catholicism/non-Christianity.

For so many leftist Catholic sites on Patheos, the comments section is a smorgasbord of pro-abortion, pro-right to die, pro-gay sex, porn sex, pro-transgender, pro-socialist, pro-communist, pro-atheist, pro-oppressing of religious rights, pro-destroy America and/or the Christian West, pro-blasphemy, pro-heresy, pro-race hate (all whites are racists by skin color), pro-ethnic clearing (whiteness), pro-sexist (all men are rapists) bilge and sin that defines the modern Left.  

Rather than meet such hit pieces that leftist Catholics write with humility and 'Gee, you've spoken true, I think I need to look more into this Jesus thing', it simply reinforces their heresies, blasphemies, and embrace of mortal sins and sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance.  True, you never know how God can work with someone; you can never guess what seeds may ultimately sprout into that fruit bearing tree.  But the approach by such Catholics of conceding everything to this thing called the modern Left, accepting all its evils and sins as necessary and the fault of non-leftists non-conformists, doesn't seem to be bearing much fruit.  

In fact, I can't help but think for those embedded in the emergent Left's ranks, such leftist Catholics are merely the latest useful fools.  Such hit pieces merely give them ample ammunition to continue their crusade to destroy the Gospel of Christ, the people of God, the Church of God, and the civilization and values and morals and Truth those brought to the world.  

As for those who continually appeal to the 'Jesus ate with the sinners' argument, a couple points are worth considering.  First, when doing so, Jesus didn't deny their sins existed.  Second, He typically made at least a few inroads in people's hearts. People usually changed after their encounter, they didn't go away sure they were right to have been sinners.  Finally, He didn't become more like the sinners He was trying to reach. 

It will be a bit of poetic justice when either such leftist Catholics, or their posterity, find themselves behind the barbed wire with fully rejecting the last shards of the Gospel they clung to as the only path to freedom.  Sadly, it likely will be our posterity that pays the full price of such folly.  Though at the rate we're going, Ms. Weiss's generation may live to see the tree of their lack of foresight bear its terrible fruit.  It will serve them right if that's the case.  

Friday foolishness

 Exhibit A:

 

First they came for the Alt-Right

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not Alt Right

Then they came for the MAGA Trumpers 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a MAGA Trumper

Then they came for the Pro-Life Conservatives 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Pro-Life Conservative

Finally I got what I deserved when they came for me

You get the point. And it's not just him; see Rod Dreher for one of many examples.  We are seeing the death of the Christian West and the land of the free because over half of our population is convinced either it will be a better world when it happens, or at least whatever bad happens won't happen to them. 

It takes a whole lot of golly-gee-wiz for the most educated generation in human history to be this stupid.  But then, as my sons are fond of saying, we're the generation that finally proved an education is not enough. 

UPDATE: Apparently Mark continues to praise his Reich Masters' attack on freedom of speech and the right to not be a leftist:

Again, this is no longer some 'That's strange, doesn't he get it.'  He gets it.  Just as so many got it in other times when evil rose to the top and seized power.  They just bet the farm that it will be everyone else who gets it in the neck.  

FWIW, Project Veritas and James O'Keefe own a special place in St. Blog's move to bow before the Leftist state.  When it was discovered O'Keefe and company lied about their identities in order to catch Planned Parenthood in its vile Slavery for Holocaust industry, many were able to focus on its undercover tactics to avoid confronting the Left's unprecedented Holocaust.  Without Mr. O'Keefe, there no doubt would have been a different excuse.  But that goes to show you, if you sin you can give those itching to be part of bigger sins a way out. 

UPDATE II: Meanwhile, in my other example, Rod Dreher continues to cling to every word that proceedeth from the press's mouth when it comes to attacking Trump.  Dreher is a fine example of one of conservatism's biggest problems.  That is, the tendency among some conservatives to throw each other under the bus and align with this or that part of the Left as if suddenly that Left, which is otherwise decried as the threat to the universe, becomes equal to the Gospel truth.  Dreher does it with being a Never-Trumper, with Covid, with Global Warming, and perhaps with other issues.  He's not alone, and it's the tendency among such conservatives to be the biggest boon for that Left they otherwise fear and loath. 

To hate America now that spring is here

Or perhaps more seasonally appropriate, now is the winter of our dissing America.  So Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA team The Dallas Mavericks, has confirmed what anyone watching basketball had noticed.  That is, he has banned playing the United States National Anthem before his team's games. 

So there you go.  One of the greatest coups of the Left's war against the Christian West was its alliance with Corporate America.  Why are so many corporations jumping on board the various devices of the Left?  The anti-Christian, anti-American, anti-Male, anti-White, anti-undesirable, anti-God and even anti-Equality bandwagons that are becoming SOP in 2021 Leftism? 

Hard to say.  My boys think it's because a global market is worth more than an American one.  And  in a world where, despite multicultural narratives, oppression, terror, tyranny, slavery, genocide, discrimination and persecution are still as common as bad reality TV is in our country, it might be tough to justify making money off such nations in the same way it would have been tough making money off Nazi Germany during the early 1940s.

The smart business solution?  Join in the Left's attempts to portray the Christian West and American Experiment as the font of all evil in the world; as the most wicked, depraved, infamous and heartless civilization that ever existed.  After all, what right do Americans have to complain when they see American corporations milking China for what money they can all while China continues to slaughter, oppress and terrorize anyone and anything in its path?  Hey!  This is America, the most evil and deplorable nation in history people!  Back off and stop being hypocrites.  

Perhaps.  It certainly makes sense.  But whatever the reason, one thing is sure: Corporations and CEOs and other wealthy power players are embracing the death of the West for the same reason anyone in the market does anything - the bottom line.  Whatever financial hit we think they might take, they've run the numbers and concluded it's worth it for the overall benefit of the all important bottom line. 

That's what happens when we conservatives spent so many years defending corporate interests in the name of Capitalism at whatever cost.   For some reason, we forgot that if we defend the 'it's the bottom line' principle as the all important principle of everything, there might be a time when the bottom line is best served by those market interests destroying everything else we hold dear.  Live and learn I suppose. 

A landmark moment in the 20th Century

Happened on this day in 1964. The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan for the first time, before over half of the US population.   That is, over half of Americans tuned in that night to see what the frenzy was about.  Imagine a broadcast today in which over 170 million tune in to watch.  

It's considered one of the most significant moments of the century, and lifts The Beatles up above most other entertainers and artists.  Few had the influence over their own art and industry as did The Beatles. None had the monumental impact on the very course of Western culture that they did.  But their story is so well known, the million to one chances that went their way and brought to them to that rendezvous with history almost the stuff of pop cultural myth, that it isn't hard to imagine there were bigger hands behind their rise to legend than their own. 

True, their actual contributions to that place in history was minimal.  They were merely the match lighting the fuse that caused the cultural explosion that would eventually bring down the 2500 year march of Western Civilization.  One does not need to have a good, positive impact for it to be an impact after all.  But the impact of The Beatles, often captured by their groundbreaking appearance on Sullivan, is impossible to deny.

It's not uncommon, for that reason, to see their appearance on Sullivan's show placed alongside other monumental events of the century: The Moon Landing, The March on Washington, the D-Day landings at Normandy, the Titanic, Pearl Harbor, and so on.  But it also goes to show you, with just a brief look at others on that list, that not all things worthy of remembrance are for the ultimate good.  You might say, when taken as a whole, the ultimate good events are dwarfed by those with more negative consequences.  Even from such seemingly innocuous events like four musicians playing on a variety show.  

There are two ways to see the Time Magazine article, “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election”.

See here for the article itself. 

One way to see it is that Trump’s rhetoric in 2020 was so dangerous that various power players admit they conspired to game the system and change the rules of our democratic process, and then used their control of modern communications to suppressed lies about the gamed election, in order to save democracy.  

Or, various power players admit they conspired to game the system and change the rules of our democratic process, and then used their control of modern communications to suppress concerns about the election they gamed, in order to ensure the results they wanted in 2020.  

The gist of the article doesn’t change, it’s whether or not you think it was worth them changing the system of democracy they admit to changing that makes the difference.  Sometimes it begins to take more credulity to disbelieve a conspiracy theory than to believe in one.

And suddenly racial segregation became all the rage in America

 Yep:

'Nuff said.  

A morning with America's Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment

I seldom watch news on television anymore.  I'll watch the local news in the morning for traffic and weather, for what it's worth.  After all, weather reporting is one of those fine jobs where you get to stay employed no matter how often you're wrong.  Otherwise, I ignore television news.

Nonetheless, this morning I thought I would turn on the national news at 7:00 AM when the network morning news shows begin.  Have you ever been away from someone for a long time and were shocked at the change in them?  Even if you knew something had happened to change them, you still weren't expecting the degree of change?

Well, that's what happened when I turned on the opening intro segments on NBC.  Story after story was nothing but rank propaganda for the Left and liberal Democrats and all who support them.  The anchors didn't even try to look balanced.  It was told from one point of view and one point of view only. 

• First story, the vaccines and good luck figuring out what's true based on the news.  The science says except for what it doesn't since we must follow the science despite nobody in the science agreeing.  That's all I got from that snippet.
• Second story, the Mask fight heats up, this time focused on a grocery store where employees clearly aren't made to wear a mask (easy fix: see how many shopping and working there have contracted Covid).
• Third story, GOP split over removing controversial 'Conspiracy Theory believing' Rep. Marjorie Taylor.  Note a black congresswoman was interviewed in which she called Rep. Taylor a white supremacist, and the news didn't call her out, so I'll assume the network agrees with that assessment.  Meanwhile, Trump impeachment supporter Liz Cheney is being universally hailed as the superstar she is.  
• Next story, the military is being ordered to stand down to face the growing threat of domestic terrorism and to ferret out 'extremists' in its own ranks.  Read: MAGA types.  That's our military by the way, the same ones taking knees last summer. 
• Last story in the intro: some country singer was caught on video saying the N-Word that rappers use as a matter of course. Since he sports the wrong skin color, Corporate America has swung into action, canceled contracts, and fans are demanding his career be destroyed without further delay.

That was my intro, the 'news in a minute' nutshell.  So let me sum up what I heard in a few easy takeaways:

Idiots who think we're still a free country are just that, idiots.  We're now - and have been for quite some time - a Leftist state in the best manner of the 20th Century totalitarian states our parents and grandparents witnessed.  If you bow before the Left, you will be rewarded.  If, however, you deviate even slightly from the Left's ever changing demands, you'll be wrecked and destroyed, increasingly by the government itself.  And the thing once known as the news media is one of the biggest factors in what we're witnessing. 

So there you go.  Maybe it's laziness or cowardliness on my part, but that's why I no longer watch the news.  Given the rising number of Americans embracing this or cowering before it - including religious leaders and those we thought firmly entrenched in the resistance - there's not much to do on this side of heaven.  That's when you say bring me a brandy, and let's prepare to go down like gentlemen, with our eyes toward heaven rather than the country we thought immune to the foolish sins of history. 

Perspectives

Exhibit A: 

"Dear mother

I trust that you are doing well. To be honest, I cannot say that the wish to die for the emperor is genuine, coming from my heart. However, it is decided for me that I die for the emperor. I shall not be afraid of the moment of my death. But I am afraid of how the fear of death will perturb my life.

Even for a short life, there are many memories. For someone who had a good life, it is very difficult to part with it. But I reached a point of no return. I must plunge into an enemy vessel. As the preparation for the takeoff nears, I feel a heavy pressure on me. I don’t think I can stare at death... I tried my best to escape in vain. So, now that I don’t have a choice, I must go valiantly

I will go with your photo firmly next to my heart."

                                                                                            - Hayashi Ichizo, March 1945.

The link to the FB post can be found here.

From a different perspective, consider: 

"Along with the rest of the force, Nevada shelled Japanese airfields, shore defenses, supply dumps, and troop concentrations. However, after the fire support ships retired for the night, dawn "came up like thunder" when seven kamikazes attacked the force while it was without air cover. One plane, though hit repeatedly by antiaircraft fire from the force, crashed onto the main deck of Nevada, next to turret No. 3. It killed 11 and wounded 49; it also knocked out both 14 in (360 mm) guns in that turret and three 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. (emphasis mine)

The link to the Wikipedia article is here.

 

Hayashi succeeded in flying his plane into the American USS Nevada (BB-36) Battleship on March 25th 1945, killing 11 sailors and wounding 49.  

 

I normally don't link to either Facebook or Wikipedia.  The room for error is great and the tendency to miss the whole picture too often the rule rather than the exception. In these cases, however, the pertinent information is accurate, and I thought it was worth kicking around.  

The human story is a complicated one, and our tendency to want to boil it down to a bumper sticker, made all the easier in our modern Facebook and #Twitter generation, has been one of the banes for good relations between those made in God's image for time immemorial. 

Symbols in a Godless age

An interesting article about the need for symbols, and how the human spirit will seek them out no matter how hard we try to deny the Spirit of God.  

It's a good read as we reflect on this day of days, Groundhog Day. Which has become a replacement for what was once a very important day on the Christian calendar: Candlemas, or more precisely the Feast of the Presentation, as well as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

Once upon a time, the calendar of the Christian West and the calendar of the Church were more or less one and the same.  I'm not being starry-eyed about the past and I'm the first to say there were obviously problems with that close relationship.  Sometimes, however, I think Christians allowed the problems to guide us into the wrong solutions.  

One of those wrong solutions was to continually concede the high ground to Godlessness and secularism as those two waged constant war on the Gospel.  The results of which can easily be seen by a quick glance at our modern age. 

I'm not saying where Groundhogs are, there Christ cannot be. Or that silly old traditions are incompatible with Christian Truth (since there was a time when such folklore lived side by side the world of the Church's making).  But let's face it, how many people are discussing rodents today, and how many are discussing Christ?  Score one for the world.