A sudden blessing we didn't expect

 And viola!  I'm a grandpa:

Proud parents adorable baby - an excellent match

Yes, according to the experts, about four weeks early.   But her size doesn't suggest that.  Instead, we're figuring they were off by a couple weeks.  Probably closer to the first of June.  Meaning she - and yes, it's a girl - is a couple weeks early.  Owing to that, she's receiving special care in the hospital right now.  But praying everything works itself out soonest and the proud and happy parents can bring her home in a couple days.  So that's where I've been.  We didn't see it coming, that's for sure.  Both families are nearby, so everyone swung into action, and my son rose to the occasion.  But the star of the show was my wonderful daughter-in-law who was a trooper and then some, and of course our newest and youngest addition to clan Griffey.  So praising God right now, with a healthy dose of prayers, and blessing on her, her parents, and all of us who have already been blessed by her.  

An image that is never far from my mind

 From my old WW2 history days, is this:

The saluting officer is Hans Langsdorff.  He is noted for losing the Battle of the River Plate. His ship, the German cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee, was trapped and he ordered it scuttled.  Contemporary accounts say he made sure his crew was taken care of.  After that, he retired to a room on shore, wrote a letter accepting full responsibility for the loss of the ship, then committed suicide.  

Legend says that before he took his life, he stretched out the traditional imperial naval ensign and laid down upon it.  He did not use the infamous Swastika flag of the Nazi Party.  If you look at the photo, you'll notice something that gives credence to the tale. 

He's the one saluting traditional style.  And what are so many around him doing - including those who are obviously clergy within the Church?  Yep.  That would be the famous salute to der Fuhrer.  Because Nazism was not universally scorned across South America at the time, heavily Catholic though it was.  

Today, of course, it's everything from communism to Marxist influenced Latin American Liberation Theology that is the rage south of the border, and at times to the north.  Pope Francis has, on more than one occasion, given hat tips to the better side of communist thinking.  Quite a few Catholics on the Internet have joined mainstream media outlets in singing praises to various forms of Marxism, certainly socialism, and in the odd case or two, full blown communism.

This doesn't address the legions of Catholic leaders with their heads down about so many growing evils in our modern age. From openly race hating Caucasians, to surgically altering the bodies of minors, the cheering for increased abortion rights, to bringing our porn sex culture to the youngest of these, to turning a blind eye to non-MAGA types cheering for the killing of Jews, to persecuting Christians for refusing to conform to this madness, to ending antiquated notions of equality and sanctity of human life, it's stunning to hear the sounds of the Church's silence.    

Though in fairness, the best we often get from believers is silence. That's because other believers rely on attacking anyone trying to stand up to the madness.  They might not openly support the manifold evils and absurdities being mandated by our corporate expert class.  But they focus on always attacking those trying to stop it.

Then you have the Catholics - leaders and otherwise - who are the modern equivalent of those in the photo giving their loudest Sieg Heils!  They embrace and endorse whatever the World throws our way. Even when the World says the best scholarship has proven the Bible was bunk, those believers are right there trying to  accommodate.  Plus they will happily join with that other group in attacking anyone who does otherwise.   

That's just the way it is.  From the Golden Calf to feeding their babes to Baalim, God's people have always produced a bumper crop of followers willing to throw in with the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of the age, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  And there's not much we can do, other than not fall into the same pit.  Instead, consider this from the letter to the Church at Sardis: 

‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’

Be like those few in Sardis who didn't defile their garments.  Be like the 7000 who did not bow a knee to Baal.  Heck, even be like Hans Langsdorff. Hardly perfect (he was on the wrong side after all), but a damn sight better than what many of our leaders and fellows in the Faith are doing today.   And don't be like she who doesn't bow a knee, but won't call out Baal and will turn on you in preference to taking a stand.  At the end of the day, it's all the same alliance. 

Courage, Rebel, Counterculture, Non-Conformist

Are words that came to my mind as I note the growing whirlwind of rage from the always tolerant and open minded progressive wing of American society.  That whirlwind involves Harrison Butker, a kicker for the Kansas City Swifts.  Apparently a more traditional leaning Catholic, he gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College.  This might be because he now holds the record for the longest kick in a Super Bowl game ever.  One that figured prominently in the team's victory I'm told.  I don't know.  

Anyhoo, from the clips the news showed this morning, he must have questioned abortion rights.  He spoke of pride in light of God, rather than the pride we see demonstrated in June. Which was reported as an attack on the LGBTQ community (note: does this mean they're saying the type of pride he condemns is, in fact, what is celebrated in June?).  And he said no matter what women in the audience want to accomplish in Corporate America, the real excitement they're waiting for is the beauty of childbirth and family.  

That last part seems to be what really got people.  In a nation that celebrates that most wonderful accomplishment of aborting 60 million pregnancies in barely three generations, you can see why.  I mean, the central message of modern progressivism is that the only reason God decided to exist was to create a vast universe spinning around me.  So suggesting anything close to giving oneself up for others is anathema.  

I've seen some pointing out that the NFL not immediately throwing him out, as compared to Colin Kaepernick who wasn't immediately thrown out, just shows racism and all.  Others - and I saw plenty of examples, since the news broadcasts only showed the critics - attacked him for...thinking women should be excited by childbirth?  Pride isn't good?  I don't know.  A whole lot of people were interviewed and quoted, outrage and more self-righteous outrage and indignation, and yet nobody said exactly what was wrong with the substance of what he said.  As usual, it was just assumed that, having not conformed to leftwing same think, it had to be stupid, wrong, hateful and evil.  At least from what I've seen so far.  I'm sure editorials explaining just what was wrong will be forthcoming.  

For instance, on Good Morning America, Robin Roberts said the problem was that a graduation speech should be about the grads, not about the speaker's opinions.  I'll have to find other examples of leftwing speakers vomiting leftwing ideological and political opinions and see if she reacted that way as well. 

On the whole, this is what being a counterculture rebel, a non-conformist, and demonstrating a certain level of courage is all about.  Conforming to post-Christian secular leftwing ideology today is about as courageous as wearing scarlet and gray to an Ohio State football game in Columbus.  But challenging leftwing dogma and activism?  When running afoul of progressive tolerance and inclusion and diversity, you're probably being as courageous as you can be outside of a real totalitarian state. 

Added Note:  I should mention that, as I prepared to publish this, I was informed by one of my sons  that there is pushback against the MSM witch hunt.  And not just conservatives.  Apparently some on the liberal side are saying hey, the guy is a Catholic speaking at a private Catholic university.  It's his beliefs.  Take a chill pill people.   Let liberal Catholics freak out and go Fred Phelps on the guy.  So not all on the Left are into this, just most in the media from what I can tell.  

More leftwing tolerance.  Now about that guy paid millions to throw a football calling cops racist

UPDATE:  That didn't take long:

From an order that appears proud to have kicked the habit, as they say.  

Memes can make a person look awfully stupid

Which is why I reference them with great caution, and always make sure they don't do something like this: 

You'll note, Sen. Cotton didn't say we honor Jackie Robinson's major league career just because he was a swell player.  He points out that the reason we honor him is precisely because he broke the color barrier.  He then points out he was, therefore, the first African American MLB player. Right there.  In the post.  He explains what and why and who.  

So what in the hell is Mr. John Brown even talking about?  Oh, I can guess.  I can guess what Mr. John Brown would really like Senator Tom Cotton to say and our schools to teach.  But judgementalism aside, exactly how did Senator Cotton not do what John Brown chastises him for not doing? 

Oh, and the age old lie that Americans never learn about our history is one of the greatest falsehoods of all time. We've been learning that Americans never learn about our real history since I was in elementary school in the 1970s.  And we learned what America's sins were then as much as ever.  By the time my sons were in public school, America's sins was the main focus of almost all lessons about our history.  So once again, the thought that kids today know nothing about racism demonstrates the gargantuan level of mendacity and denial that adhering to leftwing activism demands.

Kevin O'Brien does a good thing

Yep.  It was on a post I wrote from last year that was, I'll admit, pretty brutal towards Mr. O'Brien.  It was in response to an article he wrote that I felt was way too partisan despite its surface content which seemed to be condemning partisanship.  I also felt it was at the expense of calling out the particularly egregious things we're seeing to the Left of center.  In that case, the Left/Media's decision to sweep under the carpet those non-MAGA types celebrating the October 7th slaughter of over 1000 Israeli Jews.   Or, for that matter, sweeping under the carpet the actual slaughter of over 1000 Israeli Jews.  Compare that to the media saturation over the Unite the Right rally of 2017, or George Floyd, or the weeks of stories about that teen who supposedly committed suicide over gender.

Anyhoo, I admitted I was lacking in knowledge of the 'Latest of Kevin O'Brien Writings' department.  That one article coming to my attention after many years of not really keeping up with his thoughts.  I also explained why I had stopped reading him.  If you go back here, you can read my post and background and the comment.

Well, for whatever reason, I missed that Mr. O'Brien swung by and responded.  It wasn't a bad response in the least.  It was almost creepily normal and mature.  Almost like someone came to a gathering I was at, walked over, and corrected something he heard me say.  Or at least put it into context.  You know.  How people behaved before the Internet.  Nowadays that sort of behavior is more like a Big Foot sighting.  You hear rumors but never expect to experience it yourself.  

But the really crazy thing?  He admitted he was wrong about the whole 'Lying for Jesus' issue from way back when.  He admitted he was too inflexible.  Which is true.  That was always the problem.  I don't recall anyone saying 'Hey!  Let's lie for Jesus!  Isn't lying awesome?'  They were merely saying that, in a pinch when the innocent are suffering, shouldn't we be pardoned if, in our passion to do the right thing and save the suffering innocents, the best we could do is be less than straight as an arrow?   Are we sure it's better to let a thousand children be slaughtered than to tell a white lie to save them?

Of course logic and 'God is not a machine' thinking suggests if the worst reason you ever lie was making a false statement in order to protect the innocent from suffering and death, you're probably walking a darn righteous path.  But the amazing thing is that Mr. O'Brien admits he was too inflexible in that department.  And I want that to sink in.

One of the side effects of the virtual lynch mobs we call 'wokesters' is a mounting hatred for anyone or anything that is less than perfect.  Since we move from accuse, condemn and then eradicate those reprehensible imperfect types, it stands to reason that such wokesters, and everyone around them, will be less than ready to admit fault.  After all, they've established the standard that there is no forgiveness or understanding for the sinner.  There is only eradication, erasure, and extermination.  Don't hold your breath for many apologies when that approach to failure and sin is all the rage in a society.

Yet Mr. O'Brien did it.  Which isn't bad. That alone warrants another look at his musings.  Not that I will agree with him about Bueller.  I didn't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off when I was a godless liberal agnostic in college.  Something about the layers of lying and mockery of the good heartedness of a city just didn't sit well with me.  Plus I had to wonder why the principal who wanted Bueller to be a responsible student was the bad guy.  I fear that movies like that, even back then, were canaries in the coal mine.  It just didn't bode well if that was what my generation thought was good and bad. 

Nonetheless, kudos to Mr. O'Brien.  He did a rare thing nowadays, and acted like a man.  He admitted fault where he saw it and clarified for me the situation as he understood it.  It's a sad read in that respect, but all too common nowadays.   The Internet does corrupt I'm afraid, even friendships.  And obviously, if you read Mr. O'Brien's comment, it's likely more common than we care to admit. 

Sometimes I think the Internet is a big joke Satan played on us just when we thought things were bad enough. 

Watching President Biden explain the economy to Erin Burnett

Including making false statements about inflation in the 2020 economy and blaming anything under the sun, made me think of this: 

If you're the sitting president, don't sound like Jake Blues. 

Happy Mother's Day

For two of the best moms in the world.  My wife and my mom.   Mom is much aged now in only that year or so, but this photo would not do bad by her in the day it was taken.  My wife is a super-hero where caring for my mom is concerned.  I do the lion's share of taking care of her and all the day-to-day, finances, insurance, medical and such.  But there are certain areas where I'm a bit squeamish. That's where my wife steps up.  Every morning, before going to work, she gets my mom up and tends to her needs and makes sure everything is good to go.  She then makes sure, at night, my mom is taken care of again.  She also helps in other areas, especially keeping track of medications - no small task.  I couldn't do it without her.  But then, that's been our life together.  I'm more the comic relief.  She has ever been the hub around which we turn.  I'm not sure if the same was true with my mom since my dad was such a force of nature, but she was no less important and the second best mom I've ever known (guess who I think is the first).  So happy Mother's Day to them and all who have been a mom to someone in their lives.  

Good for them

Be them

Good things can start with baby steps.  A school board in Virginia - Shenandoah Valley Schools - has voted to restore the names of Confederate generals to schools in its district.  The article says this is the first time in US history that a school district has done this.  I don't know how many times it has come up.  The names were changed in the anti-American protests and riots that took place in 2020. 

Of course conservatives hail Donald Trump as a prophet for seeing where destroying the statues of Robert E. Lee would end up going.  But that's not prophetic.  That's common sense and reality.  Anyone who didn't think it would end up being used to wipe out anything in America's and the West's history or heritage was either a fool or a coward or a Marxist.  Hence why Nikki Haley jumping on the bandwagon with the Confederate flags was a deal breaker for me.  Either she was willing to play with forces dedicated to destroying the Western Tradition and American Experiment, or she was hopelessly naive.  

But this is good news.  It will likely come under a withering assault from the anti-Western forces of the Left (let's finally be honest people).  And this would be a good time for citizens of the Democratic West and the heritage of the Western Christian tradition to rally around them and plant their banners around this school district.  I think one problem with standing up to the forces against the Faith and its heritage is the tendency we have of letting those who do so get shot to pieces by the Left. 

A rare photograph of me

Overhearing the morning news in the background explain how strong the economy is looking:

On this day in music history

May 9, 1962, an obscure record store manager sends a telegram from a London post office to a backwoods seaport that he has secured a recording contract for one of the local music groups.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Telling

 I have seen this pop up over the last couple days:

It references the continued push to expand sex change procedures on minors while lowering the age of exposing our children to our modern porn sex culture.  It might include the sudden debate over just when celebrating the genocidal slaughter of Jews is or isn't a deal breaker.  I don't know.  I should mention that some of the individuals who posted this are not exactly your hard right of conservative types.  A couple actually shocked me.  

Almost hand in hand with this, I've seen this Rockwell pop up in response (a sort of how far we've fallen reference):

Suggesting that while never perfect, we certainly have lost something with throwing God out the window and into the ghettoes of our society.  Believe it or not, there are Christians who think allowing God and Christ to be removed from our societal stage has been detrimental to our nation. 

Well, as I'm seeing the above images, I then see this linked to from Catholic deacon and film critics Steven Greydanus:

Because to the Left, our past is 100% bad.  One of my sons once quipped that with the modern Left, it's not a case of the glass half empty as oppose to half full.  When it comes to our history, heritage and heroes, the glass is altogether empty, crush by a steamroller, and covered by radioactive waste.  

Deacon Gredyanus swooping in to remind us that no appeal to the past can exist apart from focus on the sins of the past demonstrates one of the Left's main trump cards.  Condemn the past for its sins.  Define the past by its sins.  Declare those all defining sins irredeemable and all tainting.  Anything in the past is therefore tainted by these sins.  Anything the past condoned is therefore suspect.  If you think boys and girls used to exist, or raising kids should be parents' priorities, or judging based on skin color is always wrong?  Well, that what those racists in the racist past said, ain't it?  Therefore, anything and everything from the past is, at best, open to debate.  Including the idea that sexing up our children or altering their underage bodies might be suboptimal.  

In fairness, I should mention that I don't know Deacon Greydanus posted the above image in direct response to the others.  After all, this isn't the first time that a Christian argued for remembering a time of more religious devotion in the past as a positive. Nor is it the first time Deacon Greydanus has swept aside appeals to the past that don't emphasize slavery or Jim Crow.   It just all happened around the same time, and I felt it telling.  

UPDATE: Then again.  Someone explained to the good deacon that not all was bad in the past, and not all is the best in the present.  Let's say, school shootings?  And he responds:

So there you go.  Trying to find the good of the past should always deflect to the bad.  But if you pine for the good but don't embrace the proper politics of today, can faith ever be found on the Earth? 

When politics trumps religion

 In one easy FB Post:

Yep.  Mr. Alt, apologist for the Catholic Faith, just put a stamp of approval on all those stupid anti-Christian, atheist, skeptic and other memes that say if you believe anything in the Bible, you have to believe we can kill sinners by stoning them.  

I'm sure in most cases, Mr. Alt knows why that is such an asinine argument. If he has the slightest theological education he certainly does.  Yet he just endorsed skeptics and opponents of the Gospel making that very point.  Though in fairness, most liberal ministers I knew from my Protestant days also invoked this stupidity, as if the Gospel hadn't happened yet.  

This is why keeping politics at arms length is the better way to go.  If we're not careful, we end up shooting Jesus in the kneecap in our attempt to hit those rascally other party types behind Him.  And the only one who wins there is the one who is always happy to see Jesus get shot in the kneecaps.  

The same is true of Ms. Bowers, FWIW.   I know nothing of her.  I found her FB to be fair and see what she was about.  Other than a title that suggests Christian, most of the posts were variations of 'hate Trump, hate him now.'  So there you go. 

Honesty is hardly ever heard

And we know why.  At least nowadays. 

So the media is exploding over a book written by Krisi Noem.  In it, she describes putting one of her dogs down after it became uncontrollable.  Being in the country, she shot it.  Old Yeller stuff.  Maybe she shouldn't have.  Maybe there were other ways.  Maybe it was all she could think to do at the moment.  I don't know.  I just know the world in which we would have had a discussion - even a heated one - about what she writes in her book is long dead. 

Now it's as if someone is trying to reason with a lynch mob.  Kristi Noem is on the same ranks as Manson.  Her name a byname for cruel, barbarian, savage, killer - all words I've heard applied to her.  And this is driven by that thing I used to call the news media. You'd think she bult gas chambers. Of course animal rights advocates are heavily quoted in the outrage.  It helps lend credibility to the hysteria. 

She lived on a ranch or farm or something similar from what I can tell.  I haven't read the book.  And people who exist in the real world like farms and ranches often have experiences different from what armchair Cliff Clavins on the Internet imagine the world should be.  And the media, hoping to gin up any rage hate against anyone right of center, mixed with the usual suspects with fingers poised over their keyboards in anxious anticipation, charges forth with rage hate, condemnation, and conviction sans trial. 

That's the world the media wants.  That's the world the establishment wants.  One where we don't dare be honest.  We don't dare admit to anything.  We fear any word we say.  Because in our world, anything less than perfection is only worthy of eradication.  And the fools who fall for this new world standard will be the ones who scream the loudest when that principle finally turns back on them.