A reminder to supporters of President Trump

The main reason he, and the GOP and pretty much anyone challenging the establishment in 2024, was swept into office was because things were falling apart.  And those who voted for President Trump want them fixed.

Right now we've seen a hurricane of activity from the White House, and some of it appears to be addressing some of those problems.  The chaos along the border, handling international crises, just giving the impression he's doing something as opposed to nothing.  In the wake of the Biden White House, just mailing a letter could be seen as a leap forward in personal accomplishment.

But we're going to have to see more.  The economy is not improving on any noticeable level for most people I know.  I just paid .70 a gallon more for gas than a month ago.  Prices aren't lowering, and now I'm sad to say, I'm seeing some go up.  I fear part of it is that the press has 'Covided' tariffs.  Remember how during the Covid panic and shortages that companies raised their prices, sometimes significantly and overnight?  Remember how they blamed Covid and the supply shortages?   Notice in most cases, those prices haven't gone down despite the Covid pandemic and shortages being over with?

I fear companies will do it again, this time using tariffs - and all with the media's blessings.  If that happens, and if people don't see some radical improvements to the staggering economic problems of the Biden years, it is going to go badly for the GOP.  And if it doesn't turn around, Republicans can give up on their dreams of a Vance presidency.

Oh, and for heaven's sake don't make the mistake that the Democrats/Press/Left made going into 2024.  Don't deny the obvious.  I saw a discussion about this on another site, and there were people saying things are great!  Prices are going down, salaries taking off, jobs, jobs everywhere!  Well, I'm glad they live somewhere those things are happening.  Because they aren't here, and aren't where most people I know are living in different cities and states.  And at the end of the day, that is what will matter. 

It is a sad fact

That our youngest has been on the receiving end of some pretty ill timed events in our lives.  He was born of our entrance into the Catholic Church and the change in lifestyle approaches that such a commitment brings.  If you get my drift. 

Of course that was the beginning of the rough years, until things stabilized for us, only to be plunged into crazy and chaos again.  Then, after several years of some more hard knocks, we entered 2020 looking pretty darn good.  Then, well, you know. 

This year was his big sixteenth birthday.  A somewhat solitary young fellow, we pulled out all the stops and got him the materials needed for him to build his own computer.  He's seriously into tech, retro-tech, and of all things, sound and video mixing.  He has taken to getting old VCR compilations that are no longer available, or practical because of companies' refusal to make new VCRs, and is transferring them onto digital formats - no easy thing since many had measures to prevent easy copying.  But he's done quite well.  We saved money when he build a PC for my wife's work when she was at home rather than having to buy a new one outright. 

Nonetheless, no sooner were we getting ready for his sweet sixteenth than my mom had her latest stroke the day before.  Then shortly after, my father-in-law's health took a sudden turn for the worse, leading to his unexpected passing.  That was his birthday.  His previous special birthdays often ending up in the same way.

Because of that, we try to balance it out by doing what we can.  Right now, we're having that 'talk' about my mom, if we can in any practical way continue to help her at home.  We are cognizant of the fact that nobody in any of our families has the relationship with her that he has.  My mom and dad were always there to help raise my nephew, and when we moved to Ohio they were often here with the boys to visit and help out.  

But our youngest was there when my mom moved in with us, and almost immediately he began to have to help take care of her.  And he has.  It was he who alerted us to her serious health crisis back in 2017 that  almost took her from us.  Had he not done that, we would have lost her then (his intervention along with fast thinking help from my other older sons at the time of course). And he has been every bit as good with medications, feeding and basic care as any of us.  So what this will do if she must go to the next stage in her life regarding care in a nursing home, we don't know.  

Nonetheless, for all of it, he's proven to be resilient.  I would never say he's the lowest key of the brothers and no doubt his life of ups and frequent downs gives him an edge and an almost obsessive determination when there is something he wants.  He thinks nothing of kicking in doors and putting his foot down until he at least gets something out of his goal.  Set him on a task that interests him and watch the rest of the world fade away as he throws himself into the job until it's done. A trait that can be both good or bad, depending on how it is cultivated.  Yet he has a big heart, and this is best seen when we watch him with our granddaughter or my mom.

Part of his nature and mature perspectives no doubt come from his relationship with his brothers.  Over the years I've seen more than one child born crazy late after a set of older siblings.  Often they are simply 'the young kid' with the older siblings going on with their lives, forever seeing the youngest as merely a distant youngest.  But our three older sons have done yeoman's work over the years making sure they weren't the party he missed.  They really have made him 25% of the Griffey boys.  And for that I am ever grateful.

So here's to a smoother year ahead for him.  I think after all the years before, he's earned it. 

The four boys with our daughter-in-law; not the three and daughter-in-law plus the kid. 
All is right with the world

The big winners in the Thoughts and Prayers kerfulfual

Is, as always, the secularists and atheists and non-believers of the modern godless world.  There is nothing better for them than to continually hear religious believers, including their leaders, affirm just how marginal and limited in effectiveness religious faith, practice and belief in God really is.  After all, when the Minnesota mayor belted out that the children killed were in the middle of praying, he did nothing but say 'see how utterly useless prayer can be!'  That those believers joining the 'sucks to your loser prayers' movement did nothing but circle the wagons around his speech shows how colossal the World now is versus the whimpering, emaciated Church. 

Now the whole 'sucks to your loser thoughts and prayers' line of attack came some years ago from gun control activists who were openly non-religious.  I remember this addressed on different Catholic sites.  At that time, there was obvious sympathy for the gun control activists making the charge.  But caution was advised with a gentle rebuke, reminding them (and us) that prayers are never to be seen as contingent upon worldly solutions or activism.  They shouldn't be seen as standing against such things as working to find a solution, as some either/or proposition. Likewise, at no point should we make judgments about the sincerity of those invoking prayers, since prayer is so much more than just asking God to solve our problems.  But mostly we want to be careful not to affirm the secular idea that God and all the religious stuff is worth nothing more than killing an hour on a Sunday morning versus looking for real solutions in the real world.

Well that's dead.  Now there are plenty of Christians saying just what those non-believer said, only more.  Taking the leap that nothing but the left's gun control advocacy can save us, and anyone who disagrees can be judged accordingly, it's Christians as much as anyone saying prayers and God are beneficial only within the context of proper political advocacy.

Which wouldn't be the first time someone charged forth and said my way or you aren't properly following God.  The irony, like so much we've seen in the last couple decades, is that it was the political and religious left that put the kibosh on such thinking.  After all, in WWII for instance, saying we will just pray for peace but not actually resist the Nazis would not have been seen as valid by a substantial number of people.  Yet look at all the horrible things we did to beat the Nazis. Hence those left leaning Christians I encountered warning the religious right about making one's religious life, devotion or sincerity contingent upon any worldly or secular matter, especially politics.

But again, that's dead.  The worst is, of course, that it plays into the modern narrative that Jesus is OK, God's OK, smoke'em if you got'em, but it's keeping up with the world that allows us to see the true nature of sanctification and righteousness and truth.  Something hammered home frequently during the papacy of Pope Francis.  Catholicism was OK, and Christianity as good as always.  But it was being properly ordered, which almost always looked like adhering to progressive and leftwing ideology and activism, by which we will see the good fruits.  Except for transgender activism, which Pope Francis pounded on more than once.  Odd that.  But that's for another time since right now nobody seems eager to address that particular topic.

No, I like what one fellow observed.  He said the big problem with this is how many Christian leaders now are undercutting prayer itself.  As any believer who has attended church more than a few times knows, prayer is more than a laundry list of requests we give to Santa God.  While supplications certainly have their place, prayer is so much more than just going to God with a list of demands and expecting results on our terms.  

In the MASH episode Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler, a B-52 bombardier has a meltdown and decides he is Jesus Christ.  It actually has some fairly honest theology for such a show.  But at one point, the villainous Frank Burns, who isn't buying this shell shock rubbish, says he knows he's not Jesus.  He prayed for something and it didn't happen.  To which Hawkeye quips 'just because you didn't get chocolate pudding for lunch doesn't mean anything'.  Of course it was a joke, and everyone got how stupid it would be to say 'it can't be God, because I prayed for something and didn't get it.'  Apparently those condemning the invoking of prayers because the children who were killed were praying missed that episode. 

So those who are saying your prayers are not enough have either two choices.  Either they are suggesting prayers are only good insofar as God answers them as we want, and since God hasn't saved the victims, the prayers obviously aren't enough.  Or they are saying the efficacy of prayer is entirely contingent upon one worldly solution and one worldly solution only.  I just don't see a third option here. But either way, again, the big winners are those who know religion, Christianity and certainly Catholicism are all a bunch of BS to begin with. Something our churches and leaders, and sometimes fellow believers, insist on inadvertently being the biggest cheerleaders for nowadays.  

FWIW, as for those Catholic leaders, bishops and others explaining that thoughts and prayers are fine, but must be accompanied by meaningful action?  Because meaningful action always sounds like it has been endorsed by the establishment media and DNC, while almost never daring to call out any possible part of the problem that might offend the left of center, I see that doing nothing to avoid the above concerns.  After all, even secularists and non-believers can tell court prophets when they see them.

But when it sounds like the US Catholic Leadership is taking its cues from Catholic tradition and not the latest Manhattan Democratic fundraiser, then I'll at least concede the obvious point that prayer does not negate the need for earthly action. It simply shouldn't be subordinate to political activism.  Remember, if the US bishops were 25% as passionate and zealous about calling out the border catastrophe during the Biden years as they have been condemning Trump's response to it, we might not have ended up with Trump being reelected in the first place.  The same goes for almost every other topic today, including this one. 

*Fun trivia.  In the MASH episode above, it was shown in season four.  Up until that time, the character of Radar O'Reilly had no first name.  But at the end of the episode, a young and innocent Radar asks Captain Chandler - taking at face value he might be Jesus after all - to bless his teddy bear.  At that point Captain Chandler says 'and bless you Radar.'  To which Radar responds 'I'm Walter.'  The writers had to come up with a name they thought would fit, and he became Walter as much as Radar for the rest of the show. 

School Shootings and random thoughts

Reposting a previous Post. 

Since I didn't have a chance to post a prayer for the victims of the Minneapolis church shooting before A) leftwing journalists and politicians circled the wagon around the shooter and the shooter's activist group and B) those on the Left, including clergy, swung into attack people turning to God rather than the state:

I hope that's not Pope Leo's opinion, I really do hope

I thought I would repose this musing about mass shootings in our society that I wrote in 2018.  

My prayers and thoughts are for the victims and their families.  I can't imagine what they are going through. I pray for all people of good will joining them and seeking consolation from God and guidance for how to handle the demonic levels of evil we see all too often in our Godless society today.  

Here is the post: 

These are just musings.  They are not based on science or studies.  Just me observing the nation in which I am raising my sons, and the current topic of guns and shootings and the desire to narrowly define the problem based on a single solution.

Did Roe v. Wade have an impact?  The essence of RvW: 'that is your definition of human life, not mine.'   Could generations raised in a nation coming to that conclusion be impacted by it?  Especially after WWII?  The entire point of legal abortion is that America has officially allowed us to define a human when we feel like it.  I can't help but think somehow it could be connected.

Divisions.  We are in what many are now calling a Cold Civil War.  Even the Cold War had hot casualties.  My son said that the kids at Parkland will be asked to surrender their freedoms for safety.  I said no, that's wrong.  We are a divided country.  They will be asked to surrender someone else's freedoms for their safety.  Increasingly we don't love our neighbors, but we fear and hate them, just as we feared or even hated the Soviets back in the day.  We're taught that they are the problem, and whatever happens to them?  Eh.  Being taught that our neighbors are our enemies must make an impact.

Rhetoric.  In following up on the divisions, I'm hearing and seeing chilling things from the Gun Control advocates.  Kill the NRA, exterminate the NRA, Wayne LaPierre is a seriel killer,  Ban guns, Gun owners are next.  And this is from the side ostensibly all bent out of shape by the violence and death at Parkland.  And what's worse, it's par for the course. That level of rhetoric exists on the highest levels down about any one of a million topics today.  It's not just gun control activists of course, nor is such rhetoric new.  Just note the irony of where some of it is coming from and how that must say something bigger about where we are versus where we might think we are.

Mental health.  After Sandy Hook, I heard a fellow on the news (can't remember the station) say something I've not forgotten. He said  that mental health went through a massive overhaul between the 1950s and the 1970s, and in the 1980s, the mass shootings began.  A connection?  I think that's a bigger elephant in the room than we're admitting.

Isolate events as universals.  Fact is, if you manipulate any data, you can arrive at different realities. Take the most dangerous cities in America off the burners, and America sounds much safer.  Likewise, many of these school, or mass, shootings were based on specific sets of circumstances that might unpack the stats.  Broward County looks to have dropped a dozen balls.  That would be the same county where educated adults were perplexed by the unsolvable mysteries of the paper ballot.  It could be connected.

American Craftsmanship a thing of the past. Speaking of dropping balls.  Parkland is the latest case where warning signs were missed and the official safeguards that should have been triggered weren't.  There is a decline in quality in America overall, with everything from the latest household products to the Secret Service being plagued by incompetence and a general lack of care for quality.  Could these have long range connections to any efficacy where new laws or even existing laws are concerned?  If we're becoming bumblers in making cabinets, will we do any better with laws?

Isolation through technology.  When news came that Amazon was going to have a people-less store, one of those interviewed in the story said he was glad.  A young fellow of likely college age, he was happy not to have to deal with people when he shops.  Several of the students at Parkland guessed who the shooter was before it was announced.  Could it be that we are becoming so isolated that all notions of human interaction are collapsing, and that is a problem?

Violence for fun.  Popular culture of mass violence everywhere. I mean, look at what kids are playing at the age of 5.  I know people who let 9 year olds play first person shooters, or watch rated R blood and guts movies.  I remember seeing old black and white movies when I was little where someone died a particularity gruesome death, and it impacted me.  What do kids today experience?  Also the not so subtle Hollywood meme that people who are really bad (like people who disagree with me) have it coming.

Post-Christian.  We were told America has no right to have a particular culture and moral basis, and so jettisoned it for whatever was nearby.  Could it be that when we say people can make up their own realities those realities aren't always going to be good?

Fortress Educationa.  If we are talking about having to turn our schools into fortresses with armed teachers and guards, what is next?  Barbed wire fences?  Could it be we've turned a corner if this is what we have to do?  And do we think it will really work?

Brats and narcissists.  Kids are raised today to think that if someone disagrees with them, or doesn't talk the way they want them to talk, or give them what they want, then that person is evil, hates them, and wants them dead, since the world exists to affirm them as gods of their own creation.  Might that make an impact?  Could kids raised in that manner develop unhealthy ways to react to a world that doesn't treat them way the way they want?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  What would Aretha Franklin say?  Respect, like manners, common sense and common values, went out the window decades ago.  Yes ma'am and no sir are as rare as Cuneiform word processors.  We love it when all the cool people flip the middle one to all those not-cool types who aren't like me.  Could it be a nation almost proud to not respect anything or anyone and yet told to respect everyone (sometimes) is facing an identity crisis where dealing with people is concerned?

I don't want to grow up!  Rush Limbaugh once pointed out that the Baby Boomers were the first generation that never had to grow up.  Hearkening back to the point about television and Boomers, could it be a generation of adult children raising more adult children who then raise another batch of children bent on staying children is not a healthy way for a society to function?  Could kids surrounded by and raised by kids have unintended consequences?

It's the Spirit stupid.  Assuming for a minute that the Christian Faith is actually true, can we expect much from a nation that goes out of its way to purposefully and officially expel it from all corners of our public domains?  That's what the Soviets did, and look what happened there.

Radical individualism.  In piggybacking on the narcissism above, could it be we're seeing in individual form what the nationalism of the 20th century saw on the battlefield?  As we allow people to think they are a nation unto themselves, that there is no 'Our country', and sure as hell not 'their country' (I call it the Kaepernick syndrome), could this be a logical extension of such a view - bad countries (people) warring with their neighbors?

As long as it doesn't impact me.  Following decades of misusing the notion of being judgmental (mainly, you can't judge me, or obviously you're wrong), and convincing people not to care unless it impacts them, could it be that we've let this go because it doesn't impact most of us?  After all, what is our approach to Islamic terrorism (only Islamic, not domestic) but 'as long as terrorists kill other Americans, it's the sacrifice I'm willing to make'?  That must say something about us, and perhaps why we're not really shaken to our foundations and willing to look at the hard realities when these tragedies strike.

The world.  Let's face it, the world is a violent place.  It always has been.  See the last century for an example.  In the end, gun violence might simply be the logical extension of everything we've been doing as the world continues to change.  Change it might, but many of the old characteristics - like sin - will remain and will find a way.  Like my son says, to paraphrase Ian Malcolm, destruction will find a way.

What of legalized drugs? If, in fact, liberals insist that laws against illegal drugs haven't helped the drug problems of our country, can we believe that more gun laws will do anything about the illegal use of guns in our country?

Car laws. Keeping with that thinking, we hear some gun owners point out that cars kill more people than guns.  But we have laws regulating cars!, is the answer.  Yes we do, and yet cars still kill more people than guns.

A little learning.  A dangerous thing, according to Pope.  We wage ideological warfare and I'm not always convinced we're as smart about all the topics we spew about as we think we are.  Armed with undergrad degrees and a semester of history 101, we suddenly become experts in every nook and cranny of human history - whenever convenient. I don't think this causes a society of mass shootings, but could it be what hamstrings our ability to solve the problems?  Or  worse, makes us schmucks easily manipulated by those who see shootings as a step toward some political end?

All those careless gun owners.  Guns are dangerous, look at the accidental shootings! I hear that if there is a story of an accidental shooting.  Gun accidents are, given the tens of millions of gun owners, relatively few.  Accidents happen, and you get the careless ones.  But on the whole, those isolated YouTube videos that show someone doing something stupid with a gun don't seem to fit the stats.

Wo ist Education?  Speaking of a little learning.  My wife was a teacher, and my undergrad was in secondary education.  I had three boys go through public schools. Let me tell you, it's a hot mess.  And not just because of STEM scores.  Half of what they teach is rubbish, the rest is based on teaching hatred and contempt for the Christian West, America, the latest designated ethnic groups, traditional values, and common sense notions like sex and babies are related or one's genitals have something to do with gender - but we can all make up our happy worlds where everyone affirms our self-affirming affirmation of our self affirming selves!  I wouldn't let those working within the current train wreck of educational philosophy teach a dog, much less kids.  Has to mean something.

Can we stop using the 33,000 killed by guns.  There are so many parts to that stat, there are so many dimensions that don't account for the numbers that are never mentioned.  Like saying 'Four years and 40 million dollars', it's a meme, not a fact, and if we care about the problem of violence, we'll never misuse it again.

The Gun Cult!  Please define.  From what I can tell, this radical bunch of gun nuts is typically not involved in most of the mass shootings.  Same with the dreaded militia (which is the cause of terrorism done in its name).  In fact, the worst killing attributed to the dread American militia movement used a bomb, not guns.

Gun Violence versus Violence.  Do we actually care?  As horrific as they are, mass shootings account for a barely measurable number of overall murders in our country. While murder rates have gone down, they are still far too high.  And yet not only do we hardly ever dwell on it, during the 2016 campaign, I heard the press insist things were getting hunky-dory.  Well, not to those murdered and killed.  Or do they not matter?

Stop comparing the US - to anyone.  We are a unique nation.  It does no good to pick out a dozen countries that help your case while ignoring other countries that don't.  And why don't gun control activists ever cite nations like Mexico, but only reference decidedly white European nations to compare America to?

Raising kids.  At the end of the day, it's not just kids raising kids, but broken homes, fatherless boys, wacked out psychological theories and science that looks common sense parenting straight in the eyes then turns around wand walks the other way.  I have no time to list the connections between broken homes and crime.  Much less screwball theories of raising kids and crime.

Exploiting vs. Memorializing.  If we are using a tragedy to advance certain solutions, then we should at least be able to demonstrate how those solutions would have prevented the tragedy in question.  To me, that's common sense.  If not common decency.

Sucks to your thoughts and prayers.  I just can't help but think that when we've come to a point where a sizable chunk of our nation now insists prayer and God are only worth a dime if put second to a singular political policy, we've officially shuffled off this Christian coil.  That so many Christians appear to agree only makes it that much clearer.  See my point about the truth of the Spirit above.

Those are just thoughts I've had over the last couple days in no particular order and with no particular weight or purpose.  Musings only.  Just the idea that maybe the problem of school shooting, that didn't happen when I was growing up, is beyond limiting a single type of gun.  We can do that, of course.  But I think it's foolishness to think anything will ultimately change.  The carnage might end up different, but it won't change until other things change.

The wizard of Ozz

At least according to this article's rather positive spin on the legacy of Ozzy Osbourne.

Here's the thing, and I've reflected on this for some time.  In Robert Altman's film MASH, there is a scene that pretty much summed up where the postwar liberal revolution was going.  The arch-villain Frank Burns (an early Robert Duvall role), was sitting in the surgeons' tent.  Hawkeye, and his companion who would not transfer to the TV series, Duke Forrest, first arrive and bring in their belongings and meet their new tentmate.  

When they arrive, they see Frank overseeing reading lessons for a young Korean boy named Ho-Jon.  Ho-Jon is being taught to read from the Bible.  Duke and Hawkeye share a glance, and Duke points out the obvious. Duke mentions that he's learning to read from the Bible, then somewhat sardonically states 'that's nice.'  

Then, the next moment, Duke goes up and leans over Ho-John and, pulling the Bible away, says 'you might like this instead.'  The 'this' is an adult magazine - likely Penthouse or Playboy.  At that point, seeing the bare chested girl on the cover, Ho-Jon eagerly looks at Frank and asks if he may be excused.  Frank, apparently not noticing what went on, says yes.  

At that point - at that one moment in our history - Christians in America and anywhere the movie was released should have risen up and in one voice said, "OH NO YOU DON'T!!!  We see what you're up to and you're not going to lure our children and their children away from God and Christ and into a Sodom and Gomorrah orgy of debauchery and decadence, of catastrophic levels of misery and hopelessness.  This scene is practically a commercial for everything you have in store for our little ones!" 

But they didn't.

Somehow or another, no matter what this postwar revolution against the Christian West did, there was always the feeling that 'someday they're going to go too far!', and yet that day still hasn't come.  Oh, we vote sometimes and we'll fuss online.  But now those same forces are carving up the bodies of children.  The Left's pushing of drugs and sex is as common in our modern schools as the Golden Rule was in early 20th Century American schools.  Abortion by the millions.  Mass killings in schools.  Cataclysmic violence, suicide, drug addiction and basic hopelessness define the generation of our modern youth.  And the biggest religious news is the unprecedented numbers that are abandoning religion and religious living altogether.  

I thought of all this when I read the Word on Fire's tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.  Quite a guy, that Ozzy.  Some mention of his drugs and all, but he worked to get over that, didn't he.  Not that I think shortly after someone's death is the time to trash and hash them.  But must we make him so - honorable?   

In thinking of Ozzy's life, and the world in which he lived, think of the damage done.  Think of the millions of lives - mainly of young people - that have been ruined, weaned away from God and Christ, plunged into despair, AIDS, overdoses and ruined existences, not despite our pop culture for the last 70 years, but because that is exactly what our pop culture has been telling them to do.  And all while we have stood by and let them. I mean, the message that religion is for losers, there's probably no God anyway, so get high, get laid, and someday drop dead was aimed at the last half century of children like a Death Star laser beam. 

But no real solid or concerted effort to stop it.  Or, to be honest, at times we stepped in and helped out by buying the songs, seeing the movies, watching the shows, while making endless excuses for doing so.  I stand accused.  I thought of my series on the Beatles from some time back. I acknowledged then that their staggering influence on Western culture was far from universally positive.  But think on that. Think on the symbolism of intent from that scene in MASH.  Think of Ozzy's 'bout' with drugs, which the article itself merely calls mythological. 

And think of the children, the teens.  I mean, we have spent decades wondering why kids leave Church when they grow up, and now why so many are officially renouncing their belief in God and religion altogether.  Should we be surprised?  I'm shocked the numbers doing so are as low as they are.  The targets have been youth and children all along since, let's face it, if you want to own the future you seize the little ones as fast as possible.  Because like the wise man once said:

Perhaps that is why Christ Himself said this:

Jesus called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.  But if anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!  Matthew 18.2-7

Think on that.  You hear that Duke?  Next time an itch to watch Animal House, or listen to Black Sabbath, or even She Said, She Said, or anything on television today, or make excuses or shrug our shoulders, think on that passage in Matthew.  It seems the Almighty takes a dim view of those who would corrupt and lead to apostasy the least of these who, within the context of this passage, are the little children. I imagine God's opinion of those who stand by and allow it to be done is only slightly better.    

Oh, I'm not saying go burn your books and movies and DVDs and damned Beatles albums.  That's a dangerous path in its own right. Even if the movement (post-war liberalism) that once screamed fascism the minute anyone thought of challenging a scene like the one in MASH is now more intolerant and destructive to free speech than a witch council in Salem.  

No, it's to say we should have stood our ground more then, since the whole 'but all morality is relative, everyone should tolerate all things in an enlightened democratic society' was always more fertilizer than fact.  After all, the ones who championed such scenes and wanted more, think nothing of dropping the hammer on the Bible, love of country, resistance to mass abortion, or any other sacred cow of that modern movement of tolerance. And for all of it, look at the results all around us. 

As a side thought, some years ago when we still had cable, MASH was shown on TCM.  This was shortly after Ben Mankiewicz replaced the late Robert Osbourn as host.  Usually, before each film, the host would give a brief history and some fun tidbits about the movie in question.  The same happened that night.  In a sign of the times, however, Mankiewicz also did what I never saw Osbourn do, and that was apologize for the movie.  Specifically, apologize for the way in which women in the movie were portrayed and treated.  The odd part is, I'm sure it wasn't seen as good back when it came out.  I know my parents were never fans of the show, much less the movie.  Given the reputation of being controversial in its day, I'll bet people then didn't like much of that either.  They also, I'd like to think, would have been just as outraged at the other parts - like the vulgarities, the drugs and sexing up a young boy just the same.  Things Mankiewicz notably did not apologize for.  Thus 'woke' defined, even in its earliest days. 

RIP My Father in Law

I received word that my Father-in-Law Mike passed away.  He has struggled with ill health for quite a while, and was diagnosed with Leukemia a couple years ago.  But the downturn was sudden.  We got news a few weeks ago that he was beginning to have problems.  At the time our focus was on my own mom, who just had her fourth stroke. On top of that, our dog was diagnosed with cancer the same week.  But then out of the blue came the news of his spiraling health problems.  By last week, it was beginning to look grim.  On Friday afternoon, we found out that he was being moved to Hospice.  And today, at around 3:30, he passed away. 

As men of God goes, he's one we always joke and say if he doesn't make it in, I don't stand a chance.  As a former pastor, I can say he was everything you wanted in your parishioners.  A fascinating fellow, a chemist by trade who also spent much of his life in the world of higher education and academia, he was serious about his faith, dedicated to his denomination, very well read and able to converse about a variety of topics.  He was what we used to call a good witness where the Faith was concerned. He will be missed.  

Owing to circumstances, Covid, post-Covid, health issues and family issues, for some time we weren't able to get down to Florida, where they lived and where I met my darling wife.  At least we had a video call on his 80th birthday last year where he saw my daughter-in-law and little granddaughter.  You grab what you can in these situations.  I could write more, but things are a bit busy now.  

Prayers for him, prayers for my wife and her family, and for the whole Griffey gang would all be appreciated. 

Friday Frivolity: Happy Anniversary

Twilight Struggle!

Yep: 

It was 20 years ago this year that this little gem hit the shelves.  I'm not one to gush over things.  I like things, and will talk about those things that interest me or that I like.  But not all the time.  Sometimes things I like fly under the radar, so to speak.  I like them and that's good enough for me. 

This is one of those cases.  As I've said, if I ever had anything close to a sustained, long running hobby, it would be strategy games.  Wargames fall into that category.  But I like strategy games as a whole.  Usually my preference is for historically based games, my love of history being the factor there. 

We bought this some years ago.  By now I'm thinking it must have been around its 10th anniversary, give or take.  As the artwork suggests, it's a grand strategy game based on the Cold War.  My sons are fond of asking how bad do things have to be today for people to be nostalgic for the Cold War.  Yet when we consider the state of the world today, it's easy to see why some would look at those days with a sense of yearning.  Nostalgia sometimes gets a bad wrap.  Though I sometimes think the worse things are the more we trounce on those people who try to find the good of the past.  You might say, the level of hostility to nostalgia might say much about how well we're doing with the present.  

Anyway, if there was one trait from that time, especially the late Cold War, it was Optimism.  That was the thing.  Though the progressive movement was turning our attention more and more to the increasingly irredeemable sins of the West, America, Christianity, and pretty much anything west of the Urals, it was still wrapped up in a bundle of 'but look how much progress we've made!'  Oh, there was still the insistence that we focus on those who 'fall through the cracks', or the insistence that we admit there is still work needing done.  But the uber-narrative was that we were getting better, moving forward, and had much to be happy about. 

Plus, though it's easy to look back and remember the stress and strain of the Cold War years, and it's not difficult to see we were already being weaned into thinking that the best we could say in the US was that we were no better than the Soviets, there was still the reality of the USSR.  It was there.  And despite the developing cultural emphasis on how cool the communists could be, we couldn't help but notice a dearth of those same people falling over themselves to move there. 

Fact is, no matter how we sliced it or tried to blame Reagan, we still had the idea that over there was Mordor, and we were at least Gondor.  As flawed and sinful as we were and as the focus increasingly was, we were still on the right side of the conflict.  

And it looked like we were trying to learn from the past.  Lofty ideas of putting behind us judging based on skin color or any group identity, being tolerant of differing views and lifestyles, restraining from judging either the past or the present, putting the pains and hurts of history behind us, being free to live and speak and think as we choose - those were mighty appealing social promises. Appealing, even if, in hindsight, it's easy to see those making such promises had some pretty long lists of provisos and qualifiers attached to those high ideals. 

Now, I expect little from the games I love.  Really.  I don't get hung up on accuracy or details or really much of anything. Sometimes a design decision will leave me scratching my head.  But then I remind myself that I'm looking at a playing piece on a board that is supposed to vaguely represent in often unimaginably abstract ways the complexities of the human experience, entire historical events, and often in the worst of circumstances.  I'll usually give a pass to the designers. 

What I do love, however, is when a game strikes that right vibe; that feeling that matches what the game is attempting to evoke.  It might be the vast long term and complex logistical focus of World in Flames that allows you to sympathize with the massive organizational undertaking that was the Second World War, or the excellent mood of ancient Roman cloak and dagger that comes with The Roman Republic, or even a very broad sense of medieval feudal wranglings in that boardgame Fief.  The game 1776 catches the scale of that Revolutionary Colonial era war feel, and Victory Games' The Civil War was the first Civil War game I played, and still the best for putting you in that time from a bird's eye view, at least IMHO.  As I wrote some time ago, I even like the game Eldritch Horror for that Lovecraftian aesthetic it hits so well. 

That's why I love Twilight Struggle.  To borrow the old saying, it 'Gets' the Cold War and the whole feeling of that period in history.  Even the parts of the game that tap into events long before I came along manage to pull me back to that time when we weren't fighting about reality, but instead were still trying to struggle for the right over the wrong in basic, common sensical ways. 

The game itself is a pseudo-card driven game.  The goal is to get the most points, and this is accomplished by pushing your side's influence into as much of the world as possible. And don't forget those obscure African countries in the middle of nowhere, they can make a difference.  The one game ender is if certain events could cause the Defcon Rating to drop, and we all know what happens if it hits one (game over, both lose - a fun mechanic). 

The cards themselves are drawn randomly, and played back and forth by each player.  There are different sets of cards per era of the Cold War - early, mid, late.  The cards have a point value that you can play to push more influence into an area, or invest in other nifties, like the Space Race or even the Olympics.  The cards also have historical references printed on them that can be played instead, and they give a tremendously broad amount of benefits for your side or penalties for the other.  The various historical references vary greatly from Woodstock and The Soviet Pact, to Sputnik, The Truman Doctrine, or heck, the whole of the Korean or Vietnam Wars.  In the instructions, in keeping with the best of historical strategy games, there is a section that explains the actual historical basis for each card and the overall time period.

All in all, it seeks to unpack that era after WWII that changed how the era after such a catastrophic war might have unfolded, even if at the time we didn't realize that. And the game manages it on almost every level.  A relatively fast game, it can be wrapped up in an hour or so.  Or it can drag out.  But once you get the hang of it, it's a fast play for two players.  One that manages to pick you up and deliver you back to a time when you didn't need an explanation for the picture on its box. 

Why did scenes like these from my college days make a young, liberal
agnostic like me feel secure and confident even though
they weren't supposed to?  Because I wasn't an idiot, that's why.

The days will soon be gone

The Catholic Bard muses on the sudden string of well known celebrities passing away.  Chuck Mangione, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourn and Hulk Hogan.  

Those were names loomed large in that pivotal time my life as I began transitioning from childhood to adulthood.  Mangione came first, though I didn't know him by name at the time.  It would be years later before I attached his name and larger body of work to that delightfully ubiquitous song that became his trademark. I mean, a flugelhorn?  Who tops the charts in the age of Disco and 70s rock with a flugelhorn?  His picture adorning the record sleeve was one of pure elation. I mean, I dare you to look at that picture and not smile: 

Happiness personified

Malcolm Jamal Warner became a big name in my later high school and college days with his turn as Bill Cosby's TV son (a loosely inspired character from Cosby's own real life son).  Like Michael J. Fox and Michael Gross on Family Ties, his easy chemistry with Cosby at times almost overshadowed the rest of the show.  Since Cosby was such a cultural juggernaut at a time when America still had strands of homogeneity, it wasn't difficult learn Warner's name, even if only as part of the day's larger cultural tapestry.

Then there was Ozzy Osbourne.  A lightning rod for self-made problems, Ozzy's was one of ups and some catastrophic downs.  Not all were of his doing.  Originally part of the provocatively named Black Sabbath, he dipped when, in 1978, an obscure group who opened for them on tour came to steal the show every night.  That group was Van Halen.  Finally, Osbourn formed his own group around himself, tapping into a young guitar virtuoso who gave Mr. Van Halen a run for his money - Randy Rhodes and the legendary Blizzard of Ozz and Crazy Train.  Thus began the famous 'Guitar Wars' featuring Rhodes and Eddie that were broadcast in our area on 96.9, home of the Buzzard, and were required listening for most of my peers in my school.   But alas, young Mr. Rhodes died tragically in the same manner as Buddy Holly and his fellow passengers, leading Ozzy down another spiral.  This was after Ozzy was hospitalized for biting the head off of a rabid bat during a drug fueled concert appearance.  Such was Ozzy's life.  Part poster child for the sex, drugs and rock and roll Me Generation, part cautionary tale, part individual trying to scrape out a positive legacy before he passed.  

And of course, there was Hulk Hogan.  In my lifetime, never has Professional Wrestling been so famous with the wrestlers being household names - almost parodies of  characters - than the early to mid 80s.  And Hogan was the spokesman.  Though I never cared for the wrestling gig, I had to admit that however inauthentic you might say wrestling was, give credit to a man who can pick up Andre the Giant and twirl him about.  Like the WWF of the day, and the 80s in general, Hogan was larger than life. It was an odd time of excess, decadence, godlessness and strangely the last gasp of a somewhat pre-post-modern society. 

It's easy to forget how much of a giant he was

With the exception of two musicians of wildly different musical genres, none of the four had much if anything in common.  And yet they all loomed large - very, very large - in that time of my life when such things mean so much to a youngster.  Well, Mangione's song loomed large since you heard it all the time.  Like You Light Up My Life, but more agreeable.  Yet they all made an impression on a time in my life I will never forget.  Even if that time, like all times, must pass.  

However much you think the modern Left hates America

And to a broader extent, the whole of the Christian West, you doubtlessly underestimate the reality. This was brought to mind when Deacon Greydanus copied this FB post:

Woof.  Most "White" Americans in 1872 were White Supremacists?  What about 1873? That made me think of this:

The joke is that this is a fellow insisting Trump/MAGA/Conservatives are the Nazi racists when he, like so many on the modern Left, thinks nothing of judging and condemning an entire nationality based on race and ethnicity.  We call that projection, not to mention naked hypocrisy.  And, of course, it's racism plain and simple.  But it's what we're up against, and there are obviously a growing number of people in the world more than happy to cheer on this thinking, since they can clearly see where this attitude and bias is heading. 

If you're wondering, here was Deacon Greydanus's own comment in the post that linked to this typical progressive spin on our history: 

Saying you will learn anything about anything by reading such a leftist screed is like saying 'If you don't know the background of the LGBTQ community - read Fred Phelps."  We won't get into the slanted way one must see history to agree with such an appraisal.  

As the Left peddles more and more anti-Caucasian race hate for the purpose of burning the whole of the Western tradition, and further makes clear that it cares not a lick about human suffering but that it can be exploited,  and on top of it all is doing this in order to sniff around the door of walking back religious liberty, free speech, advocating cannibalism, excusing the slaughter of Jews, and pondering the benefits of human sacrifice, we're faced to confront a difficult reality. Those Christians who have long aligned with the left of center can't possibly not see what is happening.  Naivete and innocent credulity only go so far.  At some point we must concede that they know full well what is being done, they see it for what it is, and for reasons known only to them and God, they fully align with it.  Not that this hasn't happened many times in history.  It's just difficult when it's happening in your own time. 

Friday Frivolity: A very good movie

So our youngest hadn't seen all of the movies the older boys grew up with when they were young.  He's seen many, but not all.  Recently he watched, for the first time, the first Sam Raimi Spiderman film.  He was impressed, but not overly.  

I remember that well.  The X-Men movie had come out and brought back some of the good will lost to the genre after the disastrous Batman and Robin starring George Clooney.  After that garbage heap, I recall some folks wondering if this time the Superhero Movie genre was dead for good.  The same conversation came after the dismal performance of the uber-preachy Superman IV back in the day, only to get a second chance from Tim Burton's first Batman movie - admittedly due to the hype around then superstar Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker. 

But X-Men got people's attention and folks thought perhaps it could work, or at least it was worth trying again.  Then came Spiderman.  In those infancy years of the Internet, I was only partly on board with the cultural conversation trends.  And I've never been a big comic book fan in the first place.  I know some of the bigger characters, and recall Saturday morning cartoons here or there from back in the day, but that's all.  

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but hear that there was quite a lot of controversy surrounding that upcoming movie.  Because for this Spiderman, some young, rather diminutive actor named Toby Maguire had been tapped to play the superhero.  A scrawny little geeky kid?  That's not Peter Parker!  Heading into its release, I remember the scuttlebutt about the assumed pushback.  This was only exacerbated by the delay in release because of the movie erasing scenes involving the World Trade Center towers, which ceased to exist after filming.  

But when it came out, it was an out of the box smash. The idea of Spiderman as the alter-ego of an otherwise put upon, beaten up, bullied and awkward super-nerd captured the imagination of young filmgoers everywhere.  Sort of every geeky wallflower's dream.  Even if they made the unwise decision of covering the face of crack actor Willem Dafoe and not allowing him to emote as he could have, it was a mega-hit.  And then, of course, you had 'the kiss', which became the talk of the pop culture mainstream media that year. 

Now the next question was, could they do it again. X-Men 2 had come out, and many felt it was better than the first.  But the X-Men franchise was always somewhat niche for the comic book world.  Spiderman, like Batman and Superman, was a household superhero name.  I knew of the character after all, and that's saying something.  Being that well known does place a burden after all. So was it luck for the first time out, or could the success of these franchises keep the genre alive?  

Then came Spiderman 2.  The first correction to the original came to the supervillain - Dr. Octopus. This time the main antagonist was played not by some A-List actor's turn as the latest supervillain, but by accomplished character actor Alfred Molina.  No masks or face coverings here.  He was allowed to show all of his human expressions and emotion, and he did so in spades.  Being an almost would be mentor to young Peter, he is transformed by a science experiment gone terribly wrong that costs him everything.  Bringing a combination of wit, snark and at times understated delivery, he was able to do what Dafoe couldn't.  And he did it wonderfully.

But more than that, my son noticed that the movie was, well, mostly just a good movie.  The 'comic book' parts were few and far between.  In fact, a sizeable part of the movie could have been a teen romantic comedy with nothing superhero about it at all.  You could have taken away the minimal comic book  story and replaced it with a young, conflicted kid overworking to get ahead, struggling with his romantic relationships, with a disgruntled coworker whose own dreams have been dashed and is seething with resentment, and the main crux of the plot and the characters would remain unchanged. Which only adds to the punch when the actual comic book element comes crashing back into the story.

FWIW, I'm not a professional film critic, and I don't know the jargon and the gibberish that film critics use to unpack this or that film.  I just know a good movie when I see it. For example, in addition to the movie itself being hailed even now as one of the best in the whole genre, my sons tell me that the climactic confrontation upon a speeding L-Train is still considered one of the best action sequences ever, not only in comic book movies, but movies in general.  I'm inclined to agree. 

Because like the best filmed scenes in any good movie, the action flows from logical development to logical development - it helps tell a story.  Just like the lightsaber duels in the original Star Wars films.  As opposed to much of the CGI action now (including later Star Wars films), which is just endless CGI action followed by more endless CGI action almost to the point of numbed boredom.  When the action starts in Spiderman 2, it's moving the film from point A to point B, as all scenes in good films should. And it's worth noting that those scenes are surprisingly brief. 

A big shout out goes to the effects for not being merely a ton of CGI on greenscreens.  For instance, the mechanical arms of the villain were real, and worked by puppeteers off screen for most of the shots.  For those cases where CGI was needed, and certainly it was used extensively throughout the movie, it was still built upon the modeled arms for reference.  It was similar to the original Jurassic Park, which filmed all dinosaur scenes with stop motion models as reference, giving the CGI more depth and realism when it was used.  

But the most important thing, at the end of the day, is that it's a movie that is incidentally a superhero movie.  The important part of the film is the storyline, the struggles of the main character and his interactions with those most important to the story arc.  Take away the fight scenes and spiderwebs and costumes, and you're still left caring about what happens to him.  Will things work out?  Will he find his footing in life?  Who is going to get hurt?  Because the rival for Mary Jane's affection is not portrayed as a one dimensional jerk.  Rather he's shown as a great guy who is genuinely good, at which point you know someone good is going to lose.  And that's a bold decision in any story.  It would be easier on the audience to have her beaux be a jerk or frothing at the mouth sexist or something.  But nope, someone has to be hurt when the dust settles, and the film does a good enough job preparing you for the star being the one who gets the loser card at the end (assuming you don't know the comics).   The same goes, it should be mentioned, to the very shy and awkward daughter of Peter's quirky landlord.  She obviously has a crush, but for her to hope for a chance, Peter must lose what he wants the most.  Otherwise, she loses. And she is nothing but a sweet, shy girl. 

That's how the movie works so well.  Maguire does an excellent job as the beat-dog superhero who is a genius on one side, but at times socially awkward and lacking in basic life skills on the other.  The guy who just seems to be there to be kicked around.  His one benefit is being a superhero, but even that is as much bane as boon in this movie.  Kirsten Dunce does a good job with the frustration and confusion she has over this would be lifelong childhood friend and possible love interest. J.K. Simmons chews up the scenery with his few minutes of screen time as Spiderman's chief critic J. Jonah Jamison. James Franco  merely broods and growls and complains about Spiderman, but this is one more part of Parker's life that seems in shambles.  And behind the scenes but always felt is Dr. Octavius, who is his own tragic character in the mix.  One of the best such villains, he is also one of the few who pass from mentor to monster and finally redeemed hero.  His classical training as an actor no doubt lent help to his role. 

Overall, it was just a good movie.  Like the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, it transcends the genre and becomes, not just a fine superhero movie, but a fine movie overall. 

As a side note, I should mention that it's been probably over a decade since I last saw this.  That's why I was almost shocked with a movie made before the last dozen or so years of the era of bat-nuts crazy.  At the end of the day, it's a movie with mostly white people, men and women, in what used to be a focus on story, characters and action.  There is no feeling that a demographic chart is at the bottom of the screen tracking various groups and their proportional representation, ready to blacklist the moment it fails in its obligation to meet appropriate group identity quotas.  There is an African American in a small part, Molina is part Spanish and Italian (but still "white"), and some long shots of crowds show a variety of groups (it is New York after all), but that's it.  It's neither a problem nor a focus. It just is.  In those days, we wouldn't have thought much about it one way or another.  Just the fact that some diversity was represented was good enough.  Likewise, Mary Jane doesn't suddenly turn into a Ninja warrior and take out a platoon with her bare hands, pinning Dr. Octopus in a half nelson for Spiderman to finish off.  She's the damsel in distress who must be save by Spiderman.  It all seemed so ... normal, natural, common sensical, and in the oddest twist, a million times more real than agenda driven movies today supposedly based on reality but that seem anything but real. 

Original teaser art that I remember got people talking

A note for supporters of President Trump

As President Trump shocked his supporters by initially putting the kibosh on the Jeffery Epstein case, there is another thing that is far more important for his and his party's fortunes in future elections.  He must improve the economy - for the average American.  

I'm not one who says he's been in office six months and hasn't ended sin in the world so I'm out of here.  I'm old enough to remember the horrible 1982 Recession, when the press and Democrats jumped all over President Reagan, saying it's because of him that our economy was on the brink of ruin.  

Then things cleared, the economy rebounded, and we entered into a stretch of huge growth across the board.  Growth that a large swath of America happily enjoyed (including those who criticized the excess of the day).  Hence the 1984 landslide happened - and GHW Bush coasted into his first term on Reagan's coattails.  Because that Recession blip turned out to be a blip.  And we saw overall growth and improvements for the bulk of the population, in addition to a couple other significant accomplishments on the part of the Reagan administration. 

Something the Democrats/Press missed in 2016, and again in 2024.  At the end of the day, you can have everything in your pocket, but in a democratic society, you have to produce.  You have to show results.  You can't lie or deny your way out of it.  The same here with a president the media doesn't support. Despite the media's hysterics, the economy hasn't collapsed and prices haven't skyrocketed through the ceiling because of President Trump.  Which is good.

But things haven't really improved either.  And they were bad these last several years.  Very, very bad.  The post-truth media, having perfected the art of ignoring the screams of a million dying innocents if they can't be exploited, thought it could  pour a ton of manure on the economic news hoping that something beautiful would grow.  But funny thing about people.  They'll believe a lot, but not that things are fine when they're suffering as a result of them not being fine. 

Because of the press's antics, however, it's easy to forget just how bad things were these last few years.  But now the pilot of the good plane America is President Trump.  And while he has only been in office six months, he has been in office six months.  Much of what he has done appears to be impacting vast, social, national and international long term issues and, as during the Biden administration, Wall Street as good as always.  Fair enough.

But by next year, people like me and tens of millions of others better see things improve.  We better see either the results of the staggeringly disastrous inflation under Biden reduced if not eliminated, or see incomes or wages or benefits skyrocket or something.  At the end of the day, for every other topic that drove voters into the booth last November, it was - to quote the sage - the economy stupid.  And rightly so.  Not since the 2008 collapse have I seen it so bad, only this time the press was insisting there was nothing to see and thus being no help.

But things were, and are, very bad for very many millions of Americans.   Of course, just like telling people things aren't bad when they are, people will also know they're good no matter how much the bad is focused on.  See the 1984 election, when so much media emphasis was on all those failing to benefit from the improvements.  People know when things are better.  But President Trump has a limit to how long it can go without the average American voter seeing things improve.  I'd say by the midterms there better be something to grab onto, don't expect them to go well for President Trump or the GOP. 

Another birthday comes around

I've beat that dead horse about 'our time of the year', which doesn't mean as much now that our daughter-in-law, her and our son's anniversary, and our little doll granddaughter all have their big days in May.  And, as can be expected, things have always been muddied anyway, with each year various forces trying to intrude on any and all traditions, customs and ties to the past, no matter the time of year.  

Nonetheless, our third oldest's birthday, now after that goofy Juneteenth that nobody seems to know why we celebrate, has special punch to it.  It's around the six month sprint to Christmas, still that most magical time of year despite Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's attempts otherwise.  And it means we're on the down slope from Summer (my least favorite season) and heading into Fall (my most favoritest).

This wasn't one of the big, monumental birthdays.  But it wasn't a lost one either.  Comfortably in his mid 20s, he's going to culinary school to pick up where his older brother had to leave off.  Years ago, after the BLM riots caused him to step away from going into law enforcement (shame, he's the large, big hearted type you want as a police officer, but that's leftwing activism for you), he confided in me about something.  That is, he also enjoys cooking and wouldn't mind going into the world of gourmet cooking - he just didn't have the heart because of his brother.  I told him that's commendable, but he also has his life and own calling to think about.  After some time, and hard work, and getting to work next to one of central Ohio's top chefs, he decided to take the plunge - with his oldest brother's blessings. 

As birthdays go, with all the health roller coasters we've been riding these last couple months, it was a little sedate.  We got him the obligatory wargame (he is our board game guru after all).  He was gifted a couple other things that he enjoyed (he's so easy to buy for). We were shocked at how much he loved one of his gifts.  We weren't really imagining that, but that's the fun of gift giving.  His menu request was rather simple this year - Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with fixins.  And a nice family time with the others and the grandbaby bringing the fun.  

Plus, for added fun, a while back we decided to take the plunge into that colossus of all wargames that I've written about, World in Flames.  The ultimate comprehensive WWII game.  It's a favorite of his; more a stand alone hobby than a game.  More about logistics than military maneuvers, and he's all about logistics.  No matter what he does in life, he'll be happier if it involves crunching numbers.  Of course we no longer can get all the brothers around for something like that.  But we decided this time we'll adopt a sort of 'deal me in/deal me out' approach.  That is, as long as one is on each side and available, we can play.  The others will be brought up to speed when they're around.  I also promised this time I'll keep a log so whatever crazy might happen to disrupt things, we won't have to start from scratch because we can't remember what was happening. That made him happy.

So as birthdays go in tumultuous times, not bad.  Here's to another year and a blessed one ahead. 

It just breaks your heart

Rod Dreher, who I know can be both hit and miss, takes time to muse on the difficulties we have processing such tragedies.  Crimes, wars, abuses, murders - these we can chalk up to the evil that  men do.  And sometimes, as suggested by the testimony of that nurse at Camp Mystic, it can be the fact that we are flawed people.  The goes for some of those in charge of the alerts that were delayed.  Or just the decision to build a camp in low lying areas known as 'Flash Flood Alley.'  We make mistakes. That is not to condemn these or others for decisions made.  It happens.  We're an imperfect brood in a fallen world, and sometimes those imperfections can cause endless pain and suffering.  I don't envy them the guilt they may live with in the coming years. 

But there are still times when you do want to go out and shake your fist at God. The Psalmists knew this all too well.  Though I've never known why this was supposed to be some slam dunk against the existence of God that atheists seem to imagine.  Dreher suggests Dostoevsky's Ivan Karamazov had better arguments than the often puffed up Voltaire. Perhaps. Nonetheless, the most such arguments could do would be to cast some doubt at the proclamation that God is Love, all Powerful, and yet such things happen (see Harold Kushner).  They have nothing to say about a God existing one way or another.  

And it isn't like Atheism's answer is any better.  Which is basically conceding that suffering happens  because it happens, like atoms and gravity.  Besides all notions of meaning are subjective illusions anyway.  You suffer, so do birds and caterpillars and honey badgers.  Sucks to be you I guess. In the end you matter no more than a donkey burp.  Which is about all atheism can honestly offer.  Would we suggest, therefore, that this proves atheism is wrong?  

Anyway, it's a deeper subject to delve into than this little blog can handle.  And, as we used to say in ministry, it's not like getting an answer would take away the pain.  It's not as if Job would be comforted if he found out his suffering was due to a wager between God and Satan.  Yet my son did notice something.  Recently there has been newstalk about younger Americans not wanting kids.  Apparently some celebrity came out and said kids are the pits, and everyone she knows who has kids is a miserable schmuck.  Which, of course, is an extension of our abortion era mindset about kids as a disease to be cured, only to be blessings if and when convenient to certain people.  

Nonetheless, when something like this happens, it seems everyone is shaken.  Not that we don't care when tragedy strikes adults or older people or anyone really.  But when children are impacted, no matter how our pop culture might suggest the best kids are no kids, it's just not in our DNA to really believe it. Like so many dogmas that our post-God era promotes.  So often reality is the first line of defense against what we are taught nowadays.  Which, in its own weird way, gives hope.  No matter how much our best and brightest appear to want us to toss the real and embrace the mortal sins of the world, there's just too much of that Divine spark in us for it to last against overwhelming common sense and common virtue.  Which might be why, no matter how the Psalmist laments the question of why God has forsaken him, he inevitably ends up proclaiming that the same Lord is his shepherd.  

That lack of loyalty again

There's a funny saying that if you want to know what God thinks of money, look who He gives it to. I thought of that when I heard the news that Elon Musk is threatening to form a rival political party to combat both parties, including President Trump. 

This continues to be a giant fly in the ointment for President Trump.  Not in my lifetime have I seen a president inspire so little loyalty among his own allies.  I mean, you have your turncoats and the ones who decide they can no longer support a leader. You have those who jump ship and vie for control by usurping the leader in question.  It happens.

But wading through the stadium full of people who have turned on Trump and betrayed him and joined his opponents is telling.  I said that before, here.  I'm sure some of it is as above.  It happens.  Sometimes you have your Benedict Arnold types. But so many, with it happening so often, as to be almost the rule rather than glaring exception, has to mean something beyond 'it's not Trump but because they're all the nasties.' 

Oh, and eventually President Trump must fix the economy. So far his opponents have performed miracles by making the hysteria so bad that our country could plunge into a Depression and it wouldn't live up to the panic.  Nonetheless, when the dust settles, and the months have turned to years, we'll need to see the disaster of the last three years fixed.  Those prices will have to be cut, or incomes catch up, or something.  Otherwise I can't say who will be the next president, but I know who won't be.  Just saying.  

Prayers for the families in Texas

By now you've probably heard.  Tragic, and that camps for children were so prominently impacted, a parent's worst nightmare.  Right now, prayers are all that we can do.  Prayers and thankfulness for those out there, even risking their lives, to help save others.  

UPDATE: We should avoid like the plague any idea of blame here.  Already, as if on que, you have the blame game going on.  Fact is, I saw interviewed on ABC this morning a nurse at Camp Mystic.  By her own admission, she received the first Flood Warning alert.  She said it was raining but not bad, so she took no other action.  An hour later another camp counselor notified her that water was already coming into the cabins.  Then she said she notified camp staff and, rather than move the children, they simply toured the camp to see the state of things.  And based on everything stated by those who saw the floods rise, that was the fatal error.  Instead of immediately getting the girls to higher ground and then surveying the camp to see what was happening, by her own admission they didn't do that.  We call that human error.  She didn't appear to realize the implication of what she was saying in the interview.  I'm not sure why she said it.  I sat in stunned silence as she unpacked the chain of events.  I won't point fingers, because you never know what else was happening.  But no matter what led them to feel leaving the girls sleep as waters were pouring into some of the cabins, that has to be a factor behind the disastrous loss of innocent life that happened.  Again, I won't condemn.  Unless there is some big part of the story she didn't mention, however, when the gravity of how things went down hits her, I'm sure it will be something that will plague her the rest of her life.  

Of course it's fine to ask questions.  For those in the broader area who died, perhaps changing things around might be a good idea.  Having different warning signals.  Perhaps not having camps in low lying areas known as Flash Flood Alley.  I don't know.  But right there we have an added layer of that human tragedy that can be overlooked if we rush out to make political hay from such human suffering.  A woman who probably is in shock and will be hit hard by the decisions made.  That's why prayers, rather than politics, are the right thing to do for all involved, especially as the tragedy continues to unfold.