Why the sudden attack on alchohol?

So by now I'm sure you've heard that the research is in, and alcohol leads to cancer.  I first saw it announced last year, and since then almost every other week I've seen news stories about how more and more research is drawing a thick, straight line between drinking and cancer.  So much so that, as this story says:

"There really isn’t a safe level of drinking when it comes to cancer risk."

You see that?  There just isn't a safe amount of drinking where cancer is concerned.  This isn't the usual 'research says a glass of wine is good for you/research says a glass of wine is bad for you' that we're used to hearing.  No.  This is a growing, concerted, coordinated assault on alcohol in general.

So I ask myself - why?  Yes, cancer seems to be on the rise, though you never know. I've heard it is on the rise one day, then I'm told it isn't on another.  I do know many things are getting worse - food allergies and Alzheimer's/dementia are said to be increasing and at younger and younger ages.  That much I can see and don't need research to point out the obvious. 

But for some reason, the press and medical establishment have gone pit bull on alcohol. Which is strange.  Because the processing of alcohol in some parts of the world, and perhaps even here in the States, is one of the few things left whereby traditional, more natural and less synthetic and artificially created chemical processes and preservatives are used.  Why in an age of most foods being injected with endless chemicals or pesticides or processed in ways hell and gone from natural, it's wine and beer that is the target has me scratching my head.

I brought this up in response to yet another story about the dangers of all alcohol, and received a puzzling answer.  I was told in the US it's often not the case that alcohol is processed naturally today. I was told we use as much artificial and manufactured chemicals in processing drinks today as with any other food group.  But to me, that seems like the problem is the artificial processing, not the alcohol. 

Yet the stories keep rolling out.  Every other week or more frequently.  So I ask, why?  Especially since it's impossible for me to think that if alcohol, something that has been consumed for thousands of years, is suddenly a problem, the rest of what we're eating and drinking should be off the scale and met with even greater warnings.  Yet little is being said there, despite a year long wave of broadsides against alcohol and alcohol alone. 

I should note that, at the end of the above story, it does say there are many, many issues in the research that need addressed, and much that is not known.  That's something I guess.  It's just that since last year, this more than anything has become a major point across the news media and in the medical fields, and I can't help but wonder why.  

Let it be known, BTW, that I'm not being paid by beer or wine companies here.  Nor am I encouraging people to drink.  It's just that in our modern age of post-truth and post-integrity, when something like this comes out of the blue when it seems so out of joint with everything else going on, it makes me wonder what is up.  What are they up to, and why. 

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.  

The media template for reporting on mass shootings

 

And that's how the media does it.  There is no real room for debate.  I welcome anyone to demonstrate that I've missed something, but I don't think this is too far from the mark.  

Teaching our students to praise the Holocaust

Is what you would think is happening if you read this "news" story on NBC.  It's continuing the hysterics and panic kicked off when a school administrator in Texas told teachers they would have to present "opposing views" on the Holocaust.  I mentioned that here, and noted it was already having the desired effect.

The desired effect is to fight any restrictions on the teaching (or, depending on who you ask, not teaching) of Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project, and other leftwing anti-American  initiatives in our school systems.  Why the administrator said what she said is beyond me.  Even now, I've not seen details or exactly what was meant by opposing views or the context of those views.

It was simply thrown out as a panic phrase meant to achieve what it is achieving.  Like beating a jack-ass with a whip, it's had the desired effect on parents, pundits, activists, and journalists running around with hair on fire, wailing over the assumption that our kids will have to sing praise songs to Hitler.  

This is how you do it, and why the modern news media is one of the greatest forces of evil, lies and oppression in the world today.  With few exceptions, it exists to defend the Left at all cost, and hunt down and silence or eradicate any opposition to the Left by any means possible.  I would believe the world is flat before I'd believe something the national press says today, especially if it's framed as a media firestorm of panic and fear. 

Again, why the administrator did what she did is beyond me.  Was she that ignorant?  Does she get all of her information from Twitter posts?  Does she know it's BS and she did this on purpose to gin up hysteria and opposition to limits on leftwing agendas in our schools?  

I don't know.  I just know the press has run with it and has had a field day.  And I've come to realize when I see the press run with anything and have such a field day, there's a 99% chance the story itself is as false as a Paul Bunyan sighting. 

Now that Cuomo has resigned

It's time to get back to the big scandal of his administration.  And that isn't anything about what he did to women, but what he did to thousands of nursing home residents.  Remember that?  Oh yeah.  That's right.  That was a thing for a minute. 

Even as this article from February makes clear, Cuomo had become a pariah overnight when it was revealed that a tremendous amount of nursing home deaths from Covid could have been due to his policies.  Furthermore, he then sought to hide the data rather than come clean.  Always a bad move in politics. 

But the press is jealous of its vague statistics and talking points cleverly isolated from broader contexts.  Donald Trump Covid killed 600,000 Americans.  Stop.  That is all that should be repeated.  No unpacking the numbers, like discovering that almost 20% of all deaths were, in fact, in nursing homes.  Or that almost 80% of all Covid deaths in the USA are among individuals 65 and older.  Nope.  Just '600,000 Covid deaths/Trump', packaged, repeated, proclaimed and repeated again.  

Having to deal with a story like the Cuomo nursing home scandal, and it leading people to bring out the ledgers and look at more than just a single media thrice-daily repeated stat for the masses, simply won't do.  Therefore, shortly after this story broke - ta-da! - we have an oldie but a goodie, the always reliable sexual misconduct claims.

In the olden days, just the accusation of sexual misconduct in terms of an affair would do the job.  Today it must be a violation of the only sexual ethic we have left, and that's a violation of consent.  That did the trick.  Alost immediately after the story of sexual misconduct broke, the nursing home story was all but dropped.  That was the important thing.

Clever people at the top who are cynical about the media state's insistence that the vaccines that Trump was dangerously pushing to be developed are now the only hope for mankind, might want to take this opportunity to focus the press back to the nursing home scandal.  After all, that is the big scandal out of New York politics for the year, not the one all the media is focused upon in the current news cycle. 

What the Cuomo accusations say about liberal Democrats

Not a damn thing, that's what.  Politics will politic of course.  Whether innocent or not, New York politicians may find it's worth their time to run Cuomo out on a rail.  In fact, the only reason we know of this series of accusations is because earlier in the year stories were emerging of a catastrophic level of deaths in New York nursing homes due to Covid and New York's handling of the crisis.  So out of dumb, blind luck, we suddenly heard about all these accusations and forgot about the whole nursing homes in New York story.  

Remember, a year ago the press was gaga over Cuomo.  Cuomo, as opposed to EvilTrump, was the man.  Some were pushing him for a presidential run.  The guy won an Emmy Award!  Cuomo was the shining star of the party, of America, of the World. 

But there were troubles, including the nagging realization that a massive percentage of those who died of Covid in America died in New York.  True, much of it occurred in actual New York  City, but the two are seldom far apart in the minds of most Americans. 

Most preferred the media narrative, perfectly acceptable to Never Trumpers everywhere, that over 600,000 Americans died because of Donald Trump.  Trump and Trump alone killed all 600,000.  This was an important narrative buttressing last year's post-rules and standards months long silver platter election.  No matter how uninformed he was, the American voter who just received an open ballot in the mail knew it was Trump who was killing Americans by the hundreds of thousands.

So a story that shined light on the fact that there is more to that stat than that stat was troubling to the all important media narrative.  As I've said before, if nature abhors a vacuum, the news media abhors complexity and nuance.  So once more, when things that trouble a liberal agenda or a liberal narrative occur, in a bizarre coincidence, accusations of sexual assault or similar explosive headlines, are usually forthcoming.  

None of this is to say he isn't guilty.  I'll leave that for an actual hearing.  Just like Bill Cosby.  I never said Cosby was innocent or not.  I merely noted that the accusations against America's Favorite Dad didn't come until after he outraged liberals by giving a speech calling on Black America to stop blaming whites and rise up and take responsibility for their lives. 

Same here. Without making a judgment, I can still note the timing.  Because at best, much of it is no doubt about politics and agendas and Cuomo.  Nonetheless, his actual behavior, if true, doesn't really say anything about liberal Democrats, New Yorkers, men, or any group to which Cuomo happens to belong.  That should be common sense yet, even as I write this, I ponder just how extreme such a view is in our modern, Internet, American state of affairs. 

I realize it's nothing new.  Throughout history, finding the attitude that a person from Group X did something because they were part of Group X is more common than not.  After WWII, we decided that wasn't healthy thinking and began our move toward that 'one race, the human race' thinking, with not judging someone except for content of individual character. 

When did that began to change back to old time thinking?  I don't know.  I blame feminism for a lot of things, but it seems to my recollections that it was feminists who first turned the clock back by suggesting, rather successfully back in the 80s when I was in college, that a man doesn't rape a woman because he's a bad man.  He rapes her because he's a man and that's always what men are and have done. 

I dunno.  Maybe it wasn't feminists, but that's the first I remember in my life where judging an entire group of humanity based on the actions of an individual in that group seemed quite acceptable and endorsed by our best and brightest.  Today it's practically gospel truth.  The question isn't whether or not Cuomo did this because he was being bad.  The question is which of his identifying group identities can be blamed: a Democrat, a man, a New Yorker, a brother of a CNN host.  The possibilities are endless.

It's also wrong.  To suggest Cuomo behaving badly - assuming the accusations are true - means anything about anyone other than Cuomo is simply stepping backward in time and learning nothing from the past.  I realize the temptation for conservatives is to do it to them, given how often it is done to conservatives.  That if three Mongolians raped a Nigerian woman in Brazil, some will find a way to make it about white conservative Christian men.  I get that.

But as my mom always says - and she's been quoted by many - two wrongs don't make a right.  For now, I suggest letting the Democrats clean their own house, and avoid the temptation to make this about anything other than Cuomo and the parties in question.  So far, that seems to be how conservatives are reacting, and that's good.  Just my two cents worth, which is usually worth about two cents. 

Salvation through vaccination

Or Franciscan University blasphemes the gospel of STEM.  At least supposedly. At least Franciscan University - a much loathed and hated university among the always enlightened and tolerant Catholic Left and former conservatives - declined to have the university host a vaccine site.  

We know this is bad because since then, dozens of positive Covid cases have occurred.  This wouldn't have happened if they had offered the vaccine site.  We know that because more and more people than ever have been vaccinated while Covid rates have been on the rise.  That, however, is due to variants in the Covid virus, which seem either to be addressed by the vaccines or not addressed.  In any event, we know the vaccines are doing their job because rates were alternately rising and shrinking before the vaccines, unlike now when they have been steadily rising. 

Which is why everyone should be vaccinated, so we can get back to almost normal.  Though we may still need to social distance, avoid non-BLM mass gatherings, and perhaps continue to wear face masks.  This being because not everyone has been vaccinated, or perhaps we may still need to anyway.  

Nonetheless, vaccines obviously work and they are completely safe.  There were a couple cases of blood clots in women that may be linked to the vaccines but those are the only problems.  Oddly enough, in our family we personally know three individuals who had severe reactions not connected to having received the vaccines, including one elderly woman who had to be rushed to the emergency room, again in no way connected to the vaccination she received. So it's appalling that Franciscan University hates Science.  

For our part, we haven't been vaccinated.  That's because we're frothing at the mouth, anti-Science, anti-Vaccers.  Or, it's because after we watched the elderly lady rushed to the ER - the mother in law of a doctor who went to our former church no less - we reasoned my own Mom, at the tender age of 90 and, while healthy, not up to fending off what that woman went through, might not fare so well. 

In addition, owing to his white privilege, my oldest son still lives with us while going through college,.  He can't have the vaccinations because at least one of the vaccines could kill him, since he developed a fatal seafood allergy not related to the flu vaccine he received weeks before developing the allergy out of the blue.  While we only know of one Covid vaccine brand for sure that could kill him, we're not sold on the idea that other vaccines addressing the same problem could be any safer.

Since that's two who live with us who don't feel comfortable getting the vaccine for the sake of their health, we've concluded that, as of now, the rest of us getting the vaccine won't help, unless we throw the other two out on the street or lock them in the attic.  

True, we could just get them anyway, since except for six women with blood clots, not a single serious reaction has been documented.  But again, we're till waiting to see.  Dr. Pope Francis has said we should, and I know that carries more weight than Franciscan University.  After all, as Bill Nye has shown us all, to have any degree or classes in any science discipline is to be an expert in them all. 

Nonetheless, despite it all, we're still waiting and seeing.  Why Franciscan University did what it did I don't know, but I'm sure the reasons were most evil.  That's because anyone who questions the vaccines or fails to conform 100% to the latest demands of the Experts can only be both stupid and the most reprehensibly evil.  And that, kids, is what's called smart thinking in the 21st Century. 

Mass shootings and the ministry of lies

The press is dead, long live the propaganda ministry.  So when a man went on a killing spree and killed multiple victims in different massage parlors, the press almost immediately framed it as a racist hate crime.  Why?  Because most victims (not all, but most) were Asian and the shooter was white.  The shooter then claimed it was due to his spiraling sex obsessions gone out of control, lending credence to the old Christian principle that the wages of sin is death.  Really.  Sin leads to death.  Spiritual death and, as often as not, some variation on physical death. 

But not to be undone by reality, the press tried to make it about the sudden spike in anti-Asian crime.  Why this focus on anti-Asian crime?  Likely it's a preemptive narrative meant to shut down questions about Covid's origins and China's role in the entire pandemic.  You know, if you're asking the question, no doubt you're an anti-Asian racist who clearly wants as many Asians to die as possible. 

From the DOJ; proof of the anti-Asian violence problems in the US

Then a shooter walked into a grocery store and opened fire, killing ten victims and no doubt wounding many others.  There was no immediate narrative because the identity of the shooter remained fuzzy.  Early video showed the police escorting the suspect away, and those early clips made the suspect look mighty white.  Which was good.  That's more white racists killing people. 

But then things went wrong.  First, more evidence began to pile up around the massage parlor killings that the shooter's own testimony about his motives seems more likely.  After all, a racist hate crime doesn't only have to include victims of the particular targeted race, but it would help if there had been an Asian restaurant, or an Asian business or anything else included, rather than exclusively focused on massage parlors with a reputation of providing more than just massages. 

Then, worst of all, the identity of the Colorado shooter was revealed to be quite Muslim sounding and, even worse than that, an individual with social media posts railing against Donald Trump, Islamaphobia, and even such specific topics as immigration. Eeek. 

Beyond it being the first mass killing by a self-identifying Muslim since before Donald Trump was elected, the last thing we need is to look at motives if it doesn't include white people or men.

Relying on such obvious falsehoods is a way to show you're on the wrong side

Of course we can always default to gun control as good as any.  That's a standby for mass shootings where group identity can't become the story. 

But here's a guy with anti-Trump posts?  A guy with posts reflecting the media's own narrative of widespread Islamaphobic bigotry?  A guy who sounds pretty darn Muslim, if not Middle-Eastern?  What to do?

Well, do what all the media outlets I saw cover this have done.  First, spread doubt that a person who posted anti-Trump posts could really be motivated by things like anti-Trump feelings.  I mean, that's true. Just because someone posts something does that mean that was the motivator for the deed?   Not necessarily.  There are times the media loves nuance and death by a thousand trivial suppositions.  Come on, his anti-Trump posts are likely nothing at all, no clear reason to link those to his motives. I mean, if he had pro-Trump posts, do we really think the press would link his support to Trump with the violence? 

But his homophobic posts?  Ah, there you go.  He said something about Harry becoming Sally and his high school spying on him.  The media doesn't need to say there is a connection.  It's enough to keep mentioning it.  Over and over and over again.  The press isn't say he was motivated by homophobic bigotry, since there is nothing to suggest the victims had anything at all to do with the LGBTQ community.  It's enough to just say it.  That keeps the press from saying the nasty stuff that might hamstring the all important narrative.  Sort of a 'you know how murderous those anti-LGBTQ types are' without saying it, all while deflecting from other nasty conclusions about his motives. 

And all those pesky images of his anti-Trump, pro-leftist narrative posts:

Are these fakes?  Are they not real?  How do I know?  Common sense dictates that I can't trust what I see on the Internet.  Common sense also dictates that I can't trust what the news media tells me either.  At this point believing in doomsday UFO cults would make more sense than believing anything I see coming from the press.  So what to do? 

There comes a point when we begin to realize we know less about what is going on in the world than a 1st Century Roman or Medieval peasant would have known.  We think we know, but do we?  To trust what is on the Internet is difficult at best.  To trust what we are told by the news media is foolishness.  So how do we really know what is actually happening in this small, small world?  I don't know which is worse, that the press assumes we're stupid enough to believe this bilge, or that most today will actually (or conveniently) believe it. 

That's why it makes the most sense to pray. God knows even what the press chooses not to tell us.  Pray for the poor victims.  Pray for their families. Pray for the families of the shooters and all impacted by this evil.  Pray that people turn back to God and the source of every good and perfect gift.  And pray that the world turn to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.  Any trust in the horses and chariots of Washington rather than praying would necessitate us at least being informed.  I think by now, we should know that the last thing we are is informed. 

Thus says the Lord: “A voice of lamentation, weeping, and mourning was heard in Ramah. Rachel does not wish to cease mourning deeply over her children, because they are no more.”  Jeremiah 31.15

UPDATE: 

Yep:

Does this mean him being Syrian, or Muslim, or any such thing had anything to do with the Colorado shooter's motives?  Of course not.  It could, but not necessarily.  But we all know damn well how the press would be framing this if he was a white Baptist with a MAGA hat.  That's the problem.  I find it more and more difficult to respect people who say they trust the national press.  

How the news media does it

So Fridays are our lax days.  For dinner it's usually something quick, something that fits in a bowl, and sometimes we actually sit in front of the TV and watch something while we eat.  That's something we don't do unless it's a movie night, pizza night, or similar.  Because of the timing, that's often a chance to catch a weekly does of the local news.

Well tonight, the local news was all about the militia plot to kidnap and kill the Michigan governor.  I've heard little else from the news today.  It's all over the place.  And yes, it is a story that deserves to be covered. The local station we watched spent two whole segments talking about it, talking about militia, talking about domestic terrorism, talking about right wing extremists, talking about, well, anything and everything even remotely connected to anything not to the left of center. 

Contrast this to that same station's coverage of riots and destruction here locally due to the BLM protests.  Compare that to its lack of coverage or mention of Antifa, or the riots, destruction, assaults, violence, arson, looting, threats and even killings that happened for the last several months.  Not only is our local station guilty, but the national press is just as guilty of such double standards.  

It's not just this of course.  Let a Muslim go into a bar, declare fealty to Islam, and proclaim his plans to slaughter for the Islamic faith, and the press is puzzled.  What could be the motive?  No doubt the emphasis needs to be on the inevitable backlash by white racist Islamophobes.  

Let a card carrying liberal Democrat Bernie Sanders supporter proclaim his plan to murder Republicans, and proceed to gun down several GOP politicians, and suddenly we shouldn't even ask about motive.  Let's focus on guns instead!  And it happens constantly. 

If anyone connected to the civilization marked for destruction (the Christian West) does anything, it becomes an indictment on that person, that group, that ethnicity, that nation, that religion, that civilization, that political party, that entire political ideology and everyone in them.  If anyone else does something, however, then it's handwringing and thumb twiddling, pondering whether or not C-A-T spells Dog, musing on eternal possibilities and unanswerable questions, and then quickly moving on.

It isn't fair, it's cheating, playing dirty, and unjust.  It reminds me of that scene in the movie The Verdict.  Not a great movie IMHO, just because most characters aren't particularly likable.  But the acting is top notch, and it's an interesting watch.  

Paul Newman is a down on his luck ambulance chasing lawyer who has the chance to prosecute a major Catholic hospital over the wrongful death of his client's sister.  The always wonderful James Mason heads the billion dollar law firm employed by the evil Catholic Church and its hospital.   It's a David and Goliath story plain and simple.

At one point, the judge steps in an essentially takes part in the actual trial, siding with the defense (Mason) against Newman, who he clearly doesn't like.  Newman then approaches the bench and says something to the effect of,  'your honor, if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it.'  It's rather heavy handed, and you have no problem knowing who the evil and bad and villanouse forces are.  

It also plays upon the audience's clear understanding of fairplay, fairness, playing by the rules, and giving everyone a fair shot.  The filmmakers didn't need to explain to the audience that it was bad the judge was clearly biased against Newman.  It didn't need to explain that all of the chips were clearly in the hospital's pot.  It didn't need to point out that this is wrong.  

And yet, how much does the 'press' handle such stories in a similar way?  How often is the double standards, the partisan inconsistencies, the clear and obvious cheating and breaking the rules and reporting based on double standards just the name of the game?  We've almost grown accustomed to it, and I"m sure those on the left side of the aisle are more than happy to see things play out this way, fools that they are. 

For those not on the left, the results can be rage inducing.  My sons, eating and watching with us, were gobsmacked.  They, with all their jaded cynicism that comes from growing up in our post-Western world, were still shocked at the naked partisanship and clear differences in how the station covered this story and how it spent weeks avoiding the same with BLM, Antifa, and anything negative in connection to the political Left.  And that's a station, by the way, that is considered one of the fairer ones in the area. 

Where are the poor people?

Yeah, seems like years this has been going on.  Back in the day, when we were young an innocent, news broke that a killer virus was being reported out of China.  At that time, keen news watchers heard something about this and Trump and travel restrictions to China and racist immigration policies.  But at the time we were caught up in WWIII, which Trump had started back when he murdered an Iranian military official. So things were a bit muddled.

As news picked up, and WWIII turned into the biggest flop since Mars Needs Moms, the press began to turn its attention to this killer virus.  What was it?  What did it do?  It appeared it was something that was super contagious, that would spread as soon as you breathed, could infect an entire room of people, and everyone would die.  Almost overnight, predictions of Bubonic level carnage were flying around the headlines, with visions of hundreds upon hundreds of millions infected around the world, tens of millions dead, and in America alone the deaths were predicted to be in the millions.

That will grab your attention.  Almost from the beginning, there was a song and dance about Trump, doing too much, panicking, not enough, killing people, backing off and trying not to be political, hysteria, just go to the Chinese parade, we're all going to die, wear masks, don't wear masks, something, everything, nothing, who knows? 

And then somehow things settled in.  We realized millions were not going to die, thank God.  We realized it was more complex than 'killer virus kills everyone all the time.'  We began seeing trends, albeit  sparsely since the national press settled into the habit of repeating over and over two stats to the exclusion of almost any other details;  deaths and new cases.  The second stat being almost useless since it could have to do with the scope of testing, which itself has been all over the place in terms of effectiveness and scope.  

As government leaders, at the prompting of health officials, began to take drastic measures by shutting down businesses and various industries, many began to panic.  The market plunged, and almost overnight we were told to expect a new Great Depression.  As the death count climbed, many embraced whatever means possible to stop this, including a totalitarian police state equipped to arrest anyone and everyone breaking the quarantine.  Rod Dreher, champion of religious liberty, approved that message.  Many others did as well. 

We began seeing memes calling us the next Greatest Generation, our healthcare professionals the new heroes hitting the beaches of Covid-19 to save the world, and endless stories featuring people in their homes finding ways to cope with the horrors of being home, often in upper middle class and high end, three story homes and estates.  

As things unfolded, there was one noticeable vacancy in all of the news stories.  Somehow, we heard about the unemployment numbers and Great Depressions and all, but we weren't seeing the stories about the actual people being harmed by the numbers.  We heard in the vaguest of ways that the economy was being hurt, and sometimes how this might impact the November presidential elections.  But the particular stories weren't there.  That is, those special Eye on America stories that zero in and put a face on the suffering.

In terms of the actual Covid virus, we had those stories in plenty.  Doctors, nurses, patients, yoga instructors, CEOs, celebrities - those who contracted the virus were given entire news segments, their plight unpacked, their suffering chronicled.  Heartbreaking stories of healthy young people suffering with the infection were repeated often.  Those who died, especially if they were first responders  or medical pros, were also given the spotlight.  Day after day we saw and read touching accounts and tributes to those who fell to the virus, or at least were infected, with horror stories relating just how terrible this sickness can be (bonus points given for those who downplayed the virus and then came down with the sickness).

And yet, almost nothing about the poor.  Day after day we saw stories about police giving parades for kids who missed their birthday parties, people putting golf balls off their foyer balconies, celebrities and comedians enduring the loss of an audience to bring out their punditry, upper middle class teens canvasing their neighborhoods, stars singing songs for the graduating class.  Touching stuff.  But nothing about those poor.

Oh, we hear about the poor in other times, so I know it can be done.  I remember in the 80s, when Reaganomics was kicking off, the press never seemed to go a day that it didn't find someone who was falling through the cracks.  The economy might be booming, but here were all those who weren't feeling the love.  Same thing last year.  Many days went by without mentioning of the economy.  When it was mentioned, however, we were often treated to anecdotal stories about those who weren't keeping up with this mega-recovery we were seeing.  No matter how much better things seemed, the press always appeared capable of finding those who weren't beneficiaries of this robust recovery.

And yet, for all the time the press has to cover the latest virtual graduation party or pet stunts filmed for Youtube, it doesn't appear capable of finding stories about those who are suffering, losing their savings and finances, slipping into poverty, facing hunger and even losing their homes, as a direct result of the shut downs and social distancing measures.   In all this time, I've seen one segment - on CBS This Morning a couple weeks ago - focusing on the rural poor losing their government aid and unable to put food on their table.  Beyond that, I've seen almost nothing.  Only the most general references to unemployment numbers, but nothing connecting the suffering by direct line to the measures being taken to combat Covid-19.

In the meantime, we now know there will not be deaths by the tens of millions worldwide.  We know there won't be deaths in the millions here in the USA.  This is good.  We also know that the virus has certain patterns, though we don't know the extent of what it does and how it strikes.  There have been stories about getting it twice, or causing complications among children, but these are not clear yet.  The science, in all honesty, has been more wrong than right in its guesses about this since the story first broke. 

We do know that sweeping, blanket umbrella measures don't seem to match the results.  New York City implemented near draconian measures and yet it, along with New Jersey and Boston, accounts for almost 50% of the deaths in the US.  Meanwhile California, only days ahead of New York, has had proportionately small numbers.  In that State Up North, the numbers have been far worse than here in the Buckeye State.  Despite Michigan having far more harsh and intrusive restrictions.  A full 1/3 of all deaths are from nursing homes and similar care facilities.  A single prison in Ohio has contributed a massive number to the total cases.  So there appears to be trends we could focus on and perhaps find more targeted ways of reacting to the viral spread. That way we could balance fighting the virus with making sure extreme, and possibly ineffective, measures won't create serious crises down the road.

We have the stories about the virus to encourage people to do whatever to stop it. And yet, virtually no focus on those poor being hurt.  No news stories showing the inner city slums, with the single parent stuck in a one bedroom loft, no heat or air, no income, only the stimulus check that may or may not have come yet, no food, nothing.  Instead it's those happy people showing how they're learning to cook or to play the ukulele as ways to endure the untold terrors of being stuck in their upper class homes.  Just like we never hear about thousands of Blacks murdered in a given year, unless we can pin it on White racists.  Or the needs of a woman making a sexual assault accusation suddenly matters just when it can be used against opponents of the political Left, and not a minute before.  A devilish trend to be sure. 

So it's not surprising that many see those concerned about the lock-downs and closed economy as nothing other than heartless bastards who don't care if babies die, as long as they can get back to the beach and the hair salon.  After all, they're not being fed a daily diet of 'poor starving and the future deaths due to shutdown' emphasis the way they are 'if we don't stay shut down, we're all going to die from the coronavirus' narratives.  And that's the response from the ones who are in good faith trying to grope around and find the best way to handle this crisis and balance how to ensure as many are protected from all sides as possible.

Those who have jumped on this from the beginning to score political points, or hope that the suffering and death lasts until November, are given a godsend.  With virtually no attention paid to the detrimental side of our anti-Covid measures, they are free to exploit the media narratives and memes, repeating the same one or two stats over and over, and insisting that those who even mention the economy are just greedy killers willing to throw the least of these under the bus so they can go bowling again.  Oh, and they're probably racists, too. 

Sure, there has been ugly on the other side.  Extremism begets extremism, and as those jockeying for unchecked measures to fight this despite the changes in models and predictions dig in their heals, those on the other side have become more extreme.  To some, you'd think there was nothing big about 90K dead in a matter of a couple months.  In any time in history, it's been appropriate to meet such challenges with some level of sacrifice.  We won't even get into those who have begun embracing the culture of death attitudes about the sickly and elderly, essentially donning their best Ebeneezer and saying since they were going to die anyway, they had best do so quickly and decrease the surplus population. 

But all of this is being argued because a key problem with the measures used to combat this - the shutdowns - has set up an economic crisis that could easily bear bitter fruit in the months, if not years, to come.  If the liberal narrative is true, and economics is a pro-life issue since poverty breeds disease, hunger and death, then all we're doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul in terms of what we're doing.  If the press was to focus on those who are losing everything and slipping into poverty now, much less in the future, it might yank the discussion away from the extremes and allow people to have a mature debate based on facts.  If we were to see daily stories about this or that particular individual who has lost everything, is on the verge of poverty, and facing health problems and crises down the road, it might shift the debate. Unfortunately, we have almost nothing to go by since beyond the latest Zoom party and two stats repeated daily, the press appears quite silent. 

The latest on the Kavanaugh disaster

To paraphrase the old paraphrase, when you're on the Left and you've lost the Washington Post, you've lost.   Of course some of this is just old competition within the ranks.  The Post is taking a shot at a competitor.

But it's a shot that makes Kavanaugh, and hence Trump, look good.  And that means what the NYT did is beyond flagrant.  As I realized here, by the end, only the most fanatical and blind thralls of the Left haven't recanted and admitted the story was false.  For some who are sane and seeking good will, hopefully, this is a wake-up call for what type of country, and world, the Left wants.

Dear News Media

Don't mock Trump over his tweet about Global Warming in light of our record cold snaps, when last year you trotted out individuals linking heat waves in the Western United States to Global Warming.

In fairness, most actual climate scientists came out and seemed to balk at the press's attempt to link the record heat waves in the Southwest to Global Warming.  They did the same when the press not so subtly tried to make last year's hurricane season about Global Warming.

In short, to hear actual scientists talk, and see how the national and international press was attempting to frame these stories, it sounded like the press was engaged in a bit of 'fake news.'

So when the press, however subtly or not, tries to suggest 'look everyone, it's real hot in New Mexico, so GLOBAL WARMING!', then it shouldn't be upset when Trump looks out his window at record freezes and suggests their attempt to frame the debate around this or that weather phenomenon might be wanting.  After all, you can't look out one window and say 'That proves Global Warming!', and then turn on a dime and tell someone looking out another window that it's just weather, and doesn't prove anything about Global Warming.

I've often said the worst thing about Trump is that as bad as he is, he's no worse than the society we've made.  And that includes the national media in spades.  There's almost nothing Trump does or says that you can't find done (and celebrated) among his political and national opponents.

The press has already spent more time focusing on Niger than it ever did Benghazi

I don't have time to link to all the sources I've found.  This doesn't count the media two step.  That's when the press does cover something because it has to, but only in the most basic, shallow and fleeting manner possible.  So after Benghazi stopped being about violence provoked by Islamophobic bigotry, the story essentially went away.

No wailing about the dead, no real push back against the administration, no endless geography or history lessons about Benghazi and its place in the region, no media driven probe into who and how the story got it so wrong from the beginning, no household names made of the victims.  The only time it would be covered would be under the template 'GOP lawmakers today made more inquires about Benghazi', usually followed by interviews with Democrats insisting it was all political or just a bunch of nothing.  End of story, onto the latest fashion show story.

Of course at no point did the press ever link it to Hillary, much less Obama.  On those occasions where attempts to link the tragedy to the leadership or hold the Obama administration responsible, the press rushed in like a safety in football running up to tackle the runner.  I think we all remember the Candy Crowley incident in 2012.

Compare that to now.   John Kelly is a liar they're saying.  Trump was disrespectful because a congresswoman in a rhinestone cowboy hat says so.  I've learned more about Niger in the last few days than I've ever learned about Idaho.  Questions, inquiries, probes, investigations, calls for more information - it's been around the clock.  And this is really just week one.

The press says it's Trump's fault for how he responded to a question about why Trump didn't talk about the ambush that the press had barely mentioned.  Nonetheless, I think that sane people can see the writing on the wall.  Just as we've seen regarding the Weinstein scandal, we no longer have a press.  We have a Pravda.  And that is not a defender of freedom, but a threat to it.

The best that can happen is that our own Pravda will help be the downfall and end to the American experiment.  The worst that can happen is that those Christians who are beholden to the Left will begin to see life, as the press sees it, as something that is not sacred, but is convenient.  Just like women being assaulted, soldiers being killed, Blacks being murdered, or whatever.

This is called the media making a controversy where there is none

I realize that across Social Media, there are many people who act as if they are more than happy to risk the life of a child in order to save a gorilla.  It's the logical ramification of where the last couple generations of American education would bring us.  Like my sons learned in 4th Grade Science class, humans are the only animals whose extinction would benefit the planet.  Told again and again over endless weeks and years, that has to have an impact.

Nonetheless, despite the Social Media armchair quarterbacks, just about every animal expert, including our own Jack Hanna, has come forward and approved of the action taken by the Cincinnati Zoo.  Attempts to compare it to other similar incidents have been shot down.  As one expert interviewed on FOX this morning said, even the slightest variation between two incidents, where the behavior of a gorilla is concerned, could make the two cases as different as night and day.

Not to be outdone by facts and experts, the media continues to find anything and anyone they can to keep the story alive, and suggest that there is nothing less than a gross assault on decency, incompetence of the third order, or a violation of all that is right and good in this sad event because it could have happened differently.  I'm not saying it can't be looked at, or the parents examined for their role in the tragedy.  The attempt to say the Zoo should have done anything other than what had to happen to save a child, however, suggests that it is more than just the media trying to boost ratings.  I begin to wonder if there is something about the experts agreeing that the child's life took precedence that somehow goes against the grain of what some in our media culture would rather hear.

The Washington Post cries bigotry in a display of stunning ignorance

Or willful lying.  This may come as a shock, but a liberal media outlet is invoking the charge of bigotry against those it doesn't like.  In this case, making the charge that Trump is reawakening anti-Catholic bigotry.  Reawakening it?  Where the hell has the Washington Post been?  Where the hell has Christine Emba been?  Are you serious?  This is what you call anti-Catholic?

How can you deal with people like this?  After decades of mocking, attacking, ridiculing, and hammering the Church, this is anti-Catholic bigotry?  Saying that I don't think the Pope should weigh in on another person's spiritual identity is opening the flood gates of anti-Catholicism?  After decades of entertainers attacking the Church, calling it evil, stupid, racist, sexist, bigoted, ignorant, oppressive and useless, and this is anti-Catholic bigotry?   After decades of the most tasteless, hateful and anti-Catholic art and literature?  And this is it?

Let's have a peak at some of this pre-anti-Catholic bigotry that is apparently only now being resurrected by Trump and his supporters:

It took me all of three or four minutes to find these.  And these are just editorial cartoons. This doesn't count songs, movies, shows, news casts, entertainers and public figures who have said far worse.  Sure, they can.  It's their right.  And some of it might have a point or two behind it, and some of it is anti-Catholic bigotry no questions.  But the idea that anti-Catholic bigotry is something that had gone away and only now, by Trump's statement that the Pope shouldn't question his Christianity, the bigotry is ready to return?   Have they no shame?  If I lived with that level of willful hypocrisy and or dishonesty, I couldn't bring myself to look at the mirror in the morning. 

The news continues to create the news

So the media continues to be shocked that Trump can dominate the news following a debate in which he didn't take part.   Uh, that's because the media is focusing on Trump and the fact that he didn't take part, rather than the debate itself. 

I'm not one to always and only blame the media.  But I'd have to have rocks in my head to think that at least part of Trump's popularity is the direct result of the media giving him more coverage than any candidate I have ever seen in the 36 years I've been following politics.

Yep

A spot on take on the modern Left and the relentless assaults against anyone and everyone who fails to conform.  This is an old take really, dealing with the Megyn Kelly kurflufal that happened when she mentioned Jesus and Santa were white.  I'm sure you remember,  All hell broke loose, and of course we were reminded why conservatives are always stupid, evil, racist and wrong.  But here is a different take.  There were, in fact, different takes then, but they were mostly dismissed or ignored by those who have no interest in truth or right.  My favorite line:  "And to be redeemed, the white liberal must constantly beat his chest and point out the evil that is his race."  Actually, to be redeemed, the liberal must embrace liberalism.  But berating his demographic, whether gender, orientation, race, nationality or religion, is the sum total of what one must do to prove fealty to the liberal way.

The media has sown the wind

And now it scrambles to avoid responsibility for reaping the whirlwind.  As two murdered police officers are mourned, a nation that spent the last months whipped into a frenzy of cop-hate by the media will demonstrate the glories of the post-modern era that doesn't sweat truth or consistent principles.  Right now the only real issue for the media is the focus on de Blasio and his former statements about murderous, racist cops. But there are others to blame.  Many, many others.  While it is certainly fair to call out injustices, seek answers, and protest wrongs, what we saw was a whipped up frenzy of hate and fanaticism that would have shamed a Nuremberg rally.  And those who were swept up in this exclusive focus on our murderous, racist KKK cops in new uniforms?  Blood on hands folks.  Blood on hands.  For if opposing homosexual normality makes one responsible for Matthew Shepherd, and focusing on Islamic terrorism makes you responsible for the killings at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, then the logical conclusion is that all who pounded the drum of Evil Racist Cop has the same culpability in this case.  Expect this to be said by our White House or media elite...not at all. 

Peace to all who have lost loved ones.  Peace to people killed wrongly by police, and peace for the police who must risk their lives to protect us.  And peace to those cops and their families for being victims of a media constructed witch hunt.  May God grant them strength and perseverance in the coming months.  

P.S.  I was going to post some tweets celebrating and mocking the policemen's murders, but decided not to.  Such evil is not worth touching.  God rest their souls.  

Sandra Fluke update

Just checking in to see if everyone has been able to get their lives back together after the media outrage from her statements comparing tax supported birth control and leukemia.  We know how those media outrage cycles go.  Sometimes it can almost wear you out when the media latches onto something, like a politician comparing homosexuality to a disorder or suggesting that some rapes may not be rapes at all.  Whew.  No doubt our heads are all still spinning from the just and reasonable outrage that the media displayed in their coverage of this out of the ballpark half loony/half evil idea that one's sex life is as important as a leukemia patient fighting for life.  What's that?  No you say?  You're trying to convince me that there was no media outrage and daily round table discussions expressing unified outrage?  Really?  That would almost suggest that the media is biased.  Heck, it might almost suggest that most in our modern media are about the post-Christian notion that drugs, sex, and bathroom humor are the only rights we have, that everything else is unimportant, and therefore unworthy of being protected as a right.  I think you go too far.

Gross fat people win Grammy

And have our cultural movers and shakers in an a tizzy.  Excuse me for speaking on behalf of someone who struggles a bit with keeping my own weight down.  I've lost quite a bit of weight over the years, but could still probably lose another twenty pounds or so (but no more).  But there are two, well three, reasons I'm only so-so about the whole 'disgusting, fat slob Americans' pandemic of modern years.  Well, five reasons really.  Here we go:

1. Americans love to trash Americans.  It's our national pastime, officially replacing steroids in baseball back in 2004.  If every American looked to be chiseled from Greek marble, we'd find something else to complain about our inherent inferiority.  It's the dark, evil twin of American Exceptionalism.

2. For all the talk of the horrors and costs and risks of being overweight, we hear not a peep about the horrors and costs of sexual depravity and excess. We won't even discuss the problems inherent to male homosexual sexuality.

3. It wasn't too long ago, in the 1990s, when we were awash in story after story of young people, usually young women, dying because of anorexia and bulimia, brought about by the insistence that everyone look like they belong in a Playboy magazine centerfold with a staple in their navel. It first hit with the untimely death of the wonderful Karen Carpenter, and picked up speed until, by the late 90s, we finally said enough!

4. Many of the ones I've seen interviewed, including a nutritionist I just saw on a cable news channel (which I won't mention out of niceness sake, but who gave me the idea for this blog post), look like those emaciated models from the 90s that caused the backlash against focusing on being underweight. Really.  I had said something entirely cruel, but erased it.  But if I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was sick.

5. Our youngest son is nine years younger than our next youngest.  I would say 40% of the things doctors told us to do nine years ago they now scream and say don't do it, it could kill your kid.  Or you must do now who they told you never, ever do nine years ago.  Just the whiplash inducing shift is enough to remind me that for all the talk of disgusting fat people who should use separate drinking fountains, it's really just a fad.

None of this is to say I don't recognize that there are health concerns with being overweight.  I just realize that, like everything else in our post-cold war country, we've got to find the latest "OH NO!  We're all going to die!"  In fact, I can't keep up with all the things that will be killing us. So while I encourage everyone to eat right, exercise, and try to keep weight down if at all possible, I'm also reminded that since we ended segregation, temporarily won the Cold War, and let gays out of the closet, we've been scrapping and crawling looking for someone we can hang a giant sign around the neck and declare: Thank you God you didn't make me like them...'