As we enter a welcomed thaw

After quite a stretch of near zero temperatures, I must admit a deep nighttime sky over a snow-covered landscape still strikes the right aesthetic for me. 

The view on my way home a few nights ago. 

Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess

 Obedience to the Political Left.   Woof:

Are we sure all ICE agents are psycho fascist murderous thugs?  And then, does that mean we're allowed to crow over the suffering of such vile criminals and even their loved ones who might be impacted?  I mean, that doesn't strike me as that portrayal of good old liberal kindness I grew up with, Christian or otherwise.  I remember when not a few Catholic apologists railed against those who cheered the death of Osama bin Laden, reminding us that real Christians never gloat over the suffering  of others, even our enemies. Or did that just mean gloating over the death of people who orchestrate the slaughter of thousands of Americans? 

Yet here, from that bastion of Christian charity, we also have similar:

It's a shame because it could harm them, or their families or loved ones.  At least those in ICE who aren't gestapo murderers.  But again, this is the modern Left, which has done yeoman's work reducing everything to a bumper sticker; of eliminating the idea that problems could be vast and complex and instead distilling reality down to Group A v. Group B.  The Left that has done wonders by convincing so many, including our leadership and even Christian institutions, that there is no human race, only intersecting demographic groups through which all worth and culpability are measured.  

BTW, doxxing.  I had to ask my sons some years ago. It means finding personal information about someone and then plastering it online.  Usually with the hope that some harm comes to them or theirs as a result.   So when one of his readers, expressing the same concern about ICE, was nonetheless concerned about Mark's vengeful tone, his response was thus:

Eeek.  

Which reminds me of Mike Lewis and his post trying to score political points in God's name when Mel Gibson's home was consumed by the LA fires.  

Now, I don't know about you, but there are plenty people out there I don't care for owing to their politics or other belief systems and behaviors.  But I would never gloat over harm done to them, even disguising it as some prophetic utterance.  And that isn't from being Christian, but merely how I was taught growing up, both by my parents and society at large.  

Not all of it has to be a flagrant disregard for the wellbeing of those who dare dissent from the Leftist State of course.  Some can be the opposite, glorifying those who the Left/Press has beautified as the type of people Jesus tried to be.  For that, here is an example from Dawn Eden, reminding us that Ana Narvo is most likely correct, Alex Pretti was the most perfect guy. 

Thus only one side of the tragedy need ever be accepted.  

And for a bonus, when anti-ICE activists broke into a church to disrupt worship services, I assumed it would be one of those embarrassments that most on the Left would try to sweep under the rug.  And for the most part I was right.  For the Left Media, the arrest of Don Lemon became the focus.  Sort of like the press focusing on free speech when people were fired for wanting more Charlie Kirk killings as opposed to focusing on the the implication of those wanting the killing of Charlie Kirk.  

But kudos to Mark, who rushes in to mock those in the church who say they were upset, or their children frightened, when their worship service was so intruded upon.  Cosplaying martyrdom he called it.  I guess freedom to worship unhindered comes with the caveat that this freedom is contingent not on what one feels about Jesus or God, but whether one conforms to the political Left and its narratives or not.  Or, more shockingly, on whether or not the Left and its corporate instruments deem you worthy of such rights. 

As I've said before, none of this is to say there is nothing wrong with how President Trump has tried to correct the border crisis.  Or would I suggest that in an operation so vast, bad things could never happen, even to innocent people. And we don't need to point out every anti-ICE advocate's refusal to even acknowledge that some detainees have been violent criminals and many thousands of Americans have been harmed or even killed as a result of illegal immigration. We won't discuss the Left's ability, courtesy of a sympathetic media, to dehumanize those who get in the way. 

No.  All of this is to ask the question - what the hell went wrong with the great Protestant Converts to Catholicism movement of yore?  I mean, to varying degrees, none of these individuals were so immersed in the leftwing tank.  Not that they were all a bunch of radical right-wingers.  But I can distinctly recall some absolutely attacking the very things we're seeing:  Condemning everyone in a group, wishing harm to those in opposing groups, and of course anyone treading on Christian praxis in the name politics.  Because Catholicism don't you know.  That great fulfillment of the Faith that set the abuses of Protestantism and our modern secular state aright.  Yet there it is.  They are far more glued to the full secular leftwing movement than any religious right Christian ever was to the political right back in the day. 

I won't give my ideas about what happened, since I don't know for sure.  I was in a discussion with someone else about those high profile converts to Catholicism who have plunged into the vat of  the secular leftwing movement.  What he said isn't too far from the likelihood, but I'd be curious if there are any other insights.  I realize that this is a small portion of Catholicism, but it isn't a small portion of the Catholic Convert Culture that was so prominent back in the day, but today looks barely different from an average MSNBC broadcast. At least in these cases. 

BTW, it should be noted that in all of the rejoicing over potential suffering of the ICE agents and anyone to do with them, none of it has anything to do with even acknowledging the thousands of Americans victimized by illegal immigration. As we've seen from even much of the Church's leadership, many have embraced the leftwing media's dictum that it's not if we should care about the suffering and death of the innocent, but when.  And that is answered as only as long as it can be exploited, and not a minute more.  Chilling, if you think about it.   But you can hardly blame those here, when most in our leadership, including Christian leadership, apparently approves this message. 

I hope there was a reason he couldn't attend, just like I lamented those who were forbidden 
to attend weddings and funerals during Covid.  I wonder if Mr. Greydanus was as indignant then.

Like looking for Eldorado

Is finding a story in the modern MSM that doesn't help the Leftwing Narrative.  

Take for instance the story of Fox Varian.  A girl who was swept up in the transgender hysteria, given a double breast removal at 16 years old for her troubles, and moved into that glorious world of non-gender unreality - until she realized her problems had nothing to do with being the wrong gender.  She sued and - was just awarded a whopping 2 million dollars for malpractice.  

Now, that's a pretty sensational story, ain't it?  I mean, that's something that screams headline news.  Yet, take a snort of cocaine for every leftwing MSM outlet that has covered it, and you'll remain drug free.  I was going to post this the first day, but I figured fair is fair.  Wait and see.  But now we're heading into the third day and I've been unable to find a single MSM outlet that is covering this, apart from those that tack right of center (The New York Post, National Review).  

We won't get into the part of the case where Varian's mother only consented to the surgery because of the threat her daughter would otherwise commit suicide.  Weaponizing suicide and the staggering spike in suicides among our youth being a serious discussion needing to be had, but for another time. 

But what we have now is a propaganda ministry of lies and falsehoods and cover ups.  It goes without saying that the other big reveal here is that she endured this surgical procedure as a minor - something transgender activists insist never happens even as they loudly push for protection for these things to happen. Just like they insist parents will never be kept out of the loop even as they are in the State House trying to make sure parents are kept out of the loop.  

If there was no other reason to avoid the Left like the plague, it is that it seems to rely, almost to its deepest roots, on the principle of letting your yes be no and your no be yes.  That is, flagrant hypocrisy and mendacity and denial as the primary approach to activism.  Absolute free speech with censorship, violence is never the answer which is why it is justified, and nobody is doing what we're fighting to keep doing.  

The more I watch the moral collapse of the Left and the descent into such hellish levels of duplicity and almost always for the worst reasons, the more I'm reminded of this and why it makes more sense with each passing day:

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.  Revelation 21.8 (emphasis mine)

UPDATE:  Apparently the Grey Lady has finally chimed in:

Note how it is framed.  The suit was over gender surgery as a minor. Yet somehow the suit was because doctors had deviated from accepted medical standards. Does that mean the surgery on a minor itself was a deviation?  Because that's what the Transgender movement insists, at least where surgeries are concerned.  Or was it some deviation within the acceptable standards, acceptable standards being surgeries on minors - which we're told never happens?  I can't access the story proper, so I don't know, though I'm curious.  Nonetheless, credit where it is due.  After four days, the NYT finally step in and addresses the story.

We wish those Nazis would tone down the rhetoric

 Exhibit A:

Just the hilarity of the jab 'not-toned down' followed by Ethnic Cleansing!  Why can't those sexist fascists stop being so divisive and admit they're racists?  Heh.  

The number one reason I left liberalism even before I became a Christian was because I started noticing a wide chasm between what they said to others and what they did themselves.  As always, hardly the only people in the world to do so.  But among the left, especially over the decades, it has become the universal defining characteristic of modern progressivism.  Standards for thee, but not for me.  

It isn't the Blizzard of 78

 But it's earned our respect:

Especially in the sustained bitter cold temperatures.  It isn't that we don't have cold or subzero temperatures here in the Buckeye State.  But I'm not aware of a time in my memory that we've had them for so long a stretch.  And because of that, the more than foot of snow we received isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  

Again, nowhere close to the legendary Blizzard of 78, which saw two massive fronts converge over the Ohio Valley, a drop in temperature by forty degrees in a matter of hours that cast a sheet of ice over the state, among the lowest barometric readings ever recorded, days of snow, and of course the unforgettable hurricane force winds that pushed that covered entire houses with snow drifts.  Schools closed by the weeks at a time. And in some remote rural areas, it was almost a month before road crews were able to push through to those isolated by the storm.

But this storm still packed a punch.  College classes resumed today, as have most functions apart from the public schools, which remain closed.  As a note, I am generally not a hat wearer except occasionally for some sporting events.  Even in winter I prefer to keep my head uncovered.  Likewise, even in cold temperatures, I usually don't bother wearing gloves.  Like my Dad who preferred the cold, it usually doesn't bother me.  But I went out to get the cars cleared off this morning, when the actual temperature was -5 degrees not counting wind chill, and within minutes I could feel the sharp pain of the cold in my fingers.  Prompting me to grab a pair.  So we'll call it 'so cold it's Dave wearing a hat and gloves cold.'  

On the other hand, even after the snow plows, it still looks pretty in the old neighborhood

My 2020 MLK post

And I stand by it. 

And, as my son noted, the same development continues.  That is, when he was young, we began hearing about MLK well before Christmas, and it continued well past Black History Month.  Throughout the rest of the year you could count on hearing MLK quoted or referenced at least once a week in sermons, interviews, speeches and newscasts.  

Now?  The first mention of MLK Day I heard was last Tuesday (apart from the extended weather forecast that had today as MLK Day on the calendar).  I remember as a pastor being in meetings in November when I was asked plans for the day.  Now?  Our priest mentioned him in his homily yesterday, but that's it. I think that's the first time I've heard him mentioned in church since last year. Yet when we came into the church, like most churches I had seen, it wasn't uncommon to hear him reference many times over the year.  I did see a MLK post on some news page last year before the holidays.  Can't remember why, but that was it.

After all, we've all but completely endorsed judging and sizing people up based on race and skin color (think White Privilege).  And since 2020, the Left has made it clear that violence, rather than never being the answer, can be a darn good answer.  So much for the man of peace calling for content of character over skin color.

Yes, there were some attempts in 2020 and 2021 to insist we had the MLK legacy all wrong.  That before he was killed he was warming up to a bit of the old ultra-violence, especially when dealing with America's whiteness problem.  But that seemed to have crashed pretty quickly.  

Now, it's the odd mention every few months give or take. And for a week or so, we roll out the MLK day focus, hit it hard on the day itself (the message today apparently being that MLK would be right with the anti-ICE protesters), and then that's that.  We'll see. But if this year is anything like the last several, this too shall pass and pass quickly.  

BTW, this is not an indictment on the man himself. It's an indictment on a nation that has played this false for decades.  It's just so apparent when you see how MLK has been manipulated to achieve ends it's unlikely MLK ever imagined. 

Sad but true

 This has been around for several years:

But it continues to be true.  The problems we see today are the result of endless causes.  Figuring out which are the key factors to what we've become is a task unto itself.  Admitting that something went seriously wrong, on the other hand, is simple.  

The enemy of the Christian West is their friend

Thus: 

I'm old enough to remember when it was offensive that Western women, like journalists, had to don such apparel when visiting a Muslim nation.  Heck, I can remember when the very appearance of such apparel was seen as an affront to women's universal equality.  But I do believe that if that the Left, or some ally committed to the demise of the Christian West, said here wear this:

that liberal women would fall over themselves to do just that.  And not just feminists. For instance: 

Yep. Because we know that nowhere in the Muslim world do those within the LGBTQ lifestyle enjoy anything close to equality, if not the ability to survive.  But the enemy of the West is the Left's friend.  Better the Muslim world thrive even as it crushes gay rights than the country that panders to gay rights not be destroyed.   

Oh, and I'm not stupid.  I know one of the Left's talking points is that if anyone not Euro-American does something bad, like oppress homosexuals, browbeat women, murder Jews - it's because they learned it from the West.  That is not only a common retort, but an increasingly accepted one. But that sort of BS that only an intellectual could believe is for another time. 

Friday Frivolity: The best cookbook ever

At least if a cookbook can inspire an entire family's focus on establishing long traditions and our celebrating our heritage.  We received this as a Christmas present the year our first boy was born. Up until that time we really didn't 'do anything' as a family, at least in terms of traditions.  Flying by the seat of our pants best described things through our early years. 

Though not terribly imaginative, somehow it clicked.  It's presented as a faux cookbook from the Mary Cratchit of A Christmas Carole fame.  The very loose premise is that somehow Mary Cratchit, Bob's wife, has compiled the recipes by experience or interviews, including a post- redemption Scrooge (hence Fezziwig's ball).  It has seven complete dinners, with accompanying beverages and desserts, and they are centered around the key figures of the book and the days of Christmas: Fezziwig's Christmas Eve Ball, Nephew Fred's Christmas Dinner, Cratchit's Christmas Dinner, Tiny Tim's Caroling Party, Young Marley's Boxing Day Breakfast, Mary's Afternoon Tea, Scrooge's Twelfth Night Celebration. 

I must admit, I wondered about the origins of young Marley's breakfast, since no explanation is given for how Mrs. Cratchit comes by it.  It's noteworthy, and a sign of the times, that the cookbook includes a brief nod to Boxing Day, its origins and how the tradition of giving to the poor remains today in the practice of employers giving bonuses on that day or the Christmas holiday in general.  Funny stuff.  Because of course today, the tradition has emerged that Christmastime is a fine time for companies to lay off employees and cut down on staff.  I guess a subscription to the Jelly of the Month club doesn't sound too bad after all. 

Anyway, back to the book.  Each meal features a seasonal or regional favorite main dish, like Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Turkey with Sage and Onion Stuffing, or Roast Fresh Ham with Thyme. While other entries, such as the afternoon tea sporting such dainties as Cucumber Sandwiches with Watercress Butter, Herbed Egg Sandwiches and Scones with Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Preserves, and of course Plum Pudding pad out the rest of various menus.  

It's not particular to actual cooking methods, and doesn't pretend that this is some gourmet publication.  For Mincemeat Pie, canned Mincemeat Pie Filling will do (rather than making from scratch).  Likewise frozen veggies will do.  So it wasn't even some 'cook the way they did in Victorian England' book.  

Yet for some reason, it clicked. For the record, our first foray was the Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding topped with Wassail and Plum Pudding - none of which, save the Roast Beef, I had ever had.  I doubt we've used all of the actual recipes, or even most to be honest.  But somehow, in some way, it lit a fire in us that would blossom and overflow in an ever growing number of annual traditions that defined our family over the years.

Oh, there were times when the traditions became unwieldy, especially as we tried to cling to ones that the older sons did when they were young so the youngest could enjoy them too.  At the same time the older ones were growing and pushing into new areas so that the whole began to feel almost logjammed.  

Nonetheless, over the years many of those traditions stuck, and it always did my heart good when I heard one of the boys speak to how this or that tradition meant something.  From the thrill of getting the first apple cider in fall*, to the excitement they had as kids when they heard Trick or Treat play on the old Disney tape, to the opening chords of the Carpenters' Christmas album right after Santa drives by in front of Macy's, to the smell of roast lamb at Easter - they spent years letting me know that for all the bumps, those traditions were what they associated with good times through our annual journeys.  And for that, I'll always be glad.  Therefore, I will always prize the book that started it all.  

You can trace their inconsistent enthusiasm even on behalf of their youngest,
but they're still fun memories

*I've told my sons that some things are written in stone.  That no matter what they do in life, even if they become some corporate zillionaire, there is no reason in the world they should ever have cider outside of the fall and Christmas holiday seasons.  

Why I don't buy the media's Jan 6 narrative

Or any media narrative for that matter, is because when I see this:

I'm reminded of the recent explosion of these and similar stories:

If years of a particular group being attacked and murdered by the tens of thousands leaves the press scratching their heads and wondering if it rises to the definition of massacre or persecution, then I'm sure not going to believe them when they insist the January 6th Capital riot was an existential threat to life and democracy and the worst terrorist attack in America since 9/11.  The fact that so many outlets zero in on the word Genocide and ponder what it could mean in the way Gary Johnson pondered what Aleppo could mean only exacerbates the mendacity. They never seem to worry about terms like white nationalism, white supremacy, fascist, authoritarianism, or even genocide when applied to anything right of center or historical America.  No complications there. 

Oh, and for those using the excuse that Muslims have also been targeted by these groups in Nigeria, I remember when pointing out that white Americans are also killed by police each year didn't matter in the wake of George Floyd.  Call me silly, but I reject the whole notion so common among the Left that declaring X to be true only matters until it's not convenient for X to be true. 

Hard to believe

 It was 30 years ago this last New Years Eve that this wonderful strip came to an end:

As they say, time does fly.  True to form, Watterson has never attempted any big comeback.  By all accounts, he took the tremendous fortune he received from the strip and retired into a quiet life and pursing what projects interest him. 

In its day, Calvin and Hobbes emerged as the comic strip that everyone was reading.  From the blue collar to the Ivy League. It had come about in that golden age of comics in the 1980s.  You still had the politically charged Doonesbury.  And the grand dame of all comic strips, Peanuts, still dominated the top front page of the comics section.   Also came Bloom County, an edgy and surreal comic strip that wasn't afraid to offend everyone.  At the same time, you saw debut that strange unreal world of the Far Side.  But among them all C&H skyrocketed to the top of the class. 

The good news is that Watterson did what so few ever seem to know to do - he got out while on top.  Oh, looking back you could see the cracks.  You could tell he was losing his edge, becoming more preachy, and beginning to betray some of the rules he had laid out for the strip early on.  But that was only toward the end.  There was still enough good that when he finally closed up shop, he was still near the top of his game.  And that's never bad. 

A quick primer

 Commercialism:

Consumerism:

Corporatism: 

I'll explain later. 

And a Merry Christmas to all

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9.6-7

Cardinal Cupich and the question of why bother being Catholic

 So here is his reaction to the Australia and Brown University shootings:

Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, on the Shootings in Rhode Island and Australia

December 14, 2025

Español | Polski

Once again, I write to offer solace and hope to people shocked by loss of life in places where our brothers and sisters sought to gather in places of peace and learning, yet were subjected to violence. On an Australian beach, terrorists consumed with hatred rained bullets on a celebration of the first day of Hanukkah, killing 16 and injuring many more. If anyone doubts the ancient sin of antisemitism is alive and strong today, here is proof.

Closer to home, two students preparing for final exams and a joyful holiday were murdered and a dozen injured by a gunman in the latest of a too-long series of college-related shootings.

We pray fervently for those directly affected by these attacks. But we also resolve to act against the circumstances that gave rise to them. In one case, hatred was strong enough to overcome even Australia’s strong firearms regulations. As we make ready to welcome the birth of the Christ Child to Jewish parents, let us recognize our own roots as people blessed with this tradition, speak against hatred and stand with our brothers and sisters as they claim their right to respect, safety and religious liberty.

And may we not be immunized to murder, including the latest United States campus shooting at Brown University. We must recognize that our leaders may say life is precious but act in ways that communicate it is cheap, that our children and the terminally ill are expendable. We cannot roll back mental health services and keep firearms more accessible than health care and then display outrage when the predictable consequences occur. Only if we soften the hearts of those in power can we hope to see a future where parents no longer send children to college with equal parts pride and terror. Only if we safeguard freedom of worship, including for minority faiths will we live up to the principles on which our nation was founded. Until then, we are speaking hollow platitudes about an America that is an ideal, not a reality.

Not surprising in the least.  It says everything we would expect, and carefully avoids saying everything we would expect.  Unlike his reaction to the Charlottesville shooting, in which we were treated to a lengthy essay that included Naziism, white nationalism and the history of racism in our country added to by a pinch of ISIS reference (read it here), he joins the mainstream Left by using the vague 'antisemitism sure is a problem' assessment, never bothering to mention the specifics.  And we all know why. 

But it's what isn't said that's even more telling.  He does mention the coming of Christmas, with the standard progressive emphasis on the group identity of the Christ Child being Jewish.  He brings up the terminally ill, though no clue why, since I'm not aware of that entering into the motive for any of the shooters. Of course he mentions guns, and the obvious assumption that gun control is the single hope for solving the violence we witnessed, which is why it's almost always the only thing we will talk about.  And mental health.  Apparently because the almost exclusive emphasis on mental health and subsequent tens of billions of dollars in funding we've seen over recent decades, even as the problems mental health is supposed to help have gotten worse not better, suggests the solution is more of the same.  

Nonetheless, it's that this could have been released from a politician's office.  It could have come from a mayor, a concerned corporate CEO, a celebrity.  I wouldn't be surprised if some informed and invested pop culture figure had something like this released.  There just isn't any 'there' there.  Certainly not if 'there' means even Christianity in a generic sense, much less a Catholic sense.  Heck, I've taken in more Christianity watching the original Ghostbusters than this. 

If there is any truth at all to the historical Christian Faith, or if there is any need for the Catholic Church to exist, then I'd say this whole release was nothing but a hollow platitude.  It certainly didn't suggest there was any hope beyond accepting progressive activism, narratives and policy solutions.  And it isn't as if this is the only example of such a statement I've seen since we became Catholics. 

Once again, allow me to tap into something one of my sons observed some time ago.  He said we became Catholic almost 20 years ago.  And in that time, we have yet to hear a contemporary pope suggest there was any pressing need for us to do so.  Upon reflection since he mentioned that, I have to say he's right.  And the good Cardinal Cupich simply adds one more page to the question of 'why did we become Catholic in the first place?' that has yet to be answered by those you'd think would provide such an answer. 

What does this mean?

 Really, I'm not a lawyer.  This came about on a Facebook post by Gloria Purvis:  

It has to do with this press release from the DOJ.  Again, I'm no lawyer, but something about 'neutral on the face but discriminatory in effect' strikes me as, well, not clear.  So if anyone does understand this sort of thing, I'm all ears.  

Why terrorism should change my life

Because it's as much a tragedy that Justin and Stephanie Shults from the United States died as it would have been if I had died.  And as an American, I try to remember that they were my neighbor, my kin in country.  As were all who were killed in Brussels.  But they were doubly so, since they were also fellow Americans, archaic as that phrase may sound.

I realize we don't want to fly into a panic over terrorism, or overreact, or shut down and refuse to live.  But going on as usual with the evil assurance that statistics show if terrorists strike, it will be some other poor, dumb family who suffers the loss is a verdict against our post-modern age, not a valid comfort based on realistic perspectives. After all, as much as we might hate to read what happened to that bright, happy couple, the fact that it was them and not me is one of the main selling points from our leaders over why I shouldn't get worked up and let terrorism change me.

If we're honest, we would admit that, despite the popular narrative, terrorism is thriving due to our post-modern detachments to anything beyond ourselves as much as it is to our overreactions.  In fact, it is our detachment, our willingness to shrug and accept whatever as long as it doesn't personally impact us, that the terrorists seem to be counting on the most.

I've often wondered if that's why since the Iraq Invasion it seems as though the insurgents went out of their way to cause casualties, but cause them on a limited basis.  It's why ISIS does what it does, periodically, with purpose, over the course of weeks and months.  No major attacks killing in the thousands that might jolt us into action.  Though 9/11 didn't do the trick.  No matter how many of us hoped that such a nightmare vision as watching the towers fall would jolt us back into a nation with something more on its radar than the next smartphone app, it just didn't do it.  But perhaps as long as terrorists keep the body count regular, but low, they can count on a civilization that actually takes mathematical assurance of others' deaths as a basis for comfort to be the civilization they ultimately can overcome.

I have no doubt that there will be a nuclear strike some day in the future.  I fear I will live to see it.  And yet, even then, I fear more that our complacent, apathetic society of perpetual denial will find a way to crunch the numbers and remind us that 20,000 people killed is still fewer than the number of people killed on the roads every year.  So go on and don't worry.  Focus on yourself. Know that even a nuclear strike will likely impact someone else.  Or something like it.

So yes, I want things to be different.  I want our lives to be different.  I want us to be every bit as shocked by the deaths of the Shultses as we should have been by 9/11 and that were on that sunny Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor all those decades ago. And I want us to be worried, not because it could happen to me, but because it will happen to somebody. If we were to break the chains of post-modern apathy, then who knows?  The prospects of eternal terrorism from the religion of peace might not seem so inevitable after all.

NOTE: The above post is a repost from almost a decade ago.  Sometimes old posts suddenly get a surge of views, and I don't know why.  But I thought it was interesting what I was observing then, and how it falls into line with what I am more and more convinced has gone wrong in our society.

Remember the 7th of December

It's that day.  I almost forgot.  Last year this day was actually swallowed up in some quarters by those wanting to ignore this particular anniversary in preference of remembering the beginning of the Japanese (not Italian or German) Internment Camps.  This year there seems to be more focus on that day which will live in infamy. 

I'm not a big Hawaii guy.  I've never been particularly interested in going there.  But if one thing could get me, it would be visiting the Arizona memorial.  It was WW2 that got me interested in history.  And it was Pearl Harbor that captured my attention more than anything else.  I saw it as one of those thick dividing lines in history.  There was America and the world on December 6th, and then there was an entirely new age in the world on December 8th.  And what happened that day in between became one of my focal points in college and much of my younger life.

I'm of that group of historians who actually disagrees with the old adage that for Japan, the attack was a tactical victory but strategic disaster.  Given America's predictable reaction, the strategic disaster is certainly true.  But I've often disagreed that it was some wonderful tactical success for Japan.  It wasn't.

And not just because those carriers famously weren't there.  It failed on some levels because, in the end, Americans reacted far better than the Japanese imagined, and because the Japanese did far worse than we sometimes remember.  

The iconic image of Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona crumpled and burning

Almost as soon as the first strikes from the first wave (the attack came in two separate waves) finished, the American anti-aircraft fire made subsequent attacks by Japanese planes far less effective.  In fact, much of the damage inflicted on the legendary Battleship Row happened within the first minutes of the attack.  Within about 20 minutes of the attack's opening, the AA fire was beginning to force the next flights of Japanese planes to improvise or abandon their planned runs, or to be less efficient with hitting their targets.  

By the time the second wave came, the AA fire had formed a veritable canopy of explosions in the air over the harbor, and the second wave proved subpar at best. This was because they weren't prepared for the stiff resistance.  Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander of the attack, said years later that the Japanese air crews were stunned by the speed of the American response.

Remember, the Americans had everything against them. Caught flatfooted, a blindside in a dark room, with the custom of locking things up on Sundays, or recovering from the previous night's festivities, and the general unawareness that comes with being at peace, led the planners of the attack to believe most of the first wave would meet with little if any resistance. 

True, only 29 Japanese planes were shot down (roughly 8% - not a bad number if you're Japan) in the entire attack.  But that's because the AA fire, while brutal and constant, was still from often antiquated or outdated guns that were better suited for old biplanes than the nimble Japanese planes in the attack.  The real consequence of the AA fire was in breaking up the attack runs following the first dozen minutes or so and causing more and more of the Japanese, as often as not, to shoot wide of their marks.  

Plus, you just had poor decisions on the part of the Japanese aircrews.  The reasons have been kicked around for years.  Were they just kids trying to go after big targets when there were none left?  Was it being ill prepared for the US response?  Was it simply Japanese military planners overestimating based on training versus what happens in actual battle?  Hard to say.  Probably yes. 

But whatever the reasons, they missed many opportunities, especially in the second wave.  Not just the oil fields, but the repair facilities and the all important cruisers.  An often overlooked workhorse of the Navy, the Japanese could have added a dozen more ships to the casualty list, but seemed to almost purposefully avoid the less glamorous (but so crucial) cruisers in preference for battleships - even though most battleships by then were already sunk or were damaged or sinking. 

The Pennsylvania sits behind the Cassin and Downes 

In any event, it was not the great tactical smash hit that many suggest.  It was a success.  The Japanese did inflict casualties.  They sank a few ships, a couple permanently.  But almost nothing that had long term lasting consequences.  If anything, it was the air bases around Pearl Harbor that marked the biggest success for the Japanese.  The disastrous decision to pack the planes together in the middle of the airfields rendered them almost useless and, as one book put it, not just sitting ducks, but ducks in rows. 

Still, in the end, only a few ships never returned to service.  The Arizona, the Oklahoma and a training ship that was an ex-battleship - the Utah.  They were the only total losses.  Every other ship was eventually returned to service before the end of the war.  Some of them seeing action against Japan itself.  The planes were a big loss.  188 were destroyed and a similar number damaged.  And worse than anything, 2,403 were killed.  Almost half of those killed came from the two battleships Oklahoma and Arizona.

Compared to that, Japan lost 64 men, including the crews of several minisubs.  24 aircraft were shot down, but it's worth noting that over 70 aircraft were damaged.  That's 30% of the air strike force destroyed or damaged.  Again, the faster than expected response of the Americans.  

Admiral Chuchi Nagumo, the commander of the actual Pearl Harbor strike force, received much criticism from Japanese in later years for not launching a third wave of attack.  IMHO, he was correct not to.  Already the second wave was far less successful than the first, and most of the planes destroyed or damaged came from that wave.  It is unlikely the next wave would have capitalized on much more than the second wave.  Plus most of Nagumo's worries about losing more planes and running up against logistical problems (like fuel) were reasonable concerns.  

In the end, it also wouldn't have mattered.  Unless a really lucky hit manifested itself, there likely would have been no more lasting damage, and the real harm - the rage ignited in the American mindset - was there and couldn't be taken away.  

Japan - being a not-Western nation - has at times suggested that the attack was never meant to be a surprise.  This is something it has bounced about for decades.  If you watch the film Tora, Tora, Tora, it takes Japan's view that not only was the attack reliant upon surprise, but it clearly didn't want surprise and the lack of forewarning was simply a sad case of bad typing.  That's non-Western nations for you. 

Whatever was intended, however, the final assessment is one of ultimate failure.  Little lasting damage was done, beyond the sad death toll.  The attack could have been worse for America in the short term, but a series of failures and subpar performances on the part of the Japanese air crews caused many opportunities to be missed.  And with all that, the horrible strategic nightmare of filling America with that famous terrible resolve was in the books and couldn't be taken back.  Something that citizens of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would discover all too sadly before the end of the conflict.  

For a bonus, I found the below photo. It is a photo I have not seen before.  I always appreciate things I've not seen before.  It is of Battleship Row three days after the attack:

The fires are gone and the smoke cleared.  You can see the multiple rivers of oil, most pouring out of the Arizona.  The Arizona is on the bottom right of the ships.  If you look closely, you can see the shadows of its superstructures, striking that iconic image with the fore mast crumbled over into its bow.  The explosion literally obliterated the front of the ship, causing a catastrophic breach straight down through the decks.  The harbor waters rushed into every level and nobody below decks had a chance.  Except for one sailor, nobody in the entire front half of the ship survived.  Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, the highest ranking officer killed in the attack, was last known to be on the bridge.  His body was never found.  

In front of the Arizona is the Tennessee, nearest the island.  It was damaged, but not badly.  It was one of the first ships to return to duty, early in 1942.  Next to it is the hapless West Virginia.  Hit by everything, it almost capsized.  The captain's decision to counter-flood kept it from doing so, instead it settled straight down, and you can see much of its port side is under water.   It would be until 1944 before the West Virginia was back in service. 

In front of them, nearest the island, is the Maryland.  It was also lightly damaged and returned to service by early 1942.  Next to it is capsized Oklahoma.  Next to the Arizona, the Oklahoma had the largest single loss of life in the attack. 429 died, despite the best efforts to rescue them.  Farthest ahead is the California, which actually sank, but returned to service in 1944.  

The other two battleships are out of the picture.  The Pennsylvania was in a dry-dock and barely touched, though two destroyers in front of it - the Cassin and Downes - were blown to pieces and would take several years to return to service.  The Nevada was the other battleship.  The fleet's flagship, it was located behind the Arizona.  The only one to try to make a run for it, fear quickly arose that it would go down in the channel and block the opening to the harbor.  Therefore it was ordered to cease its desperate gamble.  

That's the gist of the battleships.  It would be carriers, not battleships, that made the difference in the Pacific War.  And by luck, fate or providence if you prefer, the American carriers were not there that fateful morning.  The USS Enterprise was supposed to be there, but a sudden storm at sea damaged several of its escorting ships.  Instead of going forward and keeping schedule, the captain decided to stay behind and help the ships damaged by the storm.  As a result, the full wrath of the Japanese aircrews that morning fell on the capital ships - the battleships.  Even when  there were none left untouched, the subsequent waves would still attack targets that would have been better to ignore. 

One final musing.  Here is a scene from the movie Tora, Tora, Tora.  A flop at the box office, it tried to be as accurate as two separate tellings of the same event - an American and Japanese perspective - would allow. On the whole, it succeeds.  This is near the end of the attack.  I've always loved the lone American machine gunner.  His fellows are all dead.  All around him is destruction and carnage.  Explosions are everywhere.  His cloths are in tatters and he is wounded and bleeding.  But he'll be damned if he gives up.  And the choice of the pilot he finally hits, as well as the gunner's own actions, perfectly embodies the attitude and grit and determination both sides would bring into the conflict.  Wars are horrible things, but sometimes they bring out the absolute best in people.  A lot better, as we've discovered, than peace and luxury and leisure tend to do.

How to sound leftist in the 21st Century

Get hold of old speeches and publications from Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s.  Scratch out the words 'Jew' and 'Jewish' and replace them with 'White' and 'Whiteness'.  Then you can be invited to any hipster leftwing party.   Or, apparently, get a cushy job at one of our fine modern institutions of higher learning. 

Thus.  Yep.  It's not even trying to act with a wink and a nod.  It literally speaks of the plague of whiteness in ways reminiscent of the warnings against the corruption of Jewishness in Nazi Germany.  From the university page: 

Racism is an epidemic (CDC, 2021) that can also be considered a pandemic given its large cross-national proportion and spread (APA, 2020). However, there is another pandemic lurking behind and driving the racism pandemic – the Whiteness Pandemic. Whiteness refers to culture not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States. Naming the Whiteness Pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism, starting with the family system. At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism.

Compare: 

The Jew caused our misery and lives from it today. That is why we nationalists and socialists oppose the Jews. The Jew has corrupted our race, soiled our morals, undermined our values, and broken our strength. He is the reason we today are the pariah of the whole world. As long as we were German, he was a leper among us. When we forgot our German nature, he triumphed over us and our future.

I'll let you guess who said that last one.

Sure, people will point out that many (though notice not all) on that university page are white.  White professionals happily ensconced in their own careers it should be noted.  I've noticed that many white liberals who have no problem demanding we correct the unfairness of white privilege are, themselves, quite privileged.  And while they might bemoan the unfair advantage they have in life owing to their whiteness, it never seems to lead them to relinquish those careers and go flip burgers so a minority could be hired instead.   

Why did white Americans flock to Trump and the GOP last election?  Why did young white Americans, that age group historically tending to swing left of center, swing to the right?  Because the white American liberals who look like them with six figure salaries seem hellbent on making sure those white American liberals are the last people who look like them who will be able to have six figure salaries.  That's why. 

Proxy Martyrdom in a nutshell, and apparently a staple for white liberalism

And a Happy Thanksgiving to all

It still holds a special place in my heart

Rather than prattle on about the problems with the holiday and the issues surrounding us, perhaps just a time to stop and say thanks.  Just like those first puritans spending three days celebrating and partying and thanking God for their blessings.  Considering the losses they experienced and the hardships, they still found time for endless thanksgiving.  And that's not a bad thought to remember.  

For fun, here is an article attempting to delve into the past and figure out just what it is that those immigrants and Indians actually ate on the famous feast.  I'm sure it wasn't green bean casserole, which is why we never eat that on Thanksgiving.  But I'd like to think among all the venison, a nice plump turkey the way we breed found its way onto the table.  

For a reminder, the reasons my wife and I have to be thankful, among many others: 

Just because

A little dose of laughter courtesy of Steve Martin and his many talents on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: 

And yes, a reminder that he didn't always have that plume of white hair.  Martin is one of those cases of how, when you're young, time seems to be somewhat telescoped.  His mega hit album A Wild and Crazy Guy came out in 1978 when I was in elementary school.  A year after Star Wars, and the height of Star Wars Mania (yes, that came a full year after its release), Martin seemed to be everywhere.  His novelty song King Tut caught the King Tut wave that was all the rage back then, with the Treasures of Tutankhamun  museum exhibit tour in the late 70s. A year later he would star in his own vehicle movie The Jerk, and only solidify that feeling for me and my peers that he had been everywhere forever.   

Looking back, I realize how brief his time in the national spotlight was.  Oh, he would go on and make a zillion movies of varying quality and redefine himself and become, nowadays, that elderly gentlemen of entertainment. But Martin as center of attention in the world of pop culture was only a couple years. But to youngsters at the time like me, where time seems to go at a different pace, it felt in the late 70s as though he had always been the biggest thing since the dawn of time.