Viral Hysteria, the “Seamless Garment,” and the Cult of Cowardice

“Every man dies.  Not every man really lives.”

“They can take our lives, but they cannot take our freedom!”

~ William Wallace from Braveheart (1995)

This is a follow-up to my last Rant, covering a few points in greater depth.  Now, after President Trump outlined steps to slowly and timidly “re-open” the American economy after many states forcibly (and tyrannically) shut down businesses deemed “non-essential,” leading to record unemployment and the destruction of countless small businesses, the controversy and divisiveness and stoked by this issue has only heated up.   Based on what I’ve seen on social media, most Americans have settled into one of two bitterly divided camps:  those of us who believe the government lockdowns, virtual quarantining of healthy persons, and shutdowns of business are an assault on basic American constitutional rights and freedoms and destroying our economy, and those who believe such draconian measures are necessary to save lives.

When not telling us we’re idiots, those in the latter camp often accuse those of us in the first of all kinds of moral deficiency and depredation.  According to one priest’s words, those opposed to the quarantines of healthy persons, shuttering of businesses, and banning of public masses are driven by selfish “narcissism” and “misbegotten libertarianism,” valuing personal freedom over human life.  Or that we care about money or the GDP more than about saving lives.  At best, we’re selfish and materialistic, at worst, as one person put it, guilty of complicity in “genocide of the elderly and vulnerable.”  The entire debate over the quarantines, lockdowns, job losses, loss of civil liberties, etc. is reduced to a simplistic morality play of Evil Selfish Greed vs. Righteous Saving Human Lives.  Those who oppose Universal Perpetual Lockdown are accused of being Un-Christian or “Not Pro-life.”

First, the entire assertion that shutting down much of the economy, and plunging millions into unemployment, is “saving lives” is extremely dubious at best.   A prolonged forced shutdown of economic activity, coupled with runaway deficit spending, will likely lead to economic collapse, which will ultimately cost more lives than the virus.  It’s not the rich that will suffer most, but the poor and vulnerable.

The fact that many religious Catholics, rather than just the liberal Pelosi types, appear to have bought into this kind of dubious moral reasoning reveals a deeper issue of moral confusion going on here, one which predates the Wuhan virus.  This concerns the distortion and cheapening of the term “pro-life.”   It began decades ago with the so-called “Seamless Garment” theology proposed by the leftist Cardinal Bernadine in the ‘80s, and which dominates the moral/political rhetoric of the Bishops today.  Originally, the term “pro-life” meant we opposed the deliberate killing of innocent human life (in other words, murder); thus we oppose abortion and the euthanasia, or “mercy killing,” of human beings.  But according to Bernandine and other liberal clergy, to be “pro-life” meant we must also support such things as nuclear disarmament and a large welfare state.  Today, many bishops and their cronies in the USCCB insist that to be “truly pro-life,” we must support basically every item in the ever-growing laundry list of left-wing political causes and demands (with the possible exception of abortion/infanticide on demand).  Now we’re told we’re not “really pro-life” unless we support “gun control,” socialized medicine, open borders, carbon taxes, transgender restrooms, etc.  Liberal Catholics re-define every issue of political contention as a “life issue,” with the “pro-life” position just happening to be whatever Democrat politicians are pushing.  Of course, a bitter cynic like myself is inclined to write this off as a rather obvious political ploy to get religious pro-life Catholics to vote for abortion-loving leftist politicians, though those holier-than-thou “truly pro-life” types would assure us otherwise.

In any case, this has contributed to rather muddled moral thinking, which has combined with our modern culture’s obsession with safety and risk avoidance, and a nasty virus unleashed by the Chinese Communists, to create a perfect storm of hysteria and deranged moralism.

We live in a society increasingly driven by political and media induced fear and panic.  The left (both politicians and the media) tries to keep us in a constant state of fear – of the immanent destruction of life on earth from man-made climate change, of mass shootings, of President Trump (who we are constantly told somehow represents a “grave danger,” and urgently needs to be removed before he commits Hitlerian atrocities).  The only way for us all to avoid certain doom is for us to give leftist government ever more power, and for them to make more restrictions on our freedom.

Then, out of Communist China (the land where “Catholic Social Doctrine” is “best implemented”), comes a gift from the Leftist gods – an actual deadly (for some) virus that spreads with shocking rapidity.  The Left wasted no time politicizing this scourge and blaming it and all its ugly consequences on the Bad Orange Man (after earlier calling him racist for barring flights from China).   The economy then goes to hell after states (especially those with “liberal” Democrat governors) shut down large swaths of the economy, destroy small businesses, and millions are forced out of work.

And now, if one dare question the lockdowns, or the wildly overblown predictions they were predicated on, one is at best denounced as a “denier” and “anti-science” (yes, those wonderful all-purpose words to shut down dissent from the political orthodoxy).  Or worse yet, we’re moral reprobates who value “the economy” over human life, and want to kill off old people or minorities.  Yes, the rhetoric used by those in favor of everlasting lockdown against their critic is exactly the same as that used to push for government disarmament of the people and the “climate change” agenda.   However, in the case of the virus, the threat is much more real and immanent (even if exaggerated), so such tactics are more effective, and influence people a lot more beyond the typical “left-wing” crowd.

All this is enabled by the moral confusing of deliberate murder with the danger and risk inherent (to some degree or another) in so much of human existence.   Because of modern technology, life expectancy in the developed world today is far higher than it was throughout most of history, when most died of various diseases or other causes well before reaching old age.  We fool ourselves into thinking that with just the right diet and exercise program, we can cheat death and become immortal.  We kill our babies for convenience, yet feel entitled to live our own lives free of any threat of death, and demand government make laws to take away anything we find unsafe or threatening.

And now, among those few of us who remain religious Catholics, the confusion of muddled “pro-life” moral thinking grown from the seeds of political-minded liberal clergy has taken root, even among the pious and “conservative.”   We often hear things along the lines of “the Church considers protecting life its highest priority” and that “saving lives” (or avoiding risk of death) must trump (no pun intended) all other considerations.   I’ll set aside for the moment, the argument (which I’ve often made) that an economic collapse brought about by a prolonged shutdown will in result in more deaths in the long run.   The reality is that a prolonged existence shut in one’s home, avoiding any physical religious, social, or political gatherings, or group work or play, unable to wander about without showing the officials one’s papers, can truly be considered living.  Nor is it accurate to claim that the Christian Faith upholds preservation of physical life as the ultimate moral good.  If that were true, the Church would never honor the heroism of countless martyrs who were willing to give up their very lives for their Faith and their God.

Throughout history, men have been willing to risk, or even give up, their lives for God, for family , for country, for freedom from tyranny.  Today all too many willingly give up freedom and embrace tyranny, even the godless tyranny of the leftist state, for the sake of feeling a little more safe from death.  There was long a word for those who exalt their physical safety above all else, and that word is “coward.”  The only thing worse than cowardice is cowards trumpeting their cowardice as superior moral virtue.

But this widespread panic and cowardice is all the more dangerous – much more dangerous than the virus, in fact – as it is orchestrated and played for political ends.  If the Left is successful in getting the majority of people to choose fear rather than freedom, the consequences will be disastrous.  We need to wake up, reject fear, and prepare to fight like hell.

American Liberty: Greatest Casualty of the Covid-19 Hysteria

″”Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” 

Benjamin Franklin

Before I start, I’ll begin with some caveats. I’m not a “Covid-19 denier” or a conspiracy theorist. I don’t believe it’s “no worse than the cold,” a media hoax, or an illusion generated by the Illuminati/Alien Lizard-men/Dirty Jews.

However, today in most states, life is becoming like something out of a dystopian novel, or a Communist police state. “Shelter in Place” rules forbidding citizens to leave their homes without proof of necessity, people arrested for going on a drive, and married couples given citations for sitting too close to each other on a park bench. Churches forcibly shut down. Millions forced out of their jobs and livelihoods because the state has deemed their work “non-essential.”

Surely this is not the life of freedom our forefathers fought, bled, and died for.

And, yes, I’m aware there’s a pandemic, and I’m aware it’s serious. However, this is not, in fact, the first serious and deadly disease our country has faced. Our ancestors regularly dealt with waves of nasty diseases (yellow fever, etc.) which killed many people. However, never in the past did governments, state or federal, toss basic constitutional rights and freedoms out the window, and forcibly shut down large swaths of the economy.

In addition to the loss of freedom of assembly and religion (with “liberal” state governments also effectively restricting the right to own and bear arms), if the shutdown continues, we are headed for an economic depression of apocalyptic magnitude.

But, we are told, all this is necessary TO SAVE LIVES! Unless the government shuts down our economy and enacts all sorts of draconian restrictions on freedom, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL DIE!!!

This alleged conflict between freedom/the economy and saving human life has recently become a major point of conflict and division among people. Those of us who question the wisdom of an ongoing, near-total shutdown of human activity and the economy for an indefinite period of time are regularly accused of either being in stupid denial about the seriousness of the virus, or else not caring if people die, or valuing money or the economy over human life. This had taken on, for some, the intensity of a religious crusade, or jihad. Question the doomsday scenarios, or the need for a forced national shutdown until a cure is found, and your credentials as a Catholic/Christian, or “pro-lifer” are questioned or attacked.

However, “the economy” vs. “saving lives” is a false dichotomy. We simply cannot afford to lock down a large portion of the economy until a vaccine is a available (which can take many months to years, if at all). This isn’t about whether corporate fat cats collect billion dollar dividends, but about (formerly) working people being able to put food on the table, and afford basic necessities, including health care. Not to mention the increase in suicide, violence, substance abuse, a serious depression will inevitably lead to. In the long run, far more will die in the wake of economic collapse than from the covid-19 virus. And unless a cure is found, a lengthy quarantine of the general populace will only postpone suffering and death from the virus, not end it.

We need to stop collectively panicking and cowering, and get people in most places back to work asap.

Those of us in businesses the government deems “essential” are working with mitigating protocols in place, so there is no reason most other businesses can do the same.

Don’t be fooled. The ghoulish Left, determined to “never let a crisis go to waste, is deliberately exploiting this tragedy and spreading panic for its own power-hungry ends, and install full socialist rule in the country (after dishonesty blaming President Trump and conservatism for the disaster) A hysterical, panicked population is a stupid, easily ruled population.

And the much of the institutional Church leadership is all too willing to forfeit its rights and duties in the face of the hysteria, as Catholics around the world are deprived of Mass and the sacraments.

Traditionally, in times of plague, Popes and churchmen called on the faithful to prayer and repentance. Could this be a chastisement for rampant sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance, such as abortion and sodomy (a vice apparently quite popular among Vatican clergy)?

No, we are assured by our Church “leaders,” God no longer punishes us for sin. Pope Francis instead declares the Wuhan virus to be the result of the “Earth Mother” “throwing a tantrum” over carbon emissions, or whatever.

Our “progressive” Church leadership no doubt thought trading worship of that mean, patriarchal God of the Bible for a non-threatening pagan earth-mother goddess was a sweet deal. But it turns out Pachamama is one crazy homicidal bitch.

I mean, even Hulk Hogan said we need to repent and turn to Jesus. Why is this so hard for the Jesuit sophisticates running the Church to figure out?

More Soon!

Gregorian rants to return!  Stay tuned for more.

Just Vote (Veto Beto)!

I know I haven’t ranted here in a while (too much to rant about, too little time), but I thought I’d use this outlet to gently remind all conservatives reading this (especially here in the Lone Star State, and in other states with hotly contested Senate or gubernatorial seats, but everywhere else too) to, if you haven’t already, GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND VOTE!!!

Please, no excuses, but if you must give excuses, at least, for the love of God, don’t give me any holier-than-thou moral high-ground posing.   You, know, the “refusing to vote for the lesser of evil” bullcrap about how you’re such a superior human being because you’ll sit there and do nothing and let our great nation literally go to hell, rather than vote for some flawed, imperfect Republican politician.  There’s just too much at stake this time.  The alternative to that flawed, imperfect Republican politician will be a crazed, evil Democrat politician.  The Left and the Democrat Party have now gone full-out bat-shit crazy, and are hellbent on utterly destroying both the Trump presidency and the anything that remains of constitutional principle, Christian virtue, and just basic sanity in this nation.

Take the great, until recently “deep-red” Lone Star state of Texas, where, since summer, “Beto” signs have sprung up everywhere like noxious toadstools after a rainstorm.   For anyone who’s been under a rock, the empty-headed spoiled-brat rich kid pretty-boy is the Left’s Great White Texan Hope, and new Democrat Messiah-in-training, heir apparent to Dear Leader Barrack Hussein Obama.  For this purpose, leftist donors from across the U.S. (and possibly beyond, if scandals are true) have poured record-breaking amounts of cash into his campaign, and national media have done their part to promote his rock star status.  The reason for this is not the man himself (a remarkably un-remarkable and vacuous candidate), but the hope that if they can run someone successfully in Texas and turn the Lone Star State blue, they can have an easy shot at the presidency if they run him in a future election.

“Beto” is from top to bottom a fraud and phony, so much so that he cannot even run on his own real name, Robert Francis O’Rourke, instead going by the Hispanic “Beto” (diminutive for Roberto), in hopes of fooling Hispanic voters into thinking he is one of them, and overcome any disadvantage against running against a guy who actually is Hispanic (Cruz).  He freely uses race-baiting tactics and whines like a snowflake against the evils of “white privilege,” while he himself is a walking definition of “white privilege,” a white dude from a rich family, the sort of guy liberals are supposed to hate (at least in the abstract).   He shamelessly copies Obama’s rhetoric and weird machine-gun burst speech patterns, while lacking Dear Leader’s rhetorical skills.  And, while vowing to vote to impeach Trump if elected, he regurgitates Trump’s “Lying Ted” attacks on Cruz from the 2016 GOP race.  His sole accomplishments he (endlessly) touts on his resume are making campaign visits to every county in Texas (as if this stunt proves anything beyond that he really wants votes), as well as having been in a punk band and being able to ride a skateboard.

 

While Cruz is still ahead (barely) in polls, the numbers show far too many Texans are buying into this crap.  It’s hard to how much of this is simply phony internet trolling by Democrat leftists (I’m praying most of it is), but I’ve been seeing far too many Texas “conservatives” claiming they will vote for Beto the Fake Mexican because they are fed up with Cruz for some reason or another.   Most of it being on the grounds that Ted is a gutless sissy and shameless political whore for supporting President Trump after all the nasty attacks Trump made against him and his wife in the 2016 GOP presidential race.

The “Beto” camp has milked the 2016 Cruz-Trump feud for all its worth, attempting through bogus “non-partisan voter groups” to get Trump-fans to vote Beto based entirely on Trump’s nasty 2016 campaign attacks on “Lying Ted.”  On the one hand, according to O’Rourke, Trump is an evil liar and crook who needs to be impeached.  While on the other hand, every ugly word the Trumpster uttered against his rival in 2016 is gospel truth, and reason enough to vote against Cruz.

Much as I admire sticking up for Mrs. Cruz’s honor and all, really?  For that, you’re willing to toss out one of the Senate’s most consistent conservatives for a socialist, open-borders, SJW, race-baiting, cop-hating, fanatically pro-abortion, gun-grabbing weasel, who would slavishly vote in line with Chucky Schumer, and has vowed to vote to impeach the President?  If this is the state of Texas “conservatism,” God help us all.  As the Dems are well aware, as falls Texas, so falls America.  (Perhaps most troubling, I’ve even seen “Beto” bumper stickers in the parking lot of my a very conservative FSSP parish.  Sadly, even some Trads have now bought into the whole “social justice” nonsense to the point that they are willing to support fanatically pro-abortion politicians.)

Not to despair, but we conservatives need to all look at the big picture, and make sure we vote Tuesday.  (if you haven’t early voted already, as I have).  This is about something a lot better than Ted and Beto (or whoever’s running in your state.)  If the Dems control Congress, especially if they win both houses, we’re looking at:

• Yet more endless bogus witchhunt “investigations” into President Trump, his family, and administration, at the very least, and likely impeachment.
• Votes to impeach Justice Kavanaugh, and perhaps Justice Thomas.
• Blocking of any and all SCOTUS nominees anywhere to the right of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
• Legislation pushing single-payer socialized medicine, and bankruptcy by the entirely unsustainable “medicare for all.”
• Gun-grabbing legislation, and a sustained attack on our Second Amendment rights.
• God-knows-what assorted socialist and “LGB-whatever” legislation, and attacks on religious liberty for Christians.
• Moves to abolish the Electoral College, and (if they win the house but not the Senate) abolish the Senate.

Unless all that sounds like fun, get out there and vote Red tomorrow.  And, yeah, I know most Republicans suck.  But the Democrats are pure evil.  And stark-raving  insane to boot.

A Bitter Clinger’s Reflections on Religion and the Second Amendment

Sigh. . .  Yet another senseless mass murder, and yet another ghoulish, vulturine exploitation by the totalitarian, gun-grabbing Left in their ongoing war on the Second Amendment.  However, it appears this time there may be real consequences, especially as even our Republican President (who had campaigned as a friend of the Second Amendment) has joined in the anti-gun nonsense, calling for banning 18-20-year-olds from buying and owning rifles, and even going so far as to declare that guns should be taken from potentially dangerous persons without due process.

As usual, the much of the so-called “debate” blatantly disregards the facts, with those on the “gun control” (in reality citizen-control) side displaying profound and willful ignorance or outright lying.  The Left uses this killing, as with previous mass-killings, to focus on banning the rifles of the AR-15 platform.  Politicians frequently give these rifles the scary-sounding but meaningless label “assault weapons” – designed to confuse with the term “assault rifle,” which refers to actual fully automatic military weapons.  AR-15s are not automatic, but semi-automatic, meaning the weapon automatically chambers the next round after firing, but can only fire one round per pull of the trigger.  They are not “machine guns,” and cannot spray bullets.  Neither are they, as often claimed, “high power” or high caliber rifles.  They are in fact only slightly higher caliber than a .22, and used mainly for sport shooting, varmint hunting, and home defense.

While they have been involved in a few high-profile mass killings, AR-15s are statistically almost never used in crime (the vast majority of gun crime involves handguns), and each year far more murders are committed with bare hands or feet than with AR-15s.

In short, there is absolutely no compelling rational reason to ban this type of weapon.  The outcry is pure, irrational hysteria.

The Second Amendment states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  Arbitrarily banning “scary-looking” weapons such as the AR-15 is an arbitrary infringement on this right.  If one type of gun can be arbitrarily banned by politicians, then any other type can be banned, and another, and another.  The Second Amendment is meaningless and has no teeth if politicians are free to simply take away the right of the people to keep and bear whatever arms they choose.  If you can ban AR-15s, why not ban shotguns?  Handguns?  Hunting rifles (higher caliber)?  Knives?   The slippery slope is not a fallacy in this case.

Likewise, the call to ban guns from citizens 18-20 years of age is also arbitrary infringement.  If people at 18 are considered legal adults able to vote, marry, start families, and join the military, it makes no sense to deprive them of the right to the means to defend themselves and their families against attack.  If 18-year-olds cannot be trusted to use so-called “military style” weapons, it makes no sense that they should be trusted to use actual military weapons in the military.  And most of the recent mass killings were committed by persons over 21.  The Vegas killer was 64, yet there was no serious talk of banning ornery old farts from having weapons.

It is unlikely gun bans will in fact stop school shootings and other mass murders, but it is likely that “hardening the target” by allowing concealed carry on school campuses, and having teachers well-trained in use of firearms would likely be a deterrent, and lower body counts.  Almost all these mass murders are committed in “gun free zones” where killers know the intended victims will be helpless sitting ducks.  However, such measures are vehemently opposed by the anti-gun Left.  The goal is not to actually prevent such killings and protect human life, but to increase government power and control over law-abiding citizens, and attack political opponents.  (Let’s face it, if the Left were really so concerned with protecting innocent human life, it would not so fanatically support the killing of unborn children.)

Similarly, the majority of churches are also “gun free zones,” where a killer knows he can likely slaughter unarmed persons, as evidenced by the Southerland Springs Baptist church shooting last November (the murderer later being stopped, ironically enough, by a man with an AR-15 – that weapon so demonized by the Left of late).  (I had originally intended to blog about it at the time, but did not have time to finish that rant.)

The little FSSP parish I attend has long been preparing for such a scenario, especially following death threats on the priests some years ago.  While we all pray such a thing will never happen here, there is an armed cop on duty, and many men of the parish form a civilian security team, training in defense measures, and working out plans to deal with an active shooter scenario.

While some use such horrific occasions to scream for the outlawing of weapons, the question remains of what would happen if some parishioners in the Southerland Springs church had been armed?  It seems likely, if someone there were armed and properly trained, that the massacre could have at least been could short before the body count rose to 26.  In most churches, firearms are not allowed, but this, as in other “gun free zones,” creates a crowd of people that are sitting ducks for any evil, deranged person intent on mass killing.  Should concealed carry be allowed on church grounds, as well as schools and other “safe” places targeted by murderous maniacs?  Much as it may irk the piously p.c., I believe the answer is yes.

Of course, such an answer is anathema to many on the “Catholic” and “Christian” Left, who insist that Christians (with the possible exception of cops) should never own nor carry lethal weapons, and that more laws restricting or banning gun ownership (enforced, of course, by men with guns) are the solution to all violence.  A document by the USCCB even goes so far as to say that ultimately gun ownership of any kind should be restricted only to police and military personnel.  And liberal clergy declare that people who support second amendment rights are “not pro-life.”  Some even argue strict pacifism, saying that in the event that one’s wife and children are faced by a dangerous aggressor, and one has the ability to stop him, the moral “Christ-like” thing to do is to do nothing at all, and simply allow the creep to murder or rape as he chooses.  After all, they piously insist, Christ did not come down from the cross to defend Himself or His disciples.

But is this view actual Church teaching?  Or is it misguided theology at best, or, at worst, simply another cynical political attempt to find “common ground” with the godless political Left?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:  “Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow . . .

Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”  (CCC: 2264-2265)

Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”  (CCC: 2264-2265)

Of course, some try to claim that this grave duty is restricted to the state (police, military, and Nancy Pelosi’s bodyguards).  But this is nonsense.  Parents, for instance, are primarily responsible for the lives of their children.  And, much as I back the Blue, even the best cops simply can’t be everywhere at once.  And if using a lethal weapon to defend life is as inherently evil as the bleeding hearts imply, what makes it good in the hands of the state?

The second amendment right to keep and bear arms is not simply an anachronistic idiosyncrasy of the American Constitution, but is closely tied to the right of persons to self-defense, related closely to the right to life itself, and has always been taught by the Church herself.  A government forcibly depriving people of the means to defend themselves against aggressors is not Catholic, nor Christ-like, nor “pro-life,” but would simply leave good people at the mercy of lawless criminals and psychos, and an increasingly immoral and godless state.

In recent “debates,” “liberals” have hysterically compared supporters of the second amendment to Nazis, which is ironic, as it was the real Nazis who deprived German private citizens of the right to own arms.

Update:  Here’s a little article I found by John G. Malcolm and Amy Swearer in The Stream which neatly summarizes and refutes much of the blatant nonsense surrounding the gun control propaganda: 6 Reasons Gun Control Will Not Solve Mass Killings.

Guns, Jihad, & Leftist Hypocrisy

Well, there was horror this Halloween as an Uzbekistan national and practitioner of the Religion of Peace deliberately ran down random people on a Manhattan bike trail in a Home Depot rental truck before slamming into a school bus and crying “Allahu Akbar!”

In perhaps the year’s most blatant example of hypocrisy (in a year rich with blatant hypocrisy), members of the Left were horrified at President Trump’s “politicizing” the murderous mayhem by daring to link it to radical Islam and push for measures restricting immigration from hotbeds of radical Islam activity.  This, right after “liberals” wasted no time in politicizing the Vegas massacre, screaming for more federal gun-grabbing and attacking the NRA and Republicans.  Of course, they’re probably too stupid to even see the dripping irony.  But it’s past time President Trump learned the simple rules; politicizing murder and death is appropriate so long as it promotes the left-wing political agenda (i.e. government gun-grabbing), and horribly wrong if it opposes it (i.e. opposing unfettered immigration).   [Update:  And, predictably enough, following the slaughter of 26 parishioners at the church in Southerland Springs, Texas–and his being chased down and stopped by a former NRA instructor with an AR-15–the Left wasted no time politicizing the murder.]

And to suggest otherwise with many Catholics now is tantamount to heresy – after all, the “Religion of Peace” is particularly beloved of NewChurch, and open borders immigration policy has become its chief “article of faith.”  In fact, according to our progressive clerics and their apologists on teh interwebz, it’s also  a “life issue,” right up there with global warming and gun-grabbing – which may trump moral issues such as abortion and euthanasia if one’s leftist-indoctrinated “conscience” so “informs” us.    (Never mind that new laws would have done nothing to stop any of the recent killings, by guns or trucks, but let’s not let the facts get in the way of shrill ideological pieties.)

But, of course, the Right needs to stop politicizing such things by attacking scapegoats such as “radical Islam,” which is no more guilty than Christianity in this regard (our own Pope has said as much – what are you, a heretic?), and focus on the real issues.  We need laws requiring much more extensive background checks on those renting trucks and other equipment from Home Depot and similar businesses!   And more importantly, the government needs to take swift punitive action against the cold and greedy Death Merchants at Home Depot who rented out this evil killing machine (did you know they also rent and sell chainsaws and other gruesome murder weapons?)  or better yet, ban trucks altogether, unless they are in the employment of government.  And Socialism.  The Cure for All Ills.

The NFL “Controversy,” Free Speech, & Leftist Hypocrisy

The whole NFL – national anthem thing has already been talked to death, and I don’t have a whole lot original to say about it, other than that as of now, I’m not watching NFL football .  Not that I think it will make a tremendous amount of difference, but, like plenty of others, I’m just in no mood to see sports (which used to be a diversion from all the political crap) turned into yet another opportunity for a leftist display of anti-patriotism, nor do I wish to be lectured on “social justice” by a bunch of overpaid, spoiled brat jocks.  It’s as annoying as overpaid, spoiled brat celebrities and politicians like Leo DiCaprio and Algore jet-setting around the globe, lecturing us Little People on how we need to reduce our carbon footprint.

But the Reverend Jesse Jackson has lately proclaimed the odious Colin Kappernick, who started this whole mess, a “martyr.”  Really?  Last I checked, he was still alive and well, even if not playing.  (Methinks the Good Reverend should shut his mouth, lest he start giving Pope Francis ideas.)  And some prominent black preachers in Dallas have loudly declared Jerry Jones a “slave owner,” and his ‘Boys “40 million dollar slaves”   forced to do “gladiatorial combat” but not to speak out by disrespecting our flag.  To state the stupidly obvious (which apparently progressives are too stupid to see):

1. A) real slaves (I’m talking the real, pick cotton from dawn-to-dusk to the tune of the whip slaves, not 21st century snowflake wannabes) would never dream of 40 million dollar salaries nor any of the luxuries it could buy, and . . .
2. B) At least to my knowledge, nobody put any of these guys in chains and forced them to play ball against their will. Nor has anybody prevented them from choosing instead to pursue careers as truck drivers, accountants, rocket scientists, janitors, or whatever.

While the facts simply don’t support the notion that there exists in 21st century America any systemic epidemic of white cops gunning down innocent black citizens, these jocks are free to express on their own time whatever opinions or protest whatever they want, no matter how asinine or ill-informed.  That has nothing to do with respectfully standing for the National Anthem before game time.  Most of us do not have the luxury of avoiding our job duties to engage in political grandstanding without losing our jobs.

And spare me the screaming and crying over President Trump’s remarks.  If he’d threatened to send in the National Guard or force players to stand by executive order, I’d be the first to stand with the NFL (or anyone) against him, as this would be a violation of the constitutional limits of presidential power.   I even read an article by a “conservative” never-Trumper which absurdly condemned the President for turning the American flag into “a White Nationalist symbol.”  I must of missed that one; seems to me it was protesting players who were making Old Glory into a symbol of racism, or police brutality, or whatever the hell they’re supposedly protesting.

Which brings me to a point I’ve yet to hear anybody make.  I haven’t heard a peep from the progressive Social Justice Warriors regarding increasing number of cases of people being fired from their jobs for expressing opinions off the job in personal blogs or social media that are deemed too un-pc (especially in regards to “social issues” such as “gay marriage” and abortion).  In one of the most recent examples, a Southwest Airlines stewardess was fired for expressing “highly offensive” pro-life views in social media.   As others have pointed out, this is a growing danger for committed Christians.  Even without the state violating first amendment free speech rights by censorship, they can still lose their jobs merely for expressing un-pc moral beliefs.  (It could certainly be argued that such things constitute unlawful employment discrimination on the basis of religious faith.)

But, you know,; unrestricted freedom of expression anytime, anywhere – just so long as you keep it pc.

The Vegas Massacre, Nihilism, and the Left’s Gun-Grabbing Demagoguery

Donnie: “They were Nazis, Dude?”

The Dude:   “They were nihilists.  They kept saying they believe in nothing.”

Walter:  “Nihilists?!  F*** me!  Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism; at least it’s an ethos.”

~ from The Big Lebowski

 

(Again, apologies on the untimely lateness of this post – I really have no time to blog.)

Of course, following the largest mass-shooting in American history in Las Vegas earlier this month (59 dead, hundreds wounded), the usual crowd of idiots and miscreants on the Left, without missing a beat, exploited the horror to play politics before the bodies were even cold – as is their ghoulish want.  One took it too far even for her own liberal company; a senior executive at CBS was fired following the dissemination of a tweet that she had no sympathy for the victims because she said country music fans are mostly a bunch of gun-toting “Repugs.”  (I doubt her masters at left-wing CBS were truly that appalled at her statement – though they knew bad pr when they saw it.)  And later, two Dem congressmen walked out before a moment of silence for the victims, saying it was “not a time for silence, but for action.”

Anti-gun “liberals” are always sanctimoniously lecturing us Repug deplorable types on how we need to lose the right to bear arms (the right to self-defense) because of the importance of protecting human life.  But apparently, for some anti-Second Amendment pols, the lives of those they supposedly so badly  want to protect  are not even worth a couple minutes of prayerful respect, lest it take precious time away from pushing their all-important gun-grabbing agenda.  Or, apparently, if the victims’ politics might differ from their own.  (There was similar crap following the attempted mass murder of a bunch of Republican congressmen which left Steve Scalise seriously wounded.  Since he had opposed proposed “gun-control” legislation, he was only getting his just deserts.)

Of course, this allegedly deep concern for the protection of human life among progressives immediately evaporates the moment the topic changes from guns to abortion.  The supposed inviolable constitutional “right choose” or “right to privacy” supposedly found buried somewhere deep in the emanations of the penumbra means people have the absolute right to kill unborn babies in the womb at any time for any reason.  And, not only that, but the we must all be forced to help pay for the killing with our tax dollars.  One bleeding heart leftist l I heard say that he struggled for years trying to find a reconciling compromise between the “pro-life” and “pro-choice” positions, but in the end he had to “respect the primacy of individual human choice” by supporting the absolute right to abortion on demand.  Unsurprisingly, this guy was also a passionate advocate of government gun-grabbing, and all sorts of other big-government restrictions on “individual human choice,” Second Amendment and all be damned.  But human life itself was one thing that should not trump human choice.  Or, as one meme succinctly put it, “I don’t listen to anti-gun arguments from folks who think it’s okay to kill babies.”

And, of course, we can expect another round of pious nonsense from the USCCB and other “progressive Catholic” groups about how we’re “not truly pro-life” unless we support the federal government grabbing everyone else’s guns.  Such statements conveniently ignore the Church’s long tradition of teaching on legitimate self-defense, and the Catechism even speaks of a duty to protect the lives of those under our care.  Second amendment rights help ensure the means to such defense and protection – which presumably is not limited only to cops.  I might start taking “gun control” arguments half-way seriously the day “anti-gun” politicians and celebs willingly disarm their own security details.   But apparently the right to self-defense doesn’t apply to Little People.

 

As for the vile mass murderer himself, we may never know his motives.  Was he merely a lone psycho, or part of a bigger plot?  There’s a lot of really weird stuff about the murder that just doesn’t add up, but at this point, it’s all idle speculation.  Whenever there’s a mass killing, the Left rushes to gleefully speculate on possible right-wing connections.  And according to the Left, this killing was really all the fault of the NRA, which is being labeled a “terror organization” (despite no evidence ever tying the NRA to any terrorists plots).  But on the right, after the killing, some were openly speculating about political motives.  Was the killing, as some others have suggested, a leftist attempt to “parody” the right, by collecting a ridiculous amount of weapons, then shooting up a country concert?  I admit, there was a certain part of me – not a particularly good or noble part – that was sort of hoping the killer would turn out to be a leftist or ISIS recruit in order that my politics might be vindicated.  But the reality is that it would be wrong to exploit a mass murder and the deaths it caused for the purpose of scoring cheap political points.

 

While I don’t think an ISIS connection may be totally ruled out, it remains likely that the killing has no political or ideological motive whatever.  And that is perhaps in a way the most horrifying possibility.  All of us seem to want to have some enemy extrinsic to the killer himself to blame – something out there we can blame, fight, and, God willing, defeat.   It may well be that the murderer was not trying to send any ideological message, left, right, or otherwise, but was simply looking to kill a large number of people before he quit this earth so he could go out in a blaze of infamy.  Many mass killing-suicides are non ideological, but simply nihilistic evil.  This kind of evil is something leftist ideology cannot understand – as for it everything is politics and politics is everything, and there are no problems  that bigger and better government can’t fix.  Such evil won’t be fixed by government “gun control” or other measures.  (There are no gun laws that in reality would have prevented this – especially when the killer has no respect for the law, and plans on killing himself anyway, and there are ways of killing crowds of people without guns – by home-made bombs, vehicles, etc.)

Following the rise of global Islamic terrorism, a common talking point of  the “new atheists” and the secularist, anti-Christian Left is that religion is the cause of most killing in the world, and that if people stop believing in God, the world will become a peaceful, rational place.  (This point is often amended to “believing in anything with certainty” after it is pointed out that atheistic Communists regimes have killed far more than religious groups.  Nether mind that such people rarely question their own pc liberal assumptions about the world.)  And never mind that religious mass-killings are largely confined to a particular strain of Islam.  All liberal fantasy to the contrary, there simply exists no substantial world-wide movement of persons killing, destroying and raping in the name of Christ.  Sadly, even the Left’s useful idiot in the Vatican, Pope Francis, has repeated such nonsense – equivocating Jihadist terror with random, completely irreligious crimes by persons who may have been baptized Christian, and saying global capitalism is really to blame.

But, as others have pointed out, if the Vegas killer had been a religious, believing Christian, who took Christ’s teachings seriously, as well as final judgment, heaven and hell, it is unlikely he would have proceeded to murder and maim a crowd of persons made in God’s own image before taking his own life.  While not much is known about the killer’s beliefs, he apparently does not have any religious affiliation, and did not appear to be a religious man.  Most atheists, like most other normal people, will have no inclination to commit mass murder or other atrocities against their fellow man.  But for the minority that are so inclined, if there is no God, no objective morality outside our own feelings and human rules, there is no reason not to – especially if one is intent on annihilating himself and avoiding any earthly consequences, legal or otherwise.

As Nietzsche proclaimed, without God, all things are permitted.  In a world of moral nihilism, particularly if – as is likely – we’re in for tough times, things will likely get very ugly.

Meanwhile, the left will continue to play politics with this and every other horrific event.  First bumpstocks (a largely worthless item for most shooters) will be banned, and then more items, and then actual weapons.

In the same way the Left now plays politics with just about every damn thing in existence.  Disasters from mass killings to natural disasters (such as Hurricane Harvey)  exist to be exploited and used to damn your enemies.  Everything now is all politics all all the time, 24-7: crime stories, weather (you filthy climate-change denier!), sports (next up, my thoughts on the NFL nonsense).

As General Robert. E. Lee Rolls in his Grave . . .

Well, the past week saw’s yet another media shit-storm hit the airwaves generated by a series of disgusting events in the picturesque college town of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the UVA Cavaliers, Monticello, and its owner, American founding father Thomas Jefferson.

There, a crowd of racist, white-supremacist “right-wing” idiots and thugs got in  a nasty little rumble with a crowd of pc-fascist left-wing idiots and thugs.  (The latter being those heroic champions of “liberal” “tolerance” who go around beating up anybody who dare says anything they disagree with.  They call themselves “Antifa” – which ironically supposedly means “Anti-fascist” –  your typical leftist activist being mentally incapable of actually spelling out or saying the full word “fascist.”)  The melee culminated with one of the racist idiots committing murder by deliberately ramming his Dodge Challenger into the crowd of leftist idiots.

The racist idiots (I apologize for the redundancy; it’s sort of like saying “leftist idiots”) had supposedly gathered in Charlottesville to protest the decision of that town’s board (composed, apparently, of pc bleeding-heart weenie idiots)  to tear down a statue of former CSA commanding general Robert E. Lee, following the Left’s current mania to tear down and obliterate any and all reminders and records of our country’s un-pc past, shoving them down the Orwellian memory-hole.

Of course, both sides in this so-called “debate” are profoundly and abysmally ignorant of the actual Robert E. Lee, whose statue is supposedly at the root of all this crap.  Lee was far from the blood-thirsty, Nazi-like champion of racist hate that today’s fanatic iconoclast Left condemn him as, and that today’s neo-National Socialist “alt-right” thugs celebrates him as.

General Lee (the man, not the Dodge Charger) was by all accounts a true gentleman of the highest order, and a brave and selfless leader of men.   He regarded slavery as a moral evil, and at first opposed succession of the Southern States, stating that if he could, he would free all slaves in the South if it would prevent war.  However, when offered command of the Union Army, he refused to raise his sword against his home country of Virginia, and instead fought on behalf of his native land.  After the war, he accepted defeat graciously and urged reconciliation between North and South.

Similar was the case of the second most revered icon of the South, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (of whom I wrote a thesis in college), whose images are also being targeted for destruction by the rabid pc Left.  The Mexican War hero turned VMI professor turned Southern legend was a man of impeccable honor and morals who prior to the war volunteered to educate black children, and spent weeks in fervent prayer that war might be avoided.  Like Lee, he originally opposed secession, but refused to join Washington in fighting against his native state.

I want to pull my hair out every time I hear some self-righteous Yankee ignoramus (often a self-described “conservative”) declare matter-of-factly that Lee, Jackson, etc.  were “traitors” who “betrayed their country.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Their motivation for joining the Southern cause (which had a material disadvantage from the start) was actually patriotism.  In those days, one’s patriotic loyalty belonged primarily to his own state (their first “country”), rather than to the federal leviathon centered in Washington, D.C.  To join the federal government in attacking one’s state and people was regarded as an act of unthinkable betrayal.

Such men of honor stand in stark contrast to the ignorant savages of both today’s fascistic Left and racist “Alt-Right” who clashed in Charlottesville last week.

And please, spare me the endless crying about President Trump and his words, even blaming Mr. Trump himself for the violence.  Why in the hell does every damn thing have to be all about Donald J. Trump?  Isn’t the man’s ego big enough already?

The President’s initial condemnation of the ” egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides” may have been too vague or weak for some, but it’s hardly the Hitlerian statement so many (including “conservatives”) are making it out to be.

But of course, today everything is politics, and politics is everything.  For the ghoulish, vulturine Left, every vile act of murder and depraved violence exists as a glorious opportunity to attack political opponents and/or demand the banning or silencing of something they don’t like (second amendment rights, the NRA, conservative talk radio, pro-lifers, Confederate statues, etc.)  Of course, it’s always conservatives or “the Right” that’s to blame, never anybody on the Left nor politically correct causes such as radical Islam – even if the killers are Leftists or screaming “Allah Akbar!”

At least in this last go-around, the violence was gun-free, sparing us (temporarily) the chorus of shrill demands for “gun control” (though “liberals” are still absurdly trying to link the “White Supremacists” and neo-Nazis to the NRA).  What’s next?  Demand the ban of cars?  (Seriously, I wouldn’t put that past them.)  But this helps prove the case, that where there is hatred, evil persons will find means to kill, regardless of what objects the government might try to ban from us commoners.  Evil and hate can’t be legislated out of existence by restricting people’s legitimate rights to own the means to defend themselves.

Much less will it be stopped by the frenzied barbaric push to destroy historical memorials, statues, flags, etc. , seeking to wipe out any part of our history deemed politically incorrect or “offensive” to our bleeding heart snowflakes.  If anything, that will set off the crazies.  After all, the “alt-Right” rally was in response to the decision to tear down a statue, not put one up.

But of course the Left and their media allies have already exploited this ugly little event (no, it’s not a “tragedy” – a tragedy means a fall of someone or something great and noble) to its fullest, using it to reinforce their Big Lie that they have been promoting for decades conflating all conservatives, and even all Republicans (or, in short, anybody and everybody who didn’t support Hillary or Bernie) with racists and neo-Nazis.  In reality, of course, the “White Supremacist” neo-Nazi crowd is a tiny, largely irrelevant fringe, and its race-based National Socialist ideals at odds with American constitutional conservatism.  And it’s being used to justify the radical leftist hysteria to purge our country (especially, but not limited to the South) of any reminders of its history and heritage (an agenda that polls shows is at odds with majority of Americans of all political persuasions).   (Here in Texas, “Antifa” idiots are demanding that statues of Sam Houston – ironically a man strongly opposed to Texas’ joining the Confederacy – be torn down. ) Of course, also, the media’e endless focus on such stupid racially-charged “controversies” serves as a distraction and smokescreen from the much more real and serious issues facing our country.

We’re All Socialists Now . . . RINOCare, the Errors of Russia, and Other Cheerful Musings

Well, the GOP “healthcare” bill failed to pass . . . a bill that was not substantially different than the socialistic Obamacare debacle that most of its members ran on the promise to “repeal and replace.”  Sorry, but replacing it with more of the same destined-to-fail statist big-government crap that will continue to drive up costs, doesn’t count.  It appears Obamacare is here to stay.  (Good article on the bill  here.)  The Republicans are now just as guilty as the Democrats.  Mitch McConnell and his minions  are not merely spineless cowards, but outright frauds and liars.  The sad fact is that there are only four actual conservatives in the Senate:  Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Ron Johnson, who opposed the bill, or did what they could to mitigate its damage.  Those are the only ones that deserve anyone’s vote or respect; the rest need to be kicked out on their fat, bloated, lying asses.

In case it wasn’t obvious before, it is now clear that there is not even a pretense of conservative principle left in the GOP.  It  is truly a party that stands for nothing.  They can’t even come up with their own noxious policies, but lamely follow half a step behind the Democrats, while pretending to oppose them to win votes from us dumb, right-wing rubes.  They can’t even agree to stop feeding the baby-butchers of Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars (and I’ve even seen “Catholics” argue that such a measure would be too harsh.  After all,  PP also provides mammograms – let’s not throw out the baby with . . . the dead babies).

Both parties now agree that the massive centralized Leviathon state should control everything – healthcare, education, etc., regardless of the disaster it is creating for our country.  They only disagree on who can administer Leviathon more effectively.

But no matter how compromised and socialistic the Stupid Party becomes, of course, they will never, ever be socialistic enough for the Dems, who play the same game every time by going into hysterics over even the tiniest deviations from their statist schemes, decrying the weak and tepid GOP bill in apocalyptic tones.  Without Obamacare, millions of people will die in the streets, the fury of theFour Horsemen will be unleashed, and the dead will walk again to feast upon the living.

Inn debates, I’ve heard similar rhetoric plenty of times from “faithful Catholics” of the holier-than-thou Religious Left (in which category I’d place even some who vote Republican).  These folks are constantly wagging their fingers at any of us conservatives who dare support any restrictions  or limits in the size and scope of the socialistic welfare state, shrilly accusing us of opposing “Catholic Social Teaching,” which in their minds has (wrongly) become identified with a vast and ever-expanding welfare state.  Most Catholics now apparently measure civic virtue by the amount of money spent (wasted) by the federal government.  (And let’s ignore entirely, of course, the unpayable burden it is placing on young and future generations.  We must never let the facts get in the way of pious sentiments of “social justice.”)

They conveniently forget, of course, the teachings of Pope Pius IX, who said, “Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist,” or John XXIII, who declared “No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism.”  And more recently St. John Paul the Great

By contrast, today, many who call themselves Catholic, have swallowed the false promises of leftist socialist ideology hook, line , and sinker.  Unlike the heroic and prophetic Popes and churchmen of old, many, apparently, do not only regard belief in socialist statism compatible with the Faith, but try to make it a central and indisputable article of faith.  Sadly, this includes our current Marxist Supreme Pontiff, and his bureaucratic minions in the Vatican, who are so enamored of socialistic state-dictated “healthcare” that they support its decision to deprive parents of the right to try to save the life of their own child.

 

This year, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions to the three children at Fatima Portugal in 1917.  While I’ve never personally been much into apparitions, one of the reported warnings of the Blessed Mother was that unless the world was consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, the “errors of Russia” would spread throughout the entire world.  It should be noted that this was at the very beginning of the Communist Revolution in Russia, and long before the Soviet Empire would become a major player on the world stage, and certainly before some poor Portuguese farm kids would have any knowledge of such issues.

While the old USSR has long collapsed, it seems the socialist philosophies undergirding Communism are now widely accepted in the West, including in the Church.  A blatant, unapologetic old-school socialist like Bernie Sanders can win the majority of the “Millennial” vote (and Hillary wasn’t much better), while our “right-wing” President so hated by the Left, is himself a fan of massive government who barely even talks about scaling back the Leviathon state, much less take substantial action.

And this was accomplished without the Soviets firing a shot.  Time to besiege Heaven with prayer – and fight like hell here on earth.