The Crisis of Masculinity in the church

So much of what is going on is a result of this culture's crisis of masculinity. The Church seems to have few masculine men in leadership positions. Bishop Schneider is one such. American Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, is another. But very few of our shepherds are men in the traditional sense.

What all this blather about "diversity of religions" being "the will of God" is septic tank overflow, sure, but it is feministic septic tank overflow. The true feminine spirit is reconciling, tries to defuse tense situations and comforts everybody; being "motherly" -- but that is native to it. Yet that is not something men should be trying to imitate, and certainly not emulate. A man's man would stand up to Cuomo, for example, or have that utter reprobate McCarrick literally thrown out on his ear, into the gutter where he belongs. (Well, that bum is dangerous and should be locked up with the key thrown away.)

But instead we get prelates, from Our Caudillo on down, who act the role of an emasculated, feminized man imitating what he thinks women would do. Hence we get Francis' endless slop about "Mercy" instead of clear, no-nonsense teaching and discipline regarding every mortal sin and yet, so oddly, Bergoglio is petty and vindictive, like a "bad girl" in a snooty Girls' School ragging on a student who doesn't fit into her clique. A sort of "Lady of the Flies" instead of "Lord of the Flies." And it is in that sense, the Vat2 word "pastoral" is code for doing nothing to a Cuomo or a McCarrick -- or for that matter, to a pope.

It's disgusting, but it is something found across the culture.

An Préachán

An Amazingly Stupid Comment in an Essay of Ignorance and Doltishness

A Leftist acquaintance sent me the following, I presume to cringe at:

From:

David Farnell, Professor at Fukuoka University

Shared 22h ago

Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?

"For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed."

The rest of the essay is just has petty, ignorant, and oh so arrogant. (You know, what are devils going to do with the Stupid? They'd think Hell is Socialism Achieved and happily enjoy eternity roasting.)

I wrote back to the sender:

In 60 years of life, most of it as a writer in journalism, text-book creation, and technical writing, as well as an English-language teacher in a variety of different venues, I've never read anything so smugly asinine as what this fool composed above. Anyone stupid enough to write this is beyond redemption. “Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.” -- Robert A. Heinlein

N.B. That utter reprobate, Jack Kennedy, the guy who would screw the girlfriends of his closest friends and assistants and lackeys (Dave Powers said, "Yeah, he'd screw 'em, but he always gave 'em back"), a rapist who was almost an utter nothing, not writing either book attributed to him, or his speeches (just like Obama that way, in fact) -- ol' Jack, who did have something of an Irish sarcastic wit (the only Irish thing about him), upon occasion, at least -- his worst comment Jack could lay on a person was the one he said of Dick Nixon, "He has no class." This, mind you, from a classless rapist who might well have been complicit in Norma Jean Baker's death, who in his entire worthless life had only two honest-to-God accomplishments -- his (rather disastrous) WWII naval service and his stout anti-Communism -- the latter of course got him assassinated by a Communist, and the American MSM elite and the Johnson Admin covered that up, so he couldn't die a martyr to the one non-sexual thing he seemed to care something about.

I think it interesting that Jack Kennedy would have agreed with the cement-brained idiot's comment above.

Hmmm....

An Préachán

It's the Republicans who are supposed to be the Stupid Party, but the Democrats give them a run for that title...

Just peachy. Not only was this Democrat governor of Virginia Ralph Northam willing (and maybe has) killed newborn babies, he was an actual racist in his past, not a faux-racist like the Media insist Trump is.

Of course, you look at this photo in the article and you can't tell if the governor is the one in black-face or the one in the KKK outfit. However, this was from a 1984 yearbook. That's 1984!

An excerpt: 
He’s toast.  There’s no way, no way, Democrat Governor Ralph Northam can survive the public scrutiny of his behavior in 1984 as a 25-year-old medical school graduate.  This is 1984, not 1964,… 1984.  C’mon. Most of us were adults in 1984, and I doubt any of us can even fathom this level of overt racism in 1984. [I sure as hell can’t]

All current indications are that Northam was actually the one dressed in a KKK outfit while posing for pictures that he eventually selected to go into the school yearbook.

The entire episode is a reminder how authentic Democrats are the party of the KKK; and how their racist roots remain inside the party.  To make matters worse Northam’s 2017 campaign used accusations of racism against Ed Gillespie; and now Virginians in Charlottesville will have to accept that Northam, not Gillespie was the racist in the race; or deny reality.  There’s so many layers to this, it’s impossible to encapsulate.

Additionally, the NAACP has now called for him to resign; and the 2020 democrat candidates (Kamala Harris and Julian Castro) are starting to come forward calling for the same.

This political tsunami is only going to get bigger.  He’s done…. there’s no way this politician can stay in office because it would implode the entire story Democrats want to inject into the 2020 race.  Forget it.

He’s done.

Period.

And about the unconscionable idiocy of CNN... 

This idiocy is as unbelievable as the idiot governor! THIS is CNN! You know, every once in a while I castigate myself for past stupid mistakes I've done, and loathe myself for being a fool, but honestly, I've never managed to be as stupid as these absolute cretins -- so I suppose I should take some reverse solace in that, at least!

RBC

Sociologically speaking -- the Lincoln Memorial Incident: Culture War is Religious War

Excellent insight in this article by Rod Dreher. Well worth everyone's attention. (Hightlights are my own, of course.) We all need to understand -- very clearly -- what is afoot here, and prepare ourselves for the coming Societal Meltdown.

The incident at the Lincoln memorial, sociologically speaking...an excerpt:

Connerton does not, as I recall, address Christian anti-Semitism, but taking his insights and applying them to the statement from the historian, one can see why the persistence of the Jewish people was such an intolerable thorn in the side of Christians, who came up with a rationale for persecuting them. The anonymous historian above talks about how the Jews’ rejection of Jesus was taken by medieval Christian persecutors as a defilement of what they (the Christians) found holy. Therefore, violent acts against the Jews — who were a living denial that Jesus Christ was the Son of God — were considered expressions of self-defense, and of restoring the right social order.

Seen in that light, you begin to understand why the MAGA hats atop the heads of white Christian boys who had been in town for a pro-life rally became a condensed symbol of defilement of all that secular liberals hold sacred. Why didn’t the liberals in media and on social media rage against the Black Israelite cult, which was caught on film being openly and viciously racist and anti-gay? Because progressivism today is a supersessionist movement that is a reaction to Christianity and what they construe as “whiteness.” As hateful as they are, the Black Israelites do not inspire the same contempt within the mind of the progressive, not only because as blacks, they are favored victims in the progressive pantheon, but also because secular progressivism considers itself an antagonist to Christianity. This is true:

…[Tweet about “It’s not Christian to be Christian.”]

Put another way, in the dynamics of the crude supersessionist mindset, to be a Christian requires hating Jews — not non-Christians, but Jews. To be a secular liberal is to hate Christians — not non-liberals, but Christians. Because in both cases, the “new religion” came out of the “old religion,” and the son must kill the father to rule.

Was there anyone who had less power in medieval Christendom than Jews? The less power they had, the more they had to be hated (in this logic). Similarly, as the power and presence of traditional Christians fades, expect the attacks on us to increase in frequency and viciousness. There must be as little social presence and cultural memory of us left as possible. If there is no shared memory of us, and our religion, then we cannot be part of the social order. This, by the way, is why drafters of the 2004 European Union constitution wanted the document to indicate that Europe went from Rome to the Enlightenment, with barely a mention of Christianity.

What we are dealing with here, in sight of the Lincoln Memorial, is what Connerton calls political theology. The political theology of the ancien régime was expressed symbolically by the archbishop placing the crown on the head of the king, showing the connection between the sacred and the ruler. This is why the revolutionaries decapitated Louis XVI: one ritual had to be negated by a counter-ritual.

It makes sense that Nathan Phillips, the Indian provocateur, went after the MAGA hat confrontation with his fellow protesters to the Catholic basilica in Washington, and tried to invade the sacred space during mass. It would have been an act of sacrilege, and therefore one of political theology. Under secular liberalism — a social order that includes many Catholic leaders (see Darel Paul’s excellent piece today on “Our Therapeutic Bishops”) — people like Nathan Phillips are the bearers of the new “sacred” order.

Expect more of this. Culture war is, at bottom, religious war, because sociologically speaking, culture derives from cult, a system of religious veneration and devotion. This is why the facts emerging from the clash at the Lincoln Memorial — facts that negated the initial progressive reading of the event — did not change the minds of progressive devotees. This is not a matter of facts and reason. They wanted a martyr — a witness to the evil of their enemies — and they manufactured one. They’re still doing it.

A comment by Andrew Sullivan:

To put it bluntly: They were 16-year-olds subjected to verbal racist assault by grown men; and then the kids were accused of being bigots. It just beggars belief that the same liberals who fret about “micro-aggressions” for 20-somethings were able to see 16-year-olds absorbing the worst racist garbage from religious bigots … and then express the desire to punch the kids in the face.

How did this grotesque inversion of the truth become the central narrative for what seemed to be the entire class of elite journalists on Twitter? That’s the somewhat terrifying question.

At Least the End of the Vatican II Church Is in Sight

The current, ubiquitous and ever-excellerating Church crisis appears a waking nightmare we can't -- as it were -- go to sleep from and excape. Every day some new disaster, some horrible immorality on the part of high Churchmen is revealed. It's a waking dream from some kooky end-of-the-world types, shouting crazy news releases at us; indeed, blaring them at us from massive loudspeakers.

Yet there's often a "silver lining". And if God exists, He's in control. Therefore...

I think one thing in its favor, in favor of this brutal crisis, is that at least it spells the end of the Vatican II Church. It's dying now but it will be "not merely dead but truly most sincerely dead" until the final demise of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a.k.a. Pope Francis. 

Why? 

First, how could it not? It is putrescent now. 

Via his handling of the sex abuse scandals, and his promotion and defense of major sex abusers, Jorge Bergoglio has so tarnished the version of the Church created by Vatican II and its "in the spirit of Vatican II" followers, there won't be much left. Less spectacularly, he's done the same destruction with basic Church teaching. Pope Francis is a wrecking ball. 

That's one thing. There won't be much left to build on.

But also there's this: Either the College of Cardinals will elect a "Bergi 2.0" or they'll elect -- well, either a "conservative" such a Cardinal Sarah or even, miracle of miracles, a Traditionalist (unlikely unless they go outside the College for that choice). 

Because Progressivism is so hell-bent on the New! Improved! Change! aspect of itself (hence the very name "Progressivism", it is necessarily on a trajectory, like a rocket, aimed forever outward. Evolution is its core idea, the will of its soul, the foundation of is purpose. Therefore, there's no "reentry" for it back into the atmosphere of Catholic Traditionalism. Because of that, a "Bergi 2.0" must go ever further, such as ordaining women priests, women bishops, blessing "same-sex marriages" and so on, or Progressivism simply implodes. 

Without moving forward, without evolving, without being "Progessive", it ceases to exist, as did the "Good Calvin" of Calvin and Hobbes -- the old Calvin made a new, Good Calvin but, he, the old Calvin, drove the new one to think a bad thought (i.e., made the Good Calvin want to hit him. the Old Calvin). "He could only be perfectly good as an abstracton," Calvin said of his good twin. 

So it is with the Vatican II Church: it can only be "Catholic" as an abstraction of the the Church it denies being, or you might say of the Church it has rejected being, and thus will go POOF when it achieves "singularity", when it truly becomes a new Church; i.e. ceases to be remotely Catholic.   

That point is fast approaching. And the Traditional Latin Mass is hastening the Singularity, for as the TLM becomes more popular and shows the power of its attraction, the whole raison d'être of the Vatican II Church's existence "spectralizes" (goes "poof!"). 

The remnants will be dwindling, evaporizing into ever smaller groups, and of course unable to seek the repentance necessary to join a newly invigorated Traditionalist Catholic Church (the only healthy -- though small -- part of the current Church that is growing). So the Progressive survivors will just join with the Church of England or the state Lutheran Church of Germany (both of these are "walking corpses") and that will be the end of the Vatian II Church.

Conversely, should a "Conservative" or Trad be elected pope, the German Church will go into Schism, as will many other bits and pieces of the world-wide Church that the Progressives totally control. They would have already done so had Benedict XVI not "resigned" when he did. 

Therefore, they'll marginalize themselves that way. The minute they leave, everyone will see the shallow parody they are. Like political Leftists milking tax money from non-Leftist citizens, the Progressive Church can't survive without a "sheeple" paying its way. 

Or one might say: An image in a mirror can't see itself, but when it steps out of the mirror, then it can. All too clearly.

An Préachán

The American Left and the Breakup of the USA

Great article here at American Greatness on the American Left. It has one of the best descriptions of the Left and what it wants, and why it is the way it is. Highly recommended. 

The article is cast as a question of secession. A divorce from the crazies. I commented on that with the following:


Ideally, New England should be joined to Canada's Maritime Provinces in their own separate (and very poor!) country. Boston is the natural capital for such a country. Ontario, New York State and PA would be another country. It would probably contain Delaware and Maryland and an "Eastern Virginia" that included DC and its suburbs. NYC would of course be its capital. It, too, would be very poor -- industry has already fled a good portion of it. Southern Michigan, northern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana would be an autonomous "East Prussia" to this "Mid-Atlantic Nation" with its NYC capital. On the Left Coast, bye-bye to most of California and western Washington State and Oregon -- their eastern portions would remain in what survived of the USA, which would have its capital in Nebraska. British Columbia would join them. The Canadian Prairie Provinces would join the rump USA, the states of which would take on a lot of the independence of the Canadian Provincial system. And we'd have to to have very, very (indeed, hyper-) strict laws about who from these Leftist Nations could visit, let alone move to, the remaining USA.

Such a configuration would be a rational distribution of lands and peoples.

Of course, precisely because it would be rational, it would never happen. We have no option but to fight a civil war for the territorial country as it exists and force a "movement of Leftist peoples" out of the country -- if we win. It would be as it was when we expelled the Loyalists after the American Revolution.

An Préachán

Reflections on Modernism in the Church, Cardinal Wuerl, the March for Life

It is said Cardinal Wuerl will be speaking at the upcoming March for Life.

He should be run outta town. 

If any of the these defenders (or enablers or fellow-travellers) of the "GayChurch" can be said to "Believe" at all, they believe in the Modernist conception of God, and the Modernist conception of God is based on Evolution. 

Yes, indeed. The behind-the-scenes core idea of Modernism is that everything evolves. Everything evolves -- including God. So they smugly think their understanding of God is far higher and more "evolved" than our own.

An article at OnePeterFive quoted a report that 'Wuerl has consistently denied knowing about McCarrick’s activities, expressing “shock, confusion, anger and frustration” about the allegations against his predecessor.'

He was shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment. Of course, Captain Louis Renault had more class. AND he preferred the ladies. (Well, not a question of "prefer" -- Cap'n Louie was a heterosexual. Full stop.)

Look, this upcoming March for Life might turn out to be a new Pilgrimage of Grace, a "March for Life" in another sense -- a march for the life of Holy Church. It's past time. And remember: these people are Modernists, and the essence of that essentially Protestant thing -- Modernism is essentially Protestant, hence our modern Protestantized liturgy -- is Evolution. Modernism came into being in Germany during the time Charles Darwin's teaching was becoming known after the publican of D's Origin of Species (ironically, D didn't believe in species!).

Modernists believe our understanding of the Bible evolves and our morality evolves, all because our understanding of God evolves -- AND they believe God Himself evolves.(Think of the Modernist idea that Jesus didn't know who He was as a Child, or that early Christian "faith communities" didn't believe Joshua the Nazarene was God, etc.) Now, with that in mind, reflect on the attitude of these cats, from Wuerl to Francis and on beyond: at the very least, at their very best, exercising all they can of whatever charity they can muster up from their muddy souls, they hold the laity in a sort of avuncular amusement: we laity are just children who don't understand. Notice how smug they are? The smugness of someone tolerating the ignorant and childish. And this is at their very best!

Once you "get" Modernism/Progressivism's inner clockwork, then you comprehend where they're coming from. And it ain't Historical Christianity.

Also:

Wuerl and so many of his ilk are so used to -- or have it so bred into their psychology -- the laity being just lumps to be pushed around on the Modernist-Progressive pottery wheel as they see fit, and at whatever speed they feel like pushing it. Bergoglio is the same. Making that "Tucho" Fernandez a bishop! C'mon.

And that was the whole driving force of Vatican II. We are "sheeple" to them.

Something like OnePeterFive -- founded by a layman, etc. -- is nothing to them. And of course any bishop who opposes them will find himself bumping like an old India-rubber ball down a mountainside so fast he'll never even feel the boot hit his backside.

A blogger at OnePeterFive wrote: 

"We are ' sheeple' to them because the vast majority of laity have been lulled to sleep over many generations."

I answered: 

Well, not lulled so much as ordered. Keep in mind that on one hand, the Church has always in some degree been the preserve of the educated clerics. Average folks couldn't read for 100s of years because paper wasn't invented, and teaching reading and writing had fallen out of use. 

(Important to note: the Ancient Roman world's "paper" was papyrus from Egypt -- hence the name "paper" -- but the Muslims cut off all Mediterranean trade of that commodity after their conquests -- except for slaves, they traded in nothing; Islam is basically a slavers' religion. So without a fresh supply of "paper", all the books in Western Europe disintegrated in 100 years time, or by about 800 or so. Only vellum, calf skin, could be used. It could endure the Western climate.)

After the horrors of the French Revolution (the Vendée, etc.) the "Vatican I Church "laid down the law" and became a sort of Festung Katholika, a Fortress Catholicism. The laity were told to "pray, pay, and obey". And it was the Vatican I laity that got used and abused by the Reformation II, the Reformers of Vatican II. These "Reformers" mercilessly and callously preyed on up to 100 years of "pray, pay, and obey" training to force us laity to bah-bah our way to the shearing pens, where we they sheared us down to the dermis and even subcutaneous fat.

But today the "bloom is off that ruse".

An Préachán

The World as 2019 Dawns

Everyone knows my sunny, positive, optimistic personality. So, at this New Year's, let's remember not the sugar-coated Hallmark Cards world, but our actual reality. For example:

One was filmed being decapitated (she was in her underwear as they sawed her head off; they don't do it in the old-time classic fashion with a heavy, long scimitar, sharp as a razor):

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/beheading-of-female-scandinavian-hikers-in-morocco-now-investigated-as-terrorism/

An excerpt:

The bodies of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were discovered at their camp site on Monday near Imlal, a small village on a hiking route to Mount Toubkal -- the highest peak in North Africa.

The women, who were studying outdoor life, culture, and eco-philosophy at the University of South-Eastern Norway, were on a month-long trip through North Africa.

From Measure for Measure:

"If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms."
(Act III, Scene I, Line 82)

Islamic Death brought darkness to these two, in classic Islamic fashion -- hugging them about the neck. (And I'm seeing that photos of the girl being murdered keep getting sent to her mother.)

A cynic -- which I am in many ways -- would say they "won" the "Darwin Award". What young woman in her right mind would "hike" in any Islamic country? Any of them? Insane. (If they hadn't murdered them, they'd been raped and suffered to endure "female circumcision". Or perhaps, such happened. We probably won't find out.)

Meanwhile:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/figures-facebook-wipes-out-conservative-content-and-publishers-but-allows-islamist-to-post-freely-after-beheading-canadian-hostage/

The details are just astounding -- and sickening. George Orwell's 1984 sort of stuff. Talk about propaganda and so on...I expect serious Internet restrictions soon in many Western nations. The Net gets the news out and around the mainstream media watchers.

Tolkien knew about such 'watchers', such 'gate-keepers':

Related to this is this news: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/twitter-bans-popular-conservative-account-on-christmas-eve-for-criticism-of-pedophilia/

An excerpt:

In yet another act of anti-Conservative bias by Twitter, Breck Worsham, a popular Conservative woman with nearly 83,000 Twitter followers has been permanently suspended by Twitter.

Worsham’s account was banned on Christmas Eve after she posted tweets critical of pedophiles and Twitter’s decision to allow for pro-pedophile accounts to still remain active while deeming Conservative accounts to be “violations of terms of service”.

The author who was banned quoted the old saying "Kill them all and let God sort them out" but of course the Twitter people have no clue to where that came from, etc. (It was actually made up by a Medieval historian; it was never actually said.)

Then there's this: http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/21/the-tucker-carlson-boycott-is-bad-for-everyone/

"The left really seems to want corporations to play speech police. That’s the logical conclusion of the boycott campaign aimed at Tucker Carlson."

Free speech for me, not for thee. The Powers-that-Be just have to control the information flow. They had a plan in place but the Internet opened up many new ways of getting information out. They're still fighting that. Desperately.

The Big News in the U.S. (which has massive international implications) is Trump's pullout of Syria (and draw-down in Afghanistan) and Jim Mattis resignation relating thereto, on the one hand, and the partial government shut down over the border wall (actually a ridiculous fence), as well as a court case in which the Supreme Court lets stand a lower court injunction of Trump's trying to reform "asylum" for hose who cross the borders illegally. Closely related to this is the Republicans in the U.S. Senate have "shown their colors", globalist colors. See: https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/22/obstructionist-republicans-vs-trump/

An excerpt (great article! The author actually quotes Sun Tzu!:):

Thanks to the ongoing shutdown theater, two things are now obvious.

First, Republican leadership in Congress had no intention of even trying to fund Trump’s wall, much less actually doing it, despite repeatedly promising to do so.

And second, Trump is being exactly who he said he was, and doing exactly what he said he’d do, and all of greater Washington is still shocked—shocked!—by it.

…

Establishment Washington has believed for years that it can run on platform issues like repealing Obamacare, defunding Planned Parenthood, and reforming the immigration system, but then provide dozens of excuses as to why these objectives can’t be met.

First, Republicans said, they needed the House. Then the Senate. Then the White House. But of course, once all of those were delivered, it still wasn’t enough. Now they need 60 votes in the Senate or nothing can happen! They believe that voters are, in fact, dumb enough to keep buying what they’re selling.

And also: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/22/the-bloom-is-off-the-ruse-protecting-uniparty-and-decepticon-caucus-from-sunlight-mitch-mcconnell-wont-call-an-appropriations-vote/

(That's a great pun, BTW, the "bloom is off the ruse" -- chuckle.) An except:

Think carefully about what Mitch McConnell is doing here. It’s not President Trump’s job to write legislation. McConnell is desperately trying to retain a UniParty ruse, by passing the buck to the White House. McConnell doesn’t want the American people to see republican senators supporting a bill against voter interests.

Wall Street, corporate and special interest lobbyists own the legislative process. Lobbyists actually write the laws. Lobbyists pay congress to sell laws they write. Lobbyists funding both left and right wings of the UniParty do not want border security. This is ultimately what McConnell is trying to hide.

Look at what he’s doing. Senate Leader McConnell is telling the executive branch (President Trump) if they want an appropriations bill, the President must write the legislation with his democrat colleagues. Please – Think About This.

An Préachán again: I read a very interesting comment in one of the blogs somewhere that Trump could send in to the Senate his Vice-President, who is, under the Constitution, supposed to be the leader of the Senate. That's why Mitch McConnell is only "majority leader" of the Senate: Mike Pence is actual president of the Senate; so Trump could send in Pence and have him do the needful. Now, that would be SO cool! Disraeli would rise from his grave to applaud that one! Cicero, too. And it would so humiliate McConnell that he'd resign in disgrace. 

So the domestic U.S. system is a mess. Trump and the MAGA Repubicans are opposed by the Uni-Party/Globalists. Nasty.

Trump has gone to Iraq to greet the troops and the Mainstream Media unless all their disgust on him. 

In the Mideast, Syria is a total mess, as is Libya and Afghanistan. Iraq is a borderline mess, essentially, as well.

• I want to point out that in the entire of the U.S. history, until the Globalist Bush family got into the White House, the only war any Republican administration got us in was the "glorious little war" of 1898, the Spanish-American War. All the others, starting with the "War of 1812" on down, until the Bushes, were Democrat wars. Including the Civil War, which started when the unruly Democrats started a war rather than accept the 1860 election (and they'll start a war again to get rid of Trump too, if they can't get rid of him some other way; they simply refuse to accept his election -- 1860 has come again).

• Remember the old saying: “Democrats want a small army, and they want to send it everywhere; Republicans want a BIG army, and they don’t want to send it ANYWHERE.”

Trump on Syria:

Mainstream Media political pundits are in hysterics over Mattis leaving, but he's lasted longer than three men Obama had put in the same office (funny that you don't hear about that, isn't it?) Though people I respect greatly are against Trump in this: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/james-mattis-departure-and-engagements-in-the-middle-east/ and also: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/the-keane-critique.php I still think, provided Trump get us out of Afghanistan, as well, this is the right move. See: http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/21/trumps-syria-withdrawal-policy-is-correct-but-communicated-horribly/

An excerpt:

“Trump Criticized For Breaking With Longstanding American Tradition Of Remaining In Middle Eastern Countries Indefinitely,” joked the Babylon Bee upon the news President Donald Trump is bringing troops home from Syria, but the joke wasn’t far from the truth at all.

The news deeply angered the Washington foreign policy consensus, which argues that troops should stay in the region indefinitely even though the stated mission of defeating ISIS has been accomplished.

This is a Mollie Hemingway essay and quite good reporting. Highly recommended. Lots of facts you might not have heard of. It is amazing how the "neo-conservatives" get us into a war for one reason, and before long, that reason morphs into others. "Mission-creep." Take the time to read through Hemingway's article.

And see also: https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/21/you-have-been-in-afghanistan-i-perceive/ , which is a Michael Walsh piece,

as well as the very interesting: https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/21/mattis-is-wrong-this-scholar-general-was-right/

An excerpt:

Today Trump is behaving with the shrewdness and self-awareness of a civilian commander-in-chief who knows, with Clemenceau, that war is too important to be left to the generals. Trump recognizes too, with another French leader, Charles de Gaulle, that the cemeteries are full of indispensable men.

(General James) Mattis, it must not be denied, is a patriot and a man of learning and intellectual discipline. But he’s not infallible. Military and civilian leaders with comparable qualities have disagreed and will disagree with him.

As the Trump Administration implements the president’s promises to get troops out of Syria and Afghanistan, the wisdom of one of the great Cold War scholar-generals should be a major policy guide.

Army Lt. General William E. Odom (1932-2008) was one of the bravest and most brilliant military intelligence officers of his generation. An expert on the Soviet Union with a doctorate in political science from Columbia, he was President Ronald Reagan’s director of the National Security Agency, the electronic spying outfit. A thinking man as well as a fighting man, he was one of the architects of what Margaret Thatcher remembered as Reagan’s winning the Cold War “without firing a shot.”

Odom taught at Yale for two decades following his retirement, and his warnings about U.S. military deployments in the Middle East were wise and prophetic.

…

In August 2005, Odom wrote “What’s Wrong with Cutting and Running?”—an article that made him persona non grata in the George W. Bush administration.

“If I were a journalist,” Odom began, “I would list all the arguments that you hear against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, the horrible things that people say would happen, and then ask: Aren’t they happening already? Would a pullout really make things worse? Maybe it would make things better.”

This is an interesting "Paleo-Conservative" piece of Gen'ral Mattis:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/mattis-marks-end-of-the-global-war-on-terror/ An excerpt:

The raw drive to insta-hate everything Trump does is misleading otherwise thoughtful people. So let’s try a new lens: during the campaign Trump outspokenly denounced the waste of America’s wars. Pro-Trump sentiment in rural areas was driven by people who agreed with his critique, by people who’d served in these wars, whose sons and daughters had served, or, given the length of all this, both. Since taking office, the president has pulled U.S. troops back from pointless conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Congress may yet rise to do the same for American involvement in Yemen. No new wars have been started. Though the results are far from certain, for the first time in nearly 20 years, negotiations are open again with North Korea. Mattis’s ending was clumsy, but it was a long time coming. It is time for some old ideas to move on.

Ron again: And let us remember that old Douglas MacArthur, before he died, told JFK not to get involved in a land war in Asia. Jack might have listened. Lyndon Johnson was far too stupid, unfortunately.

As for Gen'ral Mattis, much praise from many sources for the Marine, especially now from the Democrats and the American Left, who are utter hypocrites. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/flashback-media-silence-after-obama-fires-general-mattis-without-even-a-call/ Sunday, in a series of Tweets, Trump pointed out that Obama fired Matthis and that he, Trump, gave the general a second chance. Also, that any other president bringing troops home would be cheered by the media -- but not him. Also very TRUE.

There are those less tactful who point out Mattis had his faults, too, especially that disaster, the F-35 and his "slow-walking" the removal of sex-change people from the military: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/12/mattis_was_no_good.html The "No Dood" title is a disaster but the essay is quite enlightening. One has to remember something I've been seeing in a lot of comments, that for an individual to reach high rank in the U.S. military, one has to kowtow to the Democrats. Again, incredibly, this is also reflected in the U.S. military in the pre-Civil War years. Robert E. Lee, a staff officer in the Mexican War (a very Democrat war, btw) ended up commandant of West Point whereas U.S. Grant, who performed heroically under fire in that war, was forced out of the army. Jefferson Davis, president of the traitorous Confederacy, had graduated from West Point, served in the Mexican War, and been Secretary of the Army at one point, 1853 to 1857, just before the Civil War erupted!

Some things just never change.

His advice wasn't always correct:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/flashback-mattis-warned-trump-of-security-concerns-in-israel-embassy-move/

Funny that the liberal media did not mention that Mattis warned Trump of security concerns if he moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as he promised.

Mattis was wrong and Trump was right.

That "Mattis is no good" article also clued me in to something I had entirely missed: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-12-19/bankruptcy-on-the-table-as-boy-scouts-confront-sex-abuse-claims

Wow. How stupid are modern people? I remember it widely commented on at the time that "mainstreaming" homosexuality in the Scouts would lead to precisely this. It has! Absolutely, totally, completely. unmitigatedly insane. Of course, apparently most of the abuse occurred before making "Gay Okay" in the Scouts. So if they couldn't control this before, how are they going to control it after?

It's as stupid as two European women "hiking" in Morocco, in fact.

This New Year's, I just despair of "Modernism", in all its forms, ecclesiastical, civil, moral, whatever. No doubt Modernism/Political Correctness cost the lives lives of those two young women. They didn't want to be 'judgmental'. It is flooding Europe with angry young Muslim males of military age. It's wrecking the Catholic Church, too, of course.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/19/us/illinois-catholic-church-abuse-allegations/index.html

and

https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/12/20/illinois-attorney-general-says-dioceses-failed-abuse-victims/

The "problem" of the Vatican II Church will be solved by law enforcement -- arresting its leaders and liquidating its assets.

Here's a profound, and desolating article about the current state of the Church: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/christmas-cracked-temple-armenian-genocide/

An excerpt:

Every week on this blog, somebody in a comments thread writes about the mass falling away from the Catholic faith that they’re seeing in their family or community. At the very beginning of the scandal, my wife and I were in the Netherlands, one of Europe’s most secular countries, and met a family at mass. They were the only others there besides us who didn’t have grey heads. We introduced ourselves, and found ourselves invited to dinner.

Turns out the father of the family was one of 11 kids in his family — and the only one left still practicing the Catholic faith in which they were raised. Can you imagine that? The Catholic faith had been handed down through that family’s line over many centuries, but in a single generation, it died (except for our host and his wife and kids). Those siblings and their children still live, but they are lost to the faith — and depending on God’s mercy, perhaps lost to eternity.

In general, Modernism's understanding of Man and its reading of "the signs of the times" are incredibly defective. For example:

General Mattis, in his resignation letter, noted: " It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies."

Well, yes, Gen'ral. That's true. Every bit of it. They want a "world consistent with their authoritarian model" and so has just about EVERY GOVERNMENT IN WORLD HISTORY. Dar Crom! Why should Russia and China be different? And we, here in the U.S. and Europe, also submit to the authoritarians among us, whether the Globalists and "Neo-Conservatives" or the university campus thought police. (The notorious "Gaystapo" is a force unto itself.) Looking at the the social, political and cultural trends in "The West" as 2019 dawns, one can easily say the indicators are clear: "liberal" western-style governance is on the ropes and will probably succumb to some sort of Authoritarianism. Authoritarianism certain already reigns on U.S. university campuses, throughout the Arts, and in the Democrats, so....

Gen'ral Mattis, you yourself are part of this Modernist matrix in flux.

It's an old story. The Athenians wanted democracy for themselves but wouldn't tolerate it in subject city states of their short-lived empire. Same with the Spartans. Same with the Romans and hyper-true of Ancient Persia and all the rest. China, for all the high IQ of the Chinese, has never, ever in its fabulous 5,000-year history ever produced anything remotely like Periclean Athens or Republican Rome, let alone the Republic of Venice, Florence in its heyday, or for that matter, Switzerland. If China does take over the world, it won't be fun.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2178214/china-and-russia-band-together-controversial-heating-experiments

and

http://metrovoicenews.com/is-chinas-control-of-5g-speeds-a-pearl-harbor-for-us/

Cyberspace is considered the fifth strategic domain of warfare, along with land, sea, air, and space. And the Chinese are on the verge of dominating this domain. The Chinese government is heavily investing in 5G networks and significant state subsidiesare part of the communist regime’s comprehensive industrial blueprint to beat competition and cement global dominance in the 5G race.

Declan Ganley, an Irish telecommunications entrepreneur and founder of Rivada Networks, likens China’s threat to Pearl Harbor. Seventy-seven years ago, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II.

“We’re at one of those moments in history where you need to know what’s right in front of you,” Ganley said.

Consider:

• Medieval Italian city states, exiling Dante and endlessly fighting each other, were freer than our "cultural elites" are today. Dante was light-years freer than any modern poet or playwright who wants his works to see the light of day. So was Aristophanes. Only, perhaps, Will Shagspeare (as he spelled it) might sympathize with a modern playwright, as he had to walk a tightrope when writing his plays in murderous Elizabethan England.

• Mattis concluded that paragraph up above with, "That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense." Whoa, Gen'ral, whoa!! Europe is about as rich as the U.S., or would be if they adopted better economic and civil polices. Brazil could be one of the major players in the world scene if they, too, adopted better economic and civil policies, which under their new president, they might -- and as for China, Japan and India between them have the potential to stand up to China. And Russia. If they truly side with the Chinese, they'll be signing their death warrant -- for it was from the East that total obliteration came to the Rus in the form of the Mongol Hordes. China could take Siberia tomorrow if they wanted to. Russia couldn't stop them except with nukes.
• And today's China has to be one of the most unstable social and cultural powerkegs in all of wold history. Literally 100s of millions of young men without any hope whatsoever of finding wives? Barking mad.

And as for Syria -- a hellhole largely created by Obama's feckless polices -- Saudi Arabia is already stepping up to the task: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/21/checkmate-saudi-crown-prince-mbs-sends-replacement-troops-to-defend-kurds-in-syria/#more-158042

Saudi Arabia!

An excerpt:

Now let’s consider the brilliance of this move.

First, remember Turkish President Recep Erdogan was the antagonist in the Kashoggi matter and Erdogan orchestrated the blame toward Saudi Crown Prince MbS. There is no better motivated mid-east ally to protect the Kurds against any military action by Turkey other than MbS. No doubt MbS and UAE will send their best forces.

Secondly, what military equipment will MbS and the UAE be shipping along with their military troops? Those would be military purchases directly from the U.S.

Third, who stood up against international pressure and refused to condemn MbS over the Kashoggi matter? That would be a strategic U.S. President Trump. MbS owes a favor; see how that works?

Fourth, what leverage does U.S President Trump have toward Turkey in order to further facilitate no hostile action? That would be the economic leverage of current sanctions against Iran; and the option of controlling/punishing any economic engagement therein.

So to summarize: President Trump withdraws U.S. troops from Syria, and leverages his relationship with MbS to step up to replace them, thereby eliminating any concern that Turkey might take hostile action toward our Kurdish allies in Northern Syria.

Our troops come home; and a stable transition is ensured by a regional ally.

How do you like them apples !

Interesting take on it, and I hope it works out. Lovely Machiavellian maneuver-counter maneuver. Talleyrand and Richelieu (and Bismarck and Disraeli and...) would be fascinated. From before the murder of Kashoggi on to the latest development, all this really is a complex play between Qatar and the Saudis, their fellow Salafis. N.B. Only Bahrain is a majority Shia country on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf -- it used to be a center of Nestorian Christianity, and in general, where you find Shia, they were originally Nestorians. 70 percent are Shia in Bahrain but the ruling family and most of the elites are Sunni. However, Shia even exist (20 percent) in Saudi Arabia in different areas, mostly in the eastern oil provinces but in interesting pockets in the Hijaz down to Yemen, and the whole story is quite fascinating for a historian -- but of course I shamelessly digress here.

• Anyway, no Mideast policy will have much success until Erdogan is overthrown (and thrown out of) Turkey, or Turkey is thrown out of NATO, A, and B, the Twelver Shia (Ithnā'ashariyyah) cult regime in Iran is overthrown, and let's not forget C: an independent Kurdistan. "The Three Necessaries." Simple as that.

The Unhappy Fate of Islam

As for Islam in the longer term, sooner or later, they'll be nuked. I've said that for years. (For years I've said Bergoglio will be declared an anti-pope, too; it'll happen probably after he dies and a pope of a Trad Church in schism with the Progressive Church will so declare it -- the Prog Church will be to busy at their gay orgies to notice). But sooner or later, some power with nukes will do the deed regarding Islam. I expect China. The Middle Kingdom doesn't suffer fools gladly and they've never been Christian and persecute Christians shamelessly today. The "Chi-com" regime is pitiless. Ming the Merciless in a highly tailored three-piece ensemble. But it will happen. Islam is just too dangerous for the world. Authoritarian regimes envy and fear it and will eventually crush it.

• There's an old saying that "You can't kill an idea" but you can; as the counter-saying puts it: "You can kill an idea if you kill everyone who holds it."

Whatever.

Gen'ral Mattis, Nine out of ten Americans -- average, everyday folks -- don't give a damn about the rest of the world and Trump's disengagement (to the extent he does that) will NOT cost him any votes. Building the wall will not cost him any either. And how in the name of God can we "defend freedom" in Afghanistan when we can't even defend our own borders? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/us/politics/supreme-court-asylum-trump.html Notice how John Roberts voted with the Leftists. That was widely foreseen in the blogs, that Roberts would become the "swing vote". Something else we can thank a Bush president for. (BTW, I saw a headline that former Democrat Big Cheese Howard Dean says now that the U.S. has to stay in Afghanistan in order to "spread feminism." I'm not making that up!)

So, this is a small take the world. New Year's, 2019.

An Préachán

"Five Books from 2018 That Will Help Explain What Happens in 2019"

"Five Books from 2018 That Will Help Explain What Happens in 2019"

This article by the excellent Sumantra Maitra is merely a series of book reviews about both international develops -- and why they develop the way they do -- as well as domestic and national concerns.

Would that I had both the money and the time to read all these!

He reviews briefly Why Liberalism Failed by the interestingly named (for Irish-language devotees) Patrick J. Deneen; The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities, by John J. Mearsheimer; The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy, by Stephen M. Walt; The Virtue of Nationalism, by Yoram Hazony; and The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture, by Heather Mac Donald.

I won't review them here as Maitra does such an excellent job of it.

An Préachán