What the MSM Won't Say About G-20 Meetup

As usual, what you read/hear/see in the MSM coverage of the upcoming G-20 is shallow, or juvenile, or horribly uninformed.

Try this for a change. 

...The G20 is rapidly approaching… Beijing needs to identify POTUS Trump’s position.  Things in Beijing are urgent as preparations (mostly optics) for how Chairman Xi will engage with President Trump are needed.

So into this dynamic of China evaluating where they can expect to find their position, we’ve got two signals from a series of public messages: (1) magnanimous panda will give up DPRK nukes, in exchange for better terms; and when that didn’t get the desired result, (2) China signals they are willing to revisit the prior terms.

However, today Team Donald Trump responds to the messages:  NO DEAL !....

That's not what the NeverTrumpers, the Free Traders (Koch Bros/Chamber of Commerce) and the Libertarian moron tribes want to see or hear, of course.  We don't bother with 'what the Democrats want' because they actually don't KNOW what they want, unless it makes Orange Man Look Badder.

Anyhow...

...Trump is mirroring the historic approach deployed by China.  Beijing is facing a new dynamic where the U.S. President will not accept any retreat from his current position. This zero-sum outlook is exactly the same approach all Chinese negotiators use…. only this time it’s Trump using their strategy against them.  It’s President Trump who will not retreat from gained position.  This has to be seriously perplexing for Beijing....

...In essence, Donald Trump is mirroring the ideology and negotiating position of the person on the other side of the table….. only now, based on two-years of groundwork in preparation for his position, President Trump is carrying all the strength and leverage. 

China is on its heels.  Trump has set up a dynamic where a pre-planned group of regional allies can easily compensate for any manufacturing deficit caused by Trump’s adversarial position toward China.   The corporate exodus visible within this plan has already begun....

By this time, even morons such as Free Traders should understand that US citizens will not stand for any further deterioration of the US' economy or its future prospects.  They may resist, of course--at their own personal peril.

Z-Man Joins Tucker Carlson & Normies

The Z-Man articulates what Carlson mentioned a couple of months ago.

...None of this is an argument against self-government or commerce. It’s that free markets and self-government are not ends in themselves, but a means to an end. The point of human organization is the spiritual and material prosperity of the people. The form of government and the economic arrangements are about the welfare of the people, not some theoretical ideal. If defending democracy means defending rule by sociopath, maybe democracy, at least the extreme form, is not a great idea.

Similarly, if free markets result in the people being terrorized by global technology giants, maybe a little less economic freedom, in order to reign in these companies, is a good trade-off. After all, the point of economic order is not to achieve private tyranny in defense of a theory. The point of economic order is to benefit the people, collectively and individually. If it requires government regulation to have prices on goods and services that indicate the real value of the items, that’s not a terrible trade-off....

There was good reason for "trust-busting" in the early 20th Century.

Beyond that, by a large leap, is Z-Man's acknowledgment that the point of human organization is the "SPIRITUAL" prosperity of the people.  In effect, he argues that 'capitalism' pure is NOT the god who replaces the Actual God in a well-ordered society.

Doh.

Recall that this guy is a Jesuit high-school product.  Things were not always as bad in those places as they are now, eh?

Rush Is Wrong (!!)

Limbaugh led off talking about the picture of a dead child and her dead daddy at the Rio Grande. 

He suggests that the "conservative" response will be to yap about the Cuomo/Northam "kill the babies" legislation.

Wrong, Rushbo.

The correct response is this:  THAT DADDY KILLED HIS BABY AND HIMSELF.  Now STFU and go make coffee.

Rosie Counts Donuts She Ate Last Year

Rosie confused a number in this interview.

During and interview on Monday night, leftist Rosie O’Donnell defended socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) false claim that the Trump administration is operating concentration camps on the southern border and claimed without evidence that there are "over 100,000" concentration camps "in nearly every state."...

Rosie MEANT to tell us how many donuts she has eaten this year, so far.   A correction will be forthcoming.

How Big Is the Pubbie Budget?

Let us count the ways....

...All told, Assembly Republicans approved an $81.7 billion two-year budget that would increase state spending in all funds by 5.6 percent over the base. It also includes a $1.9 billion capital budget.

By comparison, Evers had proposed an $83.8 billion budget, which would amount to an 8.3 percent spending increase, and a $2.5 billion capital budget. JFC also proposed about 71,771 state positions, about 219 fewer than Evers wanted....

Not to forget that the Pubbies' "hold the line" property tax WILL increase.

Three Ass'y Republicans voted no.  They should be in leadership instead of the power-mad spend-a-holics currently infesting the Assembly.

5.6% is about twice the cost-of-living increase since last budget.  Note:  there were 69,356 FTE in the 2010 budget.  That's an increase of 2,400 full-time State employees in only 10 years.

Romney to Investigate Rape Fantasies

In his never-ending quest for morality in (only the) President's office, Mitt Romney will investigate claims made by a rape-fantasy drunken old prune.

This raises the question:  is the old prune "Mitt's Style"?--or does he simply want to know about "rape fantasies?"

Did the Utah voters really elect Mitt?

Do Teh Russians Know What CBS Reveals?

It is more and more apparent that 'the nooz' employs less-than-bright bulbs.  And I'm insulting 40-watters, I know.

CBS News’ 60 Minutes did a report on the AR-15 rifle Sunday night and discovered that the rifle is more powerful than a handgun....

OMG!!  Who COULD have guessed??  Do Teh Russians know this?

...[University of Southern California researcher] Cynthia Bir...explained videoing a “9 millimeter bullet from a handgun…in slow motion.” She talked of shooting ballistic gel with the 9mm, saying, “The handgun bullet traveled about 800 miles an hour…[and] sliced nearly straight all the way through the gel.”...

But that's nothin' compared to the ferocious super-powers of the AR-15!  Nothin!!!

“[It traveled] three times faster and struck with more than twice the force. The shockwave of the AR-15 bullet blasted a large cavity in the gel unlike the bullet from the handgun.”

Doh.

Our trusty correspondent AWR Hawkins has some observations on the matter.  As a side-note, the .30-06 is a very handy tool to have around the house.


 

The Place to AVOID in Chicago

Think of this as the 'anti-Michelin' guide.

Son of President Trump, Eric, was spit on by an employee of upscale Chicago cocktail bar and eatery The Aviary. 

Smooth move, dumbass.

I think Mike Ditka still has a place down there.  FAR superior philosophy and good food, too!

The Bishops of (New) Baltimore

Fr. George Rutler assesses the New Baltimore Catechism on the death penalty.

...An incapacity for indignation at calculated ambiguity is the consequence of a bureaucratic culture which melds ayes and nays into maybes. At the Baltimore assembly, the bishops approved the eloquently ambiguous statement by a vote of 194 for, 8 against, with 3 abstentions. Perhaps they were thinking like Nancy Pelosi who said of the Affordable Care Act: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Years from now, whether the Church has risen from its present slough of despondency to a shining new eminence, or lies battered in a heap of broken basilicas and quivering banalities, the wonderful question will be: “How was it that at a meeting in 2019, almost all of the American bishops voted for something without knowing what it means?”....

Yes, well.  Maybe.  Or maybe not.

Fr. Rutler also reminded us of one of Buckley's best zingers:

"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you actually believe what you just said."

Keep that handy in case you meet your local Bishop.

Even the Lutherans Know....

At the workplace, I converse now and then with a delightful lady who is married to a local Missouri Synod Lut'ran pastor.  We banter about a few things, including religion.

So the other day I asked if her Synod would accept the gift of a slightly-used Pope; she declined, reminding me that they had separated from such men about 500 years ago. 

I persisted, telling her that THIS Pope would be acceptable; after all, just this Sunday, he preached this:

"In the presence of the Eucharist, Jesus who becomes bread, this simple bread that contains the entire reality of the Church, let us learn to bless all that we have, to praise God, to bless and not curse all that has led us to this moment, and to speak words of encouragement to others."  Pope Francis

She looked at me for a moment, then said "That's not what Catholics believe!"

We did agree that the Unitarians might take +Francis, however.

Oh? Head of Border Patrol Resigns....

Probably just co-incidence that someone leaked Trump's "raid" plans last week.

Acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner John Sanders has resigned and will leave his position on July 5.

He resigned yesterday.

Just coincidence, or something.

What "Hold the Line" on Prop-Tax?

Some outfit (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Realtors) has bought a bunch of air-time on radio to advertise a falsehood:  that the Republican-proposed budget "holds the line" on property tax.

Oh, really??  Here's a quote from Vos:

[Vos] also said the final version of the GOP budget would ensure the property taxes on a mythical median-valued home would be lower under the Republican plan than Evers’. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau last week found the two proposals would have the same impact on property taxes....

Reading the last sentence, we learn that the current Pubbie budget would hit prop-tax the same as Evers would (Pay more, sucka!!)  So the Realtors' advertising is false, unless "hold the line" means "increase".

THEN, reading the red-highlighted section, we learn that "hold the line" means.....well,......kinda sorta......."less" increase than Tokin'Tony's increase.

The Realtors have already proven that they are not Conservative in the least.  That's OK, I suppose.  But do they now want to prove that they are liars?

Hmmmmmm???

"Progressive" Puritan? Or Jerk?

There's lots of 'stuff' that people have said about Donald Trump.  'Stuff' about crude, rude, women problems, yadayadayada. 

Most of that 'stuff' comes from the Puritan Party of Purity types.  "Progressives." 

Except for the Progressive Puritans who...........aren't.

A top staffer for the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC — a group that recruits liberal candidates for the House of Representatives — is facing accusations of sexual harassment, inappropriate language and other abusive behavior.

David Keith, the political director for the PAC, last year served as the campaign manager for Wisconsin Democrat Randy Bryce, a union ironworker known as "Iron Stache" who ran for the southeastern Wisconsin congressional seat held by former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Bryce lost to now-U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Janesville Republican....

He denies it.  Seven people are being interviewed about their complaints--and MOST interesting:  Bryce's campaign workers actually joined a union.

 

Governor of Oregon: Fascist or Dictator?

Gee.  When the Democrats ran away to Rockford in order to frustrate Walker's Act 10 agenda, Walker didn't send an army weapons-free to drag them back.

But the Democrat 'female' in the Oregon Governor's office........well, that's different.

...GOP lawmakers have walked out of the legislature, denying progressives a quorum to cram whatever they want down Oregon’s throat.

That led to Gov. Kate Brown to order the state police to round them up. Now, I haven’t been able to find a law that requires them to be present for a vote if they don’t wish to be. In other words, Brown is using the police in an act of violence against Republican legislators who are trying to prevent what they see as detrimental legislation from being passed....

That is Fascism, if you accept the definition given by the Lefties. 

If you don't, its "Dictatorship."

Take your choice.

My New Self-Identification

Some of you read the "About" text on the right-hand side of this page and came to the wrong conclusion.

No matter what YOU think or observe with your lying eyes, I am a black, same-sex-married homosexual.  You cannot prove otherwise, because that's how I self-identify.  End of discussion.

And I am going to cash in!!

Thanks, suckas!  See you in Aruba.

Frankly, This Is Maximum Nut-bag Territory

If you think that the 20 (22?  24?  38?) candidates running for the (D) nomination are nuts--advocating national healthcare, free college, forgiveness of all student loans, reparations for blacks AND "gay" couples, confiscation of all guns, etc., etc., etc., you ain't seen nothin' yet. 

And if you thought that AOC's proposals to eradicate cows, airplanes, and all fossil fuels represents  the limit of CooCoo for Cocoa-Puffs, you are not paying attention.

The Vatican's synod-programmers have come up with something even MORE wack-doodle.

....In the document, published by the Holy See on June 17, the Amazon "bursts" into the life of the Church like a "new entity" (n.2). But what is the Amazon? It is not only a physical place and a "complex biosphere" (n.10) but also "a reality full of life and wisdom" (n.5), which ascends to a conceptual paradigm and calls us to a "pastoral, ecological and synodal" conversion (n.5). In order to carry out its prophetic role, the Church must heed "the Amazon peoples" (n.7). These people are able to live in "intercommunication" with the entire cosmos (n.12), but their rights are threatened by the economic interests of the multinationals, which, as the natives of Guaviare (Colombia) say "have slashed the veins of our Mother Earth" (n.17).

The Church listens to the "cry, of both the people and the earth (n.18), because in the Amazon "the land is a theological place by which the faith is lived. It is also a unique source of God’s revelation" (n.19). So then, a third source of Revelation has been added to Holy Scripture and Tradition: the Amazon, the land where "everything is connected" (n.20), everything is "constitutively related, forming a vital whole" (n.21). In the Amazon, the ideal of Communism is fulfilled, given that, in tribal collectivism, "everything is shared and private spaces – typical of modernity – are minimal."

The native peoples have been liberated from monotheism and have restored animism and polytheism. Indeed, as is written in no. 25: "the life of the Amazonian community has not yet been influenced by Western civilization. This is reflected in the beliefs and rites regarding the action of spirits and the divinity – named in many different ways – with and in the territory, with and in relation to nature. This cosmo-vision is picked up in Francis’s ‘mantra’: "everything is connected" (LS 16, 91, 117, 138, 240)»....

So.  The Christian West should look to animist/polytheist infanticide-practitioner tribes as 'models for development'--not only social development, mind you, but theological and liturgical development, too.

Those rumors about cocaine- and marijuana- and poppers- parties?  Hmmmmmm.  Looks more like LSD to me.

No Good Jobs = No Babies!

Whaddya know.  People understand "good job" very well, indeed.

A sociology researcher at UW-Madison has found a connection between reduced fertility rates and a decline in manufacturing jobs on the national level. 

“Metro areas that experienced steeper declines in goods-producing businesses were more likely to experience steeper declines in fertility rates,” said Nathan Seltzer, whose work was published last week in the journal Demography. 

His research involved analyzing every birth in the United States at the county level over a period of 24 years. He found fertility rates for metro areas could be better predicted by the area’s share of businesses in manufacturing industries than by its unemployment rate. 

The link between manufacturing jobs and fertility rates was especially strong for Hispanic women, who are more likely to work in goods-producing industries than women of other ethnic groups, according to the study. Still, manufacturing business activity was more closely tied to fertility than the unemployment rate for all ethnic groups....

Sure!  Let's follow the Koch brothers/Chamber of Commerce economic model.  Then there will be nobody left in the US to buy products that they didn't make, anyway.

Even Bernie Sanders makes more sense.  (Low bar, I know.)

Priest-Abuse From the 'Other Side'

A priest given the responsibility at CDF/Rome to examine cases of abuse reports.

...Speaking to the assembly of Catholic media folks, Monsignor Kennedy described the personal toll the office’s work takes upon its members as review an rising tide of cases that are being reported. The Monsignor said:

I can honestly tell you that, when reading cases involving sexual
abuse by clerics, you never get used to it, and you can feel your
heart and soul hurting. There are times when I am poring over
cases that I want to get up and scream, that I want to pack up my
things and leave the office and not come back....

(Found by Motley Monk)

The Msgr. also mentions the anguish of (some) Bishops who inherited a large bunch of serious problems.

A friend mentioned that a priest of his acquaintance who was knowledgeable about these matters and who had left his Order over these problems was a 'very bitter man' in his latter years.  Yah, well, being closely acquainted with the crap that goes on in parishes, rectories, and Dioceses (even if not sex-abuse related) can get you into 'bitter' real fast.

Shot Across the Administrative State's Bow!!

Not just a 'shot,' but a nuclear-tipped rocket.

While SCOTUS effectively continued the operations of the Administrative (Deep) State, they also served fair warning that the Administrative State is not Constitutional.

...Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a lengthy dissent extolling the need to curb Congress’s powers to delegate to federal agencies. Surprisingly, two other justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, joined this radical opinion. And while a fourth — Justice Alito — sided with the more liberal justices, he wrote separately to say that “if a majority of this Court were willing to reconsider the approach we have taken for the past 84 years, I would support that effort.”...NYT quoted at RedState

Another way to phrase the question here:  "Should Congress be held responsible for laws which allow abuse or annulment of the rights of citizens, or should Congress be able to lay blame on 'bureaucrats,' as they do today?"

After 84 years of pointing at the Man Behind the Tree, it's about damn time.

More Good SCOTUS!!

Not seen in today's litterbox liner hereabouts, but noted by Surber, a REAL newsman...

"Voting 5-4 along ideological lines, the court said Friday that property owners could go straight to a federal judge without first seeking compensation through state proceedings. The decision reversed a 1985 Supreme Court ruling, prompting a sharp dissent from the court’s liberal wing.
"Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the 1985 ruling placed an unjustifiable burden on property owners, preventing many of them from ever reaching federal court. That’s because resolution of a state court proceeding generally precludes any federal lawsuit over the constitutional ban on government taking of private property without just compensation, Roberts said."  --quoting Bloomberg

 No surprise that the Statists (liberals) screeched.

"Holding the Line on Prop Tax"? Nope.

The Wisconsin Homeowners' Alliance (a wholly-owned subsidiarity of the Ratfink Realtors) is pushing the line that Fitzgerald/Vos 'held the line' on property taxes.

And they're advertising it like crazy, plus doing 'sign here, sucker!!' mailings so Fitzgerald and his cronies can have your address for MORE mailings.

As to "holding the line,".......well, not really.

...Property taxes on the median-value home in Wisconsin would increase by the same amount under the spending plans put forward by Gov. Tony Evers and the GOP-controlled Legislature....

Gee.  The Realtors engaging in greasy wordplay?  Oh, NOOOOOES!!

In standard English, "holding the line" means ZERO increase.  Not 'some,' not 'little', not 'lots.'  ZERO.  But that's not the English which the Realtors are using.  To them, "holding the line" means whatever they damn well please.

We already have slimy politicians all over Wisconsin, thanks.  Go back home.

(And no, we will NEVER forget how the Ratfink Realtors screwed Hagedorn over his faith convictions.)

Trump Reads Salamanca School?

When defending his decision NOT to strike Iran at the cost of 150 lives, Trump stated that it was "disproportionate" in comparison to the loss of one un-manned drone.

That's straight out of the School of Salamanca's Just War Theory.

...A war is not legitimate or illegitimate simply based on its original motivation: it must comply with a series of additional requirements:

• It is necessary that the response be commensurate with the evil; use of more violence than is strictly necessary would constitute an unjust war....

The more this guy governs, the better he becomes.

Snippy Jesuits, Lying

Gee.  TWO posts about the Jesuits in one morning....

A Roman Catholic high school in Indianapolis will no longer be recognized by the Indianapolis Archdiocese because the school refuses to fire a teacher in a same-sex marriage.

Emails were sent out Thursday afternoon from the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Board of Trustees to parents and school supporters advising them of the break....

Things have changed from when Fordham educated Vince Lombardi, eh?

And it gets worse.  Not surprisingly, these Jesuits are rather snippy about it.

...school officials say “Brebeuf Jesuit is, and will always be, a Catholic Jesuit school.”...

No, boys, it will NOT be a "Catholic" Jesuit school.  And it probably has not been one for many years.  

Now go shopping and don't forget your makeup.

"Catholic" Campaign + Jesuits. What Could Go Wrong?

Any time you see "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" linked to "Jesuits", gather the women and children and run.  Keep your sidearm unholstered, too....

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an anti-poverty agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), is providing a $750,000 grant to the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) over the next three years....

But in direct contravention with Catholic Church teaching on sexuality and family life, ISN is an active promoter of homosexual perversions, including transgenderism. On its website are numerous articles and events promoting homosexualism and its annual Ignatian Family Teach-In conference regularly includes talks and break-out sessions on LGBT activism and transgender inclusion....

Don't let the term "Ignatian" fool you.  That's Sweet Jimmy Martin's outfit.

At one time, the Jesuits were a highly respected bunch of men.  Things change, eh?

Global Warming Huh?

This is a problem for the "warming" crowd of loonies.

...Lake Michigan's surface temperature is around 7 degrees colder than normal for this time of year....

No icebergs in Port Washington.......yet, nor polar-bear sightings.

Maybe we should spray more CFC's into the air and re-start the coal plant?

How Does ObamaCare Hurt? Let Me Count the Ways

In a brief essay about ObamaCare's "Medicaid" option--which Scott Walker turned down for Wisconsin, we learn that it costs a LOT more than expected.

...About twice as many people enrolled under the expansion as expected, according to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability. Each new enrollee cost about 76% more than projected.

As a result, states are drowning in Medicaid bills. In North Dakota, expansion cost 163% more than expected over a two-and-a-half-year period. In Louisiana, it cost 115% more over one year. Now, about 1 in every 3 state dollars goes to Medicaid — a jump from one in four before Obamacare.

From 2017 to 2027, Medicaid spending for adults covered under the expansion will hit $938 billion....

Tokin'Tony Evers and his Free-Riding LtGov Barnes would like Wisconsin to jump into this pot of boiling oil.  You see why some think they are irresponsible, if not plain crazy?

Nass Gets It. Thanks!!

Belling came up with all of Vos'/Fitzgerald's excuses for putting together a budget which offends common sense and bleeds taxpayers.  Kooyenga tried to persuade Vicki McKenna that this piece of garbage was "better."

Well, Belling and Kooyenga are wrong.

Nass is right.

...“I simply can’t deceive the taxpayers by voting for a budget that creates a significant structural deficit, generates the largest property tax hikes in a decade, contains unsustainable levels of excessive spending and authorizes an extremely offensive new vehicle miles-driven tax on motorists starting in 2023,” Nass said in a statement this morning. 

“This is not a conservative budget by any reasonable analysis.  I will vote No.”...

It's clear that "leadership" cannot read the roadmap provided for them by President Trump.  He negotiates by forcing the other party to come to the table.  Vos/Fitzgerald, both long-in-tooth in public "service", prefer to give away half the store hoping that the rabid lefty Governor will meet them there.  Of course, it's YOUR store they're giving away.....

That's why neither of them will ever be President.

Barnes Skipping Taxes = Reparations!

So the Lt Gov of Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes, is a couple years delinquent on property taxes.

He should simply declare that "It's Reparations!!!" and go home.

"I'm proud that we're talking about reparations in Congress right now," said Barnes. "Because a whole debt is owed to us."

He'll be riding in his Reparations Limo Service, provided by the State of Wisconsin taxpayers, of course.

He's a real example of (D) "public servant."  "The public" is "servant" to him.

Doctrine? Dogma? Nope. Alchemy!!

We'll agree that there's something in the air in California.

The Catholic bishops of California released a pastoral statement on the environment Tuesday, calling on citizens to confront “the risks of a warming climate.”

“The disruption of the earth’s climate is one of the principal challenges facing humanity today, with grave implications for the poor, many of whom live in areas particularly affected by environmental degradation,” the bishops declared in their 7400-word document.

“Climate disruption will exacerbate social and economic inequalities, which points to the need to prioritize strategies to help all those in need adapt to our new climate reality,” they said, which means that changes “in lifestyle, policy, and economics are absolutely necessary.”...

We cannot place our fingers on similar yapping from Bishops during the Maunder Minimum, since at that time,  Catholic Bishops understood climate better, or at least didn't publicly make fools of themselves with documents decrying carbon or CFC's--and issuing them on Church stationery.

But nowadays, Bishops (and Francis I) have bought into the concept of alchemy, as Taylor Marshall suggests, and are worshiping that god instead.  Well, boys (and I use that term advisedly), if you want to worship a different god, that's fine.  Just don't expect normie Catholics to put money into that collection basket, mmmmmmmmmmmkay?

More Professional FBI Lying

A friend of mine has a close relative working in the Department of Federal Lying (f/k/a "the FBI").  I feel sorry for both of them.

Anyhow, here's even more on that bunch.

It appears the FBI used another fake document to hunt down Trump’s former 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

According to a new bombshell report by award-winning investigative reporter John Solomon, the FBI used more than the junk, Hillary-funded Russia dossier to hunt down Trump and his associates.

And they defrauded the FISA court along the way, too.

"Poppycock" Is Too Sophisticated for This

Rorate polluted the intertubes with a quotation from the document guiding the upcoming Amazon Synod.  (Rorate also gave it a new name which fits very well!)

"There is a need for a process of discernment in relation to the rituals, symbols and celebratory styles of indigenous cultures in contact with nature, which must be assumed in the liturgical and sacramental ritual. It is suggested that the liturgical celebrations be festive, with their own songs and dances, in tongues and with original costumes, in communion with nature and with the community.A liturgy that corresponds to their own culture, to be the source and summit of their Christian life (SC, 10), and linked to their struggles, sufferings and joys. The sacraments should be a source of life and medicine accessible to all (EG 47), especially to the poor (EG 200). It is asked to overcome the rigidity of a discipline that excludes and alienates, in favor of a pastoral sensitivity that accompanies and integrates (AL 297) In view of a salutary "decentralization" of the Church (EG, 16), the communities ask Episcopal Conferences to adapt the Eucharistic rituals to their own cultures." (n. 126)

(It should be clear that anyone vaguely resembling "literate" has departed the Eternal City, as did anyone with genuine 'editor' skills.)

The Church has always "baptized" SOME selected pagan rituals and observances for use in the Roman liturgy.  But 'original costumes,' '[vernacular] tongues', and 'dances' were emphatically NOT brought into the Liturgy until the Liturgical Movement in Germany began agitating for what Bugnini the Freemason eventually implemented.

That should tell you something, no?

FBI: Home of Professional Liars?

Surber observes another troubling instance.

"A former FBI agent hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to help in the criminal investigation of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was hit with charges of perjury and tampering with evidence Monday.
"William Tisaby....

The rest is irrelevant.

FBI:  The Liar's Club!

Like Depreciation? Buy Luxury Car!!

Autoblog reports on the 10 cars with fastest depreciation in 3 years (all above 50%, by the way.)

In short:  buy luxury cars, get screwed.

Teh Russians!! Teh Russians!!!

Lots of politicians, a few of whom are reasonably honest, are warning us that Teh Russians!!! will be "interfering" with the 2020 elections.

Some of those politicians even allow that there will be more than just Teh Russians!!! doing the dirties.  Maybe Iranians, or ChiComs, or Brits, or..........whatever.

So what?

Teh Russians!!! will not be any more aggressive, damaging, or dirty than Teh Democrats!!! or Teh Republicans!!! will be, and the latter two have FAR bigger budgets.

As usual, the best candidate(s) will win.  Accepting the screeching claims of politicians about Teh Russians!!!! only lends credibility to Hillary's bleating and by the way, is just another way of insulting the hell out of voters--which is customary for the Political Class, as Codevilla continues to remind us.

Got a problem finding a winning platform?  Blame Teh Russians!!!!.

Yah.  That's the ticket!

Pp. Francis IS Limited by the Nature of the Church

Regardless of Pp. Francis' excessive hubris, and that of such as +Bugnini, +Martini, +Kasper, +Cupich, and +McCarrick (same hubris, different manifestations), they are strictly limited by the Church herself, if properly understood.  And Benedict certainly understood properly as you will see below.

Fr. Hunwicke cites his mentor/teacher, Dr. Eric Mascall.

....They would have understood, poor things, how obvious it is that the Church Universal, the Body of Christ throughout Space and Time, is ontologically [in the order of Being] prior to individual Particular Churches.

The Church is not merely "a society formed by the voluntary association of those individual Christians who are now on earth"; it is "rooted in the concrete historical events of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ ... we who are now on earth are only the last of sixty or so generations of Christians who have each in its turn made up the earthly Church ... There is a fine phrase in which tradition has been described as 'the democracy of the dead' ... But, since Christ has overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life, the Church which was once militant here upon earth in the past is the Church which is now triumphant and expectant beyond the grave. This is therefore not just the democracy of the dead but of the living, as God himself is not of the dead but of the living. "

" ... the Church ... is not just the empirically manifested Church now militant on earth, but the archetypal Church which is nothing less than Christ's own manhood into which generations of Christians have been incorporated ..."

" ... at any particular epoch the Church militant is only a minute fraction of the Church Catholic... in the great living and growing organism which is the Body of Christ, we who are now on earth are not the successors of those who are now at rest and sleep in the sleep of peace or of the saints who now enjoy the beatific vision; we are their contemporaries, united with them by incorporation into the ascended Lord who is the Body's Head ..."

"If we identify the Church of God simply with the Church Militant, we shall look upon it as a society with membership that is constantly changing as new members enter it by baptism and old ones leave it by death, after the pattern of any other earthly society. If, however, we remember that the Church militant is only the lower fringe of the whole Church, we shall see the Church as an organism, a body which is constantly growing, which is being built up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"....

IOW, were we merely "successors," Francis I could do any damn thing he pleases and make it stick.  But we are not "successors," therefore Francis I does not have that power.  That is certainly true in matters of infallible doctrine and dogma, but one could also argue that it is negatively reflected by the "return" of the Old Rite Mass.  Recall that Benedict was clear:  that Mass was never "suppressed" except in the fevered imagination of the "reformers."

Huh.

Of course, this does not mean that +Francis and his co-conspirators cannot damage the Church.  Clearly, others have done so in the past, and it's reasonable to assume that such will happen in the future.  But the permanence of The Church, properly understood, will eventually erase Francis-ism, as it did Borgia-ism and Judas-ism.

Pray and work that the corrections happen quickly.

We Don't Need a "Flag Protection Amendment"

We have a First Amendment which permits offensive, repulsive, stupid speech.  The Left takes full advantage of that.  (And yes, "The Left" includes neo-Nazis, Commies, Antifa, and a large pack of Democrats.)

Should there be a 'counter-amendment' to protect the US flag?

Nope.

But there SHOULD be "accidents" which may disable or disfigure flag-burners.  S&^% happens, you know, if you're in the middle of a road or sidewalk burning a flag.  Brakes fail, or cars suddenly accelerate.  2X4's accidentally "slip" from control and magically smash noses or kneecaps.

We don't need no steeeeeeeeenking amendment, friends.  All we need is "accidents."

Slow Joe Gets the Shotgun Out

Slow (Hands) Joe knows what to do to make changes.

...“So you go out and beat them….you make the case — you make an explicit case,” said Biden.

However, he then suggested, rather than to just “go home,” it was better to turn to more extreme methods.

“Or let’s start a real physical revolution if you’re talking about it because we have to be able to change what we’re doing within our system,” said Biden....

Bring it, jackwad.  And you better have more than your stupid little shotgun.

Finally! Action on Illegals

And it finally begins.

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Trump wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”

Large-scale ICE enforcement operations are typically kept secret to avoid tipping off targets. In 2018, Trump and other senior officials threatened the mayor of Oakland, California, with criminal prosecution for alerting city residents that immigration raids were in the works.

Trump and his senior immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, have been prodding Homeland Security officials to arrest and remove thousands of family members whose deportation orders were expedited by the Justice Department this year as part of a plan known as the “rocket docket.”...

This means that the local rag will be running all sorts of stories about the little girl who had to abandon her tricycle and teddy bear as she was dragged away, naked and freezing, by the storm-troopers wearing "MAGA" hats who were laughing with cruel glee at her and her mother as they cried (etc., etc., etc.)

Think Christine Ortiz-Neumann will put her money where her mouth is and self-deport in sympathy?

Hah.

Cdl. Dolan Off the Reservation, Again

There are those who defend Cdl. Dolan, e.g. his brother who lives in SE Wisconsin, and his Mom.

And there are those who have had experience with his veneer-deep Catholicism.  Committed pro-lifers such as Judie Brown come to mind immediately.

Once again, +Dolan is off the reservation.  Ed Peters brought that to light.

Earlier today Cdl. Dolan of New York tweeted: “With the clear and cogent clarification of the successor of St. Peter, there now exists no loophole to morally justify capital punishment.”...

Well, no.  The "clarification" was NOT clear, and certainly NOT cogent.  Francis doesn't do those things, ya'know.

...Francis (or his handlers) left just enough wiggle room (by using “inadmissible”, an ambiguous term in magisterial-moral discourse) to avoid flatly declaring the DP “immoral” and setting off thereby a magisterial firestorm such as has not been seen for some centuries.

Dolan, in contrast, tweeting in terms well-known to tradition, plainly stated that the DP is immoral, thus going beyond what Francis was willing to say. That’s a problem. Indeed, it’s two problems....

+Dolan was never renowned for his moral-theo creds, and he stepped into it again.  Perhaps losing the Bp. Sheen case has addled the poor fellow, eh?

Jug-Ears and the Logan Act

Interesting little compilation here from Surber, quoting Showalter, who quotes DCWhispers:

..."DCWhispers, a pretty reliable blog, reprinted an item stringing together all the Obama spottings around Europe with its leaders, all of whom are of the #NeverTrump ilk, calling it the activity of a 'dictator in exile.'
"Obama's met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He's also met with French President Emmanuel Macron. Funny, he's now staying in Macron's country now... And all of this comes as Obama has become increasingly implicated in the activities to overthrow President Trump from Deep State, a trail that's now being investigated by the Justice Department. And it comes as revelations roll out about Obama's former Secretary of State, John Kerry, as well as other prominent Democrats, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, meet with America's enemies such as Iran on the sly, advising them to hold on until they can retake power."...

Maybe Trump should take a VERY hard look at that old Logan Act, eh?

No Corn? But Still, Forced Ethanol!

The fact that this year's corn crop will be "terrible" at best does not change the greed-level of the farmers who want corn-liquor/ethanol FORCED into gasoline.

Nope.  You may have no corn to eat, but you WILL have to burn it.

...It’s a disaster like I’ve never seen before,” McCune told FOX Business. “My neighbors didn’t get 90 percent of their corn planted.”
 
After non-stop rain plagued the region this spring – when corn farmers typically get seed in the ground – most have decided time is now too short and are choosing not to plant....

USDA estimates that only 50% of the fields are planted in Ohio.

There WILL be ethanol in your fuel.  No corn-flakes for you, though.

Trump Makes Health Insurance Affordable!

Under the previous (Communist-inspired) Administration, you had health-insurance choices that stank.  There was "unaffordable" and "nothing."  Unless you were earning near-nothing, in which case it was "terrible" but "cheap."

Only the Communists and Democrats could come up with that crap and smile at you.

Now comes Trump.

Today, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued a new policy that will provide hundreds of thousands of employers, including small businesses, a better way to provide health insurance coverage, and millions of American workers more options for health insurance coverage....

 Under the rule, starting in January 2020, employers will be able to use what are referred to as individual coverage HRAs to provide their workers with tax-preferred funds to pay for the cost of health insurance coverage that workers purchase in the individual market, subject to certain conditions. … Individual coverage HRAs are designed to give working Americans and their families greater control over their healthcare by providing an additional way for employers to finance health insurance.

The HRA rule also increases workers’ choice of coverage, increases the portability of coverage, and will generally improve worker economic well-being. This rule will also allow workers to shop for plans in the individual market and select coverage that best meets their needs....quoted at PowerLine

 Took two years, but it will be worth it.

Thanks, Mr. President, and Eat Shit, Obama!

Of All People, Steve Bannon!

Bannon is not exactly a 'model' Catholic boy.  IIRC he's a serial monogamist and not a regular Mass-attender.  (I'd be happy to be corrected.)  But what he IS is a pretty damned good political analyst.  He understood and capitalized on Codevilla's revolutionary 2010 essay on "the ruling class" to help bring Trump to victory, which has lit a fire around the world, including in England, Italy, India, Hungary, and Poland.

So when he addresses politics, people should listen--even if he's addressing the politics of the Church's current cross, Francis I.

...he is a Latin American Jesuit inculcated in liberation theology. Liberation theology is nothing more than cultural Marxism with a thin veneer of the Gospel of Matthew on top of it, right? It’s Jesus as social justice warrior. The cultural Marxism of the liberation theology movement and the cultural Marxism of the Greens is the linkage of the Pope’s political movement. It’s quite natural for him. He’s both a Peronist and a Jesuit at the same time....

OK. So what?

 ...you either believe in the Westphalian nation-state and the underpinnings of a free citizenry, which is what the sovereignty movement is, or you believe the Church politically came to a resolution of this, from the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, and all that. That is a global organization religiously but not politically. What he has done is reverse this now. He’s thrown in. He’s a globalist. He’s a political globalist. He speaks with all the nomenclature of the globalists. He supports all the policies of the globalists....

Wouldn't it be nice if Francis 'spoke with all the nomenclature' of Roman Catholicism instead?

Just sayin'...

"St. Bob" Mueller? Not Even Close.

There is little good to be said about Robert Mueller; at best, he was an idiot who was played by malicious and smarter underlings or foreign interests (or both); at worst, he deserves execution for sedition.

Louie Gohmert thinks so, as does John Milkovich.  Don't be surprised if either of them are 'disappeared' in the near future....

By the way, I didn't recall that Mueller was FEEB Criminal Justice Division honcho when the FEEBS executed Randy Weaver's wife--nor that Mueller screwed around with the investigation of BCCI.  For that matter, he apparently screwed up the Lockerbie investigation AND mis-handled the investigation of two 9/11 terrorists before they hit the Towers.

Where's the "Import TAX"?

The Usual Suspects (Koch-money and Chamber of Commerce) are still yapping about how 'tariffs are a tax on the consumer.'  They can't help themselves.  It's built-in, like their drooling attacks on 'America First' nationalism.

Only problem is that the "TAX!!!!" never showed up.  Here you have a Y/Y comparison.

At the same time, US jobs are growing like crazy, unlike the situation after NAFTA and the even-more disastrous granting of MFN status to Communist China.

But just like the WackaDoo Left, who claim that 'abortion is health-care,' these WackaDoos continue their ululations.

We're Gonna Need More Than "I Said So," Mike

Interesting footnote to Pompeo's declaration that 'Iran did it'.

Pompeo delivered his remarks without providing any evidence to support his accusations, and then walked off the stage without taking any questions.

Hmmmm.  First thing I though of was "False flag??"

We all know that Pompeo, Bolt-Head, Saudi Arabia, and Israel would love to have the US smack the crap out of Iran--whether for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all.  Even if they have to send 50,000 Other People's Kids there.

We're wise to that game.  At least have the balls to answer questions, Mike-ee. 

Meanwhile, in Chicago...

Think of it this way:  it's far worse than Milwaukee.  So far.

In Chicago, since the new Mayor-etteLBGTSJ took office, they've averaged....

• 2.2 Homicides and 9.65 Maimed PER DAY!

(Not that Mo'Rahm would have been any better.)

Not Only Texas.....

Just drove through part of the South.  I suspect that there are lots of places where this would not be viewed unfavorably.  HT:  PowerLine

Wuss? Pussy? Or Idiot??

The AOSHQ is a resource for those who need a good laugh.

Dear Amy: This week, I discovered that my intelligent, hard-working, responsible 24-year-old daughter (who lives with me) is a gun owner! And it’s not a normal gun, either — it is a 40-caliber semi-automatic, and she has hollow-point bullets to go with it....

... I love my daughter and would be so sad for her to move into a place that she would hardly be able to afford, but now I have to lock my bedroom door at night because I don’t know what she’s going to do....

Dumbfounded Father

On the other hand, tears are more apropos this story.  Does this "father" wear a skirt and heels, too?

Credit Warning on Dem Convention

A number of Milwaukee businesses will provide goods and services for the 2020 Democrat National Convention.

Fair warning:

...Bloomberg reports that the Democratic National Committee’s financial woes continue as Chairman  Tom Perez and his colleagues continue to spend more than they take in. In fact, the DNC has already added $3 million in new debt in just the past four months. ...

In 2019 already, the “DNC had collected contributions of more than $24.4 million but had spent $28.4 million, according to the latest disclosures. It had $7.6 million cash on hand, $1 million less than in January. It posted $6.2 million in debt, including bank loans and unpaid invoices to vendors,” according to Bloomberg....

Hmmmm.

Looks like "cash up-front" is best policy, eh?

Speaking of "Missing Fatherhood...."

Below we noted that one American Cardinal does not understand the word "father."
That problem is not limited to +Cupich.

...A Catholic psychologist has denounced the latest Vatican document on gender theory as containing “not one sentence of sound advice for parents who try to educate their children towards the virtues necessary for a Christian life.”

In a searing critique, Dr. Gerard J.M. van den Aarweg, a Dutch psychologist and psychoanalyst specializing in the treatment of persons with homosexual tendencies, condemned the recent Vatican document on gender theory, saying “the aggressive neo-pagan sexual ideology of the world has no wisdom we might share. The task of the Church is not dialoguing but teaching and correcting, there is a relentless spiritual war going on in the field of sexuality, marriage, and the family.”...

By the waters of Babylon we wept....

"...it is an ideological document. It is not specifically Catholic, in spite of some lip service. It essentially makes a plea for a kind of atheist-humanist/socialist sex education, presented as more or less Catholic. It gushes over the boons of a social model of sexual education monitored by “professional experts” on the basis of naively supposed ever-deepening insights into sexuality in the current human sciences. It represents the kind of illusionary and sentimental talk about education and “affectivity” characteristic of the immature and superficial humanistic psychology of the 1960s, but now proclaimed as ‘higher wisdom’ by a Vatican Congregation..."

If the Catholic Church has nothing better to offer than secularist psychobabble, why the Hell should one bother with her?

+Cupich vs. REAL Fathers

Imagine that some kid down the block whacks your kid with a pipe.  You go to the kid's house and bring it up to his father, who responds:

“I think it would be counterproductive to impose sanctions, simply because they don’t change anybody’s minds.”

What have you learned?  That the "father" is not a real "father." 

But he IS just like Cdl. Cupich.

Children, spiritual or physical, need guidance and "sanctions."  Imposing them is what REAL fathers do, out of love and concern for their children.

You may speculate on what +Cupich really is.  But as to that first honorific title after Holy Orders,  you know, "Father"? 

Fuggedaboutit.

Twink at "Special Counsel" Office Is ex-McPain Aide

The twink making up new laws about KellyAnne Conway's comments happens to be an ex-McPain staffer who told Lois Lerner to torture conservative tax-exempts through audits.

Lerner, living high on her pension, chose to simply make life extremely difficult for non-profit applicants--but only the conservative ones.

Trump made the horrible error (he's made a few) of appointing Little Twink McPain-Wannabeee to his current position.

He should be shitcanned immediately.

Pp. Francis Joins AOC!

Well, now there are TWO renowned scientific minds on the "climate" page!

...“Today’s ecological crisis, especially climate change, threatens the very future of the human family, and this is not an exaggeration. For too long we have collectively ignored the fruits of scientific analysis, and catastrophic predictions can no longer be viewed with contempt and irony.”...

And it's happening very, very, soon!!

...“Dear friends, time is running out!” the pope told a group of participants in a Vatican-sponsored conference on energy transition Friday. “We cannot afford the luxury of waiting for others to come forward or of prioritizing short-term economic benefits. The climate crisis requires decisive action from us, here and now.”...

Well, if carbon dioxide is the problem, I have a solution:  Just Shut Up.

"Brain Dead"?? Maybe Not

A lot of friends and relatives sign up for "organ donor" marks on their driver's license.

That's because they've been told that there IS such a thing as "brain death", and once that's gone, hey......your body organs may save someone else's life.

But what if the brain is NOT "dead"?  There's a helluvalotta money involved here, which should raise a red flag.  And there's that troublesome research on the matter.

Ask questions, friends.

Tucker Strikes Again!!

Tucker Carlson makes mincemeat of "China Mitch" McConnell (and Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz), not to mention the Democrat baby-killer/genderblender parade of pandering prostitutes and fools.

Liz Warren?  Huh.

Still waiting for the SMOD to strike D.C..  It's that or ...........

BUY MORE AMMO.

Buick Pays Tariff. MSRP Unchanged. Hmmm

Well yes, indeed.

..."The Trump administration has denied a General Motors Co request for an exemption to a 25 percent U.S. tariff on its Chinese-made Buick Envision sport utility vehicle....

..."GM said on Tuesday it was aware of the denial and has been paying the tariff since July. GM has not raised the sticker price to account for the tariff.... Reuters, quoted at Surber

Not that anyone would PAY 25% more for the car, but it sure looks as though there is no "TAX ON CONSUMERS!!!!!" here.

The Chamber of Commerce and its stooges were unavailable for comment.

Freeing Slaves, Giving Women the Vote: Pubbies!

Yah, hey.  The Pubbies gave women the vote and freed the slaves.

The Democrats?  Well, they lie about it.

Is Mark Shea Really Bill Maher?

We note that Mark Shea, the semi-religious (or is it "anti-religious") screed-writer, denounces Taylor Marshall.

Marshall is undoubtedly hiding under his dining-room table.

But Shea's pixellated bladder-voiding reminds us of Bill Maher in a lot of ways (except Maher displays a couple dozen more IQ points), so here's a question:  have you ever seen BOTH in the same room at the same time?

Didn't think so.

On the other hand, could Maher fit into the same room Shea is occupying?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

This is a conundrum.

Another Review of "Infiltration"

A few days ago, a fellow named Mirus published a "review" of Taylor Marshall's new book "Infiltration."  We demonstrated at the time that Mirus had no clue about liturgy.  That should call the rest of his screed into question.

Meantime, another review emerged.

...Today, as the fire of revolution burns in the Church, Dr. Taylor Marshall’s bracing, important new book Infiltration offers an illuminating “historical diagnosis” for our present ecclesial malaise. Adroitly weaving together papal documents, Marian apparitions, historical data, and original research into the mysterious center of gravity known as St. Gallen, Switzerland, Marshall convincingly shows that the sparks of Church crisis far predate both Pope Francis and Vatican II....

...Infiltration admirably elucidates the theological errors at play, explaining in detail the heresy of naturalism: “manipulating nature to produce something above nature—just as Satan attempted to transcend his nature in order to be God.”  Describing how Freemasonic naturalism was smuggled into the Church under various disguises, Marshall’s historical survey registers a veritable ideological infiltration....

...Marshall lays out an incisive tripartite analysis of Modernism’s main pillars: the “demythologizing” of Scripture, the embrace of secularism and universal fraternity, and the rejection of Catholic morals, doctrine, and aesthetics....

Plenty more at the link.  Some of the material is 'old news' to some Catholics, but it will be 'NEW news' to many Catholics under the age of 40, who have been immersed in the 'new world order' since their birth.

Christmas comes every year, and it's predictable.  Get one of these books for your kids (and THEIR kids.)  They may as well know about all this sooner rather than too late.

Reminder

A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LBGTQ "Pride Month" events held in June.  They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals.  They are especially harmful for children.

So said H.E. Tobin of Rhode Island, so say I.

Fed Judge: Trump Can Build the Wall

Whaddya know!!!  A Fed judge who is NOT a hack-in-black....

"A federal judge handed down a decision that was a defeat for Democrats attempting to block the funding re-direction towards construction of President Donald Trump's border wall.
"Democrats were upset that the president called a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and then ordered funds to come from the military in order to work around the will of Congress.
"The Trump administration argued that the Congress had no standing to litigate the claim against the Executive branch.
"Judge Trevor McFadden disagreed with the Democrats and sided with the Trump administration."...

Now we'll get appeals with squeals.

Evers to WI Seniors: "My Way or the Highway!"

Tokin'Tony Evers, the very boring, narrowly-elected Governor of Wisconsin, has a message for senior citizens in that State:

"You want nursing-homes?  Fine.  Then I'll FORCE you to take the Obozo medicine.  No Obozo medicine?  You can drop dead someplace else."

How else can one read this?

...Evers’ budget proposal calls for $8.7 million in fiscal year 2020 and $17.8 million the following year, amounting to a combined 2.5 percent increase. Like much of the Democrat’s budget plan, the funding increases are tied to Wisconsin accepting the federal Medicaid expansion and the expensive “free money” that goes along with it....

No wonder the teachers' union tells its members to retire anyplace but Wisconsin.

Tiresome Posing from Clergy

An illegal alien who was also a part-time minister has been deported.  That occasioned a statement from her presiding ELCA bishop.

...Rev. Paul D. Erickson, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, urged supporters to keep the couple and all refugees seeking asylum in their prayers, "as we work to fashion a system that respects the dignity of people and creates a more just and humane immigration policy."....

We're waiting for a US bishop other than Cdl. Burke--whether Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Catholic-- to express firm support for "respecting US borders and the dignity of US citizens."

We're not holding our breath.

Little Rich Mitch

This is just a little unusual, don'cha think?

...“In 2004, current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, current U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, had an average net worth of $3.1 million. Ten years later, that number had increased to somewhere between $9.2 million and $36.5 million.”...

 All on two Gummint salaries?  Genius-level stock speculation?  Chicken futures using Hillary's sage advice?

No.  McConnell's father-in-law is tight with the ChiComs.  VERY tight with the ChiComs.  You know about them, right?

Republican Senators Take Violin Lessons

Here's the Club of Geniuses at work:

Senate Republicans said they are hoping President Trump does not follow through with a threat to impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports if the country does not curb the massive flow of migrants that end up on the U.S.-Mexico border....

800,000 people are going to invade the US this year.  Some of them are terrorists.  Some of them are sex traffickers.  Some of them are drug mules.  Most of them will be pressed into criminal activity by their coyote escorts.  Virtually none of them have grade-school education.

And a whole LOT of them are carrying opportunistic diseases.

This is what the Republican Senators want?

Or maybe THEIR plan is to send a few infantry divisions to the border with "shoot on sight" orders?

When MS-13 burns down the District of Columbia and certain residential areas in Virginia and Maryland, will Republican Senators be playing violins?

"War Hero" Buttplug? Nope.

It appears that Mayor Buttplug actually has more war-front experience than does Sen. "DaNang Dick" Blumenthal.

Sorta.

...Buttigieg did all of six months in 2014 as a reservist deep inside Bagram Airfield, mostly as a personal driver for his boss, locked and loaded inside a Toyota Land Cruiser. It is unlikely he ever ate a cold meal in Afghanistan....

Well, OK, then.

"Enemies Closer?": Trump's CIA Appointment

Jed Babbin--a well-connected guy--hypothesizes that the Trump-appointed CIA Director, Gina Haspell, was an active key player in attempting to remove Trump from office, joining with Comey, Brennan, Rice, Lynch, Clinton, et.al.

Trump probably knew that before he installed this woman.  It's called "keep your enemies closer...." so that prosecution and imprisonment are easier, I guess....

BWAHAHAHA: No Home for "Nest"-ers

Yah, that "internet of things" is a really smart idea.

....the Google Cloud outage also affected third-party apps and services that use Google Cloud space for hosting. Affected third-party apps and services include Discord, Snapchat, and even Apple’s iCloud services.

But an especially annoying side effect of Google Cloud’s downtime was that Nest-branded smart home products for some users just failed to work. According to reports from Twitter, many people were unable to use their Nest thermostats, Nest smart locks, and Nest cameras during the downtime. This essentially meant that because of a cloud storage outage, people were prevented from getting inside their homes, using their AC, and monitoring their babies....

Next we'll hear about "smart airplanes" and "self-driving cars"...........

Oh, wait.

"Gun Free" = Death Zone

Somebody went and looked it up.

The Crime Prevention Research Center statistics show that between 1950 and 2018, 97.8% of mass public shootings have occurred in areas where citizens are prohibited from protecting themselves and others.

This is how your "public servants" define "safety."

And you give them MONEY for this!!

HT:  AOSHQ

The Battle to Watch--and Win

A few essays about the French v. Ahmari battle have appeared lately; one in The American Conservative, and this one, at American Greatness. (Others are linked in the 'Greatness' essay.)  We are pleased to brag that we noted the general outlines of the battle a few weeks ago; all that 'natural law' stuff has to do with this.

A few grafs which set it up and then define the battlefield.  First, the setup:

....I did not think that Sohrab had all that much to say directly about the man who provided him with the title of his essay, but then I am not, so to speak, a French man. I have never met Pastor French, rarely read him, and generally feel about him the way C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story felt about George Kitteridge, man of the people: “to hardly know him is to know him well.” 

The outpouring of indignation, fury, and contempt that greeted Sohrab’s column reminded me that opinions about the Pastor vary widely.....

Now the meat of the matter:

...Together with Rousseau, Mill supplied nearly all of the arguments and most of the emotional weather—the texture of sentiment—that have gone into defining the liberal vision of the world. His peculiar brand of utilitarianism—a cake of Benthamite hedonism glazed with Wordsworthian sentimentality—accounts for part of Mill’s appeal: it provides a perfect recipe for embellishing programmatic shallowness with a cosmetic patina of spirituality. It is a recipe that has proven to be irresistible to those infatuated with the spectacle of their own virtue. 

Mill was exceptionally adroit at appealing to his readers’ moral vanity. When he spoke (as he was always speaking) of “persons of decided mental superiority” he made it seem as though he might actually be speaking about them. Mill said that there was “no reason that all human existence should be constructed on some one or some small number of patterns.” Quite right! Even if persons of genius are always likely to be “a small minority,” still we must “preserve the soil in which they grow.” Consequently, people have a duty to shun custom and nurture their individual “self-development” if they are not to jeopardize “their fair share of happiness” and the “mental, moral, and aesthetic stature of which their nature is capable.”...

Doesn't take much imagination to see "City Class/Establishment" figures placing themselves squarely  within Mill's 'decided mental superiority'  group, does it?   (We could add Federal judges just for fun, too.)

What's underplayed here is this:  it's not exclusively a Republican in-house battle.  This one includes Democrats.  Trump (and Hagedorn) succeeded in Wisconsin because "Reagan Democrats" voted for them.  The same intra-party battle is also shaping the Democrat nomination race--frankly, it's why Biden sits on top with almost no effort on his part.  The majority of Democrat stalwarts think Bernie, AOC, Warren, Buttigieg, Harris (et al) are wackos or Cloud People, or both.  Biden seems more 'normal,' (right, wrong, or otherwise.)

...Mill constantly castigated such things as the “magical influence of custom” (“magical” being a negative epithet for Mill), the “despotism of custom [that] is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement,” the “tyranny of opinion” that makes it so difficult for “the progressive principle” to flourish. According to Mill, the “greater part of the world has, properly speaking, no history because the sway of custom has been complete.”

Such passages reveal the core of moral arrogance inhabiting Mill’s liberalism....

In other words, Mill (and Bentham, by the way) stood--with Rousseau and the French Revolutionaries--against every single thing espoused by Edmund Burke and Catholicism--even in the Catholic-variants/heresies established by Luther and Henry VIII. 

Fuggedabout "Never-Trump-ism" here.  The battle is NOT about Trump, who is all fine-and-dandy with Liberal goalposts such as gay marriage, serial adultery, gun-grabbing, and unlimited Government deficits, albeit he DOES have a number of redeeming qualities. 

This battle is about what remains of Western Civilization, the Catholic-begotten culture which just happens to have provided more men with more wealth and more opportunity than any other culture on Earth.  But FAR more important, it provides man with a goal:  heaven, if he can earn it.

As Kimball puts it, this is an 'existential' battle.  He said a mouthful. 

A Little 2A Instruction

From Dave Hardy.

...The same Congress that passed out the 14th Amendment voted to disband the southern militias, but refrained from disarming their members because of Second Amendment concerns!...

So much for the "militia-centric" yappaflappa of the gun-grabbers.

The 2A protects citizens from political powers which over-reach.  If you don't know what and whom they might be, here's a big hint for you, courtesy of Gateway and Epoch Times.

From a Thinker

Say what you like about Bertrand Russell....he was perceptive.  Thx to Moonbattery!

US Immigration War Requires Money

Somebody named David Schweikert, who is a representative of the Chamber of Commerce from Arizona, doesn't like the Mexican tariff.

...Schweikert added that while Mexico needs to secure its border, he doesn’t support “taxing” people in the U.S....

Look, fella:  this is an invasion.  Invasions are wars.  We EXPECT to pay for wars against the US.  If you don't want to pay for this war, then perhaps you should examine whose side you're on.

Clear?

Eastwood!

Yes, Eastwood flix are a guilty pleasure for me.  Snatched from PowerLine.

Yes, Pope-Humor Helps

We Catholics are in difficult times.  I work with a very nice Missouri Lut'ran lady who is now giving me the "You poor thaaaang!!" look every time Pp. Francis opens his inscrutable and/or confused mouth.

So yah, a sense of humor helps, along with massive doses of beer.  Or Scotch.

Here, a damned good humorist writes a note to Pp. Francis.  Excerpt:

...Luckily you have friends who know that popes cannot lie (when Peter denied knowing Jesus, it wasn't a lie, it was simply because he had forgotten who He was, it could happen to anyone). 

First, there's little Austen Ivory, telling the world that He didn’t know about McCarrick's past, or the sanctions (how could he know?) while at the same time throwing in a few character assassinations, in line with your new Motu proprio, AD HOMINEM. Other mates will rush to your defence, such as Robert Muckins, who still hasn't recovered from the news that your predecessor, whom he called "The rat" refuses to die. He manages to be even less coherent than Austen, no mean feat! 

Unfortunately Fr Martin James LGBTSJ is not available to join in the fun, as he is in hospital having an operation. We have no idea what it is, but when she comes out, she will no doubt support you too....

(The names were altered to protect the chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllldren.)

There!  You should feel better.  But just in case, I have a few cases of beer available.....

Chamber of Commerce's Treachery

We've come to expect that the US Chamber will act to frustrate country-class citizens.  Now they're going to join hands with a Communist.

One wonders how many of these invading "refugees" various Chamber Board members have housed in their own homes, exposing their wives and children to tuberculosis, typhus, measles, and perhaps ebola.

You're right.  ZERO.  So fuck'em.

Huh?

In the "needs clarification" column, we have this from AOSHQ: