Two Minds On Seattle...

Like so many things I think about, I have two minds about the crap occurring in Seattle.

On one hand...

1) The "Free Capitol Hill" Antifa/anarchist project is fascinating to watch in real time, and like every other Utopian project, it will fail. Because, for all the attempts, human nature cannot be changed. Even in the past 36-48 hours since its inception, the cracks have already shown. Running out of food, putting up a border wall, cracking down on dissent, and so forth. Utopia always falls into an authoritarian trap, no matter what "good intentions" it might have. 

On the other hand...

2) This is a civil society that needs order and liberty. Anarchism has neither. It is amusing (and ironic) that they are premised on "black lives matter" and yet are acting like South Carolina, circa 1860. So Antifa is the Confederacy?  

CANCEL THEM! 

Backpedaling Like A Cornerback

One of the new slogans that the internals polls insisted would work is "Defund the Police".

In Minneapolis, the city council is already under way in attempting to do just that.

One problem...

There is no broad support for this (although that could change in a week). In fact, let me add a second problem here - now the very people who are saying "Defund the Police" are also saying, nay, insisting, that people who are taking them at their word are mistaken.

You see, when they say "defund", they really mean "reform".

Sorry - that cat is not going back in the bag.

Hotep Jesus said it best...

Liberals: Defund doesn't mean defund.

(Words no longer have meaning. Orwell warned us) pic.twitter.com/znCWXDwwFf

— Hotep Jesus (@HotepJesus) June 9, 2020

Indeed. But then again, that can't possibly be a surprise to anyone who is paying attention.

While We're At It...

Just some mumblings...

1) I just can't deal with the following things - pandering, victimhood, and scolds. It's no wonder leftism is so allergenic to me. Liberalism/leftism/communism is the combination of the worst impulses of all three.

2) Very good distillation of what's happening in the world today - the fight between paganism and Christianity (found via Instapundit). In a nutshell, the article argues that the two sides are really in an argument about whether we exist individually as sinners (Christianity) or as a collective that requires blood payment (paganism), and the current iteration of identity politics is an attempt to try and have it both ways. I have to say, it makes some very convincing cases, especially in light of what we are seeing in terms of people "confessing" their "guilt" despite the fact Officer Chauvin alone did it and was arrested and charged for it. Do read the whole thing.

3) The revolution always eats their own. All you have to do is see the Man-child Mayor of Minneapolis get booed out of a struggle session protest because he refused to back de-funding and abolishing the police. Or Muriel Bowser get criticized for painting "Black Lives Matter" on a street as a "stunt for white liberals." 

4) The NFL better be careful - their decision to pander (there's that word again) to the players will most likely backfire. I can find better things to do on fall Sundays than watch the Ravens and Redskins play. 

5) MLB is just about toast. The MLBPA thinks they are ordinary working Joes. Here's a clue...they aren't. In a fight between millionaires and billionaires, most people will side with the billionaire owners. Why? Because anyone who has any association with a business understands that the one who owns the business is the one who bears all the burdens, risks, costs, and maintenance. The players are...employees. They only have two concerns - health and pay. That's it. They're entertainers.  The Orioles are terrible, but I still enjoyed going to a few games per year. That will end. Book it. 

Mascots of the Anointed

Girl praised, becomes "icon" after participating in march.

Kids are regarded as untouchable. They make for wonderful human shields.

Unless they are unborn, of course. 

Thomas Sowell knew exactly of which he spoke and wrote. 

The Great Disappointment

General Mattis...

I have a lot of respect for what he did in his time as a Marine officer. His sniveling over the President, as published in The Atlantic, comes off as a toddler's stompy-foot tantrum. That respect is tarnished a bit.

I'm not going to rehash what he said, because many others have done so. The best one comes from an unlikely source - Paul Mirengoff of Powerline, who is usually sympathetic to anti-Trump screeds. However, Mirengoff is a Marylander and has a closer look to what is actually going on - that the rioting in DC needed to be put under control, and people like Mattis are clueless about the threat.

Or worse, sympathetic. 

Cancel Culture Comes Hard For Drew Brees

Drew Brees, the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, said something that isn't actually all that remotely controversial - that he doesn't agree with fellow players who kneel for the national anthem, thus they are disrespecting the flag. 

For this, he has been crucified, and hard (so to speak, of course).

It is clear, then, there has to be an Official List of Approved Opinions™ for use on social media and in public. 

You know, for safety reasons. 

And this is how societies die.

UPDATE - And now, there's a list of Approved Thought right here!

UPDATE II - Brees has caved and apologized. Too bad. The Kulturekampf is alive and well.

Remember...

David Dorn and Patrick Underwood. 

Who?

Peace officers who were murdered by rioters. Dorn was a retired captain in the St. Louis department; Underwood was a Federal Protective Services officer.

Both black. 

Black lives matter, but some more than others, apparently. 

Powerful Read

Worse than war: My night besieged by looters and thugs in NYC

It's a great look at what was happening in real time in places like New York. I have tried to warn people (verbally) for years that when the revolution comes (starting when Occupy Wall Street was a thing), it will eat its own first. Like what we see here:

This is so nuts. Sad, but kind of hilarious pic.twitter.com/9fHBDX8FP9

— Ami Horowitz (@AmiHorowitz) June 2, 2020

It doesn't matter for one second if you are on *their side*, you will be devoured. It's sad, but it is also true. Feeding a lion a steak and praying it becomes vegetarian is not a strategy. 

Unfortunately, it's the very strategy adopted by the elected officials of places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and so forth.

Now if only we could figure out what they all had in common....

Shhhh. Don't Tell the Archbishop

The Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, decided he had to one-up the Episcopalian screeching over the President's visit to St. John's last night. Today, the President went to the St. John Paul II Shrine in Northeast Washington, DC, and his excellency entered the fray.

I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree. Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.

Never mind that this whole visit was planned well in advance. The Shrine released its own statement:

Today is also the 41st anniversary of when Pope St. John Paul II visited his home country of Poland for the first time, giving inspiration to what would become the Solidarity movement. Archbishop Gregory's statement is a disappointment, to say the least, looking more to appease the CNNistas than actually lead as a shepherd in these turbulent times. Too many clergy (of all types) have decided they would rather be of the world rather than in it.

Although, in retrospect, I do appreciate the clarity, even though he isn't my bishop.

Interesting Theory...

I did not appreciate how profitable fake news could be for Jeff Bezos. If the Washington Post can support the protestors long enough, there will be no retail store competition for Amazon. Almost there. I’d give it a week.

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) June 2, 2020 

You know, I can buy that if I squint hard enough. Loot enough stores, and Amazon can achieve what Pinky and the Brain could only talk about. 

Should We Be Optimistic?

According to Scott McKay at the American Spectator, the answer is yes, as he provides seven different thoughts about what's going on in our country and society:

2. Tom Cotton’s sentiments are spot on, but his methods are off. 

I’m a fan of Tom Cotton, but when he tweeted over the weekend that the rioters ought to come face to face with the 101st Airborne, or the 10th Mountain Division, I’ve got to admit I wasn’t crazy about it. 

[snip]

 

The police can handle these rioters if they’re allowed to. If the police can’t, in some circumstances, the National Guard certainly can. This isn’t some invading army; it’s the dregs of society who have been induced into the streets for free air fryers from Target. The slightest application of law enforcement muscle will put this rioting down. 

Absolutely right. I can't get behind deploying the military unless it is a totally last resort. As suspicious as I am about police and its use of force, these kind of events are the ones for which it was made. Another one: 

6. The suburbs aren’t burning despite all the calls to burn them. It isn’t hard to understand why. 

Brandon Morse has a great piece at RedState warning the Antifa clowns that if they actually follow through on their threats to invade the suburbs, they won’t like the result. 

[snip]

Because the pasty honkies in the black sweatshirts live in the suburbs. Where do you think mom’s basement is, Watts? They’re not going to burn down their own neighborhoods; that’s for the proles to do, not the Marxist vanguard.

In other words, you don't defecate where you eat. Do read the whole thing, as they say. 

Tucker Carlson's Monologue

If you haven't seen this, you should - even if you are a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. It is Tucker at his best: no prisoners, and no one is spared. Not rioters, not leaders, not the President. Beware, it has some frank video of violence in it:
 

Russia! Russia! Russia!

Susan Rice says Russia behind riots

At least it's nice to know some things never change, although this adds an extra layer of unintentional comedy. Yesterday, I wrote about how if the authorities are to be believed concerning the involvement of white supremacists, it would then imply that Joe Biden and other liberal celebrities  (like Colin Kaepernick) are funding bail for white supremacists. 

So now they are also funding bail for Russian agents? GOOD SHOW!

Time To Act

Over at American Thinker, Monica Showalter has a post about how it's time for the President to assert himself with regards to the demonstrators protesters rioters:

[S]omething's gone wrong with his strange silence and ineffectual tweets with this crisis. I'm not the only one who's noticed 

          <snip>

Now the protests have became a vehicle for criminals, using color of race, for some kind of national 'devil's nights.' It's the Detroitification of America, a neglected, miserable place, except going for multiple nights, with global markets and all the world watching.

I agree. The President was going to be blamed no matter what he did, so he might as well step in and do the right thing. Do, as they say, read the whole thing. 

One other thing - I bristle at the modifier "peaceful" being attached to the word "protest". A protest by definition is peaceful. The addition of it is to try and rationalize rioting as a method of "protest" when it is in fact depriving people of life, liberty, and property. The instant someone breaks a window, it ceases being a protest and becomes something else. 

100% Correct

Black Civilians Arm Themselves To Protest Racial Violence and Protect Black-Owned Businesses

It is the correct response. Especially as the police are again being derelict in their duties to "protect", at the behest of their political masters who are trying to deflect blame and attention. 

Double-Think On Antifa (Intentional or Not)

The Narrative™ now says that "white supremacists" are co-opting the "peaceful" protests in various American cities and turning them into the rioting and looting. 

Joe Biden and Co. are donating money to pay for bail for the "protesters" being arrested. 

Ergo, Joe Biden supports white supremacists...

What this tells me, and most of you who have critical thinking skills, is that the people who are donating the bail money (celebrities included) don't believe for a second that neo-Nazis or Aryan Nation members are the ones coming to Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and so forth. It's Antifa all the way, but they cannot bring themselves to admit that publicly. 

Why? Because Antifa is their baby - their shock troops. To admit Antifa is deliberately stirring everyone up would just give impetus to the Bad Orange Me to declare them a terrorist organization and eliminate a powerful arrow from their quiver. 

And it may well be their final arrow, which in my opinion, was fired too soon.  

John Roberts Continues To Be An Enemy of Liberty...

...Roberts writes majority opinion upholding California restrictions on church attendance.

(Here we have a literal example of what the title of this little blog is all about) 

I mean, we all knew that he was an enemy of freedom when he upheld the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare") by insisting the penalties were actually in fact taxes. 

I'm hoping California worshippers engage in civil disobedience here and dare the authorities to arrest them. Of course, Antifa won't show up to protest riot in their favor. 

Because Christians, of course.  

Resistance to Tyranny

The subheading under the title of this little blog is "Obedience to God; Resistance to Tyranny". The first clause is easy, but the second might require a little more nuance.

Let's say what it isn't - it in no way endorses the methods of the criminals in cities around the country who were looking for an excuse to protest riot and loot. Such actions are harmful to those who prefer liberty over tyranny.

Statists (and that's what Antifa and others are, despite their name) are always looking for an ever growing expansion of government. A militarized police force is one method of such expansion. More riots and looting prompt calls for tighter "security" apparati, and the spiral continues. 

This is partly why the coronavirus lockdowns were so revealing - because what it demonstrated in real time was who is in favor of government as father vs. those of us who believe government should be neutral referee when their presence is called for. 

The tyranny we call to resist here is that of an overbearing government. But the solution is not riots and looting, but rather ordered liberty. Violence is a last, last, last resort. If you look at the timeline of the American Revolution, it was only when the British were looking to seize the weapons of the people at Lexington did shots get fired. For Antifa and their ilk, riots, looting, and violence are their very raison d'etre.

Most forms of resistance are not violent in nature. It is standing up and realizing we are free people who control our own destiny. It is the attempt to forcibly take our liberty and change that destiny which we need to resist. It's always an uphill battle. Unfortunately, freedom and liberty is not part of the (fallen) human condition. But the fight will always go on. Don't give in, don't give up. 

Moral Infantilism

Don't worry, I was going to get around to the reaction to the murder of George Floyd, and unfortunately, it has become a bigger story than the police misconduct that fueled it. 

"Never let a crisis go to waste" has been a motto for the left for the past decade and more, but a lot of what the rioting does is take away from the actual problem. Or maybe Black Lives Matter and Antifa just needed an excuse to unveil their latest accessories and tactics. 

Whatever it is, the morally infantile are out in full force on social media and on camera as well. Just a sampling:

Yep. Exactly the same. More:

I am glad to know that two wrongs now make a right. I'll be sure to file that away for the future.

On the State of the Police...

What has happened in Minneapolis is sickening. Most importantly, the grotesque killing of an unarmed man by an officer in broad daylight. The near universal condemnation is heartening, but I wonder how much that will change things. 

(I won't comment much on the riots themselves - people who want to riot will use whatever excuse to loot, and need to be prosecuted to the full extent. Property damage, even while protesting for a righteous cause, is inexcusable. No further comment on it except to say that given the political leanings of a place like Minneapolis, none of this surprised me. Just as Baltimore in 2015 didn't surprise me.)

This is going to be an unpopular opinion (on this side of the political spectrum), but I hope episodes like these and pandemic enforcement fiascoes will show the reality that the police are not our friends. They are tools, agents, and revenue collectors of an entity (government) first and foremost, and anything they say about "serving" and "protecting" comes a distant second.  

Oh my God, attacking the police. HOW DARE YOU!!

Individual men and women are fine. But let's be real, the collective police force - yes - force - exists primarily to serve Caesar. Their livelihoods and pensions depend on their fealty to their political masters. So when rubber meets the road, do they follow orders, or do they protect people and their rights? Some to their credit have chosen the latter, but have paid a price. So not all hope is lost, but we ought to remain vigilant. 

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

And while I know the quote from Juvenal is in relation to a noble lady engaging in relations with her minders, it still applies to the nonsense of Twitter's attempt to fact check the President. 

It's such a dangerous path that even noted white-supremacist* Mark Zuckerberg called them out for it.

We have officially entered...

*Only according to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. So yeah...

Pictures From Inside the MLBPA Meetings...

The players better be careful. They will lose a lot of fans for at least the next half-decade, if not longer if they don't get their heads out of their rear ends and get on to playing.

Lockdown Larry Condescends To Us...

...to deign us worthy of his permission to do some things beginning tomorrow. 

This is a great meme that has been going around social media for a solid month or more:

Thank you, thank you, your Worshipfulness...whatever would we children do without The Great Father to tell us! 

On Distance Learning

As an educator, we've all had to deal with the prospect of distance learning. I would say it has been roughly a 60/40 proposition. 60% positive, 40% negative. The students who are motivated will always do well no matter what the circumstances are. The kids who were already difficult to motivate were always in danger of falling off the face of the earth without the in-person portion of school. 

In my daily perusal of my go-to sites (most of which are linked on the sidebar), I came upon this article from the American Thinker. It focuses mostly on the experience in California and the problems of multi-lingual homes in which parents who are non-English speakers might have difficulty helping their children. The real takeaway, however, is the idea that technology has been made into an end in itself. 

Too many raced into the distance learning deal with the expectation that TECHNOLOGY! would provide a solution. All it really does is change the medium of transmission. I'm still the teacher, the subject is still the subject, and the receivers (students) are still there. The only variable is the mode. I could podcast, use a Google Classroom, and use Kahoot, but ultimately, I was still the one teaching, refining, and evaluating. Not Google, Kahoot, or Quizlet. 

Distance learning may be a good medium for more motivated students in the future, but for a vast majority of students, the face to face experience cannot be replicated. This is especially true in a time when parents can't (or won't) be of assistance to their children while they're staring a computer screen, iPad, or smartphone. There is a shift in the dynamic of office work underway. Telecommuting will become the norm over the next 5-10 years as a consequence of this unnecessary panic pandemic, but in-person classroom learning will be the last man standing. 

Is the DNC Running A Corpse?

You be the judge:

Joe Biden...or Hannibal Lecter?

I hadn't paid attention to the images from Memorial Day - I had only heard Uncle Grope emerged from his basement. Then Powerline did their mid-week Pictures/Memes post and I saw the above. As the presumptive* nominee, this is a terrible look. Of course, he gets a pass. Because Orange Man Bad.

*Until a running mate is chosen and they shove gently push him off the cliff stage.

Cowards Among The Shepherds

I don't think there are many Bishops worth their titles these days, certainly not in my part of the world, although Minnesota has shown some fight. Neither Archbishops Lori nor Gregory have covered themselves in glory with all the panicky shutdown nonsense. And then there's this (via Mundabor):

Scottish Bishops: Mass Won't Return For LONG Time

The TL;DR take is that public Masses won't take place until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus. Since there has never been a vaccine for any coronavirus, am I to take it that they believe there will never be another in-person Mass? 

One of my complaints, long before I was writing these thoughts out, was how can an institution predicated in part on a premise of faith and "be not afraid" run away with its tail tucked underneath and yet retain credibility? 

It can't.

Too many of our shepherds have decided to gain the world in exchange for their souls and have made the conscious decision that flesh is more important than spirit. They are perfectly happy allowing for Caesar to decide when and if churches reopen. 

The Church will remain, but I can't say with certainty that the Church in the Western World will necessarily remain. 

A pity, indeed. 

Democrats Approve Lockdown Larry...

...polls show Hogan's approval rating up in MD

I don't generally put stock in polls that only sample 810 people, but it's the story as written that I find particularly interesting. For example:

The Republican governor’s approval rating was higher among Democrats than among members of his own party: 82 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents and 71 percent of Republicans thought Hogan was doing a good job. 

Of course, Hogan is a liberal in every other way, so it's no surprise you hear Democrats supporting the draconian measures he took early on, and the wishy-washy measures he has more recently given (giving full authority to the counties).

He probably would have been squarely in the center of the Democratic Party 20-25 (i.e. a Clintonian "new Democrat" - socially liberal, fiscally moderate). Since he's much more concerned about controlling people's behavior than their freedom, there's certainly not much conservative about him.

At the federal level, President Donald Trump’s approval rating sunk two points to 40 percent while his disapproval rating climbed three points to 58 percent. 

As the 2020 presidential election looms, the president trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 24 points, the poll found.

As I said in a comment on The MCJ last week, the DNC could put forth the love child of the corpses of Hitler, Pol Pot, Ghengis Khan, and Nero and Biden would still carry this state comfortably. I have no hope of Maryland becoming red (in the voting sense, anyway, we KNOW it's red in the other sense). 

From CS Lewis or, a Reminder of Why I Entitled This Little Blog As I Did...

Presented without comment:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

Fear-Mongering Fever Pitch

One thing that has been painfully clear over the past few days is the ever-increasing shrillness of the fear-mongering types both in social media and in the propaganda outlets. 

This is not an accident.

Look at the positive numbers coming out everywhere. States that have opened are showing low infection rates and lower death totals. And yet, we start seeing more screaming about re-opening. It's nothing more than doomsday nonsense. 

Nothing scientific. It is all religious in nature. By a bunch of people who fear death more than they enjoy life. 

Pathetic indeed, and ironic.  

Happy Memorial Day

Let us take some time and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of this great nation. They all lost their lives defending something (freedom) that is not innate to the human condition. It is worth considering the idea that their sacrifice is all the more noble as a result. 

Thank you to those who gave their lives and to their families who had to pick up the pieces. God bless them all.