Restoring Civilization: We Can’t MAGA Unless We MAMA
Selwyn Duke
They can sense it. They can feel it. Something is seriously wrong in our civilization, and many people know it. This is why despite the relatively good economic times, most Americans polled say our country is on the "wrong track. Yet many are like a gravely ill man who knows he’s not well but can’t precisely identify his ailment. Most often, Americans have only a vague sense of cultural malaise, or they "self-diagnose†wrongly.
Years ago I had a brief "state of the nation†discussion with a very fine, older country gentleman. While no philosopher, he did offer the following diagnosis. Struggling for words and gesticulating a bit, he said, "There’s…there’s no morality.â€
Most believe morality is important both personally and nationally. We generally agree that an immoral man treads a dangerous path; of course, it’s likewise for two immoral men, five, 53 or 1,053 — or a whole nation-full.
Echoing many Founders, George Washington noted that "morality is a necessary spring of popular government.†The famous apocryphal saying goes, "America is great because America is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.†For sure, we can’t MAGA unless we MAMA — Make America Moral Again.
Yet if immorality is the diagnosis and restoring morality the cure, we must know what this thing called "morality†is. Ah, that’s where agreement can end.
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In a stunning example of hypocrisy or liberal double-think the Left DOEs impose their own morality all the time, and they seem to miss the irony of the fact. Why is it a moral good to, say, integrate society ethnically? Why should women be given equal pay for equal work? Why shouldn't there be "tax cuts for the rich:? Why should homosexuals be treated with dignity and not just beaten up? These are all moral judgements. If they are not, then there is nothing wrong with people who want to do the opposite; the Klan is perfectly fine just outside the parameters of current society. Ditto the misogynist, and racist, the sexist, and the gaypbaiter. These people are either wrong or just eccentric. The Left treats them as wrong, but when pressed would say they are eccentrics because it means THEY are wrong about a great many things.
Their hypocrisy is astounding.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 24, 2018 08:35 AM (LiPT6)
Donald Trump's impatience with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is boiling over, and there is talk that he may sack him after the Christmas/New Years break.
Since Trump, acting on the advice of Godlman Sachs Establishmenteer Steve Mnuchin, appointed him Powell has presided over four rate hikes since he assumed the position, and Powell's mentor Janet Yellin hiked rates three times in the previous year and a half (while failing to raise rates when Obama was President) making for a total of seven hikes. Powell has signaled he will probably raise rates another four times next year.
Which, of course, will mean the economy should hit a nice, nasty recession going into the general election season. How convenient
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Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty
much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians,
Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today?
That is a much bigger question
David Hogg, the gun control activist and Parkland high school massacre survivor who was razzed by Fox News host Laura Ingraham after being rejected by several colleges, has found the perfect comeback: He's going to Harvard....
Hogg's academic travails started one day after the Feb. 14 killings when he got his first college rejection letter, from California State University at Long Beach. He was also turned down by UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.
END OF QUOTE
This guy couldn't get into Cal State Long Beach, a second tier college and now he is a Harvard student? This is pure politics. And will he graduate with honors like Ocasio-Cortez did at Boston U.? Probably. That works until he opens his mouth. But he isn't going for a regular job, he's going for a type of community organizer job like Obama had and has. The Dems might run this guy for President in 20 years.
And I used to joke about Paris Hilton running for President. At least she has now built a sophisticated business empire which gives her some major accomplishments in this world. Maybe I can apply to Harvard as well - or just ask Harvard to mail me a diploma.
A 2019 resolution: Honesty in energy policy
Paul Driessen
Virginia lawmakers recently teamed
up with Governor Ralph Northam to approve a $300-million offshore wind project
that will impose killer electricity rates of 78¢/kilowatt-hour for their
intermittent electricity. That’s 26 times the 3¢ per kWh wholesale price for
coal, gas, hydroelectric or nuclear electricity in the Commonwealth. The project
is intended to help underscore the governor’s commitment to "fighting climate
change†and may soon be followed by hundreds of additional turbines.
It would appear that, when green
preening and climate virtue-signaling is the objective, not even Republicans
will be shackled by energy, environmental or economic reality. Our article
offers some relevant and eye-opening facts that they should have considered –
and that taxpayers, electricity users and lawmakers worldwide need to consider
anytime someone proposes erecting monster offshore (or onshore) wind turbines to
"save the planet.â€
When I went to the NY City Council hearings on whether the City would allow Walmart into NY, I stood in line talking to two liberals. One was a young woman who was concerned about the non-union labor but understood - kind of - that this was a first job for unskilled kids, just like the ones at McDonald's. About 20 minutes later, she mentioned to the older liberal that she was going to Brooklyn Law School next year and she was looking for an apartment in a fairly expensive neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights. Where else would a liberal look?. She said she was wanted to pay up to $1500 a month for the place. It was more like her parents were willing to pay that amount. And here she was passing judgement on Walmart (they were turned down by the City Council and didn't get into NY City), using her written judgements about "proper" first jobs for the unskilled and unproven as a way to virtue signal and advance her legal school and later legal career. All this while young black, Hispanic and white kids were denied a job opportunity. As if she really cared. Those kids were just pawns to her in her careerist chess game.
Before quoting from an itnerview concerning Michael Walsh's new book, "Fiery Angles," I wanted to mention something about my one meeting with Michael Walsh in New York.
I
met Mr. Walsh at the Metropolitan Republican Club years ago, when he
was the featured speaker one evening. There I told him a remark of mine
which he asked if he could use and a agreed to his borrowing it. However
I don't know if he ever used it.
The
line was a remark about liberals that came to me as an inspiration one
day while writing an American Thinker piece. Frankly, it was too
profound to be one of my historical based insights and I truly believe
an angel whispered it in my ear, as it is based in Christian thought,
something I am not all that familiar with. The words went like this:
Jesus famously said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
Liberals turn this idea on its head and, by their casting the first stone, they claim to be withnout sin.
Jack
Here now are some excerpts from Mr. Walsh's interview at National Review concerning his profound book's defense of Western Civilization against critics, old and new.
Does the West know that it is something worth defending?
Art ought to be "the wellsprings of our politics…help[ing] shape our public-policy debates,†Michael Walsh argues in his book The Fiery Angel: Art, Culture, Sex, Politics, and the Struggle for the Soul of the West.
But it will require a rediscovery –and embrace — of the treasures of
our civilization first. Walsh talks about the book and the need with
nationalreview.com. — Kathryn Jean Lopez
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Who is the "Fiery Angel�
Michael Walsh: First, what: It’s an opera by Sergei
Prokofiev. I chose the title as a symbol of Western culture, something
akin to the phoenix. For 3,500 years, our shared patrimony has been
unbroken from the Greeks to the present, and yet has constantly
reinvented itself as well. This process of continual rebirth is what has
made Western culture the dynamic engine of world progress that it is,
far superior to the static nature of other societies.
Lopez: How and why is Western culture under assault and why is it crucial to preserving?
Walsh: It’s under assault from both within and
without. In the aftermath of World War I, the cultural Marxists launched
their attack upon it, which I chronicled in my book’s earlier companion
volume, The Devil’s Pleasure Palace. But a far older
existential enemy is Islam, which arose in direct opposition to
Judeo-Christianity and has remained an implacable foe that can neither
be reasoned with nor appeased. We ignore these threats at our peril,
since both the Marxist and the Islamic roads lead to fascism,
totalitarianism, and death. Both are, in short, satanic.
Lopez: What’s so important about the Heroic Narrative, and what is unique to the West?
Walsh: The Heroic Narrative distinguishes our myths
and legends – and thus our forms of storytelling – from other cultures.
Western man is a not a cog in a machine, or a clerk in an endless
bureau, or an ant in an ant heap. Rather he – Jesus of Nazareth, Tarzan
of the Apes, and just about every hero in between – is the central
character of his own movie: someone forced to face his destiny and who
chooses (often reluctantly, and at great pain) to embrace it, no matter
the cost.
Just Because Gen. Mattis has resigned does NOT mean the Trump White House is coming unglued!
Dana Mathewson
Remember When Three of Obama's Former Secretaries of Defense Blasted Him?
Maybe you don't. CNN, MSNBC and the other members of the Drive-By Media didn't salivate about it 24/7.
Let's examine the situation, with the help of Matt Margolis from PJMedia:
Did you enjoy all that time between the announcement of Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s resignation and the Democrats’ politicization of it? I believe it was about five
seconds. The news is certainly disappointing. Thanks to the leadership
of President Trump and Secretary Mattis, tremendous progress has been
made in cleaning up the mess left behind by Barack Obama—most notably
against ISIS. In fact, the success in "defeating†ISIS was cited as
Trump’s reason for announcing the United States’ withdrawal from Syria.
Given Obama’s fumble with Iraq—his premature departure creating a
leadership vacuum that ultimately caused the rise of ISIS—I’m not yet
convinced that leaving Syria is the best move. Unlike his predecessor,
Trump has deferred much of his military strategy to the advice of his generals,
but Mattis’s disagreement over this withdrawal and the reduction of
troops in Afghanistan was a major reason for his decision to resign.
This
latest high-profile departure quickly had Democrats running to the
cameras to attack Trump. They’re not alone though. Several Republicans
have already expressed concern over the resignation—citing Trump’s
disagreements with Mattis in particular.
Let’s
be honest here: The departure of a secretary of defense over foreign
policy and military strategy differences is hardly a new thing. Obama’s
first secretary of defense, Robert Gates, resigned without incident in
2011, but would later criticize Obama’s role as commander in chief in his memoir published a few years later. It revealed a troubled relationship between Obama and the Pentagon:
... Gates – who was first appointed to his post by former President
George W Bush – reveals, in a series of swipes that are surprisingly
combative coming from such a senior former official, problems between
the White House and the Pentagon that have made for troubling relations
at the very highest levels.
"All too early in the
administration,†adds Gates, "suspicion and distrust of senior military
officers by senior White House officials – including the president and
vice-president – became a big problem for me as I tried to manage the
relationship between the commander in chief and his military leaders.â€
Perhaps most damagingly, he
also alleges that Obama did not believe in his own strategy for ending
the war in Afghanistan, which he was "skeptical if not outright
convinced ... would fail,†and that he was skeptical at best about the
leadership of the country’s president, Hamid Karzai.
"The president doesn’t trust
his commander, can’t stand Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy,
and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting
out,†writes Gates.
Kasich stabs Conservatives in back on way out of office
Timothy Birdnow
John Kasich, the man who wore his Christianity on his sleeve, a former Reagan revolutionary turned media sycophant and liberal lap-dog, has sold out Nature and Nature's God, as well as his constituents, by signing an executive order forcing government to hire and accommodate transvestites in Ohio government.
According to the Christian Post article:
"Like past orders, this order also bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, race, gender, and other social identifiers.
"The governor continues to be opposed to discrimination in state employment, and this order reflects how he believes that policy should be implemented,†Kasich’s press secretary Jon Keeling said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
While the move has been praised by LGBT activists and supporters, the order has been deemed "unnecessary†by Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, Ohio’s social conservative family policy council.
"Unless his administration was rampantly firing individuals with gender dysphoria, the only purpose of his latest executive action is to score political points on the way out the door,†Baer said in a statement. "There is no evidence that this kind of discrimination is happening in state government today.â€
Kasich's signing of the order came after LGBT activist group Equality Ohio sent Kasich letters "with stories from LGBTQ Ohioans about their experiences with discrimination throughout the year.†Additionally, the group asserts that it had found "opportunities to grow his familiarity with transgender people and their lives.â€
Emd excerpt.
John Kasich is ruminating about running for President. He has just finished his chances in the GOP, in my opinion. And he has sullied his carefully burnished Christian credentials. Mr. Kasich is going to find it hard to repair his relationship with the Evangelicals, who have been a large part of his political base.
In point of fact, the man is a hypocrite, a traitor to his side, and a disgrace. We should be hearing less and less from him as time goes by.
Incoming Republican Governor Mike DeWine is promising to review this and other Kasich orders after assuming office.
Americans Fear Big Government but not the Lord
Timothy Birdnow
Americans rate government as the top problem facing America, followed by immigration, according to a poll conducted by Gallup.
According to the Gallup website:
"government. The government has commonly been cited in recent years as the most important problem facing the country, with the problem having received or been tied for the most mentions – 22 times in the last 24 months. The current 19 percent who say it is the most important problem is well below the all-time high of 33 percent who cited the issue in October 2013, during a partial shutdown of the Federal government, but is in line with the 22 percent average who have noted the government this year."
End excerpt.
Americans listed government at the top, with 19% thinking it is the primary problem of our day. Immigration was next at 16%, followed by unifying the country 8, race relations at 7, poverty at six, health care at five.
Gun control was at the bottom of the list at three percent. Sadly, ethnic-moral-religious decline rated at the bottom with gun control. I say sadly because this decline is the root of all our problems, and the fact that most Americans don''t see this as a problem is the problem itself. It's like alcoholism; the last person to admit to it is the drunk. All of America's other problems stem from the moral decay of the country. Government is out of control precisely because Americans have become a-moral and too many are out for their own pleasure and self-promotion. The end result is everyone is willing to use government to take what isn't theirs, to force others to bend to their will. It is a moral matter. Ditto immigration; if America were morally and spiritually right we would understand the need to maintain our unique culture. But a large segment of America is a-moral and cannot see what right we have to stop anyone from coming here. In fact, many see America as immoral precisely because we once held Judeo-Christian values and they hate them because they poop on the party. So a sizable chunk of the populace wants to punish the country for having been Christian.
As the Bible says in 2Chronicles 7:14:
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
End excerpt.
All of these other problems will come into focus if we repent. That Americans do not see a need for that is very troubling. America is willfully rejecting Christianity and the Bible, and the end result is going to be terrible. We have sold our national soul for sex and dissolute living.
Did you watch any of that Norman Podhoretz video from a few weeks back, about why Jews are almost invariably liberal? He starts out with an anecdote about a dying rabbi whose students are surrounding his deathbed, singing the praises of his wisdom and teaching ability, etc. Finally the rabbi signals for silence and, in almost his dying breath, rasps "No word about my humility?" Podhoretz's point being that after years of public speaking on a variety of subjects, he too was perhaps not the most humble man to be found.
Is Michael Savage the Latest Victim of TDS and the Left’s “Pacification Effort�
Selwyn Duke
There’s a rather odd story that, as with everything concerning the man at its center, hasn’t gotten much media attention. Or, at least, it would be odd if we didn’t live in a time of fascistic corporate activism. Michael Savage, the radio rebel and raconteur dubbed "the Godfather of Trumpmania,†is poised to "go dark†at New York’s powerhouse WABC and a few other big-city radio stations — despite earning them millions of dollars.
That’s according to the Washington Times, which conducted an interview with Savage’s attorney, Daniel Horowitz. The radio giant himself read part of the Times piece on air yesterday, clearly disturbed by this apparent deplatforming effort. You should be, too, because it’s part of a cultural revolution. Deep-pocketed Deep Business is now simpatico with the Deep State and, along with deep academia, media and entertainment is pursuing a pacification effort — and you, I and all opposing the establishment are in the crosshairs.
WABC isn’t saying Savage is soon being dropped. In fact, writes the Times’ Cheryl K. Chumley, "a recent news release from the station indicates Savage will be moving into a new, fresher format designed to take advantage of emerging media, one that will see him do one hour of radio alongside one hour of podcast.â€
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California ranks No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau. Texas ranks No. 2 for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 49th for the percentage who have graduated from high school. 9.7 percent of California residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, never completed ninth grade. Only 82.5 percent graduated from high school. 8.7 percent of Texas residents
Germany's green transition has hit a brick wall
Paul Driessen
By now, most
of the world has heard about Germany’s "Energiewende†– its "energy transition,
its grand plan to create a society based entirely on "green, renewable,
sustainable†energy. Under Chancellor Angela Merkel, the country has spent many
kings’ ransom on the effort. Indeed, it has been estimated that Germany has
already spent well over $550 billion on wind, solar and biofuel programs, and
that legal commitments to support renewable energy will raise the total to $775
billion by 2022.
What can this
"climate and energy leader†show for its Herculean efforts? Not much, say
Norwegian engineer Oddvar Lundseng and his colleagues. In fact, the entire plan
has hit a brick wall. On many days, wind and solar generate a couple percent of
the electricity the country needs, while on other days the turbines and panels
produce so much power that the electricity must be exported at a loss to
neighboring countries that don’t even want it. Meanwhile, Germany is still
burning enormous amounts of coal every year – and Asia and Africa are burning
millions of tons more each year, to bring electricity and better living
standards to 1.3 billion people who still don’t have lights, refrigerators or
other modern technologies.
Avoid Supporting These Companies if You Value Your Gun Rights
Dana Mathewson
The following should be of concern to you even if you don't own guns and don't plan to ever own guns. Because -- although the Leftmedia do their level best to cover it up, and they lie like crazy about it, very often "the only thing that stops a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun."
Remember that this country was founded by free people who owned guns and were able to defeat the British Army, to a large degree because the colonists owned guns that were more accurate out to a much greater range, and they could shoot them better than the British soldiers and their mercenary partners.
This article is from Gunpowder Magazine:
Corporate gun control is a very real danger. David French, writing recently in National Review,
declared it "…a threat that can choke off financing for the gun
industry, stifle speech about guns, and lock the gun-rights community
into offline (and small online) ghettos that restrict their ability to
communicate.â€
This list will be updated as more companies move to restrict their customers’ rights to keep and bear arms.
The article contains quite a list of companies you might want to stay away from due to their behavior on gun control. Walmart is one, I'm sad to say, because I am frequently in there. Target is another.
Oh, and the Second Amendment mention of militias? That was because it was hoped (didn't turn out that way, though) that the country would never have to rely on a standing army, but if necessary to defend itself be able to call upon militias formed for the purpose, already well-trained (that's what "well-regulated" meant in those days). The citizens who made up those militias would, of course, supply their own weapons -- because it was their God-given right to keep and bear them. And during the rest of the time they would use them to obtain food, since the countryside was teeming with game. Any citizen who did not own a gun and shoot it well was in danger of starvation.
All this stuff about the militias was spelled out in greater degree in the Articles of Confederation, which the Constitution replaced, and the fact that it wasn't emphasized to a greater degree in the Bill of Rights is that the Founders truly felt it was a matter of common sense.
The President has often castigated CNN and other organs of the Drive-By Media as purveyors of Fake News, much to their horror. For some reason, which I can't fathom, the Left objects to having their lies described as, well, lies. But when you read the following story, I think you'll agree that Mr. Trump's point is certainly understandable.
Writer touted by CNN as 'Journalist of the Year' forced to resign for fabricating stories
The German magazine Der Spiegel revealed Wednesday
that one of its top award-winning journalists fabricated many of his
articles, inventing characters, sources, and their quotes "on a grand
scale†for many years.
Claas Relotius, a
reporter and editor, admitted to fabricating parts of at least 14
stories following the magazine’s internal investigation. The publication
said the issue "marks a low point in the 70-year history of Der
Spiegel.â€
"I am sick and I need to get help,†he reportedly told the magazine.
Oh, sure. He's sick. Not "I'm dishonest." Or "I'm out to call attention to myself." Or "I'm walking in the footsteps of Brian Williams and Hillary (my helicopter landed under enemy fire) Clinton." It's never "It's my own fault." Always deflect the blame.
Then, too, many of us have insisted for years that liberalism is a disease, so he may be right after all.
The reporter contributed around 60 articles to Der Spiegel, one of
the leading German magazines for investigative reporting. He previously
worked for other publications in Europe and won awards such as CNN
Journalist of the Year in 2014.
The fabricated articles include a
phone interview with the parents of free agent NFL player Colin
Kaepernick and a story about an American woman who claims to have
volunteered to witness the executions of death row inmates.
Relotius
also drew the fury of locals in Fergus Falls, Minn., after spending
three weeks in town and fabricating facts, characters and quotes from
people in an effort to portray the town in a negative light.
Hey, Fergus Falls. That's around a hundred miles from where I live. The only thing negative I've heard about Fergus Falls is that it's an easy town to get lost in. But everybody has GPS apps on their smartphones these days, so that's no longer a valid criticism.
"What happened is beyond what I could have ever imagined: An article
titled ‘Where they pray for Trump on Sundays,’ and endless pages of an
insulting, if not hilarious, excuse for journalism,†wrote Michele
Anderson and Jake Krohn who investigated Relotius’ Der Spiegel article
about the town.
Both Anderson and Krohn went on to reveal that the
article doesn’t contain any truth except for the town’s population, the
average temperature, and names of the businesses or public figures.
Nearly
everything else, including a coal plant employee named Neil Becker, who
doesn’t actually exist, or quotes from a restaurant employee, who was
falsely called the owner of a restaurant and whose son was given a
fictional illness, was made up.
Will wonders never cease? Now, please note that this dude wrote these articles for a German rag; he apparently no longer works for CNN. But are we supposed to believe he was a total Boy Scout while working for CNN, and only developed his evil habits once he started submitting copy to Der Spiegel? Don't make me laugh; I still have my coffee in hand.
Thieves Steal Tiny House, Tote it out to the Sticks
Timothy Birdnow
Here is a story that made me laugh out loud when I heard it on the evening news yesterday. Seems a young hipster's homemade tiny house was stolen from property in the trendy Tower Grove South area where it was being constructed. Police found the unfinished shack in the woods in Hillsboro, Mo.
From Fox2 News:
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – Christmas came early for the owner of a tiny house that was stolen in south St. Louis over the weekend.
"I’m still in complete shock,†says Meghan Panu.
Panu laid eyes on her tiny house for the first time in five days. It was 40 miles from where it was stolen in Tower Grove.
"I’m just shocked it’s in Hillsboro, Missouri. That’s a lot better than California,†she said.more...
