I found this observation in my in-box this morning to which I added some of my own thoughts. Is it possible that the virus, which eclipsed all our previous concerns, put these seemingly important matters to bed?
The debate over immigration is over: restriction has won.
The debate over borders is over: they are needed.
The debate over globalization is over: the era of autarky begins.
The debate over Europe is over: it is a geographic expression, not a polity.
The debate over global warming is over: it is irrelevant.
The debate over genders is over: there are only two.
The debate over racial grievances is over: viruses don’t respect identity politics.
The debate over safe spaces and triggering is over: there is no room for snowflakes in the future.
The debate over international institutions is over: only nations matter.
The debate over the People’s Republic of China is over: it is a menace to the community of nations, not a member in good standing.
Get over it; risis is clarity.
Except the radical Democrats are still pushing their agenda. It is not over, just submerged, delayed. AOC and her ilk are true believers. Only death, God forbid, will stop them. Pelosi will not let go of her “power” either.
Michael,
If the election in November is as much of a landslide as it is teeing up to be, the Dems will lose the House and only the press and academia will remain. Bear in mind, we have not even gotten to John Durham’s indictments of Obama officials over Spygate yet.
I never thought I’d see the pendulum swing back. Didn’t believe there was one. And, in fact, I still don’t. I do believe in God though and though He is long-suffering, He will not be mocked indefinitely.
But it is all part and parcel of a large wave. Even American conservatives are in denial about what is happening because they are blinded by denominationalism from seeing the obviously provident rebirth of Orthodox Russia as the work of the Hand of God. Because of their commitment to Protestant heresies and Western democracy (which nearly destroyed them religiously), they can’t see things in focus. They continue to see Russia as sinister and insist that democracy is the end all be all last form of human political development. It will take more time for them to see their error in historical perspective.
But things are much better than American conservatives can imagine. Christian Authoritarianism is a good thing. It can even work within the outward form of a constitutional republic, though with a stronger executive.
Make no mistake though, what is at hand is the death of both modern liberalism and modern conservatism and the rebirth of classical conservatism (aka “welfare state monarchy”).
Modern conservative/libertarian fiscal policy is disappearing as part of this wave. Redistribution, if only limited, is not the enemy. That is also the silver bullet which will kill the left. Open the public coffers and the left loses all leverage.
And there will be a legal war waged in courts packed by Trump against the MSM. The war to retake academia will also accelerate.
Exciting time to be alive. Never thought I’d see it.
Slava Trampu, Slava Putinu, Slava Pobede!
Not much to add on this end. ?
This is naivety in the extreme. At what point has the secular left ever said, “We were totally wrong and made everything worse. We’ll reverse everything we ever believed in.”?
Whether you believe that the virus is just the flu and all the hysteria is a hoax, or if you believe that it’s the next bubonic plague, it’s irrelevant, because the powers who control global society can use anything to their benefit. Call it them the Illuminati or the ZOG or the deep state, whatever. This crisis has been a gift to them because it enabled them to put martial law into a test run. Nearly every church in North America and Europe has cancelled Easter.
I’d say that the secular left won this battle, regardless of what clarity it should have brought. Do you seriously think the political class will agree to build the wall and kick out all the brown people? Do you think the average evangelical voter will decide that supporting Israel no longer matters?
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The secular left will never give up. That’s not the point. They need to be defeated. Reagan did it.
The left of course will transmutate into another ideology. We defeated communism (Marxism) but now we are in the process of losing to cultural Marxism.
Etc.
Perhaps Reagan defeated the secular left temporarily. But on social issues, it continued to decay even on his watch.
We do not need to defeat the left. We need to destroy them – i.e., destroy the base of their power so thoroughly that the Democrats are no more popular than the Reform or Libertarian parties. Reduce them to permanent third party status.
Americans have a hard time wrapping their minds around the possibility of destroying the two party system in favor of a dominant party system. One party leads, the others act as weak watchdogs. To do that you need to severely discredit and delegitimize the Democratic Party with its own constituency. You do that through a) prosecutions and b) splitting it into a socialist party and a liberal party, each too small to make a national splash.
I think that is what Trump is trying to do. Reagan’s solution did not work. As soon as the Democrats get back in power, they destroy what little progress has been made. You must get it through your head that they win unless you destroy them rather than defeat them. If not, you are destined to lose.
It’s that simple. They cannot be tolerated.
Reagan was the secular “Right”, or really just a secular neoliberal. Traditionalists voted for him but got nothing in return. I won’t quite say Reagan brought us globalisation – just its acceleration. The foundation for globalisation was laid by Nixon and kickstarted by Carter’s appointment of the monetarist Volcker to the Fed, whom Reagan gave a second term.You are right in the near-term about borders/trade/int’l relations, but concerning snowflakes, I fear they are winning. While it may perhaps not be the mood of the people in the rural South or Midwest, where about 20% of the US population lives, in mass suburbia there seem to be more people pushing for ever more and more restrictive anti-CoVID-19 measures. The snowflakes scream that they aren’t being protected and the political class use this to assume their (unconstitutional) emergency powers to shut down the whole economy and civil society, including our churches. These are the people snitching on their neighbours. The mindset of not just the politicians but the administration of most institutions, including the churches, seems to be one of ultimate derrière-covering – “Let’s take the most extreme reaction because if we don’t, we will surely be blamed, and if we are blamed for overreacting, we can point at everyone else”.
Most people live in suburbs but they are not all liberal. In fact oddly enough, the Dems might lose 3 congressional seats in California to heavy suburban districts in November that they pick up partially by cheating. The suburbs are not the problem as much as the big cities like La, New York, and Chicago, and San Francisco, leftist until 2018 wanted to get rid of the suburbs and transfer the populations to the heavy left that exist in the large cities.
In what sense was Reagan conservative? Name me one law he passed as president that was conservative other than tax cuts. One thing he put into law to protect tradition social values.
As governor he ended concealed carry, enacted no fault divorce and legalized abortion. Before that he was a union organizer.
Austin, all you say is true but regarding Reagan’s gubernatorial terms, one must understand the context over which he presided: race riots, campus riots, generalized economic mayhem, etc. Don’t forget, he defeated the sitting governor (Edmund G Brown) which shows you how bad things were in California at the time.
Yes, no-fault divorce was in retrospect a bad idea but then again so was feminism and women working outside the house. You couldn’t have one without the other.
As for his presidency, he was decidedly pro-life (though not to the extent that Trump is), he tried to roll back the welfare state, except for Grenada, he did not get us involved in unnecessary wars, tax-cuts, deregulated swaths of the economy, reinvigorated the military after it had been depleted by Carter, brought the Soviet Empire to its knees without firing a shot, etc.
As far as the USSR was concerned, he was not a stupid neocon Russophobe: he saw in Gorbechev a kindred spirit and did not have an animus against the Russian people.
As for being a union organizer, I come from a blue-collar family and I believe in unions –in the ideal: gummit workers and pink-collar desk-jockeys don’t qualify as “working men” in my opinion.
I could go on about how organized labor lost its way but I don’t hold Reagan’s pro-American liberalism against him.
More silver linings thanks to corona virus. Our bloated Academe is starting to feel the pinch:
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/04/university-of-wisconsin-faces-100-million-loss-due-to-covid-19-pandemic.html
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
Austin, of course we Ephesians 6 is correct. I’ve said that often enough here.
As to your broader point, whether the secular Left will give up their fantasies is immaterial to me. Any regime which is based on some type of fantasy will of necessity collapse in due time. Oh sure, they’ll never give up ideologies; more likely they’ll modify them somewhat. Think neo-conservatism, neo-liberalism, the Great Society, etc.
Regardless, I stand by every one of the stanzas in this column.
Yeah, but when you look at the spend in DC in the last 2 weeks, Bernie and Occasional-Cortex won. And Covid 4 spend is on the way. Even Nancy wants it.
Free salaries
Fee loans
Free rent
Free healthcare for now and whatever
Trust me, as a swamp rat, the toothpaste will never go back in the tube.
A different America is on the way.
SwampSwimmer: Agreed. The best that will come of this is a “fascist democracy” even more in control that now. The only way anything else might come of it were if all of the current ruling oligarchy were to die, God forbid.
If one believes that the whole thing is being used as an excuse to suppress Christianity, then we will be driven into the catacombs once again. Mostly though we will continue to be mostly ignored and marginalized as proof of the “freedom” granted us by the state.
Frankly, Christianity is just not that important anymore to those who rule. Why would they bother? Most of us have already been seduced into believing(in practice if not in fact) that Jesus Christ is not our Lord Incarnate; fully God and fully man. Like us in every way save sin.
So, instead of using this time as one of repentance and prayer and almsgiving (you know, kind of the reason for Lent) we rail against the machine and become enraged by the restrictions placed upon us and the fear of others.
Hmmm, is that a Christian response?
Pretty much agree with you here, Michael. When I think about American Christianity, it’s just not that robust. Gone are the days of Billy Graham and Fulton Sheen. The modern American Christian avatar is Joel Osteen and in a desperate attempt to revive the ghost of Martin Luther King, Jr, –you know, to get back that Selma spirit–the be-all and end-all of mainstream Christianity is homosexualism and transsexualism.
George, you are so spot on —?
I recall travesty of what befell head of St. Thomas Anglican church in NY, the Rev. Fr. Andrew Meade, a conservative good Episcopalian priest. He was harassed nonstop by group of wealthy homosexual parishioners who tried to destroy him for his conservative views against gay marriage etc., —
they won –
he had enough & retired early. That church is now a ‘has-been’ house of worship … let’s face it, nobody serious attends mainline churches anymore. They’re more like CNN hangouts for SJWs.
Michael Bauman, I’m interested in these catacombs. If surveillance in the new world is as strict as it might be, which could include anti-Christian vaccines and microchips and things, then surely Christians couldn’t just remain in town with their head down.
How do you see things playing out in this regard?
I have no clue. I only know two things: Jesus promised the world would hate us and He provides if we allow Him to.
If I were to surmise the seduction approach will get stronger rather than out right persecution. Lulling us into a luke warm
state where most of us tend to reside anyway. Getting us to just not care, after all it’s all just an empty symbol no different than any idol before. Don’t worry, be happy. If you have too vent a little pointless and non-functional anger from time to time. Pay your taxes, pray if you must, but never allow it to become reality.
I am old enough I won’t see it myself. My problem is I know Jesus is real as He introduced Himself to me on a beautiful hill in northern Illinois in 1969 and a time or two since. Probably more that I was too thick to recognize. Oh, and then there is that Ressurection thing. That’s real too, and, and, and,
Thanks, Michael
Very wisely said, Michael.
Well said, Michael.
I hope you’re right, what needs to happen is the Democrats and RINO’s need to be voted out of office whole-sale come November. If we can get the House, Senate and presidency, maybe we can finally move forward without the Dems constantly blocking everything
Hopefully, hopefully, with everything that has gone on the American people will see the Democrats do not have their best interest at heart
We tried that four years ago. It didn’t work.
Democracy has failed every time it’s been tried. Today is the day of repentance, because tomorrow is Judgment Day.
Democracy is wrong because it is NOT Christian. An elderly bishop told me that many years ago. The idea that the church is a democracy is nothing more than Masonic, Protestant , and Communistic bullshit. I don’t care what anyone says.
As Americans I think that is always hard to get through our heads because that is what we were raised to believe. My family emigrated from Sicily, made a life for themselves and prospered. The American dream is still alive compared to other countries I have been to.
Im still pretty young (early 30’s) and TBH if everything goes to heck here I plan on emigrating to Georgia or Russia. More than likely Georgia bc of ease of visa and cost of living. At this point if this is the end game I would at least rather live where I can practice my faith. I know no country is perfect, or probably comes close, but the older I get the more I would rather live out and practice my Orthodox faith in peace
Petros,
I have no problem with the instinct of wanting to relocate somewhere like Georgia, but how easy do you actually think it would be to integrate there and practise your faith?
I have even studied some Georgian and speak good Russian but in my only trip to Georgia they would not permit me confession and thus Eucharist because I was foreign. Do you have experience in such countries?
I am under no allusion that Georgia is perfect, or anywhere else for that matter and I appreciate you letting me know your experience while you were there.
I have never been to Georgia, but, my experiences in Romania, Poland and Hungary were the opposite of yours…I do not speak any of those languages but I was accommodated to, even to the point of communicating with a priest through Google Translate
I definitely do not think that moving to Georgia, or any other country, would be easy. I have traveled all around the world and have been on Orthodox missions to other countries, so I am aware of how difficult it can be. Having said, in all of my travels I have noticed that there are places where it is indeed easier (if that is the right word?) to live out the Christian faith and from what I have been told, Georgia is one such place
It is definitely easier to get a residence permit, even a passport, in Georgia than in Russia or EU countries like Romania. It is also a much more foreign and tightly bound ethnos. Georgia is a wonderful place, and one of the cheapest countries, to live in, and you can go to church often, and from what I have heard they have kept the churches open during the “pandemic” … I am just suggesting integrating into parish life might be difficult. It isn’t comparable to Central-East Europe. I don’t know, maybe in Tbilisi there is a church that caters to US/European foreigners(?).
All modern political systems assume several things: we can fix things, we should fix things, history is linear and driven by our choices. To a lesser extent historical determinism comes into play whether it is religious or not. Hegel and Marx won the day. What is called “democracy” promises that together we can be in control. What is called “socialism” assumes the exact same thing. This “Throw the Bums Out” seems like a viable solution.
All of that is a lie, even a damned lie.
Agreed on all counts. Keep it up, brother!
ES: “Democracy is wrong because it is NOT Christian.”
So, are all bishops NOT equal then?
And is the Church NOT conciliar?
Democracy is not conciliar, democracy is mob rule, funded and directed by oligarchs. Nobody consulted us about legalizing the murder of unborn children.
“Democracy is not conciliar, democracy is mob rule…”
That depends upon the nature of the demos concerned.
“…funded and directed by oligarchs.”
That is not democracy. That is oligarchy.
“Nobody consulted us about legalizing the murder of unborn children.”
Nobody stops you opposing it.
Well, considering they sent snipers to a (I think their name is ) Million Moms protest against Drag Queen Story Hour, that last point might not be moot for much longer.
Democracy and oligarchy and symbiotic these days; the two systems thrive on each other.
Agree.
Easily illustrated by the knowledge that the “best” people our democracy could produce in 2016 to stand for election were Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton was clearly funded and protected by oligarchs and her own “junta.” Trump was funded and protected by both himself and the sheer impotence of his oligarchical-funded primary opponents.
And in 2020, the “best” people our system can produce to oppose Trump are an elderly, narcissistic, plagiarizing bully of an old man who has clinical dementia (which the mainstream media is really outdoing itself by pretending to ignore) and an elderly, narcissistic Socialist who praises communist murders. If this is “democracy,” count me out.
(I personally would never vote Democrat due to their insistence that abortion-on-demand-as-birth-control is a non-negotiable part of their party. I’m simply pointing out just a small bit of the insanity that makes up “American democracy.”)
No venerable Church leader/saint has ever had anything good to say about democracy. St John of Kronstadt: “Hell is a democracy; Heaven is Kingdom.”
Heavenly Kingdom? Yes.
Earthly Kingdoms? The Prophet Samuel wasn’t too keen.
Brendan,
Bishops are like princes in their own eparchies. Thus the name “master”.
Were the laity permitted to vote on doctrine and governance, you might have a point. But they aren’t and you don’t . Beware the lies of neoPatristics re the compatibility of Orthodoxy with the spirit of 76. The Fathers roundly condemned democracy and wholeheartedly endorsed monarchy. The modern version of monarchy, besides its actual literal expression, is the dominant party model with a strong executive/president. The two party system is immoral and enfeebling.
“Bishops are like princes in their own eparchies.”
St John Chrysostom sold the gold plate and ate off wooden bowls.
Not like your average prince, then.
St Gregory the Great refused titles of primacy and called himself
(and meant it!) “the servant of the Servants of God”
And Jesus Christ gave His Apostles, and their successors, the power to bind and loose.
So there you go . . .
I can do that too.
42But Jesus called them [to him], and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Mark 10: 42-45
St John Chrysostom got it. Pope Gregory got it.
Patriarch Bartholomew? Not so much.
ES, I agree with you. However if I may –as a Greek-American–say something in defense of “democracy” as it was practiced in ancient Athens: it was NOTHING at all like what we’ve practiced in the modern West.
In Athens, women, slaves, resident aliens (metics), illegal aliens and sodomites could not vote nor stand for office. If there had been welfare back then, then those who received state assistance would have been prevented from being citizens as well.
If we need to have votes, they need to be earned.
Of course. I believe Robert Heinlein suggested that only those who have served in the military should be allowed to vote. (That would leave me out but there you go.)
As a former military man, I am hesitant to agree. Most guys in the military are… I’ll leave it at that.
It should be a combination of several things, to narrow it down to our best and most capable.
It’s an interesting novel. Only veterans could vote or run for office, so active military could not and the term of service could be very long. To quote Heinlein:
“…we require each person who wishes to exert control over the state to wager his own life—and lose it, if need be—to save the life of the state. ”
The criteria need not be military service, but a requirement of “skin in the game” in order to vote. Historically, that would have excluded vagabonds, criminals, and the indigent. No more buying votes with offers of “free” stuff from the government. Charities always did a better job of helping the truly unfortunate.
Nina, thank you for finding that Heinlein quote! I very much agree with that sentiment: only those who have skin in the game should have the franchise. After all, the right to vote is the right to levy taxes. Nobody who lives in a parasitic state off the largesse of his neighbors has requisite “skin in the game”.
That’s why you used to have to be a freeholder to vote. An old concept and salutary one.
Very much so.
Of particular interest now:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/priests-reveal-how-coronavirus-crisis-has-unleashed-intense-demonic-activity
Just another political post by George. I get that you’re using a purported Orthodox blog to push your ideology now. I haven’t been coming here long, so it’s taken me awhile to see it. I wish you’d stop. You get a few backers, sure, but it brings the whole place down.
With serious and very real events occurring within the Orthodox Faith worldwide, this blog is a unique and excellent place for people to discuss these events in great detail and pass along outstanding links and resources. I don’t think Orthodox people talk nearly enough, frankly. I’ve seen it here and I’ve benefited from it, enormously. By all means, keep up this good work. And you’re the guy that sets the topics for discussion.
I can go into the sewers of politics anytime and anywhere, and to a lot more informative and reasoned sites than this. The political discussions in here are definitely not the best discussions that occur here. Sure, it’s your blog and you have political opinions and an obvious agenda. Lots of people do. But you’re consciously or unconsciously blending Holy Orthodoxy and the serious problems it’s going through with your not-especially-edifying political views. It’ beginning to look as though you have a political ideology underpinning your Orthodox faith, and the two are not congruent. Other people coming in here after me may get the false idea that to be Orthodox, one must hold certain political views. That’s a disservice to the Faith. It presents false equivalencies and insinuates false requirements to being Orthodox. Sure, the few people who agree with you will post their support, most who disagree won’t because it doesn’t seem to be the reason they’re here. Among them seems to be members of clergy. I’d much rather hear from more of them. Do you think you might be discouraging them? I don’t think most of us live with a political axe to grind. Most of us I think are looking to rise above it.
I don’t know, maybe start another side to the blog clearly indicating it’s for your politics? Just trying to be helpful. It does seem to be a regular thing with you, going with political lead-ins among mostly Orthodox topics. Do you know you’re doing this? Getting bored with Orthodox topics? Feeling the need for more political expression on your part? Feeling the need to get the blood going, like politics does for so many people? Pity. Because to me, that means you’re feeling the need for more heat than light. Nobody’s going to convince you otherwise from your politics, you know.
Spending a lot of time at home? Crises may bring clarity, true, but it also can bring panic and demagoguery. Cabin fever, though, is still a fever.
Sincerely, and with respect,
E M Cimmins
E M, this blog has always been about those things which interest me: politics, culture and religion.
As Christians, we are called to husband the gifts and resources which God has given us.
Speaking for myself, I feel that I can do so by aligning myself more closely with whatever political ideology aligns with freewill (I.e. ordered liberty).
Thank you for your thoughtful criticism.
I married you because you’re too kind George. Seriously, you are too kind.
It’s George’s personal blog; he doesn’t purport to represent Orthodoxy.
Religion and politics are inseparable, so it’s only natural that someone might like to discuss both.
E M and George,
I’ll repeat one of my favorite phrases from St.J.Chrysostom’s homilies:
“It is not either or, it is both in the correct sequence/priority”
Now, George is interested in:
(1) politics, culture etc and
(2) religion
Very good, all these things affect most of us every day.
George has showed (by his appropriate commentary) that he appraises Orthodoxy above all the rest, and that is exactly the idea.
I imagine E M may imply that he does not agree with (some) political opinions expressed by George. But even if this web-site were strictly meant for Religious discussions only, George (or anybody else) could at times express some wrong opinion, and THAT would be even worse than a wrong political opinion!
In short, nobody is infallible here (what a pity Franciscus does not join us!)
For this reason, I think it is better for E M and all of us, to pose our objections in Christian Love and Truth. THAT will help us all.
Having said that, I must state my very personal attitude:
I do not live in the US and I do not understand US politics. I simply skip such political sections as incomprehensible or not interesting. If I may say his, I think E M might want to do something similar.
—-
Lord have mercy.
How dare you.
I’m infallible.
Basil,
sorry….didn’t realize ?
…and modest with it too.
I am the most modest person here, and by far the most humble.
So much so you remind me of Major Attlee.
of whom Churchill allegedly said: ” A modest man,
with much to be modest about…” 😉
Gail,
You mentioned ID2020.
Right now, Danish citizens can face prosecution under a new if they refuse to allow themselves to be tested for coronavirus. As well as enforcing quarantine measures, the law also allows the authorities to FORCE people to be vaccinated, even though there is currently no vaccination for the virus.
The Danish law also empowers them to prohibit access to public institutions, supermarkets and shops, public and private nursing homes and hospitals, and also to impose restrictions on access to public transport. Billy Gates is also talking about restricting liberties unless everyone is chipped and vaccinated. Like someone else here noted, Mark of the Beast.
See: https://www.thelocal.dk/20200313/denmark-passes-far-reaching-emergency-coronavirus-law
This is the lead I’m more or less taking here, too. If it doesn’t happen tomorrow, I believe this crisis will allow it to come in soon enough. I’m aware of the UN’s Agenda 21 or 2030, which all menaingful countries are committed to, and I sense an impatience in those who want it and increasingly have the means to do it (by the deadline; no compromises).
Linked below is what I thought was an excellent video on how this crisis can/will be used to make vaccination and mass bio-metric surveillance compuslory. Since watching it, I’ve been thinking about getting together a preppers pack, so that I could run off into the hills if necessary.
https://youtu.be/1JLBXfKDbbI
Supposing this angle is true – i.e. before too long everyone will need to be chipped or whatever in order to operate in society – I wonder if the Church is prepared.
Everyone I know in the medical field is claiming the numbers are made-up – people dying of all kinds of things but the hospitals force them to say its Covid-19.
I’ve heard this is the case in Italy, especially, and yet I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was more widespread than that.
On a different but related tangent, I was watching another video by a girl who articulated her uncertainty about the situation very well. She doesn’t trust politicians and the media etc and yet she really isn’t sure whether or not the hype and the measures being taken in this instance aren’t necessary. As far as all that went, it was reasonable, but then it got me thinking…
We’re told in the Bible that Antichrist etc would deceive even the elect, if it were possible. One of the clearest messages to take from that is how whatever is in place would seem reasonable, even to Orthodox Christians. Does a largely manufactured health scare, that’d be too easy to turn off and on at will, along with corresponding social manipulations, fit the bill?
I can’t commit to this definitively just yet, but it’s up there.
At any rate, I remember reading St Paisos’s thoughts about the end times, which he didn’t see as being too far away from the time he was talking, which would have been around the 80s or 90s. He saw a microchip involved, and explained that the evil of it all lies primarily in how it acts as a kind of anti-baptism: when we’re given to Christ in baptism, our body is, of course, involved, and so it is when giving oneself over to the devil, good and proper.
Anon, several hospitals are so empty that they’re having to furlough doctors, nurses & other personnel.
CNN is lecturing people why they shouldn’t conceive a child during quarantine, yet abortion clinics are still open & considered “essential services. So don’t make babies, abort them. Got it. Promote sodomy, abortion, euthanasia, polluted food, lock down the churches, force local restaurants to close, encourage mass vaccinations. The government of Kenya, and the Roman Catholic Church, are looking into mass sterilization through vaccines.
Western culture is so backwards right now: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/05/health/baby-boom-wellness-scn-trnd/index.html
“CNN is lecturing people why they shouldn’t conceive a child during quarantine, yet abortion clinics are still open & considered “essential services.”
Not in Texas. The Texas governor closed abortion clinics during this time as non-essential. Wonder how many babies will be saved in Texas due to COVID-19?
I just heard that Hillcrest Hospital here in Tulsa is furloughing 600 employees for 90 days.
This doesn’t sound like the medical system is being bombarded to me. Maybe in NYC but not here. Also not in Washington State, where 4,000 ventilators are being given back to the Feds.
I work in a hospital in a top-20 population city in the United States. Our COVID units as of this morning (April 6, 2020) have zero COVID-positive patients.
Not saying that there is no virus enemy out there. But every large city’s experience is not the same as New York’s.
George, my understanding is Washington isn’t returning 4,000 ventilators but 400. The feds only gave Washington 500. Still, I fully agree. I’ve seen – by these same sources – reports of ventilators just sitting in warehouses, and empty hospitals, and nurses being told to count cancer deaths as covid-deaths.
One too many zeros. Not enough coffee this am.
400 (of the 500 they got), not 4,000. The US is going to have to be slinging ventilators all around the country to try and keep up with surges. Seattle managed to bend their curve.
I believe Oklahoma might be ranked 50th in states at the moment for tests per capita. Between that and the delay in locking down, you would be better served by being concerned about what the coming weeks have in store. From covidtracking:
Sunday March 29, Positive tests 429 Negative 1,205
Sunday April 5, Positive tests 1,252 Negative 1,401
Here in Sarasota, the largest local hospital is also furloughing employees and cutting executives’ pay. But it’s because they lost $16 million in March due to the Governor’s order to cease elective and non-essential surgeries. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.heraldtribune.com/news/20200403/coronavirus-florida-sarasota-memorial-hospital-furloughs-staff-after-16-million-decline%3ftemplate=ampart
And speaking of Denmark, their neighbor Sweden has the least restrictions in place of any European country, and has had it since the get-go. It’d be interesting to observe the infections/deaths per capita in Sweden compared to other countries; especially to those within their geological sphere and with similar resources (ie: Denmark, Norway, even Germany). It’s been weeks since this has hit the fan. I wonder what the numbers/stats look like. Sigh, I have a lot of time on my hands now…so I guess I’ll do some research…
There are several points at which I find this declaration flawed.
I’ll interpolate my responses to them in bold type.
The debate over globalization is over: the era of autarky begins.
In addition to this word’s being misspelled. it’s misused. The word we want here is ‘autonomy’, national autonomy in particular.
The debate over global warming is over: it is irrelevant.
No. This debate is not over, nor is it irrelevant The fact is that global warming is a real and actual meteorological event which we must acknowledge. Scientists agree on this and politicians argue about it, but we must find some way of dealing with it.
The debate over genders is over: there are only two.
No. Although monomakhos has chosen to shut me out about this in the past, as a student of language I affirm that there are four genders (a grammatical concept) but only two human sexes. Part of the problem consists in a prudish reluctance to say ‘sex’ — as if that were a four-letter word.
Here we have an unsuspecting example of the larger culture’s abject capitulation to an attempt to initiate a change in language advocated by people who insist that ‘male’ and ‘female’ are flexible and fluid concepts.
But this isn’t true. The very idea of transsexualism is contrary to every concept of what it means to be a person, and completely at variance with the scriptures and with the authentically Orthodox Catholic Christian Tradition altogether.
The debate over racial grievances is over: viruses don’t respect identity politics.
Oh, no. The recent notion of ‘identity politics’ has nothing to do with racism, which remains a problem in America. I dearly wish that ‘white’ people in general — especially American Orthodox Christians — didn’t have personal ‘reservations’ about ‘black’ people, but we do. That MUST be acknowledged and dealt with.
The debate over safe spaces and triggering is over: there is no room for snowflakes in the future.
Please forgive me for not understanding the terms used here. There’s some sort of slang here which I just don’t get. As a result, I can’t agree with this statement.
The debate over international institutions is over: only nations matter.
This is simply not true. What are we to think of the International Red Cross, of International Orthodox Christian Charities, of Doctors Without Borders, etc. We can complain about some concepts here, but not about ‘international institutions’ altogether.
Get over it; crisis is clarity.
I don’t think so.
Any sort of crisis requires us to triage our priorities. Those issues remain for us to deal with — they don’t go away, no matter how much clarity a crisis brings.
If you were “shut out,” you would not be posting here.
Monk James: “The fact is that global warming is a real and actual meteorological event which we must acknowledge“.
Do you mean ‘Global Warming’ or ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?
Do you know the difference between the terms?
Monk James: ‘Scientists agree on this…’
Richard Lindzen doesn’t. Roy Spencer doesn’t.
Have you ever heard of them? Do you know who they are?
I suspect not…
Monk James: I affirm that there are four genders (a grammatical concept)…’
You have lost me here. In the English language: ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘neuter’.
Please explain…
Brendan,
‘Scientists agree on this…’
Yes,
Scientists agree on Evolution too.
Scientists agree they made a mistake just ten years ago.
Why did the American Fathers coined
“In God we trust”
and not:
“In Science we trust”?
Some scientists agree.
Others do not.
Well the “American fathers” – which as Thomas Hopko noted in at root a kind of post Christian religious concept – didn’t put “In God we trust” on anything.
Scientists agree on evolution because it is an observable fact of natural history and the overarching paradigm for the biological sciences.
Correction: masculine, feminine and neuter…
Monk James, the “global warming” alarmists lost the battle several years ago when they switched to “climate change”.
As for the “gender” issue, I concede you are right. Gender is a linguistic construct, not a biological reality. What I should have said is that there are two sexes.
George, didn’t Dick Cheney coin the phrase “climate change” as opposed to “global warming”? I could be wrong.
By the way, I’m neither a Democrat or Republican, just an Independent voter. So, I really have no agenda here.
In German at least the plural acts as a gender in itself, so maybe that’s what he’s referring to.
Personally I never use the word “gender” unless I’m talking about grammar. I always say “sex”. If you use the left’s words, they win.
‘Brendan’: While other languages may function just a little differently, especially if they genderize words which are not associated with either the male or female sex, n English there are four grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, neither (neuter), and both. I trust hat we can agree that there are but two biological sexes.
Here’s an example. ‘Rooster’ is masculine, ‘hen’ is feminine, while ‘egg’ is neither and ‘chick’ or ‘hatchling’ are both, since these words describe both male and female baby chickens, itself a word which leans toward feminine but could be taken as both.
I don’t do politics, so you’ll gave to argue with someone else about global warming, which I am certain is a meteorological reality, whatever its actual causes.
Various experiments and models are still inconclusive as to if and to what extent this world-wide phenomenon is caused by human activity, but there are significant data on record indicating that — at least in controlled experimental situations — our human ‘carbon footprint’, especially combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, has a corrosive effect on the elemental composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Depletion or reproportioning of certain elements causes us to be less protected from the heat of the sun, and so causes a rise in temperature. The great melting of ice masses in Antarctica and Greenland are thought to be indicators of these changes.
The question in my mind, though, is one revolving around chemical changes in the atmosphere which — so far — have not been successfully attributed to natural cycles of cooling and warming quite as clearly as they can be associated with combustion of fossil fuels.
It would seem prudent, then, for us to behave as if our ‘carbon footprint’ is indeed causing these deleterious effects and so hope to avoid ecological suicide.
‘Monk’ ‘James’: “[I]n English there are four grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, neither (neuter), and both.”
There are also words which can be either masculine, feminine or neuter, so you’ll have to add another gender to your double counting system. For example: The subject of this sentence may be masculine or feminine of neuter depending on whether the word ‘subject’ refers to a man, a woman or a table – or whatever.
Isn’t it simpler (and more accurate) to say that there are three genders for English nouns (and pronouns: he, she, it) and that there are nouns (and pronouns: this, that) that are of indeterminate gender in themselves until the context of their use is established?
‘Monk’ ‘James’: “…there are significant data on record indicating that — at least in controlled experimental situations — our human ‘carbon footprint’, especially combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, has a corrosive effect on the elemental composition of Earth’s atmosphere.”
Our carbon footprint? We are a carbon based life-form. The more carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere, the more plants grow. The more plants grow, the more food there is to feed us, animals, everyone.. The Sahel is greening and the Sahara is retreating. What’s not to like? Does this not make you happy? Or would you rather have less plants and less food for everyone (not just during Lent but) forever?
Anyway, a thousand years ago the Norse grew oats and barley in Greenland. They do not grow there now because it is too cold. Therefore it was warmer then than it is now.
There’s a great deal of confusion in your words here, ‘Brendan’.
The gender category of ‘both’ completely satisfies your concerns on the point of grammar which you’re raising here, so the structure of four grammatical genders remains. Your offering ‘subject’ as an example of it makes my point exactly.Speaking of grammar, we’ll never have ‘less plants’ — not that I accept the possibilities of your question.
We don’t know what caused the ice age which forced the Vikings to abandon their settlements in Greenland, but we can say for sure that it was NOT automotive emissions. What we know now, though, is that automotive emissions have a corrosive effect on the elemental balances in Earth’s atmosphere. These historic and observable facts are two completely different areas of study, and whatever happened a thousand years ago isn’t what concerns us now,
BTW: Our physical humanity’s being a carbon-based life form is completely unrelated to the effects of our burning the fossilized and transformed remains of other carbon-based life forms, mostly plants, so your associating these ideas with each other is not helpful.
Monk James: “Our physical humanity’s being a carbon-based life form is completely unrelated to the effects of our burning the fossilized and transformed remains of other carbon-based life forms, mostly plants…”
Patrick Moore (co-founder and ex-leader of Greenpeace):
“…we are told CO2 is a toxic pollutant that must be curtailed when in fact it is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, gas present at 400 parts per million of the global atmosphere and the most important food for life on earth. Without CO2 above 150 parts per million, all plants would die. Over the past 150 million years, CO2 had been drawn down steadily (by plants) from about 3000 parts per million to about 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution. If this trend had continued, CO2 would have become too low to support life on Earth. Human use of fossil fuels and clearing land for crops have boosted CO2 from its lowest level in the history of the Earth back to 400 parts per million today. At 400 parts per million, all our food crops, forests, and natural ecosystems are still on a starvation diet for CO2….Increased CO2 means plants don’t need as much water, so our deserts are lusher. The optimum level of CO2 for plant growth, given enough water and nutrients, is about 1500 parts per million, nearly four times higher than today. Glasshouse growers inject CO2 to increase yields of 50 to 100 per cent. Farms and forests will be much more productive if CO2 keeps rising.
We have no proof increased CO2 is responsible for the slight warming over the past 300 years. There has been no significant warming for 18 years while we have emitted 25 per cent of all the CO2 ever emitted. Yet we have absolute proof CO2 is vital for life on Earth and plants would like more of it. Which should we emphasise to our children?”
https://www.academia.edu/11915593/DR._PATRICK_MOORE_-_THE_POSITIVE_IMPACT_OF_HUMAN_C02_ON_THE_SURVIVAL_OF_LIFE_ON_EARTH._We_need_more_not_less_as_photosynthesis_is_essential_to_all_life
What do you think?
You haven’t been paying close attention to what I’ve written here, ‘Brendan’.
More than once, I’ve explicitly said that global warming cannot be attested as absolutely a result of human activity at all, although controlled experiments conclusively demonstrate that the same elements which are present in Earth’s atmosphere are put out of balance by emissions of carbon-fueled combustion.
I’ve tried being polite, but it doesn’t work with you.
I have told you the name with which I was baptised.
It’s good enough for the Church and should be so for you.
But you have an ower guid conceit of yourself (I think),
which does not seem warranted by your writings here.
You really have a high opinion of your perspicacity.
As for your nonsense, be specific, not airy-fairy.
‘Monk’ ‘James’: “…controlled experiments conclusively demonstrate that the same elements which are present in Earth’s atmosphere are put out of balance by emissions of carbon-fueled combustion.”
What controlled experiments? What elements?
What balance?
Read Moore’s words again (or, try reading them):
“Over the past 150 million years, CO2 had been drawn down steadily (by plants) from about 3000 parts per million to about 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution. If this trend had continued, CO2 would have become too low to support life on Earth. Human use of fossil fuels and clearing land for crops have boosted CO2 from its lowest level in the history of the Earth back to 400 parts per million today.”
There is no ‘balance’. The atmosphere is not a static system.
It is dynamic. It is complex. It interrelates with the land and the seas and life itself. Stasis in nature is death.
But the chief driver of warming is the sun. Not Mankind. We are not that important.
I am now out of this thread.
I’m trying to be polite here, too, ‘Brendan’, but my efforts seem to have gone unnoticed. Even though I’ve explained myself several times, I’ll try again, anyway. I am acquainted with several men (and one woman) named ‘Brendan’, all of whom I know by their full names. If ever you write in public with your full name, whichever ‘Brendan’ you are, I’ll stop setting off that name in quotation marks if I respond.
I’d like to think that my having studied language for more than half a century has helped me learn something. Now you seem to have accepted some of my grammatical definitions, and for that I am grateful.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not going to get into an argument with you or anyone about ‘global warming’. Such arguments tend to be heavily laden with political considerations which simply don’involve me.
In the matter of global warming, then, I can only repeat the concepts of which I wrote earlier: We don’t know what caused Earth’s apparently natural cycles such as ice ages and warm periods, but we can say for certain that they were not caused by human activity, at least not before the industrial age. What we can say for a fact in our own time, though, is that controlled experiments consistently demonstrate that emissions from the combustion of carbon-based fuels have an effect on the balance of the same elements which compose Earth’s atmosphere.
Extrapolating from these experiments, then, it might be prudent of us to limit or cease our large-scale production of emissions from the combustion of carbon-based fuels so as not to damage the atmosphere which is needed to sustain all life on Earth.
I am not writing a dissertation here, so I am not going to provide citations for each point I raise, nor will I provide chapter and verse locations for every opinion not my own. Like everyone else, you can do your own homework.
Monk James, again, there are many reputable scientists who question the very premise of “anthropogenic global warming”. The mini ice ages and warming periods are par for the geological course. The idea that the Industrial Revolution has had effects on actual warming is still up for dispute. Indeed, if the elites really believed that then they would have made China and India –the two largest countries on earth–reduce their carbon emissions. But they didn’t.
Why? I’m sure we’re going to all be surprised when we find out how many of our elites are heavily invested in these two countries.
You’re asking him to do his own homework. Well, he evidently did, which is why he is in disagreement with you and was able to back up his position with reputable sources.
George Michalopulos (April 8, 2020 at 9:56 am) says:
Monk James, again, there are many reputable scientists who question the very premise of “anthropogenic global warming”. The mini ice ages and warming periods are par for the geological course. The idea that the Industrial Revolution has had effects on actual warming is still up for dispute. SNIP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear George, everything you’ve written here is in complete agreement with hat I’ve written previously.
Are you somehow laboring under the impression that I think differently about this? An attentive reading of my earlier comments should relieve you of that burden.
Well, this is what I think: I just read the other day where two enterprising inventors have devised a way to make alcohol from free CO2.
Seriously, CO2 levels need to be increased in order to sustain vegetation (which is at the bottom of the food chain).
Much normie. So boomer.
Why is a monk spending so much time commenting on blogs? That doesn’t seem very monastic.
George & Gail, what are your thoughts on these Churches (Greece and now Antioch) who are going to be publicly celebrating Pascha on the Leave-taking of Pascha in May?
How can Pascha be celebrated on any other day than it is set on? I am very confused by this, and disappointed in my patriarchate.
If the greatest of feast of the year can be moved or with the bishops telling the faithful they cannot attend the feast of feasts, then why exactly would we go any other time during the year? Forgive me as I am trying not to think like this and the judge our bishops, but, I am truly confused by their logic
As a separate question, what do you think of the news of “Sanhedrin” in Jerusalem planning on sacrificing a red calf, etc., on the Passover?
Petros – Not George here.
I too can not wrap my head around the arguments or thought process.
I grew up with this way of thinking as an evangelical no day or place being sacred. I came into Orthodoxy believing what the Church said. Now I am wondering why did I bother?
If our Church can change during bad times than why not in good times?
If we can worship from home or over the internet why not continue?
What sets us apart from other Christians if to quote Archbishop Elpidophoros:
“The secret of the Christian life is that even when you are deprived of everything you recognize as your religion, the entirety of God is always within you. Deep within, we find the communion that knows no physical form, but one that endures forever”
In other news the Bishops consulted insurance before deciding to cancel Holy Week. See Press Release from assembly of Bishops.
http://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/2020/pascha-2020
Also this is 3 weeks and counting no public (only private) liturgy. A Behavior expert should have been consulted on theses decisions. New behaviors and habits are forming. If during a crisis I can live stream Church why not during a Sunday baseball game? The longer this lasts (California Governor has mentioned the fall) the more dangerous these measures will become. Remember first amendment guarantees the right to practice religion.
Last observation: I know none of my close friends have gotten a call from clergy checking up on us but we have gotten 4 asks for money…
What are people turning to in this time of media-manufactured crisis? Alcohol Tobacco Drugs and Porn. Why aren’t they going to Church? Maybe because they closed their doors. https://www.breakingviews.com/considered-view/todays-virus-vices-store-up-tomorrows-problems/
Perhaps if the right government was in, at the right time, it’d be paying for people’s isolation vices. That idea’s not so far fetched these days
It’s no secret that far more people will suffer and die from alcohol, drug, porn, internet, sex, cell phone, gambling, and many other addictions, than will die from coronavirus during this “national social isolation and lockdown.”
Our political and cultural elites don’t care about these addiction problems, since many of them are alcohol, cell phone, and/or porn addicted themselves. Many have convinced themselves that these addictions are entirely “normal,” i.e., as God intended.
Many both consciously and unconsciously rely on these addictions in order to “numb out” from otherwise intolerable God-less and Christ-less lives.
It’s beyond disgusting to view our political and cultural elites tell the people day after day that the population at large needs to be “good little citizens” and just deal with these arbitrary restrictions, as the elites spend the social isolation in their wealth and luxury, numbing out with their preferred addictions.
This world becomes more insane and backward by the day. When will we the people have “had enough” with our Godless “rulers”?
The current crisis seems, to me, a large mirror. The COVID-19 crisis seems to magnify anxiety from some people, others it reflects anger, still others confusion, depression, despair, and for some even sobriety. It is really remarkable. Have we truly died to this world?
We can be too focused on the thunder and lightning to forget the sun. It hasn’t escaped me that had I lived with the apostles, I would continue to distract myself from anticipating, and preparing myself, for the Lord’s Resurrection. Although I hate to admit it, I would have pointed fingers at the Jews, Pilate, the Romans, and not have blamed myself when in reality, of course, we’re all responsible.
There is no doubt I’ve contributed to fear and worry, anger and cynicism, concern and coldness not only in my heart but the hearts of others. It is true, the world is shifting and darkening, but how more so in my own heart and mind. What basket of ointment will I have to offer our Lord in a few days? I have spilled much of it since the Feast of the Cross. I have not done a good job. Forgive me.
My faith and love in some of our priests and bishops, in my neighbors, hasn’t been has steady as I’d hoped. Nevertheless, and I’m unsure why I’m writing – and posting – but I want to thank all of you for this community, especially you, George, providing a good bunker and sounding board.
This is HUGE!:
During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, coronavirus task force leader Dr. Deborah Birx explained that COVID-19 deaths in the United States have “very liberal” recording guidance, noting that anyone who tests positive for the virus and dies would be included in their numbers of coronavirus deaths.
Responding to a question from a reporter about potential underreporting of novel coronavirus deaths in the nation, Dr. Birx responded: “I think in this country, we are taking a very liberal approach to mortality. And I think the reporting here has been pretty straightforward over the last five to six weeks,” she said, adding, “If someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that.”
So, Roosh is right: this is all used as a set-up.
See Dr. Birx admitting this is a pack of lies: https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-dr-birx-we-have-very-liberal-recording-of-covid-deaths-if-they-test-positive-we-are-counting-that
See Roosh expertly revealing the man behind the curtain (start at hour 1:53:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg–3LKZIOo
This is huge. What it means is the mortality rate is even lower than it appears.
[Editor Note: Start at 51:15. Roosh has something interesting to say about the COVID-19 deaths of the young.)
How will our hierarchs respond? How will we respond?
Despite the White House admitting these numbers are deceptive – there’s likely far fewer people actually dying of the virus than died of the flu last year due to how they’re counting EVERYONE dying with the virus as dying FROM the virus – we’re told to accept THIS as the new normal: keep the faithful from Holy Communion, baptism and the services, distrust your neighbors and the snitch on neighbors (look at what they’re doing in LA: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-mayor-garcetti-residents-report-violators-stay-at-home-order ), arresting surfers and fishermen while shutting campsites and state parks, etc., shuttering schools and hospitals. Even our worst enemies didn’t cause this much damage, yet the media and our globalist overlords have not only ignited this revolution, they’ve convinced many of us faithful to support it.
Look, France is banning people from going outside during the day for exercise, requiring everyone leaving their homes to carry special papers or risk fines or jail time. Big Brother is swelling beyond his means, and again our New York officials are telling us to accept this new normal. See: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/08/coronavirus-when-normal-expert-health-care-172005
Gates himself is telling us everything will probably be closed until we all get his vaccines, and get microchipped, etc.
Gail, you mentioned ID2020 to someone earlier. I suggest everyone look into it. Meanwhile, they’re already telling us – thank you Roosh for pointing this out – to expect more lockdowns by December.
Plant your gardens, get some farm animals, and hunker down. This isn’t going away. I’m really not trying to be a pessimist, I’m just connecting the dots, too. Build your chapels, call your bishops. Don’t be afraid, don’t panic. But life isn’t going back to the way it was three weeks ago, a month ago. I trust in Christ, I really do. Everyone says, just be patient. Don’t worry. God knows. Be patient. But the iron curtain is falling. My question is: how will our hierarchs respond? How will we respond?
It’s weird. My daughter, who looks like “Pandemic Barbie” in the new face masks George sent her that go with her bright pink coat, is free to go into any store, gas station or 7/11 in her garb during the course of her job but if she takes a walk to unwind after work, she will be fined $1000.
Not exactly the freedoms both my grandparents fought to protect during the Second World War.
If your grandparents knew the kind of world that they were fighting to secure, they’d probably have refused to get off the boats on D-Day.
If your grandparents would have refused to get off the LSTs on D-Day, we would all today be members of some misbegotten pseudo Nordic cult and greeting each other with “Seig Heil.”
Linda that is a conclusion based upon a false assumption that history is a dialectic process. It is not. The Cross proves that. Life is not a zero sum game.
In this case it also assumes that war results in either victory or defeat and we can actually perceive the difference.
When I see the subsequent orkification of the West as well as the loss of our freedoms, I’m not sure we’re any better off. Churchill would have been horrified to see what happened to his Sceptred Isle what with all the race riots and Pakistani rape gangs.
Don’t get me wrong, Hitler preached a weird occultic pagan mythos which had to be suppressed but at the end of the day, his concept of the Reich was having a greatly expanded Germany be the supreme power in Europe. Just like it is now within the EU. (We should also keep in mind that the Holocaust commenced after the 1942 Wansee Conference, when German resources were starting to go thin. Before that, Hitler’s goal was not to exterminate the Jews but to transfer them to Palestine.)
One of the great ironies of the last fifty years is that the NATO countries of Europe are on the brink of a race war* because of untrammeled Third-world immigration whereas the former Warsaw Pact countries have been spared this nonsense.
*I just read that the Greek army and civilian volunteers who manned the border perpetrated atrocities (including sexual assaults) against the hordes of Muslim migrants who were being goaded by the Turks to invade Greece. If that isn’t a precursor to a great interracial war on the European continent, I don’t know what is.
Europe will have its revenge, and it will be terrible.
…and it will be mostly on the wrong people.
Agreed. The puppet masters will get off scot-free. No pun intended.
Please enlighten me. What exactly is “orkification”?
Searching online was of no help, sorry. Well, except for:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/267800.page
which was no help at all.
Thank you in advance,
E M Cimmins
George said he’ll shed some light on it tomorrow. He sometimes uses words in an interesting way to make a point.
As I read it, in this context an ‘Ork’ is a demon.
An ‘Orc’ is 1) an evil spirit or bogey [cf: Beowulf ]
2) an evil, brutal humanoid in the works of JRR Tolkien.
Hence ‘orkification’ refers to the process whereby life in the West, the atmosphere in society and the people of the West themselves become more ‘orklike’ – ie: more brutal, more brutish and more demonic as time passes.
EM, it is an allusion to Tolkien’s Orks in the Lord of the rings. Creatures that are wholly given to evil — not human or elven but Frankenstein like monsters made solely to serve the Dark Lord.
E M, La Sheppard told me last night that I needed to answer you. As it was late I begged until this morning. Needless to say, Brendan and Michael jumped into the fray to offer an explanation.
For which I thank them. As well as for your readership.
Michael Bauman: “EM, it is an allusion to Tolkien’s Orks in the Lord of the rings. Creatures that are wholly given to evil …”
Well, the Tolkien’s anthropology, or perhaps noology, is a fantasy, but it has its consistency. I would say that his orks are very depraved, but have some glimmers of moral sense – for example when they complain about lack of fairness or betrayal. Totally evil are fallen spirits like Barlogs. I mean Tolkin’s books of course, not the mangled movies.
Martin, the Orcs did, in fact, have some moral sense. So too do the hordes which are (literally) defecating on the streets of Europe and sexually assaulting innocent women. And yes, they too, are made in the image of God. However in behaving as they do, they have sacrificed their anthropotita, their “human-ness” and virtue. Because they know better (as opposed to the Orcs who only had a glimmer of virtue), their retribution will be horrible.
Give me the Third Reich over the Globohomo Reich any day of the week. The Germans didn’t tolerate degeneracy, while we promote it at the point of a gun.
Yeah, no kidding. While the Nazis lost, Communism still won. And Patton was likely murdered for lamenting it.
True. The documentary Communism By the Backdoor shows how they won. More accurately, how the Trotskyist Neocons won once they captured the USA.
Nietzsche got this 9ne right: “Be careful whom you choose as your enemy. They are whom you will become most like.”
In Gospel terms: “Resist not evil. Do good”
It’s interesting that Patton’s widow (Beatrice) refused to have Generals Eisenhower and Bedell-Smith (his chief of staff) attend her husband’s funeral.
Linda, there is also no telling what impact people like Dietrich Bonheoffer and the martyred members of the White Rose society including St. Alexander of Munich would have had. https://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexander_Schmorell
There is, of course, the historical narrative that WWII was just a continuation of WWI. Historians in the far future may call it the 20th century version of he 30 years war. So many possibilities
It just ain’t simple.
Michael, you are correct. WWI-WWII were one continuous military narrative, punctuated on each side with barely two decades of a cold peace.
Churchill himself called WWII “the unnecessary war”. He predicted that the peace that France imposed on Germany was unjust and would not hold.
Churchill wanted that war more than anyone.
Read Paul Craig Roberts’ thoughts here: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/05/13/the-lies-about-world-war-ii/
PCR is a man with real credentials and his most recent content is really pushing the limits of what is politically correct.
Greetings Basil,
To be honest, I haven’t been one to agree with your views for the most part, but we agree on Paul Craig Roberts. I see people from diverse points of view such as he and Eric Zuesse, Thierry Meyssan, Michael Hudson, Mike Whitney, Ray McGovern and others all coming into agreement on multiple issues. I’d like to know how our own Jim Jatras feels about what’s going on. He’s another very credible figure I’d like to hear from.
And here’s Gordon Hahn with one of the most detailed pieces on the US/EU Ukrainian coup I’ve seen yet:
https://gordonhahn.com/2020/04/07/report-the-new-terrorist-threat-ukrainian-ultra-nationalist-and-neo-fascist-terrorism-at-home-and-abroad/
All the best,
E M Cimmins
Actually the run up to WWI began in the last half of the 19th century with the plethora of philosophical/political ideas that worked to undermine faith, humanity and established order. 1848 is a watershed year. IMO it is the year in which “modernity” was born and the Dark Lord began to take hold on the hearts and imaginations of many.
It coincided with the continued general weakening of both the traditional aristocracy and the genuine meritocracy that had been the guarantors of order. Lust of power had gotten hold of their hearts.
Unfortunately, the same wasting disease had attacked the Church.
The English historian A.J.P Taylor got lambasted for writing in his small book, The Origins of the Second World War, for saying that Hitler was no more evil than Chamberlain or the other leaders of the time. Taylor did stress that the conditions of Versailles were largely to blame. Indeed that has become conventional wisdom.
Of course one has to make some arbitrary beginning point on such matters otherwise everything goes back to Adam in the Garden. Lust of power large and small seems, in some ways, to be the master sin.
I think the Roberts/Irving version excuses Hitler too much but it is good corrective.
Still as Solzhenitsyn said
The reading and writing of history can easily become an exercise in self-justification. Let us remember our Lord’s instruction: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
That same place where there is “no sickness, sorrow or sighing”. The day of Ressurection is drawing nigh. Let us enter into His joy from our current cave of sadness and worry.
Gail, if it’s OK with Jessica, please post her darling picture! She’s delightful!
As their narrative unravels, expect more clampdowns. They’ll cite anti-semitism or hate crimes because those who refuse to go along with this International Communist plot – ie globalist revolution – ie those refusing to get vaccinated and chipped and/or obey house arrest. We may be cited as enemies of the people if they get their way, honestly it could just be around the corner.
LonelyDn, and yet the Attorney General of my state, Kansas, a Republican using the authority of his office to interpret the application of law overrode the decree of the Dem Gov. telling law enforcement that the prohibition against religious gatherings and funerals was not to be enforced.
Final analysis though it does not mean a thing. Martyrdom is never institutional it is always personal.
May God protect us all and strengthen us in times of trial. Glory be to God!
Lonely Dn, Michael, et al: the globalists are indeed powerful but I too, see much unraveling of their program with this pandemic.
As you all may know (or suspect), I am a life member of the NRA and one of the unintended consequences of this pandemic is the fact that gun sales are going through the roof. According to a fair amount of vendors, it’s just not white, Christian, Red-state, conservative Republicans who are loading up on guns and ammo –it’s now liberals, secularists and other Blue-state denizens.
Once they get over their childish fear of guns and actually learn how to use them, I imagine they’ll become less “liberal” as to the Second Amendment.
Well, if everyone’s getting armed to the teeth and if the economy really does tank completely, I fully expect Weimer Republic-style street battles between political factions.
We all know what the Chinese say about interesting times.
Actually there seems to be no known equivalent to this phrase in Chinese literature of any century. The most convincing account of its origins appears to have been in a speech by Joseph Chamberlain in 1898, in which he said: “I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times. (Hear, hear.) I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety. (Hear, hear.)”
Then, in 1901, he made a speech celebrating the defeat of the Irish Home Rule Bill thus: “We live in interesting times, but I doubt very much whether there were ever any weeks more critical in the history of the last century than the weeks which accompanied the introduction and defeat of the Home Rule Bill. (Cheers.)”
Then Joe’s son Austen (brother of later Prime Minister Neville) used the full “May you live in interesting times” in a speech and in correspondence in 1936. It was subsequently taken up by (among others) Albert Camus, Arthur C Clarke, RFK and the Clintons.
For a full discussion, see:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/12/18/live/
Amen! That is good and comforting to see. Thanks for sharing.
Of course now the Demo Gov is suing to have the Attorney General’s interpretation overturned.
I have just finished the full near five hour video
I begin to grasp what is going on.
There is much to think on.
Thank you for the link Gail.
It is much appreciated.
It’s not just the USA. This is effectively the same reporting system
I previously noted for the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board.
Roosh’s video is excellent. Really excellent. Thanks for this
Michael Savage calls Dr. Anthony Fauci a “grandstander” and the “P.T. Barnum” of coronavirus
WRITTEN BY MEDIA MATTERS STAFF
PUBLISHED 04/06/20 11:14 AM EDT
Michael Savage calls Dr. Anthony Fauci a “grandstander” and the “P.T. Barnum” of coronavirus
APRIL 3, 2020
CitationFrom the April 3, 2020, edition of Westwood One’s The Savage Nation Podcast
MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): Eventually we are going to reach a middle ground on this. We are going to reach what I have been calling for for two months: selective quarantine. Once cooler heads prevail in the White House and in the CDC and they push the grandstander [Dr. Anthony] Fauci into a laboratory where he belongs. I don’t think he’s seen a laboratory as long as I haven’t seen a laboratory. He’s a PR man, he’s a showman. He’s the P.T. Barnum of the COVID virus. Everywhere you turn there he is, Fauci the savior. It’s enough with Fauci already. Did you know that Fauci, who now is the biggest proponent of shutting everything down forever, he told Newsmax in January coronavirus is “not a major threat to the people of the United States.” Did you know that?
…
Now all of a sudden you can’t get a scintilla of information from the government about this virus unless it goes through Fauci’s department, whatever that department may be.
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It should be pointed out that Dr Fauci is not new to the politicization of science: back in 1985 he created the myth of heterosexual AIDS in order to make funding for it more palatable to the nation as a whole. Before that, Newsweek for example called it “The Gay Plague”.
Michael Fumento in “The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS” exposed the scientific dishonesty behind this stratagem. Bottom line: the only way for AIDS transmission was via passive anal coition, use of borrowed needles or the infusion of tainted blood. In other words, yes, through heterosexual sex, a bisexual man could infect his female partner provided he was already infected.
Martin and George, regarding the Orcs I stand corrected. You are both right. But that makes it even more poignant and sad does it not. Of course it also means that orc-like people also have the capacity to repent.
Michael, I don’t know if I’m right or not, it’s just an instinctual feeling. But yes, I think we are all correct in this respect: all humans have the capacity for repentance, it’s just a matter of freewill whether they will choose to exercise it or not.
George: “it’s just a matter of freewill…”
I don’t think so George. Not entirely. Upbringing also has a part to play.
Which is why the sins of the fathers don’t necessarily die with the fathers
Brendan, neither you nor I are incorrect. Of course nurture plays a part. So does nature. Having said that, I don’t believe for a second that the savages which are ravaging Europe are oblivious to their sinfulness. It’s just that they’d rather act like savages because they can get away with it. And, let’s be honest here, with the subsidies they get from the various welfare states, they are able to act like a bunch of yahoos.
Europe is under a regime of anarcho-tyranny. The elites want those savages to do what they’re doing. All part of the plan.
Just look at how hard they are claming down on ‘quarantine breakers’ vs. how lenient they are with swarthy foreign rapists and murderers.
The trouble for them, Basil, is that God always has the last laugh.
Indeed. They forget that.
The sins of the father’s… Some is genetically related.
I agree with you here Michael. That’s why the prayers of exorcism said before baptism are vital. Some sins are transmitted via generations.
File this one under “condign punishment”. In other words, proglibs never learn; they always think that their poses (in this case sanctuary cities) works only in one direction.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/15/four-michigan-sheriffs-we-will-not-enforce-governor-gretchen-whitmers-edicts/
Clearly, it does not. Something tells me that Pres Trump is going to pick up Michigan again in 2020.
BOOM! Please go to paragraph #7 to see why we are in the mess we’re in as re China. (And why the Deep State felt impelled to remove Trump):
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/lee-smith-china-coronavirus-1
always, Always , ALWAYS follow the money!
Anyway, read the whole thing. It’s clear that DiFi was being handled by the CCP.
Also, it’s pathetic how Kissinger is flailing about as his entire “Congress of Vienna type of diplomacy” paradigm is now being ground to dust before his very eyes.
“Kissinger Associates, built their ‘business’ around enabling the Chinese Communist Party and convincing Western business leaders that they needed to leave their ‘business judgment’ at the border and simply accept the party’s conditions as the price of entry into the China market.”
And not just business leaders fell for this drivel.
Pope Francis’s Vatican did too: hook, line and sinker;
and sold [RC] Chinese Catholics into slavery to the Party.
http://americandigest.org/strange-daze-2/
https://twitter.com/RBPundit/status/1253299448693825537
The Kung Flu was in the States earlier than we’ve been told.
No, the California case still tracks with a January introduction of COVID-19 into the US from China, that hasn’t really changed:
https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1253038550834020352
This doesn’t say that. Did you post the wrong thing?
It is a twitter thread. You have to click ‘Show this thread’ to unroll all nine tweets. That particular conclusion is in the 6th tweet, but the surrounding material is important to explain how that conclusion is reached.