[Editor’s note: This was sent to me and the Missus the other day. Its author is our very own Misha –and it’s good. Really good. I hope you all take the time to read it. It’s a great synthesis of our Deep State and the ideology that props it up, among other things. Keep up the good work, Misha!]
* * *
Speaking at a New York fundraiser in 2016, Sen. Hillary Clinton said the following: “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, right?” Clinton said. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
Following this, what has come to be known as the “MAGA” movement took the name “deplorables” as a badge of honor. Perhaps this was tactically wise at the time but it is long outdated. For the entire left side of the political spectrum, including the entire Democratic Party as well as a few Republicans, might now be fairly described as “despicable”. I do not exaggerate.
Half the country elected a serial molester, possible rapist, and pathological liar not once but twice. These vices of former president Bill Clinton were well known at the time of his first election. Again, half the country elected an America-hating, radical leftist who openly humiliated himself (and the country) before the world’s leaders and sought fundamental economic reorganization of the nation.
Barack Obama was also known as an entity before both his election victories.
That lays the background for what has happened in more recent years. Donald Trump parlayed the elements of the Tea Party movement and voter fatigue from eight years of progressive liberal rule into a winning presidential campaign in 2016. He was resisted with full fury and force by both the Democratic Party and the Republican Establishment as well as the mainstream (legacy) media. This hostility was deeper even than that exhibited toward George W. Bush. This was a rage born of existential anxiety regarding the possible consequences of a Trump presidency.
Extensive election fraud in the 2016 election failed to derail the Trump train. The extent of this election fraud was little appreciated outside of Trump’s inner circle and knowledgeable devotees. The allegations of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats regarding Russian interference were mere projection from their own electoral criminality. And so an artificial cloud of suspicion hung over the Trump presidency until the Mueller Report effectively exonerated him from charges of Russian collusion. This cloud was reinforced on a daily basis by the entire legacy media, the Democratic Party and the Intelligence Services.
Despite the fact that Trump managed a host of positive accomplishments, his Administration was mercilessly criticized and condemned, often on false pretenses, for the duration of his term and beyond. His insistence on fair trade, America First foreign policy, opposition to outsourcing labor and a more generous economic policy than that of your average Republican terrified the Democratic Party and the Republican Establishment since it laid the basis for an enduring coalition at odds with progressive policies, “free trade” and the military-industrial complex. Here was a president who was willing to go toe to toe with the Democrats on spending, impose tariffs to correct trade imbalances, punish outsourcing labor, and appoint originalist judges to the federal courts and SCOTUS.
In the 2020 election, were only the legal votes counted, he won in a landslide of epic proportions, comparable to Reagan’s 1984 win and Nixon’s 1972 victory. Yet the election was stolen by the representatives of this same half of the country that elected Clinton and Obama. Moreover, The Steal was defended by the Republican Establishment who loathed Trump and his America First agenda. Without the support of otherwise conservative, establishment Republicans, The Steal would never have been accepted by the American public. As it stands, half of the American public remains unpersuaded that the 2020 election was honest and secure.
However, the rigging of the 2020 national election and the subsequent Georgia election placed the Democratic Party in exclusive, though tenuous, power in D.C. And the leader they chose to anoint as the usurper to the Trump Administration was a foolish dolt of a politician, corrupt as the day is long, suffering from increasingly noticeable dementia, whose moral depravity was a known defect dating back to the 1970’s when he favored the abandonment of Vietnamese civilians who cooperated with America in the evacuation of Saigon during the Democratic engineered debacle of undercutting the South Vietnamese government in 1975.
Having little support in the primaries and being a known sexual predator, the Democratic Establishment decided he was the best of a pitiful field of candidates and essentially accomplished his coronation as the Democrat nominee during the South Carolina primary when other candidates were pressured into withdrawing and the black vote was delivered to him by the local patronage dons. The prospect of a Democratic president who was visibly impaired by senile dementia, which only gets worse, and encumbered by a long history of graft from the Ukraine to China to Russia – including a son who was known to have participated in illicit underage sex in China which doubtless compromised his father – did not seem to dissuade these power hungry wicked souls from installing him as President of the United States in a coup d’etat accomplished by widespread, systematic voter fraud.
While the mainstream media falsely asserted that claims of election fraud were baseless, despite overwhelming mountains of evidence to the contrary, they doubled down on their election year scheme to hyperbolically inflate the gravity of the Covid Flu epidemic to reinforce the power they seized on January 20, 2021, when Biden was installed as president as Washington, D.C. had been turned into an armed fortress. Since then, much of blue state America has been transformed further into a police state than it was last summer due to Covid and the BLM/Antifa riots. Also this year, Democrats have opened up the southern border to an invasion of illegal immigrants, many of whom have contracted the Covid Flu, and passed and announced spending initiatives, without any offsetting plan for growth, that have caused inflation to rise ominously. Inflation is the cruelest tax because it devalues the currency. Gas was under $2.00/gallon when Trump left office and now is near $5.00/gallon in areas of scarcity.
The support from the Democratic caucus for all of the above is almost unanimous with one or two notable exceptions. This is not just Joe Biden channeling Bernie Sanders. This is mass hysteria and ideological insanity. But that is not the half of it. In April of this year, Biden announced that all U.S. forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by August 31st. Trump had made a deal with the Taliban and Afghan government to accomplish a graduated, orderly American withdrawal by May of this year. Biden essentially set the August 31st deadline in stone, whereas the other date had been dependent on conditions on the ground, and ordered a withdrawal of American military before the evacuation of American civilians and Afghan nationals who cooperated with U.S. forces.
The reason behind this morally indefensible ordering of priorities must have been the obsessive desire on Biden’s part to have all American forces out by the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 next month. There is no other rational explanation. Biden may have abandoned the Bagram airbase (just 400 miles from the Chinese border) in order to satisfy his Chinese handlers. However, this is dubious since a much simpler explanation lies in the incompetence of the upper echelons of Biden’s military who ok’d relying on the Kabul airport for a precipitous withdrawal. And it is too fantastic to suggest that the Chinese influenced him to create a monumental hostage crisis while betraying our allies in this NATO effort by withdrawing the military first. This puts him in grave danger of removal, which would be contrary to the interests of the CCP. Yet though the decision to withdraw in this wicked manner was totally that of Biden, his party seems to be supporting him in this despite the inherent depraved insanity of the effort, or lack thereof, unfolding before our eyes.
The legacy media seems to have turned on him to some degree, perhaps in deference to their intelligence service overlords who cannot be happy with what they are witnessing. However the Democratic Party seems in disarray regarding this issue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems uncritically supportive despite the constant stream of press reports that American civilians and Afghans who have cooperated with us are effectively being held hostage by the Taliban who have surrounded Kabul airport, the only piece of territory of which we have retained control. They are beating Americans seeking to get to the airport, shooting demonstrators and those who defy them, and seizing the passports and visas of those who appear attempting to flee the country.
Though some Democrats have offered moderate critiques and even called for hearings on the matter, largely those who are not supportive and blaming the previous administration are silent. This is unconscionable. The Democratic Party staged a coup d’etat following a pandemic hoax in order to install a senile, depraved idiot in power. That sound you hear is chickens coming home to roost. We are not inclined to give the Biden Regime advice. If your enemy is sinking in quicksand and you feel compelled to hand him something, let it be a cinder block.
That being said, the damage to American stature and credibility will be immense. The Chinese are openly warning the Taiwanese now that they will shortly invade and America will not defend them. Neither will Russia be deterred from any further territorial expansion by this debacle. The Europeans are utterly up in arms and the British parliament actually voted to hold the Biden Regime in contempt. This is unheard of. British and French forces have begun operations to extract their nationals yet America is sitting on its hands.
So far the Democratic Party lacks the sense to pull the plug on this black hole random events generator of a president. And we should pray that he does not further damage the country on his way out and that Americans and our foreign friends are extricated from that hell hole. By all means, let God have His vengeance on this despicable nest of vipers. The only way to prevent them doing further damage to America and Western Civilization is if they are so stigmatized as to be unelectable in the future.
Our southern border is open and we are being invaded. The president chose to evacuate the military before civilians and has created a hostage crisis involving thousands of U.S. citizens whom he seems in the process of abandoning to a merciless gaggle of terrorists further infested by ISIS and al Qaida to whom he has surrendered Afghanistan. Even the Europeans are ashamed of us and feel betrayed. Justice Robert Jackson once wrote that “the Constitution is not a suicide pact.” Biden must resign. If he does not resign, he must be removed pursuant to the 25th Amendment. If he is not removed, he must be impeached. If impeachment fails, revolution is inevitable.
This cannot go on for another three and a half years.
I do not blame Joe Biden for this latest tragedy. He is suffering from dementia and is at the mercy of his debilitated condition. Some of our military leaders may need to face court martial for following unconscionable orders. But the responsibility for this lies with the leadership of the Democratic Party, as well as all those who support them, for installing and enabling this regime. That is unforgiveable and despicable.
This is the second time in my lifespan that the Democrats have brought bottomless buckets of shame to the United States. The first was the Iranian Hostage Crisis under Jimmy Carter. Now we have an Afghan Hostage Crisis. We cannot afford another 9/11 under any circumstances, but most certainly not with this crew in charge. The risk of an al Qaida or ISIS attack on our people or Afghanis attempting to flee is very high as a result of these events even according to our feckless government.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Let us not be fooled thrice.
I believe it’s Jimmy Dore who says: don’t be afraid of Trump, be afraid of the one who comes after Trump when every problem he ran against doesn’t get addressed. That is going to happen, because the Uniparty is doubling and trebling down on everything that made people mad enough to elect “Orange Hitler.”
Trump’s main error was in not being the Orange Hitler that they feared. His inaugural speech was the pinnacle of his career and had the Deep State rats absolutely panicking. He put on the airs of a cultural battle, but he didn’t enter office on a war footing.
Only a DC Night of the Long Knives, swiftly dismembering the Deep State even by unlawful means, could have prevented the kind of widespread and open fraud that was the 2020 election. Take out the entire intelligence community—and if they sue, throw the judges in jail. Too radical? That is just the tip of the iceberg of the kind of action needed to even have a chance to fix this country. Trump should have only put in place absolute loyalists who were committed so such action. There was no shortage of them—but instead we got Javanka.
No, don’t fear Trump. Fear of the one who picks up the MAGA flag and actually runs with it. And that won’t be DeSantis or Hawley or Cruz or Scott or Crenshaw or Cotton or Lee. I don’t think Trump himself would endorse a candidate who would actually be willing to do what needs to be done.
I don’t know who it’s going to be, probably someone we’ve never heard of, but it’s going to have to be someone absolutely fearless. But if he does it and succeeds, he will be hailed as a new George Washington.
AS, perceptive words. I just listened to a long (2 hr) podcast on Tim Pool, the guest was Steve Bannon. It names names and kicks butt.
Here it is: https://youtu.be/DC1ND2coA9c I highly recommend it.
Many takeaways: I like especially the idea that we’re in a “Fourth Turning”. According to this narrative, every 80 years there’s a “Turning”, which is divided into twenty year increments. When the 80th year rolls around, things get chaotic. The people on top disappear and then nobodies ever heard of take center stage.
His example is the American Civil War. Before then, Abraham Lincoln was a corporate lawyer for the railroads, Robert E Lee was in San Antonio fighting Comanches, Ulysses S Grant was a failed businessman, and William T Sherman was a mentally unstable officer at some no-account post. Because of the secession, they all rose to top and ordered not only the direction of the war but of what came after it.
(My contribution: because of the failure of Reconstruction (which was horrible and punitive), it created a Southern consciousness which enabled the election of Woodrow Wilson, FDR and controlled the Congress up until the 1960s.)
In some sense I really appreciate Biden as president. If we had a smooth talking Bill Clinton type as president, it wouldn’t fit the times. When the president gets up on a stage and says, “Do I talk now?” or, “You indians are really taking over the country,” I think, Yeah, that’s about where we are as a nation.
Is that a bad thing?
Elections as a path to correction are over. We learned with Trunk that you can’t replace the head of a snake. The solution is secession. I would favor an Ozark coalition of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
And it’s well proven that about 40% of voters will vote Democrat no matter what. It’s the blind faith of the liberalism cult, which is what they accuse their Christian parents of. The ones my age are especially scary.
Democracy has failed every time it’s been tried.
It’s going to revolution. These are the machinations of civilization. Democracy and free speech is just a social contract. Once that’s removed, it’s back to warlords fighting for power.
Those in power think they can use brute force and economics to suppress the impending revolution, but they just lost a war to cavemen in sandals.
I only blame him for the children he raped.
More than that, the responsibility lies with the Republican Party. They had a mandate from their voters, and they did everything possible to subvert it. The Democrats have only acted like you would expect Democrats to act. Blame the Republicans and never vote again.
AM,
While I agree with most of what you said, I would suggest that people only vote for MAGA candidates, not simply Republicans. For example, I would vote for a Rand Paul but not for a Mitch McConnell. The litmus test is Trump. Are they at least radical enough to have stuck with him through the 1/6 Reichstag false flag? If so, that’s good enough. If not, take the train. Having an (R) next to your name is not enough. No guarantees. Having a (D) means (Devil) and you’re out of the running.
They could not have stolen 2020 without the help of non-MAGA Republicans.
The voting system has failed. They’ll just rig the next election. If you vote, then you’re a collaborator with the system. Staying home gives a vote of no confidence. If only 20% show up to the polls, then they can’t say that the people have chosen.
I have to say I agree.
That’s why I can’t forgive Trump for his failure to go scorched-earth like they thought he would. He had one opportunity, and they will never let an effective MAGA person into office. Not through an election, anyway.
What Trump did in 2016 was amazing, and they can’t take that away from us. If for no other reason we should remain grateful for that.
But ever since last December he’s been worse than useless.
He was betrayed by disloyal conservatives and RINO’s in his own party, otherwise the Steal never would have stuck. He probably couldn’t count on the military even if he wanted to seize power. When Pence failed him on 1/6 and the Dems staged the “insurrection”, his hands were tied and he just had to retreat.
Now there are four dead marines, and many others, in Kabul thanks to Biden. Two explosions occurred, probably due to ISIS suicide bombers. Now it’s getting very real. Make the Dems own it. This withdrawal of troops first sure as hell didn’t come from Trump or the Republicans.
Misha says, “Make the Dems own it.”
That’s all well and good, but let’s not kid ourselves: the Never Trumpers own this as well. And it’s all because he rained on the parades of their major donors, foreign and domestic.
The seemingly irrational hatred of Trump is not irrational at all (except for the crazies on the Left). It is, and always has been, about money.
Agreed, Brian,
I’ve spent the last two days listening to ex-military who know the area and what is going on there. As of this post, it’s more than four, maybe 10-11 US military plus some unknown number of civilians killed by two IED’s and coordinated gunfire.
Evac is done. The gates are being welded shut. At least 1,500, but probably many, many more Americans and God knows how many Afghan collaborators – abandoned, save for private extractors.
Eric Prince is a private contractor attempting to help. He has to charge for his services because there’s no way to obtain insurance for aircraft going into Kabul. Jen Psaki said anyone profiting off of this lacks a soul when asked about his activities.
Prince is a hero. He can’t afford the bill for rescue missions but he can do what he can if he is financed. The Biden Regime will not lift a finger when they can literally print money.
Despicable. That goes for all the Dems and all the Never Trumpers who enabled his removal from office.
Never forget, never forgive them. And never empower them again.
We must also remember that our military is sodomized, feminized and trannified as well. These are truly stupid ideologies which have no contact with reality.
The entire libertine, egalitarian ethos of America –from Hollywood to the Media, to the military, to the universities–must be ground to the dust if we are to have any chance of recovering the American nation.
And feminism. The Church needs to promote a strong teaching against all kinds of feminism, even the supposedly benign kinds.
2016 wasn’t supposed to happen like it did. It truly was miraculous. The DS, instead of reassessing their fetid, putrid ideologies, did what they could to make sure it didn’t happen again.
Jimmy Dore is right.
Donald Trump might not have been elected in 2016 if his opponent wasn’t the much hated Hillary Clinton and his immediate predecessor wasn’t a well educated, highly intelligent and eloquent black man who dared to come out of the fields into the house.
“Democracy has failed every time it’s been tried.”
In this case, it could be argued that the Republic itself has failed;
or (channelling Franklin) that Americans have failed to keep it.
It may be a Caesar who comes next;
but it may perhaps be a Marius,
or (worse for some) a Sulla.
Great piece – thanks for writing, Misha.
But a question for all: How can we have faith in our electoral process anymore? If the fix is in, why should anyone expect these gangsters and incompetents to be voted out in 2022? Why shouldn’t we expect Kamala Harris to win in 2024 “in a landslide?”
Can’t they just fix the books to result in the election victories that they want? They did it in 2020 – no way Biden won, any fool knows that. What’s stopping them from doing it again? As Misha outlines, the spineless R’s will do nothing; they actively want the “establishment” to stay in power.
FTS,
It’s probably a mistake to view the Republican Party as a monolith; i.e., as one thing. You have at least three factions: a) true RINO’s like Romney and Murkowski who are Democrats in all but name. They are disloyal centrists and lack any serious conservatism. b) Goldwater/Bush conservatives who are like Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell. They try to adhere to some type of Reagan-esque conservatism but cannot abide Trump, America First, tariffs, big spending, closed borders and hostility to outsourcing jobs. c) MAGA Republicans who are America First, bringing the troops home in an orderly fashion and charging our allies for the cost of protecting them; Fair Trade, correcting trade imbalances with tariffs if necessary; penalizing outsourcing of jobs; generous on real infrastructure spending as opposed to libertarian economics, etc.
MAGA policies are simply Classical Conservativism Redux, the old philosophy of the Christian monarchy without the monarchy. Classical Conservatism was always protectionist, semi-isolationist/nationalist and antithetical to libertarian economics of “the best government is the one which governs the least”. The king’s largesse was used to support and stabilize a decent civil society – but not with any perfectionist, utopian “progress” in mind but rather charity and public welfare.
At long last after all the “isms”, Trumpism and MAGA are really a return to the perennial governing philosophy that preceded the Enlightenment. It is not a complete return, of course. Dominant party politics with one party in control of the executive and legislative branch is not a monarchy. But it is quasi-monarchial in that with this abandonment of the two party system you rid yourself of the schizophrenia inherent in the system pre-Trump. That schizophrenia produced the Fall of Saigon debacle, the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the Obama scandals and now the Afghan Hostage Crisis.
Both the neo-con nightmare and the Samantha Powers (the princess of leftist humanitarian intervention) delusion must die a terrible death and hopefully that is what we are witnessing.
As time goes on, I feel like I understand all this stuff less and less. Maybe I should just be quiet and pray for all y’all.
No, that’s not the answer. Ask questions!!! We’ll help you come up to speed.
Ok Gail, well how about this question. Do you wanna take a stab at this issue about voting? Seems like many of us are asking this question: if the system is rigged, if the left stole the last election, in front of all of us, why should we bother standing in line to vote the next time? Why should we believe our vote will count for anything?
Sure.
1. Choose a single secret, centralized location for processing all ballots across the country.
2. Block Internet access to the location except for incoming ballots.
3. Standardize the format of the ballots across states.
4. Assign a unique ID to each ballot. (First two characters should be the state ID.)
5. Run ballots through the system twice to ensure the totals are lining up. Investigate and resolve errors.
6. Scan ballot fields for duplicates.
7. Use something like SunGard’s iWorks Macess to reroute ballots that cannot be processed cleanly to the an auditor for manual processing.
8. Assign third-party auditors to handle each type of error. For example, one group of auditors could manage and resubmit duplicate ballots.
9. Establish procedures for validating counts.
10. Set expectations with regard to how long an auditor has before s/he must reenter the ballot correctly.
10. Set expectations for the states regarding cutoff points for the submission of ballots.
Not too hard. But then I’m an IT Project Manager. 😉
What if they just counted ballots by hand, out in the open, in high school gymnasiums, with observers from every party and the media standing around? That’s how they do it in the UK and most civilized countries.
Any introduction of technology into the voting process creates potential for fraud. It requires trust and there is none.
The only exception might be if they could use open source blockchain technology, which is both transparent and far too complex to rig. (But I’d rather just do it by hand.)
Too many hands. This is what you want to avoid.
Misha,
Ok, very reasonable about the R’s not being monolithic.
But what about the election fixing issue? As long as the commie totalitarian leftists control ballot counting, what’s stopping them from fixing any election to the result they want? This is the prime issue that makes it disenheartening to fight.
FTS,
Absolutely! As I write this comment, my other comment hasn’t been posted yet but I was on the same wavelength.
Seems as if we are a typical dysfunctional family.
When it comes to the inevitably of revolution, especially from the right, I’ll believe it when I see it. They seem too idiotic or timid to actually get up and do anything. We’re in the boiling pot, and I think things would have to get MANY degrees worse before real revolution has a chance of happening.
The same goes for getting any righty back in the WH. Why should I believe that will happen anytime soon? The left stole one election. They’ll keep stealing. They’re effing up the country, Joe is Denny Crane nuts and Harris is Joker nuts and therefore both are totally unelectable on their own. DeSantis would eat either one for breakfast. The left will steal 2024, no doubt. If Christ doesn’t return beforehand, and I end up being wrong, I will gladly admit it.
“Democracy has failed every time it’s been tried.”
Everything has failed every time it’s been tried. Such is the nature of creation in time. The USA has survived as long as it has precisely because it is not a democracy, but has some democratic elements with strong controls. Democracies work fine on a small scale, but even better are consensus systems. People have said that the US system of government owes much to the Iroquois. I can’t help but wish thin were true. Government would be much slower, but the buy in would be much stronger.
“War chiefs” replaced sachems because the Haudenosaunee had to make quick decisions. Consensus building took too long.
“Can’t they just fix the books to result in the election victories that they want? They did it in 2020 – no way Biden won, any fool knows that. What’s stopping them from doing it again?”
The only thing that matters are the damned “vaccines.” I wouldn’t even count on there being 2022 elections. I wouldn’t be surprised if the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA invited the Chinese military in once the people resist enough.
Dr. Malone: Phizer still Under EUA and Waiver. Comirnaty is Fully Approved, Not Currently Available, Not identical to Phizer, no immunity waiver.
https://zbbb278hfll091.bitchute.com/57ESkCz0iIQh/DZQFYRGDkB6s.mp4
Issuing two letters on Monday, the FDA actually extended the EUA for the Pfizer vaccine while granting approval to a different vaccine called “Comirnaty” which does not exist in the marketplace and isn’t even in production.
Through carefully crafted weasel words, the FDA has attempted to conflate the two vaccines to try to gaslight America into thinking the Pfizer covid vaccine now has full approval, all while making sure Pfizer still has legal immunity under the EUA for all the injuries and deaths caused by its vaccine. The media has played along, fraudulently reporting that the Pfizer vaccine now has “full approval” even though no such thing actually occurred.
Doctor Reveals Pfizer Insert Proves Criminal Regulation Violations.
https://seed171.bitchute.com/2m4a3NgD19fe/TLWqSgj5SIZG.mp4
Here’s another good one from American Thinker:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/08/bidenstein.html
“What Biden’s all too clever handlers never seem to have considered is the fact that, once in office, he would still be free to run foreign policy — potentially making decisions so misguided as to jeopardize all the domestic goals they had been working toward. Nor did they apparently imagine that, when questioned about some obvious international slip-up by the likes of George Stephanopoulos, Biden would stiffen with a stubbornness reminiscent of…well, a defiant Boris Karloff in a monster suit.”
The so called Trump supporters write nice stuff. But what are they doing to take back our country? Unless the election fraud is corrected we have no country. Furthermore, all Trump supporters will be vaxxed to death or sent to camps. Adios! C’est la vie!
How many Trump lovers are on the phone and writing letters or visiting their legislature? Baa. Baa.
Several people have brought up an excellent point that bears repeating:
If we don’t have election reform and set up some type of monitoring to make sure that The Steal never happens again, then we’re just spinning our wheels with the rest of it. That’s the sine qua non of the whole endeavor. And what makes that election reform ever more likely are the full forensic audits being conducted in Arizona and set to begin in several other states. We need them in all fifty states.
When it becomes clear and undeniable that there was massive fraud based on the results from these audits, then election reform will get the teeth and claws necessary to tear into the Democratic Party.
Without that, we’re just watching the early months of Soviet America.
Trump must have seen how narrowly he squeaked into office, and the GOP had control for 2 years. Election reform should have been priority #1, but they wasted their time on tax reform for (wealthy donors) and made a big show of shutting down the government with no actual outcome.
I know it was forced by RINOs, but that’s no excuse. The GOP big tent has proven to be a failure, because the RINO wing always wins. What benefit is there for the MAGA wing to even be in that party? Why didn’t MAGA Republicans resign from the GOP on November 3 and start a new party? Because they’re more scared of losing without that fat elephant logo than of failing the country.
In 2020 my city got its first Democrat mayor in decades, and he has wasted no time in pushing his policies through the Republican-controlled city council. Republicans are worthless. I for one am not going to dignify the GOP with my vote, no matter how good the candidate is.
The years of 2016-2020 had so many missed opportunities, it was a waste. Republicans are complicit in dragging their feet and going along to get along, and that goes for the MAGA Republicans too.
Remember this oldie but goodie here on monomakhos.com on November 10, 2016?
https://www.monomakhos.com/saving-the-american-republic/
Alas, even after four years of President Trump, we, the American people, did not “Earn this.”
I fear that we shall now reap the whirlwind.
Absolutely.
One of the big problems is that these psychotic control-freak leftists who currently run western governments, culture, media, most corporations etc. – they play to win.
The rest of us largely play to be left alone or to be guided by clear data.
Until we realize that we also have to play to win, we will likely continue to be the losers.
We often naïvely think that when presented with the data, that’s all we need to gain the upper hand. Not any more.
When one ruled by irrationality – whether with the vote audits, with Australia’s new covid concentration camps, our incompetence in Afghanistan, the control-freak governor of Oregon, brandishing Larry Elder as a “black white supremacist” (!) – once you’re ruled by irrationality, you can’t fight that with rationality or clear data.
They don’t care about data about masking your 2 year old outside. They don’t care about data that the vaccines don’t prevent covid spread. They don’t care that “black white supremacists” don’t exist.
They want power. The idea that they’re swayed by data or rational arguments is dated and grossly naïve.
Until we really grasp this concept and play to win like they do, we’ll always be dominated.
I did not finish reading this article, nor the comments. Like many others in blogs hither and yon, far and wide I read same-‘ol, same-‘ol. The wringing of hands, the voices crying to heaven. Wash, rinse, repeat. Woulda, coulda, shoulda….didn’t.
This isn’t new, it’s typical. Everyone is too comfortable and well fed, entertained and distracted to get off their rear ends and do anything – for how many years ?
The only time anyone – might – do anything is when mothers are out in the streets protesting and throwing stuff because their babies are hungry.
When will people get motivated ? when they are shivering in the C-VAX reeducation/indoctrination camps ? When you need a cert to even visit the out-house ?
I, for one, have a plan known but to myself and God, my General.
In God We Trust – all others are suspect.
Get crackin’ people ! make a plan, get organized because no one – especially the .gov – is coming to save you. God saves those who save themselves – not sit about and whine.
George and I, as well as our guests on the blog, have been down in the trenches for years now. Feel free to join us.
It’s worth noting that we are in a war. There are three competing forces:
1. Islam
2. Secularism – including the American Establishment, both Democrat and Republican and China
3. Christendom – including Russia, Serbia, et al., perhaps TradCaths and conservative evangelicals
Establishment Republicans, let alone Democrats, are our enemies every bit as much as the Muslims or the CCP. They are our neighbors and they are mortal enemies. It is a paradox because we are not free to take up arms against them for strategic and tactical reasons, but they are full enemies nonetheless. They would allow and enable a police state in America in which we Christians are persecuted and oppressed.
The Democrats and their allies are beneath contempt and should be ostracized by any practical means. You would not dine with Nazis or Bolsheviks, neither should you shake the hand of a Democrat or even Establishment Republicans or give them the time of day.
War.
These are the dark, murky times before it goes full kinetic, if it is to do so.
Speaking for myself, we will never get out of the trenches. Unless we can take the hill and plant the flag.
With all due respect….
There’s a plan ? Are there organized groups that can defend themselves when the time comes ?
Has anyone assessed the potential threats and how to neutralize them ?
Trench warfare died with WWI. Tomorrows warfare will be beyond asymmetrical or 4GW.
The greatest warfare is for the preservation of our souls and that conflict is here and now and about to be dialed up past maximum.
All I’m saying is, if you vote, vote MAGA. Enable them to take over the Republican Party not only from the RINO’s but from those conservative Republicans who are not radical enough to participate in the revolt to overthrow the Democratic led Establishment.
But bear in mind, I’m a monarchist. A dominant party apparatus under one party Republican/Patriot/MAGA would be acceptable to me. But ideally, someone will arise and seize power like Franco in pre-war Spain. I had hoped and prayed that Trump was just such a character but alas, I must agree, this is likely not the case.
However, I will say this. Biden is actually giving Trump the room he needs in a potential second term to act as more of a regent than president. Biden has pushed the envelope even further with his rule by executive order, his disregard of the courts regarding such things as the eviction moratorium and border and, lastly, his utter botching of the Afghanistan matter. Trump has much more room to work now than pre-Biden.
It could be Trump. It could be DeSantis. Perhaps others.
But it is indisputable that the nation is now governed by fascists who have no intention of relinquishing power if they can help it. However, I will not assist them in their establishment of a police state by not voting for MAGA candidates. If there is a hope, besides direct divine intervention, then that is it.
Consider also the Curse that seems to be settling over the Biden Regime. One should not raise one’s hand against the Lord’s anointed. King David refused to assault Saul directly because Saul had been chosen by God and it was up to God to deal with him. Same with Trump.
Trump was our Cyrus, so to speak. Stealing the election and deposing him seems to have offended God. Since Biden took over, his regime has sailed from debacle to debacle: Covid follies, inflation, the border, crime and now Afghanistan – plagues from the Almighty. Perhaps that is why it all seems so outlandish and unconscionable to us. These are debacles of epic proportions. Likely more to come.
Brian, while the RINO/cucks/never Trumpers deserve a special place in hell, the fact remains that we have a binary political system. (I realize it’s more complex than that but there it is.) As such, the Dems own this debacle. It happened on their watch.
I realize of course that the rot is both deep and wide but Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan was in Brazil two weeks ago, lecturing President Balsinaro on proper voting techniques. To think for even a millisecond, a nanosecond, that that’s the purview of a NSD means that things are so bad on the left side of the aisle that nothing less than a good old-fashioned horsewhipping will do any good.
My point here, George, is that the Republicans would like nothing more than for the Democrats to “own” this whereas they (or at least the vast majority of them) are equally responsible for the demise of our republic.
It basically boils down to a fight over who holds the purse strings and who gets to dole out the cash. And that purse is either our money or our debt, primarily the latter.
“In the 20 years since September 11, 2001, the United States has spent more than $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan. That’s $300 million dollars per day, every day, for two decades. Or $50,000 for each of Afghanistan’s 40 million people.”
That 2 trillion went to to a great many political cronies and/or the constituents of congressman in whose districts they are located. As we listen to all the criticism (deserved though it is) of the manner of Biden’s pull out we ought to bear this in mind.
All I am saying is that many, if not most, of the very politicians who are now pretending to be on “our side” are mostly frauds who care nothing about “democracy and freedom.” Their rhetoric is almost entirely fake. It is all about the money.
…and don’t get me wrong. The democrats do deserve to own this. Just don’t be too quick to assume that all the Republicans who are vehement in their criticism of Biden’s bungling are our friends. It was, remember, Trump who wanted us out (and rightfully so), and most of them gleefully threw him under the bus “to save our democracy” (Hee-hee). Whether it is China or Afghanistan (or Mexico or…) or the “great economic principal of free and fair trade” (Ha-ha!), or immigration (“America has always welcomed and valued the contributions of immigrants.” Ho-ho!), the ‘establishment,’ Republican or Democrat, cannot abide anyone who stands between them and their respective cash cows.
Like him or not, Trump was that man in our time, and though he bore the label, one could hardly call him a Republican in the traditional sense of the word. The party hated him; but they capitalized on his popularity, claimed his successes as their own, and then dumped him at their first opportunity.
One more thing. Folks can say that he was obnoxious (at least in his public persona), and I wouldn’t disagree. People can disagree with his policies (I certainly did on occasion). But everything – and I do mean everything – else they said about him was a boldface lie.
I agree with your assessment Misha.
Mind you, I am not an optimist, instead I’m a brutal realist. Biden is the end-stage of liberalism (the bastardized variant, not the Jeffersonian one). The present state of affairs cannot go on, hence it’s inevitable collapse.
Afghanistan is simply the manifestation of this on the foreign stage. As long as we’re able, it behooves us to vote for MAGA/America-firsters, especially on the local level.
True story: last night, the Tulsa City Council (6 Dems, 3 GOP, 1 RINO mayor) were disputing whether to issue a mask mandate. In their heart of hearts, the liberals wanted not only mask mandates but mandatory vaccinations. Even in their stupendous stupidity, they realized that that wasn’t possible so they went and passed a “Mask Recommendation”.
All politics is local.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Qv6oBlbV0
This video by Dr. Steve Turley is well worth a listen. The title concerns the recent suicide bombing in Kabul, however, it is much deeper than that. He goes into how this is the death of U.S/Brussels led globalism.
He also touches on how China is now leading the way in a Beijing-based globalism.
Petros,
I have been resisting this interpretation, but I’m starting to hear it floated by serious people that the whole Afghanistan fiasco is on Chinese orders.
So far I’ve resisted this conjecture but I have to admit it is demoralizing to the US military and civilian population, it gets rid of Bagram Airbase and it alienates our allies at the same time as emboldening our enemies. If a foreign power had done this, it would be an act of war and if we are discounting senility and following strict cui bono inquiry, you have to say that China (and Russia, btw) are the biggest beneficiaries of this travesty.
In a sense, this is a more comforting thought than Biden as random events generator. If the Chinese believed that the Democrats’ position was unchallengeable in the US, they might have ordered this. You have to assume you’ll have calls, possibly eventually bipartisan calls, for removal. But if Democrat congressional leadership were in on it, and Pelosi seems to be fully enabling this, the Chinese may calculate that Biden can get away with this self inflicted wound on America and it won’t cost him anything of usable value.
I’m still not fully persuaded, it’s so outlandish, but it’s certainly possible.
I’ve conjenctured this myself, Misha.
Although I cannot discount East Coast Yankee stupidity, I’m perfectly willing to posit that the Chinese believe that the American body politic is paralyzed and cannot remove Biden because of certain structural impediments (e.g. Pelosi). If so, this was a risk that the Chinese were willing to take. I believe they will succeed.
Let’s be honest: Kamala is toxic. To everybody. She’s the best insurance policy that Biden could have.
But what if the GOP wins the Congress in 2022? That’d be even more acceptable to the Chinese as there would be a paralyzed govt.
In order to effect this, they probably made a deal with the MIC to not invade Taiwan for the near future.
However, look to see if they get rid of Kamala. Then I’d have to revisit this scenario.
George,
The rational play would be to have Biden serve Chinese interests in a way that was not offensive to the American people and which would help facilitate Democrats retaining control of Congress in 2022 and the presidency in 2024. The Chinese tend to take the long view and eschew ephemeral gains in favor of carefully constructed longer term strategies.
This is what you’d do if you want the Dems to lose Congress in 2022 and the presidency in 2024, and beyond. It could encumber the Democratic Party, the main Chinese cash cow, for decades. Were there a national crackdown into a police state – maybe. But as it stands, this is globalist suicide. Red states are getting more independent by the day. Biden’s poll numbers are looking in vain for a floor and the DNCCP is becoming the object of ridicule.
Now, it may be that, broadly speaking, the Chinese are behind the precipitous drawdown and the decision to abandon Bagram Airbase. But I’m still skeptical that they insisted on pulling our troops out first in order to create this mess. I’m not sure anyone is that clever, nor do I think they are immune from negative consequences from this. In terms of political capital, this leaves their guy dead in the water for the duration.
Fifteen hundred Americans left behind is bs, for the reasons stated below:
Number of Americans
Could be thousands more, could be tens of thousands more.
” That being said, the damage to American stature and credibility will be immense. The Chinese are openly warning the Taiwanese now that they will shortly invade and America will not defend them. Neither will Russia be deterred from any further territorial expansion by this debacle. The Europeans are utterly up in arms and the British parliament actually voted to hold the Biden Regime in contempt. This is unheard of. British and French forces have begun operations to extract their nationals yet America is sitting on its hands. ”
So how is any of this bad for real Americans here at home? America hasn’t lost “stature and credibility,” our anti-national, anti-Christian Woke “elites” have. Good. Long overdue.
Jim, in a better world, you’d be 100% correct. All right-thinking people despise our garbage elites. From Bernie Sanders on the left to Liz Cheney on the right and all points in between.
Unfortunately, we are saddled with these bozos for the foreseeable future. Until we can sever ourselves from these malefactors and get the America First program completely up and running, their incompetence will afflict us.
Jim, in retrospect, I’ve given this more thought. If we choose to view Kabul as a watershed moment, in which the old Wilsonian paradigm is ground to dust, then of course you’d be right. It wouldn’t mean a tinker’s damn what the recent events portend.
My assessment was written not from a political ideology (Jacksonian/neo-isolationism) but from a historical perspective. However we get out of it, this was a major military, diplomatic and political humiliation of the first water. Like if I was to write about the Fourth Crusade and what it meant for the Byzantine state.
George,
It seems now that some Republicans are throwing Biden a lifeline in calling for the impeachment of Sec of State Blinken. They say that State directed this fiasco and they’re willing to plant the buck there. The bet, I take it, is that though it is politically impractical to impeach Biden that it is at least possible to impeach Blinken and rather than that, Biden will can him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdo_r4auUx8
Typical Potomac two step. Same old bs.
True. But that’s no reason to take the bait that the Taliban, ISIS (who created them?), the heathen Chinee, the Eye-ranians, etc etc etc are going to come here and steal our vital bodily fluids if we give up “fighting them over there so we don’t fight them here.” It’s deflection, just another version of Russia! Russia! Russia!
It’s not the Taliban, the Chinese, the Russians, Iranians, etc who are forcing us to get masked and vaxxed, LGBT-propagandizing our kids, censoring us on social media, and hunting down mythical “insurrectionists,” “white supremacists,” whoever. Unless and until we get rid of those whom you correctly call malefactors, all talk of “our” credibility abroad is really “their” credibility.
Does that mean all these foreign actors are warm and cuddly? Of course not. But none of them is a real and present danger to us. Any claim that they are is just another iteration of Charlie Brown’s kicking the football. How many times will we fall for it?
Alas, Jim, neither our allies nor our enemies make any firm distinction between the American factions. What this means is that our stature, even if MAGA takes power, is deeply affected and no one, friend or foe, will trust or fear us for the foreseeable future, MAGA or commie, until we elect another Man as commander and chief and he puts hair on the wall as an object lesson.
Until then, we’re all tarred as p*ssies by this senile, callous idiot.
Don’t get me wrong. What is bad for the Davos crowd and the American Establishment is good in a way for Christian Nationalists. Despite the loss of life and national prestige (and it is real, never before has the UK voted to hold us in contempt), we are out of the business of regime change and nation building.
And as someone who is sympathetic to Russian national interests, this certainly helps drive a wedge between us and the EU and is causing them to turn east for security and energy arrangements since they know they cannot trust America as protector/benefactor anymore. Additionally, the Zelensky govt in the Ukraine must be shaking in their boots. If America is in cut and run mode for the next three years, that’s a three year window for them to lose territorial integrity to Russia.
It is probably long overdue that Christian Nationalists forge ” Our Own Thing”; i.e., our own tribal gang or gangs which rule territory and members like a Black Hand and deal with other gangs like local police, state police, FBI, ATF, DS, etc. on the basis of either mutual respect, low level hostility or full scale warfare. What I mean is, we need to create our own sovereign association and disregard “America”, “the West”, “the State of X”, etc., or any other alleged source of legal or moral authority (besides the Church).
“The three most ancient opinions about God are atheism (or anarchy), polytheism (or polyarchy), and monotheism (or monarchy). The children of Greece played with the first two; let us leave them to their games. For anarchy is disorder: and polyarchy implies factious division, and therefore anarchy and disorder. Both these lead in the same direction – to disorder; and disorder leads to disintegration; for disorder is the prelude to disintegration. What we honour is monarchy…” – St. Gregory the Theologian
This is what the Church Fathers said democracy (polyarchy) would reduce itself to: anarchy. There is no reason to pretend that the current culture and appearance of rule of law are anything other than an unstable equilibrium of the above mentioned warring gangs. This does not mean, for example, that we cannot side with whomever the MAGA candidates are in 2022 or 2024. That is a personal choice for those who are so inclined. But it should be clear that neither Trump nor any MAGA type on the scene has the prowess or mojo to put down these monsters. We have no Beowulf apparent.
This is how mafias are born, when other seemingly more “respectable” sources of sovereignty, and thus security, collapse and fail miserably. This is what I mean by independently organizing. But I do not suggest we engage in illicit activities like prostitution or drug dealing, just form a security subculture. I will not say anymore in print online but there are militias being organized around the country and probably other organizations in response to the vacuum created by the weakness of all of our elites (Trump included) across the board.
The key to this type of organization is collective retaliation. When one member or subgroup is attacked, other members or the greater group take it upon themselves, without any inkling of direction from the victim, to retaliate effectively. This creates fear/respect. Ask the IRA.
It is time to declare our ultimate political independence, if we have not already, and reorganize in bodies that serve our interests. In creating our own sovereign culture we can obviate the need to overthrow the government and simply reduce it to relative insignificance, a tactical consideration like the weather.
Gail and I personally recoil from the idea of violence. We certainly don’t recommend it.
George and Gail are in good company in this regard,
Matthew 5:44
Matthew 26:52
And yes, I am aware that governments in this world bear the sword and are thus ‘exempt’ (as it were). But the Kingdom to which which we are subject is not of this world.
Luke 22:36
and
Revelation 19:16-18
Christ was no pacifist. As I have attempted to convey on many occasions, protests to the contrary are simply Marcionite. It is not that you can’t find passages where it seems that Christ countenances pacifism. It is that you can find so very many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that assume that righteous violence is normative.
Violence is the currency of power. Forsaking violence is embracing your own slavery. Christ said a number of things in the context of Roman occupation which He would not have said to free Israelites. We know this because Christ is God and God did most certainly order the Israelites to undertake violence, sometimes unspeakable violence by modern norms, in the Old Testament period.
Misha: ‘…form a security subculture.’
Macbeth: ‘To be thus is nothing but to be safely thus.’ [Macbeth: Act 3, Sc. 1.]
Hecate: ‘…security is mortals’ chiefest enemy.’ [Macbeth: Act 3, Sc. 5.]
Security subcultures spawn serial killers.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
This is about the closest you can get to Fedposting without actually Fedposting. Be careful with what you write, at least for George and Gail’s sake.
Yeah, I’m letting it go. The truth is if Americans have the guts to take action as our founding fathers did, then they will. If not, they do not deserve liberty.
Thank you, Basil.
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, neither Gail nor I (nor anybody else on this blog) advocates violence. At any rate, it’s us normies, e.g. people like Ashli Babbit, who are being subjected to it.
One thing I will say for Biden, if he were consciously trying to destroy the Democratic Party, he couldn’t do a better job than this.
Let the big dog run.
Both Eyes are wide Open.
The Lord shall give strength to His people; the Lord shall bless His people with peace.
I take the Christian in “Christian Nationalism” most seriously but I agree with much you write. The American Republic is already dead. Good riddance. But something else is emerging. To me, Christian Nationalism is really another way of expressing symphonia, the traditional Orthodox paradigm for church state relations. A true monarchy is untenable in the near term due to the cultural depravity of the white 1776 culture. However, a dominant, single party government like that of Russia, Hungary, post war Japan, etc, is certainly feasible, perhaps inevitable.
The indisputable fact is that the Democrat Party refuses to share power with the Republicans anymore. Again, thank God. The Republicans were too beta to come to that intolerant inevitability on their own. Having now beheld the Democrat Monster in all its ugly evil, the Republicans can now retake power, either by election or any other means necessary, and lock out the Dems or lose permanently. Either way the republic is dead.
Really, either way you’re heading for an authoritarian, right wing government. The Left is too unstable and incompetent to hold onto a police state, which us what they’d have to establish to win. Even if they get something up and running, it would be short lived. They can’t even lose a war in a graceful retreat.
Pathetic.
I see the wave in Europe coming west from Russia and am increasingly convinced it’s inevitable. It just has to play itself out. It is a sign of the times.
If I may add Misha, one of the defects of Orthodoxy in America is our intense nationalism of the immigrant variety. It has hampered us immensely. Having said that, one reason Orthodoxy survived in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East, was precisely because of nationalism.
Of course, we should never raise the state above the Church but we can’t forget that the Church needs the culture just as much as the culture needs the Church.
George,
Though I am partly Russian on my mother’s side, I was an Anglican before becoming Orthodox. One of the main reasons I converted to Orthodoxy, aside from the apparent truth of its faith claims, was that the center of Orthodoxy is not in the West, but rather the East. I had seen the Episcopal Church apostatize. The Roman Church was apostatizing before my eyes. So I looked at American/Western culture as an acid which destroys Christian faith.
Thus, a faith that is centered elsewhere and is subject to a culture other than American or Western culture seemed like a more secure place for my soul. Were my proclivities otherwise, it could have been Islam, Sikhism, or some other faith foreign to the West. And I maintain that, viewed from a certain perspective, Orthodoxy is actually an Eastern faith rather than a Western one like Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, etc.
This is why I have never had any use for the idea of an “American Orthodox Church”. To the extent that Orthodoxy becomes American, it is ruined. It’s an equation. We need not debate it. For example, the ethnic group most consciously obsessed with appearing American while still maintaining their ethnic identity are the Greeks. Consequently, their churches are largely Byzantine Catholic. Shortened liturgies, pews, no head coverings for women, etc. But you can say that to varying extents about all the modernists. I’m told Antiochian women, for example, don’t cover their heads in order to differentiate the church from Islam.
Utter bs.
If you want something that is culturally American and yet traditionally Orthodox, then maintain all of the practices the Orthodox observed for 19 centuries, translate the services into respectable English and let the women wear bonnets in the colonial style while they stand in worship like our colonial forebearers.
That’s as American as it gets. The rest of it is nonsense. But no modernists are interested in doing it that way. “American” is the fetish. But pews are not American, they are Protestant. Even the Catholics didn’t have them until fairly late in the game. Women not covering their heads is not American, it is modern feminism. Look at older American movies. Women used to cover their heads in church in America. It’s in the Bible for Christ’s sake.
All this, “Down with foreign ties!” is utter nonsense. It’s a gimmick to protect modernism. The Orthodox that come the closest to the picture I painted above would be the Russian Church Abroad. Language usage is dependent on the ethnicity and understanding of the laity present. I’ve visited convert parishes where only English was used and laity would not have recognized terms like “Bogoroditsa” or “Spasitel'”.
If we were to follow the previous pattern in carrying Orthodoxy forward in the West, we would be forging an English Orthodox Church for the English speaking world who are the heirs of the British Empire. That is our real culture. It would cover North America, the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. It would look pretty much like that convert ROCOR parish except the name on the door would be “English Orthodox Church”.
I’m not holding my breath.
Absolutely correct, Misha.
I would add that Christianity is most definitely an Eastern faith – no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Buddhists don’t have the market cornered on meditational practices. Christianity (properly practiced) is very “Eastern” in appearance. Even traditional Roman Catholic worship including Gregorian chant is very “Eastern” in practice.
The West — mostly via the protestant reformation — invented an entirely new faith in Western/Protestant Christianity. The reason that it bears so little (if any) resemblance to the traditional Orthodox faith is that it’s a new faith altogether — which is why we Orthodox look on protestantism as so incredibly bizarre and why they look at us as so incredibly bizarre. We are not “branches” of the same faith. We’re different faiths altogether.
This is not to say that protestants are bad people; they are not. However, the American prostestant cultural view that “basic Christianity” resembles a Baptist Bible study couldn’t be more wrong. “Basic Christianity” is what one finds in an Orthodox Church in Bucharest or in the St Herman Monastery in Platina, California.
That’s the truth, and there’s no need for us to be ashamed to state it.
Your concept of an English-language missionary Orthodox Church encompassing the lands of the former British Empire in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand is very much what Fr Andrew Phillips has written about in the past. This is what ROCOR is becoming — the English-language missionary arm of Christ’s Church. In the years to come, it seems that Orthodox churches in the West will need choose to either join her in her mission or to formally apostasize, as many of the Istanbul-associated churches have done.
FTS,
You can explain the entire faith in Eastern terms by simply stating that Christ is the Avatar of God and theosis is our nirvana or moksha. A Hindu, Buddhist or Jain would understand you quite clearly. They might not agree with you, but the concepts involved are completely familiar to them.
They may think the concepts are familiar, but a triune God would completely baffle them. Muslims use this tactic when they try to convert. They tell you everything about Islam that matches Christianity (sort of) and for those who only marginally understand Christianity, it all seems to fit.
Freemasonry is the deistic end-state of Protestantism and it fits in rather nicely with Islam. That’s why it’s so popular with both Muslims and Protestants. (In fact, the whole Shrine thing is overtly Islamic.)
If you think of things in macro terms (as I like to do), Protestantism is the synthesis between Latin Christendom and Islam. It’s what came out of the meeting of those two civilizations during the Crusades.
Gail,
Hindus believe in a triune God: Brahman (the World Soul): Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu (and his avatar, Krishna). One is tempted actually to think that this is where Christians got the idea. However, their trinity includes a bad guy, Shiva, the Destroyer, and is cyclical rather than linear in its view of history.
My view is that God created the world in such a way that “parts of the Elephant” can be perceived in nature and that explains what the Eastern religions got right or how they approximate Christianity at times. The good in these faiths we can attribute to God’s graciousness; the evil to demons.
Muslims are unequivocal in their rejection of the Incarnation:
https://quran.com/112
It is one of the most famous chapters of the Quran. What is most useful is that Islam also has the concepts of God’s Word and Spirit. That is the avenue that St. Gregory Palamas took toward converting them.
RE: “The good in these faiths we can attribute to God’s graciousness; the evil to demons.”
I like it!
‘It would cover North America, the British Isles, Australia
and New Zealand…the name on the door would be “English Orthodox Church”.’
Not in Scotland, it wouldn’t…
Uill an uairsin, can gur e an Eaglais Cheilteach a th ’ann agus adhradh sa Ghàidhlig!
…or Scots!
Well said! I am personally fairly certain that we are on the verge of massive punishment. The crises over the last 20 years have been warnings, but our society does not heed, so I’m afraid Our Father is going to be left with no choice but to take up the belt.
I only pray he spares the faithful from the worst of it, but we know from history and scripture that the faithful generally suffer along with the rest of the society. Maybe even worse, when they demonically realize that it is divine retribution and so they retaliate against God’s people.
So if anyone is looking to his impending righteous chastisement as entertainment, like Jonah resting under the vine, don’t. The faithful are indeed partly to blame for the situation; we have gone along to get along. We gave up our role as (small-P) prophets and priests, one tiny concession at a time. We deserve what is coming, too. Lord, have mercy.
BEO, extremely wise words. I for one, cringe at what America (and the West) has become.
If I may add the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: “Individuals are judged in the next world, nations in this one” (paraphrase).
According to the Church Fathers (or Rabbinic sages, I can’t remember where I read this), humans have until their last breath to repent. That can take decades. Nations are only allotted a generation (~40 yrs) to do so.
The preeminent example of this was the Judean polity which was given 40 years to repent for the Crucifixion. The Romans wiped it out in AD 74, when Masada fell.
Brian, only in repentance. Want the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 3:2. At least pray for the grace to repent and embrace the Cross. The rest is irrelevant.
I am incapable of changing anyone but myself and even that took a gift of grace that is totally inexplicable.
Lord, Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner.
Yes, Michael.
As of today, there are no more American military forces in Afghanistan. There are, tragically, many Americans left and many Afghan collaborators left. Now the hostage crisis truly begins.
Do not let anyone tell you that this was anything other than a dishonorable disgrace which America will never live down.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say what I think happened in Afghanistan with Biden. But first, one thing that I have noticed over the years (and if you are bright, this may have really dawned on you) is how dull most people, including most politicians and military leaders, actually are. For most of my life I could not believe it and assumed that people actually had calculated motives for much of what they do. I projected my own intelligence onto them. Again, if you are bright, and you guys/galls know who you are, you could easily tell if someone was dull by average standards, but probably did not realize how high on the curve you actually are compared with most people with whom you come into contact.
Thus, assuming deep thought behind otherwise incomprehensible decisions may very well be unwarranted. It could just be incompetence, stupidity, senility, hubris, etc.
And this brings us to Afghanistan. Trump had a plan for withdrawal that Biden tore up, dismissing the conditions involved, including Taliban cooperation in a coalition government with the prior Afghan govt under al-Ghani. Biden assumed that the Afghan government would survive and that no evacuation of American civilians would be necessary. He also made the decision that, come hell or high water, our military would be out by today, in time for the 9/11 photo op. This is why he stupidly ordered the military out first. No evacuation of civilians with the Afghan National Govt still in control, therefore no need for military to leave last.
A host of decisions around this fit into the category of pro-CCP policy. Closing Bagram, a huge state of the art military facility 400 miles from the Chinese border; relying on Kabul airport, leaving all that hardware, etc. However, the flaw in all of this was removing American military support for the Afghan army precipitously which caused panic and the rapid ascension of the Taliban. Basically, we did not pivot with developments but stuck to a plan tailored to conditions no longer existing. No Afghan govt or military means we need Bagram and need to get all civilians out before the military withdrawal.
The wise course would have been to follow the original conditions and timeframe. Hubris chucked that out the window. Once it became clear that the Taliban were rapidly advancing all over the country, we should have reoccupied Bagram and established a perimeter around Kabul. The Washington Post actually broke a story that the Taliban offered to stay away from Kabul until the withdrawal was complete but we invited them to occupy it and surround the airport.
What I’m getting at is that, in general, the developments have been pro-Chinese (and pro-Russian, for that matter) and that the general withdrawal and even relinquishing of Bagram and equipment may have been conscious decisions of the Biden Regime in line with Chinese wishes. However, the method of the withdrawal was occasioned by panic and inexperience rather than Chinese skullduggery. Biden’s people could not get out of the mindset that the Afghan Army was going to be in charge. When that failed, instead of assuming the worst regarding the Taliban, they assumed against every lucid impulse that they could trust the Taliban and that retaking Bagram and Kabul was not necessary.
In the end, this miscalculation – relying on the Taliban and rejecting a minor surge – cost us many dead, many stranded and a complete loss of international stature. Our allies were forced to go in and extract their people and friendlies, to our shame. They are now saying that they cannot trust this regime and are on hold for any significant cooperation until after the next election.
Typical progressive operation.
And the only question is how long will the American people stay stupid and support these evil fools, decade after decade.
Misha, I believe you got the major points. I myself have been bewildered, my head spinning between evil intentions or stupidity.
I see you beat me to the punch regarding the deal the Taliban had made with us in which they’d not advance on Kabul until we left.
So now, I still can’t decide. Were we naive/foolish in not taking them up on their offer or were we doing what the CCP wanted us do?
Either way, we’re screwed.
Trump had made a deal with the Taleban;
which deal would have led to an orderly, peaceful withdrawal.
No way would Biden honour any deal Trump had struck!
Why not? Orange Man Bad!
George,
Fourteen more months and the clouds will begin to part. America is keeping track of it all. Congress will have hearings on the Steal when MAGA controls it. Afghanistan too. All this will be used to beat the Dems mercilessly for two solid years and ensure Republican dominance indefinitely.
It all just has to play out.
As to your question, I don’t see how the Chinese had a dog in the fight of whether we kept Kabul or just the airport. Out is out. My guess is that was Sleepy Joe. Once he decided to trust the Taliban, it all went to hell rapidly.
Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
Psalm 119:163
I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
Thank you all for your thoughts and replies to my comments.
I am required to travel at this time to fulfill certain obligations, but when I return I hope to see if there is any interest in pursuing discussion on the following idea:
If, from an entirely Orthodox perspective, we can agree this is an especially pivotal time in the history of the United States, when its chastisement and fall can be foreseen. What single event can be considered as the primary affront to God which has begun all this?
Can it be the bombing of Serbia, the overthrow of Ukraine, the instability introduced in Georgia and the unrelenting marginalization of a now-freer and worshipful Russia, especially after the unbelievably callous use of “shock therapy” sold by the West to elevate the former Communist lands, but instead used to further impoverish and immiserate them? Essentially shock but no therapy, an opportunity for the West to display magnanimity, which it failed?
Can it be the elevation of Bartholomew to the station of the first-among-equals of the Holy Orthodox Faith now resurgent, speaking and acting blasphemously, and controlling the American scene through his assumed heir Elpidiphoros, and (in reality) holding control of only the American Church by the throat, preventing its canonical union, and thoroughly without the capacity for shame with the revelations he is a kept man of the US government?
Can it be a much more broad judgment of Western Christendom per se, when, during and after an undeniably great and awe-inspiring miracle and act of God, He brings about the fall of the Soviets, Titoism and Ceaușescu almost overnight, freeing the Orthodox people in those lands in the greatest liberation of Christians in modern times? Where is the great joy, where is the great welcoming from their Western brothers back into the world with a shout? Has God measured their hearts and found them dark and scheming, ungrateful and sullen, perhaps jealous, the vast majority without even the sense and sensitivity to see this great miracle before their very own eyes? And why have they denied the perennial existence of the Holy Fire for so very long, and now received with such an abundance of faith and reverence in the newly freed Orthodox world? Without judgment, and without the slightest trace of triumphalism, I must say I am amazed that there is so little acknowledgment in events that have uplifted the souls and hopes of tens of millions of these their brothers.
Are these things part and parcel indicative of a state of the heart in the West as a whole, that cannot be changed even by world-shaking acts of mercy by God, that brings down His scales at this time???
These events have uplifted my soul. I ponder them in my best moments. Perhaps my faithful brothers will have insight into these things when I can return from the road.
I would suggest that, rather than a singular event,
it is more a pattern of behaviour that is responsible.
But if I had to choose one event as the bellwether,
I would say: Roe v Wade.
Frankly, you’re conflating patriotism and love of county with love for the Church. This isn’t about “Christian Nationalism.” Countries come and go, but the Church remains.
Dr. Steve had another good one today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycgw8j35l64
Toward the end of watching this, the true gravity of the vortex effect developing hit me and I got a big smile on my face. Bear in mind, given the carnage we’ve witnessed and the possible carnage to come, I’m not proud of my schadenfreude. However, it remains.
The Dems have put themselves, and the country, in a bizarre conundrum of Catch 22’s. Biden is clearly senile, callous and stupid. His upper echelon foreign policy people are clearly incompetent. The polling indicates that the ship be clearly sinking. Yet they have left themselves no way out.
Biden is too stubborn to resign. Even if he did, Kamala would become president. The public hates her and has no faith in her competency either. Kamala might be able to get a critical mass of Biden’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, but if they did, Biden would contest it and that would be a nasty ugly fight. Even if it worked, you still have Kamala as president.
But Kamala hasn’t committed any high crimes and misdemeanors that are of public record. So there’s no way to get rid of her except for her to resign as well. That would leave Nancy Pelosi as president. But her polling numbers are worse than Biden’s:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/nancy_pelosi_favorableunfavorable-6673.html
RCP has her twenty points underwater. So whatever happens, the Democrats are going to suffer mercilessly politically. None of these people are remotely competent enough to fight off the circling sharks. Bear in mind, the Republicans were going to go after the Democrats with everything they had, tooth and nail, just based on what was done to Trump regardless of whether the Dems gave them any actual cause to criticize them. So this is fish in a barrell.
This is just seven months into Biden’s term. We have three and a half years to go before there’s another presidential election. In short, this is the perfect storm.
There is no bottom to this. He has lost any Republicans who might have tolerated him as well as practically all of the Independents and not a small number of Democrats. It is human nature to pile on.
Moreover, there is no good news to be beheld for his regime anywhere on the horizon. SCOTUS is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, that is the clear implication of their decision to pass on any injunction on enforcement of Texas’ new abortion law. There are probably at least a thousand, maybe more, American hostages in Afghanistan. The numbers the Regime is relating is fictitious. Only a small percentage of those evacuated in the airlift were American citizens. That is a series of bombshells to go off for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, it is September and school is back in session. Thus the war over mask mandates and vaccines for babies will be waged by soccer moms through next spring at least. The science is on the side of those resisting this nonsense so they will not easily relent.
One of the ponderous things about importing tens of thousands of unvetted Afghan refugees is that we will likely have an increase in attempted honor killings as a result. This has been the case with Iraqi refugees:
https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2021/09/01/arizona-muslim-family-tries-to-kidnap-woman-with-non-muslim-boyfriend-for-honor-killing-n1475051
Lest one think Democrats might take some refuge in the economy rebounding after Covid (to which they are desperately clinging), massive spending without any growth plan other than the Green New Deal is causing inflation to rise rapidly. This is not seasonal or transitory and if the Democrats are successful with their spending plans we can expect the inflation to get dramatically worse.
Though the Supreme Court directed Biden to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy of the Trump Administration, Biden’s regime will likely drag its heels on this and resist it vigorously. Which brings us to our next scandal regarding slave trafficking in children:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/09/02/report-biden-admin-has-lost-one-third-of-illegal-alien-kids-n1475257
I could go on if my schedule permitted. Suffice to say, we should all steel ourselves because it appears that the Almighty is sorely p*ssed at the nefarious perpetrators that unseated His anointed president and intends to inflict justice on them for the foreseeable future.
Couldn’t have happened to nicer people.
This is quite interesting from WND:
https://www.wnd.com/2021/09/reminder-2020-election-wasnt-first-steal/
Personally, I think much more cheating has been going on, probably for decades, than we ever imagined (and being from the upper South, I imagined a fair amount). In fact, Trump brought up the rampant cheating in the 2016 election but it was never investigated or taken seriously inasmuch as he won, against all odds.
Yet one thing Lindell’s Cyber Symposium taught us was the exact nature of the machine based cheating done in 2020 and why certain anomalies occurred. The long and short is that if one candidate wins in a landslide, it can sometimes confute the algorithms used to fix the vote by requiring an amount of fake votes in excess of the window of phony voters created as a buffer. That’s when you shut it down and start trucking in more fake paper ballots. If you don’t, though the results are still skewed, you can lose.
Like what happened in 2016.
This article raises the question of the integrity of the 2018 midterms. If you consider that Trump’s popularity should have stemmed any significant midterm losses in a clean election, you might be tempted to believe that the House was stolen too in 2018 and that the impeachments should never have occurred.
But this leads to an even more pertinent observation: Why was Pelosi hell bent on impeaching Trump – twice?
Because she knew. She knew how popular he was and that he could kill the Democratic Party (aka “Our Democracy”) unless they cheated like it was free. She knew he could establish a permanent Republican majority based on “illiberal”, classical conservative principles, and would, if re-elected. She knew she was illegitimate, that Hillary lost in a landslide in 2016, and that Trump would win in a landslide in 2020.
In short, she knew the Dems had lost The People.
This is where it gets dicey. And it is a matter of perspective. If you believe in the Liberal New World Order and that the Dems and Western Liberalism are the best things to happen to humanity since we learned to fish, and you do not know what Trump and the Trumpsters would do unbridled by opposition, then you are tempted to imagine the worst. This is not because of anything sinister about Trump or MAGA but because it is your ox which is being gored.
Thus he must be a fascist Nazi, a megalomaniacal ideologue on the order of Hitler or Napoleon. Who else could best your beloved Liberalism, Inc? Accordingly, all means, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, were in order to remove this cancer from the body politic and make sure through impeachment that he could never endanger their rule again. That is why the press lost what little soul it had left. That is why we see an emerging police state. They seek to save Liberalism from the will of the people by hardening the soft totalitarianism of their past into a harder, more illiberal variety.
Paradoxical and Shakespearean, no?
Of course, if you’re normal and have common sense unsullied by progressive, liberal ideology, you see through the whole thing and realize that your culture and country have been run by soft totalitarians as long as you can remember and Trump just happened to posit the unique type of threat that could expose the Wizard of Oz to public view.
I mean, we all knew it was Tammany. And we all knew the MSM was in the tank. But most didn’t actually realize it was so Orwellian that only a progressive liberal (like Clinton or Obama) or a centrist liberal (like Romney or McCain) or a neo-con, conservative liberal (like Bush, Jr.) would be permitted to win and that, regardless of how popular he was, a classical conservative (like Trump) would be stopped at any cost, legal or illegal, constitutional or unconstitutional, moral or immoral, since that was seen as an existential threat to the Liberal Order.
So that’s whazzup.
Appreciating all this, you may be able to see the Achilles’ heel. Liberals are trying to preserve liberalism through overtly illiberal means. This will leave the vast majority thinking that the cure is worse than the disease. If you can’t win fair elections and if MSM spin is insufficient to brainwash the public but instead you have to resort to complete Orwellian disinformation from the legacy media (which is easily refutable in the digital age), and if you have to partner with Big Tech to censor the opposition, well, it might be that you are doomed unless you abandon your fundamental paradigm and go all Stalin.
That’s going to be the choice: Become Stalinist or lose.
Intelligent people realize this and that is why we have the angst in the air on both sides. We have crossed into uncharted territory where the battle is not for temporary dominance for two to four years but zero sum control.
Aristotle was right, then?
It is worth a couple of minutes to watch Gen. Milley spinning the withdrawal:
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6270951985001#sp=show-clips
The good part is from about 5:00-7:30 in the video. What he says, even tries in a way to gloss over, was that given the parameters of the drawdown which Biden ordered, this was the best they could do; i.e., that Biden refused to give them the troops to hold Bagram and the embassy and create a corridor with Kabul. This would have taken another 6-10,000 troops, in his estimation, which Biden was unwilling to authorize.
Personally, I think he’s full of sh*t. All that may be true, but it was the precipitousness of the drawdown from Bagram and the embassy which spooked the Afghan army and caused the collapse of the civilian government. That created the danger. There is simply no excuse for pulling out the troops before the civilians, nor can there be any excuse for leaving Americans and friendly SIV types behind.
But what Milley is pointing a finger at is that the chain of dominoes falling was a direct result of the mission parameters of a precipitous withdrawal. And that’s all on Biden. That being said, he’s also laying his own defense by asserting that it would not have been any better if they’d kept Bagram and Kabul. That’s flat out false and reminds you of the bs shoveled during Vietnam. He has to provide a reason he didn’t simply refuse the president’s orders as a nightmare in the making when they obviously were by all other accounts.
If Republicans take charge of Congress next year, he’s going to have a rough, rough ride.
“…he’s also laying his own defense by asserting that
it would not have been any better if they’d kept Bagram and Kabul.”
What is the use of a four-star general
who cannot arrange a tidier withdrawal
than a geriatric president with dementia?
Aristotle was right, then?