There is so much brewing here, the lid is ready to fly off into the stratosphere. As always, one of our commentators asked a critical question which got me to thinking. So this is where we are, folks:
1. The Dems don’t feel at all confident. Otherwise, they’d demand a recount. Instead, I see a lot of “move along now, nothing to see here”.
2. Despite #1, the narrative is beginning to turn as more facts continue to roll in.
3. To bolster #2, more facts will be coming out. Credible charges of fraud have been verified in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In Nevada, some 3,000 Californians who voted in that state are being criminally referred to the Department of Justice.
4. Trump just fired SecDef Mark Esper. Not the sign of a man who’s worried about his future. Word on the street is that Gina Haspell (Director of Central Intelligence) and Patrick Wray (FBI) are the next heads to roll.
5. The Supreme Court has issued a writ of certiori. This is on the heels of Justice Sam Alito, who ordered that all Pennsylvania ballots that were received after 8:00pm on November 3rd be segregated out. This would automatically subtract 20 electoral votes from Biden’s total (which is supposedly 290). 270 is what’s needed to win.
6. Automatic recounts are going on in Georgia (16 Electoral votes) and Wisconsin (10 Electoral votes).
7. Arizona’s ballots have yet to be counted. So far it looks like Trump is catching up to Biden. (AZ has 11 Electoral votes.)
8. Trump is massively ahead in North Carolina (EC 11 votes) yet, for some reason, NC hasn’t been called for him.
Let’s see, that’s 16 + 11 + 7 + 11 + 20 + 10 = 75 Electoral votes. That would be 214 + 75 = 289. (Oops, I forgot Michigan’s 16 Electoral votes. That would make it 305.)
In the final analysis, if the Deep State succeeds in forcing Trump out, the new narrative will be that “President” Biden is a crook and won the election only through fraud. (You can use your qualifiers: “no evidence of [‘widespread fraud’/’significant fraud’, etc]” but in the end it won’t matter. Biden will have a permanently black mark next to his name.
Sorry, but nobody believes the Corporate Media anymore. As for FOX news, they committed commercial suicide in such a spectacular fashion that they likely won’t recover.
The average American is now in a position where the average Soviet citizen was as far as news consumption is concerned. Behind the Iron Curtain, after a few years, nobody believed what they were being told on TV by the Slavic talking heads. They just ignored it because it was dangerous to confront it. When push came to shove however and the Party Apparat needed the people to stand up to the wave of protests in 1989, nobody was around. The soldiers in Red Square refused to fire on the populace.
Biden, and more importantly, the people behind him, have so poisoned the well of American goodwill with the incessant contumely they heaped upon the President’s head (as well as ours) that comity and kumbaya are not on the horizon. Not because we’re sore losers but because the AOCs of the world are pushing things like the “Trump Accountability Project” and taking names.
How very Red Guardish of you Dearie!
To my liberal and progressive friends, are you sure you want it for America? And please don’t tell me “it can’t happen here”. Look around you: various state goverments closed down our churches this year. If this isn’t totalitarianism, then what is? And now, “President-elect” Biden just had a press conference in which he is mandating the return of the mask. Lockdowns wont be far behind.
It’s a poisoned well which the Left has created for us. Outside of a few cuckservatives and neocons who wish to start up the Great American War Machine, nobody is going to give Creepy Joe the legitimacy he “deserves”.
The COMEBACK BEGINS as President Trump Goes on the OFFENSIVE!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpUHxg_2sSY
I’d love to know what President Trump is going to do about all this if/when January 20th rolls around. We were promised that Hillary would be in jail, etc., I would love to think that he will actually be in position to do something this time around. If we can retain the Senate and gain seats in the House, that may be exactly what we need to finally get all this mess done.
One thing he should do is make November 3rd of every election year a national holiday where you have to vote IN PERSON and with a valid ID
I understand that Club Gitmo is still open. (Oh wait! Didn’t St Obama promise to close it down?)
About them Arizona ballots:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/09/joe-bidens-lead-in-arizona-dips-below-17000-77k-outstanding/
Biden’s lead evaporates ‘like snaw aff a dyke’
[Scots for: ‘snow off of a wall’]
Looks like Dubya called Biden up yesterday and congratulated him. But wait! Today he said that Trump had every right to pursue legal remedies.
Sounds like somebody’s hedging their bets!
Dubya is a traitor and an embarrassment to Texas.
As a Texan..I say amen to this
No energy with a low-energy brother and a one-termer daddy.
It seems that all who seek the Presidency, at least of the major parties, have or are quite willing to sell their souls to the devil to gain that office. And we encourage them by voting. What does that say about the state of our own souls? What does it say about “spiritual leaders” who read such things into the Holy Scriptures?
If we get a government that is virulently and aggressively anti-Christian, we probably deserve it as a deep penance.
In any case we should pray for whomever is enthroned. (Not at them)
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy and shorten the time of our sorrows.
Michael, agree to disagree dear brother in Christ?
You are certainly free to view this in a black and white way about politicians but I really hope you will consider heeding instead the teachings and tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church and her Saints (not those who sadly depart from them whether priest or Patriarch). Father Peter Heers and Father Demetrios Carellas transmit the above without their own personal opinions or emotions interfering. The Saints are in theosis and are for us as St. Paul was to the Corinthians, so our little personal opinions are far beneath such methinks? Do they ever encourage us to judge persons or instead to evaluate and discern actions, ie see fruit of the tree so to speak? To encourage people NOT to vote because you have judged the souls of those running does not fit with the Orthodox fronema they convey from the Saints, so I can’t be with you on this at all, dear brother in Christ.
When considering both actions and stated clear intents, the candidates as “olive trees” are very different indeed and one is actually not just dead but poisonous spiritually, physically and psychologically.
Many seem ignorant of what Trump has actually done for freedom of religion, pro-life, freedom of speech and thought. If that is true of you Michael, I ask your forgiveness for I have assumed that devout Orthodox read and know more than they have and that’s on me! (I just read a lot of government notices and ethical analyses from Roman Catholics as well as Orthodox). The Orthodox who stayed home and did not vote in an Orthodox manner for the better olive tree (as per St. Paisios the Athonite) or who, tragically voted for Biden out of ignorance or with a mind obscured by hatred of Trump’s style (many women from being treated disrespectfully in language and action while Trump is only the teen braggart not the Harvey Weinstein/Joe Biden predator), those have harmed their own souls terribly, per Orthodox teaching from the Saints. Mercifully God knows how ignorant we are. But I repent of many things and my own selling of my soul daily and repenting repeatedly, including how ignorant I have been of how ignorant and confused many Orthodox are, to my shock and dismay. So my eyes are clearer now, thank God. Please study those who truly know better than us laity and any ignorant or confused clergy. I trust the opinions of the Saints and the Tradition and Teaching of the Orthodox Church more than my own or any other person’s opinion now.
In this case the “better olive tree” is easy to see. And the other one is actually quite foul and diabolical in plan and intent, as ie easy to see. As Vladika Dmitri once told me, “We must do all we can always to save lives.” Trump/Pence have already done so. And Biden/Harris/Ezekiel Emmanuel are planning to take the lives of both old and young at unprecedented accelerated rate, except of course for their own.
Love and prayers in Christ,
Nicole
Nicole, I voted for Trump for many of the reasons you mentioned. Despite the fact that one of my dearest Orthodox friends thinks I am crazy and expressed feelings similar to yours in the opposite direction..
My statement is made in my understanding of the general fabric of history and the ultimate end of all worldly government with the possible exception of a Christian monarchy.
They just get over thrown.
I am also thinking of Psalm 146.
But one thing I have learned in a life time of reading history is the we get the type of government we want and deserve.
We can only change the government in two ways: rebel and overthrow the existing govenrment OR change ourselves through repentance, fasting and almsgiving.
I cannot and will not put any hope into our government “changing” or protecting anything of value for the right reasons. History is not progressive.
As an example: I have seen Mike Pompeo up close when he visited my parish a few years ago. It was creepy. He seemed more like a zombie than a human.
We also have to change the form and function of our economy. Both Trump and Biden have it wrong.
I do not seek nor do I desire to change anyone else’s political opinions mine are surely no better. Not leading to salvation.
Neither do I wish to offend. Please forgive me if I offend you in this. I cannot go your direction no matter what priest or spiritual teacher says about it. It has become too demonic IMO for there to be any “better olive tree”. A fancy phrase for the lesser of two evils. They seem more like the barren fig tree that Jesus cursed.
Yet, in the end, that is what I did. God forgive me.
Re: Pompeo, he has been orchestrating
the anti-Onuphry campaign in Ukraine.
Pompeo went to my high school and is about 5 years younger. I think I vaguely remember his older sister. It was strange that I found out he attended the same high school as me.
Amen.
RESIST every hour of the day when you are pressured to follow mandated totalitarian rules. Start right now! That’s how you push back!
?? Non-violently but firmly.
Re: NC mail in ballots deadline is Nov. 12.
Yup.
Lots of people seem to be under a mistaken assumption that the currently segregated PA mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day are included in the current PA results. They are not. Even if SCOTUS ordered them tossed it wouldn’t change Biden’s current margin. From analysis I’ve seen, if they are counted, he probably picks up a few thousand votes. There weren’t that many late ballots, and he didn’t need them to win PA.
I also see totally unrealistic expectations for how much a vote tally is going to change in recounts. Frankly, none of the five states Biden flipped are close enough for a recount to change the outcome. AZ hasn’t quite wrapped up yet, but it is exceedingly unlikely there are enough Trump votes left to make a difference.
Nate,
You may be the last person here unaware that this thing has descended into a raw power struggle. First, Trump is commander and chief of the military until at least January 20th 2021. That gives him plenty of time.
Second, he just fired his beta of a Sec. of Defense who was reluctant to invoke the Insurrection Act during the riots. Do you really think that was a coincidence? The guy had been practically begging to get out because he knows what’s coming. Both of them know that Trump will prevail in Court, with the legislators and electors and that the turnaround will result in an insurrection like we haven’t seen in the United States since the War Between the States.
Third, Trump has appointed three justices to the Supreme Court which now has a conservative majority without Chief Justice Roberts. Additionally, he has appointed about a quarter of the entire federal judiciary. These cases will likely be tried before his judges. The Left will bitch and we will tell them to pound sand.
Fourth, every one of these swing states in contention with the exception of Nevada has Republican legislatures. Contrary to the rabid assertions of many online constitutional scholar wannabes, the legislatures can actually choose its electors independently of the official state vote count. That was the principle in Bush v. Gore and though there has been a novel SCOTUS opinion calling that into question, the opinion was written by Sotomayor and the composition of the court has changed since then. Don’t believe me? Wait for it. You will see it unfold. The legislatures are already behaving as though they will do what they want to do given the circumstances. They are organizing hearings on voter fraud.
Given all of that, and the fact that it is a raw power struggle and everyone knows it, I’d say the chances of Biden being inaugurated on January 20th are slim to none. Trump set it up too well. He’s been planning for this election since he came into office. Democratic idiots were asking questions about abortion of his Supreme Court picks. They should have been asking questions about the Constitutional Law surrounding legislatures and electors. These are Trump’s judges deciding these cases. He knows how they will rule already.
He laid a trap in plain sight and Democrats fell for it. Now the whole MSM will be discredited when the evidence of voter fraud, the affidavits, the impossible machine totals and ballot dumps, etc. is documented in court filings.
“But where is the evidence?” Like you can produce such evidence on camera for a sound bite.
This is going to be a special kind of fun.
Now, what you are going to see in the meantime, as the Chinese water torture proceeds, is the MSM trying to make it all go away with words. They think somehow that they can control it by characterizing it and spinning or lying about every development. They will do their best to downplay it but to no avail. Half the country knows the jig is up and the MSM is only trying to keep the bubble from bursting as long as possible for the other half that believes in their bs.
But when Trump is sworn in come January 20th, there will be no place to hide.
What happened with California flipping to red, and Trump winning in a “landslide of historic proportions”, Misha? Were the landslide to take place, we probably wouldn’t be having this jolly conversation. Perhaps a bit more modesty regarding the strength of one’s own political intuition is in order. Nate is right, the spread between Trump and Biden in nearly every single one of the battleground states that show Biden as being in the lead currently, with the possible exception of Georgia, is simply too large for any recount to change the result. Even if you find thousands of instances of fraud (past election autopsies show that this is a pipe dream), in each of the states, this will not erase Biden’s lead which is now in the tens, or hundreds of thousands. Remember – the famous Florida recount hinged on a 500 vote spread. We are nowhere close to this level of “tightness”.
The answer to your question in another post about why it is that California with its large population can tabulate its vote results so quickly, while it is taking so long to get the results for the few remaining battleground states – is very simple. Other than the fact that this election has set a record for turnout (not just in the case of Biden, but also with Trump), you can blame the Republican-run state legislatures. It is these state legislatures in the crucial battleground states, that made rules ahead of this election (with the prodding of the president), to not allow a tabulation of the mail-in result until the actual day of the election. It’s hard to understand the logic of such a move, since most “normal” states have allowed their election commissions as much as 5 weeks of a head start for counting up the vote. The only reasonable explanation, seems to be that the President started hyping the “rigged” nature of mail-in votes and how it would be “weeks” before we know a result, well ahead of this election, and loyal republicans on the ground responded by laying the groundwork for his prognostications. This also explains why mail-in ballots, which demand more time to process, only started to be counted deep in the night (in-person votes are scanned by the machine and tabulated near automatically). If you’re surprised that 80% of the mail-in ballot went to Biden, well then you haven’t been reading anything except Breitbart and Newsmax the past year it seems.
Actually, in California the Repubicans flipped three districts. Congressional Republicans did better than Trump did.
Fascinating, isn’t it? The GOP is on the cusp of taking over the House (where they already control 31 of the 50 state delegations).
And Trump doubled the votes he got from African-Americans. And we are to believe he lost the popular vote?
I’m not going to address Dan and the Left directly anymore. They don’t deserve it. However, I will make these observations:
I never said California would break for Trump. I said it was possible and in play. We will never know unless an honest recanvassing of the entire election in California were done and that’s not in the cards. And it doesn’t matter.
There is simply no plausible explanation for Trump’s performance based on fraudulent votes appearing in the night versus the Republican down ballot performances. The statistical anomalies present are profound and compellingly persuasive of massive electoral fraud. Moreover, there is no plausible explanation for the multi-state pause between 3-6am in the morning which produced an unbelievably improbable jump in all Biden votes from a ballot dumping scheme. We KNOW this was stolen. It’s not a question in the minds of reasonable people. All the evidence, statistical, eye witness and otherwise will be presented in court and when all the legal votes and only the legal votes are counted, if ever, it will not be close.
Trump will win this. He has too many paths to victory. He warned everybody exactly what he was going to do, having anticipated fraud on a massive scale during the campaign based on 2016 where he also asserted he won big but a multitude of votes were stolen. He watched the battleground states very closely, evidently, and was ready for them this time. His assertions about 2016 seem much more plausible now.
He has the challenge(s) in Pennsylvania and the inquiry of the Pennsylvania legislature. He has any possible Supreme Court case with a 5-4 conservative majority (not counting Roberts), three of which he himself appointed (and appointment is no grounds for recusal, no matter what you read in the fake news).
Then he has Republican legislatures in all the battleground states save Nevada. They could legally swing the vote of electors to Trump based on whatever impression they have of the legitimacy of the vote in their respective states. He is not dependent on the state court cases to overturn the respective state results. Legislative inquiries could provide all the evidence he needs to persuade the state legislators to act.
This actually happened in a presidential election back in the 1870’s to which Trump has referred in his rallies. He has spoken openly in these rallies over the summer and fall of the strategy if the state legislatures appoint alternate electors and two slates go to the US Senate. This too has happened before. In the 19th century, there was a compromise. That will not happen this time due to the poisonous politics. Pence, the VP and therefore President of the Senate, gets to choose which set of electors to accept if presented with more than one on January 6th. Guess which one he will choose.
Only recourse after that is to the Supreme Court. There is case law supporting the Senate president’s right to accept whichever electors he wants under the 12th amendment. Five to four will give the election to Trump, if it gets that far.
The other possibility, to which Trump also referred in rallies, is that neither set of electors is accepted giving no one 270 votes in which case it goes to the House who elects the president, but with each state only getting one vote. In that scenario, Trump wins with at least 26 votes.
While Dems were playing out their little war game scenarios with John Podesta et al., Trump had already gamed this out with his attorneys and knew how it was going to proceed all along. He was so far ahead of them that it is pathetic. They have no idea what is going to hit them.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trumps-stealthy-road-victory-172235
Peruse this, if you haven’t. Allison is a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and former Clinton Assistant Secretary of Defense. His anti-Trump bona fides are solid and he has no reason to misguide about his factual representation concerning the applicable law.
He gives it a 20% chance of working. That is a partisan observation. Actually, there is not a whole lot that can go wrong with it other than perhaps a temporary delay, depending who the Speaker of the House is at that time.
Trump’s way ahead of all of them.
First my apologies to Misha and the entire group for the gibberish contained in my last two postings, whether is is from having stubby fingers, being cross-eyed and/or the automatic correct feature of cell phone, it produced seeming nonsense. It even had me addressing him as Mustaffa, or something like that. Forgive me, Misha. Forgive me, all.
That said, and while I hope Misha’s analyses hold true, I have misgivings. The legislatures of MI, PA and WI are not entirely Republican. The information comes from the Ballotopedia site to which Misha has directed us. The first map that comes up is out of date. Digging further one finds that the states senate of these states are Republican by slim majority, but the lower chambers are Democrat. The Constitution provides the each state’s legislature to determine the manner of selecting electors. I do not know what this would mean when the state senate and house are controlled by different parties but suspect it may mean they have to agree- and it is unlikely they will.
Furthermore, I heard last evening the MI has provided for mail in ballots by constitutional amendment two years ago. PA is a better case since it was G9vernor Wolf, apparently, who “overrode” the legislature providing for the use of mail in ballots due to COVID. However, today comes the new linked to the NY Times that the President’s own lawyers, Jones Day, don’t think much of his case and aren’t enthusiastic in representing him. Also, I don’t believe there is, in fact, a “conservative” majority on the Supreme Court without CJ Roberts, who has not shown himself to be reliable.
The odds are against the President and the American Republic which has been in agony for at least the past thirty-four years. The question for us is: are we praying and fasting daily to be saved from what awaits us absent Christ God’s gracious intervention in our behalf? If so, redouble your efforts? If not, what are you waiting for?
Christ is in our midst,
lxc+
Lex, regarding SCOTUS, Chief Justice Roberts tried to fill in the place of Anthony Kennedy and be the “judicial kingmaker”, carefully placing his crucial swing vote with the conservatives or the liberals when it suited him.
This has been stripped from him because with ACB, there are now five (more or less reliable) conservative votes.
I realize that this is off-topic. In any event, did you see where NC was just called for Trump? I’m curious as to why AK hasn’t been called.
Also, have you heard that RCP removed PA and AZ from the Biden column last night?
Lex, I just read that some lawyers at Jones Day are being pressured by the Establishment to not prosecute Trump’s case in PA (where he already done two significant judicial victories)
Should the SCOTUS rule the entire 2020 US National Election invalid due to – oh, I don’t know: massive voter fraud, on the heels of over apparently 200 already-sworn affidavits to this day thereto – then the never-used second section of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America will be dusted off after a period of 196 or so years and employed for the first time in the history of our Republic. The vote will then go to Congress, wherefrom the House will vote for the President and the Senate for the Vice President, along Party Lines, pertaining to the Party Governance of each State, as they are bound by Law under the Twelfth Amendment so to do. 30 States of the Union are under Republican governance, 19 are under Democratic governance, and 1 is under Democratic-Farmer-Labor governance. This is the Law, apparently. And, barring any concession of the 2020 National Election between now and then from President Trump, this is likely how President Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated again as President of the United States of America on January 20, 2021, with Michael Pence as his Vice President, at the Sixth Hour of the Day; for what it’s worth.
Come November 2024, however, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will defeat whom in the race for the Presidency on the day of the US National Election – whether it be the Other Guy, or What’s-His-Face.
Frankly, I’m leaning towards What’s-His-Face.
But that’s just me.
Now is as good a time as any to be completely frank about what we’re facing. Communism has morphed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Chinese variety of totalitarian state capitalism is now the norm. The commanding heights are nationalized; “private” business is allowed but tightly controlled. A form of market is created which serves as the engine of growth but does not operate freely as in a market based society. That is Communism today, the CCP variety.
And that has become the operating philosophy of the “Democratic” Party. This is evident not only from their economic policy where a Green New Deal effectively seizes the energy industry, but also from their corruption of the vote and the media, the lockdowns and the censorship which accompanies all that.
You can see it in Antifa, in BLM, and in the Democrats’ encouragement of these movements. To be sure, there are factions among these commies, but that is due to a class structure within their fold. It is not a product of serious ideological differences. How it got to this point is irrelevant. How we respond is a matter of the highest importance.
“Better dead than red.”
That was the motto of patriots during the Cold War. Now, perhaps, we should say, “Better through than blue.” Same difference. These people, the Dems and the trolls here, are Communists in the CCP sense of the word described above. They are mortal enemies of all Christians and have proven themselves as much. That includes Biden, Harris, Hillary, Obama and all their minions right down to your next door neighbor.
It is tragic that American conservatives have let it go this far without calling a spade a spade and rising up to put them down. But that is where we are. It is one reason why you can’t really trust conservatives. They are far too nice, like Kerensky.
Time to wake up and destroy the power of your mortal enemy before he does the same to you. It is a matter of life and death.
I am not calling for private, individual violence. This must be solved at the political level. However, the manner in which the Republican Party deals with its enemies should be based on this reality, regardless of the severity of the measures necessary.
Amen, my dear Sir:
Honorably, Licitly, Legally, with full honorable intent; like good, honest Americans.
This is our part to play in this high-stakes, winner-takes-all, sudden-death-overtime, slaughter-at-the-Proverbial-Super-Bowl-LV – albeit arguably small in scope of overall global importance – game of Nosebleed-Caliber Resurrected Full Tilt Poker, up in here in 2020, IMHO.
I am of the opinion that if we honorably resist this arguable Election Fraud Debacle of 2020, in our own way as honorable Americans, then our ancestors will thank us, the guardian angel guarding our nation will thank us; and, at least in the short term, every US citizen will thank us for having done something to further warrant the guarding of the inviolability and integrity of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America; because, as everyone who is of the proverbial cognoscenti may be wont so to surmise, laying aside for the moment all arguable imminent propensity to become scandalized thereby at the irony inherent therein,
The penultimate person who is honored to ascend the steps to his final resting place [“Face cachée, s’il vous plaît, mon cher citoyen”] in the Place de la Concorde always tends to be, without fail,
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre;
bien entendu.
May God Have Mercy on our Republic.
Nate,
You’re spreading disinformation. None of what you asserted is true. First of all, all ballots having arrived after 8pm on election day are invalid, regardless of the postmark or stamp. That was the law the Pennsylvania legislature established which was unconstitutionally altered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They rewrote the law so as to enable ballot stuffing, period. So everything coming in election night gets tossed and everything in subsequent days as well. As of that time Tuesday night, Trump was clearly ahead. It was reported as such then.
While it is true that ballots coming in on subsequent days are being segregated so they can make a separate count, that does not mean that those ballots are not being included in the total reported. Don’t be a fool (choosing my words more carefully) and believe the same people who were doing the cheating about whether the totals are accurate. They lied, are lying and will continue to lie. The thing you have to understand is that everyone in the Pennsylvania system is lying through their teeth in every breath of their narrative on this. They are the ones who committed major felonies and they are the ones who will go to prison. They are not going to tell the truth about any aspect of this. The only question is how one culls out the illegal votes arriving after 8pm on Tuesday from the legal ones arriving before. That remains to be seen.
But assertions that it won’t affect the total in Pennsylvania or any of these other states is sheer, unmitigated bs. We know to a mathematical certainty that that is not the case because counting was going on up to date until late Tuesday – early Wednesday when Trump was ahead in these states. There’s a running record. That’s why people can trace the exact time that the major vote dumps were made around 3:30-4am.
Yes, if you want to believe the CYA assertions of people who are probably going to prison then rest easy. Other than that, the Dems have a major cluster f*ck on their hands.
Nate, would you like to “revisit, revise or otherwise emend” your assertion that there was “no fraud” in this election?
https://tennesseestar.com/2020/11/08/another-election-computer-glitch-in-michigan-reversed-as-republican-declared-belated-winner/
Isn’t it amazing how all the “glitches” err on the side of Democrats?
I guess I need to revisit my party allegiance as it seems that miracles happen only in the Democrat Party. Things like people rising from the dead to register and cast votes for Biden.
Please point me at where I made an absolutist “no fraud” claim. Lest there be any mistake, I don’t believe there was any significant fraud which had a bearing on the outcome of any of the Federal races. But that doesn’t mean scattered, inconsequential frauds or attempts at fraud don’t happen! But in regards to the Presidential election, belief that tangible fraud happened because you didn’t like the outcome is a not equivalent to being able to prove it in court.
Remember after 2016 when Trump was mad he lost the popular vote and was shouting fraud and there was a whole commission and they found nothing? Pepperidge Farm remembers:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/03/the-most-bizarre-thing-ive-ever-been-a-part-of-trump-panel-found-no-voter-fraud-ex-member-says/
You aren’t really helping yourself by pointing at stories of run-of-the-mill errors that happen and get corrected by processes designed to catch said run-of-the-mill errors. Processing 150,000,000+ votes involving more than 100,000 precincts and tens of thousands of polling places plus mail-in ballots is a truly massive operation.
Of course, now we have people thinking they can gain money and fame by fabricating stories of fraud and getting caught:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/postal-worker-fabricated-ballot-pennsylvania/2020/11/10/99269a7c-2364-11eb-8599-406466ad1b8e_story.html
You fell for the old fake news WAPO story, Nate. Do you really read that rag?!? He did not recant his story. In fact, he doubled down after being threatened by an IG agent. Perhaps you should quit while you’re behind.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/11/10/leaked-audio-shows-usps-ig-attempting-to-twist-a-whistleblowers-complaint-of-a-n2579867
Right, Nate. He recorded their shakedown.
See, the problem is that half the country now knows that the Democratic party are evil totalitarians just like the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. They have demonstrated as much. Massive voter fraud, emerging enemies lists, packing the high court, truth commissions.
There’s no coming back from that. You all are done.
Alright, I’m confused. What does it take to get a post published here nowadays? I heard you loud and clear when you said “no one has a right to be heard”, hence I post very sparingly now. However, with this post, I believe I insulted no one, used no derogatory terms, and laid out what seemed to me a coherent argument. What’s happened with George’s First Amendment beliefs?
I would probably back off on your criticism of the blog simply because you didn’t get posted for a few hours. You can ask a question without immediately jumping to the conclusion we don’t stand by our assertion that we allow freedom of speech, which, BTW, you have enjoyed here in the past.
You’re welcome.
In some cases, posts go to trash based on a negative experience with the poster. In other cases, they end up there because the poster inadvertently deleted what they wrote. In still others, they end up in trash for no discernable reason.
Comments in trash require additional handling which means more time.
In some cases it is a blessing that stuff does not get published — for the ones who wrote the posts. Consider that. They certainly have been for some of mine.
It certainly is a blessing sometimes, Michael – hahaha! Apologies to Gail if I’m whining too much… I don’t have much free time, and so when I do post some comment it’s usually done at 2 or 3 in the morning, at the expense of my sleep and my partner’s sanity. To log-on the next evening, and see that it was scrapped, just makes me go bonkers in all sorts of ways. Mostly at myself!
Dan, “your partner”? That implies to me you are either living in sin or you are a 24/7 law firm officing out of your home.
If you are living in sin then I urge you in love to repent and sin no more.
Well, we’re not married just yet – and “girlfriend” seemed a little childish. But point well taken Michael. I’ll be more careful in my choice of words in the future.
best,
dan
Michael,
Sometimes I’m so very thick. When I first read your post, I understood it as asking whether I was gay, or a lawyer. Both are pretty terrifying concepts to me. I wanted to disabuse you of either notion, posthaste, while what I should have done is read your post more closely. Unfortunately yes – I am living in sin. It’s very difficult, at least in my neck of the woods, to avoid cohabitation before marriage. Not least because of the insane rental rates in Manhattan. Thank you for your kind words.
I pray every night that Nate Trost is mistaken about his election meanderings. ?
https://amgreatness.com/2020/11/07/went-to-bed-in-america-woke-up-in-a-banana-republic/
This is pretty good. Another Russian speaking lawyer. He goes through a few states documenting enough of the circus to give us an idea of actually how bold and shameless the cheating was. The kinda stuff that would cause you to bust out laughing even though it is quite serious.
I’m looking forward to reading some of the opinions in these cases. I bet they’ll be a hoot.
Heard anything about this?
https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/11/07/state-bar-passes-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-recommendation/?slreturn=20201010084833
I recommend https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/
It is a group of Constitutional Lawyers who champion the 10th Amendment:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
28 words that are routinely ignored by government at all levels. The remedy is nullification according to this group of legal scholars and activists.
Just a for instance on the Amy Barrett nomination, it is their view that the President is required by the Constitution to nominate a replacement and the Senate is required to act upon that nomination (as both did)
Worth looking at.
A view contra Trump which has some serious things to say: https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/10/27/trumps-plan-to-expand-the-national-police-state/
The Stone Cold Truth
https://stonecoldtruth.com/watch-voter-fraud-and-election-meddling-evidence-floods-social-media/
Great Dystopian Reset in progress: https://www.globalresearch.ca/own-nothing-happy-being-human-2030/5728960
with chilling short video from World Economic Forum
DJT/MP give the US a chance to offset the anti-Christian plan to dehumanize the planet
What is DJT/MP?
Donald J. Trump/Mike Pence
Nicole: This article might give you some pause: https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/10/27/trumps-plan-to-expand-the-national-police-state/
These guys are not reflexive anti-Trumpers either. They are Constitutionalists and Nullifiers.
Hi Michael,
In order to best-understand what Nullification IS, you should first understand some things nullification is NOT.
Nullification is not secession or insurrection, but neither is it unconditional or unlimited submission. Nullification is not something that requires any decision, statement or action from any branch of the federal government.Nullification is not the result of obtaining a favorable court ruling. Nullification is not the petitioning of the federal government to start doing or to stop doing anything. Nullification doesn’t depend on any federal law being repealed.Nullification does not require permission from any person or institution outside of one’s own state.So just what IS nullification, why is it so important, and how does it happen?
**Check out this VIDEO and PODCAST – Nullification: An Introduction
To start, there are 3 foundational principles for why nullification is so important – essential to the constitution and liberty, that is.1. The constitution can’t enforce itself. And it never will.You can’t just wave the document in front of out-of-control government officials or agencies like a red cloth in front of a bull and expect them to simply stop what they’re doing. Without some enforcement mechanism, the Constitution is of little use when it comes to limiting the power of the federal government.James Madison recognized this truth as well. Like other founders, he referred to even the best constitution as a mere “parchment barrier.”In Federalist 48, for example, he put it this way:“a mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments, is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.”2. The courts are part of the problemSetting aside the fact that the federal courts usually “strike down” around 2-3 federal acts per annum – at that pace it’ll be impossible for it to ever do the same to thousands of laws – and thousands of new regulations added every few years – remember this:The federal courts are PART of the federal government. And going to the federal government to limit its own power is bad strategy.Again, James Madison noted this in his Report of 1800:“dangerous powers not delegated, may not only be usurped and executed by the other departments, but that the Judicial Department also may exercise or sanction dangerous powers beyond the grant of the constitution”3. Voting the Bums Out isn’t for What we Face TodayThis is a strategy for bad administration of delegated powers. Not for usurpation of power. Here’s how Thomas Jefferson put it in his draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798:“in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers the members of the general government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy”In short – defending the Constitution from federal overreach means something outside of the federal government is needed to act as a check on its power.For Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, James Iredell – and many, many others – this means that people of the several states must resist and refuse to comply when the federal government usurps power.And while most mainstream “historians” would like you to believe that the only times nullification has been tried has been a racist-motivated complete failure, they’re either ignorant – or they’re lying.But that shouldn’t be surprising to any of us.I covered these essential principles – plus ways nullification has been used in history – and how it’s used right now – on Monday’s episode of Path to Liberty. In it, you’ll learn:
3 core principles of why it’s essential
2 definitions of nullification – legal and practical
Some examples of how it has been used in history and today
primary strategies to implement it today on, for example, federal gun control.
There’s a video and a podcast edition available – plus 13 reference links for your to read and learn more on your own time.Here’s the link, you know what do to:https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/11/nullification-an-introduction/As we face the most powerful government in the history of the world – I believe this information becomes more and more important every single day. I hope you find it interesting and educational. And I hope you enjoy learning about this as much as I enjoyed learning and sharing it with you.
I can’t thank you for reading and for your support!Concordia res parvae crescunt(small things grow great by concord)-Michael Boldin, TAC
In the face of Biden/Harris and their nihilistic Marxist anti-Christian agenda, nothing will give me pause now about DJT, Michael. But I’ll gladly read carefully if on January 20 he’s our President…Thanks for posting! Love to see what these folks have to say about the platform and plans of B/H!
Nicole, their response to all government overreach and tyranny is the same: Nullify, do not comply. They are not partisan political folks. They are defenders and expositors of the Constitution. not in favor of federal power across the board.
Thus their dedication to the 10th Amendment. The Federal government should only exercise such power as is specifically granted to it by the U.S Constitution.
Theoretically that means that every administration since Wilson has been in pretty much constant violation of the Constitution.
Generally we all put far too much hope and energy into the Presidency and other federal offices. The state office holders should be the real concern.
The U.S. was supposed to be a bottom up hierarchy (theoretically) rather than a top down. Of course it has never been that but there are Constitutional remedies but like our faith a Constitutional republic must be lived daily in myriad small ways.
If we in the Church would actually guard our hearts against passions, be quick to repent and forgive, pray, fast and partake of the Sacraments, a lot of the other things we worry about would simply not matter. They would either disappear or be irrelevant.
Politics is a passion of the kind that our Tradition warns us about. It is demonically inspired and will ALWAYS lead to government persecution of the Church and Her people precisely because there is no love nor any virtue.
A good deal of Jordan Peterson’s critique of culture and society lies in a critique of people willingly giving up the specificity of our humanity to utopian ideologies “for the good of all”.
The Church’s approach, while recognizing the general nature of sin and the passions is always personal repentance that allows for union in Christ.
Thus the passions of politics and the constant movement toward political and spiritual tyranny rests in my own disobedience and unwillingness to face my sins and repent. Isaiah 53:6 points that out.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Handel turned that verse into one of the most powerful and effective parts of the Messiah. Listen to it sometime. It is prophetically descriptive.
Indeed if we were to establish the disciplines and rhythms of the Church in simple obedience in our lives we would enter into he safety and peace of the true sheepfold and there be protected against the marauding wolves. …and you would be out of a job.
Indeed the two verses before Isaiah 53:6 are equally powerful–Isaiah 53:4-6 Handel used them as well:
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Come quickly or Lord and be merciful to your wayward sheep for we are all sinners and know no goodness or virtue.
RE: “If we in the Church would actually guard our hearts against passions, be quick to repent and forgive, pray, fast and partake of the Sacraments, a lot of the other things we worry about would simply not matter.”
How does one live a sacramental life in the Church if she is removed? Because that’s the objective. They want to remove the Church and replace her with something else.
A passion is any distraction from God. Retreating into oneself can be a passion, as well.
Interesting Gail that you leap directly to quietism. I am not sure quite how you got there from what I said particularly in light of my postings on the Tenth Amendment Center.
You raise an important question though–the nature of the Sacramental Life.
It will look different as the persecution goes forward. The rather static offices of the Episcopate, the priesthood and deaconate will have to be more flexible. We may have a catacomb situation but what that looks like, I have no idea.
However as long as the Sacraments are celebrated anywhere we can still enter in to the reality of The Cross, the Grave and the glorious third day Ressurection. God’s grace will not depart from us if we are faithful in the rest. The transformation and transfiguring of our souls even in persecution is an integral part of the Sacramental Life I think. Perhaps we each and together become a literal celebration of the Euchrist.
If I were a quietest, I would not be here BTW
Still, at best, political solutions are worldly even if they avoid the demonic. If the TAC and Nicole are correct, the authoritarian state is being prepared with out regard to the stated political persuasion of the leaders.
Let us think on this once more:
https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-st-crispins-day-speech-from-henry-v/
https://youtu.be/UzIyExlEcyk
We too must become and remain a band of brothers through the Blood of Christ not any earthly king. Union in Christ through repentance. So dear sister, I ask your forgiveness for any burden or shame I have wounded you by because of what appear as criticisms due to the artless way I speak and write. I am too puffed up.
I didn’t leap to “quietism!” Quietism is the calm acceptance of things as they are without attempts to resist or change them (“political quietism”).
Isn’t that what you were recommending when you said, “politics is a passion of the kind that our Tradition warns us about. It is demonically inspired and will ALWAYS lead to government persecution of the Church and Her people precisely because there is no love nor any virtue?”
No
I have noticed those who see themselves as the picture of virtue are quick to point out that those of us who see things differently are tools of the devil.
It sounds to me like you’re saying that we should avoid “activities associated with the governance of a country” (the definition of politics) because it is demonically inspired.
No again. I am sorry for being so unclear. I am speaking of the ideological warfare that has become the nature of politics today. A situation in which governing is not even considered.
Gail,
Some Christians are so weak as to be shamed into subjection by liberal white guilt and the emasculated, gnostic pseudo-gospel that has predominated in the West since the World Wars.
Best to ignore them.
I feel that, in his railing against any kind of interest/involvement in politics, our dear Michael is leaning towards a sort of neo-gnosticism. Sorry, brother, but the Chalcedonian definition demands Christian involvement in the polis. Christian involvement in politics was one of the reasons we were able to build godly societies, i.e. Christendom, in the first place, and our unwillingness to get involved has led to the current crisis in the West.
I see your previously-expressed sympathy for Quakerism in a different (inner) light now.
Basil. Again there are other more effective ways of being involved in the polis than modern ideological politics. Some of those ways I have mentioned here much more recently than one passing comment on a Friends meeting I attended in 1986 but because I do not agree with the partisan method I am a neo-gnostic, ruled by a passion to be “inward” I am indeed blessed. Thank you.
I think that to be effective AND Christian any involvement must begin with an examination of my own sins and repenting of them first. Which I tried to do before voting for Trump. But I in no way see him as a “better olive tree”, but a deeply flawed man. Just not as deeply as Biden and the clowns. Yet I have a dear brother in Christ who feels the same way about Biden. He is a devout, kind and generous man. Not a radical in any way. I hope our friendship is not torn. It is already under stress because of the actual racism of some in my parish family.
Oh, I also wear a mask when I attend Divine Liturgy in obedience to my Bishop (receiving from unmasked celebrants who delicately drop the Body and Blood into my unworthy mouth.)
I would laugh but that same mouth has obviously not spoken well or clearly or you would not have so egregiously miss understood.
Please forgive me.
Basil just to be as crystal clear as possible: Incarnational theology does demand that the Church and her members be involved in the polis.
Yes it does.
We are involved in the polis whether we like it or not.
The decision to abstain from voting is parallel to the decision to vote third party. It is in itself a deliberate choice. Are we to compel Christians to refrain from voting for third-party candidates? I don’t think so.
Yeah, the Lord didn’t go to Rome when he was on the Earth and become Caesar. The Devil did that temperation to the Lord.
Michael,
I think there is a fundamental disconnect here. Orthodoxy, from the time it came out of the catacombs, has been monarchial with respect to material political power. I won’t repost Vladimir Moss’ article to this effect, but it is dispositive IMHO.
Yet, we fight with the weapons we have. There’s nothing sacred about our Constitution – that is the passion that ails some. Others disregard it entirely and simply seek means to impose their will. Nonetheless, while it has some force and is still respected to some degree, it is quite useful.
Really, for us Orthodox, the closer to a Christian monarchy we are – and one which at a minimum tolerates our unique “brand” of Christianity – the better the outcome. Monarchy is out of reach, however, but Trump represents the next best thing: a Christian Nationalist executive in a soon to be dominant party system. That’s essentially what Putin has now, accounting for different style bells and whistles. What it amounts to is a tsar with a moderately limiting/corrective entourage. Unpleasant anomalies get washed out in the process to the extent it is transparent.
Misha, you are right. But participation in the polis does not mean voting or ideological warfare. Thank you for raising the point.
Being the subject of a monarch still requires people to participate in the polis as a loyal subject. Paying taxes is participation. Serving in the military, etc.
Indeed, ordering one’s own home and family is participation.
Indeed, it is impossible NOT to participate in any polis. (I use a very broad definition of polis).
This is true, Michael. For me, it is actually a toss up. Last election, as a convinced monarchist, I sat it out.
The only reason I advocate for Trump now is that I think I can see where he is going and think he has a chance to get there – a dominant party state. Were that not the case, were we talking about George W., for instance, I would not be interested and confine myself to praying for it to mutate into a more monarchial form in God’s good time.
The real problem is that no one alive has lived under a true monarchy, let alone a Christian one. So, we don’t really know what that would be like.
There would a lot to adapt to.
Well, that’s a stretch: Monaco, Liechtenstein, not to mention Muslim countries like Arabia, Jordan, etc.
You’ll notice that in Central/Eastern Europe, there’s a certain buzz about restoration.
https://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/serbia/thousands-of-protesters-call-for-the-restoration-of-serbias-monarchy-112794/
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/10/12/what-happened-to-romanias-monarchy
There’s a whole psycho-philosophical argument to be made that I’m not going to get into, suffice it to say that much of the unease, alienation and lack of perceived/experienced psychological “grace” in modern society may stem from the schizophrenic nature of faction based modern Western democracies, especially binary ones like our Democratic/Republican system. In short, it creates an unchristian dualism.
“…the schizophrenic nature of faction based modern Western democracies, especially binary ones like our Democratic/Republican system. In short, it creates an unchristian dualism.”
That is an interesting observation, Misha.
It bears much thinking about.
Misha, great observation. As Brendan says, much to think about. It is tough for me to imagine a non-binary polis. Even in authoritarian countries there are “enemies of the state”. Still binary.
I will defend my statement that we have no living memory of what it is like to be governed by a true monarchy.
The examples you give have significant anomalies so as to not be useful examples: size, homogeneity, etc. (But that may just be pride on my part)
BTW, I am really enjoying our exchanges on this topic. You challenge me in a good and positive manner. Thank you.
Actually, Michael, on further reflection and looking at how things are spiraling more and more, the “real problem” is that neither what the Democrats are doing, nor what Trump is doing, is defusing this situation and everything the Dems and media are saying in response to demands for election accountability are sounding to more than half the country like, “Let them eat cake.”
Arms and ammo are still flying off the shelves, as well as goods due to the renewed threat of lockdowns. Alas, it is probably only a matter of time now . . .
People will rise up at some point, and it’s not far off. Not sure where it will start, but look for it.
Misha, you may be correct, I pray not. I can only testify that in the middle of all the mayhem, angst, corruption and lust of power and my own financial, family and heath concerns (I pray often when I am awakened at night in pain). God is blessing me with a deep joy.
May He bless and keep you and those you hold dear, keeping all of you from harm.
Misha, I was looking through some stuff I had written awhile back and I found a piece that expressed a key strength of monarchy: The ability (function?) of the monarch to repent for the people as a whole. It is a microcosm of Jesus going to the Cross on behalf of all and for all.
That in no way relieves each of us of the need to repent for our own sins, in fact it may increase it.
What do you think?
Well, Michael, it would indeed be a beautiful sight to see a restored House of Romanoff and a tsar publicly begging God on behalf of all Rus’ for forgiveness for the complicity of the Russian people in the Bolshevik horror initiated by Lenin. And hopefully, as Putin ages, he will consider the possibility of restoration more seriously. I would like them to go back to the rule initiated after Catherine the Great that excluded women from monarchial headship. That is the Christian way. Man is the head and St. Paul would not place women over men.
The last 100 years leave mankind a lot for which to repent.
Sounds wonderful Misha. May it be so.
Misha, we have to careful of an ideology of monarchism. I would have to say that Vladimir Moss unfortunately succumbed to that ideology, and it’s telling that he remains in schism from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Any government that exists has divine right, not just monarchs. This is what St. Paul says in Romans 13, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” It’s mistake then to think that any established government is somehow less legitimate because it is not a monarchy. Following St. Paul, we subject ourselves to the governing authorities, whatever they may be (pagan in St. Paul’s case), because it is God who has established their authority.
…and we return once more to the nature and extent of obedience. May God enlighten us.
I don’t think Moss’s point is about monarchism as an ideology but rather as the universal preference of the Church Fathers in contrast to polyarchy (one form of which is democracy) and anarchy. They address it as a mindset more than an as an ideology, though we are more used to the concept of ideology as a political construct.
One can look at a political system in terms of how best to pursue the good. However, one can also look at it in terms of spiritual efficacy. The former is more ideological, the latter psychological or noetic.
Put another way, what happens to men who engage in polyarchy is what happens to men who engage in polytheism: It all ends in anarchism (and tyranny of the mob) and atheism. That is the real point of the Fathers; i.e., in modern terms, that these heresies are actually mental illnesses that end in madness and depression.
Misha, the “Church Fathers” all lived under some form of monarchy. For them, it was just their providential reality. For them, there was nothing ideological about it.
For anyone who doesn’t live under monarchy, it is only an idea. This nostalgic idea and of subverting one’s government to “return” to a monarchy thus becomes ideology. I think the Church Fathers were basically speaking against subversive political ideologies in general. That’s what St. Paul is saying. Whatever government we have, it exists because God has established it’s authority. Whatever we have, it’s God’s providence for us.
The Israelites demanded a monarchy from the Prophet Samuel, and God was displeased but finally agreed to this request. The Israelites got King Saul, a less than stellar monarch. So it’s always better to seek and accept God’s will rather than our own.
Rufus,
Yes, that’s the standard Protestant response to monarchy, the Saul thing. Yet Samuel’s sons did the very things that he warned the Israelites would happen under their first king, just at the national level.
And then came David, a man after God’s own heart. He had his limitations, of course. But the appellation “son of David” is not a title of the Messiah for nothing.
Again, I refer you to Vladimir Moss:
MUST AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN BE A MONARCHIST? (orthodoxchristianbooks.com)
You are wrong about this merely being circumstantial or a passing fancy of the Church Fathers in response to “subversive political ideologies”. They named those systems they rejected and explained in detail exactly why they rejected them, calling democracy a game the pagan Greeks played once upon a time.
* * *
The Holy Fathers and Church writers of this period unanimously supported the monarchical order, and condemned democracy for religious reasons. Thus Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea wrote: “The example of monarchical rule there is a source of strength to him. This is something granted to man alone of the creatures of the earth by the universal King. The basic principle of kingly authority is the establishment of a single source of authority to which everything is subject. Monarchy is superior to every other constitution and form of government. For polyarchy, where everyone competes on equal terms, is really anarchy and discord. This is why there is one God, not two or three or even more. Polytheism is strictly atheism. There is one King, and His Word and royal law are one.”[2]
The Holy Fathers agreed with Eusebius. Thus St. Gregory the Theologian wrote: “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…”[3]
“What we honour is monarchy…” That certainly appears to imply that monarchism is part of the Orthodox world-view, even if it does not figure in any of the Creeds.
We find the same in the Fathers of the fifth century. Thus Archbishop Theophan of Poltava writes: “St. Isidore of Pelusium, after pointing out that the God-established order of the submission of some to other is found everywhere in the life of rational and irrational creatures, concludes from this: ‘Therefore we are right to say that the matter itself – I mean power, that is, authority and royal power – are established by God.”[4]
* * *
The Fathers sound like they are describing our current political mess.
See also:
* * *
In the epoch of the French revolution Orthodox theologians continued to defend the principle of one-man-rule. For example, towards the end of the 18th century Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople, the future hieromartyr, even defended the far-from-ideal power of the Turkish sultan against revolutionary ideas from the West in his Paternal Exhortation. And Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow developed a whole “political theology” defending Orthodox autocratic power: “God has placed a king on earth in the image of His Heavenly single rule an autocratic king in the image of His almighty power, an autocratic king, and a hereditary king in the image of His Kingdom that does not pass away.”[21] – ibid
* * *
Moss is quite well read and though I don’t agree with all of his opinions, with respect to monarchism I do not see any flaws in what he is saying. Now that does not mean that we need to overthrow the American government. But for Americans, at the least, if one is a Christian, one should be an advocate of a strong executive rather than advocate for three equal branches of government. The branches will not be equal anyway. The courts have proven dominant within the government and the media, the fourth branch, dominant in society.
Focusing on the executive is also strategically wise in that it is the only branch of government which is unitary. Theoretically, there is no partisan division within a presidential administration itself. That cannot be said of the House, the Senate or the High Court. And a house divided against itself is inherently unstable, especially if there are thin majorities.
The goal should be to get a single party completely dominant in Congress and a single school of Constitutional interpretation dominant on the High Court. Then you have dominant party government rather than this bipartisan bs we’ve suffered under for most of the life of the republic.
What are you worried about, corruption?
(pause for laughter)
Yeah, it won’t be perfect. And there will be factions within the dominant party, as there are within each of the parties now. However, the executive will be much stronger, strong enough to direct the course of society.
And that’s what we’re looking at because the parties have had it with each other – especially the Democrats have had it with the Republicans due to their ever metastasizing insanity. If the Republicans are smart, they will not delude themselves that it can “go back to normal”. Some seem red pilled, others not so much. What is a mathematical certainty is that the Democrats will attempt to disempower and marginalize the Republicans out of national level office. They’ve declared it openly and should be taken at their word.
Once one party has resolved to do this, the other has no choice but to do the same or reconcile itself to returning to the farm, only to be sent to re-education in short order. This should be made clear to the Republican state legislators in the swing states and I hope that was the purpose of the visit to the White House. Trump can’t compel them to look at the evidence and then act boldly. All he can do is convince them of the inevitable consequences if they do not.
Misha: “monarchism is part of the Orthodox world-view, even if it does not figure in any of the Creeds” I see no need to elevate monarchism to the level of Creed. Even if monarchists were right. Same way I see no reason to elevate other truths or opinions that are not essential to salvation of human souls.I see at least one reason not to do so – people who err in political or scientific matters should not be excluded from the Church. Let them be.
Martin,
You are entitled to your opinion. However, the patriarchy does not appear in the Creed, yet it drips from every page of Scripture and the Fathers.
Some things were so basic and assumed that they are not stated because only deranged people would need them to be. Porcupines cannot serve as icons. Yet there is no canon against it . . .
Misha “You are entitled to your opinion.”
Very kind of you. Thanks 😉
Well, on the issue of monarchy versus republic, my views are informed mostly by Aristotle, Machiavelli and Ivan Ilyin.
I do tend to think that monarchy is superior. Yet I think that it requires a degree of consensus and a suitable mindset (pravosoznanie). Otherwise it will be a tyranny or dictatorship at best. Some countries have monarchical mindsets like England, Japan or Thailand. Others have republican mindsets like Switzerland.
Mindsets can change, Roman kingdom changed to the Republic, then over generations, between Julius Caesar and Diocletian, evolved toward monarchical Empire.(When Christ urged Jewish people to accept the Emperor in worldly matters, Rome officially was still a republic).
In general I believe in separation between Kingdom of God and kingdom of this world, and would not mix politics with religion.
Martin,
Правосознание means “sound conscience” or “sense of justice”, not “mindset”. You’re probably looking for воззрение or мнение.
In any case, separation of kingdom of God and kingdom of this world is a decidedly unorthodox point of view biblically and patristically. It’s a completely Protestant mindset.
“In general I believe in separation between Kingdom of God and kingdom of this world, and would not mix politics with religion.”
Incarnation. Chalcedon.
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight … ”
[Jn 18:36 KJV]
Misha
No, I used pravosoznanie in the sense Ilyin used. (Not that I agree with Ilyin in everything). Hard to translate, perhaps “sense of social order”. Not everything you can find in a dictionary.
Misha ” It’s a completely Protestant mindset.”
Perhaps I read Gospels too much? 😉
Seriously, Lutherans tended to submit church to the government, Anglicans did it actually, Calvinists tried to submit state to the church.
There not so many countries where Orthodox are numerous. But tell me, how your doctrine can be applied in a country where majority is pagan (India) or Muslim or atheist.
Martin: “Calvinists tried to submit state to the church.”
The noted Scots Presbyterian minister Andrew Melville once addressed James VI, King of Scots, in the following manner:
“And thairfor Sir, as divers tymes befor, sa now again, I mon tell yow, thair is twa Kings and twa Kingdomes in Scotland. Thair is Chryst Jesus the King, and his Kingdome the Kirk, whase subject King James the Saxt is, and of whose kingdome nocht a king, nor a lord, nor a heid, bot a member! And they whome Chryst hes callit and commandit to watch over his Kirk, and govern his spirituall kingdome, hes sufficient powar of him, and authoritie sa to do, bathe togidder and severalie; the quhilk na Christian King or Prince sould control and discharge, but fortifie and assist, utherwayes nocht fathfull subjects nor members of Chryst.”
As history confirms, the great-grandson of Henry VIII of England (later James I of England and ‘authoriser’ of the KJV Bible) was not persuaded by the Reverend Minister. Much trouble followed when James succeeded to the English throne: Wars (Civil and Religious), exiles and emigrations (eg: the Pilgrim Fathers), and eventually Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America.
Martin,
I didn’t know you were referring to Ilyin. Your mistranslation is still a mistranslation. Ilyin’s term is usually translated as “sense of justice” or “consciousness of justice”, not “suitable mindset” as you rendered it above. I was simply trying to find the right word for what you said you meant.
In any case, Ilyin seems to have advocated, or at least tolerated, fascism as a sort of halfway house on the road to monarchy, much like I would favor sovereign democracy as a station on the road to monarchy. But it is better to reject all totalitarianism due to its denigration of God’s authority. Ilyin, when all is said and done, was hip deep in that Western captivity of the Russian mind of which we often speak.
The concept we seem to be dancing around is Orthodox phronema or mindset. This would be мышление, probably, though I’m not sure what it would be in Slavonic. From looking at how Ilyin used his term, it seems as if that is what he is trying to get at by coining a new westernized term to represent a very old concept – reinventing the wheel for a cultured look. It reminds one of how the SCOTUS invented the term “actual malice” in NY Times vs. Sullivan out of wholecloth to refer to what was an already established legal concept called “scienter”. “Actual malice” sounds so much more novel, like they were earning their pay somehow.
Misha “I didn’t know you were referring to Ilyin. Your mistranslation is still a mistranslation. … Ilyin seems to have advocated, or at least tolerated, fascism”
I mentioned Aristotle, Machiavelli and Ilyin together with “pravosoznanie”. You did not think that the the first two used this world?! 😉
I expected that you will mention “fascism”, because Ilyin was very unpopular among liberals and Google returns will focus around this accusation. Either way, I do not like fascism and I am not a follower of Ilyin, I just find his notion of mindset very useful.I did not “mistranslate”, I just read Ilyin in original, appreciated his category, and interpreted in English, not translated if you get the difference.We might have difficulty with translating Aristotle terms or even Machiavelli. You pick on words and dictionaries, while it is better to deal with the meaning.
So you did not answer my question. I was very curious about you answer. Let me repeat:
“There not so many countries where Orthodox are numerous. But tell me, how your doctrine can be applied in a country where majority is pagan (India) or Muslim or atheist?”
Your answer might clarify our misunderstandings.
Martin,
I applaud you if you can read Ilyin in the original. I skirted over your mention of him in your original posts. My apologies.
You are sounding like Stnakovich with the google stuff. I’m not too quick to yell, “fascist!” as anyone here will attest. Franco, for example, is an admirable character despite false accusations of fascism leveled against him. In short, I am no cherry. I simply am uncomfortable with Ilyin’s early tolerance for totalitarianism, fascism being only one variety. But that is not to say his writings are without merit. Putin is said to be a fan, that speaks favorably. Also, I had not come across Ilyin’s On Fascism until our present discussion.
I don’t have a “Misha doctrine”. However, as Moss is quick to point out, Orthodox have supported monarchies in non-Orthodox lands as being God allowed at least. That was the take on the Ottoman system, for example. It is only when a ruler makes clear that he is an enemy of God by rejecting the particulars of the Law of God in law and royal action that we label him a tyrant and encourage revolt (as under Julian the Apostate, for example).
Now Northern India is an interesting case in point. You of course are aware of the carnage there perpetrated by the Muslim invaders. Hindus were not considered people of the book and so were given the choice of conversion to Islam or the sword. Normally, this would be considered a type of tyrannical activity, conversion to a false religion or death, similar to the choice Christians sometimes faced early on under Rome.
Vis a vis atheism, this is quite clear. ROCOR, for example, though being monarchist in essence supported the American war effort in Vietnam as anti communist, anti atheistic. Atheists should be opposed, by force if necessary, wherever they rule, on general principle. In our present situation, where the American elites are atheistic “soft socialist” types, this is all the more imperative, our small numbers as Orthodox notwithstanding.
“But what are we fighting for?” you might rightly ask. I, for one, see the potential for Trumpism to morph into a dominant party system where one party effectively rules at the national level, the other party being reduced to a second tier, non-competitive status. This would render the United States much like the Russian Federation in terms of having a very strong executive, akin to a monarchy. This may be the best that can be achieved in a Western democracy with a particular aversion to the idea of monarchy hard baked into its DNA like America. But that is quite sufficient for the short and medium term.
More on two kingdoms:
It is true that Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world . . .” Yet what He was referring to there is not the separation of the Kingdom of God from material reality but rather the fact that His kingdom, as the Son of David, was to be spiritual at the outset, not manifest in material power. This has nothing to do with the separation of Church and state. The very notion is rejected elsewhere in the New Testament with, for example, St. Paul referring to the sword being given to the state by God.
The other thing to understand is that “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” are also both euphemisms for what was later called theosis. This is clear from a number of Christ’s own parables. So when Christ refers to “His kingdom” not being of this world, he is not saying that the faith that rests on Him should not be manifest in the political realm but rather that His personal kingdom in this material reality is not necessarily political but rather spiritual, at least until the Second Coming.
None of this points us to Gnosticism.
Why did you write “Church Fathers” instead of simply Church Fathers, or, even better, the Holy Fathers? Are these scare quotes?
Basil, not scare quotes. I still think Misha’s reference to the “Church Fathers” is out of context. They were subjects of monarchy, rather than being subjects of a different political system.
Having a monarchial mindset is good regardless, but that also means accepting whatever authority (presented as a political system) that God has established for us. We can and should recognize that God is King, even though the Prince of Darkness has been given authority over the earth for a time, and even though that authority might not present itself as a monarchy. In a proper monarchial mindset, it’s not our place to dispute the authority that God as King gives to others.
Rufus: “In a proper monarchical mindset, it’s not our place to dispute the authority that God as King gives to .others.”
You describe military mindset.
In monarchical mindset, the King is the head of family, you can bargain, implore, dispute and question. You can bring him gifts and receive them. Russians called Tsar, “Daddy” (batiushka).
In the republican mindset the leader is a bureaucrat, who follows the law, more harshly the better. Gifts and favors are crime.
What chills me about the video by the way is its psychological approach to sell its agenda by covering up the chilling with sweet-sounding ideals. Like watching the commercials of smiling happy patients while the list of possible serious or fatal side effects is being read so quickly and quietly the observing TV psyche doesn’t notice. In one of my recent psychoanalytic info emails, interesting to see that psychoanalysts were considering how to to craft the public service announcements to encourage all to sign up for untested vaccines for which their makers have no liability (and apparently little conscience or regard for randomized control trials or safety testing). Of course that’s my take on it, not theirs….
George, you know I hope you’re right. My take, however:
Thomas, Alito, Barrett, and Kavanaugh–yes.
Gorsuch, maybe.
Roberts, less likely, but maybe if he’s not the swing vote.
Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor, definitely not.
lxc+
Concerned about Gorsuch as well, Lexcaritas. He’s an Episcopalian I understand, the folks who say each gets to decide whether the wine and bread is or is not the Body of Christ ~ that is, man is the ultimate Elitist in their view. Hope he would be Constitutional…
BTW, there is a hit job out on Kavanaugh https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-senate-idUSKCN26F1ND
No, I hadn’t heard. Who/what is RCP?
Meanwhile, Biden was given free air time yesterday by CBS–and who knows who else–for a press briefing on COVID, masks etc. and again today on the unAffordable Care Act as arguments are before the Court today to proclaim all his administration is going to do for us. All this before the electors have met and even while his election hasn’t been certified and so he is not President elect. This is free propaganda and an injunction should be sought and granted against it. It’s shameful he would do it and shameful the media would give it. It should taxed to him as income and they should not be permitted a deduction.
lxc+
I second that (e)motion.
RCP = Real Clear Politics
It may seem too fantastic to believe that Trump will eventually win this. As in, only a miracle could make it happen. Now, I’m praying to God as many of you are, but I do not think it is a Hail Mary and here’s why.
Let me put it in the simplest, most direct way possible:
Do you actually believe that the Republican state legislatures and a conservative dominated Supreme Court are going to let Kamala Harris anywhere near the White House given the riots and rhetoric about court packing, extra states, ending the filibuster and the electoral college, etc.?
No. way. in. hell.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/11/10/leaked-audio-shows-usps-ig-attempting-to-twist-a-whistleblowers-complaint-of-a-n2579867
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/pentagon-policy-official-resigns/index.html
These people are as naive as I’ve ever encountered. They can’t see what’s coming. Why on earth would you fire your Sec. of Defense as a lame duck two months before leaving office? Why would you be placing loyalists in the Pentagon?
Duh.
He believes his legal challenges, etc., will keep him in office. Either that, or he’s preparing to seize power. And the two are not mutually exclusive. I’m sure he would rather stay in a nice tidy legal fashion. But it is entirely possible given these actions that he will remain regardless.
Godspeed to him, whatever his intentions.
Or it could be an insurance policy. If you argue a case, you do it as if you were preparing for the appeal to the next higher court. That way, the judge knows that you’re going to get what you want either way.
He could be getting his chess pieces in order to make a statement to the justices and legislatures that he can take what he is asking them to give him. So, for the good of the country, let’s keep it as peaceful as possible.
Dear Misha,
I also don’t think they are patsies, yet. I have to believe that they can see that this isn’t just an election between the Democrats and the Republicans, ultimately it’s about changing the entire system of governance via domestic enemies. They actually tell us what they are going to do, pack the court, hell yes we are going to take your guns etc.
I think that Rahm Emanuel’s ideas are an accurate summation relative to what is being experienced these days. “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” Covid-19 is their motherload.
If the state legislatures and a conservative dominated Supreme Court just go through the typical and anticipated lulled motions being accepted by electorate (the votes have been counted this is democracy at work and Biden Harris win) it seems to me to be an act of passive treason.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and …
I suppose this last question is a combination of cynicism and reality on my part. Since when have State legislatures including those held by the Republicans been immune from certifying con jobs?
Matthew,
It is more than that. No one in the media or politics that I have seen is saying this explicitly because it’s too scary for them to do so on TV. It would shock even Constitution carrying conservatives if they really understood the implications of what we are witnessing. I’ve tried to give Monomakhos readers a heads up so it will not jar them as much when it happens but it will jar them nonetheless.
2016, really, was the last free and fair election where two parties will be competing on relatively equal terms for national leadership. Only one party will survive this battle for power, the other may still be around but effectively banished from governance. Both sides know that they can’t risk letting the other party rule at this point because whoever rules now rules indefinitely.
Trump knows he can’t afford to lose this. The Republicans know they can’t afford to lose this. The Democrats know they can’t afford to lose this. But only one party is in power as we speak, the Republicans, and knowing that this is their last stand if they don’t win, they will win, period.
And, according to the chessboard I’m seeing, they have the raw power to make it stick. The Pennsylvania lawsuit will prevail and turn it red. Their supreme court violated the US Constitution in changing the election deadline. No doubt. All Trump needs through these other lawsuits and recounts is to flip a couple of states and he’s won. Or, alternatively, all he needs is for the Republican legislatures in a couple of these states to grow a set and reject the election results as fraudulent and appoint Trump electors. They show every indication of moving in that direction and given the timeframe, Trump and the national Republicans have time to work on them and the Democrats have time to scare them with their stupid telegraphing of their totalitarian plans.
Rank and file Democrats do not actually realize in what a precarious position they are in. That’s evident from the trolls here. But their leadership and media sure as hell do.
Republicans kept the Senate. There are still a number of House races which, though projected, are not done counting and/or recounting if it is ordered. Of projected seats, Dems barely have the 218 needed for a majority. That could change.
It is still theoretically possible, I’d say maybe one in three, that Republicans could clean sweep and control everything when the dust settles. It is clear from the down ballot red wave that Republicans had the mojo before the election. After all the fraud is unveiled in court and the other scandals take their toll, it is possible that the Democrats are finished as a national party, despite all appearances to the contrary.
They know that this is for all the marbles that is why they are playing such hard ball. Their press is printing lies with all the ink they have and their minions are trying to intimidate everyone reporting voting fraud to quash this rising dragon. They’re open about what they’re going to do in power: truth commissions, lockdowns, blacklisting, religious persecution, packing SCOTUS, eliminating the filibuster and adding states while opening the borders to illegal aliens.
Republicans have been playing it closer to the chest. However, my instincts tell me that when the dust is clear and they know they will suffer no repercussions, they will settle scores on an epic, biblical scale and make damn sure that the country is never dragged to the brink again in the foreseeable future. By any means necessary. And they could have all the power. Trump will lead them and he as well as they have been taking names too. It’s only human. And it’s a matter of self preservation at this point. That’s an overwhelming motivation and you just do what you have to do and ask God for forgiveness later for any excesses committed in the moment.
But you err on the side of excess.
PS: Here’s the heart of the ugly little secret that will shake even conservatives when they come to power: The only way to stay in power is to dominate the other side, they will force you by their defiance – and that domination will feel way too good to tread lightly.
Man’s nature is a fallen one.
I agree with you Misha that after the dust settles, If trump does indeed retain power and we keep the House/Senate the Democrats are done functioning as a party on the national level, their politics are just to out there for the average American.
Having said that, even though i am Republican (at least in practice), I still don’t think having a one party state is a good thing. If the country is shifting more conservative (even though it doesn’t seem like it), this may give an opportunity for the smaller, more conservative parties to have a chance to gain some ground. I’m thinking of the Constitution Party or the American Solidarity Party. I think the Republican party will just naturally drift to the centre-left/centre-right over time and more people, especially in local elections, will vote for the more right wing parties
Clear and accurate analysis, Misha.
Thank you, Brendan
Have you seen this?:
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trumps-stealthy-road-victory-172235
I saw it here:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/11/12/former-clinton-aide-offers-another-take-on-stealth-route-to-a-trump-2020-win-n2579988
The more I think about it, the less I think he’s going to lose this. In his campaign speeches this year, he has referred to these scenarios openly as if this were what it going to happen. I really think he’s got this and that they’ve thought it through to the nth degree.
Thanks for this Misha. I had an idea of the possibility
of this, but lacked knowledge of the full details.
An awful thought occurs to me. If President of the Senate Pence votes to return President Trump to office, but Speaker Pelosi tries to assume the Presidency under the 20th Amendment and the succession statute, might the USA be facing another Civil War?
Brendan, indeed. We must pray for the safety of Joe Manchin Democrat Senator of W Virginia as he has come out publically in opposition to 1. Ending the filibuster and 2. Packing the Supreme Court.
Given current Senate rules and composition he alone could stop those things. Pray that he does not have an “accident” or commit suicide with a double tap to the back of his head.
Holy angels and protectors watch over Joe Manchin and keep him safe from all harm.
Brendan,
That is actually the sheer beauty of how this is unfolding. He who occupies the White House stays in the White House. Pelosi can get on TV and literally say anything she wants. It won’t matter. Who did the electors vote to the presidency? Pence gets to decide. Who says he does? In the end, these things go to SCOTUS, where there is already case law to guide them as well as a sense of self preservation in the face of the looming threats of court packing and a Harris presidency.
Pelosi and the media can then say this is a coup d’etat and that she is the rightful president if they want. But Trump is currently commander in chief. One must make a legal argument upheld by SCOTUS to get anyone to evict him. And that’s not going to happen.
A president has not been officially elected until the electors vote and the VP opens and reads the slates of electors from the states. There will be no coup, just completely legal Constitutionally prescribed procedures being worked out. And the military will do nothing to upset that. They will obey the orders of the lawfully elected president. They have already indicated as much.
What the MSM is really saying is that they think that they can get the army to follow their orders. And that is delusional.
Now, that being said, there will be a leftist Reaction which will not be pretty. But civil war is too strong a term. You assume they have the balls to do so. I really don’t. I can envision riots and protests on a much larger scale, but only in blue states. I can see protests in some red states, but not riots. The governments in these states won’t stand for it. Trump will send in federal troops wherever the situation qualifies as a bona fide insurrection under the Insurrection Act. In fact, he has an obligation to do so.
Tell me how the Left can wage a civil war without an army? Self-destruction through riots and burning your own blue cities does not qualify as a civil war. Sure, it makes for great entertainment on TV, but it does not touch the federal government or the residents of red states.
Let the heathen rage.
Misha, I assume nothing. I am not an American,
nor do I live in America. I just ask the question,
to which I do not claim to know the answer.
Brendan,
If you’re British, then I should clarify that my tone is merely rhetorical and not combative. We colonials communicate this way rather than in British understatement.
ok 🙂
??????????????
Update on international attorneys worldwide class action lawsuit to begin in Germany! PCR tests used to create worldwide panic and fear!
https://youtu.be/XQYzb5_kax8
✅? Jane! Thank you!
How about this? Lord have mercy!
https://www.pappaspost.com/patriarch-bartholomew-to-biden-you-offer-hope-conviction-for-a-better-future/
Democrats have been chanting, “No border, no wall, no USA at all” for years now, as well as being openly Communist (Comrade Harris, “Equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place,” Nov. 1, 2020), which all fits in with the Pope’s latest Encylical:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/popes-new-encyclical-surrender
So if your goal is surrender to Rome, then you’re going to be cool with the Democratic party in the USA as well.
Dostoevsky pretty much predicted this 140 years ago with The Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov.
Nevermind that Biden supports abortion on demand. Nevermind that Biden supports so-called gay marriage. Nevermind that Biden will champion every Marxist policy of the far left. To Black Bart, he is a good and wonderful friend because he recognizes the climate crisis. Black Bart is a disgrace and embarrassment to all Orthodix Christians. History will remember him as one of the most corrupt and vindictive Patriarchs in the history of the Church.
“…you [Biden] now offer hope (I could say conviction) for a better future, where the eternal values and ideals of a civilized humanity may prevail.”
What values would those be, I wonder? Forcing the ‘gospel’ of abortion and LGBTQWHATEVER down the throats of all peoples?
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate has for many years been preoccupied with protecting the natural environment and addressing climate change…” (Note: this is the CP’s own English translation!)
Indeed, the ‘Ecumenical Patriarchate’ has been “preoccupied” with many things that have little or nothing to do with the Gospel.
Pompeo
Meeting with Patriarch
https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece_politics/arthro/turkey_offended_by_pompeo_s_plan_to_meet_with_patriarch_bartholomew-1187435/
https://www.oann.com/poll-president-trump-earns-53-approval-among-likely-u-s-voters/
HIs approval is higher than during the campaign. This is the highest I’ve ever seen it.
The statistical case against a Biden win: https://thenationalpulse.com/news/case-against-biden-win/
I have been noticing the same things going on for years now with the EP and with the MSM. Haven’t we all?
The Swamp is just too big to drain. The MSM is too entrenched in their assigned corporate narratives to see or report clearly. Even Taibbi leaves RS, Greenwald leaves the Intercept, yet Kristol and Romney applaud Biden. Left media repeatedly gaslights by claiming there are no valid cases of voter fraud, yet the right files docs, has videos, and waves around affidavits on screen.
I have never in all my years seen such a blatant and groundless attack on a sitting president like the last four years. Despite whatever Trump may be (and he may be the worst president ever elected), it is the despicable way the Swamp and the MSM/BLM/Antifa crowd have behaved that is most telling to me. It’s good to know and to see just exactly what they really are; they don’t deserve the respect or even the passing interest of any decent man, woman or child.
So it behooves each one of us who understands this to behave accordingly. Vote with your ballot, your time, your dollar, and with your feet painstakingly and every day.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-lost-denial-pompeo/
sorry to burst your thought, rather feeling bubble George but your godlet trump lost by the largest margin in living memory. I could be crass about this as so many of your fellow trumpcultists with their ‘F___ your feelings’ t-shirts but I’ll just remind you that your side was the one who confused feelings with facts. You back the biggest fraud and sorest loser in American politics for as long as anyone now living can remember.
I watched over the last 5 years how you went from hoping trump would stand as a bulwark against the hated HRC to admiring his ‘charm’ to openly worshiping him and lauding his every fart and belch. Sad to say so many of your coreligionists went along with you down that rabbit hole. You back the worst President in American history, a man whose career is defined by crime and open disdain for all decency. And he hates you for it as only a malignant narcissist can.
“Sorest loser?” Seriously? Didn’t we just go through 4 years of crap because the Dems were pissed they lost?
Trump is far from being the worst President in American history. Just off the top of my head I can think of four worst by large magnitudes–three of which were Democrat: Wilson, LBJ, Uncle Billy. Wilson takes the bottom prize and it is not even close.
LBJ, unlike some of the left wing Democrats these days did grow up poor and thought government could end the poverty issue. In fact when LBJ was senator he helped to hook Texas more to the electric grind.
Michael, apologies if I missed a previous post on the topic, but could you please re-post or email your criteria for “better” and “worse”? I might assume according to Orthodox values at a minimum but of course we know the saying about assuming, so I will await your specifics whenever convenient! Thanks much, Nicole
Nicole, criteria for “best” or “worst” are notorious for their flexibility and even capriciousness and are always biased.
It is unfair to put James Garfield or William Henry Harrison on either list since they died so soon after taking office.
In general, I would say that bad Presidents are one’s who enacted policies the rater does not like or failed to enact policies the rater did like; world view at the time, overall effectiveness and how they embodied their times. Or how situations beyond their control defined them. Hoover for instance.
I pick Wilson for the worst because he actively worked to get us into WWI, tried to micro-manage the “peace” after the war in such a way that the ground work was laid for WWII. He spawned a whole industry of interventionist, racially bigoted foreign policy based on his twisted Calvinism. Not to mention the reported instance of him having a prominent suffragette kidnapped and tortured in the basement of the White House (I read a seemingly well researched article on that in a respected journal of history many years ago but can no longer cite the source).
Oh, and he refused to resign when he became incapacitated due to strokes so his wife became the Oracle of the President for the last two years of his Presidency.
Warren G Harding-first known President to have the Secret Service sneak his mistress into the White House (Nan Brittan) so he could have sex with her in a cloak room.
James Buchanan whose inaction made the Civil War far more likely.
Sentiment always comes into play, e.g. JFK is seldom evaluated honestly because he was killed in a dramatic way, was young, attractive–Camelot nonsense and all that.
Millard Fillmore was a hopeless alcoholic, Andrew Johnson had no chance, Grant on to Wilson not widely considered on any list because they do not stand out in any way.
The first five Presidents were all significantly involved in the revolt against England.
Actually there are some historical determinists who think that it does not matter in the least who is President. The process of history itself selects and elevates the person. Those who favor “The Great Man” theory of history think just the opposite.
However, my statement is based on my own incomplete and certainly biased understanding of the men who have served in the office since its inception.
“Far from the worst…” is not a very high bar when considered in the light of the number of men in the office who were either corrupt or grossly inept or both. The more recent the man, however, the greater the effect of recency bias.
Some think it is impossible to honestly evaluate a President until all of his contemporaries are dead.
So, take your pick. There is no such thing as “scientific” history. History, as a discipline, is the colollated and curated collection of stories we tell about ourselves and each other over time.
It never tells us what actually is or was.
The Bible is a collection of such stories. Many do not hold its historical accuracy in high regard.
So, Nicole, if you disagree with my list–please make and share one of your own. Then you will be an active part of the unfolding drama that future historians will tell stories about.
At my current stage of life, it is just fun to do that whether I am right or wrong. I will close with a Presidential quote I have always appreciated for its dramatic flair:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7-it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts-not-the-man
Dear Claes:
As adults surely we are able to put aside raw emotions and discuss facts. Are you against freedom of religion, pro-life, freedom of physicians to practice medicine according to their consciences, freedom of speech, etc.? If so, I can easily see why you would dislike what Trump has DONE as President, which is what I vote for or against, as counseled by the Saints and Holy Scripture (we are not to judge hearts but can discern the nature of action, I am told therein).
Antifa and some other Leftists as well as some Trumpers have anger issues and disparage others personally such as you are doing verbally while unfortunately then yielding to acting out of violence physically at times; of course all such words and actions are unlawful in the eyes of Christ, the Saints and Holy Scripture. And our law used to uphold the rule against violence, though that is selectively applied now depending on the offender and the party affiliation of the mayor or governor in charge, leading us near the brink of chaos if this attitude is allowed to spread.
So please I am asking what you dislike about what Trump has DONE in his office, which is what I personally care about. Hope you will also reply about what you value in the Democratic platform and whether you will applaud the abortion at birth, increased death, the utilitarian view of the elderly and disabled which adviser E. Emmanuel MD promotoes, the closing of Churches selectively to harm religion, etc. so we can keep the discussion about facts not feelings please.
However if you are simply anti-Christian or if you are Christian but your feelings of antipathy for a person blind you to facts about his actions for Christianity, that would help me understand and nuff said. In that case, hope you will later consider Christ’s words, not mine!
Actually, while I voted for Trump is true that there are angry issues on both the left and right. Mine you, I really didn’t want Biden, but I have to live with it.
Claes,
The only anxiety on the Right at the moment is as to whether Trump and the GOP have the cajones to pull the trigger and take the flack. That is an open question. An investment adviser on Turley’s show last night, very modest and unassuming sort of fellow, just as an offhand remark observed that if Republicans were anywhere near as cutthroat as Democrats the swing state legislature Republicans would simply appoint Trump electors and be done with it. That is entirely within their power. No one could do sh*t about it but riot and bitch.
Those legislators know that the GOP will not win another national election if Biden is elected. It is not a secret and it’s undeniable since the Democrats themselves are bragging about it – packing the courts, ending the filibuster, adding states, abolishing the Electoral College, open borders and Medicare for all. They’re too infantilely stupid to keep a lid on it until after the dust settles because they had to humor their base and defend against the Bernie/Marxist wing.
Fatal mistake.
Moreover, five conservative justices know to a mathematical certainty that Biden and/or Harris will pack the court on which they currently sit. The pro-choice lobby, which owns them, will force them to do so. Any confusion about how SCOTUS will rule to any election case that lands before should be allayed by that knowledge.
What is especially delicious is that the death blow to the Biden campaign will likely be delivered by the pen of Justice Clarence Thomas. If it is a 5-4, which it will likely be, Roberts will be on the losing side and he will have to let the most senior judge on the winning side write the majority opinion. That will be Thomas. It is especially delicious inasmuch as Biden chaired the judiciary committee that conducted what Thomas himself described as a high tech lynching during his confirmation battle. That type of malignant partisanship is still freshly in the minds of conservative justices who witnessed the Kavanaugh and ACB confirmations.
You have to get over the foolish impressions and context painted by the legacy media. All of that is hot air. What is important is raw power, who can force the issue no matter what.
The bottom line is the incontrovertible fact that the Republican state legislatures will be in charge of appointing the electors that determine the outcome of the election and the Supreme Court will decide any controversies before it pursuant to the will of five justices who have a sense of self preservation.
The rest of it – all of it – is bs.
Well, Biden also has skeletons in his closet. I know about Trump’s lying. As Michael said we are all sinners. In fact Trump should have calm down a year ago and do better in the suburbs like he did last time.
Claes’ post was offensive, rude, and mean-spirited. I am surprised it was green-lighted.
I am not a conservative, but a traditionalist. Conservatives accept the basic homocentric view from the “Enlightenment”, traditionalists do not. Thus we are sometimes characterized as unreconstructed medievalists, which is not really far from the mark and which I take as a compliment.
In any case, the Right, which encompasses us both, needs to adjust its attitude toward the Left – both the liberals and “progressives”/socialists. We have treated them as if they were decent respectable human beings like us for too long. They left that camp some time ago. They are now Jacobins – all of them – and should be ostracized as such. I will never speak to my father again. I haven’t in four years anyway, by mutual sentiment, but his liberalism which I formerly considered naive and misguided I now consider malignant and despicable.
If we are the “deplorables” in their minds, that’s fine. They are, from a Christian perspective, inarguably despicable excuses for human beings – all of them. Now, we may need to interact with them in commerce. But socially and spiritually we should have nothing to do with them – let them be anathema. They deserve it and will not reconsider their evil convictions unless they are confronted with the fact that we will simply not tolerate them insofar as we have the power to do so.
They have gone way, way too far during the Trump first term. Blacklists, truth commissions, censoring, lockdowns and violence against Trump supporters on the streets as well as bullying in various public venues which has been openly encouraged by their political leaders. These are all brown shirt, Bolshevik tactics of monsters, not fellow human beings. That is the truth and we should not dare sugar coat it at all if we have a sense of self preservation.
They are Amalek.
Of course, there are limits as to the degree to which we can marginalize and reject them. But let us test those limits, for Christian ostracism was established for precisely this contingency.
I think your right about the radicals like antifa. There were never trumper republicans that voted for Biden and then a Republican for congress. I don’t know what to tell you on this subject. I’m closer to the enlightenment in politics while it has its flaws. In fact if Trump won the same people as the congressional seats as the Republicans did he would have won the election in Pa big enough that cheating would not have cancel the results.
Mind burp. “Homocentric” should read “anthropocentric”.
No again. I am sorry for being so unclear. I am speaking of the ideological warfare that has become the nature of politics today. A situation in which governing is not even considered.
…and just to add a few others: Nixon, Carter and W. Had they faced the unremitting horror/freak show the Dems put on they each would have folded.
I’ll add my two cents. I believe that Obama was the worst President in the history of this country. The corruption ran deep as he weaponized every facet of the government under his administration. He said he was going to fundamentally transform this country…and he certainly did. He continues to do damages behind the scene to this very day.
Mikhail, so that is seven before we even think about maybe considering Trump. It depends on what your criteria is for “worst”.
Interesting that the majority of them are recent. That is familiarity bias.
I forgot quite a few who are IMO much worse than Trump.
Here is one internet list of all of them. From worst to best.
https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-10-worst-u-s-presidents
Really bad ones I forgot: Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Warren G Harding.
If you look at it closely roughly half of all U.S. Presidents are deemed to be unsuccessful or worse. A very small handful are even worth their salt.
The game is essentially meaningless. The ultimate exercise in subjectivity even through the lens of history. God knows.
You are correct, Michael. Familiarity breeds contempt. However, I am sticking with Obama as the very bottom of the list for the mere fact of his manifest weaponization of the government against the people…and the overt radicalism of his policies.
Misha, won’t argue although the phrase “recency bias” applies to the fact that those events most recent take on an outsized importance simply because they are more familiar and impact us emotionally in a much stronger way.
As Obama weaponized government against us, Wilson weaponized the US against the rest of the world. It can be argued that every war we have fought since then is a result of his policies.
Although his wife served as defacto President for the last two years of his term because of his stroke. He refused to retire and there was no mechanism for forcing the issue. Thus leading to the 25th Amendment.
Mikhail,
Trump, IMHO, is the best we’ve had since Washington.
Obama, due mostly to his evident involvement in an attempted coup d’etat against his successor, stands out as second to last, IMHO.
Lincoln, for me, is at the bottom. If he had let the South go temporarily and not staged the Ft. Sumter false flag casus belli, it would have saved 600,000 American lives. In calling for troops from the Upper South, he ensured the secession of 4-6 states in addition to the original 7 who seceded. The 10th Amendment enshrines their perfect right to leave. It was America’s first major illegitimate war. The causes – slavery and tariffs – are irrelevant. Slavery was legal and longstanding. Tariffs were also a political question.
Lincoln was a mixed bag and has some wise quotes along with some commendable policy ideas for after the war. But, in the end, he is our most notorious war criminal.
Half of all US Presidents (and British Prime Ministers) are worse
than the other half. This truism was true and is true and will be true
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων
I think I may need to clear a couple of things up regarding my post above.
Whether Trump is a great president or the worst ever elected, to me the behavior of the Dems, the MSM, the BLM/Antifa crowd and even members of his own party have been despicable. This doubles for me if the widespread claims of election fraud for Biden turn out to be true.
It’s been more important to me to witness how low his opponents have been willing to go to hamstring him and defeat him. They’ve done it as a coordinated group over time and left no underhanded tactic unused.
There have been dirty tricks in American political campaigns before now. The period of this particular presidency however, leads me to believe a time of relative political sanity has passed. Anything goes from now on. It’s jungle rules, winner-take-all. I sense we won’t be returning to a more honest and civil political discourse ever again in the US; and Trump is only partly responsible, perhaps not even in the greater part.
As a class, as a society, and as a nation, these people will stop at nothing. Decent people will not willingly disgrace themselves by being a part of it. That’s how I know it’s finished.
Hi Hans,
You are correct. The only responsibility that Trump carries, is for stirring up the pot and and attempting to eradicate the entrenched corruption that has devoured our government for decades. It forced them to unmask. And when they did, we witnessed the darkness and the stench of unmitigated corruption and evil. The Marxists were very happy staying underground…but Trump forced their hand. Thank you President Trump.
Everyone must continue praying that he can overcome the election fraud that occurred. I believe most of it can be traced to the Dominion voting machines. If not, we have just witnessed the end to free and fair elections.
See Sidney Powell, Mikhail, re Dominion: https://youtu.be/zMDtOtGFrYg
Just hope the good info can get out to all.
The Wayne County vote has been certified.
The Republican assessors caved in under pressure.
Not everyone is strong.
No, not everybody is.
However, let us ponder the wages of cuckservatism over at FAUX:
Cavuto: Down 52%
Ingraham: Down 45%
Fox & Friends: Down 45%
Hannity: Down 39%
Carlson: Down 39%
Mikhail,
You wrote: “The Marxists were very happy staying underground…”
Not saying you’re wrong (since the Marxists do benefit), but I honestly don’t believe that is primarily who is behind the corruption here and around the world. I would look rather to the global oligarchy who care nothing about our political squabbles and are perfectly happy to let them distract us from their schemes. They have no political ‘preferences’ as such. They will support any regime that serves their interests of power and control and will subvert any that stand in their way.
In other words, If one wants to understand what is going on here and throughout world in most every sphere (political, economic, religious) I would forget politics as such and instead follow the money.
Just my two cents.
How interesting.
According to the Department of Homeland Security:
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/us-department-of-homeland-security-says-2020-election-was-most-secure-in-history.html
Sounds like a deep state bald-faced lie to me.
As Winston Churchill might have said:
“The Department is perpetrating a terminological inexactitude.”
https://www.newsmax.com/bruceabramson/fraud/2020/11/13/id/996950/
Here is how this works in the real world:
You can’t go ballot by ballot to prove, one by one, which ones were tampered or forged and which ones not. What you do is combine the statements of witnesses which have already been amassed in impressive numbers with statistical analysis which is discussed in the above article. The analysis will show clear statistical evidence of systematic widespread fraud in favor of the side which proposed the rule changes which enabled them to cause the demonstrated anomalies in favor of their candidate.
Unlike in the criminal trials of alleged perpetrators of this kind of fraud, these cases will be civil and the burden will be preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. Once it has been demonstrated that it is more likely than not that widespread, decisive fraud has been perpetrated which determined the outcome in these states, the burden shifts onto the Democrats to show why this is not the case, then the Republicans get a chance to challenge that evidence, whatever it may be.
Bear in mind, showing likelihoods is precisely what statistics do. Preponderance means 50.000 . . . 0001 percent.
As to “secure”, Texas’ experience with Dominion election systems makes a mockery of the DHS statement. They found Dominion to be both unreliable and a serious security risk, hackable at will due to its open cycling of data on the internet and unreliable due to its repeated failures to perform in demonstrations conducted for the state by Dominion.
The easiest way to avoid misinformation is to disregard every word the Dems and MSM say as well as the Deep State (like DHS) and neocon Bushites.
They have a vested interest in counter revolution and will say absolutely anything.
Here is a wonderful explanation of Repentance: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2020/11/true-repentance/
I firmly believe that for us to create a decent polis we have to live a life of repentance (which I am far from). If we do not at least make the attempt it is like pushing garbage cans around in a game of fecal tetris looking for the least smelly piece.
So what do we do in the meantime? A lot of it is saying no. No to the pernicious cultural idea of “individual rights” anf that government must enforce them which has morphed into “rights” for rivers as Wesley J Smith points out which humans are required to enforce. Suicide BTW.
I firmly reject the notion that I have a right to anything. Where in the Scripture or Tradition is anything like that indicated.
It is certainly not part on incarnational theology. God gifts Himself to us AND takes on all of who we are.
Take just one indication of the lack of rights: “Man is head of the woman as Christ is Head of the Church”
That means that our headship requires we men to pour out our lives for our wife and family.
It is the same principle in government.
That is the polis to which we must aspire and work for.
We must do our best with what we actually have-sinful as it is– but that does NOT require that we engage in the ideological warfare.
Indeed, if we vote or campaign for anyone we must do so in tears of sorrow. Our polis now, at best, is in a Lenten journey.
If our favored candidate “wins” give thanks to God and ask for strength to be righteous in the face of the enormous temptations that public office brings.
Lord have mercy.
I like what you say here Michael. It makes a lot of sense.
Lord have mercy.
Anne Coulter:
” Here are the times Democrats have conceded
a presidential election with grace and dignity:
OK, now on to my column.”
https://www.takimag.com/article/the-democrats-guide-to-losing-gracefully/
Well, the third party vote was down this time. In fact Biden kept Hawkins, the Green Party candidate off the ballot.
https://catholicfamilynews.com/blog/2020/10/30/open-letter-to-president-donald-trump/
Really interesting
An extraordinary letter. It might perhaps have had a salutary effect
had it been published before the election.
Still, it’s nice to see a Roman bishop speak truth,
when Orthodox ones won’t.
Following on from Vigano’s letter: if Trump wins re-election,
will he oppose Big Pharma and the Oligarchs who set out to do him down
so they could impose the Great Reset Tyranny on all mankind
and tattoo everyone, just like the Jews in Belsen and Auschwitz?
It was blessedly. Check the date on the article. My Catholic friends were all aware snd supportive.
Ok. I was extrapolating from the lack of publicity.
But it was never going to be ‘noticed’ by the media, was it?
Fortunately if you get to lots of Catholics, that’s a lot of people ?. The MSM wouldn’t touch it anyway ?.
This is THE day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Both my wife and I struggled to rest and sleep last night due to various aches, pains, and dreams. We both are suffering physical pain and will not be able to participate in the Divine Liturgy due to covid limitations. (Four hundred families- 100 slots)
Yet as I struggled to get up this morning along with my wife and son–the message that has dominated my heart is Rejoice! Although it may not look luke it–He has overcome rhe world, the flesh and the Devil.
Rejoice in the Lord always–even in our struggles, sorrow, pain and sickness. Offer everything up in joy and sorrow. He will not leave us.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be GLAD and rejoice in it
“A true Christian will feel neither hunger nor thirst. In the age of calamity, Christians will not be lost. The Lord will perform miracles for them. One leaf will be enough for a month. When they make the mark of the cross on a piece of earth, it will become bread….”
St Gabriel the Fool for Christ
The American Thinker: The Founders Outsmarted the Presidential Election Fraudsters (we hope)
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/11/the_founders_outsmarted_the_presidential_election_fraudsters.html
This is an excellent exposition for those who fail to understand
that the USA is not a unitary state. It is a Federal Republic.
There can be no President-Elect until the Electoral College has elected one.
Should the Electoral College fail to do so, there are constitutional procedures.
?
Here is an extract from an MHRA (UK Government’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) procurement specification (Supplies – 506291-2020) for an AI software tool to:
(II.1.4) … process the expected high volume of Covid-19 vaccine Adverse Drug Reaction (ADRs) and ensure that no details from the ADRs’ reaction text are missed.
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:506291-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
The notice further states:
(IV:1.1) … if the MHRA does not implement the AI tool, it will be unable to process these ADRs effectively. This will hinder its ability to rapidly identify any potential safety issues with the Covid-19 vaccine and represents a direct threat to patient life and public health.
This doesn’t sound very safe to me.
Brendan, am I reading this right: “The MHRA urgently seeks an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software tool to process the expected high volume of Covid-19 vaccine Adverse Drug Reaction (ADRs) and ensure that no details from the ADRs’ reaction text are missed.”
Terrific. Just terrific. They’re expecting a “high volume.”
What I want to know is why they have not published the results of their clinical trials. (The safety component, by the way, is supported to be addressed in Phase I but because they sort of skipped through that part, who knows that they found (are finding) in Phase III.)
I have heard two volunteers who consider their participation a “win” are saying you get sick as if you have COVID, with the fever and everything. Who would want to go through that?
Yes, Gail. You are reading it right. Please also note:
“This will hinder its ability to rapidly identify any potential safety issues with the Covid-19 vaccine and represents a direct threat to patient life and public health.”
They are going for the Moderna (Fauci) mRNA vaccine;
and they know it’s not safe.
“Scottish NHS Nurse Punished for Exposing Scamdemic”
https://principia-scientific.com/scottish-nhs-nurse-punished-for-exposing-scamdemic/
It’s kind of good that they’re going to expect first responders to take the vaccine first. I’ll tell you why below.
Frankly, I think they’re doing this because any casualties can be explained by them working with COVID patients and not blamed on the vaccine. They expect (perhaps even want) a lot of people to die so they can justify another lockdown.
The reason I think it’s good that they’re targeting first responders, is because I think first responders are going to say, “no”. They’ve probably read every thing there is on COVID and have seen the same stuff we’ve been reading. If they’ve been dealing with COVID patients all this time and have managed not to get sick, they’re probably not going to get sick.
I took at look at their rollout plan and they are also going to be targeting Native American tribes, which is concerning. Are they planning to roll out another virus that makes them, in particular, susceptible?
I talked with a woman from one of those tribes and she says they’re scared to death of the virus and because their healthcare is free, they may be more likely to accept the vaccine. Plus, the tribes would have the money to pay the manufacturers so they can gear up for subsequent batches.
Oh, great! I just remembered the Supreme Court gave OK back to the tribes. Maybe they’re going to start vaccinating Tulsa!
The vaccines are not designed to prevent infection.
They are designed to reduce symptoms.
Hence if any one gets COVID bad after the jabs,
they’ll say it would have been worse without said jabs.
They have to prove efficacy above 60%. Geez, even our flu shots fail to perform at that level most of the time. Pfizer believes their mRNA vaccine has surpassed that and it’s 90% effective. At what, I don’t know. Did they exposed patients to COVID after they were vaccinated?
They haven’t released the safety data.
As one wit I read somewhere said:
“It’s doing science by press release”.
This is so upside down.
Gail,
I am briefed weekly on the plans to distribute the vaccine. For what its worth, the government intends to provide it free of charge to everyone, At least that is the plan as it now stands. The Federal government will determine the priority populations (as in, who gets it in the first wave of supply, second wave, etc.), but the actual decisions about who will receive and/or administer the vaccine will be determined by state health departments.
To be honest (even for those who view the vaccine as a good thing), I anticipate the process of the states telling the private contractor where to ship the vaccine will likely be something of a mess, as health departments are not generally known to be very efficient.
This is what I was looking at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/downloads/COVID-19-Vaccination-Program-Interim_Playbook.pdf
It’s dated 10/29, but it might not have been adopted.
Someone is going to be paying for it! Looks like it’s the government but the tribal nations have their own government.
Gail,
That “playbook” is current. Essentially, the IHS and/or each Tribal Nation will be treated like the 50 states.
“Why Won’t Anyone Publish the Danish Mask Study?”
https://principia-scientific.com/why-wont-anyone-publish-the-danish-mask-study/
A study of 6,000 Danes was set to reveal whether wearing a face mask actually reduces the risk of COVID-19. The only problem is leading medical journals are refusing to publish the data, and the study’s lead author hinted it’s because they’re not “brave enough” to do it.
The reason is the same as why they told us in the 60s in Tucson, AZ (one of the top 10 cities on the Soviet Union’s hit list because of our Titan missiles) that we would be safe if we hid under our desks.
Masks make us feel safe.
Glasgow was high on the hit list too. First the US Polaris subs were based at the Holy Loch, a few miles downriver from the city; then the UK Polaris (and now Trident) subs were and are based at the even nearer Loch Faslane naval base. The thinking seems to have been that it was too risky to have them near a major centre of (English) population, but Glasgow (with half the population of Scotland living within twenty miles of Glasgow Cross) didn’t count.
Yeah, Tucson didn’t either. But between the two, I would rather visit Glasgow and am glad it is still in tact!
Sadly, there is not much fun to be had here.
We are in lockdown.
If Trump wins this via the Congress route, there will be worse riots.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to preserve the swing state ballots
so they can be audited afterwards to underline his legitimacy?
If State Courts won’t order this, perhaps State Legislatures should?
COVID19 Pandemic is ‘A Hoax’
https://principia-scientific.com/top-canadian-pathologist-covid19-pandemic-is-a-hoax/
“The bottom line is this,” he addressed the group. “There is utterly unfounded public hysteria driven by the media and politicians. It’s outrageous. This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.”
“There is absolutely nothing to be done to contain this virus other than protecting your more vulnerable people. It should be thought of as nothing more than a bad flu season. This is not Ebola. It’s not SARS. It’s politics playing medicine. And that’s a very dangerous game.”
Continuing, Dr. Hodkinson added, “Masks are utterly useless. There is no evidence based on their effectiveness whatsoever. Paper masks and fabric masks are simply virtue signaling. Seeing these uneducated people walking around like lemmings, obeying without any knowledge base to put the mask on their face.”
He also claimed social distancing is pointless as COVID-19 “travels by aerosols, which travel 30 meters or so before landing. And closures have had such terrible unintended consequences. Everywhere should be open tomorrow.”
Next, the doctor touched on testing. “I’m in the business of testing for COVID. I do want to emphasize that positive results DO NOT, underlined in neon, mean a clinical infection. It’s simply driving public hysteria and all testing should stop.”
Well duh.
He’s just saying what everyone else deep down knows. It’s all bs.
“Athens Prosecutor’s Office orders probe into fake news”
https://www.ekathimerini.com/259357/article/ekathimerini/news/athens-prosecutors-office-orders-probe-into-fake-news
“The objective of the investigation is to determine whether criminal acts have been committed, such as spreading false news, as well as incitement to disobedience.”
“London Mayor Sadiq Khan Demands Covid-19 Vaccine Apartheid”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/11/20/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-demands-covid-19-vaccine-apartheid/
Time was when giving drugs first to ‘persons of colour’ was regarded as racist.
Now not giving drugs first to ‘persons of colour’ is regarded as racist.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Misha,
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/nootherfoundation/the-beatitudes-blessed-are-the-merciful/
…and where does this come in?
Surely the Incarnational reality of the Sermon on the mount has something to tell us about these time.
Watch Dr Mike Yeadon explain why the pandemic is over:
https://www.facebook.com/unlockedunitedkingdom/videos/409747283542470/
Dan, having faced a similar battle myself with living in sin I mean absolutely no judgement on you or your beloved.
What I can tell you: being in a truly blessed marriage is amazing. We are equally yoked by God’s grace.
The world does not like that.
May the joy of our Lord be upon you and may He lead you both to His righteousness.
Here, in a nutshell, is why I am certain beyond a shadow of a doubt, let alone a reasonable doubt, that Trump won the election:
What We Must Believe to Believe Biden Won | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
The money quote:
“In the end, to accept Joe Biden as our legitimate Chief Executive, we must believe the voters hammered the Democrats in congressional, state, and local elections, yet decided to elect the “leader” of their party president. We must believe that he dramatically underperformed among minority voters, yet received 10 million more votes than Barack Obama. We must believe that virtually all of the reliable election bellwethers were wrong. We must believe that all of the elections in the swing states were conducted honestly and that the Venezuelan software used to tabulate the votes was secure. All of this beggars belief. Joe Biden may be inaugurated in January, but he certainly wasn’t elected president.”
Now, all this is public knowledge and verifiable. And so we come to the question of what, if anything, will be done. Many are pessimistic given past experience with the courts and with RINOs and/or other cowardly Republicans as to how far they are willing to go in this matter. Overturning the perception of a Biden win is no small matter. Notice I wrote “perception”, because that is all it is at this point, created by the MSM. But it is at least that.
Everyone knows that half the country will revolt to the extent it believes it can get away with it if Trump pulls this out. To vote to overturn this perception then is to vote to entertain a massive insurrection.
Yet we are at a moment of truth where reality can no longer be ignored or hidden. Half the voting electorate knows the election was stolen. The other half is simply in denial against all evidence. You can’t wake a sleeping person if he is only pretending to be asleep.
They know as well as we do.
And so, it has to be done. There’s no other way to proceed. It lies in the power of the Republican party to “steal” the election back. Republican constituents will never ever forgive them if they let the Democrats get away with this.
One party is not going to survive this election. And when that realization hits the upper level Republicans, they will rather it be the Dems who perish than themselves. Because Trump will start a third party and destroy the Republican party if they deny him a second term.
It’s that simple.
According to the Guardian: “Donald Trump says he will leave
White House if electoral college votes for Joe Biden”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/27/donald-trump-says-he-will-leave-white-house-if-electoral-college-votes-for-joe-biden
As the Spartan Ephors replied to Philip II of Macedon: “If…”
Well said, Brendan.
The question is “if” (as you so rightly pointed to the historical precedent).
“BirthStrikers: meet the women who refuse
to have children until climate change ends”
[I know it’s an old story, but I’ve only just noticed it]
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/12/birthstrikers-meet-the-women-who-refuse-to-have-children-until-climate-change-ends
I expect they’re still waiting…
I doubt any right-thinking man would want to have children with these harpies anyway.
I’m not sure what you mean by “harpies,” but perhaps I am one of them.
I grew up in Tucson which was on the Soviet Union’s top ten hit list because of the 19 or so Titan missiles we had housed a few miles away. To me, at 10 years old, the terror on the part of the adults during the Cuban Missile Crisis was palatable. So when I began thinking of having children in the 80s, I really wondered if it made sense given the potential of a nuclear holocaust or accident. (I remember touring three-mile island in the early 1980s. Terrifying.)
I didn’t go off on a tangent to try to convince anyone else of anything, but I struggled with the same issue of having children.
Now I see my daughter struggling, as well. She is bombarded by so many points of view, she doesn’t know what to believe with respect to climate change and I can see she’s scared. The “what if they’re right” scenario is playing out in her head like the nuclear war/accident theme played out in mine.
Not sure I would categorize either of us as “harpies,” but the fear was real.
Yes, Gail, but: “…until climate change ends” ?
Twelve thousand years ago, much of the North Sea sea-bed (Doggerland) was dry. The water was in the ice-sheets of the Younger Dryas. It’s not there now, of course. Why not? Because the climate changed, the ice melted and drowned Doggerland.
That’s what climate does. It changes. Constantly.
So, if they are waing for climate change to end before having babies,
they will very likely be waiting for some considerable time.
I hear you and I argue against it all the time but my daughter is frightened by all the hype. She, like so many others, are having a hard time understanding the media, almost across the board, is lying to us, as is the scientific community.
The ‘scientific community’ [whatever that is] is not lying to us.
Groups of people who have control of the peer review process and the allocation of research funds (along with fellow travellers such as Greenpeace, the Guardian and the BBC) are lying to us. There are many scientists who are not lying to us. However, they have difficulty in getting funding for research and in getting that research published.
One thousand years ago the Norse were growing crops in Greenland. These crops don’t grow there now because it is too cold. Therefore one thousand years ago it was warmer than it is now. That demonstrable fact alone should be enough to derail the global warming gravy train that is being pushed by almost every media outlet and government on the planet.
Perhaps you could refer your daughter to the following website as the best place to start in getting a grasp of the sheer mendacity of the climate alarmists:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/
Harpies? I’m sure you’re not a Harpie, Gail.
For which, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZVqFmVNobA
Well, now that they caught me and my daughter flying around like that, I’m even less sure! (haha)
There’s a difference between someone who is concerned and afraid for whatever reason, and then there’s “birthstrikers.” The first is a normal woman, traumatized by the daily psychological assaults and propaganda of the mass media. The second is a harpy.
I think you’re good.
In all of this pseudo-ecology; COVID; revolution, Armegedon talk the title of this section “Witches Brew” is apt. There is a flavor and a stink of the occult in all of this:
https://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/threshold/occult.shtml
It was our original sin–eating the forbidden fruit in the quest for knowledge outside God. We are still at it. That unholy quest is used by the the earthly powers to enslave us to outrage and the belief that such knowledge will save us and the demons have a field day twisting our hearts and minds into every possible avenue of false hope to rob us of our joy and keep our focus away from God.
Brothers and sisters I tell you now there is no reason to fear. That is the real pandemic. We must guard our hearts and seek first the kingdom of GOD. First in our own hearts and then in prayer, fasting and almsgiving; repentance and attendance in the Divine Liturgy as we are able.
Let us not be distracted by anything else. Through the prayers of the Holy Fathers have mercy on us and say us, O Lord.