Had the grand-kids over for the week – so, too busy to post. Completely exhausted, now. Lots of fun!
Anyways…
Google is providing more proof that large corporations are inimical to everything the United States is supposed to stand for. If we Conservatives really want a Conservative America, we’re going to have to wrap our heads around the fact that large corporations are just as baleful (at least) as large government bureaucracies. Of course, large corporations are merely large bureaucracies. You think anyone is really in charge? That there is a fixed plan? No – its all ad hoc. Just a bunch of people rent-seeking and time-serving. The path of least resistance in a large corporate body (government or private) is to just go along with whomever is whining the loudest. As Progressives are professional whiners, all large bureaucracies will eventually become home and haven to Progressives. The worst of it is that, once captured, said bureaucracy becomes a means of enforcing Progressive ideas – regardless of how insane they are in terms of government policy or corporate profitability. All large corporations have to be broken up: make them smaller and make them compete to stay alive: that, right there, will lower the ability of Progressives to rule the roost. I’m not mad at Google – I’m mad there aren’t several other “Googles” out there to take immediate advantage of folly.
The crisis in North Korea is just endless proof of MacArthur’s statement – in war, there is no substitute for victory. This mess isn’t Trump’s – it is a mess 60 years in the making and entirely produced by the political cowardice of American leadership. I don’t know how this comes out, save that absurd fears of a nuclear exchange are just stupid. North Korea’s regime doesn’t want to commit suicide. They just want to saber rattle so they can get some bribes. We’ll see what comes out – but if Trump holds firm, you will see North Korea backing down at some point.
The official word is that Trump is losing his base. If so, then Trump is done for. I don’t see it – haven’t seen Trumpsters jumping ship, that is. We’ll see how things come out in the coming elections – that will be the only way we’ll know. But Trump is, by and large, doing what he said he’d do, or at least trying to…and the fact that the GOPe and the overall Establishment are trying to stop it is far more likely to cement Trump’s base of support than dissipate it.
That’s all for now – how you guys been doing?
Blogs For Victory 
The other day I was talking with a friend about the Leftist meme of “hate”—it’s become one of those new buzzwords they use to imply thought without actually having to think. The conversation was really about the trivialization of important words, like “hate” and “racist”, by using them to describe essentially mild and sometimes nonexistent emotions. Any more, dissent is recast as “hating” by the mindless Left, as it scrambles for new invective.
Now I see that Pope Francis is joining that mob, complaining about “perfect Catholics DESPISING” others. Oh, come on! “Despising”? When I think someone is a hypocrite for claiming to be a Catholic while promoting and enabling abortion, for example, that doesn’t mean I “despise” that person. That is a very strong word. I don’t respect that person, though I may feel contempt, not for the person so much as for the hypocrisy.
As I feel less and less respect for this pope I certainly don’t “despise” him, but I do wish he would stick to Catholic doctrine and stop being sucked into Leftist cant. There is that snide reference to “perfect” Catholics. I am very very far from being a “perfect” anything and I certainly don’t hold myself up as an example of piety. But you know what? I can read. And I have pretty good comprehension skills. So when I read, and understand, a teaching of the Church, and see people proclaiming their Catholicism while acting in violation of those teachings, I don’t have to consider myself “perfect” to realize they are bad Catholics. That snippy, snide, supercilious comment about “perfect” Catholics grated on me, because it is a Leftist tactic—-if you don’t meet certain criteria you have no right to an opinion—-and it basically smears Catholics who don’t like what other Catholics do as thinking of themselves as perfect. It is a sneaky strategy and I find it offensive. And then I got to the claim that these people who allegedly think they are perfect “despise” people they find less perfect. The whole thing is insulting and offensive and reeking of Leftist manipulation of emotions.
I hate seeing the Church, or at least its most prominent leadership, slide into the same Leftist murk that is overtaking our country.
It irritates me a bit, as well – but I also can see some of my fellow Catholics getting a bit high-horse about things, as well. To be sure, those who succeed at being obedient to the Magesterium have my undying respect…and I’m trying to do that, as well: but I do get the sense, at times, when talking with such that they do look down on Catholics who haven’t quite got it…even if the circumstances are quite different. I am with Pope Francis on a lot of things about breathing a bit more new life into the Church…while also being wary of his background of South American socialistic thinking. I do view, with the Pope, the Church as an aid station on the battlefield and also view the Confessional as a place of mercy, not a torture chamber for the soul. I think that after the sociological atomic bomb of the 60s through the 80s, a lot of people got wrecked on the rocks of the secular world…and we have to get them back into the Church first and foremost. That means we can’t say “no” at the threshold. I think of, say, a person who was abandoned by a spouse and now can’t get the Sacrament because of no fault by that person. I trust in the Holy Spirit to guide the Church true – and I pray that a way will be found to reconcile the lost sons and daughters with the Church…while also pointedly calling to task those who deliberately and maliciously refuse obedience.
I agree with you. But I am offended by the tactic of smearing all who are aware of very un-Catholic behaviors as considering themselves “perfect”.
I don’t have to be perfect to look askance at nuns who protest in favor of abortion, and think of them as acting in contradiction to Church teachings. The fact is, a non-Catholic who is familiar with Church teachings can make the same observations as a Catholic about certain behaviors and attitudes, and be aware that they do not comply with Catholic doctrine. I’m not a Mormon but I can see that someone who calls himself a Mormon while smoking and drinking alcohol is not complying with the teachings of his church, and I don’t have to think of myself as “perfect” to see this. The effort to discourage such observations by stating that to observe such things means the observer considers himself “perfect” is sneaky and vile. It is an effort to silence those who believe that Catholicism stands for certain things and expect Catholics to at least try to comply.
My view of the office of the papacy is that it is to provide religious leadership to Catholics—not as a political stage from which to promote a political philosophy. And I find the religious leadership of Pope Francis to be feeble. For example, for eight years two of the leading politicians in the United States, in positions of leadership, proclaimed Catholic faith while at the same time fighting to not only allow but to advance abortion–and the Pope said nothing about this contradiction. This was a great opportunity to discuss the fact that to be a Catholic means to comply with Catholic teachings as much as possible. There is a vast difference between trying to comply and failing in moments of weakness and simply ignoring those teachings and acting, quite vigorously, to override them—what you rightly call “…deliberately and maliciously refus(ing) obedience…” Yet Pope Francis gave the honor of a private audience to Nancy Pelosi, and posed for photographs with her, conveying at least the impression of approval of her pro-abortion activism. The symbolism of that meeting and his participation in making it public is pretty clear, and no, it is not symbolic of leadership regarding the need to follow the faith.
I was reminded of the emotional impact of the former King of England being openly and publicly honored by Adolf Hitler, and the implication that he approved of the agendas of the Third Reich. In this case the sense of acceptance and hint of approval went the other direction, from the official to the person, but there was still that bad taste of acceptance of anti-Catholic actions. In the case of Pelosi, and Biden, these were not merely personal actions but efforts that would result in many thousands, if not eventually, millions of lives being taken.
I’m not sure what “new life” this Pope is breathing into the Church, but I do feel that he is using, and abusing, the power of his office to advance his Leftist political leanings, and I have no respect for that. And I am not the only one. I heard a priest say, in a sermon, that Catholics should read the pronouncements of this Pope so they can see what he is saying—–and not to worry that doing so would constitute heresy. Those were strong words, from a traditional Catholic priest who was obviously concerned that this Pope was not teaching traditional Catholic values but was subverting Catholic teachings. Clearly he has followed the Pope a lot more closely than I have, but even I have noticed some things that ring false to my ears. And the more entrenched he becomes in his office the more blatant are his pronouncements.
I can only rely on the promise Our Lord made – that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church! Other than that, of course, any particular servant of the Church can go wrong.
There are other “Googles” alternatives out there for people to use. Not for everything, but it’s important for people to start weaning themselves from Google to send a message. Use Duck-Duck-Go for search, or try Bing (Microsoft, a big corporations not quite as SWJ as Google) or even Yahoo for basic search. Do what you can to avoid Google search, because that’s their cash cow for the crazy progressives. Also, conservatives really need to rally around Gab as a future alternative to Twitter. Right now it’s not a full alternative, but it’s growing. Get an account, consider making a donation, and try using it.
I’ll only use Duck Duck Go for searches – I had used it a bit in the past, but they’ve vastly improved it of late: don’t see anything inferior to Google’s search. And, of course, I cut into Google’s bottom line by doing it. I am rather hooked on Google Docs, however, but I’ll drop that after the novel is completed…unless I find a good option sooner.
Thanks for the reminder, Frank. I know this, but still haven’t taken the next step. I don’t like the format of Bing, but I’ll try Duck Duck Go. I got herded into getting a gmail account when I went with Verizon, but I don’t use it for anything.
NEWARK TERRORIZED BY WHOLE FOODS is the title of an article pointing out the utter absolute insanity of the Left.
When large corporations don’t invest in urban communities, that’s shameful. Investment? Also shameful. White flight by people moving to suburbs in the 1960s? Racist. Their grandchildren’s return? Also racist. Increased disorder that leads to garbage-strewn vacant lots, abandoned buildings, and declining property values is troubling, but increased order that leads to refilled buildings, cleaned-up neighborhoods, and rising rents is also troubling. Segregation? Bad. Integration? Bad.
It makes a couple of good points. One is that race is now the end-all and be-all of the Leftist worldview. Race, meaning racial conflict, is inherent in every aspect of every Leftist observation these days. Another is that it is impossible to satirize the silliness of the Left, because these people are parodies themselves.
Question: Would black children be terrorized and traumatized by seeing white people on the streets of Harlem if their parents didn’t tell them they should be? I doubt it. Children are not that stupid. It takes years to develop that level of stupidity.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450284/whole-foods-newark-liberals-resist-improvement-troubled-city