Author: Roger Mitchell

Life in the Good Old Days

Roger Mitchell13 Comments

Half of America is absolutely giddy with excitement due to Donald Trump’s earth-shaking, paradigm-shifting ascension to the White House, from which he will administer over the reincarnation, rebuilding, and remaking of the United States, bringing peace, justice, and truth to the world after a calamitous headlong plunge into the pit of Hell by the soon-to-be-deposed administration of Biden/Harris.

The other half is absolutely sick with grief, despair, and certain that Armageddon has finally been reached despite decades of trying to avoid it at all costs while ushering in Utopia. At least they gave it their best shot! It’s the end of the world as they knew it. OMG! We’re doomed!!

This is the result of Trump/Harris. Switch the descriptions if Harris/Trump.

OK, so now we get to spend the next four years watching and waiting while Trump and his A-Team try to usher in their own version of Utopia via government rule. This prospect fills me with a sense of unease about the future. Now, I will admit that throwing around ideas like slashing $2 trillion from the budget sounds appealing and, in reality would be a wise thing to do, but the only way to do this is to eliminate federal departments and bureaucracies wholesale. With a meat cleaver, not a surgical scalpel. Unfortunately, Trump has proposed to create a new department and bureaucracy to get rid of the old ones and charged Musk and Ramaswamy with the task of making recommendations without giving them authority to actually make the cuts.

DOGE. Dept. of Government Efficiency. An oxymoron. A contradiction of terms. A facetious tribute to an earlier DOGE which was created as a joke and a farce, yet reached an astounding market cap of $80 billion.

Much wow wow, indeed.

Will Trump “save” America? Was he shot in the ear, buried, and resurrected victorious over his enemies? The answer to both questions depends on your perspective.

I remain skeptical. In fact, I believe that we haven’t seen the bottom of the iceberg yet, but as the ship of State is visibly sinking into the depths of cold, hard reality, we almost certainly will. With Trump at the wheel and millions upon millions of his followers playing musical chairs on the tilting decks, unwilling to face the truth of the matter.

America is going down. Of that, I have no doubt. We ain’t seen nothing yet. Four years from now, we will call these the Good Old Days.

“Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a [nation] sows, it will also reap.” — Galatians 6:7

“And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” — 1 Samuel 8:18

Thou Shalt Not Murder, except by Majority Vote

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

I’m looking at the early returns of the 2024 election. It appears that the state of Montana has gone decisively Republican and conservative, at least in the higher offices, most of which have been decided by wide margins. Some localized races have bucked the trend, ensuring that there will be plenty of contention in days to come. Donald Trump pulled out (estimated) an astounding victory of nearly 60%, with the Senate seat, both House seats, the Governor, and all state-wide offices running neck-and-neck with him.

What I find ironic is that CI-128, a ballot initiative which would enshrine the “right” to an abortion into the State Constitution, also passed by a wide margin, virtually identical with Trump’s drubbing of Kamala Harris in the state.

This tells me one of three things:

  1. There are a lot of hypocrites in the Republican/Conservative side of the Big Tent, which means the moral condition of the country will simply tend to worse and worse. But, then, this was already a given and has manifested itself in the past in myriad ways.
  2. This election was not about a “return to morality and Christian values”, but was probably more a judgment about the state of the economy, that is, money, and the voter’s own personal bankroll. If this is true, then America still has a long way to fall before it crashes hard.
  3. The voters of Montana have shifted from a position of welcoming and soliciting government intervention into their lives to one of telling the “rulers” to butt out. Not necessarily bad, in my opinion, but unfortunately, the weakest, most vulnerable persons among us will pay the price with their lives, all because we refuse to control ourselves.

“Thou shalt not murder, except by majority vote.” History will record the repercussions of this decision.

The Practice of Politics: Round Three

Roger Mitchell6 Comments

In just a few days, the citizens (citoyens, comrades) of the United States will decide (rubberstamp) a Dear Leader for the next four years, which selection will have enormous implications for, not only the country itself, but the world at large. Whoever is “elected” will shape American policy, both domestic and foreign, for years to come and will largely determine what happens within the next decade.

The choice is yours. Choose well. Or refuse to participate in the process at all.

Should Christians be involved in politics? This is the burning question which I have tried to answer recently in two blog posts, see here and here. Even though my answer has been a resounding “No!”, I think that I have explained my position badly and fallen short of the real reason why I believe as I do. This is an attempt to clear the air a little, although, it is certain that this will not be sufficient for the task. It is an ongoing “enlightenment” and it will continue until I pass through the gate to an eternal home where I can see clearly through the fog that I experience now.

I have described politics as far more than just government-oriented. Politics, the practice of manipulating and the use of others to benefit oneself at their expense, is widespread throughout society. Unfortunately, this description does not resonate with the general public at all and is completely ignored by virtually everyone. I am, indeed, a voice crying in the wilderness.

So, let’s abandon “politics” for a little while and contemplate what it means to be Christian. Of course, first and foremost, is the belief that Man (both male and female) is flawed and sinful, which renders us unable to meet, know, and understand God on our own. This defect was resolved forever by the appearance of Jesus the Christ into history, Who showed by His life, death, and resurrection from death into life, that it is entirely possible for flawed, sinful Man to become like God, under certain, clearly spelled-out rules:

  1. You shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind, AND,
  2. You shall love your neighbor in the same manner that you love yourself.

End of argument. Except that we are not willing to accept this as truth, preferring instead to substitute ritual, emotion, and irrationality as our own version of the truth, which we practice faithfully, certain that this will procure a ticket into the very presence of God Himself.

We are pretty good at “loving” the LORD, our God, with all our heart, soul, and mind, but what does it really mean to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? This is the existential question and it must be clearly understood if we are ever to understand what it means to love God. These two demands go hand in hand, they cannot be separated. It is impossible to love God fully and completely UNLESS we love our neighbor fully and completely.

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” –1 John 4:20, emphasis mine.

Well, all right, you might say, but WTF does this have to do with politics, government, and voting to influence the direction America (or any other nation) travels? After all, if Christians do not influence the government in a positive direction, the direction we deem to be true, right, and holy, then we are all “doomed” to live under a regime with which we do not agree, one in which we find ourselves in opposition against. Hell on earth, in other words, AND we MUST oppose that by voting for the “lesser of two evils”. Which, of course, does nothing to eliminate the evil, but actually exacerbates it since evil, to one extent of another, always wins.

The main problem with this is that it is easy to love government which solves all our problems with our neighbor by brute force and violence, but it is not so easy to love our neighbor through the application of self-sacrifice, good will, and service. Jesus did not say, “Love your neighbor by passing a law which he must obey, whether he wants to or not, and which you must pay for through taxation and regulation, even if you don’t like the extent to which you are taxed or regulated.” Instead, He said quite simply that we are to live with our neighbors, as if they (and their needs) were as important as our own, whether we like them or not.

Here is the dividing line, the distinction. Love for neighbors is voluntary. It comes out of the depths of our hearts. It does not care what it costs us personally. In our own personal relationship with our neighbors, we look out for their good. It does not matter what it costs, even if it costs everything we have, what we consider to be ours and which we are determined to hold onto at all costs, even if we have to pinch our noses as we enter the voting booth and pull the lever, signifying our belief in the “pot of message” which our favored candidate professes.

Love for neighbor cannot be achieved through a political process. It cannot be forced or violent. It must be voluntary. It is personally costly. It is self-sacrificial. We must die to ourselves so that our neighbor can live. This is the message of Christ and the Gospels and it is also that which we resist so strenuously that we have created a different, better way to “love” our neighbor: government, the application of law, and forceful action to back it up. As an example of this, it is quite easy to find a Christian church which steers a young, single mother to a government agency for “help” rather than taking her in and supporting her directly. After all, the government has plenty of money while we are struggling to pay the mortgage on our building, which is really owned by The Bank. Let’s be realistic about this.

Why? Is it not because we are afraid of our neighbor? Do we not fear what he might do to us? If this is the case, then it is better to do to him BEFORE he does to us, which principle is directly opposed to the teachings of Christ, Whom we profess to follow? Does this not create cognitive dissonance in our own minds, causing us to make excuses for all our behaviors, in spite of the irregularities and inconsistencies of our own philosophical and religious arguments? Do we create government, that is, legislation and the giving of “authority” to others, so that we can be secure and safe in our own environment? Do we accept government so that we do not have to be afraid? Yet, Jesus, in His capacity as God, asks us to completely trust Him and to accept no other as a safe haven in the storm. To be unafraid.

“And it makes me wonder.” — Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”

In eternity, which I live in presently and will enter permanently within the next twenty years or so, the only question I have to answer is this: How do I love my neighbor? Do I love him from the depths of my heart, wishing, hoping, and working for his best even if that means I have to suffer loss, or do I try to control him through the office known as government, so that I can feel safe, even if that means that both he and I will suffer loss? Is my love for him real and lasting or is it just a face put on so that I can remain secure in my own world? Should I love my neighbor for his benefit or should I seek to control him so that I can benefit?

Politics!

Voting, whether you want to admit it or not, is just a mechanism of control. Nothing more. It is something which we use to indirectly affect how our neighbor will live or die if they refuse to behave the way we want them to. (If you click the link, notice the reference to Matthew 19:19) We can say that we love our neighbor, but if we advocate for a policy which degrades him, hobbles his ability to prosper, or restricts his behavior so that we can feel good about ourselves, then where is the consistency?

Where is the love, indeed?

There is only one reason for resorting to government as opposed to trusting God: we are afraid. We are fearful. We think about what MIGHT happen in the future and we take steps to make sure that doesn’t occur, because it might cause us harm. The actions we take are defensive in nature, yet God calls us to trust Him completely, which compels us to abandon any defensive measures and tactics, even those political in nature. Voting is such a defensive measure and, while it may serve as a feel-good, self-congratulatory action at the moment, it does nothing at all to solve the problem, which is spiritual in nature and which cannot be solved or corrected by pulling a lever in a voting booth.

The Practice of Politics: Continued

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

This was first published as a reply to a comment seen on an article by Donald Jeffries at his Substack. I like Donald Jeffries. He has become, without his knowledge, one of my most-beloved mentors. I have a few others: John Waters, Elizabeth Nickson, Caitlin Johnstone, Edward Curtin, etc., from whom I am learning, not so much about facts and opinions, but how to write lucidly and comprehensively about things that matter. More than anything else, I am learning how to be unafraid in the telling of the truth. If this resonates with you, please leave a comment.

https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/the-orwellian-doctors-of-disinformation

I describe politics as the practice of getting what you want by manipulating other people and is always at their expense, to their detriment, which is an adaptation of this quote by Frederic Bastiat–“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.”

Most people consider “politics” as having to do with government, law, the State, but most never, ever think about the way that they practice it on a daily basis. For instance, Billy Joel’s waitress in his hit song, Piano Man, made a habit of and living from “…practicing politics as the businessmen (her customers) slowly get stoned.”

Government is only the official recognition that politics is practiced everywhere, at all levels of society, by an overwhelming majority of people, both large and small, who endeavor to get what they want at the expense of everyone else, using every possible means at their disposal. Sometimes they get busted and learn, correcting their ways but, more often than not, they protest that their actions are really only for the benefit of those around them and the good of society. Like supporting the Military-Industrial Complex because it has a factory in their home state or loudly backing the genocidal catastrophes which the “most-favored” nation in the history of the world, Israel, practices on its weaker neighbors.

How do you correct this problem. Quite simple. Vote. Vote harder. Vote more often. Vote until the right people are put into office and all the scheming, conniving, rascally scoundrels are turned out into the street or thrown into a maximum-security prison. Yes, that ought to do it and so many are faithful to the concept, never realizing that voting is an attempt to force others to behave the way that you want them to. Getting what you want at someone else’s expense, to their detriment. Politics.

For those who haven’t already caught on, the paragraph immediately above is sarcastic. The only way to correct the practice of politics is to address the sin within yourself AND to take action to eliminate it from your own life. All of us are guilty. All of us have to change our course. As a succinct example of what I am advocating, I offer another paraphrase from an even greater man than Frederic Bastiat.

“Love your neighbors, don’t kill them.”

Fear is a Liar! What are you afraid of?

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“But I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.” — 2 Timothy 1:12

Life is a preparation for death.

In just a few days, I will experience my 66th birthday. It is a testament to the grace of God that I have lived this long. I have no idea how many more years I will see, but then, nobody does, which is just as well. “If I knew the place I was going to die, begorra, I’d never go near the place.” –Olde Irish saying.

I used to think I would live to see my 100th birthday. Today, I think that if I last another ten years, I will be doing pretty good. As a result of this, I realize that if I am going to accomplish anything of any lasting value in this life, I have got to get it done…and I cannot be afraid of consequences that might occur as a result of my “getting it done”. If I only have ten more years, then does it really make any difference whether I have ten years or only six? And, of course, the answer is “No!”, if what I am doing advances the cause of truth vs. lies. After all, if I am only a brick in the building which Jesus, the Christ, is erecting, then who am I to count myself so important that I avoid speaking the truth because it might carry some risk?

Are we to be so consumed with “surviving” what we all know is coming or should we be concerned with speaking the truth, regardless where that leads? This is a question which all of us must answer at sometime, even if we do not deliberately recognize it. Why am I here? What do I live for? To whom will I answer?

Unfortunately, many of us refuse to consider what this means. If it is true that I am not my own, then I must be answerable to someone else. Who am I answerable to? And, if I am answerable to someone else and I only have a few more years to live, then why should I be afraid of speaking what I believe to be the truth?

Freedom does not come from a condition of being answerable to no one. It comes from being aware that there is a higher calling, a higher authority, a higher understanding, and not being afraid to explore it or to extol it. I know, for instance, that God Himself, in whatever form He might show Himself to be, is the only reason I live and, if I am not afraid to speak out on His behalf, that He will take care of me–either in the present or after I have departed this world…physically speaking, that is.

What do I have to be afraid of? I, along with everyone else who has ever been born, am going to die. Someday I will face the reckoning. At my age, it cannot be pushed off into the distant future. It is going to happen and I must face it. Why should I be afraid? The only reason would be that I have lived my life for my own benefit and refused to “love my neighbor as I love myself”.

Come on now, really! Do we believe that we are representatives of the Truth or are we here for the gusto? What are we afraid of? That we will lose what we have gained and attained in just a few years? What is that worth in the light of eternity? Shall we live for ourselves only and what we can gain for ourselves or shall we live to make it a little less hard for others?

Why did it take so long for me to learn this? And what am I going to do with my newfound knowledge? That is the question.

Should Christians be Involved in Politics?

Roger Mitchell10 Comments

The question in the title arises from a meeting at a local church on the same subject. My wife asked me to go with her, so I did, and when the pastor asked for discussion on the topic, I gave them my opinion. After just a few minutes, I was told by some unknown person to, in essence, sit down and shut up. Which I did, then sat through an extended period in which the entire rest of the group explained all the reasons why Christians ought to be involved. None of them asked me for any further explanation. After an hour or so, I just got up and walked out. I will never go back.

Politics. Before answering the question, it should be important to understand what politics actually is. If you do not know what politics is, then you cannot answer the question. Most people associate politics with government, as in this definition, taken from Merriam-Webster:

a: the art or science of government

b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy

c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government

Now, I do not dispute the description, but the word “politics” is multi-faceted (as admitted by Merriam-Webster) and can have many different meanings and connotations. During my comments at the session, I mentioned the saying that, “Politics is a dirty business”, and asked them if Christians should be involved in dirty business. To my surprise, a lot of people nodded their heads affirmatively, which only shows that they simply do not know what the “dirty business of politics” is all about. But then, American Christians, at least the modern kind, have never been known for their acumen and understanding of the way the real world works.

I also brought up a line from Billy Joel’s song, Piano Man, which should be familiar–“And the waitress is practicing politics as the businessmen slowly get stoned…”, and explained that politics, outside the government angle, is nothing more than the manipulation of people for personal gain, which, if true, ought to provoke outrage on the part of Christians toward the practice. It was at this point that I was quite unceremoniously booted from the floor and the rest is history.

“Politics is the practice of getting what you want by manipulating other people and is always at their expense, to their detriment.” (My own description of politics. Click the link, scroll down until you find it.)

Unfortunately, politics, even in government is manipulation of some people by other people, all with one purpose (usually unspoken) in mind: control and power. Control and power. Virtually everyone is consumed with gaining power over others so that their behavior and actions can be controlled. Christians usually bring up the subject of “morality” and the dire need to make people behave the way they ought to, that is, in the manner that Christians think they ought to, because, you know, the country is diving headlong into the sewer of “immorality” and needs to be rescued. Or else, there will be hell to pay. Of course! There always is. Whether anyone else wants their version of morality or not is irrelevant. It must be done! We must get involved! We must vote! Vote! Vote! Vote for the lesser of two evils, even if that means the System as a whole becomes more evil, which mechanism is really a rear-guard action that does nothing to stop the onslaught of evil, but only slows it down a little. In the end, evil wins.

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.” — H.L. Mencken

“Voting is nothing more than choosing whose hand holds the club with which you are beaten. It does nothing to stop the beatings.” — another of my own quotes. You can quote me on that.

Should Christians be involved in politics? If politics is a “dirty business” and the manipulation of people for personal benefit, then the answer is an unqualified “No, they should not.” This comports with the message of the Gospel of Jesus to keep oneself unspoiled from the world and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. However, as Christians, we are also enjoined to act as leavening agents to affect the world condition in which we find ourselves so that the entire structure is bettered by our actions. This seeming contradiction can be resolved in only one way–by determining where and in whom we place our trust and faith. As Christians, we are enjoined to have trust and faith in God alone, yet we continue to disregard this advice in preference to putting our trust and faith in man-made institutions, especially the modern form of government, that is, the totalitarian State, which encompasses and controls everything. As Christians, we have sold our souls for a pot of message, and it is coming back to bite us as a very bad case of acid reflux and dysentery. If we continue to gorge ourselves on this feast, it will kill us.

Belief and participation in the world system lead to death. This is a fact we must face and recognize as truth. Yet, knowing this, we still labor under the illusion that we can sway and impact “politics” in a positive way, for the better, if we join in, work with, and merge into the prevailing protocol. We think that we can “clean up” politics and The System if we just engage it and add our voice to the cacophony, yet we fail to understand that, in doing so, we soil ourselves and reinforce the message that men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

At heart, we refuse to trust God. We would rather trust government. We would rather be practitioners of “the lesser of two evils” than turning away from evil entirely. We would rather beggar our neighbor through the application of law than to love our neighbor in service to him. We prefer to think we are holy because we go to church on Sunday morning and practice all the “accepted” perfunctory deeds that are expected, yet we do not know that our lives are as filthy rags in His sight. Yes, indeed, and I am the greatest of sinners, to paraphrase the apostle Paul.

What, then, shall be done? How, then, shall we live? Well, there is nothing to do except to change myself into and in conformance with His likeness, to become holy as He is holy, to accept that there is no other name except His by which I am saved. This alone brings freedom. It is the only path to life. Nothing else will work. Everything else will fail.

You can rationalize all you want. You can make all the excuses you want. You can delude yourselves until the chickens come home to roost. In the end, you are only deceiving yourself. There is only one way. Everything else will fail.

Everything else will fail.

A Potential Blessing from Hurricane Helene

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Faith in government is a religion.

Since the birth of the nation-state, at the least, and the Enlightenment, many people have sought after and promoted the idea that government (State) is the highest form of authority and power. They have attempted to build systems to bring everyone into the system, which would become all-encompassing or to dispossess and destroy those who refused to bow before that authority. The Soviet Union (1917-1989) is the premier example of such a system.

Religion is inevitable. Everyone has a religion, even those deluded souls who claim that they don’t, because religion is nothing more than a belief system which informs and directs a lifestyle. Everyone believes in something and, at the very apex of that belief is something (someone) which is viewed as the most supreme. God, in other words. Those who believed (many still do) in the Soviet Union’s Marxist principles held it up as the highest pinnacle of achievement that man could reach. The total State was to become everything and everything was to become the State’s property.

In the United States, government has been constantly growing ever since the birth of the nation in 1787, when the Constitution was signed after a successful rebellion against the Crown of Britain. Americans, of all stripes, have continuously advocated for, worked for, voted for, and accepted a government which could become all things to all people. Today, of course, after nearly 250 years of incessant grasping for power, the US government has become a monstrosity which threatens to out-do the now-defunct Soviet Union. It has, for want of a better description, nearly achieved the status of God in the eyes of its followers, adherents, and groupies.

Circumstances, however, have a way of destroying people’s faith in government. For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated much of the southeast, especially in the rural areas of Appalachia, there have emerged reports that the federal government is actively blocking and prohibiting private endeavors from helping and assisting those hardest-hit. Many have lost everything they owned. Many more are literally without food or good water, yet FEMA, the federal agency tasked with working to restore society after a disaster occurs, has admitted that it is broke, out of money, and unable to perform its tasks and responsibilities.

Broke! With the modern ability to move a decimal point on a computer screen, push a button, and inject trillions of dollars into the economy on a whim, how can FEMA be broke? The obvious answer is that the money is available, but the powers-that-be have decided not to use it. In this situation, the real intent is not just to ignore the plight of those harmed, but to actively and deliberately destroy any and all opposing forces, however small, which would seek to take action on their own—WITHOUT the blessing of the State. This is a deliberate attempt to eliminate competition to the State and to force everyone to become totally dependent on the State.

The State gives and the State takes away. Blessed be the Name of the State!

The major problem with this is that the blatant contempt which is shown causes individual people to change the way they view government. People used to see government as “good” and necessary to the smooth functioning of society, but that attitude is rapidly changing and the response to Helene has probably given it a huge push forward. Those in Appalachia who clamored for decades for government “assistance” when they didn’t need it are now finding out that it is nowhere to be found when they are desperate.

Civil government is losing the trust of its citizens and with that loss, its authority to rule. Trust in anything must be built up over time and is based on the perception of reliability, but if it is once lost, it is almost never regained and the whole relationship changes. What was once given freely will now be withheld. Governments collapse and disappear because of the widespread loss of trust its citizens give it and it is quite possible that this one will not survive. Hurricane Helene may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. If so, it will be seen in history. If not, it has added measurably to the load.

Who do people turn to now? When it is evident that their god has failed them, they change their religion. Many people will transfer their trust and faith in government and the State to some other authority which will be someone they are at least somewhat familiar with—Jesus Christ. This is, after all, the Bible Belt. They will take this message to heart:

“IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, AND turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” — 2nd Chronicles 7:14, emphasis mine.

This is a conditional promise. If, then. Time will tell what happens in the hearts and minds of men and history will record the result.

The Carrot and the Stick: Local Flavor

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Oh, my! I found this flyer posted on a bulletin board recently. My response was inevitable. I just cannot be quiet. The compelling need to expound and elaborate on the public promotion of “compassionate government” displayed is too much for me to resist. After all, what you don’t know CAN hurt you. And your dog, especially if the mutt is NOT registered, recorded, chipped, jabbed, neutered, and protected.

The Carrot: “If your dog gets loose and has a Town of Stevensville tag, we can contact you and aid in reuniting you with your dog.”

Isn’t that nice! Government at its very best!! The Town of Stevensville has a vested interest in making sure that you and your beloved dog are not separated, but if you are, it will do whatever it can to bring you back together. What a beautiful idea! After all, love for its citizens and taxpayers is one of the hallmarks of government, especially at the local level, where names and faces are connected. Council forbid that anyone should run the risk of losing their dog!

The Stick: “If you live in town limits, it is a town ordinance, and you can be cited for having an unlicensed dog. Resolution No. 536.”

Ah, out comes the club. You will license your dog, dammit, or else! Unlicensed dogs will not be allowed or tolerated. Don’t even try. Don’t think you can get away with Breaking the Law! Conform. Comply. Obey. Or else!

The Conditions: Your dog’s vaccinations must be current and up to date. If they are not, the implied message is that you will be denied a license to “own” a dog, which means that you are in violation of Resolution No. 536. See the Town Clerk on your way out to pay the tax, er, I mean, fine. BTW, this requirement is for your own good, since everyone knows that “unvaxxed” dogs are a threat and a menace to other dogs which have already been “jabbed and boosted”. Y’know, kind of like the Covid thing. But, one can never be too safe and if it means that the “safe and effective” shots must be mandated, well, then, that is the price you pay for freedom and the “right” to have a dog.

The Cost: $10.00, due and payable every year from now until forever, unless the rate is increased, at which time you will be notified. Oh, one exception. If you are a “Senior Citizen” (meaning you have reached the hallowed status of Old Age by some quirk of nature), you are entitled to a 50% discount on the cost of your dog’s license, because the Town of Stevensville knows what a burden it is for its richest citizens to be told to cough up an extra five bucks a year. More probably, it knows that older people are politically active AND THEY VOTE, which explains everything.

But wait, as the TV ads shriek, there’s more.

Not only are you forbidden to keep a dog without paying the “toll”, but you must also reach deep into your wallet if you want to have a rabbit, a chicken, or a duck. However, because these are exotic species (more so than the plain, mundane dog), the fee demanded is increased to $25.00, also presumably due and payable annually. That’s right. If you want to keep a rabbit in your house as a pet, you must buy permission from the Town, which is always looking out for your welfare. Just think about it. Should the rabbit escape and go on the lam, at least the Town will know where it is supposed to be and will make every effort to get it home “safely”, that is, if it is also tagged properly. There is nothing listed here about price breaks for the “sainted gray hairs”, however. Maybe the Town is trying to discourage its oldsters from engaging in the practice of cuddling rabbits.

Chickens? Ducks? Pay up! Just do it. I am surprised, however, that there is no mention of vaccination records for these species. With all the hype and hoopla of “Avian Flu epidemics” and the controlled, government mandated killings of millions and millions of birds, a rational person would think that the Town of Stevensville would at least make noises about “safety” in this regard. But, nope. Crickets. Which only goes to show the extent of the compassion the Town has for its most vulnerable citizens. Better to simply price them out of the market.

(Disclaimer: In just a little over a month, I will experience my 66th birthday and I have had gray hair for years. I do not, however, have any sympathy for the “victim” mentality of the Boomer generation. I think that if a price break were to be given to anyone, it should be a young couple with kids who are just getting started in adult life. They need help.)

One question I have for the Town is why they did not include cats, horses, or cattle into this mix? What about guinea pigs which are almost as loud as rabbits, but stink more. What about canaries? Or because geese were excluded, does that mean that someone can put up a pair of honkers in their back yard? For that matter, an unrestrained boa constrictor is probably more of a threat than a dog (at least to those who keep pet mice), yet nothing is said about those. Why doesn’t the Town simply outlaw ALL animal husbandry (oops, bad word) unless express permission is granted, with the appropriate requisite fee being paid, of course.

Of course.

Oh, my! It’s a good thing I don’t live within the town limits or there would be trouble. More than likely, I would have to run for a seat on the Council simply to create opposition for this kind of shakedown. Because that is literally what it is. A shakedown. As it is, I’ll just raise a ruckus from the safety of my own space not far from the scene of the crime and maybe, just maybe, someone else may sit up and take notice.

Let’s get real, here. A license is nothing more than permission granted by a recognized authority to an individual with regard to conducting some manner of activity. Permission. Permission granted. Permission denied. Call it whatever you want, but boiled down to the bare essence, it means that someone, somewhere, decides what you can and cannot do. And then charges you for the purpose of officially stamping a document.

Your papers, please. As freedom-loving citizens of the United Socialist State of America, we love it and clamor for more.

God help us!

Reality Bites. But It’s All We Have

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

“The year 1587 may seem to be insignificant; nevertheless, it is evident by that time the limit for the Ming dynasty had already been reached. It no longer mattered whether the ruler was conscientious or irresponsible, whether his chief counselor was enterprising or conformist, whether the generals were resourceful or incompetent, whether the civil officials were honest or corrupt, or whether the leading thinkers were radicals or conservatives–in the end they all failed to reach fulfillment.”

The status quo has already reached its limits and reform on any scale beyond the usual incremental “policy tweaks” is impossible, and it no longer matters who’s nominally in charge, if rulers are competent, officials are honest or corrupt, or thinkers are radicals or conservatives–the system is beset by forces it fostered but no longer controls, and indeed is incapable of controlling due to the intrinsic limits of the system’s core structures, limits which were invisible during the Boost Phase of rapid expansion. — Charles Hugh Smith, https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly24/on-our-own7-24.html

It no longer matters who is nominally in charge. Compare this statement with the one I wrote in the article posted just prior to this one.

“Whether Joe Biden continues to the election or not is irrelevant. Whether another Democrat wins the election is irrelevant. Whether Donald Trump wins the election is irrelevant. Whether the American populace is content with their “options” or not is irrelevant. The velvet glove has come off and the iron fist has been exposed. It does not matter who becomes President, the puppet-masters behind the scenes are going to continue calling the shots until the entire theater burns to the ground, quite possibly to the fireworks of nuclear explosions popping off everywhere.”

It seems, if I am reading this correctly, that Charles Hugh Smith has expressed the same sentiment about the state of our political world today. America, as we knew it, like the Ming dynasty centuries ago, is done. It’s all over but the shouting and, I might add, quite probably the shooting, which could easily spiral out of the control of any government to contain it.

We are not going to restore the roots of this country. We are not going to return to the Constitution. We are not going to recover “…liberty and justice for all.” At the macro level, there is nothing we can do which will correct the situation we find ourselves in now. Tweaking the margins, voting for “leaders”, attempting to legislate solutions, will not change the status quo in any significant way. The sooner we realize this and self-correct, the better off we will be. At the very least, we will be able to find peace and contentment even as the world around us crashes and burns.

In 1 Corinthians 13:11, the Apostle Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” In other words, when people grow up, they start thinking rationally and logically. Or they should.

As part of the collective entity known as America, we are stuck in the rapidly escalating destruction of our society. As individuals, we are free to overcome it. Each of us has the power and opportunity to change personally, in spite of what is happening around us, coming to the understanding that we can live with ourselves. And our neighbors.

I do not advocate escapism or withdrawal. Neither do I endorse politics as a means of effecting positive change. I try to live in a world of reality, knowing what I can accomplish and what is effectively beating my head against a brick wall. I work hard to change the way I think and the way I act, where I am right now, so that my world actually does become better. This has benefits, not only for myself, but for those around me. There are some things which are worth my time, effort, and expense. There are those which simply must be discarded and left behind without a backward glance.

Wisdom is understanding which is which. Reality is living that way.

The End of the Show (and the American Experiment)

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

In barely four months, American voters will “elect” a person who will serve as the President of the United States for the next four years. Currently, Donald Trump is running well ahead of anyone else and appears to be on his way to another term in the White House. Joe Biden, on the other hand, appears to be in a state of fog and is losing support rapidly in the wake of his recent disastrous “debate” performance with Trump. Yet, he remains in office and it is not certain that he can be dislodged from the ticket to allow for a more viable candidate.

Viable candidate, of course, means someone who can be sold to the voters as the least evil of all the evils available. “Vote for our most recent selection. At least (s)he is better than Joe Biden, who was our previous selection until he publicly demonstrated that he couldn’t even fall off a podium without help.”

What a joke! But this is the state of affairs in the American Empire and, sadly, we all have to live with it.

There are many various options ventured which the Democrat Party has at its discretion, but all of them seem to be nothing more than wildly thrashing about in an act of desperation. Sort of like drowning and grabbing at anything in the attempt to stay afloat. Gasping for breath while taking in water. Knowing that you are going down and doing everything possible to stave off the inevitable.

It is going to be difficult, probably impossible, for the Democrats to produce anyone who can go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump, especially considering the very short time between now and the election in November. Their options are quite limited:

  1. Keep Joe Biden and hope for the best. Manipulate the election as much as necessary to produce a “win” in November, even if it means that no one can deny the fraud and the theft with a straight face.
  2. Remove him from the ticket at the Party convention in late August, giving them even less time to convince voters that they can “win”.
  3. Invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.
  4. Convince him (or his wife, Dr. Jill Biden) to resign to make room for a better candidate.
  5. Convince him to die peacefully in his sleep.

This really boils down to only two choices: either Joe Biden or anyone else. Anyone else, no matter how odious they are or how much the American public despises them. Really now, who do they have? Kamala “Cackling” Harris? Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom? Hillary “Deplorable” Clinton? Michelle “Big Mike” Obama? Barak “Hope and Change” Obama? Any of these would instantly turn half the country into a “two-minute hate” session which would extend through the election and continue on for years if, by some chance, (s)he managed to “beat” Trump.

In my opinion, if Donald Trump manages to avoid “dying peacefully in his sleep”, he will sweep to an electoral victory and gain the White House again. Regardless who the Democrats put up, Trump will wipe the floor with them. Therefore, I will stick my neck out, go out on a limb, and make a prediction: Joe Biden will stay on the ticket and will receive his “pink slip” in November, officially retiring on January 20, 2025. There is really no good reason to change him out now. It will not make a difference in the end. At least, he would be able to claim with some degree of honesty that he “lost, but did not quit”.

Trump is bought and paid for. He will do as he is told. So will any of the Democrats opposing him. So will you. It is no longer profitable to continue the illusion.

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” — Frank Zappa

We have reached the point where the stage has been cleared, the scenery has been removed, the curtains have been pulled back, and the brick wall is plainly evident for anyone who is aware. Those who direct the action and pull the strings have just exposed their intentions for the entire world to see. The farce of “constitutional representation”, “democracy”, and “We, the People”, has been played out to the last act which is now bringing the entire spectacle to an end.

Whether Joe Biden continues to the election or not is irrelevant. Whether another Democrat wins the election is irrelevant. Whether Donald Trump wins the election is irrelevant. Whether the American populace is content with their “options” or not is irrelevant. The velvet glove has come off and the iron fist has been exposed. It does not matter who becomes President, the puppet-masters behind the scenes are going to continue calling the shots until the entire theater burns to the ground, quite possibly to the fireworks of nuclear explosions popping off everywhere.

“We made the grade and still we wonder, who the hell we are.” Welcome to the Grand Illusion.

We’re All in this Together. Aren’t We?

Roger Mitchell3 Comments
Tyranny Is Upon us: Law and Juries Are Weaponized

Just to ensure that everyone understands and has no misconceptions about it, I DO NOT support or endorse Donald Trump in any way. I think he is a loud, obnoxious, lying, narcissistic blowhard who is only concerned about his own vanity and pride. Oh, and the size of his bank account which seems to grow larger no matter what happens.

That being said, what has just happened to him cannot, in any way, be seen as “justice” or adherence to “law”. The impartiality of justice and the court system has been (is being) shredded. The fact that Trump can be dragged through the muck publicly to the cheers of his enemies and detractors only makes that possibility more probable and likely for the rest of us. In fact, anyone who says or does anything which is in opposition to the contrived and dominant narrative of the moment is in danger of being forcefully (violently?) prosecuted, found guilty, and punished.

Trump’s case is an example of what all of us might face in the future…if we do not speak out about the injustice of it all. We understand this implicitly, yet there are millions who would make excuses for the prosecution and there are just as many, perhaps more, who will privately complain about it, but do nothing at all to stop it–especially if it means inconvenience and personal cost to them.

America has devolved into a society of quarreling factions squabbling over a carcass of something which was once alive and healthy, like a pack of jackals fighting over a scrap of dead meat and, as long as we get the scrap (getting OUR candidate elected in the next election), we exult that our bellies are full today. America is no longer beautiful but has become an ugly spectacle which is almost too obscene to look at, let alone participate in.

(This was first published at Western Montana News. Read it here.)

Power, the Abuse of Power, and Weakness

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

Consider the abortion issue.

For my entire life, I have been opposed to the idea that a woman can decide to “terminate her pregnancy” and end the life of the unborn child within her womb, simply because she wants to. I have always thought that unjust, murderous, selfish, callous, etc., and many other words which could be used to describe the attitude. However, I have just read something which resonates and throws a different light on the subject, something which has opened my understanding to a deeper level, not just on the abortion topic, but anything which is wrong and imposed by force on those weaker members of society.

In his introduction to Karl Ludwig von Haller’s book, Restoration of Political Science, Jack Vien makes an astounding argument, as seen here.

“One is ordinarily, even by nature, ruthless with a defeated rival or challenger, someone who is “weak” only in that he could conceivably have won the fight but wasn’t quite up to the challenge or shouldn’t have issued it in the first place. But it is an altogether different story where the disparity between weak and strong is great enough for the overwhelming superiority of the strong to be incontrovertibly evident to all, and uncontested, or incapable of being contested, by the weak. Here the natural human want is to abstain from harming the weak, and to help them if they need help, to the exact extent that they are weak, and acknowledge it.” — Introduction, page xxxiii.

When I first read this, my immediate thought was that the only problem here is that an unborn child cannot acknowledge that they are weak and need help. Being unable to speak for themselves, they literally have no one to speak for them and, as a consequence, are considered unworthy of attention, support, or protection. They are, therefore, prime targets of those who are more powerful and who do not hesitate to exercise that power, especially as it serves their needs. Who gives a damn about a four-month old child anyway? And, since we live in a world in which no one can say or do anything which someone else might find “offensive”, it is not possible to call things as they really are–a love fest with murderous depravity.

Vien isn’t done. Just a few paragraphs later, he has this to add.

“Conversely, cruelty towards the weak is personally disgraceful, not because of any slave morality that exalts weakness over strength, but precisely because it is a sign of weakness. Cruelty suggests that one has sunk beneath one’s own proper rank in a hierarchy of strength to that of one’s inferiors.” – ibid, xxxiii

Cruelty. Cruelty toward another human being. Cruelty toward other human beings who are less powerful than you are. Vien says that this is not a mark of power, but one of weakness. You are cruel because you are weak. You want to be seen as strong (even though you are weak) and so you lash out at those whom you have power over. Power to hurt, to harm, to destroy. This is as true in the abortion realm as it is anywhere else. Many women are persuaded to get abortions because they have been told (and believed) that it would validate their own personal power. In reality, though, the only power these women have is to kill their unborn child who is powerless to resist the cruel onslaught.

Contrast this with the message of the Gospels and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“Those who would be greatest (have the most power) among you, must be the servant (most loving, most giving, most humble) of all.” — Matthew 23:11

It is easy to walk into a Planned Parenthood facility (I do not call it a clinic), get on a table, spread your legs, allow the “professional” to do his dirty work, and walk out two hours later thinking quite highly of yourself. Yet, all you have proven is that you are willing to take advantage of someone who is weaker than yourself and who had no chance of even putting up a miniscule argument in her own defense.

Yet, Christ commands us to be compassionate towards others, even those who practice evil. If we can understand that women choose to abort out of a misplaced desire for power, then we can recognize that they are weak, mistaken, deluded, and therefore, are worthy of our compassion. This does not mean that we approve or endorse their action, but that we realize they have been driven to it by a deep lack within their souls, something which compels them to perform an abhorrent act in order to make them feel good about themselves. This is the place where Christians who profess the love of Christ should reach out and say, “I understand, let me walk through this dark time with you.”

Cruelty happens because a person is weak, not because he is cruel. Cruelty is the symptom. The cause which creates the symptom is something entirely different. We need to understand that difference and figure out a way to expose it to the Light of Truth, which is love shown in the deepest pockets of darkness.

Theft by any Other Name

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

Conquest is what you call simple theft when it’s perpetrated by a large, well-organized group.

I have lifted this statement from an article by Doug Casey, in which he examines why Islam and the Muslims are likely to win out over the Western culture in the long running, loosely defined war between them. Casey does not get into the morality of theft, but says that the reason the Islamic conquerors in the Middle East became wealthy at all is due to military conquest and heavy taxation of the conquered people. Islam, he says, is not suited to innovation and production, but must rely on spoiling its richer neighbors to enjoy the benefits of profitable enterprise.

This article which I posted recently, Murder by any Other Name, explored the issue of declaring murder a crime if committed by an individual but completely acceptable if committed by a large group, I found it quite interesting that Casey would come out with something very similar about theft. It fits with the conclusion I reached about murder. However, simple theft by consensus is far more prevalent, tolerated, accepted, and practiced than simple murder. The average person might not consider himself a thief because he does not take wealth directly from his neighbor on threat of violence, but he is not the least bit remiss in demanding that someone else, a government of his choosing do the sordid deed for him.

See this definition of theft, which is fairly good.

Theft, boiled down to its essence, is the act of taking something by one person (group of persons) which rightfully belongs to somebody else, without their consent. If you want something which is not yours and you take it, even if the rightful owner does not want to give it up, then you are a thief. It does not matter what is taken, if it is taken against the will of the owner, then it is theft. It does not matter whether the item in question is real, monetary, intellectual, psychological, or sexual. A schoolgirl’s gossip which destroys the reputation of a classmate is just as much an act of theft as a street gang extorting cash from a terrified pedestrian, the dispossession of the world’s poor by genteel, suave members of a multi-national bank sitting in a C-suite boardroom, or the mulcting of citizens by governments through taxation.

Most people would protest that they are not thieves, yet in one respect, their protestations are inconsistent and do not hold water–the use of government to force others into actions which are against their will. Most people do not have one bit of trouble about getting government to raise the taxes on their neighbors if they think they will benefit. Most people have no problem with passing laws which restrict, regulate, control, ban, or otherwise infringe on someone else’s life. Yet, the fact remains, that anything, anything at all, which takes away from rightful ownership is thievery and it is irrelevant, should not matter, that the thievery is condoned and encouraged by a large number of people.

What this tells me is that most people, at heart, have a thievish nature and are not remiss in exercising that whenever they can. However, it is entirely possible that they simply do not understand the dynamic of the issue and might change if they did. Not likely, but possible and I would be quite pleased if a large number simply swore off taking things which didn’t belong to them–either directly or via proxy.

At the very base level of any society or culture stands the individual. Every collective of any sort, from very small to very large, is made up of single individuals acting together. It is important to understand that changing the collective thought requires a change of thought at the individual level. To change a society of thieves into one of honest men cannot come from the top. It is not caused by law, regulation, or punishment. It MUST happen within the hearts of individuals, causing them, as individuals, to stop the destructive behavior in their own lives. From that starting point, it spreads outward to their families, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and eventually the entire society.

Change yourself, change your world.

Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” — Matthew 13: 33, cf., Luke 13:21

Where Do the Children Play?

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The following is a response I made to a comment (#152) by one, Mulga Mumblebrain, (imagine the inner workings of someone who produced that moniker), who wrote this in response to an earlier comment of my own. See here for the full article at the Unz Review.

“Capitalism is actually a form of cancer, one currently in the end-stage of its neoplastic growth as all the life-supporting biospheres on the planets collapse. The big capitalists, the prime metastases of the disease process, plainly plan to resolve the situation with chemotherapy, ie bio-warfare, to remove all the little metastases and opportunistic infections aka the ‘useless eaters’.”

Where do the children play, indeed?

In order to make sure that I understood capitalism correctly, I typed the search term “capitalism definition” into my Brave browser. The first paragraph is reproduced here.

“Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. This system is based on the idea that individuals and businesses make decisions about what to produce, how to produce it, and for whom to produce it, driven by the pursuit of profit.”

1. ALL (with the stress on all) capital goods are owned either privately (one individual, meaning exclusive) or corporately (more than one individual, meaning shared).

2 ALL (ditto) decisions made about production are made by either one single individual acting alone or are made in conjunction, association, and cooperation with other individuals.

What this means is that every single bit of production is made by individuals acting either alone or corporately. The base unit of capitalism (and every other means of production) is the individual. There are no corporations nor businesses which do not derive from the actions of individuals. There are no economic systems, governments, charities, non-profits, etc. which are NOT made up of individuals working together.

That being said, if the above definition is true, then it is certain that every single individual on this planet is a capitalist in some form or another. No one ever produces anything without the hope of gaining something from it. Even the naysayers and disbelievers profit in some fashion by the work they do in the expectation that they will benefit from it. Therefore, and I repeat my assertion from Comment #20 above,

“Capitalism, by itself, is not to blame. Just as with money, it is the abuse of capitalism which produces bad results. Notice that money itself is not “a root of all evil”, but rather the love of money which is condemned. Unfortunately, people look at the disastrous consequences of bad policy which is perpetrated under supposedly “capitalistic societies” and conclude that it is the capitalistic tendency which is at fault, causing them to embrace a differing viewpoint and structure–Marxism, for instance, or any other envy-driven philosophy and protocol.”

By itself, working to produce profit and gain from one’s actions is not to blame. Since everyone, without exception, participates in this production, then the fault has to lie elsewhere. The problem stems from the age-old desire to profit at the expense of others who are seen as nothing more than an opportunity to be taken advantage of. Force (often violent) and fraud are brought into play with the result that the most-powerful rise to the top of the heap, instituting rules which everyone else must submit to, so that the rule-makers can profit–again at the expense of others.

Every economic system the world has ever produced suffers from this affliction. Force and fraud are used to take from those less fortunate in order to produce gain for the better-connected and favored class. Every system has those who run things with the understanding that they, personally and individually, will profit from their input. Every system has those, bottom to top, who try to take advantage of the system so that they can benefit. Every single one.

“There are none righteous, no, not one.” –Romans 3:10

In its purest form (individual effort to gain from one’s work), capitalism is a healthy and vibrant means of “producing the goods” which people want. It is only when something is introduced and imposed on it from the outside (force, fraud, etc.) that it becomes a cancer, as you say. So long as people are left alone to live their own lives freely, they will produce, not only for themselves but also for others. This is the essence of Adam Smith’s argument and it has been wildly successful.

Unfortunately, capitalism (like everything else associated with humanity) is “infected” with the “cancerous” thought that taking (stealing) from others is acceptable and can produce widespread social benefits. “Thou shalt not steal!” (a personal admonition) has been perverted to read, “Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.” Or perhaps, because someone has more than you do. Or perhaps, because you have the power to make it stick. Or perhaps, because you are a “bleeding heart” who sees injustice and seeks to force correction on it. Or perhaps, …, ad infinitum.

The problem, then, is a spiritual matter, not an economic one. The problem, then, is the fact that people are, at heart, thieves who will use anything (force, fraud, etc.) to get what they want and, if successful, their gain ALWAYS comes from someone else becoming the victim and paying the price. Advocating for a different economic system does not change this. It only changes the method by which individual people are used, abused, and taken advantage of by other individual people.

You may have diagnosed the disease correctly (cancer), but have misdiagnosed the cause of it. Corrupted human nature, not capitalism, is the reason why we are in the mess we are and that corruption cannot be changed by fiat, law, or government edicts and programs. It can only be changed at the individual level, within the confines of one’s own heart.

I fully expect, Mr. Mumblebrain, that you will shoot the messenger because you do not like the message. That seems to be your nature. So be it.

The Appeal of Natural Law and Its Corruption

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“The beauty, simplicity, and justice, of natural law is a thing to behold. It harms no one, and protects everyone; this the essence of freedom. Nothing else is necessary concerning man’s interactions with man, as natural law is based upon the premise of doing no harm to another, no use of force against another, and no infringement upon another or his property. Natural laws alone are the only laws necessary, as any laws prescribed and legislated by one man, or any group of men, over another, is not only immoral, it is immediately destructive of all natural law. Man’s laws are an abomination, and by design are meant to regulate, restrict, harm, or control others, which is a violent afront to the actual rights of all men. No manmade laws that stray in any way from natural law should be tolerated or followed.” — Gary Barnett

————————————————————————–

This is about as clear and concise as it gets. It is also why most people will discard it out-of-hand because, at heart, they want to control others–either for the sake of power and all things attendant or because they are afraid and want to be made safe.

Despite all the arguments to the contrary, when everything is boiled down and condensed, these are the only two reasons government exists. We tolerate, endorse, participate in, and support evil, oppressive government because we desire power over others OR because we are fearful and want government to “protect” us.

Let me go further. Probably, we desire power over others and seek to gain it through government BECAUSE we are afraid. Probably, even the most power-hungry tyrant in the world seeks escape from his own personal fear by exercising power (or attempting to) over everyone else. This understanding immediately points out the way of escape from this dilemma and it can be expressed in three simple words: Stop Being Afraid.

“You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” — Jesus Christ (John 8:32)

Murder By Any Other Name

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

 “…in a just society, the moral strictures that apply to the individual must also extend to the collective. Immoral acts that are forbidden severally cannot be sanctioned collectively. If the citizen must not murder; neither should The State, any state.”

— Ilana Mercer, from an article recently posted at the Unz Review.

To which I say, “Amen, sister! Absolutely right!”

One of the problems about human nature which I find especially irritating is the propensity to engage in and make excuses for actions that are off limits and forbidden to the individual but completely accepted if taken by the collective. Murder, for instance. Individuals are not allowed to kill other individuals unilaterally and, if they do, the full weight of society, government, and the State is applied to punish them in some way. However, given sufficient numbers, that prohibition can be cancelled to the effect that IF society and/or the government approves, then murder is accepted. At least, it is accepted by those who are not on the receiving end of the stick.

War is the most obvious example of this. People who would recoil in horror at the suggestion or thought of personally killing their “neighbors” often clamor and bay for the opportunity to kill them collectively under the auspices of and with the encouragement of the State. Even those who have been raised and rigorously trained in the tradition of “Thou shalt not kill” are susceptible to the attitude. Remember what it was like in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when virtually the entire country bought into and voiced the bloodlust of revenge, including many of those whose lives and faith were built on the Ten Commandments.

At what point does killing become morally acceptable? How many people, thinking and acting collectively, does it take to justify the taking of someone’s life? Where is the dividing line which determines whether killing is murder or legally and socially legitimate? Does adding one more person’s assent to the mix countenance the action? Why?

Where is it written that a large multitude numbering in the hundreds of millions can inflict immense damage and horror on a city with a nuclear bomb or overwhelming, lopsided force? Can a lynch mob of twenty take “justice” into its hands and administer it by “stringing him up”? Is not the nation or the mob made up of individual persons and, as individuals, if they are not allowed to commit these actions, then how do they conclude that such actions are justifiable because a “consensus” was reached among them? Does might really make right? Where does the “might” originate? Majority rule? Raw power? The willingness to cause great harm to others? The willingness of quiet society to go along and say nothing?

If I conclude that I cannot personally kill another human being unjustifiably, then to remain consistent with my beliefs, I must also arrive at the understanding that I should not join, encourage, support, or endorse killing by a group or proxy, regardless of the number of persons involved. Where, how, and why is my “collective” thinking off kilter and what must I adjust in order to more closely align with my core belief?

If I change the way I think, then I will change the way I act. Repentance, in other words.

Have We Learned Anything? Will We?

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

A little more than four years ago, Covid burst upon the world unannounced (some will argue with that) and changed the world, not necessarily for the better. Eight years ago, Donald Trump did the same thing, coming from seemingly out of nowhere to capture the White House and run amok until he was ousted in the “election” of 2020 and the subsequent “transfer of power”. Because of these two “coincidental” events, it can be surmised that Covid and Trump are not that dissimilar.

Today, Covid has not disappeared but it has been relegated to a back-seat position from which it still makes a lot of noise. There is talk about a new disease, Disease X, about which we know nothing except that it will kill twenty times more people than Covid ever was supposed to be capable of. Also, even though we know nothing about Disease X, “vaccines” are being developed so that, when the Dreaded Destroyer does appear, they can be rushed into service immediately (or sooner) to stand as The Bulwark, The Protector of First Resort, of the people, for the people.

Notice the emphasis. Notice also that I did not include, “by the people”, because this will be an action of TPTB, the powers that be, in their continuous drive to subjugate everyone to their rule. The people serve only as guinea pigs and slaves.

This way, folks. Step right up. Get your ticket for the show. And get your booster on the way in.

Have we learned anything from the catastrophe foisted upon an unwitting world? It is fairly evident now that the whole episode was a contrived hoax, designed to frighten people into quivering submission to a coordinated order, which might have succeeded except that there were people in sufficient numbers who were diligent in presenting an alternative to the official narrative. Yet, the face masks are still seen, the Jabs (boosters) are still being pushed, the arrows on floors dictating the flow of traffic in grocery stores have not been removed. (On occasion, I ask store owners or managers why the floor stickers have not been removed since they are meaningless. To date, I have never gotten a straight answer. It is almost as if they would prefer not to think about it.)

More importantly, the people (perps) who orchestrated the event have not been charged with criminal activity and prosecuted nor deterred in any real way. Anthony Fauci, the public face in America of the farce, has simply retired from his lucrative government position into relative obscurity at Georgetown University, where he enjoys a full professorship (and can talk all he wants to without an adoring media hanging on every word). Pfizer, Moderna, the FDA, the CDC, and many other like-minded entities carry on as before, continuing with the party line, stonewalling wherever they can to avoid information leaking into the public debate. Where are the politicians who are calling them to account on behalf of the people who elected them and who took the brunt of the punishment from ill-advised policies? Where are the harsh spotlights being shown on them? When will we see some real heat being imposed on them? Will we see that at all, other than in a token way?

Highly doubtful. Don’t hold your breath.

Instead, since 2024 is an “election” year, we are being treated to a slow-moving, train-wreck election in which one candidate for president, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., could have made a difference in the minds of the general populace IF he had pounded relentlessly on the issue of Covid and the dangers of The Experiment which has, so far, killed more people than the disease itself. Instead, he read the tea leaves, raised his finger to determine the direction the wind was blowing, and decided to kiss the feet of the Israeli lobby and the ass of Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, he picked Nicole Shanahan, the once-and-former spouse of Sergei Bryn (co-founder of Google) to act as his running-mate. I lost interest in him completely when he chose money and power over the health interests of humanity. So much potential, so little to show for it.

We are also witnessing the Second Coming of The Messiah in the form of Captain Warp Speed himself, Mr. Donald Trump, who cannot resist the temptation to play savior to a worshipping, salivating throng which, like a pack of ravenous dogs, looks to him for chunks of red meat. According to the polls, the man who brags constantly about creating The Jab in record time is a shoo-in to be president again, after a hiatus of four years during which his opposition threw everything at him which wasn’t nailed down in the hopes of destroying his chances. In his phoenix-like resurrection from the ashes, it seems that he simply cannot be denied the power to save the people from themselves. The only question at this time is the direction his new, improved wrecking ball will swing and how much damage it will do.

Finally, we have the sitting president, Mr. Joe Biden, who has been deemed by his own “Justice” Department to be unfit for prosecution of criminal behavior due to his diminished mental capacity, yet is considered healthy enough to carry the nuclear football and diplomacy on behalf of the West against “our adversaries”, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Despite his antagonistic attitude towards Trump, he expanded on the Covid protocol: lockdowns, mandatory shots, business closures, economic wreckage on a vast scale, then threw in literally trillions of dollars created out of thin air to make up the difference. Under his watch, we are being inundated with a flood of illegal immigrants numbering in the tens of millions, which even the Democrats are finally becoming upset about. Throw in the ongoing debacle in Ukraine and it is evident that Biden is NOT working for the “health and general welfare” of the American nation and deserves to be turned out on his ear.

In spite of all this, Americans in large numbers continue to cheer on the Warfare/Welfare State as if it was the only game in town. The phrase, “Better the devil we know than the one we don’t”, resonates throughout the land. Identity politics seems to have a firm grip on the nation’s soul as we harden our stance based on division: us against them, Red vs. Blue, conservative vs. liberal vs. progressive, fascist vs. communist, gender vs. “gender”, poor vs. rich, black vs. white, etc., and every other form of tribalism that amounts to anything–all fanned hotter and hotter by those who have an agenda and the ability to effect change toward that goal. And, all the while, the deficits continue their meteoric rise as the world ratchets toward WWIII.

When will it end? Will it ever end?

Ah, yes, it will…someday. What cannot be continued forever will end. Eventually, this, too, shall pass, and out of the wreckage and destruction of our way of life will be born a new world–radically different to the one we exist in now, maybe better, maybe worse, but it will not be the same. Whether we like it or not, we (our children, our grandchildren) will be forced, by circumstances, to adjust and adapt to it.

Best to start preparing for it now by getting your own personal affairs, including but especially your spirit, in order.

Looking Back to the Future

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

Four years ago, at Easter time, in the early stages of the ramping up process of the Covid pan(dem)ic crisis, I wrote and posted the article linked in which I castigated Christian churches for kowtowing to government edicts “advice” about closing their doors–all in the name of “safety” and the “general health and welfare”, you know. Needless to say that my advice and remonstrations went unheeded.

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2020/04/06/corona-churches-and-easter

Four years on, has anything changed in the relationship between the State and the Church? From where I sit, I would have to say “No.” If anything, it is cozier than ever, especially in the large mainline denominations which are pushing hard on the progressive agenda. Pope Francis and the higher levels of the Catholic church are openly showing themselves to be true statists. The smaller denominations and independent assemblies are simply not heard from (or about) to any substantial degree, but because of this it can be assumed that they are NOT raising their voices in response to the tyranny imposed on them.

If the institutional church refuses to counter the State, is actively intimate with it in running roughshod over the rights and freedoms of the average, common man, or teaches that it is futile to resist the evil among us and the only hope is Rescue from on High, then we are in for serious trouble. “I see the bad moon a’rising. I see trouble on the way.” Creedance Clearwater Revival put it quite succinctly and I cannot improve on the sentiment.

Covid was a warm-up exercise. What is coming will be orders of magnitude worse and we are not prepared for it. Trouble on the way.

Come, D’Artagnan! We’re Saving the King! Er, I mean, Country.

Roger Mitchell6 Comments

The 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the US:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…except when it concerns the rights of American citizens to access and use (speak freely) a media platform (press) such as TikTok.

China bad. Steve Mnuchin good. Or so the schtick goes in the escalating conflict between the erstwhile dominant Hegemon (US) and the upstart rival (China).

“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC‘s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” he added…”This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China,” Mnuchin said…

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-mnuchin-says-he-wants-buy-tiktok

“It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” says Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The issue is all about the technology. This needs to be controlled by U.S. businesses.” 

pic.twitter.com/6yoLoL5bay— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) March 14, 2024

For those who are not aware, the legislation mentioned is a bill passed by the US House of Representatives only a few days ago and sent to the Senate, where it is almost certain to meet overwhelming approval, to be sent to Joe Biden, who has already promised to sign it into law. This bill is officially titled “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” (H.R.7521), more easily known as The TikTok Divestment bill. The introduction is sufficient to tell you what this is all about.

A BILL
To protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the control of ByteDance Ltd.

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20240311/HR%207521%20Updated.pdf

Yesssss!!! Now the truth is coming out. ByteDance Ltd. is the real enemy which we have to conquer. In order to protect the “national security of the United States”, ByteDance Ltd., a Chinese-owned company MUST be forced to sell its American branch of TikTok to someone like Steve Mnuchin, one of the “elite, uber-wealthy, 1%-ers, who will then use it to enhance the “national security of the United States”, because it is “just not right” that ByteDance, China should be gathering all that information on its client users, even though they voluntarily give it up themselves. No, no, all that information really ought to be funneled to the US government, which, alone in the world except for Israel (I really didn’t say that), is righteous and concerned only with the “general welfare” of its citizens. Those dastardly Chinks, anyway! There ought to be a law!!

Well, according to Joe Biden, there will be shortly and then we will begin to see the repercussions.

It is a known fact that millions upon millions of Americans use TikTok regularly, including many who have built successful, thriving businesses on the app, and if this bill passes, they would find themselves unable to access it. Even those who only use it to communicate with their friends and acquaintances would be shut out, that is, unless a consortium of “patriotic Americans” (Steve Mnuchin, et al.) was to buy it, slap an American label on it, and sell the service to their own “captive audience”. If that happened, then everything would be right with the world. Again.

Nevertheless, drilling down into this issue, I conclude there is more here than meets the eye. This is a matter of free speech, as codified in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, which Congress is rapidly infringing upon and abridging, contrary to the oath sworn to uphold the Constitution. Banning TikTok (and ByteDance) from serving their clients would have the effect of shutting down the free speech of countless people in America. This is where the rubber meets the road. The issue is all about control of the populace at large and the power to enforce what is said. Totalitarians everywhere, at all times, have always tried to control the conversation between people, outlawing “subversive” speech, banning the free exchange of ideas, forcing everyone to parrot the narrative, and have resorted to force and violence to make sure that no one gets out of line.

Disclaimer: I do not use TikTok. Except for a very few times when I viewed a video on TikTok which someone linked to, I have no experience with the platform. However, I am adamant about my resistance to those who would censor it or shut it off for whatever reason. Whenever someone, anyone, tells me that I CANNOT see and read, or hear and listen to anything which I want to, then I will view that as an attempt to control me. Whenever someone, anyone, tells me that I CANNOT communicate with anyone else that I want to, then there is going to be trouble.

TikTok may be a socially reprehensible vehicle. It may be used by one government against another. There may be other equally justifiable reasons to get rid of it. These “truths” may be self-evident, but they are irrelevant to my argument. I have the right, the absolute right, to manage my own affairs AND to go to Hell in my own way–if I desire to. Furthermore, since I believe in the principle of loving my neighbor as I do myself (even though I fail at times), I have to allow my neighbor that same right and freedom.

I will never relent. I will never back down.

Afterword: read for yourself.

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/19/montana-the-new-state-of-censorship

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/23/tiktok-round-2

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/26/tiktok-round-3

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/05/22/the-end-of-the-world-and-tiktok

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/12/01/the-saga-of-tiktok-montana-continues

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/12/12/and-the-beat-goes-on

Democracy Cancelled: We Have to Save It!

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It is less than eight months to the November elections in the U.S. and I am already looking forward to the day after. At least we will not be subject to non-stop posturing by candidates pleading for your vote. At least not for a few days. That is, if an election is even held at all, the cancellation of which cannot be discounted.

Given the present state of American politics, both home and abroad, and economics, it would not be unreasonable to think that something will happen between now and November 5 which would be the catalyst for the government to announce that, “An election at this time is too risky and therefore it will be postponed until a more propitious moment sometime in the future. Democracy is at stake and must be protected.” Which means that all elections in the (murky, unforeseeable) future will be held at the behest of those who are in control of the government. Which means Soviet-style on an ad-hoc basis, depending on whether it is deemed advantageous to the ruling party or not.

Ah, yes! We will have to suspend democracy for its own good. Sounds like that old saw from the Viet Nam era about destroying the village to save it.

What could precipitate such a drastic event? Look at the big picture, first.

Donald Trump is on a roll and Joe Biden is visibly sinking in the polls. If the current momentum continued, Trump would gain somewhere north of 60% of the popular vote and a huge majority of the Electoral Count. Obviously, his “enemies” are not happy about this and will do whatever they can (feverishly) to derail the juggernaut. Assassination is not out of the question, although if this happened, the mood of his disciples would turn downright ugly and the tension would ratchet up steeply. As in hockey stick style with no discernible end to the destruction sure to follow.

The American economy is running on fumes and fraudulent finances. The debt added by the Federal government has reached $1 trillion every 100 days, which means that, at the current rate, almost $2.5 trillion in new debt will be incurred by the date of the election in November. Inflation, despite continual reassurances, is not under control as anyone of modest means could tell you after a trip to the grocery store. Commercial real estate is taking a nose-dive and many banks which are exposed to this will probably go belly-up and be absorbed by the Too Big To Fail mega-banks, which will probably be taken over by The Bank, i.e., the Federal Reserve in a desperate attempt to keep things together. A financial crisis many times greater than the one which occurred in 2008 could certainly happen at any time and would, almost certainly, cause the “authorities” to take drastic measures.

America foreign policy is on the ropes, as can be seen in the debacle in Ukraine and the mass genocide of the Palestinians by the state of Israel. War clouds in Europe and the Middle East are growing darker by the day and there seems to be little effort to tone down the rhetoric in official circles. All the while, the West (US and its minions) are being shoved to the side by the rest of the world as it goes about conducting business.

As to the election, all that it would take to put this on hold would be for something, anything, to happen which the ruling authorities could use to justify a complete power grab. It does not matter what the event is as long as it can be pitched to persuade the American electorate of the necessity. The crisis is all that counts, or, as Rahm Emmanuel advised years ago, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Since the average person cooperates with the “dictates from on high” and has been conditioned to go along with “our” government, it is almost 100% certain that, while there may be some grumbling and complaining, nothing of real substance will be done to counteract or invalidate the pronouncement.

Now, as to when, where, and how this happens is beyond my ability to know. Speculation is useless and a waste of valuable time. I do know that something momentous is going to happen. I do know that things (the situation on the ground, the status quo) are going to change drastically and dramatically. I do know that I am going to do my best to simply ride the wave until it crashes, hoping to keep my head above water, and pick up the pieces when it crashes.

As I am certain it will.

Hot Air, Climate Change, and Bicycles

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I hate low-profile (skinny) tires. Those tiny, thin bands of fake rubber which wrap around the rims of the wheels on which my car rides as I travel down the road.

Time was that a person could look at a tire and determine that it needed more air because it appeared to be a little squatty. No more! Today, it requires a sensor in every tire and an idiot light on the dashboard to tell you that “Low Tire Pressure”. Of course, the message (at least in my car) does not tell me which tire is low, which means that I have to check every one whenever the “warning” is displayed.

Now, I ask you, with all of the technological advances made in the last 100 years or so, does it not seem reasonable that my car could tell me exactly where it needs attention? Y’know, like when I go to the doctor and tell her (there are no more male practitioners) that I have a pain and have to describe it in excruciating detail.

But I digress! Reality is that low-profile (skinny) tires are really beneficial after all. Because they are produced from synthetic rubber, not the real stuff, rubber trees in remote Borneo (or wherever they are) escape being exploited. And, more to the point, because the tires are smaller and take less air to produce the correct pressure, they act as a bulwark against “global warming”, a.k.a., “climate change”.

How is this possible, you ask? Simple physics. Because air heats up under pressure, the less air necessary to pump up a tire, the less heat is produced. The less heat produced, the lower the overall, aggregate heat in the atmosphere. Imagine the impact this makes when multiplied by millions or billions of tires. Which simply means that if we all were to adopt bicycles with really skinny tires and a really low amount of “hot air” necessary, the climate change advocates, who are also full of hot air, would have to shut up and go home. Or, more likely, they would congratulate themselves on the success of their mission–while flying off in their own personal jet to another conference somewhere halfway around the world.

Too bad E.T. is not here to show them how to fly a bicycle.

God Does Not Forget

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“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

For context, you should read this article first.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/08/abortion-not-trump-is-the-gops-albatross/

So…if we paid attention to the “advice” which Matthew Boose (author of the article) dispenses, the only reason why Donald Trump is rolling over the opposition in the Republican Party primaries and (probably) in the general election, is that he is willing to compromise his stance on the issue of abortion. According to Boose, the people want legal access to the “right” to kill their unborn children and will not be denied, therefore, it behooves the Republican Party to stop being stupid about this issue and give them what they demand. Otherwise, when November comes and the mail-in ballots are counted, well, surprise, surprise! The Democrats will have emerged victorious yet again. All because America cannot shake its commitment to its assault on the youngest and most vulnerable among us and the politicians who desire to “lead” ought to be aware of that and act correspondingly.

Whatever happened to principle and standing firm on what you believe to be true, regardless of the cost? The indiscretions, mistakes, and sins of Martin Luther King, Jr., should not distract nor discount from the truth that he stated as seen in the comment above. But, then, he was only repeating what he had heard about someone else who lived and died two thousand years earlier, in part due to an intransigent, determined, and dedicated refusal to compromise with the evil so rampant in Judea at that time.

Abortions on demand have been legal across the entire United States since the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, handed down January 22nd, 1973. That ended with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 when the issue was kicked back to the individual states and, much to the dismay of the left side of democracy, many of the states started putting real restrictions on the practice. Note that it took more than forty-nine years of massive blood-letting before the Supreme Court recognized that it had misread the Constitution and changed its course.

But, then, what are we to expect from a people who believe that they are God and try to act like it?

Today, and until the end of this election cycle, it is not likely that Donald Trump will say anything about abortion on demand and, if he does, it will be some mealy-mouth squealing about not interfering in a woman’s personal health care. If he does, you can bet your bottom dollar that he will not be forthright and thunderously call for an immediate end to the slaughter. If he defied the “political wisdom” and made such a ringing declaration, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Matthew Boose’s of the world would instantly jump on him roughshod and call him out as a destructive force in the Republican Party. Not that they do not already see him that way, but as the pre-eminent standard-bearer of the conservative Right, he has them in a fix and there is not much they can do about it.

Abortion on demand, widespread throughout society, is suicidal. It literally kills the future. If there is one legitimate reason why America needs to import millions upon millions of young, military-age men from foreign countries, it is because we have killed our own, in the womb, before they were ever born. Social Security, soon to be Social Insecurity, is going to run out of money within the next ten years, partly because we have destroyed at least 60 million potential workers and payees into the system. Oh, yes, actions have consequences. This one is catching up fast and America is being destroyed before our eyes.

What will the Republicans do this year? What will Trump do? My expectation is that they and he will do nothing to rock the boat. In the interest of gaining power, there will be nothing said nor done which will alienate any potential support, particularly on such a divisive topic. After all, winning is everything, right? And if we have to throw a few sacrificial lambs into the maw of Moloch, well, it is better that they go quietly and without too much fuss. The important thing is not to speak the truth and stand firmly for it, but to beat the Democrats and get Joe Biden out of the White House.

All’s well that ends well, right? But America is not ending well and our fixation on keeping abortion legal is part of our collective, mortal sickness.

We may be able to ignore the carnage and drown out the cries through our noisy, busy lives, but God does not forget. God does not forget.

Making Mistakes and Learning Lessons

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I learn best by making mistakes and then taking corrective action.

Life, and life’s experiences, have taught me many things. I can (and often do) look back and realize how differently I might have acted in specific circumstances if I had the opportunity to relive them. Of course, it is not possible to relive those events, so the best I can do is to make sure that I respond in a different manner if a similar situation should arise.

All this leads me to certain conclusions.

  1. If it were not for the grace of God, I would either have been killed or imprisoned and destroyed early on about the time I began to break free of my parent’s restraining influence.
  2. I am far more forgiving of someone else’s indiscretions than I would be if I had not experienced similar (or worse) things myself.

That being said, let me bare my soul with something intensely personal. I married a woman who had three young children from a previous marriage. I had immense trouble asserting authority over this immediate family addition and responded in an authoritarian, often brutal, manner, which did nothing at all to persuade them (any of them) that they should follow my advice or orders. Instead, they responded with the attitude that my actions spoke so loudly that they couldn’t hear what I was saying.

Needless to say, it was not an easy time. The mistakes made were many and they happened rapidly. Before the lesson was learned from one, another had been made and it was only with the passage of time and separation that understanding (wisdom) began to appear. Life begins at forty, the saying goes and probably because, after forty years, a person starts to realize he does not know much and is willing to learn. In my case, it didn’t happen until I had hit at least my fiftieth birthday, maybe later, but, what a transformation it has made.

Today, if I had to do it over again, instead of trying to make my wife and (acquired) children behave as I wanted, I would simply talk with them, laying out the good and the bad possible, and then turn them loose to make their own decisions AND to live with the consequences of their actions.

Is this not what God does with us? It can be said that God does not force us to behave properly. It can be said that He warns us that IF we behave improperly, then we WILL experience certain (and logically following) repercussions. Yet, from a position of absolute knowledge of the future and knowing the hardships (or blessings) that will accompany our actions, God does not interfere with our choices nor attempt to overrule them. Instead, He allows us to go our own way and experience the consequences of our choices, either good or bad.

How do we approach the problems in society? We see something which is bad (from our viewpoint) and want to fix it by imposing our will and orders on others. If you would just behave the way I tell you to, then everything would work out best. You will be good, dammit, or else! We call this government and we spend unknown amounts of time, energy, and resources to make sure that we are the ones calling the shots, making sure that everyone else is behaving in the way that we want them to. As long as everything is going the way we want it to, life is good. If it deviates from that, then we have to assert our authority and power to force “positive” change on those who simply refuse to obey.

For their own good, of course.

With the passage of years and the understanding that comes from relentless self-examination, I have now arrived at the conclusion that it would be better for society-at-large to simply be warned of the dangers of certain actions rather than any attempts to “lead” it, forcibly, away from the hazards lurking around the corner. Personal peace has arrived at the realization that I am only required to advise people to take the right path instead of trying to prevent them from turning into the wrong one. It is not necessary for me to stop someone from going down the wrong road, but I will be held accountable if I do not warn them of the consequences of doing so.

This, I think, is the difference between government and love. Think about it.

A View with Room to Grow

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

This was meant originally to be a comment on an article, When Lying is a Virtue, but after repeated attempts to post it and being turned down by Blogger (a Google-owned platform), I gave up, revamped it somewhat, and posted it here. Understanding the current climate of de-platforming, censorship, mis-information, and the general frowning upon dissension from The Narrative, it would not be out of line to suspect that someone(s) does not want my viewpoint heard. But, I persist, and maybe I am shouting into the wind.

“This is why I’ve become disillusioned with where the libertarian movement has wound up. This is the essence of what Pete Quinones and I discussed in the recent podcast we did. It doesn’t mean I reject the philosophy or even the use of many libertarian critiques of central planning as useful filters, it means the philosophy isn’t enough to move the Overton Window in any practical political sense.”

Tom Luongo

I will not discuss Quinones here. I want to focus on the underlying theme that Luongo is bringing out, which compares favorably with Bionic Mosquito’s contention that strict adherence to libertarian principles is simply not enough to bring about a world of liberty and freedom. There must be a moral framework (ethical code) and there must be cooperation with others (groupings and institutions).

Libertarianism only promotes what it is against–rule by others. It is negative in nature and needs something positive and just as compelling to balance the scales, which I identify as self-control in a spirit of love toward others. Individualism, in and of itself, will not produce the goods. As a rule, people will not work at something in which they cannot see the benefits to themselves or the society around them.

Basically, this means that, in order to get where we want to go, we have to stop the infighting between ourselves over trivial matters and start working toward the common goal. The problem is that we have trouble agreeing on the goal and we are reluctant to put our own petty differences aside in pursuit of that. I will admit, I am no better than anyone else and may actually be more obstinate. Nevertheless, it has to happen and I recognize the need for personal change.

God help us all.

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones…

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This article was first published as a comment (#43) at the Unz Review in an essay written shortly after Hamas had initiated their October 7 attack on Israel during which some 1200 persons were killed and hundreds more kidnapped and removed to Gaza. To date, the Israeli reprisal has resulted in upwards of 25, 000 Palestinians dead and the entire population uprooted and displaced, many of them on the brink of starvation.

Please note that my comment focuses on the free-speech issue which is under concerted assault today. It does not address the “Jewish question” nor should it be read as “anti-Semitic” in any way. If you find anything which I said to be offensive, then you are trying to be offended. Your problem, my pity.

Slight, grammatical corrections have been made from the original.

“To the main point here: Should calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard University’s code of conduct?

If that was what the student protestors were calling for, the answer has to be yes. “Genocide” means killing an entire race of people. If you want to do that, you are a homicidal psychopath. In a civilized society there should be no institution whose code of conduct validates homicidal psychopathology.”

https://www.unz.com/jderbyshire/give-em-an-inch-they-take-a-harvard-yard/

Well, along with Ms. Gay, I would say, “That depends.”

In a civilized society SHOULD THERE BE an institution whose code of conduct validates homicidal psychopathology? Well, no, of course not, any more than there should be a movie theater which would tolerate someone shouting, “Fire!” during a very crowded session. However, this misses the point of free speech. It is called FREE speech, after all.

In a civilized society where free speech is encouraged and allowed, there should be no limits placed on what is said. Anyone should be able to speak his mind about anything.  Any institution should be able to support and allow any speech it wishes, even if it is detrimental (and it would be) to the institution itself.  Offense taken because of words spoken is a personal issue and should be addressed as such. However, in today’s society, the emphasis is placed on the “offense taken” and the only remedy which is prescribed for it is to outlaw and prohibit, not the offense nor the reaction, but the words which caused it.

“You cannot say that. Someone might be hurt.”

All of society, civilized or not, is geared around one thing–conformity to the established norm. Anyone who deviates from that automatically becomes uncivilized, a pariah, one of the hairy, unwashed, deplorables who deserves to be eradicated or thrown out of the group. It does not matter what the issue is or how flagrant the violation is–any violation is cause for alarm and voices which speak freely generate the greatest concern and response.

It is not the speakers themselves who are the real threat, rather the response by others who hear the words and are motivated to action because of them. Jim Jones and Adolf Hitler would have been nothing more than abrasive loudmouths IF the people who heard them refused to act on what they heard. Those who scream, “Kill all the Jews!”, would make no progress at all if everyone within earshot simply ignored them and went about living as if they had not heard them. No one would ever be trampled to death in a crowded theater if everyone would simply sit still for two or three seconds and rationally assess the situation before stampeding.

The problem is, they don’t. People react, from emotion, according to what they hear and listen to–whether it is right and true or not. Therefore, we have laws prohibiting the FREE exercise of speech and substituting some truncated version of it, a limited form of it, somewhat less than free speech–all of it conditioned on and by the level of “civilization” we have reached.

If we are ever to be free, truly free, then the right to say anything, anything at all, must become sacred within the society. Otherwise, we labor under the shackles of someone else’s opinion and feelings, all of which are meant to “protect” from “harm”. Until we learn, as individuals and as a cohesive group of individuals, that we are NOT harmed by the words and, therefore, have no need to react, we will never be free. We will always be under the control of someone else who will decide for us how we MUST respond. In other words, there oughta’ be a law against that sort of stuff.

“I may not agree with what you are saying, but I will defend your right to say it.” ought to be our operating mantra, but it is not. Instead, we have arrived at the conclusion that because I disagree with and do not like what you are saying, you cannot say it. End of story. Sit down, shut up, and do as you are told.

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” This old nursery rhyme has now been transformed into one which might read, “If you call me a name, I will pick up a stick and attempt to break your bones.”

I’m Going to Live…Until I Die!

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The last two years, I went out on a limb and posted my predictions (here and here) about what would happen in the following year. I have to admit that my track record is not good. Seeing the future and calling it correctly is not my forte. I can make guesses, some educated, some wild, but that is about it. Therefore, I am discontinuing the practice this year and will not waste any more of my time trying to make it look like I have some window into the unknown and unseen.

However, I think it is quite safe to say that 2024 appears to be on a rough path and we will probably stub our toes often and may lose our footing during it. National governments everywhere seem to be struggling frantically to hold fractious pieces together and the US is no exception. Between politics, economy, inflation, immigration, the never-ending threat of war, and the very distinct odor of financial collapse, there is more than enough to keep us alert and on edge. Throw in the quadrennial circus of the “presidential” (s)election and the possibility that the country might irreconcilably split over the results just adds more uncertainty to the mix. “May you live in interesting times!”, as the ancient Chinese curse is purported to say.

I am going to give in to temptation here and make a comparison. I tend to view living in interesting times akin to driving a powerful sports car on a winding, mountain road which I have never seen before, not knowing what lies ahead around the next curve or rise, and going as fast as I dare, using the gas and brake to maximum effect. The exhilaration! The rush of adrenalin!! Sometimes, I have to pull over and spend a few minutes gathering my composure, getting my nerve back after a near collision or close call, yet everything is forgotten once the road is flying backwards under the weight of the tires and my foot on the accelerator. Of course, there is always the chance of an unrecoverable miscalculation which results in an unpleasant end to an exciting, adrenalin-filled drive…but we won’t talk about that right now.

Toad!

Most people, however, do not have what it takes to live that way. Instead, they prefer to back the grocery-getter out of the driveway, accelerate gently up to the speed limit (well, maybe only a little bit above it), and travel along with everyone else on a straight, wide, smooth boulevard or freeway. Calm, sedate, predictable, at least until someone else barrels through a red light and collides with another. We never think about it, though, and always expect that we will get to our destination safely and back home again without incident. Yet, in the back of our minds is the understanding that someone, somewhere, could wreak havoc on our own best laid plans and schedule regardless as to how safely we motor down the highway.

This is life. An existence of getting up every morning and getting through the day without incident. The more adventurous of us take risks the majority would blanch at and they are often soon gone. The controllers are constantly watching for violations of the “rules of the road” and waiting to take us to task because we didn’t “drive” the way we were supposed to. Most of us simply shrug our shoulders, fasten our seat belt, and hope to live through the journey, prosperously and peacefully, without ever thinking about it. Which is fine as long as traffic flows smoothly, but then something unexpected happens and our world is thrown into a state of chaos, confusion, and calamity.

And something always happens, especially in those societies which refuse to pay attention to the signs warning of danger ahead. Today, those signs are not simple black and white posters stuck on a post informing of the speed limit. They are huge digitized billboards, constantly flashing brightly lit messages which cannot be missed by anyone, yet we ignore them and drive on heedlessly. All that matters is the next pay raise, the next profitable contract, the next election, the next Super Bowl, the next war. Who cares what tomorrow brings? Eat, drink, and be merry! Build bigger barns because the harvest last summer was great! Expect to do better next year!! Until it all ends in a crash which destroys all the hopes and dreams lived for.

We are living in interesting times. I have no doubt about that. Nevertheless, I intend to carry on, without fear, knowing that the consequences of extremely bad living will catch up someday. Death, not only for myself, but also for the society we live in, is coming closer–one day at a time and there is nothing I can do except to accept it as reality and hope that I die peacefully at home with my family and friends around me. It may happen that way, may not. It does not matter.

Life, interesting or bland, is meant to be lived to the fullest. Drive on!

What is Terrorism?

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On August 06, 2012, I was listening to NPR’s “All Things Considered”, concerning the shooting spree the morning before at the Sikh Temple near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where seven people, including the suspected murderer, were shot and killed.

During this segment of the show, the commentator mentioned that the authorities had not yet called this an act of “domestic terrorism”, since it wasn’t clear what the motive of the shooter was. The speaker stated that the accepted description of domestic terrorism is violence with a political motive. Apparently, it hadn’t been determined that the shooter had any political agenda he was pursuing.

This started me thinking. If domestic terrorism is violence with a political motive, then domestic terrorism which crosses national boundaries must logically become international terrorism. If this is the case, then anyone who acts violently in the pursuit of a political agenda must be either a domestic or an international terrorist. (See here for a further discussion of the meaning of terrorism.)

What does the above description say about men (or women) who wear business suits, work in offices in Washington, D.C., and order drone strikes, covert operations, and overt military action (all of which are violent acts for political gain) against other people? Should they be exempt from the label “terrorist, domestic or international”? Why?

There is no doubt that the American State uses violent means for political ends, both domestic and international. So does the British, French, Russian, Chinese, Indonesian, Cuban, Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian, Indian, and South African, among other states too numerous to mention. Are all these terrorist organizations or are they something different? Why?

Draw your own conclusion. I want you to think about this. I have presented here a logical argument. If terrorism is defined as violence which is used to advance a political agenda, then logically everyone who uses violence to advance his or her own political agenda is a terrorist. Does it really matter that a terrorist might act as an individual, a large part of a very small group, or a small part of a very large group?  By definition, any violent act perpetrated against anyone for a specific political reason is a terrorist act, regardless as to whether it is State sanctioned or not.

Obviously, this creates a problem for people who want to believe that “our” system of violence for political reasons does not constitute terrorism. In America today, we want to believe that terrorism is brown-skinned, speaks Arabic, and is Middle-Eastern and Muslim in origin. Self-congratulations are in order as we loudly proclaim that “we” are not like “them”, thank God. Sometimes we admit that a Timothy McVeigh might emerge from our own ranks, but in the next breath condemn him and his ilk as aberrant, un-American, extreme, demented, etc.

At the same time, we applaud someone who kicks in a door to a home in Afghanistan in the middle of the night, opens fire, and kills or wounds many, many persons, some of which are children and/or old men and women. In fact, we call them “heroes” and “freedom fighters”, as if the occupants of a mud hut in the middle of Afghanistan actually presented a viable threat to our health and well-being. For the soldier who follows orders, there are accolades, pomp and circumstance, ticker-tape parades, honors, medals, etc. We thank them for their service. Of course, the occasional lone wolf might go bonkers and do the same thing without official orders, but he is then thrown into the same class as McVeigh, and we pat ourselves on the back with the consolation that, generally speaking, the rest of the soldiers are not like that.

The label doesn’t stop there, though. What about the chain of command? What about the generals who are overseeing the entire operation? The colonels who give the orders on the ground? The captains who lead the attack? The sergeant who directs his men to shoot anything that moves? The private or corporal who actually pulls the trigger? What are their political motives? Why do they wish to inflict violence on someone else they don’t know and may have never seen before? What should these men/women rightly be called?

If the military personnel are culpable, then consider the Congresspersons or President who initiated the operation in the first place? What should we call them? They are the ones who gave approval to use violent means to advance their political agendas, whatever those might be. Should they be deemed “terrorist” as well as the person doing the actual bombing, shooting, and killing? Let’s go further, however.

Consider the average American citizen who voted for any specific Congressperson who then voted to authorize, say, the Afghan war. What about the average person who advocates that war be visited on some miscellaneous foreign country, like Iraq, Syria, Libya, or Iran? By extension, logically, that person might very well be called a terrorist. After all, someone will die violently so that his own political agenda can be advanced.

Wow! This hits pretty close to home, doesn’t it? Most people would automatically disavow this argument, since they would never personally commit the action of terrorism. This is really an irresponsible position and a refusal to be consistent with one’s own philosophy, because there are multiple millions of people who would not physically pull the trigger, but desire and encourage others to do the job for them. Generally, people do not call themselves “terrorist”, yet they are more than willing to let someone else perform the acts of violence. So long as they themselves do not suffer adversely in the process, they are OK with it.  

Jesus Christ said that anyone who lusted after a woman in his heart had committed adultery with her, even though no physical intercourse took place. He also said that hatred for one’s fellow man was equivalent to murder. We can extrapolate that he would condemn even the wishful thinking of violence done for the reason of political gain, otherwise known as terrorism. It is entirely plausible that many, many Christians in America today are actively working against the will of the Prince of Peace, Who beats swords into plowshares, thereby ensuring their own destruction as the world-system we know is taken apart and rearranged.  

Prospering from the Rituals of Democracy

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“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

H. L. Mencken

Over the last few months, I have been reading Notes on Democracy by H.L. Mencken. I find it difficult to absorb in large doses and have consigned myself to reading one chapter through, then throwing the book down for an indeterminate length of time, eventually picking it up again for another go-round. In any case, virtually every case, there is some sort of “insight” which pops off the page and smacks me between the eyes, as does the following gem.

“In boom times, indeed, democracy is always very impatient of what used to be called natural rights. The typical democrat is quite willing to exchange any of the theoretical boons of freedom for something that he can use. In most cases, perhaps, he is averse to selling his vote for cash in hand, but that is mainly because the price offered is usually too low. He will sell it very willingly for a good job or for some advantage in his business. Offering him such bribes, in fact, is the chief occupation of all political parties under democracy, and of all professional politicians.”

Note that Mencken refers to the typical democrat (believer in democracy) as opposed to Democrat (member of a certain particular political party). This includes every person of every political stripe who believes that his opinion is the only one which counts for anything and who votes in every election because it is his “duty” to do so. The plain and simple truth is that those who vote do so with the expectation of receiving something back which they think will benefit them personally and which is always gained at the expense of someone else whom they do not even know nor will probably ever meet. Those people, sensing that our intrepid voter is attempting to take something, anything, from them, are adamant about “defending” themselves and they attempt to do this by also voting, thereby hoping that they, too, will receive their own personal piece of the pie, always ladled out and served to them by “leaders” who do not hesitate to scoop out “benefits” from other sections of the pie, thus guaranteeing that another’s piece is commensurately smaller. In response to this, he will ramp up his efforts, voice, and action to get what he deserves, his “rightful share”.

(When I was growing up and we were divvying up a pie at the dinner table, each of us watched diligently to make sure that none of this occurred. We called it excavating and it was strictly outlawed. A sharp eye was needed especially when the pie filling had not set up firmly and would ooze from its proper place.)

In this sense, voting is not a great amount different than the mindset shown in the phrase, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, which can easily be paraphrased into modern language as, “Vote myself rich and let others pay for it”. Everyone understands it and most people voluntarily participate in it. Of course, the proper answer for this is that soon the entire world will be blind and toothless and any democracy which enables its citizens to steal legally from each other will not long survive and prosper.

In today’s world, taking what belongs to someone else through the filter of democracy does not even register as a blip on the screen of moral conscience. The attitude of “getting what one deserves” clearly has a considerable amount of influence, even if no conscious thought is put into it and one might recoil at the suggestion that he deserves anything at all. Which he does not, unless he has earned it, and filling out a ballot to determine how much his neighbor will be robbed for his own comfort does not constitute an “earning” worthy of reward. Yet, on and on we go, year after year, election after election, until the entire treasury has been milked and stripped so that it is unsustainable and the whole system collapses. At that point, another is voted in to take its place, beginning the whole process over. After all, it is our duty.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. Get on your knees and pray…

And the Beat Goes On…

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TikTok, TikTok, winding down our freedom’s clock…

This could easily be the Grinch’s refrain if he was as concerned about protecting people’s rights as he was about destroying them. If you’ve seen the movie as many times as I have, you will recognize the tune.

I have just become aware that TikTok, presumably at the behest of the Grinch, er, I mean, US government, has just permanently banned one of the world’s most famous journalists, Glenn Greenwald, for posting videos which “violated the community standards”. That is to say, Greenwald posted videos critical of the government’s incessant attack on this little matter of free speech and subsequently had his account shut down. Forever. Without recourse. Permanently. Such is the very real threat which every journalist has to consider when he posts anything which might be frowned upon by those who do not want to see it come to light and exposed.

Read this article for more information.

Ever since the State of Montana became the first in the country to outlaw TikTok within its borders (supposedly to protect the weak, stupid, and gutless citizens who were addicted to it and could not refrain from using it, you understand), I have been pounding the issue. I came out forcefully against the State’s action from the beginning and have not altered my stance. This is not a question of “protection” of the common person from the depredations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is, and has always been, about control of the flow of information which is available to the average prole.

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/19/montana-the-new-state-of-censorship/

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/23/tiktok-round-2/

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/26/tiktok-round-3/

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/05/22/the-end-of-the-world-and-tiktok/

https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/12/01/the-saga-of-tiktok-montana-continues/

Commenting on Greenwald’s ban, Adam Dick writes this.

“Five years back, technology companies were hitting their stride with cracking down on alternative voices. That crackdown has continued over the ensuing years. Further, evidence has increasingly been revealed that fills out the story of how United States government agents have behind the scenes been pushing the crackdown.”

“Given this context, one is wise to be skeptical of politicians and bureaucrats of the US government, along with their media allies, clamoring that TikTok needs to be banned because it is spreading propaganda for the government of China. It sure sounds like a fox guarding the henhouse sort of situation. Is the US taking a break from its censorship fixation to defend Americans from censorship here? Isn’t a more likely explanation for this talk of banning TikTok that making this threat is part of an effort to further bring this social media company into the US propagandizing operation — that the US government is seeking to advance its own interests, not to protect users of the company’s social media platform?”

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/glenn-greenwald-explains-how-threats-to-ban-tiktok-are-part-of-the-effort-to-expand-us-censorship-through-tech-companies/

Did you get that? TikTok needs to be banned because it is spreading propaganda for the government of China. In Montana, the overriding reason was not so much that it was spreading propaganda as it was that the EVIL CCP was scooping up information about TikTok users and compiling a database to be used against them, eventually, at some undetermined time in the future. At least, that was the official story line, the narrative. Presumably, a male teenager from Havre, Wisdom, or Big Timber, who only has sex, drugs, and Grand Theft Auto on his mind is in grave danger because he also views content on TikTok whenever he is bored and has nothing else to do, which is most of the time.

Naaaahhhhh! I agree with Greenwald and Dick. TikTok is being folded into the mix of government coercion and censorship, eventually to be as compromised as Google, YouTube, Facebook, et al., all of which are more than willing to toe the government line, so long as they are allowed to stay in business. Of course, in that respect, TikTok is no different and it will inevitably cave and grovel under the statist boot because of it. Greenwald comments,

“…they care about profit. These are capitalists. They don’t care about giving the US government control over content moderation. They are happy to do it if that’s the condition they have to meet in order to keep access to the very lucrative US market.”

All of which goes to prove that there really is nothing new under the sun. The love of money IS the root of all evil.

It’s All About Service

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This Advent, Don’t Forget That Satan Hates You

“…certain angels could not accept serving God if it entailed serving a lower species—namely the human species. One third of the angels fell and became demons.”

Interesting theory. The angels were created to serve God. As we know from Scripture, one aspect of serving God is to serve humanity. Does this service only apply to humans or are the angels under the same requirement? Did 1/3 of the angels balk at serving humanity?

This idea sheds some light on the subject. Why would 1/3 of the angels follow Satan’s lead in rebelling against God? What was in it for them? Following this line of reasoning leads me to believe that they refused to serve humanity because it would have meant that they themselves would NOT be served BY humanity. In other words, they wanted to be rulers over men instead of servants of men.

So God threw them out and consigned them to eternal frustration and disappointment.

If this is true (I suspect that it is), then what does that say to us when the very words of Christ command us to serve other people rather than trying to rule them? Those who believe in the application of power, force, and violence to make others behave and live as desired will have a hard time with this concept. The most evil people, those with the least interest in serving, rise to the top of the political heap because they are spiritual copies of Satan, who has NO interest in service, but instead seeks total and complete control.

If God rejected the angels who refused to serve, then the people who travel that same road are in some serious trouble. It would benefit us personally to cut the ties and distance ourselves from such people.