The Death of Due Process: Mahmoud Khalil

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

What in the world? This is America, after all, The Land of the Free and the Home of Constitutionally Protected Freedoms as delineated in the first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights.

Chances are pretty good that if you were to ask any average American about Mahmoud Khalil, he or she would respond with one word. “Who?” If this person derived their politics from the right side of the ledger who vigorously supports Donald Trump, then the odds go up that, on learning about the status of Mahmoud Khalil, the answer would immediately come back with double the quantity of words and heightened intensity. “Good riddance!” In this, they will echo the words of Kristi Noem, who could not let a good opportunity go to waste.

A week ago, I posted an article in which I explored the issue of Tren de Aragua, a notorious, violent, criminal gang from Venezuela which operates internationally (including the United States), and was designated by Donald Trump as a Foreign Terrorist Organization via an Executive Order on his very first day in office, second term. Since then, the administration has been active in rounding up and deporting alleged gang members back to Venezuela or shipping them off to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, whichever is easier, more effective, and less costly.

Let’s get one thing perfectly clear right now. I do not support the importation and keeping of violent criminals into this country. Undoubtedly, there are people here who ought to be removed from American society–violently, if necessary. Nevertheless, there are rules to follow in the process, the foremost among them being the 5th Amendment to the Constitution:

“No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” .

Now, of course, this brings up the question of whether or not the government is operating according to the 5th Amendment. I cannot say. I don’t know. If it is, well and good. If not, then we have a problem which will only get worse as social, economic, and political circumstances worsen and degrade. In order to maintain the trust of the American people, it is incumbent on the administration to make sure it works within the law whether it advances the political agenda or not.

Which brings us to Mahmoud Khalil. Born in Syria of Palestinian origin and a citizen of Algeria, legally admitted to the US with Green Card and permanent resident status, Columbia University student, married to an American woman, soon to be a father. He was arrested in the lobby of his apartment complex in New York City, on March 08, then shipped without notice to Jena, LA, where he was held incommunicado without notice to his attorney or pregnant wife. He was the first person arrested after Trump had promised to crack down on university student protests over the conflict in Gaza.

Obviously, Khalil had broken some law or committed a crime, right? After all, if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of. Right? Why else would the government go after him if he was innocent? As it turns out, he had been involved in the protests at Columbia, acting as an intermediary between the university and the main body of participants. He had been open and cooperative with the university and the media and refused to mask his face, becoming widely known to the public and giving the administration a clear target to aim at in the battle against “anti-semitism”, a term no one can define well but which is politically useful. Sort of like “freedom-fighters” and “democracy”.

Marco Rubio, the current Secretary of State has alleged that Khalil engaged in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States”, but he produced no evidence to this effect and did not accuse Khalil of committing any crime whatsoever. In a court case before Jamee Conans, an immigration judge in Louisiana, Rubio brought out an arcane law as precedent to prove that he could legally deport Khalil, whether he was guilty of any wrong-doing or not. CNN described it this way.

“The administration previously said it based its deportation order for Khalil on an obscure provision from the Immigration and Nationality Act – which provides broad authority to the Secretary of State to revoke a person’s immigration status if their “activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the country.”

““For cases in which the basis for this determination is the alien’s past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful, the Secretary of State must personally determine that the alien’s presence or activities would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest,” the memo from the secretary reads.”

OK, let’s get this straight. Marco Rubio has applied an obscure regulation from 1952 to justify his action against Khalil, who has not had any criminal charges filed against him. According to the memo seen above, Khalil’s “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful” are sufficient to require his deportation. His beliefs? His words? The company he keeps? Not only in the past and currently, but also those to happen at some time in the future?

What is this if not a full-throated assault on free speech in America, a guaranteed right covered by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution? If any Secretary of State (there are many, they change all the time) can determine arbitrarily that a person is a “threat to national security” at any time and for any reason, and use the overwhelming power of the federal government against them, does this not rip the guts out of the 1st Amendment? Since the powers-that-be today will not be those in charge tomorrow, how can anyone be certain that what he says or believes today will not be held against him tomorrow when the politics have shifted? The fact is that he cannot and this type of action by Rubio and Trump will only have a chilling effect on what is said and done in this country.

The 5th Amendment is toast. The 1st Amendment is almost gone. With those out of the way, who can guarantee that the 2nd Amendment, the so-called Right to bear Arms, will not be targeted next? When the Goon Squad breaks down your front door to confiscate your guns, what authority can you appeal to for deliverance, especially if you have refused to stand up for those who were taken out and beaten in the War against Free Speech, Beliefs, and Friendships?

Where is Martin Niemoeller when you need him?

The Trump administration has been given the green light to deport Khalil by Jamee Comans, an immigration law judge in Louisiana, who justified her ruling based on Rubio’s statement. Khalil’s lawyers have until April 23 to appeal the decision and it is quite possible that this case will be heard all the way to the Supreme Court.

An ironic twist to this saga is that the Leftists who were so keen to cancel, censor, and silence their critics a few years ago are now howling loudly on behalf of Mahmoud Khalil, while the Rightists who complained loudly and bitterly about being told to sit down and shut up are now advocating that Khalil be treated in exactly the same way. Or worse.

Fairness, integrity, and consistency. I guess it all depends on which version of justice you subscribe to. Go figure.

Weep, Our Beloved Country

Roger Mitchell5 Comments

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/03/no_author/international-law-is-now-suspended-if-not-eliminated/

“A law cannot exist if there are individuals or organizations that fall within its scope but which stand “above the law” — can’t be prosecuted no matter how flagrantly they violate it. EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW IS THE FOUNDATION-STONE OF LAW, and if any exceptions can be allowed, those are ONLY the ones that are stated IN the law as being NOT within its scope — and, thus, the fundamental principle of law is that a law exists ONLY if all individuals or organizations that fall within its scope are subject to investigation and prosecution if they violate it. Otherwise, it’s NOT a “law.” To call it a law is false. The United States Government and its colonies such as Israel can’t be prosecuted for violating international law no matter how flagrantly they violate it. Consequently, international law no longer exists. What DOES exist, then? The traditional ethic does: Might makes right.”

Might makes right. More than anything else, this philosophy is the one which most people subscribe to and practice, regardless of what they privately espouse. It is the order of modern American politics which stands for holding to a particular model of government until power is seized, at which point all the “true” points are discarded in favor of raw power. Because we can, and the foot-soldiers in the trenches cheer and applaud everything which the top command is doing, whether it adheres to the principles espoused or not. Because the “war” must be won. By fair means or foul, and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt in the process. War is painful, after all, and the Dastardly Democrats or the Rascally Republicans must be beaten down, never to rise again, in order to usher in the Golden Age of Utopia for All Humanity. Er, I mean, all persons because it’s forbidden to create a label which includes the letters written as “…man…” Mankind, humanity, humankind, human beings, human rights, etc. All gone. All outlawed. All discarded. Because…discrimination, you know, which simply is nothing more than making a choice between different options and possibilities. There ought to be a law.

But seriously, folks.

I don’t follow Eric Zuesse. I do read his articles from time to time and I am never disappointed, even though I may disagree with him vehemently. In this case, I think he is spot on and his argument can be applied directly to what is happening today in American jurisprudence. Namely, the idea that the Executive Branch of federal government can do anything it wishes and no one will complain. Because…they can. Might makes right, indeed!

A law is not a law IF the people who administer the Law are above the Law and are not held accountable by the Law IF they transgress the Law. Can it be put more plainly than that? In other words, if Donald Trump, and Co., decide to move in a certain direction regardless of the Law, who is going to hold him (them) accountable? After all, they are the Power and, as everyone knows, Might makes Right.

Right? Of course, right.

OK, enough of beating around the bush. Let’s bring this in for a landing.

We hear all the time from “Conservatives” that we must “return” (as if we ever left it) to The Constitution (the highest law which cannot be transcended), yet the Constitution declares these rights (of the individual) to be inviolate. Meaning that they cannot be superseded by any law, whether Congressional, Judicial, or Executive, or regardless as to whether they are popular, conservatively speaking.

  1. The 5th Amendment to the Constitution. “No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” .

Pretty plain, right? Cut and dried, right? No person, right? Unless, of course, this applies to an “illegal immigrant” who also happens to be a member of a “terrorist” gang (designated by the Executive Branch, i.e., the President) as a threat to the “national interest”. In that case, those who are guilty (whether they are charged or not is irrelevant) of this “crime” (violation of law) are subject to immediate deportation to their country of origin OR removal to a prison system run by the El Salvadoran government, which we pay buku bucks for, generously provided by the US taxpayer.

This does not appear to be any different than the “war” waged on La Cosa Nostra, i.e., Mafia, which has been ongoing for decades and does not appear to have an end point. Except that the action against Tren de Aragua has the support and vociferous backing of half the population of the US, which Donald Trump is counting on to allow him to completely circumvent the 5th Amendment to the Constitution, which all his supporters depend on to keep the country safe from the depredations of a tyrannical government. We MUST get back to the Constitution, right? Except when it is convenient to discard it, of course.

Whatever happened to “Innocent, until Proven Guilty”? Does this mean anything, anymore?

I admit that Tren de Aragua probably is criminal. It is probably based on force, violent in nature, to achieve its ends, i.e., the compliance of those it seeks to subjugate. That being said, is there any realistic, theoretical, philosophical, difference between this one specific gang and others which are larger and have much more power, e.g., the United States of America, which can be said to impose its power and influence around the world? As far as I can see, the only difference is one of size and scope.

I could applaud the current administration for its stance and actions, except for one niggling reminder. First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Yes, I said nothing when those in power came for Tren de Aragua because I was not a member of the group and, besides, I liked what Trump & Co. was doing. Never mind that the end of this is that when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me.

Should we be concerned? Absolutely, yes, we should, but not necessarily in the manner so prevalent in conservative circles today. If the government can arrest and punish anyone at all based solely on an accusation, then who is safe? Am I safe? Are you? How do you know?

“By their works, you shall know them.”

What is most interesting about the article by Eric Zuesse is that he mentions the Peasant’s Revolt of 1525, which resulted in the deaths of perhaps as many as 100, 000 common, ordinary, everyday, persons who simply wanted an end to the abuses perpetrated on them by those more powerful, and which can be summarized as follows:

“Laws should be made more equitable so that all are equal before it and no one gets harsher or more lenient treatment for the same crime.” — https://www.worldhistory.org/Twelve_Articles/

Imagine that! The Law applied equally and without discrimination! No one, not even Donald Trump, Elon Musk, nor Chuck Schumer above it!

We have a long way to go.

COVID: A Modern-day Hydra

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

COVID is over. At least, I thought it was over. In fact, I wrote an article and posted it here on August 15, 2021, in which I said that the tide of the war had turned and, from that point on, the battle was going to become increasingly desperate for those who were determined to ram the fraud down our throats and inject all of us with their favorite deadly toxin, while trying to shut our mouths with their stupid, silly dust mask mandates. At that time, I called it a “gut feeling” and I still think I was right.

Well, yes, but Adolf Hitler didn’t blow his brains out until the Soviet Army was only five hundred yards away from his bunker and closing fast. And COVID is like that, refusing to die peacefully, still wreaking havoc wherever it can, hanging on until the bitter end, i.e. until there is no more money to be made from it and no more foolish idiots to gull. The fact is that a lot of people still wear their stupid, silly dust masks, believing beyond credulity in the efficacy of a piece of fabric to keep them safe. Chain stores like Walgreen’s and RiteAid are still pushing the Pfizer and Moderna shots, often coupling them with more traditional “flu” shots to draw in customers. Not quite like “Buy one, get one at half price!”, but close enough.

Speaking of the mRNA shots (I will not call them vaccines), I became aware the other day (hat tip, Mr. B) of a bill, H.B 371, introduced into the Montana State House which would ban, literally outlaw, the use of mRNA injections for human “consumption” within the state. You can read the text here. It was just shot down by a sizable majority, with all the Democrats and a large percentage of the Republicans voting to kill it.

https://projects.montanafreepress.org/capitol-tracker-2025/bills/hb-371/

https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1463?open_tab=status

If I was a swearing man, I’d ask “What the *&^%?” is the matter with these people? Are they not aware that the mRNA shots have probably killed more people than the virus itself, which was probably engineered in a Wuhan, China lab with the strong financial support of certain people in the US government? All paid for with your tax dollars and inflation, no less. Nice, neat, and tidy, wasn’t it? Well, maybe Elon Musk can sort it out. Maybe Anthony Fauci will go to jail, but I’m not holding my breath.

What is going on with the legislators in Helena, anyway? Why would they vote to turn down a ban on something which is strongly suspected (speaking graciously) of being a deliberate, orchestrated killing protocol unleashed on a trusting public? Why indeed, and I can only think of one answer: someone got to them and convinced them that it was in their best interest to bury this bill. Possibly, human nature being what it is, the convincing might have involved the transfer of a substantial number of Benjamins. Bribes, in other words, but then, I’m only speculating. Maybe promises were made to donate to the next campaign season, which every politician looks forward to. At any rate, looking out for the best interests of their constituents must have been the last thing on their minds.

Do you live in Montana? Do you want to see an end to this bullshit? Then I encourage you to find out which way your local representative voted and contact them with either a note of thanks for voting “Yes” or a fiery, blistering condemnation of their action if they voted “No”.

Click here, then scroll down to 2nd Reading, Show Full Vote Breakdown.

After all, this is your government, right? Didn’t you just participate in an election which sent these people to Helena as your “representatives”? If they are your representatives, then they are supposed to work for you, not an international corporation which enriches itself by keeping you sick. Or worse, making you dead.

Yes, yes, I know. Pure, blatant populist rabble-rousing, isn’t it? Well, maybe that’s what it takes to get you moving. If the shoe fits, wear it.

Orange-haired Wrecking Machine

Roger Mitchell5 Comments

It has been barely a month since Donald Trump took office as President and already monumental changes have occurred. As Vladimir Lenin famously said, “There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.” Trump appears to have learned the lesson well from his first term during which he was drubbed from every direction and, with the assistance and support of his staff, is aggressively making his mark on America and the world. Whether it will be “great” or not remains to be seen. If Trump succeeds in dismantling and rearranging the federal government, a long overdue event, it will bode well for the future of this country—in the long run. The short run is a different story. Getting from our current situation to “Happy days are here again” is not going to be a pleasant journey, even if you are a starry-eyed supporter of everything which he is accomplishing.

America, the Hegemon, has run its course. After 1-1/4 centuries of empire-building (marking the Spanish-American war as the beginning), it is obvious to clear-minded thinkers that there is nothing left except to change course and operate in a different manner. We cannot bully our way anymore as in the past. Threats only have an effect on small insignificant countries like Colombia, which caved recently on the issue of repatriation of immigrants to the US. Large, near-peer nations (Russia, China, e.g.) are charting their own destiny and have the power to make it happen, with or without the “blessing” of Washington.

Closer to home, financial collapse and ruin are on the horizon. After decades of constant inflation from 1971 onward (Nixon’s decoupling from the gold standard) and unfathomably massive deficits (call them by their real name–unpayable debts), the economy is on extremely shaky ground and will probably experience a severe recession in the near future, almost certainly within the next four years. It is conceivable that this will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and it is not necessary to resort to “conspiracy theories” to understand that. The dollar is strong vis-a-vis all other currencies only because they are even weaker, not through any real value of its own. The current run-up in the price of gold is a telling indicator. The day is long gone when all problems could be solved by throwing money at them.

What does this mean for us? Put as simply as I can, it’s going to hurt. Bigly. There are going to be serious consequences for America’s actions and many of them will be personally disruptive and destructive. Lifestyle changes are going to become the order of the day and many of these will come about because there is no other choice. Adapt or die. Simply expecting that the State or society will allow us to remain as we were is a foolish exercise in complacent irresponsibility. Those who cling to the past will almost certainly perish. At the very least, they will become irrelevant.

For too long, we have believed in the State to protect us from every conceivable danger and inconvenience. Today, that false god is bankrupt and toppling. The motto, “full faith and credit of the US government”, is no longer valid and does not apply. It is like a decrepit, derelict building which has long outlived its original purpose and must be destroyed to make way for the future.

Donald Trump, like any good wrecking ball, is loud, disruptive, and causing a lot of damage to the existing structure. However, wrecking balls are good for only one purpose–deconstruction. Trump is not going to “save” America, but he may clear the way for others to come behind him and start the rebuilding process all over again. Time will tell.

Leather gloves, hard hats, steel-toed boots, dust masks, and safety goggles are the order of the day.

Romans 13: The View from Here

Roger Mitchell5 Comments

In the Holy Bible, there are no scriptures which create more dissension, disagreement, and controversy than Revelation and Romans 13. These two stand head and shoulders over everything else in the ability to get believers, students, and pontificators riled up against those who read from a different viewpoint. It is debatable which of these two holds the top spot. We are not concerned with that here.

I have been engaged in a discussion with a friend of mine who does not see eye to eye with me on the function (or necessity) of government and when she challenged me about the meaning of Romans 13:4, I decided to reply by means of this article. This is not meant to be the last word on the subject, but is intended to spark conversation about it, including opposing perspectives, so that all of us can advance closer to the truth of the matter. At the top of this page is a Comment button, which you can click if you want to join the discussion and put in your own two cent’s worth. If you think your insight on this subject is worth promoting, now is your chance.

What is Romans 13, anyway? This is the question which must be answered before any significance can be attached to its message and meaning. “Context, context, context” is the continual refrain from those who attempt to understand this, yet so many forget all that in considering this passage by lifting it out from the rest of the book.

Written originally by the Apostle Paul, there were no chapters and no verses. It was simply one long letter from him to the Roman Christians and they were expected to consider the whole without trying to separate it into various parts. The chapter and verse organization was added centuries later to facilitate the finding of a specific section of Scripture and, unfortunately, has created chaos in many circles, this being one of them. Nothing in it can be distinctly separated from the whole to stand alone as its own separate doctrine. Unfortunately, many Christians tend to forget this and elevate certain sections, e.g., Chapter 13, above all else. This is a major error and ought to be repented of.

Enough of that. Let’s dig into it.

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God, therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” (Romans 13:1-4, NKJV)

What a mouthful!

“Let every soul be subject to the …” This is where the problems begin. If you go to your web browser and type in the search term “Romans 13:1”, it will return this link, https://biblehub.com/romans/13-1.htm, which will give an extensive list of translations, all of which name this as “governing authorities”, “higher powers”, “those above you”, those who have authority”, etc., except two, which read as follows:

GOD’S WORD® Translation
Every person should obey the government in power. No government would exist if it hadn’t been established by God. The governments which exist have been put in place by God.

Good News Translation
Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God…

Imagine that! Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin is the government in power. What are you going to do?

Out of the many translations I saw, only these two translate the “higher power who has authority over him” as “government”, and the Good News Translation goes so far as to name this “state authority”. The reality, however, is that there are multiple authorities over persons starting with parents and progressing from there. Many spring to mind: the husband/wife relationship, church authority, employer/employee, civil governments, creditor/debtor, coach/athlete, headmaster/student, etc., and some you can probably think of which are not listed here. There is absolutely no justification for twisting this particular passage to mean that the ONLY authority is that of the State, unless you are advocating for the supremacy of the State and its total authority over you and everyone else.

Disclaimer: I am not a scholar. Greek is Greek to me, as is Hebrew. I have never studied them and do not claim to speak as an expert nor even with some knowledge of the languages and words. That being said, I recommend you read this clear, well-written article in which the author DOES dig into the meanings of the Greek words used and explains how they relate to the topic in question.

We simply cannot assume that Romans 13:1 refers to state (civil) government exclusively. Like the so-called “balance of power” implied by the Constitution of the United States, authority must also be spread out among many competing “authorities”, and there is no one single man-centered authority which controls all others, no “One Ring to rule them all.” Instead, the “authorities”, each of which has their own place within society, is meant to enhance and advance the rights and well-being of their subordinates, not to rule over them. Good parents raise their children in order to turn them loose on the world in the hopes that they will be able to function as competent adults in their own right. ALL authorities should operate in the same manner.

Authority is meant to complement. It is designed to bring out the best in persons. It is not supposed to be a system of control, of rule. All the “governing authorities” mentioned in Romans 13:1 are meant to operate for the good of those who are in the subordinate role, to bring them to a higher position and perhaps even so they can act as authority figures themselves.

And all of that (barely scratching the surface) in v.1, but my sparring partner’s concern was with v. 4.

“For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

It seems evident that this verse is addressing civil government or at least a system of legal justice against criminal behavior and I do not have a problem with that. If you read RMB’s article linked to above, you would already have this understanding, as no other “authority” exercises the power of the sword legitimately in the way the civil authority does. Without a clear sense of justice, however, the sword can and does represent naked power and the ability to force others to conform to a “rule of law”, in which whatever the government decides and enacts becomes law, whether it is beneficial or harmful to the society under it. Simply passing a law does not create justice and expecting that everyone become obedient to the law passed BECAUSE it is the law is ludicrous on its face. Should Christians (or anyone else, for that matter) rat out their neighbors to the ruling “authorities” because the law proclaimed that all Jews must wear a yellow star sewed onto their clothing? To ask the question is to answer it. Obviously, there must be a way to allow for government and law, but also a means of resistance to it should it become demanding, overbearing, and evil.

The main problem I have is the tendency within Christian circles to simply submit, conform to, and obey the law as proclaimed by the modern State, as if it were God Himself. Remember COVID and the “suggestion” that churches cancel Easter service in 2020? After all, Romans 13 teaches us that we are to subject ourselves to it, doesn’t it? How did the world move forward without the application of the modern State to rule over us, dictating every little “jot and tittle” to us, and expecting that we would observe every facet of that?

In other words, without government, we are lost. In a society and culture where power over others has become the goal and government has become God, this is the logical end of such a belief.

What then are we to make of this? What is the relevance of Romans 13 to us today? How are we meant to respond to its message? What does it really mean? Perhaps this is a good time to bring in some other voices and opinions, not necessarily expert, but certainly authoritative in their own right.

As I see it, government authority is to be one authority among others. It is not meant to be The Authority over all other authorities. Certainly, government is not meant to be the State as we know it today. If there is a compelling political authority in the United States, it would have to be the Constitution, which all civil government, including the federal government as personified in the president, Donald J. Trump, is sworn to uphold and defend. Politicians raise their right hand, place their left hand on the Bible (except DJT), and swear to this, right? Yet, how much of what we see today is subject to the Constitution and how much would have to change to bring our situation back to alignment with it? This is not to say that the Constitution is The Authority, as it should be clear that even the Constitution is subordinate to a “higher power”, which is the Word of God. In other words, there are layers and layers of authority and none of them, except the Word of God, reigns supreme over all the others.

Authority is an inescapable concept. There is authority. It is not a question of authority vs. no authority, but rather a question of whose authority, which authority. I understand this and do not dispute it. Where I draw the line is that real authority cannot be gained by the use of force and power. It cannot be legislated. It cannot be imposed by an outside force, but must rather be recognized and accepted by all concerned. Real authority is based on a system of trust, with the subordinate party believing that the authority over him has his best interests at heart. Such is not the case in the State/citizen relationship today. We cannot trust that the State, which seeks to gain all power and control, will do right by us. In fact, we know this to be true because we go through the gyrations of “free and fair elections” every election cycle in order to correct our situation, believing that if only we can install the right man or woman into office, justice will have been achieved and we will be set free from all the fears that plague us. Nothing could be further from the truth. True authority does not appear by virtue of the ballot box.

Does any of this mean that Romans 13:4 is irrelevant to today’s society or that we can simply ignore it? Hardly, as there will always be a need for someone, some authority, to exercise judgment and justice on wrongdoing and criminal behavior. We may be individual persons living out our own lives as we see fit, but we are also part of the community surrounding us and it is within that community that we must live in cooperation with the other members. At some time or another, there will arise a situation where the community must come together to “execute wrath on him who practices evil”. How is this to be done? What defines evil? Who does the defining? There are only two answers: an organic approach fostered from within the community itself OR a “solution” imposed from above and outside the community. Either the answer comes from within us as we understand the truth or it will be forced on us by others who have the power to compel our obedience and subjection.

“He (the civil authority) is God’s minister to you for good.” Keep that in mind as you explore all the ways in which the modern State government does NOT minister to us for good. The dilemma here is that the modern way of thinking is to legislate, pass a law which will solve the problem, but which creates more problems, all of which need to be corrected by passing even more laws. In this, today’s government is similar to the pharmaceutical response to poor health and disease: pop a pill, and if that creates side effects, take another drug to counter that. There is never any effort made to find the root of the problem, only to address the symptoms, which is then pawned off as a cure, and which results in the patient (citizen, society) getting sicker and weaker all the time. There is no money to be made in keeping people healthy and there is no benefit, at least for the State, to making society responsible for itself.

Oppression Shall Cease: O Holy Night

Roger Mitchell5 Comments

December 25, 2024. Christmas Day.

“Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother and in His Name, all oppression shall cease…” — from the Christmas hymn, “O, Holy Night”

ALL oppression shall cease. It follows logically that, wherever oppression exists, His Name has not yet become the guide for life. Wherever people are oppressed, the Name of Christ has not become the Law which is followed and obeyed in everyday life. This applies to both the individual and the collective (corporate, according to Karl Ludwig von Haller), because it is certain that both the individual and the collective can be (and are) oppressive.

All OPPRESSION shall cease. Oppression implies control because it is impossible to oppress someone, anyone, unless control is established over them. It follows that the less control we have over others, the less possibility there is to oppress them. If the statement that all oppression shall cease is true, then it must mean that all control over others must also come to an end. Of course, there are qualifiers: parents exercise control over their children, but only to the point where their children are able to function as responsible individuals in their own right. Once that point is reached, control must be relinquished and the child must become liable for his own actions.

All oppression SHALL cease. This implies that the cessation of oppression in all aspects of life is future-oriented and will not occur completely nor immediately in the present. This should give us hope that the future will be better than the present or the past. There are issues we have to work through to gain the end of oppression–both individually and collectively. Christians, especially, ought to understand this since we are taught that holiness is gained progressively as we surrender and submit our lives to the Kingship and Authority of Jesus, the Christ. If the Law of Christ is not oppressive and brings peace, then, as His disciples, we gradually and progressively learn to become non-oppressive towards ourselves and others as well. We learn, over time and through experience, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, minimizing and eventually eliminating the effect of oppression on them and that expression is a personal choice made by us, as individuals, under and with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. We have no excuses for not going down down this road.

All oppression shall CEASE. Come to an end. Be eliminated. Can this really happen in time and on Earth? Do we, as sinful persons, need to have a Messiah descend from Heaven to impose this upon us OR do we have the capability to make this fulfilled now? Again, Christians ought to know the answer to this question. Yes, we do, and it is by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to achieve this goal. We can refuse to oppress others. We can love them as we love ourselves. We can serve them without expecting anything back from them. All cessation of oppression begins with the individual and expand outward into the collective (corporate), bringing to life the lesson taught by Jesus in the parable of the yeast mixed into the bread dough.

Ultimately, this is an expression of faith. The Kingdom of Jesus, the Christ, is triumphant over oppression now and will be triumphant over oppression in the future, up to the point where oppression is no longer existent. It is a long-term goal, something to be anticipated, something to work for. It is not to be given automatically. It is not a “participation trophy”. It will not be reached by imposition, only by surrender to the Word, which speaks the Gospel of Peace into our lives on a daily basis. It will not be attained by a submission to law or obedience to legislation, regardless of the source. It can only be gained by recognizing, in the present, that I am a sinner, prone to oppressing others for my own sake, and abandoning and overcoming that tendency within myself, so that all may benefit.

The obliteration of oppression does not begin with political action. It is not derived from the top down, rather, it begins at the very bottom of the pile–the soul of the individual, who recognizes that his life does not reconcile with the Law of Love and the Gospel of Peace, and begins to change his ways so as to become compliant with them. Society is a collection (collective, corporation) of individuals, and if the individual changes his ways, the society will change–for better or for worse.

Coming of the Light: The Next Four Years

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

Today, December 21, 2024, is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. In my latitude, that means daylight arrives only a few minutes before 8:00 a.m. and darkness falls shortly after 5:00 p.m., for a total of about nine hours of light sufficient that I don’t need to rely on artificial illumination. From here on out, for the next six months, the daylight spans will become increasingly longer, until June 21, 2025, when the cycle will reverse.

Also looking forward, not necessarily toward more light, on January 20, 2025, just 30 days from now, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next President of the United States. This will make many people absolutely giddy with delight and euphoria as they expect that he (and his cohorts) will transform the current System of Governance into one in which justice is reached at last, (at least for those on our side), governments actually protect their citizens from harm of all kinds, money is once more made valuable, wars are fought and won decisively against “our” adversaries, and everyone’s life becomes more free and prosperous as long as they are not drug dealers, illegal immigrants, anti-Semites, Democrats, and progressive Utopian zealots who do not know the difference between a boy and a girl.

Ah, yes. Good times, good times!

I watch what is happening today and I don’t know if I should laugh or cry, because it is evident to me that the American Empire is thrashing about in its death throes and the next four years under Trump will not resurrect it to vigorous life again. It was bad under Biden, it will not improve under Trump. In all likelihood, more people will be worse off then than they are now and, what is just as likely is that most of them will remain clueless as to why this happened. For many of them, the ignorance will be deliberate. As Bionic Mosquito (see here or here), one of my correspondents, commented recently,

“People don’t want to open the door on one false belief because they are afraid (or maybe know) that once one false belief falls, their entire worldview will crumble. It scares most people to consider that their house is built on sand. So they defend, no matter the evidence.”

Yes, once the foundations of a system crumble, the entire worldview changes. Those who believe the notion that The State, The System, is the natural order of things and that everything will be lost without it will do anything and everything to avoid coming to the conclusion that they have believed in a veritable fountain of lies. Instead, they will cling desperately to the sinking ship, dancing upon its increasingly steep decks, refusing to jump into the icy cold water of political, social, and economic reality, or the lifeboat that is personally responsible life. True believers will go down with the ship and, in the US, there are millions of them. The nostrum that Trump will make the bad things go away is delusional, but it is one which will be held tightly and, when it fails, will be explained away in the manner of all excuses which are adamantly opposed to the truth–“If only we had tried harder…”

Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.

Politics, Contradiction, and Lies

Roger Mitchell6 Comments

“In every other science one saw at least a more or less adequate degree of congruence between theory and practice, reason and experience; only in politics was there an eternal contradiction between the dominant doctrines and the state of the world. It is this very contradiction that true science seeks to avoid, by adjusting the theory to the nature of things, while false science seeks to save itself by torturing facts in order to force-fit them into accredited systems.” —Karl Ludwig von Haller, Restoration of Political Science, Preliminary Discourse. (Emphasis mine)

Remember Covid? Writing in 1816, Haller presciently and accurately described the method by which false science was used to impose the narrative on an unsuspecting population. It cannot be emphasized enough that the lies, social manipulation, division, ostracization, and emotional distress caused by irrational fear were all driven by a false science designed for only one purpose: control over the many by a few for a pre-designed agenda. It cannot be denied that the perpetrators of the Covid scam tortured the facts so as to force-fit them into their desired system of total control over all–worldwide.

And money. Boatloads of money. More money than they could ever need or spend. All gained at the expense of the average, common, everyday Joe.

Four years on, there are still those who are clinging tightly to this “false science”, who will not relinquish their hold on it–either because they hope to gain from it by perpetuating it, or because they are afraid to admit they were gulled and bought into it. I see the latter occasionally, on sidewalks, in shops, at events, who have their face masks firmly in place, advertising to the world that they are still gripped by the notion, the false science, that a thin, porous piece of cloth will actually keep them from contracting a virus.

(I am tempted at times to walk up to them and ask them if they are trying to keep their chin warm, but I don’t. It might be like poking a stick into a hornet’s nest. Better left alone. Besides, I am aware of the sage advice in Proverbs 26:4 which tells me not to answer a fool according to his folly. Or as The Message puts it, “Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool; you’ll only look foolish yourself.”)

Nevertheless, Haller’s point is that in every science based on observation and adjustment, facts count and when theory is not consistent with the facts, then the theory must be adjusted. It is only in the “science” of politics that this does not hold, instead the facts themselves are twisted to fit the theory. It does not matter what the theory is, who promotes it, nor its end purpose, the promoters and adherents of the theory are not at all reticent nor ashamed to push their own version of the “science” to achieve their goal, which is, of course, getting what they want at the expense of everyone else. Anthony Fauci even alluded to himself as “The Science” and baldly asserted that to disagree with him was an assault on science.

The unfortunate reality in all this is that the vast majority of people, across the full spectrum of society, believe that the only way to make things “work”, according to their own preferred belief system, is to engage in politics, twisting and distorting the facts to make themselves look better and their antagonists look worse. What is really sad is the fact, undistorted and wholly reliable, that people fail to learn from their past mistakes, especially in politics. They will swallow virtually any lie so long as it appears to come from an authority which proclaims to have the ability to “save” them from risk, catastrophe, and danger, and in their acceptance of the lie, they attempt to work the world over to bring it to life, to add it into the pantheon of truth.

People never learn, but then someone like von Haller pops up and sheds a little bit of light on the subject.

There is hope.

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

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

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

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

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?

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

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

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

“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 Mitchell7 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!

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

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

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

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

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

“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.