One Must Not Mock the Woke Totalitarians

During the happy days of Uncle Joe Stalin, one had to be careful just how to be happy.  Telling the wrong sort of joke, a joke that suggested Stalin and his genocidal Glorious Soviet Union was less than glorious, could get one sent to the Gulag.

Thank goodness we do not have people in charge today with such a totalitarian mindset, and don’t you forget it!  When the Babylon Bee and Titania McGrath* got suspended from Twitter, that was NOT because the woke cabal in charge there did not appreciate their satire of woke madness.  It was an “error,” got it?

YOU!  You laughing out there – stop it right now!

And all the other unwoke bigots that had their satire accounts suspended.  Just a coincidence!

Yet more comedic accounts being targeted by Twitter... 🧐

Only tyrants execute the court jesters. pic.twitter.com/vgzgXJ3yPQ

— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) August 18, 2020

In all seriousness, satire and comedy are among the victims when those with a totalitarian mindset, such as the Woke, gain power as they already have in social media and most of popular culture.  As Mel Brooks, among others, has noted, comedy is dead, and the woke crowd killed it. 

Unless the Woke are stopped, the remaining hold-outs such as Titania McGrath will have to go underground or go away.

One must not mock the totalitarians.  No joke.

---

*Andrew Doyle, the unwoke horrible bigoted man (probably White, too) behind Titania McGrath is so brilliant, I once thought a McGrath tweet was for real.

A Timely Collect

Anyone who does not know that the traditional Book of Common Prayer is inspired by God Himself needs to examine this week’s collect and then repent.  Yes, the Collect for the 5^th Sunday after Trinity is that timely right now:

Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness, thought Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And the peace of the church is now endangered, not only in many areas of the world where the flames of persecution rage, but now in the United States as well.  Churches are under attack by woke totalitarians.  Taylor Marshall spells out well our current situation.  (Yes, there’s some popery in this video, of course.  He is nonetheless right on persecution.)

Don’t put in your head in the sand.  God’s holy church is a chief target of these woke totalitarians.  Totalitarians always target the church.  So pray and prepare.  This week the Book of Common Prayer gives us an excellent and timely prayer.

The “Bishop” of London Crucifies Again the Body of Christ

On Good Friday, almost 2000 years ago, both religious and secular authorities attempted to silence Jesus of Nazareth and to do so permanently.

They failed.

Yet through the centuries, they keep trying.  Various authorities, both secular and religious, have time and again sought to silence Holy Church, the Body of Christ.

They have failed again and again and again.  Jesus lives and reigns, and His Holy Church lives and reigns with him even though it may not seem so at times.

There is little question that those of a totalitarian mindset are trying to use the COVID-19 pandemic to silence the church and drive it out of the public square.  The Democrat Mayor of New York even threatened churches that do not comply with his edicts with permanent closure.

Yet in some ways the church is flourishing as it struggles in the midst of this pandemic both to do its part to guard public health and to do its duty for spiritual health.  Livestreams of excellent worship abound.  The glories of traditional Anglicanism especially are getting new and more widespread audiences.

But the petty totalitarians do not want to abide even that.  People, though a very few, are STILL going to churches and even livestreaming their worship?  How dare they!

Never mind that multitudes go to grocery stores and liquor stores and use mass transit where there is far greater risk of getting the coronavirus. The use of church buildings for worship is non-essential, don’t you know.

In London, one very small loophole was allowed.  If a priest lived on the premises of a church with internal access to the sanctuary, he could use the church building and livestream from it:

Because there are a very few churches in London Diocese where the church is accessible by an internal door from the clergy home, or can be accessed from the clergy home without leaving the curtilage of the church, we will encourage those – and only those – clergy to pray in their churches privately and to consider whether they could live stream their services from within the church building.

Peter Anthony of St. Benet’s Kentish Town was among those utilizing this loophole in a most winsome manner.  Fortunately, he recorded the Good Friday liturgy in his church when he still could.

For now he cannot without disobeying authority.  After the bleatings of the petty totalitarians, even that loophole has been taken away by the London College of “Bishops,” and that during Holy Week of all times:

…we are asking the limited numbers of you to whom the above applied, to stop all live streaming from your church buildings for the time being.

It feels extremely hard to ask this of you, this week of all weeks.  But you will know that some people believe that being in our churches to stream, even if it is accessed by a door in your home, is encouraging others to want to travel to their church, and for others to ask for churches to be open to the public. [GOD FORBID that people would ask for their churches to be open!! – ed.] We would not want to be seen to encourage any laxity in the requirement to stay indoors except for designated reasons, because this will save lives, and protect the NHS.

Thus, with the flimsiest of excuses, the “Bishop” of London seeks all the more to muzzle the church.  As if solitary priests livestreaming from their churches endangers lives and the NHS.

Well, apostate religious authorities attempted to use their authority and secular authority to silence Jesus, and that too on dubious pretences.  We should not be surprised when apostate “bishops” attempt to silence Holy Church and its faithful priests. 

We shall not be silenced.  We must not be silenced.  For, yes, lives are at stake.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the samesufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. (2 Cor. 1: 5,6)

The Roger Stone Controversy and MOAR Impeachment Speaks Volumes

The controversy about the sentencing of Roger Stone combines four subjects that can get me to rant and foam at the mouth: prosecutorial misconduct, two-tiered justice, corrupt Democrat hacks-in-black judges, and the perpetual coup against Trump and Constitutional democracy.

Now although my having a prolonged wall-eyed fit may be entertaining, it might not be edifying. So instead I point you to two videos from yesterday that summarize this situation very well.  The first is from Tim Pool (who is not a Trump voter by the way) on Democrats using the controversy as a pretext to continue their coup against Trump.

The second is Tucker Carlson summarizing the facts of the Roger Stone case, including the first excessive sentence request and the jury foreman being a rabid Trump hater who apparently lied to get on the jury.

Again, there is so much I could rant, I mean, say.  But I will confine myself to the reaction of Democrats.

Democrats are oh-so for “justice” and against “fascism.”  So one would think they would speak out against prosecutors attempting to create a political prisoner through excessive sentencing.  One would think they would be upset by a jury being rigged by being led by a rabid political opponent of the defendant.

But, no.  Instead, when they see Trump speaking out against this outrage and Attorney General Bill Barr trying to undo some of the damage the four prosecutors have done, Democrats immediately use that as a pretext to open the door to impeaching Trump again and to impeach Barr.

All this illustrates once again how Democrats cannot be trusted with Constitutional democracy and justice.  They apparently have no problem with turning political opponents into political prisoners.  They certainly have no problem with two-tiered justice rigged for them and against political opponents.  And they so disrespect elections they don’t win, especially the 2016 election, that they are still continuing the perpetual coup against Trump, this time because he did a horrible thing: he opposed a kangaroo court turning Roger Stone into a political prisoner.

And the reaction from some in the church speaks volumes as well.  Some leaders in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in The Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now smear Trump and smear his supporters, especially his supporters within the church.  But does this “social justice” crowd say a peep about the injustice against Roger Stone?  Do they say a word about Democrats’ perpetual coup against Trump and disrespect for Constitutional democracy unless they win?  If so, they sure are awful quiet about it.

Maybe some of this “social justice” “evangelical” crowd is more Leftist than they are Christian.

Politicize All the Things!!

My memory is fuzzy on this, but I may have noted here the Left’s tendency to try to politicize everything.  Some even demand everything be politicized.  This is part of their totalitarian streak.

Yes, yes, there are non-Leftist extremists that can be that way, too.  But it is much more frequent from the Left.

This morning, I see an example both annoying and amusing from an alumni group I am in.  One alum, who constantly makes political posts from the Left, replied to an admin’s very polite insistence that the alum group was not the place for political posts with the following:

With all due respect to you, there are no spaces that are inappropriate for politics. Doing politics is an ethical demand which must be carried to ALL spaces and the idea that there are or should be spaces in which politics are inappropriate is complicity with fascism.

It is precisely in spaces *like this* where doing politics is most important.

He followed it up with this:

Spaces where people feel uneasy about politics are the spaces in which doing politics is most important.

We dont have time to play around any more. The fascists are in power and the jet stream is collapsing. Theres no time for polite company. [Punctuation and logic his.]

Well there you go.  If you want a little space or time apart from politics, you are complicit with fascism.

But it seems to me that it is rather “fascist” and even totalitarian to insist all spaces be politicized.  But that’s just me.

And isn’t it funny that many of the same people, who insist you listen to them at all times and in all places, shout down and even assault those that dare disagree with them.

So I suspect I am right that Leftist attempts to politicize all the things come from a totalitarian streak.

By the way, a reminder that this blog is decidedly less political than it used to be.  Political posts that are not that relevant to Anglicanism, Christianity, or other recurring subjects on this blog go to my sister blog on history and current events.  So if you just can’t get enough of my wisdom on politics, go there.

Clearly I do still occasionally post on political subjects on this blog.  But I am much more selective about that than I used to be.  

You’re welcome . . . or I’m sorry, whichever is appropriate.

The New Totalitarians are Targeting Pro-Lifers

I’ve hesitated to write this post.  It has a Captain Obvious quality.  For don’t totalitarians target everyone for banishment or elimination who do not agree with them or at least submit to them 100% once they have enough power?  That’s how totalitarians roll.

Nonetheless, it is important to document and warn of the progress of totalitarians, so . . .

Two chilling events happened recently which, in addition to threats to boycott Georgia and other states that pass laws protecting unborn children, show that totalitarians are now targeting pro-lifers, seeking to exclude them from acceptability and public life.

The first was a statement from New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that stated that pro-life views (views against “reproductive freedom” as she stated it – totalitarians just love their euphemisms) are as unacceptable as racist views.

The second was that Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), about as close to a centrist as one gets in politics nowadays, was, due to his pro-life views, suddenly disinvited from being a keynote speaker . . . at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference.  As if cybersecurity and the abortion issue have anything to do with each other.  But, yes, the New Totalitarians think pro-lifers must be banished from all the things.  And this particular banishment speaks volumes on how much or most of high tech industries are now captives of the totalitarians.

Now, of course, these would never admit to being totalitiarians, even to themselves.  But if it walks like a totalitarian and talks like a totalitarian . . .

Face it – we have two choices.  We can defeat these totalitarians again and again, or we can submit to them and that totally.  That may seem stark.  But if we do not thoroughly defeat them, they will makeus submit or else.  In areas of society they control – and those are now ever increasing – they are already getting the policy of submission or banishment they demand.

Roman Catholics Should Have Freedom of Religion, But Do They Deserve It?

It is becoming that much more clear that the Left is attacking the freedom of religion of Christians, particularly Roman Catholics.  This is confirmed by that oh-so-noble Indian Elder Nathan Phillips attempting to disrupt a mass for the unborn over the weekend.

Not just Christians, but all who care about genuine freedom of religion must rise up and stand our ground against these predatory totalitarians. (And, yes, disrupting services is an old tactic of totalitarians.)

But I say that as the Roman Catholic Church has joined the totalitarians and once again victimized youth by smearing the Covington students. And even after more facts have come out showing the students were the ones who were the targets of bigotry, apologies are slow in coming and often do not come at all.

Just two examples: The Archdiocese of Baltimore smeared the students on twitter, posting “The Archdiocese of Baltimore condemns the disrespect shown toward a Native American elder during the March for Life. Respect for life demands all are treated with dignity.” But when the facts of the matter came out, they deigned only to “clarify” their statement.  No apology.

The Sisters of Mercy tweeted: “Racism and intolerance in all forms go directly against Catholic social teaching. The disturbing videos being shared of this incident showcase a bigoted disrespect of indigenous peoples and remind us how urgent our work for racial justice remains.”  Have these whores of the Left since issued any apology on their twitter account?  Of course not! Being a Libchurcher means never having to say you’re sorry.  Libchurchers confess other peoples’ sin, remember?

As for those Roman Catholics who say such as these do not represent you, I ask do you allow your contributions to filter to such? Then you are complicit, too.

I will continue to do my part to defend the freedom of religion of even such as the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Sisters of Mercy. But do they deserve it? Heck, no.  Are they actually the comrades and dupes of those Leftists who are attacking freedom of religion?  Yes.

March for Life Confrontation a Classic Leftist Tactic

Once full videos came out of the confrontation between Leftists and Catholic High School students at the March for Life, it became clear to me that what we have here is not nasty racism from a bunch of crackers (although there was really vile racism from the Leftists).  Instead, we have a textbook example of a classic totalitarian Leftist tactic – create a confrontation then play the victim for the cameras and for deceptively edited videos.

Oh, and the Native American who walked up to a student and banged his drum in his face has a history of playing the victim.

Even if the target does not respond or responds peacefully or even passively, the “victim” and Leftist backers carry on as if an outrage has occurred. I’ve seen this tactic first hand.  And here is a famous and enjoyable example [language warning with nutty screaming].

Now the gentleman in the above example may not have acted perfectly; likewise for some of the Catholic high school students (Good grief, they’re TEENAGERS.) And, of course, totalitarian Leftists exaggerate, distort and lie about any such imperfections for their political ends.

I will say the student who passively stood his ground and smiled while the drum was in his face is a hero in my book. 

I was going to write more on this when I found William Jacobson already has with videos and personal examples no less.  So read, watch, learn.  What happened at the March for Life is a frequent way totalitarians target their opponents.

And, yes, that they are targeting Christian schools should alarm.

Are we at Revelation 13:17?

When I was younger and more Dispensationalist, I took the Book of Revelation pretty literally.  I therefore expected Revelation 13:17 to be fulfilled by a world government requiring an actual mark or tattoo of some sort with those not submitting being unable to buy or sell.

Now with bar codes and the like (and with several governments making cash more and more unusable), such a literal fulfillment is certainly possible.  But I am beginning to wonder if a less literal fulfillment is happening now.  For both governments and corporations are making doing business more difficult for those who do not submit to lib/left cultural standards.  Robert Spencer of JihadWatch has been banned by Patreon and MasterCard.  The State of New York has made banking difficult for the National Rifle Association.  And this is for starters only.  Those in power, both government and corporate power, with totalitarian tendencies are making life more and more difficult for more and more of those determined to exercise their free speech against various Leftisms and Islam.

Jordan Peterson is so concerned about Patreon’s part in the attacks on free speech that he is leaving that platform.  His announcement of that also summarizes much of the current war on free speech. 

Bishop Gavin Ashenden has also noted the use of finance to attack free speech.  He, too, wonders if this is Revelation 13:17 happening today.  

And really such a less literal fulfillment is more likely. Why should “the Beast” bother with putting physical marks on everybody if invasive modern technology can be used more effectively to “deplatform” and defund those who refuse to submit? That certainly seems the direction the beast of tyranny seems to be going today in its attacks on free speech.

And remember this is not the first time corporations have been the willing tools of tyrants.  That is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany and what has been happening in China for years.

And now it’s beginning to happen even in the United States. Whether this is Revelation 13:17 or not, that should alarm.

Reality Check: The FBI Spied on the Trump Campaign

For any who may think my concerns about the revival of totalitarianism may be overwrought or paranoid, I present a reality check: the FBI under Obama and Comey spied on the Trump campaign.  There’s really no denying that anymore.

Let me put it a different way.  The FBI under Obama and Comey spied on political opponents in the midst of a presidential election campaign.

I thought this was the U. S. A., not the U. S. S. R.

Gavin Ashenden On the Church, Cultural Marxism, and the Secularist State

At the Anglican Patrimony Conference this past week, Gavin Ashenden gave an excellent talk and paper on the dangers the secularist state presents to the Church today, particularly as it more and more imposes Cultural Marxism.  I commend it to you particularly as I’ve also noted the dangers of a revival of totalitarianism.

The conference remembering the 50^th Anniversary of the publication of Ramsey’s The Gospel and the Catholic Church held at St. Stephen’s Oxford had a stellar line up.  And I have been informed other papers from the conference will be posted very soon.  So you may hear more.

On Millennial Ignorance of Totalitarianism

I will not go over the details of a recent poll revealing ignorance about the Holocaust among Millennials.  By now most of my above average readers are well aware of the poll, and it is readily available.

I will point out that this ignorance is surely one reason for the revival of totalitarianism amongst Millennials.  That those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it is a partial truth and something of a cliché, but there is truth to it.  That is surely one reason the Bible tells so much of the evils of so many, even of heroes, and of the consequences of said evils.  When we are tempted to foolish sin, it helps to have a learned reminder not to be like past sinners.

To be more specific, when a young man is tempted to put on an arm band and raise his arm against Constitutional rights and to viciously attack and slander opponents and attempt to disarm and silence them, it helps for his education to whisper in his ear, “Hey bud, that would be acting a bit too much like a Nazi, don’tcha think?”  When youth are instead ignorant of the basics of historic totalitarianism, we are more likely to get . . .  well, to get David Hogg.

And given the bias towards the Left in public and secondary education, ignorance of Communism and its atrocities must surely be even greater, likely much greater.  So the little Communists running amuck are blissfully unaware that they are acting a bit too much like the 20^th Century Communists who murdered tens upon tens of millions.  I see how some of the youth act and am reminded of the Cultural Revolution.  Meanwhile most of them have no idea what the Cultural Revolution was, thanks to their failed education. . . .  Or maybe their education was intended to create Leftists with little memory of Leftist atrocities and little respect for democratic values.

So, yes, I have little doubt that ignorance of 20^th Century totalitarianism is assisting a revival of totalitarianism in the 21^st. Poor education and ignorance has consequences.

“Never Again” or Here We Go Again?

First, my apologies that this post will be somewhat stream of consciousness.  But something has been on my mind, and it’s important enough that I should not be silent about it.  Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday has goaded me to say something even if my thoughts are not that well organized yet.

Yesterday is a reminder of how deadly totalitarianism is.  The totalitarian mindset cares not a wit for the freedom and lives of political opponents and of others who are hated for other reasons, such as class, religion, and ethnicity.  Totalitarianism is why the 20^th Century was such a deadly one.  And do not forgot that the Communist brand of totalitarianism killed tens of millions more than Hitler’s did.  Of course, thankfully, Hitler’s time was shorter.

Another lesson of the 20^th Century is that often it is hard to see just how dangerous times are when you are in the middle of them.  As a child, I wondered why all the Jews did not flee what was to come.  Well, although they knew times were not good, most did not know the horrors to come although there was much warning.  Us humans are prone to denial of coming horrors until it is too late.

I understand that denial more now.  I see the totalitarian mindset on the march today in the conduct of the Left and of the Deep State, of their contempt for freedom of speech, for freedom of religion, and of democracy in general. I also see it in the vilification of others under the guise of “White Privilege” and now and soon “Christian Privilege.” I do not know what scares me more, the little totalitarians taking over college campuses or the conduct of Mueller and Company in attempting to overturn a presidential election.  Their method of practically inventing the crimes of political opponents reminds me of the old Soviet Union and of today’s Russian under Putin.  Instead of investigating a crime and finding the man behind it, they investigate the man and search for or invent a supposed crime to bring him down.  The raid of Trump’s lawyer’s offices has made that modus operandi that much more clear.

And yet part of me thinks this too will pass.  But I don’t know whether that part is realistic or in denial.

Under totalitarianism, the people are not allowed to choose their leaders (except for the correct “The People,” of course).  And it seems electing Trump was not permissible and must be overturned.  I’ve said it before and will say it again, the Left and others with a totalitarian mindset only respect democracy when they win.  And very early on, I smelled an attempted coup against Trump, and that attempted coup continues.

I know I may seem overwrought.  I know that totalitarianism in the U. S. may seem a conspiratorial fever dream.  But how many saw the coming ravages of Nazism and Communism before it was too late?  For that matter, how many ten or twenty years ago foresaw how mad the college campuses have become?  And with the attacks on free speech and on Constitutional and democratic values in general, I see warning signs too similar to warning signs of totalitarianism in the past.  More and more, I feel like I am living in a pre-totalitarian time and place.  I certainly understand more what so many Europeans experienced in the 20^th Century.

Yes, I told you this would be somewhat stream of consciousness.  Anyway, you may have noticed this blog has become less political and I hope I can keep it that way.  I’ve seen how politics can divide in the Anglican Church in North America and have been thinking I, too, should become more selective and careful in discussing politics in an Anglican context.  I do want this blog to inform and edify, not drive away.

But what I, and others, see happening in America and in the West will very much affect the church and us all if the current direction of politics and culture goes unchecked.  So I may address the revival of totalitarian and of the totalitarian mindset from time to time as unpleasant as the subject may be.

Post-Charlottesville, The Double Standard Continues

After the awful events in Charlottesville, there has been an odd, but familiar phenomenon.  There are the rightful denunciations of the Nazis, KKK, etc.  But if someone even asks the denouncers if they have ever also denounced Antifa and Black Lives Matters, two groups who also have demonstrated racism and political violence, then even that question gets denounced.  Those who denounce both the Nazi types and Antifa and BLM, and who denounce double standards also get very similar treatment.  I’ve seen this sorry exercise even on the Facebook group page of the Anglican Church of North America, which is shameful.

This is an in-your-face example of a big double standard that has poisoned politics and the study of history since World War 2.  While the atrocities of the “Right”* are emphasized, the atrocities of the Left are downplayed or ignored, even if those atrocities are of a much greater scale.  The History Channel once was dubbed the Hitler Channel because of the frequency of its emphasis on Nazism and its atrocities. And certainly we should “never forget.”  But how often does one see documentaries of the atrocities under Lenin and Stalin, who killed millions more than Hitler?

Of course, there is much more to the study of history than the History Channel – thank God – but the phenomenon can be found across academia as well.  And when someone tries to provide some balance and focus on Communist evil, they often get grief for it.  The controversy that surrounded the publication of the Black Book of Communism is one example.

I detest this double standard, which only enables the Leftist New Totalitarians, who are a much greater danger than the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other loons.  If someone has been silent for over a year as Antifa has violently attacked peaceful demonstrators, Trump supporters, free speech, even those who simply wanted to hear a speaker, then his/her display of indignation over white supremacist violence is worth very little to me.

And, yes I will say it, President Trump was right to denounce violence from both sides.  And he was courageous to do so in the face of those who hate truth-telling about the Left.

By the way, these kind of double standards just feed hate.  Denouncing rightist hate while being silent about or even praising Leftist hate throws gasoline on hate.  The double standards must stop.  The political violence from both sides must be denounced and stopped.

---

* I use “right” very loosely here.  Placing, say, Nazis on the right is highly questionable as they are a form of totalitarianism not very different from Communism.

New Totalitarians in Action at Berkeley

Some may have thought me overwrought in the past in contending there is a deep totalitarian streak in today’s Leftists.  And maybe you’ve thought I’ve been too worked up when I’ve posted that campus totalitarian attacks on free speech demand that universities that do not defend free speech be stripped of federal funds.

But last night’s events at U. C. Berkeley practically made my arguments for me.  And guess who has gotten the message:

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

I lack time and energy at the moment, but is suffices to say the conduct by Leftists last night demands justice.  I find the following especially intolerable:

My friend was giving an interview when some coward peppersprayed her #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/CDpEqDsw2A

— janey (@janeygak) February 2, 2017

If there are not mass expulsions, then government should finally step in and defend free speech on campus.  No free speech?  No fed funds.

By the way, Fox Business is reporting at the moment that there have been no arrests.  None.  Disgusting if that is even close to accurate.

Which leads to an even bigger issue, violent "protest", really attacks and riots, including shutting down highways, must be punished severely.  Leftists must be made to understand that we respect their freedoms, but they damn well better start respecting ours or else.

Holier Than Them

I’ve become a fan of A Catholic Thing.  A post there this morning is particularly incisive.  Anthony Esolen notes that we are very good at decrying the sins of other people, particularly in the past, such as slavery in the West and Nazism.

Though Esolen does not directly mention it, I think this part of what C. S. Lewis called the Modern Hubris, the delusion that we today are so much better and more enlightened than those of the past.

But we do not adequately appreciate the pressures put on societies to accept and cooperate with great public evils in the past.  And we downplay said pressures and our own weakness and public evils today.  I often look at today and see too much that resembles times of great evil in the past.  But I am surely a small minority.

Esolen identifies the great public evil today of the West to be the Sexual Revolution.  I’m not sure I agree.  But it cannot be denied that the Sexual Revolution has resulted in mass murder and mass madness, not to mention other forms of mass immorality and persecution of those who oppose these evils.  And how many are willing to lose their business or lose their job or to endure public ridicule and worse by refusing to go along to get along?

As the money paragraph from Esolen states:

…We are not called to oppose, notionally, comfortably, the characteristic evils of other ages, basking in the glow of a righteousness that costs nothing. We are called to suffer in opposing the characteristic evils of our age. And we will not begin even to conceive of how such a thing is possible, if we do not obey an authority that transcends mankind.

Hillary’s Deplorable Eliminationist Rhetoric

Hillary Clinton’s “Basket of Deplorables” comment Friday night is already being overshadowed by her health episode yesterday.  But it should not be forgotten.

For, as Glenn Reynolds has noted, it is eliminationist rhetoric, words that justify taking away the basic rights of a large segment of the population because they are in the “wrong” group and/or political opponents.

As a reminder, she said this:

You know, just to be grossly generalist, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.

Now some of these folks, they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.

So she smears almost a quarter of American voters with hateful traits, then says they “irredeemable” and “not America.”

You don’t have to be a historian to hear echoes of the eliminationist rhetoric of Nazis and Communists from the 20^th Century.

And she said this to a LGQT fundraiser in New York City.  It is safe to say many in the room have no problem taking away the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, livelihoods, and more from conservatives, particularly those who hold traditional values about the family.  And they indeed cheered her on.

Thus what Hillary did is the moral equivalent of going to a KKK rally and speaking on how “irredeemable” “those n____s” are or going to a neo-Nazi rally and speaking against “the Jews.” She went to an audience that wants to take Constitutional rights from many political opponents, and she said, yes, those political opponents you hate really are “deplorables,” “irredeemable,” and “not America.”

Regardless of her faux political apology, this should disqualify her from the presidency.

We can and will disagree on much.  But we must agree that the revival of eliminationist totalitarianism, now vocally backed by Hillary Clinton, must be stopped.

Hillary’s Hate and the Southern Poverty Law Center

This week, Hillary Clinton pulled out an old tool in the Democrat/Leftist tool box – smearing their opponents as bigots/sexists/homophobes/racists/etc, in short as haters.

But in doing so, Hillary revealed herself to be in league with haters, particularly in citing the Southern Poverty Law Center as a reliable source.

This is not the first time I’ve taken the Southern Poverty Law Center to task.  I’ve noted with both alarm and derision their labeling groups like the Family Research Center as “hate” groups.  Even being a (Sit down now!  This is sooo scary!) “radical traditional Catholic” can get SPLC’s attention.

Really SPLC is a hate group.  Let’s say I label Catholic Charities as a hate group.  Now I oppose much of what Catholic Charities does and that under the guise of Christianity. I would discourage anyone from contributing to them.  But they are no hate group.  But let’s say I went overboard and did smear them as a hate group.  It would then be safe to say I would be the hater.  Flip it and you get the Southern Poverty Law Center.  They smear right of center and Christian groups that have nothing to do with hate and lump them in with Nazis and the KKK.

Hillary cited SPLC in attacking Breitbart News:

It's truly hard to believe, but according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, Breitbart embraces “ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right."

Breitbart is not my main news source, but I am familiar with them.  And I find nothing hateful or extremist about them.  Hillary and SPLC are being the haters here.

Let’s look at two more examples of hate from the Southern Poverty Law Center.  I look at their famous hate map and find Probe Ministries of Plano, Texas is supposedly a hate group.  Probe Ministries?!?  I heard of that group for decades and have seen nothing hateful from them.  Just the opposite.   Their purpose to serve as winsome reasonable apologists for the faith and for Christian teaching.  That gets them smeared as an anti-gay hate group by SPLC, yet Probe advocates love for gays.  But Probe stands firm in not recognizing gay marriage, and that’s hate, don’tca know.

This made me wonder if SPLC has targeted David Barton.  I’ve long been a fan of his, attending two of his wonderful history workshops in my younger days.  Well, I searched on SPLC’s website and I found this smear piece on Barton under a masthead of “hatewatch” of course.  More SPLC smears and hate.

Again, the Southern Poverty Law Center is a vicious Leftist hate group using “hate” to smear political opponents who have nothing to do with hate.  And Hillary, by her own admission, is just fine with that.

Back in 2011, I gave the following warning, and, with Hillary on the verge of the White House, it bears repeating:

Totalitarians of both Left and Right have a long history of vilifying those they later repress. To think the SPLC and like-minded Leftists have no intent of taking freedoms from those of us who oppose gay marriage or unrestricted immigration and may be a bit “radical” and traditional in our Christian views would be naïve indeed – dangerously so.

Your University Might Be Run By New Totalitarians If . . .

. . . If students find it necessary to take reasoned discussion underground.  That is the case at Brown.

Yes, I do think Brown is the sort of university that should be told to defend free speech or have its Fed funds cut off.

A Totalitarian Speech Code

Yesterday, I briefly looked at the big picture of the New Totalitarianism on campus.  Today, I will focus on one instance of the same, the new speech code at the University of Missouri Law School.

One provision of the speech code is totalitarian practically by definition.  A characteristic of totalitarian countries is authorities pushing a duty to rat on those who express counter-revolutionary thoughts.  Such is the case in Cuba, North Korea, and Obamerica, and was the case in the Soviet Union.

So guess what the Missouri Law School speech code mandates.

…the officers of SBA [Student Bar Association, i. e. Law School students – Ed.] not only expect students to obey—they expect students to inform on other students who violate the policy:

It is the duty of each member of the SBA to report instances of possible non-compliance with this policy to the Vice-President of the SBA-all reports will be kept anonymous and in confidence.

Note that the speech code was written by the law school students themselves.

These are the New Totalitarians who will be future judges.