On Gavin Ashenden Becoming Roman Catholic

The news hit me suddenly yesterday.  I know several say they were not at all surprised by Gavin Ashenden announcing he was joining the Roman Catholic Church, but I sure was.

Ashenden is such a good gentle man, it is hard to be upset with him about anything, but I have to admit I was upset with him at first.  He was such an asset to Anglicanism; we need more like him.  So for us struggling faithful catholic Anglicans that remain to lose yet another one to Rome is distressing.

I will say some of the speculation I’ve read online about why he is doing this is uncharitable and unfair.  If you want to know his reasoning, watch this Anglican Unscripted episode first:

After watching it, I became more understanding of his decision. To be an Anglican in England but outside the Church of England is difficult indeed.  UK culture is very hard ground for continuing Anglicans. The alternative of being under an inviting traditional RC bishop – and everything I’ve heard about the Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, is excellent – had to be inviting indeed.  And it appears opportunities for ministry will now expand for Gavin.  I certainly hope that will be the case now and wish him the best.

I am still upset with the Church of England among other Anglicans. (Yes, I am well aware he left the Church of England in 2017.)  We need to keep people like Ashenden, not drive them away. As I’ve stated before, us Anglicans owe it not just to ourselves but to the Lord and to the church and world that needs robust non-papal catholicity to keep orthodox Anglo-Catholics and enable them to flourish.

Losing Gavin Ashenden is yet one more failure at that.

Here We Go Again...

One would think Leftists would learn that one way to lose the next election is to disrespect voters in the last election.  Disrespect for the 2016 Brexit Referendum certainly hurt both Labour and the LibDems in last week’s UK General Election.  One would think that would be a learning experience.

One would think.

But no.  The day after the election, Leftists took to UK streets to protest . . . what? Voters? Free elections? Those sort of anti-democratic temper tantrums might have sold in the Weimar Republic, but last I looked, most British prefer democracy with their Queen, thank you.

Oh, and here’s where Leftist whining gets beyond satire. The founders of Fusion GPS, purveyors of lies used in the perpetual coup against Trump, these scumbags are blaming . . . Russia.  No I am not kidding:

The founders of Fusion GPS, the Democrat-backed consulting firm behind the famously discredited Christopher Steele dossier at the heart of the Russia hoax, are blaming Russia for the liberal Labour Party’s loss in the U.K. elections Thursday. Seriously….

“Britain needs its own Mueller report on Russian ‘interference,’” [Guardian] editors titled the article.

“The British political system has become thoroughly compromised by Russian influence,” Simpson and Fritsch declared. “In 2016, both the United Kingdom and the United States were the targets of Russian efforts to swing their votes.

But us in The Colonies had better not laugh too hard.  For Democrats and Leftists (But I repeat myself.) are already making it known ahead of time that they have no intention of respecting the 2020 elections should Trump get re-elected.  California Democrat Rep. Karen Bass, for one, says they just might impeach Trump yet again after 2020.  And Democrat House Judiciary Chairman Nadler is openly saying the 2020 election will be rigged if Trump is not impeached and removed.

Yes, Americans might collude by voting to re-elect Trump. How dare they!

All this may amuse, but it should also disturb as well.  For a major party again and again so to disrespect elections they don’t win is dangerous to a country.  And that is the situation in the US and UK today.

This Leftist impulse against democracy and against the rights of political opponents makes me fear what will happen if and when Democrats or Labour do win.  We must not let that happen at least until they transform themselves into parties that actually respect constitutional democracy, even when they don’t win.

Trump Signs EO Against Campus Anti-Semitism

I’m in a slight rush this morning.  But something overlooked last week amidst the UK election and US shampeachment news is that President Trump signed an executive order directing and empowering the Department of Education to go after anti-semitism on college campuses.

I was very glad to see this.  It is much needed.  Two examples:

Harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students has been going on for a long time. At Temple University in August 2014, SJP members called Daniel Vessal, a Camera on Campus fellow and a member of the Jewish fraternity AEPi, “kike” and “baby killer,” and punched him in the face. Vessal explained that he tried to engage SJP members in dialogue, but “people at the table were calling me a ‘baby killer’…And then this kid just rocks me in the face as hard as he can. My glasses flew off. After a two-second blur I had no clue what had happened. I couldn’t believe the kid actually hit me. When the police came over and were filing the report the kids at the table were screaming ‘You Zionist pig, you racist, that’s what you get.’” Police did not arrest the attacker. 

In May 2016, Eliana Kopley, a sophomore at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), was trying to enter a screening of an Israeli documentary about the IDF called “Beneath the Helmet” when she was accosted by an angry mob screaming “Long live the Intifada!” and “F**k Israel!” The protesters prevented her from entering the building where the film was being shown and even chased her into a nearby building, where they pounded on the doors and windows while continuing to scream their slogans. Police ultimately escorted Kopley into the screening. The UCI chapter of the SJP was thrilled with this thuggery and praised the mob.

It will take more than an EO to bring justice, free speech, and sanity even back to U. S. campuses.  But Trump’s EO is an appreciated step in the right direction.

Boris Wins Big. Will History Echo?

I begin writing Thursday night under the influence of a bit of beer and a lot of schadenfreudein celebration of Labour and the LibDems getting their just desserts.  But I retain enough wisdom to review and rewrite this morning.  Still, I cannot resist wondering if history is, if not repeating, at least echoing.

No, it’s not just booze that has me pondering this.  I am barely old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher’s groundbreaking victory in 1979.  Labour had power for much of the 70’s thanks to the foolish and dishonest Edward Heath.  But Labour blew their chance with obnoxious Leftist policies that ground the UK economy into the ground.

Thatcher’s victory turned out to be a precursor for the election of Ronald Reagan the following year.  The Democrats had power since 1974 thanks to the foolish and dishonest Richard Nixon.  But the Democrats blew their chance with obnoxious Leftist policies that ground the US economy into the ground.  Reagan won in a landslide, and Republicans took the Senate.

Fast forward, in June 2016,British were fed up with the establishment of both major parties who did not listen to them but who were instead beholden to EU Brussels bureaucrats.  So in a shocking upset they voted for Brexit; they voted to leave the EU. 

In 2016, Americans were fed up with the establishment of both major parties who did not listen to them but who were instead beholden to the Washington establishment. So, after dispatching Jeb! and Co. mercilessly in the Republican primaries, they in a shocking upset elected Donald Trump as President of the United States.

In the years since, neither the Left nor the establishment of the UK and US have respected those 2016 votes and have worked tirelessly to undermine them.

So we get last night.  Yes, there are significant differences from Thatcher’s election and even Brexit, but Labour did have some power before the election thank to the weak and duplicitous Teresa May.  But they blew their chance with obnoxious Leftist policies with a strong dose of anti-semitism and, probably most importantly, by disrespecting the 2016 Brexit referendum result.  And the LibDems were even more all in on undoing Brexit.

And you know the result last night (with one seat undeclared): Labour loses 42 seats; the LibDems lose almost half their seats; Boris Johnson and the Tories gain 66 seats, a strong majority, and, barring any egregious foolishness, he will be PM for at least five years.  Contempt for Brexit and for democracy were thoroughly punished.

Here in the U. S. the Democrats have some power, holding the House, most cities, several states, the “news” media, and most cultural institutions.  But they are blowing their chance with obnoxious Leftist policies with a strong dose of anti-semitism and, probably most importantly, bystilldisrespecting the 2016 election of Trump, even to the point of the current absurd impeachment effort.

And . . . you can probably guess what I am hoping and praying for next year – the Democrats being thoroughly punished for their contempt for democracy.  Last night in the UK may yet again be a precursor for the US.  I am not quite yet to the point of expecting that.  But I did not entirely expect the 1980 Reagan landslide or Trump either.

So history may yet again echo.  We shall see.

Do Not Vote Labour … Say 15 Labour Former MPs UPDATED

Those who follow me, especially my Twitter feed, know I can be tough on the Labour Party.  But I have to admit I am still thankful that Gordon Brown’s government banned indoor smoking in 2007.  That may have saved my health as I studied at Oxford that same year.

But Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has become so extreme and toxic that even many Labour people will be voting against them tomorrow. Especially notable is that fifteen Labour former MPs are publicly urging people not to vote for Labour this time.

I particularly appreciate that they cite Corbyn/Labour anti-semitism as one big reason for their stand:

Despite what Jeremy Corbyn says about anti-semitism, we need to accept that most Jewish people have well founded fears about what Labour has become.  British Jews deserve our support.

I will add that, unless one’s Labour candidate is an exceptionally principled person who has strongly and without equivocation opposed anti-semitism through the years, a vote for Labour is indefensible, especially for Christians. 

Yes, I said it.  Although I have strong political convictions, I am one to allow a lot of leeway for personal political decisions.  But the rampant anti-semitism of today’s Labour Party puts it beyond what is acceptable.  Even many past Labour voters and officials are seeing that.

UPDATE:
On the last night before the election, Labour anti-semitism was on open display, complete with that lovely genocidal chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and more. Watch for yourself.

Bernie Sanders' Anti-Semite

In the UK, it is hard to miss that Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party have a serious problem with anti-semitism.  He and the Corbynistas are that blatant at times about their Jew-hate plus the UK has a politically diverse print news media, remarkably so. Yes, there are UK newspapers willing to do actual journalism on the sins of the Left.

The US “news” media lacks such political diversity.  That is one reason it is easy to miss that Democrats also have a problem with anti-semitism.  For example, I bet most of you good readers, though unusually well informed, did not know that Bernie Sanders has added to his campaign as a surrogate the notorious anti-semite Linda Sarsour.  But now you do.

You’re welcome.

Now, yes, Sanders is technically an independent Socialist, but that’s pretty much the same as a Democrat nowadays, and he is again running for President as a Democrat.  I should also say that not all Leftists and Democrats are okay with anti-semitism.  To their credit, some left the Women’s March due to anti-semitism from Sarsour and others.

But the Democrat Party is still the Party of Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar and their ilk.

And, not so by the way, I still have heard just about nothing about the Democrat’s anti-semitism problem from the woke church crowd, from the AND Campaign, from the Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN), etc.

The AND Campaign tells us, “Christians can hold both parties accountable.” But when it comes to Democrat Anti-Semitism, AND and most other woke churchers are not among said Christians.

NOTE: AMEN has a new director now, the Rev. Canon Lawrence McElrath.  May his leadership be more balanced and edifying than Esau McCaulley’s was.

An Advent Reset

I am using this first week in Advent to do a bit of a reset. That I just traveled to visit my father for Thanksgiving week assists in that as traveling usually gives me a reset.

I guess I should explain what I mean by a “reset.” I, and I suspect most of us, tend to get in ruts.  Said ruts could be a lack of motivation, initiative, and creativity. There could be bad habits. Yes, I saw myself in more than one rut before my trip.

And this first week in Advent is ideal for me to reset and get out of those ruts.  I’ve just traveled and (after a lot of sleep after returning) I am refreshed. I got enough excess during Thanksgiving.  And Christmas excesses have not yet begun, at least not for me.   And this is the beginning of Advent after all.  It is a penitential season, you know, and therefore intended by God for resets.

Yes, Jesus instituted Advent.  I just know it is in those red letters in my Bible somewhere.

Anyway, I am making a point to fast until St. Nicholas Day and probably some more after. (I can’t fast on that happy day!) In addition to cutting several food and booze excesses, I am cutting out online chess as I’ve gotten addicted to that again.  Said addiction has ravaged my time management.  I’m not mentioning this fast to brag as it is so modest it is hardly bragworthy, but to illustrate there are very doable everyday ways to fast and reset this first week of Advent.

And after Thanksgiving and before the Christmas rush, I suspect most of us could do with a reset. Thanks be to God that the traditional church calendar, including the first week in Advent, provides opportunity for those.