Why Mask Mandates Are A Socialist Attempt To Make Us All Say What We Don't All Believe

In every group, it seems, there is a Karen, using whatever they can to signal their virtue by calling out those they think are not virtuous.  The latest way to virtue signal is to loudly shout about the latest dictates from our mini-Cuomo, Governor Cooper.  Our local tyrant has decided that there shall be a statewide mandate to wear masks whenever in public.  This news is dutifully reported by masked talking heads on the local news channels.

So, let me explain, again, why I find this mask wearing both unhelpful and a socialist way to make us say things we don't truly believe, but we also don't want to get crosswise with the local constabulary.  I contend that this is the true reason why it is being mandated, and not to protect the public, or prevent the spread of the virus.

Wearing a mask in the open air, while keeping reasonable distances does no good, except as a way to virtue signal.  Furthermore, most of the masks are...how should I put it...as useless as tits on a boar hog.  Cloth masks, which of course are washable, are also sieves for the virus.  I have read that such masks may be at most 7% effective.  But of course, as soon as you put them on, they become filled with a load of bacteria and viruses, not to mention various bodily fluids.  Paper masks are also not that effective, should be changed often, and of course, if you are a man with facial hair, probably about as effective as...well you get the idea.  Masks should be properly fitted to be effective.

Of course, Karens will point out that if one doesn't wear a mask, one simply doesn't care about others.  Really?  If I do not have the virus, then who, prey tell, am I endangering?  If I am not sick, then I can not spread the disease to someone who is particularly vulnerable.  But, again I think those most vulnerable should know their own condition and take necessary precautions.  It is not up to everyone else to know the individual situations of everyone else they meet.  But if they did have such a responsibility, then they would have to wear more extensive containment systems, assuming again that they were sick in the first place.  Is this beginning to seem a circular argument?

Oh, but here is where the arguments for masks start to spiral in on themselves.  The proponents of masks will point out that you don't know you are sick.  You might have the virus, and not know it.  To be sure, there is the famous case of Typhoid Mary. However, every time I go to work, they take my temperature, which is usually somewhat on the cool side. If I were sick, wouldn't I have even a mild temperature?  After all, the invasion of a virus generates a response from the immune system that results in some, if even mild, inflammation.  It is only by going through some level of inflammation that the body can generate antibodies.

Now, if you really want to see how to control infections, here is some Covid-19 Protection Advice From A Dentist.

So imagine my bewilderment in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic at all the politicians, pundits, and talking heads who've suddenly become experts in infection control — not to mention all the lay people wearing masks of every conceivable design and standing six feet away from others, as if six feet were some magic number. Poor sheeple — they think they're safe, they're following the "science," and far be it from me to disabuse them of their imaginary sense of security.

As I was saying, I'm just a dentist — with forty-five years of studying and practicing infection control — and here's how I see it. We live in a sea of bacteria, viruses, and Spirochetes (Lyme Disease, syphilis), a veritable Grand Central Station of pathogens, all of them vying to take us down. They're on doorknobs and newspapers, in our air and water, and emanating from the mouths (and other orifices!) of our fellow human beings.

One way to protect yourself from these ubiquitous bugs is to raise your immune status. Eat better, exercise more, get your sleep, and manage your stress. Like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, you want your shields up at full capacity and the warp engines working. Run yourself into the ground with bad habits or bad thoughts, and you get sick.

I won't give advice on diet here, except to say that certain doctors have a lot of clinical patients to show that NOT eating some items reduces inflamation, which helps to control weight, makes moving easier, and improves your immune system and its response. 'nough said.

You enter a treatment room, and after several minutes of witty repartee with your patient, you wash your hands thoroughly with warm water and soap, and long enough to hum the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Then you carefully put on a mask, protective goggles, and gloves. Done right, the patient's protected from you, and you're protected from the patient.

Now, here's the exciting part. When you're done abusing the poor patient's molars, all your PPE is contaminated, chock-full of pathogens and bodily fluids. You throw your mask and gloves away and leave your goggles to be disinfected by the assistant who later cleans up the operatory. Because you just touched your contaminated PPE, you wash your hands again before leaving the room, this time humming the theme to Mr. Ed. A horse is a horse, of course.

And you do this again and again and again, going through boxes of gloves and masks every day, and spending thousands of dollars on high-tech goggles so there's one pair in every room. If your dentist walks around the office with glasses or loupes hanging from his neck, he ain't doing it right. If he doesn't wash his hands at a sink, but instead rubs a little Purell on them, he's faking it. I've probably spent 10–15% of my time on the planet washing my hands — so much so that my arm hair ends exactly where an latex glove would begin. But my infection control protocol works. I've treated coughing, hacking, sneezing patients for entire winters without catching a cold.

So, if you want to do something more that just virtue signal, which I have always found to be...well...as useless as...you get the idea...then try you might want to consider following the advice given here:

Wash your hands,

Keep your areas clean,

If you are sick don’t go to work but go to the doctor and

Don’t hang around with people you know are sick.

Oh, and by the way, that hand sanitizer that has become ubiquitous everywhere...don't bother.  Sanitizing is not the same as sterilizing.  Sanitizing is like mowing the lawn.  It tends to cut down the amount of bacteria and other things on you hands, but it doesn't get rid of them, and bacteria reproduce pretty fast. Sterilization, which most people think they are doing by using hand sanitizer, kills every living thing on the surface of the object.  it is usually accomplished by placing the object in an autoclave.  If you did it to your hands, and if you could stand the pain, your hands would now be as dead as a brick. and would be totally useless.   And using hand sanitizer doesn't really clean your hands.  Instead, even using just water is more effective.  After all, you don't really want to get rid of the bacteria on your hands.  They are a part of your micobiome, and help to protect you more than that useless mask.

Conservatives Need To Push Back

I have been busy, so today I have two very different posts to highlight for you, gentle reader.

The first comes from the American Thinker written by J. B. Shurk and entitled Conservatives Are Treated Like Second Class Citizens, And That's Dangerous . Shurk raises again the fact that our Constitution is a sort of social contract in which citizens give up certain sovereign rights to the government in return for the government protecting those rights.

I have a question. What use is a federal government that refuses to protect our basic constitutional rights? Twitter and Google and Facebook are censoring and demonizing conservative political speech, and nobody does a thing. Democrat mayors and governors are bankrupting American citizens by preventing them from engaging in simple commerce, and they're getting away with it. Street mobs across America are causing millions of dollars in property damage, destroying priceless historical monuments; killing police officers; and targeting random, unlucky citizens based on the color of their skin, and the press cheerlead the madness and defend the murderers and arsonists as heroes. John Kerry just the other day threatened the United States by declaring that if Democrats don't win the election in November, they will insist on "revolution."

Revolution? How else can you describe this incendiary cocktail of mob violence and flagrant denial of conservatives' constitutional rights, aided and abetted and kept volatile by Democrat mayors who applaud the mayhem, Democrat prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law, and Democrat-aligned corporations who happily treat conservatives as second-class citizens? The whole point of the Constitution is to create a social contract whereby each citizen hands over the legitimate use of force to the federal government in exchange for the promise that certain inalienable, God-given rights be guaranteed. When the federal government fails to protect Americans' free speech and religious worship and does nothing while Democrats in local offices and on the streets deprive Americans of their property and livelihoods under the color of law, shouldn't the federal government be afraid that Americans from Maine to New Mexico might one day wake up and say, "All right, contract cancelled"?

The above are the opening paragraphs of Shurk's article. In it he lays out the basis of his complaint, which he then discusses in greater detail in the paragraphs that follow.  He points out that all three of the branches of government have betrayed the average American in favor of a Leftist (not liberal) policies.  He notes that the tech giants have systematically kicked conservative voices off their platforms.  These platforms are the equivalent of the public square, and should not discriminate.  The have become publishers and should be treated as such.  The Supreme Court has routinely treated us to Unconstitutional rulings pleasing only Leftists.  Governors have taken the opportunity of Covid-19 to place us under house arrest, dstroy our businesses, and force us to wear masks with no real authority, and one sided scientific reasoning.

Please go read Shurk's article.  It has more, much more about the dangers the U. S. government is courting by continuing to push these policies.

But, speaking of governors of states taking on tyrannical powers that were not anticipated by the legislators that set up more limited emergency powers, there is another article at the American Thinker by Judith Acosta entitled Until We Have Faces: The American Niqaab Here in North Carolina, our own mini-Cuomo, Governor Cooper has instituted a requirement to wear a mask in public. This despite the news media's insistence that the protests, rioting, looting, and vandalism, where few people were masked, and where nobody was observing social distancing practices, that there appears to be no effect of thse on the incidence of Covid-19. If the news media is correct, it calls into question the usefulness of masks and social distancing.

All this is brought up by the article, but there is more to it too. When everyone is required to wear a mask, everyone becomes the faceless 'other," the faceless "alien."  In Muslim countries, women are required to wear the niqaab, which covers her entirely, making one woman look just like every other woman.  Instead of having an individual personality, every woman is reduced to being an object.  And that is how Leftists look at Americans.  Note the language difference.  We refer to people as individuals.  Each one of us is endowed with certain unalienable rights granted to us by our Creator.  Leftists call us "the masses."  To them. we are widgits in a machine.  Masking us helps them to make of us what they dream.

A while back, a colleague and I were talking about the effect of the niqaab on children in Muslim countries. Although we were on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, we agreed wholeheartedly that covering the mother’s face (and anyone who looked like the mother, meaning all women) was fundamentally, psychologically, and spiritually destructive in the extreme. The one who birthed, caressed, and fed you was as personal and recognizable as a mass-manufactured tent. Ultimately what happens is that women are literally objectified, meaning, they are things, “others,” and, as such, dangerous or, at best, utilitarian.

...ship...

This is a harbinger of a few things that are deeply troubling to me –and should be to you. Because despite the fact that fewer people have become ill in this pandemic than during an average flu season, and despite the medical data that show not only the futility of a rag over the face but the potential harm, and despite the fact that herd immunity suffers from artificial “flattening of the curve,” people are persisting in the illusion that a facial covering can make them safe.

...snip...

What’s the point of all this covering? To answer it, like following the trail of money, you have to follow the trail of policies. What pleases the left? Look at Russia, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba:A mass of needy, broken souls who place their offerings and ersatz prayers at the feet of Congress in the hope that the government will save them. Even more tragically, a group of souls who no longer believe they are souls and can no longer recognize the soul standing right next to them.

Acosta also comments about the destructive effect on our personal relationships with these masking requirements. Please read the Acosta's article. All this suggests that conservatives need to be pushing back against the current changes taking place in our communities.

The Virus Destroying The West

Today I present a video of Gad Saad, discussing his new book The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense here.

Saad points out that the basic virus is an escape from reality.  The different strains of the virus may look different, but at heart they all deny reality in favor of wishful or magical thinking.  Thus identity politics, or feminism, or trans whatever all deny various forms of reality. And, if you can deny the reality you can see, and hear, and touch, then it is possible to blame someone else for the circumstances of your life.  You are not responsible for your choices and your failures, someone else is.  Society, or white privilege or Western civilization, or racism.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

But here's the thing.  No one is a victim if he or she chooses not to be.  And no, activism is not the answer either.  Rioting, and looting and vandalism require very little work.  The truth is that you may not be able to be a billionaire, but you can make a comfortable living.  You can have a good family, and some luxuries too.  It takes a lot of hard work, but you can do it.  The truth is that anything of worth and value requires a lot of hard work.

I am not a genius; who do I blame?  My parents?  And I will never be a rock star (thank goodness.)  But I am not those things only because I chose other things on which to concentrate.  Had I put the same amount of time and effort into being a rock musician as I did into becoming an engineer, I would be a rock star.  Or a physician, or a lawyer, or...  My point is that this is true for everyone.  Of course, there are certain physical limitations.  I would never be a Michael Jordan, because I am not tall enough or athletic enough.  But for the great majority of things in life, physical limitations can be overcome where there is a will to do so.

Please go and watch Gad Saad: Bad Ideas Are Destroying The West. It is a bit long, so save it for when you''ve got an hour or so.  The thing you can do is to challenge these ideas wherever you encounter them.  Some people who are indoctrinated may become violent, so be prepared for that.  Reality is often not pleasant, but in the end our very happiness depends on acknowledging that our lives, are the result of our own choices, good and bad.  And if we don't like how are lives have turned out so far, we can indeed change things. 

An Immigrant On The Second Amendment

I especially like Charles C. W. Cooke's take on the Second Amendment, and it is too bad it comes from an immigrant to this country.  Everyone who was born here should know, understand, and exercise their Second Amendment rights, not try to justify throwing them away.  On June 3, 2020, Cooke wrote a very sensible piece at the National Review entitled Why We Need Guns. It's a statement, not a question. We do need guns:

‘Only the cops need guns” simply could not live forever alongside, “The cops are racist and will kill you.” And so, at long last, the two circles of the Venn Diagram have filed for an amicable divorce. In the end, the differences proved irreconcilable.

At least, they proved irreconcilable without descending into farce. I have been told more times that I can count that “if you want to own an AR-15, you should join the army or the police.” Oh, really. Why? So that I can be pulled back when the rioting starts, lest I inflame those wielding bricks and Molotov cocktails? So that I can be called a fascist, acting in the service of a dictator? So that I can be part of the problem? In light of the new fashions, these old injunctions look rather silly, don’t they? “You don’t need 15 rounds; you’re not a cop! Also, the police are corrupt from top to bottom, and should probably be abolished.”

Pick one, perhaps?

I know the Left is not big on logic, but I know you, dear readers, are. Furthermore, you must realize that there are always those who do not observe the rules of ordered liberty, so must be policed.  But, when the police do not do their jobs, or are ordered not to by their political bosses, the public at large is on its own.  You are always your own first responder.

In any case, the idea that the existence of police officers in some way negates the right to bear arms has always been a ridiculous one. Police are an auxiliary force that we hire to do a particular job — there to supplement, not to replace, my rights and responsibilities. Every time we debate gun control in the United States, I am informed that the Sheriff of Whatever County is opposed to liberalization. To which I always think, “So what?” My right to keep and bear arms is merely the practical expression of my underlying right to self-defense. That, as a polity, we have decided to hire certain people to take the first shot at keeping the peace is fine. But it has no bearing on my liberties.

And how could it, given that I do not live in a police station? The old saw that “when seconds count, the police are minutes away” is trotted out as often as it is because it is unquestionably true. Whether the average police department is virtuous or evil is irrelevant here. What matters is that no government has the right — and in America, mercifully, no government has the legal power — to farm out, and then to abolish, my elementary rights. It would not fly if the government hired people to speak for me and then shut down my speech; if would not fly if the government hired people to worship for me and then restricted my right to exercise my religion; and it will not fly for the government to hire a security agency and then to remove, or limit, my access to weaponry. This is a personal question, not an aggregate question: I have one life, and I am entitled to defend it in any way I see fit against those who would do me harm. If there is a single principle that has animated this realm since the time of the Emperor Justinian, it is that.

Oh, and by the way, just because a court decides that a government does have the legal power to take away your rights...any of your rights...does not make it so. The U. S. Constitution stands, as written, not as interpreted by the latest Federal Court ruling.  The power to change the Constitution through rulings was a self serving power arrogated to themselves, and is not in the Constitution.   And those who take an oath to defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic, are supposed to defend the Constitution as written, not based on the latest fad du jour.

Historically, the Sheriff of the County was the only police force there was.  He, of course, if need be, could call up various members of the public as a posse and deputize them. The Sheriff, then as now, operated to support the county courts.  Other than that, there was no dedicated police force at the local level.  The first police department in the United States was New York City in 1845.  Now, every city seems to have a police department, but it is true that cities could contract with another agency to provide police services.  But, again, the existence of a police force does not negate the individuals right (or need) for keeping and bearing weapons for self defense, defense of one's family and neighbors, and defense of one's property.

Please go read Cooke's piece.  It is one of the best explanations of the place of the Second Amendment in American life that I have read.  Does it really require an immigrant to see this?  Oh, one last quote from this excellent article:

Underlying most of the arguments that are leveled by the gun-control movement is the assumption that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is historically contingent: upon a time, upon a people, upon a place. They are wrong. The Second Amendment is as relevant today as it was during the totalitarian 20th century; as it was when Ida B. Wells was observing that “the only case where [a] proposed lynching did not occur, was where the men armed themselves”; as it was in the revolutionary era; as it was when all roads led to Rome. There will be no age in which it becomes unnecessary, nor any transmutation of the human character that renders it moot. This is History. Right now. And Samuel Colt ain’t abandoning anyone.

Just in case you are unsure about where the rage of the mob is going, and why you may need to be armed, here is a piece by Christopher Bedford at The Federalist entitled Everywhere Statues Are Torn Down By The Mob, History Promises People Are Nest. Bedford uses the French Revolution as his prime example, but he is correct in his assertion that it always happens everywhere.  Go read Bedrford's article as well.

Forewarned Is Forearmed

We have two articles to highlight today, and I will tie them together after I present each.

The first article comes from The Arbalest Quarrel at Ammoland entitled The Supreme Court Will Not Defend The Second Amendment! As many of us have suspected for a while now, Chief Justice Roberts was a false flag candidate for the position of Chief Justice, posing as a conservative to get the position, then revealing his true colors as a Leftist once on the Court.  Under these conditions, the Court will not defend the Second Amendment.  They had ten cases from which to choose, all of which ticks off the reasons to grant a writ to one of them:

Conflict of law: The Supreme Court may elect to step in and make a ruling when different courts reach different conclusions about federal or constitutional law. With 13 federal circuits and 50 state supreme courts, the U.S. Supreme Court may want to step in and clarify certain legal issues so every court operates under the same law going forward.

National importance: If a case has national significance and is important to the public as a whole, the Supreme Court may decide to take it on. The Supreme Court has discretion when it comes to taking these cases, such as Bush v. Gore after the contested 2000 election, Roe v. Wade, or US v. Nixon concerning the Watergate tapes.

Lower courts disregarding Supreme Court decisions: If a case has arisen because lower courts are disregarding past Supreme Court decisions, the Supreme Court may decide to hear the case to correct the lower court or overrule the case without a full trial.

Justices’ interest: In certain cases, a justice may want to hear a certain case because it addresses an issue in their personal favorite area of law.

Please read the entire article, and of course, go to The Arbalest Quarrel and read their other very complete analysis of Second Amendment issues. But what does this mean for Americans, particularly in a time of the governments failing in its duty to protect society? Interestingly, the second article today outlines exactly the shirking of that duty that is taking place because of the cowardice of various polititians and so called "leaders." The article, written by E. M. Cadwaladr at the American Thinker entitled Who Owns The Streets?:

The early 20th-century sociologist Max Weber starkly observed that a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence is what defines a state. In other words, only a county's own acknowledged government has the ultimate right to use force against its citizens. With the very limited exception of immediate self-defense, the use of force by anyone other than the government must be seen as an act of either criminality or war. A federal system such as ours may complicate things a little — but the principle still holds true. If anyone outside the legitimate government is ceded the right to use violence to achieve his own ends, the government becomes a nullity to the extent of that allowance.

Ugly and un-utopian though this principle may sound, it benefits society as a whole. It cannot be denied that there are, and have always been, people in civilized societies who are unfit to live in them. There have always been murderers, rapists, and thieves. Even under the best imaginable set of laws and social conditions, there will always be people unconstrained by human empathy or social inhibitions. Someone must police them. Humanity will never be wholly free from antisocial behavior, so someone, however imperfect, has to be there to stop it short when it occurs.

Today, unfortunately, the voice of reason has been shouted down. Many of our cities and states have begun to disintegrate under cowering politicians who surrender their dignity and our safety to the mob. When people are suffered to loot, riot, desecrate, murder, and seize territory while officials stand idly by, it is more than just the latest cultural outrage. It is a failure by public officials to meet even the table stakes of their own legitimacy. Why should anyone, rich or poor, black or white, bother listening to Mayor Durkan of Seattle? She has ceded the heart of her city to armed extremists when she had the means to stop them. Small business–owners in Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York have dutifully paid their taxes — only to have their shops first closed by the government, then set on fire by the rioters. Mayors and governors have done nothing. These officials are no more than cringing little criminals — who prey upon the weak but kneel subserviently before a bolder, scarier class of thugs. Small business–owners in these lawless places have no legitimate local or state governments. What choice do they have but to cut their losses and vote with their feet?

Implied here is the concept of a social contract, wherein individuals, including business poeple, pay their taxes, satisfy the requirements for business licenses and in general obey the law, and the government in turn protects them from looters and rioters, from thieves and murderers, and all manner of others who would prey on these people. By giving the rioters space to carry out their tantrums, government has effectively broken the social contract.  By granting that the rioters may have a point, they have signaled to the rest of us that we are on our own.

Here then, is the point of both articles:  The Supreme Court, the last resort of those seeking redress of grievances, will not defend your God given rights as secured by the United States Constitution.  Not if your rights conflict with some leftist policy du jour. Every indication is that these riots, lootings, and tantrums will spread. And there is no indication that the police will be released to enforce the law. Under such circumstances, a wise person will be armed at all times. No, I am not suggesting vigilante actions, but for self defense and the defense of your loved ones and your property (your pursuit of happiness.)  You will also need ammunition and training.  Keep in mind that ammunition can be used as a trade good in a SHTF situation.

Forewarned is forearmed.

One Major Party As Taken The Enemy's Side

The Left has declared war on the American nation, on individual liberty and rights, on private business, indeed, on everything that is America.  They are stealing our history in hopes of separating us from our history, creating a rootless people.  Meanwhile, people who believe in the American republic, what I call lower case "r" republicans, seem not to quite believe that we are indeed at war.  This is brought home by an article at the American Thinker entitled Republicans Must Understand: We Are At War by Dave Kado. While the proximate cause of the current rioting, looting, vandalism, arsons, and the taking down of statues and destruction of monuments is the death of George Floyd whil in custoday of police. But this was just an excuse. Black Lives Matter, like Antifa is a Marxist group dedicated to the destruction of this country by any means necessary.

Understand that these Leftists have already dehumanized you in their own minds, a necessary step in executing a war.  They hate you, and everything you stand for and love.  They even hate your God, believing religion to be the 'opiate of the masses."  While, for the moment this war does not appear to be a shooting war, the fact that their philosophy justifies any action to take place if it advances the cause means republicans must be prepared for anything. But, in terms of what we can do, here are some actions republicans can take:

Despite the apparent power differential between the two sides, all is not lost. In order for us (the Republicans) to have a fighting chance, we need to realize and embrace the situation we're in with eyes wide open and adapt our tactics accordingly, and everyone needs to join the fray. We must stop pretending we're the majority, or that we have the power, or that people will eventually agree with us, or that we have the moral high ground, or that our enemy is willing to meet us in the ideological space with Marquess of Queensbury debate rules. To return to military terms, we can't stand up an army and slug it out in a field with our opponents — they would destroy us. Maybe thirty years ago, or even fifteen, this was possible, but now no longer. Given the situation, guerrilla tactics are much more plausible and effective and give us a fighting chance.

What does this look like? That's for you to decide. A guerrilla army's strength lies in its unpredictability and lack of centralization. Some ideas I've had, as someone who lives in a deep blue area, include printing pamphlets of various "wrongthink" subjects and disseminating them. Homeschooling, history of the Democrats (focusing on the Civil War and beyond), degradation of the food system, etc. are all good subjects — anything that counters the mainstream narrative of those in power. Get people to start questioning the official narrative, for let's not forget whose side the official narrative belongs to.

Forge alliances; join like-minded organizations, coordinate letter or call campaigns; engage in boycotts of businesses (while making sure those businesses know why you're doing what you're doing). Recent events have opened a door for us to start ideologically converting people — if not completely to our side, at least out of the Democrat camp. Put a chink in the leftist armor and let the air of invulnerability that they've projected be used against them. Let them know we're here, but do it in a non-confrontational non-direct way. (Screaming matches and arguments do little to alter the balance of power and merely have the reverse effect of strengthening their resolve.) Let them truly grasp the situation as well. Let them develop paranoia as they fight to maintain every last inch of their kingdom. Make them tired and weak and humiliated. Electing President Trump was a good start, and we need to ensure his re-election. However, his presidency should be viewed as an opening salvo as opposed to a final blow. Let them know we're on the offensive and no longer willing to run and hide and hope they leave us alone.

For a fuller understanding of Black Lives matter, please read David Horowitz's article Bllack Lives Are A Pretext. The article makes clear that what they really want, and what strategies they are prepared to utilize to achieve it.  Defunding the police, while taking away the guns from the law abiding makes perfect sense to these people, precisely because they have no intention of giving up their guns.  They mean to win, make no mistake.

Please go read both articles, and begin thinking about what you will do. 

The Left Is Peddling A Lie

I have been watching the rioting, looting, calls to defund the police, and other horrible and evil behavior surrounding the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.  His funeral was so grandiose as to make it seem like a President of the United States, a Pope, or other world leader.  It is helpful to remember that George Floyd had an extensive criminal record, as noted in this report at The American Partisan entitled The Making Of A Martyr (For All The Wrong Reasons) Once again, the Left has taken a position and spun up people world wide to loot, riot, and destroy the lives of numerous innocent people for a horrible case like Floyd. Not that the behavior is either right or moral, but the lease they could do is wait for a sympathetic case.

Make no mistake, here.  I do not believe that Floyd deserved to die.  The officer had him controlled, and handcuffed, so should not have kept his weight on Floyd's neck choking him.  Nothing noted above justifies the officer's actions.  But the officer has been charged, and we shoulld all wait to see if justice will be done.

The fact is that the subject of the Left's ire discredits the entire enterprise.  Floyd was engaged in a criminal act, one that fits will a long record of other criminal acts.  By working so hard to make a martyr of George Floyd, the Left has lied to the American people, and in so doing have shown that the entire enterprise is one big lie.  No one should be even remotely sympathetic with the goals of the Left, whether it is BLM or the fascist Antifa.  They are peddling a lie.

Pushback

The City of Raleigh is considering an ordinance that will require the wearing of masks in the city if in public. No doubt they will cite news reports, that in turn cite studyes that say that masks make a difference. But as pointed out in in this piece from the American Thinker there is very little scientific support for the efficacy of wearing masks in preventing Covid-19. Furthermore, i reject the idea that we should be trying to prevent the spread of the disease. After all, it we don't allow the disease to spread, we will never achieve "herd immunity" and thus we will be wearing masks forever. Which may be the point.

The real goal of wearing masks, huddling fearfully at home, and other recent innovations in our behavior is to force us to conform.  The CDC itself doesn't believe these things help, but they figure the public needs to "do something" and like so much our elites cram down our throat, the "do something" seldom helps the situation, but the Karens stop squawking for a little bit.  Please note, however, that forcing everyone to behave in the same way is classic fascism.  It is definitely not in the American tradition, which allows each person to decide these things for himself, or herself.

But, as Rush Limbaugh (may God preserve him) noted yesterday, there has been remarkably little pushback on this nonsense from conservatives.  Specifically, the pushback should be coming from our Republican politicians.  Rush rightly noted most of us are not leaders.  That is not a criticism, but a fact of life.  Without a leader leading the charge, most of us feel like the lone voice, crying in the wilderness.  And of course, that is exactly what the mainstream media want us to feel.

Which brings us to another post at the American Thinker by Dex Bahr entitled Where is The Republican Pushback. It's not just the rioters and looters, who damaged the Lincoln Memorial that have forgotten our history, but Republican politicians seem to have forgotten it too.

As a reminder, Lincoln was the first Republican President. It was Lincoln that published the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery. Indeed, the Republican party was established as an abolitionist party, and should be the natural home of every black American. Why they so often side with the very party that enslaved them, that put in place Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, that created the Ku Klux Klan as its military wing to enforce its segregationist ideology, is a mystery to me.

For a party that was formed to oppose the spread of slavery, today’s Republican Party seems perfectly content with allowing the expansion of leftism.  With the exception of President Donald Trump, conservative pundits and a handful of Republicans, there has been no pushback against the left’s onslaught.

The left, led by the Democrat Party, has launched two major offenses in the ideological war for the culture in this country and all conservatives get from the Republican Party are daily texts asking for campaign donations. Republican politicians, by and large, stayed silent during the Wuhan Virus lockdown and have done so again during the George Floyd tragedy. They have missed opportunities to rightly condemn those on the left who have exploited both crises for political gain.

Where are the Republican political leaders calling out the Democrats for their outright pandering to the black community with this insane desire to defund the police? And why aren’t they challenging the whole absurd notion of systemic racism? How come the only national voices spotlighting the Democrats’ effort to keep candidate Joe Biden sequestered have come from conservative pundits? I have not heard a single Republican leader pointing out the declining mental faculties of Mr. Biden. You can bet that if Biden were a conservative Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and liberals you have not even heard of, would be fighting to get camera time daily to criticize and slander.

While we are in a civil war, I don't think it will be one of armies clashing with armies. Oh, there will be skirmishes, and the smart thing will be to be armed and prepared all the time, what we will need is political leadership, and that leadership will need to be able to fight just as dirty as the Left does. Only, we woun't have to give up principles to do it. Why? Because when the Left accuses us of waging a war on women, we know they are actually waging such a war. And when they accuse us of racism, we know they are actually the racists.  Rather than being afraid of being called racist, we should point out their actual racism...each....and...every....time.

Conservatives understand that we are in the midst of a civil war declared by the left. We had grown tired of being led by a bunch of timid George McClellans in the presidency (Gerald Ford, the Bushes) and wanted more bold Ulysses S. Grants, as exemplified by Donald Trump, who are not just unafraid of the enemy, but are willing to take the battle to the enemy.

I believe that a great many conservatives are more cognizant of the lack of support Republicans have shown the president. Hopefully, it has become clear that in order to stop the left (politically speaking), we will have elect more U.S. Grants and maybe some William Tecumseh Shermans to the House and Senate. Conservative politicians and academicians need to develop the philosophy of the long game and begin anticipating and checkmating the moves of the left politically, rhetorically and by refusing to cede anymore of the culture.

One truth is for sure: we are full of cold anger and come November freedom loving Americans will do what many of their elected leaders have not done: We will push back the socialist-Communist left and they will not know what hit them.

From Bahr's mouth to God's ear. But I don't think the Left will lose a step unless conservatives go on the offensive to put the Left back on its heels. Where are you, Republicans?  You want our money, but what are you willing to do to earn it?

Another Leftist Undone By Facts

Cam Edwards, at the website Bearing Arms has an excellent article detailing the many uses of the Second Amendment by black Americans defending their lives and their property throughout the history of this country. It also, indirectly, puts the lie to the BLM protests and the Antifa riots and looting. For, what Edwards' article points out is that guns are inanimate objects, not capable of moral agency. The thing that tells us whether a gun is used for good or evil is whether the person wielding the gun intends evil or good. Edward' article can be found at Academic Rewrites History To Portray The 2A As "Tools Of The Oppressors."

Guns are inanimate objects. Wielded by an oppressor, they can be tools for oppression. Wielded by the oppressed, they can be tools for self-determination, individual liberty, and the fundamental right to life. Scofield’s warped history of the Second Amendment has room for villains, but no room for heroes like John Fletcher, who defended his new home from a mob shortly after he moved into an all-white neighborhood in Detroit in 1920, or Leola Blackmon, who protected her home in Carroll County, Mississippi from cross-burning Klansmen in the 1950s with the help of her 16-shot Winchester repeating rifle.

Once again, the problem is not guns, but people, and their sometimes bad intentions. If this world were indeed Heaven, we wouldn't need guns at all. Indeed, we also wouldn't need police, or government, or laws. In Heaven, we will all be perfectly aligned with God's Will.  But until Christ comes again, like the Good Shepard to call his sheep to his side, we will need guns.

Edwards points out a number of cases of black men and women who used guns to defend themselves and their families from people intent on harming them.

According to Scofield’s point of view, Leona Blackmon, John Fletcher, Fannie Lou Hamer, Hartman Turnbow, and countless others who exercised their Second Amendment rights in self-defense should have been advocating for gun control laws instead. Never mind that those laws would have likely been used to disarm them while their white neighbors kept ahold of their arms with a wink and a nod from law enforcement. Ida Wells was apparently wrong when she said that the Winchester repeating rifle deserved a place of honor in every black home as an anti-lynching tool. Based on Scofield’s view of history, she really should have encouraged her readers disarm themselves instead of arming up to fight back against the lynch mob.

Scofield has it all wrong. Her Leftism and and her post modernism create an essay in which facts don't actually matter; what matters to Scofield is the narrative of oppressors versus oppressed. But the facts are that guns are just tools. like screw drivers or saws. Whether they are used to aggress against life, or to defend it is entirely a matter of human agency. And facts are stubborn things, which is why Leftists have chosen post modern criticism. If facts still mattered to them, they would acknowledge the Truth.

What The Rioting and Looting Are Really About

William Gensert has a powerful piece today at the American Thinker outlining just what the recent riots, looting, and the occasional peaceful protests are really about.  The Covid-19 process had run its course.  People were getting fed up with being locked in their homes like prisoners.  The death of George Floyd was pure luck, as it gave the left, with its military wing, Antifa, and BLM an excuse to rampage.  Gensert lays it out in an article entitled The Left Will Destroy America To Regain Power.

“Badges? We don’t need no stinkin' badges.”

Defunding the police is all the rage. The left is desperate. The lockdowns, Russiagate, and impeachment failed to rid them of Donald Trump. Hence the rollout of their militia, Antifa, with new uniforms and advanced tactics and BLM as propagandists 

Using Antifa and BLM now is also great practice -- call it wargaming for November.

Because if the Democrats cannot steal the election “fairly,” they will burn this country to the ground.

Please go read Gensert's article in full. If you want to know the history of Antifa, please go to The American Mind for an article by Kyle Shideler.

Every Day Is Upside Down Day For The Left

The truth about the gun grabbers is that, like everything else the Left spouts is a lie.  It is all done in bad faith.  The truth is that the Left wants you and me disarmed not to reduce crime, but to gain the ability to ram socialism down our throats.  Dan Wos makes this clear in a post at Ammoland entitled The Political Left's lust For Violencee And Gun Control:

When I say “gun violence” doesn’t exist, some people look at me cross-eyed because the term has become so common in the media and left-wing talking points. The truth is, there’s no such thing as “gun-violence.”

“Gun-violence” doesn’t exist. It is a made-up nomenclature created as a tool to demonize guns in the pursuit of more gun restrictions on lawful Americans. It’s impossible for a gun to be violent. Violence can only come from people. What the gun grabbers are really talking about is “human-violence.” But if the discussion were focused on “human violence,” we would all be forced to work on solving the problems that cause people to act violently. The gun-grabbing left does not want to do that for two reasons.

Number one, it doesn’t help their pursuit to demonize guns and implement more gun-restrictions.

Number two, focusing on “human-violence” would expose their culpability in its perpetuation.

We have lately heard loud cries to disband police departments. In Minneapolis, the President of the City Council suggested that when a call came in for the newly disbanded police to come, they would send out counselors instead. That's right, when an armed thug is invading your home, they will send out a counselor to talk him into submission. And I wonder who is going to enforce traffic laws?  Meanwhile, the disarmed citizen will be twice victimized by both the government, that he is paying for, and the criminals.

They use a false narrative, dishonest media and vague terms to keep the problem alive while pretending to fight against it. You’ve heard them say things like, “we need to tear down the system and rebuild it from the ground up.” How exactly do they propose to do this? They’ll never tell you because they have no idea, but they do need to be perceived as the righteous, justice warriors in the eyes of those who don’t know any better. How about when they say we need to “re-imagine the police department?” What exactly does that mean? The answer is, nothing. The term “re-imagine the police department” means absolutely nothing and they know it. They know YOU will never be able to define it and they know THEY will never be called out on it out of the fear people have of being labeled a racist. These are vague terms that they create so they can continue to perpetuate the problem of “human-violence” without the possibility of a solution. It would seem that the political left doesn’t want human-violence to go away.

If you haven''t already, you should be getting the idea that the Left, and everything they say and do is a lie. David Codrea, of the War on Guns says that for progressives, every day is opposite day. He is right. You can count on the fact that whatever they may say or do, they mean the opposite.

An Open Letter To President Trump

I have mentioned, have I not, that I have a daily prayer life, centered first on Martin Luther's Martin Luther's Morning Prayer. But I pray for other things too. I pray that God will strengthen the faith of Christians throughout the world, especially where they face persecution for their faith, which includes the United States. And I pray that he will give guidance to President Trump to make the best decisions for our nation. Thus, in a world where it often seems as if Christianity is disappearing from the world, this open letter to President Trump from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano is both welcome and surprising. Please check it out at the link provided. But, I will reproduce it here in total because I suspect it will be "disappeared" soon and I wont to ensure its survival on the internet wayback machine.  I will not comment on it, but rather let Vigano's letter speak for itself.

I would note that they way Vigano speaks may not be what you may be used to, but he is not wrong.  Many have adopted a way of speaking that avoids the language of God and the Evil One, that seeks to conceal such language in coded messages.  Do not be put off by Vigano's open speech, sending a clear message in clear language.  He speaks truth.

Personally, I am glad to see that there are at least elements of the Catholic Church that still are dedicated to the faith Jesus taught us.

                                                                                                                    June 7, 2020

                                                                                                         Holy Trinity Sunday

Mr. President,

             In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority. And yet the former are the object of a sort of discrimination which places them in a situation of moral inferiority with respect to their adversaries, who often hold strategic positions in government, in politics, in the economy and in the media. In an apparently inexplicable way, the good are held hostage by the wicked and by those who help them either out of self-interest or fearfulness.

          These two sides, which have a Biblical nature, follow the clear separation between the offspring of the Woman and the offspring of the Serpent. On the one hand there are those who, although they have a thousand defects and weaknesses, are motivated by the desire to do good, to be honest, to raise a family, to engage in work, to give prosperity to their homeland, to help the needy, and, in obedience to the Law of God, to merit the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, there are those who serve themselves, who do not hold any moral principles, who want to demolish the family and the nation, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money: for them the fallacious illusion of temporal well-being will one day – if they do not repent – yield to the terrible fate that awaits them, far from God, in eternal damnation.

          In society, Mr. President, these two opposing realities co-exist as eternal enemies, just as God and Satan are eternal enemies. And it appears that the children of darkness – whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you in these days – have decided to show their cards, so to speak, by now revealing their plans. They seem to be so certain of already having everything under control that they have laid aside that circumspection that until now had at least partially concealed their true intentions. The investigations already under way will reveal the true responsibility of those who managed the Covid emergency not only in the area of health care but also in politics, the economy, and the media. We will probably find that in this colossal operation of social engineering there are people who have decided the fate of humanity, arrogating to themselves the right to act against the will of citizens and their representatives in the governments of nations.

          We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population. The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction. It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom: Solve et Coagula, as the Masonic adage teaches.

          Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.

          For the first time, the United States has in yyou a President who courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your participation in the March for Life, and more recently your proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle, albeit with different weapons.

          For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth, but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches.

          The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters. However, it is important that the good – who are the majority – wake up from their sluggishness and do not accept being deceived by a minority of dishonest people with unavowable purposes. It is necessary that the good, the children of light, come together and make their voices heard. What more effective way is there to do this, Mr. President, than by prayer, asking the Lord to protect you, the United States, and all of humanity from this enormous attack of the Enemy? Before the power of prayer, the deceptions of the children of darkness will collapse, their plots will be revealed, their betrayal will be shown, their frightening power will end in nothing, brought to light and exposed for what it is: an infernal deception.

          Mr. President, my prayer is constantly turned to the beloved American nation, where I had the privilege and honor of being sent by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Nuncio. In this dramatic and decisive hour for all of humanity, I am praying for you and also for all those who are at your side in the government of the United States. I trust that the American people are united with me and you in prayer to Almighty God.

          United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity, I bless you and the First Lady, the beloved American nation, and all men and women of good will.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò

Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana

Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

Bryan Lynch on the Second Amendment

As Minneapolis discusses, seriously, the idea of getting rid of its police department; and as Project Veritas has put together videos showing ANTIFA training its foot soldiers how to maim and kill; it may be time for another piece on the Second Amendment.

Please read the embedded rant by Bryan Lynch on the Second Amendment.  If you watch the mainstream media, you will get the impression that the entire world is upside down.  They have gone from 24/7 Russia, Russia, Russia, to all Covid-19 all the time, to suddenly Covid is no longer an issue, its the George Floyd riots.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

My suggestion?  Turn off the TV.  Go outside without a mask and talk to your neighbors and friends.  Take the wife to a restaurant and have a nice meal.  Realize that what you are feeling is what they want you to feel.  But readers of Standing By are people who research and think for themselves.  Don't be fooled.  Of course the Covid-19 is real, and serious.  But it is not THAT serious.  Of course the death of George Floyd is unfortunate.  But the place to sort it out is in the courts, not on the street.  The officers involved have been charged.  Meanwhile, what ANTIFA is doing is causing destruction of innocent people who were nowhere near George Floyd, and had nothing to do with his death.  How is that justice?

Note, please that rioting, looting, vandalism, maiming and killing are not acts of justice.  Instead, these things are criminal.  If you are doing these things, you are acting outside the law; therefore you are an outlaw.  The law only protects those who obey the law.  Outlaws get none of that protection, sorry.  Society has attempted to blur these lines, but the only reason for the law is to protect people who obey it, and punish people who do not.

Oh, and guess what?  When governments release criminals onto the streets, they are refusing to punish outlaws.  How is that justice?

As you can see, if you don't already have a gun, take the opportunity now to acquire one that you shoot well, and get plenty of ammunition for it.  Also get some training to handle it responsibly.  Then carry it with you at all times.  Just remember that it is like a fire extinguisher.  Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Oh, and remember to pray.  The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6: 9-13) is a good one.

What Would Jesus Do?

Apparently I misunderstood a recent communication from our congregation that we were having regular services again.  We apparently still have online services, with no more than 10 people allowed in the sanctuary, using social distancing.  The 10 people are needed because the liturgy involves call by the Pastor and response by the congregation.  For example the Pastor might say "Peace be with you" to which the congregation responds "And also with you" or "And with thy spirit."

Perhaps I had been hoping that the Pastor would buck the trend.  But then, the Pastor is often at the mercy of the elders of the church and the district, who in turn must follow the dictates of the Missouri Synod.  In any case, our Pastor has bowed to the State.  As I say, I can not blame him.

However, as Fay Voshell writes at the American Thinker today, in an article entitled America's New State-Run Church, church leaders need to do some soul searching to figure out exactly who they thing they are working for. Hint: it is not the Governor, or Mayor, or indeed, anybody in aturoity in government.

So it is with some astonishment that the faithful see Governor John Carney of Delaware, along with other state governors such as California's Gavin Newsom, order church leaders and congregants to keep their nonessential heads in the tech cloud. Carney's recommendation? "Do your best to practice your faith virtually."

No matter how virtuous or sentimental their motives, the almost complete capitulation of priests and pastors to banishment by government leaders like Carney has been astonishing. Few have meaningfully protested the exile of the Church into the cloud. In fact, nearly all churches voluntarily have closed their sanctuaries and ascended into cyberspace.

The nearly universal retreat into the cloud meant that the Church accepted social distancing more severe than the six feet enforced by grocery stores. It meant church leaders distanced themselves from their congregations altogether, consigning their flocks to a cyber-environment that is COVID-19 free but certainly not free from the virus of political correctness enforced the church of Big Tech minders.

I would note that one of the reasons that the Federal government was forbidden from establishing a state church was precisely because of the history of such in Europe. Wars had been fought over the issue of Catholic versus Protestant in a number of countries. Indeed, the 30 Years War was fought initially between Catholic and Protestant States i the fragmented Holy Roman Empire and resulted in the deaths of 8 million people. I would note though that few minds were changed as a result. As it turned out, the churches in the United States were stronger than the state run churches in Europe. So it is ironic that SCOTUS has allowed the states to continue discriminating against Christian churches. Voshell wrutes:

The state that dictates when and where and how and to whom the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered is the state that has taken over the church and substituted its own sacraments. The state that dictates the how, when, and where of the baptism of children is the state that has created its own church. The state that decides when, where, and how many of the faithful can listen to the preaching of the Word or how many can assemble to pray together is the state that also dictates what is to be preached and prayed. The state that insists that worshipers wear and sing through face masks is the state that determines the way virtues of the state churches are signified. The state that ranks the Church of God to be an institution equal to bars, restaurants, and public schools is the state that will disregard the unique status of the Church and its constitutional rights.

As the directives from the state begin to strangle the Church, the latter is faced with a choice it probably should have made at the beginning of the state takeover. Pastors and priests must make the decision to open their churches to worship services and to continue the churches' ministries as they were before the coronavirus coup. They must remember what the Church is and obey God rather than the State.

Because this response by government to the corona virus is essentially a leftist operation, Voshell is right to be concerned. In any case, while the churches themselves have no constitutional rights, individuals do. A point I have made several times during the last two months, is that none of the rights protected by the Constitution are abrogated because of a health crisis.Church leaders no doubt went along with the initial dictates of the governments because of a desire to be good neighbors. But being a good neighbor should never be an excuse to cave unreasonable demands to cease performing the thing that Christ commanded, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Voshell makes the point that under the circumstances, maybe church leaders should do some soul searching, and just maybe grow a spine.  It's and often misused phrase, but one I think appropriate here: What Would Jesus Do?