Lost and Found

When my teeth bite down I can see the blood
Of a thousand men who have come and gone
Now we grieve 'cause now it's gone
Things were good when we were young
--Von Bondies

In some ways the holes in my heart still feel as large as those twin holes in the ground.

In other ways, those holes have been filled with knowledge and love.

As terrible as that day was, I am grateful for the positive changes it has brought. 

Like today's gospel (Luke 15:1-32) that tells us of the lost son who has been found.

Queen of Heaven

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
--Revelations 12:1

Throughout history queens have used their influence and office to provide for everyday people. As Queen of Heaven, Mary provides for us by being our chief advocate. 

Today, we celebrate her crowning and give thanks for our good fortune.

Awe Struck

Who is this that comes forth like the dawn
As beautiful as the moon
As resplendent as the sun?
--Songs 6:10

Struck with awe once more...

...as we celebrate the Assumption of our Blessed Mother into heaven.

Hiroshima Myth

"The principle of law in every civilized society has this in common: Any person who sways another to commit murder, any person who furnishes the lethal weapon for the purpose of the crime, any person who is an accessory to the crime...is guilty."
--Judge Dan Heywood (Judgment at Nuremburg)

On August 6, 1945, a United States B-29 dropped the world's first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later another A-bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered later that month to end WWII.

An estimated 120,000 perished in the two blasts with hundreds of thousands subsequently maimed or killed from radiation exposure. The lion's share of casualties were civilians--mostly women and children.

The popular myth trotted out to justify this carnage is that, by bombing the Japanese mainland and inflicting death and destruction to a degree that forced a surrender, the US subsequently avoided more than a million additional military casualties that would have resulted from the ongoing conventional war campaign--including an inevitable invasion operation of Japan.

As discussed in this article, this amounts to little more than the rationalization of atrocity.

The fact is that Japanese officials signaled their willingness to conditionally surrender earlier in 1945. Their condition was that Japanese emperor Hirohito would remain in power and not be subjected to criminal investigations after the war. The idea was to preserve as much Japanese culture as possible, and to provide continuity to facilitate economic and social functioning in post-war Japan.

Sadly, President Truman and his lackeys were unwilling to accept anything other than unconditional surrender--quite ironic since after the war Hirohito was indeed permitted to remain as emperor until his death in 1989. 

Why, then, were the bombs dropped?

The answer is that Truman and his staff, particularly his confidante and future secretary of state James Byrnes, had their eyes on Russia. Using atomic weapons would demonstrate US military strength to Russia and keep Stalin & Co at bay as the superpowers entered a 'cold war.' A secondary reason was that Congress could be assured that its secret appropriation for the Manhattan Project was bearing fruit that created near and longer term benefits.

Following the bombings, however, many officials, including Commander of the Third Fleet Admiral Bill Halsey, Fleet Commander Chester Nimitz, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff William Leahy, and atomic theorist Albert Einstein, condemned the action. 

This is when the propaganda machinery got into gear. Editorials and articles began to hit the pages of newspapers and magazines about the military necessity of the bombings. The myth has been continually reinforced, usually around this time of year, by political leaders and a complicit media. 

Perhaps in a brief moment of conscience, Henry Stimson, who was secretary of war at the time and chief propagator of the subsequent Hiroshima myth, wrote in his memoirs, 

"Unfortunately, I have lived long enough to know that history is not what actually happened but what is recorded as such." 

Indeed, Mr Stimson. My sense is that you and many of your contemporaries will face, quite literally, the trial of your lives on Judgment Day.

Handshake Contagion

When it almost seemed too much
I see your face and sense of grace
And feel the magic of your touch
--Thompson Twins

When it is time to 'offer each other a sign of peace' at mass, the new normal has become waves, good old fashioned peace signs, or other non-contact gestures. Certainly no handshakes.

Every now and then, however, people can't resist doing what is natural.

Today, the two people in front of me both offered their hands, which I gladly shook. A person behind me saw our handshakes and got in on the action as well. Genuine smiles all around too.

It felt good to defy the nonsensical and to do instead what humans were made to do. 

True contagion.

Deep Church

Desolate loving in your eyes
You used to make my life so sweet
Step out like a God-found child
I saw your eyes across the street
--Culture Club

Interesting interview with an Italian Catholic archbishop concerning the state of the world and of the church. He suggests that events of the last couple of years have been perpetrated by proponents of the Great Reset. Moreover, he argues that officials of the Catholic Church have done little to stop these people and that some are likely complicit.

He draws parallels to what is happening inside the church to the secular political world. Just as we have a deep state, we also have a deep church, with officials sympathetic to un-Godly principles reaching the highest levels of the church hierarchy.

Ultimately, he believes, the Great Reset is destined for failure because "it is inspired by inhuman and diabolical principles." However, its end may take time, depending both on human capacity to oppose it and on God's plans for Divine Providence.

His views will certainly not win him a ton of friends inside the deep church contingent. But his forthright challenge of status quo corruption instills confidence that God is indeed positioning for victory.

Still Radical

Benjamin Martin: May I sit with you?
Charlotte Selton: It's a free country. Or at least it will be.
--The Patriot

Two hundred and forty-six years after our nation's first law, its founding principle of liberty remains radical. From his early days of social existence, man has been tempted to surrender liberty to earthly rulers. As God warned Samuel, doing so invites despotism.

In 1776, the United States startled the world when it chose to 'throw off' that despotism in pursuit of self-determination. Since then, the authoritarians have been seeking to extinguish that flame of liberty and reclaim their power.

Events of the past few years suggest to some that the tyrants have made progress.

Personally, I prefer to believe that the opposite is happening. People tend to wake up when their freedoms are being stolen. 

Nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, we learned that when enough people wake up, they--the true radicals--have the capacity to push back.

Lambs Among Wolves

Do not answer fools according to their folly, lest you become a fool yourself.
--Proverbs 26:4

In today's gospel from Luke 10, Jesus laments that "the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few." So he appoints 72 'others' to head out to towns ahead of his visits to evangelize--to prepare the way. 

He warns that he is sending them "like lambs among wolves." Many, he knows, will not be receptive. In fact, they may be downright hostile.

For those who are not receptive, Christ advised his evangelists not to dwell on it. Rather, he tells them to shake off the dust of those places from their feet and walk away.

Today, God wants his world back. Those 72 'others' represent us. We are to go forth, like lambs among wolves, on a journey toward spiritual perfection that ends at the gates of heaven. Along the way, we are to try to persuade others to join us on the journey.

Many will react with indifference and hostility. In those cases, Jesus tells us not to engage them on their terms. If we do so, then, as the proverb suggests above, we risk becoming entrapped in their foolishness.

Instead, shake their dust from your feet and move on.

The Real Thing

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
--Ps 34:8

Today today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi--the body and blood of Christ. Catholics believe that the bread and water offered at mass do not represent symbols. They are transformed into Christ's real presence.

As such, nothing should get in the way of receiving it. Not travel, sports, or other distraction. 

What could be more important than receiving Jesus himself?

Public Health Philosophy

Sometimes you're better off dead
There's a gun in your hand 
And it's pointed at your head
--Pet Shop Boys

Robert Malone proposes that public health policy is built on two philosophies: utilitarianism and Malthusianism.

Utilitarianism posits that the morally right action is the action that does the most good. It is a form of consequentialism--the correct action is assessed solely in terms of results produced. 

Utilitarianism fosters what these pages have deemed 'greater good accounting.' If a program is deemed to help more people than it hurts, then it is deemed a winner.

Malthusianism springs from the writings of political economist Thomas Malthus, who believed that population growth would outstrip food supply and other scarce resources, consequently triggering global poverty and death. 

The central implication of Malthusianism is population control. Limit the number of births so that future standard of living won't be compromised by too many people walking the planet.

Two hundred plus years, and billions of people, later and the world has yet to hit Malthus' dreaded upper bound of population. Why? More people produce more, which alleviates the scarcity that worried Malthus. Moreover, those people innovate, applying capital in manners that improve productivity even more.

Meanwhile, countries that have seen birth rates decline significantly, such as Japan, face major demographic headwinds likely to restrain standard of living in the years ahead.

None of that matters to public health officials, or climate alarmists, or socialists in general. The ingenuity that flows from liberty must be restricted in favor of utilitarian and Malthusian central planning. 

Never mind the misery and chaos that such planning creates... 

"You've Got to Go"

Ellis 'Zee' Pettigrew: LT, rules of engagement?
Lt A.K. Walters: We're already engaged.
--Tears of the Sun

Last week 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18 yr old active shooter in a Texas elementary school. Evidence is emerging that local police were on the scene early, but they did not enter the building to neutralize the shooter. 

As shots continued to be fired from inside the school building, onlookers, including parents of the students, urged law enforcement to get in there. But they stayed put. In fact, some onlookers who attempted to breach the 'safe zone' in desperation to 'do something' were forcibly restrained by police.

It was not until a Border Patrol tactical unit showed up more than an hour after the initial arrival of local law enforcement that the school building was finally entered and the shooter taken down.

A former Border Patrol agent who trained the team in active shooter scenarios was disturbed by local law enforcement's lack of urgency. "You go to the sound of gunfire," he said.

"Somebody's going to get shot in these scenarios--I mean, that's the whole point of an active shooter. And when you are a law enforcement officer and your job in the situation is to prevent any more innocent people from being wounded or killed--then you've got to go. Hopefully everything turns out OK, but you've got to go."

Active shooter situations dictate that law enforcement has to find a way in and neutralize the threat.

"If you're met with a hail of gunfire, then you've got to work your way around and figure out another way. If that means you retreat and port a window and go in, OK. The doors are locked, we can't get in, we don't have the tools to get in, then we've got to break the windows and go in. Driving a squad car through the side of the building--when you've got children being massacred inside of a building who gives a **** about a $50,000 squad car? Drive it through the wall.

"Because every shot that's fired is somebody either dying or getting wounded, you've got to go."

He suggests that officers on the scene bear a heavy burden for their failure to act.

"As far as I'm concerned, if there was any shooting going on, and there was law enforcement there failed to act for whatever reason, anybody that was there needs to turn in their badge and their gun, and they need to go away and hope they can live with the deaths of these children."

Pray for all involved, including those officers. And resolve that if you ever face one of these situations, then don't hesitate. You've got to go.

Proud Moms

Her children rise up and call her blessed.
--Proverbs 31:28

A beautiful Mother's Day that doubles as a special Graduation Day.

I can think of at least three moms who are very proud today.

Love and Liberty

No more running down the wrong road
Dancing to a different drum
Can't you see what's going on
Deep inside your heart?
--Michael McDonald

Leonard Read's Students of Liberty is a thoughtful compilation of remarks made to students at Pitt in 1950. I found several points particularly interesting.

Read proposes that the history of the world is largely a history of violence. These pages have proposed similarly. Some violence is direct, such as war, while other violence is indirect, such as the violence that manifests under the guise of democracy. For example, when people vote to raise taxes to pay for a particular program, those voters are principals of violence. They contract with the strong arm of government to shake down others for resources to fund their pet projects.

The alternative to violence, Read suggests, is love. Love refers to the kindly virtues in human relations such as charity, integrity, and not doing unto others what you would not have them do unto you. This is, of course, Christ's central message. 

If we are to trends of violence toward love, then Read asserts that liberty is required. Love "generates and grows among free men; only with great difficulty among men ruled by the principles of violence. As violence begets violence so does one personal act of kindness beget another." (28) 

How does liberty grow? Read dismisses approaches such as marketing campaigns, subsidized instruction, and fear mongering programs. Instead, he advocates for self-motivated learning and improvement. Only through personal search for truth and leading by example will liberty grow.

Read admits that his 'one-individual-at-a-time' notion lacks the speed of other, more aggressive proposals, but he argues that the Students of Liberty approach is the only one that will produce durable and lasting change.

Here we are 70+ years later, and most of the approaches that Read downplayed have been tried with marginal success. Perhaps it is time to put Read's proposal to work.

I personally plan to.

Burying Liberty...Again

"Why should I trade one tyrant 3000 miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a king can."

--Benjamin Martin (The Patriot)

Judge Nap rails against the unconstitutional seizing of Russian property, the freezing of Russian bank accounts, and the barring of contractual trade with Russian partners--all done under the guise of sanctions imposed after the Ukraine invasion. These sanctions violate both the Fourth Amendment, which requires warrants specific to place and person before property can be detained, and the Fifth Amendment, which requires due process before property can be expropriated.

A common response to charges such as these is that the Constitution only protects US citizens and not foreigners. This is wrong. The wrongheadedness of this line of thought is revealed by considering the Constitution's conceptual basis.

The formation of the United States is grounded in natural law. Natural law posits that all men are created equal at birth, meaning that we all have equal rights to life, to the freedom to pursue our interests as long as we do not forcibly intrude on the pursuits of others, and to the property that our pursuits might generate.

These natural rights are granted to each of us by our creator and as a condition of our humanity. They are unalienable, meaning that we are free to exercise our natural rights unencumbered by government interference. This is the founding principle of liberty. 

Government's sole just purpose is to protect our natural rights. It can only interfere in an individual's pursuits when it is suspected that a person has forcibly compromised the natural rights of someone else. However, government must carefully follow just legal processes including those specified by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

If the natural law basis of the Constitution is to be upheld, then it makes no sense to limit its application citizens of the United States. Americans were not the only people born to the 'self-evident' truth that all men were created equal. All have been endowed with the same set of natural rights. When government tramples on the natural rights of any individual, it has done wrong.

As the Judge notes at the end of his column: "War is the health of the state and the graveyard of liberty." Actions of the US government taken under the auspices of the Ukraine conflict demonstrate once again America's lack of leadership in championing the very principles upon which our nation was founded.

War finds the United States burying liberty once again.

Morning Glory

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."
--Luke 24:5-6

The Holy Women at the Tomb (William Bouguereau, 1890)

Freak Tweets

All that pressure got you down
Has your head spinning all around
--Chic

Elon Musk has upped his ante on the Twitter saga (TWTR) by offering to buy the entire company for $54.20/share, or about $41.4 billion. That constitutes a 20% premium over Thursday's close.

Not surprisingly, leftists extended their previous freak out over the prospect of losing control of the platform to someone who differs from them ideologically. Matt Taibbi discusses some of their absurd arguments.

Many leftists trotted out the wealth card, railing against the idea of a rich person buying/controlling a media outlet. Ironically, several of these screeds were floated by people affiliated with the Washington Post, a newspaper by Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos has a net worth north of $150 billion. 

What leftists are saying, of course, it that it's ok to own a media company if you're a rich leftist. Otherwise...

More irony streamed from leftists screaming that Musk's bid should spark more government regulation of media companies. Follow the logic: We need regulation...to prevent rich people from controlling our channels of communication.

It gets weirder. 

Another tranche of leftists complained that they are terrified that Musk will censor people less. One leftist tweeted, "He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less."

Although this is wholly consistent with previously shared survey data on censoring, I find myself pausing to let this train of thought sink in.

The most laughable reaction may have come from former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich--known for his forays into socialist drivel (e.g., here, here). Reich suggests that a Musk-led Twitter "wouldn't be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science, or the common good." 

Censoring, you see, is for the common good. And, as we have witnessed over the past few years, it is the censors who determine what facts, truths, and science are fit for you to see. Media outlets must be held accountable--accountable to the censors.

Because he threatens their charade, the left must oppose and, if necessary, seek to destroy Musk.

Allegorically fitting on this Good Friday.

no positions

Lead Through Neutrality

"His voice traveled with such a still purpose. It was more than a voice...a man more than a man. He said, 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.'"
--Esther (Ben-Hur)

Country A and B are engaging in armed conflict. Country C, if it truly desires peace, does not pick a side. It does not join A or B in battle. It does not supply arms to A or B. It doesn't levy economic sanctions on A or B. It does not berate A or B in the media.

If it does any of these, then C reveals itself as a partisan cohort of war.

The peaceful stance is neutrality. Engage in trade with A and B. Seek to mediate, to understand the concerns of both sides. Volunteer to host discussions between A and B that would bring an end to violence.

Lead through neutrality.

Ukraine Invasion

I must've dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street
--Genesis

After Russia formally recognized the independence of two eastern regions of Ukraine, and officials from those regions requested assistance in defending against Ukraine national forces, Russian forces invaded the country last night. Both air and ground attacks focused on military targets and affected several cities, including the Ukraine capital of Kiev.

As is the case whenever war begins, a 'fog' engulfs information pools that blurs what is going on. Emotions also run high as feelings of nationalism and sovereignty reinforce tribal bonds.

Markets have been thrown for a loop, of course.

Let us pray for those involved, and that peace quickly reasserts itself as status quo in the region.

Love

Love is patient. Love is kind.
It is not jealous. It is not pompous.

It is not inflated. It is not rude.
It does not seek its own interests.
It is not quick-tempered.
It does not brood over injury.
It does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
--1 Cor 13:4-8

Substitute your name in for love in each sentence above. Now how does it read? How to make it read better?

Cana

His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."
--John 2:5

Today we celebrate Christ's first 'sign' when he transformed water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

Our Lady moved things forward. When Jesus asked her what concern the wine shortage was of his, Mary simply turned to the servants and advised them to do what he says. Jesus knew that it was time. The servants listened and obeyed.

Mary speaks to us in similar fashion. We are the servants. She is telling us to do whatever Christ says. Will we listen and obey?