"Why are we not all talking about this? Because it was done to get Donald Trump, is why."
And what will be done to "get" Trump this next time around? And what will be done to "get" Trump's successors, be it this year or in 2028 or whenever?
The forces opposing Trump, the Establishment - fully believing in the morality of their cause - have already signaled they'll basically stop at nothing to keep the Deplorables' grubby fingers away from the levers of power. But what's indeed hilarious is how they turn around and fret about "threats to Democracy" - as if they themselves don't constitute a, if not THE, major threat.
They've conned themselves into believing Trump = Naziism and every effort to prevent Naziism from gaining any ground is morally defensible, because it's all in defense of "democracy," defined as the Establishment retaining power, which in their view is the only moral outcome. And as we're certain to see, it'll eventually go far beyond lying about the laptop story.
"The forces opposing Trump, the Establishment - fully believing in the morality of their cause - have already signaled they'll basically stop at nothing to keep the Deplorables' grubby fingers away from the levers of power. But what's indeed hilarious is how they turn around and fret about "threats to Democracy" - as if they themselves don't constitute a, if not THE, major threat."
But don't you see? There in two sentences is the REAL problem. It's not political; it's epistemological. You write correctly of Trump's opposition "fully believing in the morality of their cause". And that morality forces them to accept "facts" in its support, denying "facts" against it. And the same can be said of Trump's supporters. They, too, fully believe in the morality of their cause. And that morality forces them to accept "facts" in its support, denying "facts" against it. Trump's opponents listen to the MSM and garner their "facts" just as his supporters listen to Fox, et al, and garner their "facts".
Back in the day Walter Cronkite ended his news broadcasts with an admonition "And that's the way it is, Saturday the 22nd of April 2023." Today the United States is a once-great nation separated by two competing sets of "facts" and without a Walter Cronkite to tell us which one "is the way it is."
Or you could state more correctly: They fully believe the immorality of their cause is moral. They certainly don't see their cause as immoral, believing instead that their opponents' beliefs are immoral. Without common facts and grounds to argue from, you can't win such an argument.
Their beliefs are ultimately immoral, in that they believe themselves to be the fount of all morality. They believe they deserve to rule on the basis of their "superior" morality, compared to us rubes. They, in fact, likely believe themselves to be the most moral people ever to walk the earth, the pinnacle of human virtue. Or virtue signaling.
people commit (and excuse) the worst possible crimes when they become convinced of their own moral infallibility.
something terrible but expected happened to Team Blue when that man descended his golden escalator... they decided (through escalating levels of mass panic) that he was so immoral and so dangerous that any and all tactics were worth it if it meant defeating him.
basically their plan is to destroy the village (American liberal democracy) in order to save it.
The problem with the Hunter Biden laptop story is that there are no specifics. The mere fact that the guy had a laptop is about as newsworthy as the fact that my tulips are blooming in April. So where's the beef, as old Clara Peller used to say back in the 80s. If there's supposed to be something scandalous about the laptop's contents-- payola records, state secrets the guy shouldn't have had, naughty pictures of minors-- could someone please tell us what that is? Otherwise it's just Republicans chanting "Hunter Biden's laptop" as a mantra while Pavlov's MAGA boys bay and howl at it. At least with Whitewater we had some dicey real estate deals front and center.
The contents of Hunter's laptop have been out for years, particularly the unsavory pictures of him doing drugs with prostitutes that were on it. There are emails that appear to detail payola. It's a lot.
You don't have to go too far out into the fringe to find it. But the big media outlets suppressed it. That's one part of the scandal.
It's all out there. To get those links I just googled "Biden laptop contents." If you don't know the details of what's on the laptop, it's because you don't want to know.
But then that's kind of your thing, isn't it, Jon?
What does Hunter doing drugs with prostitutes have to go with his father and his ability to be president? It is not as if he had sex with a porn star or playboy playmate while his wife was pregnant.
My problem with it: news of the laptop was literally censored to help Biden win the election. In my mind this made the election unfair, stolen, what have you.
Unfair? Yes. Stolen? Not so much. Every voter's vote was cast and (hopefully) counted as cast. Every voter made up his mind in some way or the other before casting his vote. Did every voter have access to the Hunter Biden laptop information? Certainly not. Would it have made enough difference to change his vote? Maybe. Maybe not. Would the number of voters who might have changed their vote knowing the content of Hunter Biden's laptop been significant enough to change the result of the election? Maybe. Maybe not.
I've stated before (and in this thread) that the real problem is epistemological. It's not a question of "facts", since every side produces its own "facts". It's a question of truth, authenticity, and acceptance by all.
So, what you are saying is that they "thought" it would help them win. But did it? Just as one prays for victory, does God grant it? Those are the kinds of questions that need to be answered before you can reach the issue of legitimacy.
Fair enough. Of course you have Jesus' admonition: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." But then he was talking about adultery and not politics. Two different sins.
By that standard Nixon's win in 1972 was illegitimate because of Watergate and the cover up. And we now have some supporting evidence (a deathbed confession) that Reagan's people dealt with the Ayatollah to keep the hostages in 1980. Was his win illegitimate too?
What "deathbed confession"? The source of the story, Ben Barnes, is 85 years old and still very much alive.
You had to scroll waaay down into the New York Times's reporting to see how little evidence there is beyond Barnes's octagenarian recollection:
"None of that establishes whether Mr. Reagan knew about the trip, nor could Mr. Barnes say that Mr. Casey directed Mr. Connally to take the journey. Likewise, he does not know if the message transmitted to multiple Middle Eastern leaders got to the Iranians, much less whether it influenced their decision making."
I'm not saying I believe the accusations, I'm notoriously skeptical after all. I am saying that an insider's confession adds some small degree of veracity to it, but no, not certainty.
Did you see what that atheist clown Sam Harris said about this? That he wouldn't have cared if Hunter Biden had the bodies of children in his basement, it would have been better to keep it quiet to ensure that Trump lost? Now I grant that this was no doubt hyperbole, but the point remains. Two points actually. 1) The Dems and the never-Trump Republicans whom they colluded with would have done practically anything to keep DT from getting elected, and 2) If the situation were reversed and the GOP had done something like this, you'd never hear the effing end of it, and the media would be all in on the criticism.
Simple fact: Truth was buried and lies were told in order to ensure the outcome of the election, and the media and certain elitist elements in the government were complicit. I quickly add that I am/was not a Trump supporter, and that as an independent I believe that this would be equally reprehensible if done by the GOP. Given its uniparty nature and its deep tentacles, this is far more of a "threat to democracy" than a second term of DT ever would have been. Anyone who can't see this is either an idiot or an ideologue, or some combination of the two, and seems to me to lie largely in the ridiculous self-serving psychological claim that "Our side would never cheat!"
Did Harris really say that? Wow. It's the practical outcome of Richard Rorty's admission that Freud faked his "findings" but that's ok because it's the answer we wanted. Epistemological nihilism.
You could say that about every election since the media routinely slant coverage away from or toward candidates. Media bias has been a thing since the Federalist press trumpeted the scandal of Jefferson's slave mistress and children. Candidates should expect no less and a politically astute candidate-- say a Ronald Reagan or a Bill Clinton-- will find ways to work around that.
Jon, have you believed “the big Guy”, Joe Biden, every time he lied to us, to DJT at their debate, and very time to the press by saying unequivocally (1) that he never received any money from China or other foreigners and (2) that he never even spoke to his son Hunter about his “business” or any “deals”? You believe Joe, right? In your opinion, is everything reported about Joe and Hunter’s laptop, Biden family influence peddling, and now Morrell’s testimony nothing but right-wing smears? Why do you, an otherwise honest and intelligent man, inject here such skepticism about Joe Biden’s rank corruption of political discourse, elections, and government? Why try to inoculate Joe Biden on this? And no, “But Trump...” is not a sufficiently good answer.
Hang on there. We know there was a laptop in Hunter's possession that had some sordid crap on it. And that's about it: no evidence that any of it had anything to do with his father,
Every family has its black sheep. I have a set of cousins who should have a jail cell down in Pinellas County FL named after them so often have they been "guests" there. But that reflects on no one but them. Tarring anyone, even a politician, with the misdeeds of adult children, siblings even (in most cases) a spouse is just out of bounds.
JonF (and Martha Moyers): the Biden laptop story emphatically is NOT simply about tarring a family or a father, Joe, for Hunter’s numerous and manifest sordid words and deeds (yes, easily seen in Hunter’s book and online exposes). It’s about Bidens, including Joe, selling his position and influence. Hunter in one verified email writes of setting aside 10% for “the Big Guy”, clearly Joe. Did Bidens received million of dollars from Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian and other sources by Hunter’s influence peddling or not? But, ever as always, the coverup is worse than the underlying crimes and compounds the errors. This about Joe lying by his many denials and his using both media and many government officials to coverup. Due to Republican-led oversight committees asking questions to people under oath, we are learning more clearly what Joe knew and when. But even before the Biden-Trump 2020 debate, enough was known online to see Joe was flat out lying. The recent Morrell testimony only confirms in detail what was known then (unless one didn’t want to know). This is more unraveling and exposing of Joe and Hunter’s great misadventures. This isn’t about a black sheep. I wish it were. Do you believe (1) Joe and family never improperly received foreign $$ and (2) Joe had no conversations or knowledge of Hunter’s “business deals”?
Fox News by the way has a full copy of the laptop's contents, but has never made it public while hinting darkly about major scandals. Well, put up or shut up as they say! Meanwhile I don't jump any bandwagons based on mere rumor and gossip.
I’m happy we agree on one thing: “don’t jump on any bandwagons based on mere rumor and gossip.” But you refuse to answer simple questions: Did Hunter peddle Biden influence and access to VP Joe to receive millions? Did Joe lie to coverup same? Why ignore & shade solid evidence that the answers are ‘yes.’ Sure, we need to substantiate more. You see no evidence in good start of Dukeboy linked at top of our thread?
Roger Kimball writes short and sweet on Joe and Hunter at The Spectator.
The Morell and Blinken revelations should sober us and all who desire truth to prevail for better leaders and elections, media and politics. Good to watch what further facts the oversight committees and reporters uncover.
I’m not even sure why they would feel like they had to suppress the laptop thing. Hunter was not running for office. He doesn’t have a position in his father’s administration unlike Jared & Ivanka. He was a crackhead & a hot mess but a person is not responsible for the actions of their adult children & just about every president has had sketchy relatives. So I doubt anyone was going to say you know I would vote for Biden but his son is a druggie. Especially since there’s a voicemail of Biden telling Hunter he’s got to get some help, & his Dad loves him & wants to see him recover. He’s being investigated for lying about his drug use to buy a gun & possible tax issues. So a grand jury might need to see if there’s evidence of a crime or crimes, otherwise it seems like a big nothing Burger especially since Jared got $2 billion from the Saudis & Don Jr. seems to be high as a kite on all his videos. So it’s not like people who wouldn’t vote for Biden because of his son could say Trump’s kids were any better.
If you are so uninformed about current events as to have no idea what's alleged to be on the laptop, you're too ill informed about this to reasonably opine about it. Please stick to topics you've bothered to learn about.
I wouldn't say that APD has bought into the tranny hysteria. That opening statement is just the "pinch of incense" that public institutions like urban PDs have to do in order to keep the crazies from complaining that they didn't do it. That little ritual becomes especially important when they go on to release information that the LGBT activists don't want to hear, which is what they have done in these three cases. I mean, they've directly said that these specific victims weren't murdered for LGBT hate.
The type of brown- noser and apple polisher who becomes a police Public Information Officer on her* way up the ladder in a big PD is very clear on all the political angles of everything that touches the department. She has to be because she's getting requests for media statements from everywhere, including outlets with an obvious agenda.
I can almost guarantee you that she got a dozen inquiries about "Atlanta's epidemic of trans murders" from some of the fringier elements of the lavender mafia, all probably written in almost the exact same way, cut and pasted from somewhere. Then she got a couple of inquiries from "legit" media (and let's all remember that CNN is a hometown enterprise in the ATL) asking the same sort of questions. So, evidently tranny murders in ATL were about to become "a thing."
So she went to the homicide bureau commander and asked "What's the deal with these tranny murders?"
And the homicide commander said "I dunno. Let me find out." And then he went to his detectives and said "Where are we on this guy killing trannys downtown? We got any leads?"
And the detectives said "What the fuck are you talking about?" And then they pulled out their casefiles and said "These two look like domestics and the third was killed by a john. Patrol didn't even know the first one in January was a dude when they sent in the blurb in for the duty report that night. The hospital found that out later."
And the homicide commander said "Well, you HAVE considered the possibility that some of these were hate crimes, right?"
And the detectives rolled their eyes and one of them muttered "Oh, for fuck's sake," and their sergeant stood up from his desk, drew himself to attention, looked the commander in the eye and said "All possibilities are being considered, sir! These matters remain under investigation, sir! It does not appear at this time that any of these murders were motivated by bigotry, but the APD homicide bureau will not rest until all avenues of investigation have been pursued, sir!"
And the homicide commander chuckled and said "As you were, gentlemen." And then he went back to the PIO and said "It's two domestics and a hooker, but, yeah, all avenues of investigation are being pursued, yadda, yadda."
And then the PIO went out, burned her pinch of incense to keep the crazies at bay, and said that it was two domestics and a hooker. But she said it nicely.
*I didn't bother to click through to confirm if the APD public information officer is a woman. But a lot of times they are.
The generation of MIss Effie Lou saw change a on scale that will never be matched - from horse and buggy to out of the solar system with Pioneer 10 in 1983. My grandparents were of the same generation (grandpa farmed with horses) and seemed otherworldly to me as a child, their America was different from the one I knew.
Napoleon claimed that to understand a man one had to know what his world looked like before age 20. He might have been on to something. Does seem that if you live long enough the world 'passes you by' or becomes something harder to relate to. Grandpa told his 10th child, then 18, in 1963, that "the world's going to hell" and he meant it. Seems almost comically quaint in 2023, but from when and where he started, he saw 'the good things' slipping away. I imagine this is not uncommon with aging.
I have seen change more profound. When I was born in 1967, a child born with a penis was definitively male. Since that time however, Western culture has regressed so far as to be unable to reach such a simple conclusion. Similarly, God was real in 1967, now god is merely a relic of "Colonialism."
And no country, whether dictatorship, monarchy, Soviet, Nazi or decrepit democracy, can allow its criminal secrets to be known to its subjects, else freedom rings out, and its tyrants deposed.
I said a long time ago, that Trump wasn't our last best hope, but our worst. But in the face of our dire predicament, a hope for change, after the previous ruler's empty promises of hope and change didn't even give us chump change. So it is with the young airman who revealed the truth by his actions. Otherwise most people wouldn't even begin to know the truth, in our country by the lies, for the lies, of the lies. I don't care what his personal foibles are, except the truth is known, by any means. My wife tells me that is her fervent prayer, that the truth be revealed and the lies exposed. All of it. Since God is not a man that He should lie, prayers are being answered. Let us pray that this time of fooling all of the people, some of the time, will end. Thanks, Tex, for being an inadvertent and accidental hero, for being God's instrument for not letting democracy die in darkness. Even if it has died.
My heart swells.. takes me back to the days with my grandpa on the dairy and in the livestock sale barn. Cigar smoke ascending to the rafters, the quiet and sure confidence that I was in a magical place, protected and surrounded by good men, men that loved honest work, their families and animals. I can’t wait for Heaven.. we are in a such a sorry condition these days. Thank you Rod, I appreciate you.
Yeah Daniel, I can see it in my mind’s eye.. just beautiful. How can we live up to the example they set for us? We do live in a dark world, but there are remnants to hold onto. Thank you for the reply. God Bless You.
Lots of news, but Rod, you missed some good news: Mike Pompeo dropped out of the presidential race, if he was ever really in. He may get reconstituted in future, but that’s one less faux Christian neocon I don’t have to hear/see for a good while. “We lied, we cheated we stole...”. That’s right Mike, lied about war and stole taxpayer money, leaving a wake of broken lives, death, and despair.
"I know this counts as an extra post this week, but hey, there’s some interesting news, and besides, fish gotta swim, Rod gotta write."
You made me smile with this one! And here, I was waking up on Saturday, just kind of realizing that you don't schedule to publish on Saturdays, and we got a post anyway. Joy! :)
When I went to Germany in 2002, I had no intention of coming back, come what may. In 2004, when the base I was working at closed, I found a job on another base, because there was no way I was coming back. Two years later, I came back, and though I was looking at things in Phoenix and near St. Louis, I ended up back in Chicago. Why? It wasn't necessarily a strong pull back to the US, but I felt like if I stayed in Germany, I'd kind of get stitched into the fabric of the Bavarian countryside, and I wasn't ready for that, and I think God was telling me that that wasn't the plan He had for my life. It's been a wild ride, , but I think I got that much right.
I've been in Wisconsin for nearly a decade now, and I love it. Then again, I fall in love with the beauty God gave us pretty much anywhere I've been. It's all a marvel, the mountains and the deserts and the flowers and the sky and water. God is good, and so is the earth He created. Do I feel attached to Wisconsin? I know people here, and this is the place where my kids have primarily grown up; it's familiar. At the same time, I feel like I've still got a good bit of a wandering spirit, and if I am led somewhere else, I will go.
I don't know if Chicago is still "home", but on the other hand, I can't shake it completely either. I drove down for Pascha, and it is uncanny how I don't even have to think about navigating around the city because I know the streets down to the level of which ones go in what direction in some places. Will I ever live there again? At this point, it seems doubtful.
There's a Peter, Paul, and Mary lyric that sometimes comes to mind when I'm thinking about these things from a song called "No Other Name" (my parents had me listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary before I was an hour old; their music flows within me):
"I'll die alone, away from my home
Nobody knows where I came
The stone at my head will say I am dead
It knows me by no other name"
It may seem kind of sad, but it's just fine by me. God calls us "home" in a much greater sense, and that's the call I must follow.
Those last few paragraphs ... boy, do they resonate. My wife and I were born, raised and educated in Kentucky. Employment opportunities drew us to Texas 40 years ago. We’ve built a good life here, raised our kids here. But Kentucky is still our home. It pains me to think about being laid to rest in Plano, Texas. Irrational. Ridiculous. Still, so many memories like those Rod described. But unlike Rod, we were completely at home there. We live and die with choices we made when we were 22.
On the election: I believe that the professions of belief or disbelief in the outcome almost invariably miss the point to be concerned about.
The root question is not about "trusting the system." I am not attributing the phrase to RD, but I am putting it here in quotes because it is "the question" either explicitly or implicitly used as "the framework" of the topic, and it is the wrong question.
The prudent question is whether or not the 50 state election processes can be verified as reliable via audit, by competing interests. The practical problem of audit gets down to the few battleground states.
The particular question of the last election is whether those few states, such as GA, etc, etc, etc, under their election procedures, can prove that their election process can be verified by audit.
My sense is that they very probably cannot be verified by audit, and that the "certification of results" is not a "verification" that the results are reliable.
And that critique applies to any and every state political network: to state political networks leaning toward or adoring Donald Trump, and state political networks outraged the Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and who adore "Obama-Biden-Hilary-Newsome."
Another, but different, application of the principle of political skepticism is the outcome of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News, a warning about "trusting people" who are asserting, without recourse to evidence, that particular processes and tools in the election process are "unreliable."
If the "political process" merely comes down to "trusting the outcome" of unverifiable procedures (or "trusting people" who tell you something that you want to hear) then the process is junk.
Skepticism about political processes was at least expressed to be a motivation of "the founders" of the United States of America. My sense is that what is most laudable is not so much the men themselves who forged that element into the US political idea, but the principle to be skeptical, in the absence of proof.
As a non-Trump supporter who nevertheless felt that the whole lead-up to the 2020 election smelt of Denmark, the more info that comes out, the more my olfactory red flags are being proved true. A machine is now in place which makes it possible to ensure the outcomes of all future elections to the benefit of the uniparty elites. The only thing that will prevent this is a groundswell of grassroots activism in favor of the next "populist" candidate of either party.
And for God's sake, read Lasch's 'The Revolt of the Elites'.
Good little American. The USA never ever ever commits crime, our country just wants to bring hot dogs, football, and low math scores to the whole world to enjoy. Unlike every other country in history, all our politicians and elections are free from bribery and fraud, by golly it's so darn safe we don't even need to audit or verify votes like every other developed nation in the world.
There's no reason to presume that our elections are free and fair and even if it's simply sore lovers raising the alarms, it's a good practice to always triple verify election results.
I agree that recounts and audits should always be available at request of the election participants. I have no objection there at all. And every such action along those lines affirmed the initual vote counts, sometimes with a handful of additional votes for Biden.
"And every such action along those lines affirmed the initual vote counts, sometimes with a handful of additional votes for Biden."
That's not the point. Most people are dishonest when it comes to politics. Dishonesty and corruption aren't just taking bribes or maliciously concealing votes. Corruption can be as simple as suggesting people not make a big deal out of news issue that would or could reflect badly on your preferred political party or faction. In the end not wanting to make absolutely certain we know the facts is not that different from concealing them outright. Maybe some people are just sore lovers, but they still are vital to democracy as they make it harder (not impossible) to cheat the system.
You know the joke, right? The god Thor returns to earth incognito and picks up a girl at a bar. The next morning as he gets out of the shower he says, "Hey, I have to tell you. I'm Thor." She replies, "Me too, but that'th all right. It wath tho much fun!"
I will add that what is happening to the Church of England is what happens when you push for unity, unity, unity on the basis of ... unity. Unity for unity's sake can only stand for so long, especially when it is used to marginalize the orthodox faithful as in the C of E.
"We will affirm and encourage the vital and diverse ministries, including leadership roles, of Gafcon women in family, church and society, both as individuals and as groups.."
What is this other than an understated commitment to the pretended ordination of women? Were I an Anglo-Catholic, my response would be a polite "no thanks."
Were I an Anglo-Catholic, my response would be a polite "no thanks," and, did I wish to remain an Anglo-Catholic Anglican, look towards the "Continuing Anglican" churches.
Dr. Tighe, good to hear from you after several years!
I, too, have issues with WO, more so than when we last discussed things. But those would probably be best discussed privately. Feel free to drop me a line.
Yes, it's sad. I love English church architecture and have studied it. It witnesses to the glory of The Faith in England through the centuries. How a church that inhabits that architecture can then make that faith optional at best I cannot understand.
A lovely stone formerly Methodist church building n Salina, MI is now a brew pub. The beer is brewed in steel drums placed where the altar once stood. I sense the new proprietor takes pleasure from that fact. To drive past is to weep in sadness.
Gradually, the materialist paradigm didn't make sense. I read a lot of near-death experience reports. I listened to interviews with Bernardo Kastrup about consciousness.
I have always felt that nature has a spirirtual aspect ( i am a medical herbalist), and for a time i was interested in Druidism and read John Michael Greer (i still do, sometimes).
But i didn't feel comfortable messing with pagan Gods.
I asked God to direct me, and i found myself becoming more interested in Jesus and Christianity.
I have been led to Rod, Jonathan Pageau, Martin Shaw, Paul Kingsnorth and Graham Pardun.
I attend Orthodox church and i love it. It's like a haven. A lifeboat of sanity.
Amen.
VG post!
I do hear a bit of Flannery O'Connor in Mr. Meeks' beautiful prose. Thanks for sharing it, Rod.
"Why are we not all talking about this? Because it was done to get Donald Trump, is why."
And what will be done to "get" Trump this next time around? And what will be done to "get" Trump's successors, be it this year or in 2028 or whenever?
The forces opposing Trump, the Establishment - fully believing in the morality of their cause - have already signaled they'll basically stop at nothing to keep the Deplorables' grubby fingers away from the levers of power. But what's indeed hilarious is how they turn around and fret about "threats to Democracy" - as if they themselves don't constitute a, if not THE, major threat.
They've conned themselves into believing Trump = Naziism and every effort to prevent Naziism from gaining any ground is morally defensible, because it's all in defense of "democracy," defined as the Establishment retaining power, which in their view is the only moral outcome. And as we're certain to see, it'll eventually go far beyond lying about the laptop story.
"The forces opposing Trump, the Establishment - fully believing in the morality of their cause - have already signaled they'll basically stop at nothing to keep the Deplorables' grubby fingers away from the levers of power. But what's indeed hilarious is how they turn around and fret about "threats to Democracy" - as if they themselves don't constitute a, if not THE, major threat."
But don't you see? There in two sentences is the REAL problem. It's not political; it's epistemological. You write correctly of Trump's opposition "fully believing in the morality of their cause". And that morality forces them to accept "facts" in its support, denying "facts" against it. And the same can be said of Trump's supporters. They, too, fully believe in the morality of their cause. And that morality forces them to accept "facts" in its support, denying "facts" against it. Trump's opponents listen to the MSM and garner their "facts" just as his supporters listen to Fox, et al, and garner their "facts".
Back in the day Walter Cronkite ended his news broadcasts with an admonition "And that's the way it is, Saturday the 22nd of April 2023." Today the United States is a once-great nation separated by two competing sets of "facts" and without a Walter Cronkite to tell us which one "is the way it is."
Except Uncle Walter lied through his teeth about the Tet Offensive.
He gave an opinion based on what he knew. Much, if not most, of what he knew was false.
He lied by declaring it a lost cause? Tet was a stroke of genius for Charlie.
They fully believe in the immorality of their cause.
Or you could state more correctly: They fully believe the immorality of their cause is moral. They certainly don't see their cause as immoral, believing instead that their opponents' beliefs are immoral. Without common facts and grounds to argue from, you can't win such an argument.
They believe in immorality
Their beliefs are ultimately immoral, in that they believe themselves to be the fount of all morality. They believe they deserve to rule on the basis of their "superior" morality, compared to us rubes. They, in fact, likely believe themselves to be the most moral people ever to walk the earth, the pinnacle of human virtue. Or virtue signaling.
They believe in cranking their knob.
people commit (and excuse) the worst possible crimes when they become convinced of their own moral infallibility.
something terrible but expected happened to Team Blue when that man descended his golden escalator... they decided (through escalating levels of mass panic) that he was so immoral and so dangerous that any and all tactics were worth it if it meant defeating him.
basically their plan is to destroy the village (American liberal democracy) in order to save it.
The problem with the Hunter Biden laptop story is that there are no specifics. The mere fact that the guy had a laptop is about as newsworthy as the fact that my tulips are blooming in April. So where's the beef, as old Clara Peller used to say back in the 80s. If there's supposed to be something scandalous about the laptop's contents-- payola records, state secrets the guy shouldn't have had, naughty pictures of minors-- could someone please tell us what that is? Otherwise it's just Republicans chanting "Hunter Biden's laptop" as a mantra while Pavlov's MAGA boys bay and howl at it. At least with Whitewater we had some dicey real estate deals front and center.
The contents of Hunter's laptop have been out for years, particularly the unsavory pictures of him doing drugs with prostitutes that were on it. There are emails that appear to detail payola. It's a lot.
You don't have to go too far out into the fringe to find it. But the big media outlets suppressed it. That's one part of the scandal.
Here's a few links to get you started:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-admin-mishandling-hunter-biden-investigation-says-irs-criminal-supervisory-agent
https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/hunter-biden-admits-infamous-laptop-is-his-in-plea-for-probe/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunter-biden-laptop-data-analysis/
https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/
It's all out there. To get those links I just googled "Biden laptop contents." If you don't know the details of what's on the laptop, it's because you don't want to know.
But then that's kind of your thing, isn't it, Jon?
What does Hunter doing drugs with prostitutes have to go with his father and his ability to be president? It is not as if he had sex with a porn star or playboy playmate while his wife was pregnant.
Somebody should write a sitcom based on the contents of that laptop. Lots of cocaine and knob-slobbing. America will love it.
Sorry to ask, but what is knob-slabbing?
No problemo. “Knob-slobbing” is my term for blowjob. You asked. 🤡
My problem with it: news of the laptop was literally censored to help Biden win the election. In my mind this made the election unfair, stolen, what have you.
Unfair? Yes. Stolen? Not so much. Every voter's vote was cast and (hopefully) counted as cast. Every voter made up his mind in some way or the other before casting his vote. Did every voter have access to the Hunter Biden laptop information? Certainly not. Would it have made enough difference to change his vote? Maybe. Maybe not. Would the number of voters who might have changed their vote knowing the content of Hunter Biden's laptop been significant enough to change the result of the election? Maybe. Maybe not.
I've stated before (and in this thread) that the real problem is epistemological. It's not a question of "facts", since every side produces its own "facts". It's a question of truth, authenticity, and acceptance by all.
If they didn’t think it would help them win the election they wouldn’t have done it. Doesn’t smell like a legit win to me.
“They cheated but if you can’t prove that’s why they won the election wasn’t stolen.”
So, what you are saying is that they "thought" it would help them win. But did it? Just as one prays for victory, does God grant it? Those are the kinds of questions that need to be answered before you can reach the issue of legitimacy.
I’m saying the Democrats cheated in an election and I don’t care if that’s why they won or not.
Fair enough. Of course you have Jesus' admonition: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." But then he was talking about adultery and not politics. Two different sins.
Bingo. Cheating is still cheating even if you lose. In this case, they didn't.
By that standard Nixon's win in 1972 was illegitimate because of Watergate and the cover up. And we now have some supporting evidence (a deathbed confession) that Reagan's people dealt with the Ayatollah to keep the hostages in 1980. Was his win illegitimate too?
What "deathbed confession"? The source of the story, Ben Barnes, is 85 years old and still very much alive.
You had to scroll waaay down into the New York Times's reporting to see how little evidence there is beyond Barnes's octagenarian recollection:
"None of that establishes whether Mr. Reagan knew about the trip, nor could Mr. Barnes say that Mr. Casey directed Mr. Connally to take the journey. Likewise, he does not know if the message transmitted to multiple Middle Eastern leaders got to the Iranians, much less whether it influenced their decision making."
I'm not saying I believe the accusations, I'm notoriously skeptical after all. I am saying that an insider's confession adds some small degree of veracity to it, but no, not certainty.
Nixon won 520 electoral votes and over 60% of the popular vote. How many of those do you think would have voted for McGovern?
Did you see what that atheist clown Sam Harris said about this? That he wouldn't have cared if Hunter Biden had the bodies of children in his basement, it would have been better to keep it quiet to ensure that Trump lost? Now I grant that this was no doubt hyperbole, but the point remains. Two points actually. 1) The Dems and the never-Trump Republicans whom they colluded with would have done practically anything to keep DT from getting elected, and 2) If the situation were reversed and the GOP had done something like this, you'd never hear the effing end of it, and the media would be all in on the criticism.
Simple fact: Truth was buried and lies were told in order to ensure the outcome of the election, and the media and certain elitist elements in the government were complicit. I quickly add that I am/was not a Trump supporter, and that as an independent I believe that this would be equally reprehensible if done by the GOP. Given its uniparty nature and its deep tentacles, this is far more of a "threat to democracy" than a second term of DT ever would have been. Anyone who can't see this is either an idiot or an ideologue, or some combination of the two, and seems to me to lie largely in the ridiculous self-serving psychological claim that "Our side would never cheat!"
Did Harris really say that? Wow. It's the practical outcome of Richard Rorty's admission that Freud faked his "findings" but that's ok because it's the answer we wanted. Epistemological nihilism.
You could say that about every election since the media routinely slant coverage away from or toward candidates. Media bias has been a thing since the Federalist press trumpeted the scandal of Jefferson's slave mistress and children. Candidates should expect no less and a politically astute candidate-- say a Ronald Reagan or a Bill Clinton-- will find ways to work around that.
All things are equal.
I can't politely not comment on such a pusillanimous pronouncement of pernicious nothingburgerism.
JonF311 re Hunter Biden’s Laptop:
🙈🙉🙊
Jon, have you believed “the big Guy”, Joe Biden, every time he lied to us, to DJT at their debate, and very time to the press by saying unequivocally (1) that he never received any money from China or other foreigners and (2) that he never even spoke to his son Hunter about his “business” or any “deals”? You believe Joe, right? In your opinion, is everything reported about Joe and Hunter’s laptop, Biden family influence peddling, and now Morrell’s testimony nothing but right-wing smears? Why do you, an otherwise honest and intelligent man, inject here such skepticism about Joe Biden’s rank corruption of political discourse, elections, and government? Why try to inoculate Joe Biden on this? And no, “But Trump...” is not a sufficiently good answer.
Hang on there. We know there was a laptop in Hunter's possession that had some sordid crap on it. And that's about it: no evidence that any of it had anything to do with his father,
Every family has its black sheep. I have a set of cousins who should have a jail cell down in Pinellas County FL named after them so often have they been "guests" there. But that reflects on no one but them. Tarring anyone, even a politician, with the misdeeds of adult children, siblings even (in most cases) a spouse is just out of bounds.
JonF (and Martha Moyers): the Biden laptop story emphatically is NOT simply about tarring a family or a father, Joe, for Hunter’s numerous and manifest sordid words and deeds (yes, easily seen in Hunter’s book and online exposes). It’s about Bidens, including Joe, selling his position and influence. Hunter in one verified email writes of setting aside 10% for “the Big Guy”, clearly Joe. Did Bidens received million of dollars from Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian and other sources by Hunter’s influence peddling or not? But, ever as always, the coverup is worse than the underlying crimes and compounds the errors. This about Joe lying by his many denials and his using both media and many government officials to coverup. Due to Republican-led oversight committees asking questions to people under oath, we are learning more clearly what Joe knew and when. But even before the Biden-Trump 2020 debate, enough was known online to see Joe was flat out lying. The recent Morrell testimony only confirms in detail what was known then (unless one didn’t want to know). This is more unraveling and exposing of Joe and Hunter’s great misadventures. This isn’t about a black sheep. I wish it were. Do you believe (1) Joe and family never improperly received foreign $$ and (2) Joe had no conversations or knowledge of Hunter’s “business deals”?
Speculation, unsubstantiated.
Fox News by the way has a full copy of the laptop's contents, but has never made it public while hinting darkly about major scandals. Well, put up or shut up as they say! Meanwhile I don't jump any bandwagons based on mere rumor and gossip.
JonF,
I’m happy we agree on one thing: “don’t jump on any bandwagons based on mere rumor and gossip.” But you refuse to answer simple questions: Did Hunter peddle Biden influence and access to VP Joe to receive millions? Did Joe lie to coverup same? Why ignore & shade solid evidence that the answers are ‘yes.’ Sure, we need to substantiate more. You see no evidence in good start of Dukeboy linked at top of our thread?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunter-biden-laptop-data-analysis/
https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/
Roger Kimball writes short and sweet on Joe and Hunter at The Spectator.
The Morell and Blinken revelations should sober us and all who desire truth to prevail for better leaders and elections, media and politics. Good to watch what further facts the oversight committees and reporters uncover.
Re: Did Hunter peddle Biden influence and access to VP Joe to receive millions? Did Joe lie to coverup same?
There is zero evidence for the above, just rumor-mongering and innuendo.
I’m not even sure why they would feel like they had to suppress the laptop thing. Hunter was not running for office. He doesn’t have a position in his father’s administration unlike Jared & Ivanka. He was a crackhead & a hot mess but a person is not responsible for the actions of their adult children & just about every president has had sketchy relatives. So I doubt anyone was going to say you know I would vote for Biden but his son is a druggie. Especially since there’s a voicemail of Biden telling Hunter he’s got to get some help, & his Dad loves him & wants to see him recover. He’s being investigated for lying about his drug use to buy a gun & possible tax issues. So a grand jury might need to see if there’s evidence of a crime or crimes, otherwise it seems like a big nothing Burger especially since Jared got $2 billion from the Saudis & Don Jr. seems to be high as a kite on all his videos. So it’s not like people who wouldn’t vote for Biden because of his son could say Trump’s kids were any better.
If you are so uninformed about current events as to have no idea what's alleged to be on the laptop, you're too ill informed about this to reasonably opine about it. Please stick to topics you've bothered to learn about.
I wouldn't say that APD has bought into the tranny hysteria. That opening statement is just the "pinch of incense" that public institutions like urban PDs have to do in order to keep the crazies from complaining that they didn't do it. That little ritual becomes especially important when they go on to release information that the LGBT activists don't want to hear, which is what they have done in these three cases. I mean, they've directly said that these specific victims weren't murdered for LGBT hate.
The type of brown- noser and apple polisher who becomes a police Public Information Officer on her* way up the ladder in a big PD is very clear on all the political angles of everything that touches the department. She has to be because she's getting requests for media statements from everywhere, including outlets with an obvious agenda.
I can almost guarantee you that she got a dozen inquiries about "Atlanta's epidemic of trans murders" from some of the fringier elements of the lavender mafia, all probably written in almost the exact same way, cut and pasted from somewhere. Then she got a couple of inquiries from "legit" media (and let's all remember that CNN is a hometown enterprise in the ATL) asking the same sort of questions. So, evidently tranny murders in ATL were about to become "a thing."
So she went to the homicide bureau commander and asked "What's the deal with these tranny murders?"
And the homicide commander said "I dunno. Let me find out." And then he went to his detectives and said "Where are we on this guy killing trannys downtown? We got any leads?"
And the detectives said "What the fuck are you talking about?" And then they pulled out their casefiles and said "These two look like domestics and the third was killed by a john. Patrol didn't even know the first one in January was a dude when they sent in the blurb in for the duty report that night. The hospital found that out later."
And the homicide commander said "Well, you HAVE considered the possibility that some of these were hate crimes, right?"
And the detectives rolled their eyes and one of them muttered "Oh, for fuck's sake," and their sergeant stood up from his desk, drew himself to attention, looked the commander in the eye and said "All possibilities are being considered, sir! These matters remain under investigation, sir! It does not appear at this time that any of these murders were motivated by bigotry, but the APD homicide bureau will not rest until all avenues of investigation have been pursued, sir!"
And the homicide commander chuckled and said "As you were, gentlemen." And then he went back to the PIO and said "It's two domestics and a hooker, but, yeah, all avenues of investigation are being pursued, yadda, yadda."
And then the PIO went out, burned her pinch of incense to keep the crazies at bay, and said that it was two domestics and a hooker. But she said it nicely.
*I didn't bother to click through to confirm if the APD public information officer is a woman. But a lot of times they are.
The generation of MIss Effie Lou saw change a on scale that will never be matched - from horse and buggy to out of the solar system with Pioneer 10 in 1983. My grandparents were of the same generation (grandpa farmed with horses) and seemed otherworldly to me as a child, their America was different from the one I knew.
Napoleon claimed that to understand a man one had to know what his world looked like before age 20. He might have been on to something. Does seem that if you live long enough the world 'passes you by' or becomes something harder to relate to. Grandpa told his 10th child, then 18, in 1963, that "the world's going to hell" and he meant it. Seems almost comically quaint in 2023, but from when and where he started, he saw 'the good things' slipping away. I imagine this is not uncommon with aging.
I have seen change more profound. When I was born in 1967, a child born with a penis was definitively male. Since that time however, Western culture has regressed so far as to be unable to reach such a simple conclusion. Similarly, God was real in 1967, now god is merely a relic of "Colonialism."
Cue closing scene from Planet of the Apes.
There really is a Deep State, Virginia.
And no country, whether dictatorship, monarchy, Soviet, Nazi or decrepit democracy, can allow its criminal secrets to be known to its subjects, else freedom rings out, and its tyrants deposed.
I said a long time ago, that Trump wasn't our last best hope, but our worst. But in the face of our dire predicament, a hope for change, after the previous ruler's empty promises of hope and change didn't even give us chump change. So it is with the young airman who revealed the truth by his actions. Otherwise most people wouldn't even begin to know the truth, in our country by the lies, for the lies, of the lies. I don't care what his personal foibles are, except the truth is known, by any means. My wife tells me that is her fervent prayer, that the truth be revealed and the lies exposed. All of it. Since God is not a man that He should lie, prayers are being answered. Let us pray that this time of fooling all of the people, some of the time, will end. Thanks, Tex, for being an inadvertent and accidental hero, for being God's instrument for not letting democracy die in darkness. Even if it has died.
“Make sure we’re always ready to meet the Lord.”
So good! And something I should remember and be aware of more often.
We walk our days on a thread over an abyss.
Woah 🤯
Powerful!!!
My heart swells.. takes me back to the days with my grandpa on the dairy and in the livestock sale barn. Cigar smoke ascending to the rafters, the quiet and sure confidence that I was in a magical place, protected and surrounded by good men, men that loved honest work, their families and animals. I can’t wait for Heaven.. we are in a such a sorry condition these days. Thank you Rod, I appreciate you.
Yeah Daniel, I can see it in my mind’s eye.. just beautiful. How can we live up to the example they set for us? We do live in a dark world, but there are remnants to hold onto. Thank you for the reply. God Bless You.
What a lovely tribute to a wonderful relationship.
Lots of news, but Rod, you missed some good news: Mike Pompeo dropped out of the presidential race, if he was ever really in. He may get reconstituted in future, but that’s one less faux Christian neocon I don’t have to hear/see for a good while. “We lied, we cheated we stole...”. That’s right Mike, lied about war and stole taxpayer money, leaving a wake of broken lives, death, and despair.
"I know this counts as an extra post this week, but hey, there’s some interesting news, and besides, fish gotta swim, Rod gotta write."
You made me smile with this one! And here, I was waking up on Saturday, just kind of realizing that you don't schedule to publish on Saturdays, and we got a post anyway. Joy! :)
When I went to Germany in 2002, I had no intention of coming back, come what may. In 2004, when the base I was working at closed, I found a job on another base, because there was no way I was coming back. Two years later, I came back, and though I was looking at things in Phoenix and near St. Louis, I ended up back in Chicago. Why? It wasn't necessarily a strong pull back to the US, but I felt like if I stayed in Germany, I'd kind of get stitched into the fabric of the Bavarian countryside, and I wasn't ready for that, and I think God was telling me that that wasn't the plan He had for my life. It's been a wild ride, , but I think I got that much right.
I've been in Wisconsin for nearly a decade now, and I love it. Then again, I fall in love with the beauty God gave us pretty much anywhere I've been. It's all a marvel, the mountains and the deserts and the flowers and the sky and water. God is good, and so is the earth He created. Do I feel attached to Wisconsin? I know people here, and this is the place where my kids have primarily grown up; it's familiar. At the same time, I feel like I've still got a good bit of a wandering spirit, and if I am led somewhere else, I will go.
I don't know if Chicago is still "home", but on the other hand, I can't shake it completely either. I drove down for Pascha, and it is uncanny how I don't even have to think about navigating around the city because I know the streets down to the level of which ones go in what direction in some places. Will I ever live there again? At this point, it seems doubtful.
There's a Peter, Paul, and Mary lyric that sometimes comes to mind when I'm thinking about these things from a song called "No Other Name" (my parents had me listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary before I was an hour old; their music flows within me):
"I'll die alone, away from my home
Nobody knows where I came
The stone at my head will say I am dead
It knows me by no other name"
It may seem kind of sad, but it's just fine by me. God calls us "home" in a much greater sense, and that's the call I must follow.
Those last few paragraphs ... boy, do they resonate. My wife and I were born, raised and educated in Kentucky. Employment opportunities drew us to Texas 40 years ago. We’ve built a good life here, raised our kids here. But Kentucky is still our home. It pains me to think about being laid to rest in Plano, Texas. Irrational. Ridiculous. Still, so many memories like those Rod described. But unlike Rod, we were completely at home there. We live and die with choices we made when we were 22.
On the election: I believe that the professions of belief or disbelief in the outcome almost invariably miss the point to be concerned about.
The root question is not about "trusting the system." I am not attributing the phrase to RD, but I am putting it here in quotes because it is "the question" either explicitly or implicitly used as "the framework" of the topic, and it is the wrong question.
The prudent question is whether or not the 50 state election processes can be verified as reliable via audit, by competing interests. The practical problem of audit gets down to the few battleground states.
The particular question of the last election is whether those few states, such as GA, etc, etc, etc, under their election procedures, can prove that their election process can be verified by audit.
My sense is that they very probably cannot be verified by audit, and that the "certification of results" is not a "verification" that the results are reliable.
And that critique applies to any and every state political network: to state political networks leaning toward or adoring Donald Trump, and state political networks outraged the Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and who adore "Obama-Biden-Hilary-Newsome."
Another, but different, application of the principle of political skepticism is the outcome of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News, a warning about "trusting people" who are asserting, without recourse to evidence, that particular processes and tools in the election process are "unreliable."
If the "political process" merely comes down to "trusting the outcome" of unverifiable procedures (or "trusting people" who tell you something that you want to hear) then the process is junk.
Skepticism about political processes was at least expressed to be a motivation of "the founders" of the United States of America. My sense is that what is most laudable is not so much the men themselves who forged that element into the US political idea, but the principle to be skeptical, in the absence of proof.
As a non-Trump supporter who nevertheless felt that the whole lead-up to the 2020 election smelt of Denmark, the more info that comes out, the more my olfactory red flags are being proved true. A machine is now in place which makes it possible to ensure the outcomes of all future elections to the benefit of the uniparty elites. The only thing that will prevent this is a groundswell of grassroots activism in favor of the next "populist" candidate of either party.
And for God's sake, read Lasch's 'The Revolt of the Elites'.
Agree
That describes most of our elections. There are always dirty tricks and blows below the belt. "They cheated" is the refuge of sore losers.
Yeah, except I didn't vote for Trump, and I noticed the grift long before election day.
O yeah. I saw that shit coming a mile away. I submitted a write-in vote for Sir Winston Churchill. Fuck ‘em.
Wow. So in other words, you don't care if 2020 was fair or not. So long as your side won out
2020 was fair, as were 2016, 2012, etc. All this crap (polite word used) is just the whining of sore lovers.
With exceptions for the newly bereaved and those in actual physical pain, I loathe whining and do not tolerate it even in my cats.
Good little American. The USA never ever ever commits crime, our country just wants to bring hot dogs, football, and low math scores to the whole world to enjoy. Unlike every other country in history, all our politicians and elections are free from bribery and fraud, by golly it's so darn safe we don't even need to audit or verify votes like every other developed nation in the world.
No, he's just a whiner.
Sore lovers? Interesting.
There's no reason to presume that our elections are free and fair and even if it's simply sore lovers raising the alarms, it's a good practice to always triple verify election results.
Sore loSers, lol. Autocorrect strikes again.
I agree that recounts and audits should always be available at request of the election participants. I have no objection there at all. And every such action along those lines affirmed the initual vote counts, sometimes with a handful of additional votes for Biden.
"And every such action along those lines affirmed the initual vote counts, sometimes with a handful of additional votes for Biden."
That's not the point. Most people are dishonest when it comes to politics. Dishonesty and corruption aren't just taking bribes or maliciously concealing votes. Corruption can be as simple as suggesting people not make a big deal out of news issue that would or could reflect badly on your preferred political party or faction. In the end not wanting to make absolutely certain we know the facts is not that different from concealing them outright. Maybe some people are just sore lovers, but they still are vital to democracy as they make it harder (not impossible) to cheat the system.
You know the joke, right? The god Thor returns to earth incognito and picks up a girl at a bar. The next morning as he gets out of the shower he says, "Hey, I have to tell you. I'm Thor." She replies, "Me too, but that'th all right. It wath tho much fun!"
I am among those Anglicans happy about GAFCON IV and the Kigali Commitment. Here is my early take yesterday: https://standfirminfaith.com/one-early-response-to-the-kigali-commitment/
I will add that what is happening to the Church of England is what happens when you push for unity, unity, unity on the basis of ... unity. Unity for unity's sake can only stand for so long, especially when it is used to marginalize the orthodox faithful as in the C of E.
Yes, us too. We are North American Anglicans here in S. C. They made a stand that had to be made. Peace to you.
From the Kigali Commitment:
"We will affirm and encourage the vital and diverse ministries, including leadership roles, of Gafcon women in family, church and society, both as individuals and as groups.."
What is this other than an understated commitment to the pretended ordination of women? Were I an Anglo-Catholic, my response would be a polite "no thanks."
A correction:
Were I an Anglo-Catholic, my response would be a polite "no thanks," and, did I wish to remain an Anglo-Catholic Anglican, look towards the "Continuing Anglican" churches.
Dr. Tighe, good to hear from you after several years!
I, too, have issues with WO, more so than when we last discussed things. But those would probably be best discussed privately. Feel free to drop me a line.
I am English, a former atheist called to Jesus, and was looking for a spiritual home.
Although i have two beautiful ancient Church of England churches in my small village, i did not consider joining.
They refuse to defend basic Christian beliefs. What is the use of them?
Instead, i drive 30 minutes to the Orthodox church. At least they seem to believe what they are saying.
Yes, it's sad. I love English church architecture and have studied it. It witnesses to the glory of The Faith in England through the centuries. How a church that inhabits that architecture can then make that faith optional at best I cannot understand.
I visit a local Cathedral sometimes. It is breath takingly beautiful.
The last time I visited, the knave was taken up by a huge model train set.
They have purposely made a sacred building into a common tourist attraction.
A lovely stone formerly Methodist church building n Salina, MI is now a brew pub. The beer is brewed in steel drums placed where the altar once stood. I sense the new proprietor takes pleasure from that fact. To drive past is to weep in sadness.
Yes.....here in the UK many, many former churches are now pubs.
What turned the tide to bring you from atheism to Jesus?
It took a long time.
Gradually, the materialist paradigm didn't make sense. I read a lot of near-death experience reports. I listened to interviews with Bernardo Kastrup about consciousness.
I have always felt that nature has a spirirtual aspect ( i am a medical herbalist), and for a time i was interested in Druidism and read John Michael Greer (i still do, sometimes).
But i didn't feel comfortable messing with pagan Gods.
I asked God to direct me, and i found myself becoming more interested in Jesus and Christianity.
I have been led to Rod, Jonathan Pageau, Martin Shaw, Paul Kingsnorth and Graham Pardun.
I attend Orthodox church and i love it. It's like a haven. A lifeboat of sanity.