Color Coded

I've mentioned this in years past, but there is a surefire method of discerning the race of shooting victims before any names or photos are released to the media.

If race is cited immediately, the victims are invariably people of color or minority groups. If you hear no mention of race, you can be assured that the victims are white people; the Boulder massacre is the latest example of the media skipping over skin color because it is so inconvenient to their America-is-racist talking point. 

If the shooting victims are police officers murdered by a person of color or a minority group, you'll hear very little hear about it before the media quickly moves on. It's a very easy code to crack, once you notice it. 

The Atlanta massacre was immediately linked to racial motivations, however incorrect theat conclusion may be. Racism is the favored media propaganda narrative. Dead Asian women support their agenda of painting America as "racist," so the racial angle is trumpeted at every opportunity. The victims become mere props in advancing the Left's agenda.

As for the Boulder tragedy, well, that's another story entirely. Although the parallels in the two stories are striking--lone psychotic gunmen, many innocent victims slaughtered in a location open to the public--the media coverage is completely different. Although the victims are white people, that fact is totally ignored by media in favor of the Left's pet agenda--gun control. Never let a crisis go to waste.

It's shameful that race enters into such tragedies. A person is a person, a loved one is a loved one, regardless of skin color. In tragedy, race does not matter. Each individual who is murdered leaves behind a family forever bereft by their loss. Grief, evil, and psychosis are color blind. How sad for our country that the media isn't.

A Lenten Detour

I didn't mean for A Man At Arms to be my second Lent book. It just happened.

Steven Pressfield is one of my favorite authors. If you're a fan of historical fiction, as I am, his books are one-stop shopping. So when I heard him interviewed recently about his new book, naturally I wanted to add it to my reading list.

I bought the novel last Saturday, exactly one week ago. My plan was to save it for after Easter. The trouble, as I am well aware, is that I'm unable to buy a Pressfield novel and "save" it; I've got to start reading it immediately. I told myself I would just see how the first chapter unfolded before moving on to St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle, which was on deck as my second Lent book this year.

By the end of Chapter One of A Man At Arms, I knew St. Teresa would need to exercise her saintly patience with me. I swallowed the novel whole, reading it throughout the weekend. Monday started a work week, but I took advantage of Daylight Savings to keep reading after logging off my laptop each evening. I finished the book on Thursday, but I'm still thinking about it. It's the kind of story that leaves a mental and emotional residue that must be pondered and processed away.

I reassure myself that devouring the story of Telemon of Arcadia, a first century former Roman soldier--a mercenary--who becomes embroiled in a clandestine quest to smuggle one of St. Paul's letters from the Holy Land to Corinth, was a worthy Lenten endeavor. Perhaps it was; but I enjoyed the book far too much for any creditable sacrifice to be applicable. I'm now slogging through the lofty, mystical, challenging Interior Castle. Even as I struggle to comprehend and learn from St. Teresa's intricately imaginative descriptions of the human soul as a seven-chambered diamond, I'm wondering at which level Telemon would be.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Psalm 46, St. Patrick's Style

Prayer of St. Patrick, from Psalm 46:10

 And may the road rise up to meet you. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Covid Renegade

"If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there's a good chance you, your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbeque and celebrate Independence Day..."

~ Joe Biden 

Don't look now, Joe, but there's a good percentage of Americans who have already been doing whatever we want to for quite some time now. With typical cluelessness, Biden thinks we're all hunkering down in our respective basements, waiting for a government high sign that all's clear. 

Since May 2020, I have been visiting my family on a regular basis. We don't wear masks when we're with each other. We've had barbeques, sleepovers, and holiday dinners together. Several times my grandkids have slept in the same bed with me, occasionally while they were nursing runny noses. I've flown round trip cross-country twice in the past year and am scheduled to do it again next month. Since mid-April 2020, I've been going into the office two days a week.

I've felt fine the entire time. By the way, I'm a senior citizen who hasn't been vaccinated. 

So to the government goons who think they run our lives--back up off us. Americans don't come with an owner's manual. Free we will be.

Unpopular Opinions

 

As the US continues its rapid death spiral into totalitarianism, there is a lot of news being made--almost too much to absorb. As the lightning-fast headline changes blaze a dizzying trail across my internet homepage, I've had some definite reactions. A few of them are listed below.

1. Thousands of National Guard troops would be more wisely deployed along our southern border than in almost-deserted Washington DC.
2. It's doubtful the fencing, razor wire, and military troops will ever be gone from the police state formerly known as Washington DC--at least under a Democrat administration.
3. If you don't like Dr. Seuss books, don't read or buy them. If other people do like them and want to buy them, leave them in peace.
4. Unfortunately for the USA, China, Iran, and Russia are rejoicing that Biden is (kind of) in office. 
5. Dr. Anthony Fauci is an alarmist bore worthy of zero attention.
6. Octogenarians (including Fauci) are too old to be running the government. There are far too many of them currently in power. It's way past time for new blood.
7. Schools nationwide should be open. Period.
8. No one should give a flying flip about the completely irrelevant simpleton Harry and the conniving, manipulative Meghan.

That's just my deplorable, irredeemable--or is it now "Neanderthal"?-- two cents' worth for a Saturday morning. Enjoy the weekend, if possible.