Under the Weather

It's such a pity. On doctor's orders, an ailing Pope Francis had to cancel his trip to Dubai to attend the United Nations climate change conference.

Good. He does enough damage when he stays home, let alone when he's traipsing through a sea of open microphones. I view this papal disappointment as divine intervention.

I'm trying to be a good doobie about some of the startling statements the pope lets loose with, but it's a challenge. What the Fahrenheit does the climate have to do with the Gospel? The Lord gave very clear instructions on how his followers were to conduct the Church's business. It's called the Great Commission, and it's a very straightforward, two-part direction: teach the message and baptize people.

You can look it up. Christ said not a word about global warming or carbon emissions. Yet Pope Francis is writing encyclicals about climate change. To me, the pope getting so involved with the "green movement" is going way off track.

So, as an ignorant lay person, I wish the current head of the Catholic Church would concentrate on what the Boss told him to do. Christ's farewell words may sound simple, but two thousand years of Church history prove it's not easy. Pope Francis has plenty of work to do if he just stays focused on his job. The last thing he should be worried about is the weather.

Matt 28:16-20

Lines of Thanks

May your table be laden from there to here,
May your glasses be filled with good wine or cold beer,
May your company share time with laughter and cheer,
And may all of us thank God for our blessings this year.

Psalm 118:24

Ten Questions for bin Laden Fans

There apparently is a burgeoning fan club among American youth for the cold-blooded murderer Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11/01 slaughter. These empty-headed ignoramuses read his 2002 two-page screed called "Letter to America" online and are swooning with their newfound historical enlightenment.

Can today's young folks really be this gullible and downright stupid? Evidently, yes, they certainly can. Quite eagerly, too. It's a depressing testimony to the total failure of our educational system and societal breakdown.

I have a few questions for these newly accomplished historians. No links today; go do some research and look up the topics for yourselves. Be forewarned--you might need to activate some brain cells. Pace yourselves.

My questions, a mere fraction of what could be asked, appear below:

1. What can you tell me about the Dreyfus Affair and the Balfour Declaration?
2. Can you explain what a "pogrom" is?
3. Did you ever study the rise of Hitler?
4. Did you learn the facts of the 20th century Holocaust?
5. Have you read about the Arab-Israeli war in 1948-49? 
6. What do you know about the Suez Crisis in 1956?
7. What happened in the 1967 Six Day War? 
8. Have you learned anything about the 1973 Yom Kippur war? 
9. Can you identify the year Jewish people first lived in Israel and which century Muslims did?
10. Have you ever read THE BIBLE?

Run along now, young geniuses, and do some homework.

Note to the fawning fan who is a bikini model: If you were lucky, bin Laden would only have you stoned to death.

NEVER FORGET

Thoughts on Veterans Day

Several branches of the US military are suffering from a recruitment crisis. What a surprise.

I can't imagine too many young people are interested in signing up to put their lives on the line for diversity & equity training, woke ideology indoctrination, and medical coverage for gender dysphoria. Whatever happened to the armed services learning how to fight to protect our homeland? I don't know about you, but I don't feel as safe as I used to feel.

Today, Veterans Day, we honor those brave men and women who served to protect and defend our nation. Their contribution and sacrifice should not be overlooked in today's ridiculous social chaos. Thank you to all who served in the United States military. You kept us free to disagree.

Caught in History's Loop

It's a shame that significant facts and events of Western history are rarely taught to young students today. If they were, students might have some knowledge of and perspective on human nature and the societal pitfalls into which we are so prone to stumble.

Take the Jacobins of France--please. In his writings and podcasts, historian Victor Davis Hanson often compares today's "woke" radicals to them. For those who unfortunately don't follow the wise professor, a single page in the second volume of The Outline of History by H.G. Wells sums up the do-loop of history our fractured nation currently finds itself in.

Read this snippet from page 764; I've highlighted what struck me as especially relevant today. Try to convince me it's not an encapsulation of some of our current woes: 

Notice any similarities between France in the 1790s and today's global chaos? I'd encourage anyone to do more reading on it. Good luck with that communist utopia, globalist elites. History proves that people, no matter the century, are predictably problematic.