Fight On

 Protect our Freedoms ~ Celebrate Independence Day

Simply Stated

The right of U.S. citizens in each state to decide their own laws
on abortion was restored on June 24, 2022.

The right of U.S. citizens to carry firearms was reaffirmed
on June 23, 2022.

The Supreme Court of the United States is doing its job. Every decision starts with reading--and understanding--the U.S. Constitution.

Here's a question for all the "mostly peaceful protesters": Have you ever read the Constitution? If not, please give it at least a cursory glance. The justices aren't just making this stuff up. The basis for all their decisions is in the founding document.

I don't believe your violent tantrums are in any way related to the Constitution, though. You just want your own way, and the law be damned. I can't say it any more plainly than that.

Taking Stock

Over 40 years ago, I remember my mother-in-law regularly stocking care packages to send to her relatives who were trapped in the Soviet Union. She did this for decades, until well after the Iron Curtain fell. Always included among the clothing and foodstuffs was a large box of tampons. I once asked why she sent that particular item, and she explained that her niece would use them. Such a luxury item as women's tampons did not exist in the Soviet Union.

I was incredulous. Imagine being a 20th century woman and not able to buy tampons! I couldn't comprehend living in such an impoverished society and thanked God I was born in the USA.

Here we are, in America, in 2022. My daughter is coming to visit with her family soon and planning to stay a few weeks. She told me about the tampon shortage on the East coast and how she shops multiple stores and buys whatever version she finally finds; there's no fussing over a favorite brand anymore. Now I find myself busy driving from one drug store to the next, on $6.25 per gallon gasoline, trying to find a box of tampons to have on hand for her. I'm grateful my grandchildren are well past the age for baby formula.

Poverty, want, and the degradation of society are all proud hallmarks of communism. The radical leftists within--what Mark Levin calls the American Marxists--have done a thorough job of bringing our country to its knees. But I have a feeling we're about to rise from the canvas of our discontent. When we can't provide for our own needs or those of our children, we know it's time to make a stand. The mid-term election is coming in November. 

Bring it.

The 60-Year Slide

I've heard many people compare these times to the 1960s, saying that today's turmoil and unrest is very similar. Having grown up in the 1960's, I must disagree.

Yes, there were riots that rocked the nation back then. There were huge protest movements. There were revolutionary new theories, such as feminism and "free sex." Probably most destablizing at that time were the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, followed less than five years later by the assassinations in rapid succession of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the latter during a presidential campaign. Those were rough and frightening days; I remember them well.

The difference between then and now is clear to me. In the 1960s, our national institutions were on firm ground. Today, none of them are.

Colleges and universities in the United States still provided classical education in the 1960s; the Marxists had not yet made much progress in their relentless onslaught on our educational system. The Supreme Court was sacred; in the 1960s, no one would have imagined an assassination attempt on a Supreme Court justice. The southern border was a non-issue. The family unit was still honored, with parents having full authority over their children.

The military was far above partisan politics; no one worried about an errant ideology encroaching upon our armed forces. Law enforcement officers commanded respect and did their jobs with community support. Parents and employees were able to speak freely in public, protected by the First Amendment, regardless of their political or philosophical views. And while corruption has always been an unpleasant aspect of politics, Americans in the 1960s did not question the integrity of our elections.

The 1960s made a lot of noise and, in many cases, real progress towards the changes that ensued in the following decades. But activists and protestors in the 1960s were limited, confined by the firm outlines of a fully functional system of education, legislation, social structure, and justice.

In 2022, that is no longer true. In short, we have seen the wheels have come off our society. Today there is no safe place to seek shelter from the ceaseless indoctrination and heavy-handed enforcement of an increasingly totalitarian, leftist government. The solid framework of our republic has been winnowed out, from family to school, from church to the workplace, from national military to local police. We should not be surprised that the arches of our institutions are collapsing in upon us.

Even if enough Americans have the strength and spirit for the fight, it will be a long haul to rebuild our country to its rightful state. It could take another 60 years. We'd better get started.

All Too Possible

If you haven't read a page-turning thriller in a while, you might want to add the chilling novel 2034: A Novel of The Next World War to your summer reading list.

Co-authored by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), the plot details a series of missteps and miscalculations by major international powers competing for global dominance. The story unfolds across the world stage through the actions of a compact group of vividly drawn main characters. Their compounding errors lead to nuclear confrontation. In many cases, the ensuing devastation extends to their personal lives.

It's been years since I've read a book I had trouble putting down at night. But 2034 kept me up past my bedtime. Much more than the suspenseful story, the plausibility of such ill-fated scenarios leading to nuclear war is frightening. It seems entirely possible that this plot could fast and easily become real--and far sooner than a dozen years from now. I thought the most fictional part of this book is its title.

Prayer, Not Politics

So many children have been murdered today. Parents and families are heartbroken beyond words. A community is reeling with grief. 

Yet we know this is not the last time. Sadly, these tragedies have become a familiar story. Last weekend, how many people died violently in the United States? Do we remember the supermarket and church shootings of just a few days ago?  We should. We should keep all of our fellow Americans impacted by these murders close to our hearts in prayer.

Prayer, not politics. Just once. If only, just once, the politicians would honor the victims and respect the grieving families by not talking politics. Just once, they should acknowledge that something is broken in the soul of America. This country needs prayers. The politics have no place here in this terrible moment.

But no matter how inappropriate, the opportunity to push forward an agenda will be too tempting, as it always is. The politicians will go there. They will skip over the devastating losses and blather about gun control to shattered parents.

I, for one, will not listen to any of them. Instead, I will pray for the grieving families of Uvalde and for our ailing nation.  

Scandal and Showdown

On the issue of being denied the Eucharist because of her support for abortion, Nancy Pelosi loses spectacularly. The Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot have it both ways.

San Fran Nan loves to hide behind her "Catholic faith" while she touts abortion, which is considered murder by the Roman Catholic Church. If she bothered to take time to look up the Catechism of the Catholic Church, she would (depending on her reading comprehension skills) see that she is wrong. But Nancy is too busy promoting her leftwing agenda to be concerned with matters of faith and morals.

Archbishop Cordileone did the right thing in response to Pelosi's repeated promotion of abortion. In accordance with the Gospel directive, he tried to speak with her privately; she refused to entertain his requests. Unfortunately for the USA, Pelosi is a famous public official and, in her station, her words reach millions of people. She is not free to distort and misrepresent the Church's teachings in destructive ways. This is considered "scandal" by the Church (Catechism Sections 2284-2287).

With her customary pridefulness, Pelosi is now taunting the Archbishop about the Church's stance against capital punishment. She would like to know, why aren't supporters of the death penalty refused Holy Communion? Well, Nancy, since you seem to need this explained to you, here's why: most of those people aren't in positions of power and influence, as you are. They are also not causing scandal in the Catholic Church by publicly pushing for greater access to capital punishment and for more laws supporting it. That's what you're doing with abortion. Go ahead and knock yourself out promoting abortion, but don't call yourself a Catholic in the process.

Jesus had a word for people such as Nancy Pelosi. It starts with an "H." But it's certainly not "hero."

Getting the Message

Last month, due to its political interference in Florida's state legislative process, The Walt Disney Company lost its 55-year-old preferential tax treatment in that state. This week we learned that Disney is dropping its anti-racism training requirement following public backlash and an internal leak of training documents to a journalist. 

Also this week, Netflix told its "woke" employees to find another job if they don't like the giant streaming service's content. Maybe I won't have to cancel my subscription, after all.

As Dr. Larry Arnn of Hillsdale College likes to say, "fundamental things are afoot." 

Other big corporations aren't making much noise at the moment--not about Disney, not about Netflix, not about much else. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, etc., are all uncharacteristically quiet on the diversity front. Do you think that maybe "big" corporations are getting the message that the American people are tired of being pushed around by all the "woke" nonsense?  I think that maybe they are.

Reading Incomprehension

Ever since the riots of 2020, I didn't believe the Lefties could get any more irrational and emotional. With the tsunami of Democrat hysterics following the leak of the Supreme Court's draft opinion about the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, it's obvious I was wrong.

It's been like watching the death throes of critical thinking playing out in real time. This one draft opinion, if it holds, will return abortion laws to the states--in accordance with the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution. Details, details. What it really means, according to the Left, is banning interracial marriage and the mass confiscation of birth control pills. And don't forget, "they" (those dastardly conservatives) are coming for gay people.

All of this societal carnage, cascading from one DRAFT document. Good grief, Lefties, calm down. Have an herbal tea. Take a break from screeching long enough to read the actual draft document that was so mistreated. If you can read, you can understand that the draft is completely limited to one single legal ruling--Roe v. Wade, only. 

The United States has been in turmoil over Roe v. Wade since the decision was issued, back when I was in college. That's because it is terrible law. In 1973, the abortion issue was already working its way through the states. New York legalized abortion in 1970--three years before Roe v. Wade. The 1973 ruling federalizing abortion was an arrogant usurpation by the Supreme Court of the voters' rights to determine the laws of their respective states. It is the quintessential example of "legislation from the bench," and that is the reason it has stuck in America's craw for nearly half a century. It's high time we coughed it out and got back to the rightful constitutional business of making our own state laws, thank you.

Therein lies the true problem. Self-determination and States' rights don't sit well with the totalitarian crowd. They should at least make an effort to give that pesky US Constitution and Bill of Rights a read-through. Like it or not, they are still the law of the land. If you do read them, you won't find the word "abortion" anywhere in the documents.  

Neither will you find the word "vaccine." There were many women, pregnant or trying to be, who lost their jobs because they refused the Covid vaccine. Where was Vice President Harris and her self-righteous outrage then? 

“How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they?” thundered Kamala Harris at a Democratic fundraising event on Tuesday, ranting about the leaked draft. "How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?”

Yes, Kamala. How dare they, indeed.

Standing on Sacred Sand

During the past couple of weeks, I've been traveling. I've seen a healthy swath of France along the Seine River, stretching from Paris to the Normandy beaches of D-Day. My expectations for this trip were low, considering it had been twice postponed due to Covid. I didn't expect such a wonderful experience.

From what I have seen, France is a beautiful country. Although I had never thought about visiting Paris, I found it is a vibrant, fascinating place that is also quite welcoming to its international guests. The cities and towns visited during the cruise north were unfailingly charming and picturesque. The French people are friendly, and almost all that I encountered spoke English impressively well. The trip was one lovely surprise after another.

My main goal was to see the D-Day battleground. It was a full day's trip to visit the Utah and Omaha beaches and the American cemetery, and we were fortunate to have sunny weather. Our tour guide was young, but he knew the history of World War II well. I learned a great deal about the days leading up to and following the June 6, 1944, invasion. But the most significant part of the tour was stepping onto the sand of Omaha Beach. I felt as though I should remove my shoes, as Moses did when he stood before the burning bush on "hallowed ground." There is a feel about the place, an aura in the windy air that can't be described, only experienced. If you've ever been to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, you'll get the idea.

The tide was low when I stood on the beach, but not as low as it had been for our soldiers who had to storm through that valley of death. The tide needed to be low for them to reveal the deadly obstacles that the Nazis had placed in the water. But low tide just meant so much more beach ahead of them. Where such courage comes from, I cannot fathom.

Even now, the people of Normandy province are grateful to the Americans of D-Day. More than one guide spoke reverentially of France's liberation at Normandy; one guide repeatedly called it "a miracle." There are numerous monuments dotting the verdant countryside, all commemorating the American soldiers. In our troubled times here at home, it was heartwarming to see such appreciation for what our military forces accomplished in France near the end of the second World War.

With a prayer that I wasn't being disrespectful, I took a small seashell from the beach. It now sits on my kitchen shelf, by the sink. That's where I know I'll see it every day and remember to say "thank you" once again.

Omaha Beach ~ Normandy, France