Monday Pile of Prep

Mandeville, LA – Today’s Pile of Prep: most of the stories and research used to put together the Mike Church Show on the Veritas Radio Network’s CRUSADE Channel. 2016 is here and WELCOME to the All-New, Mike Church Show on the CRUSADE Channel, listen LIVE for Free (don’t cost nuthin’).

Sapientia et Veritas – “If we justify our intervention in Vietnam on the grounds that it is crucial to our national security, we will soon be able to justify using our power for whatever we happen at the moment to want, or against whatever at the moment we do not like. That kind of moral arrogance—that kind of playing at being God—will destroy any chance we have to construct a good society. Notice that I said good society.”” – William Appleman Williams

Practice Makes Permanent And So Does The GOP HealthCare Bill – If you have been wondering what is in the new Republican “ObamaCare repeal and replace” read this piece by Pete Suderman. You might also wonder why “conservatives” went all Nancy Pelosi ala “we’ll have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it”, apparently, legislative imbecility is bi-partisan: “Republicans have consistently had difficulty making the case for the bill on health policy merits. It’s not even clear that most House Republican lawmakers know what’s in the legislation. “I don’t think any individual has read the whole bill,” Representative Tom Garrett of Virginia said. Why then did House Republicans push so hard to pass this health care bill? Because it cuts taxes — especially for the top 20 percent of earners — and so sets up the broader tax reform legislation Republicans hope to pass later in the year.” So, the fix is in for another round of “tax cuts” and monkeying with the 800 lb gorilla that is the tax code. What a surprise! Meanwhile The Senate says “how ’bout, Noooooo”.

If Only United Airlines Had Captain Kirk On The Flight Deck – The recent spate of air travel controversies has skipped the local/personal and focused on the national/corporate ideas behind over-booking and mismanaged seat assignments and infants riding shotgun on daddy’s lap. No one it seems has bothered to inquire: where were the CAPTAINS on those planes? Shouldn’t the Captain be called upon to say yay or nay before dragging passengers off of overbooked planes? Would Captain Kirk be consulted before a Star Fleet ensign dragged a federation traveler to the transporter room to be beamed back to the space dock? John Horvat has an interesting take on this as on a recent flight he actually witnessed a captain doing his job. “The contrast between the two incidents could not be more glaring. Here were two crisis situations that demanded leadership. In the first instance, no one seemed to care that all protocol was being followed. In the second case, everyone felt reassured that the situation was under control. The first flight had a pilot; the second had a captain.” This question can be asked of so many fields of employ these days, where are the captains?

Islam And Disney World Don’t Go Well Together – Witness yet another dangerous act of Islamic Correctness. An Orlando area sixth grade teacher was reprimanded for sharing with students, the writings of St John Bosco on Islam (see them here). Now let me add the real shock to this story: the teacher is holding class at a Catholic school. “The Diocese of Orlando recently reprimanded a sixth grade teacher at a Catholic school for an “unfortunate exhibit of disrespect.” What did he do? He provided printouts to students of St. John Bosco’s negative assessment of Islam. St. John Bosco called Islam a “monstrous mixture of Judaism, Paganism, and Christianity,” and explained that Muhammad “propagated his religion, not through miracles or persuasive words, but by military force.” All true as my regular guest, PhD in Islamic studies, Andrew Beiszad and I have discussed over and over, listen for yourself.

Will Work For Work – There’s a lot to be said about the current state of vocations in this “country” of ours and Professor Bruce Frohnnen takes a stab at what can be said about the decline of vocation and the rise of “the gig”. “Gigging” replaces steady work in a steady community environment with off-site, unscheduled “gigs”, see über drivers for an example. These jobs aren’t necessarily bad in themselves but it is the way the jobs are granted and maintained that are and we talk about this often on the CRUSADE Channel. One of Frohnnen’s points is well-take. “Workplaces are, or should be, communities. I mean this in a very practical sense…. But the common habits, outlook, and shared assumptions that make professional trust and honor possible are much more difficult to form when we become mere casual acquaintances who happen to meet up on a particular gig. As church, community, or other local associations die when we no longer actually do things together on a regular basis, workplaces die when people no longer come together at a particular place.”

The Non-Repeal, Repeal Of ObamaCare, Welcome To GOPCare – If you read it closely, the story of the “repeal” of ObamaCare is a story of how not to repeal ObamaCare but to replace parts of the monster with new monster parts. While the GOP leadership is busy glad-handing each other over their victory, the rest of us remain imprisoned in a government run system of health services supplemented by new mandates and subsidies. The same authority that exists in the Constitution to require you or me to buy health insurance (it doesn’t) now is expanded to fine you if let your “insurance” lapse and just who do you think that benefits?

Non Repeal, Repeal II – Planned Parenthood Funds Are NOT Part Of GOPCare….for 1 Year – Tucked inside the GOPCare bill passed yesterday is a provision that denies $390 million to Planned Parenthood that “sets a precedent” for future denials. BUT, read the fine print, the PP “funding” is contingent upon the Senate Parliamentarian accepting it as an exception to “the Byrd rule” which basically establishes that once an entity/process is federally funded a subsequent reconciliation bill cannot exclude the funding if ONE Senator objects and raises a “point of order” and his point is sustained then the funding remains. This means that if ONE Republican defects from the pro-life position and joins the Dumbocrats, then PP will get its money and “conservatives” in the House will have to vote to give it to them or kill their “repeal” bill.

Denver Archdiocese Chooses To Go Carmelite Instead of LGBTQ! – I often use the term in this space “will you go LGBTQ or will you go Carmelite” meaning will you stand for the unbending moral teaching of the Church when it comes to morals and sexuality or will you become an apostate and accept Beazelbub’s evolving view and join the apostate crowd for the sake of popularity and financial success? Well lo and behold, first the Archdiocese of Kansas City KS kicks the pro-Planned Parenthood Girl Scout out and now the Archdiocese of Denver has taken a principled stand against gender-confused boys and girls entering or demanding to be let in the Boy Scouts as per their National boards. Archbishop Aquila issued a statement which contains this: “While I fear that the Boy Scouts may make another decision that will necessitate disaffiliation, I am not going to move in that direction at this time. Instead, I am calling for all scouting groups sponsored by our parishes, including the Girl Scouts, to reinforce their commitment to forming boys and girls into virtuous Christian young adults.” Please read the whole thing and pray for this Archdiocese in doing what it must do to protect the children in her care from the LGBTQ horde.

Muricah, “Playing at Being God” Since 1965 – Andrew Bacevich reminds us that the ‘Murican project of “playing at being God” has been in full swing at LEAST since Vietnam. We were warned about this lethal, bellicose pride by the historian William Appleman Williams in an essay delivered in 1965. Bacevich explores Williams’ “Chasing Rainbows” essay in pleading with Trumpistas to take the opportunity of his historic election to make the turn away from ‘Muricah as Field Marshall of the planet.

Today’s “Conservatism”, In The End It’s All About The Money – The saga of Jim Demint and the Heritage Foundation is a grand example of why the ‘Murican political system is nothing more than an elite club, run by a caste of people who believe they are entitled to govern the rest of us without going the trouble of being elected to do so. Just read Mollie Hemingway’s conclusion to her article about Demint’s demise: “Rather than allowing political operatives to take over Heritage’s operations, as the anti-DeMint narrative goes, DeMint actually stood firm against desires the political staff at the 501(c)(4), developed a relationship with Trump’s team, and as a result ended up turning Heritage into the de facto policy arm of the new Republican administration. What more could a conservative think tank’s donors ask for than the freedom to research and recommend conservative policy and the ability and influence to see it adopted by a new president?” Got that, citizen, Trump NEEDS to be advised BY “think tanks” like Heritage BECAUSE rich people donate money to make it so. Still think your “vote” matters!?

Our Kids Are Porn Addicts=Truth, Conformity of The Mind To Reality – Anyone who denies the near ubiquitous use of American pornography and yes, that includes among children, is not dealing with reality. We know this because the people that ply this diabolical, soul crushing craft tell us so. Conor Freidersdorf at the Atlantic has the scoop (warning, the Atlantic site is NOT Brave friendly) in his profile of James Deen: “Just as likely, the industry will instead invest in virtual reality, and the teenagers of 2023 will see pornography that even Deen’s teenage fans could scarcely have imagined.” Some of what is revealed in the piece will be shocking but Rod Dreher puts the shock in perspective: “This society has a death wish. I wish I had some idea how it could be saved. What concerns me most of all right now is the horrifying complicity of conservative, even conservative Christian, parents in the spiritual, moral, and emotional ruin of their children and of their moral ecology because they, the parents, are too damn afraid to say no, my kids will not have a smartphone, I don’t care what they and society think of me.”

Facebook Wants Your Kids Minds AND Their Money – Mark Zuckerburg is emerging as a conniving, diabolical genius that you might see in a James Bond movie ala SPECTER’s Blofeld. The digital trance it has plowed hundreds of millions into has to make wise people wonder if the “Like” spells can be used to carry out the wishes of “The Programmer” – an apt title for Zuckerburg in our all-too-real, sci-fi thriller. Now comes a confession from a former Facebook executive that Zuck is “lying through [his] teeth” when he denies that FaceBook is targeting depressed kids for advertisement deliveries they are likely to crave. Antonio Garcia Martinez makes his point bluntly by analogy: “Why should those examples of targeting be viewed as any less ethical than, say, ads selling $100 Lululemon yoga pants targeting thirtysomething women in affluent postal codes like San Francisco’s Marina district?” Yoga pant wearing or ogling Citizen!, you have been warned, now hit the “Like button” on this post and pad my pride!

I’m Goin’ To Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come – After viewing or learning of the latest moral travesty to be visited upon the lives of our children via school and other developmental activities, we often hear the cry “for heaven sakes, where are the Bishops to stand up against this!?” Well, pack your moving vans and head to Kansas City, MO because we’ve just located one: Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City who just ordered his diocese to begin severing ties to The Girl Scouts! From The Kansas City Star: “I have asked the pastors of the Archdiocese to begin the process of transitioning away from the hosting of parish Girl Scout troops and toward the chartering of American Heritage Girls troops.” Say what!? The immediate reaction from the Girl Scouts and many parents in the diocese was shock, with the usual defense “the Girls Scouts have done nothing wrong, we promote apple pie, bobby socks and chastity!”, in fact that’s exactly the reaction: “The Girl Scouts, which has 1.9 million girl members and 800,000 adult members nationwide, does not take a position or develop materials on human sexuality, birth control or abortion, according to its website. And despite what critics say, the organization says, it does not have a relationship with Planned Parenthood.” Ah but the foot soldiers of The CHurch Militant have been on this case for years…

100 Questions To Ask The Girl Scouts About Their Relationship With Planned Parenthood. And then there is…

Girl Scouts Leadership: Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay Ideologues. “In recent years, the Girl Scouts have tacked left, and criticism has mounted – over their programs and their partnerships with America’s leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. (As an aside, the Scouts mislead families and churches into believing that they have no relationship with Planned Parenthood at any level; they maintain that “Girl Scouts of the USA (i.e. the national office) does not have a relationship or partnership with Planned Parenthood,” but say nothing about the many local Girl Scout councils that do partner with Planned Parenthood and its teen subsidiaries.” Read the whole thing here. The big question, in my mind, is why hasn’t Archbishop Naumannm amde the same move against the now PRO-homosexual Boy Gay Scouts of ‘Muricah?

Trump’s Deep State Rookies Gets Schooled By The Real Deep State – The term The Deep State (TDS) has become part of our vernacular the last year, it’s menacing, conspiratorial sound is indicative of its inherent evil. President Trump, in an effort to thwart TDS acts against his new Cabinet secretaries, embedded his own “watchers” in agencies to see what the TDS goons were up to. You can probably guess which group of Deep Staters has won this battle that again shows prima facie evidence of the utter futility of attempting any reform of our national government. From the Politico article: “These guys are being set up for failure,” said one administration source. “They’re not D.C. guys. They’re campaign people. They have no idea how government works.” Got that citizen? “YOU have no idea HOW government works so butt out, Bucko and take the gruel leftovers we laid out for you, loser.” The only change possible is a change in the character and the morals of those IN government now and in the future. That is an effort that is guided and ultimately made fruitful by The Holy Ghost and probably requires a catastrophe/disaster of unthinkable proportions to begin… see Noah.

Rearranging The Deck Chairs On Conservatism’s Sinking Hulk of A Ship – One of my favorite writers in the “conservative movement” is Michael Brendan Dougherty who has been holding court over at The Week these last few years. MBD is now headed for the desks of the formerly necessary National Review, I pray for the success of his vocation while thinking out loud the NRO has become a clouded, starboard side port window on the hulking ship of “conservatism” that is listing fatally before she goes 70 degrees off the horizon and begins her descent to the bottom of an intellectual sea no longer living the Faith or even Richard Weaver’s axiom: Ideas Have Consequences. MBD’s final piece for The Week is an apologia for what “authorship” has become in the age of the click-bait wars, read it, it’s really good. Godspeed MBD.

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The Red Dawn of “May Day” Was Upstaged By St Joseph The Worker – Those who think that socialism and communism in ‘Muricah are recent developments brought about by “liberals” should learn the history behind today’s “May Day” protests which begin by ‘Murican socialists in 1886. The feast of St Joseph the Worker was proclaimed by the Pope to stall the rising tide of communism in Italy and across the globe. In his address to the Catholic Italian Workers Association Pius declared: “that your first care is to preserve and foster Christian living among workers. To this end it is not enough for you to fulfill, and urge others to fulfill, your religious duties; you must deepen your knowledge of the teachings of the Faith….no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by the spirit of Christ than the foster father of Jesus. . . . If you wish to be close to Christ, We again today repeat: ‘Ite ad Joseph’—Go to Joseph”.

1776 Is Not Just For Declarations of Independence Anymore – On May 1, 1776, Adam Weishaupt established the society known to Alex Jones fans as The Illuminati. The Illuminati were established for the explicit purpose of destroying the family, patriotism and Christianity as defended by The Catholic Church. This video explains how the Illuminati are related to “May Day” and the evil history of the group.

Christianity: Made In China? – Joseph Pearce, a regular contributor here and on the Mike Church Show, refuses to join the “end is near” crowd and contribute to their chorus, instead reveling in the resurgence of the Church Militant in the least expected places, like China. “If, however, the ancient beliefs of China are being embraced by China’s political leaders, an astonishingly large number of ordinary Chinese people, especially the young urban middle-class, are turning to Christianity. There are now as many as eighty million Christians in China, a powerful spiritual presence which is very much in the ascendant.”

NATO Is Star Spangled, Trump Awesome – Membah, mebah back in the good ol’ days when candidate Trump declared NATO”obsolete” and that the USA didn’t need to remain in it unless other countries “paid their fair share”? Lo and behold, like so many campaign promises, President Trump has discovered just how star spangled amazing NATO is if only the member countries will “pay up” and he continues that they will “pay up”. Doug Bandow points out that if the NATO campaiagn promise and the end to the era of nation building promise are now off the table, is there anything that was promised that is on the table? In this AP interview, President Trump reveals that because he was developing real estate he didn’t have to know anything about NATO so he could say whatever popped into his mind about it!?

If The “Global Elite”Fail What Will Replace Them? See Libya, Iraq and Egypt – Damon Linker thinks the Global Elite cabal is about to have their palace’s stormed by the hoi polloi they have jilted these past 200 years of enlightenment. He may be correct that the peasants are restless but consider the evidence of what happens when Muslim peasants rule the world and you’ll quickly conclude that the Ruling Elite aren’t so bad after all. Linker like nearly every “thinker” on the matter of future governing makes an a priori, fatal flaw: he proceeds from the flawed principle that Man can administer his own affairs with no authority above him. Until THAT is corrected and is the principle upon which a “reform” or renaissance is based, stick with the Global Elite you know.

As Long As Islam Exists There Will Be Christian Martyrs – Srdja Trifkovic echoes what we have heard from our European Correspondent Iben Thranholm about the force-fed secularism the EU is cramming down European throats but Trifkovic goes farther, pointing out that this is just the start of the new martyrdom that Christians the world over can expect. “The New Martyrs’ example and their legacy is precious, because in this century it will be the turn of Western Christians to experience martyrdom. In Western Europe they are already persecuted by the unholy alliance between the postmodern, Christophobic PC totalitarianism of the therapeutic hyper-state, and a resurgent Islam which is as relentless demographically as it is implacable ideologically. In the United States they will be persecuted for refusing to accept the destruction of the moral foundation of the society.” Trifkovic correctly identifies the proper role of the state concerning liberty: preserving the liberty/freedom to defend the moral life needed to approach a Holy death and Blessed eternity.

Bill Nye The Eugenics Guy – In his Netflix TV series “Bill Saves The World” Bill Nye, The Eugenics Guy explains how science makes the world and that without it the world, allegedly, could not be the world. Question, if the world were created by God and no “Science Guys” were around to witness it would it still be The World? We are reaching the point where “science” can no longer answer the questions it has posed as science fiction, leaving “scientists” with little to do but devise new ways to mutilate and pervert creation, ebter Bill Nye. David Harsanyi notes this about Nye’s “disturbing view of Humanity”: “Of course, not everything about human existence can be quantified. This is the point. Talking about humans as if they were a malady that needs to be cured is, at its core, immoral. And listening to a man who has three residences lecture potential parents about their responsibilities to Mother Earth is particularly galling.” 

Bill Nye The Eugenics Guy II – Here is a rundown of Nye’s episode on population control, read the whole thing.

The Diabolical Outer Circle/Inner Circle Is Real and Now EXPOSED – The Politico has done the signal task of putting pencil to paper and proving my Inner Circle/Outer Circle paradigm by proving that the Media Industrial Complex does what it does to protect its geographical area’s industry: government. “The “media bubble” trope might feel overused by critics of journalism who want to sneer at reporters who live in Brooklyn or California and don’t get the “real America” of southern Ohio or rural Kansas. But these numbers suggest it’s no exaggeration: Not only is the bubble real, but it’s more extreme than you might realize.” The report also reveals that more than half of all internet publishing employees live in a county the Mrs. Clinton won by 30 points or more. Now before you start pointing the usual fingers the same report also informs us: “It’s worth mentioning that Fox and Breitbart—and indeed most of the big conservative media players—also happen to be located in the same bubble.” EXACTLY as my Inner Circle/Outer Circle theory says they must, they just skew news so they can siphon billions from the other end of PA Avenue. The solution? Pray and listen to the CRUSADE Channel and others like it.

No One Ever Asks The Right Question About Trump’s Tax Plan, Is It Ethical? – Jeff Spross languishes on for what seems like hours over the finer points of Trump’s “Tax Plan” and begs to compare “apples to apples” and our rates with the rest of the world but that’s not the right question to ask. Is this plan ethical? Is the plan it is to replace ethical? Is the system into which the revenue goes ethical? The answer of course is no, its not and there are $4.5 TRILLION reasons why that is so but let’s just take one: is the “income tax” designed and used for the Common Good? If we begin from the eternal Truth that all life is precious, then the answer is an immediate “no” because these taxes are used to contracept and abort babies; wage war on non-combatants across the planet and enforce a system of Justice that is at war with the natural family (Obergefell et al). No amount of “reform” can repair this defect a priori. Some might say that these events are secondary causes and that an individual taxpayer is thus relieved from culpability and while that has some truth to it, it begin to absolve us. I will explain this more on today’s Mike Church Show.

Cheetos, Nehi Soda And Plan B Abortion Pills, What Every Great Vending Machine Should Have! – I remember Michelle Obama’s war against High School vending machines that vended things like sodas and Cheeto snacks, deadly foods that were “poisoning our kids”…begone and let there be arugula and apple slices! Now comes University of Cal-Davis adding Plan B Abortion pills to its on-campus vending machines, hey today’s co-eds are on the go and don’t have time for messy visits to Planned Parenthood and certainly not for prudence so…voila: on-demand abortions. The machines are dubbed “wellness to go” machines and of course, the nominalism at play here cannot be lost: you are a “well” young lady if you are regularly engaged in mortally sinful sex and then mortally sinful acts to “take care of it”. Somewhere in the asteroid belt, God just flicked his pinky at a manhattan island sized rock…

DeceptiCONNED: Mr Wilson’s War, By Rex Tillerson – I have been chronicling the disturbing departure of the Trump administration from the “era of nation-building is over” of the campaign to the “we must protect innocent children everywhere” rhetoric and actions in Syria. In case you missed it, Trump’s Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has also been flying away from the quasi non-intervention promises Trump made while campaigning including the statement that “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world.” The Editors of the American Conservative Magazine editorialize that Tillerson is sounding more Wilsonian than Wilson ever did and that’s not good: “This gauzy humanitarianism was dangerous then, and it is dangerous now. When you include all the peoples of the world in your global project, you end up with an unmanageable foreign-policy remit with no end in sight.” Folks, if this is an “America-First” foreign policy I would hate to see a United Nations first. Alas, does anyone recall John Quincy Adams’ correct assessment of ‘Murican Foreign Policy, to not go abroad in “search of monsters to destroy”?

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL -Debbie Schlussel, who has been The CRUSADE Channel’s, Mike Church Show’s movie-reviewer since 2007 is embroiled in a controversy over comments she made about Fox News star Sean Hannity based on comments Ms. Schlussel made on 1170 am Tulsa, OK, Pat Campbell Show. The comments have been turned into “sexual harassment” charges Ms. Schlussel categorically denies and the 1170 transcript/tape do not reveal. In this candid, 45 minute long interview, Mike Church gets to the bottom of the matter with the entire history or “flashback” between Ms. Schlussel and Mr. Hannity; the chain of events as they happened; the subsequent treatment MS. Schlussel received from Mr. Hannity and his associates; the communication Ms. Schlussel had with Mr. Hannity’s former producer Jill Vitale.

Will You Go Contraception Mandate, Or Will You Go Carmelite? – Ruh Roh, Raggy, this is not good: “The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for an additional 60 days to negotiate with East Texas Baptist University and several other religious schools and nonprofit groups objecting to a requirement to which they are morally opposed.” [emphasis – mine] What happened to the “repeal of the Johnson Amendment”? What happened to protecting the Little Sisters of The Poor, as Trump promised, from being “not bullied by the Federal Government”? More details on the case are here. AG Sessions is now continuing the Obama admins prosecution of the contraception mandate against religious groups who are suing for relief. If Trump & Co. cannot roll back what Moloch’s government has rendered, it won’t be long before the Faithful who operate in public institutions will be forced to choose as will the Federales: Carmelite martyrdom or —–? ‘Tis why our opposition must be clear in our objective: to make ‘Muricah the New Christendom.

Calvin Klein’s Porn-Op Strikes Again – Last night I suffered through a Calvin Klein “nothing or all” TV ad & noted that “nothing” is now more than “Calvin Klein” and that CBS is nothing but obscene. Airing this trash is an indictment of the complete loss of business ethics in Mainstream Media. BTW, all I did was walk in on Mittus Chur watching the CBS show “Bull” to which I shouted aghast at the Bulls**t I saw on the screen, but its even worse than that. Klein is also featuring 73 year old geriatric Lauren Hutton cavorting about “in her skivvies” as some sort of “art” in the soft-porn series made by Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter Sofia (obviously devoid of the wisdom the word defines). Vogue magazine is ecstatic over the ad campaign and gushes that: “And with advertising billboards plastered throughout major cities—and ad spots on New York’s Taxi TV and on cable networks—the brand’s outlook on sexiness is being served to a massive audience. That’s the good news.“ If THAT’S the good news, one wonders what the bad news could possibly be to a Vogue writer, the return of clothing the female form from the crotch up?

‘Muricah: It’s All Saint Augustine’s Fault!? – Readers here know that I have spent the better part of the last 3 years developing this space and the Mike Church Show as a portal for like minded thinkers and fellow Christian travelers to try and place the iron of the New Christendom into the forge. The author Rod Dreher comes up a lot in these discussions as does his book The Benedict Option. Today I read Brian patrick Mitchell’s review of Dreher’s “Option and discovered the apparently well-known but known at all to me fact that Orthodox Christians KNOW that today’s moral calamity is all the fault of…wait for it…Saint Augustine. Yessir, that wily old author of Confessions, The City of Man and The City of God, got it wrong: “Orthodox scholars take a very different view of where the West went wrong, faulting the West for a longstanding tendency toward excessive rationalism, beginning with St. Augustine and producing both the rigid edifice of medieval scholasticism and the ideas that were its undoing.” Um, pardon me, but there wouldn’t be a “West” were it not for Augustine’s conversion and subsequent authorship of so much of the “West’s” foundation. No wonder there’s a schism!

The 100 Year Anniversary of The Armenian Genocide And The Groupthink Media That Helped It – Stella Morabito, the great grandchild of Armenian survivors reminds us that what proceeds a genocide is groupthink. The kind of groupthink that say, can be lulled into thinking that discriminate, drone-strike killing of third world Muslims is ok so long as there is an element of “terror” present. To put that in context, is drone-strike killing ok in Detroit or Los Angeles if there is an element of “murder” in a neighborhood? Of course not because we value a “system of law and order” and the strike violates it, but why doesn’t it violate it for the Afghanis? Simply put: Groupthink. Here is Morabito: “Information warfare through a centrally controlled media is key to turning neighbor against neighbor. It plays a huge role in caricaturing perceived enemies and growing an us-versus-them mindset. In short, propaganda that psychologically manipulates a population is key to laying the groundwork for extreme social polarization, and ultimately for genocide.” Think about that next time you learn of “errant drone strikes” in the mid-east, the same drone will work here.

The Revenge Of The Nerds: Your Smartphone – In today’s Veritas et Sapientia, Phillip Reed lays out his case why he refuses to buy a smartphone. In Reed’s confession we find one of those inconvenient truths Christians avoid: how to be IN the material, diabolical world and not be OF that world? Read the excerpt here, link to the whole essay is there as well.

Spyin’ Eyes Over ‘Muricah, Courtesy Of The NSA – The NSA is testing new blimp technology (don’t laugh, it’s true) that purportedly can scan the sky for incoming missiles (happens everyday in Jersey, right) and conveniently, any radio transmissions made on the ground. Yay, Raytheon!

Why “The Right Fails”: It Chooses Bread & Circuses Over Intellect Every Time – I have friends and family members who swoon over Tomi Lahren and others over Milo Yiannapoulas for their “telling it like it is” and over how “awesome” they “take it to the man” and the like and this is all well and good for bread and circuses but what does it provide for the intellect? 0.0 but I think that’s the point and its easy to make the association that O’Reilly provided the same intellectual desert for 25 years to the parents of Lahren and Milo, thus the pathetic state of our moral and political affairs: they are informed by a cult of personality instead of by The Cult of personality found in the teachings and contemplative life once cherished in Christendom. David French sums it up well: “Moreover, the pattern is repeating itself with the younger generation of conservative celebrities. The sharp rise and meteoric fall of both Tomi Lauren and Milo Yiannopoulos were driven by much the same dynamic that sustained O’Reilly for years, even in the face of previous sexual-harassment complaints — Lahren and Yiannopoulos were “fighters” who “tell it like it is.” O’Reilly was the master of the “no-spin zone” and seemed fearless in taking on his enemies. What followed was a toxic culture of conservative celebrity, where the public elevated personalities more because of their pugnaciousness than anything else.” The end is not near for the cult of personality but there is a swell building for the cult of intelligibility!

The Non-Interventionist Right Against The Talk Radio Mafia & Fox – The number of us (I count myself and The CRUSADE Channel in this group though we’re not cited) who advocate and defend non-interventionism is actually quite large and packed with some very well studied and at the same time humble people. George O’Neill is of these men and he has produced a stunning “inventory” of these groups and individuals which makes for some great reading and browser bookmarking. O’Neill notes the WHY of why a stable and fruitful relationship with the Russians is a strategic winner for Europe, Russia and yes, ‘Muricah too.

The Non Casus Belli Of Trump’s MissileGate – (NOTE: non casus belli= no cause for war) There is a “community” of former intelligence officers who monitor the war actions (they keep VERY busy) the USA takes and provide some insider perspective on, one of these is Philip Giraldi. Giraldi informs us today that this “community” is llivid over the Trump admins missile salvo into Syria and the continuing beating of war drums that will lead to an open conflict with the Russians. This despite ZERO point ZERO evidence that Assad used or even had possession of the weapons in question. “The insiders note that no evidence has been produced to demonstrate convincingly that Syrian forces dropped a chemical bomb on a civilian area.” Who needs evidence when you have 60% of the population chanting USA! USA! at the sight of “beautiful” missiles being launched toward “terrorists”?

Time For Oliver Stone To Make A Sequel To Greed Called Gov’t Contractor Gold – The more we learn about the staggering amount of $$ that official Mordor sends via rail car to “government contractors” the more the size of the deceit and the real reason for Mordor’s size is revealed. New analysis show that “contractors” to the Federal Government earn well over TWO TIMES what their private sector counterparts make. “For example, the median total compensation for a security guard in the private sector is $32,953, roughly double the minimum wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Security guards contracted by the federal government, on the other hand, make more than $68,000 at their annual billing rate, according to POGO.” Read the entire piece for the skinny on the great Cruise Missile Robbery.

Like It Or Not Turkey’s Erdogan Is At War With Us & Making Movies About It – On Friday last, Debbie Schlussel reviewed “The Promise” starring Christian Bale, a film that details the horrors of the Armenian genocide; a Muslim slaughter of the Catholic population of Armenia at the end of the Ottoman Empire’s reign of Mohammedan terror. Now comes news that Turkey’s Erdogan has enlisted a Turkish film company to produce a propaganda flick called The Ottoman Lieutenant and starring Josh Hartnett to provide Muricans with the “aw shucks, war is hell and so was ours with Armenians” propaganda reel. If ‘Muricans weren’t so convinced our own non casus belli were reprehensible, Lieutenant would fall flat as the propaganda fodder it is; don’t hold your breath.

25 Years Ago Today, On A Dreary, Cold, Rainy Morning, The Mike Church Show Debuted! – On Monday morning, the 21st of April, 1992, a date which will live in broadcasting infamy, the Mike Church Show began in Slidell, Louisiana on 1560 WSLA. My producer’s name was Jim Summers, a radio vet and the station manager’s name was George Mayoral said of me after that first show “here, here is the man with the golden voice” and it has been cold, dreary and downhill ever since! There have been moments of great joy and of course great sadness but to be blessed with the privilege of working the same trade for a quarter century is humbling. “I’d like to thank The Academy and…”, seriously, there are too many people to thank, nearly as many to curse and an even greater number yelling “c’mon Mike, get back to bashing Obama!” Thanks be to God for vocations and the Grace to toil and enjoy them, and to you fair reader and listener. I am most humbled and bound to say as this vocation continues by God’s Grace, kiddies who year to broadcast: “quaerite primum regnum Dei”. 25 years of talk radio broadcasting?! Mirabile dictu!

Democracy: It Cannot Be “The Future of Mankind” – Patrick J. Buchanan gives us a nice rundown of the recent failings of “democracy” that all of you are familiar with but what Buchanan doesn’t get into is what replaces democracy. Put another way, what did Democracy replace? The short answer is The Church and her singular teaching and leadership authority. The long answer is, I think, a largely peaceful era where man was not daily consumed with what was being done to him by those who he had entrusted to NOT do things to him but FOR him. No King or Earl could have possibly marshaled the resources or time to bedevil his charges, steal from them and simultaneously undermine through ecclesial insult his real future: eternity; but democracy has succeeded where Kings and Earls failed. Thus, instead of wasting our remaining years trying to fix what isn’t broken – democracy – let’s spend it in recreating what Democracy vanquished: Christendom or rather the New Christendom.

The Problem With O’Reilly’s Reign Isn’t Money It’s The Death Of Ethics – The “RSTLNE” answer to why Fox News finally decided that Bill O’Reilly had to go is that his upkeep became too expensive i.e. Fox was no longer making money from him. The boilerplate media reaction to Fox axing O’Reilly is crystallized in Jeff Spross’s essay at The Week: Fox News dumped Bill O’Reilly over money. It’s that simple. Well no, Jeff, its not that simple because what came before the money being THE issue was the jettisoning of Christian ethics in business and trade. In reviewing a book on business ethics Christine M Fletcher noted “The section “Moral Dilemmas in Business” makes it clear that profit cannot take precedence over morality and that, at times, significant sacrifices may be demanded of the faithful Christian.” How then can Rupert Murdoch, allegedly a practicing Catholic and Bill O’Reilly also alleging The Faith, have cooperated in profiting from O’Reilly while women were being degraded, harassed and coerced into mortally sinful relationships? They can’t, but they did because the presence of The Church (you could say Christ)  in our financial/business affairs has completely disappeared. As Andreas Widmer points out on the Legatus site this is because today’s Catholics in business have no knowledge whatsoever of the Church’s teaching on industry.

The Spin Stopped 1,200 Miles From Actual War For “War-Reporter” Bill O’Reilly – Michael Fumento reminds those mourning the end of Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor that O’Reilly claimed for years that he was a “war-reporter” but could never actually prove that he covered war. This fits right in with the rest of the Factor “reporting” which delivered up sensationalized doses of what Fox News viewers crave: fantasy. A mythical “shining city on the hill”, triumphant battles to “save Christmas” from “political correctness” and of course to restore ‘Muricha’s undefeated streak in waging wars across the planet. As Fumento points out, what O’Reilly did affects how other war journalists are regarded and creates this video-game like attitude about the all-too-real casualties of war, never shown on Fox. “See if you can get through my article on SEAL Michael Monsoor, who won the Medal of Honor by throwing himself on a grenade when he was the only person in position to save himself, without weeping. I can’t. That’s what war is about. It’s what war reporting is about. Or supposed to be.” The “Spin” has stopped for now, until a suitable war cheerleading charlatan like O’Reilly can be found.

Success! Trumpzilla Delivers On ONE Campaign Promise – Last Thursday a bill escaped the imperial Congress and landed on President Trump’s desk and has been signed into law. The law was signed into existence by Dear Leader Chariman MaObama via executive order but that has now been undone. This means that states can remove funding for Planned Parenthood clinics without “violating” Title X of the civil rights act.

Easter Reminder: The Gates Of Hell Have Not Prevailed-AGAIN – Joseph Pearce shows you why he is a regular contributor to this site and the Mike Church Show in “The Son Has Risen In The West”. Pearce reminds us that by the very fact that another Easter has come and gone is God’s proof for us that “the gates of Hell” have not prevailed on “the West” nor the rest of the secular world either. Pearce: “It’s not that secularism is dead as a political force. It isn’t (like the poor it is always with us). It is simply that it does not have the power to defeat the forces of Christendom. Although it is always proclaiming the Christian Faith to be dead or dying, secularism does not have the power to kill it; or, rather, if it does have the power to kill it, as it indubitably has the power to kill its disciples, it does not have the power to keep it killed.” Think of that next time a “conservative” friend or relative tells you that the end is near and evil is bringing it about: it CAN’T.

It’s May 2017 And The Immodesty Is About To Go Nuclear Because It WENT Nuclear – Venerable Bishop Sheen called out ‘Muricah back in the 1960’s while speaking to a group of young Catholics on “Youth and Sex”: “8:15 in the morning, the 6th of August, 1945, when we flew a military plane over this city, when we dropped that atomic bomb on it; that bomb on blotted out boundaries. There was no longer a boundary between the military and the civilian, between the helper and the helped, between the wounded and the nurse and the doctor, between the living and the dead. For even the living who escaped the bomb were already half dead. So we broke down boundaries and limits and from that time on the world has said we want no one limiting me. … You want no restraint, no boundaries, no limitsI have to do what I want to do. Now let’s analyze that for a moment, is that happiness?”

The Tragedy of Post Christian, Philosophia Perennis Devoid Thinking – Read this piece from AmConMag writer Noah Millman to get a closeup view of why Philosophia Perennis is so desperately needed to corral the erroneous thinking Men are sure to engage in when NOT grounded in the eternal quest for True Wisdom i.s. Sapientia. The issue Noah, is not whether “only the Saints” can live by the Magisterial code, it is that by God’s Grace the Saints DID live the Tradition WHILE receiving the Graces needed to do so. You cannot approach Grace as zero sum, mathematics, as in if I do ______ I will receive ______ “Grace credits” but if I do ______I will have deducted ______ Grace Credits. Grace is present in the world and we are given the supply needed at Baptism, the suffering of the Christian Faithful is simply to maintain the state you enter at Baptism, using the Gospels and the Traditional Teaching as MEANS to that END. As Padré Gaetano tells us in Humility of Heart: “And has not a saint abundant reasons, from the thought of his own weakness, to live always in a state of great humility, when he knows that from one hour to another he may lose the grace of God and the kingdom of heaven which he has merited by years of laboriously-acquired virtues? “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”

For an audio version of Jefferson’s [r]epublicanism via Project ’76 Webisode, click here

TheKingDude

Host of the Mike Church Show on The Veritas Radio Network's CRUSADE Channel & Founder of the Veritas Radio Network. Formerly, of Sirius/XM's Patriot channel 125. The show began in March of 2003 exclusively on Sirius and remains "the longest running radio talk show in satellite radio history".

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