PC Wordplay

13 Friday Apr 2018

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AP, books, BS, Chicago, free-speech, liberals, PC, SJW, style, writers, writing

Nothing is safe. The SJWs have invaded or conquered the AP Style Manual:

Stop saying offensive words.

That’s what the Associated Press (AP) is telling writers.

You see, the AP puts out a stylebook every year that includes universal guidelines for stylistic matters like punctuation, capitalization, and even word choice.

In a recent version, the AP encouraged writers to not use words such as “pro-life,” “migrant,” “refugee,” “Islamist,” and “terrorist.”

It’s completely ludicrous. Yet, sadly, it’s a sign of the times.

Writers aren’t all that fond of being bossed around and with good reason. Disrespect to the AP, following their suggestions, how would one espouse a pro-life opinion about migrants, not necessarily “refugees,” some of whom are Islamist terrorists??? Remember when liberals cared about free speech? Neither do I.

Newspeak, anyone? No thanks.

I have an older AP book (never felt the need to update annually). It sits pretty next to Black’s, Webster’s, Strunk and White, Brown’s, and Bartlett’s – all mostly unused.

Not that I have style, but I’ve always favored the HBB and Chicago guides. They also collect dust with a bunch of other books no one else is interested in.

One hopes for scant interest in the PC BS from the AP.

_CMOS17

Bigger and better, collects more dust. UC Press.

Voxiversity 5.0: Why Western Civilization Needs Christianity

12 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

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Christianity, civilization, The West, Vox Day

Vox on the foremost pillar of our Civilization:

Vox Day/YouTube.

Christianity can exist outside the West. The West without Christianity is something else, something less.

All kinds of videos today, some with value.

Thanks, Vox!

Back on Track: ‘Rejoice and be Glad’

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Catholic Church, Christianity, hell, Pope Francis, Satan

Following last month’s supposed question of whether there is a hell, the Pope delivers a tour de force on beating the hell out of the devil through clean, Holy living. (Actually published before the Scalfari Report surfaced).

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION: GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE (Rejoice and be Glad) OF THE HOLY FATHER, FRANCIS, ON THE CALL TO HOLINESS IN TODAY’S WORLD

March 19, 2018

…

More than a myth

160. We will not admit the existence of the devil if we insist on regarding life by empirical standards alone, without a supernatural understanding. It is precisely the conviction that this malign power is present in our midst that enables us to understand how evil can at times have so much destructive force. True enough, the biblical authors had limited conceptual resources for expressing certain realities, and in Jesus’ time epilepsy, for example, could easily be confused with demonic possession. Yet this should not lead us to an oversimplification that would conclude that all the cases related in the Gospel had to do with psychological disorders and hence that the devil does not exist or is not at work. He is present in the very first pages of the Scriptures, which end with God’s victory over the devil.[120] Indeed, in leaving us the Our Father, Jesus wanted us to conclude by asking the Father to “deliver us from evil”. That final word does not refer to evil in the abstract; a more exact translation would be “the evil one”. It indicates a personal being who assails us. Jesus taught us to ask daily for deliverance from him, lest his power prevail over us.

161. Hence, we should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea.[121] This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable. The devil does not need to possess us. He poisons us with the venom of hatred, desolation, envy and vice. When we let down our guard, he takes advantage of it to destroy our lives, our families and our communities. “Like a roaring lion, he prowls around, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

Alert and trustful

162. God’s word invites us clearly to “stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11) and to “quench all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph 6:16). These expressions are not melodramatic, precisely because our path towards holiness is a constant battle. Those who do not realize this will be prey to failure or mediocrity. For this spiritual combat, we can count on the powerful weapons that the Lord has given us: faith-filled prayer, meditation on the word of God, the celebration of Mass, Eucharistic adoration, sacramental Reconciliation, works of charity, community life, missionary outreach. If we become careless, the false promises of evil will easily seduce us. As the sainted Cura Brochero observed: “What good is it when Lucifer promises you freedom and showers you with all his benefits, if those benefits are false, deceptive and poisonous?”[122]

163. Along this journey, the cultivation of all that is good, progress in the spiritual life and growth in love are the best counterbalance to evil. Those who choose to remain neutral, who are satisfied with little, who renounce the ideal of giving themselves generously to the Lord, will never hold out. Even less if they fall into defeatism, for “if we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents… Christian triumph is always a cross, yet a cross which is at the same time a victorious banner, borne with aggressive tenderness against the assaults of evil”.[123]

Spiritual corruption

164. The path of holiness is a source of peace and joy, given to us by the Spirit. At the same time, it demands that we keep “our lamps lit” (Lk 12:35) and be attentive. “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess 5:22). “Keep awake” (Mt 24:42; Mk 13:35). “Let us not fall asleep” (1 Thess 5:6). Those who think they commit no grievous sins against God’s law can fall into a state of dull lethargy. Since they see nothing serious to reproach themselves with, they fail to realize that their spiritual life has gradually turned lukewarm. They end up weakened and corrupted.

165. Spiritual corruption is worse than the fall of a sinner, for it is a comfortable and self-satisfied form of blindness. Everything then appears acceptable: deception, slander, egotism and other subtle forms of self-centredness, for “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). So Solomon ended his days, whereas David, who sinned greatly, was able to make up for disgrace. Jesus warned us against this self-deception that easily leads to corruption. He spoke of a person freed from the devil who, convinced that his life was now in order, ended up being possessed by seven other evil spirits (cf. Lk 11:24-26). Another biblical text puts it bluntly: “The dog turns back to his own vomit” (2 Pet 2:22; cf. Pr 26:11).

…

Hard to conceive of Satan without him lording over hell.

One will note, therein the above, the Pope takes a swing at: Gnostics, false prophets, the devil, the world, and … bloggers. Keeping us straight.

We’ll call this “controversy” settled.

*An Apostolic Exhortation, unlike an unrecorded interview, is, generally considered infallible. But, only so far as to Biblical recitation and interpretation, related Doctrine, and Canonical matters; Papal opinion – everyone has one – is not necessarily covered. Catholics and Protestants constantly (or, when they think and talk about it) befuddle the issue of infallibility. As Francis notes in the above Exhortation, be wary of those who always seem to have all the answers.

**An Apostolic Exhortation is essentially a “white paper” covering some issue(s) of concern to the Church Community. It has a rank in the order of Papal Papers; said rank confuses me; I have not always all the answers…

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Independent Catholic News.

Crossed Signals: Season’s Greetings

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

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England, France, missiles, racket, Syria, War

Happy Tomahawk Slinging Season to All!

Seemed I got a little too caught up in the US Mega Budget-Debt details last night. My apologies.

I forgot that sometimes, in the Spirit of the Season, Jolly Old Saint Uncle Sam allows his elves the joy of tossing the traditional cruise missiles around.

Syria MISSILE STRIKE ‘within hours’: Eastern Mediterranean on ALERT for ‘possible launch’

BRITISH and French forces could launch an imminent missile strike on Syria within a matter of hours, aviation monitors have revealed.

A coalition force could fire “air-to-ground or cruise missiles” in the wake of a horrifying chemical attack on innocent civilians in Syria last week.

Aviation experts AirLive have reported this evening a “rapid alert notification” warning aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean to be wary of a sudden missile strike.

AirLive said the alert was issued by Eurocontrol this evening for a “possible launch … within the next 72 hours”.

AirLive said: “According to reports, British forces are mobilising at their bases in Cyprus and Rafale fighter jets could takeoff from St Dizier airbase in France for possible strikes against Syria.”

Reminds me of the Lighting of the Gaddafi Tree in Libya a few years ago. Maybe the Brits want to hold Assad’s sovereign wealth …. for the Syrian people of course.

Joy to the War! Blessed are the Warmakers.

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Up on the rooftop Tomahawk calls.

Down come shingles, truss, and walls.

Down from the air with lots of noise.

All for some report of … nebulous bad boys.

Get in the damned spirit, will ya! There’s a racket to run.

Mr. Zuckerberg Goes to Washington

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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Facebook, force, government, regulation, Senate, social media, Zuckerberg

Sharpening the double-edged sword:

The Zuck is on the Hill, facing off against a panel of Senatorial Congress Critters:

Some of the toughest questioning so far comes from Sen. Lindsey Graham, who pushes Zuckerberg on whether Facebook is a monopoly.

When asked straight up whether Facebook has a monopoly, Zuckerberg responds “It certainly doesn’t feel like that to me.” The response is met with some gentle laughter.

Graham stays on him, also asking about European regulations and if those rules are right.

“I think they get things right,” Zuckerberg responds, followed by a few more light chuckles.

Chuckles aside, ask yourself this: “When has government regulation ever worked out all that well?” And I’m talking from a freedom of action perspective.

As big, bad, intrusive, and even dangerous as Facebook may be, I’m not aware of them, or any other Social, ever putting a gun to anyone’s head to compel usage, payment, or actions. I could be wrong; I would have asked about it had I been there…

The same cannot be said for government, any government. They have been known to point and click with guns and worse weapons. The State is force. Period.

Facebook, and all the socials, already fall under one form or existing regulation or another. There’s a reason Zuck is being so polite and helpful seeming today. He knows that, with 55 million or 80 million privacy violations, Facebook could be FTC fined out of existence. It won’t be but it could be.

Rather, I see a bunch of Uniparty animals chomping at the bit to further intrude into the internet – for our good and safety and all of course. Is that really what we need?

I assume the answer from most Americans is a big, blank, unconcerned, drooling stare.

UPDATE: A few things:

Listening to many of these questions and grandstands is more cringeworthy than most of the answers. “I do’h wanna reg-ya-late ya but golly gee ah will!”
Today privacy is largely an illusion – especially if you willingly put yourself out there without encryption, VPNs, etc. You do that? Buyer, escuse me, … freebie user beware.
A good friend reminded me that we’ve all known that the government tracks, records, stores, and misappropriates all electronic communications and that we’ve known it for years. (Originally one of them thar crazy conspiracy theories…) Knowing all that, how many folks do NOT use email, socials, and phones? Yeah.
NO! Most people don’t read disclaimers. That would require reading.
Large corporations LOVE regulation. It’s not them versus the government. It’s them and the government versus you and any poor startups. “Protecting” you by ensuring their monopolies and increased profits.
We’re witnessing the mass slander of the free market and the sense of the people. The latter might be warranted.
“Senator. Senator… Senator!” How about: “listen scumbag” and “you criminals”?
With all these idiots babbling about the complexity of the user agreements, Zuck could just answer: “Enough about me. How about YOUR tax code?”
Can’t believe I’m taking the side of Zuck and Co. here.
Geeze…

Zuck it up. Drudge.

A Diller, A Dollar, A Tomahawk Scholar

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

debt, government, stupidity, Syria, Trump, War

Well, seems as if another Tomahawk Slinging Season is once again upon us (or upon those in Syria). Happy Tomahawk Slinging Season from one taxpayer to many others!

Tomahawk, Tomahawk,

Flying off a ship.

Let’s make a really good excuse,

And hope most of ’em hit.

*(Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells or something).

I still can’t find Syria anywhere on or near a map of the USA. Maybe it’s around Alaska? Or one of the little island protectorates? Yet I can easily divine incompetence most rank on the border between Virginia and Maryland.

Trump said he only signed the recent bloated (partial) budget to get funding for the military. Now he wants other parts rescinded. (Thing called a veto. V-E-T-O). The man also recently said it was time to leave Syria to the Syrians and anyone else foolish enough to there thread. It is. But, somewhere along the way, the pullout and the budget seem to have met. Must have been on the road to Damascus…

And, this being Tomahawk Slinging Season and all, maybe a little more expensive foreign meddling is in order before we mind our own business (if ever that is).

All this craziness ain’t cheap: Return of the Trillion Dollar Deficit (Washington Times).

I detected some fuzzy math in the CNBC piece. If the 2016 GDP was $18.5 Trillion (it was), and the on books federal debt is now $21 Trillion (it is), then in the past year+ we must have increased the GDP enormously to be below 96% currently – so as to make the “dire” predictions for 2028 a plausible reality. My calculator may be acting up.

However the numbers settle, I’m still backing my prediction of $40 Trillion in debt by 2024. I see this as being back on track – to oblivion.

Could be worse. You could be in the bull’s eye this Season. Of course, could be better; you might own Raytheon stock.

What Happens if Trump Refuses Arrest?

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

decline, enemy combatants, habeas corpus, ignorance, law, Lincoln, Merryman, MSNBC, Roger Taney, Trump, warrant

Nothing, to Trump. Much, perhaps, to others. Highly speculative answers to highly speculative questions. The shallow, historically uniformed intellectualism of the popular press never ceases to disappoint. In furtherance of the “Russia, Russia, Russia” mania, Joy Reid and the panel of “experts” at MSNBC ponder the ridiculously improbable:

Sunday on her weekend morning program, MSNBC’s Joy Reid seriously discussed a situation where President Trump refused a subpoena and would have to be arrested and put in jail until he testified before a grand jury. Reid envisioned a scenario of a White House besieged by federal marshals who would wait for Trump to give the Secret Service a stand down order so he could be taken into custody.

“Let’s say that Donald Trump decides he doesn’t want to give an interview with Mueller, but Mueller says ‘Oh, but you will.’ And he’s subpoenaed to [be] interview[ed] [by] Robert Mueller. And Donald Trump simply says, ‘I don’t recognize that subpoena.’ This is a president whose behavior is different as president of the United States. He doesn’t follow convention. Who would force him to comply with the subpoena ordering him to do an interview with Robert Mueller?” Reid asked.

“It would be a federal court judge,” former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said.

“How would they enforce it?” she asked.

They wouldn’t. It’s as simple as that. It’s settled “legal” territory. See: Ex parte Merryman (1861) and associated proceedings.

President Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus during the questionable American “civil” war. Said suspension was challenged in federal court. Following a conclusion Lincoln’s suspension was unconstitutional, Lincoln and his army refused to comply with the ruling and with the orders of the judiciary.

A federal marshal informed Chief Justice Roger Taney of the row and requested instruction. Little was decided by the high court other than Taney’s resignment to the fact his marshal and associated posse comitatus were woefully outgunned by Lincoln’s standing army. At the White House it was decided Taney was interfering with the war efforts. Lincoln wrote up an executive warrant for Taney’s arrest. Cooler heads prevailed upon the President and the warrant was never executed.

But, unlike the court’s paper, Lincoln’s could have been, would have been easily affected. Taney narrowly escaped a fate well-known to more a few of his contemporaries. Lincoln arrested plenty of people on similar specious charges, including at least one federal judge and a member of Congress.

Couple this “precedent” with the modern interpretation of “enemy combatant” and one prays cooler heads are still on call around DC.

One could also pray for the grace of knowledge among the popular talking heads. That might be asking a bit much, even from the Almighty.

This is What Comes After Gun Control

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

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communism, crazy, England, evil, freedom, gun control, knife control, London, Sadiq Khan

Everything control. Like SJWs, gun controllers always lie. And after they get the guns, they still can’t stop stealing. They move onto things like assault knives: see London’s campaign of sheer idiocy:

An epidemic of stabbings and acid attacks in London has gotten so bad that London mayor Sadiq Khan is announcing broad new “knife control” policies designed to keep these weapons of war out of the hands of Londoners looking to cause others harm.

The “tough, immediate” measures involve an incredible police crackdown, a ban on home deliveries of knives and acid, and expanding law enforcement stop-and-search powers so that police may stop anyone they believe to be a threat, or planning a knife or acid attack.

Khan announced Friday that the city has created a “violent crime taskforce of 120 officers” tasked with rooting out knife-wielding individuals in public spaces, and is pumping nearly $50 million into the Metropolitan Police department so that they can better arm themselves against knife attacks. He’s also empowering the Met Police to introduce “targeted patrols with extra stop and search powers for areas worst-affected,” according to a statement.

The mayor took to Twitter to announce his new policies. “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.”

Strangely enough, Khan is responsible for decreasing the number of stop-and-searches, having previously declared the tactic racist and potentially Islamophobic. It’s also not clear what local Londoners will now use to cut their food.

Parliament is also set to take up heavy “knife control” legislation when it resumes this week. The U.K. government is expected to introduce a ban on online knife sales and home knife deliveries, declare it “illegal to possess zombie knives and knuckledusters in private” — “zombie knives” are those defined as being manufactured for the purpose of being used as a person-to-person weapon — and ban sales of caustic materials to anyone under the age of 18, the Independent reports.

London has seen a dramatic uptick in murder rates, surpassing even New York City in the number of homicides every month since the beginning of 2018. It has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, and, technically, knives carried “without good reason” are off limits to anyone under the age of 18.

This is “your” government, post gun control. No, the gun murders don’t stop, increasing rather. And neither does the theft of property and liberty by those who disarmed the people.

“There is never a reason to carry a knife...” In dystopian Londonistan steaks now cut themselves, envelopes open at the asking, and string is merely wished in two. Or maybe they’re banning all those things as well. “Caustic” chemicals too. What’s that include? Break dust cleaner? Drain cleaner? Toothpaste? H2O? Water, aka Hydric ACID, is caustic.

Really, what’s next on the list? Cars? Vans? Baseball bats. Hammers? Rocks? Sticks? Hands and feet? The creative mind?

I joked about this kind of stuff repeatedly, half joked. Here is proof of the harsh truth behind satire and sarcastic rhetoric.

This is what comes after you surrender the guns, America. This is also what comes when you surrender your nation to incompatible foreigners and the communist cult of the multi-“culture.” Paying attention?

Rather than give any of the million refutative reasons to carry a knife, I’ll just close like this: There is never a reason to turn your city over to a psychotic semi-savage in a suit. There is never a reason to surrender your guns, your knives, or your freedom. Do so at your own extreme risk.

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