Blocking military nominations is bipartisan

Posted: December 23, 2023 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Uncategorized
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Senator Tuberville is 100% correct to be concerned that the DoD is spending taxpayer money, in violation of the law, to allow women birthing people to travel across state lines to pursue an abortion.

Sadly, he recently caved from RINO pressure on this point. If you don’t know history you’d think it was only the eeeevil Republicans that stopped nominations. And you’d be wrong.

What about Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth, blocking over 1,000 promotions in 2020? Why is that conveniently left out of every article?

Or the curious case of Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill blocking General Susan Helms, an Obama nominee, from her fourth star? General Helms was a female astronaut and selected to be the vice commander of Air Force Space Command. Senator McCaskill didn’t like that General Helms overturned a sexual assault charge on an appeal, so she simply blocked the general until she retired.

Now, personally I think Susan Helms made the right call and overturned a case that was lacking evidence. But Senator McCaskill was on a “believe all women claiming sexual assault” intifada, so that was never going to fly. Susan Helms was more than qualified to lead Space Command, but politics got in the way. That is Senator McCaskill’s right to do so. My issue is that if I search for “senator blocked nomination,” every link on Google is about Tuberville. Even adding “Democrat” and “2013” to my search doesn’t bring up McCaskill’s blocked nomination. I just happen to remember it at the time, and was able to dig it back up.

I don’t want to hear anymore about Senator’s “playing politics” with military nominations until I see references to Claire McCaskill and Tammy Duckworth at the end of those articles.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

The Single Most Important Bit of the Douglas Murray Cenk Uygur Bit

Posted: December 23, 2023 by datechguy in Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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There are plenty of stories in conservative media celebrating Douglas Murray taking apart Cenk Uygur in their discussion on the Israel/Hamas war (and full credit to Uygur for having the guts to have the discussion). That Murray could do this was no surprise as he does tend to do shoe leather reporting and such work regardless of the quality of sources always superior from pontificating from afar.

But the real news here wasn’t that debate or even that it took place, the news was an assertion Murray made during the exchange that I think is the single most important fact concerning the Palestinians in the west bank of the Jordan. To wit:

If there was an election tomorrow in the West Bank, Hamas would win. 

emphasis mine

Run that through your head for a second.

Hamas has committed one of the worst and most barbaric attacks on civilians that we have seen in decades including the mass rape of women, the desecrations of corpus and the kidnap, murder and even baking of babies. The video of the livestreams of these events have left people who have seen this video, even seasoned reporters and those experienced in dealing with trauma visibly shaken.

Furthermore the actions of Hamas has led to the Jewish state invading Gaza and putting the residents in such a state due to it being a war zone that they have an issue with basic supplies, their economy such as it is, is crushed and their future prospects for anything resembling a normal life are shaky at best and non-existent at worst.

Yet despite these facts Murray, an experienced reporter who has direct experience of the area asserts that Palestinians in the west bank would, not a year ago, not before Oct 7th, not before seeing the end result that it has led to for Palestinians in Gaza, TODAY despite everything choose to vote for Hamas to lead them.

In fairness the kleptocracy of the Palestinian Authority does deserve some credit here but even so the idea that they would vote Hamas seems insane. But if we are to believe Murray consider:

  • The murder of the Jews doesn’t bother them
  • The kidnapping, atrocities against woman and babies doesn’t bother them
  • The risk of their own areas being flattened in response to a potential Hamas attack bothers them

All that matters to them is that Hamas is willing to attack and kill Jews. That willingness to do so overrides all other considerations.

You can’t make peace with such people, the only thing you can do short of destroying them, expelling them or ruling them with an iron fist, is contain them which seems to be the goal of Israel. It involves risk and will cost lives but is the only way to avoid the other unacceptable choices.

The sooner the world learns that the better.

Update: Been gone all day to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette which in addition to being an awesome Catholic shrine with mass, confession and a large collection of Christmas Creches from all over the world has a rather more famous Christmas light display so I didn’t have any idea that I’d been Instalanched till my son mentioned it in passing as we were getting ready to leave for home. Thanks Ed and welcome all, take a look around. Be aware that our first fundraiser in a couple of years will be kicking off after Christmas. The goal is $3k overall with 5 new subs at $20 a month. If you want to get us started toward that goal it would be much appreciated.

My Suggestion to St. Mary’s Fire the Board, Fire the President

Posted: December 22, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
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It is a good thing that St. Mary’s Catholic College for Women in Indiana has reversed their decision to admit men who identify as women to their college after huge pressure from alumni and their Bishop who noted that both Pope Benedict XVI:

No doubt Saint Mary’s College desires to promote love, inclusion, and acceptance within the community. But it does not do so authentically when it separates love from truth. In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity… Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word ‘love’ is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite” (#3).

And Pope Francis

Pope Francis also teaches about the intimate connection between truth and love in his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith). He writes: “Love requires truth. Only to the extent that love is grounded in truth can it endure over time, can it transcend the passing moment and be sufficiently solid to sustain a shared journey. If love is not tied to truth, it falls prey to fickle emotions and cannot stand the test of time. True love, on the other hand, unifies all the elements of our person and becomes a new light pointing the way to a great and fulfilled life” (#27).

note that you can’t separate “love” and “Truth”.

Despite this reversal I recommend asking for the resignation of both the President of the college and the current board of trusties and if they don’t resign, their dismissal.

Why, well despite the Bishops charitable description of their initial decision’s motives let’s look at the initial announcement of their now reversed policy.

Conboy said in the email that the Board “fully supports” the new policy.

“This confidence from our Board underscores their commitment that as an employer, Saint Mary’s must stand firm in its position as an inclusive community leader, and that as educators, we should continue to create an environment where all women belong and thrive,” Conboy wrote.

By definition the president of a Catholic college and such a college’s board should be both defenders of the faith and examples of how the faith should be practiced and imparted to young people who are to be educated at their school.

Yet not only did the president of said college celebrate this change but noted that the board “fully supported” it. No sign of dissenters, no sign of objections, no members of the board threatening to resign or making a public declaration that this is contrary to the faith. None of those things moved them.

But the backlash sure did:

As this last month unfolded, we lost people’s trust and unintentionally created division where we had hoped for unity. For this, we are deeply sorry.

Forgive me for saying this but I submit and suggest this is a lie, I think the truth is more like what this member of the Alumni said about the reversal:

“When this admissions decision became public hundreds of alumni banded together to stand for the Church and her teachings,” said Clare Ath, who graduated from the college in 2018. “While I would hope the reversal is because administrators realized we must teach the truth with love, my guess is the reversal is because alumni banded together, pulled their donations, notified their diocese and media, and said we will not let Our Lady’s college be corrupted by secular gender ideology.”

Put simply they’re not sorry they did it, they’re sorry that they received pushback and faced the loss of donation and support.

This suggests that if some time in the future a less vigilant Bishop is in place they will try something like this again. My thought is “why take a chance?” There are no shortage of faithful Catholics who actually believe what the Church teaches who are qualified for both the board and the presidency.

So I humbly suggest for the good of the future of the college that the president and the board resign en masse to make room for people who will be dedicated to keeping this particular Catholic college Catholic.

Closing thought: This post gave me Anna Maria College Visit flashbacks. I suspect his decision to not go there is a contributing factor for him remaining a devout #catholic into his 30’s.

The war on the Holiday That Must Not Be Named has reached a truly ludicrous level this year

Posted: December 21, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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In the Commonwealth of Marxachusetts Christmas has become one of the most vulgar swear words.  Towns and other localities go to extreme lengths to refrain from using a word that political left has deemed to be the most offensive word ever uttered.  It is so reminiscent of the lengths the wizarding community in Harry Potter went to to avoid naming Lord Voldemort.  Stores go to the same extreme level in all of their ‘holiday’ advertising. Store clerks are forbidden from wishing their customers the hated Merry Christmas.  I am sure it is the same all over this country, except in the reddest of red enclaves.

Banning the name of the Holiday That Must Not Be Named is not enough anymore.  Christmas trees have proved to be too offensive for fragile and pathetic progressives: Town Cuts Tree Lighting From Holiday Celebration To Appease Those ‘Offended’ By The Tradition (themix.net)

The town of Durham, New Hampshire finally submitted to the politically correct police this year by agreeing to remove the tree lighting from their annual holiday celebration. The decision was announced after the town received complaints about the tree lighting tradition.

CBS reported that the event which was previously known as the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will now be called Frost Fest. And the tree lighting at the center of the celebration will no longer be part of it.

While Santa will attend the event, he will not be in a town firetruck as he has in the past. In addition, the wreaths that traditionally adorned lamp posts on Main Street will not be put up this year.

Town Council member Sally Tobias explained that these changes were made after someone complained that they are “offended” by the Christmas themes in the ceremony.

“There was another private citizen that came forward and said that he had always had a problem with the Christmas tree, as he called it,” Tobias said.

Two whinny individuals complain and every single person who enjoys Christmas traditions is punished, how inclusive.

These delicate anf pitiable progressives can’t even stomach the name Jesus when they do go through the motions of carrying out traditional Christmas activities: Parents Furious When School Changes Christmas Carol Lyrics To Be ‘More Inclusive’ (themix.net)

Parents and staff at a London primary school are upset after the headmaster changed the lyrics to a popular Christmas carol “in the name of inclusion and political correctness,” according to a watchdog group.

Zakia Khatun, the headteacher of Whitehall Primary School in East London, told students they were not to sing “Lord” in “Away in a Manger,” and replaced it with “little baby” so “all pupils” could participate in an annual Nativity Tuesday.

The mythical separation of church and state is used as the primary justification for waging this war on Christmas.  The separation of church and state does not exist anywhere in the Constitution, nor is it part of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  That clause only prevents the Federal Government from establishing an official state religion through laws passed using the formal legislative process.  Selling religious candy at army bases is not the same: Military exchange to stop selling ‘Jesus’ Scripture Candy after secular group complains | U.S. News (christianpost.com)

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service said it will stop selling Jesus-themed candy in response to a complaint filed by a secular legal organization warning that selling the treats at commissary and exchange stores is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. 

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation announced Friday that it received a response to a letter it sent recently to the AAFES objecting to the sale of “Jesus Candy” at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

AAFES is the retailor found on U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. 

The Establishment Clause most definitely does not apply to the states.  It did not when the Bill of Rights was ratified.  It was not extended to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.  The Supreme Court concocted the entire incorporation doctrine in direct violation of both the 1st and 14th Amendments.  Only tyrannical and fragile progressives would ban school bus drivers from wearing Christmas themed clothing, decorating buses, and playing Christmas carols: Pennsylvania School District Does Damage Control After Memo to Bus Drivers Goes Viral (townhall.com)

A Pennsylvania school is attempting to do damage control after issuing a memo instructing bus drivers to remove Christmas decorations from their vehicles, stop wearing anything related to the holiday, and avoid playing Christmas music. 

“If you have decorated your bus with anything specific to the Christmas Holiday or any other decorations relating to a specific religion, please remove them immediately,” read the Dec. 15 memo from the Transportation Supervisor at the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. “In addition, employees are instructed not to wear clothing related to Christmas or any other religious holiday.”

District offices and bus drivers are also “to refrain from playing Christmas music” or any music connected to a particular religion. 

Libs of TikTok pointed out the district took a different attitude toward “Pride Month.”

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