Choosing ‘The Chosen’

Posted: July 20, 2021 by chrisharper in catholic
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By Christopher Harper

The Chosen, which ended its second season last week, provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

When someone talks about a saint, I usually think of a holy person without flaws. The Chosen depicts the lives of primarily ordinary men and women who were called to follow Christ, mainly because of their flaws.

The show’s creator, Dallas Jenkins, has a degree in Biblical studies and has a team of scholars to ensure the accuracy of the stories. The scriptwriters took the gospel accounts and added plausible details about the lives of the figures found there. They added backstories to well-known characters and fleshed out other characters who might receive only a passing mention in Scripture.

Simon Peter is sometimes a hothead who tried to outfox the Roman authorities. His brother Andrew seems to be a good man who often is unsure of himself.

John and James, the other fishermen, are tried and true but often prone to anger. That’s why they are called the “sons of thunder.”

Matthew is the odd man out of Christ’s followers, a tax collector hated by almost everyone. He is by far the most intelligent, but The Chosen portrays him like someone with a Asperger’s disease or autism. Nevertheless, he becomes quite close to Christ because of his ability to write down the Messiah’s actions and words for what would become one of the four gospels.

Thomas is the consummate doubter—a good man who has his doubts up until the end.

Phillip is a follower of John the Baptist, who provides a rational balance and is sometimes the arbitrator of disagreements among the apostles.

Simon the Zealot once served in a group of militant Jews bent on ridding the Holy Land of the Romans.

James the Lesser, Bartholomew, and Thaddeus haven’t significantly been featured in the first two seasons, but it’s likely that they will play greater roles over the next five seasons that are planned.

At the end of Season Two, Judas Iscariot becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. He’s described as a man who is an orphan and a poet. He’s a real estate wheeler-dealer who helped the apostles rent the land on which the Sermon on the Mount took place.

But there are many other interesting followers of Christ, including Mary Magdalene. She’s a prostitute who came to follow Jesus because he cast out her demons with the simple touch of His hand. The Blessed Virgin also travels with Christ during his trips throughout the Middle East, making sense because she is now a widow and has little money to provide for herself.

One engaging figure is Nicodemus, a Jewish rabbi and powerful leader considered a saint in some Christian religions. He decides that Jesus is the Messiah, but he is conflicted about stating in public what he believes because of his position in Jerusalem.

All told, The Chosen provides a fascinating backstory of Christ’s apostles and other followers.

Although the series can be challenging to find because it doesn’t appear on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon, try https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen.

It’s definitely worth a watch, even if you aren’t sure about your personal beliefs.

Draft Women? What’s a “Woman”, Clarifying Francis, Reputations gone, China’s Bad Japan Move and Now I’ve seen Everything under the Fedora.

Posted: July 20, 2021 by datechguy in catholic, crime, culture, economy
Tags: , , , , ,

Apparently the Democrats are talking about making women register for the draft.

Senate Democrats are proposing a sweeping rewrite of the military draft laws aimed at requiring women to register for the Selective Service System, according to a draft authored by Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed and obtained by POLITICO.

I’ve said for a while that the draft is coming since . Even more so now that they are chasing away the actual volunteer base (conservatives, Christians and people who think the country is worth fighting for) they’ll need to increase the pool but the real story here is that Democrats are willing to define “woman”.

For those of you who aren’t Catholic let me put his reversal of Benedict in a way that you might get better. Basically before Benedict the rule on the Latin mass was a Bishop “may allow” the mass, like a state that say it “may allow” concealed carry. Benedict changed it to “shall allow” in other words. Francis has changed it back to “may allow”.

The real question to me here is this. Will Bishops that have the Latin Mass in place in some parishes forbid it from continuing? I suspect that Bishops who allow the Latin mass to congregate will find themselves off Francis’ list of potential future Cardinals.

Unexpectedly of course.

The sheer terror that the MSM, Social media and the left have concerning auditing the ballots in swing states is having an effect on public perception of the left that isn’t very good. Furthermore the willingness of school boards, the FBI and the Military to do the same is having a similar affect on the reputations of all these groups in the eyes of the public.

A lot of these people in charge of these agencies are going to learn that like a spouse who has cheated once trust doesn’t return once normalcy does. But I suspect they are counting on it never returning and the full power of the federal government will be used to make sure those who stole the last election will never have to worry about losing power.

China recently released a video threatening Japan if they aid Taiwan during any Chinese attack.

This is about as stupid as it gets.

China should remember that Japan is one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world and the only reason they do not have nukes, or chemical weapons or miniature killer drones is because they choose not to.

Furthermore while post WW2 realities has kept them from re-arming if Japan decides to return to it’s previous traditions to any degree and chooses to rearm, they can likely have nukes or chemical weapons or killer miniature drones to target CCP leaders pretty fast, not in less time then it takes me to type this but not a whole lot longer.

Talk about waking a sleeping giant.

I can’t think of a story that more perfectly meets the stereotype of a woke stupid liberal than this one:

Brits looking to ease their conscience over their involvement in bloody drug wars overseas are now being targeted by cynical dealers selling what they claim is “ethically sourced” cocaine.

Users have revealed a high demand for the so-called “woke coke” at posh dinner parties across the UK.

Drug policy expert Neil Woods told the Daily Mirror: “I have been shown ads for ‘environmentally friendly sniff’ but it’s nothing but a very clever marketing ploy.

Via Instapundit. The degree of stupidity necessary to fall for something like this is so incredible that it boggles the mind, however given the idiocy of the left, particularly the wealthy left advancing luxury ideals I’ve reached the point where nothing they do surprises me anymore.

Report from Louisiana: Inner City Blues

Posted: July 19, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – There has been a bit of a buzz in my neck of the woods this week about a “scorching” letter written by an Alabama tourist to Mayor Cantrell of New Orleans. This visitor took issue with the homelessness, blight, and open drug use in the city and implored the mayor to “be a leader” and clean up her city.

I can’t speak about NOLA, but I can’t argue with what this guy probably saw because I see the same thing here in Shreveport, and I suspect this is the case in many cities across the nation. In Shreveport, for example, the homeless population downtown can be seen everywhere; on every bench, in doorways of every abandoned building, and posted up in front of the public library. Some ask for money, most stare sullenly into space and avoid eye contact. It is sad to me, and I know that a wide variety of circumstances have brought them here. Some of this may be of their own doing, but not always.

Does this deter tourists? Probably, some.

More puzzling to me is that I don’t see this everywhere. I don’t travel widely, but I do travel. We recently returned from a trip to the Midwest to visit my husband’s family. As is our custom, we spent a day in Des Moines, exploring the vibrant downtown and then attending an iCubs baseball game. Shreveport doesn’t have minor league baseball, so we grab it when we can.

In Des Moines we did not see blight, homelessness, drug use, abandonment; I’m sure some of that is there, we just didn’t see it downtown. We walked blocks, inside the skywalks and outside on the street. Granted, a lot of the shops in the skywalks that we had seen before are gone. A lot of people are still working from home. But the majority of businesses there are booming and there are people living, working, and playing downtown.

It makes coming home to a dirty, crumbling city somewhat depressing.

I am not sure what the answer is. My husband would say it is the Democrats we seem to put into office. “Look at every city that ever had a Democrat mayor!” he screams. “It goes to hell!”

He’s not wrong.

Except the mayor of Des Moines is a Democrat.

Obviously, the blight and decay of our cities is the result of a combination of factors. For example, Louisiana only has two Fortune 500 companies, the highest of which ranks only 143 (CenturyLink). We are not a business friendly state with a rank of 49 on that list. I love my state for its natural beauty, but we have a lot of problems.

At the very least, we have got to get people back to work across this country. Everywhere we went on our travels we saw help wanted signs and places understaffed. Product shortages are evident. From the lowest to the highest, we have got to get this economy going and these jobs filled. The unemployment subsidies need to stop. ANYone who wants a job should be able to find one right now.

And while the tourist who wrote the letter to Mayor Cantrell will likely find his pleas falling of deaf ears in the mayor’s office, I hope he knows that a lot of other people see and agree with his words. We need to elect leaders who will step up and lead, who will do the right thing and not necessarily the popular thing, and who will get this country back on its feet.

It is overdue.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and at Medium; she is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

My Advice to Conservative Companies/Candidates Who are Approached by the NYT & MSM For Interviews…

Posted: July 19, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Don’t!

There is absolutely no upside.

The best case scenario is that the reporter(s) on the story do not misquote you or overly spin you as evil or fringe and their customer base, which has no intention either buying your product or voting for you, becomes aware you exist.

The worst case scenario is that the reporter(s) on the story spin, trick and our and misquote you to such a degree that your own customer or voter base believes you have abandoned them and dump you. Thus they manage to destroy you which is likely their goal in the first place if you are effectively supporting or advancing conservative goals or co-opt you.

If you’re lucky they will settle for the middle scenario where they misquote and spin you to make you a villain in the popular culture which will shun you and force you to remain a fringe product.

They hate you and want to destroy you, don’t help them do it. Avoid them, shun them and if they stick a camera in your face stick on in theirs at the same time so you can document any falsehood they attempt to advance.

You have been warned, no charge.

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