There Will be Polls and Rumors of Polls

Posted on by charliej373

baptism-of-fire

By Charlie Johnston

I once had a candidate who was intensely focused on polls. He would ask me several times a day what new polls I had seen on his race. He knew I did not put near as much stock in polls as most operatives did (except for issue and messaging questions – which most observers never see or hear about) and that I actually considered them something of a distracting nuisance. He knew it annoyed me, but he couldn’t help himself. One day, we were walking through the state capitol when he asked me for the umpteenth time that day. I looked at him solemnly and intoned, “In those days, there will be polls and rumors of polls.” He was silent for a moment, then burst into raucous laughter. “Polls and rumors of polls” became a running joke between us whenever things got too ponderous.

I often disagreed with polls. While I had a few big blunders, usually when I disputed a poll I was right. I had my own little ways of doing ersatz focus groups. I think I have spoken before of my “coffee shop” gambit. I loved to pull into a busy coffee shop, bring in a paper to pretend to read and have a cup of coffee while listening to friends talk to each other. People say what they are really thinking to their friends in coffee shops, not what they think they are supposed to say (as they often do to pollsters). I called the historic GOP takeover of the House in 1994 in March of the same year on my radio show– and stuck with my prediction all year. Whoo boy…got a lot of attention on that one. The night before the last election, at dinner with a Christian broadcaster who asked, I bluntly predicted Trump would win – and do it quite handily if he wasn’t swamped beneath the largest indicators of massive vote fraud I have ever seen.

This time, more than any time in my life, I am uncertain of what will happen. Oh, the raw temporal evidence suggests to me that this is going to be a shocking Republican blowout. But I am uncertain what my country is, any more. A large – and very vocal – segment of the population has adopted attitudes that are literally unhinged. Perhaps more telling, many ordinary people have accepted this as normal – and tolerate it.

Many people imagine themselves to be virtuous without expending any effort, commitment or even actual virtue in the process. They claim to be saving the planet by opposing plastic straws – while merrily chugging away at the little plastic bottles of water they so love. The plastic bottles could be eliminated with no ill effects at all – but that would involve using tap water and would not be “cool.” The neo-virtuous are not so committed to the cause that they would crimp their fashionable pose. I don’t care whether you like bottled water or straws. I don’t much care for either – but I don’t delude myself that I am “saving the planet” because of my personal preferences. Saving the planet with no real effort…how cool (and utterly banal) is that? All it does is make privileged children feel good about themselves.

Newspeak has taken over. The path to power and privilege is to claim victimhood points. Middle and lower class white males are among the least privileged people in modern America. They are routinely victimized, largely without complaint. The only people more consistently victimized are minorities who publicly self-identify as conservative or traditional Christian. People like Elizabeth Warren (who may well be the whitest white woman in America) enhance their power and influence by claiming minority status they don’t have. In fact, the Democrats have revived their old Jim Crow “one drop” standard to try to defend Warren. “Virtue” without reference to the “content of your character.”

Everything is a posture. People who do the real work of keeping things going – building homes, collecting garbage, farming, mining…any sort of real, hard physical labor are derided as ignorant deplorables. Quick question: if an EMP knocked everything offline for a year, who would most likely survive, the sturdy yeomen I mentioned earlier or the social justice warriors? And who would the social justice warriors have to rely on to have even a chance of surviving – the very people they treat with such vile contempt.

Much of our country has succumbed to a mindless and violent banality while constantly reassuring themselves they are intellectually gifted. The great mass of those who congratulate themselves on their “gifts” know next to nothing about history, economics, philosophy or any useful trades. It is painful for me to watch network news because almost every historical reference they make gets it wrong. Fox is a little better – it only gets the history wrong much of the time. Our elite classes are dumber than they ever have been – and smugly proud about it. Lord, it truly is maddening to be condescended to by your inferiors, as Peggy Noonan so bitingly said.

Around the country, leftist violence is growing. Just in the last few days, Republican operatives and candidates in Minnesota and Nevada became the latest to be physically attacked by Democrat operatives. In Charlie Kirk’s delicious phrase, colleges in this country have been reduced to “mob assembly lines.”

In the justice system, the most pernicious gossip is cited by leftists as “evidence” against conservatives and Christians, while the highest mountain of evidence against a leftist is routinely dismissed as irrelevant. The offenders are so mightily privileged – and yet so furiously angry. There is such a sad pathos to them that, if they weren’t so deadly dangerous, it would make me feel terribly sorry for them. How lost must you be to eagerly take on such unrelenting misery?

In a healthy society, this lunacy would not be tolerated. It would be decisively hooted back to the fever swamps where it belongs – and the purveyors of it would get the counseling they need to build meaningful lives – or sent to jail if they can’t learn to play well with others. The antics of the atheist neo-fascists do not disturb me near as much as the tolerance which normal Americans are showing such destructive nonsense. If we normalize all this, it becomes…normal. It is terribly destabilizing. In previous successful totalitarian takeovers, one or more failed attempts were made before the successful takeover. In Revolutionary France, there had been substantial agitation for a decade before the old regime fell. In Russia, a failed revolution was mounted in 1905 before finally succeeding in 1917. In Germany, Hitler’s near-comic beer hall putsch of 1923 was prelude to his successful takeover in 1933. What enabled these totalitarian movements was, in part, the culture’s tolerance of them as part of their “normal.”

It is a tricky business. Most totalitarian revolutionary movements tap into some genuine disaffection in society. Ruthless actions to suppress such movements usually just exacerbate them – unless officials of the old order act with equal decisiveness to address the underlying causes of turmoil and churn. Yet tolerance of violence and rioting by such a group almost guarantees a slow-motion prelude to revolution that ultimately explodes seemingly out of nowhere. The oddest thing, for me, is that our current revolutionaries on the left are agitated about nothing. All their issues are frauds. While almost all revolutions are ultimately really about power, the current neo-fascism carries not even a fig leaf to cover over that that is what it is about. There will be no negotiation out of this impasse. There is no middle ground between freedom and totalitarianism. In this case, one side must decisively win and the other lose to settle things. I am almost certain that real war will come upon us. The left would make war rather than acknowledge the liberty and autonomy of any who do not agree with them. I pray that the right will accept war rather than forfeit that liberty.

Complicating all this is my certainty that God is playing an active role in human affairs right now – that Aslan is, indeed, on the move. But as I have said, God is a very tricky Fellow – and His ways really are not our ways. Many of us wish we had a solidly orthodox Pope who was committed to eradicating abuse and keeping faith with defined doctrine. The Vatican now often seems to want to redefine itself as a generic political leftist advocacy center intent on wiping out all doctrine that prevents it from being so…when it is not busy acting as a mutual aid society for abusive predators. Still nominally pro-life, abortion and population-control advocates are welcomed and honored at the Vatican while critics of the junk science called man-made climate change are shunned. Yet if we had gotten a solidly orthodox Pope this last time, firmly committed to the Magisterium, the rot would still be there. It is just that the rotters would not have so imprudently revealed themselves. God’s ways are not our ways.

Again, I go back to the phrase that has rung in my head all year: “Let there be light!” I suspect the election is going to turn in a way that best promotes God’s long-term plan to heal our poor, bleeding world. I just don’t know what that is. If Republicans win a landslide, it will make it most easy to repel the violent ugliness of what leftism has become. Yet it may not fully reveal every man’s duty to choose where he stands – and may encourage an unpleasant hubris on the right. If Democrats win in a landslide, it will ensure war in the future – for it will endorse their methods of violent repression of dissent. That would require war to preserve liberty. That would force everyone to take personal responsibility – so that might be what best reveals the hearts of all. Heroes and saints are born of existential crises. If it all just splits the difference, that just prolongs the struggle – but that could more deeply reveal who everyone is, while buying time for people to choose whom they will serve.

I think larger powers and principalities are involved here. But my life has been mostly spent as a political and cultural analyst, whether in media or in politics. So I will end with my best temporal analysis. As I said, the polls are more tainted than I have ever seen when one digs into the internals. Polls are a mixture of art and science. The art comes when a pollster decides what assumptions to make when choosing the characteristics of his sample. An honest pollster tries hard to make such decisions on objective criteria – for the sample hugely influences the results of the poll. How will turnout between Republicans and Democrats shake out? What will be the proportion between men and women in the turnout? What will be the rural versus the urban turnout? Understand, the pollster makes these choices BEFORE polling anyone. If the choices are bad, the results will be bad. This is the art in polling.

For over a decade, pollsters have consistently oversampled Democrats. This year, the pollsters have gone insane in making absurd sampling decisions to favor Democrats. This piece by Nicholas Waddy covers the absurd assumptions pollsters are making to make their polls come out favoring Democrats. Obviously, some pollsters are just dummying it up because of their partisan narrative – but the whole “Blue Wave” narrative was designed to spook even the most honest pollsters into over-sampling Democrats. That they have to go to such absurd lengths to come up with models that favor Democrats tells me they are panicked and hoping to depress Republican voters. You don’t taint the sample when an honest count is in your favor – and the samples are more tainted this year than any I have seen in over 40 years. That reflects panic in left-wing boardrooms, not confidence.

So, from the best temporal evidence I can garner, I stand by my prediction earlier this year. The Republicans will pick up 7 seats in the Senate and 32 in the House. Then God protect us from any hubris on the Republicans’ part. Healthy people will turn in revulsion and self-defense from the growing violent totalitarianism of the left. That is not the same as embracing all Republican priorities. And I don’t know if we are fundamentally a healthy people any more. What I do know is that, before all is settled, each of us will have to choose – and publicly declare – where we stand. All hearts are being revealed. God will move in whatever way best reveals and purifies them. Woe to those who think they can sit idly on the sidelines waiting to see how things come out. Woe to those who gleefully bear false witness against their opponents. Woe to those who jettison honor in the pursuit of power.

We must seek ardently to be holy as Our Lord is holy. Give thanks to God if He gives us the easier way – and don’t abuse it. Give thanks to God if we get the harder way, knowing that the hardness of our hearts requires it – and grateful that God gives us the opportunity for it.

When I was on my pilgrimage, I developed a deep insight into the ancient prayer, “Lord, lead me in a plain path…” Going uphill when heavy laden is very hard. Surprisingly, so is going downhill, as your legs are constantly acting as brakes. Any hilly country is challenging, for even when you are going down, that just means that soon you will have to struggle uphill again. A plain path for a day is as refreshing as a cool stream. Pray that the Lord leads us in a plain path.




161 thoughts on “There Will be Polls and Rumors of Polls”

  1. Thank you, Charlie. Excellent analysis and advice!

    Willis L. Krumholz and Robert Delahunty have culled a lot of information which I’ve read via various sources. And it ain’t pretty. Michael Walsh nails it in the culture war. As has been said repeatedly here, we are getting hammered in both State and Church with the results of this stinky stew we have concocted and brewed for many years. Mea culpa, mea culpa. mea maxima culpa. Praying and fasting that we all rise to be and do just what He tells us to do.

    Liked by 8 people

  2. Hey Charlie,

    Can you elaborate on the following, “What I do know is that, before all is settled, each of us will have to choose – and publicly declare – where we stand.”?

    God Bless,

    Becky

    Liked by 4 people

    1. I guess I’m asking more about the “publicly declare” part. Does this mean by voting in next month’s election? Verbally/vocally choosing for God in public? I have a feeling that it’s something quite obvious by now, but I’m just missing what you’re meaning.

      Liked by 3 people

        1. When I explain 40 Days for Life, I say that for these 40 days, we have to be pro-life OUT LOUD. Put up a yard sign, wear your baby-feet pins. Talk around the water cooler. But on a bumper sticker. Is this kind of what you mean? Only without an ending date?

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Charlie, if it were just me and my husband, or just us and our older kids, I’d have no problem with publicly declaring my positions. I’m an opinionated loudmouth… you know that. But we still have little kids. Given that reality, and given the additional concerns that come with being the mother of a little one with a condition that could make her a target for many on the Left, I have long sensed the need to try to fly under the radar as much as possible in order to protect my little ones–and especially my Baby Girl. In a situation like that, and in the current political/social climate, how does one stand up publicly without endangering those whom one has a duty to guard and protect? Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated.

          Liked by 5 people

          1. That is an interesting conundrum Mick. I would not know how to answer this. Raising your kids to be good strong Catholics is first priority I imagine.

            I think there are big differences between men and woman in terms of risk. Example, if my son climbed the highest tree in the neighborhood and hung by a branch and said “look at me”, I would be kinda proud of him. However, Lambzie would say “oh gosh. You could have hurt yourself”. My Dad, who is agnostic, has said to me, “well, the kids have to learn how to drive a car some day. I just hope they do not kill themselves in the process.”

            You and your husband know best. As long as you two are on the same page, being faithful and praying together, most likely that you will make the best choices.

            Liked by 2 people

          2. Mick,

            I’m with you on this one, as well. I have little ones.

            I early voted yesterday, as did my hubby. Still pondering Charlie’s response to me…..

            God Bless,

            Becky

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Mick and Becky, tending to your primary duty as mothers of young children IS the witness we need in these days. The key thing, I believe, is right there in the first move of the core message here: “acknowledge God.’ I would ask the Lord what His Will is for you. He’ll bring you an answer, somehow, some way. Inherent in that answer, already, is your state in life and the vulnerability of your young children. Consider this: a priest, no less, the ONE who can bring us Jesus as sacred food and who ALONE can give us absolution in ordinary circumstances… fully cognizant of his state in life, a priest gave up his life for a family. Sending St. Maximilian Kolbe to you, Mick and Becky, as you contemplate and discern.

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              1. Thank you, Beckita, for your beautiful words and encouragement. Thanks especially for the reminder of the witness and sacrifice of St. Maximilian Kolbe. May he pray for us all.

                Liked by 2 people

              1. Thank you Beckita and Mick for your advise, prayers and support…along with everyone else here. Knowing God’s plan…wish it weren’t so hard. Emotions and feelings get in the way sometimes. Wish I didn’t lean on them so much.

                Liked by 2 people

          3. Oh gosh, Mick, I really did not get myself across well. I do not mean you have to take it to the streets. I simply meant you must make your choice and live it consistently. You don’t have to be showy, but you need not back down when pressure comes. Think of Joshua – “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” You have done that quite well.

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            2. Thank you, Charlie, for the clarification and for your kind words. I misunderstood you completely; sorry about that. Thank you for the quote from Joshua. All of my growing-up years, my parents had a plaque on the outside of our front door. It said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I loved the saying then, and I love it even more now.

              Liked by 4 people

              1. I kinda figure that when things get bad enough, it will be obvious what we believe even if we don’t put up signs or signals. I imagine it coming down to a situation where we are forced to make some kind of a declaration, maybe because to not do so would be a sin. I can envision the Left, because they don’t have the levers of control they’d like, cracking down on the culture by encouraging the creation of even more policies through the middle management members they have everywhere that are designed to flush the ‘unbeliever’ out. To turn the cultural screws on us. I homeschool, it may be that I must battle for my right to keep doing that in the way I see fit: without the kind of scrutiny that is designed to ‘catch’ me not teaching that gay unions are wonderful. Can you imagine if someone decides that THAT is child neglect or something? I can see that the cultural war will become one where “Catholics need not Apply” . . . but instead of actual signs right away, it will be a pressure of culture and violence against people who wish they could build the City of God. In those instances, we should not be afraid to simply be who we are and suffer the consequences gracefully. We’re not going to fly under the radar for much longer, is what I’m thinking. And the time is coming when we shouldn’t. We don’t have to make signs, we’re just going to have to be who we are and insist that we be allowed to be such! That alone will require a great deal of bravery soon, I think. We’re going to be at the point where we can no longer just keep ceding ground, changing where we shop, eat, live etc. just to keep staying out of ‘trouble’ and stay untainted by the culture. The culture of death is getting brash and out of control and threatening the salvation of MY kids despite my best avoidance efforts. So, now the proper thing to do is stand and be firmly who we are, where we are, keeping in mind our duties and station in life, but also be prepared to be called out or called upon. On the bright side, I think we’ll make a lot of unexpected friends that way too.

                Liked by 4 people

              2. While going through today’s mail, I came across a package from the Sacred Heart Mission. Inside, a plaque stating the following:

                As For Me and My House, We will Serve the Lord: Joshua 24:15. 🙂

                Liked by 4 people

      2. I picture myself observing two angry opposing crowds with family members on both sides. I picture them all looking at me asking, “ what do YOU believe?” They are demanding that I choose between loved ones. How?, I wonder. I’m terrified. Then courage comes. I stand up tall and shout, “ I believe in God the Father Almighty…”
        I proclaim the Creed and invite both sides to join me in this belief.
        At least I can still dream…

        Liked by 8 people

        1. In one of his sermons, Fr.Joseph Wolfe, (EWTN), recommended, because he knows of positive results, that we daily recite the renewal of baptismal promises for wayward family members, in their stead.

          Liked by 3 people

          2. I love that Marie. It is my daily prayer that we the Church, it’s ordained clergy, consecrated religious, and members return with sincere and contrite hearts to the vows of our Sacraments.

            ❤

            Liked by 1 person

      3. Becky, thanks for asking this question. I was wondering about this very thing, and you’ve articulated the question much better than I would have.

        Liked by 2 people

  3. Amidst the uncertainties that swirl around us, let’s take the time to thank God and celebrate special moments given us. Beckita, please pass on my congratulations to Fr Wang on the occasion of his 90th Birthday and let him know that he and his China Project (and yours!) has been the intention of the first decade of my Rosary since you ‘allocated’ him to me some time ago. May God continue to bless him, and you, for taking such good care His priest. Hope you all have a wonderful celebration on Saturday.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Thank you so much, Karen, for all your kind words. Father will be d.e.l.i.g.h.t.e.d. to be reminded that you continue to pray for him and our China Project. With the help of our good friend, Fr. Cody, I may be able to transform the presentation which I’ve prepared into a movie that I would upload online for viewing. Such a story of faith being tested and strengthened as Father ever took up his cross to follow the Master.

      Liked by 6 people

        1. I see much wisdom in his face, Beckita, even across the decades. He has a “presence” about him. Please tell him Patrick of South Dakota wishes him a very happy birthday and is praying for him and his intentions. ♥️

          Liked by 4 people

          1. Father receives your greeting – and prayers – with gratitude, Patrick. I agree about that “presence.” Amazing how suffering well infuses such as this in a person.

            Liked by 5 people

        3. Beckita: Please convey my best wishes to Fr. Wang on his ninetieth birthday. I pray for him and the people of China every day. My Polish ancestors have a song they sing at birthdays which roughly translates into English as “One Hundred years, One Hundred years, Live another hundred years for us.” I feel the same for Fr. Wang, May he be with us for another hundred years to pray for us and show us the way to faith and humility by his life and example.

          JT

          Liked by 3 people

          1. Thank you, JT. Father was really touched by your words and he thanks you very much for your prayers and loving thoughts. So often, as we’re headed to chapel for the daily Mass, I’ll mention needs expressed from folks at TNRS-ASOH because while Father has a main intention for whom the Mass is being offered, we know the Mass has infinite value and we’re happy to keep you and all in this community in prayer. I LOVE the song of your Polish ancestors. SO great!

            Liked by 1 person

          1. Beckita,

            I will ask – did Father Wang ever wear the sacrificial hat [literally “sacrificial cloth”, pronounced as Jijin or Tsikin 祭巾]? Here is a link: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/08/the-chinese-sacrificial-hat-and.html#.W8otUfZFxtF

            Also, Father Wang might like this, from Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarch Sviatoslav Svechuk

            “I must say that in recent days we saw some historic moments that have not been seen in the Church for hundreds of years. I must admit that we haven’t yet completely understood what has happened. . .
            But, from my observation as a shepherd to whom God has entrusted the care of souls, I must say that in these two weeks I’ve just witnessed two epochal events in Christ’s Universal Church, which, according to me, can be explained together. These are events which, without a doubt, will make history, and will be a new turning point in the life of the Church for this new moment we’re entering.

            You will ask, what are these two epochal events? One is this fact that the Holy Father Pope Francis has given communion to the seven Catholic bishops of China who, until now, weren’t in full and visible communion with the successor of Peter. In fact, there’s a clandestine Church that is persecuted.
            I remember still the tears of the Holy Father, who was moved during his homily in the opening Mass of the Synod [talking about the two Chinese bishops present]. Why was he moved? Because he understood that this is not about the bishops whom, as an act of mercy, he’s brought to full communion. It’s about millions of simple faithful, simple Catholic Christians in China who in this way have returned to the womb of the mother Church.
            From a canonical perspective or a political perspective, many criticize the decision. But what is the sense of it? To put the well-being of the person as a supreme value above the observance of the rules. The person is more important than ideas.

            The other one is the decision of the synod directed by the Patriarch of Constantinople to give ecclesial communion to the two structures of the Orthodox churches in Ukraine which, until now, have been called ‘non-canonical’, meaning cut off from the Mother Church, that of Constantinople and all Orthodoxy.
            Everyone speaks of the clash between patriarchs, of juridical acts that have been cancelled, everyone talks about canonical territory. But no one underlines that this gesture has given communion with the Church of Christ to almost 20 million Ukrainians who, in this way, feel a caress from the Mother Church.”

            Liked by 1 person

            1. The Tsikins were from imperial days, James. Father was born in 1928, an entirely different era.

              I just wrote to a dear friend this: (edit: Oops! Nimble fingers Sent prematurely.) “With the lunar calendar and not such good recording back in the 1920’s in China only God knows when Father’s actual date of birth is. He simply chose the 18th of October to assimilate with our Gregorian calendar with the same date for a birthday each year.

              Lordy what a season of war and confusion it was for Father, his family and countrymen when he was born in 1928. The Boxer Rebellion had ended in 1901 with spheres of foreign influence all over his land. The Germans were assigned Shandong and famine was starving people in his region when German Franciscan missionaries arrived with food and the village folks were curious about what motivated their kindness The destructive communists had established themselves in the country in 1921. By the time Father entered the minor seminary at age 11 (imagine that!) in 1939, the Japanese had invaded China two years previously and the communists were on the move. Mercy what suffering for him in childhood! Literal three day walk for home visits and sometimes accomplished in disguise. Honestly, literally, he could have lost his life many times. There were, as he says, bandits roaming the countrysides. Heck! Maybe he is just all practiced up for what we’re about to endure.’

              About the Holy Father bringing in the formerly ex-communicated bishops, I’m not at all sure it is a good sign, James. Most likely, the writer of the piece you share does not understand the inner workings with the intense struggle for religious freedom in China right now. It “looks good” on the exterior that the excommunicated are brought back to the fold. But at what cost to the whole picture? Those hard line communists are NOT to be trusted. Many are the writers inside of China who speak of the dangers of bowing to the communist leaders. I have read that as part of the most recent agreement, the Vatican will remain silent in the face of human rights violations. If this is true, it is yet another horror that has been agreed to. I saw the footage of the emotion expressed by Pope Francis and I also read his quote that, of course some will suffer because of the agreement. How can this be right?

              Another misunderstanding about the agreement which is wrongly expressed in the article is this: “It’s about millions of simple faithful, simple Catholic Christians in China who in this way have returned to the womb of the mother Church.” I say: Baloney! Already the millions of faithful Catholics in the CPC were receiving valid sacraments and managing quite well under oppression. I have met Bishops who smuggled letters to Pope St. John Paul II, expressing their true allegiance to Rome yet towing the line of the government’s interference via the CPC. The oppression is only ramping up, not changing because of this agreement.

              I also see a problem with this: “From a canonical perspective or a political perspective, many criticize the decision. But what is the sense of it? To put the well-being of the person as a supreme value above the observance of the rules. The person is more important than ideas.” Not so, Dear James. Not so. I’m sorry, for I don’t mean this in a rude way. It seems the writer(s) of this piece are not well informed. The agreement has NOT improved the well being of the Chinese people. They remain clearly under the vice of communist oppression which is only ever tightening. Right now, there’s a HUGE push to repress religious expression on the internet. That is a new front for the communist government.

              We pray.

              Liked by 2 people

              1. Fr. Wang is a Saint. What a great honor to know him through you Becks. It is also a great honor to know you too Becks as you are a Saint too. I hope you are turning red.

                Liked by 3 people

                1. God bless you, Doug. I’m only pink cuz I’m but a half-baked saint-in-the-making. Walking shoulder to shoulder with you and all our friends here as we climb the mountain of holiness. 😉

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                  1. I think what makes as all so lovable is not that we are perfect, but that we keep trying to do our best to live a good life and learn the way of love as shown through our Lord. At first, it takes experiencing how much he loves us. Oh how kind and merciful he is to us.

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                    1. Yes, Doug! Your thoughts bring to mind St. Paul’s words to the Ephesians 4:

                      I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

                      Liked by 1 person

              2. Beckita, some context that I failed to provide on the writer. He is Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, the head of my church. It actually is from an interview found in Crux. The Patriarch’s views are informed by the concept of communion, that Orthodox Bishop John Zizioulas has articulated well – the idea that the Church is expressed in the communion of it bishops, and the chief Bishop is the one who has the charism of Peter, that is the Bishop of Rome. It follows the patrisitc notion that the bishops were in persona Christi, the priests were the apostles and the deacons were the angelic order. And, as expressed by St. Ignatius of Antioch, where the bishop is, there is the Church. So, the Patriarch sees the importance of restoring communion between those so called “patriotic ” bishops and Rome.
                I do not profess to understand all the issues with the Church in China, but I do understand the Patriarch’s position. So, love and hugs – we are in communion with each other!

                Liked by 2 people

                1. Oh yes, James, we ARE in communion with each other! Love and hugs in return… always. No disagreement or varying point of view should fail the good will we extend toward each other here. I appreciate you sharing the context of the writing and it is a worthy goal. It IS. If only this agreement was forged with those who are sincere of heart rather than hard line communists. And that’s what I think the Patriarch has missed in his assessment. I think it’s not just a detail, but foundational. Blessedly, we know God ever writes straight with our crooked lines. Amen.

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        1. Father’s sending thanks to you, Jen! ❤️
          Missoula sits in the convergence of five valleys so we’re surrounded by not so high mountains, but high enough that the University of Montana has a big letter “M” on the mountainside where the university campus sits at its base. There are some added letters preceding the “M” right now: F and U (edit: there’s also TRU before the M with a P after the M.). There’s a peach image above it for impeach. Another mountainside has the letter “L” for the Loyola Catholic High School. It’s been transformed with succeeding letters IAR. This city is notioriously liberal. We’ve been dubbed the most progressive city in the state yet we’re surrounded by red counties and folks from western Montana have driven into the city with no available rooms in hotels left for this night. Calls for folks to bring their guns have gone out. Lotsa people have been praying for a “cool” night sans any harm , please God.

          Liked by 4 people

  4. I don’t see a way out humanly apart from war. In the first Civil War the issue was slavery and states rights were, I believe, mainly a cover to allow or prohibit slavery. The issue was one of principle and any compromise such as 3/5 of a person wouldn’t work. In the same way today the issues are also ones of principle, support for life Vs. killing unborn babies. Marriage as God intended it vs. whatever we define it as, Trusting in God vs. making ourselves and our political beliefs gods, etc. And as we are dealing with basic principles, we must choose and stand for truth, come what may. With the dividing lines so close between both camps, and the intensity of the issues, I don’t see how this can end peacefully, and when one side pushes and seems to win, the other side gets angrier and more determined to win to counter the last victory. God help us. We have allowed great evils to grow in our midst and evil never brings good fruit, in it’s growth and even it’s removal is painful. I fear that Lincoln’s Second Inaugural was more prophetic then we like to hear for these times.

    Liked by 8 people

    4. Great video Joanne1950…however, Steve Hartman mistaken says there are few real heroes or something like that left. I would have to disagree with him. Maybe inside the bubble there are fewer heroes but out here in the real world there are tons!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Several years ago I had the good fortune to visit Pompeii and the volcanic museum. I was just starting to have knee trouble due to arthritis and when I saw the smooth cement ramp next to the 10 bazillion steps I was so relieved. But lo and behold, I had more pain navigating that ramp than if I had run up those same steps with a big dog chasing me. (I don’t run anywhere unless a big dog is chasing me.)
    I learned pretty quickly that it doesn’t matter how things look: it is the inherent truth of how they operate whether it is mechanical or intellectual. Things are not always what they seem and the present day entitled ones don’t get it. I have been paying attention and I’m just hearing sound bites.
    No substance all fluff and promises impossible to keep. “Words echoing the sounds of silence.” Who’da thunk Simon and Garfunkle would have turned out to be prophetic and spot on?

    Liked by 8 people

  8. Hey Charlie

    I’ve been hankerin’ for your take on current events lately, but didn’t know you were blogging again til just recently. I highly value your political and cultural insight, and have enjoyed several of your recent articles over the last few days on current events

    You mention that had we elected a traditional pope last time around, the scoundrels in the magisterium would still be there, but we just wouldn’t know it. They’d be keeping their heads down

    Could it be providential that Pope Francis was elected, as they’ve now popped their heads up and outed themselves?

    Great to hear from you again Charlie

    Best

    Paul R (South Jersey)

    Liked by 2 people

    2. Good to hear from you again Paul (Paul flew me over the Statue of Liberty in his small plane on our way to Hyannisport a few years back, It was great!) Yes, I do think it was providential. We know the problem well now and have an accurate picture of what we have to deal with.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Hey Steve…yes…doing well…did a little downsizing…sold the plane and the house…bought an apartment in CC Philly…enjoying it…nice to shed some expenses too

        Thnx for saying Hello Steve

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Charlie,

    I think you will be right when you discuss the Republicans picking up seats. The Democrats are in a panic, and their are increasingly shrill.
    1.) They expected the “Russian” narrative to take out Trump – instead it destroyed their base in the FBI and resulted in HIlary and staff losing her security clearance.
    2.) The Janus v. AFSCME decision this past June – it resulted in the financial gravy train being cut for the Dems and means the entire U.S. public sector will now be “right to work.”
    3.) Stormy Daniels – the attempt to us this to take on Trump was laughable as all too many peopel remembered Slick Willie’s adventures.
    4.) The constant leaks – inevitably, this brought about a purge of their agents, further weakening their base. People grew sick of them
    5.) The rank and file union workers love Trump and this ends their love affair with the Democrat party.
    6.) More and more black people are supporting Donald Trump – if they do not vote Republican, they will likely not vote.
    7.) The threats of Violence, that is – vote Democrat or we will “protest.” – people are sick of the bullying.
    8.)The Kavenaugh Disaster – a total catastrophic disaster for the Dems, – they made this their hill to die upon. Trump held the line, like Wellington’s line at Waterloo. People have noticed this fact – because all too often the Republicans caved under pressure – why should this time be any different? Except that there was Donald Trump. The Dems really expected to win this one, it was there do or die, and since the playbook had always worked, they were fairly confident. This loss has been as catastrophic for them as the Confederate defeat at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864.

    I never heard such panic amongst Dems and their traditional base is not motivated. Following your coffee shop technique, It is my conclusion that the ordinary person is voting Republican in this election.

    So, keep praying everyone! I have followed up with by becoming a Knight of St Michael.

    Liked by 9 people

      1. Love it, Beckita!
        I should add, that outside of outright fraud the Dems will lose. And that raises the question as to how they will go nuclear, post election. I think they initially will be stunned and then their leaders will initiate their “plan b” that could lead to war. I must confess, at this moment, I do not have any idea of what “plan b” is. So, we must keep praying.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Honestly, I’m surprised that Plan B was not enacted after the last presidential election. Granted, all kinds of shenanigans have ensued. Indeed, praying and listening for whatever He tells us to do, James.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. James, I couldn’t agree with you more: If the Dems lose, they’re gonna detonate and try to take the country down with them. God help us.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. I think that, too, Mick. But, saying our prayers we need to be as determined as General Grant in standing up to the enemy. Grant had his faults, but he understood grand strategy and perseverance, like the great Washington, McArthur, and Eisenhower. We prayer warriors, Mick, need to plow forward like Grant did in the overland campaign of 1864.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Dang straight, James; we’re not called the Church Militant for nothing. Fr. Heilman’s new prayer gig starts today. My oldest kid and I are taking part. When he saw that the St. Michael Chaplet was part of it, he let out a little groan… he’s so busy with school and work right now. But he decided to dig deep, because he knows that our country and the world need all hands on deck right now. So… praise God and pass the ammunition (the Combat Rosary, a couple of novenas, and the St. Michael Chaplet).

              Liked by 3 people

              1. Hi Mick- there is a nice audio to pray along with of the St. Michael Chaplet on discerninghearts.com. It is a little less of a time committment, I thought it might help you son go all in! If you can carve a few minutes out of your day, the whole website is amazing. Lots of good stuff on there. I will try to post the link to go directly to the St. Michael Chaplet. Blessings to all here! Sandy

                https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/prayersdevotionals/chaplet-of-st-michael-the-archangel/

                Liked by 1 person

  10. “If Republicans win a landslide, it will make it most easy to repel the violent ugliness of what leftism has become… If Democrats win in a landslide, it will ensure war in the future – for it will endorse their methods of violent repression of dissent.”

    I’m not entirely sure about this. I wonder if we can expect war in either case, Charlie. Dems will certainly feel emboldened if they win back the House and so will continue harassing Trump and creating unnecessary conflict at We the People’s expense. But if they lose badly again, or even modestly, this would represent an even deeper rejection of their precious ideology. Might they not become just like rabid, cornered animals? That’s actually how I perceive them now….there is nothing they won’t do. All conventional rules are out the window.

    Without God, their politics and hold on power are the only things they have left. Won’t they be left with absolutely no choice but to riot since they would have nothing from which to negotiate or demand compromise? A loss in November would be a total loss of their way of life with no end in sight. Trump’s victory would be amplified further. Imagine! From their perspective they’d have nothing left to live for….literally.

    Like Arnold Schwarzenegger terminators, they can’t be reasoned with, they can’t be bargained with, they are not going away, they will not stop, ever, they will never give up, they will never concede defeat. It’s not the Saul Alinsky or Adolf Hitler way. I don’t see war or violence being averted in either case. They will bring it all down (man) before ever conceding defeat. I feel sure of this. Just look at what they’re doing now.

    Is it too extreme of me to compare radical leftists to emotionless machines? I’m not entirely sure sometimes, when I consider their cold-blooded view of murdering millions of innocent babies. Only someone devoid of genuine emotion could do that. No…I stand by this extreme analogy.

    Unlike machines, however, there is always room for salvation. I never forget this fact. They are humans and God loves them. They remain in my prayers….but right now, WE ARE AT WAR.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. I actually agree, Patrick. I was talking to a serious and well-known public intellectual tonight who said he thinks we get war either way – and I promptly agreed with him. My point was that if the Republicans score a landslide victory, the left will erupt in insane violence…but we are best placed to repudiate it. I think your image of the terminator is right on…they have passed onto where they cannot be reasoned with: they will have absolute power or death. I have been thinking this year a lot that we probably need to get large areas – perhaps in Alaska or an island to send people to exile. Things have gotten so insane I have serious doubts we can reconcile them. The left has become a mindless, vicious mob.

      Liked by 9 people

    2. Pat,

      Charlie’s instinct of them erupting into some sort of violence is probably correct – and ChasePro123 below notes that they politically control the coastlands, and, I would add, some interior cities. WE cannot borrow trouble, but we must redouble our efforts to pray for them.

      Charlie below talks about the difficulty of reconciling such people and the first thought that comes to my mind is the comparison of the stubborn dwarves in C.S. Lewis’s book “The Last Battle.” But, every time we pay our rosaries or a Saint Michael Chaplet, we send bursts forth of grace, that I imagine are like the scene in the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring movie when Isildur cuts off the ring finger from Sauron and everyone gets blown over.

      I got my combat rosary and St. Michael chaplet from Father Richard Heilman. Next week I am getting a pile of rosaries and scapulars (brown and green) blessed. I also bought a special house scapular.

      Prayers for you and everybody,pal!

      Liked by 7 people

  11. I am guessing that in roughly 3 weeks it may be like “D Day”.

    Oct. 20th starts a new prayer campaign. Feeling exhausted and weary. Please Lord give us the strength that we need to do Your will!

    Liked by 7 people

  12. I am so very grateful for you Charlie and sharing this long journey that the Lord has set you on. You bring God’s peace and presence into all this craziness going on around us. May Our Loving God illuminate His chosen path for you as you take His next right step. May those steps be shielded by His Holy Angels from the darts of the evil one for you and for all whom have joined you in proclaiming the Good News that God’s got this. Always has and always will! God richly bless and strengthen all of you! Amen

    Liked by 7 people

  13. There is one seriously good bit of news for USA. At least you are all alive and able to fight for the Constitution. Yes, for or against it depending on the government you choose as a people in the mid term elections.

    I honest to God think Ireland is dead. It’s people are under the yoke of Europe, so it just follows it’s master to the pit of hell. Yes there are those who pray and fast and trust in God still. But the Ireland we once knew is no more.

    Here in the UK, we live in indifference and denial. We are only allowed to know what the propaganda machine allows us to know, and anyone raising their hear above the tide, is hunted down and destroyed by hook or by crook. The likes of Tommy Robinson comes to mind here. British culture and tradition is a dirty word these days. So how long before we have to admit Britain is dead too. Who is there to fight for what has been lost.

    USA is still in with a chance, so don’t give up. If Donald Trump will fight for the Constitution, support him, support the regional Republican representative who will grow the team in support of what Donald Trump is trying to preserve in USA. It is not too late for America. Saint Joan of Arc, pray for America.

    God bless men like Charlie. God bless America.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. I think, Julia, whenever the fight is taken up, wherever in the world we may live, to uphold God’s Law as the standard for making human laws, it ripples out to invigorate people of good will all over the world. In the USA, there’s been plenty of indifference and denial and the sort of complacency which Charlie has written about here and in previous pieces. Fifty years ago, Richard Nixon campaigned in his presidential run by invoking the support of the “silent majority.” Oi! Those in the silent majority who remained silent in the face of what has been crumbling in culture and society for too many years have begun, in these crises, to realize just what Charlie is stirring within this community: we, each and every ordinary one of us, have a role to play as this Storm continues to its conclusion. No matter where we live, God is alive and He has expertise in fulfilling what He promised: “Behold! I make all things new.” It is a promise that persists throughout the ages and it is a promise that calls us to allow Him to act through, with and in us.

      How this is initiated can be likened to Gideon’s Army in Judges 7, as we have previously mentioned here. We, all over this world, have got to stand up and fight for Truth. And while America has been chosen by God to lead, in particular ways, as conveyed by Our Lady of America, no one, anywhere, is exempt from this fight. To engage is to show God we CHOOSE Him, His Ways and His Laws and we want to be part of His Plan to bring us all back to His Life-giving Covenant which is the Center of our lives, the very foundation of building a Culture of Life.

      Yes, Julia: God bless America. And God bless Ireland and the UK and the nations of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Mid-east, the down under lands and every nation on earth. And may the many little lights we are, with Christ’s Light emanating from within, shine all over the heavens and the earth!

      Liked by 10 people

    2. Julia, God bless guard and heal Ireland and the UK. Tommy Robinson is a unique and brave man and he and his family are in my prayers. He is a trail blazer and it was heart-warming to see the people in his community rise up and take to the streets in defense of what is good and just in this world-wide spiritual battle. ❤

      Liked by 2 people

    3. St. Patrick we plead your intercession for Ireland the land of my ancestors. Please drive those snakes out of Ireland once again.

      Liked by 3 people

  14. Yes, I see the implication in your article title Charlie, and reason for in-house laughter but please excuse my ignorance of your electoral processes. If I understand it correctly, mid-terms do not out the standing president but can change the balance of power. What is the purpose of mid-term elections?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. The term just means an election when many federal officials – House and Senate members – are up for election, but the President is not on the ballot. There is a federal election every two-years, but a presidential election only every four. Hence the election between presidential elections got the nickname, “mid-term.”

      Liked by 4 people

  15. Now is the time to choose. We must ask God to lift the veil from all of our eyes and that ALL in the United States of America can see clearly with wisdom to choose between good and evil. I’ve come across the following prayer from Deliverance Prayers: For Use by the Laity, Fr. Chad A Ripperger PhD. and modified it for the US. If it’s ok to post, it’s very powerful.

    Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon the United States of America. Please purify The United States of America, Lord, mold US, fill US with yourself, use US.

    Banish all the forces of evil from US, destroy them, vanish them, so that The United States of America can be healthy and do good deeds.

    Banish from The United States of America all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealously, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical aliments.

    Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch US or any other creature or country in the entire world.

    We command and bid all the power who molest The United States of America – by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary – to leave The United States of America forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Amen.

    Liked by 14 people

    1. Amen and Amen, quiet. Thank for for adapting this prayer and sharing this with us. I will copy and print it for daily use. At its first publishing, I ordered the book of deliverance prayers which Fr. Ripperger had gathered for the laity to use and have used have frequently used the prayers.

      Liked by 8 people

  16. Charlie, great article. My question: if we do indeed come to war (which I too think is all but certain), what do you think it will be like? How would it look? How long would it last?

    Victor Davis Hanson talks a lot about the coastal corridors (NY and LA metropolitan areas, essentially) being the “strongholds” of the Left. I don’t see the Left being so organized as to mount actual military campaigns and battles (do they even have a military presence?). It seems more likely that they will resort to terrorist-style attacks and possibly declare certain sanctuary cities as their own, and Trump will have to sort of seize these cities one by one via military skirmishes, arrest the leaders of each city, and plant his own government officials in them to keep the country running.

    You know, like a benevolent dictator.

    Such events would undoubtedly cause a political collapse as the sheep and the goats in Washington and elsewhere are separated. Not to mention the economic chaos of entire cities pitting themselves against the United States military. There’d be fleeing and mass migration out of such cities on the one hand, and on the other conflict, rioting, battles in the streets, etc on the other. Urban areas would largely be “no-go” battle zones.

    This is all just my opinion, but what do you think? Do you see such a conflict lasting up to four years, like the first Civil War? I don’t see how it could last that long. It seems the Left thinks they can wage a war by breaking a few windows in a Starbucks. How can they hope to compete with a trained, disciplined, and angry group of soldiers? The first wave of conflict will, I foresee, bring total utter devastation to the Left’s “army.” From their you have the shrieks of “Trump is evil!” until all those shrieking that are imprisoned or converted back to sanity.

    So, what’s your take?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Chase, I do not spend much time focusing on scenarios. If it must come, I figure I will just deal with it from a next right step perspective. What I DO spend time thinking and praying a lot about is how to behave in a manner that will help the most people turn back to God. The injunction neither to indulge those who torment the faithful nor to fail to give effective evangelization to aggressors whenever it is possible is the toughest thing. God will win the battle: I just have to follow His lead well as it unfolds – but I will be held accountable for how I dealt with each of my fellows along the way…so that is what occupies my thoughts. Don’t think that is any sort of rebuke for you contemplating scenarios. I have been a strategist and tactician all my life: I don’t know exactly how things will unfold, but I have a lot of confidence that the next right step under God will guide me well because He has honed my instincts all my life.

      Liked by 12 people

        1. Well, in world history some internal wars are triggered by such a collapse – but most are not. Most are triggered by long simmering unaddressed grievances or in response to an attack on rights or privileges. Why do you think the US is unique and would require an economic collapse, Doug? I don’t understand.

          Liked by 1 person

  17. From Fr Joseph’s homily from todays mass at EWTN

    Litany of Trust Written by: Sister Faustina Maria Pia, Sisters of Life From the belief that I have to earn Your love Deliver me, Jesus From the fear that I am unlovable Deliver me, Jesus From the false security that I have what it takes Deliver me, Jesus From the fear that trusting You will leave me more destitute Deliver me, Jesus From all suspicion of Your words and promises Deliver me, Jesus From the rebellion against childlike dependency on You Deliver me, Jesus From refusals and reluctances in accepting Your will Deliver me, Jesus From anxiety about the future Deliver me, Jesus From resentment or excessive preoccupation with the past Deliver me, Jesus From the restless self- seeking in the present moment Deliver me, Jesus From disbelief in Your love and presence Deliver me, Jesus From the fear of being asked to give more than I have Deliver me, Jesus From the belief that my life has no meaning or worth Deliver me, Jesus From the fear of what love demands Deliver me, Jesus From discouragement Deliver me, Jesus That You are continually holding me, sustaining me, loving me Jesus, I trust in You That Your love goes deeper than my sins and failings and transforms me Jesus, I trust in You That not knowing what tomorrow brings is an invitation to lean on You Jesus, I trust in You That You are with me in my suffering Jesus, I trust in You That my suffering, united to Your own, will bear fruit in this life and the next Jesus, I trust in You That You will not leave me orphan, that You are present in Your Church Jesus, I trust in You That Your plan is better than anything else Jesus, I trust in You That You always hear me and in Your goodness always respond to me Jesus, I trust in You That You give me the grace to accept forgiveness and to forgive others Jesus, I trust in You That You give me all the strength I need for what is asked Jesus, I trust in You That my life is a gift Jesus, I trust in You That You will teach me to trust You Jesus, I trust in You That You are my Lord and my God Jesus, I trust in You That I am Your beloved one Jesus, I trust in You
    http://www.sistersoflife.org http://www.arrayofhope.net

    Liked by 6 people

  18. Happy North American Martyrs Feast Day! I kept ya’all in my prayers especially at the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

    Location: Albany Diocese, St. Michael the Archangel Church, South Glens Falls, NY USA.

    Glens Falls is known as the ‘waterfall cave’ in James Fenimore Cooper’s “Last of the Mohicans’ book. It is not the movie place (probably Asheville, NC) though the correct indian name translates to ‘ tough place to cross over” or something to that affect.

    Today, I drove over the water fall twice:) notably named Glens… Falls. Glen won the land in a poker game…

    I also offered/prayed the Stations of the Cross (for the conversion of North America, the new world) immediately after mass aking God (if possible) for a Plenary Indulgence to be provided for Canada, the United States of America and the United States of Mexico. If not, a holy soul in Purgatory got it.

    Liked by 5 people

  19. More articles today. I’m hoping that the Fed interest in the PA Scandals turns out to be a good thing that might keep the investigation honest but as The Department of Justice is still filled with …… and may still be The Department of Just-Us and you-know-who need not apply ;-(

    MILINET: 19 Oct – Articles for Christians
    ===================

    ‘Gosnell’ strikes nerve with moviegoers despite shoestring budget, lack of media attention
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/18/gosnell-movie-box-office-success-despite-small-bud/

    Justice Department Opens Probe into Penn. Church Sex Abuse
    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandal-justice-department-opens-probe/

    Justice Department opens investigation into clergy sex abuse in Pa. Catholic Church
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/18/doj-opens-investigation-into-clergy-sex-abuse-in-p/

    In China’s Catholic heartland, Vatican deal brings Communist Party closer
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-vatican-churches-insight/in-chinas-catholic-heartland-vatican-deal-brings-communist-party-closer-idUSKCN1MT0OF

    Ruling party expects pope’s visit to N.K. to speed up denuclearization
    http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/10/19/0200000000AEN20181019002451315.html

    N. Korea’s sole Catholic church draws 70 to 80 Christians on weekends: research
    http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/10/19/0200000000AEN20181019008900315.html

    What’s her face shows her Lefty colors in the last paragraph. You will find the term ‘Separation of Church & State’ NO WHERE in The Constitution or Bill of Rights but in a letter Thomas Jefferson sent to some New England Baptists. The godless Left has been pretending that this term was “chiseled in stone” somewhere and has bashed Christians for 50 years and twist it into a Freedom from Religion Mantra to belittle and marginalize The Faithful AND I will argue that the USA was founded as a Christian Nation and was proud of that fact until I was a young man. It’s the notion of a State Religion was eschewed early in our History. Now that the Global Left has “embraced” Muslims I find it interesting that the godless Gang dare not paint Islam with the same brush as those awful Christians and Jews. HullyGee!! I wonder why?

    Were Christian missionaries ‘foundational’ to the United States?
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/18/were-christian-missionaries-foundational-united-states

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 4 people

  20. On the more USA Political side …..
    Rush is right and just echoing what I’m guessing most here have figured out months/years ago! In my more depressed moods I believe it’s already too late …. but as a Believer 😉

    Limbaugh: ‘We Are Seriously at a Tipping Point…Close to Losing Our Country As Founded’
    https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/limbaugh-we-are-seriously-tipping-pointclose-losing-our-country-founded

    …. and more from the ever increasingly unhinged … Oh!! … the more unhinged they are the happier I am 😉

    Pelosi Endorses ‘Collateral Damage’ to Those ‘Who Do Not Share Our View’: ‘So Be It’
    https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/pelosi-endorses-collateral-damage-those-who-do-not-share-our-view-so-be-it

    Facebook Exhibits ‘War Room’ for Controlling Information Ahead of Midterm Elections
    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/10/18/facebook-exhibits-war-room-for-controlling-information-ahead-of-midterm-elections/

    Democrat Staffer Calls For Taking GOP ‘To the Guillotines’
    https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/emily-ward/democrat-staffer-calls-taking-gop-guillotines-2-republicans-attacked

    Blue State Blues: Democrats’ Mob Tactics May Be Working
    https://www.breitbart.com/midterm-election/2018/10/19/blue-state-blues-democrats-mob-tactics-may-be-working/

    Leftist Violence Natural Outgrowth of Authoritarian Ideology
    https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/david-limbaugh/leftist-violence-natural-outgrowth-authoritarian-ideology

    The Global Left will use any news as an excuse to implicate Trump/Deplorables and overturn his/USA’s domestic/foreign policies. Policies that are improving our economy, trade, security and international diplomacy.

    Mark Levin Show Host Compares ‘Over-the-Top’ Coverage of Khashoggi Death with ‘Lack of Media Curiosity’ with Benghazi
    https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/emily-ward/mark-levin-show-host-compares-over-top-coverage-khashoggi-death-lack-media-curiosity

    Nolte: Establishment Media’s Concern for Jamal Khashoggi Is Fake News
    https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/10/18/nolte-establishment-medias-concern-for-jamal-khashoggi-is-fake-news/

    I’m sure that you have seen/read about the below and all the ME Christian Holocaust on ABCNNBCBS-NYT/WashPo ….. Right!!???

    Iraqi Archbishop: Christianity Nearly Extinct in Iraq, It’s Genocide
    https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/iraqi-archbishop-christianity-nearly-extinct-iraq-its-genocide

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE ….. & Keep Your Powder Dry!!

    Liked by 4 people

  21. Right, yeah. I wasn’t asking in a “what’s gonna happen next” mindset. Just a student of history wondering how a bunch of pretend-warriors will react to a real war that they themselves instigated.

    I am hoping these mid-terms (as well as the election of Trump) are a kind of Naaman bathing in the Jordan moment for our country. I.e. by doing the simple thing in faith you save yourself lots of pain and torment.

    We as a nation saved ourselves a lot of trouble in electing Trump instead of Hillary. And we will probably save even more trouble by getting out there an voting red in November. There will still be pain and duty and discomfort (Naaman still had to get himself to the River Jordan), but trying to make things right now instead of 2-4 years from now will, hopefully, lessen the fallout that is coming.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. I did particularly enjoy a video of one of those pretend warriors accosting a big black man wearing a MAGA hat. The black man promptly tossed him into a nearby fountain and angrily asked the kid if he wanted some more. The kid climbed out of the fountain and slunk away.

      Liked by 6 people

      1. Ha! Charlie, do you have a link? Or could you tell me the relevant search terms for a YouTube search? I tried “black man MAGA hat fountain,” but no dice.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. I saw it on Facebook, Mick. I tried to look it up on Facebook search – but Facebook only pops up stories about how racist Trump is. It was so hilarious that when I first saw it, I watched three times. But of course, Facebook does not support honest fair hearings, so it has probably been removed. I can’t wait until after elections when these clowns in social media begin to get their come-uppance.

          Liked by 2 people

  22. Yes, thank God for the flat stretches when they come. And they do come from time to time. Having been up and down mountains and in and out of canyons, you had me briefly pondering which leg (the up or down) is preferable. Every scenario is different, so I can’t really decide other than to suggest that the most joyful stretch, usually flush with newfound vigor and hope, is the one with home at the end of it. ‘Course maybe that ‘up’ stretch when I climbed out of the Grand Canyon is right up there too. Once out, I beat tracks for a homey little diner down the road where I ate enough breakfast for 10 men. Ah, it’s all a hungry business, isn’t it!?

    I like folks who know how to do stuff too, and sleep like a baby at night knowing such hearty guys and gals amongst family, friends, and extended circles. For those who may be disheartened by the folks around them… the kind of folks who can’t seem to function in any apparent practical and productive way, I guess it boils down to a couple of choices:

    1) Start moving in different circles, or 2) lead by example. Between the person who doesn’t even try and the person who gets stuff done (even if there’s a bunch of missteps, learning curve, failures, etc.), I think we’d all go with the latter any day. That’s how this country got built.

    I also find it extremely useful to call on the right Saint at the right time, kinda’ like using the right tool for the right job. Can’t tell you how many times St. Anthony was indispensable when I had to slog back into the desert to retrieve some glasses I lost somewhere. Actually, he’s 5 for 5. Joy, I tell ya.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Father feels the gentle winds wafting into Missoula, Sr. Bear, and he thanks you for your birthday wish and great hug as he returns one to you: ((((((((Sr. Bear)))))). 😉

      Liked by 3 people

  25. I could not avoid seeing in today’s gospel at mass the Rescue unfolding in our world today, the unveiling and exposing. Watch and Pray, pray and watch. TRUST in God.

    Liked by 4 people

  26. There is much food for thought here. Our society may not be healthy, but it is hungry. I think people want something to believe in and want their lives to be meaningful. I may be naively optimistic, but I believe enough people out there are “winnable” with the right message from the right person. One thing we do know about God’s ways is that he casts down the mighty and raises up the lowly. Trump at least realizes that praying people got him into office and he won’t get re-elected without them.

    Liked by 9 people

    1. You have put your finger on exactly what dominates me these days. People are desperately hungry, starving for meaning. It is what I mean when I speak of the thick under-current of despair among the left. The problem is they have been conditioned to be repulsed by the food that could give them life and joy – and to crave what is killing them. All this at a time when so many in our churches are giving a very watery broth designed not to offend rather than to restore life. I cannot describe how it infuriates me to find large swaths of leaders at the highest level who are trying to make this watery broth the standard. People need meat, they need bread, they need that which gives life and light. More than anything else, I think of how to feed people who have become repulsed by healthy food and addicted to poison. Somewhere in there is the key to how to turn things around.

      Liked by 16 people

      1. Fear dominates. People are afraid enmasse. Afraid of losing what they have, fearful and unrestful at all times worrying about holding on to what they have. Of course it’s primarily dust. Hearts have grown cold in these times, so how easy for fear to dominate the landscape!? Of course we know that perfect love casts out all fear.

        We’ve seen light thrown on sexual perversions within the Church, and other high profile sectors in society. Personally, I think mammon is up next and on the cusp of getting thrown down. The better part, already detached or in the process of being detached from such things, has/is being prepared and moving into place. The worse part will spiral into greater madness. The remainder, the largest part of 7.6 billion people, will be at stake.

        Honestly, I think people will find their courage, following the lead of folks who have prepared for such, when mammon is thrown down. The rest leading up to that is just doing what we can, more preparation, and pre-battle jitters.

        Liked by 13 people

  27. Thanks, as always, Charlie. I love coming to my little home here, coming back as often as possible to see what all of you are saying. May there be millions more like us all over the world – loving the Lord and His Mother, seeking to take the next right step…..

    Liked by 9 people

  28. Hi Charlie,

    As I was reading, this line stood out to me:

    “Still nominally pro-life, abortion and population-control advocates are welcomed and honored at the Vatican while critics of the junk science called man-made climate change are shunned.”

    I am currently in college studying earth & space science, and many of my courses focus on climate change; there does indeed seem to be strong evidence across a variety of disciplines for anthropogenic global warming. As I am learning about this topic (or getting brainwashed, not sure yet), I recall Genesis 1 and how it tells that God made the earth and creation beautiful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that we have a responsibility for stewardship over the earth and its natural resources.

    Whether man-made climate change is real or not is a scientific matter, but the strange thing is how much course content goes over how we are all destroying the earth. The leftist mentality on campus makes belief in climate change a religious doctrine. Oddly enough, I find that those screaming about global warming the loudest are the least likely to understand the facts. Their attitude definitely makes it seem like “junk science.”

    I am wondering if you are well-informed about the science behind this topic and could provide a different perspective? Did an angel tell you it’s a hoax? (Honestly trying not to sound sarcastic here.) If not, then I don’t mean to bother you.

    Thanks!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. No, I was not told by an angel…but a reasonable question.

      When I was a young man, into my mid-20’s, I was a traditional modern environmentalist. As I began to study more, I came to see that not only were the professional environmentalists usually wrong, but that their policies usually actually hurt the environment. I have studied the science – both scientifically and from plain logic. Back when I was in high school, all the “experts” said we were heading into a new ice age – and it was too late to do anything to stop it. In my lifetime, whether the unstoppable problem was a coming ice age, global warming, or climate change the solution offered by the experts is always the same: put crushing burdens on the economy that will throw millions out of work, enact massive taxes to go to the experts, and give them plenary power over our lives.

      Leftists generally have profound trouble understanding dynamic systems. They constantly want to impose fixed data points on them as to what is desirable – and do not understand that a dynamic system operates within a range. Over the eons we have had periods of cooling and periods of warming in a great cycle…and the system has feedback loops that kick in when either phenomenon starts to get extreme. Thank God we didn’t have modern environmentalists around when the great ice age broke…that was some serious global warming – and made the bulk of the globe cultivable and inhabitable.

      Then there is the questions of what the actual effect is. During periods of warming, crop yields go up and oxygen exchange is facilitated. During periods of cooling, those things are depressed, which also depresses prosperity…but that is the nature of dynamic cycles – and we adjust. We do have a duty to live good stewardship of the planet, our home. But we need to remember we are janitors, not architects.A lot more humility is in order.

      In my lifetime, “experts” have assured me that we were all going to freeze to death from the coming ice age, we were all going to burn to death from the vanishing ozone layers, we were all going to burn to death from global warming…among others. During the recent 16-year period when there was no significant warming or cooling, I thought maybe the “experts” would be reduced to warning about “climate stagnation.” Climate change (CC)is the biggest scam of all. If we get a blizzard, it is evidence of CC; if we get a heat wave, it is evidence of CC; if we get a drought, it is evidence of CC; if we get hurricanes, it is evidence of CC. When everything is evidence of CC, nothing is.

      Beyond this, throughout my lifetime, the experts have made constant apocalyptic climate predictions – none of which came to pass. None. Before giving plenary power to such incompetent experts, all our money, and destroying our economy, we ought to demand they get it right every once in a while. This is about power over the folksies – and it damages the very serious efforts needed to exercise good stewardship. Below are a few articles on the various apocalyptic flops over the years:

      The Federalist
      AEI
      A concise little piece from the Daily Caller.
      National Review
      The Heritage Foundation
      The Telegraph
      Forbes: debunking scientific concensus
      Not sure about the reliability of this site, but it links to a lot of solid data from NOAA
      The Heartland Institute
      S. Fred Singer, Austrian physicist now teaching environmental science at the University of Virginia
      NOAA Whistleblower reveals fraud at the agency
      Walter Williams reprinted by the Heritage Foundation

      These articles provide a lot of links that will take you to raw data. The whole climate change business is chock full of fraud and systematic manipulation of methods to give desired data – such as moving global sensors from more rural to more urban areas (Urban areas are routinely hotter) to trick the data. The only data I trust any more is satellite data, which is very hard to manipulate other than through outright fraud. Around the world, the parties of government want more power and money; climate change gives them an excuse to demand it; those governemts also fund most of the research – so many researchers, like medieval rent-seekers, tell them what they want to hear to justify the policy preferences they have already made. Many scientific magazines refuse to peer review articles that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy.

      I encourage you to study and make your own decision – but study real data AND examine the methodology involved.

      Liked by 7 people

      1. You are bang on target Charlie in my book, on the climate change fear tactics we have been subjected to over the last few years.

        It was precisely what you describe in your post, which I remember in a few short years, that made me think; how the dickens do we go from ice melting and global warming to a new ice age. The so called experts kept contradicting themselves depending on the weather.

        I went back to my old Irish grandmothers expert evaluation, and to this day, I think she had the solution.

        “When man rebels against God, nature rebels against man.”

        There you have the Truth, and science needs to get over it. Better still the experts need to repent and believe, and use their skills to convince everyone to turn back to God, Who is the author and director of all. He and He alone will take care of the climate. Our job is to put Him in the first place. TNRS

        Liked by 10 people

      2. The best Christian analysis and response to the Environmentalism movement I have read comes from Fr. Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute. He wrote a book some while ago entitled : Defending the Free Market … The Moral Case for a Free Market.

        Fr Sirico’s background is pretty amazing. He was a California Berkley leftist who ran around with all the luminaries in the 60s and 70’s. He was a committed marxist revolutionary. Or so he thought. Then he saw the light mainly by doing his own thinking and being exposed to the great books of liberal thought. Converted and eventually became a priest.

        Here below is a MEGO pretty long excerpt from Chapter 9 of his book. The key concept: Environmentalism is another face of Marxism.

        “Chapter 9. Caring for the Environment doesn’t have to mean Big Government

        Environmentalism as an extension of Marxism

        I was in Nicaragua immediately after the fall of communism there in 1990. On the day that the new President Violeta Chamorro was being inaugurated, I noticed some pro-Sandinista demonstrators across from our hotel with large signs and gigantic puppets. I went over to speak with them. They could see that I was a priest but did not know that I was there supporting their new president. We began to speak about the demise of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua and discussed how it had come to this. I asked what they were going to do now that the communist Sandinistas were out of power.

        One of these young comrades told me: “We are going back to the United States to get involved in the environmental movement.”

        The moment he said that, I saw the whole scenario. Although environmentalism was raising some legitimate concerns about the abuse of the natural world, I perceived that it could also be a continuation of the failed socialist revolution. The props and actors are different, but the plot is the same.

        Marx’s idea is that society is rife with conflict and hostility, mainly between workers and capitalists. As the well being of workers and capitalists alike improved under capitalism—and indeed, the lines between the two groups were blurred—that idea grew less and less viable. So the Marxist model has morphed into the belief in an intractable conflict between man and nature—which also, like the intractable conflict between workers and capitalists, just happens to require turning more and more power over to the state to protect the vulnerable against the evil machinations of capitalism. The Marxist taxonomy is quite resilient. The problem, of course, is that it represents a complete repudiation of the Jewish-Christian worldview—and completely fails to account for reality.

        Marxism was going to do away with private ownership. On the contrary, it is right—and a great contributor to the flourishing of the human planet and the good of the planet—that human beings exercise their stewardship responsibility on earth over nature through OWNERSHIP. St. Augustine articulates an early Christian understanding of the difference between us and other creatures. “When we hear it said, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ we do not take it as referring to trees, for they have no sense, nor to irrational animals, because they have no fellowship with us. Hence, it follows that the words, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ refer to the killing of man. Augustine directly rejected the idea that plants and animals have rights equal to those of people. He ridiculed the idea that killing animals is the same as murder. We acknowledge that not a sparrow falls to earth without God’s knowledge. Yet we demand the HUMANE treatment of animals, not because they have rights—we must not be abusive to them because it debases us. We must not treat animals as animals treat each other.

        Just as there is a natural interdependence between the owner of productive property and the worker, so there is between man and nature. It is in our interest to have a clean environment, but the way to do this is to unleash creativity and human intelligence. When we over-regulate the market and thus obstruct the free flow of knowledge, we cause people to overuse things that relatively scarce and to overproduce things that are not as needed or valued. This is the source of many environmental problems. Consider the environmental history of communist Europe—the Soviet Union and its satellites had a truly atrocious record of stewardship of natural resources.

        Professor White did get several facts right in that seminal essay—among them, that Christianity played a crucial role in sparking the scientific revolution. That great leap ahead in technology and living standards came about because Christianity views man as the creative steward of a rational creation, a creation that we can explore and understand because we are made in the image of the rational God who formed the cosmos. Copernicus—a Catholic cleric—reflected something of the mindset of many of the founders of modern astronomy when he wrote about searching out “ the mechanism of the universe, wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly creator.”

        This understanding of God, man, and creation, and the scientific evolution it helped to germinate has blessed the human race in countless ways. Though White largely ignores the positive side of this revolution, he is correct to say that the scientific revolution gave humanity new powers over its environment. One needs not be a partisan of any ideology to recognize that this newfound power can be used for good or ill. The question then becomes what kind of political order functions best to channel the power and energy of science and human endeavor toward environmentally positive activity and away from what is destructive? Despite what the Marxist protestors I met in Nicaragua may have thought as they packed their duffel bags to go join the environmental movement in the United States, it isn’t socialism. In fact, it’s precisely those systems that fail to defend private property rights that are the most inclined to abuse the earth. There’s a name for this in economics—“the tragedy of the commons.” Private property is the best preserver of creation, and no greater environmental spoilage has been witnessed than in the old socialist Eastern bloc countries, where private property was abolished. Indeed, the communist regime in China has also had a horrendous track record on environmental protection.

        The market economy, in contrast, is a forward -looking system of economic organization in which the scarcities of the future are imputed back into today’s prices, which thereby signal the proper use of resources today. If there’s a scarcity of some resource looming on the horizon, prices will rise, telling people to shift consumption in a more affordable direction, while simultaneously attracting would-be entrepreneurs to see if they can discover or create more of the scarce resource in order to sell it at the rising price. We absolutely do have a duty to future generations. But that duty is more easily fulfilled by a system of rationing driven by price signals in a free economy than by bureaucratic edicts. The United States overbuilt houses in the previous decade, and China is now in the middle of a massive overbuilding campaign. Both resource-wasting housing booms were driven not by price signals in a capitalist economy but by government financial engineering aimed at “stimulating the economy” and, in the process, dismantling and distorting the information built into prices in a free economy.

        Political and economic freedom leads to an ownership society, as opposed to a rental society—and also as opposed to the kind of pseudo-ownership society created by the “liar loans” and other abuses that emerged during the government-inspired housing bubble. Real private ownership carries with it a different set of incentives from the incentives that arise from any other way of managing property. We can see this in the example of America’s national forests. Although the general public assumes that the US Forest Service acts with the best interests of the environment in mind, the reality is far different. The incentive for forestry personnel is to maximize their budget not to protect forests or even to maximize general revenue. Thus there is a greater emphasis on lumber harvests than would be expected under either an environmental ethic or a profit motive, because lumber harvesting means road building, and road building means big budgets for the Forest Service and lots of work for its employees—even though the Service usually loses money on its timber harvest operations. In essence, timber companies’ cutting of trees in our national forests is subsidized by taxpayers. No private owner would tolerate such waste.

        An additional and significant environmental advantage of preserving the freedom of the market economy is its capacity to generate wealth, which in turn gives society the latitude to take care of the commons such as rivers and lakes in ways that are not possible in more desperate circumstances. In most cases it will be very difficult to get people in extreme poverty stirred up about the health of the river downstream from them. And rightly so—in impoverished areas, most people are just trying to survive. This is why efforts to protect the environment that jeopardize economic progress should be viewed with skepticism. If we foster the conditions of economic development, and have a consistently high regard for private property, environmental sensitivity will come. When the basic needs of human beings are met, a growing care for our natural surroundings follows, particularly in an ownership society.”

        Defending the Free Market—The Moral Case for a Free Economy.
        The Rev. Robert. Sirico, President of the Acton Institute.

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Oh, yeah, butter is bad for you, margarine is good for now, oh, no, butter is good for you! Margarine is bad. Yada yada yada
        Not to minimize this but this ain’t my first rodeo on the ice age is coming in the 70’s, seeding clouds with silver so it floods North Dakota, then global warming, then climate change, … I teach the 2nd graders, The Boy who Cried Wolf. wolf, Wolf, WOLF!

        Liked by 4 people

      4. Charlie, fraud and manipulation is exactly right. Here in SoCal we have a great TV station that used to have as weatherman, the founder of the Weather Channel. He did a whole program one night about global warming and all the fraud and misinformation. Just one of the many pieces of evidence he mentioned was how the opponents of rationality removed from the lists of recorded temperatures, the coldest temps where they had instruments. We’re always combatting lies! Come Lord Jesus!

        Liked by 5 people

    2. Unstoppable Global Warming, every 1500 hundred years…
      by Singer and Avery. This book is a piece of scholarship which every academic should possess. Singer and Avery compiled hundreds of scientific, fact based dissertations, papers, etc across a broad science spectrum throughout the planet and conclude global warming is natural and not man made.

      One book, this book changes everything. It changes the discussion, viewpoint of political, legal, academic through facts not ideology.

      short video tells the story.

      Liked by 6 people

    3. Hello ANONYMOUS,

      I have the best article I ever read on global warming written by a hero of mine in the engineering world named Burt Rutan. Steve BC sent it to me. It goes through five major points and is packed with data. If you want it, I am happy to forward it (and anyone else here). Email me at stormnewhampshire@gmail.com

      Blessings!

      Doug

      Liked by 4 people

    5. I would encourage you to research the Hovind theory and watch a few Dutchsinse youtube videos on earthquakes. Pretty interesting. I too, studied earth science, etc. and have a minor in it. And now, think quite differently about “higher education”. Follow the money.

      Liked by 6 people

    6. Anonymous, of all the charts I’ve seen, the one on Page 14 of Rutan’s PDF is the one I keep coming back to. Either email Doug for the link or google “burt rutan climate change” and read the PDF version.

      A useful piece of information is that if the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere were to fall below 150 ppm, all the plant kingdom would die for lack of adequate food (CO2 is plant food, after all). When the last ice age ended, CO2 concentration bottomed at 252 ppm. Very, very low. Normal CO2 concentrations over the past 250M years have averaged 1,000 ppm or more. 550M years ago the CO2 level was 7,000 ppm. During the past 600M years the temperature range of earth has stayed between 12 degrees and 22 degrees C, no matter what the CO2 concentration was at the time. An interesting hypothesis I’ve seen is that the temperature of the Earth is determined far more by the configuration of the continents and the resulting ocean current pattern than by CO2. With sunspot count dropping rapidly now, we are likely in the early stages of a few decades of global cooling like what occurred in the 1600-1800 era, the Little Ice Age. Also pay attention to volcanic activity which tends to rise as the sun cools, and it is indeed rising recently.

      Anonymous, you should be able to understand the technical aspects of Rutan’s material. Well worth the study if you don’t. Just be aware you may need to keep your head down for a little while, until this scientism sickness depletes itself.

      My main advice: Always go to the facts, and especially to that one pesky little fact that lies outside what the current “approved” model says is possible. Most people stay inside the comfortable area and “explain away” the outlier. However, the outlier is the nugget of gold in the data stack – never ignore it. That outlier tells you the existing model is either wrong or inadequate and must be changed. Change the model, and you improve how the rest of us can see and understand our world. Happy outlier hunting!

      Liked by 6 people

    1. It almost seems Charlie shadow wrote that letter by the great Arch Bishop Vigano. Much of the things Charlie writes of often were covered. Uncanny! So refreshing to hear a prelate speak of judgement. Our Lady of Good Success protect Vigano.

      Liked by 6 people

  30. I have an urgent prayer request, actually several. My sisters husband Bill, is undergoing a stem cell transplant this coming Tuesday. So, they my sister Julie and her husband Bill need many prayers. Also, Bill’s 33 year old niece Betsy has been put on hospice and is not expected to live more than a few days, her family also needs prayers. A dear friend Judy, will undergo surgery for Lung Cancer on November 8th. Thanks so much.

    Liked by 7 people

  31. My husband had a very good observation regarding the hex witches are supposedly trying to put on Judge Kavanaugh today…
    He remarked:
    “If Kavanaugh is so evil, then why are witches trying to put a hex on him? He would be on their side.”
    Doesn’t that say it all?!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. It has now occurred to me that since the Harry Potter series, the satan has convinced a great many everyday folk that witchcraft is not evil. Guess even this obvious argument will be lost.

      Liked by 4 people

  32. Abp. Vigano’s third public testimony and reply to Cdl. Ouellet’s public letter can be found at the National Catholic Register under Edward Pentin’s name as the reporter.

    Liked by 5 people

  33. Today I attended a breakfast in which the rector of our seminary, Fr. Mason was the main speaker and Bishop emertis Hermann, both of whom I trust deeply and have known bishop Hermann as a man of deep integrity and holiness. I asked both about the quality of our seminary and if it is free of the homosexual subculture and both said our seminary in St Louis is one of the best in the country now but there were some problems in the 70s and 80s. Fr. Mason said young men should visit and see for themselves that the formation is good and things have been cleaned up. But we need to ask and to actively confront and check up on things. That was why I asked the ?? publicly.

    Liked by 5 people

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Published by charliej373

Charlie Johnston is a former newspaper editor, radio talk show host and political consultant. From Feb. 11, 2011 to Aug. 21, 2012, he walked 3,200 miles across the country, sleeping in the woods, meeting people and praying as he went. He writes on cultural, global and political issues from an orthodox Catholic perspective. He emphasizes that we find God most surely through the ordinary, doing the little things we should with faith and fidelity. His constant refrain is that, to live real joy, we must acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to those around us. He lives in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States.