162 Transfiguration: Trust Not
“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” ~ Psalm 2
Trust Not
(Part 17 in the multipart series "Where We Stand")
"The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution." – from The New Left Notes, c.1960s
Issue framing is not a tactic, but a principle of secular religion. Rule by sheer power inevitably demands on its altar the sacrifice of civilized reason. "Ignore the evidence," the party says. "All things are a matter of perspective," the demons mutter.
The deconstruction of language in pursuit of strength is priestcraft. Shutting debate down without recourse or appeal is the job of the gods. Modern pressures to go silently along with obvious and known lies demonstrate the failure of our society to maintain the bonds of good faith interchange. The right questions are suffocated by the powers that be. Regardless of why that is, it is not in your best interest to let them keep you in the dark.
Putting the best construction on everything does not mean sugar-coating the evils. The dictation of what you must put into your body on behalf of other peoples' bodies as a moral imperative is a fundamental shift in the social contract of western civil liberty. Such a seismic self-amalgamation of power to the "state," such forced surrender of individual bodily autonomy, continues the dehumanizing results of secular religion's culture of death.
From "Freedom!" to "Papers, please," in one election cycle without large segments of the population even noticing. What, under heaven, is going on here?
The wicked don't fight fair. That's why, in a world run by evil men, good men absolutely must not hide.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
The Mad Christian
Clickbait Paradise
In this edition of Mad Mondays:
The downside of woke infrastructure
A boss move in Idaho
Disinformation, balloons and media bias..
Ohio
It turns out that trains derail more often than you hear about, but golly! There seem to be a lot lately! The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, has a lot of people worried for a number of reasons. While no one died in the accident on February 3rd, the train was transporting a variety of goods, including the chemical, vinyl chloride. To prevent a possible explosion, authorities set several tanks ablaze, creating a massive toxic cloud. It is still unknown how far the toxins will travel, or their exact composition.
The area was evacuated during the blast and for the immediate aftermath, but residents are not convinced it is safe to return to their homes, despite EPA assurances. Five separate negligence lawsuits have already been filed. Local journalists expressed frustration with federal agencies for keeping them in the dark about air quality and contamination of the water supply.
Transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg (speaking of train wrecks..), has been blasted for failing to address the disaster until days later. Mayor Pete seems to be more preoccupied with reducing "whiteness" in construction crews and uprooting the racism that is "physically built in to highways". There are a lot of moving parts (no pun intended) which make up the transportation system, but after computer glitches brought air travel to a halt recently and a near miss at JFK, it is worthwhile to question whether Mr. Buttigieg really does have safety as his "North star".
Last week, during one of his podcasts, Al Mohler pointed out that there is a link between the morality of a culture and how it builds things. Mohler was speaking about the tragedy unfolding in Turkey and Syria, in the aftermath of that terrible earthquake. Years of corruption and shabby regulatory standards led to poorer quality buildings, meaning they were less able to withstand the shock, contributing to an unthinkable death toll. A similar story could be told about the failure of South Africa's power grid which is failing due to the refusal of leaders to stamp out systemic corruption and corporate greed.
Dr Mohler is exactly right. Moral choices can have far-reaching affects. Norfolk Southern has a long history of taking safety shortcuts, firing whistleblowers, and siphoning profits to reward its shareholders. The choices made by company directors may have ruined the health of thousands.
Yet it is not just immoral corporate greed that leads to decay. The preoccupation of elites with diversity as a goal is just another way to fall. If we follow Mr Buttigieg's logic, bridges should be built by sexual and ethnic minorities, women and every other underrepresented group. They might well be the best people for the job, but how would you know since preset criteria excluded other candidates? We may not live in a kleptocracy, but we are stealing from ourselves when we fail to let our brightest to do their best.
We'll take it from here
Our readers will be aware that schools are complicit in pushing children into the transgendering pipeline, saturating curriculum with propaganda, and hiding their actions from families. But Alvin Lui from Courage is a Habit warns that school counselors are also playing an outside role in creating an "affirming" culture in schools, especially by redefining two terms: safe and abuse.
For a while now, parents have been told by media, lawmakers, and educators that they really aren't the best qualified to decide what is good for their children. Progressive legislatures are working hard to push parents right out of the picture.
Last year, California passed a bill to make the state a "sanctuary" for transgender minors. In what critics called "state-sponsored kidnapping", the bill makes it possible for children to be brought to California to undergo transgender procedures without their parents' consent.
Vermont is set to pass an more extreme bill to shield "healthcare" (i.e. abortion and transgender procedures) from being eroded (yes, some Republicans voted for this too). Parents who bring their children to Vermont will be immune from prosecution and local lawmakers will not be compelled to cooperate with interstate police. You may ask if this is constitutional. No, it's not, but these states are up for the fight and it shows how serious they are.
The possibility of fatigue setting in when it comes to the transgender agenda is real. Like a monstrous hydra, when one enabler is cut down, it seems two more show up in its place and the war is never won. But we must keep speaking out for kids who are being exploited by greedy and depraved adults. it is not children who are driving the demand for affirming spaces and experimental operations. Candace Owens once remarked, "A trans kid is like a vegan cat; we all know who’s making the decisions.”
So tweet, canvass lawmakers, write letters, stories and curricula, litigate, get involved in schools and libraries! And pray pray pray. There will be opposition, but let us not grow weary in doing good. The devil likes to separate families, but we must call the darkness what it is.
"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5
Not in my backyard
We likely all know of the notorious Drag Queen Story Time held by libraries everywhere. Did you know that now American libraries are also hosting gender-affirming dress-up closets, where children can "explore identities"? Just try it on, I think it'll suit you.
Are we willing to call this out as grooming? What is passed off as compassion and tolerance is actually perverted adults desensitizing communities to their deviancy. Those who facilitate their immorality may just be clueless, but as one Canadian father recently asked his school board: "Who is interested in knowing the sexual orientation of my daughter?" The answer is obvious and gross.
So what can you do about it? We love this story out of Pocatello, ID. A Baptist pastor rallied local Christians and organized a busload of willing adults to arrive early at the local library's drag queen story hour. Because they filled the venue, the group asked that the library's fire regulations be enforced, meaning that parents and children coming to the show were turned away. The squatters read their Bibles quietly while the show went on. That's a tough crowd!
The drag queen in charge, Joseph Crupper, blasted the activists, saying those nasty Christians have no regard for children's well-being and vowed to find a law against such a sit-in. So, no doubt there will be reprisals, but for now we salute the valiant effort of those who did some real-time content moderation, protecting children from predators and obscenity.
If you have creative ideas, then organize. You are not alone in this fight. Just like Elisha's servant, we need to remember: "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
Social media sadness
A new study from the CDC has confirmed that poor mental health among teenagers reached crisis point during the pandemic. Girls in particular reported record levels of sadness during 2021 with a third self-reporting that they had considered suicide. Separate studies have also shown direct links with social media usage and mental illness, including a swath of young girls acquiring Tourette's-like tics.
In a piece for WNG, Mary Jackson notes that it is not in isolation though. "One recent study revealed that family structure plays a role in how teens use technology." Kids with married parents had more rules around devices and used screens less. As the article suggests, it could be that teens are seeking online what they are not getting in real life – "joy, purpose, compassion, significance, and people who listen to them." Could our churches be a place where they find what they need? Keep the your church's youth and children in your prayers.
Emptying the trash
Sweden has discarded over 8 million doses of covid vaccines. The nation's former national vaccine coordinator told Swedish radio that the main reason the drugs needed to be destroyed is because people are not interested in getting any more jabs.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci has written an essay where he simultaneously praises the covid vaccines while acknowledging what virologists have always known – vaccines are useless against an unstable pathogen such as coronaviruses. Brownstone Institute founder, Jeffrey Tucker explains, "This is why there has never been a vaccine for the common cold and why the flu shot is predictably suboptimal."
New analysis finds that natural immunity from "ancestral" strains of covid lasts at least 40 weeks.
Dis and Mis
Disinformation and misinformation...the dreaded evil twins who populated our news feeds throughout the pandemic. The President himself warned that these two rascals were killing people as they strafed across the peaceful plains of social media platforms. People can't be allowed to just say whatever they want! The horror!
As the Twitter Files have repeatedly shown, government, tech companies, and Big Business have been busy making sure anyone who spoke out of turn was bundled into obscurity. Intelligence personnel were embedded in social media companies and state department money was funneled through offshore fact-checking companies. Sketchy think tanks like Hamilton 68 were also cited to shape media narratives.
Though many pandemic conspiracies have now been confirmed as fact, zealots in big business, media, and government have grown fond of being the gatekeepers of what is allowed to be accepted as fact and are not willing to relinquish that power. The Washington Examiner is publishing a series of reports uncovering the groups who are trying to defund media companies who publish things they don't like. Strangely, everyone in the crosshairs if right-wing, conservative or libertarian.
Investigative reporter, Gabe McKinsky, says one of the main players is the Global Disinformation Index (GDI). GDI is a British organization funded in part by US taxpayer dollars which creates blacklists of "risky" news outlets. Their purpose is to dissuade advertisers from doing business with companies such as Daily Wire, Real Clear, and The Federalist. GDI warns advertisers they might be "unwittingly" fueling the production of "adversarial narratives" and disinformation. And we can't have that, can we?
Never mind the fact that the news companies deemed "untrustworthy" by GDI were the same ones who expressed doubt about covid mandates, blew the whistle on Hunter Biden's laptop, and revealed the swirling lies at the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The least riskiest sites were actually the ones who perpetuated the false Trump-Russia collusion story and carried water for the anti-science covid police. As Margot Cleveland writes, "The GDI doesn’t seek to prevent disinformation; it seeks to censor accurate information."
Odds and ends
Head of Scientology David Miscavige has been charged with trafficking after members of the church claimed they we forced to work since they were children.
Idaho House approves talks to annex Oregon counties.
Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a bill to abolish the education department. What a world it could be..
Twitter is the first social media platform to allow advertising for cannabis.
Mars Wrigley fined after contracted workers fell into a vat of chocolate.
Who's in a bubble now?
A bunch of New York Times contributors wrote to the paper last week complaining about its coverage of transgender children. The signatories of the letter resented that a transgender child was referred to as a "patient", implying that "trans-ness" is a pathology to be feared. They also objected to the NYT's not correcting reporting from the 60s and 70s when homosexuality was accepted as “an inborn, incurable disease.” You can never appease the revolutionaries, it would seem.
Is it any wonder that those who think democracy is in danger are keen to maintain their power and shut down dissent? So certain are they of their righteousness, they can judge who's on the right side of history! New York Times columnist and slightly unhinged economist Paul Krugman recently wrote that one side of politics is "locked into a closed mental universe, impervious to inconvenient facts, whose denizens communicate in buzzwords nobody else recognizes." He was not speaking about Democrats.
The bottom line is that media are no longer interested in facts or reporting. In fact, a new report from the journalism school at Arizona State University has concluded that journalistic objectivity is overrated. Newsrooms now openly say that reporting "both sides" is dangerous. Journalists happily identify as activists who want to tell you what to think. In their bubbles, the thought that anyone could disagree is ludicrous or worse, an existential threat.
So we need to read widely to get a full story, understanding as we wrote previously in Mad Mondays, that reporting these days is closer to propaganda than news. The worldlings desperately need their "truth" to be right – they have pinned their hope on the belief that they are righteous for subscribing to the progressive cause. We have no such expectation from our newsfeed, since our righteousness is Christ himself!
Monday: you can never be too prepared..
Ballooning
The spy balloon stories keep getting crazier. A top general said that the Trump administration certainly missed balloons flying over America during his presidency. It's not clear how they can be so sure. Then again, Japan "strongly suspects" Chinese balloons entered their airspace in recent years. Ukraine claims it shot down Russian balloons over Kyiv.
Senators from both sides of the aisle said that China's spy balloon was no biggie, really. However, Lt. Col. James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation disagrees. He says China is the greatest threat the US currently has and that allowing it to surveil America unimpeded was a bad move.
He laments that the Biden administration is trying to thread a needle between being friendly with the communist state and being tough. He says the President is ignoring the dangers of open borders and open skies. In his Substack, Carafano says that China is building up its nuclear arsenal and is looking for gaps in American defense, not to attack but to intimidate.
In related news... A hobby club says their balloon went missing in about the same spot and at the same time that American fighter jets were shooting down UFOs. Also, the Air Force has not been able to find a missile which missed its target over Lake Huron. Oops.
Headlines from far away
Nine survivors have been pulled from rubble in Turkey, more than a week after a deadly earthquake. The death toll has passed 40,000. (Reuters)
The Nicaraguan government is becoming increasingly hostile to the Catholic church, deporting over 200 people to Washington DC. (Mercator Net)
The EU parliament has approved new emissions standards that effectively ban combustion engine cars and vans by 2035. (The Verge)
Record rainfall and Cyclone Gabrielle lead New Zealand to call rare state of emergency. (BBC)
Israelis are protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms. Over 100,000 people gathered outside parliament in Tel Aviv. (WNG)
North Korean leader Kin Jong Un has declared that any female who shares his daughter's name needs to change her birth certificate. (Fox)
First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has stepped down after falling approval ratings. After backing the "trans women are women" mantra, Sturgeon was tangled in her own dogma, recently forced to admit that there were reasons that biological males should not be housed with female prisoners (UnHerd, Yahoo)
John Michael Jones Gets a Life is produced for Mad ⳩ Mondays by E. Darwin Hartshorn. Episodes can also be found on Tuesday, along with previous episodes, on Bunny Trail Junction at bunny-trail.com.
Quick Hits for the Eyebuds
📷 Can you guess the year in which a photo was taken?
🦅 A peregrine falcon hitches a ride on a goose
😍 BJJ student with cerebral palsy earns stripes on his belt
🇬🇧 Cryptic letters written by Mary Queen of Scots have been decoded
🦜 A birdwatcher's hotel
🧱 The Tetris origin story looks pretty wild
🌱 Engineered wooden carriers help bury seeds
🌱 Hyundai have released a software patch to help prevent thieves stealing cars
🔖 Codex Sassoon: Hebrew Bible up for auction may be most expensive manuscript ever
Only Illuminati Need Apply
If you missed out on the Mad Christian Lenten Devotional last year, now's your chance to catch the re-run. This study will take you through the kings of Israel and Judah. You can download a digital version of the series here, or find weekly booklets for print on Discord. Jesus Christ will bless you.
A Good Word: Links from the Show Notes
Read like a Fisk. Eat like a Fisk. If you want in, here's your reading list from this week's Stop the White Noise.
Carnivore Diet by Shawn Baker
Carnivore Code by Paul Saladino
The Plant Free MD with Dr. Anthony Chaffee
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament series, or check out the whole series
and the hymn "From God can Nothing Move Me" 👇
Promo of Friends
Can't get enough Koontz? The Reverend Doctor joined Dusk Lantern on his podcast to discuss Foundational Stories, the classics of Eastern and Western traditions.
Sweetness You May Have Missed
Let us pray: O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.