229 Pentecost 4: How to Win a Fight
“The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”~ Psalm 1
How to Win a Fight
The first thing you must know about real fighting is that it doesn’t matter what you think. The person who is fighting you is going to react violently and in “survival” speed. If “they” are fighting, “they” will not let up until the fight is over. Depending on your level of maturity, the metaphor never tires.
Your enemy is not going to let up. Therefore, if you want to win, neither should you.
If you do not want to win, if you prefer to submit, there is nothing wrong with that. But I, for one, would rather be Hezekiah than Jehoiachin.
When someone is acting aggressively, your best action is to refuse to let them close on you. Create space. Keep distance. Own a domain.
And, expect attack. That’s what attackers do.
When struck, a simple strike in return slows the attacker and creates space. When struck, you are already in it for survival. Again, you may submit at any time, but the consequences may not have storybook endings.
If you are not trained in striking, use your palms. Being a BJJ gamer as I am, “Push away” and “shove” are my favorite kind of striking in all circumstances. They are useful in both escalating and deescalating situations.
But, unless you are submitting to your attacker, what you will not be able to do is quit. You may not let your guard down. You must retain focus until the event is over.
Everything I have said applies as much to the subtle world verbal power-confrontations as well.
Pacifism, like antinomianism, can’t actually be practiced.
You must kill to eat. You must be ruled to be free.
Practice is memory and memory is habitat.
The first thing you learn in Brazilian 柔術 is, “Better face to face than on my back.”
Walk on.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
From Officer Ryan Wilkens, real Police, and one of the Good Guys, Dekalb, Illinois, says:
What we teach is hands up in a passive stance, but bend your knees like an athletic stance. Speak loud, verbal commands to calm down and back away from you. If a punch flies, we cover and crash into a body lock. From there, we teach to get control of the punching arm with an overhook. From there, take downs or strikes or disengagement are available. I advise all the officers to know their personal “line in the sand.” Where will you draw that line? Don’t let people walk you down. If you fear that someone might strike you, that means you fear battery, which means the aggressor is committing the crime of assault and reasonable methods can be taken defend yourself.
Births, Deaths and Marriages
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled unanimously that a group of pro-life doctors who challenged the availability and safety of abortion drug, mifepristone, do not have legal standing to bring the suit. The Court concluded that the doctors could not show that they had been harmed by the Biden administration’s policies nor the drug manufacturer. “The ruling didn’t address the underlying regulatory or safety issues the plaintiffs raised, instead deciding the case only on standing.” Drug-induced, chemical abortions account for the majority of abortions in the U.S. (The Hill, MadPxMondays)
A U.S. District judge has blocked Florida’s criminalization of transgender treatments for children. Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled that the state could regulate puberty-blocking drugs but could not ban them. “He compared people who cite religious beliefs to condemn transgenderism to those who used religion to support racism or misogyny in history.” Governor DeSantis has vowed to challenge the ruling. (WNG)
The Court of Arbitration for Sports based in Switzerland, has thrown out an appeal from a male swimmer who wants to compete in women’s events. A swimmer known as Lia Thomas challenged World Aquatics’ policy that trans-identifying men could only swim with women if they have not experienced puberty. Thomas will not be allowed to represent the USA at the Olympics. (WNG, CBS)
Republicans and Democrats have both proposed enshrining access to IVF into law. Democrats voted against the GOP-sponsored bill on Wednesday, saying it didn’t go far enough, since procedures would still be subject to government regulation. On Thursday, a Democratic bill which would “require employer-sponsored and some public insurance plans to cover the procedure” failed by one vote. (WNG)
Fathers are still irreplaceable. (Intellectual Takeout)
Crime and Punishment
Pro-lifer Mark Houch is suing the department of Justice for $4.3 million. You may remember, Houch was slapped with federal charges for protecting his son from a menacing abortion activist. He hit the headlines when he arrested at gunpoint by federal agents in an early morning raid in September 2022. (The Federalist)
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled against New York City’s attempt to coerce private companies from doing business with the National Rifle Association. The verdict is a victory for free speech, says Margot Cleveland, but hints at a future fight: coercion is insufficient to establish a First Amendment violation. (The Federalist)
The FBI has reported that incidents of violent crime and murder were down for the first quarter of this year compared with 2023. Analysts said the decline advertised by the Bureau might be “overstated” but is consistent with other data. (CNN)
A wild story! A California tech employee/bike enthusiast tracked down a global theft racket masterminded out of Mexico. Thieves for high-end bikes are well-equipped: “They wield portable angle grinders and high-powered cordless screwdrivers. They scope neighborhoods in trucks equipped with ladders, to pluck fine bikes from second-story balconies.” They also track down fancy bikes using the Strava app where cyclists record their times and journeys. (Wired)
Coming to America
A group of illegal immigrants with links to ISIS has been arrested across three sanctuary cities in the US. One man arrested had several firearms in his car when he was apprehended near LaGuardia International Airport. (Just the News, Fox)
The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 against a group of illegal immigrants who argued they should be allowed to stay in the US because the government did not provide the proper deportation paperwork. (The Federalist)
Thunderdome 2024
Hunter Biden has been convicted on three gun-related felonies and faces a potential prison sentence. Conservative outlets raised a skeptical note, wondering whether charging the President’s son with the lesser of his alleged crimes was a way to distract from the Biden family’s entanglement with foreign businesses. Or to say, “See? There’s no two-tiered justice system in America!” President Biden has said he will not commute Hunter’s sentence and has no plans to pardon him. The First Son will be back in court to face tax-related charges in California in September. (The Federalist, FPM, WNG, New York Post)
Politics
An activist has secretly recorded Justices Alito and Thomas at a private members-only dinner, posing as a Catholic, pro-life conservative. The woman asked the Justices questions designed to trap them saying something which could be construed as a bias, in order to discredit the Court or shame the Justices into recusing themselves from key cases about abortion, January 6th and Donald Trump. Justice Alito said he’d like to see more godliness in America, but that was above his pay grade, which was enough to get him branded as an “extremist”.(Epoch Times)
Newly released video from January 6th, 2021, shows former Speaker Nancy Pelosi apparently blaming herself for not having the Capitol better prepared for the crowd of Trump supporters. (The Blaze)
The Second Amendment
SCOTUS has ruled unanimously against a bump brace ban, set in place during the Trump administration. “In a 6-3 ruling, the court ruled the devices added to semiautomatic weapons to make them fire faster does not convert weapons into prohibited machine guns.” (Just The News)
The Digital Age
X has hidden users’ “likes” on its platform. The move is designed to reduce the incidence of attacks on people for liking “problematic” posts. One tech writer also noted, “X is moving from a feed based on follows, to a feed more strongly influenced by engagement, and once a 'like' ceases to be a public statement, it becomes more useful to the algorithm.” So, more clickbait? (Pirate Wires via X)
Apple says its coming A.I. products will not “collect nor store” anyone’s data and has offered a guarantee that users will be able to verify their promise for themselves. The code for cloud storage will be publicly available. (ArsTechnica)
Stereo: Nokia has developed the capability of phone and video calls using Spatial Audio. (Engadget)
Money, Markets and Jobs
President Biden celebrated the latest data which shows that 270,000 jobs were added to the economy in May. However, a closer analysis of the numbers reveals that many Americans have taken on more than one job which may be skewing the stats. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there were more job listings in May over April but the number is the lowest since 2021. The Bureau also says that more people are seeking unemployment benefits. (The Federalist, AP, CNN)
The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to keep interest rates unchanged at a 23-year high. It is expected to make one rate cut before the year’s end. (CNBC)
Baltimore’s port has re-opened after the bridge collapse in March. Local, state and federal agencies spent around $100 million removing around 50,000 tons of fallen steel and concrete from the Patapsco River. (AP)
Chinese companies, blacklisted by the Biden administration, are rebranding or looking for ways to obscure ownership, in an effort to avoid being shut down by regulators. (Capital Brief)
Oklahoma is eyeing the record for the nation’s tallest building, with plans afoot for a “mixed use” skyscraper which would contain residences, shops and car parks but no office space. But as Frisby asked a couple of years ago, does humanity really need super-tall buildings? (NPR, MadPxMondays)
A house for sale in Plympton, Massachusetts is believed to be the oldest house currently listed in the United States. The home, built in 1669, features original features including a birthing room. (NBC)
Hey, diamonds! Watch your six! Spinels and Paraiba tourmalines are rising in popularity. (CNN)
Religion and the Church
A motion to streamline the removal of churches which appoint women pastors has failed to secure the majority needed to codify it into the constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention. Despite corporate media reports suggesting a change in attitude towards female clergy, the SBC still requires male-only pastors and last week at its conference, voted to remove one congregation with female pastors. (Not the Bee)
The S.B.C also passed a bill condemning the use of IVF. (WNG)
Arts, History and Sport
Archeologists have discovered evidence that some people survived Pompeii and went on to build lives elsewhere. One researcher found evidence of over 200 survivors living in 12 cities nearby. “It seems as though most survivors stayed as close as they could to Pompeii. They preferred to settle with other survivors, and they relied on social and economic networks from their original cities as they resettled.” (PBS)
Medieval gamers: a collection of 1000 year-old game pieces has been found in castle ruins in Germany. Researchers are excited at insights into class and culture provided by the discovery, particularly a chess knight carved from antler. Analysis of the way the piece was used reveal the “astonishing continuity” of chess gameplay through the centuries. (Uni Tübingen)
A real photo taken by a real human of a real scene has won an A.I. photo competition. (PetaPixel)
Between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, Gerry Anderson made a kitsch and slightly unnerving children’s comic about children and pandas. (Alan Dein)
Last week in history:
1777 Stars and Stripes adopted as the official flag of the United States. (Wikipedia)
Health, Medicine and Food
According to congressional investigators, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the direction of Dr. Fauci was hoping to make monkeypox more dangerous using gain-of-function experiments. (The Blaze)
Gen Xers are getting cancer at greater rates than their Boomer parents. (Science News)
A harrowing tale of vaccine injury. “I want to…raise awareness how to advocate for yourself in the medical system…Everybody wants to think doctors know everything, and I found out they really don’t. … You have every right to ask for a second opinion, a third opinion, a fourth opinion. Tell that doctor, ‘If you can’t figure it out, please refer me to somebody else.’” (Intellectual Takeout)
A new study shows that disrupted sleep affects how memories are made. “Memories continue to be processed after they’re experienced, and that post-experience processing is really important.” Researchers said that cramming before an exam might be an ineffective strategy for recall but also proposed that the study could help inform ways to treat traumatic memories, such as with PTSD. (Nature)
God’s Green Earth
Consumer Reports, known especially for its independent testing of household appliances, has bought in to the overcooked climate narrative. (AIER)
Tree rings are not reliable indicators of past temperatures. (Cornwall Alliance)
A Spanish city intends to place solar panels in cemeteries. Could we just let the dead rest? (EuroNews)
Geologists believe the earth’s inner core has slowed down slightly in relation to the surface, resulting in the length of a day changing by fractions of a second. “It’s very hard to notice, on the order of a thousandth of a second, almost lost in the noise of the churning oceans and atmosphere.” (University of Southern California)
A new study suggests that elephants call each other with something like a name. “We found that elephants address one another with calls that are specific to the individual receiver.” (The Coloradoan)
Scientists say they have new insights into how soaring birds – eagles, hawks, osprey etc – stay aloft in a way that appears effortless. “An air-filled sac within the birds’ lungs is believed to increase the force the birds use to power flight muscles while soaring.” (University of Florida)
Przewalski’s horses have been returned to the Kazakhstan wild where they roamed the steppes around 200 years ago. (The Guardian)
From the Mad☧Tank
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Hearts and Minds
Shyness? Don’t beat yourself up, people like you more than you think! (The Guardian)
Science
A new clear and flexible film, much like Saran wrap, may be used to make brain surgery safer. The film, covered with sensors is laid on a patient’s brain to reveal trouble areas. (NPR)
How scanners changed shopping. “Marking the dawn of what we now refer to as ‘frictionless’ technology, the scanner’s design immediately declared its glittering modernity. Where much of 19th-century technology tended not to hide its cogs and wheels, most operations of a supermarket scanner take place out of sight. “It’s designed to be an invisible technology,” Wallace says.” Maybe that’s why we like steampunk? At least you can keep an eye on the cogs and wheels.. (Smithsonian)
War and Rumors of War
Reports say regular Gazans want an end to the war. Arab sources say Israel wants the destruction of Gaza and the removal of Palestinians. Israel says Hamas is not serious about a ceasefire having turned the offer down several times. Hamas says it has Israel where it wants and the more casualties, the better. (Hot Air Times of Israel Al Jazeera)
The G7 nations have agreed to loan Ukraine $50 billion, with the funds being raised from frozen Russian assets. The Moscow Exchange has shut down trading in dollars and euros after the United States imposed further sanctions on Russia. (BBC, Reuters)
Russian warships are heading to Cuba. (USA Today)
Armenia has said it will withdraw from the Russian-lead Collective Security Treaty Organization, accusing Russia of failing to help them during attacks by Azerbaijan. (EuroNews)
A Chinese man who entered Taipei harbor in a speedboat claims he wants to defect, but Taiwanese authorities say it might be China testing their readiness. (Al Jazeera)
Vietnam has been accelerating its island-building in the South China Sea, in an area which is claimed by China. (Benar News)
Iran and the UAE have been accused of illegally supplying drones to warring parties in Sudan, where government forces are fighting paramilitary groups. (BBC)
Stories from Far Away
🇨🇦 Canadian conservatives are asking Justin Trudeau’s government to explain redacted documents showing lawmakers “covertly working with foreign governments.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the government to release the names of those involved. (Politico)
🇨🇴 U.S. banana company Chiquita has settled a lawsuit with the families of 8 Colombian men for $38 million. The men were murdered by a paramilitary group which Chiquita admitted to funding from 1997 to 2004. (The Guardian)
🇨🇳 Four U.S. college tutors have been stabbed while in a park in China. (BBC)
🇨🇳 The incredible surveillance network rolling out in a Shanghai suburb has the capacity to capture 25 million faces daily, with facial recognition technology. Reports say that the desire to create a “perfectly engineered society” amounts to keeping citizens in an open-air prison. (IPVM)
🇮🇷 Iran is set to elect a new president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month. “No one expects Raisi’s replacement to bring significant political change.” (Semafor, The Guardian)
🇿🇦 South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has agreed to form a government with its main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). Two smaller opposition parties will also be part of the coalition. (BBC)
🇩🇰 Denmark has recalled a brand of ramen because it’s so spicy that it might poison some people. (BBC)
🧳 Why you should never tie ribbons to your luggage at airport
🎈 A hot air balloon specialist discusses runaway balloons
🥋 The real life inspiration behind Mr Miyagi
🥁 Guess the song from individual instruments
📜 One of the world’s oldest books, the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, has sold for almost $4m. The 1800-year manuscript contains the book of Jonah and 1 Peter as well as other writing.
🇳🇱 Dutch photographer captures neat optical illusion
🛰️ That’s cool: the Etak Navigator from 1985, before GPS was available, used “dead reckoning” to direct drivers. (Map Happenings)
🚲 World’s tallest bicycle –25ft
🦞 Maine’s oldest lobster trapper just turned 104
❓Ceramics made to look like cardboard
We are strangers in a strange land. On Friday’s Stop the White Noise, Jonathan and Meridith responded to questions of liberals in our churches, Christians embracing story telling and the joy of realizing you don’t know everything. Pray the Psalms, hold your tongue, listen and see God at work in the world. Watch the show on YouTube or Rumble, or listen here. Show recommendations:
Echo: Unbroken Truth Worth Repeating, Again by Jonathan Fisk
Fight a good fight, praying Psalms 18, 35, 55, 109. Daily!
If you missed it, Meridith put out a call for anyone who would like to make a quilt for men who stay at the Hebron Collegium. If that is something you would be interested in helping out with, please reply to this email or send a message through madpxm.com/contact.
Our disclaimer: These are some resources the Fisks have found edifying, but when dealing with human-authored texts, apply discernment liberally!
This Week Preached:
Podcast Release:
Let us pray. Blessed Lord, since You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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