Author: J.M.

Pope Francis Speaks Frankly

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Two days ago, Pope Francis made waves when he announced that priests had the ability to grant absolution to anyone who repents for the sin of abortion. Naturally, this was met with both praise and condemnation alike. However, I think it is important to remember a few key points when discussing the matter on a purely theological level.

First, my own personal views on abortion should have no standing in a post like this. That being said, in the interest of full disclosure, I am pro-life. I am pro-life but I am also aware of the fact that I am not a woman and therefore do not now nor will I ever have the faintest idea of what emotions course through a woman when she finds out she is pregnant. So while I am pro-life, I am usually rather quiet about it. Perhaps I should be more vocal. However, that is something that I will have to answer for at the particular judgement. Now that my personal stance has been revealed, let’s get started.

The Unforgivable Sin is not abortion: Christ clearly states that there is only one sin which cannot be forgiven. In Luke 12:10 Jesus says; “Everyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but no one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven.” The question is then; what is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Is it using foul language or cursing the Spirit? Is it the destruction of sacramentals such as crucifixes and miraculous medals? The answer is no. For the truly repentant, there is no sin that cannot be expunged by the infinite mercy of God. This means, that if a person is truly sorry for their transgressions, willing to take ownership of them, willing to wash them away in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and willing to make amends through prayer and acts of mercy and charity; God will most assuredly forgive them. So then what is the unforgivable sin? What did Christ mean when He referred to blaspheming the Holy Spirit as unforgivable? Simple. The belief that one cannot be forgiven for their sins and the rejection of God’s infinite mercy is unforgivable. Essentially the unforgivable sin is unforgivable because the transgressor doesn’t want to accept the forgiveness. St. John Paul II explains this thoroughly in his 1989 encyclical, Dominum et Vivificantem when he writes, “”blasphemy” does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross. If man rejects the “convincing concerning sin” which comes from the Holy Spirit and which has the power to save, he also rejects the “coming” of the Counselor-that “coming” which was accomplished in the Paschal Mystery, in union with the redemptive power of Christ’s Blood: the Blood which “purifies the conscience from dead works.” Anyone who opposes Pope Francis’ outreach to those who have had abortions through his allowance of priests to absolve them must ask themselves the following question. If the Church makes it nearly impossible for a truly repentant person to receive absolution for their sins, are they fostering the belief in some that there are sins that cannot be forgiven? Are they in fact, encouraging blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in individual’s minds regardless of intention? No sin, is unforgivable if someone honestly desires forgiveness.

My point: the grief, guilt, anguish and longing for a return to the Grace of God caused by sin and the faith and charity of the confessor should be the only criteria for an honest, heart-felt, soul-searching, legitimate confession. It is the infinite mercy of Christ that forgives sins. Not the ecclesiastical rank of the confessor. 

It is the Church’s responsibility to offer as many avenues to Christ’s mercy as it possibly can. I may be wrong in my support for the Pope on this. I often am. However, I’d prefer to be wrong and on the side of mercy. Because Lord knows, we all need it.

Pope Francis Speaks Frankly

PRESIDENT TRUMP!(?) or, Calm Down

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It is not without a certain flavor of crow in my mouth that I have had to discuss the election results with friends and family. It is only fitting to point out that my amateur analysis of the campaigns and projected outcome of the election was proven to be accurate in only one respect; amateur. Painfully so. In my defense, however, I relied heavily on the polls which had proved to be largely accurate during the primaries.

Now we are seeing protests all over the country. People are actually protesting a legitimate election. This would be as effective as protesting the night when the Sun goes down. I have no problem with peaceful protest and neither should any American. These particular protests are at best, silly. At worst, symptomatic of the larger problem within American society. I assume that it is also a problem among other members of society but as I am a member of American society, I can only really speak for what I personally observe. So what is the problem? This; most Americans, due to their coddled upbringing and the detrimental effects of helicopter parenting, believe that not agreeing with something or someone is more than enough reason for that something or someone to capitulate to their tantrums.

I fought against Trump and will continue to be skeptical of his motivations until he proves me wrong. I still think the man is an absolute buffoon. I still think that the majority of his supporters were willing to trade dignity for rage. I still think he was as poor a choice as Hillary for President. However, I am also aware that no one cares what I think. I am fine with that. This is because I was brought up in a time right before the generation of, ‘if I think it, it must be so because mommy said I was special.’ So, I am laying out the following list of things that still hold true regardless of who had won the election and things that I am still concerned with. I do this with full knowledge that all three of you who read this blog will either agree or disagree. I am fine with either.

  1. Donald Trump’s election makes the United States look awful in the eyes of the world, especially Europe.
  2. I do not care about what the United States looks like in the eyes of the world, especially Europe.
  3. Alex Jones is still an unhinged lunatic who is the media equivalent of the guy who sets up a ‘5 Dollar a Play’ 3-card monty stand in front of a special-ed school.
  4. God willing, I will never have to hear about Hillary Clinton again and that makes me happy.
  5. Not all of Trump’s supporters are racists.
  6. Not all of Hillary’s supporters are brain-dead.
  7. In four years we get to do this again.
  8. Milo is still spot on about feminism but he is also a caricature who has pulled the wool over the eyes of his followers.
  9. Most people who hate Hillary have Obamacare.
  10. It is highly unlikely for anything that energized Trump’s most questionable supporters will actually happen. See; mass deportations.
  11. The massive hypocrisy being displayed by the left at the moment coupled  with Trump’s more vocal support proves that there is no political, moral high-ground. See; “not my president” signs.
  12. If Lena Dunham leaves the country, all of our lives will be better.
  13. Watching Hollywood go absolutely ape has made this whole thing incredibly entertaining.
  14. Hannity, Ingraham, Mitchell, Coulter etc. were right. But being right doesn’t mean you’re not a laughably transparent shill. Or asshole, if the adjectives are too clunky.
  15. Rejoice! The Young Turks are sad!

Let me leave you, dear reader, with some words of advice. Immediately unfollow, unfriend, block or delete anyone on social media who over the past year has posted any meme featuring R. Lee Ermy or shared any post from that Adonis of man, Brandon Weber. Now that the election is over, we no longer have to suffer fools and reactionaries nor do we have to give them a pass because they were fools and reactionaries during an election.

Put it behind you. It’s finally, thankfully, mercifully over.

PRESIDENT TRUMP!(?) or, Calm Down

Kids, Be Careful With Your Email

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Yesterday’s news of the FBI reopening its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails begs the question; how much are Americans willing to take before they’ve decided that they’ve had enough?  The answer to that question may be more terrifying than the political landscape in which we currently find ourselves.

Hillary’s diehards have already decided that they couldn’t care less about her emails just as Trump’s diehards have decided that they couldn’t care less about the Constitution. We are entering a cage match. Extremes versus extremes. The independent voter is going to be tasked with deciding the fate of this country and whichever decision they are going to make is wrong. Because our choices are wrong.

I stopped caring about the existence of Bernie Sanders a while ago. He and his droves of drooling Bolsheviks have faded into our national memory. But while I hate to give him any sort of credit and am loathed to admit that I am sorry he dropped out, I must do both. Bernie had the opportunity to change the face of modern American politics. His movement, though laughably misguided and painfully dim, had the sort of momentum that could have translated into the most serious third-party candidacy in recent history. A serious third party run would have legitimized a fourth candidate. Meaning, that if Bernie hadn’t decided to become a typical politician and endorse his enemy after being screwed out of the nomination; we could potentially have had another choice for president. Imagine an actual conservative with a real shot of winning this election. Imagine that. Feels nice, huh?

But we don’t have those options. We have what we have. Americans have to decide whether or not they care about the fact that a potential president is the most corrupt woman on the face of the planet. I doubt the email revelations will do anything to cause a major shift in the momentum of either campaign because people are sick of hearing about her emails. Also, the FBI has been proven to be monumentally disappointing. So, another question that it is to be hoped will be answered soon; are the emails that bad that the FBI felt the need to reopen the investigation or is James Comey trying to save face? I am inclined to believe it is the latter but that still doesn’t make Hillary feel any better or help her chances any more.

Regardless of what other bombshells may fall on both of our esteemed candidates, we’ll have to wait and see on November 8th if any of it meant anything to Americans.

 

Kids, Be Careful With Your Email

It’s Getting Harder to Care

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As per usual, I read a story this morning that made me lose a bit of faith in humanity. It should come as no surprise that a PAC would stoop to a level only reserved for the most base and unwholesome. However, this takes the proverbial cake. To summarize; a liberal PAC here in CT took out an ad (which has been removed) on William Petit and other CT Republicans for the misgivings of Donald Trump. Namely; Trump’s derogotory comments about women. What the PAC failed to foresee as an issue with this ad, was the fact that Petit’s wife and two daughters were brutally murdered in a home invasion in 2007.

To suggest that someone doesn’t respect women simply because they are part of the same political party as someone else, would be tantamount to calling all Germans antisemitic. The idea that a man, whose wife and daughters were murdered, doesn’t respect women because of his political allegiance is beyond the pale. This is why I am finding it harder and harder to care. The level to which human beings are willing to degrade themselves in order to press their ideologies is downright depressing. The PAC pulled the ad after heavy pressure from both CT Republicans and Democrats. Regardless of pulling the ad, It doesn’t change the fact that it was created in the first place.

Politics are important for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most important reason being that it reminds us of who we are. Or more to the point, what we can become when reason and integrity take a back seat to ambition and sensationalism. The human spirit is an odd thing. It is the driving force behind every single instance of individual and collective good throughout human history, yet it is so malleable and easy to manipulate. Once a person or group has decided that their politics or worldview is superior to others, any number of indignities are given the chance to crop up. This is not to say that competing ideologies or philosophies are all the same or worth the same. What ideology does brilliantly however, is engage a human being to the point where the individual follower is caught up in a world where cause is greater than self and the two are no longer seperately recognizable. There is nothing inherently wrong with seeing a cause or purpose as more important than oneself. It only becomes a problem when the cause destroys any semblance of the individual’s principles which fueled their zeal at the start. It is not uncommon to meet people who describe their politics before they mention the true pillars of their character; religion, family, charitable work, hobbies etc. We don’t want others to understand us as much as we want them to understand our place in group-think. Human beings have no better outlet to display their natural tribalism than the realm of politics.

We have no one to blame but ourselves. It is easy to insist that the current election season is the worst in American history. Every generation likes to puff itself up. However, the current election and the mudslinging from both sides is a fraction of the horrors found in previous elections. Politics fueling divisive hatred is nothing new and it is certainly not native to the United States. When we feel the creeping sense of disgust rising up in ourselves after learning of attack ads like the one William Petit is attempting to put behind him; what should we do? The obvious answer would be to turn our backs on the more sensationalist pundits and talking heads. But we don’t. As much as we groan about this election and the candidates, anyone who is even remotely political or interested in politics would have to admit that this season has at least been interesting. If not even fun at certain times. So we carefully form our opinions and hone our rage only after we read what our favorite jounralists have to say about it. It seems to me, that when we beat our chests in our own  righteous indignation we ought to hit a little harder. We should punish ourselves for the atrocity of out of control political ideology in this country and the narratives and vitriol it creates. It is our fault.

The next time you read or see something you find abhorrent remember this; They wouldn’t create or publish it, if people didn’t want to see it. Whether or not you personally do, is immaterial to the larger machinery. To clarify;  I didn’t mean to suggest with the title of this post that it is getting harder to care about politics. It is getting harder to care about people. We are always looking for reasons to put our voices out there. Politics are simply the means by which we advance our social philosophies and our voices. Even if they are adopted. Therefore, it is not politics that is to blame for the complete breakdown of anything even remotely akin to propriety or honesty. It is us. So while it is ghoulish to see attack ads claiming that a man who lost his family composed of women is ‘anti-woman’ let’s not pretend that it didn’t give us something to talk or write about.

It’s Getting Harder to Care

In Defense of Gentrification

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Recently, I have been seeing a lot of different posts on Facebook linking to sites containing pictures of New York City in the 1970’s and 1980’s. They are usually black and white photographs showing mountains of rubble, garbage, dilapidated buildings, subway trains covered in graffiti and locals in various poses of derisive ambivalence. What I find instantly telling about these photos, is that they are in black and white. Meaning, that the starkness of that particular brand of photography lends a more esoteric and ultimately ominous level to the photographs. It also tells us that the photographer was a self-important bore.

Have you seen recent photos from Aleppo? Could you imagine if they were in black and white? Immediately, we would all do a collective eye-roll as a nation which would be so exaggerated that all together we would create the first audible eye-roll. The stark realities of life happen in color. Attempting to lend gravitas to situations where human lives are either irrevocably changed or even lost is the height of artistic hubris. It is painfully transparent and incredibly dull. Much like the people back in the 70’s who decided to take black and white photographs of a spilled dumpster in Brooklyn in order to let all the lame suburbanites know that the struggle was real.

The only people with legitimate beefs against the gentrification of certain urban neighborhoods are the people who are forced out by corrupt municipalities. On the opposite end of that spectrum are the people who indirectly benefit from gentrification and then rail against the horrors of it simply to seem modern and trendy. Much like gentrification itself.

No one is going to pat you on the back for spending a lot of money to live in a shitty neighborhood. ‘Ah, so I see your rent has gone up and your only dining option is Subway and that you don’t have a bank or grocery store within a five-mile radius of your home. Well done!’ I am sorry that some people seem to gauge their neighborhood’s worth by the number of violent crimes per-capita, per-year. I just don’t think there is a point to be made when the entire argument itself champions poverty and villainizes social progress. Is it a good thing when the local mom and pop store closes because people are going to Walgreen’s instead of their shop? No. But answer these; is it a good thing when people with disposable income move into a neighborhood thus boosting property values? Is it a good thing that an influx of cash into a neighborhood spurns on the opening of new businesses? Is it a good thing that crime rates tend to drop like a stone once an area becomes gentrified?

I’ll give up an authentic pierogi or bowl of gumbo for a cleaner place to live and less chance of being knifed for my wallet any day. Gentrification is good. Get over it.

Liberals, many of whom are young, white self-labeled liberals, want to allow scads of new immigrants into the country. I agree that this country is a better place with metered, monitored, sensible legal immigration. But I have to ask; where are the immigrants supposed to work? If we’re not supposed to be alright with the cultural makeup of neighborhoods changing from generation to generation, what is the response when the old pizza place is turned into a gyro shop?

Gentrification is a natural progression of human society. It is healthy and important for urban areas to revamp themselves and it is equally important for self-righteous, whiny, white hipsters to shut up about it.

In Defense of Gentrification

Defensio Fidei

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It is no surprise that the left finds the Catholic Church to be an unfortunate obstacle. It is natural for any entity to attempt to overcome or lessen the influence or impact of obstacles. So when we read that the left attempted to essentially infiltrate the Catholic social world, it is sickening and angering but in the end no one will be fainting in disbelief. The Roman Catholic Church has stood the test of time literally and figuratively. It has been an obstacle to secular, progressive ideology before and God willing it will continue to fight against the rising the lunatic tide until Christ returns.

As Catholics, our duty is to act as torch-bearers in a world of darkness. It is through the Sacramental graces of the Church that we receive our strength from the Holy Spirit. It is through the ministry of the Church Militant and the grace of the Holy Spirit in our own vocations that sinners find their way to redemption and the world’s wounds are healed through Christ. As Christians of other denominations; your duty is to protect other Christians from attack and be just as outraged as those who are under seige.

But let’s be honest; as foot soldiers in God’s army, we are woefully lacking. Who could blame Democrats for seeing American Catholics as an easy mark? We beat our chests in a collective, coordinated and resounding, “mea culpa” when our dedication to the Church is questioned. Then afterwards we return to the polling places to routinely vote in pro-abortion candidates. We pick and choose our beliefs as if the Catechism were an options list when purchasing a new car. We extol the virtues of the family and then turn a divorce into juicy gossip. We give to Salvation Army Santas every Christmas yet roll up our windows when we see someone holding a, ‘homeless and hungry’ sign. We hand our parishes our envelopes every week only after we have sated our desires, not our needs.

Luckily, we have the sacrifice of Christ to redeem us for our shortcomings. So we are covered on that end. However, we have to deal with life on Earth first. These shortcomings which are old news in the eyes of the Risen Christ, are perfect fodder for the secular left which sees them as irredeemable hypocrisies which then makes the Church the perfect target.

I am only partly  convinced that the attacks on the Church are motivated by swaying the Catholic voting block. The actual motivation for attacks on the Church is the overwhelming desire of the worldly ideologies which permeate the left to see the Church crumble. To laugh while it falls apart and then throw the ashes in our faces. To prove that they were stronger. To prove that they were obviously right and therefore we were obviously wrong. To prove to themselves that their ideas are more appealing than God. To in essence, make themselves equal with God.

Sounds an awful lot like pride. I wonder who’s motivating that?

Until we start acting like Christ’s Church, we can’t feign outrage at the current state of things. Until we wear our faith in Christ on our sleeves, we have no right to become upset when people question our loyalties. Until we solidify our social programs and organizations in faith, we can’t be disappointed that fake organizations get created as political pawns. We are doing the Church no good if we only want to be Catholic for an hour a week and the rest of the time we aren’t willing to defend her. Christ will never be ashamed of us, but I guarantee He can be disappointed in us.

Until we are ready and willing to face the slings and arrows of modern progressivism and stand up for what Christ told us to stand up for, we need to sit our collective asses down.

Defensio Fidei

Dumpster Fire: Round 1

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It was as advertised; a somewhat boring affair with Clinton at her coldest and Trump at a 7 out of 10 on the narcissistic rage scale. Nothing of substance came out of either candidate regardless of the fact that fairly substantive questions were asked. Questions were left unanswered and the best the viewer got out of it lands somewhere between, “what have we done” and “is it too late to pick a couple other candidates?” The best overview / rundown of the night was a single tweet I read which simply stated: “We are talking about birtherism before national security. Let that sink in.”

TRUMP: Breakdown and lasting question

He started strong and brought up the fact that she had been a career politician with little or nothing to show for it. He hammered her record and for a few minutes made her look like a lightweight compared to his tell-it-like-it-is rhetoric. However, that was only after she had brought up the fact that his father facilitated his success with his loan. It shows that he can still be gotten to. His past and his family’s past is his Achilles heel and anything to do with him personally sets him off like a roman candle. His entire appeal among his mainstream followers is the fact that he is not a politician and that he is a business success who seems to be as upset with the direction of the country as they are. What he is overestimating however, is the amount of self-serving grandstanding the on-the-fence voter can handle. The answer remains to be seen in November but I am guessing that answering policy questions with examples of your all-inclusive and racially welcoming golf resorts isn’t going to be something that makes you look like a deep-thinking policy genius. He is going to need to look far more presidential in the next two debates to repair the damage he did to himself last night when it comes to policy and planning. If he can’t beat Hillary in a debate… how can he expect us to believe foreign powers will capitulate to his brand of bluster? Question: How the HELL did he not destroy her on the emails when they had a five-minute back and forth on cyber attacks and the possibility of cyber terrorism? 

CLINTON: Breakdown and lasting question

Woah. It is always interesting to watch a politician lie. It begs the question; how does someone train themselves to be devoid of all feeling? It’s actually impressive. What she lost in the beginning she made up for during the second half of the debate by putting Trump on the defensive. He is not good when he is on the defensive. Now she knows that. No one is really all that good on the defensive. Proof of this fact was seen last night when she simply thumbed over the fact that her email gaffe potentially put America and Americans abroad at risk by saying; “I made a mistake.” What would you expect from the woman who also famously asked what difference it made? She has been in this circus long enough to understand more about policy and the repercussions of policy decision than her opponent. That was made painfully evident by the fact that she is more automaton than human. Her thousand yard stare, forced chuckles and emotionless delivery is downright creepy. Does she have the chops to be the president? No. But neither does he and at this point this election is more like choosing a plug for a sinking ship than a captain to get us into port before we go under. Question: How the HELL can she keep a straight face when discussing law and order a few minutes after essentially disavowing due process? 

RESULT: Draw, with a slight advantage to Clinton.

Two more of these trainwrecks to go.

Get some popcorn… and Valium.

Dumpster Fire: Round 1

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte

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Last night saw the latest round of riots brought forth by a reactionary segment of the populace, led by a group headed by pseudo-activists and race baiting imbeciles, backed by the money of one George Soros. The demonstrations which by all reports started peacefully eventually devolved into a chaotic situation where the familiar aspects of the BLM movement reared their heads. Namely; looting, violence, highway blockage etc. To say that Americans are sick of this sort of nonsense would be redundant on a cosmic level. But what to do about it?

  1. The well-intentioned must put on the righteous armor of battle. It is always heartwarming and uplifting when after these sorts of incidents we see people giving out, “free hugs” to police, videos of people offering them bottles of water and those lovely still shots of people praying together. It is the little things that count and sometimes they can make a huge impact. However the time for hugging has passed. Putting on the righteous armor of battle means having honest dialogue within the communities that find themselves at the heart of these conflagrations of reactionary garbage. The well-intentioned are doing officers no good, whatsoever, by hugging them one minute and then going home the next to live next to the people who were looting a store, with no intention of calling them out for their crimes. Ask a cop; would you prefer that the well-intentioned focus their efforts on calling out those within their own communities who would bring harm upon themselves and their neighbors … or a hug? The fact of the matter is simply this; America, where since the trauma of 9/11 and our subsequent horror stemming from the fact that tragedies are by and large unavoidable, has become a place where we simply accept the tragic as a regrettable yet acceptable aspect of our culture. Which is infuriating. I don’t pretend to know the exact answers to our social problems but I am absolutely certain that in order to put the Charlottes behind us, normal, everyday folks need to step in. Yes, hugs and bottles of water can make an impact but working towards a situation where hugs are no longer needed is a far nobler pursuit.
  2. The right needs to stop giving police a pass simply for being police. If you are a conservative, you need to understand that a uniform and a badge does not equal a crown of thorns and the Five Wounds. Police officers are human beings which means that they are prone to make mistakes. The career which one chooses has nothing to do with their formation of character or inherent character. If it were true that each career spoke to the virtues of the people who naturally were inclined to those positions,  then … ahem… priests wouldn’t have brought the Catholic Church under such scrutiny, teachers wouldn’t be on the news every other week for inappropriate relationships with their students, lawyers wouldn’t go to prison for defrauding their clients, doctors wouldn’t need malpractice insurance and no one would have to hear about Anthony Weiner’s wiener. The fact is; some cops are fantastic. They all have a dangerous job. Some cops have no business being cops. Naturally they don’t belong less than a mile around anything dangerous. This immediate rush to judgement on the part of the right which usually condemns the victim as a ‘thug’ or ‘gangster’ is the converse yet identically misguided reaction the left will throw out which casts all police in a villainous light. For a group of people who say they stand against intrusion into their lives by government agencies, some on the right sure don’t mind when the intrusion allows them to take up verbal and ideological arms against anyone who attempts to introduce the idea that law enforcement has an accountability to the citizenry. The advice, condescendingly thrown at blacks in this country by conservative social media, is this; if you didn’t do anything, comply and then sue. Solid advice. So if the police are to be held to the same standards as the ordinary citizen is, perhaps rushing to judgement is a bit hypocritical?
  3. The liberal left and BLM needs to be honest. The time has come. It is painfully obvious to anyone who simply observes the current social climate in this country that the left wants segregation. When segregation is forced upon society, it is a fascist concept with deep-seated racial bias as the prime motivator. When it is voluntary however, it is simply the last course of action of a marginalized people yearning to exercise their right for safety. We can see this with safe spaces on college campuses, segregated housing on college campuses, the lambasting of that HORRIFIC scourge of ‘gentrification’ and the most hilarious example; cultural misappropriation. BLM and the fringe elements of the left don’t want to peacefully coexist with their neighbors of all races and creeds. At all. Ever. That would put an end to their reason to exist in the first place. The more upheaval and vitriolic rhetoric, the better for the left. It is the same with the alt-right. Pepe the frog isn’t going to want to share his lily pad with frogs that are browner or have a different tone, regardless of how Americanized the new frogs wish to become. The left has become a parody of itself in recent times. What it has shown however, is that the parody is in essence a by-product of the left’s own acknowledgment, be it denied, of the lunacy of its fringe. Eventually, when a movement has gone too far, the only option is to continue the trajectory out of an almost mischievous school-child sense of wonder. How far can we push this until someone pushes back? This became painfully obvious when the politics couldn’t match the momentum of the social aspect. Enter the perfect example: Bernie Sanders. What Sanders did, was offer a glimpse of the politics that perfectly matched the Utopian projection that the perennially misguided and chronically boring white liberal preached of. And why did Bernie lose to Hillary? Because he didn’t get enough votes. There simply weren’t enough people who bought into the fantasy. The train is off the tracks. The truck has jack-knifed and the fallout is a loose confederation of badly organized, fragmented social justice movements which do more harm than good to all parties concerned. The overall narrative of BLM and the American left is no longer even partly coherent. It is about segregation as a means to illustrate the horrors of American society. The irony could burst the Liberty Bell.

In the end; this is a question of culture. More important, it is a question of the denial of culture and the collapse of decorum as a prerequisite for meaningful discussion. I do not see the tide rolling back anytime soon. That being said, Americans tend to do their best work when all seems hopeless and lost. It just takes some guts. Wearing a ski mask and throwing a bottle at a cop isn’t gutsy. Nor is calling a dead black kid a thug from the safety of your laptop. We are capable of overcoming anything. If that truth is to be realized, then we are either on the verge of a social peace which would rival the Pax Romana or we have gone too far to rely on our inherent American abilities and character. And that is a reality I am not willing to entertain.

Yet.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Let’s Get This Over With

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As any teacher will tell you, by the fourth week of school you are barely out of Summer mode. By October it feels more like a proper school year and by November you are already counting down to Christmas break.

At this point, I am just waiting for November 8th to arrive and mercifully turn into November 9th.

When I put this blog on the back burner at the beginning of June, I was firmly convinced that Donald Trump was going to lose the election in a landslide to Hillary Clinton. Now, three months later I am still convinced that Donald Trump is going to lose to Hillary Clinton but perhaps not in such a grand fashion as I had once predicted. I would love to explain this change in numbers by relating multiple stories from the Summer where the Donald didn’t look like an unhinged egomaniacal man-baby with bad hair and tiny fingers. The best I can conjure up and much to the chagrin of his army of zombie frog-boys is his psudeoadoption of the Gang of 8 bill which was what his droves of followers used as a rallying cry to bury Marco Rubio. Now it is essentially his immigration policy. Sorry, Trumpkins. You might end up with neighbors with an accent after all.

Which I think is funny.

The saddest part of this whole fiasco is that DJT’s chances are not rising because he has learned how to be a modulated, informed, serious candidate. They are rising because his opponent is a pathological liar who is essentially a walking cadaver. Anyone other than the doofus with the bad comb over could eviscerate her in the general. But alas, individual responsibility, Constitutionality, small government and tax reform are not nearly as popular on the right at the moment as wearing red hats and standing with other people who are as equally afraid of brown people as they are. Sad!

At this point; all of this crap needs to end. It needs to be November 9th. I need to have a hangover so bad that only a 14 pound bacon, egg and cheese can cure and I need this nightmare of a campaign season to be over. That way I can concentrate on the things that really matter. My career, my upcoming wedding, my advanced degree, family, friends… things that don’t depress me.

I figure I have at least 4 years of watching the demon in the pantsuit slowly hand over all of the country’s money to special interest groups to depress and disappoint met. I deserve a break for now.

Let’s Get This Over With

Par For The Course / Adios For A While

J.M.Leave a comment

I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from this blog for the Summer. Posts throughout the next couple of months will be sparse if they pop up at all and will only really come if I get flustered enough to bother you with my ramblings. That being said, I’ll probably post twenty times in the Summer and make myself and this, “see ya real soon, kids!” post look silly. I am used to doing that however, so I don’t mind. I thought I’d give a few kernels of wisdom I gleaned from my Summer job at a country club when I was a younger man before I bid you adieu for a while. Let’s get to it…

When I was in my late teens and early – mid twenties, I worked at a private country club here in Southwest CT. I was a bag room attendant and eventually the morning starter. For those of you who do not frequent country clubs or golf courses; a bagroom attendant is someone who retrieves a golfer’s bag from a room where they are stored at the club (the bagroom) and then gets it set up on a golf cart so the player doesn’t have the horrific inconvenience of carrying something they spent two grand on themselves. Once the player is finished, the attendant cleans the mud off of the clubs and returns them to the bagroom. Usually, if the member isn’t an unholy piece of trash, they will throw the attendant a few bucks. A starter has the easiest job on the planet. If you could train a monkey to tell time, country clubs would invest in zoos in order to ensure a steady stream of starters. A starter just tells you when to start. If your tee-time is at 7 and you are a few minutes early or late, the starter tells you to either wait or go ahead. Pretty nifty. Basically the starter is a traffic cop on grass. At the end of the day I would plug the rounds into a computer program and the members would be charged for greens fees and cart fees. If you were nice to me, the charges were light to non-existent. If you were exceptionally nice, you never paid a dime. For two seasons there were a few members at that club who saved thousands of dollars because of my existence. They had also done me wonderful favors by opening doors for me when it came to my education and were just incredibly generous, genuinely good-hearted people. So yes, sir or ma’am, this one is on the house. They were both decent jobs. Super simple and paid decently for a young guy.

What I learned at that club was far more important to me in the long run than the beer money it provided during long New England Summers. Here are the top three things that I learned during my time as a country club employee.

  1. Be a Chameleon: The greatest skill I acquired at the club was not the ability to clean crap off of irons but the ability to be whatever the member wanted me to be during our interaction. I was the perfect grandson to our older more decrepit members. I was the gung-ho, all-American, well-spoken college student that the members desperately wanted instead of their own loathesome progeny. I was the cool, ladies-man, boozer that the young hedge fund guys who desired nothing but to look cool in front of us younger guys wanted. I was a professional friend. And they ate it up with a spoon. And I was tipped well. Now, this is not to say that I was totally full of shit all the time. There were some members who I genuinely thought were great people and I was always on the level with them. But I was very good at being whatever someone wanted at that moment. This skill would pay off later in life when I realized that every professional encounter that a human being will be subjected to whether voluntarily or involuntarily, is basically a sales pitch. Job interviews, reviews, development meetings, etc. These are all gussied up sales meetings. You are selling yourself. Pretending to care about someone’s amazing fade on 14 with the wind in their face when all you’re thinking about is how to turn their usual two dollar tip into a three dollar tip is fantastic practice for the real world. This skill is priceless.
  2. Rich People Aren’t Evil: They’re not. Criticizing someone for being successful is akin to wearing a shirt that says; “I Don’t Even Bother Trying.” Having a special aptitude in a field which then yields enough money that allows you to be bracketed as “rich” is something to be celebrated, not vilified.  This idea that the wealthy owe me or anyone else for that matter something simply because they are wealthy is pathetic. This is why I loathe socialism and the Sanders movement.  I simply can’t understand how anyone can find self-worth in activism which is based completely on jealousy. That being said; most rich people are incredibly helpless when it comes to practical life. Every single member at that club was wealthy. I would wager that 85% of them had at one time in their lives called an electrician for a service call to change a light bulb. Along with being turtle-on-its-back helpless, they are also painfully lame. We used to have a tournament every fall around Thanksgiving. It was essentially cross-country golf. Hitting from the tee on the first hole to the green on the 15th and so forth. ANYway, the first year we did it, the pro-shop staff felt pretty confident that they had struck gold. Although, they felt pretty confident about a lot of things which made for hours of entertainment for the bag room staff. So there we were, a grey, cold, late Autumn, New England morning with a course hopelessly covered in leaves. A morning that God gifts us every once in a while. Not for outdoor activities but for a couple more hours sleep. It was a get up late, bagel and coffee while you lazily get ready for your day morning. But here we are. Who in their right mind would want to go golfing in this weather let alone get up at this hour on a Saturday? Then they arrive. Twenty five of the biggest dorks known to civilized man. They come bounding out of their cars and begin finding their carts. They are throwing a football around. They are playing Van Halen. They are pouring nips into their coffee and cackling like they’re getting away with some sort of grand mischief. They are doing things that most guys wouldn’t think of doing at their ages and they feel like punk rockers. The kicker; most guys wouldnt think of doing those things at their ages because most guys would have already done them ad nauseam when they were much younger. It was like watching the insurance salesman character from Groundhog Day have his first beer. It was kind of sad. So why do I bring this particular instance up as an example of the nauseating lameness of the wealthy? Because for the first time in my life, at 20 years old, I felt bad for older men. Men who were much wealthier than me. This was their idea of fun. This was the social event of the year. This. ‘Nuff said.
  3. Golf is a Dangerous Habit: It is one of those sports where if kept in check can be great fun. When left unchecked it can become a virus that turns even the most level-headed, practical men into the worst kind of loser. It is also the only sport where the hardcore players can turn the more moderate fans off so completely that they vow to never pick up a club again. The hardcore guys are sort of creepy. There is nothing more icky than watching someone talk about local golfers. Tour guys, sure I can see the conversations being somewhat normal. But local guys? C’mon. I used to listen to conversations about different local amateurs and their upcoming tournaments, what they shot on their practice rounds, putters they had switched to and how they swore that Callaway made better balls than Titleist. I used to ask myself, is this what happens when alcohol has lost you your family? Once a man has reached the hang-out-in-the-proshop stage, there is little hope left for him. Truth be told; most people who work at golf courses initially got the job because of their adoration for the sport and prospect of some cash and free rounds. By the time the person has finished their time in the golf biz, they either hate the sport or hate the idea of the sport. So be careful, if you are going to consider a career in golf or even the delightful hobby of playing golf. It can suck out your soul.

Well I hope you enjoyed my list, ladies and gentlefolk. With the school year coming to a close and a new and admittedly exciting opportunity opening up for me within the next few weeks, I will be taking a bit of a hiatus. I can’t say what the opportunity is just yet but I can say this much; it involves being even more of a blowhard than I already am and my favorite soccer team. I will post when something seems post-worthy but I wouldn’t count on it. Much to do in the next couple of months. So this is so long for now, dear reader.

Have a fantastic Summer!

-JM

Par For The Course / Adios For A While