Our mission, as God-fearing and God-loving patriots, is to defend this Constitutional Republic and to increase its greatness, in all good things and ways, by using our voices in free but courteous speech, by discussing the happenings of the world and coming to a profound understanding of those things, and by sharing and promulgating these Truths on both this platform and others.
Don’t you wish some people would keep their mouths shut until they know all the facts? We’re only now beginning to get a glimpse of the reality of the situation on the ground.
Congress, last week, voted 360+, to slap the hand of the President on his Syria policy. They were wrong, again, because they believed the “Jumping Chihuahua” media instead of trusting the President. And again, the media was WRONG, and again, Trump was right.
I wish I had a transcript of this interview, so I could nail it to the forehead of every Republican when they even THINK about doubting President Trump.
Let’s take a look at Trump’s plan for the border area between Syria and the Kurds. “Historic solutions in Syria that have eluded us for years.”, says Graham, and “President Trump is thinking outside the box”and “I was so impressed with his thinking about the oil fields”—— Can you see my shocked face? Did Graham not listen to ANY Trump MAGA rallies? President Trump has been talking about it for YEARS!!!!!! We knew!
USA and Syria control the oil, “On the verge of a joint venture between us and the Syrian Democratic Forces” to modernize the oil fields with USA help, that way the oil revenue goes to the locals instead of Assad, ISIS, or Iran. And the shared revenue will pay for USA commitment to the region…… !!!!!!!!!!
Develop something like a DMZ between Syria and Turkey. Kurds have lost 10K fighters and the USA has lost eight soldiers (mostly Kurdish) fighters. DMZ will contain an international force, no Americans, supported by USA air power.
This keeps Turkey safe, from the “bad Kurds”, who are terrorists, because we now know there are at least two different sects.
This keeps Syria and the Kurds safe.
This ensures no Iranian involvement.
Protects Israel as a primary objective.
“I’m increasingly optimistic, this could turn out very well.“, says Graham.
Well, WTF? What did he think President Trump was going to do? I want to slap him, or shake him, like Cher did in Moonstruck, “Snap out of it!”, Lindsey.
Once again, the media, the think tanks, the GOPe and the Dems are stuck in a rut. Did they expect Trump, The People’s President, to harm the USA interests? Or THEIR interests? Act spontaneously? Did Graham expect Trump to be stupid and not listen to the Pentagon’s proposals….. and then morph several ideas to come up with a better idea? Of course, all of DC thinks Trump is either stupid, ……or they are stupid……. or…….. they are evil and want to maintain control at all costs.
The “Jumping Chihuahua/Dog” nature of Trump’s opposition, the people’s opposition, is very telling. Here they are, all in unison, performing for the media. They all jump on cue every time Trump tweets or holds a presser.
Yes, Lindsey Graham in his tweet storm which started less than 30 minutes after Trump’s announcement, proved he was a jumping Chihuahua. Remember Lindsey’s “I will NOT be quiet…” beating chest like a Tarzan, yet he went on Fox and Friends, within 30 minutes, without knowing the details. He triggered all the usual NeoCons, Nikki Haley, Mitch McConnell, and began the drumbeat “I have spoken with Speaker Pelosi” and “Am working with Senator Van Hollen” (the Dem) for sanctions against Turkey (as if the Congress could do a better job on sanctions than Mnuchin – it’s laughable).
I don’t know all the details regarding President Trump’s decision in northern Syria. In process of setting up phone call with Secretary Pompeo.
If press reports are accurate this is a disaster in the making.
Again confirming he believed the PRESS over trusting his President
We see through this farce. The people know. It’s why the media’s approval ratings are down. It’s why Congress’ approval ratings are lower than cockroaches. We voted for real change, on war/trade/immigration/healthcare/unruly agencies, and we aim to get it.
Yes, the Syrians have been fighting in this region for hundreds of years. It was THEIR problem before the USA was barely a country. Yet, DAMMIT, if we’re going to go over there, lose even one precious American soldier, then By GOD, we’re going to fix it, and impose a solution on the region whether they effing like it or not.
Of course, the people KNOW their President. We KNEW something was going on, and held back on comments. Sure enough, about three days later, at a rally in Dallas, he explained what we already knew….. “Sometimes, you have to let them fight, like kids in a school lot”. After a few days, the Kurds were ready to strike a peace deal with Assad, the one they resisted for two years. Surprised? Pence and Pompeo flew to Turkey, and after a strongly worded “letter” from the President, we had a “pause” or a “ceasefire”.
As Scott Adams so eloquently pointed out, what are the rules for ALL ceasefires in the Middle East. What should we immediately expect? Paraphrasing from Scott Adams snark:
Within 24 hours, one party allegedly bombs a “hospital”. Yes, of course, of all the targets Turkey could have allegedly chosen, it makes sense they would choose a hospital above anything else. Yeah, right…. snark.
Someone releases an alleged chemical attack. Lots of white phosphorus in the Middle East, apparently. Do they think we’re stupid?
The mother and dead baby (who has pink cheeks and is blinking), mourning perfectly, center of frame, for the media. And yet, the media tried it again.
And guess what happened in Syria……… the SAME playbook unfolded. We KNOW this is the playbook. And we also know any reports of “death” or “fighting” cannot be trusted because ground reports are impossible and unreliable in the fog of any war. Where are all the dead Kurds? Have you seen them? Confirmed? I mean, the media warned us of the massive ethic cleansing which COULD happen!! At this point, the media should be satisfied with a spoiled Cheese Curd.
For THIS reason we have 2 million immigrants in Europe, burning over 800 churches in France? Attacking Christmas markets in Germany? So many knife attacks in England the Mayor of London has tried banning KNIVES! Landing on the beaches in Spain? Economic burden for Germany? About to destroy the EU as Poland/Hungary and others are unwilling to take more migrants? What bozo thought THAT was a good idea? Oh yeah, it was Merkel, the one who loved Obama but loathes Trump. The whole thing is stupid. Yes, these are stupid people. Because if they’re not stupid, then they are intentionally malicious and evil, sowing the seeds of their own destruction.
epa05854766 US President Donald J. Trump (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 17 March 2017. Merkel’s original visit on 14 March had to be postponed due to bad weather. EPA/CLEMENS BILAN
Yet, along comes an American leader, Donald Trump, to step in, stop the foolishness/death/economic loss/decay, take the heat of the barking dogs, to save them all……… while they complain about being saved…… because it’s so much more fun to be miserable, destitute, or dead. Idiots!!
President Trump is going to win this one in Syria. Within 6 months, I’m betting, the barking dogs will claim it to be their idea. It’s the best possible solution for all parties concerned.
On October 11th, Lindsey and other NeoCons raced to the print media and microphones to predict “the biggest mistake of his Presidency”, the “rebirth of ISIS”, “genocide and ethnic cleansing” and the wrath of hell unleashed.
Every concern I had about President Trump’s Syria decision is coming true in spades.
➡️ The reemergence of ISIS is on the way. And if you think only Europe is threatened — you are sadly mistaken.
What a difference a few days makes. By October 17th, Lindsey was singing a different tune. Truth is, we have to give Lindsey credit for acknowledging his error in judgement, but it probably won’t stop his inner Chihuahua. Nonetheless, he is far ahead of the Dems and media……. who won’t admit the brilliant strategy of Trump.
Sounds like we may have made real progress regarding a cease-fire and hopefully a sustainable solution that will prevent the reemergence of ISIS and the abandonment of our ally, the Kurds.
And by October 18th, looks like the peace is holding and the Kurdish General is happy.
I just spoke with General Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria. He appreciates the efforts of the Trump Administration to stop the violence. (1/4)
The media, the Dems, the think tanks, the Atlantic Council, and the NeoCon GOP are unbearable sad dogs.
Not only has President Trump won this one with the voters, he exposed the inept governing style of Dems, GOPe and the media which lies to the people. The Atlantic Council fellows should be shriveling like vampires in bright sunlight. He’s bringing troops home, making a better deal in the Middle East, co opting the GCC on the ground as well. “Peace is the prize”, Donald Trump.
Recently, a Dem strategy talking point memo was secretly found and released. The #3 item on the list for Dems in 2020 was to criticize President Trump for NOT bringing home the troops. Imagine that one? So, they criticize President Trump for bringing home troops……. cuz Muh Politics…… but they were willing to criticize Trump for NOT bringing home troops ………. cuz Muh Politics.
Are you getting the impression they don’t give a damn about our soldiers…….. only ………. Muh Politics.
Genuine affection, love, admiration for our military members comes from within, and it can never be faked for “Muh Politics”.
God bless our men and women in the military, wherever they are.
Today marks the anniversary of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.
With the French fleet under de Grasse blocking evacuation by sea, Cornwallis was trapped and the Continental Army under George Washington, and French forces under Rochambeau, laid siege on the 14th of October. Within days Cornwallis was forced to surrender. He did not attend the ceremony.
The Revolutionary War had dragged on for over six years already (and wouldn’t technically end until the Treaty of Paris in 1783). The odds had been against us; England owned the Atlantic coast back then, as thoroughly as we do now; we had to dislodge them with (at first) very little help from any established military.
https://youtu.be/OuVTl8HdcDc
Thanks to GA/FL we have a good explanation of the battle itself.
And indeed there were a number of close calls, most famous among them the Battle of Trenton, times when if things had gone a little bit differently, we’d not have succeeded, and we’d have pictures of Queen Elizabeth II on our money, much as Canada, Australia and New Zealand do.
In fact, we’d probably be in a commonwealth country that included what we now know as Canada, some sort of North American Union, though I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to what it’d be named. On the other hand…the commonwealth came about because Britain realized after their experience with us that they needed to rule with a lighter hand. If we had capitulated, they might not have learned that lesson.
As for me, I hoisted the Betsy Ross flag this morning, as has been my custom on any day that’s an anniversary of something that happened during the Revolutionary War (that includes Independence Day). I was doing this long before some assclown decided it was un-PC or a trigger or however the heck they phrase their whines this year. I just regret that I missed the anniversary of Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga two days ago.
Been a while since I’ve told a story, and this one popped into my head today. It’s a story about misunderstanding another person’s words or intentions. The confusion can happen quickly with …. let’s say…. lasting consequences. With everything going on in DC, I thought it might be time to bring it all back to a personal level and laugh a little bit. Cozy up with me. Here we go.
It was a regular day when Britt walked through the back door, sobbing, body shaking, full blown tears. It was a meltdown like no other. I was in the front of the house, heard someone come in the back door, came to look, and found her wailing away, sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor. She had collapsed in body and spirit. I sat down on the kitchen floor in front of her, “What is it?”
Between the sobs and catching her breath, she told me the story of her “once again, being-mean-and-wicked-for-no-good-reason” mother-in-law. Britt’s husband was out of town on business. The kids went to see “Grandma”, and now, the mother-in-law would not let them come home until Britt’s husband came home. Britt, was wounded to the core, “She thinks I’m a horrible mother and doesn’t trust me with my own children.” I growled… What a mean thing to do.
No, Britt was not a bad mother at all. Britt lived across the street, and I knew her schedule almost minute by minute. She was often up at 4:00am, doing laundry and getting kids ready for school. Our kids played together, daily. The idea Britt was a “bad mom” was as outlandish as me being a murderer. On the other hand, I knew Kate well, the mother-in-law. Kate and my grandmother tangled often, and Kate was a wealthy, smug, artist, control freak…. a temperamental B$tch.
I grabbed Britt by the hand and jerked her up off the kitchen floor. We rounded the corner to the small bathroom and I said, “Take off your clothes and get in the shower.” She wrinkled her nose as if to question, but I interrupted her thoughts, “You can’t do battle with the devil when you have puffy eyes.” and then, “Get yourself together….., we’re going to war.” Britt perked up immediately. I sat on the toilet and waited…. thinking.
Britt had this problem with her mother-in-law fairly often, but this was the worst episode yet. I loved Britt’s kids like they were my own and hated to see them torn and used as pawns. It was time to put an end to the drama, once and for all. I was ratcheting up my anger.
We hopped into the “bluebomb” minivan and took off for “Grandma’s” house. Britt was okay but chain smoking from three different packs of cigarettes, different brands, menthols and regulars. We have a kitchen drawer under the microwave where 13 different women kept their cigarettes because “their husbands didn’t know they smoked”. Thus, they would come to my house and smoke. Of course, they didn’t want to stink up my house, so they would lean way over, under the stove, and blow smoke up the exhaust fan….. while talking non-stop. It was fun, and I don’t judge. Britt had grabbed a handful of those packs and was practically eating cigarettes along the way.
We arrived at Kate’s house, unannounced. Miracle of miracles, everything was fine. Kate would never cross me. Status in our little town was unspoken but well known, and back then, I was a few rungs higher on the ladder than Kate. She was busted and knew it….. therefore, she decided to pretend nothing was wrong. Typical. Kate skillfully diverted the conversation to her garden. We obliged, awaiting the inevitable confrontation.
Britt went to help her daughter gather new clothes, new toys (showered with gifts in an attempt to buy affection), and Kate and I were alone in the music room. I fiddled with the keys on her gleaming baby grand Steinway. Kate remarked admirably about the times she heard me play (I was horrible, a false compliment). It made me mad and I shot her the “Medusa look”. I didn’t say anything but plunked out the first four notes of Beethoven’s 5th, as if circling for the kill. It made Kate skittish. I wanted to hurt her for hurting my friend, but in a flash, she wasn’t worth it anymore. The confrontation was over before it began. She was just…….. bitter.
Having backed out of the original planned speech, I took a softer tone. I said something like, “Don’t ever do it again…..shame on you for hurting people you’re supposed to love.” Words to that effect, I can’t remember. That part is a blur. Kate didn’t say a word, but her eyes spit at me. She spun around and left for the opposite wing of the house to hide. She didn’t even say goodbye to her granddaughter or the boys.
Britt was pleased the turnover of children went so well but still jumpy until we pulled out of the long driveway and were off the property. Tense. On the way home, we had a long talk with Katherine, the daughter, about family, loyalty, worldly goods, etc. Good conversation. Britt’s boys were too young, oblivious, and mostly ignored by Kate. It was the granddaughter over whom Kate obsessed.
When we got home, there were at least a dozen kids and various adults at our house. The kids jumped out and ran to play. Amazing how resilient kids can be. It was a little awkward for Britt to be thrust back into a social setting, like nothing was wrong, after all the drama. So, Britt and I decided we needed to make a run to the liquor store……… cuz, supplies.
Another 10-15 minutes in the opposite direction, we drove through farmland, big blue sky, and wide open fields to the liquor store. We turned the radio up and started singing. We rode with the windows open. She was calming down. Good. She was frustrated and beaten and hated that Kate could get to her so effectively. She felt foolish, and hey, we can all remember similar times in our own lives.
And then, it hit me. I turned and said to her, “You know, you will get to pick out her nursing home when she gets old.” Britt cocked her jaw and gave me the side-eye. I continued, “Better yet, when she dies, you get to pick out what she will wear in the casket……” And there it was, the corners of Britt’s mouth couldn’t hide the grin.
I was driving, but Britt shifted in her seat to turn toward me, 100% embracing the idea of Kate’s death, letting it roll through her mind. Britt said, “She has that God-awful Christmas green suit she wears……. it would be perfect.” Britt was nodding, wide-eyed, enjoying the moment.
Shaking my head, “No, no, no, that’s too good, we would need a lavender polyester from the 70’s, you know, a kiana blouse with a big bow at her neck” Britt howled with laughter and said, “Yeah, and her pearls…” Kate always wore opera length pearls, a beautiful strand. I shook my head again, “No, no, I have some Mardi Gras beads that are FAKE pearls.” Britt slapped her knee and laughed, “Dahuumm”, she said, “fake pearls would make Kate rise from HELL.” It was a delicious moment for Britt.
By the time we pulled into the liquor store parking lot, we were talking about the funeral itself, specifically the flowers, and the pall for Kate’s fictious casket. We decided on the cheapest possible greenery, with the florist foam still showing, and only 7 carnations, cheapest possible flowers, with long stems, hanging in the air…… like naked flowers….. maybe we could dye them lavender to make them match Kate’s polyester suit. We were laughing to where we couldn’t catch our breath, making the funeral worse and worse with every comment.
Inside the liquor store a few other people were in front of us, but Britt and I kept talking, chirping away. By then, we were onto Kate’s hair and makeup. Kate always prided herself in her looks but was cursed with a stocky German hausfrau body-type, whereas Britt was long and lean, a naturally beautiful blue-eyed blond, who looked like a ballerina from the Amazon tribe (…… probably why Kate was jealous….. ya’ think?) We decided “whore red” lipstick and nails, with her hands folded around a golden plastic cross, with big red paste gems, would be perfectly appropriate with lavender, bulletproof, double knit, polyester. On and on, we went. Finally, we placed our liquor order with Mark behind the counter. I was restocking so it took a few minutes as Mark gathered cases and bottles. We’ve both known Mark since we were kids.
Straight out of the 70’s
With the bill paid, Mark helped us carry boxes and cases to the car. I opened the back of the minivan and helped. Britt was still talking. Mark stood up to hug us goodbye and said………
“If you really want to kill her, I know a guy,………. $500”
Britt stopped talking and her lips disappeared. Her eyes popped out of her head. I gasped so hard I must have sucked in a cubic yard of air. And on the exhale I said, “Noooooooooooo, we don’t really want to kill her.” Britt was flapping her forearms like she was trying to put out a forest fire, “Nooooo”. Mark said, “Oh, oh well.” He was confused. Whoops! We explained the mother-in-law problem and cued him in. He laughed along with us, but he didn’t really understand us. Crisis averted.
The whole way home, we snorted and giggled about the time we came close to ordering a hit on Britt’s mother-in-law. “He really thought I wanted to kill her?????!!!!”, Britt said. “I don’t know, Britt, but I think he did!”, I said. We rode in silence for a while, but would break into laughter. We imagined ourselves as the enforcers of the soccer league, the PTA at school, the grocery store lines, or riverboat gamblers. We didn’t want people to think we have a hit squad going on with a bunch of housewives, but I guess mild crimes were okay. We couldn’t get over it. Surreal.
It was hilarious.
All was calm for a few months between Kate and Britt, but as the holidays approached, Kate began to revert back to her old ways. Britt was telling me about it in the kitchen one day, but she wasn’t upset. I asked her what she did about it. Britt said, “It’s funny, every time Kate starts in, I just imagine her wearing lavender polyester.” Britt shrugged her shoulders, “It’s over with. She doesn’t get to me anymore.” She added, “And it’s the damnedest thing, Daughn, when she starts, I start smiling…. and she has no idea what I’m thinking.”
Problem solved, right?
Almost 10 years later, Kate died. We were good and gave her a terrific sendoff. I was standing by the casket talking to extended relatives, when I noticed……. beautiful and extravagant white rose pall, with a mound of air fern, smilax, and heather…. with one lavender tipped carnation. I narrowed my eyes and smirked. Britt and I were the only ones who knew about that day, besides Mark at the liquor store. I hadn’t thought about it in years.
It was Britt’s send off, and payback. A wink and a nod to the demon Kate who tormented her for years. Strangely, only a few people at the funeral noticed the oddly placed flower. Some thought it might have come from one of the grandchildren. Nope.
It was us.
Girlfriends are good to have. We get each other through the rough times.
Throughout history, there are speeches made by leaders or regular men, which stir our souls, make us laugh or weep, plant a seed, and alter human history. Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address”, Winston Churchill’s “The Finest Hour” and “We’ll Fight on the Beaches”, Kennedy’s Inauguration, Lou Gehrig’s “Farewell to Baseball”, we study these speeches as children in school, and we’re inspired by how great men can be when we all move together as a united force.
Sometimes, great speeches come at moments of unimaginable tragedy, when we all share the same grief, and one man, President Reagan, gathers our tears and puts them to words…. as it was with the Challenger Disaster, “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God”.
When we start thinking about great speeches, the list grows. Our memories are long, our human frailty is infinite, but our natural desire to become better men knows no bounds. We think about our parents, teachers, mentors, and those who gave us courage when we needed it most as individuals, teammates, or as countrymen. We want to be honorable, to endure, and prevail. As ordinary men, it is uncanny, but we never lose faith. From William Faulkner’s Nobel Acceptance Speech:
I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
William Faulkner
Other times, great speeches are intended to move us in a new direction, gather consensus to make men stand together, to achieve greatness. Donald Trump’s speech in Poland, or the “False Song of Globalism” were such speeches.
Bill Barr, Attorney General of the United States, recently gave such a speech on morality, ethics, and religion, at the University of Notre Dame. The speech has garnered much attention and is being passed from one person to another…. a key sign of a great speech. Bill Barr has touched our soul. Again, one man has gathered our tears, frustrations, and that nagging feeling in the pit of our gut. He put into words our common complaint, and again, we rise. We know we can be better men.
Barr starts by acknowledging the framers clear intent; “Religion was indispensable to sustaining our free system of government”, referring to the 1785 Pamphlet Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments by James Madison. Barr continues from there in an hour long speech. His words will echo in your head forevermore. The transcript is located below to make it easier to follow along.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JDARNSzVyE
I have here the transcript of the speech AG William Barr gave at Notre Dame re: Christianity and religious liberty in America today. Please do yourselves a favor and read how our AG feels about our faith and it’s role in America.
From FG&C who located the transcript (hat tip to him)
Enjoy.
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Today, I would like to share some thoughts with you about religious liberty in America. It’s an important priority in this Administration and for this Department of Justice.
We have set up a task force within the Department with different components that have equities in this area, including the Solicitor General’s Office, the Civil Division, the Office of Legal Counsel, and other offices. We have regular meetings. We keep an eye out for cases or events around the country where states are misapplying the Establishment Clause in a way that discriminates against people of faith, or cases where states adopt laws that impinge upon the free exercise of religion.
From the Founding Era onward, there was strong consensus about the centrality of religious liberty in the United States.
The imperative of protecting religious freedom was not just a nod in the direction of piety. It reflects the Framers’ belief that religion was indispensable to sustaining our free system of government.
In his renowned 1785 pamphlet, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” James Madison described religious liberty as “a right towards men” but “a duty towards the Creator,” and a “duty….precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.”
It has been over 230 years since that small group of colonial lawyers led a revolution and launched what they viewed as a great experiment, establishing a society fundamentally different than those that had gone before.
They crafted a magnificent charter of freedom – the United States Constitution – which provides for limited government, while leaving “the People” broadly at liberty to pursue our lives both as individuals and through free associations.
This quantum leap in liberty has been the mainspring of unprecedented human progress, not only for Americans, but for people around the world.
In the 20th century, our form of free society faced a severe test.
There had always been the question whether a democracy so solicitous of individual freedom could stand up against a regimented totalitarian state.
That question was answered with a resounding “yes” as the United States stood up against and defeated, first fascism, and then communism.
But in the 21st century, we face an entirely different kind of challenge.
The challenge we face is precisely what the Founding Fathers foresaw would be our supreme test as a free society.
They never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom. The question was whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions.
By and large, the Founding generation’s view of human nature was drawn from the classical Christian tradition.
These practical statesmen understood that individuals, while having the potential for great good, also had the capacity for great evil.
Men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and, if unrestrained, are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community at large.
No society can exist without some means for restraining individual rapacity.
But, if you rely on the coercive power of government to impose restraints, this will inevitably lead to a government that is too controlling, and you will end up with no liberty, just tyranny.
On the other hand, unless you have some effective restraint, you end up with something equally dangerous – licentiousness – the unbridled pursuit of personal appetites at the expense of the common good. This is just another form of tyranny – where the individual is enslaved by his appetites, and the possibility of any healthy community life crumbles.
Edmund Burke summed up this point in his typically colorful language:
“Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put chains upon their appetites…. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”
So the Founders decided to take a gamble. They called it a great experiment.
They would leave “the People” broad liberty, limit the coercive power of the government, and place their trust in self-discipline and the virtue of the American people.
In the words of Madison, “We have staked our future on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves…”
This is really what was meant by “self-government.” It did not mean primarily the mechanics by which we select a representative legislative body. It referred to the capacity of each individual to restrain and govern themselves.
But what was the source of this internal controlling power? In a free republic, those restraints could not be handed down from above by philosopher kings.
Instead, social order must flow up from the people themselves – freely obeying the dictates of inwardly-possessed and commonly-shared moral values. And to control willful human beings, with an infinite capacity to rationalize, those moral values must rest on authority independent of men’s will – they must flow from a transcendent Supreme Being.
In short, in the Framers’ view, free government was only suitable and sustainable for a religious people – a people who recognized that there was a transcendent moral order antecedent to both the state and man-made law and who had the discipline to control themselves according to those enduring principles.
As John Adams put it, “We have no government armed with the power which is capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”
As Father John Courtney Murray observed, the American tenet was not that:
“Free government is inevitable, only that it is possible, and that its possibility can be realized only when the people as a whole are inwardly governed by the recognized imperatives of the universal moral order.”
How does religion promote the moral discipline and virtue needed to support free government?
First, it gives us the right rules to live by. The Founding generation were Christians. They believed that the Judeo-Christian moral system corresponds to the true nature of man. Those moral precepts start with the two great commandments – to Love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind; and to Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.
But they also include the guidance of natural law – a real, transcendent moral order which flows from God’s eternal law – the divine wisdom by which the whole of creation is ordered. The eternal law is impressed upon, and reflected in, all created things.
From the nature of things we can, through reason, experience, discern standards of right and wrong that exist independent of human will.
Modern secularists dismiss this idea of morality as other-worldly superstition imposed by a kill-joy clergy. In fact, Judeo-Christian moral standards are the ultimate utilitarian rules for human conduct.
They reflect the rules that are best for man, not in the by and by, but in the here and now. They are like God’s instruction manual for the best running of man and human society.
By the same token, violations of these moral laws have bad, real-world consequences for man and society. We may not pay the price immediately, but over time the harm is real.
Religion helps promote moral discipline within society. Because man is fallen, we don’t automatically conform ourselves to moral rules even when we know they are good for us.
But religion helps teach, train, and habituate people to want what is good. It does not do this primarily by formal laws – that is, through coercion. It does this through moral education and by informing society’s informal rules – its customs and traditions which reflect the wisdom and experience of the ages.
In other words, religion helps frame moral culture within society that instills and reinforces moral discipline.
I think we all recognize that over the past 50 years religion has been under increasing attack.
On the one hand, we have seen the steady erosion of our traditional Judeo-Christian moral system and a comprehensive effort to drive it from the public square.
On the other hand, we see the growing ascendancy of secularism and the doctrine of moral relativism.
By any honest assessment, the consequences of this moral upheaval have been grim.
Virtually every measure of social pathology continues to gain ground.
In 1965, the illegitimacy rate was eight percent. In 1992, when I was last Attorney General, it was 25 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. In many of our large urban areas, it is around 70 percent.
Along with the wreckage of the family, we are seeing record levels of depression and mental illness, dispirited young people, soaring suicide rates, increasing numbers of angry and alienated young males, an increase in senseless violence, and a deadly drug epidemic.
As you all know, over 70,000 people die a year from drug overdoses. That is more casualities in a year than we experienced during the entire Vietnam War.
I will not dwell on all the bitter results of the new secular age. Suffice it to say that the campaign to destroy the traditional moral order has brought with it immense suffering, wreckage, and misery. And yet, the forces of secularism, ignoring these tragic results, press on with even greater militancy.
Among these militant secularists are many so-called “progressives.” But where is the progress?
We are told we are living in a post-Christian era. But what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system? What is it that can fill the spiritual void in the hearts of the individual person? And what is a system of values that can sustain human social life?
The fact is that no secular creed has emerged capable of performing the role of religion.
Scholarship suggests that religion has been integral to the development and thriving of Homo sapiens since we emerged roughly 50,000 years ago. It is just for the past few hundred years we have experimented in living without religion.
We hear much today about our humane values. But, in the final analysis, what undergirds these values? What commands our adherence to them?
What we call “values” today are really nothing more than mere sentimentality, still drawing on the vapor trails of Christianity.
Now, there have been times and places where the traditional moral order has been shaken.
In the past, societies – like the human body – seem to have a self-healing mechanism – a self-correcting mechanism that gets things back on course if things go too far.
The consequences of moral chaos become too pressing. The opinion of decent people rebels. They coalesce and rally against obvious excess. Periods of moral entrenchment follow periods of excess.
This is the idea of the pendulum. We have all thought that after a while the “pendulum will swing back.”
But today we face something different that may mean that we cannot count on the pendulum swinging back.
First is the force, fervor, and comprehensiveness of the assault on religion we are experiencing today. This is not decay; it is organized destruction. Secularists, and their allies among the “progressives,” have marshaled all the force of mass communications, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values.
These instruments are used not only to affirmatively promote secular orthodoxy, but also drown out and silence opposing voices, and to attack viciously and hold up to ridicule any dissenters.
One of the ironies, as some have observed, is that the secular project has itself become a religion, pursued with religious fervor. It is taking on all the trappings of a religion, including inquisitions and excommunication.
Those who defy the creed risk a figurative burning at the stake – social, educational, and professional ostracism and exclusion waged through lawsuits and savage social media campaigns.
The pervasiveness and power of our high-tech popular culture fuels apostasy in another way. It provides an unprecedented degree of distraction.
Part of the human condition is that there are big questions that should stare us in the face. Are we created or are we purely material accidents? Does our life have any meaning or purpose? But, as Blaise Pascal observed, instead of grappling with these questions, humans can be easily distracted from thinking about the “final things.”
Indeed, we now live in the age of distraction where we can envelop ourselves in a world of digital stimulation and universal connectivity. And we have almost limitless ways of indulging all our physical appetites.
There is another modern phenomenon that suppresses society’s self-corrective mechanisms – that makes it harder for society to restore itself.
In the past, when societies are threatened by moral chaos, the overall social costs of licentiousness and irresponsible personal conduct becomes so high that society ultimately recoils and reevaluates the path that it is on.
But today – in the face of all the increasing pathologies – instead of addressing the underlying cause, we have the State in the role of alleviator of bad fconsequences. We call on the State to mitigate the social costs of personal misconduct and irresponsibility.
So the reaction to growing illegitimacy is not sexual responsibility, but abortion.
The reaction to drug addiction is safe injection sites.
The solution to the breakdown of the family is for the State to set itself up as the ersatz husband for single mothers and the ersatz father to their children.
The call comes for more and more social programs to deal with the wreckage. While we think we are solving problems, we are underwriting them.
We start with an untrammeled freedom and we end up as dependents of a coercive state on which we depend.
Interestingly, this idea of the State as the alleviator of bad consequences has given rise to a new moral system that goes hand-in-hand with the secularization of society. It can be called the system of “macro-morality.” It is in some ways an inversion of Christian morality.
Christianity teaches a micro-morality. We transform the world by focusing on our own personal morality and transformation.
The new secular religion teaches macro-morality. One’s morality is not gauged by their private conduct, but rather on their commitment to political causes and collective action to address social problems.
This system allows us to not worry so much about the strictures on our private lives, while we find salvation on the picket-line. We can signal our finely-tuned moral sensibilities by demonstrating for this cause or that.
Something happened recently that crystalized the difference between these moral systems. I was attending Mass at a parish I did not usually go to in Washington, D.C. At the end of Mass, the Chairman of the Social Justice Committee got up to give his report to the parish. He pointed to the growing homeless problem in D.C. and explained that more mobile soup kitchens were needed to feed them. This being a Catholic church, I expected him to call for volunteers to go out and provide this need. Instead, he recounted all the visits that the Committee had made to the D.C. government to lobby for higher taxes and more spending to fund mobile soup kitchen.
A third phenomenon which makes it difficult for the pendulum to swing back is the way law is being used as a battering ram to break down traditional moral values and to establish moral relativism as a new orthodoxy.
Law is being used as weapon in a couple of ways.
First, either through legislation but more frequently through judicial interpretation, secularists have been continually seeking to eliminate laws that reflect traditional moral norms.
At first, this involved rolling back laws that prohibited certain kinds of conduct. Thus, the watershed decision legalizing abortion. And since then, the legalization of euthanasia. The list goes on.
More recently, we have seen the law used aggressively to force religious people and entities to subscribe to practices and policies that are antithetical to their faith.
The problem is not that religion is being forced on others. The problem is that irreligion and secular values are being forced on people of faith.
This reminds me of how some Roman emperors could not leave their loyal Christian subjects in peace but would mandate that they violate their conscience by offering religious sacrifice to the emperor as a god.
Similarly, militant secularists today do not have a live and let live spirit – they are not content to leave religious people alone to practice their faith. Instead, they seem to take a delight in compelling people to violate their conscience.
For example, the last Administration sought to force religious employers, including Catholic religious orders, to violate their sincerely held religious views by funding contraceptive and abortifacient coverage in their health plans. Similarly, California has sought to require pro-life pregnancy centers to provide notices of abortion rights.
This refusal to accommodate the free exercise of religion is relatively recent. Just 25 years ago, there was broad consensus in our society that our laws should accommodate religious belief.
In 1993, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – RFRA. The purpose of the statute was to promote maximum accommodation to religion when the government adopted broad policies that could impinge on religious practice.
At the time, RFRA was not controversial. It was introduced by Chuck Schumer with 170 cosponsors in the House, and was introduced by Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch with 59 additional cosponsors in the Senate. It passed by voice vote in the House and by a vote of 97-3 in the Senate.
Recently, as the process of secularization has accelerated, RFRA has come under assault, and the idea of religious accommodation has fallen out of favor.
Because this Administration firmly supports accommodation of religion, the battleground has shifted to the states. Some state governments are now attempting to compel religious individuals and entities to subscribe to practices, or to espouse viewpoints, that are incompatible with their religion.
Ground zero for these attacks on religion are the schools. To me, this is the most serious challenge to religious liberty.
For anyone who has a religious faith, by far the most important part of exercising that faith is the teaching of that religion to our children. The passing on of the faith. There is no greater gift we can give our children and no greater expression of love.
For the government to interfere in that process is a monstrous invasion of religious liberty.
Yet here is where the battle is being joined, and I see the secularists are attacking on three fronts.
The first front relates to the content of public school curriculum. Many states are adopting curriculum that is incompatible with traditional religious principles according to which parents are attempting to raise their children. They often do so without any opt out for religious families.
Thus, for example, New Jersey recently passed a law requiring public schools to adopt an LGBT curriculum that many feel is inconsistent with traditional Christian teaching. Similar laws have been passed in California and Illinois. And the Orange County Board of Education in California issued an opinion that “parents who disagree with the instructional materials related to gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation may not excuse their children from this instruction.”
Indeed, in some cases, the schools may not even warn parents about lessons they plan to teach on controversial subjects relating to sexual behavior and relationships.
This puts parents who dissent from the secular orthodoxy to a difficult choice: Try to scrape together the money for private school or home schooling, or allow their children to be inculcated with messages that they fundamentally reject.
A second axis of attack in the realm of education are state policies designed to starve religious schools of generally-available funds and encouraging students to choose secular options. Montana, for example, created a program that provided tax credits to those who donated to a scholarship program that underprivileged students could use to attend private school. The point of the program was to provide greater parental and student choice in education and to provide better educations to needy youth.
But Montana expressly excluded religiously-affiliated private schools from the program. And when that exclusion was challenged in court by parents who wanted to use the scholarships to attend a nondenominational Christian school, the Montana Supreme Court required the state to eliminate the program rather than allow parents to use scholarships for religious schools.
It justified this action by pointing to a provision in Montana’s State Constitution commonly referred to as a “Blaine Amendment.” Blaine Amendments were passed at a time of rampant anti-Catholic animus in this country, and typically disqualify religious institutions from receiving any direct or indirect payments from a state’s funds.
The case is now in the Supreme Court, and we filed a brief explaining why Montana’s Blaine Amendment violates the First Amendment.
A third kind of assault on religious freedom in education have been recent efforts to use state laws to force religious schools to adhere to secular orthodoxy. For example, right here in Indiana, a teacher sued the Catholic Archbishop of Indianapolis for directing the Catholic schools within his diocese that they could not employ teachers in same-sex marriages because the example of those same-sex marriages would undermine the schools’ teaching on the Catholic view of marriage and complementarity between the sexes.
This lawsuit clearly infringes the First Amendment rights of the Archdiocese by interfering both with its expressive association and with its church autonomy. The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the state court making these points, and we hope that the state court will soon dismiss the case.
Taken together, these cases paint a disturbing picture. We see the State requiring local public schools to insert themselves into contentious social debates, without regard for the religious views of their students or parents. In effect, these states are requiring local communities to make their public schools inhospitable to families with traditional religious values; those families are implicitly told that they should conform or leave.
At the same time, pressure is placed on religious schools to abandon their religious convictions. Simply because of their religious character, they are starved of funds – students who would otherwise choose to attend them are told they may only receive scholarships if they turn their sights elsewhere.
Simultaneously, they are threatened in tort and, eventually, will undoubtedly be threatened with denial of accreditation if they adhere to their religious character. If these measures are successful, those with religious convictions will become still more marginalized.
I do not mean to suggest that there is no hope for moral renewal in our country.
But we cannot sit back and just hope the pendulum is going to swing back toward sanity.
As Catholics, we are committed to the Judeo-Christian values that have made this country great.
And we know that the first thing we have to do to promote renewal is to ensure that we are putting our principles into practice in our own personal private lives.
We understand that only by transforming ourselves can we transform the world beyond ourselves.
This is tough work. It is hard to resist the constant seductions of our contemporary society. This is where we need grace, prayer, and the help of our church.
Beyond this, we must place greater emphasis on the moral education of our children.
Education is not vocational training. It is leading our children to the recognition that there is truth and helping them develop the faculties to discern and love the truth and the discipline to live by it.
We cannot have a moral renaissance unless we succeed in passing to the next generation our faith and values in full vigor.
The times are hostile to this. Public agencies, including public schools, are becoming secularized and increasingly are actively promoting moral relativism.
If ever there was a need for a resurgence of Catholic education – and more generally religiously-affiliated schools – it is today.
I think we should do all we can to promote and support authentic Catholic education at all levels.
Finally, as lawyers, we should be particularly active in the struggle that is being waged against religion on the legal plane.
We must be vigilant to resist efforts by the forces of secularization to drive religious viewpoints from the public square and to impinge upon the free exercise of our faith.
I can assure you that, as long as I am Attorney General, the Department of Justice will be at the forefront of this effort, ready to fight for the most cherished of our liberties: the freedom to live according to our faith.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you today. And God bless you and Notre Dame.
Welcome to the open thread! Wild times in Trumpland during Rocktober! At least we’re on that roller coaster together. We were SUPPOSED to get the OIG report today, but we have a little delay. No problem, President Trump is keeping us busy.
We never imagined he would be THIS GOOD, did we? He’s the President who makes grown men snicker from the payback he delivers. He’s the Boss. He’s in their head. They’re beaten. They’re confounded and don’t know what to do. It means….. we’re WINNING!! No pansies allowed, we have a President who fights back. He’s the President we prayed for, and he speaks for us.
#NervousNancy was the ONLY executive female in the room, and she rose to her feet and pointed her finger. HUGE loss. Horrible optics. She lost her composure, relapsed to a whiny and bitter woman. She stormed out of the room, for the SECOND time. She also left the room during Immigration discussions, remember? She’s no leader and she’s giving women a bad name….because Trump moved 28 soldiers in Syria?
She’s lost control of her caucus. The Squad endorsed Bernie, the Independent, which kills DCCC and DNC fundraising….. but they’re the radicals Nancy decided to sleep with… and she woke up with fleas. President Trump has turned over Nancy’s nest, and our honey badger doesn’t give a $hit.
We’re in the Q Tree. You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it.
Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven.
Yes, we are in perilous times. The Dems are trying to impeach our President for political reasons. We’re in an internal civil war, and we have a wartime President. We can’t let the swamp win. It’s time for the people to make a comeback.
Little bit of mood music from John Lee Hooker.
When I met Big T, I was going through a John Lee Hooker phase, mandatory education for anyone living in the American south. He used to look at me kind of funny when I listened to this song, but “Bad, Like Jesse James” became his “going to trial court” theme song. Instant swagger. Yet there is another song, perfect for today, in honor of Nancy Pelosi called, “Mean, Mean Woman”
SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT! “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“ He needs out constant prayers.
We have a great deal of video and press attention surrounding events in Syria/Turkey, etc. We can dump all the video and discussion here, one place.
Here is the Pence Presser in Ankara, with Pompeo.
A few minutes later, the President landed in Dallas and congratulated the Pence team in Turkey, A GREAT DAY for the USA, Turkey, Syria, and reminded everyone, a little bit of tough love was necessary. Hair-on-fire Dems and NeverTrumpers are left, aghast. Trump keeps winning.
This is a great day for civilization. I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path. People have been trying to make this “Deal” for many years. Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!
It was one for the ages. Press Corps reaching for matches to light their own hair on fire. It was classic Mulvaney, quick, dismissive, pausing at key moments, emphatic in his statements. Mulvaney is a terrific Trump spokesperson as his Acting Chief of Staff. He annihilated the Dem narrative.
We have to pack and prepare, right? We’re going to need to drag out our boots, our “$hit-kickers”, as they would say in Texas. Oh here, these are perfect for a MAGA Rally.
Gentlemen, get ready to feast your eyes. Texas is the land of spectacularly beautiful women. Blessed, indeed.
And the men, well, those Texas boys take my breath away. Everything I could do not to post pics of shirtless rugged cowboys, but instead, I went for the higher moral ground with beloved Texan, J. J. Watt. He’s sexy AND noble.
Of course, we all know about the Texas BOOMING economy, under direction of Governor Abbott and President Trump, right? Here’s a few stats you might here from the President tonight.
The Texas Success Story… Since the election of @POTUS: 🌟Nonfarm employment is ⬆️ by 6.4% = 774,400 NEW jobs 🌟Manufacturing employment is ⬆️ by 8.4% = 70,700 NEW jobs 🌟Monthly initial claims for unemployment insurance is ⬇️ by 21.7% Together we will keep on winning! 🇺🇸
Texas, by itself, is now the 10th largest economy in the world, larger than Canada and South Korea. Population of 28,701,845 (2,018 est.) and an average median income of $59,206, but that might be an old stat as our incomes keep growing under President Trump. Texas is BIG, 790 miles x 773 miles and encompasses 268,581 sq miles and has no state income tax.
Here’s the perfect movie to get us in the mood, “GIANT”, from 1956, with Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. Great story behind the movie, which was filmed in the small west Texas town of Marfa. The locals welcomed, cooked for the celebs and crew, and served as extras for the movie. The cattlemen and the oil men were legendary in Texas.
Or HellFighters, the movie about Red Adair, the Texan who was famous for putting out fires in oil wells. It was Red Adair’s team who was called when Saddam Hussein set the Kuwaiti Oil fields on fire. Kuwait called Red, but didn’t like Red’s high price and attempted to bargain. Red told the Kuwaitis, paraphrasing, “then take the rag off your head and beat the fire out yourself”. They paid his price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvB59WpQlH4
And we’re gonna need lots of food, BBQ, beer, bourbon, and tequila. We’re in luck, the world’s biggest BBQ Smoker is for sale, and naturally it’s from Texas. Can you imagine????
But we might have only a few friends to feed.
Have to have some Lone Star Beer
Hope y’all are thirsty. Belly on up to the bar. Everything is bigger in Texas.
From the natural beauty of South Padre Island,
To the oil fields, found everywhere in Texas (did you know that Texas now produces more oil than Iraq?)
From the sprawling Hill Country between Houston and San Antonio to the gleaming cities, like Dallas above, Texas has it all.
This is a pic of the Civic center in Lake Charles at 9:am this morning. The event doesn’t start until 7:00pm. I can guarandamntee you there will be no Anti-Fa in Lake Charles. I’m laughing just thinking about a scrawny-vampire-looking-face-mask-wearing-millennial facing off with the Cajun Navy.
Any MAGA/KAG Rally day is a great day for America, but today, we have a little bit of business as well. There is a specific reason for the President’s visit to Louisiana today and it’s the Governor’s Jungle Primary Election. Tomorrow, October 12, 2019 is the primary. If no candidate reaches 50% threshold, we have a runoff on November 16th. Currently, the incumbent Dem, John Bel Edwards, is polling at about 42%. Repub challengers Ralph Abraham is at about 22%, and Eddie Rispone is at about 17%. Obviously, we want a runoff, and to ultimately defeat the Dem Governor in Louisiana.
John Bell Edwards
Ralph Abraham, Louisiana Representative
Eddie Rispone
The Louisiana Economy is doing well, but it’s NOT because of the Governor, it’s because of President Trump. The Trump Admin allowed 16 licenses and cut the red tape for rapid build of LNG ports and several are in Louisiana. We remember President Trump’s visit to Cameron Parish – Guys, I was thinking about buying beach land, on the Gulf just a few years ago, 2acre lot, 25K, beach front and backside to a Bayou – perfect for weekends. It was mid-2016. Then, the LNG plant came in an invested about 8 billion dollars, and WHOOOSSHHH, we have a major LNG port in about 18 months. It’s a beautiful thing, and production is sold out for the next 20 years. It’s what makes the USA the Energy powerhouse of the world.
Of course, Governor Edwards is taking credit for President Trump’s success. Not nice, and we’re taking it personally. Politics is a preferred spot in Louisiana, back to the days of Huey Long (1930’s, chicken in every pot, socialist). His brother Earl Long (The Last Hayride – considered a primer for politicians) was worse. The tax structure in the state has 96% of revenue coming from corps, and only 4% coming from individuals. It’s why big companies never locate headquarters in Louisiana.
Furthermore, it is impossible to describe how corrupt the OLD Edwards family has been for decades, but they’re not alone. The Morials, Landreaus, Boggs, and so on, add to the nepotism and graft. As a little girl, I remember Dad complaining about the Daley machine in Chicago, but when we moved to New Orleans, political influence was at a whole new level. Dad used to gripe and moan and wonder how anything could get built.
You might remember this guy, Edwin Edwards, Dem Governor of Louisiana from 1972-1996, not in succession, he took a few years off, and the last time he ran for Governor he ran against David Duke, yes, THAT David Duke. Edwards responded to his opponents ties to the KKK, “We do have one thing in common,” he tells a reporter. “We are both wizards under the sheets.”
Edwin Edwards
By his own count, Edwards has been the subject of almost two dozen state or federal investigations going back to his days in Congress in the ’60s. In the 1980s he was charged with racketeering involving health care investments. His 1985 federal trial ended in a hung jury; he was acquitted in a retrial a year later.
Eventually, Governor Edwards, at age 75, was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison, started up with a 35year old blond pen pal, and married her in 2011. He was in his 80’s and had a 1yr old child, with his other children in their 60’s. Asked about his young wife, Edwards said, “You are only as young as the woman you feel.”
Yet, John Bel Edwards and Edwin Edwards are not related or they are only distantly related. No one is really sure. The “name ID” has help John Edwards, to be sure, but it’s been both a blessing and a curse. Most locals think they are related…. but something we don’t talk about in polite company. John Edwards is a true Dixiecrat, and does not have the charm of former Governor Edwin Edwards. John Edwards, although he is a Dem, graduated from West Point, was an airborne ranger for 8yrs, became a lawyer, and is a staunch pro-life supporter. Yet, he is a Dem, runs Louisiana like a Dem, big government and spends more than he takes in.
John Bel Edwards is going to be hard to beat, which is why we’re heading to Lake Charles with President Trump for a rally today.
Since I grew up in New Orleans, and Lake Charles is my stomping ground, I feel obligated to provide you with an extra dose of hospitality. If you get in the car in New Orleans, point west and drive for 5 hours, you land in Houston…… but we need to stop in Lake Charles for food and fun. When you get off the interstate, make sure to stop at a Drive thru Daiquiri shop. Yes, we drink and drive in Louisiana, and since it’s so hot and humid, a frozen treat is always on the menu. Pick your poison. WONDERFUL!
On your way into town, you’ll notice all the bridges. It is a swamp, after all, and we’re accustomed to the water.
The water is everywhere, here. At Christmastime, we don’t have regular parades, we have boat parades.
I was thinking, of all the people I/we know in SW Louisiana, they all have boats. The people are incredibly self-reliant, no whiners allowed. We take care of our own. Probably why Lake Charles is the unofficial home of the Cajun Navy. These are people who can fix things, solve problems, and sure as hell don’t wait for a politician to tell them what to do.
SW Louisiana is equally harsh and gracious, like a double edge sword, and the situation can change in the blink of an eye. Louisiana is the “Sportsman’s Paradise”. The sheer beauty of nature humbles any man who spends time here. We live among the pelicans, herons, cranes, and the alligators, shrimp, crawfish, and oysters. There is no need for invasive environmental policy here, we understand how to take care of our land and waterways, because it’s in our best interest.
And then, of course, there is the food. Here, food is cultural, a social event. Men and women cook, the kids cook, friends come in and out and help peel, chop, and usually stay for dinner. I had a hard time, took me years, to stop cooking for 12 people automatically……. because there were always friends at the table.
The food in southern Louisiana is top notch, everywhere. I recall we had northern cousins visiting us and they wanted to go out and explore the city on their own. They asked Dad where they should go for dinner. Dad said, “Anywhere is great.” They were confused, “Don’t you have a favorite restaurant, someplace good?” Dad frowned and explained, “You don’t understand, here, it would be impossible for a bad restaurant to survive. Everything is good.” Dad was right. It’s true.
If you can manage to stay for a while, SW Louisiana will change your very soul. Your internal clock will change, and you begin to rise with the sun and nod off after dark. Baby turtles, dolphins down by the dock, become family pets. You’re welcome to stay a while. We can go fishing in the morning……
PS: Again, my sincere apologies for missing the daily thread this morning. Hanging my head….. remorseful.
Now…….. can we please get onto the RALLYYYYYYYYYY
President @realDonaldTrump will host a Keep America Great rally on Friday, October 11 at 7:00 pm CDT at the James E. Sudduth Coliseum in Lake Charles, LA.
Bwwhhhahhaaa, we learned incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards will also be in Lake Charles campaigning today, drafting off of President Trump once again.
Many of President Trump's supporters have arrived early in anticipation of the rally. pic.twitter.com/QzOY0KAy6O
See you guys at the rally today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And again, I apologize for screwing up this morning’s thread. Glad Wolfie and Triple T had my back.
What TIME IS IT?????????? You GOT ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO GET TO THE DANCE FLOOR> >>>>>> We’re going to Minneapolis today!!!!!!!! And it’s just for the SEXY PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!
