by Nathan Barton

Good morning.  Got a bit of this and that to discuss this morning.  Especially as relates to the intersection of religion and politics.  And then a few more things.

Those loving and peaceful and oh, so supportive Muslims in Arabia have once again shown how loving and tolerant and peaceful they are.  “Saudi Arabia, one of the United States’ key Arab allies [sic], rounded up 28 [c]hristians on Friday after receiving a tip about a home-based church. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested the worshipers at a prayer meeting in the home of an Indian national in the city of Khafji. Their current whereabouts are unknown.”  Presumably they have not yet been tortured to death or executed, but it is surely only a matter of time.

I know that many people will point out that the 28 were violating the Saudi law: some people might even point to Romans 13 as “proof” that they were sinning by meeting, since it was not on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) and therefore something that should be given up in the interests of obeying the civil authorities.  I cannot and do not read Romans 13 or any other passage of Scripture in that way, remembering that Peter told the Sanhedrin “we must obey God rather than men,” and that Jesus, all the apostles, and many other christians defied men’s laws to obey God.  While my prayers are with them, I am sure that they counted the cost of discipleship and knew what could (and apparently did) happen.

The Caliphate is ordering school classes to be changed in Mosul and other places in Mesopotamia. I note two things here.  First, the Caliphate clearly is learning from American government-run, theft-funded schools: don’t allow religion to be in the schools, don’t allow real history to be taught, doesn’t want any patriotism. Sounds like schools across the Fifty States, doesn’t it?  Secondly, the PARENTS are also learning: they are NOT sending their children to these Islamic-State-run schools (some of them are not) and are schooling them at home.  NOT madrasses, but home schooling.  Maybe they will teach their children liberty and a love for God and NOT for some trumped up human wannabe.

Matt Vespa over at Townhall says that hoploclastic (anti-gun) groups are no long fighting for an assault weapons ban at state or federal level, but rather concentrating on restricting open and concealed carry, business by business.  While his argument has some merit, I find it difficult to believe that the hoplophobes and hoploclasts really have that much reasoning ability and that much ability to actually evaluate reality.  He thinks that these people are rational, but their life stories show that they are not. I think he is buying in too much to their propaganda, and that if we are not careful, then we will let these pieces of filth sneak one by on us.  We cannot and will not see any let up of anti-gun actions AND legislation if there is any chance that they think the next massacre or the fifth or the tenth will persuade enough voters or enough congress critturs to ignore basic humanity and steal our right to defend ourselves from us.

Mama’s Note: All explained quite clearly in the most recent JPFO alert:

A New Strategy?
After years of shrieking about the evils of “assault” weapons, why would the New York Times all of a sudden publish news analysis that contradicts years of its own hysterical fear-mongering and opportunistic calls for bans after every mass shooting? I believe the answer lies in the article itself.

It turns out that big, scary military rifles don’t kill the vast majority of the 11,000 Americans murdered with guns each year. Little handguns do.

An idiotic American who tore up his visa when getting to North Korea so he could ‘experience prison life’ and report on it, is getting his wish, for six years at hard labor. How stupid people can be!  At least he may not reproduce – we can hope.

A study reports that Schizophrenia is actually eight disorders, not one disease.  In other words, schizophrenia has multiple personalities.  Each of these eight disorders has their own genetic footprint. Or so the researchers at Washington University in St. Louis say. The risk of developing schizophrenia is inherited, passed on in the gene pool.  Finally, politicians and cops can claim that something else made them do it.  Multiple demons, no?

Teen clothing retailer Urban Outfitters apologizes for “bloodstained” Kent State sweatshirtin another bizarre case of random guilt.  The ads drew an immediate response from Kent State University and survivors of the 1970 shooting by National Guard soldiers, who said the retailer was exploiting a tragedy for publicity and profit.  So?  What good is tragedy if someone doesn’t make a profit off of it?  Why don’t we ban sales of tee-shirts with that infamous mass murderer Che Guevera on them?

A leading Keynesian economist uses the ‘D’ word about the Crash of 2009 and the last five years, and shocks everyone else, driving them to demand he be slain for heresy.  It has been obvious to a LOT of us that stupid names lie (the “Great Recession” and “Low-level Recovery” and the like.  So now someone has broken ranks.  Whee!  Another excuse to spend more money created out of thin air or stolen from future generations.

Problems because the FedGov is short on money?  So why they are giving out 3.5 million bucks in grants to promote BOOZE. As if people don’t drink enough (and the Crash of 2009 certainly promotes that), the government is paying for advertising and marketing research.  I know, 3.5 million is, by FedGov standards, a drop in the bucket. But this sort of thing disgusts me.  Like local chambers of commerce urging the City Fathers to crack down on the homeless and mentally-challenged and without-hope poor buggers who booze it up out of plain brown paper sacks in the same city park where the chamber sponsors wine-tasting and beer festivals and concerts selling beer, wine and cocktails.

Mama’s Note: Just always remember that the problem isn’t what people choose to drink, or what they choose to advertise. The problem is, and always is, that non-voluntary government has no legitimate authority to do either of those things, especially not with stolen goods.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar, surely a wonderful, fully-accredited representative of the American black community, has stated that sports team owner Levinson’s analysis of why his team isn’t appealing to white or Asian or AmerInd customers is NOT racist.  Levinson’s infamous e-mail about marketing the Hawks points out a serious problem with the Fifty States today.  People are afraid to say ANYthing that is negative towards any significant group for fear of offending, so they lie through their teeth, and made incredibly stupid decisions.