By Nathan Barton

At least they aren’t dead. Several stories about cops acting… like cops. Being evil.

Prison Planet (usual caveat here) has a video of a cop slamming his elbow into a restrained man, an action so callous that even the cop’s boss has decided he was wrong and has charged him with a misdemeanor wrongful assault charge. But apparently the cops had no real reason to even try to detain or search the abused man, except that the local IRS office was frightened. On YouTube, courtesy of Freedom’s Phoenix, we have a cop threatening to kill a driver who mistakenly went the wrong way on a one-way street. And the cop has such an AMAZING roadside manner: or maybe he is just mentally deficient, based on the language he uses. And of course, he is so easily identified as a cop… How stupid are we, to allow ourselves to be terrorized by these thugs?

Guess what? Our economy and society continue to change. Newspapers have slid further into trouble in the past year, according to Yahoo News. Another 4,000 jobs were lost. There are only about 32,000 jobs in traditional newspapers today, as revenues, subscriptions, and readership continues to decline. More and more of us depend on Internet, of course; even traditional network television (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS) continues to lose viewers and ad revenue. This is all normal, but expect the newspaper industry to NOT go as easily as did, say, buggy whip manufacturers and companies which specialized in cleaning up horse poop from city streets. Obviously, although the mainstream media condemns the very idea of evil, this is an evil day for newspapers.

The more we learn about the Iran Deal between Persia and six Western nations, the uglier, even more evil it seems, despite some libertarians endorsing it. In the Weekly Standard, Secretary of State John Kerry states that the American people cannot be allowed to know the details of the secret side deals, for some reason. I suspect the real reason is that he is the elite, and the masses are too stupid to understand anything, including why the US and the other nations in essence caved to Tehran. Just like with free trade agreements and regulations that determine who can fly and who cannot. He also states that Iran may use the money to buy weapons to kill Americans but that is obviously not too important (Remember Benghazi!), but that he knows of no plans Iran has to destroy America. That, of course, would be evil, and clearly John Kerry does not believe in evil unless it is a Southern Cross flag, of course.

Oh, and killing lions is definitely evil. One bizarre aspect of our growing independence of the mainstream media, such as newspapers (big-city dailies, especially, not the little local weeklies) is how people respond to odd news events. A recent example of that is discussed by Vision to America, the brohaha over killing of a lion tourist attraction in Zimbabwe by an American dentist. Apparently, not only are millions of Americans really bent out of shape by this hunting, but many are upset when a Fox News host suggested that killing of thousands of children a day in abortion clinics just MIGHT be something to get more upset about.

Lost freedoms future? An investigation by the Catholic News Agency has discovered a plan by very wealthy advocates and supporters of homosexuality to wipe out exemptions for religious liberty within three years: targeting opponents of same-sex marriage and apparently seeking to promote not just acceptance but affirmation of the lifestyle. Apparently, the only way that can be done is to take away the religious freedoms of millions more Americans. Disagreeing with homosexuality and SSM is almost certainly evil, it seems.

Mama’s Note: Once again, I have to say that “exemptions” for religious reasons makes no sense if you are talking about liberty. There should be NO such “laws” to start with, obviously, and the religious should be as adamant about that as anyone else. “Religious freedom” comes when EVERYONE is free to follow their own conscience – and that includes homosexuals and anyone who does not advocate aggression. Those who do want to aggress against others are the evil – regardless of their religion.

Speaking of lost freedoms, it seems that the squatter’s interview in the BBC is backed up by rather secretive plans to implement more gun control on the federal level, regardless of law or Constitution, according to an article at an interesting website, Overpasses for America. It appears to be well-documented that various agendas are to be implemented in the next 18 months before the squatter (theoretically) goes the way of Bill Clinton. Who would have thought, a decade ago, that a supposed elected public leader in high office would ADMIT that his greatest frustration is that he could not steal away the constitutional rights of the people he supposedly serves? Although guns are not themselves intrinsically evil (see below), guns in the hands of the masses must be evil.

McDonalds failing? To many people, the Golden Arches are evil. A little article in Political Outcast discusses McDonalds continuing woes as revenues drop. This is NOT people turning away from fast foods, as the nannies would have us believe since their competitors continue to have revenue growth. The decay is attributed to a perception of less value for the money, and I have to agree. The McDonalds McDouble (two small patties and a slice of cheese) sold for a long time for a dollar, and was really a good deal (I’m not going to get into arguments over GMO and organic and processing and such), but that is long gone (it costs $1.59 now, most places) and their dollar drink deal (any size, unlimited refills in-store) is still a great deal. But $4.95 for a Big Mac? $3.50 for a Egg McMuffin with Sausage? Nuts! Why pay more for that than for a six-inch Subway? As Political Outcast points out, it isn’t lack of compassion or unfair treatment of employees that keeps McD’s employees at lower than the $15/hour minimum wage demanded by the activists, it is their CUSTOMERS. But I notice that neither McD nor their attackers (including some of their own employees) are willing to brand these customers as evil.

Mama’s Note: I spent 14+ years driving up to 400 miles a day in my nursing work. I ate a lot of “fast food” then, since I was rarely at home at mealtime and could not afford restaurants. There were many places with good food at reasonable prices. My favorites were Burger King and a regional phenomenon called “In ‘n Out Burgers.” But Carl’s Junior, Subway and many others fed me over the years. The one place I would not set foot was McDonalds. I just didn’t like the SMELL… In ‘n Out was always my greatest favorite, even though the price was a little higher and the burger was small. I simply loved the atmosphere there, with bright and friendly workers. Loved to watch them hustle – doing a good job with a smile on their faces. Can’t buy that attitude today at any price, I guess. We don’t have any “fast food” places where I live now…

Free State? Don’t make me laugh. After a decade or more of Porcupine activities and work towards a Free State in New Hampshire, we have this, from an editorial in the Union-Leader. Beginning tomorrow, it will be illegal to use any handheld device while in the drivers seat of a vehicle that is on a public road in New Hampshire. You do not have to be driving to get a ticket under this absurd, knee-jerk reaction of a law. What does this mean for drivers? It means that if you simply reach down to check a text message or Google Maps while stopped at a red light, you could be pulled over and fined $100 ($250 for a second offense, $500 for a third). It means that if you reach over to press two buttons answer and speaker you could be pulled over and fined. It means that if you tap your traffic app or the state of New Hampshires own emergency alert app to find a route out of the traffic jam in which you are stuck, you can be pulled over and fined. And enforcement will be vigorous. What a boondoggle for NH’s known-to-be-corrupt cops and jurisdictions. They get to shake down more and more people, and for what reason? Multiple studies have shown that bans on cellphones, even hand-helds, do NOT improve traffic safety: just revenue streams. Now THAT seems pretty evil to me, but what do I know? The NH legislature is supposedly democracy in action.

To wrap up this column on evil, I want to touch on the Roman Catholic Church again, and some more news from Rome. According to the Catholic News Agency, a secretive synod held by some very senior clerics, including at least one Cardinal, in Rome a couple of months ago has decided that NO act is intrinsically evil, and that among other things, homosexual acts, divorce for any reason, and adultery aren’t always bad. Bad as the Fifty States have gotten, clearly the Roman Church is little better, rejecting biblical morality for their traditions and trying so very hard to compromise with… with what? Evil? According to them it apparently does not exist. Is it any wonder that society is crashing down around them, when the so-called shepherds do not themselves believe (even publicly) in God, the Bible, or fixed standards of morality. Note that these clerics do NOT represent the Vatican, or Francis; those have their own problems that are just as bad, if different. And this sort of thing is really not new. The Catholic Church was founded on rejection of many biblical doctrines and teachings, replacing the Word of God with their own traditions. If the Pope himself had a vision tomorrow (although they wouldn’t call it that – that is LdS (Mormon) and declared that homosexual marriage is commanded, and abortion and birth control of every or any type is acceptable, and clergy MUST be married, then that is perfectly acceptable to devout Catholics. He is supposed to be the voice of God, the vicar of Christ, on Earth, and infallible. I am a christian, a follower of Christ, and I agree with Twain and Heinlein about the evils of the priestly class, parasites on society and another evil thing. IF, of course, you believe in evil. (I do.)

Mama’s Note: You might actually be surprised. A great many Catholics around the world, including clergy and vowed religious orders, do not consider the Pope “infallible.” And that is not even church tradition anyway. There are certain times when the Pope speaks were he is supposed to be “infallible,” but those times are rare and even those are being discounted more and more by Catholics everywhere. I am no longer Catholic, nor do I follow any organized religion, but I can assure you that I never once considered the Pope as anything but an old man, full of his own ideas and dreams.

If people buy the idea that he’s some kind of “voice of god,” it’s no different than those who listen to any other preacher or politician. It is their choice, and the results are their responsibility, whether evil or otherwise.