The Protestant Revolution and Liberty

Posted on 2017-10-28 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

The 31st of October, 2017, marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, when German monk Martin Luther nailed his famous Ninety-five Theses on the door of All Saints [Roman Catholic] Church in Wittenburg, where he was a professor of moral theology.

There are many people celebrating this anniversary of the largest effort (up to that time) to reform the Roman Catholic Church. That effort to reform failed, and resulted instead in the creation of many Protestant Churches, first in Western Europe and then around the world. (But the name “Reformation” stuck.) We know the major impact on the last five hundred years of world history made by the Reformation.  We also know of the centuries of war which resulted.  The Reformation impacted even the Roman Catholic Church itself, which ultimately launched the “Counter-Reformation” and made many changes in its practices and doctrine.  Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, John Knox, and even Henry Tudor (the VIII) are praised as heroes of faith and even of liberty.

Some point to the Reformation as the herald and cause of the many religious movements since then, such as the “Great Awakenings” in the English-speaking world (including the so-called “Restoration Movement”) and the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. Some go so far as to claim that without the Reformation, there would be no faithful church in the world today, and that indeed both the christian religion and western civilization might have perished long ago. Still others will claim that the rise of modern liberty and even democracy are a direct result of the Protestant Reformation, and that without it, Europe would have remained a land of tyranny and feudalism, which would have spread over all of the New World. Continue reading →

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Where you gonna go?

Posted on 2017-10-27 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Ambulance versus private transportation in a medical emergency
According to a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University, you made the right choice in an emergency where someone is bleeding, to have family or a friend -or EVEN Uber! – take you to the ER (or to an urgent care clinic) than if you called 9-1-1 and an ambulance (public or a public contract service). Published in JAMA Surgery, the study found, among other things, that victims of gunshots and stabbings are 62% less likely to die when transported privately.

In other words, government (and even government contractors) is BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH! In fact, it can KILL you and not just because you decided to revolt.

“The study,” Lisa Rabasca Roepe wrote on the OZY blog, “examined data, collected by the American College of Surgeons’ National Trauma Data Bank, from 103,029 patients with a gunshot or stab wound. It found an overall 2.2 percent mortality rate for patients transported via private vehicle — taxi, ride-sharing program, a friend’s car — compared with 11.6 percent for ground emergency medical services and ambulance.”That is NOT just a statistical oddity: that is nearly a 6 times BETTER chance of survival! And that is a nationwide average. And the other data is even more indicative of major problems and risks. Continue reading →

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Revolution? Or Excuse for Coup?

Posted on 2017-10-27 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

As reported in Eagle Rising, an email magazine on Saturday, 4 November 2017, massive anti-Trump/Pence protests are scheduled for fourteen major American cities.  Only eleven were identified: they are all liberal/Tranzi enclaves.  (As indeed, are most of the top twenty-five cities in the Fifty States.)  Eagle Rising claims these are being orchestrated by ANTIFA (or rather, some of the many “independent” groups that make up that movement), Black Lives Matter, and remnants of various liberal groups from the 2000-2016 era.

We are told that this is the beginnings of a left-wing revolution to overthrow the Trump administration, sponsored by and supported by a super-conspiracy including everyone from George Soros and the Bushes to Demo and GOP members of Congress and right down to the usual “anarchist” comrades who burn trashcans and cop-cars and loot stores. With the goal of establishing a Marxist government for all of the Fifty States and the territories.

And we are told that the FedGov (especially the FBI) and the various State police forces, together with municipal police, must take immediate action to prepare to counter these protests, suppress rebellion, and crack down on the protestors/revolutionaries.  We are told that we must be prepared to respond to violence with violence, but that our brave and faithful political leaders and civil servants and occupation forces will save the Republic, our nation, and our way of life and culture.

The article is serious – it is not a spoof. Continue reading →

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Young men’s lives matter, too

Posted on 2017-10-23 by MamaLiberty

By Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D.

The letter below was published in The Washington Times on Sunday October 22, 2017 and is followed by a section of the column to which it responded. (With Mama’s Note.)

Kudos to Suzanne Fields

I urge anyone who might have missed it in our nano-second news cycle to read Suzanne Fields’ most timely column (“Young men’s lives matter, too,” Web, Oct. 18). In wonderful prose, Mrs. Fields masterfully integrates California Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent veto of a bill that would have codified into California law the notorious “dear colleague” false campus rape hysteria of the Obama administration, the progressive feminist media’s desire to keep Harvey Weinstein on the front page in order to convince all and sundry that every man really is a Harvey in sheep’s clothing, and heaps praise on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for her clear-sighted fairness and transparency.

Even if you disagree with Mrs. Fields’ thesis, reading her column will be a pleasant break from the Washington world of harsh tweets and name-calling unbecoming even of a politician. Continue reading →

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Bait and Switch: Politics as Usual

Posted on 2017-10-22 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

President Trump: With tax reform we can make it morning in America again

With my plan in place, jobs will grow, family incomes will rise and we will make America great again.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Read the whole thing. It would be encouraging if not for the fact that so much is not even mentioned.

There is not a single word in this description of the plan that calls for serious cuts in spending! Not a word addressing the obscene “national debt” or the ongoing deficit. Or the massive corruption in every government “budget” from Washington D. C. to the smallest “incorporated” crossroads community.

The corruption is, of course, the purely criminal control of most people and their property by a few who assume they have the authority to do so. And, sadly, the majority of the victims have been conditioned to accept that bogus “authority,” even when they don’t like what is being done to them. The idea that they can somehow “elect” others to rule, and then somehow control those rulers themselves… defies all rational thinking. Continue reading →

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More Gun Lies Your Leaders Are Telling You

Posted on 2017-10-16 by MamaLiberty

By L. Reichard White

To start with, as per the Standard Anti-Self-Defense Handbook — and using the so-far unexplained Las Vegas shooting spree as the latest platform — the usual Second Amendment scoff-laws still prominently include firearm suicides in their gun-death tally.

Thank goodness folks deprived of guns won’t use overdoses, tranquilizers-plus-booze, carbon monoxide, razor blades, poison, etc. — and bridges, tall buildings, and open windows for jumping — if they can’t get guns!

Or are the usual Congressional victim-disarmers misleading us again?

Suicide by any means, while regrettable, is a voluntary act, and those determined, gun or no gun, nearly always succeed. With that in mind, let’s put things in perspective: The 19,392 gun suicides in the U.S. in 2010, a typical year, swamped the 11,078 firearm homicides. That is, firearm suicides amount to a whopping ~two-thirds of reported gun deaths, dwarfing all other categories combined. Continue reading →

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The Shallow End of The Pool

Posted on 2017-10-14 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Trump: ‘We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values’ (CNN)

We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values,” Trump said to applause, before slamming people who don’t say “Merry Christmas. They don’t use the word Christmas because it is not politically correct,” Trump said, complaining that department stores will use red and Christmas decorations but say “Happy New Year.” “We’re saying Merry Christmas again.”

I used to be a Catholic and am now agnostic. (Long story) I’ve studied history, religion and ethics most of my adult life. I don’t remember anything in all that even suggesting that decorating for Christmas and a trite greeting constitute the core values of Judeo-Christian philosophy.

The “politically correct” insanity intrudes far, far more into our lives and freedom than this. And no smug pronouncement from the president will change that.

And then, there is the monumental hypocrisy of Trump’s statement when compared to the stupid and destructive nonsense over athletes, and others, who refuse to salute the flag or stand for the anthem.  (Among a great many other things…) Continue reading →

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Another “answer” in Search of a Problem

Posted on 2017-10-13 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

There’s a place for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Do the Boy Scouts really need to embrace girls? (Mike Baker at Fox)
I admit to being a bit old fashioned. Believing that there’s a place for a Boy Scouts organization and a Girl Scouts organization that focus on their respective genders doesn’t make me a misogynist or a sexist or anything else ending in “ist” or even an “ism.” I happen to believe that there’s value and benefit in girls having their own space and boys having their own space on occasion…as long as they offer equal space and opportunity.

I was a Girl Scout for a while in elementary school (1950s), and then went on to join Camp Fire Girls. In high school, I took great pride in being a summer camp counselor for Camp Fire Girls and have many fond memories.

I spent nine years doing various volunteer things with the Boy Scouts. Starting in 1975 as a Den Mother, Roundtable commissioner, then a unit commissioner, and finally the regional training chairperson, I followed my sons through the ranks and enjoyed very much all of the projects, camp outs and jamborees. The boys never did reach Eagle rank, but they spent a number of years as proud members of the Order of the Arrow. And they grew up to be fine men, husbands and fathers. Continue reading →

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Shutter Evergreen State

Posted on 2017-10-10 by MamaLiberty

By Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D.

To comprehensively understand the future direction of Higher Education in America, one must go beyond the issue of free speech and dive deeply into the underlying political and ideological dynamics driving Higher Education today.

Heather E. Heying’s brilliantly articulate and well written essay at The Wall Street Journal: “First, They Came for the Biologists –The postmodernist left on campus is intolerant not only of opposing views, but of science itself”

This is a must read for all citizens who care about higher education, science and a society governed by the mind and reasoned policy rather than by racist mobs.

Tragically, today there is no evidence that American colleges and universities can right themselves from within. Increasingly, it has become clear that the forces needed to return colleges and universities to their formerly highly valued role in delivering enlightenment, knowledge, and critical thinking must come from elsewhere. Continue reading →

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More thoughts on the Las Vegas Massacre (#3)

Posted on 2017-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

This week, I’ve lost track of the times I’ve heard politicians say the most disgusting things.

First, of course, we have the liberals demanding “reasonable” gun laws.

Then we have the conservatives whining about how this isn’t a time to talk about it, that it is a time for mourning.  This is their response to the liberal demand.  Their supposed “response.”

It should come as no surprise that the NRA and leading GOP figures have almost immediately agreed that the newly-evil “bump stocks” and other ways of simulating fully-automatic firearms should be banned.

If, of course, the conservatives and so-called defenders of our God-given right to defend ourselves were honest and sincere, they would have made a clear and immediate response.  What should that answer have been? That “It is always appropriate to answer calls for disarmament by making it clear that our right to keep and bear arms is never on the table.” They could then have proceeded to explain and remind the hoploclasts of the truth learned bitterly through history: Continue reading →

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