After working on the situation hard all weekend, our computer technician believes that our recent cyber-problems have been resolved.
It does give us pause to think about technology and our dependence on it. Some believe it a good thing; others a dangerous one. In our opinion, it's simply a natural thing in overall human development.
Many Atheists of the vulgar Stephen Colbert variety sneer at Christians, for example, as 'Bronze Age barbarians.' If any of them could get into a time machine and travel back to those days; our forefathers would consider them the greatest ignoramuses imaginable. Simple things that everyone knew how to do like weaving ones own clothes, or cooking without metal pots, or riding a camel---today's people would be lost in such a society. And to be fair, residents of the Bronze Age no doubt considered themselves far advanced of those in the Stone Age; while Stone Age people would be aghast at all the basic skills that their descendants had forgotten.
What is interesting to note though is that the Eternal and Spiritual aspects of things never change. Mankind has believed in God, an afterlife, and a basic moral code from Prehistoric times to the present. According to secular Evolutionary Psychology, this shouldn't happen. In fact, Atheists have a difficult time explaining how religious beliefs could have evolved in the first place; since by their own admission there is no evolutionary necessity for them.
The mainstream Moslems hold the belief that technological advances are a gift from Allah, and that God occasionally reveals the Secrets of Nature to us to better our lives. In the days when many of our own scientists were Christians, they believed much the same thing. There used to be a certain morality to Science and Technology which doesn't seem to be around anymore.
Science and Technology devoid of morality is clearly a dangerous thing. In reading accounts of the recoil-technology of the firearms employed in last Sunday's massacre in Las Vegas, one sees the moral element clearly. A weapon like that in evil hands commits a massacre; in good hands it can stop a gang-attack alone.
The problem then is not a matter of losing skills but of losing the Faith and morality that went with them. It doesn't matter if a man who can build a rocket can't make an stone arrowhead or vice-versa. What does matter is what he does with that knowledge; and his recognition of the fact that he must answer to the Omniscient for how he uses it.
It's not just the effete NFL ownership and management who, like Jimmy Kimmel, are flipping off Trump supporters. Newly released documents by 2nd Vote show that the NFL Players' Association has a long track record of donating to Left-Wing causes---many backed by arch-criminal George Soros. In fact, donations to Soros-backed groups seem to be especially prevalent during the tenure of NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith. Smith has held the office since 2009. He succeeded Gene Upshaw who died under mysterious circumstances in 2008 and has several shady re-election controversies since.
The Center for Community Change an anti-Trump 'Resistance' group funded in part by Soros also received a $5,000 donation from the NFLPA in 2015. They also contributed to Working America, an anti-Trump, anti-Republican union lobby and in 2014 to Jobs With Justice, and The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy---all of which Soros also funds.
Open Secrets shows likewise that the NFLPA is just as active inside the Beltway as its parent company, the NFL. In 2016, the NFLPA retained two major D.C. lobbying firms---at the cost of nearly a quarter million dollars---Fierce Government Solutions and Forbes and Tate. The Players' Association had 14 lobbyists among these two groups, 13 of whom were revolving-door former government bureaucrats.
It's noteworthy that the NFLPA has spent 3-5 times as much on lobbying every year since 2008, Gene Upshaw's last year.
As for DeMaurice Smith himself, public records show him as having been a huge donor to John Kerry's campaign in 2004 and to Obama's campaigns in both 2008 and 2012. Smith formerly worked for Beltway lobbyist and law firms Patton-Boggs and Latham-Watkins; and as a counsel to Eric Holder in the Obama Administration.
Whatever the Players' Association represents, it certainly isn't the fans. Revenues and viewership for the NFL have been crashing across the board. Let's hope for a Make Football Great Again movement that will arise out of the ashes.
Between outbursts of Trump-bashing and politicizing the Las Vegas Massacre, the media punditocracy has been wringing its hands as more and more information comes out about the shooter. 'How can we understand such evil?' the media complains. Actually, most of the media doesn't recognize the evil within themselves; so trying to explain it in others is a task for which they are not equipped.
In fact, the media should be focusing on the good people are doing; like coming together to help the victims. But they, and the public at large, seem obsessed with the motives of the gunman. What few understand today---that our forefathers learned from Faith---is that Evil is irrational and the motives for these types of crimes wouldn't make sense to a normal mind even if we knew it.
A well-remembered line from the classic Western film Barquero is worth remembering here. When a gang of outlaws led by the vicious Jake Remy try to steal Travis' barge to escape the pursuing Army and Travis moves it and the refugees across the river, one of the refugees asks: "Why don't we just give him the barge? Then he'd have no reason to kill us" To which Travis replied: "His kind don't need a reason to kill."
Wise words. We can't unravel a reason for the Las Vegas Massacre precisely because it had no reason. Postmodernists have a hard understanding this, because their belief systems are wholly materialistic and sensual. They reject God because they cannot comprehend Infinite Goodness; but by the same token they cannot fathom Satan, who represents Evil beyond human understanding.
The best that we can really do is to comfort the victims, and help them rise above tragedies like these. We may be limited in our understanding of evil, but not limited in understanding its consequences.
This is just a quick notification that we've been experiencing a few technical difficulties during the last few days. We're still up and keeping an eye on things, but there may be a few longer-than-usual delays between posts and comment responses.
"We're Working On It!"
President Trump and Melania are scheduled to arrived in Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with relief workers and victims of Sunday night's massacre. All across the country, people are responding to the President's call for unity.
Officials in Clark County, Nevada have set up a fund for online public donations. The link can be accessed here. Over $8 million has been raised in one day alone.
Churches across the country have also been engaging in relief efforts. Pope Francis denounced the attack and, in a special encyclical to Las Vegas Bishop Joseph Pepe, encouraged the Church to reach out to victims. The Las Vegas Diocese has a special support network for First Responders and is itself prepared for an emergency.
"We are praying for those who have been injured, for those who lost their lives; and for the medical personnel and first responders who, with bravery and self-sacrifice have helped so many," Bishop Pepe, "We are also very heartened by the stories of those who helped each other during this time of crisis. As the Gospel reminds us, we are called upon to be modern-day Good Samaritans."
The Corporate Media is downplaying the good work everyone else is doing, just as they did during the recent hurricanes. They're focusing on bashing Trump, but it's to no avail. A CBS executive was fired for praising the alleged killing of Republicans; and just yesterday media troll Jimmy Kimmel had an on-air TDS meltdown. In Los Angeles, a professor went berserk in the classroom and was hauled away to the psych ward after running wild through the campus screaming about shootings and Trump.
Don't be like the Liberals. Whether in prayer services for the victims or donating time and money, do things to help proactively. That's worth a lot more in the long run than political posturing.
As we've all heard, there was a horrific mass-shooting in Las Vegas last night; leaving nearly five dozen people dead and hundreds in various states of injury. The suspect fired on the crowd with some type of heavy automatic weapon from the upper story of a tall building. He committed suicide and plunged into Tartarus as the police broke down the door.
Our general policy here is not to do much speculation during these incidents until all the facts are in. There are plenty of people in Las Vegas in need of help right now. The conduct of the Corporate Media and the Whacko Left in general right now has been an international disgrace.
Instead of using its vast power to do good for the victims of today's massacre, the media is carrying on like a bunch of cannibals dancing around a stewpot. They're exploiting the tragedy to snipe at President Trump and celebrating that most of the victims were presumably Republicans, based on the demographics of the crowd. CBS was even obliged to fire a senior executive after an online TDS attack applauding the shooting with sadistic glee.
The comments from Liberals on discussion forums have been revolting to say the least. There's really no point in repeating them here. To people who live by the philosophy that 'the personal is political' things like human empathy and solidarity are meaningless. The victims made a political statement by going to the concert and the shooter made one by killing them. That's as much as they understand, or rather believe dogmatically, because at this point we have no idea what the shooter's motives actually were.
And the personal-is-political nonsense is the reason why the MSM has such obsessions with motives in these cases. To most outside of investigative, legal, and criminology fields, criminal motives really matter very little. Motivations behind acts like these are always irrational. True, there are equally sick people in the Media and on the Internet encouraging violence and they need to be exposed. But weapons are simply tools and don't discriminate at all about who uses them, or whom they're used upon.
What we need to focus on as a society is why these incidents seem to be happening in the US with such alarming frequency. One thing that we've observed is that they are overwhelmingly committed by males who have been alienated and radicalized. The root of stopping the problem lies there. There really is no political or ideological underpinning to any of this: radical politics and religious fanaticism are the excuses---not the reasons---for these kinds of incidents. They've been happening under Trump about at the same rate as under Obama which was only slightly higher than under Bush and Clinton. The problem is cultural, not political.
This is what the Corporate Media can't grasp. To their personal-is-political mindset, a shooting with politically-correct motives or outcomes is somewhat justifiable. Take the example of how they covered the shooting of Democrat Gabrielle Giffords vs. the shooting of Republican Steve Scalise. One is a media icon, the other dropped from the news like a hot potato. And some extremist bloggers on the Far Right have adopted the same philosophy and praise killers like Anders Breivik, Dylann Roof, and Elliot Roger.
The fact is that mass-killings are never justifiable in this kind of extralegal context. War or other official acts are presumed to be in national defense. But no person can declare a war on society unilaterally and be anything but a murderer regardless of their intentions. What we should be focusing on now is how to aid and assist the victims of the attack instead of finger-pointing and blame-shifting.
A lot of Americans have been questioning the National Football League lately, and especially its impact on the pervasive cultural rot in the US. Like Hollywood, the NFL used to be iconic of American values, but has since degenerated into a PC cesspool of Trash-Culture elites. Some have wondered why more politicians haven't spoken out against the NFL. There is a reason for that. We pointed out in a recent article one example---the Pittsburgh Steelers---of how NFL ownership and management swim in swamp with the Beltway elites.
But the corruption doesn't stop with one team. Public records show that, despite being a non-profit organization, the NFL is funneling quite a lot of our ticket revenue, viewership fees, and team merchandise dollars into political campaigns and lobbying inside of the Beltway. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell---the highest paid non-profit CEO in the country at $44 million---seems to be quite an avid donor to Senator Charles Schumer along with RINOs Orrin Hatch and John McCain.
As an organization, the NFL is list as the top contributor to 64 congressmen and senators during 2016. Their largesse is spread over both parties, but some familiar names include Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Keith Ellison, Nancy Pelosi, Shelia Jackson Lee, and Steny Hoyer. And that's only 2016. The NFL is the top contributor to 12% of Congress. And note that this number does not include members with whom they rank second or third as donors. Is it any wonder that Congressmen aren't speaking out?
Additionally, the NFL maintains its own PAC, which spent $1.5 million in 2016. The PAC is called Gridiron PAC and is managed by New York tax consultant, Bradley Firestone. Public records show that Firestone donated to Obama and was a supporter of Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Among the non-candidates to which Gridiron PAC donates, we find the Beltway Corporate legal firm Covington and Burling at the top. This law firm now employs former Obama Attorney-General Eric Holder. Holder's latest assignment with C & B has been advising the State of California in its litigation efforts against the Trump Administration.
The Congressional Black Caucus received $20,000 from Gridiron PAC last year.
Covington and Burling also received $370,000 from the NFL directly in 2016, as its top Beltway lobbying firm. The NFL retained four lobbying firms in 2016, with 25 lobbyists working for their interests. Of these 25 lobbyists, 22 were Revolving-Door former federal bureaucrats. The NFL has its own lobbying staff too, upon whom it lavished $1.5 million last year.
The NFL's lobbyists last year were three in number: Kenneth Edmonds, the former Chief-of-Staff to ex-Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.; Nicole Gustafson, former Senate legal counsel to John Cornyn and Chuck Grassley; and Cynthia Hogan, former Chief Counsel to Vice-President Biden. Hogan has since gone on to lobby for Apple Computers and was replaced by Jocelyn Miller, former staffer for three different US Senators.
Most Americans only see what the players do; but we can see clearly from these facts that the problems in the NFL are systemic. It's not a matter of a few rebellious players cowing the management; the management itself is fully engaged in the political Swamp from which the players' antics emanate. It's obvious that the NFL will not change from political pressure; it's up to us to make it unprofitable for politicians to give the NFL any more cover. How do we do this? Stop spending money on the NFL and it can't spend money inside the Beltway.
