Religious freedom, like most of our Constitutional Rights today, is treated equivocally by lawmakers and misunderstood by the public. There seems to be little or no protection for traditional Christians, and unlimited freedom for even the most subversive cults. The text of the First Amendment is clear:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
Although never interpreted this way in our Postmodern dystopia, this text for 200 years put a positive obligation on the government to insure that Americans were free to worship as they chose. But it also follows that, since our government is religiously neutral, it also has an obligation to suppress religious cults which pose a clear and present social threat, as it has with any other criminal enterprise. The Reagan Administration was the last to uphold these principles. Under Reagan, the FBI broke up numerous dangerous cults.
President Putin is pursuing a similar policy in Russia, and recently the Russian Federal Police put down the Scientologist Cult, and the Russian Supreme Court upheld the move. Now here in the US, cults like the Moonies, Scientologists, and Wahhabis write public policy and participate in the Corporate Media. They usually attack traditionalist Christians, and now the Scientologists in particular are attacking Russia.
The Scientologists are heavily represented in the Corporate Media and Wall Street. Currently, they are attempting to censor Pravda which has been exposing Scientologist crimes on Youtube. The cult has been pressuring Youtube to block Pravda on spurious 'copyright grounds'. Tactics of this kind are typical for Scientologists, and also illustrates the subservience of Youtube to such groups. The Scientologists have routinely resorted to legal harassment of any media outlet critical of them.
Pravda interviewed Stanislav Apetyan, an expert on censorship who stated: "There are many stories of the incorrect and censorship-oriented policies of Youtube. Unfortunately you are not the first, and won't be the last victim of these circumstances."
Apetyan explained that the process---so familiar to Americans who are forced to deal with political and corporate bureaucracies on a regular basis---is easy for interest groups to initiate behind the scenes, carry it out in a technically legal fashion, and create legal obstacles which are nearly impossible to reverse or appeal. It's what the Smart Boys call gaming the system.
"Most likely the Scientologists submitted the complaints through normal channels and Youtube, as always, treated in the case in a negligent manner." he explained. "Administrators of the video hosting service often delete videos on unfounded complaints... Technically, one can appeal the decision, but that is very difficult as Youtube is reluctant to cooperate on such issues."
The Scientologists' actions illustrate the danger of allowing cults to achieve power. Under the pretext of freedom of religion, they work to subvert freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the religious freedoms of others. Their activities are not unlike the Nazis and Communists who once claimed Constitutional protections while advocating overthrowing democracy.
But the difference is that our leaders in the past did not permit partisans of these extremist ideologies to control access to public opinion as these cults do now. It was formerly the case that political extremists were barred from holding positions in the media or public schools. From its inception, the Scientologist Cult was monitored by the FBI as a subversive group. In the 1970s, the cult was caught infiltrating the Justice Department and obstructing attempts to bring their leaders to justice. The FBI initiative under President Reagan jailed many of the cult leaders. Unfortunately, these activities were suspended under the kinder, gentler approach of the Bush Senior Administration; and shrewd politicians know---as Bush knew---that a cult's money is just as good as anybody else's. President Clinton awarded the cult tax-exempt status in 1993.
Fortunately, Russia is taking a stand. As Apetyan told Pravda:
"If we talk about the treatment of Scientologists in Russia, one can say that no one outside of their disciples trusts them. Their numbers today in Russia are absolutely insignificant. Worldwide, this organization has a very dubious reputation. There is no such issue here as the matter of trust."
But in the United States today, where the motto In God We Trust has given way to trust in that medium on which the motto is printed, the estimated $1.5 billion in assets the Scientologists hold buys a lot of trust.
Another ingenious specimen of what passes today for an American intellectual published an article suggesting that the way to end racism is to 'abolish whiteness.' Gregory Jay, who works for the English Department at the University of Wisconsin, is himself a white man. Nonetheless he postulates that "the history of white Americans' attitudes towards race has been one of self-deception."
Jay draws these brilliant conclusions from an analysis of Moby Dick. His exegesis contains considerable confirmation bias, but is at least imaginative. In fact, his entire article---like most of what else he writes---is such an intolerably tedious farrago of Sophistry that it does not even merit much refutation. Statements like "whiteness operates in the invisible regime of normality, so making whiteness visible is a principle goal of anti-racist pedagogy." None of which actually means anything, but sounds impressive to the credulous who've abandoned thinking for themselves.
The interesting question here is why the American people tolerate these taxpayer-funded madrassas like the University of Wisconsin? Politicians worry about youth travelling abroad and becoming radicalized, but most of the radicalization of the young is coming from our own public schools and universities.
One has to wonder seriously whether or not the average American even understands what the purpose of public education even is. Probably he does not. Our Founding Fathers promoted public education on the grounds that popular self-government required a basic knowledge of certain subjects and an ability to think logically and critically. Public schools which fail to do this are of no value to a free people.
Not only are Academics like Jay (and he is fairly typical of them) a colossal waste of tax resources, they are a positive danger to our future liberties. Where does one suppose that the thugs engaging race riots are getting their ideas? From fools who tell them things like "regardless of a person's individual actions, if he or she is white, then that person still profits from the institutional racism of the American system." So says Jay, who profits quite handsomely from inciting racial hatred. Fools such as this draw fat salaries in their tenured sinecures as well as from lecture-fees, publications, and other perks.
In most civilized countries, higher education is free to anyone who demonstrates high academic ability and professors are recognized experts in their fields. In the US, the Academic Mafia accepts anybody---as long as they can pay the extortionate costs of enrollment---and the professors are generally political fanatics incapable of gainful employment in the private sector. Just as US politicians are openly bribed by special interests under the guise of campaign contributions, American university faculty are often paid endowments and grants by special interests who want academic credibility for their cause.
And sadly, there is little public will to fight Academic corruption. Americans are in as great a state of denial about our schools as they are about most other problems. Professors of English who seriously believe, as Jay admittedly does, that authors like Mark Twain simply wrote "to make white people feel good about themselves" are unqualified to hold any academic position in any capacity. But with a $6 billion budget at stake, the University of Wisconsin is unlikely to institute reform.
So while the youth in the rest of the civilized world dreams of building futures, American youth dream of burning cities and shooting down police. And this will continue to be the case as long as parents continue to abdicate responsibility for educating the youth which is really, again, at the root of the problem.
Somewhere buried behind the groundbreaking Corporate Media headlines about aging rock stars' outrage over the Republican Convention playing their songs, there are a few scattered stories about the powderkeg Obama is about to ignite in the Middle East. When video footage surfaced this morning about US-backed moderate rebels publically beheading a 12 year-old Syrian boy, matters have come to breaking point.
The Syrian UN Ambassador protested American support of these thugs, along with other US-sponsored crimes in his country. US airstrikes, illegally conducted over Syria, have killed 140 civilians in the last week, according to Syrian sources. The incompetent Pentagon---which has already accidentally bombed its own confederates among the Syrian 'rebels' twice this month---denied Syria's claims.
Obama's meddling in the region, especially these recent blunders, are building up to end in an even worse disaster than his bungling of the Libya, Ukraine or the South China Sea controversies. The revelations earlier this month that Jordan---another of the Beltway's Wahhabi coalition partners--- was stealing and selling US weapons on the Black Market was serious enough, but events in Turkey have overshadowed even that.
We learned during the Turkish coup that the Rainbow-Pride Pentagon leadership is maintaining a battery of ballistic missiles in Turkey equipped with atomic warheads. Considering that Turkey is a very unstable country, subject to repeated terrorist attacks, and borders areas where ISIS and Al-Qaeda are operating; keeping atomic weapons in such a place amounts to criminal negligence. The air base where these missiles are stored was raided twice by Turkish authorities during the coup, and it is unclear whether American or Turkish elements are actually in control of it right now.
After the failed coup, Turkey withdrew its military from Iraq; and no sooner had he done so than the Pentagon rushed in a battalion of their LGBTQ-friendly troops to fill the void. This deployment was executed over Iraqi objections. Following the Chilcot revelations, anti-US sentiment is running so high in Iraq right now that the Iraqi government has recused itself of any responsibility for the Americans' security. Civilian snipers have reportedly been taking pot-shots at the troops on occasion; and the Iraqi military has denied the Pentagon any participation in the upcoming battle for Mosul.
Some analysts in the region fear that Obama's plot is to seize control of the Syrian-Iraqi border provinces (which coincidentally happen to be major oil-producing areas) and erect a puppet-state of some kind. This not only would be a crime against Syrian and Iraqi sovereignty, but would probably draw Turkey and Iran into the conflict.
Throughout his entire administration, Obama has conducted foreign policy like some kind of Chicago Gangland Turf-War when reasoned diplomacy could have solved most of these crises in mutually-beneficial ways. But Obama is the product of a culture which has largely come to embrace the ghetto-trash, gangbanger ethos, hence the majority of Ameroboobs generally go along with his policies---only criticizing him for not behaving aggressively enough.
What Ameroboobs don't understand, however, is that gang leaders usually come to bad ends when the forces of Justice unite against them. That isn't how it works in Hollywood, but is how it works in real life. The Corporate Media, though, simply buries the truth, and the American public coasts along in blissful ignorance of the danger they are in.
We have gone through a typical exciting news day in the Prozac Nation. Browsing through the headlines from the Corporate Media, what major issues confront the American people today?
Was it Obama's foreign policy blunders in the South China Sea? The policies that cost us billions of tax dollars and ended up losing US military navigation and oil development rights to China?
Was it the Pentagon's slight oversight in Turkey that has now placed an atomic missile base and two squadrons of F-22s into the hands of a Moslem Brotherhood madman?
Maybe it was the third fatal ambush of police officers in Kansas City today.
No, it was none of these things. What we learned today is that Melanie, Michelle, and Loretta are accusing each other of copying their speeches. Gretchen and Meghan are saying that an older guy made a pass at them. Taylor is having trouble with her new boyfriend. Some bad boys are fighting outside the convention in Cleveland.
Buried deep behind these important topics was the minor story that 330 people in Utah have been poisoned by toxic levels of Cyanobacteria which began in Utah Lake and spread into the Jordan River. Farmers have been prohibited from using the contaminated water and already the toxins have taken a toll on local livestock and wildlife.
This isn't the only problem with Cyanobacteria in the US: Florida has been forced to declare a state of emergency in four counties because of this toxin. The citrus crop is endangered and beaches have closed.
The Politically-Correct Department of the Interior blames this phenomenon on overuse of fertilizers. The reality is that United States has invested practically nothing in water treatment technologies since the 1970s and nothing in water supply infrastructure since the 1960s. We have seen in Flint and Detroit that drinking water supplies are contaminated generally in the US, and an investigative report from The Guardian discovered 33 other cities with dangerously high levels of lead before they were pressured to stop testing.
Salmon tested in the Pacific Northwest have been found contaminated with dangerously high levels of narcotics, mostly amphetamines and cocaine. Seattle and Portland have among the highest national levels of drug users in the world, and their pretentions of being America's Greenest Cities, their wastewater treatment facilities are obviously failing. The narcotic levels in the wastewater there also likely accounts for public indifference to the problem.
The American Society of Civil Engineers warns that US Wastewater Treatment System is well on its way to complete failure. The majority of sewer systems currently operating in the US were installed in the late 1940s. "the condition of many of these systems is poor, with aging pipes and inadequate capacity leading to the discharge of an estimated 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage each year."
So where does all this untreated sewage go? According to a 2009 EPA survey of US Waterways (apparently the last year the EPA bothered to conduct such a survey), "36% of stream miles were unfit for use by fish and wildlife; 28% were unfit for human recreation; 18% were unfit for use as a public water supply; and 10% unfit for agricultural use."
This explains in large measure why we are experiencing outbreaks of diseases like cholera, typhus, and plague in many urban areas. Many pundits here attribute these diseases to immigration; the reality is that our own negligence of basic sanitation are causing them.
The United States was formerly the world leader in water technology. Today, Germany leads the world in wastewater treatment, with Russia and China not far behind. German water technology exports amount to $1.1 billion annually, or 33% of the EU market share. The new technologies, besides their efficiency, are also relatively inexpensive. Developing countries are investing in German technology, including a new plant in Mexico City which will be one of the world's largest when completed in 2017.
With fish dying of narcosis and agricultural lands disappearing before drought and pollution, will the US reclaim its leadership role in water reclamation again? Not likely. The ASCE reports that Congressional spending on these projects is about 1/10 of what is needed: with most allocations going to repair, little for new systems, and none for research and development.
And the American public is unlikely to care especially about these issues either. Cyanobacteria poisoning, cholera outbreaks, and water pollution can all be tolerated, so long as the sewage comes from transgender-friendly toilets.
There has been considerable controversy in the US Corporate Media concerning some recent Russian laws which supposedly curtail religious freedom. These laws were enacted as part of a Counter-Terrorism Bill---aimed principally at Wahhabi Madrassas and religious cults---has been interpreted as a crackdown on Christianity.
The new Russian laws prohibit public proselytizing, and require religious organizations to register with the government: laws which are also in effect in other countries considered free. Greece, for example (a member of the EU and NATO) has similar laws. Austria has regulations requiring registration. Countries which have established religions try to encourage a particular faith---and Russia has no restrictions on the Russian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church has a permanent representative on the presidential advisory committee, and works with the Russian government in distributing international humanitarian aid.
"The restrictions will target groups considered extremist which often means something different in Russia than in the US" said a source for the Catholic News Agency, "For example, Jehovah's Witnesses would not be considered extreme in the sense of a terrorism risk in the US, but in Russia the tradition of conscientious objection to military service by the group is seen as unjust and extreme. The laws could also impact certain groups of Mormons and radical Moslems."
The Russian Government recently suppressed the Scientology Cult. A number of key US Media figures are members of this cult (Moonies, Wahhabis, and other cults are also well-represented in the Media); hence they naturally oppose the Russian law.
"While the new laws certainly favor the Russian Orthodox Church, it is gross hyperbole for some media outlets to compare these new laws to religious oppression in the Soviet Union." the CNA source reported.
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has been among the loudest spouting this type of hyperbole; even comparing President Putin to Joseph Stalin. When we examine the list of Sasse's major campaign donors the context of these remarks become clear. Two of his largest donors are the DCI Group and the McKinsey Company; both NGOs who were involved in schemes to undermine the Russian oil industry. Sasse is also heavily funded by the Senate Conservatives Funds, which openly finances anti-Russian candidates. So much for Sasse's credibility on this issue.
Americans concerned about religious freedom should note that no Russian businesses have ever been closed for denying services to homosexuals; nor has any Russian official been jailed for refusing to legitimatize homosexual 'marriage'. It is not illegal in Russia for parents to seek religious counseling for sexually confused minors; and Russians are free to display religious symbols in private businesses. Russian military chaplains aren't forbidden to quote the Bible. So maybe we should worry a little bit more about religious freedom in the US before we worry about Russia.
Vladimir Putin, it should be noted, refused to agree to the Syrian Cease-Fire until Jihadi rebels agreed to release Christian hostages. In contrast, John Kerry blocked Syrian Christians from claiming religious persecution as a grounds for immigration. Putin has also lobbied for Christian rights in countries allied with Russia.
Putin is no persecutor of Christians; he stands tall on the world stage as one of the Church's defenders. Far more so than Obama, Clinton, or Kerry.
There was an interesting editorial posted today in China's Global Times reflecting on comments recently made by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. The text can be found here.
Chief Beck noted that the US had effectively "broken into tribes, where all of a sudden it becomes more important who your parents are, what the color of your skin is, than whether or not you are an American." Beck is correct, although if he believes this is sudden then he hasn't been paying attention for the last three decades. Since the 1990s, Americans have been in an unbroken series of culture wars and social alienations of numerous kinds, but loosely referred to as political correctness. The Chinese Media made note of this fact:
"The division in the country has long gone beyond race and parties, but reaches into ordinary people's lives. Over the years a growing number of controversies involving things like homosexual marriage, abortion, religious freedom, and even transgender toilets has constantly emerged. And US citizens are not simply divided into two groups, but a variety of small circles...where one group's consensus can be in sharp contrast to another's and nobody is willing to compromise or even talk to opposing groups."
The Chinese editors are absolutely correct here. We would add to their observation however that these small circles still continue to operate within a larger sphere---which profits politically and financially off the division. The Global Times point to the success of the Trump Campaign as illustrative of this phenomenon:
"Donald Trump, who has literally won support by supporting hatred and division...has also spoken the public's mind. His support-rate well illustrates that the sentiments of a great many can be instigated easily by differences, without thinking of trying to compromise or fix them."
In complete fairness though, the Clinton and Sanders Campaigns have been just as guilty---if not more so---than Trump's at doing this very thing. The American Corporate Media is far more sympathetic to the Democratic Party, and favors the divisions and hatreds promoted by the Left. Be that as it may, however, the Chinese editors again make a valid point. The political parties in our country are not interested in uniting anybody or finding common ground or solutions.
"Such divisions are universally present." the article continues, "but have generated a serious challenge to the Western system. In the multiparty system, bashing one's opponents, fighting for 'change' or to 'make our country greater' seems to have become the priority in political games, which aggravates social division and provides a breeding ground for extremism."
They are again correct in this assessment. Probably the last US presidential election where ideology actually played a significant factor was the 1984 contest between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. Since that time, elections have revolved around personality cults and vague slogans---such as the ones the editors mention---which have no substance but appeal generally to certain interests.
It's an interesting phenomenon as well that elections have become more divisive and more violent in direct proportion to becoming less ideological. This is only natural: in a free society, the losing ideology in election believes that events will either vindicate their positions or that they must adapt if proven wrong themselves. In a system driven by personality cults and social cliques, a person's politics becomes an integral part of his self-worth or social definition. Formerly, we would see a political opponent as mistaken or misguided; today we see taught to regard them as enemies or subhumans. Note how quickly Americans in the past reconciled even after extremely divisive national events like the American Revolution, the US Civil War, or the Vietnam/Watergate Era.
The motive power behind this national division is Cultural Marxism, which has taught Americans that the personal is political. Cultural Marxism is the underlying premise in most political, media, and academic pursuits today and is rotting our culture from the inside out. The Tribalism to which Chief Beck refers is symptomatic of a culture in severe decline. Sociologists long knew that when a Civilization declines, it regressively devolves to earlier stages; hence the level of the tribe is below that of a nation. Extremism is the natural concomitant of tribalism; it too is a devolution from National Identity into Identity Politics. Tribalism has its own stages of progress and dissolution; racism is one of its lowest and least developed stages. As one Manosphere writer recently said "Your skin color is your uniform" which is nothing more than what the most primitive savages believe.
To bring genuine 'change' or 'greatness' back to American culture is going to take more than voting for this or that candidate. It's going to take a fundamental change (or more accurately, a reformation) in American thinking in general. But, as the Chinese editors point out, the will to do this seems completely absent from our public discourse (as evidenced by the fact that it is being discussed in the Chinese media, but not ours). Whether we, as a nation, really still have the will or not is a dubious question.
It should probably come as a surprise to no one that the assassin who ambushed Louisiana policemen today was a product both of America's politically-correct public schools and Pentagon. Like Micah Johnson in Dallas, Gavin Long was radicalized in American institutions.
Long was a formerly a sergeant in our LGBTQ-friendly Marine Corps; once an elite military unit, but more recently better-known for raping Japanese girls and running from the Iranian Navy. Long was honorably discharged from the USMC in 2010 and later joined the Nation of Islam, a criminal enterprise headed by Louis Farrakhan. He reportedly served time in Iraq; as Micah Johnson had in Afghanistan.
Whether Americans want to believe it or not, the Pentagon has been a hotbed of radicalization, both domestic and Jihadi during recent years, but most especially during the Obama Administration. Obama has driven out Christian military chaplains and replaced them with Wahhabi Moslems, for example. And although Christian holidays are discouraged; the Pentagon orders observation of all Islamic holidays.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, another Wahhabi group, has been writing the so-called 'Rules of Engagement' for the Pentagon since the Bush Junior years.
Military radicalization is not limited to Jihadi influence. Under Obama, Radical Feminists and the Gay Mafia have been appointed to major Pentagon leadership positions. By their own admission, they seek to eradicate the culture of masculinity from the US military. We saw last Spring how effective this policy has been---West Point Cadets, now women of color proudly posed for photo-ops giving the Black Power salute (also employed by the Nation of Islam, among others).
A radicalized military is just as dangerous to freedom as radicalized public schools. Soldiers whose who have been educated to hate freedom in the schools and taught how to destroy it by the military are a menace to civilization as we are seeing in Dallas and Baton Rouge. A military committed to anti-American ideology would have no moral objection to suppressing those liberties, if ordered to do so, for example, under martial law.
Sadly though, Americans never question either the schools or the military, and look upon military personnel and school teachers as heroes---regardless of what criminal scum and ideological fanatics those in these professions usually show themselves to be. Postmodern Americans always prefer living in denial to solving problems; and these things simply become another 'New Normal'.
