Did Western Civilization Burn Along With Notre-Dame?

Rich Terrell

The Loss of Notre Dame Reawakens the Heart of the West  . . . "In the last few days, the world has been considering what it would mean to lose one of the masterpieces of medieval Christendom for all time. There is widespread agreement that such a loss would be profound. And there is reason to hope that the near loss of something that people have come to realize is so dear to them will cause at least some to reflect upon their attachment to Notre Dame and, as a result, come to cherish the civilization that built her.

"The civilization that built Notre Dame was the result of the Western Church's sustained effort to unite the Gospel with Greco-Roman culture and the folkways of the barbarian tribes, including the Goths who gave their name to the architectural style so memorably embodied by Notre Dame de Paris. May the near loss of one of the greatest monuments of Western Civilization and an irreplaceable treasure lead us back to the faith without which the West would not have come into existence, and without which the West will not continue to exist."

The Three Colors of Martyrdom  

Although the fires that damaged the Notre Dame in Paris and almost started at St. Patrick's in New York City during Holy Week seemed to underscore the disaster that had overtaken the Church,  Rod Dreher points out that the flameless burning of the Western world's secular cathedrals has been happening for some time.

 The End of Cathedral Culture . . . "Fox's Laura Ingraham underlined his point with a depressing quote from Rolling Stone: "Any rebuilding should be a reflection not of an old France, or the France that never was -- a non-secular, white European France -- but a reflection of the France of today, a France that is currently in the making."
"What's "in the making" is the world remade by the left, with a secular orthodoxy that's mercilessly rigid. History is suspect. What has been called "Western civilization" is seen as white, patriarchal, superstitious and European -- not "inclusive.' " . . .

France: Statue of Virgin Mary Decapitated  "A statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated in a small French village yesterday, the latest in a deluge of anti-Christian attacks in France which numbered almost 900 in 2018 alone."

Dark Angel

Bobby O'Rourke Says His Big Charitable Contributions are Him Running for Office, Spending Time on the Road

Want to know how a politician can talk circles around you and avoid answering the hard questions? Read and learn:

Legal Insurrection

. . . "In other words, we should be grateful to have O’Rourke in public office since 2005 and in the 2020 presidential race. We are SO lucky!

"The arrogance of this man boggles my mind. How many people heard of him before he launched his senate race against Sen. Ted Cruz? Despite the support from Hollywood and sports athletes, Cruz still won. (Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? You know, November 2016!)" . . .

No matter how shallow and silly the leftist candidate's answer, expect to hear cheers from youthful voices in the crowd.

The Media Sprinted To Support Mayor Pete… And Ran Over Beto In The Process

The things that once seemed so appealing about O’Rourke to the press—the generalities, the platitudes, the offhanded charisma, the rolled-up sleeves—seem off-putting now. The clearest sign of the press corps’ O’Rourke infatuation was its routine reference to him by his first name in its stories—something it has moved on to doing with Buttigieg. Such shameful and transparent familiarity.

And when asked by a student as to why his charitable giving is so anemic, the man of the Countertops said this:

. . . "When it comes to charitable giving, it doesn’t surprise me that Democrat politicians are so stingy with their own money.  
"But I have to admit, I am impressed by the lengths some of them will go to justify their lack of charity.
"Case in point, Robert Francis O’Rourke." . . .

Mueller Report: Assange Called Hillary: “Bright, Well-Connected, Sadistic Sociopath”

Weasel Zippers

"Multiple interesting things here.

"First, Assange is not a fan of Trump or the GOP, but he assumes if they win, they will be checked by the media, which is quite true (checked or be an opposition force). Whereas if Hillary wins, she will not be checked. That’s why he’s not in favor of her winning, in addition to her being a “bright, well-connected sadistic sociopath.”

What’s also interesting in this is that the GRU agents pretend to be other people in trying to get WikiLeaks to take their information, according to this. That would suggest that WikiLeaks, always assumed by some to be connected to Russia, is less-connected than one might have thought.

Smackdown: Attorney General Barr Shuts Down Reporter Who Tried To Insinuate He Was Protecting Trump

Townhall

. . . "Here are portions on Barr’s remarks. Full remarks can be found here [emphasis mine]:" . . .

Katie Pavlich: Bill Barr Just Used Even Stronger Language to Exonerate Trump of Collusion   . . . " 'But the Special Counsel found no evidence that any Americans – including anyone associated with the Trump campaign – conspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA in carrying out this illegal scheme.  Indeed, as the report states, '[t]he investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the IRA’s interference operation.'  Put another way, the Special Counsel found no “collusion” by any Americans in the IRA’s illegal activity.' " . . . 

Barr: White House Offered Unfettered Access to Special Counsel Investigation, Did Not Obstruct Justice, No Executive Privilege Claimed

Mueller Report: Dems Bash Barr to Keep Hype Alive  . . . "All that changed when the Mueller report killed the collusion hoax and Barr reported that fact to Congress. Now, it would seem that Barr himself is in league with Russia, as Newsweek breathlessly reports . . ."

How we already know the Mueller report found nothing on Trump

Mayor Pete Will Make You Bake the Cake

Free Beacon

Despite calls for pluralism, Buttigieg would force small business owners to violate religious conscience

"Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg's public calls for pluralism do not apply to religious small business owners.

"South Bend Mayor Buttigieg has made his Episcopalian faith and tolerance a centerpiece of his campaign, but the policies he champions would force religious small business owners to participate in ceremonies they find objectionable under penalty of law. Buttigieg, who is married to a man, will keynote the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner. The nation's largest LGBT lobbying group credited his support for the Equality Act for the invitation.

" 'Buttigieg is an outspoken advocate of the Equality Act—critically important, bipartisan legislation that would finally provide clear protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people across the country," HRC said in a Tuesday release.

"House Democrats introduced the Equality Act in March. It would strike down religious freedom protections for private citizens if they exercised their consciences in running their own businesses. It is designed to trump Religious Freedom Restoration Acts at the state and federal level, according to critics. Greg Baylor, director of the Center for Religious Schools at the non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom, said he agrees that "our laws should respect the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of every citizen," but said the legislation "fails to meet this basic standard."

" 'This federal law would force Americans to participate in events and speak messages that violate their core beliefs," he said. "We should reject laws that single out and punish citizens on the basis of their peacefully expressed beliefs.' " . . .

Remember this from 2016: Oregon Bakery That Wouldn’t Bake a Cake for Gay Couple Closes

Booker Town Hall Audience Member Mocks CNN Town Halls: ‘It’s All Fake’

Young Conservatives with a hat tip to Chicks On The Right

"Gotta love the unscripted moments in politics. 

"And that was the exact point made by an audience member at a black caucus town hall for Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) in Iowa when he blasted CNN town halls for being fake."

From the Free Beacon

“If CNN is in this house, you need to take a lesson from her. This is what you call a real town hall meeting,” the guy said. “All that mess that CNN be doing is all fake. They already got people out in the audience already picked who they want to ask a question. It ain’t going down like that here, so CNN need to take a lesson of this.”

“All that signing in and all that old mess that y’all got to do and you got to have a ticket and all, show your new phone that you–hey, I’m here and able to come in and all that old mess,” the guy continued.

. . . Booker laughed at his mockery of CNN and then asked him to go ahead and ask his question. The guy referred to President Donald Trump as the "so-called president" and went on to criticize him for "lying." Booker, who is running for president, took several questions from Iowa voters in the audience and stayed around afterwards to take selfies and answer more questions."CNN has already held numerous town halls for Democratic candidates. CNN has scheduled five town halls on Monday, April 22 in New Hampshire. The candidates will be Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.)."Fox News held a town hall for Sanders earlier this week and it was the highest rated 2020 candidate forum, surpassing the town halls hosted by CNN and MSNBC." . . .

Barr: White House Hasn’t Seen Unredacted Report, Didn’t Suggest Redactions

Mairead Mcardle  "Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that President Trump and his lawyers offered no input on any of the redactions in the version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report that will be released to Congress.

“Because the White House voluntarily cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation, significant portions of the report contain material over which the President could have asserted privilege. And he would have been well within his rights to do so.”

“ 'The president confirmed that, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure to the American people, he would not assert privilege over the special counsel’s report,” Barr said at a press conference at the Justice Department hours before the redacted report is to be released to Congress. “No material has been redacted based on executive privilege. The president’s personal lawyers were not permitted to make, and did not request, any redactions.” 

"The president’s personal lawyers were granted a request to read the redacted version of the report earlier this week, which is allowed under the Ethics in Government Act, Barr said, but they have not seen the unredacted version." . . .

Ian Macfarlane

Barr: Report Shows Trump Campaign Did Not Cooperate with Russia. No Obstruction Either.

Newsmax  "After two years of investigation and thousands of subpoenas and witness interviews, Special Counsel Robert Mueller confirmed that that the Russian government sponsored efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, but didn't find that the Trump campaign or the American people colluded with them, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.

"Further, after reviewing the "facts and legal theories" outlined in the report, Barr said in a press conference before the report's release, he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the evidence developed for the report was not sufficient to establish that Trump committed the offense of obstruction of justice." . . .

National Review reports: William Barr says Mueller report found no obstruction or collusion . . . “The special counsel’s report states that his, quote, investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Barr said at a news conference at the Justice Department, hours before the report was released publicly.
. . . “So that’s the bottom line. After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the Russian government-sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election, but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans excluded in those efforts. after finding no underlying collusion with Russia.” . . .

Barr: Mueller Found ‘No Evidence of Any Collusion‘ Between Trump Campaign and Russia  . . . “After two years of investigation the special counsel did confirm Russian meddling in 2016 campaign but no evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” Barr said.
"Barr’s categorical description puts to rest the suggestion by many of the president’s critics that, while Barr’s summary of the report made clear that Mueller could not prove criminal coordination beyond a reasonable doubt, his report would likely include evidence of wrongdoing." . . .

“Wikileaks then made a series of document dumps.  The Special Counsel also investigated whether any member or affiliate of the Trump campaign encouraged or otherwise played a role in these dissemination efforts,” he continued. “Under applicable law, publication of these types of materials would not be criminal unless the publisher also participated in the underlying hacking conspiracy.  Here too, the Special Counsel’s report did not find that any person associated with the Trump campaign illegally participated in the dissemination of the materials.“

. . .  

Naturally, Democrat candidates are "troubled"

Ian Macfarlane

From Beto to Butto: Why did the media dump Beto for Pete?

This kind of hero-worship of politicians is idiotic.  And the reasons for treating both Beto and Mayor Pete as actual, real leaders despite their massive lack of experience is as childish as it gets: they're telegenic.

Rick Moran  "In case you haven't noticed, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg is running for president.  And the rollout of his campaign has been nothing short of spectacular.  He's getting rave reviews from the media and Democrats (I know, I know — they're the same thing) and has wowed audiences in Iowa.

"Lost in the shuffle is yesterday's Golden Boy, Beto O'Rourke.  After an initial burst of enthusiasm from the media-Democratic complex, the love affair appears to have cooled a bit.

"Politico explains Beto's fall from godhood:

The Buttigieg boom has also benefited from the stumbles of our previous political shooting star, Beto O'Rourke. Was it only weeks ago that the press began swooningfor O'Rourke like a drunken conventioneer, writing about him with the same frequency it does for Buttigieg today?  The things that once seemed so appealing about O'Rourke to the press — the generalities, the platitudes, the offhanded charisma, the rolled-up sleeves — seem off-putting now.  The clearest sign of the press corps' O'Rourke infatuation was its routine reference to him by his first name in its stories — something it has moved on to doing with Buttigieg.  Such shameful and transparent familiarity.  . . .

. . .

"A Democratic primary voter who chooses to support O'Rourke, or Warren, or Bernie can't display their tolerance and fairness by voting for a straight white male or female.  But Democrats can glory in their own innate goodness by choosing to support a gay man claiming to be married.  He is a symbol of their support for "diversity."  Supporting him makes Democrats feel good about themselves.  All Buttigieg had to do was present himself as a reasonable, articulate promoter of Democratic issues, and the groundswell was bound to begin.

"Pete Buttigieg has a lot of problems heading into the primaries, and it's likely that his halo will become skewed at some point along the way.  But we should never underestimate Democrats' capacity to feel they have to "prove" how tolerant and diverse they are by choosing a candidate based on little more than the idea that he belongs to some favored constituency. "

Kamala Harris introduces bill to let illegal aliens work in Congress

Media Equalizer

"Sen. Kamala Harris, who is running for president, unveiled this week her plans to introduce a measure that would allow illegal aliens to work in Congress.

"If passed, her measure would allow Dreamers — who are illegal aliens protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — to work in Congress and oversee actions that directly impact Americans citizens.
"Here’s what Politico reported:

Harris is moving aggressively to highlight her immigration reform bona fides — and her latest push comes as a growing number of Dreamers try to flex their muscle by becoming more involved in federal policymaking, after years of being shut out. Outside of Congress, hundreds of thousands of so-called DACA recipients were granted permits allowing them to work legally in the U.S.

“The giant sign outside my office says ‘DREAMers Welcome Here’ because we know and value the contributions that these young people have made to their communities,” Harris said in a statement. “Government works best when it reflects the people it represents.” . . .

Thanks a lot, California. 

Reclaiming our language from transgender activists

Bookworm Room

The speech demands that transgender activists and other Leftists make on us exceed the bounds of good manners and enter the realm of pure totalitarianism.

. . .  "At this blog, I have written at some length about the lack of science behind the whole transgender movement. My two main posts on the subject are here and here. You can find most of my other posts about the transgender movement here. My point, over and over, is that the claim that someone is “transgender” has no basis in science, but that we are nevertheless being forced to change our language and even our thinking to accommodate a minute percentage of Americans who have severe body dysmorphia.

"Speaking in a PragerU video, Abigail Shrier spells out in clear terms the way in which Leftists, through transgender activism, are upending the First Amendment and trying to implement IngSoc in America (AmSoc?)."

. . . "I would sum up the video by saying that, without losing compassion for transgender people, who I believe suffer either from mental illness or imbalanced hormones (which should by treated by balancing those hormones), we must resist this totalitarian movement. Sympathy should not equal surrender." . . .

"Even before I was aware of the video, I added my mite to the debate only this morning when I put up the following tweet(which still lives there because my following is too small for Twitter to care about my challenges to the Leftists’ AmSoc):" . . .

The Anti-Trump Media’s Attack on Monica Crowley

Toons added by TD

Andrew C. McCarthy  "My friend Monica Crowley was the subject of a major hit job by CNN a few weeks back. She is a serious scholar, but she was portrayed as a serial plagiarist who never had an original idea in her head. The emotional toll of the uproar caused her to withdraw from her appointment by President Trump to be the senior director of communications at the National Security Council. 

"It is the country’s loss. Over the last two decades, Monica has been one of the most effective commentators on the national scene regarding the geopolitical challenges confronting the United States, and in particular the phenomenon of jihadist terror catalyzed by sharia-supremacist ideology — radical Islam. As much as anyone I’ve encountered, she has been invaluable: communicating the threats, debating them, and defending sensible national-security measures. 

"All writers make mistakes. But Monica’s have been blown wildly out of proportion, to the point of smear. The well-regarded copyright attorney Lynn Chu has done a careful study of the plagiarism allegations and posted her findings on Facebook. Two things leap out.
. . . 
That said, though, Monica’s missteps are overwhelmed by the valuable work she does. As Ms. Chu concluded:

I found CNN’s splashy “plagiarism” accusation to be ill-supported — a heavily exaggerated, political hit job. Instead, after reading texts side by side with footnotes, I came away impressed by the very high quality and care taken by Ms. Crowley in her writing, scholarship and research overall. Many parallels in fact read on the page as rather different even if certain content or phrases were the same, and they were largely short, fragmentary, and routine.

Historical research inevitably draws heavily on the work of other scholars. Dissertations exist to synthesize. The relatively few examples of unsourced copying found was in my opinion de minimus, should just be corrected, and not allowed to besmirch Ms. Crowley’s reputation. 

"Monica Crowley is a strong voice on national security and a great patriot. It is important to recognize, moreover, that this was never really about her. It’s the president’s scalp that they want. Along the way, they’ll take what they can get. I’m sorry to see my friend get caught in the crossfire."