Faith -Belief in God - Makes Heroes: Sotloff and Foley

"I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed. 
I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused."  - James Foley on his Islmaist captivity in Libya.


The first young man murdered by Islamist savages of ISIS(L) was James Foley a Catholic.

The second young man murdered by Islamist savages of ISIS(L) was Steven Sotloff a Jew

Both men exhibited magnificent grace and faith in meeting the similar fate at the hands of a twisted maniac.

You will not hear much to nothing about the religious faith of either man from our American media.  Belief in God and commitment to one's religion sends chills up the spines of John Dewey zealots in academia, print and elected office, because it diminishes the need to worship at the altar of the State.

James Foley prayed the rosary - a spiritual exercise that strengthened the sinews of  Austria's Don John at Lepanto and twelve years later, Poland's John Sobieski swept the Caliph's 200,000 man Ottoman Army from the walls of Vienna.

The Rosary is not a Steven Spielberg talisman that shoots fire and lightening from the crucifix attached to the beads.  Rather, is a meditative escape from the self and that is its power.  My Dad carried a metal disc rosary and prayed with it at Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima.  He came home with that metal disc rosary and tiny fragments of Japanese ordnance in arms, legs and back, but whole of limb and sound of faith.

The faces of James Foley and Steven Sotloff reflect deeply centered faith formed in each man.


Their calm in face of eternity and their gaze upon Heaven's Gates are the message that back-fored on Jihad John and the Islamist monsters who took their lives but not their immortal souls.

These men of Faith should give all of us the resolve we need.

I am awed by Steve Sotloff and Jim Foley.  I am awed by Faith.

Bullying Emerson - Ralph Waldo Needed It Early and Often

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson would have had a traumatic childhood had he grown up on the south side of Chicago. Hell, everyone who grew up on the south side had a traumatic childhood.

Catholic kids were taught stuff like this -

Fecerunt itaque ciuitates duas amores duo, terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei, caelestem uero amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui - (Two cities have two loves: the earthly by the love of self , even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God unto the contempt of the self) St. Augustine from City of God

Therefore, there can only be One Big Shot. That will not fly in Waldo's world, clever chiasmus, or not Man trumps God always and everywhere to the Captain Obvious and Moses the Law Giver of the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Congress of American Death to Israel Committees - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson would have had a horrible time had his early childhood development taken place in eight years on the hoof of the 1950's and the shank of the Age of Aquarius at 1821 W. 80th Street. We would have bullied Emerson unmercifully, not because of his name, his income, his atheism-Lite, and certainly not because of his academic achievements.

We would have taken young Ralph Waldo to task for 'acting like a big shot.'

In the words of Billy Cullina - " He wasn't acting."

South siders* and Catholic schoolyard survivors do not -

• Cut in line no matter how long the queue at restuarants, theatres, ot funeral homes
• Snap fingers to get the attention of waitresses, waiters, sommeliers, papparazzi, ward-healers or any working member of the American service industry
• Say " Do You Have Any Idea to Whom You Are Ignoring?"
• Mention Any Award Received
• Take Praise Very Well
• Act in Any Way Like a Politican, unless one happens to be one and that is why Confession is so important to us

Pretense is the Original Sin in my shrinking parochial world. The world of the Catholic American is getting to be as comfortable as spun glass Jockeys, or the ticking clock sounding for a Chaldean Christian .  American Pretension begins with 19th Transcendentalism which, begat Abolition, Prohibition, Abortion and NPR.

Transcendentalism is set of contrarian opinions disguised as logic.  Come to a conclusion by any means or measure and you win.  You are the smartest gal, guy, or Non-Euclidian enthusiast  in the room.

e.g.
RWE -I protest!
Me -Against what?
RWE- What do you got?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, George Ripley, Theodore Parker and until he snapped out of it Orestes Brownson were a band of Yankee Brothers and Unitarian ministers who came up with Transcendentalism which rejected Locke, Berkley, Hume, Spinoza and other 18th Century thinkers who refused to believe that they themselves came up with the Rules and how to boil the penultimate egg.

These lads were very Enthusiastic about themselves and managed to maintain what passes for American Thought right up to this very minute.

Now, had Ralph Waldo been a contemporary of mine, he might not have attended a Roman Catholic grammar school.  After Vatican II had done it's business, yes, that could have taken place; but, I seriously doubt if the son of a Unitarian preacher man could have enrolled, much less matriculated from a Catholic school within the Papacies of Pius XII, or St. John XXIII.  Pope Paul VI would have nodded Ralph aboard, but by then he'd be in middle school.

There was a fine Lutheran K-8 at 83rd & Paulina, Timothy Lutheran, but that faith is almost as Papist as High Church Episcopalian.  Nope.  Ralph Waldo would have attended Clara Barton Elementary, still extant at 7650 S. Wolcott.

Ralph Waldo would have more than likely attended Clara Barton Elementary. There, he would have been schooled by disciples of John Dewey, who was only slightly less pretentious than Ralph Waldo and his boon chum Dave Thoreau.

Emerson, Ralph, Waldo Emerson for some silly reason is one of the most quoted Americans.  Emerson is nothing if not trite, but nowhere near as trite as Henry David Thoreau.


 

   Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!  Lie down in a deep hole filled with rabid rats and venomous snake and you will never lie anywhere else!

My personal most laughable Emersonian knot of knowledge is this - "Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist."  Rather, Whoso would be a huge pain in the ass must do what Waldo do!

It ain't just me - an aging close-knit ethnic Catholic school yard survivor and original thinker -no less a wet-livered intellectual square-headed agnostic than Henry Louis Mencken offers this -

ONE discerns, in all right-thinking American criticism, the doctrine that Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great man, but the specifications supporting that doctrine are seldom displayed with any clarity. Despite the vast mass of writing about him, he remains to be worked out critically; practically all the existing criticism of him is marked by his own mellifluous obscurity. Perhaps a good deal of this obscurity is due to contradictions inherent in the man's character. He was dualism ambulant. What he actually was was seldom identical with what he represented himself to be or what his admirers thought him to be. Universally greeted, in his own day, as a revolutionary, he was, in point of fact, imitative and cautious - an importer of stale German elixirs, sometimes direct and sometimes through the Carlylean branch house, who took good care to dilute them with buttermilk before merchanting them. The theoretical spokesman, all his life long, of bold and forthright thinking, of the unafraid statement of ideas, he stated his own so warily and so muggily that they were ratified on the one hand by Nietzsche and on the other hand by the messiahs of the New Thought, that lavender buncombe. . . .Thus Emerson, on the side of ideas, has left but faint tracks behind him.

We are, all of us, Catholic, Jew, Muslin, Lutheran, Swabian Methodist and guys who like their Knockers Up and Beers Ice Cold, bullied by Emerson and his disciples - it takes pretense to define people we do not know. Those who would define me as a scion of white privilege and  persistent sexual arousal syndrome, or PSAS,  demand that I conform to Emersonian nonconformity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson ?  Not so much.

* south siders are indisguishable from traditional American Roman Catholics in their outer deportment, manner of speech and intellectual heft, no matter the race, religion or Raison d'être: Buck Weaver (Baptist), Paul Vallas ( Greek Orthodox) Danny Levi ( Jewish), Davvy and Wayne Krieger (Lutheran) are identical to Father George Clements, George Connors, George Wendt, Robin Tunney, or Sheriff Mike Sheahan. 

White Privilege - If It Is Bone Stupid, It Is Printed in Salon.Com!

White Pivelege allowed cool outings like this lunch break.  The Cadillac Commies of Salon.com offer a different slant on white privelege.  See Below.

 Salon writer Joe Heathcott seems to take 'white privilege very seriously - almost as seriously as that third trip to the sneeze bar at Old Country Buffet.

"For those of us born with white skin, white privilege is the air we breathe; we don’t even have to think about it. It is like the fish that never notices the water in which it swims.  It is a glorious gift we have given to ourselves through the social order we have constructed, from top to bottom and bottom to top. It is the pillage of continents, the enslavement of people, the hatred of dark-skinned “others,” all somehow magically laundered by our commitments to democracy, self-reliance, individualism and the “post-racial, color-blind society.” It is our abject unwillingness to confront our history, to correct the deficits of our memory, to lean against the amnesia of a white story told. " JOSEPH HEATHCOTT: Salon.com

 Something to chew on, Joe?  Ferguson didn't seem to put yuou off your feed none.

 If it is bone-chillingly stupid, you bet your last shred of decency that you will find it making some Cadillac Commie richer with pay check from Salon.com.

This is the War on Black Males, Spike Lee - 9 Year Old Black Males

In order to get his brand on the suffering in Ferguson, MO film maker Spike Lee said that there is a War on Black Males.  This war Spike implies in national in scope and being conducted by law enforcement officers.
No John Ford, Spike hopes that this will get nastier -

“When people get to a point, to the tipping point they can’t take it anymore — and I’m not saying that people should burn down stuff, riot and loot and I don’t even want to the use the word riot, I’m going to use the word uprising,” Lee said. “But this is not the first time we’ve seen this. And I just hope that things will really blow up, if the people aren’t happy with the verdict of this upcoming trial.”  

Quothe Spike,“I just think there is a war on the black male and it’s tearing the country apart in my opinion,”

Wrong diagnosis, Spike.

I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 PM in Palos Hills - some nerve damage in my arm was getting a good once over by my Iranian-born neurologist.  We talked about the savagery of ISIL and the daily slaughter of people in Rahm's Chicagoland and decided to change the subject and share thoughts on the movie Grand Budapest Hotel.  and agreed that Wes Anderson could very solve the world's ill.

Dr. F____. is very much like me, in laughing out loud during our crossfire of verbal recreations of scenes, which bothers the lady I date no end. We were both pissing ourselves happily over this sharing of lines and incidents from this most cartoon-like film.

I look forward to our next consideration my arm-wiring and the world of movies and Simpson re-runs.

The minute I got in my care, I heard 'breaking news' on AM 780.  I nine year old boy was shot multiple times in the Grand Crossing neighborhood.

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CBS) — A nine-year-old boy was killed Wednesday afternoon after being shot multiple times in the chest and arm near his home in the Grand Crossing neighborhood.
The shooting took place in the 1200 block of East 7st Street shortly after 4 p.m. The boy was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The child has been identified as Antonio Smith. His family described him to CBS 2’s Chris Martinez as just a happy kid.
“I want whoever did this to turn himself in because he is an innocent baby. He didn’t deserve it,” Rasheda Eggelston, the victim’s cousin.
“He had his whole life ahead of him,” said Kenya Eggelston, the victim’s cousin. “When is it going to stop?
Police are still investigating and no arrests have been made.

I am in Grand Crossing every morning after I pick up students from Scottsdale and Englewood and then head up to Bronzeville.  I knew exactly wher this little boy was slaughtered as soon as the approximate address was announced.

A nine year old boy.  Nine year olds are on the cusp of adolescence.  They are becoming independent and they widen their social circles. They ride bikes out of the immediate neighborhood and search beyond the immediate protective circle of the family and the block.  They like to 'stay over' at the cousins and manage to get to sleep without the magic of Mom's kiss.  This is a great time to be alive.

Not so for this little man.  Some savage no different from the ISIS, or ISIL savage who beheaded Mr. & Mrs. Foley's former nine year old and posted the decapitation on YouTube shot up a nine year old boy.

There is a War on Black Males?  Maybe.

I see this as Self-Genocide, a term fashioned a few years ago about the vanishing white male.  Genocide is against International Law -

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (Black males)
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; ( False Idols of Pan-Victimhood/ Bling/Gang-culture/thug life/misogyny & etc.)
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;( Planned Parenthood in every Community)
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.( Foster Homes) 

— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II ( Parenthetical my own) 

This is a war, Spike   

 and John Ford documented the conflict and was wounded while shooting his camera.

 John Ford is America's greatest  film maker, because Ford had a centered soul founded upon a rock solid belief system. Ford walked the walk and then made the film.  Spike Lee makes himself available, but he ain't helping.

Spike should Grand Budapest Hotel over and over over and over again . . .and start doing something for people other than Spike Lee.

Courageous Examination of Conscience - What is Behind Irish Jew-Baiting?

"If you are lucky enough to know or work with a Jew, punch him right on the nose tomorrow," -Irish Soccer Star Tommy McGuigan on Twiiter.


Gaza and Ferguson, MO are twins.  Both places and poor Innocent people who try to survive within the borders and town limits, are enthralled by a precast compelling narrative - ' Jews are monsters and cops are monsters; see things our way.'

As to the situations outside of St. Louis, Mo, the only people who know exactly what happened between Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson are CNN, MSNBC, Chris Hayes, Eric Michael Dyson, Van Jones and his right wing brother Alex Jones, the Twin Revs Jesse and Al, Eric Holder and three drunk guys at every bust-out tavern world wide.

As to Gaza, we must take OXFAM, ACLU, Torture Watch, CPUSA point of view that Hamas and friends just trying to live and peace and Israel will never play nice.

My blood is Irish, but it has never boiled to full froth over The Troubles, the Black & Tans, Armored Cars and Tanks and Guns and it especially refuses to percolate because the lads of the 'RA got guns, C-4, RGPS and cash for Yasir Arafat, the PLO, Moammar Gadhafi and CPUSA and must pay a debt to for Palestinian mood swings.

Many of my Irish friends are 'appalled that I'd ever take the side of Jews and Israel' over the troubled and gentle people living on the Golan Heights, The West Bank and Gaza.'   I do not believe that surivors of the Holocaust are hell-bent on Palestinian genocide.  I believe that Jews are hated by the comfortable political Left with as much earnest intensity as beer-hall Putzchers of Munich.

In the wake of rocket attacks on Israel from Hamas, the pin-point operations in Gaza by Israel and the roiling hatred of the Left International, movie stars, athletes, and other assorted half-wits have taken up the fiery rhetoric of Noam Chomsky in branding Israel as the Fourth Reich.

My poor Irish cousins have been no less guilty in this than other ethnicitys and income levels. Today, I was hearted to read this in the Irish Independent!

 But Jews are not a pet ethnicity, you see, and they never have been, so therefore McGuigan isn't a racist, bigoted scumbag. No, he is merely expressing his horror at a situation he obviously knows absolutely nothing about.
The difference between actual freedom of speech and literal incitement to violence is very clear. You are perfectly entitled to express your contempt for a particular group or culture if you want. After all, that means you have to defend your position.
But when you start encouraging people to attack members of that group, you've crossed a line and entered the realm of violent rabble rousing. And as we know from the North, the rabble never needs much rousing.
That there has been such a deafening silence on this buffoon's outburst can be but down to several factors. But the primary one is simple - Jews=Israel and Israel=bad. Therefore, why not express your solidarity with Gaza by attacking a Jew? My God, it all makes so much sense!
The reason why so many of the Irish Left squeal so loudly when accused of anti-Semitism is because they know, deep down, that even if they aren't anti-Semitic themselves, there are plenty in their ranks.
The PSNI is now looking into the matter. But where have been the shrill shrieks of condemnation from the Shinners? After all, they're the guardians of human rights in the North, aren't they? Or maybe not.  Irish Independent

Do read the whole piece by Ian O'Doherty

Let's read some history and develop our own thoughts.  Trust the heart and order the old grey matter to get off its ass.

President Valerie Jarrett to Hand Ferguson, MO Over to Homeland Security

White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Obama's primary objective in meeting with Holder is to find a way to end the violence in Ferguson, which is now in its second week.
"I think our immediate goal is to make sure the residents of Ferguson are safe, that the looting stops, that the vandalism stops, that the people in the community have confidence that justice will be done," Jarrett said. "And that's the president's primary objective right now."he president is particularly concerned about children in Ferguson, according to Jarrett. Four schools districts in the area have delayed the start of classes because of the unrest. . . . 

"Making sure that all the residents of Ferguson are safe, particularly the young people, are paramount in the president's mind," Jarrett said.
"He looks at this — I just spoke with him this morning, his concern was thinking about it as the perspective of a parent,” she continued. “You want to know when you send your kids to school, when they leave your home, they're going to be safe."
Asked if there was concern the Ferguson situation would require a broader federal response, Jarrett said the White House would evaluate "next steps" after calming the situation in Ferguson.
"Let's get through the next few days and make sure that happens in a responsible way, and then the days and weeks ahead will determine the next steps," Jarrett said.
The Justice Department said last week that FBI agents and attorneys from the department's Civil Rights Division had interviewed witnesses on the scene of the shooting, and would canvass the neighborhood to discuss the incident with neighbors. Federal officials are also working with local and state police in an effort to de-escalate the situation.
Obama last spoke publicly about the situation on Thursday, calling for "peace and calm on the streets" and a "transparent investigation" into the shooting.

 Here's the breakdown -White cop shoots and kills black kid. White Cop Kills Black Kid - No Good.

Ferguson Cops -No Good -send in the County lads

County Cops - No Good - send in the State Highway Patrol

State Highway Patrol - Jumps the Shark by Sunday - Send in Missouri National Guard

MO National Guard - tic-tock.

Next up. Valerie Jarrett will order President Obama to turn Ferguson over to Homeland Security . . .it is near St. Louis Airport after all.

Ferguson Timeline:

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A timeline of key events following the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.

AUG. 9 — Brown and a companion are confronted by an officer as they walk back to Brown’s home from a convenience store. Brown and the officer are involved in some kind of scuffle, followed by gunshots. Brown dies at the scene.

AUG. 10 — After a candlelight vigil, people protesting Brown’s death smash car windows and carry away armloads of looted goods from stores. In the first of several nights of violence, looters are seen making off with bags of food, toilet paper and alcohol. Some protesters stand atop police cars and taunt officers.

AUG. 11 — The FBI opens an investigation into Brown’s death, and two men who said they saw the shooting tell reporters that Brown had his hands raised when the officer approached with his weapon and fired repeatedly. That night, police in riot gear fire tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a crowd.

AUG. 12 — Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson cancels plans to release the name of the officer who shot Brown, citing death threats against the police department and City Hall. The Rev. Al Sharpton and President Barack Obama both plead for calm after two nights of clashes between police and protesters.

AUG. 13 — Another night of violence wracks Ferguson, with some people lobbing Molotov cocktails and other objects at police, who respond with smoke bombs and tear gas. Two reporters are detained at a McDonald’s. Images of the standoff, showing police using armored vehicles and pointing assault rifles at the crowds, are widely shared on social media.

AUG. 14 — The Missouri Highway Patrol takes control of security in Ferguson, relieving local police of their law-enforcement authority after four days of violence. Within hours, the mood among protesters becomes lighter, even festive. The streets are filled with music, free food and even laughter.

AUG. 15 — Police identify the officer who shot Brown as Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old man who had patrolled the St. Louis suburbs for six years. They also release a video purporting to show Brown robbing a convenience store of almost $50 worth of cigars shortly before he was killed. The video draws anger from protesters. After nightfall, officers and the crowds clash again. Some people in the crowd storm into the same convenience store that Brown was accused of robbing and loot it.

AUG. 16 — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency and imposes a curfew in Ferguson. The first night of the curfew ends with tear gas and seven arrests, after police in riot gear use armored vehicles to disperse defiant protesters who refused to leave.


AUG. 17— Attorney General Eric Holder orders a federal medical examiner to perform another autopsy on Brown. The Justice Department cites the “extraordinary circumstances” surrounding the death and a request by Brown’s family members.

ACLU's Matthew Harwood of Salon, The Guardian, Huffington Post,& etc. Sets his Polemic IED on Police - EVERYWHERE!

Meet Matt Harwood -  ACLU Media Strategist seen hereMatthew Harwood (@mharwood31) is a media strategist at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. Previously, Matt was an associate editor at Security Management magazine where he covered homeland security. His work has been published by The American Conservative, Columbia Journalism Review, the Guardian, Reason, Salon, Truthout, and The Washington Monthly. Follow him on Twitter@mharwood31. 

AND a writer who gets linked in every Gold Standard Progressive outlet.

Matthew Harwood is a journalist based in Alexandria, Va. His work has appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, the Guardian, Reason, Truthout, and the Washington Monthly. Follow him on Twitter @mharwood31

Matt is a bright young chap.  

He is bright. He has access to scads of data by dint of his cool networking chops.  Matt is an activist of the Left.  He is concerned. That said. Matt is only one of our protected species of Progressive Voices who profit from stoking fear, mistrust and rage .  That is one very easy task to do. All you need is anything.

Matthew Harwood gets linked because not only is he a writer, whose work appears in The Guardian (as does Glenn Greenwald who begat Edward Snowden), Huffington Post ( whose staffer howled when the cops ordered  him to leave Micky D's in Ferguson) and Salon ( Joan Walsh's PC-PMS Mill), but an ACLU Media Strategist.

Mathew Harwood is a Media Strategist for the ACLU - old Roger Baldwin's Commie Laundry.  Guess what a Media Startegist does!  Well, a media strategist tells a story and it becomes the only story. The Media dude takes a bunch of data and arranges the mess until the metaphorical gun points one way and with everyone watching blows the other guys to Kingdom Come. Boom! as the cool kids say.  

Over the last two decades, politicians, academics, ambulance chasers, journalists and media strategists have worked their little fannies off to undermine law enforcement and Justice itself as a fixed deck of hards contolled by plutocrats and Popes armed with Blue Meanies - cops.

Cops are lazy, corrupt, racist, brutal, homophobic, smonosyllabic, misongynistic, mobbed-up, spouse beating, cocaine-snorting, donut eating suicidal cartoon characters, only interested in torture, guns, racially profiling the Huckstables and over-served Harvard professors who can't find their keys.  Oh, and shooting unarmed black kids. The Official Progressive Cop Meme

Can't argue with that, now, can we?

Nope.  Matthew Harwood is not satisfied with the above offered group-think approved cop meme. Not by a jug full!  ACLU media strategist and pan-lib mag rag writer, Harwood says Police are an "Occupying Force."  Not unlike our military.  Remember Bush 2?  Yeah, baby!!!

We are way past Ferguson, PEOPLE!  All of America is Occupied and only HBO, Arianna Huffington, George Soros, The Peoples Law Office,  the ACLU, Bill Ayers, MSNBC, Brian Wilson, Tavis Smiley and Matt Harwood can do anything about it.  Lean Left with Rage!

The cancer of militarized policing has long been metastasizing in the body politic.  It has been growing ever stronger since the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams were born in the 1960s in response to that decade’s turbulent mix of riots, disturbances, and senseless violence like Charles Whitman’s infamous clock-tower rampage in Austin, Texas.
While SWAT isn’t the only indicator that the militarization of American policing is increasing, it is the most recognizable. The proliferation of SWAT teams across the country and their paramilitary tactics have spread a violent form of policing designed for the extraordinary but in these years made ordinary. When the concept of SWAT arose out of the Philadelphia and Los Angeles Police Departments, it was quickly picked up by big city police officials nationwide.  Initially, however, it was an elite force reserved for uniquely dangerous incidents, such as active shooters, hostage situations, or large-scale disturbances.
Nearly a half-century later, that’s no longer true.
In 1984, according to Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop, about 26% of towns with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 had SWAT teams. By 2005, that number had soared to 80% and it’s still rising, though SWAT statistics are notoriously hard to come by.
As the number of SWAT teams has grown nationwide, so have the raids. Every year now, there are approximately 50,000 SWAT raids in the United States, according to Professor Pete Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Justice Studies. In other words, roughly 137 times a day a SWAT team assaults a home and plunges its inhabitants and the surrounding community into terror.

I wet my chinos!  Dang, how will I ever be comfortable again?  How will my children feel?  How will I get to work knowing that I work in a major Chicago killing zone, that I will not be mistaken by a CPD Tac Unit for a young black lad running into the school with my 24 oz. Dunkin Donuts cup that just could seem like a 20 oz. Arizona Iced Tea can?

Cops NEVER have to worry about anything?  They get away with murder, says ACLU media strategist Matt. Report by report, evidence is mounting that America’s militarized police are a threat to public safety. But in a country where the cops increasingly look upon themselves as soldiers doing battle day in, day out, there’s no need for public accountability or even an apology when things go grievously wrong.

If community policing rests on mutual trust between the police and the people, militarized policing operates on the assumption of “officer safety” at all costs and contempt for anyone who sees things differently. The result is an “us versus them” mentality.
Just ask the parents of Bou Bou Phonesavanh. Around 3:00 a.m. on May 28th, the Habersham County Special Response Team conducted a no-knock raid at a relative’s home near Cornelia, Georgia, where the family was staying. The officers were looking for the homeowner’s son, whom they suspected of selling $50 worth of drugs to a confidential informant.  As it happened, he no longer lived there.
Despite evidence that children were present — a minivan in the driveway, children’s toys littering the yard, and a Pack ‘n Play next to the door — a SWAT officer tossed a “flashbang” grenade into the home. It landed in 19-month-old Bou Bou’s crib and exploded, critically wounding the toddler. When his distraught mother tried to reach him, officers screamed at her to sit down and shut up, telling her that her child was fine and had just lost a tooth. In fact, his nose was hanging off his face, his body had been severely burned, and he had a hole in his chest. Rushed to the hospital, Bou Bou had to be put into a medically induced coma.
The police claimed that it was all a mistake and that there had been no evidence children were present. “There was no malicious act performed,” Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was a terrible accident that was never supposed to happen.” The Phonesavanhs have yet to receive an apology from the sheriff’s office. “Nothing. Nothing for our son. No card. No balloon. Not a phone call. Not anything,” Bou Bou’s mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, told CNN.
Similarly, Tampa Bay Police Chief Jane Castor continues to insist that Jay Westcott’s death in the militarized raid on his house was his own fault.  ”Mr. Westcott lost his life because he aimed a loaded firearm at police officers. You can take the entire marijuana issue out of the picture,” Castor said. “If there’s an indication that there is armed trafficking going on — someone selling narcotics while they are armed or have the ability to use a firearm — then the tactical response team will do the initial entry.”

Now here is the payoff -

In her defense of the SWAT raid, Castor simply dismissed any responsibility for Westcott’s death. “They did everything they could to serve this warrant in a safe manner,” she wrote the Tampa Bay Times – “everything,” that is, but find an alternative to storming the home of a man they knew feared for his life.
Almost half of all American households report having a gun, as the ACLUnotes in its report. That means the police always have a ready-made excuse for using SWAT teams to execute warrants when less confrontational and less violent alternatives exist.
In other words, if police believe you’re selling drugs, beware. Suspicion is all they need to turn your world upside down. And if they’re wrong, don’t worry; the intent couldn’t have been better. . . . War, once started, can rarely be contained.

Dude's a media strategist, G! Matt Harwood, ACLU media strategist an linked up lad, has planted a huge IED, or is it an IED? Both will do serious damage to police officers on the job and anyone near them.

This clever "horseshit," to quote President Obama, works.  It works for anyone but a working America of any race, creed, or color.





A young black man was killed in the Missouri town of Ferguson.  Meet Michael Brown:


http://www.salon.com/2014/08/14/one_nation_under_swat_how_americas_police_became_an_occupying_force_partner/

http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/14/ferguson-police-have-a-long-troubling-re

*  Michael Brown’s rap sheet on casenet. Note that he also has a juvenile criminal record that is sealed.
Description: Burglary - 1st Degree { Felony B RSMo: 569.160 }
Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 1401000
OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD
Description: Armed Criminal Action { Felony Unclassified RSMo: 571.015 }
Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 3101000
OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD
Description: Assault 1st Degree - Serious Physical Injury { Felony A RSMo: 565.050 }
Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 1301100
OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD
Description: Armed Criminal Action {
Felony Unclassified RSMo: 571.015 }
Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 3101000
OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD

"The Levant" is Back!

The Levant, the inflamed kidney on the map above, calls to mind the novels of brilliant Eric Ambler, especially The Mask of Dimitrios, in which a Dutch writer becomes addicted to the myster of a Levantine arch-criminal who goes by the name of Dimitrios Makropolous whom the Turkish police has been killed when a body washes ashore on a beach in Istanbul -whacking good read that.

Earlier, GK Chesterton had made waves in his critique of British moral equivalency when the Crown went positively politically correct about post-TE Lawrence Arabia and British Petroleum's lust for the black stuff under the Saudi sands.  Chesterton reminded post-Somme Brits that Islam was not a religion of peace and Arabs were not willing to devotees of playing up for the old school at all, a'tall.  In fact from Hegira to this day, Muslim missionary work consists in beheading infidels of all races, creeds and colors; especially the 'stiif-necked' people who live in the Levant - Jews.  Thus, “A good Moslem king was one who was strict in religion, valiant in battle, just in giving judgment among his people, but not one who had the slightest objection in international matters to removing his neighbour’s landmark.” and this, “…but out of the desert, from the dry places and the dreadful suns, come the cruel children of the lonely God; the real Unitarians who with scimitar in hand have laid waste the world. For it is not well for God to be alone.” – The Romance of Orthodoxy,

The Levant is not again a Muslim Caliphate, yet. You see the Levant was largely known as Roman Syria for seven centuries. When  the Prophet died, in 633, his father-in-law Abu Bakr continued the sword slashing missionary work and conquered the very week Byzantine Roman Syrian Christians and that was the Caliphate.

Assyrian Christians, Chaldean Catholics and Jews were put to sword.

As the world turned, Crusades dominated the Middle Ages and the Crescent Moon and the Cross exchanged victories and defeats.  The Levant was a crossroad of cultures.  Greek manuscripts were exchanged for Norman armor and Frankish knights started seeing Muslim doctors who cleaned wounds rather than chop off limbs.Norman, Frankish, Teutonic,, Neapolitan, Jewish, Greek and Arab folks exchanged goods and ideas, until the medium exchange rates called for the next jihad, or Crusade.

The mix of people out of proximity and natural gender differences of necessity mingled DNA. The Levant got more exotic - inclusive if you will - and always mysterious.

The Levant is the latest goal of ISISL, formerly known as ISIS.  The acronym will lengthen in accordance to the goals begun by the Willie Loman of Mecca on 11 February 624.

Joseph Auman, Larry Spillan, Leo Alums and Marine Raider Heroes of Guadalcanal/

Today marks the 72 Anniversary of Guadalcanal.

Yesterday, I asked a young man in his twenties if he knew about Guadalcanal.  He cheerfully answered, " That was dug by FDR in order to connect the Atlantic to the Pacific."

Okay. I kept my trap shut other than saying, " No, that was the Panama Canal and it was dug at the order of President Teddy Roosevelt -FDR's cousin."

He did not ask for correction.

I was glad that the young man did not answer that it was ditch dug in Egypt.

Guadalcanal was an epic battle fought during the Second World War.  Two graduates of the Leo High School were killed hours apart in one of the Guadalcanal Campaign's hundreds of bloody skirmishes: Joe Auman, Leo Class of 1940 and Larry Spillan Leo Class of 1941.  Both young men were members of Carlson's Raiders and had taken part in the raid on Makin Atoll*.  Now, on Guadalcanal they participated in a long-march raid behind Japanese lines in order to harrass and terrorize the vastly superior enemy.

Larry Spillan was killed outright when he took point in an attack on enemy positions.  The Japanese counterattacked and Joe Auman held off waves of attackers with his machine gun, while his company withdrew.

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Private Joseph M. Auman (MCSN: 293089), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with Company E, SECOND Marine Raider Battalion during an engagement with the enemy Japanese forces at Asamana, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 11 November 1942. When his company was forced by overwhelming enemy fire to make a temporary withdrawal, Private Auman, with utter disregard for his own personal safety, manned a machine gun and covered the retirement. Steadfastly remaining at his exposed position, he continued to fire his gun until killed by the enemy. His dauntless courage and outstanding devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave up his life in the defense of his country.
General Orders: Authority: Board of Awards: Serial 0478 (May 3, 1943) -Action Date: 11-Nov-42; Service: Marine Corps; Rank: Private;Company: Company E;Battalion: 2d Marine Raider Battalion  (Emphasis my own.)

God preserve our memories.

* a Respolution by the State of Illinois incorrectly notes that Spillan and Auman were killed during the Makin Raid.

School: What Works With Young Gents in a Catholic High School

 

Among the students thronging into the lecture-rooms there was
one student, conspicuous by his tall and bulky figure, and completely
failing or refusing to be conspicuous for anything else.
He was so dumb in the debates that his fellows began to assume
an American significance in the word dumbness; for in that land
it is a synonym for dullness. It is clear that, before long,
even his imposing stature began to have only the ignominious
immensity of the big boy left behind in the lowest form.
He was called the Dumb Ox. He was the object, not merely
of mockery, but of pity. One good-natured student pitied
him so much as to try to help him with his lessons,
going over the elements of logic like an alphabet in a
horn-book. The dunce thanked him with pathetic politeness;
and the philanthropist went on swimmingly, till he came
to a passage about which he was himself a little doubtful;
about which, in point of fact, he was wrong. Whereupon the dunce,
with every appearance of embarrassment and disturbance,
pointed out a possible solution which happened to be right.
The benevolent student was left staring, as at a monster,
at this mysterious lump of ignorance and intelligence;
and strange whispers began to run round the schools.  from Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton

I like to say, " Policy is for Pussies."  Though I am able to and might put a far less shockingly sexist spin to the weave in my web of words, I choose not to in order to undo the passive aggressive tendencies among American educators to obfuscate.

Zero Tolerance is such a  neologism and happens to be a redundancy.  Zero Tolerance means Intolerance.  Intolerance is so negative, people.

Sorry.  No really.

Schools are bullied into anti-bully PC Intolerance.  Hitting, touching, kissing, shouting, running, eating, and fighting are Zero-ly Tolerated.   Thus,  pedagogical decision making  is obsolete.

Catholic schools are no less guilty of such gutless Intolerance, as Public Schools.  Catholic schools for some perverse reason want to mirror public schools in so many silly ways -teaching to the test, PC censorship of great books, equivalency ethics, gender agenda patty-cakes, and even adopting Marxist manuals for Social Justice education classes.

However, we are not as far gone as our pubic sector brethren and sisteren.

Real pedagogy is un-measurable.  Can't be tested, weighed and evaluated.  Sorry.

You can assign a numerical value to anything, but that does not make it right. Like this "100% of our teachers are Illinois Certified!"  Wow, you mean unlike the dumbasses at Phillips Exeter, Choate and Boston Latin who merely hold advanced degrees - IN THEIR DISCIPLINES?  100% cool.

Example:  Consider a white male teacher who takes a job at an inner-city Catholic high school for boys and contracts with the school to teach science. The teacher is scared poopless of his charges, but he also has merely a patina of knowledge about botany, the periodic table of elemenst, Boyle's Law and thinks Mendel was only a closed high school in Roseland.  He is fully certified K-12 by the State of Illinois and has transcripts top-heavy with Education Courses ( Jolly Number 101; John Dewey G-Man- a Tutorial; Tests and Measures; Diversity Long-Division Street & Studs Terkel; Bolivarist Kindergartens; Jonathan Kozal's Mosaic Code for Funding Sabbaticals; Jane Addams the Father of American Labor & etc.)  

Teacher is confronted with less than a Baker's dozen of willful, proud, athletic, witty, sloppy, challenging, horny, scatological humor addicted young men of Color,  Black kids, African Americans.  After a week shouting, threatening, insulting, evicting and 'writing up' every kid in his class.  Mr. Chips males a Separate Peace.  He tells his young charges read the assignments in class, do the hand-outs, be quite and it will be cool.

Mr. Chips is armed only with K-12 Certification, Virtus Training & Certification. I mean after all there was no sense that Mr. Chips had a family of five in his basement freezer. He was thus thoroughly vetted and found welcome according to Policy.

Empirically?  Not so good.

Speraking subjectively, Mr. Chips has no intellectual curiosity, no leadership skills, fewer social skills and the personanality of a dial tone.

"Well, that's Hickey's opinion and who's to say?   He looked good on paper and the school had an open slot -should we have hired him?  Policy says he meets the standards."

At semester Mr. Chips fails 12 of thirteen.  Boy, he is one tough grader.  He replies, " These kids are incapable of learning. I get no support from the coaches who only want them for sports and they never follow through on my threats to get even with them for making fun of me!  That's serious disrespect!  I am a certified teacher!"

Yep,  You are all that and currently working in new field endeavor until a sweet posting pops up somewhere else in Chicagoland schools.

Did you know that Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine, Catholic teachers all, dominated Western Intellectual thought for 1,000 years?  It's true.  Ambrose was the Bishop of Milan in the 4th Century and had been a major political player in the waning days of Rome under Gratian. Ambrose was lawyer, judge and Governor of Trier in Germany for thirty years before he gave away all his money and became a monk.  Soon, because of his administrative skills and gifts he was made Bishop of Milan - the Capital of the Empire. He taught Emperors, administrators and the clergy how to operate efficiently.  Ambrose is the First Doctor of the Church.

Doctor comes from the Latin infinitive docere: ' To Teach.'

Jerome taught the Roman world to read. He translated the Bible from Hebrew to Greek to Army Camp Latin - The Vulgate.

Augustine taught the world to think through Plato all the way up to and through Luther, Calvin and Zwingli.

After a thousand years, Aristotle's writings were rediscovered through the Muslims and were taught at the University of Paris by the The Dumb Ox Himself.  Aquinas is still the core of Catholic teaching and philosophy.

Dewey showed up at the end of 19th Century and loused up American thought, teaching, morality and politics to our current condition.  God is out of the public education business, even though Western Civilization had a pretty sweet run, and Policy sits in his chair.

Here's what works with young people - let's say teenage Mannish Boys.  A teacher must understand the following.

Rule Number One - Man is Body and Soul.  A body without a soul is a corpse and soul without a body is a ghost.
Rule Number Two - A Soul can be broken
Rule Number Three - See Rule Number Two.

Now, here is what works.  Recognize that boys and girls not the same.  Boys are kinetic bags of grab-ass impulse wanting to learn how to be productive, thoughtful, impressive and still fun human beings.
That said, spare not the metaphorical whip of discipline for one minute.  They must be seated in a chosen desk from August to June's last Final Exam. A teacher can not teach a ghost.

Young People -boys in particular as group - will test, measure and evaluate Mr. Chips from get-go and these initiation rites begin when Chips says, " Sit anywhere, Chill." Without a seating chart, Chips will not know who is in his classroom for the appointed lessons.

Thus!

" Where Daishaun?" chirps Chips
" That's pronounced, Davy, Man.  What are you racist or something?  That's Davy, G."
" Are you Davy?"
" No I am Jamal Thompson that s K.little c,Big Z Ay, M Z - Jamal!'
" Jamal where is Davy?"
" In his locker, N#$$Ah!"  ( peels of scornful laughter universal!!)
" THAT"S DISRESPECTFUL!  To . . .  GET OUT OF HERE . . ."  ( Hoots, Hollers, Imprecations and Maledictions.)

All such confrontations can be avoided by referring to Rule # 3,

Next - Know your subject and communicate what you know with patience, humor, humility and fierce determination that snickering little bastards will master what you teach and value the lesson and the teacher.

It is not brain surgery - teaching is much tougher.

Therefore - Prepare for Class!  Do your homework!  Correct and return papers immediately.  Never teach to the test.  Test to the lessons taught.  Give essay exams, even in Math and science, as often as possible.

Classroom Management and Discipline will take care of themselves.

Make no promises. Make no threats.  Fail none.  Reward all.

Punitive grading - taking points earned away from students for disciplinary matters is criminal and all too often the policy of pussies.

I am intolerant of policy - even my own.

School: Young People Go to School and Some Make 'Mugs in the News' and Others Achieve

“I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him – rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him.” – G.K. Chesterton

Wouldn't that be something?   Schools are created by people who have something to offer to younger, or less knowlegeable people.  The best schools offer something of value that honors Truth, Nature and our Creator.

Schools are formed by people who share common values and skills that converge to bring people from one place in their lives to another, be it one of the 1st Tier Elite Prep Schools that shape future Secretaries of State and Members of Secret Societies, a co-educational Chicago Public School in Auburn Gresham, Roseland, Englewood, or Garfield Park that warehouse 9-12 year so that one out of score students score above a 20 on ACT exams and less than half graduate, or a Catholic all-Male college prep high school where 90% of African-American students who begin their schooling in its halls graduate and every graduate is welcomed to four-year college or university.

Our American public schools have become places that glare Halogen lighting on politicians.  Elected officials comprise the Board of Directors to Public Schools.  Elected politicians are the Carnegie Endowments of the 50 States without whom nothing remains done.

My assertions are arguable with regard to public schooling, but the fact that everything about public schools links directly to some career political grifter.

Marcus Aurelius endowed the first school at Athens in because he believed that a good person should lead a life honed by reason. Aurelius was a Stoic by temperament and outlook; yet, he created a School for each of the Dominant Philosophies Aristotelian, Platonic, Stoic and Epicurean.  He was no Ted Turner, or Bill Gates.
By the way, Emperor Marcus Aurelius persecuted Christians as brutally as Bill Maher of HBO would love to do.

Schools operated on endowments so that scholars ( people who showed up at school to teach or learn) develop themselves through immersion in the many disciplines that merged to a core belief, or philosophy.

When Romans allowed barbarians to protect them from barbarians, schools vanished.

From the 5th Century until John Dewey, schools were centered on God.  Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, Wittenburg and Escorial were Royally endowed.  John Scotus Erigena, Boethius, Augustine,  Cassidorius, Aquinas, William of Occam, Roger Bacon,  Anselm, Ignatius, Gonzaga Descrates, and Gregor Mendel managed to have great impact on human justice, human development and the humanities in spite of the fact that they were pious Christians.  Catholic schools remain, or should remain, in this tradition.

Public schools came about when Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena in 1806.

I could almost hear Mike Klonsky and Jesse Sharkey's noggins explode.  No, that was not a bomb planted by UICC Department of Education retiree, terrorist Emeritus and Obama sponsor Bill Ayers. That was the Battle that created a Godless school - Public Education.

The result has been Mugs in the New and a Chicago Homicide Rate that spikes each weekend - come rain or shine.

On my side of street, dominated by a four story fortress of Virtue designed by Joseph McCarthy who was Daniel Burnham's Catholic-go-to-guy when spending Cardinal Mundelein's money, a Catholic high school serves the exact same clientele as Simeon, Crane, and the former Calumet high schools - young men of African American heritage and mostly ( 80%) CPS elementary graduates.

All young men ( teenage Man Childs) are willful, proud, loud, playful, fidgety, distracted, horny as goats and in need of guidance, instruction and an occasional kind word.  Inner city black kids educated according to the secular Hegelian John Dewey constructs are exponentially more so.

Public school teachers told them "We don't do that!"  Catholic school teachers can tell, Pat Hickey to quit farting, explain is tardiness in 250 words double spaced and shape up or he will die on the gallows, IN THUNDER because Christ, His Mother, the Holy Spirit and God of Abraham expect more of him.

A Public school teacher says, ' We don't do that."  A Catholic school teacher explains why one's actions have consequences well beyond his immediate impulse to folly.

Here is a better explanation.  Yesterday, I was delighted to shake hands, fist bump and hug a seventeen year old kid who was expelled two years ago.  This young gent has had a horrific life.  He was shuttled from one foster care home to another from the time he was six years old until he turned fourteen for a total of seven placements. A relative took him in and sent him to Leo High School as a freshman.  Troubles ensued - tardy, absent, disrespectful & etc. The kid is smart, tough as algebra and has an inner sweetness that belies his troubled young life.  He is among the brawny stalwarts hugging Francis Cardinal George in 2011 in the photo that accompanies this prose. In fact, Cardinal George counseled the young man on the quiet.

For two years, this talented and handsome young guy attended a neighboring public school and went  "All Street."  He caught a beef - a serious beef.  He was arrested and sent to Juvey and eventually lawyered his way out of the Juvenile Detention Center and is in the expungement process.  More so, this young man remembered why he was expelled from Leo High School and added up the consequences trailing his will to impulse in fall of 2011.

He is working community service hours. He was delighted that I still have his size twelve Stacy Adams black dress shoes on my office book shelf.  He left them with me upon expusion.  I asked him if he'd like to put the broggans back on and finish out at Leo.  He said, " If you'll have me back."

Hell, yes! Arne Duncan and Karen Lewis have had for too long.  This is a young man who might not punch a politcal clown in the nose, but he will dispute the secular nonsense pretending to schooling.

Young people is no stroll through Winnetka. . . .well, it is if you go to New Trier.

N.B.  By the way, two of the 100 Chicago Tribune Mugs in the News were known to my young friend.