Progressives vs. Saint Paul, statism vs. realism

Some food for thought, an inspiration coming from last Sunday’s Mass reading. I promise: if you’re not Catholic (heck, even if you’re an atheist) you can find this article worth reading, since the following Bible verse is just a starting point. Let’s see then. From Philemon 1, 14: but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.   In this letter Saint Paul tells his friend Philemon that he’s sending back to him a slave named Onesimus, converted by Paul to Christianity but still technically a property of his master Philemon. Paul explicitly asks him to…

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It’s better to live as a Christian hypocrite than as an atheist.

Besides, atheists are hypocrites anyway. Commenting on the umpteenth controversy generated by Pope Francis’ utterances, this time against the hypocrisy of some Catholics. Let’s see. Proposition #1: And how often we see the scandal of those people who go to church and are there all day long, or go every day, and then live by hating others or speaking ill of people. This is a scandal! It is better not to go to church: living this way, as if they were atheists. (Pope Francis)   Proposition #2: Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue. (François de La Rochefoucauld)   But wait. Let’s add a further step. Proposition #3: We…

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The Trump Train vs. the station moving backwards

Donald vs. Francis There are 2 main “current events” subjects I want to cover in this blog: the US Presidency and the Vatican. Turns out I’m hardly writing about the Pope, and (based on the number of articles) people may think I’m fixating on Trump. The thing is, not only Trump represents a positive development, while the Catholic Church is depressingly close to its nadir point. The two realities move very differently. While “progressive” bishops are hard at work to destroy their Church from the interior, reflexively reacting in a predictable and passive manner, always manipulated or outmaneuvered by smarter players and pushing for ideas that were fashionable 50 years ago, the Trump…

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Chef Cracco, a 1500€ dinner and the EuroSocialist decadence

Carlo Cracco is a famous Italian Top Chef, better known for his TV appearences as a judge in MasterChef Italy. A controversy erupted in the social media in occasion of a New Year’s Eve prestigious dinner in Venice: 60 fortunate revelers had the privilege to pay 1500 Euros to get to an exclusive party dinner with performers, gondolas, fireworks etc. Cracco’s name was used to promote the event, but apparently he didn’t even go there: he only instructed chefs to serve one of his signature dishes. Critics hiding behind a keyboard were fuming. Here’s the bottom line. Proceeds: 90 thousand Euros, of which 10 thousands were given to Cracco to sign…

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Thanking Fidel Castro for his biggest achievement

Oh, the ingratitude of the masses! People often fail to properly recognize your achievements. Face it: Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator that recently passed away, has done something extraordinary for us. He survived, living 90 full years. Ok, you may object that dying of old age is not exactly a big deal or something that you do (well, he didn’t die in one of the numerous assassination attempts… this requires a certain degree of paranoia, commendable preparedness and effective opposition squelching).   History should give him credit.   In fact, had he been executed by a firing squad in 1975, as a , you’d probably read about him only in…

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Google and the power to distort

Some religions are more equal than others Talk about distortion. Let’s say you are looking for information about the following topic: violence against Jews. I just discovered that even the autocomplete function on Google is biased… After you type violence against it suggests women with a few variants (ok, feminism and stuff, par for the course). Adding the letter J the suggestion turns to journalists. Typing the E brings us the surprising bit jehova witnesses …you see, it’s a major crisis, with all those attacks on Jehova Witnesses you hear about every day… (?) Finally, adding W causes Google to stop suggesting anything at all… evidently violence against jews is…

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The real terrorists are […]

Nidal Hassan vs the Tea Party flag

Just a short comment about the typical piece of news that causes unhealthy spikes in my blood pressure. Fort Hood Ignored Nidal Hassan, Now Warns of Tea Party Terror Threat Here Daniel Greenfield is reporting on a stunning coincidence. Two extreme events, both involving the US military base of Fort Hood. Scene 1: For a significant period of time Nidal Hassan, a Muslim, a psychiatrist and US Army Officer, gave abundant signs about his being on the side of Muslims waging war on infidels, highlighting that in his view a Muslim cannot be part of a US Army fighting against Islamists. He did that even during a Powerpoint presentation on…

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Those dreaded Catholics, reproducing like rabbits…

rabbits

A conversation I couldn’t help but overhear this morning. I was providing technical support to an office that will remain unidentifiable for obvious reasons. Two women who work there, chatting freely in front of me (not minding my presence). Topic of conversation: a kindergarten year-end performance. The younger one is describing a detail she felt indignant about. She got to notice it, she elaborates, because she has no daughters. (?) The girls attending her son’s class were all wearing miniskirts for the occasion. Or better: short denim skirts, ostensibly following some instruction from the teachers. But there was also this tiny lady donning a long pleated skirt. This woman insists…

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The Old Establishment Crank beat the Fresh Populist: does it matter?

Renzi and Bersani

A guy beat another guy in a Primary: big deal! Here’s a quick recap to understand some aspects of Italian politics; we can use what follows as a starting point, departing from there to get into more general stuff. In Italy the Partito Democratico (the most important party, founded in 2007) tried to mimic the US Democratic Party even in the choice of the name. It’s actually the inheritor, through a complicated series of transformations, of the defunct PCI (Italian Communist Party). Many things changed through the last 2 decades, but a strong sense of partisan commitment and a political apparatus that takes no prisoners are still a mainstay, a…

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