Monthly Archives: May 2014

Ann Barnhardt: Strong Safety

You’re not going to believe this, and I will totally not blame you if you don’t, but it happened again today, but this time I got to throw a tackle that would make Jon Lynch stand and salute.

So I’m walking down the sidewalk in the city I’m in today – not the biggest city in the world, but a city.  And I see a cop on a horse – when is the last time you saw a cop on a horse? – chasing a dude.  The dude is carrying a woman’s backpack/purse thingy, which he clearly had just stolen from one of the restaurant patios lining this street.  The thief does a stutter-step/crossover to try and ditch the horse (horses are big and intimidating, but not super-maneuverable on the cut when standing on pavement) and starts hauling tail up the sidewalk straight towards me.

I saw all this, remembered what an absolute pain in the rump it was when I had my purse stolen in a mall in Denver 12 years ago, sized the punk up, determined that he had maybe two inches and maybe a few pounds on me, but not much, squared myself up, lowered my center of gravity, remembered
1. Trust in God and fear no man
2. Chin up
3. Step up into the tackle and
4. Wrap him up

I stepped forward and up into the tackle when he met me, wrapped him up, slammed him into the wall, held him there for four seconds or so, wrested the purse out of his hand, and then when the horse cop caught up, let him go and let the horse cop deal with him.  I then set the purse down for the cop to take care of.

I then turned to the group of 40 or so onlookers who were all standing there completely slack jawed, and if I may say with regards to the men, FLACCID, tipped my cap to them (as one does), and proceeded down the sidewalk with not a small grin on my face.  And while I was, once again, utterly disgusted by the able-bodied men who just stood and watched all of this, I was, God forgive me, quite pleased with my execution on the whole.

It was, without question, the single most badass physical feat I have ever executed.  And no steroids, no painkillers, no pads, and you best believe that I was totally rocking a skirt.

LESSONS:

1.  Darn little is accomplished in this life by standing and staring with our mouths hanging open like codfish while we hold our bits in one hand and twirl our hair with the other.  Someone, at some point, has to step up and do something when evil is on the march.  Who is it going to be?  (crazy-eyed cleaning lady in skirt and hat raises hand) 

2.  I should have gotten my center even lower and tackled him a few inches lower.  I could have thrown him to the ground if I had been just a tad lower.  Chalk it up to experience.  Next time… next time.

3.  It didn’t hurt at all.  The impact is spread over most of the torso, so no problem.  The human body is pretty darn sturdy.

4.  Twelve years of weight training and CrossFit, paying off, baby.  I’m so glad I’m not all skinny and weak.  

5.  My guardian angel is probably demanding a transfer as we speak.  Poor dear.  Between stuff like this and the body odor, he has a compelling argument.

 

 

Starting Saturday Off Right – Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Edition

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Of the Eucharistic Miracles involving the Consecrated Host in the form of flesh that have been tested, all have been the smooth cardiac muscle fibers of the interior heart wall.  Our Lord loves us, literally, from the depth of His Heart.

Of the Eucharistic Miracles involving the Consecrated Host in the form/appearance of flesh that have been tested, all have been the smooth cardiac muscle fibers of the interior heart wall. Our Lord loves us, literally, from the depth of His Heart.

I have added the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to my daily prayers.  Many have asked about the practice of asking Our Lord to allow one’s self to expiate (extinguish the guilt of, make atonement for) the sins of others since I mentioned it in recounting the experience with the crazy beggar dude in the church who spit at Our Lord in the tabernacle.  There is a chap in Riverville – a good egg, but with some idiosyncrasies – who takes Our Lord’s Name in vain and says it as an expression of disgust and/or frustration, most especially revolving around his use of the water closet.  Every time I hear this, or anyone else using Our Lord’s name as an expression of anything but love for Him, I pray, “Give it to me.”  I understand the sin better than he does (obviously), and I understand and can deal with more suffering than he could, so give me the punishment for the offense which God’s Perfect Justice requires, and give the grace from the expiation to him.

What we must NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do is ask God to send us to hell to be with a dead loved one or in place of a living loved one, or to allow demons to oppress or possess us instead of a loved one.  I had dinner recently with a person who was acquainted with a real exorcist, and she said that the exorcist had warned her that one of the most common “entries” for demons was when a person ASKED to be given demonic oppression or possession in place of another.  As you can imagine, this is commonly a fairly pious (albeit poorly catechized) mother with a child who is on drugs or some such and experiencing demonic influence.

This is a terrible sin – an egregious violation of the First Commandment.  It is a sin to choose ANYONE over God.  It is a sin to choose your own child or spouse over God.  If you say to God that you want to be in hell with your loved one or instead of your loved one, you are saying that you love and worship that other person above God, and you reject the Beatific Vision in favor of hell with or instead of the other person.  This also applies to the Limbo of the Innocents.  A mother who prays to be in Limbo with her dead baby is worshiping and idolizing the baby over God.  This is not virtuous.  This is actually evil – the rejection of Perfect Good, Perfect Truth, Perfect Beauty and Perfect Love, Who made you for the end of being with Him forever in the Beatific Vision.

Asking God to allow us to expiate the sins of others has as its intended end heaven for both one’s self AND heaven for the person who committed the sin, motivated by the love of God simply because He is God, and because any offense against Him should engender contrition.  Remember, the Fruit of the First Sorrowful Mystery, The Agony in the Garden, is Sorrow for Sin… all sin, including the sins committed by OTHERS.

Here is the text of the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for me is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Your altar (or in Your presence) eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Your loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying for from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow You, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Your Law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against You; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against You and Your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Your Vicar on earth and Your priest are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Your Divine Love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which You have founded. Would, O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your divine honor, the satisfaction You once made to Your eternal Father on the cross and which You continue to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Your Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Your grace, for all neglect of Your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent other from offending You and to bring as many as possible to follow You.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowing gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to You, so that we may one day come to that happy home, where You with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, world without end. Amen. 

TWO Donor/Benefactor/Supporter Masses Scheduled!!

TWO BENEFACTOR MASSES NEXT WEEK!

MAY 27th (Tuesday)
MAY 29th (Thursday)

Masses begin at approximately 12:30pm EDT and the consecration happens at roughly 12:55pm EDT.

Eastertide was especially busy, as you can imagine, and so I neglected to notify y’all of the April Benefactor Mass, which was on Easter Monday, the 21st of April.  But, it points up the reality that since God is the Actor at Mass, not us, it is not necessary that y’all KNOW that the Holy Sacrifice is being offered for you in order for the graces to flow.  It happened on Easter Monday, and God and all His Angels and Saints knew it, even though you didn’t.

Also, for all of the people who, for various reasons, have decided that they “hate” me, the good news is that once you’re on the “Ann’s Benefactor” list, you can never, ever, ever get off of it.  The list can never shrink.  It can only ever grow.  God knows who you are, and every Mass that is ever offered for “Ann’s Benefactors” until the end of time will include EVERYONE, including the people who discern that I am a horrible, wicked person and cease donations.  It’s like Hotel California.  You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

And, since I don’t say it nearly enough, thank you.  I fully understand that your money is a little piece of your life, a little unit of time that you (or someone) had to work for at some point, and so when you give that to me, you are giving me a little piece of yourself.  That’s a big deal.  It’s a really, really, really big deal.  And my gratitude is profound and at the forefront of my mind every day.

I am well settled-in after living “van down by the river” style for a little over a year now.  I forward pay rent (which allows me to sleep well at night), and try to stick to one good meal per day (I lurv food).  My motto around Riverville is, “The safest place for ‘my’ money is on someone else’s balance sheet.  Can I pay in advance?”  While not living like a monk, the standard of living on a material scale has been massively downgraded, while the standard of living on a human scale is so high that I still can’t believe it.  That inverse correlation is no mere coincidence.  I am also keen to turn money into experiences and memories, from quiet dinners at home with friends to the occasional trip to see new places and things.  While I traveled massively during my career, specifically when I was teaching live Cattle Marketing Schools (my course is only available on DVD now – sorry), I never SAW anything except the airport terminal and the hotel lobby and ballroom.  So yeah, I’ve been to Boise and Seattle and Sacramento, but I never SAW anything.  Now, when someone says, “Hey, you wanna go along to Thisandsuchplace?” I generally say, “Yes.  Yes I do.”  Memories of a life fully lived will be a true consolation when the really bad times come.   The following saying has been co-opted and abused by the self-worshiping post-Christian culture in these dark days, but it is still a truism when properly understood:  Gloria Dei est vivens homo.  The glory of God is man fully alive.  

Obviously, I’m not there yet, as man can only ever be FULLY alive when he is dwelling inside the Beatific Vision, and I need to do (and not do) much more, but I am trying; working out my salvation in fear and trembling.   Part of that includes what, if anything, is supposed to be going on with regards to this website and my public commentary and actions.  I pray every day at the Libera nos (Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present and to come…) of the Mass that in whatever way I am “the evil”, that God deliver my friends and family, all of you readers, and the world in general from my evil.

And yes, I am still scrubbing porcelain thrones, mopping floors, ironing shirts, and will be on window-washing duty next week, and will love every second of it.

Thanks again to one and all for your munificence, kind support and encouragement and prayers.

For you, next Tuesday and Thursday.

For you, next Tuesday and Thursday.

So… I almost got in a fistfight today (plus a repost of "Hard Truths About Combat Tactics" with an instructive cat video)

Okay, if you don’t read this from top to bottom with THAT title,  then I just don’t know what to say…

Talk about a confluence of events.  So I have been meaning to repost my essay about emergency combat tactics, such as if a gunman walks into a church or auditorium or grocery store and starts spraying.  I re-read my original piece and had thus been thinking about the concepts therein, and, sure enough, I was in a situation today that drew on that dataset and I was able to apply it.

I stopped into a church today intending to pray the whole Rosary (all 15 decades) sitting before Our Lord reposed in a tabernacle.  I got through the Joyful Mysteries when a crazy man/professional panhandler entered the church begging for handouts.  He zeroed in on me and wouldn’t relent.  I tried to ignore him.  Then… he touched me.

Now I’m engaged.  It’s on.  He curses me, turns and faces Our Lord in the tabernacle, curses Him, and then spits at Our Lord in the tabernacle.  Now, this is where it gets… interesting.  Crazy panhandler dude then wheels back on me and says, “Why don’t you go back?  Why don’t you go back where you came from?” Over and over again.  Now, I guess there is a certain general quality to that statement, but I found it interesting considering that the creature that was saying this had just cursed and then spit upon Our Blessed Lord reposed in the tabernacle.  Hmmmm. Maybe someone doesn’t like like me being here in Riverville.  Edifying!

There were two men, excuse me, “men”, who were associated with the church sitting behind me, so I enjoined them to render assistance.  [What I just did in that last sentence is called “foreshadowing”.  Can you guess how THAT turned out??]  They replied that there was nothing they could do.  Ah, the battle cry of the post-Christian “man”: THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO!

So crazy panhandler dude, seeing that I’m on my own, decides to get bold.  I drew him back away from the tabernacle, still trying to enjoin the “men” to get involved.  Then, crazy panhandler dude charged me.  And here is where the mental preparation pays off.  He was about 15 feet away, and when he charged I thought three things in this order:

1.  Trust in God and fear no man.
2.  Move straight forward into the attack.
3.  Meekness is power under control.

So, when he charged, I lifted my chin maintaining drilling eye contact, threw back my shoulders, dropped my daypack that was in my left hand in an “I’m getting ready to beat your ass in the two-fisted manner of the old school” sort of way, and stepped forward to meet him.

And you know what he did?  Aw, guess.  Go ahead.

Yup.  Player stopped short and backed up.

He then continued to curse me and circle.  I maintained drilling eye contact while still trying to enjoin the “men” to, oh, I dunno, at least STAND UP.  Nada.  And crazy dude charged me again.  Same drill, same results.  And then again.  Finally, a woman, who I think was also on staff at the church, came in and at least had the stones to yell at the crazy dude.  Finally, the crazy dude slunk off, and I left, after telling the “men” that their non-response response was a farce.  And I finished the Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries at another church later.  And then I went to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, prayed for the crazy dude at the elevation of the Consecrated Host, received Holy Communion for him, and asked Our Lord to give ME whatever temporal punishment is required to make reparation for the crazy dude spitting at Him in the Tabernacle.

This was an EXTREMELY minor and mild situation which did NOT involve a firearm or edged weapon, but the tactics described below apply.  So much of the damage that has been done in the Church, and in the broad culture, and also the usurpation and overthrow of the government, has been done by aggressive thugs, many of whom are psychotic, terminally stupid, or both, who use nothing more than brute intimidation to cow the effeminite masses into quivering submission.  I’m telling you, most of these thugs are full of crap and will instantly back down when confronted with manful resistance.  I only had to take ONE STEP FORWARD each time he charged me to not just stop him dead, but reverse his vector.  And if he hadn’t?  Well, I do my calisthenics for a reason.

Thanks be to God, I didn’t get hurt or have to get tangled up with any corrupt LEO, which is just about the last thing I want right now.

Now, here is the original piece, followed by the epic video that is going around this week of the cat who bayonet charges the dog that is attacking the little boy, which illustrates the point of the essay below perfectly.

-*-

“Hard Truths About Combat Tactics”
originally penned and posted in September, ARSH 2011

I have received emails from very well-meaning guys and had conversations with various law enforcement and military fellows about civilian combat tactics, both in a general context AND as they apply to me directly given my situation. While I always appreciate expert advice and soak it up as much as I can, I have been struck by one commonality that I have heard and vigorously disagree with. I have been told over and over again that the first thing one must do when a close-quarter combat theater unfolds is to seek cover.

I’m sorry, but that is wrong. And yes, I realize that I am directly contradicting the near-unanimous advice of men who have training and experience that I lack. I realize that, but I still must disagree. If I EVER encounter a gunman or gunmen situation as we saw yesterday in Norway, or as in the Giffords shooter in Arizona, or as in musloid Mumbai-syle attacks I will NOT seek cover. The “seek cover” tactic completely hems YOU in and basically demands that the gunman move into a position such that YOU have a shot on him, but he doesn’t have a shot on you. Guys, that’s never going to happen.  And it is completely chickens***.

Any adult with any degree of physical capability, regardless of armament, upon seeing a shooter should immediately RUN AT THE S.O.B. as hard and as fast as possible. If you have a gun, you draw it and start shooting as soon as you can. If you have a knife, draw it and brandish it and then go for the face and neck as soon as you are in range. If you are unarmed you can still tackle him and beat him into submission or death, if necessary, or gouge his eyes out (ladies).

At this point, most everyone in this culture would say, “That’s crazy! I’m not doing that! I’d just get shot!”

Uh, yeah. I know. When crazed gunmen start shooting in public places, people tend to get killed. But there are two variables that can be modified: WHO gets killed and HOW MANY people get killed. I remember hearing Dennis Miller speak very poignantly about the Virginia Tech massacre shortly after it happened in 2007. One of the dead was an elderly professor, Dr. Liviu Librescu, who was a Holocaust survivor. When the gunman appeared at his classroom door, Dr. Librescu ran straight toward him and forced the classroom door shut and held it shut while the shooter tried to force entrance. This bought time for the students to escape through the window. The gunman eventually killed Dr. Librescu by shooting him through the door. All but one of Dr. Librescu’s students escaped. The point Dennis Miller made was that Dr. Librescu, when he saw the evil standing in the door – which he had seen before six decades earlier and thus recognized – didn’t run AWAY from the evil, he ran STRAIGHT AT IT.

Our culture with its new god of “self esteem” has destroyed the average person’s sense of courage and self-sacrifice. While our fighting men in the military still have plenty of bravery, their pants-pissing, self-esteem candy@$$ generals refuse to let anyone fight because “someone might get hurt”. And so, our soldiers have to sit and watch as the enemy moves free and uncontested, and then our boys get killed as a result of that enemy freedom of movement. We should be bumrushing the S.O.B.’s with everything we have, from nukes to bayonets, if needed. Speaking of bayonets, did you know that the U.S. military has removed bayonet training from basic training? Apparently it was too aggressive, or some bee-ess like that. Nevermind that a bayonet charge is still an incredibly effective tactic which was last used by a squad of Brits in Iraq who were ambushed, pinned down and outnumbered 5:1. They fixed bayonets, charged, killed 35 of the 100 Iraqi rebels, and sent the remainder running with the contents of their bowels evacuated. The Brits suffered three very minor wounds. If they had used contemporary Western sissy self-esteem “I might get hurt” combat tactics, they would have been shot dead to the last man.

This is also what happened at Columbine High School. The SWAT Team sat outside the school while the killers roamed free because the SWAT Team was trained to not engage if they could potentially get killed. So, they sat and waited for Harris or Klebold to step in front of a window and give them a clean, “safe” shot or some such. The only reason Columbine ended was because the two shooters shot themselves. They were granted 100% situational control to the very end by the SWAT Team.

In Norway, even if there were two gunmen (they’re still not sure), the gunmen were outnumbered something like 200:1. The adults and older boys (I think it was a group of teenagers) could have rushed the gunmen. Would people have been killed? Absolutely – but not the 85 that were killed. A gunman can’t kill everyone if being rushed by dozens of people. Numbers will break through.

And here’s the tough part for most people. Let’s say that I rush a gunman. In the time it takes the gunman to see me rushing him, aim, fire and drop me, other people have advanced four or five steps closer to him. Each person he has to kill buys the other people four or five steps. This is war, writ small. What do you think D-Day was? Eisenhower knew that the Nazi machine gunners would mow down thousands of troops – but both Eisenhower and the soldiers themselves knew that the Nazis couldn’t kill all of them. Zero casualties was never the objective. The objective was victory, and those two things are NOT the same, and sometimes they are exact opposites. If you want zero casualties, surrender.

In our culture, not only has the notion of self-sacrifice unto death been completely lost, but people have been taught that they are personally “God’s gift to the world” and that their life is the single most important thing that there is. People have such an inflated sense of their own importance that they simply cannot fathom that perhaps their ultimate “purpose” on this earth might be to buy 2.3 seconds of time so that someone else can advance on a gunman, ultimately saving numerous lives.

What people fail to understand is that the life of freedom and decadent prosperity that they now enjoy was bought and paid for by millions of men who ran into gunfire, bayonets, canon fire and swords over the centuries so that the cause of righteousness could advance. Do you like being a free person who can sit and read whatever you want on this thing called the internet? (For now…) Are you glad that you are Christian and not muslim? Thank the long dead and individually forgotten men who fought at Vienna, Lepanto and Tours. If it weren’t for them, you either wouldn’t exist, or you would exist and be a muslim. They died not just for their immediate families, but also for YOU. I’m sure many an evening campfire throughout the centuries heard soldiers ask the question, “I wonder what the world will be like in the year 2000?” Our lives are the answer to their question, and sadly we have almost completely pissed all of it away.

The problem today is that people are so monstrously self-centered that they are incapable of viewing themselves as anything other than the sole benefactor and culmination of history, when in fact we are all just bricks in the road of time that stretches on in front of us. Everyone has been taught that every single person is born for earthly glory, fame and riches, and anything that falls short of that just CAN’T be right and certainly can’t be God’s will. I have had, on more than one occasion, Christian people say to me with a completely straight face, “What purpose can a person serve and what good can they do if they’re dead?”

Oh, none. There is no example of death serving a greater purpose. Especially in Christianity.  Not-a-one.  Sigh.

Peter Paul Reubens, The Crucified Christ, ARSH 1613

Peter Paul Reubens, The Crucified Christ, ARSH 1613

The amount of damage that the infiltration of the Church and the resulting Novus Ordo effiminized “church of nice” paradigm, and Super-fun Rockband entertainme-church (™) has done to this culture can not be overstated. And you wonder why I rail about these things like I do.

When the devil shows up on your doorstep, you fix and raise your bayonet and run at him as hard as you can, precisely for the love of God and for the love of your fellow men, and leave the rest to God.

And now the cat video.  The cat just runs at the dog as hard as it possibly can.  Bravo, cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Opm9b2WDk

Some Economic Review and Follow-Up Points and Stats

First, a couple of updates with regards to my big 8-part, 2.5 hour economics video presentation, available on my YouTube channel.

There are fresh numbers through December 31, ARSH 2013 for derivatives exposure for the top 25 banks in the U.S.  (That table is about 3/4 of the way down the document.  I covered this in part 7)
The top 25 banks in the U.S. now hold $304 TRILLION in notional derivatives value.  The top 5 banks are as follows:

JP Morgan:  $70.4 TRILLION
Citigroup:  $63.5 TRILLION
Bank of America:  $55.7 TRILLION
Goldman Sachs:  $53.5 TRILLION
Morgan Stanley:  $46.7 TRILLION
TOTAL Derivatives Exposure for Top 5 Banks in the U.S.:  $290 TRILLION

In Part 7 of my video presentation, I made the point that even if one agues that there will be an offsetting symmetry in the inevitable collapse of the financial bubble and in these derivative markets that will “cancel out” 90% of these values (I referred to it as a “haircut”), an assumption confirmed in Graph 5B (about halfway down the document), We are still talking about $29 TRILLION, or just shy of DOUBLE the entire Gross Domestic Product of the United States – that is the sum total of EVERY GOOD AND SERVICE produced in the United States in one year.

To put this in another perspective, let’s quote this in terms of acres of land.  The total landmass of the planet earth is 36.8 billion acres.  If we divide $290 TRILLION by 36.8 BILLION acres, we get $7880 per acre.  Give that our 90% haircut, and you’re still looking at $788 per acre for every single acre of land on the entire planet.  I use these units because, as I have stated many times, mass defaults have been settled historically in landmass reallocation and human life – both in the form of bloodshed AND in the form of capturing/redirecting human economic output from the defaulting nationstate to serve the creditor nationstate.  But really, the two go hand-in-hand, because when landmass is shifted from one state to another, the people who live on that landmass and their economic output go with it.

Now an update of Karl Denninger’s famous chart of quarter-to-quarter change in both U.S. GDP and Debt.  My economics presentation which used and explained KD’s chart in part 4 was recorded in November of ARSH 2012.  Things have gotten much, much worse since then, and the debt bubble is being inflated again to fake the appearance of “economic growth” to people who are either too ignorant, too stupid (and thus not able to understand the concept even after it is presented and explained), or simply too dishonest to acknowledge mathematical reality.  Here is the updated chart:

Source:  Karl Denninger, Market-Ticker.org

Source: Karl Denninger, Market-Ticker.org

Okay.  Let’s walk through this again.  This chart shows QUARTER-TO-QUARTER CHANGE, not gross values.  If, for example, GDP increased by $100 Billion from $15.4 Trillion in Q1 of 2010 to $15.5 Trillion in Q2 of 2010, the Q2 2010 plot point would be +$100B.  Every plot point is the amount of change versus the previous quarter.  Thus:
-If the line is above zero and upward-sloping, the overall increase accelerated from the previous quarter.
-If the line is above zero but downward-sloping, the rate of increase decelerated from the previous quarter.
-If the line is below zero and upward-sloping, there was an overall decrease that was less than the previous quarter.
-If the line is below zero but downward-sloping, there was an overall decrease that accelerated from the previous quarter.

The RED line is the GDP line (quarter-to-quarter change).

The BLUE line is the DEBT line of all sectors, both public and private (again, quarter-to-quarter change).
The GREEN line is the GDP line MINUS the DEBT line.

Why did KD add that GREEN line, which nets the RED and BLUE lines together?  Because, if it takes more than $1 of new debt to create $1 in GDP growth, then your economy is NOT GROWING, it is CONTRACTING.  Thus, when the GREEN line is below zero (in the shaded zone of the plot field), your economy is actually in a CONTRACTION, BEING PROPPED UP AND GIVEN THE FAUX-APPEARANCE OF GROWTH BY THE BLOWING OF A MASSIVE DEBT BUBBLE.

So, yes, reviewing, the entire U.S. economy is a massive, massive debt bubble and has been since the Carter Administration.  We are consuming things today which we DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR from today’s production, thus we must borrow that money from our “older selves” and from future generations.  Terrifyingly, if you look at the GREEN line, what you see is that we don’t need to borrow to simply HOLD at zero growth – our economy is so bad that we would need to borrow money to have our GDP contract *only a mere* $500 billion – because the GREEN line today is at roughly -$550 Billion.  Yeah.  In order to have the gross GDP in the last recorded quarter contract *only* $500 billion, we would STILL need to incur $50 billion in NEW DEBT.

Now, look at how far above the RED GDP line the BLUE debt line is.  Right now, it requires roughly $4 of NEW DEBT to generate $1 of gross GDP growth.  As you can see from the chart, back in the mid-2000s, that ratio got out to 7:1.  It was taking $7 of new debt to create $1 in GDP growth.  We are quickly moving back out to those levels.  Remember this when you see the headlines about “new highs in the Dow” and the residential real estate “recovery”.

-*-

Two interesting stats with regards to the islamic political system:

The total GDP of the entire musloid world, excluding petroleum, from Morocco to Bangladesh (excluding Indonesia) is LESS than the GDP of the American state of Georgia.  What this means is that the islamic political system, like its younger sibling Marxism, causes people to sit around and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

And in a related vein, there are more books translated each year into Modern Greek, which is spoken ONLY in Greece and Cyprus (combined population of just over 12 million people) than there are books published, both translations and original works, in Arabic, which is spoken in 26 nations with at least 420 million mother-tongue speakers, and is the official language of the musloid political system, which has under its jackboot some 1.2 billion souls.

So no, the lack of economic productivity among musloids is NOT because they are all sitting around reading and cultivating their intellects.

 

 

 

BLT Sammiches

1.  BLTs with Hellman’s mayonnaise.  Friends, it is the simple pleasures in life.  Truly.

2.  The video of the man being arrested at the school board meeting because goes over the “two minute” rule for complaining about the fact that his 14 year-old daughter was assigned PORNOGRAPHY in English class.  Oh yeah, I saw it.

Subpoint A.)  It has to be said:  what kind of parent would send their child to a public school today in the first place?  I’m dead serious here.  Public school is handing your children over to Marxist, satanic psychopaths because you (the parents, and let’s face it, grandparents too.  If I was a grandparent, I’d offer to help with the home schooling myself OR chip in to pay for private tutors.  Hey.  Two BRILLIANT ideas in one sentence:  something for the old folks to do besides watching the damn TeeVee AND the call for the resurgence in the private tutoring business!) are too damn greedy and/or lazy to homeschool.  “We can’t AFFORD it.”  Yeah.  The immortal souls of your OWN CHILDREN are of little to no value.  Way to go, post-Christian denizens of the Iniquitous Gutter Kleptarchy.  Way to “take up your crosses.”  Nice hustle.

Subpoint B.)   The most terrifying thing about that video is the fact that NOBODY did ANYTHING to stop than man – who had done nothing wrong – from being arrested.  In fact, they all just sat there trying desperately to pretend that they weren’t seeing any of it.  THAT is what was so chilling.  All of the men (and some of the women) should have leapt to their feet and formed a perimeter around the man.  Make that fat, conscienceless, miserable tick of a wannabe Stormtrooper understand that if he wants to go there, shit can most definitely get REAL.  But no.  No, no.  That roomful of cowards just sat there and watched.  And, you know, that is EXACTLY how it is going to be when the mass arrests and disappearings start.  There will be some minor tyrant (probably a damn woman, as in this case) who will say in an ice-cold tone dripping with faux-politeness, “Sir.  Sir.  Sir I need you to step over to the edge of the ditch, Sir.  Sir, I need you to step over there and kneel down now, Sir.  Sir….”  You want a battle to fight?  You want to make a stand?  I’m sorry, but it isn’t out on that ranch in Nevada.  It was in that room where a FATHER DARED QUESTION A SCHOOL BOARD ABOUT HIS DAUGHTER BEING ASSIGNED PORNOGRAPHY, AND GOT ARRESTED FOR IT.  There’s your battle.  There’s your hill to die on, if ever, ever there was one.

3.  EXTREMELY important point on the IRS being sicced on Tea Party and other conservative donors at TEN TIMES the normal rate.

LISTEN TO ME.  Miserable cowards will try to make the argument that if you haven’t cheated on your taxes or broken any IRS rules, then you should have nothing to worry about.

IT ISN’T ABOUT THAT.  It is about terrorizing and destroying people’s lives and businesses through malicious audit and/or litigation.  BELIEVE ME ON THIS.  I KNOW OF WHAT I SPEAK, GOD KNOWS I DO.  They know that conservatives are far and away the most likely class of people to have clean books and tax returns.  They aren’t looking for malfeasance.  That isn’t the point.  The point is to run up massive accountant and attorney fees and to terrorize and even break you financially (especially if you own a small business, which is by definition more vulnerable to such tactics than a large business.)  A malicious IRS audit or regulatory action or litigation can wipe out months if not YEARS of profit just from the cost of defending yourself.  Thus, my advice, coming from experience:  DO NOT run up massive bills defending these things.  That is exactly what they want.  THAT is their real objective.  Do the bare minimum.  Make their auditors do all of the work, and understand now if you don’t already, that the Rule of Law is dead, and no matter how much evidence you put before these people, the fix is in.  These are all now complete Kangaroo paradigms.  And it will not let up, and it will not end until a counter-revolutionary war has been fought and they are PHYSICALLY removed from power.

4.  Bravo to the many savvy readers who picked up on the fact that the essay immediately before this one about how Catholics and Catholic clergy really don’t actually believe any of it, thus explaining their perpetual contradictions between their words and actions, is EXACTLY the same thing that is going on in politics and everywhere else in post-Christian society.  YES.  Why can Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck (as prominent examples) be Mormon, which is a pile of bee-ess so utterly ridiculous and obvious that  NO ONE can POSSIBLY believe it after even the most cursory exploration (“god the father” is an enlightened space alien, “jesus” and “satan” were brothers, “jesus” became “a god” after becoming “enlightened”, “enlightened” Mormons get their own planet that they then get to be the “god” of, “god the holy ghost” and “god the holy spirit” are two completely different space aliens, blah, blah, blah, black people were disqualified from all of this until the late 1970s until the President/Prophet of the Mormons realized that there was big money in Africa, then, magically, blacks were eligible…sorta.  Oh, and the founder, Joseph Smith, was a career conman with a taste for the 14 year-old virgin daughters of the stupid idiots he was running his scam on (hence the polygamy… just like in islam: lead conman gets caught deflowering someone’s daughter and then claims that “god” told him that he needed multiple wives.  You know… FOR THE CAUSE.)  Anyway, why do these guys get away with this?  Because the expectation in post-Christian western culture across the board vis-a-vis religion is that NOBODY ACTUALLY BELIEVES ANY OF THIS SHIT, SO WHY DOES IT MATTER?  You don’t actually believe YOUR bullshit, and I don’t actually believe MY bullshit, so we’re even, my team is beneficial/lucrative to me, yours might be beneficial/lucrative to you, or we were born into it, and since none of it matters anyway, we just go with it.  #WHATEVS

Also, as many of you noted, this goes for things like, oh, I dunno, THE CONSTITUTION, the RULE OF LAW, etc.  Yes.  Now you’re getting it.  No one in Washington D.C. believes in the Constitution or the Rule of Law.  It is considered antiquated bullshit that IN NO WAY binds or constrains “the cool kids”.  Yep.  Exact same dynamic.

5.  The canonization of John Paul II.  I had a chance to venerate a relic of JP II on the day of the Canonization, and I didn’t.  I regret it now, and here’s why:  JP II was flat wrong and monumentally negligent in some of his actions during his pontificate.  BUT HE KNOWS BETTER NOW.  Do we believe or not?  JP II has been through his Particular Judgment and now KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT THE DEAL IS.  Right?  Do you believe that we are judged by Christ Almighty at the moment of death or not?  Or is that just more “bee-ess” that “the cool kids” don’t ACTUALLY take seriously?  Hmmmm?  Well, I believe it.  And thus, don’t you think that JP II, knowing better than any of us what the deal is and how monumentally infested and messed-up the Church is today due to his actions and negligence, that he in particular, is able to pray for us and for the Church is an especially efficacious way?  I do.  I believe in what the Church teaches.  Pope St. John Paul II, ora pro nobis.

6.  Now, on a completely random tangent, as I was reading today that Paul VI will be beatified in October as the next step in canonizing the Second Vatican Council, (beatification is/was one step below canonization), and how living a life of HEROIC VIRTUE is a criterion for non-martyred sainthood, I suddenly remembered this scene from the ARSH 1953 movie “Roman Holiday” starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.  This is the scene in which Audrey Hepburn’s character gets her hair cut in a Roman beauty parlor.  The hairdresser is played by an Italian actor named Paolo Carlini.  Pope PAUL VI was a HUGE fan of Paolo Carlini.  In fact, Carlini was a frequent visitor at the residence of Cardinal Archbishop Montini in Milan.  Did I mention the actor’s name?  PAOLO.  Oh, and Cardinal Archbishop Montini of Milan, when elected pope in ARSH 1963, took the name PAOLO VI.

Paul VI then oversaw the near-but-not-total destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, allowing Marxist-sodomite infiltrators to run absolutely hog-wild in the Novus Ordo paradigm.  He also sat silently and watched clergy all over the world openly defy his teaching in Humanae Vitae that contraception was grave mortal sin.  The subsequent result was the de facto apostasy of well over 90% of western Catholics, and the collapse of Western Civiliaztion, which you, dear reader, are living through at this moment.  He also betrayed in the most egregious terms the Cardinal of Esztergom, Hungary, a stalwart foe of Communism, who suffered horrific torture and unjust imprisonment at the hands of the Communists.  But Paul Vi was… sympathetic to the Communist worldview.  I will tell you the full story of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty soon.

Completely random thought.  Don’t mind me.  Enjoy the movie.

 

 

"The Cool Kids don't actually BELIEVE any of that bullshit…"

In truth, the most salient fact of contemporary Catholic life in the West is the way it is pervaded by the pattern of saying things and then acting as if something else were true.

(I’m learning, slowly.  Everything below that is sarcasm or the voice of a liar, heretic or apostate is in GREEN.)

Indeed.  This sentence, penned earlier this week by a secular columnist almost sums up what pretty much everyone is too cowardly to say.  In fact, it is the base premise underlying the derivative statement above that is the real 800 pound gorilla sitting squarely in the middle of the room.  And, since it is my job to state with all of the bluntness, clarity and precision I can muster the objective truths that no one else will say, I’ll say it.  I’ll answer the question:  Why do Catholics today, including and most especially clergy and religious going all the way to the TOP, say one thing and then act as if something else were true?

Because they don’t actually believe any of it.

Now, you can squirm and call me uncharitable all you like, but deep down you know just as well as I do that if you were able to corner the vast majority of these people at a cocktail party where they would open up to you honestly, OF COURSE they don’t believe in the Divinity of Christ.  OF COURSE they don’t believe in the concept of sin, much less Original Sin, and certainly not in any sort of judgment by a personal deity, much less the ridiculous fictions of hell or damnation.  OF COURSE they don’t believe in the Mass as The Holy and August Sacrifice of Calvary Made Present, and CERTAINLY not in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  I mean, come on, this is all a bunch of medieval bullshit that a bunch superstitious neanderthals used to oppress and control each other up until we “sang a newchurch into being” in 1965 after Saint Second Vatican Council incarnated in the hearts of men on October 11, 1962, and then ascended on December 8, 1965, thus liberating modern man from nineteen centuries of monumentally embarrassing and oppressive bullshit.  

 It doesn’t matter what the Mass was like before, and it doesn’t matter what the Fathers and Saints taught before, because MANKIND ITSELF was different, and not just different but INFERIOR.  Thus everything “old” is just a bunch of bullshit, and everything “new” is good, and thus the Church must also be new, and thus different.  None of that ridiculous old bullshit can possibly speak to the new, superior modern man, who, being liberated from nineteen centuries of bullshit, can now “encounter” Christ and “dialogue” with “him” as an equal.  Anyone who takes any interest at all in any of that archaic nonsense must then, by definition, be of sub-standard intelligence at best, and TOTALLY UNCOOL at worst.  You don’t want to be UNCOOL, do you?  You don’t want to be THROWN OUT OF SEMINARY, do you?  You don’t want to be disdained and sneered at and mocked behind your back by your professors, superiors and peers, do you?    You don’t want to be exiled to some *gasp* RURAL parish, do you?  You don’t want people to think that you ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT BULLSHIT, right?    

Modern man, having moved beyond and having been liberated from the bullshit, can now act as his own arbiter of truth, conceptualizing the notions of good and evil within himself, and truth, goodness and beauty are now negotiable and dynamic.  Modern man need not rely upon or even be informed by strict, antiquated, superstitious teaching (the bullshit), but now, in his superiority, can confidently rely on how things make him FEEL, and thus liberate himself and others from the bullshit, and thus stop obsessing over minutiae and trivia, and start worrying about the things that really matter: giving the state the power to redistribute wealth and incur incalculable debt so that unlimited amounts of free shit can be “given” to “poor people”, thus eliminating material inequality which is the root of social evil, and, of course, climate change.

The concepts of “mercy” and “charity” must be redefined as “PERMISSIVENESS born from INDIFFERENCE” according to the new order – the exact opposite of their antiquated and oppressive pre-St. Vatican II bullshit meanings.   

Ladies and gentlemen, in the eyes of these people there is today only one sin, and that sin is actually believing what the Catholic Church teaches.  It embarrasses them.  It embarrasses them to the point of rage.  

Over Passiontide I came across several pieces on the web speculating as to the motives behind Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Our Lord.  One surmised that Judas loved Our Lord so much that he wanted to force the hand of the Romans and Jews and bring about the installation of Christ as an earthly king.  Another postulated mere greed as the core motive.  No, no, no.  We are told in John 6 exactly why Judas betrayed Our Lord.

Judas was EMBARRASSED by Our Blessed Lord.  And there is nothing in this world that stokes and fans the flames of hatred as quickly and violently as EMBARRASSMENT.

John 6.  The Eucharistic Discourse.  Let me recount the events briefly.  This moment is the “height” of Jesus’ earthly ministry in terms of popularity.  He has drawn a crowd of five thousand men (verse 10), which means that when women and children were counted there were even more than that.  Anyway, at minimum five thousand people have spontaneously gathered around Him.  This is impressive to say the least.  Judas and the other Apostles are STOKED and are seriously starting to think about Jesus somehow being made king and expelling the Romans, and all of the perks that go along with being a member of the inner circle of a KING.  Then Jesus performs the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.  OH. MY. GOSH.  Serious momentum building now.  This is so cool.  He’s gonna be king and we’re gonna be PRINCES.  And then…

“You must eat My Flesh and drink My Blood.”  Over and over and over again.

And all the people start saying, “What in the WORLD is He talking about?”

Hearing and seeing the thousands and thousands of people pretty much freaking out at His words, and, you know, being God Incarnate and omniscient and all, He then repeats it with more clarity and force.  “For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him.”

At this point the entire crowd, who just a few minutes ago were totally on board with the program, and would have been the vectors of a likely movement to put Jesus on the Throne of David, almost to the man get up and leave.  C-ya.

And why did they leave?  Because Our Blessed Lord just told them about His Real Presence in the Eucharist – that bread and wine would be transubstantiated such that their substance would actually become the substance of God that we could physically eat and thus take into our own bodies – because that is how much He loves us.

The other eleven Apostles are CONFUSED to be sure (aren’t we all), but they know who Jesus is, and their faith, despite their near-total confusion, keeps them from abandoning Him.  Jesus walks over to them, and instead of saying, “Aw, shucks, I was just talking symbolically,” as the protestant heresy would have Him do, He gets in their faces and forces them to make an Act of Faith right then and there: “Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?”

At this point Peter makes one of the greatest Acts of Faith in all of human history, up there with the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation and the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham: “And Simon Peter answered Him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”

Backing up to verse 65, we see Judas who was so utterly EMBARRASSED by Our Lord’s revelation to mankind of the Holy Eucharist, and the near-instantaneous loss of the power base that Judas, just a few short minutes before, envisioned elevating him to a princely throne with all of the wealth and power and popularity-by-association that would come with it, that he is enraged, and is already plotting to betray Jesus.  “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray Him.”

Please note that the metric here is not UNDERSTANDING, but BELIEF.  No one to this day understands the mechanisms of transubstantiation.  Got that?  It is a mystery how the substance of one thing can be changed into the substance not just of something else, but of God Himself, whilst the accidents (the appearance, taste, etc.) remain.  Absolutely. No. Clue.  It requires faith.  Hence, verse 64:  “It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.”

Judas Iscariot did not believe in the Holy Eucharist and was thus EMBARRASSED by and ASHAMED of It, which is to say, Our Lord.  This embarrassment and shame was instantly converted into anger and hatred of Our Lord.

Ahem.  Cough-cough.  Is anyone else experiencing a weird deja vu kind of vibe right about now?

Now, bringing it full circle, tell me who you would assign the following quote to: Judas Iscariot or the average modern western Catholic?

How in the hell do you expect us to get anyone to join and support us if you keep talking about this bullshit?  This superstitious crap might have flown back in the day, but crazy bullshit like that only drives people away now.  You either need to drop that talk all together, or walk it back and tone it way the hell down into some meaningless, non-offensive symbolism or shared community meal meme, or something.  Bottom line, you are embarrassing us with this bullshit. STOP EMBARRASSING US.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, the next time you see or hear something that fits the pattern of “saying things and then acting as if something else were true”, ask yourself if the following foundational premise would totally, completely explain everything you are seeing:

They don’t actually believe any of it.

Fatima

For any of you still under the monumental delusion that Russia has in fact been properly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that Russia is now the center of Christian renewal, I give you the graphic below.

Also, I just have to paraphrase a quote I saw on the innerwebz last week.  Language warning.

So, are we all to believe now that Our Lady appeared at Fatima just to bullshit all of us?

Yup.  Harsh, but inescapably true.  Sadly, the big “We Don’t Actually Believe Any of This Bullshit” essay is coming tomorrow.

We're talking an entire country and civilization slaughtering their own children at rates like those of urban American blacks, namely in excess of 50%.  Do you honestly think that THIS is the fruit of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary????

We’re talking an entire country and civilization slaughtering their own children at rates like those of urban American blacks, namely in excess of 50%. Do you honestly think that THIS is the fruit of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary????

 

The one about… PSEUDONYMS, ANONYMITY and NOMS de GUERRE

(Reposted by request from last summer.  Great men, and great leaders of men, don’t cower behind pseudonyms.  “This is what I REALLY think, but I can’t say it because I might get in trouble at work.”  –QuiveringEunuchYayAmerica1776
Or, the other side of the coin:
“I hate you, you @$^%& ugly @$%($^*.  If I ever see you I’ll #$%^&^ kill your ugly *&^%!” –GatorJonesOnionShake1982 ) 

InnernetToughguy

Back to my old job of STATING THE BLOODY OBVIOUS:  Barack Obama personally and the entire Obama regime is in an EXPLICIT ALLIANCE with the Muslim Brotherhood.  Obama personally is a product of the MB and has connections from his university days, Chicago and his putative Kenyan relatives – Malik Obama (putative half brother) is a high-ranking MB player in Africa. Further, Hillary Clinton’s right-hand-man and possible lesbian concubine Huma Abedin (Mrs. Anthony Weiner) is the daughter of two of the MB’s highest-ranking members.  The MB has massively, massively infiltrated the United States, the FEDGOV bureaucracy, the intelligence agencies, most particularly the FBI, and the Congress and Executive branches of the post-American regime.  Further, nothing will be said about the Christian genocide in Egypt (well over 80 Coptic churches and monasteries burned in the last three weeks) because these people in Washington are evil, evil people and HATE Christianity and the Church.  They WANT Christianity and Christians to be exterminated.  They relish in the death of the Copts in Egypt.  [And the slaughter of Christians in Syria, and the near-total elimination of Chaldean Christians in Iraq, and the non-response to the genocide of Christians in Nigeria, including the non-response to the kidnapping of the 230 Christian schoolgirls by Boko Haram on April 15th.] They relish in the genocide and are preparing to carry out the same thing in the former United States eventually, in an axis with Sodomites, musloids and militant Marxists – and many of the Sodomites and Marxists will SELF-IDENTIFY AS “CHRISTIANS”.  You mark my words.  This war is going to be so unlike anything ever before seen, because the lines of battle are going to be almost impossible to conventionally demarcate.  Every population center will be its own discrete theater, and the players, with the exception of gang-bangers, will be almost impossible to visually sort.  And yes, there will absolutely be white, middle-class suburban people among the enemy.  Been to the airport lately?  TSA much?

Which brings me to something I have wanted to talk about for a while.  We need to talk about “handles”, “aliases” and “noms de guerre”.  Guys, while that tactic may have been sound in previous wars, it is going to be a disaster in this war.  It needs to stop.  Let me explain.  Let’s say I go to some gathering somewhere of counter-revolutionaries.  A middle-aged white dude walks up to me and says, “Hi.  I’m ‘Disturbed Citizen’ from the Mid-South Shotgun Shooters blog.  We have corresponded via email.”  Now stop and think about this.  How can I possibly, possibly confirm that this guy, who I have indeed corresponded with via email, actually is who he says he is?  We all now know for a metaphysical certitude that all of our email has been logged and may have been read by FEDGOV.  We MUST assume that FEDGOV is every bit as knowledgable of our data and correspondences as we are.  How do I know that this man standing before me really is ‘Disturbed Citizen’?  There is no possible way for me to confirm this.  I don’t know what ‘Disturbed Citizen’s’ name is, so asking for an I.D. is pointless.  I don’t know what ‘Disturbed Citizen’ looks like, so visual confirmation is off the table.  And the enemy has FULL ACCESS to all correspondence between myself and the real ‘Disturbed Citizen’, and thus can quote and make references WITH FULL CONTEXT AND DETAIL.

Do you see this?  Given the tactical situation, the proper course is NOT for us to hide.  That ship sailed a LONG time ago.  The only thing that hiding behind aliases, handles and noms de guerre accomplishes is opening a HUGE door to the enemy such that they can infiltrate us with ease never-before-seen in the annals of war.  The proper tactic is to BE NOT AFRAID and come out from behind aliases and handles NOW.

Now, take me, for example.  If I were to roll into some event somewhere, people would know who I was by name and by sight, and if they did not know who I was, I could quickly and easily confirm my identity and bona fides.

I know it is a big step, but just read over what I have said and then THINK.  The tactical table has been inverted.  If you all try to fight this war as if it hasn’t, you will get your butt handed to you and you will deserve it.  Enough of this prevent defense.  The only way to win is to fix bayonets and charge, and in my considered opinion, step one should be establishing identity so that we at least have a chance at a modicum of OPSEC.  Counterintuitive?  Absolutely.  But the truth often is counterintuitive.

That is all.