Category Archives: Politics

The Bullet, the Ear and the Metaphysics

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When Donald Trump narrowly avoided an assassin’s bullet last year, many Christians, and Trump himself, ascribed the near miss to providential intervention. Trump’s ear did not go unscathed, but he rarely seems to listen to anything but his own voice, so it didn’t get much productive use anyway.

Unlike Naturalists I don’t view the universe as a closed system. I think it’s perfectly reasonable for an intelligent agent exterior to the natural universe to act on it; so I have no problem accepting that miracles have occurred or that they continue to occur.

MAGA (Make Anglicans Great Also as I like to think of it) enthusiasts hailed Trump’s survival as evidence that God really does want to make America great again. The most obvious problem with this is that America was never great in the first place. Obscenely wealthy, admittedly and that, in TrumpWorld, is much the same thing.

I offer a few possible explanations for what happened.

  • The whole thing was simple chance, a matter of physics, Trump’s neurons firing randomly – something that happens a lot – leading him to turn his head at just the right moment.
  • God did intervene because He wants Trump to survive. That in itself may be for a number of less than obvious reasons. Trump could be an instrument of divine judgement about to be visited on the West. It could be a precursor to Armageddon. MAGA evangelicals might think it is a precursor to revival, although that seems unlikely since Paula White is Trump’s spiritual advisor. If we are to be optimistic, it could be to protect the unborn, to support Israel, to usher in a new golden age where they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid. I’m not much given to optimism.
  • Satan intervened and turned Trump’s head at just the right moment. Those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome might well subscribe to this view. A variation on this would be that God permitted Satan to intervene or goaded him into it for one of the reasons I mentioned above.
  • Shelley was a prophet and Ozymandias was a type of Trump.

I have no idea which of these is the true reason, although I am inclined to the last.

One thing I am sure of though is that, as Tolstoy maintained in War and Peace, the more we think we are in control of our own destiny, the less we actually are. And the more worldly power we wield, the more that applies.

Buffoons are running the world

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Or should that be “ruining”?

The Signal chat security leak was remarkable in a number of ways.

Firstly, I cannot believe that the US government permits a commercial chat program to be used to plan military missions. I worked for IBM for many years, the last 15 of them at home. I connected to their mainframes using an encrypted VPN on a company supplied laptop. Personal laptops were not permitted to access the mainframes. Non-authorized programs could not be installed on the IBM supplied laptop. Unlike a VPN you buy for your home computer, where data decryption occurs at the VPN vendor’s server, my work VPN had end-to-end encryption. Any group messaging had to use an internal secure messaging program. And I was not planning the dropping of bombs on anyone.

To be fair, Signal does have end-to-end encryption.

Secondly, the people attending the Signal chat exhibited a degree of incompetence that would make the Dormouse and March Hare planning the Mad Hatter’s tea party look good. Did no one think to check who was in the chat? And these people are planning the dropping of bombs?

Thirdly, the preposterous spin and lies being tossed about in an attempt to make all this go away are so transparently stupid that only the stupid could possibly give them any credence.

Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy has a selection of comic characters that eerily echo the current occupants of the White House. While equally comic, I fear the real thing is more sinister. I strongly suspect that, rather like the hapless Apthorpe in Waugh’s trilogy, Mike Waltz has an unnatural attachment to a Thunder-Box stored in his attic.

Speaking of the journalist inadvertently invited to the chat, Waltz claims “I didn’t see this loser in the group”. In TrumpWorld there are only winners and losers.

As I write this, I see that Waltz has taken responsibility for this mess and, presumably, has joined the losers.

Trump of Toad Hall

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My mother read Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows to me when I was a small child. As soon as I could read for myself, I reread it. I’ve reread it numerous times as an adult; it is a wonderful book.

The animals in it all have human characteristics.  Badger is a crotchety secluded introvert, Mole and Rat are unlikely friends, Otter is a worried parent, Toad is a wealthy braggart – sorry, we should show some respect and call him Mr. Toad. If you haven’t read Wind in the Willows, you should. It has wit, charm, pathos, humour, mysticism and a final battle between good and evil.

In a previous article I compared Trump to Rex Mottram in Brideshead Revisited, someone with a fluorescent shell, empty inside but able to dazzle the unwary. I hesitate to compare Trump to Mr. Toad because Toad, in addition to being an egotistical braggart, has charm; Trump doesn’t. And I don’t want to insult the lovable Mr. Toad.

Nevertheless, the comparison is illuminating. If you can’t be bothered to listen to Trump’s address to Congress yesterday, here is a panegyric of Toad to himself which nicely summarizes the Trump speech:

“The world has held great Heroes,
As history-books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!

“The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!

“The animals sat in the Ark and cried,
Their tears in torrents flowed.
Who was it said, ‘There’s land ahead?’
Encouraging Mr. Toad!

“The army all saluted
As they marched along the road.
Was it the King? Or Kitchener?
No. It was Mr. Toad.

“The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting
Sat at the window and sewed.
She cried, ‘Look! who’s that handsome man?’
They answered, ‘Mr. Toad.’”

And here is Toad’s Homecoming Song having defeated the evil weasels with the help of Mole, Badger, Rat and Otter. To be recited upon re-entering the White House as Leader of the Free World:

The Toad—came—home!
There was panic in the parlours and howling in the halls,
There was crying in the cow-sheds and shrieking in the stalls,
When the Toad—came—home!

When the Toad—came—home!
There was smashing in of window and crashing in of door,
There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor,
When the Toad—came—home!

Bang! go the drums!
The trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting,
And the cannon they are shooting and the motor-cars are hooting,
As the—Hero—comes!

Shout—Hoo-ray!
And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud,
In honour of an animal of whom you’re justly proud,
For it’s Toad’s—great—day!

 That Zelensky Trump Meeting

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When Donald Trump won the White House for the second time, I was not unhappy with the result in spite of his evident character flaws so blatantly – even proudly – on display. I agreed with many of the things he attempted to do in his first term and the alternative candidate was so much worse.

The credit Trump accumulated in my mind was squandered yesterday in his meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

Even during Trump’s first term, he struck me as a character extracted from a comic book; a cardboard cutout, two dimensional, a Marvell hero or villain, depending on your viewpoint. If I were to compare Trump to a character in literature, it would be Rex Mottram in Brideshead Revisited. Here is Mottram’s wife’s assessment of her husband:

“He wasn’t a complete human being at all.  He was a tiny bit of one, unnaturally developed; something in a bottle, an organ kept alive in a laboratory. I thought he was a sort of primitive savage, but he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce. A tiny bit of a man pretending to be whole.”

One could argue that Trump’s arrogance, braggadocio, pomposity, and hyper-inflated ego are all part of the package, as is the frequent nonsense he spouts with such relish. After all, it’s the end result that counts. I probably did say that to myself; but no more.

The pilgrimages foreign leaders have been making to the Oval Office remind me that in the exercise of raw power, nothing ever changes. Just as weaker kings used to bring offerings to stronger kings to appease them, so they continue to do so. Kier Starmer’s was the most nauseating, particularly when he produced the Letter From the King. Trump lapped it up.

Zelensky’s visit was very different. He didn’t grovel enough. He was insufficiently grateful for the beneficence of the dominant super-power. He didn’t say thank you enough.

When Zelensky attempted to make his case in a language that was not his native tongue, he was shouted down, bullied and ejected.

Quite possibly Trump’s attempt to come up with a peaceful solution was genuine; perhaps Zelensky should have abased himself more thoroughly. Either way, what we witnessed was the exercise of raw power of the strong over the weak.

Although one probably shouldn’t apply this to nation states, Malcolm Muggeridge had a point when he used to say “You can have love or power, but you can’t have both”.

Peter Hitchens was correct in this article published today:

Well, at least the silly myth that America is the world’s kindly sugar daddy has been killed off forever. I do not like Donald Trump and I feel quite sorry for Ukraine’s President Zelensky. But Friday night’s White House melodrama will be good for the world, if only we heed it. And if you think nothing like it has ever happened before, you are gravely wrong.

It is indeed a wake-up call for Canada and Europe. The US is not our friend; nation’s do not have friends, they have allies; sometimes the allies are rather disagreeable regimes. Whether the US is Canada’s ally remains to be seen; either way, we can no longer depend on the US to be our sugar daddy.

Who is celebrating Biden’s victory?

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During a recent church zoom meeting someone started rejoicing at the impending end of the reign of the current tenant of the White House. Just as I started to open my mouth, my wife whispered in my ear, “don’t”. That’s code for “shut up, don’t start on politics”.

It was a narrow escape, but I managed it. It did make me ponder one of life’s little mysteries, though: why do political liberals always take it for granted that every right-thinking, sane person simply must agree with them? If someone has the effrontery to disagree, it doesn’t merely take the liberal aback, it rattles the foundations of his entire universe. That’s one of the reasons I find disagreeing almost irresistible.

I wanted Trump to win. Among those who didn’t are these industrial baby killers:

Abortion giants around the world have celebrated Joe Biden’s reported Presidential victory by releasing a series of statements praising his pro-abortion position and policies.

Joe Biden was announced as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election by media outlets during the weekend. Some remaining US states continue to count their votes.

Following the announcement, global abortion giants took to social media to congratulate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their

Planned Parenthood and NARAL have both publicly celebrated Biden’s reported win.

The Florida Planned Parenthood Alliance said: “The work is just getting started. Today, we celebrate; tomorrow, we get to work.”

Planned Parenthood kills an average of 345,672 unborn children every year by abortion.

Alexis McGill Johnson, President of Planned Parenthood Action said: “Voters’ voices were loud and clear, and they elected a new President, who is fully committed to protecting access to sexual and reproductive health care — including access to abortion…

“Throughout her career, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been a steadfast champion for reproductive rights and health care. With the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, America will be in the hands of leaders who are deeply committed to advancing and expanding reproductive rights.”

Marie Stopes International (MSI) and Marie Stopes UK, which is one of Britain’s largest abortion providers, also weighed in on the election results.

In an online statement Marie Stopes, which kills an average of 4 million unborn children globally each year, congratulated Biden and Harris for their dedication to “choice” and urged for the repeal of Donald Trump’s pro-life policies.

The abortion giant said: “We look forward to the United States restoring their position as a world leader in championing choice and reproductive rights.

“The new administration will have a lot on its plate, but a quick win would be the repeal of Trump’s Global Gag Rule… Without Trump’s Global Gag Rule.”

Taking a knee

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When I first heard of taking a knee, I thought to myself: “whose knee? Take it where?”

And I was reminded of Spike Milligan’s version of, “I left my heart in San Francisco”:

I left my heart in San Francisco,
I left my knees in old Peru.
I left my little wooden leg
Hanging on a metal peg,
And my eyeballs I gave to you.
I left my teeth on Table Mountain,
High on a hill they smile at me.
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
There won’t be much left of me.

I don’t know why the saying irritates me so profoundly, but it does. Why can’t people say, “I knelt”? Is it because “I knelt” evokes echoes of Christianity which today, as everyone knows, is a thinly disguised euphemism for white colonialism?

Like or not, though, those who take their knees are performing an act of religious obeisance to a god: the god of conspicuous righteousness in this case.

Here we have some police men and women who have taken their knees, not to old Peru, but downtown Toronto to show everyone that social distancing isn’t as important as they claimed when they handed out tickets to people getting together for reasons other than demonstrating on behalf of black lives matter.

It’s a lovely image: heads bowed in reverence, cameras clicking, fists raised, CBC microphone at the ready, poised to capture any whispered pieties.

Canada legalises recreational marijuana use

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Having spend the last 50 years trying to convince people to stop smoking tobacco because it is bad for them, the government of Canada has legalised cannabis even though smoking it is probably worse.

Our prime minister, who must by now have realised that a drug-stupefied population is his only hope for re-election, tweeted this:

Criminals will still reap the profits; the only difference is they are sitting in the House of Commons.

Children will undoubtedly find it easy to obtain legal marijuana – from their older friends, from their parents. From the back garden.

As Western civilisation aborts, euthanises and dopes itself into extinction, cheered on by mainline churches, I fear there will be no reprieve, no swinging back of the pendulum, no regret or repentance, no Christendom redux.

We have one remaining hope: not marijuana, Maranatha.