I could not agree more. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=
Far too many young bleed because unsolvable problems are never solved. There will always be poverty. That does not excuse the lack of effort to try and improve but youth generally fail to see things in a balanced manner.
If there is a top there must also be a bottom. The issue is elevating the top and thereby, lifting the bottom. Liberals want to penalize the top (read successful) stupidly believing this will improve the plight of those on the bottom when all it does is disincentive everyone. Johnson's "War on Poverty" created conditions which later led to more poverty. I broke up the black family, made them more dependent on welfare and bought The Democrat Party more votes - at a cost of over a trillion dollars and which continues to this day.
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How to destroy a nation. (See 1 below.)
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Is Turkey more a threat to NATO than say, Russia? (See 2 below.)
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Keep doing it even if it seems pointless. (See 3 below.)
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Dick
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1) How to Destroy a Nation
In The Possessed, Dostoyevsky has his character Shatov exclaim:
If a great people does not believe that the truth is only to be found in itself alone (in itself alone and exclusively); if it does not believe that it alone is fit and destined to raise up and save all the rest by its truth, it would at once sink into being ethnographical material, and not a great people…Put another way, if a nation has confidence in itself, it continues as a viable political entity. Once it loses that, it lacks cohesion and becomes only a collection of random people living together.
In the 19th century, the British people believed in themselves. This confidence fueled their impetus for Empire; they embraced the need, the duty, even, to bring democracy, Christianity, and the British way of life to the entire world. No one doubted their heaven-sent mandate to do so. So much so, that Britain almost singlehandedly assumed the mission of ending the slave trade. As much as one-sixth of the Royal Navy was eventually assigned to this task, patrolling the Atlantic, and eventually freeing in the process 150,000 African captives.
In Zanzibar, the ancient Muslim slave market was closed and an Anglican church erected on the spot, with the slave whipping post being exchanged for an altar. Truth, justice, and righteousness had prevailed, thanks to British arms.
In another part of Africa, David Livingston, after observing an Arab slave raid on an African village, devoted himself to the crusade -- there is no better term for it -- against the traffic, becoming an English hero for so doing.
And if my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian slavery should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all the Nile sources together. -- (Livingstone in a letter to the editor of the New York Herald)In India, the thug cult of stranglers was suppressed. As was Sati, by General Charles Napier:
This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
Fast forward now to the America of the 21st century. A U.S. Army soldier hears the screaming of young boys as they are being sexually abused by Afghan police. "At night we can hear them screaming, but we're not allowed to do anything about it." His superior officers, according to the account, "told him to look the other way because it's their culture."
It is not an American custom. But America no longer believes that it has any right to intervene. All cultures are alike, we have been told; no one is better than any other, not even our own. We have lost our moral confidence.
If you want to destroy a nation, you find a way to denigrate its belief in itself. Smear its founders. Belittle its accomplishments. Pillory it for failing to live up to its ideals. Mock its most sacred traditions. Deride its heroes.
In the end, you will no longer have a nation, but only a collection of tribes, who occupy the same space but share no common concepts. There is nothing to unify them. In other words, you will be able to pinpoint that country with geographical data, but you will not find a national people.
One can argue that Britain ceased to be a nation when "to be British" no longer referred to a shared set of cultural beliefs. Today we may speak only of the "British Isles". America too now has headed down that long path to cultural oblivion. Being "American" once meant mom, apple pie, Sunday School, fair play, democracy, equality, and decency. But who is there going to be left who retains the moral confidence necessary to be an American in that old sense, once our political and academic leaders have finished their job of wrecking our past?
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2) The Black Sheep of NATO
It was made abundantly clear last week in Philadelphia, of all places, that NATO is being undermined from within and lacks the will to defend its own values and interests.
Even so, I didn't mind being scheduled to sit next to Çelik and hear him out, but Turkish government officials reacted like campus snowflakes who were about to be forced, Clockwork Orange-style, to sit and listen to a speech by Ann Coulter.I know little about Çelik personally and had no idea what he was planning to say, yet I expected to be a bit skeptical. He's not on Team Erdoğan—that's clear—but the Gülenist movement isn't composed of Jeffersonian democrats either. In City Journal, Claire Berlinski expertly exposed Gülen as an authoritarian thug masquerading as a moderate. Lest there be any doubt about that, until a few years ago, the Gülenists were part of Erdoğan's authoritarian coalition, making Gülen Turkey's Leon Trotsky, if you will.
It made perfect sense to bring Turkey into the Western alliance when the Soviet Union strode like a colossus over half of Europe, but it's grandfathered in at this point, a second-class member, and needs to be treated accordingly. Virtually no Western government seems to grasp this, however, not even the American government, and not even the Trump administration. Last week, Donald Trump called Erdoğan a "friend," boasted that the Turkish dictator gets "very high marks," and allegedly apologized to Erdoğan personally for the fact that members of his security detail were indicted for beating up Kurdish protesters on a public sidewalk in Washington, DC.If Turkey weren't already in NATO, it would not be admitted. We might as well admit Venezuela, Cuba and Belarus if Turkey fits the bill. We are not going to kick the Turks out, though, nor should we, tempting as it may be. We're going to have to deal with them either way, and we'll get better results if we do so within a friendly framework than with them on the outside where they'd feel compelled to snuggle up to Moscow and Tehran even more than they already have.
3) Why You Should Keep Taking Your Kids To Church Even When It Feels Pointless
Every Sunday families face the monumental challenge of getting out the door and to the service on time. In our house the baby always needs something right as it is time to leave.
By Emily Carrington
After a bottle, a paci, her blanket, and some coaxing, our eight-week-old daughter fell asleep on the way to church. I hoped she would take a morning nap during the service and we would actually focus on worship.
As Russell Moore stated, “we are not simply fueling our individual quiet times with praise choruses. We’re actually ascending to the heavenly places together, standing before Christ and all of his angels on Mount Zion.” But now with children participation in the corporate body feels like a distant reality and heaven isn’t any closer.
If we wait until we have perfectly well-behaved children to bring them to church, it is likely Jesus will have already returned. Looking back, things only got more difficult for my parents as my sister and I got older. I have distinct memories of my dad sitting in the station wagon idling in the driveway while my mom herded us out the door.
Your time after the service, while perhaps not as essential as participating in the word and sacrament, is an important part of being part of the body. Your children are meeting peers whom, Lord willing, will be alongside them as they come into their faith.
by Michael J. Totten
World Affairs Journal
World Affairs Journal
It was made abundantly clear last week in Philadelphia, of all places, that NATO is being undermined from within and lacks the will to defend its own values and interests.
I flew to Philadelphia to speak to visiting members of NATO's Parliamentary Assemblyat a foreign policy conference organized by the Middle East Forum, where I am a fellow. Most of the event was off the record, but the final portion was not, and that's when the news broke.
First, a bit of background. Rumi Forum President Emre Çelik was supposed to be on my panel, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office in Ankara demanded we disinvite him or his delegation wouldn't attend. Çelik is part of the intellectual movement led by Fethullah Gülen, a former Erdoğan ally currently exiled in rural Pennsylvania. Erdoğan blames Gülen and his followers for the botched military coup last summer and has since purged and imprisoned tens of thousands of people, including journalists as well as government officials and military officers. Çelik couldn't sit next to me on a panel in Philadelphia because Ankara—on the other side of the world—declared him an enemy of the state and a terrorist.
Even so, I didn't mind being scheduled to sit next to Çelik and hear him out, but Turkish government officials reacted like campus snowflakes who were about to be forced, Clockwork Orange-style, to sit and listen to a speech by Ann Coulter.I know little about Çelik personally and had no idea what he was planning to say, yet I expected to be a bit skeptical. He's not on Team Erdoğan—that's clear—but the Gülenist movement isn't composed of Jeffersonian democrats either. In City Journal, Claire Berlinski expertly exposed Gülen as an authoritarian thug masquerading as a moderate. Lest there be any doubt about that, until a few years ago, the Gülenists were part of Erdoğan's authoritarian coalition, making Gülen Turkey's Leon Trotsky, if you will.
MEF President Daniel Pipes wouldn't stand for it, so he ostensibly disinvited Çelik, then sprung him on the NATO conference goers at the last minute. The Turkish delegation pitched a fit and stormed out. What happened next, though, was worse. The entire NATO delegation, in solidarity with their Turkish colleagues, also walked out of the conference.
So, a dictator in Asia used the heckler's veto against a dissident in America, a five-minute walk from the Museum of the American Revolution, and our European allies let him get away with it. The remaining guests in Philadelphia, though, almost all them Americans, gave Çelik a standing ovation.
Declaring this unacceptable doesn't quite say it. NATO is Western Civilization's military alliance. Turkey is not part of the West. It does not share our values, not really, nor does it share our interests any longer. It's threatening military action against our friends in Iraqi Kurdistan, forging closer ties with Iran and Russia, and purchasing a missile defense system from Moscow. Until recently, it effectively supported ISIS in Syria.
It made perfect sense to bring Turkey into the Western alliance when the Soviet Union strode like a colossus over half of Europe, but it's grandfathered in at this point, a second-class member, and needs to be treated accordingly. Virtually no Western government seems to grasp this, however, not even the American government, and not even the Trump administration. Last week, Donald Trump called Erdoğan a "friend," boasted that the Turkish dictator gets "very high marks," and allegedly apologized to Erdoğan personally for the fact that members of his security detail were indicted for beating up Kurdish protesters on a public sidewalk in Washington, DC.If Turkey weren't already in NATO, it would not be admitted. We might as well admit Venezuela, Cuba and Belarus if Turkey fits the bill. We are not going to kick the Turks out, though, nor should we, tempting as it may be. We're going to have to deal with them either way, and we'll get better results if we do so within a friendly framework than with them on the outside where they'd feel compelled to snuggle up to Moscow and Tehran even more than they already have.
Alas, the only Western head of state willing to take on Erdoğan publicly and personally is German Chancellor Angela Merkel who, earlier this month, said Turkey has no chance of ever joining the European Union. It's not the same as downgrading Turkey's status in NATO, but it's a start.
Michael J. Totten is a contributing editor at The Tower, a Middle East Forum writing fellow, and the author of seven books, including Where the West Ends and Tower of the Sun.==================================
3) Why You Should Keep Taking Your Kids To Church Even When It Feels Pointless
Every Sunday families face the monumental challenge of getting out the door and to the service on time. In our house the baby always needs something right as it is time to leave.
By Emily Carrington
After a bottle, a paci, her blanket, and some coaxing, our eight-week-old daughter fell asleep on the way to church. I hoped she would take a morning nap during the service and we would actually focus on worship.
Not ten minutes into the service, she filled her diaper. Out went my husband with my daughter. After they returned, she sat calmly for about two minutes before the fussing began again. I took her to the back to calm her down, but nothing worked. I went back to our seat, grabbed my nursing cover, and headed to the room in the back. Nursing, burping, and more fussing ensued. Before I knew it, the service was over and I had yet to “worship.” I couldn’t help but wonder: Why are we even here? Why do we even try?
Every Sunday is some variation of this routine. In the two to three hours we spend at church, my daughter is bound to need to be changed, fed, and put to sleep. My husband and I are like popcorn as we tend to her needs. I think about the future and realize that things are not going to get easier any time soon.
I remember my parents dutifully bringing us to church and carting us up to the balcony. My grandma would quietly pass out fruit Mentos while we wiggled in our pew. Over the years this pew was where we would doodle on children’s bulletins, sing hymns, and memorize the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed. Slowly, but surely, these words were written on our hearts and the wiggles stopped. My parents’ persistence and regular church attendance wasn’t futile.
Other parents of young children, be encouraged. Your work on Sunday mornings isn’t futile either. Even the worst, most distracted and failed attempts are important, if for no other reasons but the following.
You Are Teaching Your Child that Church Is Important
You wouldn’t be attempting church with children if you didn’t think it was important. Perhaps you have always known church is important or perhaps as a childless adult you were convinced that corporate worship is better than an isolated spiritual life. Either way, you have known the beautiful reality that going to church is part of the spiritual life.
As Russell Moore stated, “we are not simply fueling our individual quiet times with praise choruses. We’re actually ascending to the heavenly places together, standing before Christ and all of his angels on Mount Zion.” But now with children participation in the corporate body feels like a distant reality and heaven isn’t any closer.
Every Sunday families face the monumental challenge of getting out the door and to the service on time. In our house the baby always needs something right as it is time to leave. Some mornings we stop to address her needs and we are late to church. Other mornings we come rolling in with a crying, needy baby. Either way, we are not part of corporate worship in the ways we used to be.
It is easy to find excuses to stay home, but even on the most stressful mornings it is important that Christian parents haul their families to church, even if we just feel like we are going through the motions. Children see what we do and, as my pastor reminds us regularly, they love what we love. The regular struggle to attend regular worship reinforces to our children that church is a priority.
You Are Creating Habits that Will Smooth the Future
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6.
If we wait until we have perfectly well-behaved children to bring them to church, it is likely Jesus will have already returned. Looking back, things only got more difficult for my parents as my sister and I got older. I have distinct memories of my dad sitting in the station wagon idling in the driveway while my mom herded us out the door.
Once I could drive we would often take three cars to get four people to church because nobody could get out the door on time to suit my father. But we followed his lead. Going to church wasn’t debatable, and nobody had to tell us that. This was simply the established order as long as I can remember. It was this habit that pulled me through as I doubted my faith in my adolescence.
While on the subject of behavior and habit-making: what a great way to teach, practice, and live grace. Our salvation isn’t dependent on our behavior, so don’t make church attendance behavior-dependent, either. Our children need grace, and so do we. Regardless of how the children are acting during worship, if worship involves entering the presence of God, then what better time than with screaming children to experience such a grace.
You Are Introducing Your Kids to a Lifelong Community
So you got to church and you survived the service, but you can’t repeat any points from the sermon and your child was throwing a fit so epic no one could focus on the sacraments. Wasted time, right? No.
Your time after the service, while perhaps not as essential as participating in the word and sacrament, is an important part of being part of the body. Your children are meeting peers whom, Lord willing, will be alongside them as they come into their faith.
Emily Carrington is a housewife and nonprofit consultant in Hillsdale, Michigan. She is also a co-founder of the start-up nonprofit organization the Early Pregnancy Loss Association. Follow her on Twitter: @ecarrington725.
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