3 January 2016. Cabinet Vox Pop on “Brother Nathanael”

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I got this from a well-regarded senior lay source:

Regarding your post on “Brother Nathanael”, I’m astounded to read that he has any connection with any canonical Orthodox diocese. By accident, I came across several of his YouTube rants and always assumed that he was a total impostor pretending to be an Orthodox monk, and could just as easily have claimed to be the Pope of Rome. He comes across as having an obsession with the Jews, and various Middle Eastern sources, possibly even Islamic, quoted him favourably as sharing their disdain for Jewish people. This is bad for the Orthodox Church if a bishop officially recognises him as authentically Orthodox. Not to my knowledge has he mentioned what monastery he actually abides in, and how is he not under ecclesiastical supervision regarding self-glorification by promoting himself in mass media?

I need add nothing. Vladyki Hilarion brought disgrace upon the Church by his (albeit vague and tepid) approval of this jabronie. I’ll speak the truth to power, if necessary… Vladyki Hilarion, be clearer… CONDEMN Nathanael’s rants or people will think that you approve of them…

BMD

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3 January 2016. The Kids from Syria Speak…

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President Assad protects the kids… Iran protects the kids… Hezbollah protects the kids… Russia protects the kids. The Kurds, Assyrians, and Iraqi Shias are good guys, too. The USA kills the kids… the KSA kills the kids… Turkey kills the kids… ISIS kills the kids… the moderate terrorist “opposition” kills the kids. That’s the picture, the long and the short of it all.

That’s why you can’t vote for Republicans or Establishment Dems… they support the killing of Syrian kids. Ugly, but true. Get your mind right…

BMD

3 January 2016. Ded Moroz as You’ve Never Seen Him Before!

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Dede’s got MOVES… now, how’s that for ya?

BMD

3 January 2016. Who’s “the Government?” Why, “It’s Just Us, Organised!”

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A FB Friend gave this zinger to the anti-vaxxer nutters:

“Government” as a category is nonsense. It’s just us, organised. So, if you exclude “government”, you screw your epistemology from the start; then, if you take a stand that anyone who profits is lying, in a system geared for profits, your epistemology takes another hit. Yes, they exaggerate; yes, they are not little angels… but they lie within a range, and just taking a 180 from them is idiocy.

What does this tell us about neoliberal “conservatives?” It’s clear that their model of government is a distorted and nastier version of Don Corleone’s Mafia Family… even Don Vito had more compassion, empathy, and charity. REAL Government is necessary; the Church teaches that it’s GOOD… the Church CONDEMNS the nihilistic anarchy embodied by Cliven Bundy, Chilly Hilly, Ted Cruz, and the Koch Brothers. No… government ain’t perfect, but as Hobbes pointed up, the alternative to it is FAR worse. By the way… people of the REAL Left and REAL Conservatives (we have none of the latter in the USA, sadly enough) have MUCH in common. Remember… Prince Bismarck introduced single-payer healthcare and Comrade Zyuganov is for law n’ order… neither one would be comfortable with neoliberal nihilism (as embodied by the likes of the late William F Buckley, Rod Dreher, and Pat Buchanan). Liberalism is a rotting pustule and a devouring cancer… all decent people, both Leftists and Conservatives, should unite to slay it. Ponder this… the most perfect exemplars of Liberalism are Anglosphere “conservatives”… not self-identified “liberals”… fancy that…

BMD