Our Vice President has crafted more pearls of prose. Her atelier this time happened to be her own airplane, Air Force 2 and they took the form of an interview with ace, lick-spittle reporter Joy Reid, who asked the VP if she supported regime change in Russia.
Kamala’s first two attempts were masterpieces of not answering.
Part the First.
‘Which is why our policy from the beginning has been about ensuring that there are going to be real costs exacted against Russia in the form of severe sanctions, which are having a real impact and immediate impact, not to mention the longer term impact, which is about saying there is going to be consequence and accountability when you commit the kinds of atrocities that he is committing,’
You’re humble correspondent is speechless with admiration.
Part the Second.
‘I will tell you in sitting down with prime ministers and presidents, often the first thing they would say to me is thank you to the United States and this administration for bringing us together.’
‘Which is ultimately about one of the most important principles we’re fighting for, the importance of sovereignty territorial integrity,’
Still going strong, if not quite showing the same finesse.
Alas, even a stopped clock is right twice a day and the VP, no doubt fatigued by her crushing workload, sadly misfired in her last attempt and hit the bullseye.
Part the Third.
‘Listen, let me be very clear, let me be very clear,” Harris replied. ‘We are not into regime change and that is not our policy. Period.’
Disappointing, to be sure, but even her boss has his rare lapses into clarity and is said to be even more cranially-challenged than Kamala. All in all, a splendid performance
SIR – I received my first Covid jab most efficiently as part of a cohort between the ages of 70 and 75 at the Grandstand on Epsom Downs.
Following reception I was asked whether I was pregnant (Letters, March 31) and replied that, despite some effort in that direction, no positive signs, whatever they might be, were apparent.
What’s going on?
James Nuthall
Epsom, Surrey
SIR – I volunteer at a Covid-19 vaccination centre. A question on the form completed by everyone who attends is: “Do you think you might be pregnant?”
This always elicits much mirth and certainly helps to calm any nerves, especially among the elderly of both sexes.
John Steinitz
Pinner, Middlesex
SIR – I am a 68-year-old man. I am over six foot, solidly built and look like a man.
While queuing for my Covid jab in a car park, a young gentleman came down the line with a clipboard, asking questions. He got to me, identified my name and asked if I was pregnant.
With a sincere gaze, I said I was. He didn’t know what to do.
Stuart Moore
Bramham, West Yorkshire
SIR – Does a tweed jacket and tie mean nothing any more?
Members of the Assembly of First Nations on Thursday pressed Pope Francis to revoke 15th century papal orders used to justify colonialism.
The decrees, issued in 1455 and 1493, approved of colonial explorers’ seizure of Indigenous land in Africa and the Americas and were used in the Doctrine of Discovery, according to CBC News.
“If you look at our history … what happened since they landed on our shores, then basically it’s genocide,” Gerald Antoine, who is the Assembly of First Nations regional chief of the Northwest Territories, CBC reported. “We need to right the wrong.”
And blah, blah blah, they all talk alike. Your Tatler, an observant mackerel snapper, will freely admit Holy Church has committed regrettable acts over her 2000 year history. People lose sight however, even though she the temple of God, as the Church Militant she is only staffed by humans and subject to their frailties. To attack a papal bull from so long ago is not only preposterous grandstanding, it reveals a truth about the organization behind it.
Let’s take a look at First Nation. At first blush it looks like a well run institution providing helpful services to American and Canadian Indians, such as economic aid and grants to tribes to help them preserve their cultures. Prominently displayed on one of their web pages is the encouraging statement, “Our programs strengthen American Indian economies to support healthy Native Communities,” which hardly seems objectional. However, are they leaving anything out?
No doubt First Nation does some good things (though possibly creating dependency, the last thing their clients need), but let’s dig deeper by clicking the pull-down on their website labeled “knowledge.” There you’ll find, not seen on the home page, such topics as “economic justice,” “environmental justice,” “reclaiming native truth,” i. e., the usual leftist cant common to all liberal-left organizations and revealing the true mission of First Nation.
It is a sad truth for organizations of that ilk that concealed beneath their seemingly virtuous causes are left-wing political activists whose ultimate goal is ending Western Civilization by bringing down the United States and other capitalist nations as well the institutions within them, especially the Catholic Church. Thence from the ruins they will create a Utopian socialist dictatorship. Whether the people are actually better off in that paradise doesn’t matter in the slightest, as the example of Cuba vividly shows
Your Tatler is hardly the first to point that out. Consider the observation made by the British conservative commentator John O’Sullivan, who back in 1989 in National Review, wrote the following concerning non-profits: All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing. I cite as supporting evidence the ACLU, the Ford Foundation, and the Episcopal Church. And a heap more since then.
First Nations ridiculous request the pope cancel a bull from half-a-millennium ago is all of a piece with left-wing organizations. By capitulating to their whines, the Church will set herself up for further demands from First Nation and others. They will comb the archives for papal bulls and encyclicals they consider “offensive” or “problematic.” They will find plenty of them and demand they be expunged.
Your Tatler wonders, if First Nation’s current quest is successful how will it affect the welfare of its charges? Will it alleviate in the slightest the horrible poverty found in Navajo Nation Reservation or in the Wind River Reservation, peopled by the Eastern Shoshone or the Northern Arapaho? Will those tribal members get a moral boost knowing a papal bull from 1493 is no more? Or consider the northern New Mexican tribe, the Tewa. They have a large presence here in Taos and while not impoverished like other tribes, 90 percent of them are Catholic. Will they feel “empowered” knowing First Nation persuaded the Pope to abolish the bull which, for whatever harm it may have caused in the past, ultimately brought their religion to them? Has First Nation considered any of these things?
It is hard for this writer to believe First Nation cares a whit about them. Its mission is political and the rest is window dressing. What is most distressing is Pope Francis, our Biden in the Vatican, is perhaps the most political pontiff since the Medicis, but utterly lacking their brains and sophistication. He will likely fall for the claptrap First Nation is foisting on him and joyfully concede. It will be a political triumph for them, to be followed by many more.
St Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, pray for us.
Firearm trainers typically tell their students never try to draw down on a bad guy when his or her gun is pointed at you. However, all of that goes out the window when the criminal has already opened fire. That’s exactly what happened in a Paraguay gun store last month as a pair of armed robbers stormed in, guns a-blazing.
With one robber shooting at him, the owner had no choice to but draw and engage. He did so, even after taking a round to the arm, firing from the hip and making good hits.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday announced a new investigation into Facebook and Twitter trying to suppress initial reporting in October 2020 about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
In recent days, mainstream media outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post have confirmed the legitimacy of the laptop and its contents, which were initially reported on by the New York Post in the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
[snip]
The committee said they will conduct a thorough investigation into social media giants Facebook and Twitter actions to “interfere in free and fair election-related public discourse” on their platforms that worked “to the benefit of President Biden and the detriment of former President Trump,” according to letters sent to both companies.
The Democrats clearly have their knives out now for the Biden Administration, it finally dawning on them the senile turnip-brain in the White House is doing them far more harm than good. Because Democrats are much more advanced in the art of recklessly destroying anyone in their path they don’t care for, not restrained by such niceties as ethics or fair play, the Republicans are wisely (we hope) letting them do the dirty work on Joe Biden and going after the evil clowns running social media instead.
Since even the most avid users of Twitter and Facebook are not particularly fond of those institutions, the Republicans have far more to gain going after them instead of Joe Biden, for which they would still be lambasted by the media, even if they too wish to see Biden gone. On the other hand, MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times and the like are far less likely to rush to the defense of Twitter, Facebook et al., knowing they are increasingly disliked and untrusted by all.
The Republican’s hands thus will appear clean as they stand back from the upcoming fracas of Democrats on Democrats, while at the same time, if successful at exposing the foul innards of social media, will be performing a valuable and much needed public service. It should be fun to watch.
A recent article in Forbes (good Lord, what’s happened to “Capitalist Tool” Forbes? ) tells the tale of a young, handsome Ukrainian artist named Daniel Skripnik. The poor fellow is caught in a terrible bind. Owing to his being LGBTQ (no specifying which one of those letters he claims, but no matter; it’s sufficient to establish he’s not white cisgender), he wants to flee his country because if the Russians win and and take over “it will un-do years of progress in the LGBTQ community’s fight for acceptance” in Ukraine.
Unfortunately for Mr Skripnik the Ukrainian government says he cannot leave, that he is fit to fight and must stay to do battle with the Ruskies to prevent their re-implementing restrictions on LGBTQ folk (among a few other things). However, because of an illness, not specified, and regardless his not showing any obvious signs of disability, Skripnic claims he is not only unable to fight, but also cannot assist in non-military, but critical tasks like clearing away rubble from bombed streets, pulling corpses from wrecked buildings, volunteering at hospitals where the bombed and bloodied survivors of Russian aggression are brought in, nor any other such activity that might put him in harm’s way.
Eager to serve in some capacity, Skripnik has happily found a way to aid and show solidarity with his comrades under fire from Russian bullets and bombs, while remaining safe himself; he paints pictures of sunflowers, the symbol of Ukraine. No doubt channeling the ’60s, Skripnik calls his wartime service “painting for peace” and who cannot be inspired by it as thousands of his fellow Ukrainians, many no doubt LGBTQ also, die in the slaughter?
Speaking of the ’60s, Daniel Skripnik’s heroic efforts of painting for peace bring to mind the song by the classic comedian and mathematician of that decade, Tom Lehrer: “The Folk Song Army.”
A Russian soldier allegedly surrendered his tank to Ukraine, claiming his military bosses’ war campaign was too “chaotic” and that he’d rather take up the Ukrainians’ offer for resettlement than continue fighting.
The soldier will eventually receive $10,000, a comfortable place to live and a chance to apply for citizenship, a Ukrainian official said.
Andrusiv said Ukraine has been sending Russia soldiers SMS messages telling them how to surrender and where to hand over their military gear.
Your Tatler is Catholic convert and though thoroughly catechized, maybe better than most (seven months by two gentlemen from Opus Dei), there are no doubt still gaps in his knowledge of Holy Church and her teachings. A case in point is an item in today’s Vatican News:
Pope on Confession: ‘Forgiveness is a human right’
“Forgiveness is a human right” which priests at the confessional should dispense by welcoming, listening to and accompanying penitents, thus helping contribute to a “spiritual ‘ecology’ of the world.”
“Forgiveness is a ‘right’ in the sense that God, in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, has given it in a total and irreversible way to every person willing to accept it, with a humble and repentant heart.”
Um, yes, no doubt, but is this something new? That priests should be understanding and listen to confessors while they’re in the box? Your Tatler sort of thought that’s a given. Good heavens, what will be next? That priests should offer absolution and penance?
Here are some more revelations from Christ’s Vicar on Earth:
By accompanying the penitent, the Pope pointed out, the confessor does not decide for the other, as he is not the master of the conscience of the other.
The confessor simply accompanies, with all the prudence, discernment and charity of which he is capable, the recognition of the truth and the will of God in the concrete experience of the penitent.
Here, he said, one should distinguish between the seal of confession and the dialogue of spiritual accompaniment, which is also reserved, although in a different form.
Dear readers, do help your Tatler out, for he is harboring the most uncharitable notion about these nuggets of knowledge: that they are as shallow as a Rod McKuen poem or a David Haas hymn. Suggest a method this poor sinner might delve into the texts above and behold something more spiritually enlightening than the preparation instructions for a TV dinner. The first good soul to oblige will be gratefully rewarded with a free one-year subscription to the Taos Tatler, with an additional three months added if an explanation of “spiritual ecology” is also provided.
A Russian soldier reportedly drove over his colonel with a tank — while two other service members were caught venting about strongman Vladimir Putin’s “bulls—” invasion of Ukraine amid reports of heavy losses.
The Russian soldier who was behind the wheel of the tank “blamed the commander of the group, Col. Yury Medvedev, for the deaths of his friends,” Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsimbalyuk said on Facebook.
“Having waited for the right moment, during battle, he ran over the commander with a tank as he stood next to him, injuring both his legs,” he wrote, the Daily Beast reported.
THE TAOS TATLER. 