Laziness, Lies, Misnomers and Jihad

You may not be interested in jihad, but jihad is interested in you. Failure to educate yourself in the era of internet, google, and Amazon is laziness.  Sloth. Mortal Sin.
If you have time to read a book, it should be The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. It goes back to the 14th century to explain the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam, and the Wahhabi/Salafi strains of this school. You will gain tremendous insight into what’s going on in the world.
If you don’t have time for that, do you have 15 minutes to read this article? It explains things in a very basic manner. The Wahhabi/Salafi sects reject everything that came after the very earliest times of the movement as satanic blasphemy, such that they are the only “true” Muslims.  That’s why you see them killing other Muslims in addition to everyone else.  So as the Muslim moves “deeper” into his faith, and the linear progression towards orthodoxy accelerates, he becomes weaponized (yes, weapons are part of the actual spiritual training). The west has coined a term for this process:  Radicalization.
However, “Radical Islam” is a misnomer.  While it does describe the extreme nature of the movement, it wrongly implies a periphery, a newness, a break with tradition, a revolution.  Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call it Orthodox Islam, or Conservative Islam, or Traditional Islam?  I suppose that wouldn’t sit too well with the other schools of Islam, even if it’s the truth.
Every politician on the national stage in every western country understands these facts.  Anyone who tells you Muslims have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism is a liar, and is a part of the problem. Anyone who leans on the fact that the majority of Muslims are peaceful, family people, obscures the facts at hand and is a part of the problem.
Oh, and changing the flag on your fb profile doesn’t mean shit, ever. Educate yourself, help to educate others, and start being part of the solution.

The republic’s ‘dead cat bounce’

As I already declared in December 2015, the republic is dead.
What you have seen in the last few months, with dark horse candidates dominating the GOP field, is the dead cat bounce:  The notion that an outside candidate such as Trump or Cruz could win the nomination.  The possibility of real reform.  The possibility of curtailing, even a little, the massive corruption of the oligarchy.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
The events of the last week now prove that the GOPe will use any means necessary to nominate a candidate whom they own.  No matter Jeb’s failure to launch, Rubio’s robotics, nor Romney’s three strikes and you’re out.  The nominee must be someone who will not rock the boat, because the establishment (on both sides) is totally immoral and corrupt.  It is status quo either way.
This is no screed for Trump, by the way.  He’s certainly no conservative, and his behavior demonstrates he would be even more authoritarian than Obama.  Just imagine him on the international stage.  Countries are laughing at us.
Let’s face it, the GOPe would rather see Hillary win.  Yes, really.  They are closer to Hillary on policy. Hillary is safe. Hillary won’t take away their toys.  Hillary is, in objective reality, one of their own.
Think about the scenarios of how this plays out from here.  Visualize for thirty seconds how the general election campaigns play out post-conventions.  Can you come up with one scenario where she doesn’t win?  Unless she is in jail, I don’t see one.
Silver lining: This event may finally be the tipping point where a large number of sheep wake the hell up and decide not to be sheep anymore.  But choosing the red pill isn’t easy.

The most diabolical success story since 11 Oct 1962

Confession.  Who needs that silly old thing anymore?
everyone
Confession is the only earthly means of regaining sanctifying grace after committing mortal sin.  I say earthly means, because God is not bound by the sacraments, and He can grant pardon if your contrition is perfect; that is, repentance out of sheer love for God, and not just fear of eternal punishment.  Since you can never really know how perfect your contrition is, it’s a lot more comforting to get your sorry ass in the confessional, often. It’s the only way to be sure.
The council opened amid a rapid escalation of the Loss of the Sense of Sin, and the continued secularization of western society.  The Modernists had been kept at bay for over 50 years, but they were only in hiding, and they saw this was their chance. Aggiornamento!
The Smoke of Satan entering the Church took many forms.  Marxist and sodomite infiltrators, moral destruction of seminaries, the Novus Ordo and its immediate openness to abuses, etc, etc. But Satan’s central point of attack was on Sacramental Confession. Why?  Go back and read the first paragraph.
The CARA Survey (this one is 2008) shows that 75% of Catholics go to confession less than once a year or never at all, and that 54% of Catholics who attend Mass every week think there is no need for confession at least once a year.  Follow the link for tons more data.
So OF COURSE this is the most diabolical success story of the last 50 years.  Can you tell me a more effective way to ensure the eternal damnation of millions of souls WHO ACTUALLY THINK THEY ARE GOOD CATHOLICS?
Oh, wait.

If someone comes to you and feels something must be removed from him, but perhaps he is unable to say it, but you understand … it’s all right, he says it this way, with the gesture of coming. First condition. Second, he is repentant. If someone comes to you it is because he doesn’t want to fall into these situations, but he doesn’t dare say it, he is afraid to say it and then not be able to do it. But if he cannot do it, ad impossibila nemo tenetur. And the Lord understands these things, the language of gestures. Have open arms, to understand what is inside that heart that cannot be said or said this way … somewhat because of shame … you understand me. You must receive everyone with the language with which they can speak.

No. No. No.  Go read the article linked above to 1P5.  This is explicitly forbidden, for reasons which should be obvious, and results in INVALID confession, i.e. your sins are not forgiven, unless your Indian name is Cat Got Tongue.
Does everyone remember that all the sacraments have Matter and Form to be valid?  Do you know the Matter for Sacramental Confession?  It’s the sins themselves, and the act of confession itself, which consists of contrition, actually confessing the sins, and satisfaction.  Did you get that?  Without the sins and the confession, there’s no sacrament.
So once again we are left wondering: is the Holy Father intentionally undermining the faith, resulting in a multitude of damned souls, or is he simply ignorant of Church teaching, resulting in a multitude of damned souls?
Doesn’t this mean that all the invalid “general absolution services” are okey dokey too? Why do we even need confessionals? “Everyone needing reconciliation, please don’t queue up. Sit in the pews and remain mute. Father Jazz Hands will absolve from the pulpit shortly.”
Please, God, make it stop.  For the sake of His sorrowful Passion.