by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch
I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
CHICAGO CARDINAL BRINGS DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR HIS INDUCTION IN ROME: When Jorge Bergoglio was given Roman honors he told his fellow Argentinians to stay home, save the plane money, and give it to the poor. Our bet is that the city of Chicago, State of Illinois, and Supreme Court of Illinois may have picked up the bills of this 'who’s who' in the Illinois Democratic Party who came to Rome with Chicago’s Cardinal Cupich:
"Hundreds of people from Chicago traveled to Rome for the consistory and were present for the prayer service at St. Bartholomew. They included Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke and her husband, Alderman Ed Burke; U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin; and Gov. Bruce Rauner."THE POPE AND ABORTION: A sin and crime. The Catholic Thing continues its cranky view of all things from our Holy Father. The Catholic Thing is best when it runs articles from men of a different era (such as the Fulton Sheen column below). Like Catholic World Report, Crisis, Ross Douthat of the New York Times and Rod Dreher of The American Conservative, they have become an anti-papal bullhorn for "conservative intellectuals." It is an interesting and highly related fact that to a man they missed the Trump phenomenon as well. Brad Miner misses the point on Pope Francis and abortion.
ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN ON MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN: From The Catholic Thing.
KEEPING SACRED TIME: An argument for 3pm, April 3, 33 AD. We take no position, but pass on the argument.
II. PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
LEAVING OUT GOD - THREE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATIONS OF A DAY OF THANKSGIVING: Washington and Lincoln thank God, Obama says we should thank each other. Chicago Muslims give 5,000 turkeys to poor. It is mindful of the acts of patriotism and charity that Catholics did to show we are Americans. Beautiful.
TRUMP, TRADE AND TARIFFS: Buchanan argues that a VAT (value added tax) is the defining step of an Economic Nationalism that works.
THE ALT RIGHT: In the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of being tied to the 'alt right' which she described as racist. The same charges are now amplified by the same media against Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist. His information platform, Breitbart News, is accused of being a megaphone for white nationalism and anti-Semitism. Mr Bannon had answered he is an economic nationalist, not a white nationalist. He has been an ardent supporter of Israel throughout his public life, though he probably thinks a lot of secularized American Jews and their "whiny children" are part of the elite he is trying to build a movement to oppose. The alt right is a large grab bag of mostly young males and some academics who have created, through internet media, an alternative to neoconservatives and Republicans and libertarians as the definers of the "right."
There is a strong strain of white racism in parts of the alt right. They are hardly nationalists, seeing themselves as more tied to their racial cousins in the West and Europe than dark-skinned Americans as fellow citizens. The man who invented the term is Richard Spencer who gives his own history here, and is rather dishonest in not addressing race in this clip. Here he has a discussion with evolutionary psychologist Kevin MacDonald about the origins of the white race. MacDonald is an interesting academic who is truly a child of Darwin. He is not a nationalist in any way and sees the ties of white Americans to Europeans as central to "our ethnic interests." MacDonald sees national identities as an impediment to racial identity. This is exactly the Hitler position who saw restrictive national boundaries as outmoded because they hemmed in the race. Jared Taylor is not the godfather of the alt right, but he is the godfather of racial realism. The article is a very honest interview with him in which he defines his movement and does not claim in any way a link to Mr Trump. Two homosexuals who are often cited are Jack Donovan who writes powerfully about masculinity and the Way of Men despite his proclivities; and Milo Yiannopoulos, a more flaming figure who sees his duty as skewering feminism on college campuses. He is not even an American, so nationalism is not quite his cause but he is proudly "gay" and is occasionally funny. Thus he has a place in the peculiar seating charts at the table of American discourse. They are part of the alt right which is much more focused on the sexual disorder of the feminist left than on racial matters.
The best article describing the alt right before these paragraphs was at Breitbart in March 2016. The article was much better journalism than anything we have seen in the last few weeks from the mainstream media. While Breitbart reported and explained, the mainstream settled for wide brush accusations of racism.
There is a real tradition of "white nationalism" in America. Gerald L.K. Smith (1898-1976) was an American Protestant clergyman aligned with Louisiana’s Huey Long and his Share the Wealth program. After Long’s assassination (1935), Smith founded the anti-Semitic white supremacist Christian Nationalist Crusade. Here is an 18-minute radio speech defining his movement. We believe that neither the Cross nor the Flag should be left to such men. Recognizing their arguments is not "giving the white racists a platform." At AOA, we have argued that Christianity and nationalism are both communal antidotes to racism. Here is our hour-long podcast on a historical approach to Christian nationalism.
The lesson to learn here is that Christian American men must define our own identity by being public men as American protectors and Christian brothers. A national identity is TERRITORIAL, NOT RACIAL. We are fellow nationalists with the black men of Georgia, not the white dudes of Davos, Switzerland. As we wrote during the presidential campaign, "A trumpet for the brotherhood of Americans is not a dog whistle to racists." The mainstream press is hunting for voters who elected Trump. It shouldn’t surprise us that first they turn their spotlight on a few racists to prove their original suppositions. There is no doubt almost all of these white guys voted for Trump. They would love to present themselves as the intellectual and emotional drivers of his movement. But they aren’t.
III. THE R&G WORLD ROUND-UP
A WASHINGTON INSIDER MAKES THE CASE FOR SAUDI ARABIA: Bruce Reidel on the Saudis contemplate Trump after losing their Bush and Clinton allies. This article shows to me the deep continuing loyalty to the Saudis in the foreign policy think-tank world.
THE SAUDI LOBBY AT IT AGAIN
Safe from the voters, Senators McCain and Graham seek to gut the 9/11 bill. Another McCain-Saudi connection.
FROM THE LEFT - A CONFERENCE TO END THE US-SAUDI ALLIANCE: An alliance of Code Pink, Nation magazine, and assorted leftist and pacifist groups will be True Allies in any movement to confront and change the US policy of befriending the largest sponsor of worldwide jihad in the Mideast.
THE MOST INTERESTING CANDIDATE IN FRANCE IS NOT LE PEN: A Catholic Nationalist.
CASTRO IS DEAD - KENNEDY WAS KILLED LONG AGO: The best article I have ever read on the Kennedy assassination by James Piereson. And the other man of the law killed that day. A historical take on Castro and a take-down of Canada’s prime minister. A reflection on Castro that should put his canonization on hold.
MARTIN SCORSESE AND HIS NEW FILM "SILENCE”: Excellent review by Paul Elie. Watch the trailer.
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