Continuing Descolada
I can’t decide which is the more dispiriting element of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic; the fact that so many local authorities in America and Britain are letting their inner authoritarian out for an untrammeled romp while sanctimoniously insisting that it’s all for our own good whether we like it or not (or agree or not), that a large number of ordinary citizens are falling all over themselves in volunteering to inform on neighbors who are doing nothing more than going for more than one walk a day, visiting a park or beach, or exercising in their front garden, and that representatives of our National Media Establishment are as malicious a set of scurvy, biased, panic-sowing incompetents as ever crawled out of a journalism school armed with delusions of adequacy along with the degree. Age 27 and know absolutely nothing, as Ben Rhodes remarked.
and
Federal Court Prohibits Louisville Mayor from Banning Easter Sunday Drive-in Church Service
and
Federal Court Prohibits Louisville Mayor from Banning Easter Sunday Drive-in Church Service
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The Great Triduum Lockdown Now Begins
Sorry, regular readers, but as you know, once the sun sets on Holy Wednesday, my attentions are diverted. Even in this singular year, I'm doing what I can to keep things as normal as possible, which means a lot of time in front of a computer in video meetings and learning how to serve as both "cast and crew" for the live streamed and recorded broadcasts of our liturgies. New fun can always be found on my parish's Facebook page.
After this week, I'm taking a break. We'll be back after Easter Week with a return of the Friday biographies [new ones!] and even some more Thursday Places.
After this week, I'm taking a break. We'll be back after Easter Week with a return of the Friday biographies [new ones!] and even some more Thursday Places.
Quarantine Seems to Be Capricious
Disaster in motion: Where flights from coronavirus-ravaged countries landed in US
Interesting note: This story originally appeared on the ABC website. It disappeared later in the day for reasons that seem obtuse. However, ABC neglected to "disappear" the URL, so it's still recoverable.
Interesting note: This story originally appeared on the ABC website. It disappeared later in the day for reasons that seem obtuse. However, ABC neglected to "disappear" the URL, so it's still recoverable.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Needlehooks
“Ideally, testing for COVID–19 should be conducted, but it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate without this confirmation if the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty,” the guidelines state.
The CDC provided three examples to help officials determine how to properly document the cause of death. One scenario described an 86-year-old female nonambulatory stroke victim who developed a fever and cough days after being exposed to a sick family member later diagnosed with COVID-19. Even though the decedent wasn’t tested, the coroner nonetheless determined that the woman’s underlying cause of death was COVID–19, “given the patient’s symptoms and exposure to an infected individual.”
Let’s just say that kind of bureaucratic guesswork is unacceptable while the economy is in chaos, tens of millions are suddenly out of work, and power-hungry government tyrants arrest surfers and pastors for daring to violate “social distancing” decrees handed down to their local authorities by Beltway lifers.
Editor's note on "Needlehooks": I occasionally come across quotations that snag my attention like a needle-hook to yarn. I may or may not agree with the writer's perspective, I may find them derivative or vulgar, but they represent something that stirs my curiosity and perspective.
The CDC provided three examples to help officials determine how to properly document the cause of death. One scenario described an 86-year-old female nonambulatory stroke victim who developed a fever and cough days after being exposed to a sick family member later diagnosed with COVID-19. Even though the decedent wasn’t tested, the coroner nonetheless determined that the woman’s underlying cause of death was COVID–19, “given the patient’s symptoms and exposure to an infected individual.”
Let’s just say that kind of bureaucratic guesswork is unacceptable while the economy is in chaos, tens of millions are suddenly out of work, and power-hungry government tyrants arrest surfers and pastors for daring to violate “social distancing” decrees handed down to their local authorities by Beltway lifers.
Editor's note on "Needlehooks": I occasionally come across quotations that snag my attention like a needle-hook to yarn. I may or may not agree with the writer's perspective, I may find them derivative or vulgar, but they represent something that stirs my curiosity and perspective.
For Some, the Current Crisis is Merely an Authoritarian Test Run
But apathy about cancel culture is very damaging to the Christian cause. Christianity is supposed to be spread by persuasion. If people are to become Christians, they have to be persuaded of the truth that the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is the divine saviour of the world from sin and its consequence – which, according to the Bible, is eternal death. As the Apostle Paul summarised the Christian message in his letter to the Romans in the New Testament: ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ How can people be persuaded of this wonderful message of salvation if the persuaders are not allowed to speak freely and publicly?When the mayor of New York states he can "permanently" close Christian and Jewish houses of worship [he can't, of course, but note that the specificity of his dictatorial desire is limited to only two of NYC's several religions] and there is no vigorous response from our leadership, that is a semaphore of their acquiescence and surrender. In fact, there almost seems to be a gleam in the eyes of some of the church's powers-that-be when they state that this pale, wan, desiccated thing that is "remote worshipping" is the future of the church.
Please, you just want to sit on your prat at home and show off your book collection as a background set. By all means, Mrs. Future, pursue that course. The rest of us will re-build a muscular, active sense of worship that actually permits people to be together. Then we'll show you what the future looks like.
To be Fair, Surfers are Used to Hostility from Authorities
Surely the publicity that has attended these enforcement actions will reduce the incidence of surfing, sunset-watching, and paddle boarding up and down the coast of Southern California, but at what cost to the already eroding level of respect for law enforcement? Making matters worse is the decision to grant early release to 3,500 inmates in California so as to avert a coronavirus outbreak in the state’s 35 prisons. That’s right, while ordinarily law-abiding people are rousted by the police for daring to engage in harmless activities so as to avoid going stir crazy, convicted felons are being sprung from prison. Yes, we must release all those burglars, car thieves, and con artists to make room for the expected wave of surfers, paddle boarders, and sunset watchers. One feels safer already.However, the thesis is that actions such as these will erode police authority. In fact, at least in the surfing community, it has been destroyed.
Monday, April 6, 2020
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Needlehooks
This crisis will be resolved by truckers running the long haul on deserted highways, doctors and nurse working double shifts in scavenged PPE, grocery store and gas station employees keeping services and food available, utility and telecom workers keeping a strained system functioning, grad students and other researchers poring over data and running countless tests in hopes of giving us an advantage, and ordinary people trying to follow often-contradictory guidance and do the right thing while facing a locked-down economy. At the top, we have leaders whose every move is scrutinized and fraught with potential peril – there might not be any good choices, just bad and not so bad.
There is no room for our useless media and most of the commentariat. Activists can either pitch in or get lost. We no longer have time for indulging the delusion that they matter.
There is no room for our useless media and most of the commentariat. Activists can either pitch in or get lost. We no longer have time for indulging the delusion that they matter.
A Pungent Realization
I'm now living in a country where people get arrested for holding church services and for surfing. No way I'm getting through this without being defrocked and/or put in jail.
Sojourn #38
"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:6
Friday, April 3, 2020
Bad Enough You May Get Trapped on One of Those Petri Dishes, But Now You Have to Worry about Acts of War
This Venezuelan Patrol Ship Sunk Itself After Ramming A Cruise Liner With A Reinforced Hull
The Venezuelan ship appears to have been trying to seize the cruise ship, which is designed to safely sail through icy waters.
Sojourn #37
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” - Isaiah 30:15
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Descolada #1
An engineer deliberately ran a train off the tracks at high speed near the Port of Los Angeles in an attempt to crash into the USNS Mercy hospital ship, prosecutors say.
The Pacific Harbor Line train derailed Tuesday, running through the end of the track and crashing through barriers, finally coming to rest about 250 yards from the docked naval ship.
Federal prosecutors allege train engineer Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro intended to hit the ship, saying he thought it was "suspicious" and did not believe "the ship is what they say it's for.'"
And so it begins. Ten days ago, we noted this at The Coracle:
I heard a word once upon a time, during my younger adventures, from a Brazilian woman. [Allow me to pause and recall the halcyon days of youth.] It is not a proper Portuguese word, but from that tongue's slang. Desocolada. It's a pretty word and the closest it means in English is "un-glueing". I suppose, were I translating it formally, I would say "coming apart", but that's not as poetic, is it? The glue of sensibility begins to lose its hold.
The other day I had to get gas and the pumps were malfunctioning, so I had to go into the convenience store to pay. While waiting for change, the clerk leaned over the counter [hey, physical distancing, lady] and whispered, "He knew about this."
"Who did?"
"You know who."
"Oh, him. He knew the pumps were busted, did he?"
"No, not the pumps. The cortinavirus [sic]. He knew all about it and didn't tell us because he wants some people to die."
"That's diabolical."
"Uh-huh."
So, since I prefer to get gas for the truck in Reality-land, and since I don't want to have to go inside a convenience store to pay in these days of pandemic, I'll bid a fond farewell to this particular station and the clerk who knows the inconvenient truth. However, I fully expect to have more and more conversations like this the more people are constrained by fear of a disease and a capricious government.
The Pacific Harbor Line train derailed Tuesday, running through the end of the track and crashing through barriers, finally coming to rest about 250 yards from the docked naval ship.
Federal prosecutors allege train engineer Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro intended to hit the ship, saying he thought it was "suspicious" and did not believe "the ship is what they say it's for.'"
And so it begins. Ten days ago, we noted this at The Coracle:
Thus far, people are denied socialization at work, school, restaurants, congregations, places of group conviviality, and sporting events. We are social animals and will resist this very soon; possibly in ways forthright and aggressive.Part of that resistance is the surrender of reason and logic, and the embrace of paranoid conspiracy theories about an "other" who is secretly plotting against you and you alone. Fortunately, you hold the truth and will tell the world, even if the world doesn't want to hear it.
I heard a word once upon a time, during my younger adventures, from a Brazilian woman. [Allow me to pause and recall the halcyon days of youth.] It is not a proper Portuguese word, but from that tongue's slang. Desocolada. It's a pretty word and the closest it means in English is "un-glueing". I suppose, were I translating it formally, I would say "coming apart", but that's not as poetic, is it? The glue of sensibility begins to lose its hold.
The other day I had to get gas and the pumps were malfunctioning, so I had to go into the convenience store to pay. While waiting for change, the clerk leaned over the counter [hey, physical distancing, lady] and whispered, "He knew about this."
"Who did?"
"You know who."
"Oh, him. He knew the pumps were busted, did he?"
"No, not the pumps. The cortinavirus [sic]. He knew all about it and didn't tell us because he wants some people to die."
"That's diabolical."
"Uh-huh."
So, since I prefer to get gas for the truck in Reality-land, and since I don't want to have to go inside a convenience store to pay in these days of pandemic, I'll bid a fond farewell to this particular station and the clerk who knows the inconvenient truth. However, I fully expect to have more and more conversations like this the more people are constrained by fear of a disease and a capricious government.
Sojourn #36
"Silence is solitude practiced in action. If you meet God in solitude, you discover the God you meet is the God who embraces all people. Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible." - Henri Nouwen
You Don't Say
Chinese government lying about coronavirus could impact U.S. business ties: Experts
I think China is going to find itself "impacted" rather resolutely once we're allowed to leave our homes.
I think China is going to find itself "impacted" rather resolutely once we're allowed to leave our homes.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Naturally, It's the Video Platform of Choice for My Diocese
As New York launches a probe and a class action lawsuit is levied against video conferencing app Zoom, a security researcher has discovered two vulnerabilities
Since it's Chinese, I'm guessing that, like TikTok, it's just another form of their spyware.
Since it's Chinese, I'm guessing that, like TikTok, it's just another form of their spyware.
The Next Time Some Bigshot from WHO Issues a Statement, Remember This
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China🇨🇳. pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 14, 2020
January 14th, the day I arrived in Singapore. Thanks for nothing, WHO. Taking China's word for it, or any communist regime's word for anything, is foolishness. Communists claim to have replaced God with history, yet history reveals communism's repeated failures and contribution to the de-humanization of whole portions of society. I really wish communists did worship history, but they just seem to worship their own sense of moral superiority.