Intentional Conservative

Once More, Conservative Evangelicals Shoot Themselves in the Foot.

April 26, 2017March 20, 2017 by debisimons

Elephant crossing the road in front of a vehicle

Since Neil Gorsuch has his confirmation hearings this week, I think it’s worth taking the time to review the whole question of how we got to this nomination and whether or not he’s a fit reward to the millions of people who held their noses and voted for Trump, saying that they ”had” to vote for him because of the Supreme Court. There’s this perception that somehow getting pro-life justices onto the Supreme Court is going to bring an end to legalized abortion. But, as the newly-elected Donald Trump said with a shrug in his 60 Minutes interview, “It would go back to the states.” I’m more and more convinced that

The “CYB” Movement Gains Steam.

April 26, 2017March 16, 2017 by debisimons

Blurringly fast movement on a train

I’m trying to be fairly genteel here, so “CYB” stands for “cover your behind.”

Periodically I take a look over at the right-wing ranters such as Breitbart, Limbaugh, Ingraham, and Savage Nation, the website of Michael Savage, who, as I never tire of pointing out, is really named Michael Weiner. (Hey, it’s a perfectly respectable name. So why doesn’t he use it?) Just want to see what’s shakin’. I don’t go onto InfoWars with Alex Jones, though. There are limits to my gag reflex. (But do listen to The Federalist Radio Hour episode linked at the end of this post,

The Whole “Ends Justify the Means” Blah-de-Blah.

January 4, 2019March 8, 2017 by debisimons

Yet another post thoughtfully provided by a commenter on my Facebook page, this time in response to an article I posted about Donald Trump’s speech to Congress way, way last week. I’ve been pondering it and decided it was worth my further thoughts. Here’s what the commenter said:

Voting for Hillary to keep Donald Trump out of the White House is nothing more than using the “end justifies the means” philosophy. That philosophy is certainly not Christian, and is also not conservative.

Why Does the Trump Administration Keep Shooting Itself in the Foot?

January 4, 2019March 3, 2017 by debisimons

I’ve been watching the scene since Jan. 20 with my mouth agape in utter bewilderment. How could people who are experienced in public life and, for the most part, in governance and the law (I exclude the POTUS from that description) make such . . . well, the only word to use is “dumb”. . . mistakes? Surely, surely, surely the Trump administration came into office knowing that the Democrats in Congress would be baying for their blood (just as the Republicans would have been howling after Hillary Clinton had she won). So didn’t anybody sit down with the inner circle at the White House and say,

“Okay, guys, we need to keep our noses clean and our powder dry. We’re in a war zone.” Apparently not!

Why Bother Re-Posting These Articles Now?

January 4, 2019March 3, 2017 by debisimons

I was going to do this later on today but want to get out to the big garage cleanup, so here it is. I said earlier that I was going to post two articles from back in the distant past, before Nov. 8, when there was still hope that we weren’t going to elect Donald Trump. Out of many articles I could re-post from that time pointing out how much more dangerous Trump was than Hillary Clinton, these are the two best that I read.

But why bother? These articles didn’t change one thing. (I did a final, desperate, night-before-the-election e-mail sendout to a few selected people with the Frum article. Let’s just say that it didn’t do any good.)

Sigh. So everything is now copacetic, huh?

January 4, 2019March 1, 2017 by debisimons

President Trump managed to read off a teleprompter and act like a grownup for an entire hour last night during his address to Congress. Great swathes of the media, left, right and center, are going bonkers. He’s acting Presidential! He’s finally pivoted! We’re going to be okay!

Folks, he hasn’t changed. I would love, love, love to know what the process was in writing that speech. You just

have to imagine that there was a lot of talk about making a splash and calming down (not easy to do at the same time). There seems to be a consensus of opinion that the speech was largely a product of Steve Bannon and Ivanka Trump. So he gets all the immigration stuff, and she gets the childcare leave stuff. But it’s all great. He didn’t call any names, or bash the media, or talk about the size of his inauguration crowd or his electoral college margin. And so now we’re good to go, right?

Not so much. I’ve already posted an article on Facebook about the cynical use of a fallen hero’s wife as a prop. I’m sure she felt that she had to be there, so no criticism of her is intended in any way. The two articles below do some fact-checking and some conservative-agenda-checking. Why even bother? Because we have the job as citizens of refusing to let our leaders blindside us. We as conservatives must recognize how profoundly un-conservative the Trump agenda really is. We as Christians must recognize that not one single socially-conservative idea was promoted last night, with the exception of a plug for Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed quickly. As the pro-life website LifeSiteNews points out, his speech didn’t directly mention life, marriage, or religious liberty at all.

So hold off on the champagne. Nothing has changed. I’m going to keep on a-postin’ here and on Facebook in the hopes of fanning at least a few flames of true Christian conservatism. Here are the two articles:

“Last Night, Conservatives Gave Up on Conservatism”

“Fact-Checking President Trump’s Address to Congress”

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A Slight Repair to My Previous Post.

January 4, 2019February 25, 2017 by debisimons

After one of my dearest friends and most faithful readers wrote a long, thoughtful comment on my previous post I realized that I hadn’t been as clear as I should have been with my statement that we should go out and meet Muslims instead of reading books about them. As I said in my response to her comment, I should have worded that sentence a little differently. My point was that at some point you need to quit absorbing information and start putting what you have to use. Here are the sources of information I’ve absorbed over the past decade or so on this issue:

Dear Christian Conservative:

April 26, 2017February 24, 2017 by debisimons

Father and young son in traditional muslim headwear

What are you afraid of? Do you really believe that the cause of Christ is so weak that it can be conquered by Islam?

Why do you not rejoice that the mission field is coming to America, as it always has?

Reliable reports suggest more Muslims have become followers of Jesus over the last two decades than in Islam’s entire 1,500 year history. Based on the accounts of several missiologists, it has been surmised that “more Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam.” In spite of great difficulty and turmoil, Christianity is unquestionably expanding throughout Islamic world. God is up to something amazing in a region that many have thought was unreachable. (Source: “World Revival Network Blog”)

Instead of holding study groups to read books about Islam, why not prayerfully look for ways in which you could get acquainted with actual Muslim people? Have you ever met one of them? Or do you just fear them and see them as the enemy? If you do see all Muslims through this lens, can you make room for the fact that the best way to defeat your enemy is to win him over?

I am amazed and appalled at the attitudes I see towards Muslims within the Christian community. I would suggest that we start seeing them for who they are: sinners in need of a Savior, as we all are.

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A Godly Pastor’s View of a Trump Rally.

April 26, 2017February 23, 2017 by debisimons

Flaming word Trump in front of American flag

I had read an article in the Washington Post yesterday about this man’s experiences at the ridiculous, nauseating 2020 Trump campaign rally that took place last weekend. (With his Presidency in utter turmoil, don’t ya think maybe Mr. Trump should, like, stay at the White House and read his briefing books?)

The Milo Mess

April 26, 2017February 22, 2017 by debisimons

photo taken in 2013; credit: Wikipedia

I don’t know, folks. This is all so completely weird that I can’t help but think I must have wandered over to an alternate political universe. Apparently not, though–unfortunately.

So, back last March when I first became interested in the current political scene (only a year ago! It seems like a decade), I went onto the Breitbart News website, since I vaguely knew that they were right-wing, or alt-right, or some such. There on the home page was a video embed for something called “The Milo Yiannopoulos Show.” The picture looked sorta . . . campy, like he’d just put on a fresh coat of lipgloss. Who on earth is that? I wondered. Why is he on this self-proclaimedly-conservative (whatever that may mean any more) website? His vibe seemed totally at variance with what I thought Breitbart was all about.