Excommunicate Biden!

This is uncontroversial:

The Catholic Church believes that life begins at conception, and terminating pregnancy at any point after conception is killing. 

(The fifth commandment is 'Thou Shall Not Kill.")

Faithful Catholics also believe that life begins at conception. 

Biden is a "faithful Catholic" insofar as he "attends Mass and has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices."

But this is not enough. Biden is not an ordinary Catholic, but the President, and therefore has the capability to limit abortion as well as set a good public example of devotion.

Instead of limiting abortion, as a Catholic president should--or in the very least do nothing--Biden is expanding abortion "rights," dropping the Hyde Amendment out of his recent budget. 

Though he may be personally opposed to the legal dismemberment of unwanted children, he values his party's politics by acting in direct contradiction to the faith he claims to have.

The Church must clarify this confusing example set by Biden. (The USCCB will write a lengthy treatise on what the Eucharist actually is, and what it actually means.) And after they clarify, they should excommunicate!

Biden is committing a mortal sin by publicly receiving the Eucharist and expanding abortion "rights," and is damning his soul to Hell if  he does not ask for forgiveness. Excommunication is a sign from the Church to Biden to seek forgiveness and amend his life--in the very least do nothing to current abortion law. Excommunication is merciful! (And he can be un-excommunicated.) 

This is a no brainer. But the Church moves slowly. Hopefully they act before he dies, or becomes senile. 

Derek Bin Laden

Trying to live under a rock while simultaneously working in Times Square is like trying to fit a square peg into a circular hole. 

This is especially impossible when complete strangers see me dressed very sharply and seated at a lobby desk and think that it is my job to know when the results of some verdict will be made public. 

"Verdict?" I ask dumbly, feigning a childlike innocence. "For what?"

...

The shops of Times Square boarded themselves up, and preparing for a riot--in the name of George Floyd (without his consent)--were spared by Chauvin's unwilling sacrifice. Hoodlums smoked--and sold--their marijuana to tourists and fellow hoodlums peacefully without police interference, and only one pathetic march squeaked by, ironically escorted by the NYPD. For my personal environmental safety I was thankful for a GUILTY verdict. (Times Square feels dangerous on a good day.) For the sake of the future of this once great nation, this verdict was a tragedy, as was the death murder of George Floyd. (I have to preface everything with the obvious 'George Floyd didn't deserve to die like that...')

I was a newborn New Yorker when Osama bin Laden was allegedly killed in 2011 and recall waiting for hours on the steps of St. Peter's in the Financial District for a three second glimpse of Obama behind 6 inches of bullet proof glass as he waved through the window of the presidential limousine.

The celebrations for Osama's killing were unanimous and raucous throughout all of America. As a contrarian I disagreed with the celebrations, nobly believing that death is never worth celebrating, especially for the sake of vengeance. (I still believe this, but for reasons beyond non-conformity.)

Yet, just ten years away from the death of bin Laden--a death which (wrongfully) brought all Americans together--is the death of George Floyd/verdict of Derek Chauvin, an ordinary tragedy (for those unbiased individuals, wherever they are hiding) that divided America along fiery ideological lines: one side celebrating, the other side afraid to voice honest disagreement.

Where bin Laden was America's greatest enemy, Chauvin and Floyd were a couple of regular dumb Americans that met under tragic, dumb, ordinary circumstances. Other ordinary, dumb Americans should mourn this tragedy, and then move on. But instead battle lines are drawn (by the media and cynical politicians) and ordinary, dumb Americans believe their fellow Americans to be their enemies because of their race instead of that Asian country and its evil government that brought us the Coronavirus while trying to take over the world. Or that "religion of peace." edit: Or Zionist Jews.

In 2021 "justice" is mob vengeance, celebrated by Americans against a fellow American. 

I miss 9/11...I miss bin Laden...I miss the United States of America...

This is how it truly begins to end...

Insights of Lived Boredom

As a casual experiment for no pre-determined length of time, I decided to live without the internet last winter.

By evening of the first day, I was using again.

Back then, the only way for me to succeed was to compromise. As such, I decided to avoid all social media instead, while still using the greater internet for necessities like news, blogs, debates, gossip, and calumny. (There were always arguments to be had in the comments section of news sites.) But without twitter to scroll through while I stood in an elevator for 13 seconds, my phone became semi-useless. Rarely did I receive phone calls or text messages, and Gmail and Venmo were hardly as satisfying.

This new lifestyle choice was cut short by the P A N D E M I C and resulting quarantine, which fettered me comfortably to a computer screen to use the internet the way we did circa 2002.

This experiment, and others that followed, made undeniable that I was a slave to the internet and social media. More than a habit, this was now my *sigh*……lifestyle. I needed to take a cold shower forever.

There were two reasons why I had become a slave: I was afraid to appear alone in groups of people, and submitted to my phone to look busy (important), and I was afraid of boredom (thinking independently) i.e. using my hard earned intuition. (This was not Absolute Boredom, a different topic.) Thus, the phone enabled the slow and habitual creep of spiritual weakness. I did not rely on God for these moments of boredom, but my digital appendage.

Alas, this was only a temporary public persona I’d adopted anyway. Once quarantined my internet addiction served as much a crutch for boredom and God replacement as my phone had before the experiment.

No longer. Today is Day 12 or 13 (I forget) of extremely limited internet and no social media. It has not been easy, and I find myself often bored. My phone is nothing more than a sleek and smooth brick, yet it must always accompany me. (I am beginning to wonder why.) Of course, I can still enjoy media that ends, like books and newspapers, just not video games, TV, movies or videos. The idea for this experiment is ascetic in nature. What will avoiding the instant gratification via phone and the information deluge of the internet at large do to me?

The First Stage is Boredom

My intellect is average at best, but boredom has undeniably increased it; I have recently compiled a list of daily insights (expect to see them fleshed out here). That was not possible when I was always being told what to think and when to think it, conditioned by my phone’s notifications to care about what was outside my control.

Newly ignorant to current events, I trust whatever I overhear, and because I don’t have any “alternative” facts, I can’t rebut. Boredom is the perfect exchange for fear and anger. This is very freeing!

The news is bullshit anyway. (So is voting.) All I need to know is which liberties they are taking away and when and/or which country we are invading and “why.” Simplifying my life by giving up control has thus far made me very content. I will always have political opinions that surface, but they will burn away if not fueled by the news cycle. Good. This leaves room for glorifying God, the only thing that separates us from the animals in the first place.

Everyone is always outraged by something, somewhere. Not me. I’m bored!

The Second Stage is Prayer

Silence is precious. Boredom is the first immature expression of that silence. I am immature insofar as silence is new to me. When it becomes unbearable, I rage and complain.

This is because I am a spoiled bitch. (Ordinary people accepted constant boredom for millennia before our pathetic generation.) However, once I let that rage and those complaints pass over me--without giving in to the temptation of twitter—I become calm. I stop trying to control everything and begin to enjoy this unpleasantness as it passes. This takes time and patience, of which I am also a novice and can give no practical tips.

When I am emptied of boredom, I am in silence. When I am in silence God is close. To bring myself closer, I pray.

Are there more than two stages?

I don’t know yet. Probably?

Arriving at the first step was the result of desperation for change, manifested from a deeper sadness that “entertainment” could never fill. Courageously taking that step was done in rebellion to fear and its control over me, which was only possible because I have faith (Stage 2). (How to have faith is another topic.)

The buffet of distraction has replaced ordinary boredom, in turn causing everyone to become addicted to entertainment. By denying myself this temptation and forcing myself to pay attention to my surroundings, I am re-learning to use my brain for glorifying God.

Are you ready to be uncomfortable? Are you ready to be free? God is waiting.