Free Republic

I do not think the civil war can be avoided.

The Second Civil War is inevitable. You can no more prevent it than you can prevent the tide from flowing in. There are a time and tide in men's affairs when these things become unavoidable.

There is a quote from Hegel that is appropriate here. "The first time is tragedy; the second time is farce."

During the Civil War, Lincoln didn't have the tools of the modern surveillance state available. The closest thing he had was to set up a telegraph office in the War Department and have every telegram in the country routed through there.

This time around, Trump has the ability to nip it in the bud and close it down before it becomes unmanageable.

Well, I can safely say as a Catholic that we do attend revivals.

My recollection from 65 years ago was that these "revivals" were called "missions." Starting at a Sunday mass, one or more priests from a religious order would come in and hold devotions that lasted a week. The priests were usually from one of the more obscure religious orders like the Pallotines or the Liguorians.

I share Vandersteel’s concern. All the security on the ground in the vicinity of the stadium can’t prevent somebody from flying a 747 into the event.

I was rather surprised to see that Cardinal Dolan referred to Kirk as a modern-day St. Paul. It was a big deal for a Catholic archbishop to refer to a Protestant that way.

Some 60 years ago Bishop Fulton Sheen suggested that when Billy Graham went to meet his maker that he be declared a saint.

It's unlikely for either to happen, but Dolan is moving the needle a bit.

Essentially, this means, virtually all news operations have free rein to engage in all manner of egregious activities without fear of consequences, Publius.

Let's first separate cable news from broadcast news.

Cable channels do not have FCC licenses, so they can do as they please, short of the libel laws. They are actionable for libel, if committed.

Network news is actionable for libel, if committed.

TV stations owned directly by a network provider can be stripped of their licenses under certain conditions. It's not that easy, but it can be done.

TV stations owned by a network affiliate can't lose their FCC license because of something they broadcast from the network itself.

Here is how it works.

In certain major markets, ABC actually owns and operates TV stations. These owned-and-operated stations are known as "O-and-Os" in the entertainment business. The FCC licenses belong to ABC-owned stations directly.

Everywhere else, the ABC-affiliated TV stations are owned by other entities, sometimes chains, sometimes an individual company. The FCC license belongs to the owner, not ABC.

ABC, as a corporate entity, doesn't possess any kind of broadcast license.

In 2020, Trump stated that the Times would be out of business in 5 years. Maybe this is what will kill it.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 1858

I sense a great disturbance in the Force. As though millions of people have been awakened to the reality they tried so hard to ignore.

After Kirk's murder, I thought the Mainstream Media would cover his funeral with comparisons to the funeral of Horst Wessel in 1930. Considering how good people have reacted to the Left's statements on Kirk's death, I suspect the Mainstream Media will be much more circumspect in their behavior.

In the world of bureaucracy, it's called the Raincoat. When an agency doesn't like its new political master, it puts a raincoat on him. The political boss receives just enough information to go before Congress to gain the agency's annual appropriation. The career agency people actually report to the highest career person in the agency, not the political boss.

Patel does not yet control his agency.

She is Russ Tamblyn’s daughter and the star of “Joan of Arcadia” on CBS some decades ago.

AZ has been the scene for so many celebrated and publicized personalities with huge processions and funerals...

And the Left and the Mainstream Media will no doubt compare Kirk's funeral to that of Horst Wessel in 1930.

And when do we round-up these lefty media outlets for fomenting violence?

I'm more concerned about the eye-for-an-eye approach. Will our side start taking out their side in the same way? That's what I meant by my Forti Sumter comment earlier on this thread.

Cable channels, such as MSNBC, don’t have FCC licenses.

Cable channels like MSNBC and CNN don’t have broadcast licenses. There is no license to lose.

Time for a Preston Brooks moment.

Don Henley: "Johhny Can't Read"

Should have been a Preston Brooks moment.

I’m wondering if this is our Fort Sumter moment.