My Response to Dennis Prager's Better Understanding of the Good German A few days ago, I came across Dennis Prager's column, "I Now Better Understand the 'Good German'" where he shared his recently acquired insight about that large swathe of presumably decent German citizens who Mr. Prager says, "did nothing to hurt Jews but also did nothing to help them and did nothing to undermine the Nazi regime." He notes that the same questions that plagued him regarding this group could also be raised about the average Frenchman during the Vichy era, the average Russian under Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leoned Brezhnev, and their successors. In each of these cases, Prager notes, we encounter a presumed majority of a population under an oppressive regime that does nothing to stop it. Prager compares the dynamics that played out in each of these groups to the events he is witnessing in America today, with the acceptance by tens of millions of Americans of "irrational, unconstitutional and unprecedented police state-type restrictions on their freedoms, including even the freedom to make a living." Observing these developments, says Prager, has taught him "to not so quickly judge the quiet German, Russian, etc." Appropriately calling the trait demonstrated by these non-actors "apathy," Prager tells us that because of his observations of the American public, he can no longer conclude that the German and Russian apathy is specific to those cultures, as we Americans apparently share it with them. Thus, Prager concludes, he will no longer judge the average German or Russian as he used to. Mr. Prager misses the point. I have the greatest deal of admiration for Dennis Prager. His sage analysis of the human condition stands unparalleled to any other. Yes, our beloved Rush Limbaugh grew to be a much bigger, Herculean figure, but even Rush could not compete with the depth of reflection and human understanding that Prager displays on a daily basis. This is why I am surprised that Prager so recently came to understand the dynamics behind the "good German." Perhaps it is because I was taught about the good Cuban as a child. My childhood was immersed in a culture laced with the raw emotions and pain of a people who lost their country. An employee of the American embassy in Cuba, my father fled in haste the moment the embassy was closed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. My mother, who ironically had not yet met my father but was standing outside of the closed embassy gate while my father was evacuating from the inside, fled from Cuba a few months later when my family’s patriarch, who had already fled to the United States, claimed her. From them and from all my friend's and relatives, I heard of the oppressive presence of Castro's Comités del Barrio, or Neighborhood Committees, whose responsibility it was to alert government officials of any unapproved activities. To hear them say it, in Castro's Cuba you could not trust anyone, not even your closest relatives because one fine day, when you least expected it, they would denounce you to the Comité. In a blink of an eye, you would be abducted by paranoid government officials eager to please the state. If you were lucky, you would be executed by firing squad in front of a nearby wall. If not, you would be taken to Cuba's prisons, sometimes El Morro, possibly never to be heard of again.
But I am more surprised that Prager missed the bigger point than mere comprehension. Of course, it is important all of us understand the tribulations mortifying the vast majority of people dealing with such subhuman circumstances, but the insight only begins with understanding. The actual lesson lies in action.
Evil feeds off human frailty. It takes the path of least resistance. If left unchecked, it will grow and grow until it consumes the souls of both, the individual and the society in which he is living. Thus, the key to facing it is to snuff it out the moment it wreaks its ugly head. Thus, in the case of Hitler, the time to stop him was when he was serving time at the Landsberg Prison for high treason instead of after being released having served a protracted sentence of only a year. In the case of France it was the moment they recognized the evil of the German regime, or perhaps at the very dawn of the godless French Revolution. In Russia, the defining moment was when the people listened to the perverse teachings of Friederich Engels and Karl Marx, and tolerated the overthrow of the monarchy; and for Cuba, it was when Fulgencio Batista shamefully fled Cuba, leaving his people to flail under the deathgrip of a power hungry egomaniac. Our America is foolishly heading in the same direction as the Germans, the French, the Russians, and my family's Cubans. In each case, there is an abandonment of faith and an embrace of a purely secular view to man's existence. There is an abuse that follows due to man's inherent inability to restrain himself against immorality, greed, and power. And our great error, just like in the cases that have preceded us, is to tolerate the unending encroachment of this evil. Thus, we do not act when an unelected Supreme Court takes away our abilities to pray in school. We fail to retort when the professors tell us that man can come up with solutions using only reason. We don't call out the absurdity in claiming that men can be women, that one is inherently racist because he or she finds Dr. Seuss books a positive influence on children, or that a white restaurant owner has no business producing and selling Mexican food because it represents something called ethnic appropriation. All the signs of the impending terrorism are there, but we choose to ignore them, electing instead to maintain the peace and tranquility of our undisturbed lives rather than recognizing the evil for what it is and zealously toiling to stomp it out before it spreads–like it did in Germany, Russian, France, and Cuba, to name a few. Thus the great lesson to take from human experience is not one that centers around understanding, although, of course, such is the springboard from which progress is made. The great insight lies in the realization that these oppressive, coercive, and Godless power grabs must be resoundingly defeated as soon as they are recognized and before it's too late. Please support our ability to cover the events most important to you. Click here to join The Founding Fathers Club or donate to The Federalist Pages. Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com.
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To Many, the CDC's Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People A Dud.
by Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D. The CDC released its post-vaccination recommendations on Monday, and it seems that the only significant differences compared to prior guidelines is that it is now making it acceptable for post-vaccinated, asymptomatic individuals to meet in small gatherings without a mask and asymptomatic, fully vaccinated people coming into contact with a person who has COVID-19 no longer has to quarantine. Additionally, in the world of healthcare, the CDC is now allowing for indoor visitation of unvaccinated residents in post-acute care facilities except when the overall county positivity rate is less >10% and <70% of the residents in the facility are fully vaccinated. Under such circumstances, the CDC is recommending that indoor visitations be limited to compassionate care situations only. According to the guidelines, a person is considered vaccinated two weeks after he or she has received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or two weeks after having received the single dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The CDC reports it developed the guidelines after considering "the benefits of reducing social isolation and relaxing some measures such as quarantine requirements." Additionally, in a classic case of enticement, the CDC said, "taking steps towards relaxing certain measures for vaccinated persons may help improve COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake." But some inconsistencies in the CDC recommendations still exist. For example, in public places the CDC's current guidelines state, "fully vaccinated people should continue to follow guidance to protect themselves and others, including a well-fitted mask, physical distancing (at least 6 feet), avoiding crowds, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands often, and following any applicable workplace or school guidance." Yet those same scenarios in small gatherings, even protracted ones where the risk of exposure may be just as great if not greater, do not merit similar precautions. Another area where the CDC is receiving criticism is in its reluctance to change the guidelines for traveling. Despite the 95.7 million administered doses at an average of 2.17 million doses per day, the CDC did not make any adjustments to its travel recommendations, nor do the present recommendations take into account the traveler's vaccination status. Sadly, the CDC's position on travel is still an excessively restrictive one with its call for individuals to avoid it altogether and a recommendation that travelers undergo COVID-19 testing prior to and following their journeys. On the other hand, at least for now, the famed "vaccination passport" has not been recommended by the CDC. Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com. The Left Cancels Dr. Seuss
In a sign of how quickly the Left is regressing, it is now moving to cancel Dr. Seuss. Recently its derangement spread to the point where Hasbro thought it prudent to re-label its iconic toys, Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head, simply Potato Head. Now, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the entity responsible for preserving the author's legacy, decided to discontinue the sales of six of the infamous children's author's books. They are:
Although thefedralistpages.com has not been able to identify the reasoning behind the decision as it relates to each of the works directly from the Enterprise, according to CNN, it appear that "The Cat's Quizzer" was removed because a Japanese character is referred to as "a Japanese," and features drawings of a bright yellow face. . . standing on what appears to be Mt. Fuji." In "If I Ran the Zoo, the Asian characters who are not wearing conical hats are carrying a white man on their heads who is holding a gun. Again according to CNN's report, the composition "illustrates dominance." The decision and its enthusiastic acceptance flies in the face of what Former President Barrack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris were saying about the author just a few years ago. In 2015, Obama lavished praise on Dr. Seuss by telling a group of White House interns, "Pretty much all the stuff you need to know is in Dr. Seuss." Similarly, on March 2, 2017, Harris praised the author in a birthday tweet. "Happy Birthday, #DrSeuss! 'The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.'" Please support our ability to cover the events most important to you. Click here to join The Founding Fathers Club or to donate to The Federalist Pages. Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com. Pope Francis Visits Iraq
In a move rivaling any put forth by the Blessed Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis visited Iraq this week. His visit has included tours of areas decimated by Isis. Directly interacting with Christians in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, the Pope elevated the hopes of thousands of Christians whose numbers have been ravaged by the murderous tirades from ISIS. In truly Christian fashion, the Pope urged forgiveness on the part of Christians for the travesties that have been undertaken against them and prayed for a harmonious coexistence between them and Muslims. "How cruel it is," the Pope observed, "that this country, the cradle of civilization, should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow, with ancient places of worship destroyed and many thousands of people - Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others - forcibly displaced or killed." Unbeknownst to many who view Christianity as a mostly western religion, Christianity once blossomed in the area, brought to the region by the Apostles Philip and Andrew themselves. Until the time of the Turkish invasion of the region, the areas known today as Iraq and Iran were prominent Christian strongholds. A highlight of the trip, the first for Pope Francis in over a year and the first visit by a sitting Pope in modern Church history, was His Holiness's meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, which produced as statement from Sistani affirming that Christians deserve to "live like all Iraqis in security and peace and with full constitutional constraints." "Today, however, "the Pope said, "we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war." Please support our ability to cover the events most important to you. Click here to join The Founding Fathers Club or to donate to The Federalist Pages. Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com. A Man Named John who Came to Testify About the Light and Whom We Call Evangelist by Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D.
These are the words with which John the Evangelist opens his Gospel. They are amongst the most consequential and enlightening words of the New Testament, and they were transcribed by the author for a very specific purpose.
John the Apostle was the youngest of the Apostles. He was the younger brother of James the Greater with whom he was called Son of Thunder by Jesus himself. He also lived to be the oldest apostle and the last to die. As such, his direct influence upon the early church fathers was monumental. Indeed, some of the questions today's doubters of the authenticity of the Gospels have are answered by John's experiences. The first one being why did it take so long to write the Gospels if they were actually written by those who lived with Our Lord? In point of fact, the claim that the narratives were chronologically separated from the actual times of Jesus's life and resurrection is misleading. At least three of the Gospels were written by people who lived with Christ, who spoke to him directly, and who walked with him. The Gospel of Matthew was written by an actual apostle as early as 70 A.D., as was Mark's. The Gospel of Luke was authored a little later by a Greek doctor and disciple of Paul in about 80 A.D., and that of John is thought to have been started in 70 A.D. and took its final form around 90 A.D. Since the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ took place on or about 33 A.D., then the separation between the Gospels and the events they describe is thirty to fifty years. By today's standards, the chronological separation appears significant, but it dissolves when one considers the time in which they were written. For starters, the new Christian community was convinced that the return of Christ was imminent. The belief stemmed in part from their all-too-literal interpretation of Christ's comments about defeating death. If those who accepted Our Lord were not to die, then didn't that mean that he would be returning to them while they were still living? And if the Christ were imminently to return, what need would there be to document his time on earth? As time went on, and in particular, as the Apostolic Fathers began to die, it became apparent that there may be future generations needing to know of Christ's acts while here on earth, and the need to document his actions and teachings grew. A much more significant cause for the delay was the Jewish-Roman War that began on 66 A.D. and which resulted in Jerusalem's destruction in 73 A.D. During those times, a devastating famine decimated the Jews. There was so much hunger and such little food that Jewish citizens ate their own leather shoes in a desperate attempt to remain alive. There is one particularly poignant account of a Jewish mother who cooked her own child shortly after delivering it. She was discovered by Roman soldiers who followed the scent of the food in the hopes of robbing her of whatever scraps they could, but instead were repulsed to discover of the horrific events that had just taken place. Under such circumstances, there was no inclination for writing, meditation, or historical documentation. Ironically, the Christian population was largely spared the famine and destruction that besieged Jerusalem because of Our Lord's very words. Jesus predicted a time of colossal suffering for the Jews. It is recorded in detail in Chapter 13 of The Gospel of Mark. Additionally, Jesus's comments to women bystanders as he made his was to his crucifixion was prophetic. He said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:28-32) Because of Christ's prophecies, many Jewish Christians left Jerusalem prior to the Roman siege. They were part of the diaspora, but theirs was not The Jewish Faith. Theirs was a sect, and like so many other Jews, they were being absorbed by the cultures of the regions in which they found themselves. For this reason, and because the Jewish religion was not adopting the Christ as the Messiah, the new Faith, their Faith, needed to be memorialized. There was also the evangelical work of Paul, who was converting gentiles to Christianity. His travels took him to present day Greece, Rome, and maybe even Spain. Initially, he took his proselytization to the Jewish temples throughout the Mediterranean, but as the Jews rejected his message, he took it to the gentiles. These were pagans who not only did not know Jesus, they did not know the concept of the One God. For them, this Jew from Antioch must have sounded like he was from Mars. Not only did they need to learn about Jesus, they needed to learn about Judaism. For them and in support of the effort at converting them, the documentation of the life and works of Jesus the Christ was instrumental. The push for the stories of our Lord while on earth thus materialized. Mark's Gospel was targeted to the Jews. It was the result of a request from the early followers that he write everything that Peter said. Thus, Mark's was a more descriptive text, reporting on what Peter told of the actions and words of Christ. John's Gospel, according to Eusebius, was "being urged by his friends and inspired by the Spirit." It is a more "spiritual" Gospel. John himself tells us about why he wrote his Gospel in the opening words of his text: "A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify in the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world." (Jn 1:6-9) John's Gospel was shaped by the heresies that had started to creep in, even at that early age, and to which he needed to respond. How could Jesus be God and man at the same time? If he was born of the Virgin, then how could he have existed prior to his birth? This need to explain Christianity's theological premises is part of the reason for the philosophical undertone of the opening of John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be." It also motivates the explanatory language that follows shortly thereafter: "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." Thus John was amongst the most influential members of the earliest Christians, and arguably the truest to our Lord. John was the one who unquestioningly followed Christ when John the Baptist pointed him out to be the Lamb of God. He recruited his brother, James the Greater, and was the only one who never abandoned Jesus to the point of being the only apostle who mourned at the foot of the Cross during the Lord's crucifixion along side of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and likely, Salome. So trusted was John to Jesus, in fact, the he entrusted his mother to John's care, saying to Mary, "Mother, behold, your son," and to John, "Behold, your mother." John lived a long life, with most estimating he died at 93 years of age. He remained active throughout those days, spreading the word of God to the end. His influence beyond the Gospel was monumental, and we shall cover it in our next installation of our Christianity Series. Read more from our Christianity Series by visiting thefederalistpages/news. Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com. Pelosi Adviser Wants Permanent Military Presence in Washington, D.C.
A panel led by Lt. Gen. Russel Honore is recommending that a permanent military presence be created in Washington, D.C. The report, which was obtained by Fox News, describes a Quick Reaction force for the District of Columbia and is motivated by the continued threats government officials claim to be detecting regarding violence in the capital following the January 6 events in Washington, D.C. On a related front, government officials were fearful of a QAnon assault on the Capitol on march 4, as this was the original date for the peaceful transfer of power in the Constitution. Regardless, there was no materialization of this threat. In the meantime, these same officials are now claiming renewed threats for March 20.
YouTube Canceled RSBN. I'm Canceling YouTube.
by Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D. Audacious. Absolutely audacious. There's nothing else to be said of YouTube's actions in canceling RSBN for two weeks. In case you have not heard, YouTube has suspended RSBN for two weeks because of RSBN's coverage of President Donald J Trump's CPAC speech. RSBN is the Right Sided Broadcast Network. It is a network that has amassed a 1.5 million member following through its coverage of President Donald J. Trump. The network became famous when it began airing every one of President Trump's rallies during his Presidential race. True to form, it also livestreamed the Former President's CPAC speech on Sunday, amassing nearly 4 million views. But YouTube wanted RSBN to post "countervailing viewpoints" in its broadcast in order for the video to stay up. RSBN refused, so YouTube banned the RSBN channel for two weeks. So, according to YouTube, it has authority not only over speech, but also of the coverage of speech. It's no longer enough for you to say only what YouTube wants you and authorizes you to say. Now, you can only cover the news that YouTube wants you to cover, in the manner that YouTube wants you to cover it. Absolutely audacious! According to YouTube, President Trump's speech violated its Community Guidelines, because he claimed that "widespread election fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election." Well, I've got a few items for YouTube and all the giant social media punks insistent on suppressing free speech. It doesn't matter how much you try to cancel President Trump, he ain't going anywhere. Moreover, it doesn't matter how many times you try to keep the approximately 60 million Americans who believe the election was stolen from hearing that election was stolen, they are still going to believe that it was! Why? Precisely because organizations like YouTube, the government, the press, and social media giants keep insisting that it wasn't. We at thefederalistpages.com have been perfectly clear on the need for a full and transparent investigation regarding the results of the 2020 presidential election. We have said that until such an evaluation is completed, the overwhelming majority of the 75 million people who voted for President Trump is going to continue to believe the election was stolen. Moreover, while they continue to believe this about the election, President Designate Joe Biden will continue to be perceived as being inappropriately installed into the Office of President of the United States. The fact that such serious investigations were not undertaken in a timely manner will only keep this cancer festering in the minds and hearts of the American people. It is obvious that the social media giants inclusive of YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Twitter have no idea the harm they are doing to themselves and to the nation through their insistence of repressing instead of exposing the facts regarding the 2020 election. In an interview with Frederick Kemp, the CEO of Atlantic Council, Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, said it was her company's intent to continue to block President Trump until "we determine the risk of violence has decreased." A statement, which stinks in its dishonesty, audaciousness, and self-aggrandizement. First, who died and made Wojcicki the gage on the risk of violence? Second. How about the risk of violence associated with the Anitfa videos, Black Lives Matter videos, and anti-American terrorist group videos? When are they going to take those down? How about the videos of government controlled Iranians chanting "Death to America"? And how about the violence-laden, foul mouthed, utterly disgusting music videos so popular today? Ought those not be taken down? Third. Violence where? In Chicago? In Portland? In Seattle? If you're going to wait until the threats of violence diminish in those location, you might as well wait until President Trump gets reelected because I do not see that happening until then. And finally, threats of violence according to whom? Biden and Pelosi? March 4th was supposed to be this chaotic day. It was the latest excuse to keep Washington, D.C. crawling with our own troops' guns pointed against us. Well, the big day came and went with not a peep from QAnon or any other scapegoated group. So, was all this paranoia from the Left about some attack on the Capitol based on actual intelligence, or was it made up? Of course, we will never know because YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Amazon keep covering up the truth! I must finish with a request. Everyday, as I write these articles and investigate these stories, I wonder how long it will be before our own thefederalistpages.com gets censored? No matter what, it is imperative that we continue to fight to deliver the truth. The truth must be so overwhelming that its light must shine into every corner, every nook and cranny, where darkness, deceit and lies attempt to prevail. It is for this reason that I ask you to donate. Help us grow and help us be ready for the day these behemoths try to turn off our own beacon. Please, help us to fight the fight we all must wage together. Please donate by clicking here, or at the button below. Any amount will help and is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I'm interrupting my writing to open an account with YouTube's competitor: Rumble. I'll see you there! Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the author of numerous books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons. He is available for appearances and book signings, and can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com. Most Americans Oppose DC Statehood.
Fifty-five percent of Americans oppose granting statehood to Washington, D.C. according to a recent Rasmussen Poll. Only 29% of those polled responded in favor of the change. The change in status for D.C. has long been a Democrat priority, but it is fraught with complications. Granting D.C. statehood would add two liberal senators to the upper chamber, permanently affecting the balance of power in the legislature. Additionally, the Democrats would like to elevate Puerto Rico, another Democrat stronghold, to statehood, further tilting the Senate's balance in their favor. In the run-up to the Civil War, with the nation divided between slavery and emancipation, the Union was careful to elevate two states at a time to statehood, one southern, Democrat, pro-slavery and the other northern, Whig/Republican free. There is no indication that the Democrats are interested in presently preserving a balance of disparate regional views today. Also of significance as it relates to our nation's constitutional history, the federal district was never meant to be a state. Quite the contrary, Article I, Section 8 specifically authorizes Congress "[t]o exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seatof the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Maga-zines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings." The Democrats' plan to elevate a portion of the nation, voluntarily ceded by the states and artificially populated by federal bureaucrats, only to have it later turned into a state with equal representation to other states likely represents a direct affront to the writing and spirit of the Constitution of the United States. Such a move must be vehemently opposed. |
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