Prayers for the dead and wounded and – God help them – hostages in Paris

Tonight, we are all French.

Prayers for the dead and wounded and God help them – hostages in Paris and friends and families of the same.

Ce soir nous sommes tous Français.

Coordinated attacks by terrorists at multiple locations in Paris may be something along the lines of France’s 9/11.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

I wonder if this is an anniversary of some significant event.

The borders of France have been closed.

My dear readers… always be alert about what is going on around you.  Be situation-aware.  Have a plan for how you will make contact with loved ones and, if necessary, get away from where you are and get home.

We can’t plan for every contingency, but we can practice being aware of the here and now. Know where your exits and protected places are, your defensive positions.  Be thoughtful about the unforeseen.

The unimaginable is now quite imaginable.

Do you need to think about Get Home Bags and Bug Out Bags you can just pick up and move?  As you may remember, since the flipside of self-defense is medical treatment, I’ve been collecting things through my lists to make also med kits for carry, for car, etc.  I have some more items slated to arrive tomorrow (e.g., burn gel).

You don’t know when something might happen.  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it can’t or won’t happen to your or to your own.

It always happens to someone else, until it happens to you!

Above all, examine your conscience and…

GO TO CONFESSION!

UPDATE

Now reports are coming in from reputable sources that tie these attacks to Islamic terror and ISIS. Je suis choqué!

We will soon know for sure, but I am betting that the attacks were not carried out by Canadian enthusiasts of Esperanto.

We all need to wake up.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Four Last Things, GO TO CONFESSION, Semper Paratus, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

56 Comments

  1. Gregg the Obscure says:

    A somewhat significant event of 13 November relating to France and Moslems: Battle of El Herri in which Berbers inflicted a humiliating defeat on French soldiers.

    Also this is the anniversary of the occupation of Constantinople at the collapse of the Ottoman empire, just a few years later.

  2. Semper Gumby says:

    Good point Gregg.

    In November 2008 the Lashkar e Taiba sent several teams to attack Mumbai. Each team had several targets. Hopefully the number of targets in Paris tonight will remain at 3.

    Prayers for the dead, wounded, and families.

  3. juergensen says:

    Anyone know how many Muslims are being taken in by Argentina?

  4. Nicholas says:

    Joan d’Arc, ora pro nobis.

  5. acardnal says:

    Nov 13th date is significant. 11/13/1914 Zaian War & 11/13/1918 Allied troops occupy Constantinople

  6. Prayerful says:

    Agence France-Presse ? @afpfr
    #fusillade Attentats à Paris: une centaine de morts au Bataclan (sources policières) #AFP

    100 possible victims of the religion of peace in the Bataclan theatre, not counting over sixty elsewhere in Paris.

  7. Rocha90 says:

    St. Joan of Arc, pray for us!

    Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

  8. YoungLatinMassGuy says:

    I want to say I’m shocked.
    But I’m not.
    Expect more of this in the decades to come.

  9. AvantiBev says:

    And our Church leaders are just as guilty of ostrich disease as are the secular elites who consider themselves “the anointed”(as the great Dr. Thomas Sowell has called them). Another ecu-maniac prayer service is NOT what we need. I am proud to oppose Cupich and the other open borders bishops. God gave me my brains for a reason. The Isabella Solution — expulsion — is long overdue.

    The verses in Jeremiah about the false priests and prophets so aptly applies to this generation.

  10. acardnal says:

    “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” – Jesus Christ. Mt 10:34

  11. iamlucky13 says:

    I haven’t been trying to follow the news on this too closely, since the focus on early news reports tends to be reporting volume rather than accuracy, but the one article I did read indicated there were still a significant number of people being held hostage, and authorities were considering attempting an assault to free them. That is a very dangerous situation for all involved. It is well worthwhile to make some time to pray for them.

  12. lmgilbert says:

    Maybe I am wrong, but does it not seem to you that through these and similar events (which though not willed by God are permitted by Him) God is in effect saying to the West, “Tired of Christianity are you? Here, have some Islam!” There is a spiritual vacuum into which an alien spirit and its devotees rush in their tens of thousands, ready as the most devout slaves of Allah always are to bring about Submission by violence.

    How then does it not make sense to demand of all Muslims formal rejection of Islam or expulsion? The policy of Ferdinand and Isabella makes perfect sense for all the West, just as it did for Spain in 1492— as harsh as it may seem to say so.

    The alternative will prove far harsher, I am afraid, for suicide bombings, the strafing of crowds, beheadings and lashes and the amputation of limbs and all the outworking of sharia is a very harsh business indeed. While we still hold power and have a majority let us impose this mild harshness on them before they impose the murderous “will of Allah” on our descendants.

  13. Bosco says:

    Pray for those poor souls indeed. Pray too that the smarmy ruling elitists of Europe (who self-righteously sneer at the US Constitutional right of citizens to own and bear arms) will allow Christian Europeans the same right as US citizens so as to defend against and resist the Islamic invasion of the continent currently under way.

    I cannot help but guess that had any of those French victims had a firearm on their person the casualties might have been lessened.

  14. MWindsor says:

    Went to confession this morning.

    Going to talk to a nearby range tomorrow about a CHL.

  15. SpanishCatholic says:

    St. James… Santiago el Matamoros pray for Paris and the people of France. The latest news I’ve read is nearly 200 dead. Nearly120 at the concert alone, they threw grenades into the crowd and opened fire at the audience. Telegraph also reporting that were six separate attacks around the greater Paris metro area; suicide bombers at a soccer match, multiple shootings at restaurants & malls.

  16. Auggie says:

    Many will now decry all “religion” and try to make the world more secular.
    Instead, may the France of the Saints reawaken and take its proper place in Christendom.

  17. Maltese says:

    Paris is among my favorite cities in the world, I went there again some years ago to photograph Chartres, and other great cathedrals. Maybe this is a wake-up call to re-embrace the Faith that made that city, and all of France, great.

    We, as a world, need to re-embrace the Social Kingdom of Christ, not the Christ of the remnant has-beens. It is only in Christ that we will find world-peace; nowhere else: not the UN, not the US, not NGO’s, etc. Only in Christ can we, as a world, find peace.

    That said, I’m appalled, sickened, and aghast at what happened in Paris. But, we shouldn’t let what they did terrorize us, otherwise they win.

  18. Andrew D says:

    I am praying daily and have been for awhile for the destruction of islam and the conversion of those people to the Catholic Church through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

  19. jonguz says:

    It is no coincidence that terrorists have repeatedly assailed the eldest daughter of the Church, however removed she may have been from her Mother in recent years.

    Regina Pacis, ora pro nobis.

  20. Jason Keener says:

    Well, there can be no doubt that the barbarians are inside the gates. Will Western Civilization and its leaders finally awake from their slumber and take the kind of fight to ISIS and other radicals that will leave them begging for mercy, or will we just keep plodding along with Obama’s strategy to “degrade” and “contain” ISIS in some magical and unknown way? President Bush warned us after 9/11 that the war against radical Muslims was going to be a long war, and he was indeed right. Unfortunately, I have little hope that Western Civilization, now in such a state of decline and disorientation, is up to the task.

  21. James says:

    The number of dead is now 158.

    Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
    and let perpetual light shine upon them.
    May they rest in peace. Amen.

    Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine,
    et lux perpétua lúceat eis.
    Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

  22. Charles E Flynn says:
  23. juergensen says:

    NEWS FROM SYRIA: Hundreds of Syrian Christian fighters have gathered to defend Sadad, a Christian town of 3,500 between Homs and Damascus, as forces of the Islamic State advance.

    NEWS FROM PARIS: Muslims rampage in Paris, carrying out multiple terrorist attacks in and around the city, and the death toll is at least 153 killed.

    NEWS FROM ROME: Adulterers … homosexuals … sodomites … welcoming … new language … walking with … Communion.

  24. Bea says:

    Maybe “they” think that Christians are superstitious and a Friday the 13th will strike fear in us.

  25. Pingback: Charles Martel Aid Us! by Donald R. McClarey J. D. - Big Pulpit

  26. Maria says:

    “Andrew D says:
    13 November 2015 at 8:01 PM

    I am praying daily and have been for awhile for the destruction of islam and the conversion of those people to the Catholic Church through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” — I have been praying too for the annihilation of Islam and conversion of Muslims to the Catholic faith.

  27. Imrahil says:

    Dear lmgilbert,

    let’s leave out ethnicity out for a moment because it doesn’t matter.

    What makes you think that if it comes to combatting a religion because it’s false, while upholding Christianity because it’s true, we would actually have a majority?

    We’ve got a lot of homines bonae voluntatis living off their Christian heritage, yes. God bless them. But do you seriously suppose someone who doesn’t even go to Church every Sunday would be to have for as harsh matters as that?

    – That’s theoretical, and if all Christians that are agreed on the principle would also agree to set pragmatism aside. However, such a move wouldn’t, now, even be prudential. At the moment we’re having by and large the allegiance of the whole Muslim world, consisting by and large of nice fellows, is shocked by the things the Islamic State does as much as we are, and actually has, as far as I’m aware, condemned the Islamic State as un-Islamic.

    It makes sense to not make them really read their Koran, doesn’t it.

    It makes sense to shake hands with the ally who is shocked at his own brother the enemy, instead of recoiling in horror of the family connection, thereby driving our ally (having nowhere else to go) reluctantly back to his horrible brother.

  28. Imrahil says:

    To stay in the picture…

    does it matter so much whether the horrible brother of your ally actually is the one faithful to family traditions?

    (For the scholar, yes, of course. But for the treatment of your ally?)

  29. Imrahil says:

    (this was an annotation to a comment still in the queue)

  30. jacobi says:

    Father,

    Here in Europe, after this mornings news, we are at war. Just how how many dead do we have to have before this simple fact is accepted? And so incidentally are you. Just as before, we will need USA help.

    The first thing in any war is to know who your enemy is and what his objectives are.

    In this war the enemy is Islam and their objective is all that non-Muslims be subjected to the Universal Caliphate.

    There are a variety of options open to Muslims all of them orthodox under their religion. They can evangelise peacefully, they can coerce, or threaten or enslave, or subject us under to their authority under a tax, or just massacre, as has happened in Paris. Oh, and one other thing. They can just occupy, out breed us and then take over in the fullness of time, say in two generations.

    So any Muslim whether in a bin-bag , nightshirt, or hair back and wearing lipstick is the enemy. Not very nice but there is.

    As for who will win the war, which is just getting under way, well I wouldn’t like to say at this stage. Without your help, both Intelligence, military and the Catholic Church in the USA, we will lose this war. So don’t let us down!

  31. Imrahil says:

    Only… outbreeding is a legitimate tactic, which we ourselves are currently applying in Northern Ireland.

    To the point, even gaining the rule is nothing but the legitimate aim of a religion. We aim for that ourselves, see Quas primas.

    It boils down to the fact that Christianity is right and Islam isn’t, of course. Also, some of their tactics are morally wrong; but outbreeding isn’t, nor is legal immigration.

    By the way: outbreeding wouldn’t help if we just wouldn’t hand them down the citizenship. The mere permit of residence doesn’t give them a say in the country’s affairs; only citizenship does. (In my country, for information, jus soli is but a very new principle and citizenship always went jure sanguinis.)

    But: while it is, indeed contrary to rumours, not un-Christian to fight down your enemy, it is un-Christian to fight against innocent persons who haven’t made themselves your enemy through any conscious decision (you only take them as such due to the fact that their very existence may serve the enemy, or any such thing).

  32. HeatherPA says:

    This is so chilling and scary.
    Prayers for all the departed and their families.
    My 18yo daughter is supposed to be going to Paris and touring France in March with her high school honors French class.
    I am so worried about allowing her to go (have been since the trip was planned two years ago and have been growing more wary each passing day), and we are torn on whether to let her go. Of course, she will flip out if we pull the plug on the trip, and no, life cannot stop because of these barbarians, however this is our precious daughter. Ugh.
    Pray for us that we make the right choice in this matter.

  33. Orphrey says:

    I’m afraid there’s going to be more of this in the future. It may even become commonplace. Gunshots echoing in the streets, soldiers patrolling European cities.

  34. fan312 says:

    It’s very hard to imagine a city living in terror, a city plagued by death.

  35. fan312 says:

    It’s very hard to imagine a city living in terror, a city plagued by death.

  36. robtbrown says:

    Jacobi says,

    They can just occupy, out breed us and then take over in the fullness of time, say in two generations.

    A joke which I’ve told here before:

    What will the liturgical language of France be if Lefebvre wins?

    Latin.

    And what will it be if Lefebvre loses?

    Arabic.

  37. laurel says:

    A film is being posted of the soccer game during which the crowd cheers explosions thinking they are firecrackers or something. For me, the film inside the stadium presents an allegoric image……. Westerners enjoying a sports event (about which they know everything) and ignorantly cheering external explosions that signify their cultural and national danger. WAKE UP !! Read Camp of the Saints 1973 French apocalyptic novel by Jean Raspail.

  38. Imrahil says:

    Well… allegoric image or no allegoric image… but why waking up?

    Seriously. With all due respect, there is no reason to call us to wake up.

    We weren’t exactly asleep.

    Not in this respect.

    Noone in Europe (except the few stupid people which don’t count and can be found everywhere) did not know that there are terrorists, that they don’t particularly like Christian civilization both in the fervent form and the form grown cold (whichever of the twain they still hate one inch less). We knew that they are there; that they may attack at any time and any place; and that nothing essentially can be done about it.

    Was that resignation, “nothing essentially can be done about it”? Well, I’ll explain myself.

    Self-defence, police measures, even a military attack on that horrible state-creature which has now confessed to the crimes – these things are all fine as far as they go. About these, we may have been lazy; we may have been coward. But, for one thing, we weren’t unknowing about the threat, hence not “asleep”. And, for another thing, about one thing we were right.

    Such measures may lessen the probability of a terrorist attack, but they will not entirely prevent them. (This is what I mean by, nothing essentially can be done about it).

    For this reason, whatever the police does, whatever the military does, can help prevent the terrorists from winning and shall be done. But only two things can actually make the terrorists lose: their own conscience, one.

    And, two, the heroism of the civilian who thinks: “Well go ahead and assassinate me. It won’t be my fault; it will be entirely your fault, your sin, not mine. I even may perhaps pray for your forgiveness. But in any case, as long as you don’t, well, pardon me but: I won’t allow you to influence my life. The games must go on.” (Avery Brundage is much criticized for many things, but “the games must go on” is, and remains, the only manful attitude possible in such circumstances)

    Of course, this requires, to the Catholic, that we need, at any moment, to be prepared to die. But then, don’t we need to be so in any case, terrorists or no terrorists?

    These are the strange times when you can be heroic by watching a soccer game in a stadium or a rock concert in a music hall… but so much the better.

  39. robtbrown says:

    Imrahil,

    What will happen now with Frau Merkel’s big immigration project?

  40. Imrahil says:

    (And by the way – the much-complained-of reluctance of Europeans to go to war needs, on closer sight, a distinction.

    With essential European contribution, Bosnia-Hercegovina has been pacified and the Kosovo has almost been pacified, too. Afghanistan? It never had as many soldiers, territory-wise calculated, than they had; but that was a political decision.

    In 2001, the war on terrorism was just as popular in Europe as it was in the USA. What the Europeans were against was the war against Iraq; and after the Iraq war was led, and it became clearer and clearer that its justification, always mistrusted, really did not hold water, it is but natural that pacifists would get a heyday…)

  41. Imrahil says:

    Dear robtbrown,

    the point about Frau Merkel is that she hasn’t had a project, not w.r.t. immigration, nor, for that matter, in many other respects.

    She’ll go on with what Robert Musil called “the Austrian official, national philosophy of muddling-along” (noting that this isn’t always the worst thing to do.

  42. Imrahil says:

    Which direction the muddling will go, noone knows, and I doubt she knows herself. (An essential military contribution to a possible French attack on the IS is, alas, out of the question as long as Ursula von der Leyen is ministress of defence.)

    As for the present immigration – to good parts due to the fact that Chancelloress Merkel wasn’t aware that in this age, he comment that “we’re going to shoulder it” would actually be heard not only by the immigrants but also by potential immigrants, and not unlogically be taken as invitation – I think it will, for the present, go on as it does, with some measures taken by Governor Seehofer and others to somehow curb it.

    However, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer once said that the Germans could not but be pious (and hence, the Reformation came):

    The attitude “well, of course, these people now need help, and in thirty years all our women will wear headscarves; all the same, these people now need help; if it is the duty of an honest man to perish in honor, rather than to act dishonorably, well then perish he must” is rather prevalent among today’s Germans… even today’s.

  43. MWindsor says:

    Jacobi – You definitely have the support of the majority of the American people. Our government, however…

    All – Maybe we should start figuring out how to bypass the governments and lend direct support.

  44. eymard says:

    “I wonder if this is an anniversary of some significant event”

    Ottoman Empire declares a holy war on 14 November 1914

    On November 14, 1914, in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leader Sheikh-ul-Islam declares an Islamic holy war on behalf of the Ottoman government, urging his Muslim followers to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro in World War I.

  45. jacobi says:

    Thank you MWindsor, for without your help, as before!, we will lose.

    This is only just starting. The bayonets are unsheathed. We will not, cannot, evangelise, Islam , only suppress it (under the doctrine of Just War, and what could be more Just than the survival of Christianity) for a few generations until its next upsurge.

    But lets deal with the 21st century upsurge first!

  46. Semper Gumby says:

    Kudos Fr. Z for reminding us of making prudent preparations in case of a future catastrophe. Having a few things in the closet or basement provides peace of mind, and could be vital one day.

    Ted Koppel, a liberal journalist, just wrote a book about a future cyber attack on the U.S. power grid. The result of no electricity: no phone recharging or air conditioning, no internet or ATMs, and soon no city water or food on store shelves.

    Store some small things in advance, like the burn gel Fr. Z mentioned here or some bandages and antibiotic cream. These small things, easy to purchase now, could someday be nearly impossible to obtain but vitally important to you or a loved one.

    If you want to explore “survivalist” websites for preparedness info, please proceed cautiously. Most of these sites at times post articles that belittle the Church, while the comment section often strays even further into anti-Catholicism, conspiracy theory, and an unhealthy semi-hostile bunker mentality. That said, there is an occasional good article, an occasional good tip in a comment. In my opinion, these sites are useful only for finding additional info about a specific topic or product from that site’s search engine- not for every day reading.

    If you’ve never “prepped” before, prepare a Bug Out Bag like Fr. Z mentioned in this post. Then in a closet or basement have a few weeks of canned food and several gallons of water for each family member or friend. Some good books and maybe a board game or two for children. In a plastic tote box toss in a few medical supplies and vitamins.

    Of course, our best preparation is our Faith in Jesus Christ and His Church.
    Semper Paratus.

  47. Imrahil says:

    I don’t think any entire religion consists of all-in-all unevangelizable people. Some do convert.

    Some may even be lured away from Islam by the promises of Western decadence (a liberality which, after all, has some Christian roots), and maybe their descendants might convert. Sure, I know what you’re going to say: it would be rash, and too many politicians assume rashly, that at least the first part is the general case. And that would be rash indeed; but all the same it can happen in some cases.

    We didn’t evangelize the Roman Empire with one single sermon, either.

    Of course, miracles in the proper sense, too, can always happen, such as the our Lady’s appearing to St. Juan Diego which made the comparatively quick evangelization of Latin America, or Widukind asking for, and receiving, a miracle as a condition to converting his Saxons (which probably, all Charlemagne’s violence wouldn’t so quickly have brought forward).

    >>under the doctrine of Just War, and what could be more Just than the survival of Christianity

    That depends. For one thing, the survival of Christianity (as such) is something we are guaranteed; but let’s set hairsplitting aside. For another, a just war requires an unjust action of the enemy against you which the war is meant to remedy (such as an attack, such as obviously happened yesterday). There are, however, other things that might threaten the “survival of Christianity” in that colloquial sense (such Christians abandoning Christian practice, marrying their daughters off into Muslim families which did not abandon their practice, and Muslim families having a higher birthrate, and so on) which do not consist in an unjust action of the enemy against us and are, hence, not grounds for Just War.

    Oh yes, technicalities. In the given circumstances the Islamic State did attack, and attack unjustly, and hence has given a just cause.

  48. WmHesch says:

    In the Islamic calendar, 13 Nov was the 1st of the month of Safar… A month historically marked by going out to battle. This is why it was an evening attack, as the crescent moon had to first appear.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safar

  49. acardnal says:

    Semper Gumby, Ted Koppel was interviewed about his new book recently. He was asked about the probable cyber attack on the electric grid. He said it WILL happen. There’s no defense.

    He was then asked how long will the outage last? Three days, three weeks? Koppel replied that three to six months is likely due to damage to equipment that is unique and it takes time to manufacture replacements. He was then asked how he has personally prepared. He replied he has dehydrated food, water and a generator. . . but not enough fuel. I think he should get a wood stove and a well with a bucket on a rope…like the old days on the prairie.

  50. acardnal says:

    I should add to my comment above: In the interview, Koppel said he doesn’t think the attack will come from China or Russia because our economies are interdependent. They would only be hurting themselves.

    He’s been interviewed on several media outlets about his new book but I watched this one on CNN:
    HERE

    The name of his book: Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath

  51. jacobi says:

    The survival of Christianity justifies a war since otherwise Christ is seen to have died in vain. The assault of the Islamic heresy throughout the world, now on all society, is reason enough.

    That is solid grounds for a just war to suppress Islam.

    But yes, Islam is not the only danger. Birth control and a reproduction rate of 1.8 will do what Islam so far in its fifteen hundred years of violence, has failed to do.

    But then what do our clergy have to say about this latter point. Nothing?

  52. Imrahil says:

    All the same, just war theory does not provide a special clause for Christianity (which by the way is guaranteed to survive until Judgment Day – with what numbers and in what places, we don’t know, but we do know it will). Just war theory just provides the general rules. We can apply them; we don’t have to be the one who backs down; but all the same, suggesting we could use more, instead of less, legitimate violence than others can is carrying things a bit too far.

    1.8 birth rate? That is a number like out of an island of the blessed. My country, as does St. Peter’s own one, have some 1.3 .

    The assault such as now led by the Islamic State against France is sufficient grounds under just war theory for France, and if she chooses to do so, such allies as step at her side, to combat the Islamic State. Not all Islamhood (which by the way would be strategically imprudent for the present – the main force of the anti-IS war is provided by the Kurds) – the fact that the doctrine is in itself inimical to Christianity is true but does not count; you have to have a conscious action, or preparation of an action, infringing on your rights. Otherwise, no just war.

    However, things like proselytizing would not be a cause for just war.

  53. MWindsor says:

    acardnal & anyone else – What’s the single best small investment you can make for such survival situations? A simple thing –

    A Sawyer Water Bottle

    I’ve used them on camping trips many times, and never go into the woods without one at least in the car. Koppel is right about storing food and fuel and such, but you won’t last long without clean water.

  54. MWindsor says:

    Went to a gun store today to ask about getting a concealed handgun license. I decided to try out a rifle on the range – one similar to a model they have for sale that interests me. I blasted away with a couple of boxes of ammo, then went to check-out.

    As I was waiting to pay, 5 middle eastern men walked in. All were in their late 20’s or early 30’s. All bearded. They looked around the store, then rented some pistols to try on the range. There were six employees there, all with sidearms. There were other costumers there, most with some kind of firearm.

    It was a really weird dynamic. The saracens ignored everyone around them and spoke in arabic or farsi or something. The Americans were all watching them very closely – outright staring to sideways glances. One employee with a “USMC” tattoo stayed at a discrete distance, always facing in their direction. Keep in mind, this is only about 7 or 8 miles from the ISIS attack in Garland, Texas last May.

    Imrahil – you’re absolutely correct about the Doctrine of Just War as you described above. But this war is different. DJW works on the macro level. The attacks in Paris were at a micro level.

  55. Semper Gumby says:

    Well said, acardnl. Your recommendation of a wood stove and “the old days on the prairie” is spot on after any catastrophic attack whether cyber, EMP, bio, etc.

    I agree with Koppel that a serious attack requires more than a few weeks of supplies. But I have learned that recommending 3-6 months can, naturally, be a daunting task easily dismissed. I have also found lately that writers like Koppel who are on the port-side of politics (as George Weigel would say), can be helpful in communicating with people who dislike “traditional” sources and people.

    I disagree with Koppel’s view that China and Russia, because of economic interests etc., would not launch a future catastrophic attack against the West. The leaders of China and Russia, and some of their advisors, tend to be belligerent folk. We can estimate their current motivations, but we simply do not know what they will view as a rational course of action in the future.

    In a curious incident earlier this year, the Russian ambassador to Denmark threatened to make Denmark’s tiny navy a nuclear target if it increased its cooperation with NATO. Hmm…not a very diplomatic ambassador.

  56. aviva meriam says:

    I’m disgusted. The Deacon at Mass told us (during the homily) that ISIS only attracts the disaffected and the oppressed. In effect, that we are responsible to some degree for their murderous rampages by not addressing their just grievances. The Victims share responsibility for their murders.

    These people were martyrs.
    As were the Christians in Garissa University in Northern Kenya. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32169080

    How on earth can we expect to persevere in the face of evil if we lack the moral clarity to recognize evil for what it is? WE must first identify it and acknowledge it as evil if we intend to fight it.

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