Bill Kassel's Blog

God’s Country

WE NEED TO PROCLAIM
OUR TRUE CHARACTER

The Supreme Court decision negating Roe v. Wade has breathed new life into an old canard, namely that people are being forced into submitting to Christian doctrine.

All the familiar clichés associated with the abortion issue are, more or less, based on that premise: the silly cry of “Keep your Bible off my ovaries!” … those stupid red robes and cone-shaped bonnets from “The Handmaid’s Tale” … and the rest.

You needn’t be particularly concerned with abortion, either. I encounter self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics who seem to live in terror of being rousted out of bed in the middle of the night by agents of a new Christian Inquisition. Maybe as kids they all had really scary Sunday schools teachers, but the mere existence of churches taps into some primal fear of compulsory devotion.

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Immoral and Un-American

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WE’VE REACHED A POLITICAL LIMIT
BEYOND WHICH WE DARE NOT GO

The First Amendment is America in a nutshell.

Anyone who would reject the idea that government should not be permitted to obstruct the free expression of information, ideas, and opinions — as that amendment specifically states — would be denying a fundamental assumption on which our nation is based.

Yes, there are limits to free expression.

You aren’t free to incite violence or crime (as, for instance, in the prohibition of so-called “fighting words”). Similarly, your speech must not create a situation of danger or panic (as in the famous cliché about falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater).

We have laws that impose legitimate restrictions on what you can say in public, or even what you can communicate in private if it promotes criminal activity. The limits are well established and long recognized.

But to advance the notion that government can make judgments on what is permissible speech content — based, for instance, on conformity to certain philosophical or ideological premises — is in total contradiction of our national character.

Podbean

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MY RADIO SHOW IS NOW ON
A GREAT PODCAST PLATFORM

I’m pleased to announce that “Free Expression with Bill Kassel” is now available on the podcast platform, PodBean.

Silly name, but a really good distributor of alternative media. In fact, PodBean is one of the largest podcast outlets, with an excellent assortment of top Christian programs. Check out the latest episode of “Free Expression”…

In this segment…

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Radio Days

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A PIPELINE FOR TRUTH
AND A DEFENSE OF RIGHTS

I hope that you, dear readers, can forgive my laxity in tending this blog.

Since my radio show, “Free Expression,” moved from a monthly to a weekly schedule, my days are kept pretty full arranging, conducting, and editing interviews, then compiling episodes.

A definite shift in my priorities has taken place. But the way things are going in post-Trump America, I think my energies are directed usefully.

This country has entered a very uneasy period in its history.

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The Year of Inclusiveness

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2021 PUSHED US TO
BE MORE ACCEPTING

I have to admit that my Christmas post was somewhat less merry than befits the season. But I can’t let 2021 pass without noting some of the social progress we’ve made, during this second year of pandemic.

Indeed, even while socially distancing, we’ve continued on our trek toward the enlightened goal of inclusiveness — gathering us all in, as it were, fully vaxed and unified in the oneness of cultural, ethnic and sexual acceptance.

A Clouded Christmas

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THIS YULETIDE FEELS
LIKE CHRISTMAS 1941

Perhaps, like me, you have the feeling Christmas is a bit strange this year. At a time that should be one of hope and celebration, everybody’s a little on edge.

A sense of uncertainty clouds this season, not unlike the cloud that overhung the world in which Joseph and Mary made their fateful trek to Bethlehem. They were taking part in a census to provide the count on which taxes would be extorted by a brutal empire.

In our day, we face the prospect of vaccine passports to number us and regiment our travels and transactions. (But then, as the French say, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”—the more things change, the more they remain the same.)

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Decision in Kenosha

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LEFTISTS WILL DO
WHAT LEFTISTS DO

And you thought the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal was a victory for simple justice and the right of ordinary people to defend themselves.

Ha, ha! Silly you.

Considering how good leftists are at using any development to advance their nefarious causes, I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, an armed rioter shoots somebody and claims the Rittenhouse case gave him the right to do so.

He’ll cite the principle of “equal treatment under the law”…

If a White boy can get away with using deadly force against three attackers, then a social justice warrior (of whatever color) should be able to use deadly force to defend against any violence or threat of violence — even by the police — no matter who or what provoked it.

I’m not saying this would hold up in court (on the rare occasion when leftist rioters might go to court, that is), but it’s likely to be attempted. And all those somber legal experts trotted out to offer their sage opinions on TV news shows will frown gravely and opine that the assertion is plausible.

You can see the groundwork being laid for just such a scenario in the hyperventilating that overwhelmed social media after the “Not Guilty” verdict was announced, such as in these tweets cited by the blog Legal Insurrection…

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A Closing Window

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LEFT IS PUSHING HARDER
AFTER ELECTION LOSSES

The day after last week’s election, Fox’s Tucker Carlson insisted that the country is at an “inflection point,” which he said could be summed up in a single phrase: “We’ve had enough!”

He observed that…

“There’s a limit to which you can push the American population before they gently and politely push back though democratic means. And that’s exactly what we just saw. It is now impossible to deny that this country is in the middle of some kind of political realignment, and the people who run our country did not see it coming.”

It would be hard to disagree with that assessment. After the Republican sweep in Virginia (all three statewide offices plus a majority in the legislature), along with the razor-thin results in the (traditionally) Democratic bastion of New Jersey (still in dispute as I write this), and other GOP inroads around the country, “We’ve had enough!” is indeed the watchword of the moment.

As you’d expect, the Dems are receiving advice to do a “Bill Clinton,” and tack back toward the center. Will they heed such counsel?

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