Greetings! Welcome to the Chateau!


Within its corridors you will find insight into the books I have written, the books I am writing and the books I am thinking about writing.

It is also a place where I can offer insights into my favorite authors and - in the case of my game Conqueror: Fields of Victory - I can explain my rules and offer new variants.

Scroll down or check the sidebar for my latest posts.

Nonfiction:

Walls of Men: A Military History of China 2500 B.C. to A.D. 2020

Long Live Death: The Keys to Victory in the Spanish Civil War

Fiction:

Three Weeks with the Coasties: A Tale of Disaster and also an Oil Spill

Battle Officer Wolf

Scorpion's Pass

The Vampires of Michigan

The Man of Destiny Series:

A Man of Destiny

Rise of the Alliance

Fall of the Commonwealth

The Imperial Rebellion

Wargaming:

Conqueror: Fields of Victory, Revised Edition

Other Writings

Bleedingfool.com features

 


More Catholic Lit: Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory

Posting has been light because I was busy finishing off Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.  It is an absorbing story set during the period of Catholic persecution in Mexico, which led to the Cristero War.

Greene is vague on the details, giving only the most cursory references to time, geography and even characters.  Indeed, the primary character is a troubled Catholic priest with no name - he refers to himself as 'a whiskey priest,' a reference to his alcoholism.  He has also fathered a daughter, and in ordinary times, he would be a figure of ridicule and scorn, but against his will, he is seen as a heroic figure by the faithful who gratefully accept the sacraments from him.

I have to admit that I would have gotten more out of it if I simply read it as any other book, but instead, I found myself analyzing Greene's writing style, dialog, description, plot points and such.  I was therefore unsurprised by some of the plot twists, but Greene's ending was both surprising and satisfying.

Modern writing seems sterile, most juvenile genres, perhaps because people didn't have the wide experiences of travel, war, revolution and of course faith, as Greene did.  The West has been aggressively secularized, and a classic example is how The Force, which was mysterious and spiritual was redefined as a function of biology in the Star Wars prequels (another reason why I hate them).

Greene, like Evelyn Waugh, puts religion squarely in his stories, yet at the same time is not afraid to mock the hypocrisies  of its practitioners.  I picked up a handful of cheap paperbacks by Greene, and will continue to read through them.  They are only a couple of hundred pages, which is refreshing given all the door stoppers I've been reading over the past couple of years.


Bond restored: Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye

Having chugged through the James Bond franchise over the last few weeks, I feel comfortable saying that Pierce Brosnan has a credible claim at being the best 007.

Timothy Dalton made a good tough guy, but he was almost completely lacking in charm.  Brosnan is awash in charm, and carries himself with a breezy reserve that hints at mystery, yet he can also pull of a cold rage.  The tank chase scene in Goldeneye derives much of its entertainment power in Brosnan's amused yet serious expression.  He's serious, but also knows that the whole scenario if absurd.  That kind of perspective is what makes him a credible secret agent.

That's particularly important because Bond requires the actor to not only be a good liar, but allow him to convey he knows he is lying and doesn't care.

As for the plot of Goldeneye, it is very much rooted in its time, which makes it one of the best of the series.  The bitter holdouts of the Soviet regime, Western retrenchment and even the feminization of the intelligence service makes it one of the more compelling stories.


The Prisoner of Candyland

Posting has been light this week because my grandkids have discovered the Candyland game I got them for Christmas.

On the blessed morning, it got lost in the shuffle of new toys, but the weather precluding outdoor activity, games are a welcome distraction.

Already, we're experiencing some developmental growth, as the kids learn the winning is great, losing is said, and it's not nice to accuse someone of cheating.

Much of society's problems stem from people who are both poor winners and sore losers.  Participation trophies have much to answer for.

Candyland is interesting because it is so arbitrary.  It is won and lost on a random card loss, so there's not much one can do to facilitate victory.  That being said there is an optional rule allowing the players to draw two cards, and choose which one they want to use, significantly increasing their control over the outcome.  I've not yet used this, but fully intend to.  I'm assuming this was a Gen X innovation because we are truly the Gamer Generation.

 


Timothy Dalton was not a very good James Bond

I'm continuing to work through my James Bond dvd boxed set, and have now finished the Timothy Dalton era.  I like Dalton as an actor, but he's clearly not cut out to be Bond.  He's tough enough, but has zero charm.  

That's fine for some films, and he's got a tough guy aura, which some women may find attractive, but he's better as an assassin or villain than a hero.  He just doesn't come off as able to pull off Bond-level deception, breezily lying about who he is.

And the movies convey this.  The Living Daylights is pretty dull, clearly an attempt to tone down some of the excesses of the Roger Moore period (Moonraker comes to mind).  The problem is that the "grim, gritty" take is not much fun to watch, and it's undermined by the usual gadgetry.

License to Kill is more of a return to form, but again, it's a revenge film, not a spy picture.  Dalton does a casino scene so he can meet the villain, but the deception is really short-lived.  I like the return of Bond babes in slinky outfits, and I thought the idea of Bond stealing a bunch of cartel cash and living his best life with it would have made a full movie, rather than just a couple of scenes.  Cut out the whole Felix Leiter bit, and just do that, which would be fun.

Basically, do the season cliffhanger from Miami Vice, where Sonny Crockett loses himself in his gangster alter ego.  Having a British dude become a drug lord would be great.

Or could be, if you had someone other than Dalton doing it.


Yard Sign Calvinism explained

Recently, I've been getting some inquiries about why I chose to use the term "Yard Sign Calvinism" to describe the moral framework of woke leftists.   I coined the phrase about three years ago, and used it  describe the kind of people who use yard signs to signal their moral superiority over the rest of us.  These have a variety of catch phrases, but of particular note is the "We believe" secular credo loaded with phrases like "love is love," and "science is real."

The emergence of these yard signs pushed me further into the realization that people are not really motivated by politics - that is to say policy decisions and their real-world impact - but by faith, and though they may claim otherwise, secular materialists absolutely have a religion.

Thus, the key to understanding (and predicting) their behavior was to understand their theology, not through their tangled, illogical and contradictory policy positions.   Using this lens, one sees their moral framework as a Christian heresy rather than a cohesive political/economic program.

If it is a heresy, what are its features?   This post will answer that question.

For one thing, it is all about moral superiority.  Yard Sign Calvinists are just better than you, in every way.  They're so good they have to let the world know.  It's not enough for them to donate heroic amounts of money or volunteer at a soup kitchen, that takes actual effort.  The yard sign does all the work necessary.

Theologically speaking, this very closely resembles the Elect of Calvinist doctrine.  Those who aren't of the Elect, are governed by the doctrine of Utter Depravity, deserving neither mercy, or even respect.  This is why the Elect treat everyone else with such utter disdain.  It also explains why there are two sets of rules - one for them, and one for everyone else.  Thus, one of the Elect harassing someone online for a meme, trying to get them fired, or even driving them to suicide always has a clear conscience.  They may not phrase it that way, but they feel they are doing the Lord's work.  Often they'll claim it is karma.

However, the same tactics used against them are vile, evil, horrific because they are Good People.  Bad things shouldn't happen to Good People, and they get really upset when they do.

This is why I use the term  Yard Sign Calvinists - by their yard signs they are saved.  They also believe in Justification by Rage Alone instead of grace.  They don't really experience grace as Christians do.  For them the use of power is their chief source of pleasure.  That is why this is also a demonic faith, fueled by pride (the signs they display for social status), wrath and envy.

Only a Yard Sign Calvinist would live in a 3,500-square-foot home with two SUVs in the driveway while keeping a "Climate Change Now" sign in the yard.

Now let's look at an actual Calvinist apologetic and see whether there is any alignment with their beliefs.

They have a nifty (naturally Dutch-centric) acronym to capture their Five Graces:  TULIP, which stands for Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance.  

I'll let them speak for themselves:

Total depravity says that we are not just sick, but we are dead in our sins, in our trespasses, and there’s nothing that we can do in and of ourselves to procure our salvation.

Unconditional election says that before the foundation of the world, before we were born, before there even was a creation, God in his own immutable decree determined who would be saved—that he elected. He chose those who would by faith come to him and this choice was not based on foreseen faith—not just God putting in the tape to see what we would do millennia later—but based on his own good will and purposes he chose us.

Limited Atonement, or sometimes called Particular Redemption, means that the extent of Christ’s work on the cross—insofar as it was a saving work to save sinners—is for the elect. That Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for the elect only. So the extent of the atonement is limited in that way.

Irresistible Grace means that God sovereignly, supernaturally, irresistibly by his Spirit, of his own accord and not cooperating with us—so it’s monergistic not synergistic; that is, he’s the only one working, mono—saves us and causes us to be born again and implants within us the faith to believe.

And then finally the P is that God will work out in all of his chosen ones, in all of those who are truly justified, that they will persevere to the end and will ultimately be glorified.

To me, this sounds a lot like how the yard sign virtue-signalers think.  They are the Elect, Good People chose because of who they are.  Maybe not by God, but by the Goddess, or karma, or whatever.  They also believe that everyone else is irredeemable, so they don't even try to convert them.

It's interesting that in the discussion below, the presenters go out of their way to say that Calvinism seems to contradict evangelization because if God picked the winners and losers before time, what good will missionaries do?  They don't really have a strong answer to that, which is interesting, and they admit that a number of Calvinists believe that.

Limited Atonement also rolls into this, because to the extent that they may believe in God, they love it when their enemies suffer from natural disasters.  Hurricanes wrecking the Bible Belt fills them with glee and is proof that the depraved are suffering and getting no grace from God.  (The atheists wing will ask "where is your sky god now?")

Irresistible Grace and Perseverance reinforce the Unconditional Election doctrine by guaranteeing that the Elect will be saved.  They are going to heaven, no matter what they do.  This is why there is such a wide disconnect between their stated goals and the results of their policies and actions.  It doesn't matter whether gun control lowers crime, and if it produces massive violence, well, their intentions were pure, and they're still Elect.  

Indeed, every policy is the Right Thing To Do whether or not it works.

And yes, they can seamlessly transition from calling for civility and respect in one breath to damning everyone they disagree with in the next.  The same people whose signs read "no human is illegal" also want their political opponents thrown in prison for life.  

Even my kids get it, noting that houses with "Hate Has No Home Here" would likely fail the test if a someone wearing a MAGA hat knocked on the door.

This is the part where I make the obvious statement: no, these people are not actual Calvinists.  They are likely entirely ignorant of all of this, but the Puritan belief system is nevertheless deeply embedded in American culture.

Calvinism's greatest strength is the feeling of self-esteem and individual license it offers.  Once you realize you are of the Elect, you can do anything you want.

All religions are prone to individual scandals, but I think it fascinating that the greatest Reform theologian of the 20th Century, Karl Barth, openly kept a mistress in his home for decades.  She was also his secretary, so necessary for his work, which justified his unrepentant adultery.  Also important - none of his colleagues ever called him out on it.  Only decades after his death was the truth revealed.

Barth's actions were the logical end of Calvinism.  One of the catalysts for writing this post was a debate with a Calvinist, and when I remarked that I was but a wretched sinner, he said that those who have true grace no longer sin.  When challenged on this, he said that their actions may resemble sin, but are now sanctified, which sounds a lot like Barth having a mistress but it being no longer sinful because of his grace.

I think the most powerful argument against Calvinism is its fruit.  Or rather, the lack thereof.  The birthplace of Calvinism and one of the most staunchly Calvinist principalities - Switzerland and the Netherland, respectively - have both embraced the modernist culture of death.  The Dutch are some of the most decadent people in Europe, and so loathe their culture and faith that they have invited waves of Muslim migrants into their cities.  The ancient cathedrals - stolen from the Catholic Church - are now mere museums.

The Scottish Presbyterians have likewise collapsed into schism and degeneracy.  Scotland itself is a nihilist wasteland.

Calvinism's zenith was shortly after its foundation, when it could define itself against both the Church and rival denominations, but its evangelization has been chiefly through migration and modern Calvinists struggle to raise their young people in the faith.  I looked at the web page for Calvin University (formerly Calvin College), located an hour west of here, it while it claims to have a 100% Christian faculty, the "about" page has the usual diversity nonsense and brags about minority enrollment

This is not particularly good fruit.

Calvinist can hate on me if they like, but I suggest they take the label in stride.  Calvinism is a dying faith, and Yard Sign Calvinism is at least an opportunity to explain the "true" version of their religion.


Eastern Orthodox disorder, three years later

Almost exactly three years ago, I noted that far from being a source of reconciliation and healing, the Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia were instead adding fuel to the fire.  The entire Eastern Orthodox communion has been riven asunder over the issue, with anathemas for everyone.

I mentioned this in the context of the Lord of Spirits podcast, which was hosted by two Eastern Orthodox priests.  I enjoyed it because Orthodox and Catholic beliefs regarding the spirit world are essentially identical, which is why Eastern Rite Catholics exist.  As it turned, out, the show eventually went full anti-Catholic, which was a shame, but also somewhat inevitable given the mentality of many Eastern Orthodox practitioners. 

It is all well and good to snipe at the Catholic Church and its many failings, but here again we have the classic example of ignoring the log in one's own eye.  The Orthodox Communion is a mess.  First Things has a good overview of where things are today, but it does not do the debacle full justice because it leaves out the reactions of the various other Patriarchies.  The author correctly notes that for various historic reasons, Orthodoxy has divided on national lines, creating a fusion of faith and ethnicity that is a clear obstacle to Christian unity.

Before the conflict, the Ukrainians were part of the Patriarchate of Moscow, which could have been a vehicle for reconciliation.  Instead, there are now two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, and both have split from Moscow, though the one still insists in being in communion with her Slavic brothers.  One church has become three and the various members freely harass, attack and imprison the clergy of the others.

The other problem Eastern Orthodoxy faces is expanding the faith.  There is no systemic way for the communion as a whole to do this, and so we get grab-bags of ethnic churches competing with one another, setting up parishes, organizing provinces without any sort of plan.  The Patriarchate of Moscow not long announced that it was going to set up missions in Africa, which was a blatant infringement on the Patriarch of Alexandria, which has an ancient claim to the continent.

Who will referee this?  Not Constantinople.  The Ecumenical Patriarch might not survive much longer under an increasingly Islamic-focused Turkish government.  The sultans needed the Patriarch to manage the Christian millet, but there are so few Christians left and this is no longer necessary.

All of which is to say that everyone's got problems.  

The big hope for 2025 is an end to the East-West Schism, which could also heal the fissures in Eastern Orthodoxy.  This is why the pope exists - to be a focal point of unity backed by the Magisterium of the Church.

Francis has been quite the autocrat, especially in the last few years, deposing bishops and attacking the sovereign status of the Knights of Malta, and as a result, the next pope may be more interested in making the limits of papal power clear - particularly if it can heal the Great Schism.


Paths to paganism

The most rapidly growing religious group in the US is the "nones," that is, people who have no formal religious affiliation.  Many identify themselves as "spiritual, but not religious" and I was once one of them.

Crisis Magazine has something of a deep dive on what Nones believe and what they practice.

In many ways, they are the heirs of America's fragmented Protestant heritage, which hold that each person can have their own interpretation of the Bible, and refuses to acknowledge any other religious authority.  It is a very American approach to faith.

I think it is also an outgrowth of the mainstreaming of role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, which pushed the notion that people would be judged not by the good or evil of their actions, but whether they followed the faith of their choice.  Thus, worshippers of Zeus would be judged on their terms, Muslims on theirs, and Christians theirs.

This neatly side-stepped the issue of whether there was one true God and also the consequences of ignoring Him.  If you identify as a neo-pagan or Wiccan, well then that is how your fate after death will be determined.

Alas, the world doesn't quite work that way, and while you may not be interested in the devil, the devil is very much interested and you.  There are many accounts in the exorcism community of how New Age or neopagans ended up opening doors that were better left closed.

There is also the fact that such beliefs rarely provide a sturdy foundation for success in this world, let alone the next.   While there are indeed plenty of observant Christians who are also screw-ups, the fact is that there are vanishingly few Nones that seem to be happy and/or stable.  I know several that have found material prosperity, but they remain mired in a worldview that keeps them perpetually aggrieved and/or distracted.  

They also tend to divorce a lot.

I think a big part of this is the hubris of someone deciding that all of the other traditions are flawed or incorrect, and that they can achieve something just as good or better based on their own wits and insight.  What actually happens is that they entrench their sins as virtues.

This also leads to Yard Sign Calvinism, performative virtue-signaling where intentions matter more than results.

The only positive element of this is that by acknowledging the possibility of a spirit world, the Nones have a decent chance of finding their way back to the true faith.  

I think it is essential that Catholics especially use a soft touch with these folks, inviting them rather than hectoring them, as Protestants often do.  Above all things, though, there must also be a willingness to speak clearly.  "Nice" Christianity is a dead end.


Disaster preparation

Disaster preparation is a hot topic these days (ahem), and I know quite a bit about it.  One of the core missions of the National Guard is disaster response (often put under the term Defense Support of Civil Authorities or DSCA), and one of the regular ways people respond to hurricanes, severe storms and wild fires is the rallying cry of "Call out the National Guard!"

The thing is, most of these events are foreseeable and while not necessarily preventable, one can plan ahead to mitigate the impact.

For example, in Michigan ice storms are a known threat, and people will recall severe ones.  Yet in 2012, the state's leadership was caught flat-footed and - unlike its neighbors - failed to use the Guard to the fullest extent, thereby prolonging the disaster.  Afterwards there was a thorough review at the highest levels, analyzing what equipment and personnel were available and how best to mobilize and deploy them.   I know, because I sat in on the meetings, and there was a heavy tinge of interservice rivalry in the process.

My novel Three Weeks with the Coasties - A Tale of Disaster and also an Oil Spill is based on my experiences at the Unified Area Command during the Deepwater Horizon disaster recovery operation.  It was a scene of colossal confusion, ineptitude and demoralization that was only mitigated by grim determination to see the thing through.

Thus, when looking at a bad situation, it is important to remain within the bounds of reality - nature really can overpower man without much of an effort - but people can shape events beforehand and afterwards to minimize the damage and loss of life.

One of the indicators of competence in this respect is training, particularly large scale exercises.  These are very expensive, but the only way to see if things will work when you need them.  At the most basic level, it is essentially just a phone tree where units get a simulated alert and see how fast they can reach their members and get estimates on when everyone could get to their armory or base.

These can be combined with regular training events to practice the necessary skills, which often have a secondary practical function.  For example, a road-clearing exercise might well use a blocked or deteriorated logging route.  A dilapidated county round would be a good candidate to practice rehabilitation against a time element.  I participated in an exercise were dead trees that posed a threat to a stretch of road and needed removal were dropped across it, and clearance teams were put on the clock to remove the obstruction.

People have a tendency to want a single factor, a single smoking gun that proves culpability, but the reality of the situation is that these are usually cascade failures, as was Deepwater Horizon.  Lots of small failures created bigger ones.

The response was also botched, as my novel points out.  In our current age, a lot of effort goes to appearances rather than results.  UAC was all but besieged with politicians wanting to be photographed with admirals and shaking hands with Coast Guard personnel.  At the start of the operation, the Coast Guard was the most popular and respected of the US armed services.  By the end, it had record low approval and lagged its rivals, in large part because its promises and statements did not align with reality.

While fictionalized, the Coast Guard really did claim that all civil volunteer craft were fully deployed and reports that they were idle in marines were false.  At the same time these assurances were being made, an Alabama National Guard media/recon flight passed directly over the flotillas in question, which were sitting in port.  What a stupid claim to make.

And the worst part is that maybe the headquarters believed it was true.

All things to consider before rushing to judgement.

 


Episcopal priest interdicts parish - because society is guilty

At this point, most of the Episcopal Church seems to be engaged in some sort of virtue-signaling performance art.  God is at best a tertiary concern, something to be invoked for moral authority, but never a primary concern.

How else to explain the bizarre case of an Anglican Priest withholding the Eucharist until his social justice demands are met?

There are lots of ways to look at this nonsense, but the core problem is that the cleric has a very flawed understanding of salvation and the sacraments.  In orthodox Christianity, there is no collective guilt.  One cannot punish Peter for the sins of Paul.  The whole point of Reconciliation is to receive a personal absolution, and the Eucharist is likewise administered on an individual basis.

To pretend otherwise is to eliminate any motivation for personal holiness, and destroy the hope of salvation.  

Yet this is where we are, because the progressive politics exist to condemn rather than convert.

A couple of years ago I wrote about the national forgiveness deficit, and this is a great example of how it has infiltrated Christianity.  The punishment is increasingly more important than the salvation.

Because that is really what faith is supposed to be about.  This deranged cleric probably thinks he's being very saintly in some way, forcing the world to confront evil, but he's just preening about keeping people from God.  Instead of being an intercessor he's become and interceptor, blocking Communion until his personal demands are met.  His flock's salvation is being held for ransom, and it speaks volumes that his pathetic leadership can't managed to come to a decision after almost three years.

This is Dead-End Christianity, a faith that leads to nowhere.  No conversion, no salvation, just preening and appealing to the Spirit of the Age.  It cannot go away fast enough.


My latest project: a card-based game of the Wars of the Roses

For the past couple of years, I've hinted about various writing and gaming ideas, but none has really gotten anywhere.  The biggest obstacle was a lack of free time, both to contemplate and execute.

This obstacle has largely been removed, and I've felt my creative impulses stirring for the first time since Walls of Men.  It's a wonderful feeling.

(A renewed push to get in shape may also have contributed to this new energy.)

My inspiration is Avalon Hill's old game of the Wars of the Roses, Kingmaker.  I have played this game many times over the years, most recently with the family.  It's not too heavy on the wargame side, and the cards offer a nice period feel, but it does have some severe limitations.

The first is the time needed to set it up and take it down.  It has lots of small counters that require precise placement at pre-ordained positions and while there are markings on the board, the heraldry is so close that it's easy to mix them up.  The board has a neat archaic look, but it's a bit drab and heard to read.  Basically, you'll need at least 15 minutes to set it up and to put it away, and that's a lot of up-front time to commit to something.

The game itself can move very slowly, in part because it uses traditional wargame-style movement, and in part because the cards constantly stir things up, which is kind of cool from a chaos of war perspective, but often the reversals of fortune seem random rather than historical.

Put simply, the game tries to do too much, and it has too much randomness thrown into it, which makes a "quick game" essentially impossible.  It also tends towards stalemate as random event cards drag armies who were about to make decisive contact to the far corners of the realm.  It is a rare game that ends quickly and decisively.

The core concepts for my game are therefore quick setup and cleanup, fast play and the possibility for a follow-up game in the same session, perhaps with the players changing factions.

Yes, that's another issue with Kingmaker.  The conceit is that the actual claimants are mere pawns in the hands of the Great Houses, and while and interesting take, it's not very realistic.  Everyone is essentially chasing after the same tokens, and this creates bottlenecks and stand-offs where no one can achieve decisive superiority.

For my system, there will be five defined factions, each with special rules and their own objectives.  What is more, there will be complimentary objectives, allowing for joint wins.

All of this is based on military wargames I developed more than a decade ago, and the benefits of that experience mean that I'm actually starting with a tested, robust core system that only needs slight modification (mostly a new map) to run properly.

Quick games also make for better playtesting.  The chief obstacle on this is actual production: getting the custom cards and map produced and packaged for sale.

I also need a title, and right now I'm tempted to use the "Conqueror" brand because I anticipate producing more games using this system.