John Neaves

'To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.' William Blake

@MiscreaRichard Amen.

Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.

What’s neat about being an American is, even in civilian life, if you’re ever in a place where the shit is *really* hitting the fan (e.g. a bad guy decides to take control of the army and turn the internet off in an entire country, roads are getting blocked, buildings on fire, food stores close down, commercial air travel stops) the U.S. government will aggressively help locate us and help us leave. They answer and won’t abandon you to your fate. When this happens and you’re saying good byes in the hotel lobby there’s always some forlorn French or South Africans just like “we can’t get ahold of anyone and have no idea what to do.” People who don’t constantly marvel at American greatness aren’t living in reality.

@RodeoProfessor You got that right. We are truly blessed to be American, which also means we owe a debt to the Founders and to our children and grandchildren.

A good citizen does more than abide by the laws. A good citizen is able to give a morally compelling account of his country. He is able to justify its defense against its enemies, and to recommend its virtues to citizens of the next generation. - Richard John Neuhaus

The world does need changing, society needs changing, the nation needs changing, but we never will change it until we ourselves are changed. - Billy Graham

Helo buddy of mine trained to do a one-armed pull-up in the event he ever needed to extricate himself from a crash with one arm. It saved his life when he actually needed to do just that.

Free access to article thecritic.co.uk/how-to-save-yo…

Just met w/ @IsraeliPM to thank @Israel on behalf of American ppl for unprecedented assistance to US Military & Intel agencies who conducted a historic rescue mission of our air crew in Iran. US SF carried out brilliant op. @IDF & Mossad were helpful partners in the mission.

Supper at Emmaus, Rembrandt

@Lewisdygl Happy Easter, Ray, He is Risen indeed.

He is risen!!

I want to take you back 31 years to June of 1995. There’s some old timers like me, @CynicalPublius @BuzzPatterson that surely remember the Grit of Basher 52. On June 2, 1995, U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady was shot down over Bosnia by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 missile while enforcing the NATO no-fly zone. His F-16 torn apart, he ejected into hostile territory. For six long days, O’Grady evaded enemy patrols in rugged hills, surviving on rainwater, bugs, leaves and sheer willpower. No food. Constant threat of capture. Radio silence most of the time. On June 8, he made contact. Marines from the 24th MEU launched from the USS Kearsarge: two CH-53 Sea Stallions with 51 Marines, escorted by AH-1W Cobras, Harriers and dozens of supporting aircraft. They flew deep into enemy territory under threat of fire. O’Grady sprinted from the treeline, pistol in hand, mud-caked and exhausted, straight into the helicopter. Mission complete in minutes. No U.S. losses. This was classic American resolve: an Air Force pilot saved by Marines, backed by overwhelming joint force coordination. It showed the world we leave no one behind. With yesterday’s daring recovery of the F-15E crew member from the Zagros Mountains in Iran, another high-risk CSAR op involving special operators and massive air support, the O’Grady story feels especially relevant. SERE training works. American fighting spirit endures. God bless The United States Military. 🇺🇸 #LeaveNoOneBehind

Yes, despite all the Xperts on the law of armed conflict, targeting bridges, power plants, oil and gas facilities, airfields, and other dual-use infrastructure like factories, communications nodes, and rail lines that serve both civilian and military needs may be lawful. The law does not decide targets just by calling something civilian infrastructure. It looks at what the object actually does. An object counts as a military objective when by its nature, location, purpose, or use makes an effective contribution to military action and its total or partial destruction, capture, or disabling offers a definite military advantage in the circumstances at the time. 🧵1/6

@SpencerGuard Good thread. The Tehran regime might borrow a page from Saddam's 1991 playbook.

@largea58 @NonNobis79 Remember, the Pope and all bishops are fallible human beings: they have biases, they can make mistakes, they can refuse to recognize the reality of the Islamist terror regime in Tehran.

@NonNobis79 @petermlaffin Well, the pope and the US Bishops strangely are telling you the exact opposite.

I deeply respect Catholics striving to live our faith's high moral standards. But Catholic anti-war discourse misses two things: 1. It never grapples with the moral problem of allowing a regime that mass-executed 30,000+ protesters to acquire nuclear weapons. This wouid have far ranging implications, all of which are truly awful. Our discourse hardly even acknowledges any of this. 2. It offered no plausible alternative to armed conflict for preventing them from acquiring nukes. If war was out of the question for moral reasons, what then was the plan to deal with this very real problem? Because ignoring it isn't virtuous. Just war theory matters. The Holy Father's voice matters. But if grounded more in these realities, Catholic witness could have shaped public opinion before the war — not just opposed it in the aftermath. I would also like to hear more concrete, realistic ideas about how to move forward in a way that lives up to Catholic morals and achieves concrete aims.

@Economicopoly Or, you can acquire knowledge of the realities of the Islamist terror regime in Tehran and recognize that Peter's critique is Catholic, accords with Just War Theory, and reasonable.

This is complete immoral nonsense. Firstly it contends on believing what Trump and Netanyahu are telling people. Many logically do not. Iran has in reality never invaded any country unlike Trump, Netanyahu. It showed far more restraint having been attacked and according to many in the US was cooperative on nuclear for many years. Now they are far more likely to acquire nuclear weapons. You may be sincere and very naive or else just a lying propagandist but what you are saying is baseless nonsense.

@mcpherson_k @FaceTheNation @CBSNews Remember, it was the "deranged mad men" of the Islamist terror regime in Tehran that declared war on the U.S. and Israel, and Iranians, decades ago. The current U.S. and Israeli military operations against that regime meet Just War criteria.

@FaceTheNation @CBSNews Catholics should trust the pope over a deranged mad men

FULL INTERVIEW: Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Catholic Archdiocese for the U.S. Military Services, speaks with @FaceTheNation about the war in Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's rhetoric about the war invoking Jesus' name, and more.

@alicianieves__ Your reply, essentially a conspiratorial strawman, proves the validity of Peter's critique. Well done.

First, your premises can be challenged with other evidence. Europe, mainly through Germany, have been working on normalizing relations with Iran and trying to continue the JCPOA that Trump 1.0 threw out. Their supreme leader was dying and the Iranians were preparing to moderate to lift sanctions. Israel’s issue with Iran is simplified by the question of “the nuke” to justify war for the US audience thay it sorta needs to feed info to bc Israel needs access to our larger military tech platforms they cannot produce domestically etc. The reality is that Iran has already likely purchased a few nukes from Pakistan, its neighbor. The real problem Israel has with Iran is that it is an aggressor/enemy to Israel. Most Europeans, which includes the Vatican, have this more clear understanding of the conflict. The problem with US involvement in Israel’s campaign against Iran and the heart of the catholic conflict is that partnership with Israel in war means our hands become bloody with innocent people through their Dahiya doctrine. That doctrine goes against the faith.

@Sargon_of_Akkad @AriFleischer @philthatremains Your first four items are false.

@AriFleischer @philthatremains >we started a war >we didn't do any planning >we didn't build a coalition >we didn’t even warn our allies we were going to war >they didn't join us in the war They've sold us out!!!!

When this is over, the western part of NATO will never be the same. Spain, England, France and Italy have sold us out, as they too often have a history of doing. Eastern European nations are the heart of NATO. They spend money on defense, know how to fight and love the US. France particularly deserves fault and blame. From supporting China and Russia at the UN to denying Americans overflight rights, they’re doing what they’ve always done - showing weakness, while cutting deals with terrorists. (The reason the US has a Marine Corps and Navy is unlike France, we refused to pay a ransom to the Barbary Pirates. France is always happy to cut a deal.) Wars have unintended consequences as nations show their true colors. NATO will never be the same, and Western European weakness and acquiescence is the cause.