I've been in Kosice all afternoon and evening. It's the second-largest city of Slovakia, in the east of the country. The loveliest people. When I visited Prague for the first time, I was told, "The Slovaks are much nicer than we Bohemians are." I don't know if that's true, but I really love Slovaks. Some of my heroes of the faith -- Silvester Krcmery, Tomislav Kolakovic, and others -- are Slovak.

But I have to tell you, there is a rising anti-Americanism here. It has to do mostly with the US position on the Ukraine war. The people I've talked to here are generally pro-American, but they believe that we Americans don't care how much they have to suffer for the sake of achieving our government's strategic goals in Ukraine. Of course they are quite correct! We Americans do not give a rat's ass about how much these people have to suffer. But it is also the case that even in this country, to question the 100 percent evilness of the Russians, and the 100 percent sanctity of the Ukrainians, and of Washington, is, to some in power, impossible. There's a lot of simmering anger as these people face the harsh winter.

I was sitting at a table in Kosice tonight talking to Slovaks, and took a break to check my texts. A friend sent me this story about how the US Department of State spent over $20,000 to fund pervert performances in Ecuador. Ecuador! Read on:

The U.S. Department of State has awarded more than $20,000 for a cultural center in Ecuador to host "drag theater performances" in the name of diversity and inclusion. 

The State Department awarded a $20,600 grant on Sept. 23 to the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano (CEN), a non-profit organization supported by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, to "promote diversity and inclusion" in the region.

The project at CEN, which started Sept. 30 and runs until Aug. 31, 2023, will include "3 workshops," "12 drag theater performances," and a "2-minute documentary," according to the State Department’s grant listed on the USASpending.gov website.

To be clear: the actual grant specifies that there must be drag performances. The US taxpayer is funding the queering of Ecuador.

This Twitter commentator speaks for me:

That's actually a bit further than I would go, but not much. It's so damned shameful. What have we become as a country? I keep asking this question, of myself and of my readers, but there is no good answer. This is what our government does. Recall this 2016 post in which a Fulbright scholarship winner talked about how the US State Department briefed Fulbright winners before their deployment abroad, instructing them of their responsibility to spread the gospel of LGBT to the whole world. This particular scholar was headed to a very conservative country, and was shocked by the total indifference, even contempt, the State Department had for the local people and their culture. When it comes to the Sexual Revolution, cultural imperialism is necessary.

I had several questions tonight about how conservatives and Christians should respond to a story that has become a big deal in Slovakia. Two gay persons were murdered over a week ago by a far-right teenager outside of a Bratislava gay bar. The kid who committed the crime, and who committed suicide as the police were closing in, first intended to kill the prime minister, and waited outside his house for hours, but did not see him. He then decided to kill gays. He also wanted to kill Jews. It was a horrific act, utterly worthy of the strongest condemnation. But the Left here is taking advantage of the bloodshed to blame everyone who is opposed to full LGBT rights, saying that they have blood on their hands. Had the far-right lunatic succeeded in killing the Prime Minister -- a conservative! -- it would have still been a horror, but nobody would have blamed the opposition parties. Yet the fact that the monster killed gay people is an opportunity too great for the Left to pass up. Now it's the fault of Catholics and every other conservative in Slovakia. It's disgusting. But that's how the Left behaves, in the media here and in America. How much reporting have you seen on the violence against pro-life organizations since the Dobbs decision? Unless you read Bari Weiss's Substack, almost none. And even so, I don't blame all pro-choice people for this violence. But then, I'm not an opportunist.

The media pressure on conservatives and Christians is intense. The lie they tell is that to oppose full LGBT rights puts you in league with a murderer. In this part of the world, the US Government aligns itself with these slanderous anti-Christian radicals. It is a shameful thing for conservative Americans to have to face. But face it we must. We are no longer the good guys. In fact, who are the good guys? Are there any left?

It's disorienting for American conservatives. But this is the reality we have to face. I talked to a Slovak man today who said that he hated how it is impossible to discuss the factors that led up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine without being slimed as a Putin stooge by the media. He doesn't at all support Russia, but believes it's important to think about how we got to this place -- a place that threatens to destroy his country's economy and immiserate its population.

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I'm telling you, it's really painful to talk to older people in these former Communist countries, people who remember the Cold War, when America was heroic and good, and to listen to them struggle to make sense of our corruption.

A senior prelate in the Catholic Church said to me recently, "We're living in Babylon." Yes, we are. Think and act accordingly.

UPDATE: The more I think about those murders, and the way the Left in Slovakia is exploiting them, the angrier I get. The killer hated everybody. In the manifesto he left, he praised Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer. Again, he only killed the gay men because he was unable to confront his first target, the country's conservative prime minister. He is -- or was, because he killed himself -- a monster whose memory is damnable. But the Left is exploiting his victims shamefully, to smear their opponents.