Truth is stranger than fiction, as they say.

It is also stranger than the narratives found in most mainstream news stories.

Let’s look first at the Ukraine, the paragon of democratic goodness (or so we’re told).  The fair-haired child of most of the West just gutted its anticorruption offices, amongst other problematic actions:

‘[Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán’s critique comes amid growing concern across Europe about democratic backsliding in Ukraine.

‘Just days earlier, the parliament in Kyiv adopted a law placing two key anti-corruption institutions—the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)—under the direct supervision of the Prosecutor General, a presidential appointee.

‘Critics say this move effectively strips the agencies of their independence, a violation of one of the EU’s central accession criteria.

‘European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the law would derail the accession process.

‘Despite this, the bill was approved by the Ukrainian parliament, triggering mass protests in Kyiv and other cities.

‘Beyond the anti-corruption law, Ukraine has also drawn criticism for failing to hold general elections in 2024 as constitutionally required. The war was cited as justification, but critics argue that democratic life should continue, even under martial conditions.

‘Further concerns have arisen over forced military conscription. Numerous reports suggest that Ukrainian authorities have employed aggressive methods to recruit soldiers. A Hungarian-Ukrainian dual citizen, József Sebestyén, was recently beaten to death by recruiters, fuelling Budapest’s anger’ (Zoltán Kottász, ‘Rule of Lawfare: Brussels Ignores Ukraine’s Violations While Punishing Member States,’ europeanconservative.com).

Then there is angelic Ukraine’s proposal to decriminalize pornography to fund its war effort.

Why are we supporting this regime again?  Oh yeah, because the US and other Western governments overthrew her elected government in 2014 precisely to start a war with ‘our adversary’ Russia.

And what has that supposed enemy been up to lately?  All kinds of grisly, grimy, dark things, we’re sure – terrible, horrible things like . . . banning satanism:

‘The Russian Supreme Court recognized the “International Satanism Movement” as an extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia on Wednesday.

‘The decision went into effect immediately, but can be appealed within a month, reports RBC.

‘The Court’s exact reasoning is as yet unknown, as the session took place behind closed doors and the case materials haven’t been publicly disclosed. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia previously made public calls to ban Satanism.

‘The Prosecutor General’s office, commenting on the decision, stated that the participants of the movement publicly call for extremism and the “destruction of churches.”

‘“The followers of the movement adhere to the general principles of Satanism, use common symbols and attributes, and perform occult rituals. The conceptual basis consists of publications that are recognized as extremist materials. The movement is closely associated with manifestations of radical nationalism and neo-Nazism. Along with ritual murders, participants commit other crimes, including those against minors,” the statement said.

‘The same judge, Oleg Nefedov, recognized the international LGBT movement as extreme and banned its activities in Russia in 2023.

‘ . . . According to the expert, marketplaces will have to withdraw products containing symbols of Satanism from sale. These include earrings with inverted crosses, medallions with a Baphomet and a pentagram, various pendants with inscriptions in Latin glorifying Satan, and more’ (‘Russian Supreme Court bans Satanism,’ orthochristian.com).

This is a good point to turn our focus to our corner of the world here in the States, for we have a pronounced satanism problem here.  For instance, there are literally thousands of Christian martyrs and other saints from all of Church history that we could honor every day of every month of the year, yet we choose not to.  But that veneration that mankind naturally wants to give to exemplary men and women will go somewhere, and unfortunately it goes at times to people like the recently reposed Ozzy Osborne, whose heavy metal version of rock-n-roll was full of demonic allusions.  It is stunning how our media organizations like the Associated Press write in praise of him, as though his music career were a positive thing for the US and the rest of the world:

‘Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding. The cover of the record was of a spooky figure against a stark landscape. The music was loud, dense and angry, and marked a shift in rock ’n’ roll.

‘‘‘The band’s second album, “Paranoid,” included such classic metal tunes as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots.” The song “Paranoid” only reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became in many ways the band’s signature song. Both albums were voted among the top 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.

‘“Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” Dave Navarro of the band Jane’s Addiction wrote in a 2010 tribute in Rolling Stone. “There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”

‘Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs. “We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler in his memoir, “Into the Void.”

‘Osbourne reemerged the next year as a solo artist with “Blizzard of Ozz” and the following year’s “Diary of a Madman,” both hard rock classics that went multiplatinum and spawned enduring favorites such as “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Flying High Again” and “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.” Osbourne was twice inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — once with Sabbath in 2006 and again in 2024 as a solo artist.

‘The original Sabbath lineup reunited for the first time in 20 years in July for what Osbourne said would be his final concert. “Let the madness begin!” he told 42,000 fans in Birmingham.

‘Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon all did sets. Tom Morello, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar and more made appearances. Actor Jason Momoa was the host for the festivities.

‘“Black Sabbath: we’d all be different people without them, that’s the truth,” said Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. “I know I wouldn’t be up here with a microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath”’ (Mark Kennedy, ‘Ozzy Osbourne, who led Black Sabbath and became the godfather of heavy metal, dies at 76,’ apnews.com).

Don’t you see, dear readers, how unconcerned you should be about satanic music – indeed, what benefits it has given to us all, how we should celebrate it?  Mr Kennedy later in his article goes so far as to make the Christians who criticized heavy metal look stodgy and grumpy and unreasonable, to appear to be the real enemies of an enlightened mankind.

And if that weren’t enough, we’ve got AI chatbots teaching people how to perform demonic rituals, as well as the IRS granting the Satanic Temple tax-exempt status as a religious organization in 2019 under the first Trump administration.  One hopes they will rescind that at some point during the next four years.

The real state of the world is quite a bit different than the images presented to us by various media outlets and figures.  Oftentimes, things are more complicated than the simplistic narratives they generate for public consumption, which try to keep us trapped in a childish, Marvel Comics-level of analysis and discrimination.  Follow Jeff LeJeune’s advice and question what you’re seeing and hearing, even when those things are presented by people on ‘our side’ (‘Test the spirits,’ as the Holy Apostle John tells us, I John 4:1).  It is the only way, with God’s help, that we will avoid becoming the mindless drones, spiritual slaves, and cannon fodder for a wicked class of elites.