Videos: Tony’s Latest Failed Effort

As if SGG’s ill-fated Ordo 2016 and its 2016 calendar weren’t enough of a train wreck, Tony Cekada has put the icing on the cake with his recent batch of botched videos.  But Dannie, being Dannie, has tried to put some positive spin on Tony’s latest flop by mentioning it in SGG’s March 20 bulletin. Nestled amongst the “S&S’ (Syrup & Sanctimony) in Dannie’s Bishop’s(?) Corner was a reference to his claim that “Some 3,500 people have viewed Fr. Cekada’s video, ‘Archbishop Lefebvre, Sedevacantist’ ” -- as if numbers of people equates to credibility.  (This, we suppose, suffices in Dannie’s mind as an adequate response to the absolute drubbing that Antonius Balonius has been taking from Messrs. Salza & Siscoe.)  Based on that logic, everything that Bergoglio says, for example, must be true, for his “numbers” dwarf those of Tinhorn Tony.  But, these days, Dannie has to grasp at any straw to bolster Tony’s tarnished image; and that pathetic, meaningless statistic is about the only thing Dannie has to grab onto.

As Pistrina pointed out, Tony is utterly unable to counter Salza and Siscoe’s arguments in writing, for he hasn’t the credentials, the savvy, or the brains to do so.  Therefore, he must resort to cheeky, cheap videos to tell his tawdry tale.  Another thing that Pistrina pointed out is that Dannie’s claim of “3500 people” is misleading.  There may have been 3500 “hits,” but “hits” and “people” are two different things: some of those hits are “duplicates,” i.e., multiple hits by the same person.  Secondly, the probability is that very few of those hits are “supportive”: many (if not most) are by Salza & Siscoe’s people, who -- out of morbid curiosity -- “tuned in” to see what Tinhorn Tony had to say.  And lastly, some of those hits may be from Dannie and Tony’s brainless bootlickers, who  -- although they don’t have a clue about what’s being discussed – “tuned in” to make Tony’s numbers “look good.”

The bottom line, however, is that, regardless of how many “hits” there were (and 3500, by the way, is a thoroughly unimpressive number), rating a video’s content by the numbers it generates is a totally meaningless yardstick.  Worthless blather is still worthless blather, no matter how many “hits” it gets.  The salient point is that the Cheeseburger’s know-nothing “arguments” have been thoroughly trashed by people with real competence and real credentials – and nobody except the cult-masters’ obsequious illiterates takes Tony seriously anymore.

The fact is too, again, that Tony hasn’t the intellectual savvy to compete with Messrs. Salza and Siscoe (or anyone else, for that matter), and that only the hard-core illiterates at the cult center will accept his blather.  In the absence of real logic and genuine scholarship, all he has going for him is bluff and bluster.  And, because Tony foolishly ventured out to take on people with real credentials, he has only managed to advertise his shortcomings, and to reinforce his know-nothing, tinhorn image. 

At one time, he could get away with such bluff and bluster (as he somehow managed to do on Schiavo).  Back then, he still had enough of a reputation left (undeserved though it was) that people more or less overlooked what he said about her.  (Plus, he could still shout down any opposition that he got from the Gerties on it.)  However, Schiavo was the beginning of his end for him, because it sowed seeds of doubt in peoples’ minds.  And that, coupled with the fact that now that all his attempts at “scholarship” have been thoroughly trashed, his reputation -- even in the cosseted cocoon of trad world – is all but gone. 

But, as we’ve noted so many times in the past, Dannie doesn’t care.  He knows, in spite of Tony’s embarrassingly obvious limitations, that his hard-core brain-dead will still accept anything that Tony (or he) says, and he knows that his “3500” number will impress them.  So, as long as he can convince his Gerties, the bucks will keep rolling in, and he’ll have them “in the palm of his hand.”

However, as we’ve also noted in the past, that “hard core” is shrinking -- and Dannie no longer has them “in the palm of his hand.”  He and Tony are losing the “numbers game,” both financially and demographically – not just with the world-at-large, but even on their home turf.  Both attendance and revenues are down at the cult center; and, more and more, SGG’s parishioners are staying away from “the show,” and are becoming more and more vocal with their discontent at being financially exploited.*

Dannie and Tony have tried “every trick in the book” to manipulate their Gerties back into “compliance” – guilt-tripping, name-dropping – and, of course, their old standbys, intimidation and spiritual blackmail  – but the old magic isn’t working.**  The Gerties are (at long last) wising up.  In time, as Dannie and Tony continue on their path of self-destruction – especially Tony and his YouTube videos, whose unsubstantiated assertions and false logic are easily shot down – the Gerties will come to see what everyone else is seeing, and come to a full realization of what Dannie and Tony are all about.  Then, perhaps, they will (at long last) rid themselves of these parasitic, two-bit frauds.

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* However, that is not deterring the parasitic pair from trying to suck more blood out of their parishioners.  As Pistrina noted in its last article, Dannie – undaunted as ever – is now calling for them to replace the church’s prematurely failing HVAC system:  “You probably received Building Fund envelopes during Lent. Our current pressing need is to replace one of the Heating/AC units, as it is dying.  This costs the princely sum of $11,000 to $12,000. But the good news is that if each household or individual (including young adults living at home) would donate $100 in a lump sum, or $30-$40 in monthly payments, we would be able to cover this great expense. Please do your part.”   

Actually, Dannie, the parishioners already did their part – when they financed that piece of crap in the first place.  So, here’s a novel thought, Dannie: why don’t you do your part?  Why don’t YOU pony up the money to fix it?  After all, it’s your church.  Your parishioners, although they paid in full for the cult center, do not legally own it.  You do.  That being the case, why should they be held financially accountable for your mistakes?  Give up your boondoggles to sunny Mexico (like the one you just took a few weeks ago), or tell Tony to give up his boondoggles to Florida to “teach” his MHT hatchlings.  He can easily do that via Skype.

By the way, Dannie said that “one” of the Heating/AC units is dying.  Does this mean that there will be more dying in the not-so-distant future?  You bet there will!  That being so, then the Gerties should expect to brace themselves for “doing their part” several more times!  (And speaking of "dying," we wonder when the roof will start leaking again -- or when some other catastrophe will befall the crumbling cult center.)

** The guilt-tripping theme was again evident in Dannie’s ‘Corner: “Today we gloriously anticipate Christ’s Triumph, and take home our little souvenir of victory, the palm, even as we offer reparation [our bold-face] for those who did not persevere.”  (We bold-faced “reparation,” because Dannie used that word no less than seven times, always insinuating that the Gerties “need to do more.”)  Of course, one wonders how much “persevering” Dannie did (and how much “reparation” he offered) while he was down in sunny Mexico. (Not much, we wager.)

And, of course, Dannie played his “name-dropping” card too, mentioning the magical name of Brueggemann again in his “Corner: “Fr. McKenna reports that he was privileged to see Our Lady of Good Success in Quito. This image usually comes out but once a year for a procession on Feb. 2, which our altar boy Simon Brueggemann witnessed this year.”  Why, for no apparent reason, did Dannie have to mention the boy’s name?  Why single him out?  Because he knows that the name “Brueggemann” is revered by many – that’s why.  And mentioning the boy’s name gives everyone the impression that the late Bernie Brueggemann’s family is still there at SGG.

The truth is that Bernie and all his children – and in fact most Brueggemanns of any note – have left SGG, leaving only some coattail relations there.  But Dannie knew that people would only pick up on the name of “Brueggemann,” and draw the wrong conclusioins.  But that’s what Dannie constantly endeavors to do: to distort the truth -- and to take credit where none is due.