Saturday, December 23, 2017

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Jewish Author Lauds 1920s Catholics as Lonely Heroes in Opposing America's Sad Experiment with Eugenics

Nathan Cohen's 2016 Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck is reviewed at the 2016 Virginia Festival of the Book.  The whole video is a must see.

Cohen, a former ACLU lawyer, points out villains galore...his former employer, a Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Progressives, Suffragettes, Conservatives, Darwinists, Preachers, Capitalists, and especially Politicians and Lawyers.  He does not shrink from mentioning the DIRECT connection between American Eugenicists AND  Hitler AND the Nazi's policies.

Finally at 38 min 35 Sec, when asked if anyone had tried to stop the American Eugenics craze, the author relates that "The Catholics were, largely, the heroes of this story....."

Please listen to the entire segment...but really tune in at 38:35!!



Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Why elites hate RUSSIA



(St Petersburg SEP 2016)

Let me give you a hint:  It's about the MAN on the banner.  The Russian Orthodox Church is booming and that nauseates them, the elites.  Russians gave up  Communism for........ this?!!
Our government and media must try to quash this news. Although it might play well with American atheists to know our government is picking a fight with Orthodox Christians, it definitely would not do so well with many on the American Religious Right.  Most of them think Russia is still exporting atheism. How else can our experts  keep  hillbillies stirred up about Russia and keep on beating the War Drum? SHHHHH!!!

Sometimes--however-- the truth seeps out. Earlier this year CNN really did let their guard down....listen the young man at 1:55 of the video.....

its all about abortion, homosexuality, education and museums


The above portrays the culmination of a July 2016(correction 2017!!!!) pilgrimage in Kiev which Ukrainian Nationalists unsuccessfully attempted to block. They viewed it as a Kremlin Provocationhere too.  This year's was even larger! BTW those Ukrainian Nationalists are the same people that our media and REPUBLICAN politicians  are backing against people like those in the photographs.

see some more of Putin's provocateurs  :-)
(Look! it's the guy that hacked Podesta's email!)






Saturday, April 15, 2017

Kneeling talks to a blogger about what's driving Catholics away from Church


  • Catholic in Brooklyn recently posted.....
  • self-righteous trads are the cause of Church's crisis



        1. CIB<<
          Dear CIB,

          I agree with *most* of what you posted. But...You paint a very dark picture of the pre-consular Church. Unless you want to paint all of the Church's history in the same dark color, don't you need to at least point to some point where the Good Church went bad? I've been listening lately to some of Michael Davies' (RIP) and Charles Coulombe's lectures on youtube lately. Both of them are of the mindset that the problems we now see were already present in the 50's Church, i.e. there were many scoundrels hiding out, biding their time. By scoundrels, I am referring to clerics who loved the good life the Church provided them but who did't really accept Catholic Faith and/or morality.

          Do you think the Church ever had it right before Francis? or are you saying that the scary, hypocritical Church of your childhood (which you described) was pretty much the rule before him? I ask in sincerity. 
          ReplyDelete
          Replies
          1. The Church has always had it right. The writing of the saints tell us that. The fact that the Church has survived down through the centuries, The teachings of the Church. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ - how could she ever be wrong? I am talking about individuals in the Church who had it wrong. These are individuals who obviously never came to a true awareness of their sins and the great mercy of God.

            I was just reading recently that our sins affect not just us but the entire world. Ireland is a prime example. The sins of the nuns and priests there destroyed not just their faith but that of so many others so that Ireland, once so Catholic, has actually become apostate in so many ways.

            But I take hope in that most beautiful verse in the Bible that says where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And I believe that is the message of Pope Francis. The Mercy of God can never be defeated. We see that on the Cross.
          2. CIB>>>>What was really driving these Catholics?
            From one who lived during those times, I can tell you that the main motivation was fear....For far too many Irish Catholics, the Church did not mean the love, mercy and forgiveness of God. It meant only fear and oppression...despite the sad, abusive legacy of the Church in many parts of the world,....<<<

            Dear CIB,

            I don't see your statements above jiving with you telling me "the Church has always had it right". Seems like you think the Church had it way wrong back in the 60s. (and you seem to imply that with Pope Francis, the Church finally has it right).

            It is kind of ironic that His Holiness --hailed for not judging any sexual sins-- is very judgmental towards "creed-reciting parrot Christians", "rosary counters", "Catholics that breed like rabbits". Sadly, it looks to me like his judgmental attitude rubs off on those who are fans of his. They look down their noses and feel free to pass their own judgments on whole classes and generations of believing Catholics.
            Delete
          3. You are determined to find fault with my statements, and with Pope Francis, so there really isn't much I can say. Your comments here reflect the same attitude that you have shown in previous comments - you have very specific ideas about the way things should be, and if something or someone doesn't conform to your ideas, you do not stop to reflect on whether you might be wrong but instead make immediate judgments on the other person.

            There is little doubt in my mind that you would have rejected Jesus Christ for hanging out with sinners and showing them mercy and compassion. Your idea is to point out people's sins in a judgmental manner and iif they don't immediately conform to your ideas, they should be judged and condemned. Yet the only ones Our Lord ever publicly condemned were religious people. Why do you think that is?

            Unless and until you can answer that question, you will never understand Divine Mercy, and you may be cutting yourself off from that same Divine Mercy which is so vital to salvation.

            It must be so hard to be Catholic and hate the Holy Father.
          4. << Have you nothing to say about that?<<<

            Dear Lady,

            I think that the first sentence of my first comment was a virtual pat on the back for most of your post. I apologize if it wasn't sufficiently big.

            You are correct in intuiting that I don't see Francis as the greatest Pope ever. Great popes do their homework. Our current one doesn't seem to have read, let alone absorbed, much of what his predecessors have written. Otherwise he wouldn't be thinking that he has the authority change Catholic teaching on things like divorce or homosexuality or the heresy of indifferentism.

            We have had our share of lackluster and even evil popes. I don't believe there's anything uncatholic in believing that.

            As to me not understandingGod's mercy, you are 'spot on'. 'no angel of the sky can fully bear that sight!'. I doubt I will never comprehend it!

            I think we both should pray for one another.
            Delete
          5. I deleted my comment because I realized that you had written you agreed with most of what I wrote. I apologize.

            Many, many *traditional* Catholics despised Pope St John Paul II as much as you and many others despise Pope Francis. Now, of course, John Paul II is a saint, and these same people who adamantly opposed his papacy and canonization now laud him as a great defender of the truth.

            I state unequivocally and without apology that Pope Francis is one of the holiest men to sit in the Chair of Peter, and that is without denigrating any of his predecessors. You mention his statement about *rosary counters*. Are you aware that Pope Francis, despite his busy schedule, says three rosaries every day? How many do you say? Do you know he spends an hour in adoration every day? How much time do you spend in adoration? He constantly pushes the Sacrament of Confession, giving us the public example of going to confession, and speaks often of hell. I have given just a couple of the many, many, statements he has made about the love and mercy of God, doing all he can to draw people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

            One day, Kneeling Catholic, you will eat your words of condemnation of Pope Francis.
        2. Dear CIB,

          First of all I wish you a happy and blessed Easter!

          2nd and lastly, I wish you would reconsider some of your statements about me despising or hating or condemning the Holy Father. I do pray for him often. Perhaps I have actually written something that leads you to jump to the conclusion that I hate him? Anything in particular?

          I don't think I am required to listen to his name-calling and conclude that he is non-judgmental. You are right that our Lord condemned many religious people. But weren't most of those people religious leaders? The examples I gave were where Francis has focused his scorn on the laity, as in where he ridiculed the Argentinians who greeted his election with a bouquet of rosaries.

          >>>but it concerns me; when I was elected, I received a letter from one of these groups, and they said: “Your Holiness, we offer you this spiritual treasure: 3,525 rosaries.” Why don’t they say, “we pray for you, we ask…”, but this thing of counting… And these groups return to practices and to disciplines that I lived through – not you, because you are not old – to disciplines, to things that in that moment took place, but not now, they do not exist today<<<

          How does the above not contradict Francis self-avowed devotion to the Rosary? Where is he telling us how he really feels? That's a good question.
          ReplyDelete
          Replies
          1. You really don't understand what *Pope* Francis was saying (you don't like to address him as Pope, do you)? As I wrote, Pope Francis has a great devotion to the rosary. He says he was inspired to say three rosaries every day by Pope John Paul II. And certainly he loves our Blessed Mother, having dedicated his papacy to her, and even bringing the statue of Fatima to Rome to consecrate the world.

            If you honestly don't know what Pope Francis was talking about when he says "counting rosaries", then it will do no good for me to explain it to you. But I will give it a try, anyway. Although I know you won't accept it.

            Counting rosaries is very legalistic. For anyone to say the exact number of rosaries they prayed (3,525?? Really????) is the same as the Pharisee who said see how good I am, I fast twice a week, I tithe, I do all these great things. The publican didn't even feel worthy enough to lift his head, but could only say, I am a sinner. As Jesus said, who do you think came away justified?

            This really is the point of my post - being holy is not about what you DO. It is about who you ARE. Far too many people think that if they DO the right things, they will BE the right people It's just the opposite. Change is from inside out.

            Think about it.

            Again, I will state, Pope Francis (and it would be nice for you to address him with respect) is one of the holiest men to ever sit on the Chair of Peter.
        3. Dear Lady!

          What in the world? You now have a rule that I must refer to Francis as Pope Francis every single time I refer to him? I don't not do that for Benedict XVI, nor Leo XIII nor the sainted Pius X. In this string, I have referred to Francis as: Pope Francis, His Holiness, Holy Father... You are only seeing what you want to see, ignoring what doesn't fit into your narrative.

          regarding counting rosaries:
          I can't understand you to be saying anything other than when the Pope counts the rosaries he prays every day and tells us about them....that's not legalism. When the laity do it it is. That is a contradiction. Counting is counting. If the Holy Father is against counting Hail Marys, I'm curious as to what method he uses to know when to say his Glory Bes!!!
          ReplyDelete
          Replies
          1. I am not answering any more of your questions because you are not looking for answers, but only an argument. Please see my quote above from St. Therese.

            God bless.

  • Monday, March 27, 2017

    TRUMP'S 1999 PROPOSAL TO SOAK THE RICH MAKES SENSE

    TRUMP'S 1999 PROPOSAL TO SOAK THE RICH MAKES SENSE

    In 1999 Donald Trump proposed a one-time 14% net worth tax on people worth 10 million or more.
    I think he was on the right track!

    Why?

    1.It is the billionaires who forced us to redefine marriage
    2. It was the billionaires Harrimans, Rockefellers and Carnegies who brought us eugenics back in the day.
    3. it was the billionaire Rockefellers and Fords and multi-national companies which funded Hitler and Stalin and then profited greatly from .WWII
    3. It is the billionaires who finance population control
    4. It is the billionaires who  push  abortion
    5. It is the billionaires who push atheism

    Lastly, it is the billionaires who admit they are under-taxed.

    We know what they do if they have too much money on their hands.  They attack us.  They attack God.  If the billionaires have less money, then they can do less harm.












    Trump tax on the rich


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    Trump proposes massive one-time tax on the rich

    By Phil Hirschkorn/CNN


    November 9, 1999
    Web posted at: 6:24 p.m. EST (2324 GMT)


    NEW YORK (CNN) -- Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has a plan to pay off the national debt, grant a middle class a tax cut, and keep Social Security afloat: tax rich people like himself.
    Trump, a prospective candidate for the Reform Party presidential nomination, is proposing a one-time "net worth tax" on individuals and trusts worth $10 million or more.
      MESSAGE BOARD
    Framing The Issues
    By Trump's calculations, his proposed 14.25 percent levy on such net worth would raise $5.7 trillion and wipe out the debt in one full swoop.
    The U.S. national debt decreased by $9.7 billion in September but remains at $5.66 trillion, according to the latest U.S. Treasury figures.
    The net worth tax is the cornerstone of Trump's economic plan released Tuesday morning.
    "No one has put forward a plan to make this country entirely debt free as we enter the next millenium," Trump said in a written statement.
    "The plan I am proposing today does not involve smoke and mirrors, phony numbers, financial gimmicks, or the usual economic chicanery you usually find in Disneyland-on-the-Potomac," Trump said.
    Trump would exempt the value of an individual's principal home from the net worth total.
    "By my calculations, 1 percent of Americans, who control 90 percent of the wealth in this country, would be affected by my plan," Trump said.
    "The other 99 percent of the people would get deep reductions in their federal income taxes," he said.
    Eliminating the national debt would save the federal government $200 billion a year in interest payments, Trump said. He proposes to earmark half the savings for middle class tax cuts, and the other half for Social Security.
    Trump said depositing $100 billion annually in the Social Security trust fund would generate $3 trillion "over the next 30-years, when the trust fund is scheduled to go broke" and instead keep the fund "solvent through the next century."
    The tax also would lead to the repeal the current federal inheritance tax "which really hurts farmers and small businessman and women more than anything else," Trump said.
    Trump, whose own net worth is an estimated $5 billion, says the wealthy would not suffer if his economic plan were enacted.
    "Personally this plan would cost me hundreds of millions of dollars, but in all honesty, it's worth it," Trump said.
    Trump predicts his debt elimination combined with his tax cuts would trigger a 35 to 40 percent boost in economic activity, with more business start-ups, more jobs, and more prosperity.
    "It is a win-win for the American people, an idea no conventional politician would have the guts to put forward," Trump said.
    Last month, Trump formed a committee to explore seeking the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, which will automatically be on the ballot in 21 states next year.


    WHAT'S AT STAKE
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    Tuesday, March 14, 2017

    How to get banned on 'Ethika Politika'


    Folks,

    Try commenting on Ethika Politika's

    Anthony M Barr wonders if Trump is Nietzchean

    Hopefully you will have more luck than I did!  This one got removed...:-(,,,,,








    AMB>>>>>>>>>>>For if Trump is truly embracing Nietzsche, “winning” will also mean abandoning those deemed as weak or inferior and suppressing the pity which Christianity calls us to have for those who are marginalized.<<<<<<
    AMB,
    You bring up 'those deemed as weak or inferior" but don't bring up Trump's attack on abortion. What gives?
    Perhaps you are not aware that abortion is modern America's smart bomb for the marginalized e.g........
    -Down Syndrome fetus': aborted in 75% of cases
    -Black fetus' : aborted at 40% of the live birthrate  ( rate almost 3 x that of whites, despite the former's strong cultural abhorrence to abortion)
    I am quite convinced that Kermit Gosnell went unpunished for decades because he was doing the social-darwinist elite's dirty work, i.e. thinning out Philadelphia's black underclass. (PA's Republican Governor Ridge was totally down with that.)
    Help me out here! you don't bring up abortion because
    a. it doesn't fit your 'Trump the Ubermensch' narrative?
    b. you are pro-choice and, like Gov Ridge, have been cheering on the Gosnells of the world?
    c. you are a pacifist and believe Christians are never entitled to push back when elites bulldoze Christian culture.....
    In the clip below Harrison Ford does a good job of pushing back!!

    What am I missing?

    Monday, February 27, 2017

    2015 'Christ the King' amendment poll


     The First Lady's Our Father , where she quietly blasted a hole in the 'Wall' separating American  Church and State, reminds me....

    During the American Civil War,  some abolitionist Protestant ministers began lobbying to have our Lord's name inserted into the preamble of the Constitution.  Their argument, bluntly, was: God is punishing America for leaving His Son out of its Constitution.  President Lincoln met with them and expressed sympathy but was assassinated before his sincerity was ever tested.

    The ministers' association's idea was to make the US Government leaders and their bureaucracies pay lip service to Jesus Christ as Lord of the nations.  It  faded away at the time, but has been visited a number of times since then, never quite catching fire.(until recently? more on that later)  The story of the 'National Reform Association' (NRA) is no secret, though it may as well be .

    Today's atheist secularists, such as Christopher Hitchens (RIP),  have made much hay of the fact that many of America's founding Fathers entertained as much animosity towards the Christian religion as modern atheists do.  In this regard, I am afraid Hitchens was closer to being right than many of today's 'consititutionalists' who claim that the U. S. Constitution squares up perfectly with Christianity or at least with 'judeo-christian' values.  If America was designed to be Christian, then why has it taken a secularist path?

     I am afraid that while our guiding fathers assumed that  Religion might be a good help  to keep the masses from adopting nihilistic morality, they  also assumed that Religion is a dangerous force which must be resisted and contained.  If all faiths are to be treated equally, then all faiths must be equally valid. This is logically impossible unless they are all equally fantasies! From such a hidden axiom we get our Jesus-less, platitudinous, public prayers uttered by a neutered clergy.

    Thought experiment: Let's rewind the clock and imagine how different America might have acted had the National Reform Association succeeded.  Would Pius IX have opposed the NRA's effort? Leo XIII? Pius XI?  Would simple act of forcing the State to honor our Lord's Name have done anything to resist:

    -the rise of the Ku Klux Klan?
    -the mistreatment of American Indians?
    -instituting practical atheism in public education?
    -banishing public prayers?
    -the adoption of social darwinism?
    -instituting eugenics laws?
    -mass targeting of civilian populations in WWII?
    -legalizing abortion?
    -redefining marriage?
    -etc.?

    would our Lord Jesus' name have had no effect?

    Bringing the topic closer to today...PPP actually polled Republican voters in 2015 and discovered that most Republican voters, and especially the youngest Republican voters**, want Christianity officially recognized as America's Religion....


                            Christianity National Religion

    Yes/No Support establishing Christianity as the national religion

    Age             18 to 45             46 to 65     Older than 65

    Favor*          63% **             57%            51%

    Oppose*       27%                  30%             31%

     *establishing Christianity as the national religion

    source 2015 PPP poll of Republican Voters
    (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_National_22415.pdf)

    Where am I going with this?  I am still wondering myself.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxkRVdPxDYo



    Thursday, January 26, 2017

    Kneeling responds to Catholic in Brooklyn's thoughts on mass emigration/immigration

    Kneeling responds to Catholic in Brooklyn's thoughts on mass emigration/immigration






    Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free -- NOT!!

    Credit
    Last weekend we saw millions of people around the world protesting the Donald Trump presidency, demanding that the voices of all people be heard.  Of course, these are the same people who feel abortion on demand is a human right.  Obviously unborn children are completely disposable in their eyes, which proves the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of their movement.

    Unfortunately, those on the right are no better.  The right are passionate in their defense of the unborn and of the sick, weak and elderly who so often have no voice in our world.  And that truly is commendable.  But then they also fight for the right to capital punishment - killing criminals who need as much time in this life as they can get for a chance at repentance - and the right also fights against anyone strange and unknown coming into their land, no matter how desperate these people may be.  We are talking about victims of war and persecution who have seen their homes destroyed and left with nothing but the clothes on their back.  There is a faint, faint chance that 1 in a million may be a terrorist (if the odds are even that high), so it's us first and forget about anyone else.

    Word in the news now is that Trump says the wall blocking off Mexico will be built in the new few months, and he plans to indefinitely ban ALL immigrants from Syria, and implement a month-long ban against all immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen.  When the program does resume, it will be cut in half, allowing far fewer refugees into the United States.

    These Syrian refugees better forget about coming to the US
    Just a few days ago, Pope Francis warned against populism, which is the driving force behind Donald Trump.  HERE.
    Pope Francis on Saturday warned against populism, saying it could lead to the election of "saviours" like Adolf Hitler.
    In an hour-long interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, conducted as Donald Trump was being sworn in as US president, the pontiff also condemned the idea of using walls and barbed wire to keep out foreigners, among them refugees and migrants.
    "Of course, crises provoke fears and worries," he said, but added that for him "the example of populism in the European sense of the word is Germany in 1933".
    The pope added: "Germany ... was looking for a leader, someone who would give her back her identity and there was a little man named Adolf Hitler who said 'I can do it'."

    "Hitler did not steal power," the pope said. "He was elected by his people and then he destroyed his people."
    I do not like speculating about prophesy and "signs".  But I can't help but notice that we are in 2017, the centennial year of Fatima, and that we have just concluded the Year of Mercy.  Our Lord told St Faustina that first He would offer mercy to the world and for those who do not accept His Mercy, then judgment.  Through Pope Francis we have just been offered a Year of Mercy, offered to the entire world.

    Many did not even take notice of this offer of Mercy, and went on with their lives as normal.  Certainly the world has only gotten worse since the Year of Mercy stated in 2015.

    Is now the time of judgment?
    Write down these words, My daughter. Speak to the world about My Mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable Mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it , will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My Mercy; let them profit from the Blood and water which gushed forth for them…….. before I come as the just one, I first open wide the gates of My Mercy. He who does not pass through the gates of My Mercy must pass through the gates of justice. (Diary 848)
    I am also concerned about President Trump's seemingly close relationship with Russia.  Our Lady of Fatima warned about the errors of Russia:
    Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.
    President Trump has more than once praised President Putin of Russia, calling him a strong leader and calling for closer ties between our two countries.  Trump seems to ignore the fact the Putin is a despot who murders his enemies.  He boldly invaded the Ukraine.  He is helping the tyrannical leader of Syria in Syria's civil war, bombing women and children and even hospitals.

    President Trump has also said he plans to build up our nuclear weapons, as has Putin.  Where does this put the rest of the world?

    If America insists on turning her back on those in the most need, we cannot expect Our Lord to be there for us.  As He said, whatsoever we do to the least of his brethren, we do unto Him.  He did not make a caveat of, you don't have to do this if there is a slight chance that there might be bad people among those you are helping.  Certainly Christ never made that distinction when He walked the earth.

    Last year when Pope Francis was asked about Donald Trump, he replied:
    A person who thinks only about building walls - wherever they may be - and not building bridges, is not Christian ... I'd just say that this man is not Christian, if he said it this way.
    What hath the United States wrought in the election of Donald J. Trump?

    8 comments:

    1. on another note, did you see President Trump put in a plug for this Weekend's March for Life?

      http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2017/01/trump-promotes-2017-march-for-life-in.html
      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Yes, but to me this is as much an example of cognitive dissonance as the left pushing for abortion. How can you shut out war refugees and push for capital punishment and at the same time say that you are pro life because you are against abortion? My mind just goes "TILT" at this whole thing.

        And to be honest, I don't trust for a moment that Trump is pro life. He is supporting this movement because this is what his supporters are about. It is convenient for him. He made a very blanket statement back in his "liberal" days that although he did not like abortion, he "absolutely" supported a woman's right to choose.
      2. "It is convenient for him." I'm glad to have whatever measures he puts in place that are pro-life (like the restoration of the Mexico City policy a few days ago), but I think you are right: All the evidence we have of his character and record seems to suggest this is a position of political convenience for him, unfortunately. Pro-lifers would be wise to expect little from this administration, and to assume nothing.
    2. This is yet another unfortunate elevation of the animus against capital punishment into a dogmatic position such as that which obtains in Church doctrine against abortion and euthanasia, which it simply is not.

      As the Catechism says, echoing what John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae: "2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor." After which it goes on to affirm a preference for non-lethal means, where these are effective, noting that this is quite often the case in developed countries. Nonetheless, it clearly works to stay in some continuity with longstanding Church teaching, which has always allowed room for the state to resort to the death penalty. Were it to do otherwise, it would not only engage in rupture with that teaching, it would also stand in condemnation of the over 180 popes who ruled as sovereign over a polity (the Papal States) which employed capital punishment in its organic legal code through its entire existence (and which remained on Vatican City's code books until 1969).

      It is possible as a Catholic to advocate against the death penalty. But it is also possible to advocate for it, too. In this respect, I would recommend Edward Feser's and Joseph Bissette's forthcoming book, "By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of the Death Penalty" (Ignatius Press).
      Reply
      Replies
      1. You are not theologically wrong. But I have every right to disagree with you, as does most of Church authority.

        The death penalty is designed to keep people safe from those who could do them harm. Those men (and women) living behind bars are of little danger to the rest of us. Our first concern for them should be their souls, for truly they are in eternal peril. Killing them when it is not necessary shows no concern for their souls whatsoever.

        We do not live under the Old Covenant where people could be stoned for breaking the Sabbath. Our Lord brought a new way of dealing with sinners, and that is love and mercy and concern for their souls, not vengeance.
    3. Dear CIB,

      Thanks for responding...I thought it was related to your topic because Trump was responding to Muir bringing up the women's march.

      regarding the refugees and uncontrolled immigration I would like you people who seem to want a sort of lassaiz faire border to contemplate the following:

      Strict controls on immigration save lives.

      How?

      every year we in South Texas read about hundreds of poor souls who perish out in the sticks here from dehydration, exposure, etc. If there had been a wall or even better enforcement, I cannot imagine a scenario where those deceased people wouldn't still be alive. (probably living happily with intact families in their ancestral homelands.)

      a similarly sad situation has occurred in the Mediterranean. On Lampedusa in 2013 the Holy Father highlighted his invitation to boat people. Since that time the annual death toll due to drownings has sky-rocketed 25 fold (( http://mapreport.com/subtopics/d/migrant.boat.accident.html ))

      I don't see how the Holy Father doesn't share some responsibility for luring these people out of their homelands.
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      Replies
      1. The Holy Father "luring" people out? These people are not living in comfort and security like we are. They live in squalor with no hope for the future. That is why they are willing to risk everything - including their lives - for a better future. It is the same thing that drove our ancestors in the 17th and 18th Century to come to America, facing horrendous hardships in an uncivilized land with no one to help them.

        One of the main reasons we are seeing the terrible tragedies among the refugees is because so many have turned their backs on them, and we will all have to answer for that. If we were there to help them, they would not have to depend on those who are taking advantage and putting their lives at risk.
      2. >>>>The Holy Father "luring" people out? These people are not living in comfort and security like we are. They live in squalor with no hope for the future.<<<

        ....as they have for centuries and have lived contentedly. When westerners dangle the prospect of a welfare-state before people used to working with their own hands for a living, many happy people suddenly become unhappy. Their families are roiled and their cultures are subjected to whatever Western fad dominates. Currently LGBT is the rage, in 10 years it might be something even more inimical to those cultures. We must help them. Corporally and spiritually, but promoting mass migration does neither. It disrupts lives and gets people killed along the way.

        The Holy Father, and you, seem to think you are doing these people a great favor by transplanting them into secular western-welfare states which eschew God and tradition and worship Hollywood values. Please don't tell me you think America and Europe are something other than that!

        People love home. Texans have convinced themselves they are living in heaven....most visitors here disagree. Believe it or not, most people, even Arabs and Africans and Asians, think their native land is the closest thing to heaven.

        We must help these people since we funded the wars in Syria and Libya and Iraq and Yemen and Afghanistan and ???. So we do owe them. But we must be careful not to encourage any more deadly migration waves. You and the Holy Father seem unaware of all people who will die along the way.
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